Possessed by a Dark Warrior (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 9) by Felicity Heaton 
Series: Eternal Mates #9
Published by Self-Published on April 9, 2016
Genres: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Pages: 453
Format: eBook
I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Bleu is the right-hand man to Prince Loren (Kissed by a Dark Prince). But since his Prince has found his eternal mate, Olivia, Bleu finds that most of the duties which took up his day such as acting as counsel to the Prince, have been usurped by the new Princess. There is one task that Bleu was has never been able to complete and that is recovering the Elven Sword stolen by the dragoness over 700 years ago. He found her once and almost lost his life. He has the scars across his neck to prove it. The trail has been cold these last 300 years but a recent battle has brought her to Bleu’s attention once more.
Taryn has spent the past 300 years in slavery being sold again and again, fighting off her new masters each time until they finally sold her off. Thankfully a dragon slave was too rare to simply kill. She has been biding her time and finally found her opportunity to escape when the elves attacked the slave market. Her premonitions had warned her that the Elf was coming for her again so she wasn’t surprised to catch Bleu’s eyes across the battle field. Though she wasn’t planning on sitting and waiting for him to grab her.
Taryn has plans of her own. Before she was captured by the slavers, Taryn had taken the stolen sword from her twin brother. His desire for power has been turning into an obsession and she knows that with the Elves’s sword, he would kill many in his attempt to rule all of the Hell realm. Now that she is free, it is past time to bring the sword back to Tenak and kill him with it. Death is the only way to stop her brother’s madness.
The only one who can stop her plan is Bleu. If he gets the sword first and takes it back to the Elves, her brother will destroy their kingdom to regain his prized treasure. Taryn needs to avoid Bleu a little longer until she can reach her brother and deal with him, or else all hope might be lost.
THOUGHTS:
To followers of this series, finally getting Bleu’s story was a triumph. I have read most of the series, but not the first few books where Bleu was featured. Although I wasn’t part of the Bleu frenzy, I had no trouble enjoying this book.
You have to feel bad for Bleu. First, after 4,000 years of being the BFF and confidant of Prince Loren, he is suddenly pushed aside by Loren finding the love of his life, Olivia. Bleu might like Olivia but is doesn’t change the fact that Bleu spent most of his day waking the Prince, helping him dress, making sure he gets to his meetings, being a confidant, and now he was a third-wheel with nothing much to do. Added to that situation, Bleu’s fiance, Sable, dumped him in Book 2 for the Demon King (Claimed by a Demon King). His best friend dumped him, his girlfriend dumped him and everyone around him is finding their soul mate, including his sister (Hunted by a Jaguar). Bleu is kind of sad and lonely. Awww!
We met Taryn briefly before first when she was rescued at the slave market as part of Bitten by a Hellcat and when she recovers the sword from her friend Loke in Taken by a Dragon. Taryn knew that they were mates but was avoiding Bleu because she knew he wanted to punish her for stealing the sword. Of course, we find out that in dragon form Taryn and Tenak are almost identical and it was Tenak who stole the sword, killing many of the Elven guards, not Taryn. She just stole it from her brother to keep him from starting a war.
Taryn suffers a bit of PTSD from 300 of slavery. While she is using her trauma to get back into her crazy brother’s good graces. Hey, I want to hurt them all too since look what they did to me. But whenever she remembers all the males who tried to break her and rape her, she does get overwhelmed by her own emotions and might not recover if not for Bleu.
The only thing I didn’t find believable was Bleu’s revelation that he recognized 700 years ago that Taryn was his mate but because she was an enemy, he pushed that knowledge down in his brain and forgot about it instead of pursuing her like he does now for answers. Oh wait, there was a misunderstanding? She isn’t a heartless, killing bitch? Maybe we can date. Maybe you can forget where you left the TV remove, but forgetting the most monumental moment when you meet the one person meant for you and then spending 700 years still lamenting how you’ve never found the love of your life because you forgot, seems far fetched. Yes, I am reading a book about elves, demons and dragons, and that seemed far fetched? I know!
I am amazed that anything gets done in any of these kingdoms since it appears the only thing any of them do when they aren’t having sex with their mate is stare at them and growl and try to kill any other male looking at their mate, and smirking at the other males as they catch them drooling over their own mates. Several of the characters from the prior books are in the war room together trying to work out a defense but all they are doing is thinking of their women and sex and scaring off other males. Focus boys!
