Shadow Lands (22 page)

But Rohnan didn’t need to know that, the nosy bastard.

“I’ve asked the Shadow Lord to send a message,” Shanti said, then watched as Rohnan’s eyes opened gradually. His head tipped forward. His gaze came to rest on hers, blazing with hope. “The message will instruct our survivors to get to Cayan’s city without raising any eyebrows. It is time for our people to come out of hiding.”

Rohnan’s eyes filled with tears again. Shanti rolled her eyes and pushed herself off the chair. “Compared to you, I hardly ever cry at all.”

Shanti wandered through the spacious interior of the living space and into one of the two bedrooms. Beside them was a room with a large tub, empty of water. Sonson had assured them someone would be there soon with hot water for a bath.

Shanti took the smaller of the two rooms since these weren’t her quarters, and stared at the empty bed, still big enough for two. She thought of trekking through the wild. Of sharing small spaces with the large body of Cayan behind her, his big arm wrapped around her protectively. She’d become used to it. In a few short days, she’d grown accustomed to his presence being just that bit closer. Going from being on the other side of the fire, as he had been through the journey, to being next to her, then to sleeping beside her. The gradual closeness had become the norm, and now she felt lonely without it.

She wandered back into the living room.

“There is one thing that bothers me,” Rohnan said softly, his head leaned back and eyes closed again.

“What’s that?” Shanti asked, wandering toward the walls to examine the art. She felt unsettled, like she couldn’t relax.

“The Hunter wouldn’t have given up, but he wasn’t there today. You would’ve felt him, or I would’ve. We recognize his mind now. So… where was he?”

Shanti stopped and turned to Rohnan, thinking. He wasn’t dead—she’d seen him struggling to get up after their battle, and Rohnan was right. She was sure he hadn’t been on the island.

“Maybe he knows he’ll be punished for his failure and ran?” Shanti tried.

“Likely. But where would he go? He’s been trained to the point that he has no free thoughts.”

Shanti shifted, putting her weight on one hip. “You think he’ll try to complete his mission…”

“What else would he do? If he secured you and Burson, he’d be forgiven.”

“So you think he’s lying in wait somewhere?”

Uncertainty and wariness drifted from Rohnan’s mind. “If I had to guess… yes.”

Shanti shook her head and turned to look at some art decorating the wall. “It changes nothing. On our way back to Cayan’s city, we’ll face a great many dangers lying in wait. He’s no different.”

Shanti felt the spark of uncertainty. That statement had only been partially true. The Hunter was the next largest threat to her life besides Xandre. Xandre would be licking his wounds and planning his next step, but the Hunter was mostly exiled at the moment. His determination would not only double, an edge of desperation would creep in. He’d be twice as deadly.

A knock sounded at the door. Shanti’s heart gave a violent lurch. With butterflies, she opened the door. A tall man with a bronze bucket of steaming water waited, a line of water bearers behind him.

She smiled, sighing through the strange nervousness, and stepped aside for him to enter. Then waited with the door open, looking down the empty corridor after they’d passed. Another group of water bearers entered the hall, stopping at Cayan’s door, bringing back Shanti’s butterflies.

“Go, Chosen,” Rohnan said with fatigue in his voice. “I want to take a bath first anyway, and don’t feel like fighting you for it. You and he can share.”

Shanti scowled, but her gaze drifted back down the hall. As the water bearers passed again, headed to get more water, she followed, closing the door behind her. She knocked softly at Cayan’s door, her heart in her throat.

“Come in,” came his muffled voice through the door.

She entered with a sudden bout of embarrassment, not really sure what to say. He glanced up from the couch. His shirt was draped across the top of the chair, showing off his perfectly defined and cut chest. Dimples heightened the attractiveness of his face as he smiled knowingly. “I told them not to fill the tub as much, since there’ll be two bodies in it. They have one more trip, they said, and it’ll be ready for us.”

Shanti flushed. “How’d you know?”

His smile burned brighter. “Your first impulse is to run. But I know that you’ll eventually find your way back if I’m patient. The time it takes for you to return gets shorter and shorter, and soon you’ll stop running.”

