Passage Paperback (Spicy Edition)

THIS BOOK CONTAINS SCENES DEPICTING EXPLICIT SEXUAL ACTIVITY.

If you would prefer a version without explicit scenes, check out the YA edition.



Paso a Paso. Step by step.

My best friend is dead. My best friend is dead and it’s Bird’s fault. On the surface, my path seems clear: get to Bird. Infiltrate the Exiters. Bring them to justice.

But I have never been more confused in my life.

Before I can even think about finding Bird, Zenith has to locate the Exiters. And before I can infiltrate them as a spy, I have to complete training to hold my own. Which means training with Johnny. Which means being close to Johnny. Very close. I may not know how I feel about Bird anymore, but I definitely don't know how I feel about Johnny either.

And I haven't told anyone, but despite what they did, there's still a tiny part of me that thinks the Exiters may be right about the world. Am I falling for their propaganda? Or is Bird right? Are the Exiters humanity’s only hope?

An Excerpt

Johnny turns his eyes back up to mine, gently pulls on my tie and brings my mouth to his.

As our lips touch, all that buzzing, anxious energy rushes up inside me. I almost pull away, but he tightens his grip and doesn’t let me, and as the kiss deepens I close my eyes and let him guide me.

Kissing him is nothing like kissing Bird; it’s bigger and scarier and I feel like I don’t have control of what’s happening. Like I’m letting myself be pulled underwater by a powerful current and trusting him to keep me somewhere near the surface and not to let me drown.

He leans in, bracing his free hand on the roof beside my hip, the hand on my tie holding me still as his mouth becomes more insistent. My heart is beating so hard I feel it in my whole body—in my hands and feet. It’s all I can feel: my heart and his lips.

I find myself lifting a hand, hesitantly, like I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, which is weird because I’ve never felt unsure about that before. I wrap it around the back of his neck and pull him closer. He makes a small noise in his throat and the hand at my tie releases, flattens against my chest, presses me backward.

He rolls halfway onto me, one knee between mine and his weight on my hip as he pushes me to my elbows and then onto my back. Blood is roaring in my ears. My heart is going crazy fast. I part my lips because I feel like I can’t breathe and he immediately pushes his tongue in. I gasp in surprise and my palm comes to the front of his shoulder and he stops.

He pulls back, one hand still on my chest. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah—” I swallow and try to get a breath, but can’t. “I just—”

“We can stop. Any time.”

“No, I—” He shifts his weight and I manage to pull some air into my lungs. “I don’t want to stop.”

“Are you sure?”

I nod. His eyes burn into me as he carefully lowers his mouth and touches it to mine so gently that it takes my breath away all over again.

“Okay, well you don’t have to be that careful…”

He smiles against me, and pushes harder, sinking to one elbow, settling his weight onto me. I slide my hands into his hair, and the strands are like silk between my fingers. I part my lips and let his tongue in, and he groans and goes hard against my hip.

Holy shit.

Deep inside me, a fire lights. A big, hot, smoldering fire. It rockets through my blood in a way I’ve never felt before. My skin ignites, and as he pushes that hardness against me, I feel myself get hard too.

He drags his hand down my chest, pushing open my suit jacket, untucking my shirt so he can touch me underneath it. I shiver as his bare fingers graze my ribs, stomach, the hair below my belly button. They slide over the front of my pants and I suck in a breath, breaking from his lips, tilting my head back, overwhelmed by the heat in my body.

“Still okay?” he says. I nod, speechless, staring at the sky. “You have to tell me if you want to stop.”

“I don’t want to stop.”

"This book is by far my favorite of the series! Sargo being pulled in so many directions and struggling with all the different emotions really made the book an up and down adventure. I read this in one sitting and held my breath the entire time while bawling my eyes out!!"

Goodreads Review

"Another fantastic book in the series, the author knows how to take me through an emotional rollercoaster! Brilliant characters, great plot, and a cliffhanger that’s got me desperate for the next book."

Goodreads Review

From the Author

For fans of the Hunger Games, ACOTAR-level heat, Gideon the Ninth, and Waterworld, this series is a spicy, VERY SLOW BURN* adventure romance. I go for quality over quantity when it comes to spice, and rate my chili peppers about a 3-4, with 3-5 spicy scenes per book.

- forced proximity

- opposites attract

- friends (who argue like enemies) -to-lovers

- one bed (in book two)

- why choose (in book five)

- first love

- found family

- animal companion

- fast-paced, high-stakes adventure

- mental health rep

- LGBTQ+ rep

*WHEN I SAY "SLOW BURN" I AM NOT PLAYING AROUND.

Printing takes about 10 days. Arrives in approximately 2 weeks.

Psst...looking for the old covers? Shoot me an email at liz@lizshipton.com