Fated Desire: A Paranormal Romance Novel (The Twisted Destiny Saga Book 1)

THE TWISTED DESTINY SAGA

BOOK ONE

FRANCA STORM

Edited, Produced, and Published by Writer’s Edge Publishing

All rights reserved.

© 2015 by Franca Storm

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

* * * The Redemption Series * * *

Over The Line

Undertow

Reckoning

Salvation

* * * Twisted Destiny Saga * * *

Fated Desire

Fated Betrayal

Fated Ties

Fated Love

Fated Blood

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CHAPTER 1

Cora Black breathed a sigh of relief as she pushed through the hospital doors out onto the street. After five long hours of waiting in the emergency room in excruciating pain, she’d finally managed to see a doctor and he’d given her the drugs that she’d needed so badly. She could already feel the powerful painkillers taking effect and numbing her agonizing migraine. Today had been the worst one she’d ever experienced. The hospital was only a few blocks from her apartment in the downtown core, but she’d had to pull her Harley over to the side of the road several times during her journey there because the pain had affected her vision and her balance so profoundly.

But at least she could take comfort in the fact that the new, stronger drugs were actually succeeding in keeping the pain at bay—for now.

She unzipped her black motorcycle jacket to give herself some relief. She was sweating. She ran her fingers through her long, black hair and wiped away the beads of perspiration on her brow. She shook out her white tank top, effectively fanning herself. Her black, leather pants weren’t helping matters either, nor were her biker boots that stretched all the way up her calves. Hospitals always made her nervous, hence the excessive sweating.
What if they figure out the truth about me? What if they discover I’m more than human?
But she needed the drugs, so she had to risk it.

She turned the corner into a dark, dank alleyway—the place where she’d parked her bike. As soon as she did, she felt it: dark energy. Instinctively, her body tensed, readying for a fight. It had been a long time—five years—but for someone like her it was like riding a bike. She wasn’t afraid of whatever lay ahead. She was pissed because she was in no mood to deal with a creature of the night. She was a little dizzy already thanks to the drugs. That meant that she wouldn’t be at her best and she’d have to take a hit or two.
Fucking great.
More bruises and injuries to try to explain to Brad, her live-in boyfriend.
Who the fuck cares? Where the hell was he tonight anyway? I called him several times and he never answered—I needed a damn ride to the hospital. But no, instead I risk my life taking the Harley in the state I was in. Risking my life is old news—five years ago I did it on a nightly basis. No more. I don’t believe in destiny and all that shit. Even a Seeker, like me, can choose their own path. Fuck destiny.

As she approached her bike, she caught sight of a man leaning against it. He seemed perfectly at ease, sure of himself. He smirked at her as she approached. He unfolded the arms of his three-quarter-length, black, leather coat and rested them on his dark, jean-clad knees. As he smiled, he flashed the most perfect set of pearl white teeth that she had ever seen and flipped back his shoulder-length, jet-black hair.
Fuck, he’s gorgeous. Gorgeous and emitting dark energy. Can a girl never catch a damn break?

“I’ll tell you what: you walk away now and I’ll give you a free pass,” she said, coming to a stop just a few feet away from him.

He simply snickered at her.

“I’m a lot stronger than I look,” she warned, her eyes narrowing.

“Oh, I know,” he said, amused by her comment.

What the hell does that mean?
She folded her arms across her chest and shifted her weight. Her head cocked to the side as she studied him. “So, what, you’ve come to prove your rep, like all the others? Take out a Seeker and become the new big bad-ass to your vamp buddies?”

His eyes locked with hers, boring into her intensely. “You know what I am?”

“Of course.”

“So you haven’t turned your back on everything that you are, then.”

His comment got under her skin and she responded without thinking, snapping, “Shut up.”
Oh great one, Cora. That was a pathetic comeback.

“Your life here is mundane.
Human
,” he told her.

“My life is not your business.”

The look in his eyes gave her the impression that he didn’t agree with her statement there. And, if that wasn’t creepy enough, his next comment sure was.
“Where’s your boyfriend tonight?”

How the hell did he know she even had a boyfriend? How did he know anything about her? “What?”

“You heard me.”

“I…uh…I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do,” he said, pushing off her bike and stepping towards her. “You just won’t let yourself see. You never do.”

He reached out and gripped her right arm, the suddenness of it startling her. She gasped as a rush of, what felt like, static electricity shot through her arm, making her entire body tingle with energy.

And then it happened.

That familiar flash.

A vision.

“That’s right. Ride me, baby. Harder,” a man said as he roughly kneaded the breasts of a buxom redhead straddling his lap.

“Oh, Brad, make me come!” she screamed.

