by I. T. Lucas
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Callie
Chapter 2: Callie
Chapter 3: Brundar
Chapter 4: Losham
Chapter 5: Callie
Chapter 6: Jackson
Chapter 7: Brundar
Chapter 8: Callie
Chapter 9: Brundar
Chapter 10: Callie
Chapter 11: Roni
Chapter 12: Brundar
Chapter 13: Callie
Chapter 14: Brundar
Chapter 15: Tessa
Chapter 16: Jackson
Chapter 17: Tessa
Chapter 18: Callie
Chapter 19: Brundar
Chapter 20: Callie
Chapter 21: Brundar
Chapter 22: Kian
Chapter 23: Syssi
Chapter 24: Brundar
Chapter 25: Brundar
Chapter 26: Callie
Chapter 27: Brundar
Chapter 28: Callie
Chapter 29: Roni
Chapter 30: Kian
Chapter 31: Brundar
Chapter 32: Callie
Chapter 33: Brundar
Chapter 34: Roni
Chapter 35: Brundar
Chapter 36: Tessa
Chapter 37: Jackson
Chapter 38: Tessa
Chapter 39: Brundar
Chapter 40: Callie
Chapter 41: Brundar
Chapter 42: Callie
Chapter 43: Brundar
Chapter 44: Brundar
Chapter 45: Callie
Chapter 46: Brundar
Chapter 47: Callie
Chapter 48: Brundar
Chapter 49: Callie
Chapter 50: Brundar
Chapter 51: Callie
Chapter 52: Brundar
Chapter 53: Callie
Chapter 54: Brundar
Chapter 55: Callie
Chapter 56: Brundar
Chapter 57: Roni
DARK ANGEL'S OBSESSION
The Children of the Gods Book 14
I. T. Lucas
FOLLOW I. T. LUCAS ON AMAZON
Contents
Chapter 1: Callie
Chapter 2: Callie
Chapter 3: Brundar
Chapter 4: Losham
Chapter 5: Callie
Chapter 6: Jackson
Chapter 7: Brundar
Chapter 8: Callie
Chapter 9: Brundar
Chapter 10: Callie
Chapter 11: Roni
Chapter 12: Brundar
Chapter 13: Callie
Chapter 14: Brundar
Chapter 15: Tessa
Chapter 16: Jackson
Chapter 17: Tessa
Chapter 18: Callie
Chapter 19: Brundar
Chapter 20: Callie
Chapter 21: Brundar
Chapter 22: Kian
Chapter 23: Syssi
Chapter 24: Brundar
Chapter 25: Brundar
Chapter 26: Callie
Chapter 27: Brundar
Chapter 28: Callie
Chapter 29: Roni
Chapter 30: Kian
Chapter 31: Brundar
Chapter 32: Callie
Chapter 33: Brundar
Chapter 34: Roni
Chapter 35: Brundar
Chapter 36: Tessa
Chapter 37: Jackson
Chapter 38: Tessa
Chapter 39: Brundar
Chapter 40: Callie
Chapter 41: Brundar
Chapter 42: Callie
Chapter 43: Brundar
Chapter 44: Brundar
Chapter 45: Callie
Chapter 46: Brundar
Chapter 47: Callie
Chapter 48: Brundar
Chapter 49: Callie
Chapter 50: Brundar
Chapter 51: Callie
Chapter 52: Brundar
Chapter 53: Callie
Chapter 54: Brundar
Chapter 55: Callie
Chapter 56: Brundar
Chapter 57: Roni
SERIES READING ORDER
OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES
FOR EXCLUSIVE PEEKS
Copyright © 2017 by I. T. Lucas
Note From The Author
Chapter 1: Callie
Twenty-two months ago.
“What’s wrong? You look green.” Iris’s worried eyes met Callie’s in the mirror.
Ugh. The nausea should have passed by now. Morning sickness at two in the afternoon was unacceptable. But then her queasy stomach might have had less to do with her pregnancy and more to do with her upcoming nuptials.
“I think I’m going to be sick again.” The train of her wedding dress clutched in her hand, Callie bolted for the bathroom.
Locking the door behind her, she eyed the toilet and contemplated kneeling on the floor, but doing so in a white, voluminous dress was asking for trouble. It could get dirty or wrinkled, and she didn’t need the extra stress.
Instead, she put a protective hand over the plunging neckline and leaned over the sink, trying to purge the swirling sensation from her gut. Nothing came up, only painful dry heaves.
“Are you okay in there?” Iris knocked on the door. “Can I help? Do you want me to call Donald?”
“No. Just give me a minute,” Callie called out. The last thing she needed was for her father to freak out. The man couldn’t deal with anything female related. She still remembered his reaction to her first period. It was good that the supermarket had been walking distance from their house. There was no way her father would have survived buying her tampons.
It was a freaking miracle that man had managed to raise a daughter on his own since she was a tiny toddler.
Another knock. “Callie, let me in. I can at least hold your hair back while you puke,” Iris pleaded.
