Dark Assassins Series by Valerie Ullmer-Reviews, Except & Giveaway
DARK ASSASSINS Series
by Valerie Ullmer
Genre: paranormal, romance
Kai
Dark Assassins Book One
by Valerie Ullmer
Genre: Paranormal Romance
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There are two words that described Kai.
Remote and Deadly.
And until six months ago, he was fine with that description. But when the vampire assassin spots a curvaceous woman, a human no less, who would come to fill his thoughts, he would gladly shake his persona for a moment in time with her. Instead, he kept his distance, watching out for her and learning more about her every time their paths crossed. But he had yet to speak to her. When a turn of events thrusts her into his solitary life, he must decide whether to complete his assignment, or protect her.
Olivia Sabin had dedicated her life to her work; finding a cure for cancer. She had hidden behind the mask of a scientist who cares little about anything beyond her laboratory, and for a long while she believed it herself. But when a mysterious man came to frequent the diner she visited nightly, her awareness of him devastated her concentration, and she came to look forward to the glimpses of him, however brief.
When she stumbles upon a horrific experiment at work, she knows he’s the only one she can turn to. She’s willing to sacrifice everything in order to protect him and others of his kind from the same fate. But first, she needs to find a way to get him to hear her explanation.
***Paranormal Romance featuring HOT Vampires and Shifters. Contains explicit sex scenes and each book in the series ends with a HEA.***
•••••••••••••
REVIEW:
Kai is an assassin, he’s also a vampire, he works for a company of assassins. But he lives alone, he prefers his own company, but has a family of sorts within the company.
Whilst on assignment he glances at a woman, and has to take a second look, and a third one. For some reason he’s interested, and as she’s a human that’s a rare thing. He uses them for his feeding (blood), but they don’t usually warrant a glance. He begins to watch her from a distance, he makes sure she gets home safe. And then takes it one step further, he begins to sit in the restaurant that she eats in. He is totally under her spell, he needs to pluck up the courage to talk to her (a vampire that’s scared of a human female) then when an assignment comes in to check out his female (they think she’s created a weapon to destroy shifters and vampires) it’s the excuse he needs to talk to her and to discover if she’s their enemy or not.
Olivia is a scientist, she’s trying to find a cure for cancer (she lost her sister through leukaemia) when searching through her computer, she comes across a file, and when she opens it, she’s shocked at what she finds …… her research is being used as a weapon to kill !!!!
She needs to delete all her work from the system and then she needs to tell someone. And she knows exactly who to tell …. she had noticed someone following her and then in the restaurant where she eats. He looks a capable type, a man who knows people to help, so she makes the decision to talk to him the next time she sees him…..
The book continues in a fast pace, full of action. Full of misunderstandings, wires are crossed and opportunities missed.
Olivia is introduced to a group of assassins that soon turn into family, and Kai, well she’s like more, Will she get it ??? You’ll have to read the book to find out ?
A new series is always a gamble….
But this gamble paid off, and I can’t wait to read more. There are so many characters and all need a story ?
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Reaper
Dark Assassins Book Two
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A wolf-shifter and his powerful human.
Reaper had expected it to be an easy assignment. Break into a biotech facility with minimum security and rescue a group of immortals who were subject to deadly experiments and eliminate those who might try to fight back. But the moment he walked into the glass prison and spotted a human woman being held with the immortals, his mission changed.
She became his mission.
Before Reaper had a chance to explain that he was there to help her, she blinded him and the rest of his team and slipped away. Although she had escaped him, a protectiveness that he’d never felt washed over him, and he became determined to find her.
Ara has always depended on herself, but there was something about the shifter that made her want to trust him. She recognized him as someone who was capable of protecting her as well as understanding her secrets without turning her away, but before she could allow herself to trust him, she ran.
But with no resources and running out of ideas about how to protect herself, will she be able to lower her defenses and allow the shifter to help her?
••••••••••••
REVIEW: Reaper was in the previous book (Kai …. Dark Assassins book 1) he’d seen the story evolve with Kai and Olivia (and was a little jealous) and vowed that if he ever had a mate, he’d tell her how he felt.