He fisted his hands in her hair and his mouth devoured hers.

Cora jumped back, breaking the man’s grip on her arm. She fought to catch her breath as she tried to absorb the realities of what she’d just seen. Brad was cheating on her with some redheaded skank?

She looked at the man before her, failing to hide her utter shock.

“He’s been doing that for a while. She’s just one of many,” he told her.

“What—how did you—you saw that?”

“I tapped into your power—your seer abilities—and just brought it to the surface for a moment, instead of where you keep it, buried down deep.”

She shook her head with disbelief. “How?” No one should be able to tap into her mind like that.
How is this happening?

“You belong to me. That is why.”

Oh my God, did he just read my thoughts?

He smirked at her and said, “Yes, princess.”

“Princess?”
What the fuck? This is too much.
She pushed past him and crossed to her bike. “Leave me alone. Don’t try to follow me,” she called over her shoulder.

“I can’t do that. You need to come with me. The pain will worsen the longer you try to deny what you truly are.”

“Fuck you,” she spat.

A sudden rush of cold air hit her. The next thing she knew, she was pinned up against a brick wall, several feet away from her bike, his hands gripping her arms tightly and holding her in place.

She stared up at him. His eyes were glowing a fiery red. She’d never seen anything like it in any vampire before. When a vampire changed and let the demon rise within, their pupils dilated and their eyes became deep pools of black. A red glow did not come into it.

The heat between them was suffocating. She could barely breathe at all, it was so intense. His dead hands on her should have been sending a chill through her.

But they weren’t.

Instead, they warmed her—in places she wished they weren’t. As he pushed against her, she felt her nipples harden, chafing against the rough material of her well-worn tank top. Warm heat pooled between her legs.

His breath was hot on her neck as he whispered, “You are
mine
.”

Instead of pushing him away, she let out a breathy moan. “Stop,” she protested weakly.

“Your body wants me, Cora,” he said, adjusting his weight and grinding his erection into her.

She gasped as she felt the length of his rock-hard dick between her legs, pressing into her pussy, rubbing against that perfect spot. It had her thrusting her hips up to meet him, to create more of that delicious friction.

He licked her neck and that was when her senses returned, reminding her of what he really was. She reacted on instinct and thrust out her hands. He growled and flew back a good few feet.

She looked down at her trembling hands and was startled to see shimmering silver balls of magic emanating from both her palms.

“Your shields,” he breathed, his eyes wide with surprise that mirrored hers.

She crossed to him and he backed away.
He’s afraid of this…this magic? How powerful is it to scare a vampire?

“Very powerful, my princess. And I am not just any vampire.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Luca, Vampire Prince.”

“Prince? What do you want with me?”

“You are
mine
.”

“Stop saying that!” she yelled, waving her hands at him, threatening him with her magic.

He held up his hands in surrender and smiled with amusement. “Fine. Take your leave of me, if you wish. For now.
But,
I will find you. You belong to me.”

“I belong to no one, vampire!” She climbed onto her bike quickly.

He shook his head sadly and said, “There is so much you do not know.”

“
This
is my life now. I am no longer a Seeker.”

“A Seeker is just a part of what you really are.”

His words unnerved her and she paused for a moment, staring at him in question.
Pull yourself together. Now.
She forced herself to shake it off. And then she started her bike. The engine roared to life and she sped away.

CHAPTER 2

Cora lay wide awake in bed. She couldn’t sleep. The vampire was in her head. She could still feel his heat—a slight tingle that resonated through her entire body. How could that be? It had been hours ago. When he’d touched her…Christ…it was as though he’d awakened something primal in her. He’d made her feel alive,
completely
alive, for the first time in her life. She’d never felt anything like it before. And she was no stranger to the supernatural world. Five years ago she’d been on the frontlines of a nightly war against them—the evil ones, that is. She was a Seeker. She’d inherited it from her mother. It was her job to seek out evil and destroy it. There were many other young women like her—some older and some younger. It was their duty to protect the human world from the supernatural beasts with which it wasn’t equipped to deal with. All Seekers were stronger and more resilient than humans. But none of them possessed magic—nothing like what the vampire had caused her to tap into tonight. None of them could
see
things. None of them could call upon—what had he called it?—a magical
shield.
So where was that coming from? What was she? The vampire obviously knew.
There’s so much you do not know,
he’d told her.

Part of her wanted to go to him, to find out what he knew about her. But the other part—the self-preservationist part of her—was too afraid. She had an overwhelming feeling that if she chose to find out, she’d never be able to go back to her
mundane
human life, as he’d so rudely called it. But the Seeker life had only ever brought her pain and death—death to all those that she cared about. Her mother. And then her fiancé, David. He’d perished at the hands of her enemies, just because of what she was—a Seeker. He’d died because he’d made the mistake of getting mixed up with someone like her.

