• N Gray's Urban Fantasy Ulysses Exposed
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N Gray Books

Ulysses Exposed: A Dark Urban Fantasy (Blaire Thorne Book 1) Ebook

Ulysses Exposed: A Dark Urban Fantasy (Blaire Thorne Book 1) Ebook

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Secrets always reveal themselves. As I discover more of who I am, I realize I may be the monster everyone warned me about...

I should have died. Instead, I wake with strangers beside me in an unknown place and healed from my near-fatal wounds. 

They say I have no powers, that I'm only human. But I have amnesia and no longer able to mask who I truly am and now everybody knows what I am. 

I'm no longer safe.

Can I trust the vampire who saved my life? And can the were-leopard tasked with helping me understand my past, accept me for who I really am before the threat returns to finish what they started?

Ulysses Exposed is a dark adult urban fantasy with a hint of romance.

Fans of True Blood will be transported into a new world where nothing is as it seems.

Reader discretion is advised, recommended ages 17+ due to language and sexual content.

Heat level (1 out of 5):🌶️

If you enjoy reading books from Ilona Andrews, Bella Forrest, Laurell K. Hamilton, K.F. Breene, J.R. Ward, or Shannon Mayer, you won't be able to put down the highly addictive Blaire Thorne Series.

 

Universal book link 👉 here

Apple   Amazon   Google Play   Kobo   Nook

 

Do you prefer paperbacks? 


South Africans can buy direct from The Little Bookshop at the End of the World here

World wide can buy from Amazon here

Ebook download

You should receive your ebook via Bookfunnel immediately after payment was made. If there are any problems, please contact info@ngraybooks.com

Enjoy!

N Gray FAQ

Refunds?

I currently offer chapter 1 to read and the short stories are for free. Therefore you should have a good idea whether you like my writing style or a particular series or not.

Because of this, I have a no refund policy.

Of course, if there’s a problem with the file, such as a glitch has occurred when you tried to download it from the special link, I will definitely send you another new link for the book. Or if you accidentally added the same book to the ‘cart’ more than once and paid for it, I’ll give you a store credit to buy another item from N Gray Books.

If you have any questions you can contact us at info@ngraybooks.com

Gift cards are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for cash in part or full.

Gift cards are not valid during sale or in conjunction with any special promotion.

We are not responsible if a Gift card is lost, stolen or deleted and no replacement will be provided in these circumstances.

What formats can I buy on your shop?

All items on the shop are ebooks only, available as MOBI (for Kindles and its apps), and EPUB (for all other eReaders and the other store apps, such as Nook, Kobo, Google Play and Apple Books).

In future I’m hoping to get some audiobooks out.

With regards to paperbacks, I live in South Africa and shipping fees would hurt your wallet beyond repair. But, I'll be adding paperback to the catalogue soon. Sign up for the latest news. 

How do I get the book on my device?

You'll receive an email from Bookfunnel explaining how to download your book with a link to their Helpdesk. If you get stuck, email their customer service and they'll get you reading in no time. 

If you have more than one email address, you'll get the book sent to the email used at checkout.


BookFunnel Help Page for ebooks 

Find help here https://getbookfunnel.com/


What payment methods do you accept?

PayPal (for now)

 

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Chapter 1The air was cool, the sun warm against my face. I was sure it was evening in Sterling Meadow, and not daytime at the beach.

I pushed my fingers into the sand, but the hard concrete beneath shattered my dream. My eyes fluttered open. I was lying on cold ground, looking up at the dark night and the shiny stars scattered beautifully like diamonds across the sky. There were no clouds to ruin my view. It was peaceful and serene.

I glanced to my left, but an ache exploded at the back of my head, my blood trying to thump its way out. My eyes flitted to the sky once again. My pulse thundered in my ears, my eyes clouded over with dark swirls and stars of my own, forcing me to lay still for a breath.

When I lifted my left arm, I couldn’t raise it any higher than my body before pain caught me in my ribs. I made a small yelping sound and lowered my arm back to the cold ground.

I raised my right arm, lifting it all the way to my head, and felt something wet and sticky in my hair. Bringing my hand into view but there was no bright red; only the dark maroon liquid dripping from my fingertips.

I didn’t remember much before I saw the stars in the night sky. I didn’t remember how I got here, wherever here was.

With effort, I sat up, leaning on my right elbow, but my vision swirled and a headache blossomed. When I could focus again, I scanned my shadowy surroundings. A large dumpster was in front of me, full of garbage. Now that I could see it, I could also smell it. The stench wafted upon the air; the disposal trucks hadn’t collected in a while.

Behind the dumpster was a brick wall with boxes on the floor and trash strewn around. It looked like an average alley, except it’s not a place that anyone should lay in.

I tried to sit, my breathing now labored, but pain tore through my abdomen and flooded all the way to my toes. A soft cry escaped my mouth. Beads of sweat trickled down my face as I pushed with both arms until I was leaning against the wall. In a half-sitting, half-lying position, I slowly bent my knees and noticed that my jeans were ripped, a wound on my left thigh visibly oozing a dark, murky liquid.

