by K. F. Breene
Shadow Watcher
Darkness, 6
K.F. Breene
k.kat
Contents
Contact
Copyright
Other Titles by K.F. Breene
Acknowledgements
1. Untitled
2. Untitled
3. Untitled
4. Untitled
5. Untitled
6. Untitled
7. Untitled
8. Untitled
9. Untitled
10. Untitled
11. Untitled
12. Untitled
13. Thank you!
Contact
Website: http://kfbreene.com/
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorKF
Twitter: @KFBreene
Copyright © 2014 by K.F. Breene
Copyright © 2014 by K.F. Breene
Created with Vellum
Other Titles by K.F. Breene
Skyline Series (Contemporary Romance)
Building Trouble, Book 1
Uneven Foundation, Book 2
Solid Ground, Book 3
Jessica Brodie Diaries (Contemporary Romance)
Back in the Saddle, Book 1 – FREE
Hanging On, Book 2
A Wild Ride, Book 3
Growing Pains (Contemporary Romance)
Lost and Found, Book 1 - FREE
Overcoming Fear, Book 2
Butterflies in Honey, Book 3
Love & Chaos; Cassie’s Story
Darkness 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
Warrior Chronicles (Fantasy)
Chosen, Book 1
Wanderer, Book 2
Shadow Lands, Book 3
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all the fans that have made the series a success. As some of you know, this book was written solely for all of you. The contents, names of the new additions, and other items were picked out by the fans. This is my thanks to you!
I’d also like to thank the beta readers, who helped this along: Keri Frey and Heather Kuebler. And the proof readers who came in at the last minute and tried to find every error they could: Brianna Tesar, Tina Tame, Kelly Degenhardt, Nikki Holcomb, Raven Click, Donna Hokanson and Paula Sadler. Last, thank you to my new editor, Steve Lockley, who is aghast I go through life with such little knowledge of the English language.
Chapter One
“So we think these people are supposed to notice us, right?” Charles kicked a stone that clattered into the street. He wasn’t hiding his boredom well.
We waited outside a New Age shop in the middle of town. The window display of crystals, Tarot cards, and other mystical treasures was designed to lure in humans that thought they had magic of some sort--or those that just wanted to dabble in magic. Most of the patrons were women, but the occasional man with long straggly hair and smelling of patchouli oil wandered through.
“Notice you. I think this gig has made me judgmental,” I noted, leaning against the wall.
We waited in a shadowed corner as the sun sank low in the sky. Long, jagged shadows reached across the sidewalk, as though searching for something or someone. Streetlights had started to blink on even though they weren’t needed yet. The bite of fall had me shivering through my light sweatshirt and huddling into Charles.
I watched the people meander by, enjoying the pleasant evening in twos and threes. A few glanced my way, noticing me by the wall like a creeper. A guy or two even gave me a smile. They didn’t notice Charles, even though we were touching. Some of these people passed within a few feet of him and even though he was the largest man on the street they still didn’t see him. It was as if he was wearing an invisibility blanket. People’s gazes slid right past as they continued on their way.
I gave a loud sigh, which drew the attention of an aging man with a walker. I slouched harder against the wall. This had become my gig lately. With things so quiet in our neck of the woods since we’d taken down Andris, I set about my other duty of continuing Fate’s plan and finding humans with magic. I was blending the two sides of magic together to save the magical race.
Or so Cato said every time he called. Which was often.
I had found three people so far, all of them old women. They’d had some control over their magic and no idea of what they might be capable of. While they didn’t have a lot of power, I had a little hope that they could at least join the fold and find some of the hidden traits we needed. Delilah wasn’t blasting orange like Birdie, but there was no one better at working intricate spells. I was improving in leaps and bounds by practicing with her, and now I knew how to link without killing people—learning wasn’t nearly the dangerous activity it used to be.
The old women hadn’t worked out. They had spent no more than fifteen minutes in the Mansion before turning around and marching right back out. Apparently orgies weren’t their thing.
“I don’t understand why Jonas and I can’t switch off on this detail. It’s boring, Sasha,” Charles whined. “I’m all edgy. I want to stab something. Or at least punch someone in the face. It’s never been this boring around you before. Let’s go to the ghetto and parade you around topless so I have an excuse to kill someone who hits on you.”
“Super idea, Charles,” I said, “Let’s go do that right now.”
“Really?” Charles eyes sparkled as he looked down at me.
“No, you idiot. And you’d want me topless just so you could see my wares. You’re not very sneaky.”
“Win-win. Your breasts and violence.” Charles slapped the wall. The sound reverberated into the ambling crowd. I made eye contact with the few people who were trying to find the origin of the noise and almost didn’t notice a man look directly at Charles.
A thrill went through my body. We got one!
