Beyond The Veil: A Paranormal & Magical Romance Boxed Set

by Multiple Authors

  “What about my mother in the States?” Kyna cried, as abject horror made her vision cloud and her hands rushed up to cover the spot where her heart beat hard in her chest.

  “I’m sure she’s last on their list, especially with you here, away from her. What would they care about her now?” he huffed. “Anyway, revenge for your grandfather’s misdeeds toward them, whatever they were, is a powerful motivator itself. When you add in what they could do with the addition of your powers to their team, especially untrained powers, well, it’s like a white slate to them. You are a force they can mold to their own needs while exacting revenge at the same time. Taking you is a win, win. Your father protected your mother…your aunt, just as your aunt is now trying to protect you.”

  “You sound like you know a lot about this group, Darcaryn,” Aedan accused.

  Kyna felt the muscles in his arm tense further. His whole being vibrated with rage.

  “No, not them exactly, as I don’t know who they are. But, I know of groups like them. I’ve dealt with these types of situations before. It’s why Saoirse hired me. But, I don’t have to prove my worth to you,” Darcaryn hissed at Aedan. “I have the knowledge and the power. You simply have muscle. Kyna should be safe for tonight as they gear up for their next attack. Just keep watch over her while I tend to other matters. I’ll be back for her in the morning to further her training, a crash course in how to protect herself without the likes of you, so rasna ort fein!”

  Darcaryn turned and left, slamming the door behind him.

  “What did that mean?” Kyna asked.

  “Irish slang for Go fuck yourself. Nice guy. Ass. So pompous. I know your aunt trusts him, but I don’t. Don’t ask me why, but I don’t at all,” Aedan said as he shook his head.

  “I can’t believe she’s gone… they have her. What’s going to happen to me? How could anyone think I could be protected from them if she couldn’t even protect herself? If her magic didn’t save her, how could mine possibly protect me? Despite what my eyes have seen and my body has felt, my mind still denies its existence at times. I think it’s a game my mind is playing to try to keep a shred of reality or normalcy about me.”

  Tears stung her eyes, but she wouldn’t let them fall. Weakness was the quickest way to failure, and she hadn’t even begun to fight yet. She’d lost the only connection she had to her biological mother just a day after meeting her, before she could get a shred of information from the woman about her mother or her father, or any of her relatives for that matter. She hadn’t even really gotten the chance to know her aunt. Now, she could be hurt, or even dead like in her dream.

  “Look, they’ll keep her alive to get to you. You needn’t worry about your aunt’s safety,” Aedan soothed. “I’m going to learn about this group and keep you safe. I promise. I’ll do whatever it takes, pull every resource I have. I have many former SEAL friends doing this kind of work who have resources normal people wouldn't even dream of having access to. I won’t let anything happen to you. I—”

  He’d stopped speaking, looked down at his shoes, and took a step back from her. Just moments before he’d inched closer with each sentence. Once he gained some distance, he looked right into her eyes, melting her core where her energy burned warmer in his presence.

  “You what?” she coaxed, taking a tentative step toward him.

  She missed the connection even a few inches had cost her.

  “I won’t let it get personal. I promise you. I won’t let whatever it is…whatever I…” He shook his head. “I will not let anything interfere with protecting you.”

  “Whatever what is? Please tell me. I need to know.” She moved in close, placed her fingers on his chest, and let each tip press against the solid muscle that jumped under touch. “Maybe I’ve felt it, too, since the first time you touched me. Maybe now isn’t the time to be alone. I don’t want to be here without you, not a second. It isn’t just because your presence makes me feel so safe, because it feels dangerous as well.” She granted him a coy smile.

  ‘Kyna, I can’t keep a clear head if you keep touching me.” His husky voice deepened, practically trembled with the words.

