Tempted by Darkness Read online

  Tempted by Darkness by Avery Gale

  Tempted by Darkness

  The Wolf Pack

  Book Three

  by Avery Gale

  © Copyright March 2015 JK Publishing, Inc.

  ISBN# 978-1-310-32882-4

  All cover art and logo © Copyright March 2015 by JK Publishing, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  Cover by Jess Buffett

  Published by JK Publishing, Inc.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

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  Dedication

  Dedicated to the best readers an author could ever dream of…thanks for reminding me daily why writing is the best job in the world.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  Books by Avery Gale

  Excerpt from Out of the Storm

  Excerpt from Remathyst

  Excerpt from Regina’s Men

  JK Publishing, Inc. Authors

  Chapter One

  Kit paced a path in front of the leaded glass windows making up one wall of her husbands’ office as she let the events of the day replay through her mind like a movie on a continuous loop. After Tristan’s announcement that his wife, Angie, was missing, the entire estate had erupted into a level of chaos, the likes of which, Kit had never seen before. And honestly, that was saying a lot since she was almost always in the thick of everything that caused anything remotely resembling chaos at the Wolf Pack’s estate. She’d frustrated Jameson and Trev so often they’d often joked that she’d been forced to stand most of the first year after they’d been mated because she’d gotten so many spankings.

  The restless energy pushed her to pace faster and she couldn’t decide if it was a reaction to what had already happened, or anticipation of future events. As a “magical”, she had always been particularly sensitive to extreme emotions and, right now, she felt as if she was trapped in the seventh level of hell. All around her people were making calls, shouting instructions, and worrying about her friend. Angie Wolf-Michaels was the younger cousin of Kit’s husbands and pack Alphas, Jameson and Trevlon Wolf. At five foot seven, Angie towered over Kit, but then most of the shifters in the wolf pack made Kit look like she’d been cheated out of more than a few inches in height. Angie’s slender build, willowy grace, long blond hair and chocolate brown eyes made her look young and vulnerable despite the fact she was a well-respected pediatrician who had graduated from medical school when she was only twenty-two. Knowing her friend was missing felt like acid churning in Kit’s stomach.

  Glancing over to the corner of the large office, Kit watched as her vivacious grandmother and Cecil, a wizard from the Supreme Council, spoke animatedly on their cell phones. Kit felt a nervous laugh bubble up from deep inside and knew it wouldn’t matter how much she tried to tamp it down, nothing would keep the ill-timed sound from escaping. Damn, she’d always had the deplorable habit of laughing when she was nervous and that usually meant she laughed at the worst possible moments. For years her mom had sworn she was simply being disrespectful and while it was true she’d been more than disrespectful as a teen, she had always known this was something entirely different. Her grandfather had been the only one who hadn’t judged her for any of her idiosyncrasies and his unconditional love was what made losing him one of the difficult periods of her life. When he’d reached out to her from the other side recently, it had renewed her spirit in a way she hadn’t been fully able to explain to anyone. And when she’d found out he and her spitfire granny still talked regularly, it had made his absence more bearable.

  As usual, her grandmother was dressed outlandishly. Her high-top sneakers kept changing colors, not flashing abruptly with each step like so many of the kids’ shoes Kit saw in stores—no, these had waves of moving color. They reminded Kit of the digital high definition signs in Times Square—hell, they’d probably hypnotize most people. Shaking her head, she turned her attention to the elderly wizard who reminded Kit of Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies.

  Cecil Owen had shown up at the Wolf Pack’s estate to check on a young wizard the shifters had been sheltering. Having recently turned sixteen, Braden had come into his full powers, but he was still untrained so no one really knew the full extent of his powers yet. Kit had worked quite a lot since her mother had brought him to the Wolf Pack’s estate and she’d seen first-hand how quickly Braden picked up and mastered new skills. She was envious of his almost immediate mastery of spells—hell, he hadn’t blown up a single thing in all the time she’d known him. Kit on the other hand often incinerated things without even trying. As an energy conduit, Kit could draw power from the people and objects around her and then focus it with pinpoint—usually, okay occasionally—accuracy.

