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YA Scavenger Hunt!

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-annual
event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give
readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite
authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only
get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the
hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will
receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my
team
! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus
material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find
out all about the hunt.
There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and
you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE
TEAM
–but there is also a red team for a chance to win a whole different
set of twenty-five signed books!

If you’d like to find out more about the
hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of
prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt
homepage
.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve
listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on
the blue team, and then add them up (don’t
worry, you can use a calculator!).
Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the
numbers, make
sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize
.
Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below
the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be
eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by
April 7th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries
sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be
considered.

 
SCAVENGER HUNT POST


 

 

Today, I am hosting Kate Evangelista on my website for the YA Scavenger
Hunt! I adore her cover so much I’d happily look at it 7 times a day!
 
 
When Kate Evangelista was told she had a knack for writing stories, she did the next best thing: entered medical school. After realizing she wasn’t going to be the next Doogie Howser, M.D., Kate wandered into the Literature department of her university and never looked back. Today, she is in possession of a piece of paper that says to the world she owns a Literature degree. To make matters worse, she took Master’s courses in creative writing. In the end, she realized to be a writer, none of what she had mattered. What really mattered? Writing. Plain and simple, honest to God, sitting in front of her computer, writing. Today, she lives in the Philippines and writes full time.

Find out more information by checking out the
author website or find more about the author’s book here!

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT


 

At Barinkoff Academy, there’s only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans. When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.

 
 
Chapter
30
 
Truth
 
 
 
 
 