I zeroed in on the guy. Standing over six feet and stacked with muscle, the man was in his mid-twenties and owned his space. He created a sphere of emptiness around him despite the busy sidewalk. Tattoos wound around his arms and reached out of his collar to his neck. A wicked scar curved at the base of his jaw but didn’t diminish the handsomeness in his face. What it did was amplify the scary quality of a violent nature. He walked with a swagger that revealed a physical confidence born of fighting. Muscular arms hung from broad shoulders and swung freely at his sides, ready to grapple at a moment’s notice. His eyes seemed haunted, but there had been no fear when he had looked at Charles. There was no sign of a challenge, but certainly not submissive.
The thrill turned into the warning tingle. Why me?
“We got one,” I groaned.
“Which one?” Charles asked, staring at a portly woman who was walking out of the shop.
“No, not the woman who looks like she wouldn’t harm a fly. That would be a good thing. Nope. The huge, scary-looking guy who Jonas will probably want to kill on sight.”
“I changed my mind. I love this detail.” Charles had followed my gaze and was now looking at the man with glee. Which meant my assessment was right on.
Just great.
“Jesus. That guy’s big for a human.” Charles rubbed his hands together with a grin. “Ready for a tumble, too. I’m his huckleberry.”
I rolled my eyes. “When you quote a movie, you don’t have to try and sound like the character.”
“Sounds better that way.”
It didn’t. But I didn’t say that. The man was getting away.
As if hearing my assessment, Charles muttered, “He’s a born fighter. I bet he’d be trouble for any human he came across.”
“And you?”
“Don’t be an idiot, Sasha. I’d rock his world.”
Ego. The man had it in spades.
“We need to get him alone. If we stop him here, he’ll probably throw a punch. He obviously knows you can fight, or he wouldn’t be getting all puffed up.”
“How long did he look at me?” Charles rolled his massive shoulders. He was preparing for trouble.
“Just a moment, but it was enough. He sized you up immediately. Either that or he already knew what you were…” I elbowed Charles as he flexed his fingers. “We aren’t trying to fight him, you moron. The last thing I need is people watching a human fighting with empty air. Or seeing me do magic. I don’t want to see the inside of a lab any more than Tim does.”
“Tim turns into a bear. You don’t. You wouldn’t go to a lab; you’d go to a mental institution.”
“Oh, well, that makes me feel much better.”
The man slowed as he approached an alleyway. I put my hand on Charles’ bicep as the man veered off the sidewalk and into the murky gray. Shadows reached out, wrapping him in their tight embrace before sucking him in and masking his body.
My fingers tightened around Charles’ arm. “Did you see that? Did you see the way the shadows grabbed for him?”
“Yeah, so? C’mon, he’s getting away.”
“Charles, shadows don’t do that with humans. They do that with your kind.”
Charles gave me a puzzled look before dragging me toward the alleyway. “You’re just getting worked up because you sense the danger. Relax, I got this covered. He’s big for a human, but small for my crew. He’s not one of us. And unless he’s a freak like you, he can’t throw magic. We’re good.”
“What if he’s got…friends?” I gulped as we stepped into the dark of the alley. I could do magic, yes. Failing that, I could run fast. But these situations still made me nervous until I knew what I was up against.
I felt Charles’ hand on my back, guiding me into the murky pools of shadow. The edges of shapes hazed as deep colors blended into the darkness. Light from distant streetlights caught only patches of the garbage-strewn ground.
Squinting didn’t provide any more definition. I relied on Charles’ guidance as his eyes adapted well to the night while I willed my own to adjust faster. The guy could be waiting in there, hiding only a step away. Hell, a small army could be in there somewhere and I wouldn’t notice them until they jumped out and yelled, “Boo!”
“Up there.” Charles directed me to the right side of the alleyway. There, in a pool of dark beside a dumpster, lurked a large shape. I could barely see something metallic in his hand.
“Gun,” I said in a quick release of breath.
Charles pushed me against the grimy wall and shielded me with his body, but my magic was already in full flow. I shot off a spell to wrap the man’s body in tight black bands. As my shoulder scraped the wall I yanked the magic taught, trapping the man’s arms to his sides and sending the gun clattering to the ground.
“What the fuck?” the man roared in an angry rasp.
“Okay, we’re good,” I mumbled into Charles’ back. “Get off!”
As soon as Charles was out of the way I approached the dumpster. The hazy glow from the streetlight wasn’t enough light for me to make out the man’s features, but it didn’t take a genius to know he was freaked out. Unless he’d seen all this before, and was afraid of what we were about to do to him.
I glanced at the sky and then the ground. I pointed to a brighter patch of light a short distance away. “Move him over there, Charles.”
“Why?” Charles was staring at the man.
“So I can see. I don’t have raccoon eyes like you do.”
Charles stepped forward and bent so his eyes were at the same level as the man’s. “Stay calm, human, and this won’t hurt.”
The man didn’t flinch when Charles lifted him off the ground then set him down where I’d indicated. He didn’t complain, either. Or struggle. He didn’t pay much attention to Charles at all. His attention was fixed on me. No matter where I moved, his focus always stayed on me.
These weren’t the reactions of a normal human. I should know—I had reacted much differently when I met Charles for the first time. This guy might be human, but he wasn’t what he seemed.
