Fates Divided
by Jules Barnard
Halven Rising #1
Publication Date: August 31, 2015
Elena Rosales has busted her ass to get into a good college. She’s the only one in her family ever to attend, and expectations are high. No pressure. But Elena’s got this one in the bag, because she’s as dependable as the molecules she studies, as reliable as the chemical reactions that comfort her in their predictability. Until they don’t.
Elena has always wondered why her mother abandoned her on her first birthday. It’s not until she turns eighteen and her chemistry experiments go berserk that she learns the truth: Her mother wasn’t human, and the Fae are willing to harm those Elena loves if she doesn’t use her power over the elements to cure them of a deadly disease.
Derek, Elena’s brooding neighbor, isn’t the friendliest guy, but he has access to an off-hours lab and is willing to help Elena create the antivirus. He has his own secrets to keep, and this business Elena is mixed up in could blow his cover. But when Elena and Derek get together, more than chemicals spark fire-and they soon discover just how complicated attraction can get when they find themselves on the other side of the portal, fighting for survival. Lives collide, and allegiance and love are tested, in Fates Divided.
# 1
His heart pounded beneath the hand she had pressed to his chest. “When I’m not near you, I’m thinking about you and wondering how long until I see you again. When I’m with you, I’m thinking of ways to get close and touch you, even if it’s only to hold you. And when you smile… I wonder if there is anything more beautiful in the world. Make that worlds.” He grinned.
# 2
She squirmed and bobbed giddily on top of him like a landlocked fish. “I have a boyfriend,” she said in a singsong voice.
Derek grunted as a stray elbow landed on his ribs. He flipped her so she lay beneath him again. “How should we celebrate your first official relationship,” he said in a deep, sexy voice, his hand snaking down her collarbone to the top of her breast.
She smiled slyly. “By holding hands?”
His palm stilled and he frowned, shaking his head.
“Hmm… With a kiss?”
He put his mouth on her neck and kissed and licked his way down. “Getting warmer,” he murmured.
She tapped a finger to her mouth, trying not to move while his lips and hands made her face heat and her breath catch. “No hand-holding, but kissing is okay, yet not enough. What to do, what to do… I’ve got it. How about a heavy make-out session?”
“Warmer still,” came his response from the general area of her bellybutton where he’d lifted her top a few inches and exposed her skin. His hands continued their wonderfully tormenting path down her torso to her hips.
She closed her eyes, breaths shaky and uneven as her stomach and thigh muscles clenched beneath his fingers. “Fine—you win.” She reached down and yanked his T-shirt over his head.
He sat up as though affronted, his eyes sparkling. “Hey, I’m not that kind of guy.”
She smiled. “You’re a terrible liar. Is that drool on the side of your mouth?” He raised his hand to his lip and grinned.
About Jules Barnard
Before turning to storytelling, Jules earned a master’s degree in public health and spent many an hour running statistical analysis–until she realized her favorite part of the job was writing reports. She decided to cut out the math and add in some hot guys, and so began her career as a novelist.
Jules is a Northern California native living on the coast with her husband and two children. She has no impulse control around cupcakes and credits herself with the ability to read while running on the treadmill or burning dinner.
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