“I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.” Gah. The woman was so irritating.
Iris meant well, but she was too young to play mother of the bride. A big sister, maybe, but not really. Less than a year ago, when her father had finally remarried, Callie had been genuinely happy and excited to welcome Iris into their lives, even though the woman was only eleven years older than Callie and thirteen years younger than Donald.
Iris was chatty and smiley and filled their quiet home with life.
Callie had hoped for a sisterly relationship with her new stepmother, but things hadn’t worked out that way. Though not for lack of trying on both sides. They were just two very different people. The only thing they had in common was their love for her father.
Iris made Donald happy.
Before she’d tumbled into his life, he had rarely smiled, which made Callie wonder whether he’d been a happier man when her mother was still alive.
Getting him to talk about her was impossible. It made him too sad. But the many pictures and few home movies told a story of a perfectly normal little family, with two doting parents and a chubby baby girl whom they’d seemed to adore.
Callie sighed and leaned her forehead against the cool mirror.
One tragic moment had shattered their family forever, taking away her mother from them and leaving Donald a broken, sad man to raise a daughter on his own.
“Callie, are you okay?” Her father’s voice.
Damn it, Iris. She’d told her not to bother him.
“I’m fine. I’ll be out in a moment.” If she could work magic, she would’ve gotten rid of them both, sent them to mingle with the guests and let her breathe for a few moments, but the
best she could do was get rid of at least one. Temporarily. “Can either of you bring me a coke?”
“Sure thing.” Her father jumped at the opportunity to be useful doing something other than dealing with his daughter’s prenuptial jitters. Or worse, her pregnancy nausea.
Callie waited another moment before opening the door.
“Feeling better?” Iris asked.
She forced a smile. “Much. Can you do me a favor and bring me some saltines from the kitchen?”
Iris patted her arm. “That’s a splendid idea. Saltines work miracles on nausea.” She rushed to the kitchen, or rather attempted to. Hindered by her spiky heels and long tight dress, it was more of a waddle than a fast walk.
Alone at last, Callie sat down in front of her vanity and picked up the pink lipstick, hoping the bright color would help offset the green hue of her skin.
Pregnancy should have made her glow with health, not look pale and sickly. Except, that was likely true for those overjoyed by the prospect of motherhood, not those tricked into it at nineteen.
Too young.
She hadn’t done anything with her life yet.
No regrets, Callie. It was the mantra she’d adopted after the shock of discovering she was pregnant had worn off.
It was all happening a little sooner than she would’ve preferred, but she was going to make it work. Her life was going to be great. She was going to build a cozy home for her sweet, adorable baby and loving husband.
Except, Callie wasn’t so sure about that last one.
Did Shawn really love her?
Did loving people trick their partners into marriage?
Relationships were supposed to be built on trust.
Theirs wasn’t.
Callie had no proof that he’d gotten her pregnant on purpose. After all, condom failure was not unheard of. But from what she’d read online, it was mostly due to mishandling. At twenty-seven, Shawn should’ve had plenty of experience in handling one properly.
As the door to her bedroom opened, Callie took a deep breath, bracing for more of Iris’s prattle, but it wasn’t her stepmother.
“Dawn!” Callie jumped and turned, almost tripping on the gown’s long train. “You made it!”
“Of course, I made it. You think I would miss my best friend’s wedding?” Dawn handed her a Coke can and a pack of saltines. “I told your dad and Iris that I’m taking over and that they should stop neglecting their guests.”
“Thank you.” The tears prickling the back of Callie’s eyes were threatening to ruin Iris’s carefully applied makeup. “Aren’t you missing finals?”
“All done. I took the last one yesterday.”
“How did it go?”
Dawn waved a hand. “Easy peasy lemon squeezy.”
Callie laughed. “You are probably the only one that can say that about MIT’s electrical engineering department finals.”
“Not really. To my utter horror, I discovered I wasn’t the smartest thing to ever grace the lecture halls of that prestigious institution.”
Callie pretended to gasp. “Get out of here. Really? It can’t be.”
Dawn shook her head. “Sadly, it is. But enough about me. How are you holding up?”
“I want to throw up.”
“That’s to be expected from one who is expecting.”
Callie sat back on her vanity stool. “I don’t want to marry Shawn.”
“I don’t blame you.” Dawn knelt in front of her and clasped her hands. “You can still call it off. I’ll go out there and tell everyone to go home including Shawn, who, by the way, is strutting around like a peacock, happy as can be.”
“I bet. He got his way, the bastard. He’s been pestering me to marry him since the day he popped my cherry, obsessed by the idea of marrying a girl who’s never been touched by another.”
Dawn’s eyes narrowed. “Do you think he did it on purpose?”
“I can’t be sure, but I have my suspicions.”
“So why the hell do you refuse to get an abortion?”
Cradling her middle protectively, Callie shook her head. “I can’t. It’s not this little one’s fault that his or her father is an underhanded jerk. Besides, you know I love children. I’m going to be a great mother.”