Reaper is a wolf shifter (bigger than your average normal wolf) and also works for the same company Kai works for. Also a bit of a loner, he interacts when he has to, but generally works alone.
Ara had been captured and used as an experiment (she was also in the previous book) her blood constantly taken, beaten and threatened in a daily basis, she became a timid and scared creature. And when Reaper and his team came into rescue the shifters and vampires being held by the people Olivia use to work for (Kai’s mate) Ara finally found the nerve to escape, but not before she came face to face with Reaper (he made her feel safe) but after being abused and beaten Ara wasn’t ready to trust someone, and ran from him.
We find out in the book that Ara is a witch (and she becomes pretty powerful) and the men that held her captive wanted her blood , and to see her abilities.
Reaper and Ara have a lot of work to do before they get their happy ending (she doesn’t trust, and he just wants to keep her)
Another great story, we see characters from the previous book, we get an update on Olivia and Kai.
Another fast paced book, full of action and angst. Full of missed opportunities to tell each other how they feel. And more on the people that are trying to the vampires and shifters.
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Seth
A Dark Assassins World Novella
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Immortals have been a part of Seth’s world since he barged into Kai’s life at the age of twelve. And having a group of shifter and vampire assassins he considered family, he thought that he’d seen it all and that nothing would surprise him. But the one night he met Aubrey changed his world, and he’d never been so happy to be wrong.
Aubrey was used to seclusion, even before she had been turned into a vampire. She’d never dreamed of a life outside her tiny little world, but that was until she met Seth. Before she could understand her reactions, she ran from him. But she couldn’t stay away. The more she gets to know him, the stronger the connection between them solidifies.
When Seth tells Aubrey that he is her mate, will she take a chance and keep him forever?
•••••••••••••
REVIEW: A short story involving the youngest member of the Dark Assassins company and family.
Seth has known about vampires and shifters since he was 12 years old, he’d been unofficially adopted by Kai ( vampire and hero in book 1) then quickly accepted by the rest of the “Dark Company” members.
His parents aren’t exactly maternal, and leave him to his own devices.
He wants to help Olivia with her research so goes to school with the intentions of helping her.
Whilst studying at college, Seth is aware that he should make more of an effort to have human friends, he tried one date….. and that was a disaster!!!
Aubrey has been a vampire for a little while now (she was “turned” by her mothers latest “boyfriend”) after leaving her mother, Aubrey has been on her own, it’s safer for her that way, the only friends she has is Cole (a human male) and a cat called Hades.
Deciding on a college course is a big deal for Aubrey, the idea of mixing with people terrifies her.
The story moves pretty quick (Seth knows Aubrey is his mate, and wants them to be together, he also wants her to turn him into a vampire, so they can be together for a long time) Aubrey isn’t sure, and moves at a slower pace.
It’s a novella, so the story has to move along at a quicker pace.
We catch up with precious couples, we also catch up with other characters from the previous books.
Must admit, it’s not my favourite in the series so far (is it because it’s a short story ? Maybe) but I’m glad Seth got a story. And a little disappointed that we had no kidnappings or people trying to kill each other ?
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Xander
Dark Assassins Book Three
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Half-human, half-shifter.
Xander has secretly yearned for a mate for most of his immortal existence, and yet after three of his friends found exactly what he’s always wanted, he’d come to believe that he’d missed his chance at happiness.
Until he heard her voice.
Frost is a wildlife biologist and tracker and she has been assigned, despite her adamant protests, to lead mercenaries into the mountains of Snowfall, Colorado for the sole purpose of killing immortal shifters. In order to protect those who have no idea the kind of danger they are in, she agrees. As she leads the armed men on a wild chase around the snow-covered pines, she could sense that she was running out of time.
Until she heard his voice.
Xander understands exactly who Frost is the moment he hears her thoughts. With the help of Kane and Gunnar, they eliminate those in her group as they try to keep her safe. But during the fight, she is hurt and all of his protective instincts flare to life. As Xander learns more about her, he realizes that Frost might be the key to the creation of the immortals, both vampire and shifter.
