More Jethro & Nila? Yes Please!
IT’S LIVE!
Third Debt (Indebted #4)
by Pepper Winters
Published April 16, 2015
ARC provided for honest review
Synopsis
“She healed me. She
broke me. I set her free. But we are in this together. We will end this
together. The rules of this ancient game can’t be broken.”
Nila Weaver no longer
recognises herself. She’s left her lover, her courage, and her promise. Two
debts down. Too many to go.
Jethro Hawk no longer
recognises himself. He’s embraced what he always ran from, and now faces
punishment far greater than he feared.
It’s almost time. It’s
demanding to be paid.
The Third Debt will be
the ultimate test...
HOW HAD THIS happened?
Where did it all go so wrong?
Jethro was supposed to love me. I was
supposed to love him.
Yet he’d given me over to his family.
He’d bound the ropes, blindfolded my eyes, and gifted me to his kin.
“Know what time it is, Nila Weaver?”
Daniel breathed in my ear.
I jerked away. The restraints around my
body meant I couldn’t run, couldn’t fight; I couldn’t even see.
Oh, God.
Please
don’t let them do this.
I wanted to scream for Jethro to save me.
I wanted him to put an end to this and claim me once and for all. Didn’t our
connection mean anything?
You know
it’s all different now.
Ever since I’d returned to Hawksridge
Hall, things had been different—horribly, horribly
different.
The fire crackled in the billiards room
where the Hawk men had been playing poker. The air was hot and muggy and laced
with cognac fumes.
Tonight, I’d had plans to end whatever
changed between Jethro and me forever.
But now…those plans had changed.
Kestrel ran his fingers over my collar.
“Relax, little Weaver. It will all be over soon.”
Cut chuckled. “Yes, soon you can go to
sleep and pretend none of this happened.”
My ears strained for one other voice. The
voice of the man who controlled my heart even though he’d thrown it back in my
face.
But only silence greeted me.
Daniel snickered, licking my cheek. “Time
to pay, Weaver.”
Someone clapped and in a voice full of
darkness and doom said, “It’s time for the Third Debt.”
I
shook my head, my heart smarting with pain. “What happened to you?” I reached
for him, wanting to clutch his forearm and reassure myself that our bond was
still there.
With
a sneer, he sidestepped, staying out of reach. “What happened to me?” Smiling
coldly, he made me seem as if I were some idiot child asking for the universe’s
secrets. “I got better. That’s what happened to me.”
“I
don’t—I don’t understand. You weren’t ill.”
“You
wouldn’t understand. No one can understand another’s problems. All you need to
know is that I’m cured and I won’t make the same mistakes again.”
I
took a step back, goosebumps scattering over my body. “Don’t say that. I’m in
love with you. Something like that cannot be undone—”
“Love
is a chemical imbalance, Ms. Weaver. I am no longer imbalanced.” He came
closer. “Don’t get cold feet on your invitation. You promised you would come,
and you don’t want to give me a reason to punish you so soon…do you?”
My
skin pinpricked with panic. That sentence should’ve dripped with eroticism. But
it wasn’t. It was cold…lifeless…like him.
Snapping
his fingers, Jethro held out his hand. He kept his digits curled slightly so I
couldn’t see the tattoo marks on the tips. “Come. I want to be back at
Hawksridge before sunrise.”
Nila
dropped the jumper onto the desk, cupping her breasts. “Does this count as
acceptable to you?”
I
couldn’t breathe.
Everything
I’d been running from made my head pound, my cock beg, and the drugs in my
system to fucking disintegrate.
What
was it about her? Why did she have this control over me? And why was I utterly,
ridiculously helpless around her?
God
fucking help me.
Didn’t
she know the more she antagonised me and made me slip, the more likely Cut
would give her to Daniel and fucking slaughter me in my sleep? I wanted to
strike her—hammer the precariousness of our situation home.
“Why
did you bring me here?” she murmured, skirting the desk.