  “Would it matter if I was touching you or not? Wouldn’t you feel the same? Look, honestly, I’ve wanted you from the second I laid eyes on you. And, yes, right now, I’m feeling very alone. The only blood relative I know of, even though I’ve only spoken with her twice, is missing. My future looks a bit terrifying. Still, I couldn’t deny this. I’ve never in my life experienced this sort of attraction so quickly.”

  They were so close now their lips almost touched, she could inhale his every exhale, draw the energy of him, a life force, deep within her. It stirred a wild power that raged inside her. Her skin yearned for his touch. Her core wanted for his power, the sheer maleness of him.

  He brushed his lips against hers once, a brief rub of skin over skin, a test.

  She swallowed hard and opened her eyes to find herself the recipient of his intense stare. He stroked the fingers of one hand through her hair and then cupped her cheek. She exhilarated in the pulse of energy there, tilted her head to rest in his palm. Magic or not, the man had his own power over her.

  Aedan hesitated briefly but then moved in again, pulling her face to his, crushing his mouth against hers. He teased his firm, full lips over hers, but with enough force she could feel it in her toes. She slid her hands up his chest and around to the back of his his neck, playing in the short strands of silk .

  Breathless, she pulled back and looked into his face. His brows furrowed, questioning her sudden reluctance.

  “No, it’s not like that at all,” she explained. “Kissing you, I feel your power, your energy, your very life, pouring into me. It’s not like I’m stealing it, but it mixes with my own. It not only settles this wildness I don’t understand within me, but it also makes it feel more complete. I can’t explain it any better than that, but look,” she nodded toward her right hand now in the air as far from them both as she could stretch it.

  She didn’t mention her revelation that it was just as Darcaryn had explained, the connection between intimacy and magic. Calling to the fire in her heart this time, she set forth a ball of light from her fingers and let it circle in her palm. It moved, clear and bright with all shades of red and yellow and blue inside it. So pure she could look right into it, she freed all that he’d built in her with one kiss.

  “You learned that today?” he asked.

  “Not exactly. Today I merely got a few sparks, a ball of white light that blinded me then quickly disappeared when I looked at it. But now, being with you, my magic,” she paused and huffed. “First time I’ve called it that. Anyway, my magic feels complete. Call me crazy, but I can feel your energy inside of me when we kiss. I am more powerful and more in control because of you.”

  She continued to let the light burn, to play with the sheer power at her fingertips. She made it change shapes from a circle to an oval and back again. She even moved her palm as if to shoot it, but it bounced off the wall back toward them. He grabbed her and pulled her to him to try to protect her, but failed. The light brushed her hip and filled her with a gasp. This occurrence made her realize she’d not felt empty without it, nor had she needed the energy back. It seemed endless. With love, or lust, or whatever mixture of the two that was happening between them, her magic felt more powerful, but easier to manage.

  “You okay?” he questioned, Rubbing his hand down over her hip and thigh.

  Something completely different stirred inside of her, a heat not related whatsoever to her magic.

  “Perfect. Well, except for everything else in my life being so messed up. Besides that, here with you, I’m perfect.”

  “Me too. For the first time since my injury I feel whole, like I have a purpose. It’s so strange. As a SEAL I never really had relationships, not with so many days on the job a year. I never dreamed this even possible for a guy like me. I will still protect you with my last breath,” he promised.

&
nbsp; “I know you will, but let’s hope it never comes to that.”

  “Your light, no, your magic, it’s amazing. And the thought I had anything to do with it blows my mind.”

  He suddenly bent sliding one arm beneath her knees, the other around her back, and scooped her up, pulling her in tight to his muscular chest. He brushed his mouth over her lips in a lingering kiss as she hung in his arms. He moved fast, but with a steady sureness across the room. Gliding her back onto the bed, he gently removed his hold on her, and the mattress dipped with his weight as he stretched out beside her.

  Trailing his hand down her neck to her shoulder, he caught her bottom lip between his own. After a small, gentle suck, he released her.