But when she becomes a target from those who want to destroy the Dark Company and Xander’s family, how far will he go to save her?
•••••••••••••
REVIEW: Xander always seemed more open to the idea of a mate. But he’s convinced himself that his has died, or that he just couldn’t be as lucky as Kai (book 1) Reaper (book 2) or even young Seth (book 2.5) he just has to be content with his family….
Frost is a tracker and works for a company who takes people out into the wilderness. She’s also a wildlife biologist, she loves her job, it gets her away from people and the town. She prefers her own company or the company of animals.
Being hired to track animals for a group of mercenaries, Frost is against the idea from the start, but leads them around the forest in the hopes of losing them.
But what she bumps into is a whole lot more ….
As soon as Xander “connects” with Frost, something inside him settles. He’s found his mate, and she’s in trouble !!! Dispatching the threat around her, he also places her in harms way, and she’s shot!!!
We have a name for the society that want to end the Dark Company (that’s the name for the vampires and shifters who work under ghost their leader) it’s called Nightfall. It’s a company run by shifters only (they look down on both the humans and vampires with equal distain)
And the secret that Frost holds… well she isn’t all human that’s for sure ….. is she the key to unlocking the questions about the shifters and vampires ? Was the first shifter born or made ? And what of the vampires ?
Now, I must admit, I was expecting more, and I was a little disappointed with Xander’s book. It felt a little rushed (was it because of Seth’s novella?) and it didn’t flow as well as book one and two. We had the action, some drama, but no real angst, no real indecision as to where they each thought they were their mate. And the interaction with secondary characters felt a little stilted !!!!
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Jade
Dark Assassins Book Four
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Jade never wanted a mate. She loved being an assassin and she had a family in her fellow assassins, their mates, and little Silas. She truly had everything she needed. But when Ghost assigned her to track the same immortals who tried to kill Xander’s family, she couldn’t refuse.
But the complication arises when Ghost requests she partner with Noah, a human and ex-special forces soldier. Jade has never worked with a human before, much less one that hated her from the moment he laid eyes on her. But she was a professional and if she could play a part in destroying the immortals who threatened her family, she could accept the human. If only she knew how to fight her attraction to him.
All Noah Hale wanted was to kill the immortals who lured his best friend and fellow ex-Navy SEAL to his death. He had no desire to be teamed with a beautiful tracker who mesmerized him the moment she turned her emerald eyes his way. But in order to stop other soldiers from pursuing the same fate, he needed to swallow his pride and work with a group of immortals he didn’t trust.
As Jade and Noah track the group of shifters through the mountains of Colorado, the danger lurking around every corner threatens everything they both hold close. Will they be able to find a way through, together?
•••••••••••••
REVIEW: Jade is a red fox shifter, she loves her “family” of assassins, and their growing family of mates. She has sisters in the mates of Kai, Xander, Seth and Reaper. There isn’t much she wouldn’t do for her family, so when her boss Ghost asks for her help on tracking down some of the Assassins that attacked Xander and Frost (book 3) in the last book, Jade quickly agrees, but there is a proviso, she has to work with a human.
Noah isn’t too keen on shifters or vampires, his best friend enrolled them into a research program, from there he watched his best friend die a horrid death, he blames the shifter community, so it’s so keen to work with them, but he wants the culprits who killed his friend to pay, and wants that organisation closed down for good. Going to another shifter organisation seemed the only logical solution (you have to fight fire with fire, humans weren’t going to be of any use, it had to be immortals)
What he didn’t bank on was meeting a gorgeous redhead, a small package perfectly put together, did he want to know her? Hell yes, did he think she was up to the job? Hell no, but Noah was going to find out how efficient Jade was …..
Again, the author seemed to take the easy route (Jade knows Noah is her mate, and Noah is happy with it? Didn’t he just admit that he didn’t like or trust shifters?) a little dislike and indecision would have made it a little more believable.
