By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Heather Long

The following blurb might
contain spoilers for Succubus Unchained.
Be warned before you scroll down.

There might be something to this new life of mine.

Being mated to Maddox and bonded to Alfred isn’t so bad. Rogue is stealing his way into my heart and Fin already had part of it. If I were to be totally honest, I think they’ve all taken pieces of my soul.

Choosing them was the scariest thing I’d ever done, until now.

Someone has stolen my dragon and my druid. They’re locked in the last place I’d ever want to see again.
But I’ll do it. I’ll walk right into the belly of the beast, confront the warden and anyone else who gets in my way.
Yeah, sounds a lot braver than I am. But they wouldn’t leave me there and I won’t leave them.

Even if Rogue and Alfred forbade me from going.

Pfft.

What’s the worst that could happen?

NOTE: This is a paranormal prison reverse harem and will feature aggressively snarky characters, a bit of twisted humor and a lot of passion. So come join an amazing group of authors in Nightmare Penitentiary, a place you’ll never want to escape from. The author suggests you should always read the forward in her books. This is the third in a trilogy.

Fiona has accepted that she is theirs and they are hers but…Don’t lock her up. She wasn’t going to let that prison have her Mage, Fin or her Dragon, Maddox. They didn’t leave her there, she won’t leave them. We jump right into plenty of action, then some sizzle. As they are leaving the prison they are confronted by Cyrus. As Maddox with Fin’s help hides her, they are joined by Alfred and Rogue. I found myself giggling at Fiona’s antics while Alfred and Cyrus converse, but then let a battle begin.

When Fin transports them all back to the Keep, all Fiona wants is a bath and sleep. That’s not all but I do try to keep it clean here.

They obviously have something to discuss with her and they are probably correct in assuming she’s not going to like it.

This is a favorite scene.

“Finish bathing, Hellion, then we’ll take this somewhere more comfortable.” Alfred’s tone suggested there would be a real fight if Maddox or Fin argued with him. Rogue had no such objections. The bathing room was good for her, but between the hot pools and the fire, it was uncomfortable for him after a time.

More surprising than Maddox and Fin accepting Alfred’s unspoken threat was the fact that Fiona didn’t argue. She shifted to move for the soap and the shampoo, and he was forced to leave her hair alone. Instead, he examined his brothers as Fin rose from the water. The marks left on his arms and back had faded significantly, but even the pale pink of them suggested how bad they’d been.

For his part, Maddox looked tired, but he also bristled like his dragon was dangerously close to the surface. To be fair, he and his dragon were more often one in the same, the dragon in the human’s skin and the human in the dragon’s scales. But this was different.

Mating had changed him.

Changed all of them.

There was a peace to Alfred, a resoluteness that had never been there before. His reaction to her disappearance had been profoundly and dangerously quiet. They’d gone after her, and when they hadn’t tracked her immediately, Alfred had simply cleared coven after coven of vampires— all those loyal to the ones allying against them.

Rogue had no objections. They’d gotten out of hand in recent centuries. It was more than time to cull back the worst of the worst. This hadn’t been about culling. It had been about eliminating threats. The other members of the Seven had added a fresh bounty to Fiona’s head. While vampires older than her might still find her a tough target, enough of them could overwhelm and that was not an option.

When she finished washing up and all traces of blood and soot were gone from her skin, Rogue swept a gaze over her as she rose from the water. He wasn’t the only one looking for signs of injury. There was a hint of bruising along one arm and on her hip. No scrapes or broken skin. More, there was no hint of shadow taint on her to mar the shimmer. Even in the warm-lit gloom of the bathing room, she shimmered faintly.

Glowing.

Yes, he’d seen her outside the prison— the pure light she’d radiated and the shadow wings stretching out from her back. Even her deep red hair had taken on a more vibrant sheen, and when she’d looked away for the briefest of moments, her eyes had been purely luminescent, jewels given life.

Not that she hadn’t always been beautiful, because she had. Beautiful. Stubborn. Irritating. She dug in deep, refusing to be dislodged with her hotheaded impetuousness. Now?

Now she was exquisite in a way Rogue couldn’t even begin to define. Fin and Maddox both dressed in the clothes that had been left for them. It was Maddox who held out a robe and wrapped her in it before he scooped her up. She’d rolled her eyes and slapped his chest because she was fine, but he’d only nipped her ear and murmured something that had her laughing before he carried her up with the rest following.

They’d gone to the library, where fires awaited them, along with hot tea and more food. Fiona had only rolled her eyes as Maddox settled in a chair with her in his lap, and the rest dragged seats over to join them. Rogue plucked her away from Maddox when he was distracted and he scowled, but Fiona only wrapped her arms around Rogue and he curled her closer.

When he’d helped her escape, to spread her then metaphorical wings, he’d known where she was. Yes, he’d told her he wouldn’t be able to track her, but he’d known exactly where she would go, just as Fin had. He’d been able to keep his distance and check on her— discreetly— even as Alfred and Maddox had raged at him.

This time?

No, this time, he’d had a taste of the cool gray overwhelming his world once again in her absence. He would not willingly return to that half-state. One he hadn’t even realized he’d been living in for so long.

“So,” Fiona said once Fin pressed a mug of tea into her hands and she snuggled back against Rogue. “What did you want to discuss?”

Maddox opened his mouth, but it was Fin who spoke. “The prophecy.”

