Demetrius: the dark guardian

Tempted 

(Eternal Guardians #3)

by Elisabeth Naughton

Demetrius intensifies her desire…

to hurt him, to see him gone! He intimidates, frightens her. “He scares the crap out of her”. This. Is. Good! For, the Princess Isadora, cannot be with him. And he keeps her at bay. He must! If he surrenders to his lust; if he embraces his attraction and affection to Her, the result, disastrous…the circumstances, dire. She must believe him a monster; dark, evil, cruel…for he is.

Demetrius, we’ve met him, the callous, heartless, savage Argonaut…(Yep, there’s a psycho in every group: Zsadist, Zarek, Aeron, anyone?)You know, the one who sets himself apart from the others, by choice;  misunderstood, mistrusted, misjudged.  And…Demetrius makes certain that Isadora hates him. He forces her to avoid him, to loathe him. And Boy, does he has his reasons! He is not what he appears…so many secrets…His bloodline is one of the enemy. His talent hidden, concealed in black magic. He crawls into himself, shields the truth from others… his brother guardians, for, if they only knew…the truth. However, Demetrius is the prime example of the saying: “the road to Hell is paved with best intentions”…the story of his life. Why does he loathe, detest the Princess? “Thou doth protest too much”

Tempted tells Demetrius and Isadora’s story…

Tempted opens as Demetrius enters a sleazy bar with the intent to escape his misery, to drown his sorrows, anesthetize his self-pity. To forget Isadora’s binding ceremony to Zander…(well, this is good, right)? He’s forced to return to the castle to strategize to find the missing Isadora! Again? More Drama! Demetrius believes that she created this situation, just for attention, and that she’s fine; nonetheless, the Argonauts must develop a rescue plan, endanger themselves to find and retrieve her. 

“The female couldn’t stay out of trouble for five fucking minutes. And just like every other time she’d gotten herself in a bind, the Argonauts were being sent in to save her. He was sick to death of playing royal babysitter. At what point was he going to be free of her for good?…Demetrius made himself a promise. If she wasn’t dead yet, he just might kill her himself. “

The guardians quickly realize that Isadora has been kidnapped, by Saphira, her maidservant; in truth, a witch of the coven loyal to the vile Apophis, an immensely powerful warlock. 

And… Demetrius goes ballistic! WTH? Everyone knows that Demetrius totally despises, loathes the pampered timid princess. Why should he care that she’s in danger? Something doesn’t add up. The guardians rescue mission leads them to Medean coven, the witches of the Aegis Mountains; to Thrace castle, Apophis’  inner sanctum, and of course to…Atalanta. A suspenseful rescue ensues with Demetrius, Isadora, and Gryphon leaping into a portal, barely escaping with their lives and landing into a …nightmare, to Atalanta and her daemons!

Demetrius and Isadora, thrown together… continue their journey; an adventure replete with monsters, magic, deceit, betrayal, an ancient prophesy, hidden agendas, hidden identities and…secrets!

In Tempted, Naughton intensifies the suspense, the action, the shocks, the WTF…the hott steam, the slow seduction.  And Demetrius… battles to protect Isadora from the monsters of the night, from Atalanta, and from…himself. I enjoyed watching his transformation, as he battles his angst, his inner turmoil; yet, his torment is overshadowed by his strong sense of protectiveness and the indelible pull of his soulmate. “The two parts of him he kept locked off from the world, the blackness inside and his so-called gifts, strained to be set free To finally be used.”

And Isadora finds her backbone, her resolve, her mettle. She reaches deep, finds her courage, determination and the ability to follow her own path…learns to ignore preconceived archaic beliefs, learns to follow her heart, and learns to trust and to allow herself to love Demetrius.  She, once timid, becomes the immovable force, the shield and haven that he needs to face and defeat his demons, his inner evil and nefarious bloodline legacy. She guides, persistent in her determination to have Him, for she is his soul mate…yes, his weakness, his vulnerability, his “worse possible match”…Hera’s curse. Still, Isadora fights for him…fights for his soul, his love, and his life. 

“Sometimes the most important things in this world are the one we have to fight for. I don’t believe you’re not worth fighting for, Demetrius. Even if you do… He wasn’t the stone-cold bastard she’d always believed him to be. He was so much more. Now she had to make him believe too.”

We reconnect with Theron, Casey, Zander, and Callia; as well as the brothers, Gryphon and Orpheus. Orpheus is…well, his story is next. Can’t Wait!

Overall, Tempted is an enjoyable great read!