The story moves at a relatively good pace, we have the good guys, we have the bad guys and then we have the love interest. We catch up with previous characters and couples from previous books.
We have a few fights. And we have a little soul searching from both sides.
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Hunter
Dark Assassins Book Five
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Half-vampire and half-shifter.
The one definitive belief panther-shifter Hunter and the other immortals understood about shifters and vampires; vampire venom is deadly to shifters and vice versa. But Hunter never worried about testing the theory because he never wondered if he had a mate, even after a few of his family had found their own. As he and two others stumble upon and eliminate several rogue shifters, part of a larger group determined to kill each of the assassins, Hunter also stumbles upon the one woman destined to be his. There’s only one problem. She’s part vampire.
All alone in the world.
Despite everything, Neri made a life for herself after she escaped from a facility using her as a test subject. She has no past, no family, and no connections to the world as far as she can remember. She stays to herself and finds a routine, telling herself she isn’t lonely. But everything changes when she spots Hunter and her first true memory revealed. He was there the day someone injected her with an experimental drug and changed into this cold being.
As Neri and Hunter navigate their newfound relationship, their journey becomes even more complicated when they learn Neri’s venom is deadly to shifters. But with help from the other immortals, Hunter and Neri reveal her past and realize the extent of the threat Dark Company has been dealing with for years.
But can their relationship survive with so much stacked against them?
•••••••••••
REVIEW: Hunter is a black panther shifter, never expecting or wanting a mate. Happy with his job and life. He loves his “assassin” family and there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do to keep them safe.
Nerissa or Neri as she now likes to be called. Was held captive for experiments, her shifter half warring with the human in her. But because of her being only half a shifter, she doesn’t show the qualities her captor needs, she’s expendable, and she’s coming to the end of her usefulness!!! Her captor injects her with a lethal dose of vampire venom (it’s a death sentence for shifters, and vice versa) and leaves her to suffer in pain ……
When Hunter and Neri first meet, it’s on a battlefield, Hunter and a few of the assassins were ambushed, noticing movement out of the corner of his eye, Hunter spots a woman …..
But Neri panics as a huge male approaches her, she begins to relive her ordeal, and Hunter is dragged into her memories. She was being experimented on the same time Ara was, she was in another room, Hunter feels guilty as he felt a pull towards that room, but never investigated. They rescued the captured shifters and found Ara (eventually), but left Neri behind.
Hunter recognises Neri is his mate from the second he sees her. Neri isn’t so sure …. how can they be ?? She’s half vampire, half shifter now, they can’t be together, her venom is lethal to Hunter ….
We still have Nightfall (that’s the enemy trying to kill off the Dark Company) playing their part, but they have a new leader now, so what do they want ? And are they still trying to kill off Hunter and the assassins ?? We also have the doctors that are experimenting on shifters and vampires.
Neri now has the ability to teleport herself and anyone she holds onto. Being a hybrid is also coming in handy (she can walk in the sun, she doesn’t need blood to survive, but her body temperature is cooler than most)
This story deals with differences and how they are overcome. We catch up with all of the previous characters from the books before Hunter’s.
So if your looking for a male who realised that his life was empty before he finds his “one”, then Hunter is for you.
Copies supplied for review
? Reviews by Julie B ?
Hunter (A Dark Assassins Novel Book Five)
Excerpt from Chapter One
© 2019 Valerie Ullmer
Hunter (A Dark Assassins Novel Book Five)
***
#1
Excerpt from Chapter One
© 2019 Valerie Ullmer
Hunter trudged through waist deep powder, grumbling about the situation he was in and cursing whatever deity who made it snow four days into September. He was used to all weather, and the cold wasn’t the issue, it was the fucking drudgery of miles and miles of hiking through the stuff as he babysat Drew that grated on his nerves.
It wasn’t as though he begrudged Jade her happiness at finding her brother after all these years. But they realized after Ghost had hired him as an assassin, the man had never grown up. He pranked all of them although each of the assassins had threatened him to knock it off or risk bodily harm. They would never kill him, but Hunter was thinking about breaking his jaw for the fact the crunch as his fist connected would satisfy him for half a second before he healed.