 
In the
sunlight, Luka looked glorious. Forget how brilliantly he shined under
moonlight. During the day, he beamed a healthy golden glow. His roughish curls
gleamed. His skin held this bright luminescence. And his eyes, the kind of blue
not even the sky on the clearest day could copy, flashed with mischief. The
kind I knew too well. He wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up
and a thin black tie slightly loosened. He kept the top of his shirt
unbuttoned. Black pants and dress shoes completed the look. He really pulled
off the rumpled and sexy look, like he just stumbled out of some gala and
decided to undress on his way to the bench then got bored doing that.
Seeing him,
after I’d lost count how long, dissolved the void that made its home in my
chest after I woke up at the hospital. I could feel myself breathe again. The
breeze carried over his scent of honeysuckle, and I inhaled greedily. My toes
curled inside my boots. My tongue felt thick in my mouth. And my heart bounced
around like a feral cat attempting to break free of its cage. God, I’d missed
him. So, so much.
I finally
allowed myself to blink. Twice. Once to adjust my vision to the sight of him and
a second time to believe he actually sat there on the bench with his legs
crossed. He leaned on his hands, soaking up the sun and smiling at me. It had
to be an illusion. But the second the thought entered my head, I beat it away.
He had to be real. For my sanity’s sake.
“Phoenix,” he
said. “I wondered how long it would take you to find me.”
My feet wouldn’t
budge, despite the powerful urge to fling myself at him. I gripped the sides of
my skirt in the hopes the fabric would dry my sweaty palms. I remembered my
nights at the hospital in Moscow. How I woke up screaming from a dreamless
nightmare. I didn’t want to go back to that. Never again.
“Are you just
going to stand there or will you come and join me?” Luka patted the bench.
“Why are you
here?” I blurted out through the uncomfortable lump in my throat.
He treated me to
another smile. “If you come closer, I promise I will explain.”
The more he
spoke, the more I found my way back to myself. I squared my shoulders and took
tentative steps forward. “You better.”
“That’s the
little cat I’ve come to know. Always curious.”
My heart
thrilled at hearing my nickname.
I reached the
bench in ten steps, and Luka moved to create space for me. I settled in beside
him awkwardly, making sure not to touch any part of his body. I knew I’d lose
it if I did. Not yet. I couldn’t touch him yet. He might
disappear if I did.
“So,” I sighed
out. “What happened after I blacked out?” Someone had to start the
conversation. It might as well be me.
He held his
hand up. “Always to the point, but before that, I want to apologize for what
happened with Calixta.”
My heart
skipped a beat. “You don’t—”
“No, I have
to.” His eyebrows came together, creating a crease between them I wanted madly
to soothe away.
“Okay, then
tell me how Calixta reacted when you knocked me out.” I closed my hands to keep
from reaching out. If only he knew, I could care less about the catfight.
He huffed. “I
knocked her out, too. I couldn’t allow the two of you to kill each other.”
I laughed. In
the light of day, with Luka by my side, everything that happened seemed like a
dream. A fantastic, absurd, unrealistic dream. I lived it and still couldn’t
believe it.
“After I
knocked out Calixta, I took her back to her room,” he continued. “I left you in
the garden thinking you’d be safe there. When I came back, you were gone. It
took me a while to track you down.”
Vladimir had something to
do with that,” I said. “He admitted it when he kidnapped me the second time.”
“That makes
sense.”
“I think you
underestimated him.”
Luka bristled.
“Not anymore.”
“Good to know.”
I smiled. The action came so naturally.
“I never
regretted a minute spent with you.” He leaned in closer. “Barring that little
outburst in Socio 102, which almost gave me a heart attack, the moments we
spent together made me feel more alive than I have in centuries.”
I didn’t have
many occasions in my life where I couldn’t find the right words to say, but Luka’s
words robbed me of the ability to construct coherent sentences. Happiness and
excitement mixed into one electric ball inside my chest. Each breath sent
renewed life to my veins. Luka stared at me for the longest time without saying
anything. I smoothed imaginary creases on my skirt just to have something to do.
“What are you
looking at?” I asked when I couldn’t take the silence anymore, meeting his eyes
directly for the first time in months. God, I missed those eyes. 
“I want to look
at you,” he said. “I want to memorize the lines of your face, to trace the
stubborn sway of your lips, to recall the golden flecks in your eyes.”
Embarrassment
twisted my gut. “Come on, Luka. You have to tell me what happened after I
passed out. I can’t remember a thing.”
He settled back
on his hands and tilted his face toward the sun. “After I brought you to Alek—”
My stomach
flipped. “So, that was you. But I saw Vladimir stab you.”
“He did. That’s
why he got away.” Guilt marred his perfect face. “I should have fought harder.”
Unable to stand
being so close to him without touching him, I reached out and squeezed his
hand. The contact felt better than anything I’d experienced in a long time. “If
it weren’t for you, Vladimir wouldn’t have
dropped me and Yana wouldn’t have been able to
take me away. I’m alive because of you.”
He searched my
expression for something I couldn’t quite understand before he said, “We’ve
spent the last few months searching for him. We suspect he’s hiding with the
northern clans. And since the Winter Solstice, Darius has been working hard to
maintain order.” He shuddered. He entwined his fingers with mine. “I had to sit
on the throne just to keep the Royals from rioting any further. I had to remind
everyone of the forbidden, to keep them from attempting to taste flesh.”
“The students?”
Worry twisted my gut.
He shook his
head. “They are no longer your concern. Leave that to us.”
“So why are you
here?”
“Can’t a friend
come for a visit?”
My heart
clenched. I let go of his hand. Friend? I pushed away the unpleasantness the word
caused in me. “But aren’t you tempted to—”
“Kiss you?
Always.”
“Luka!” My face
felt like napalm exploded on it. “Come on, isn’t it dangerous for you to be
here right now? Aren’t you hungry?”
“Now that you
