Enchantress Bookish Brilliance: Danielle Annett's "Branded by Fire" Blog Tour

Branded by Fire
(Blood & Magic Series, #4)
By Danielle Annett

Blurb:

Aria Naveed can't decide what's worse--being mate-bonded to Declan Valkenaar, the Alpha of the Pacific Northwest Pack, or owning up to the fact that she's developing feelings for him.

Her bond to Declan is the one thing keeping her grounded and preventing her new power from destroying everything and everyone around her.

If Aria doesn't tread carefully, especially where her heart is concerned, she'll learn the hard way that if you play with fire, you'll always get burned.

Available for purchase at

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Excerpts

“Aria, you’re being unreasonable." He took a step forward and reached out for me. I sidestepped away, then put a hand on my forehead when the room began spinning.

“Unreasonable?” I ground it, “You asked men within the Pack to court me. You wanted to tie me to the Pack so you could use me.” I was practically yelling at him now. Maybe I wasn’t too tired to fight with him after all. This confrontation had been a long time coming.

“That was before …” he trailed off.

“Right,” I scoffed. “Before you bit me and tied me to you. Before you decided this little mate bond between us somehow made me your soul mate. Now you care about me as a person, is that it? But before I was just a tool for you to use and somehow I should be okay with it? I should be flattered that Declan Valkenaar, Alpha to the Pacific Northwest Pack, has picked me to be his mate? Is that what you’re telling me?”

I blinked hard as tears threatened to spill. Dammit, why did he have such an effect on me? I rubbed the ache in my chest and turned away from him.

He didn’t say anything for several long minutes.

I climbed into my bed and tucked myself under the covers as silent tears spilled down my cheeks.

The mattress dipped, and Declan slid into the bed beside me.

“Go away,” I choked out.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled my back flush against his chest.

“I’m a bastard.”

“I know.”

“And I don’t deserve you.”

“Glad you’re finally realizing that.”

I swiped at the tears on my cheeks and tried to pull away from him, but his grip was iron tight.

“But I love you.”

I sucked in a breath. He—what?

I froze, suddenly unable to form any coherent thoughts or words.

He didn’t say anything else, just settled in beside me with his arm wrapped tightly around my body and his legs now tangled with mine. I listened as his breathing slowly evened out and realized the exact moment when he fell asleep.

Declan told me he loved me. The bond that connected us flared to life at his words, and I suddenly realized, I believed him.

In the low light of the Compound basement, I stared at the glistening sheen of blood coating the palm of my hand.

I wrapped my arms around my shivering body and tried to ignore the blood now seeping through the thin cotton of my shirt. It was sticky, cold, and black.

Not human blood, I reminded myself.

My lips trembled. The moment when I’d found Daniel’s body flashed through my mind. His cold, congealing blood seeping into my jeans still haunted me. I shuddered.

This time, however, it wasn't the blood of an innocent coating my hands.

I looked down at Irina’s heart, inches away from my booted foot, where I’d dropped it.

Anger fueled my temptation to kick it.

I refrained—just barely.

Needing to look away, I turned to Irina's motionless form in the rogue cage. Her alabaster skin was beginning to sink in on itself, and her vibrant red hair seemed to have dulled in color, though I knew that wasn’t actually possible.

She should be ash by now, right?

I looked back at her heart beside me and was filled with satisfaction. She’d deserved to die. She’d killed him, an innocent seven-year-old boy.

Blackened blood appeared to ooze out of the organ and temptation finally won out as I nudged the heart with my boot none too gently. A smear of thick liquid darkened the black leather.

Definitely not a figment of my imagination. Not that I wanted it to be. Things just weren’t adding up.

I tried to shake the fog from my mind.

“What happened after you were abducted?” Declan’s rough voice called out.

Blood and Magic Series

About The Author

Danielle Annett is a reader, writer, photographer, and the blogger behind Coffee and Characters. Born in the SF Bay area, she now resides in Spokane, WA, the primary location for her Blood & Magic series.

Addicted to coffee at an early age, she spends her restless nights putting pen to paper as she tries to get all of the stories out of her head before the dogs wake up the rest of the house and vye for her attention.

You can learn more about Danielle on her website at www.Danielle-Annett.com or follow her on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDanielleAnnett and on twitter @Danielle_Annett

You can find Danielle at

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