“You can’t begrudge me a little fun. I’ve been looking for Jade all these years and I took my responsibility to my family seriously.”
That excuse lasted for about fifteen minutes and other than Jade and her mate Noah, the others avoided Drew as much as possible.
Hunter blinked and his gaze darted toward the left when a movement caught his attention. Less than a second later, he bit back a laugh when Kane took a header in the snow, sending up a puff of white into the air as he slammed down face first on the ground.
When ginger hair, brighter than Jade’s, popped up, Hunter smiled. But as Drew stood, he wiped the snow off his shoulders several feet from where Kane lay, and Hunter cleared his throat before he sent a disappointed look toward the ginger.
Ghost assigned he and Kane to training duty, despite their protests. Ax, Thomas and Isaac, Gunnar, and Reaper and Ara had tried to work Drew through the assassin’s training regiment and all of them failed. Drew either ignored what they had to say or refused to take part in the exercises until they’d given up and threatened Ghost if they had to deal with Drew ever again.
Ghost then foisted Drew onto Kai. Hunter expected Drew to be dead by the end of the day. Kai was the most patient of the assassins and after two days of unrelenting training, he had given up on Drew and walked away without a word. Hunter hadn’t been there, but Drew still flinched whenever they mentioned Kai. Kai had a similar reaction to the man, snarling whenever he came near.
Jade and Noah couldn’t train him. Jade would never endanger her brother, even to teach him the basic of hand-to-hand combat or even tracking. They would end up catching up on all the years they missed from each other’s lives. And Noah, not wanting to do anything to hurt Jade, steered clear of Drew, especially after their tumultuous beginning.
Hunter didn’t mind the tiger shifter… for about ten minutes at a time. He knew the sooner he and Kane trained him to Ghost’s standards, the sooner he could steer clear of him.
Kane bent his arms to prepare for lifting himself up off the ground when all three assassins sensed movement toward the west. They all stopped and opened their senses for clues who was heading toward their position.
Hunter scented shifters, multiple, converging fast.
I’m guessing three. Not bothering to cover the noise. I’ve got point.
Hunter cut through the snow with Kane on his right and Drew on his left. As he caught sight of a black glove out of the corner of his eye, he glanced down and cursed. They were in their black tactical gear. Hunter had chosen it because Drew needed to get used to moving around with weapons and ammunition, as most of his assignments would be raids and possibly combat situations instead of stealth, which most of them specialized in.
They hadn’t planned on running into any trouble so close to the mountain where most of the assassins claimed land and built homes of their own. Because of this, Ghost moved his base of operation to Snowfall from Denver and claimed his own piece of land in the same area.
These shifters should have realized they trespassed in dangerous territory. But if they were from Anzû’s group, Hunter knew they didn’t have enough sense or training to avoid a fight.
Keep one alive. We need intelligence. Drew?
Drew, without taking his eyes from the target’s position beyond the pines and evergreens, nodded once.
Hunter knew the kid had skin in the game. Because of Jade and the threat to her earlier in the year, a warrior replaced his teasing personality.
Knowing Kane was always ready for a fight, Hunter turned his attention toward the tree line and observed as three shifters stumbled through before two more followed. They stopped in their tracks and their eyes widened as they took in three immortals, all decked out in black.
Hunter wondered for a second if they would split up and run, making the assassins chase them through the fucking mountains. A growl escaped his throat and the new additions seemed surprised by them and the hostility coming from him.
The shifter in front gave a war cry before all five of them charged.
Valerie resides in Denver, Colorado with her husband and their dog, Maddie.
While she had been interested in writing a romance novel for years, it wasn’t until she wrote her first book that she really became hooked, and now she can’t stop. She has notebooks full of ideas, and she plans to write most of them in the years to come.
When she’s not writing or learning about the craft of writing, she can be found surfing the internet way too much, watching Investigation Discovery and thinking that her neighbors are up to no good, and finding new ways to get her husband to laugh.
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