I thought it was interesting that Bleu could shift into a dragon once he took Taryn’s blood. I didn’t note that ability before in this series and it is a very cool ability which should have been used much more. In fact, in every battle all you need to do is get close enough to your enemy to latch on and grab some blood and you would have all his strengths. In fact, Bleu makes a much cooler dragon, than the dragons in the story.
I wasn’t a Bleu fanatic since I jumped into this series starting with Book 4. I still enjoyed this story and I am happy to say that I missed nothing by not finishing the last book which I didn’t like Marked by an Assassin.
Favorite Scene:
He stole her breath, robbing her awareness of the world with it, leaving her feeling dazed and in awe as she gazed upon him. Her incredible male.
Her tiny dragon.
Not so tiny anymore.
She flinched when he crashed into the side of the green hill, scuffing the grass and leaving a long muddy track in his wake as he slowly slid to a halt.
Beautiful but not entirely graceful.
Bleu pushed himself up, huge talons curling into the soft ground that gave beneath his weight, and shook his head, his six long black horns becoming a blur in the bright light.
He snorted, his jowls peeled back off twin rows of razor sharp white teeth, and then his huge violet eyes dropped to her where she stood a short distance away, sharpening as they focused and challenged her.
She didn’t dare let the laugh that had been bubbling up her throat slip free. She had made the mistake of laughing at him the first time he had crash landed a few hours ago and that had earned her more than just a growl or a scowl in her direction. He had come running at her, heavy footfalls shaking the ground, tipping her off balance. It had ended with her planted on her backside and her mate towering over her, his beaked snout close to her face.
Her heart had almost pounded right out of her chest.
Not wholly because of fear though.
Bleu’s display of dominance, strength and aggression had triggered her dragon instincts, leaving her a quivering mess, aching for her mate to shift back and kiss the breath from her.
She wasn’t sure he knew what he had done to her in that moment. How hot he had made her, igniting a wildfire in her veins.
Gods.
Just thinking about it had heat stirring in her blood again, her pulse accelerating and body coming alive, hungry for his touch.
Bleu’s huge violet eyes narrowed and he inhaled deeply, stilled and then his eyes widened, his elliptical pupils dilating, and the black spines down his neck and back rippled. He was aware of her need.
He turned towards her and the light reflected off his black scales, sending a blue shimmer across them. She had never seen any dragon like him. It was rare for one of her kind to have six horns, two sprouting from the ridges above his eyes, two from the crown of his head, and a further two from the back behind his ears. He was larger than most male dragons too, packed with sinewy muscle and a wingspan that dwarfed her own.
He lowered his enormous head, his long neck stretching as he stalked closer to her, the underside of his jaw held barely a few feet from the grass. His muscular shoulders worked with each slow step, his wings shifting restlessly and his long tail swishing side to side.
She raised her hand when he was close enough to her to touch him and rested her palm on his hard snout between his nostrils. He exhaled again and then sniffed, and canted his head.
“Shall I show you how it is done?” she said, voice a low murmur as she tried to wrestle her desire back under control and focus on their lesson.
It was hard when her body was still buzzing from the feel of his fangs in her flesh. He had bitten her wrist this time, insisting that he take blood from that spot, and it still throbbed madly, a constant reminder of where he had sunk his fangs into her. She had wanted him to bite her neck again but she hadn’t had the heart to push him, not when he had seemed on edge, his feelings relaying his nerves to her and also the lingering trace of guilt. That guilt was there whenever he gazed at her neck, and she wished she could find a way to help him move past what he had done to her. She had forgiven him, but he hadn’t forgiving himself.
“Controlling the shift is the easy part,” she continued and rubbed between his nostrils, smiling as his eyes fluttered closed. Her mate liked that. “Learning to fly is something else, and you will have to learn to fight on the wing too.”
She had the feeling it wasn’t going to be easy for him. It had taken him a few attempts to shift into a dragon and he had spent the past few hours lumbering around the valley, barely making it a few metres off the ground before he hit it again. Normally hard.
The valley was filled with the evidence of his failures, long dark scars that criss-crossed the perfect green grass, making it look as if a battle had taken place, not simply flying lessons.
