There are monsters, then there are monsters. Which kind wants her dead?
Mythical Knights Book 2
There was a time Marissa van Dyke loved Halloween. Then tragedy struck. Now the sight of a jack-o-lantern only reminds her of what she’s lost. In fact, she’d prefer to just hibernate.
But recently her nightmares are becoming too intense to ignore. Dreams filled with horror-movie creatures that come closer to killing her every time. Where these vampires and werewolves are coming from, she doesn’t know. She only knows they’re relentless.
Neil Drigan has no interest in finding a mate. Bind himself to one woman? No thank you. Permanent is for the wolf pack Alpha–his brother. Yet lately he persistently dreams about running, in full wolf form, to save a beautiful woman who smells of flowers–and death.
At first the woman’s identity is a mystery, until he realizes the dreams are a residual imprint of something that really happened.
Not only is the woman temptation wrapped in real flesh and blood, she’s still in danger.
And the one thing he never thought he wanted.
Series Order
-
Brightest Shadow
-
Dark Within
- Not a Gentleman's Christmas (optional)
-
Bravest Flame
-
Darker Cravings
- Darkest Judgment
Excerpt
“Son of a bitch,” Neil Drigan muttered as he slammed his hammer into the cage.
“That won’t get anything done.” Kelsey Drigan laid out several foot-long subs on the little card table.
“Forgive my brother,” David Drigan said, putting his arm around her. “He is a jackass.” Said jackass growled as he pushed his glasses back up his nose.
“Be nice…” David picked up a deli sandwich and stripped off the paper, “…or I’ll eat your sub.”
Neil climbed out from the cage and crossed to Kelsey and David, who were both munching on their dinner.
Kelsey picked up a piece of paper. “The installation doesn’t look hard, Neil. See.” She held up the instructions. “All you have to do is push the little tab into the knob, and, poof, you’re done. Maybe you need some new glasses.”
Neil took a bite of his sandwich. “Then you do it.” He glared at his brother. “Why are we installing new latches on all the cages tonight, on a full moon?”
“Because I noticed a few, including yours, were looking weak,” David said, “and I’m the boss. I say we do it now before we have any trouble.”
Neil rolled his eyes. “This would have been better to do, oh, I don’t know, a week ago, before we needed it done.”
“I hadn’t found the right kind yet,” David answered. “It’s not easy to find latches that are sturdy enough for us.”
“Yeah, you beasts are awfully resourceful.” Kelsey rubbed her husband’s shoulders.
David arched into her touch, and turned toward her. “Love you.”
“I love your eyes right now.” She grinned. “All bright and shiny.”
“All the better to see you with, my dear…” David whispered back.
Neil didn’t want to puke. “Save it. I really don’t want to see that shit.” He bit a chunk off his sandwich and glanced back at the bay of cages. They had ten left to do. And while he hated to admit it, his sister-in-law was right in theory. The new latches should have been simple to install.
But the installers didn’t account for bent cages and improper alignments. Most of the
work Neil had to do was more about bending the cages back into their proper positions before installing the new latches.
“Neil, are you okay?” Kelsey asked.
“I’m fine,” he snapped.
She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t act like you’re fine.”
He stood and crossed the room, putting his back to his far-too-intuitive sister-in-law.
“Tense. That’s all.”
“He’s not getting any,” David stage-whispered.
Neil growled. Completely untrue. He was getting some. He had a couple of standby friends with benefits ready whenever he wanted to have some bed sport.
She laughed. “You might be right. Maybe the playboy’s finally craving something a little more settled.”
He pulled his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m not craving anything.” Neil was just fine with the status quo. No woman to tie him down, to hold him to the bonds of his pack. If he had his way, he’d be quite happy leaving the area, settling on his own somewhere far away from his brother and sister-in-law and their mushy-gushy shit.
Yet someone had to stay here and keep an eye on his brother—the pack Alpha needed someone to always have his back.
He put his glasses back on and went back to his food.
“I think he doth protest too much,” Kelsey said.
He finished off his sandwich. He thanked his sister-in-law for the meal and returned to the latches. He’d much rather tell Kelsey to mind her own damn business, but that would start something with David, and he really didn’t feel like messing with his brother for once.
The full moon was coming. He could feel it under his skin—the beast within ready to pounce—they didn’t have a lot of time left before lockdown. David’s eyes were neon-bright blue, as always right before a full moon.
Neil guessed his were just as bright, though he was the only one in the family with green eyes.
Echoes of footfalls on the stairs made him turn. Caleb and Chase thundered into the basement room, the twins’ eyes glowing blue like they’d been using the spice from Frank Herbert’s Dune too.
Neil sighed. Well, maybe we’ll get this done now, with a few extra hands. At least, that was what he hoped.
“Hey, bros, what’s up?” Chase grinned as he came in—he looked freshly showered, but the vague smell of smoke that always seemed to be with him still stung Neil’s nose.
“About time you two got here.” David tossed them both packages of new latches. “We need to get these installed.”
“Nice new latches,” Caleb said, dressed in new jeans and a T-shirt. “Mine never did latch quite right, anyway.”
“Hope you plan on getting those threads dirty,” Neil said, rubbing his hand on his old shirt.
Caleb grinned. “Getting dirty never bothered me.”
“That’s because you’re single,” Kelsey said.
Caleb crossed to Neil and put his arm around him. “Just following in big brother’s footsteps, here. No mates for me.”
Neil rolled his eyes. “Let’s get to work.” He jerked out of his brother’s touch. Normally he would appreciate the bit of endorsement, but tonight everything irritated him.
He hated to admit it, but maybe Kelsey was on to something. Now that he’d thought about it, he hadn’t called any of his “friends” for some attention. He had enough stuff going on lately—losing his job being the top concern. Maybe lack of sex was part of the reason his skin kept crawling—more than just the moon coming.
Carnal needs.
Combined with the pull of the moon.
Must be it…
One of the wrenches he’d been using wasn’t working on the cage. What the hell? Were all the damn screws different?
He threw it across the bay. The echoing stumbled and silenced everyone in the room.
“If he’s that grumpy tonight, I’m moving cages,” Chase said. “I don’t want to wake up all filleted in the morning.” David snorted.
Kelsey laughed.
Neil growled.
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