It looked like claw marks. The only animal large enough to inflict a serious injury like this was a were-animal.

Were-animals had been living among humans for a while now; along with all the other monsters, vampires, witches, warlocks, fairies and dragons, to name just a few. We, the humans, tried not to be food for any of them, and there were laws protecting us against the monsters.

Being attacked by any were-animal, if it didn’t kill me, could leave me infected with the viral strain or virus of that specific were-animal.

Shit!

If I survived—which was a big ‘if’—I would turn furry once a month when the moon was full. I didn’t want that to happen. Nobody did.

I wiped sweat from my forehead and pulled the rest of my shirt out from the waistband of my jeans, looking to see why there was so much pain in my side. I wore a black vest beneath a black blouse, and the two pieces of clothing came out of my jeans easily as I pulled. Pain cut through my side again and I clenched my jaw. I lifted the two shirts higher, exposing my black bra, but as I was the only one there, there was no embarrassment necessary.

I froze when I saw an empty shoulder holster, a gun nowhere in sight. I hoped I had a license for the gun—humans got jail time for carrying a weapon without that piece of paper.

With both shirts pulled high, I saw the wound. There were small chunks of flesh missing from my left-hand side; the soft delicate meat between my hip bone and ribs was gone, chewed and swallowed by something with big teeth. The wound had tears splitting from it that almost reached my belly button, like the were-animal had wanted to rip me apart.

As I pressed gently on the wound, blood gushed thick and heavy from beneath my fingers, and the night sky swirled before me again.

When I came to a few seconds later, the wound was still trickling blood. If an organ had been nicked by the animal’s teeth, there might not be enough time. If I was going to survive, I needed to do something quick.

I unbuttoned my blouse and steadily slipped it off my shoulders. With my teeth and hands, I tore the blouse in half, scrunched one half into a tight ball, and pressed it gently against the wound on my side. Tears began to trickle down my cheeks and onto my chest. I pulled the vest down to cover the wound and to hold the make-shift gauze in place. With the other half of the blouse, I flattened it out and twisted it so that it looked like a long rope and tied it around my thigh. It was the best I could do to stop the bleeding without having a belt.
With the tourniquet in place, a sharp, shooting pain vibrated up my spine and down to my toes as I secured the knot on my thigh, allowing me the freedom to hold the wound on my side closed with both hands.

I felt all the pain; the tearing of the bite wound and the pulling of the clawed wound as the adrenaline tapered off. I lay quietly, concentrating on my breathing and contemplating my next move.

I could scream for help and try to crawl out from the alley. But, there was a problem with that. I didn’t think I would be able to move with this hole in my side, and I didn’t know the neighborhood. There could be monsters leering around every corner, hungry to taste fresh human meat, and the moment they saw me they’d pounce. Vampires loved blood. Were-animals loved flesh. Witches could use me for their spells.

Shit.

My pulse hammered in my ears, and tiny sparks fluttered in my vision. I needed help. Now!

I sat straighter against the wall, my body positioned slightly to the right so that the wound on my left wasn’t compromised. As I bent forward, something thicker than tears ran down my face. I’d been so concerned about the wounds on my leg and abdomen that I’d forgotten about the wound on my head. I wiped it away with the back of my hand to find more of the dark, thick liquid. This had to be the worst evening ever.

My breath caught in my throat when the sounds of men talking and footsteps nearing. They were almost at the opening of the alley. There was maybe three or four of them. I didn’t know if they were good men and would help, or whether they would finish the job the were-animal had started. If they were vampires and saw all this blood, then I was the perfect victim. I hadn’t heard of a vampire that couldn’t resist so much blood. And no were-animal could resist biting into fresh flesh. I was a Happy Meal to go.

But, I needed help urgently. I had to risk being discovered or I’d die a very slow, and painful death.

At first, I cried out softly. When they didn’t respond, I cried out louder. The talking stopped, and the footsteps slowed down. I glanced over my right shoulder to see the entrance of the alley and rested my head; it was too much effort to keep my head up. In the light, I saw three of them, one slightly ahead of the others. They were staring at me. 
Their eyes glowed like a cat’s would when in the dark. The men were were-animals, and I was potentially vulnerable prey. The man in front, his face concealed in darkness, stood painfully still; possibly tempted at the dying woman on the ground.

I cried out again, this time a whimper, as the pain ripped through my body.

The men spoke quietly to each other, then the man in front nodded.

I closed my eyes for a second and when I opened them again, two men entered the alley and headed toward me. When they reached me, one crouched down and showed me his hands, letting me know he had no weapons and meant no harm. I hoped.

I tried to speak, but no sound came out. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Help me,” I whispered.

“Your leg is bleeding. I will try to stop it and then pick you up. If we don’t help you now, you will die here.” He looked up at his friend and then back at me. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes.” I nodded and swallowed hard. I think everyone around the block heard me swallow. “Please help me.”

“Give me your belt,” the man said to his friend, lifting his hand to wait for the belt. When he had it in his hands, he wrapped it around my left thigh and fastened tightly to stop the bleeding. When he pulled on it, to fasten the belt into place, I cried out until the night swallowed me.


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