  Her lips hung slightly parted, hungry for more. She shook her head back and forth slightly, overwhelmed. She held back as her whole body wanted to jump onto his or to pull him into her. More. More. More, ran the chorus in her head. She smiled, but when he returned it neither did she feel silly or stupid for her reaction.

  He slid his hand down her arm and nudged her hand upward until her fingers splayed and intertwined with his. Tiny sparks flew from each spot where their flesh met.

  “I felt that,” he exclaimed after a deep inhale of breath, making his deep voice hitch.

  “Me too,” she giggled. “I can hardly contain it.”

  “You won’t burn me again, will you?”

  Rather than answer, she just stared into the light flickering in his eyes. His long, thick lashes brushed across the tops of his cheek as he blinked once, and he laughed.

  “I don’t think so. I mean, I hope not,”

  “Honestly, I couldn't care less,” he soothed. “You’re worth the risk.”

  She sighed, a weight rising off her chest. “I think burning you had to do with fear, and a lot of pent up anger at that moment that had no real direction other than my aunt. I hope she’s okay. I mean, I don’t know her, but she is my flesh and blood. I miss my mom, too. I mean the one back home who raised me. No matter what she did or didn’t do, or tell me, I know she had her reasons, and each one stemmed from love. She’s the strongest, most dedicated, most loving woman I know. She fought for me, for our life together. No matter how tired she was from a full day’s work, from hard labor, she always had time for me. Exhausted, she’d cuddle up in bed and listen to me, and then provide real advice.”

  “She sounds wonderful. I hope I get to meet her someday. How did she react to the letter your aunt sent?” he asked.

  He played with her hand, ran a fingertip over her palm, and intertwined their fingers again.

  “She was amazing, calm and gentle, with tears in her eyes. I could see the pain it had caused her to lie to me all those years. So, I think in a sense, she felt relief. But, she told me in no uncertain terms, with no beating around the bush, the whole truth. Well, she confirmed what was in the letter. She never added the magic thing to it. But all the same, she owned up to what my aunt said, and told me how much she’d loved me from the first second she’d held me in her arms. She said that even with all the demands of my adoption she’d do again to keep me safe.”

  “You’re lucky to have had that,” he soothed. “Maybe she didn’t know if she could or should mention the magic. She had to be as stunned as you were by the letter.”

  “I’m sure. What about you?” she asked as she trailed a finger from her free hand over his chest. She let it rise and fall over the hills and valleys there, tracing every fiber of each sinewy muscle.

  “Um, well, she was nice. She worked hard too, was there for us when I asked. But, I didn’t ask for much. They claim you’re born a SEAL, and I believe that’s true. I was fascinated with not only the military, but with learning all my life. I studied every second I wasn’t out playing, then working out, then working a job as I grew. I miss her, too. I wish we’d had more time to get to know each other when I was little, that we’d had more time together once I joined the military. I visit when I can, and I call.”

  “And, your father,” she got out leisurely, each word in its own beat of time as she followed the line of his jeans where they hung stretched tight across his hips.

  He laughed, a short, throaty chuckle cut short by a long intake of breath as he touched her cheek. Then, he trailed his hand down over her throat, tracing her collarbone to just above her breast, right over her heart.

  “We’ll get to him another time,” he sighed. “He passed away about five years ago now. I’ve been trying not to speak ill of the dead.”

  His expression grew more serious then, eyes blazing from under the locks of dark hair that had fallen forward. Between the hairs on his forehead, a vein bulged, as sexy as the one under his eye, right above a tiny scar. She wanted to know the story behind it, behind every scar, behind every memory. What legions of harrowing tales must lie within his mind?

  Without touching her breast, her moved his hand to the side, found hers again. This time he watched as he grasped her hand, laid it over his, then let them mesh together. He lifted half his body up onto her. His strong edges pushed down on her one full breast, as his other hand found her alternate as well. Once all his weight balanced on her, he slid their joined hands up to each side of her head and brought them in to cradle her head with his strong arms.

