9781631052415ShadowedSpiritBeck Read online

  SHADOWED SPIRIT

  Seven Sin Sisters Book

  Paloma Beck

  Erotic Romance

  Secret Cravings Publishing

  www.secretcravingspublishing.com

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  A Secret Cravings Publishing Book

  Erotic Romance

  Shadowed Spirit

  Copyright © 2014 Paloma Beck

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-63105-241-5

  First E-book Publication: July 2014

  Cover design by Dawné Dominique

  Edited by Kyle Lewis

  Proofread by Makayla McKinne

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2014 by Secret Cravings Publishing

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

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  Secret Cravings Publishing

  www.secretcravingspublishing.com

  Dedication

  For Linda –

  Deny it all you want, but you’re the one who taught me to call it as it is. Used with a bit of subtlety, it’s a trait that has served me well.

  The Cravings Ebook Club

  The Cravings Paranormal Ebook Club

  Have you heard about the newest idea in ebooks, the ebook club? Secret Cravings Publishing has two ebook clubs, The Cravings Ebook Club or the Cravings Paranormal Ebook Club, and we invite you to become a member.

  As a new member, you will receive Trouble With a Cowboy* by Sandy Sullivan and Blood Kisses** by H.N. Sieverding FREE, just for joining!

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  *Trouble With a Cowboy, a western, erotic romance:

  18 wheels had her heart until one hard-up cowboy found her kickin' up her heels and propositions her to take his bull to Vegas.

  Jacie Hawkins drives big wheelers for a livin'. Something not a lot of women do. Littleton Oklahoma is just a dry stopover for a few hours of rest and relaxation at the nearest bar. Jacie needs to find a hot cowboy to release some of her pent up frustrations on for the night, but wannabe's aren't her style.

  Tucker Marshall needs a big-rig driver to haul his prize bull to National Finals Rodeo and he needs one fast. Who would have thought he'd find one shootin' pool at the local bar dressed to kill and takin' numbers?

  Can some slashed tires and an ornery bull bring two hard-headed people together for some fun in the sun and a little more?

  **Blood Kisses (Nightwalkers 1), paranormal erotic romance:

  Ashleigh Brown, the author of the popular Nightwalkers series, lives a quiet life free of the limelight. She keeps her real identity secret by writing under the pen name, Victoria Allure. She soon finds herself in a bind when she's kidnapped by a group of handsome vampires seeking Victoria. She then agrees to meet their Master, who's a huge fan of her books. But instead of meeting him, she accidentally crosses paths with her rock star crush. He is the sexy muse behind Nightwalkers and the man she based the hero in the series upon. She would do anything to meet him but little does she know her crush has a secret...

  We will try to match your books to your preferences, however, if you’re a major paranormal fan, we suggest you join the Cravings Paranormal Club. Everything is the same except that three of your four books will be paranormal. The remaining book will be of a different genre.

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  Shadowed Spirit

  The Seven Sin Sisters Book

  Paloma Beck

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter One

  Idiots. All of them. Complete idiots. They hadn’t restrained her. The second the damn sedative they must’ve given her wore off, Sadie was on her feet and at the unlocked door. Again, a bunch of idiots. Who doesn’t at least lock their captive in? She listened to their muffled conversation enough to know these men were part of the group looking for the Valendite DNA. Sadie didn’t know much about this group, but she knew enough, and she had no intention of being a part of their experiments.

  The voices in her head—her sisters and a few others—still chanted at her, drawing her focus away from her escape. They were in a circle. She could feel the waves of power rush to her and Sadie realized this is what woke her. What she couldn’t remember was just how long she’d been out for or how long she’d been missing. She could call out to her mother and she’d most likely be able to travel to her, but was that what she wanted? Sadie would be putting her in danger and she couldn’t live with herself if she caused her mother harm.

  Sadie seemed to get herself into these predicaments too often now. The risks she took, or the fact that she didn’t live the sheltered lives her sisters had accepted, were the cause. She’d be damned if she’d let them see just how badly she gotten into trouble this time. Already they called her the black sheep, but she couldn’t help that she felt claustrophobic during the times when she was at home. Traveling had been her respite since coming of age. She loved her sisters, but her wanderlust, despite being dangerous at times, called to her.