And so she’d turned her back on that life five years ago.

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by the door to the bedroom flying open and smacking abrasively against the wall.

“Hey, baby,” Brad said in a drunken slur as he stumbled towards the bed.

She rolled her eyes and turned away from him, onto her side.

The bed moved under his weight as he climbed in beside her, fully clothed. She shuddered as she felt his hand brush her thigh.

“It’s 3 a.m.,” she told him, batting his hand away.

“Baby, give it up to me tonight,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “You’ve made me wait long enough. For Christ’s sake, you’re almost thirty and still a fucking virgin.”

Her teeth clenched and she bit her lip, drawing blood, as she fought to hold back. Her strength was superhuman and she knew if she used it to push him off her it would hurt him. Badly. With intense emotion permeating her consciousness from tonight’s events, it was too great a risk for her to react to him at all, because she wasn’t in control. She was right on the edge. And that could kill him.

“I was at the hospital tonight. I needed you,” she murmured softly instead.

That seemed to reach him as he let go of her and returned to his side of the bed.

“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t know.”

Yeah, because you were too busy fucking that skank to answer your cell phone.
She wanted to tell him that she knew. She felt sick with it. But she was exhausted. Using her power like that earlier—whatever the hell that power was—had drained her. She needed to rest. She didn’t have the energy to get into it with him tonight. She’d deal with it tomorrow.

“It’s okay,” she forced herself to say as calmly as possible.

He responded but she barely heard it. She felt a powerful pull within her, willing her to sleep. She let it take her, let it pull her under and she closed her eyes and welcomed sleep.

#

Cora opened her eyes. She glanced around and found herself in an unfamiliar room. She lay on a king-sized, four-poster bed. Golden serpent effigies snaked around each of the posts. She shifted beneath the sheets and realized that she was naked. The blood-red silk felt heavenly against her skin. The room was dark, aside from the soft glow of candles positioned all around the room, all around the bed, forming a halo of sorts.

Dark energy enveloped her all of a sudden.

She knew he was there.

“Luca?” she called out softly.

He stepped forward at the sound of her call and she gasped at the sight of him. He wore only a pair of black, silk boxers. His naked chest was a sight to behold. He was majorly ripped. His broad shoulders gave way to biceps that were almost the size of her thighs. And his abs rippled as he walked. His six-pack was incredibly defined; it looked as though it were carved out of stone. She bit her lip to stifle a gasp.

“Like what you see, princess?” he said with a smirk.

“Very much,” she said, much to her own surprise. Where were her inhibitions when she needed them? It was clear that they weren’t here in this place—wherever this was. But as he crawled up the bed towards her, she didn’t give a damn.

“May I?” he asked, reaching for the sheet that she clutched tightly to her chest.

She found herself nodding and dropping her hands to her side. He pulled the sheet down slowly, exposing her naked breasts.

He growled low in his throat.

And then his mouth was on her right breast, kissing her. His tongue flicked her nipple, quickly coaxing it to a hard, stiff point of arousal. He turned his attention to the left one. And by then she was squirming beneath him in a state of barely-contained need.

“You belong to me, princess,” he breathed against her neck suddenly.

She gasped as he licked her there, tasting her.

“Soon.”

“Soon?” she asked, confused.

He cupped her face in his hands. “Soon, we will bond.”

His mouth crashed against hers, forcing her to meet his hard, insistent kiss. She moaned and parted her lips, granting him access to what he desired. His tongue delved into her mouth with a wild fury. A powerful rush of primal hunger rose within her and she met his assault, her tongue dueling with his, tasting him, taking him as hers. Her hands fisted in his silky, ebony hair and she moaned into his mouth.

Her body ruled her head.

She arched her back, pushing her breasts into his waiting hands. She couldn’t get enough of him.

“Tell me what you want, princess,” he said, breaking their kiss and staring down at her.

“I want you.”

He smiled. “As I do, you. Almost thirty—you are ripe, princess.”

“Take me. Please,” she all but screamed.

He ripped away the sheet that covered her lower half and told her, “Open your legs.”

She complied without thinking. And she was glad she did as, a second later, she felt his dick teasing her soaking wet entrance.

“So ready for me. So wet,” he said as he rubbed his erection along her slit.

“Oh, please, Luca!” she begged.

He smirked as he said, “I love it when you beg me.”

He pushed into her slowly, barely an inch. Teasing her, torturing her. She knew what he wanted from her.