  His mouth found hers this time with much more gusto, more movement, more soft brushes of skin juxtaposed in the best way possible with pushes and nips. When he backed off for air, a half smile turned quickly to a partial grimace. She watched as his jaw clenched and his neck moved as he swallowed.

  “What? What’s wrong?” she questioned in a rush.

  “I just wonder if I should let myself, well, let myself just feel, just enjoy. I’m as scared as I am excited. I never talk this much, and it’s all I want to do with you other than touch you and kiss you. I want to know everything about you. I want to memorize every inch of you. I don’t want to let you out of my sight. I’m getting paid to do just that cause there’s someone out there, or several some ones, who wish to use you… Use that which is so special about you for their own perverted reasons. Magical doesn’t cut it when describing you, your smile, though I’ve only been blessed with seeing it a few times. Listen to me ramble. This is all so new to me.”

  “Let yourself. Moments change on a dime. I’ve learned that to be true, and then some, this past week. But, my mom always said we should embrace each moment for all it had to teach us, good or bad. And, when the good ones come along, we need to hold onto them as tightly as we can, to open our eyes and appreciate each second of them. I want to do that now because you’re the one huge bright spot in this whole mess. And, because I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”

  She inched her palm from his so just their fingertips met. Then, she let what she felt for him form into a soft white light that rolled between their flesh. She watched him watch the light. The brightness flickered in his warm, chocolate colored eyes. She melted.

  “What I feel for you scares me, too,” she admitted, “but my mom made me a believer in love at first sight with the stories she used to tell me of meeting my father. All my life I wished to be able to experience the same, and here, in the midst of all this upheaval in my life, I’ve found you.”

  They spent the next hours talking, touching, kissing, until they fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. They could have let go, made love, but they’d agreed to believe in the tomorrow they had together instead. They promised each other to take this wonderful thing happening between them slow, to savor each and every magical moment.

  Chapter Eight

  Aedan’s arms created a safe cocoon in which she felt wanted, truly desired as a woman, for the very first time. Never one to invest much time in relationships before, she knew something there had changed with Aedan. He made her want things she’d never truly wanted before. Regardless, she had to pry herself away and get dressed to find Darcaryn.

  As she awoke, she’d grown desperate for some good news regarding her aunt. While she hadn’t got
ten a chance to get exactly close to the woman, she assumed their magic gave them a bond; one deeper than Kyna had means to explain. Plus, she’d never had to fear for her life before. No one had ever wanted to cause her physical harm. She’d never been in a dangerous situation. So, in her gloriously easy, albeit poor upbringing, she’d always held her own just fine.

  With that comforting line of thought, she stared at her hands as if they were new to her, just sewn on or something, like bionic prosthetics. The magic had changed everything about the way she viewed the world. She hadn’t figured it all out though. The unknowns made her skittish of those who not only understood it, but obviously knew how to abuse such power. Feeling unstable grew as a new experience for her. One she wanted to halt as soon as possible.

  In between looking for her aunt, she also had to get Darcaryn to continue her training, to teach her to become a worthy adversary to her family's enemies. From what she’d heard from her mom in the States, briefly, before she’d taken off for Ireland, her adopted father had had mysterious enemies. She’d just never been made aware of the situation. His death, so easily explained back then as an accident, probably hadn’t been one at all, due to his dealing with the Irish mafia in the States.

  With all these thoughts swirling through her brain, she woke her sleeping giant and tore herself from the warmth of the bed. Hard job for the day over, she readied herself for all the rest to come.

  She gulped down some tea and food at Aedan and Darcaryn's insistence she’d need it for all she had to deal with. Eating proved easier than to fight them both. They decided it best for Aedan, with all his connections, to continue the investigation for Kyna’s aunt, while Darcaryn continued her training. She knew her aunt would have wanted it that way. The most sensible thing she could do would be to learn not only to fight for herself, but to use the powers these people wanted, to protect her and her family.