Shanti felt a flash of anger, and then a rush of something else. Something infinitely deeper. Something terrifying that she’d have to deal with, because she was tied with him now. Together, uniting forces and power, they could beat Xandre. Together, they could claim justice.

She closed the door and started toward him. He was right: whatever came, they’d face it together.

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J
essica Brodie Diaries
(Contemporary Romance)

Back in the Saddle, Book 1 – FREE

Hanging On, Book 2

A Wild Ride, Book 3

G
rowing
Pains (Contemporary Romance)

Lost and Found, Book 1 - FREE

Overcoming Fear, Book 2

Butterflies in Honey, Book 3

Love & Chaos; Cassie’s Story

S
urviving
Love
(Contemporary Romance)

D
arkness Series (Paranormal
Romance)

Into the Darkness, Novella 1 - FREE

Braving the Elements, Novella 2

On a Razor’s Edge, Novella 3

Demons, Novella 4

The Council, Novella 5

Shadow Watcher, Novella 6

Jonas, Novella 7

Charles, Novella 8

W
arrior Chronicles (Fantasy
)

Chosen, Book 1

Hunted, Book 2

Shadow Lands, Book 3

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nto the Darkness
(contemporary fantasy
/paranormal romance)

T
his book turns
up the heat and moves into an urban setting. It isn’t for everyone, but for those who want to try something a bit crazier, it’s free.

S
ynopsis
:

S
asha has grown
up with one surety: she’s not normal. 

She sees things in the darkness that no one else can see. Mysterious men cloaked in shadow, moving through the night. The problem is, pointing out invisible people is a fast track to a padded cell. Orphaned at age five, Sasha quickly learns an important survival tip: keep her mouth shut and stay out of the spotlight.

Until one night, everything changes. She and her boyfriend, Jared, find themselves stranded on the wrong side of town. Suddenly, the men she was convinced were hallucinations, are very real. And very dangerous.

As a new world opens up around her, she meets him. The Boss. An alpha leader who entrances her mind and tugs on her body. Primal and sexual, his people have a different set of rules. And they don’t always play nice.

As danger rises up around her, her differences may be the only thing that saves her life. She must embrace what she’s tried so hard to hide, while resisting the person her body craves most. Sasha has finally found her shadow men, and they will change her life forever.

E
xcerpt
:

A
s I met
his black eyes, his puzzled expression deepened. “You’re human…”

“We established that, yes. What I want to know is, if I am human, what does that make you? And why do I notice you when others usually don’t?”

His head cocked to the side. His easy balance, his lethal edge; he was like a blade resting on billowing silk. “Very few humans are able to withstand our pheromones. Fewer still to break a 
Kolma
 once it has been placed. You’ve not been trained, that’s obvious; so how is this possible when you’re definitely human? Do you possess the blood of another species?”

I could barely think past the pounding ache of my body, begging to touch him. I needed to get a grip! He was revealing some very interesting factoids I needed to jot down in my mental notebook.

His nostrils flared. “Charles was right; your arousal is a unique scent. Like a spicy, warm drink on a mid-winter’s night. It rises above other smells, entrancing the mind.”

“Umm,” charged with questions, determination, anger, and demands, I thrust forward, “Listen, what did you mean about withstanding the…pher-thing? Or breaking the other thing? How can you trap someone’s head with pleasure? Because I’m pretty sure—not positive, but pretty sure—that Jared is straight. And also, I really think we should circle back to what the hell you are, and why nobody knows that you exist? Because this whole people scattering thing is not normal, and I think an explanation is probably in order.”

He stepped closer, not hearing me, or not caring that I spoke. His eyes looked at me like I was a life-sized riddle. They delved, searching. He took another step, forcing me to retreat two steps to keep distance between our bodies. Another step back had my back to the wall.

A small smile curved his lips. “I exude pleasure, you run. I exude fear, you come calling. You want me, I can smell it. I can feel it, almost like a palpable thing. Give in to it. Yield to me.”

Oh God I wanted to. His body was mere inches from mine, his intense eyes looking down into my soul from a face out of a Renaissance painting. The power of him, the sheer strength, had strange, primal fantasies running amok through my head. My core tingled, my chest surged, and my nipples were so hard they could cut this stone wall.

Why had I come here, again?

~*~*~*~

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