“Fuck me! I need you! Please fuck me, Luca! I am yours!” she screamed.

He growled with satisfaction and thrust into her, burying himself balls deep. She screamed from the unfamiliar intrusion.

He stilled for a few moments to allow her to adjust to his size.

And then he started to move. Really move. His cock rubbed her slick walls deliciously, eliciting breathless moans of ecstasy from her. His thrusts were brutal, powerful, relentless. But with him, in this time and place, it didn’t hurt at all. It was pure pleasure.

As he pounded in and out of her, she suddenly felt his mouth on her neck.

No, not just his mouth—his fangs. She tensed up on instinct.

“You are my mate, my bride, my princess.”

He pulled back briefly and his eyes glowed red with fire. He smiled and told her, “Yours are glowing too. Silver. The proof that we belong together.”

His fangs pierced her neck.

She screamed.

Cora’s eyes snapped open and she shot up in bed. She slapped her hand to her neck. It wasn’t sore. She drew it away and forced herself to look at it.
Phew, no blood. It was just a dream. A smoking hot dream, but just a dream. Oh my God.

She glanced at Brad, passed out over on his side of the bed. She eyed her bedside alarm clock. It was 4 a.m. She’d only slept for an hour. But she was no longer tired. The exhaustion she’d felt earlier was gone. Now she felt oddly wired. She knew that feeling well. She hadn’t felt it in five long years. It was the urge for the hunt. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to will it away. But she couldn’t. It was as though some unknown force was possessing her mind and body alike. She
needed
it. She needed to hunt. Right now. She threw the covers aside and climbed out of bed.

#

As Cora sped through the darkened city streets down by the industrial district, she felt what she’d been searching for. Dark energy. She slowed her bike to little more than a crawl as she tried to zone in on it.
It’s been a while. Concentrate.

She located it just as an ear-piercing female scream cut through the still night. She threw her leg over her bike and hurriedly dismounted. She let the dark energy guide her towards an abandoned warehouse.

And there she saw what she’d known she would.

Two men had a woman pinned against the brick wall. They were ripping at her clothes and moments away from double teaming her against her will.

Cora knew immediately that they were more than men, though. She could sense the potency of what they were.

“Wolves,” she growled as she strode closer.

They turned towards her, snarling, their eyes afire with gold. She shuddered, knowing it meant they were moments away from shifting into full wolf form. Taking them on—two of them—when she’d been out of the game for such a long time was a risk. She needed to take them down before that happened. Wolves were incredibly strong. But she knew she was technically stronger—all Seekers were.
But
she was out of practice. It had been years since she’d faced one. She prayed that neither one of them was an Alpha, otherwise she’d be in real trouble. As the leader of their pack, Alphas were incredibly strong and vicious beasts. She’d yet to go up against one.

She watched one of the men toss the woman aside like she was a rag doll. She crashed to the floor and scrambled to her feet as fast as she could in her dazed state.

“Go!” Cora yelled as she stepped between her and the wolves.

The woman obeyed instantly and scurried away.

“We’d rather taste you anyway. You smell…delicious,” the larger of the men told her as they both advanced on her.

Why do supernaturals always comment on my scent? What is it that gets them all riled up?

She waited for what she knew would happen. They both lunged at her. She drew the pistol concealed in the holster at her right hip. She fired. The smaller of the wolves went down instantly, screaming in agony as the bullet ripped through his heart.

Silver.

The wolf killer.

He’d be dead in moments. The larger one was incensed and he struck her, swiping at her with his deathly sharp claws. They ripped through the arm of her leather jacket, shredding right through it and into her flesh. She hissed. A normal human would have been screaming in agony. But her Seeker abilities enabled her to deal with pain during battle. She thrust her fist into his throat. As she did, she felt fur, not skin.
Shit, he’s shifted.
He lunged at her, driving her to the ground. His auburn fur surrounded her, suffocating her as he mauled her.

She summoned her strength and thrust both her hands out, sending him flying back several feet. But he was in wolf form, so he recovered quickly. He lunged at her again. She rolled to her side and grabbed her weapon off the dirty floor. As he came at her, she fired. A perfect shot to the head. He yelped—the sound sending a chill through her. She fired again, penetrating his heart.
Dead
.

“Shit,” she murmured as she climbed to her feet. “I
am
off my game. That was too close,” she said as she eyed her bloodied arm.

Why were the wolves attacking humans now? What had happened? She knew the Alpha who ruled the pack in the city and he didn’t allow his wolves to hunt like that. They only took willing humans—and there were a lot of those. Women were turned on by the raw sexuality that the wolves exuded. They let them do what they desired. She had to find the Alpha now and confront him about it.