“Blegh,” she said, her whole face screwing up. “I hate prophecies. I hate anything magic related.”

“You don’t hate me,” Fin teased.

“For the moment,” she snapped back, but the playfulness in her voice pulled a smile from all of them, even Alfred.

Smoothing a hand over Fiona’s abdomen, he drew a light circle against the fabric of her robe. “Little sváss, we need you to listen for a few moments and to hear us on this. While I agree, prophecies can be muddled and, as often as not, vague and open to interpretation, this one very much impacts you.”

She twisted and met his gaze, searching his face for something. The little frown pulled her brows together. “How much does it affect the rest of you?”

“Anything that affects you will have to go through us,” he told her simply, directly, and she let out that little sigh of impatience before making a face.

“Fine. I will listen and do my best to not interrupt. But I refuse to not roll my eyes if I think it’s stupid.”

“Why don’t you like magic?” They’d never asked, and if they wanted her to believe in this prophecy even in as much as to help them with it, then they should know.

Slumping back against him, she made a pained sound, then laughed. “I don’t like magic because witches are the most interfering creatures you’ve ever met. They have a spell for literally everything. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have some very good witch friends. But magic and I? We haven’t always gotten along. You know how they say a hybrid can’t exist?”

She paused and glanced around at all of them, but it was Alfred who merely nodded and said, “They also say I don’t exist, Hellion.”

“Yeah, but they are kind of half-right about you,” she pointed out. “You don’t involve yourself in the world. You stay here, hidden away. You let them come to you so if they don’t, then by that logic, you aren’t a part of their world and thus you don’t exist.”

His mouth opened and then closed as he appeared to consider her words. A laugh worked its way through Rogue, and he wrapped a hand around her nape and turned her again. She met his kiss easily and lightly. Eyes lighting up, literally, Fiona leaned into him and then the tingle of her kiss spread through his whole body, and he wrapped her up tighter.

“And she’s glowing again,” Fin murmured in a low voice. Alfred leaned forward, and even Maddox studied her intently. As aware of them as he was though, Rogue let himself feel her. Something about her wildness had always called to him, from the moment he’d taken her from the prison and brought her to the keep.

The very primal part of her nature summoned his own to the surface— a part of him he’d long believed cut off. It was why he shifted again, something he hadn’t indulged in over countless centuries. She’d done more than just push him, she’d brought him back to life.

Energy hummed off of her, but it was beyond soothing and he found himself wanting to cradle her, shield her light from any breeze that would extinguish it.

“I never expected this,” Alfred said, running a hand over his mouth as he studied her.

That pulled her attention away from Rogue, and he exhaled a long breath. He could have cheerfully forgotten the rest and drowned in the brilliance of her.

“Spill it, boys. You’re starting to freak me out.”

They weren’t. Not yet. But she tried to tease it out of them. Still, when she slid her hand over Rogue’s, he threaded their fingers together.

“There’s a prophecy,” Fin said. “Borne from a vision I had of you… a long time ago. Now, while I agree with you— prophecies tend to be vague and open to interpretation— this didn’t come from just any seer. It came from me.”

That pulled her full interest, and Rogue could practically feel her leaning forward, even if she didn’t shift a muscle. “Dun. Dun. Dun. Dun!”

Her intonation of the musical notes shattered the tension, and Alfred chuckled. The soft laughter carried through the whole library, and Rogue grinned. Maddox and Fin stared at them both like they’d sprouted second heads before they began chuckling, too.

“This isn’t supposed to be funny, Beautiful.” Fin’s argument didn’t hold much weight.

She shrugged. “You’re an incorrigible flirt and you tease me constantly, and then you tell me in this super serious dark and sober voice that this ‘prophecy’ is something uber special because you saw it?”

With a sniff, he nodded. “Exactly.” Then he grinned and another bubble of laughter escaped Rogue. When was the last fucking time he’d been happy?

He didn’t have to see her face to almost feel the way she rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll give this all the seriousness it deserves. What’s the prophecy?”

Fin exhaled, then glanced at each of them before he focused on her. “When the female hybrid is born, the world will change.”

She waited a beat. “It will change?”

He nodded.

“That’s it? The world will change?”

“Hellion,” Alfred began, even as Maddox said, “Kitten—”

But a sound tugged Rogue’s attention. A sound and a ping on the wards.

It was the only warning he had before the first volley slammed into the building, but Rogue had already tumbled her out of the chair and over, shielding her as the explosion of light and sound rocked them.
Heather Long. Succubus Blessed: Shackled Souls 3 (Kindle Locations 923-999).

An attack on the Keep has Rogue fleeing with her through tunnels she didn’t know existed. This leads to an encounter with yet another of the Seven, much to the chagrin of the others. They really do need to get themselves together and stop hiding things from her. Fiona isn’t one to sit back and do nothing. She’s also not going to be caged up ever again.

The Keep, a Castle, and the Island are all sites of altercations. Maddox takes off with Fiona, wanting to protect her from all that’s happening. Of course neither Fiona or the guys are going to let him get away with that.

This book reveals many new things Fiona can do, and there’s a few surprises as well. Plenty of snark, action, some giggles, and sizzle heat kept me turning the pages.

While I’m sorry to say good-bye to these characters this book was truly the perfect ending to this trilogy.

5 Contented Purrs for Heather!

Heather Long

USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas in the summertime.

From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories–her characters drive the books.

When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.