mention it, I am feeling a little peckish.” He took my hand and leaned his
cheek into my open palm.
I froze and
stared at him. “You don’t feel—”
“Cold?”
“Actually, you
feel warm. Not slight-fever warm, more like hu—”
“Yes?”
I gasped. “Luka,
are you human?”
His familiar playfulness
returned. “Something like that.”
“How?”
“Dray.”
The one name
that explained everything. He’d done it. The mad scientist had actually done
it. For the first time, pummeling him to the ground didn’t enter my mind. I
actually wanted to hug Dray.
“For how long?”
I asked, recalling what had happened to me.
Luka let go of
my hand. I didn’t want to stop touching his face, yet I let my hand fall to my
side. Actually, I wanted to do more than touch him. I’d never done anything
more difficult than stopping myself from kissing Luka senseless.
“At the moment,
indefinitely, but I do have to come in for tests.” He grimaced.
I laughed
again. It felt good. “Don’t I know it,” I said when I caught my breath.
“He actually
wants you to come in for tests, too.”
I sobered so
fast, my head reeled. “I thought I was done with that stuff!”
“I think he
misses you more than anything else.”
A small smile
parted my lips. “Fine. I’ll see him. The Chemistry lab?”
“Where else?
You’d be under my supervision, of course.”
My eyebrows
rose at that. “And why would I be under your supervision?”
I expected him
to smile and make some charming quip. Instead, his brows puckered. “This brings
me to why I’m here. Even if Dray has taken great strides with his experiment,
we still live in an unstable society. You need protection,” he said.
“From what?” I
sounded calm, but inside a nervous storm gathered. It wasn’t over after all.
“Eli lost his
life during the coup, but Calixta got away. And Vladimir is still a threat. He
doesn’t know that the formula is no longer in your body. He may still try to
use you.”
“For someone
giving me a warning, you don’t make it sound like a bad thing.”
“Do you prefer
I speak in an ominous tone? Would that change anything?”
He had a point,
but I still rolled my eyes at him. “You’re the weirdest Zhamvy I’ve ever met.”
“Oh, little
cat, I invented weird.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“So not working
for me.” The topic we’d been skirting needed to be brought up. “How’s Demitri?
I haven’t seen him since the night he came here.”
Luka’s stare
became icy for a second. “He came to the academy?”
“I was trying
to get back into the kingdom at the time. He warned me against it.”
“Do you still
have feelings for him?”
He might as
well have slapped me in the face. I didn’t think he’d actually ask me about
that. My defenses went up. “What’s it to you? I thought we were just friends.”
Faster than I
could blink, he pulled me into his arms. The force of his kiss felt like waves
hitting the breakwater during a storm. Fierce. Unstoppable. I felt it all the
way to my core, quenching a thirst I never realized I had. Stirring a hunger I’d
been ignoring for so long. My skin tingled like he lit tiny fireworks beneath
the surface. Without any hesitation, I wrapped my arms around his neck. One of
his hands moved to the small of my back, crushing me closer. I melted into his
new warmth. My heart beat in my ears by the time he broke the kiss.
“Do you still
think we’re friends?” he said, breathless.
I shook my head
and let my breathing return to normal before I disentangled myself from him and
stood up. I watched a butterfly flit from one flower to another. I needed some
space to say what I needed to say.
“Why didn’t you
just stay king? I’m sure no one would mind.”
Luka reached
out and touched my hand. I studied his long fingers in mine. They felt so right
together, like pieces of a jigsaw snapping perfectly into place. He tugged me
back to the bench and kissed my forehead.
“I cannot rule
in good conscience,” he admitted.
“Because of
what your father did?”
He nodded.
“Being on that throne would always remind me of what happened.” He inhaled
deeply and held the breath in before exhaling slowly. “The era of the Superiori is ending, Phoenix. My presence would only hinder the
new system rather than help it. I decided to volunteer to be Dray’s test
subject instead.”
His words
melted my insides. “The fact that you’re willing to risk your life being a test
subject shows you’d make a great king, despite what your father did. Why are
you shaking your head?”
Luka took my
face in his hands and stared into my eyes. “Phoenix, even if I managed to forgive my
father for what he did, I can’t be king.”
“Why?”
“Because you
come first,” he whispered. “In everything I do, you always come first.” He
leaned in and kissed me—a soft touch that reached deeper into me than any
fevered kiss would. “You told me once you wanted to share my burdens with me.
Do you still feel that way?”
“Yes,” I said
through the welling tears. “After Mom died, like Dad, I pushed people away. I
don’t want to be that person anymore. Not with anyone. Especially not with you.
After I got out of the hospital, I walked around like I had nothing inside. But
the second I saw you again, I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“I made a
mistake in thinking I ever had any real feelings for Demitri beyond the
connection we had. It’s you, Luka. It’s always been you. I was just too dense
to realize it until now.”
Happiness
filled Luka’s gaze like a majestic sunrise on a clear summer day. He dried my
tears with his lips and said my name over and over again. Like he also
convinced himself I was real. Only a shadow of his sadness remained. Something
told me he still had a long way to go. Finding forgiveness for his father. Searching
for a place in the new era his people moved into. Heck, even I had my issues to
work on. Sifting through memories of my mom. Rebuilding a relationship with my
father. Learning to let people in again. But as he peppered my face with soft
kisses and my heart beat so hard my actually chest hurt, something also told me
we’d both be okay. That we’d make it work. As long as we had each other.
 
 
And don’t
forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Cindi Madsen, and more! To enter,
you need to know that my favorite number is 7. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on
the blue team and you’ll have all the secret
code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need
to check out the next author, the fabulous Kate Avelynn! http://www.kateavelynn.com/category/blog/
 

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