  Kit studied the pair until she figured out what had been bothering her about
their little pow-wow. She wondered why their magic didn’t affect their cell phones—hell, half the time when she picked hers up it lit up like a Christmas tree. The damned thing didn’t want to download messages until she touched it and that was a glitch no one had been able to figure out. When she’d taken it back to the store where she’d purchased it, the two young men she’d talked to had looked at her like she was insane—as fucking if. I could certainly show them insane. Good Lord of the lepers, look at this place. Wolf shifters, witches, wizards, and a partridge in a pear tree. Oh alright, a member of the Supreme Council on Magicals, but still. Trevlon’s laughter sounded over her shoulder and she let out a squeak of surprise.

  “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to startle you, but you were broadcasting your stress pretty loud, so I decided to check on you.” Trev’s warm breath brushed over the shell of her ear as his arms tightened where they were banded beneath her breasts. As twins and Alphas, Jameson’s and Trevlon’s telepathic abilities were particularly strong, and their abilities weren’t limited to each other. Their ability to hear her thoughts had been one of the hardest parts of their relationship for Kit to adjust to. The more time they were together, the stronger her own abilities were becoming, but at times like this, having her husbands hear her thoughts still seemed like a terrible invasion of privacy. “Don’t be angry, Kit. You really were sending it out loud and clear.” When she looked around the room at several of the other shifters surrounding her, she noticed they nodded in silent agreement. Drown me. “No can do, I love you far too much, baby. And besides, I have big plans for you later tonight, although those do involve you being very, very wet.”

  Kit opened her mouth to protest, she had every intention of leaving as she got confirmation the Supreme Council would see her. Every time she even thought about her spirited friend being exposed to the dark side of magic, she shuddered in revulsion. Kit might have managed to send Damian behind the sealed portal, but there was no doubt he was responsible for this. Damian might not have kidnapped Angie himself, but no one doubted he was the one calling the shots.

  The night she’d aimed her powerful magic at Damian, she’d simply been trying to defend Jameson and Trevlon. Hell, it wasn’t like she had known what she was doing at the time, she’d just been monumentally pissed off and protecting her men. Her grandmother had been trying to figure out how she’d managed to vaporize the evil wizard who had been trying to recruit her, but so far no one had been able to unravel specifically how an untrained witch had managed such a powerful act. All of Granny Good Witch’s training sessions had made the past several months more than a little taxing. After Kit blew up a big bowl of goo during one lesson, the household staff banned her from the kitchen. In an effort to keep peace, Jameson had built a fully equipped lab a safe distance from the house. The small building had state of the art fire safety equipment and all the comforts of a guest cottage for her granny’s extended visits. But both her mates had insisted the small building’s best feature was its location—because it was still on the estate where they could watch out for her safety.

  Kit still struggled with the fact she would continually be in danger until Damian had been destroyed—giving that ass hat so much credit and power just grated on her nerves. Damian’s brother, Devin, would need to be dealt with as well, but Kit had a gut feeling he was slowly realizing he was fighting for the wrong side. Or perhaps he was simply tired of being his brother’s lackey?

  Looking up to see Marcus Hines watching her made her wolf growl in frustration. Kit didn’t get to shift and run nearly as often as she’d like, and she felt that restless energy begin to surge back to the surface as she looked at the man who had kept so many secrets from his friends. She’d seen the disillusioned expressions on the faces of the two men she adored when they’d discovered the friend who they had considered a mentor all these years was actually a wizard.

  Both Jameson and Trev had tried to shield her from their feelings, but they hadn’t been able to hide the cloud of betrayal she’d seen move through their eyes when the scope of his deception had been revealed. Why Marcus hadn’t disclosed his association with her grandparents, particularly his friendship with her grandfather, still troubled Kit. Something about the man had always bothered her, and she feared there were still secrets lurking in Marcus’s soul.