Steady, Sasha, don’t jump to conclusions too quickly.
I tried to keep the accusation from my voice. “Do you have magic?”
The man continued to stare as if he was waiting for something.
I glanced around looking for the hidden army that might be about to try to save him.
Nothing.
What the hell was he waiting for? A rabbit to appear?
“Do you know how I am holding you prisoner?” I demanded. “Is that why you’re so calm? You’ve been through this before?”
The man continued to stare. It was starting to get irritating.
“Maybe he’s already had a run-in with Jonas,” Charles suggested.
“I doubt he’d be this calm if he’d had a run-in with Jonas. If he even remembered it.”
I walked right up to Charles as he picked up the gun. “Looks like a throw-away,” Charles observed. “The serial number has been scratched off.”
I put my hands on my hips in frustration and stared at the handsome man. I knew my eyebrows were furrowed and my lips were in a thin line, but I couldn’t help it—he wasn’t acting normal, damn it, and I wanted to know why.
“What’s your deal? Have you seen people like Charles before?” I threw a thumb in Charles’ direction.
“Human male, I’d answer her. She’s starting to get annoyed. You want to be on the move when she gets all crazy, trust me.”
“Not helping, Charles.”
“What do you want?” the man rasped, still staring down at me.
“Who are you?” I asked.
My question was met with silence.
“Have you seen people like Charles before?” I tried again.
I got the same frustrating response—a deadpan stare and no movement in the mouth.
I barely kept from stomping my foot in exasperation. “Dude, you’re not going anywhere until you’ve answered a few simple questions. Just tell me why you’re acting strange and we’ll settle this. I don’t want to have to make you talk…”
I let the threat linger, hovering in the air. I didn’t actually plan to hurt him, but he didn’t know that. The threat of pain was often a powerful motivator.
His expression didn’t change but a wildness had crept into his eyes at my warning. A fire flickered and then roared to life. A subtle change took hold of him and his muscles flexing down his sizable frame.
He did not like being threatened. He was ready to answer my challenge with a primal energy I rarely saw in humans.
That’s when I noticed it. When I really looked at the guy.
Underneath the rough exterior, this guy was striking in a familiar way. His bearing, poise and physical development indicated someone in their mid-to-early thirties, but his face looked like he was only in his mid-twenties. His body was fit, with the large shoulders, defined pecs and loose shirt around the middle indicated a flat stomach, but it was also fluid and graceful, like a dancer. His grace and agility was natural. He was born with the ability to fight, but he’d learned to control the consuming need for violence, I’d bet my life on it. He was a predator at home in the shadows.
“Oh my God,” I breathed. My stomach rolled with implica
tions. “Who are your parents?”
The fire boiled over and turned his face into a mask of anger. His body straining against my magic. I felt him pulling at the elements. He was yanking at them to help him fight and to break free. I was right. I knew I was!
“Look, bitch,” he seethed. “I ain’t got no money and I ain’t with Jimmy’s crew no more. I got no ties. I got nothin’. So what the fuck do you want?”
“Ohhh, he’s feisty.” Charles moved in close ready to defend me. “You sure you got him wrapped up tight?”
“You do have access to your magic. But you think you’re a freak, right?” I asked in a hush. “You see people lurking in the shadows that no one else can see, right? Have any followed you before?”
The man’s jaw clenched.
I tapped Charles. “Make your arms glow.”
I felt Charles pull at his magic. The runes on his arms seared into life. The man’s eyes glanced at the runes and then back at my face with no sign of surprise.
Oh yeah, this guy had secrets. And I knew exactly which ones. Wanna see that rabbit?
“Seen a few people like him, huh?” I gave him a knowing smile. “You see people like him lingering in the shadows, right? Moving through the darkness? You see things that no one else notices…”
As if a balloon of energy had popped inside him, the man’s fire was extinguished. His body slumped and fear starting to make itself known. “Are you for real?” he asked quietly.
“Yes. I have magic. And whether you know how to access it or not, you have magic. You can see Charles, you aren’t surprised by my spell—help me to help you.”
“Nice one, Jerry McGuire.” Charles smirked, then got my elbow in the ribs.
The man stared at me. His gaze flicked to Charles before settling back on me. Softly, almost as if he knew he was damning himself, he said, “Yeah, I seen guys like that before. They don’t usually bother me. Seen a lot of hot ladies walkin’ around the place, like you said. Stick to the shadows. I used to point them out to people. I mean, shit, they were right there. No way was I the only one seein’ ‘em. I used to get pissed, you know? I ain’t no liar. I thought it was some joke on the dumb orphan kid. Well fuck that—I got in a few fights over it. But then I got locked in the psyche ward. That changed some shit. I got smart after that. Started playing the man’s game. So now, I see one of them big fuckers, I let it be. I mind my own business, and I keep walkin’. Except…you followed me. And you’re human. But he’s…one of them. Curiosity got the better of me. My bad.”