  Taking stock, Sadie ran her hands along her snarled hair, smelled the musky, earthy odor of her damp clothing and noted the dirt covering her. She might be messy, but she’d never let herself get like this before. She had to have been here for days. Damn it, why couldn’t she remember her time here? What had these men given her? Seeing the marks on the insides of her arm, Sadie cringed. What did they do while she was knocked out?

  Drilling through her most recent memories, she recalled being at a bar. She’d planned to meet up with a friend before they each headed in separate directions. Her friend was heading to Chicago to be part of a dance cast there while Sadie did her final show in Las Vegas. She wasn’t fool enough to believe she could stop destiny, but she was willing to give herself a little more time to have some fun. If she hadn’t missed it already, she was set to work a show in Vegas. It’s what she’d been rehearsing for and so different from her normal stage performances. For a few months, she’d be just another dancer in a Las Vegas Club instead of an heir to a prophecy.

  With plenty of experience in evading people, Sadie sunk into the shadows surrounding her. The skill had served her well since she didn’t like being bothered with all the details of her people. The Prophecy of the Seven, The Circle of Magdalena, blah, blah, blah. She knew she’d be a part of it all before long and, if all went well, some of the things she liked least about herself would reverse when her soul sin was lifted. First though, she had to figure out just how to trust a man again.

  Mase betrayed her. She knew from the beginning that he wasn’t her mate, but she’d liked him. Despite her devil-may-care attitude, he saw through it and treated her like a princess. She’d been pampered, catered to, and she even thought he might love her. With so many Valendite Breeds not finding mates, Sadie wondered if they couldn’t be happy just as they were. Then Mase’s true personality seeped out and Sadie was literally knocked on her ass. And now this, whatever this was that she’d gotten caught up in. S
he wanted to scream and rage all over again at the memories just eluding her.

  Sadie made her way down a hallway, away from the men’s voices she could hear coming from a room to her left. Her only plan was to get the hell out of there. With silent feet, she padded through corridor after corridor for what seemed like hours as she hunted for an exit. The building had grown silent and Sadie wondered what happened to the men talking earlier. Had they all left? Were they now wandering through the building and would find her? She had to move faster. She had to locate a way to freedom.

  In the next moment, someone snatched her from behind. She opened her mouth to let out a scream, but a large hand clamped over her mouth. Unwilling to be taken again without a fight, Sadie bit down and sank her teeth into flesh. A rush of salted liquid slipped past her teeth before she spat it out.

  “Fuck!” The person holding her jolted back without loosening his hold. “Stop. Just be quiet,” he whispered into her ear. His words were rough, but the chill that ran down her back was not from fright. They were like a caress to her senses. His voice put her at ease even as they made unused muscles stand up to take notice. She kicked herself for being so stupid. This was no time to be thinking with her hormones.

  “Put me down,” she muttered around his fingers, trying to use her most stern voice despite the predicament she was in. She would radiate calm and try to think through some of the little tricks her mother had taught her for controlling the elements.

  “We’re here to rescue you. I’m with TEU.”

  Well, why the hell hadn’t he said that to begin with? She wouldn’t have bit him if she’d known he was a good guy. And from the strength he was radiating, Sadie knew that not only was he a good guy, but a Valendite Breed. There was no denying the aura of strength surrounding them. Her sisters’ husbands were power personified and this man was no different.

  She shivered against the hard wall of muscle at her back as he pulled her around a corner and through a side door she never would’ve found on her own. The Goddess was looking out for her. She knew that she didn’t have long before she’d need to return and fulfill her role in the prophecy.

  * * * *

  Fuck. The little spitfire bit him. Twisting and snarling in his arms, he couldn’t get a good look at her, but he was still certain the tiny thing that appeared to have rolled in the mud and smelled it too was Sadie Sinster.

  Even as he hurried to get her to a secure location, Granger’s body grew rigid at her bite. His muscles tensed and he went on full alert. It took him a few minutes to realize why. He threw out his senses to see if there was cause for alarm. No, there was no danger. They’d taken out the captors and even that hadn’t been much of a fight. What had just happened must be the beginning of a Claiming. This stinky, dirty woman in his arms was his mate.