I
couldn’t tear my eyes away from the hard pinpricks on her chest. She couldn’t
be cold—not in this furnace. That meant she was turned on.
My
mind instantly went to one question. Is she wet?
“Kes
told you. Our secrets are now yours.”
“I
don’t think that’s the only reason.” Closing the distance, she licked her
bottom lip. “I think you wanted me off the estate, so you could have me without
anyone seeing.” Her voice layered with sex and invitation. “You wanted me away
from the cameras, so you could drop the act and show me the truth.”
Fuck.
I
cleared my throat. “What truth?”
“That
all of this is a lie. That you’re still the man I fell for—playing the same
game you said you were sick of before I left.”
Shaking
my head, I tried to clear my thoughts. “You’re once again delusional.”
Swallowing hard, I ordered, “Go down to the sorting floor. I have a meeting to
take care of—”
“No,”
she breathed. “I’m not going anywhere until you stop being an asshole and show
me the real you.” Closing the final distance, she stood beside me, crackling
with mischief and lust.
Locking
eyes, she undid the button and zipper of her jeans. “Don’t hide from me,
Jethro. I can’t stay strong if you cut me out.”
My
legs bunched to push the swivel chair backward. One heave and I could launch
myself free and run from her web. But somehow, I couldn’t. I remained tethered
in place; breathing fast, fear swamping my lungs.
She
grabbed my wrist. “Don’t fight it. You can’t fight the inevitable.” Without a
word, she pressed my hand into her trousers.
My Review
This book was exactly what I was looking for. After Second Debt....I was feeling a little ho hum. I was kind of over the whole back and forth between Nila & Jethro. I wanted to know what was wrong with him. I wanted her to finally figure out that he was only doing what he had to do to save her along with himself. I was feeling all kinds of meh until the end. The END!!! GAHHHHHH. She left. She escaped (not on her own....but still) and left him to an uncertain hell. Oh snap! I was hooked back in. Ready for more. Sign me up! lol :)
Third Debt had everything I needed. The most important being answers. There are a lot of answers in this book. It made me feel SO MUCH better to know. To understand what was happening and why. Things escalate quickly. Feelings evolve and bonds will be tested in one of the most 'Oh NO please don't let this happen' moment ever!! I have so much more respect for Nia in this book. Her strength of character really shines here. And Jethro. There is nothing sexier (in my mind) then a broken man who can show his vulnerability to those he loves. I am totally on board for the rest of this series. Not sure where else or what else Pepper can throw at me that she hasn't already....but I am more then ready & willing for the ride. No more doubts! No more meh! BRING IT ON!!
On a side note, I recently saw a teaser for the next book (Fourth Debt) and was surprised, in a good way, that it was about Vaughn & Jasmine. Did not see that coming but very excited to see where it goes. Also, there is a character introduced in this book that I'm wondering if he is getting his own book(s). Maybe Ruin & Rule? Not sure, but excited to find out.
Addicted
Series Reading Order
Debt
Inheritance (Indebted #1) FREE
First Debt
(Indebted #2)
Second Debt
(Indebted #3)
Third
Debt (Indebted #4)
PREORDER Fourth Debt (Indebted #5) NOW
About the Author
Pepper Winters wears many roles. Some of them include
writer, reader, sometimes wife. She loves dark, taboo stories that twist with
your head. The more tortured the hero, the better, and she constantly thinks up
ways to break and fix her characters. Oh, and sex... her books have sex.
She loves to travel and has an amazing, fabulous hubby who
puts up with her love affair with her book boyfriends.
Her Dark Erotica books include:
Tears of Tess (Monsters in the Dark #1)
Quintessentially Q (Monsters in the Dark #2)
Her Grey Romance books include:
Destroyed
Giveaway
A troubled Scottish rugby player who doesn't play by the rules.
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist
and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of
Where Sea Meets Sky, Racing the Sun, The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists
Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on
an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue
pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of
books.