  All of her anxiety seemed to drain away when Trev turned her into his arms, pressing her tightly against his chest in the way he knew always brought her back from the edge. “Baby, we’ll deal with Marcus—trust me. He is not yours to worry about. Don’t let him take up any space in your head.” He pressed kisses to the top of her head and sighed, “To be honest with you, I don’t understand it either. And I’m angry. He knew we were searching high and low for our mate. He knew all along where you were and he didn’t tell us your name or where to find you. A part of my heart is seriously pissed that we lost so much time together, but another part knows all things happen in their own time. I remember our mother telling us time and again as we grew up, I always thought she was merely trying to teach us—well, mainly it was me she was trying to teach, but the lesson in patience was always directed at both of us. Obviously Jameson did a better job of figuring it out.” She loved the way his eyes softened whenever he spoke about his mother. It was obvious that both of her mates had their mother and both of their fathers very much. Kit’s heart melted a bit more every time they mentioned their parents. She heard the longing in his voice when he softly added, “But now I have to wonder if this wasn’t what she was trying to warn us about.”

  Jameson and Trevlon’s mother and two fathers had all been killed while defending their sons. Kit’s mother and grandmother had been there too, helping the Wolfs protect the young men, but the seventeen year olds had been locked in a closet by their mother so they’d only gotten the briefest glimpse of the witches who’d come to their aid. Kit’s mother, Carla Harris, had been so seriously wounded during the showdown she’d almost died. And seeing her mom’s struggle to survive had caused Kit to turn away from magic for many years. Kit had always known becoming mated would bring on her magical powers so she’d avoided any situation she thought held even a remote possibility she might meet her future mate—oh yeah, like the plague she’d avoided them. And then, a simple decision to go dancing changed her life forever.

  She didn’t have any desire to return to her old life, but there sure were times she wondered what the hell she’d gotten herself into. Her mates were not only the Alphas of their pack, they were also Doms. The two of them had awakened needs in her that she hadn’t even known were there. They’d not only known she belonged to them as a mate, they’d also recognized her as a sexual submissive, and they’d known exactly how to unlock that side of her.

  Looking up into Trev’s dark eyes, she smiled ruefully. She knew her men weren’t going to be happy about her plans, but the sooner she started, the sooner Angie would be home. There wasn’t a doubt in Kit’s mind that Angie had been taken by someone working for Damian. And that meant it was intended to get to Kit or Braden—likely both. “About that promise about later—you may need to hold that thought. If Cecil can arrange an emergency meeting of the council, I’ll be leaving right away.” When he frowned she pulled his face down and kissed the crinkle between his brows. “Please don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted and—”

  Before Kit had been able to process what was happening, Trev had grabbed the collar of her sweater, yanking it to the side and biting down on the exact spot where he’d bitten her during their mating. He didn’t break the skin, but his message was unmistakable. His growl sent shockwaves of arousal through her entire body and she knew the instant the scent of her arousal hit him because the tone deepened. He pressed her against the cool glass at her back until the hard length of his erection was impossible to ignore as it pressed against her. “Mate, you would be well advised to speak very carefully for the next few minutes unless you want everyone in the room to see how I’m planning to remind you exactly who you belong to.
The shifters won’t mind, but the humans and magicals might be a bit shocked by the sight of my brother and I fucking you at the same time, don’t you think? They might not take kindly to the fact one of us will sink as deep into your pussy as possible while the other presses through the tight ring of your ass. And imagine their surprise when you light up everything flammable in the room because we didn’t take time to place candles on every flat surface.”

  Kit could feel her heart racing and knew she was nearly panting with need. Damn he knows just how to flip that switch. “Of course I know. You are my mate. It is my job to know exactly how that brilliant mind of yours works. But even more importantly, it is my pleasure to know in precise detail how to bring your lovely body over to my way of thinking. And, baby, I can smell exactly how well my plan is working.” Kit felt her entire body mold to his and suddenly nothing sounded so important that it couldn’t wait for a quick round of werewolf games. “Just let those thoughts of quickies slide right on out of your mind, baby, because that isn’t at all how this is going to work. I’ll be accompanying you on this little lobbying trip you have planned. Jameson will stay and run things on this end. We won’t ever leave our children without one parent safe at their side.”

  Kit felt her heart melt at his sweet words. Losing all three of their parents at the same time had left the young men adrift, and she loved the fact they were taking steps to ensure Ryan and Adana were never put in a similar situation. Just as she was ready to give in to the desire coursing through her blood, she heard Braden speak behind Trev’s back, “Geez, man, getta room already. There are kids present you know.”