  As if life had dished him up another serving of fuck you, he was holding his mate in his arms and she was obviously afflicted with the soul sin of sloth. Of course, it couldn’t be lust or envy or any of the more interesting of the sins. His mate was nothing like her beautiful sisters. What had he done in his life to deserve the shit he got dished?

  The only other time he’d seen Sadie was through a long-range riflescope at weddings where she’d likely been forced to clean up. Hell no, he had no plans to let anyone know what he’d learned when she bit him, just yet. And unless he gave her blood, she wouldn’t have keen enough senses to pick it up. Maybe, just maybe, he was wrong.

  Now that he’d gotten her secure in their suite of rooms, Granger made the call into TEU with his report while Sadie’s father examined her for injuries. He needed to let Madden know the rescue had been successful and they’d be returning in the morning after they’d completed a short debriefing. They’d return in time for Amelia and Gage’s Pronouncement. He didn’t share any other details, especially the one about his possible mate.

  “Granger, I’m sending you right back out with Trevor,” Madden explained over the phone. “I want you to do recon on all the sites I’m sending you files on. Our government contact has given the thumbs up to eliminate all roadblocks in this mess. We’ll shut down any possibility of our secret getting out.”

  “I’m to take out all targets?” He asked, surprised.

  “Yes. We’re about two steps away from the fulfillment of the prophecy. If these groups know enough, they likely understand just how close it is too. We can’t fool around anymore.”

  “Okay, Madden. I’m your man. Trevor and I leave in the morning?”

  “No. Your plane is refueled and waiting. Take off as soon as you can tonight.”

  Shocked, but happy to get away from Sadie and his crazy notion she could be his mate, Granger finalized the details with Madden and agreed to check in tomorrow evening after the Pronouncement.

  Scanning the mission report, Granger recognized each location. He was being sent in to take out every last person with a connection to the group researching the Valendite Breed DNA. The instruction was clear—he was to go undetected using long-range precision artillery bombardment with high explosive payload. They weren’t taking any chances that there would be survivors. This was some serious shit.

  He nodded at Trevor who entered the room, stone faced, reviewing his copy of the report. Trevor was new, their newest TEU recruit, but he was the right choice because his specialty was in explosives. He spent his younger years apprenticing with his father who dealt with underwater cavern explorations that required the use of some heavy explosives. Granger knew he’d gotten the best possible partner.

  “You good with this?” Trevor’s voice gave away his uncertainty.

  “We got this. You and me. We’re taking this down and ending it.” Granger narrowed his eyes and pinned Trevor, attempting to infuse some of his own confidence in the kid.

  * * * *

  Sadie relaxed on the bed while her father examined her body. She felt better after showering though her memory was still foggy enough to be frustrating. Bits of the past days were returning, but not her full memory. She remembered everything up until arriving at the bar. Then there were flashes of men talking to her, or to one another, as she lay under a bright light. Sadie knew she had to have been drugged for such a memory loss to occur.

  “They drew blood.” Her father touched the tender bruises along the bend in her arm. She’d uncovered them when she washed the dirt off her body and had already figured that out. She just nodded.

  Aside from wishing like hell she could remember more than snapshots of her time in captivity, she felt physically fine. Tired and hungry, but fine.

  “Daddy, I really am okay. Can I have some time alone? I know the debriefing is in the morning and I just need some time to myself.”

  Sadie’s thoughts were jumbled with memories of an earlier time she’d been held by someone, only that time she’d trusted the person. That first time had been her own fault for being so stupid, but this time, these bastards had simply taken her. Why had this happened? She couldn’t understand the significance of taking her blood. Sadie just needed some time alone to mull everything over and to lock those memories back up where they belonged.

  “I know you need to be alone to recharge, but just let me check you over first. I won’t be long.”

  Sadie smiled indulgently at her father. He’d always understood her need to seek refuge from the chaos that a house filled with eight women created. He was the only one that never seemed to hold it against her. She could let him reassure himself she was fine for a few more minutes, knowing he’d then give her some time alone.

  “Did you feel any discomfort while you washed? Any areas that hurt when you touched them?” Her father, always a healer, looked and sounded worried.