“I know, sweetie, but is Shawn going to be a great father? Or husband?”
“I don’t know,” Callie whispered.
He’d been so charming and attentive when they’d first met three months ago. Still was. But Callie couldn’t shake the feeling that Shawn was putting on a very convincing act, hiding a darker, more sinister side underneath all that smooth talk.
The thing was, when he turned it on full force, it was hard to hang on to that suspicion. It was much easier to believe that she was worried for no good reason, scared by nonexistent shadows.
Shawn was older, bossy and dominant. It was what had attracted her to him in the first place. Except, that bossy attitude was getting annoying. Especially when his dishonesty and manipulative behavior brought about disillusion and disappointment.
The thing was, blinded by her attraction to him, she hadn’t noticed any of it until it was too late and she was carrying his child.
Callie had never been drawn to guys her age. Ever since she’d became sexually aware, she’d craved something that for the longest time she couldn’t define or name. Naturally, she’d assumed it was what every woman craved and hadn’t been overly bothered by it. But the sweet romances she’d sneaked under the blanket at night had painted a different picture.
Much later, she’d found a series of books that had opened her eyes. As a high fantasy it was mostly about adventure, not about romance, and the few intimate scenes were by no means descriptive, but the tapestry it had woven contained many more shades than Callie had been aware of.
“Love as thy wilt.” That imagined society’s main motto was that nothing was taboo as long as it was consensual.
Easier said than done.
It had been difficult to accept that she wasn’t like everyone else, and that the things she craved were somewhat outside the norm.
Why the hell did she crave sexual dominance?
Callie wasn’t combative, but she wasn’t timorous either. She didn’t accept authority without question, and had her own opinions about pretty much everything, which she never shied away from expressing.
She was a strong, capable, and independent woman.
She had no other choice.
With no mother and a father who worked long days, she had been basically left to her own devices since she was a very young girl. No one had ever supervised her schoolwork, and yet she had always been a straight A student. No one had ever moderated her behavior, and yet she had always been polite. No one had told her how to dress, and yet she had always dressed modestly.
Perhaps the reason for her good-girl model behavior was that she had never had a reason to rebel. Why would she? And against whom or what?
With no one to tell her otherwise, Callie could do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted.
Her father had trusted her with running the household from a very young age, giving her a bank card and a checkbook filled with signed checks. Callie had done all the grocery shopping and paid the bills. It was a lot of responsibility, but she’d never shied away from it. Her father needed her help, and she’d given it freely, glad she was able to do it.
So why the hell did she crave sexual domination?
Why did nothing else turn her on as much? Or at all?
Those were questions she’d grown tired of asking.
It just was.
Chapter 2: Callie
One year ago.
Shawn parked the car behind the club, cut the engine, and turned to regard Callie with a deep scowl. All during the drive she’d watched his simmering irritation intensify, but although she knew how to manage his anger tantrums and violent outbursts they still made her anxious.
“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” he grated.
/> No, she wasn’t, but she needed an answer to a question that had been bothering her for months, and the club was the only place she could think of that could provide it. A lot of self-talk and nerve had gone into suggesting the visit. “We are not going to do anything in there. We’re just checking it out, and if it’s gross, we’ll leave.”
“How do you even know about a place like that?”
“I told you, Dawn’s ex-boyfriend took her there.”
Dawn had been her best friend since middle school, though Callie hadn’t confided in her about her unorthodox preferences. It was too embarrassing. But after Dawn had told her about the club, Callie jumped at the opportunity in the name of adventurous experimentation. It had been so good to finally talk to someone about it without fear of being judged or humiliated.
It shouldn’t have taken her so long. Dawn had no qualms about sharing her most intimate experiences with Callie. It wasn’t that her friend was promiscuous, so far Dawn had had only two serious boyfriends, but she liked to live dangerously and experiment—perhaps as a way to dispel her dorky reputation.
“She is a bad influence on you.”
Yeah, Shawn thought everyone was a bad influence, doing his best to isolate Callie.
“Don’t be silly. Dawn just has an open mind and likes to get a taste of different things. Anyway, she said it is pretty tame, with a clientele of mostly committed couples and nothing overly kinky going on in the open.” Supposedly, the club held nightly lectures and presentations on different techniques. The demonstrations were being done on fully dressed volunteers. Shawn should have no problem with that.
“She said it was very educational and that we were going to like it.” In fact, her words were more along the lines of Callie getting turned on as hell watching whatever subject was taught that night and wanting to jump the next available male, which unfortunately was going to be Shawn.
There was no love lost between those two.
“Fine.” He gritted his teeth and opened his door. “I don’t understand why we need this crap. Am I not enough for you?” His voice had risen in volume.
Damn it, just as she’d managed to calm him down, Shawn was working himself up again. The only way to defuse the upcoming storm was to stroke his ego. She patted his arm. “You’re my stud muffin. I’m doing it for us. We might learn something new to spice things up. Aren’t you curious?”