A Shadow's Embrace Read online

  A Shadow’s Embrace

  An On the Run Novella

  By

  Cara Carnes

  A Shadow’s Embrace

  An On the Run Novella

  By: Cara Carnes

  Published by Fated Desires Publishing, LLC.

  © 2015 Cara Carnes

  ISBN: 978-1-62322-188-1

  Cover Art by Syneca

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

  All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.

  Join our Mailing List for more information.

  Also, join our Fated Desires Book Club to interact with our authors.

  Prologue 6

  Chapter One 8

  Chapter Two 16

  Chapter Three 24

  Chapter Four 31

  Chapter Five 39

  Chapter Six 47

  Chapter Seven 57

  Chapter Eight 64

  Chapter Nine 71

  Chapter Ten 81

  A Thank You from Fated Desires 84

  About the Author 85

  Forsaken Realms 86

  Pinch of Me, Dash of You 87

  Bite Marks 88

  DEDICATION

  Thanks to Rebecca Royce for your support and to the Fated Desires team for all your hard work. It’s been a pleasure.

  On the run from evil, her only hope is the Shadows.

  Devyn James escaped hell once. Kidnapped from foster care at seven and raised in a psychic genetics testing facility, she survived by hiding her ability. A rare technopath, she eventually broke out of the facility with the help of the Shadow Elites—General Conver’s super soldiers, who rebelled and now fought to protect psychically enhanced humans. Determined to help the cause, she formed Indigo Order—a foundation focused on providing food, shelter, medicine, training and support for the displaced lower level psychics, especially the children tossed to the streets by Conver years ago.

  For the past few months Devyn, or Indy as she’s known on the street, has covertly passed intel to the SEO. Even though the street doesn’t trust the Shadows, she does. They rescued her once and she knows they’re the only ones who will be able to save her from Conver and figure out what she uncovered.

  Dagan is determined to save the female being chased by Conver and his squadron. He soon discovers her identity and vows he’ll do anything to keep her protected—even if it’s from herself. But the sultry female proves to be a handful when her team is in the crosshairs. When one of them is captured, he must prove she can trust him and all he offers, even though he may not believe someone as good as her should be with a Shadow.

  Together they discover everything is possible when you trust A Shadow’s Embrace.

  Prologue

  Devyn James was running out of time. The serenity of the lake house she’d rented for the past six days had given her the anonymity and focus she needed. She loved her team and the street kids her group, the Indigo Order, helped.

  But they couldn’t be her priority. Not now.

  For the past several months, she’d been doing covert work, using her psychic technopathic abilities to infiltrate secured data networks. The data she retrieved had proven helpful to the organization that had saved her kind two years ago.

  The Shadows who created The Shadow Elite Operatives Organization had used the intel she’d gathered the past few months to make a dent in General Conver’s maniacal plan to rebuild ARES. The Astral Recognitive Extrasensory Society needed to stay dead.

  No one knew she fed information to the Shadows. Her team, especially Dare and Rider, would never understand. The Indigo Order had their hands full enough keeping the psychic children of the street clothed, fed, and safe.

  She shouldn’t make this her fight. Yet she did.

  Because she could.

  She didn’t know of any other technopaths. She’d scoured all intel about the downed ARES looking for someone with her talents, but she hadn’t found anyone. The SEO needed her help, even if they didn’t know it.

  The need for privacy was why she’d fled the city and come here, an out-of-the-way lake in the middle of nowhere in upper Illinois. Fleeing the safety of her team and their new organization in Chicago’s West Englewood had been a risk. But Dare and Rider would keep the Indigo Order up and running.

  She had to help the Shadows. The SEO had done so much for lower level psychics like her. They’d escaped the maniacal clutches of General Conver and his screwed up ARES Organization and rescued all the psychics.

  The Shadows and their SEO organization had defended psychics and ensured their freedom. But they were losing. Conver had the funding and strength of congressmen and government organizations. Every psychic’s freedom rode on the SEO winning the war with ARES.

  Connectivity was sparse in this region, but her abilities helped her boost signals. Truth be told, she probably didn’t need the Internet. She settled into the chair and allowed her energy to synch with her laptop. Her mind buzzed as she sped to the new sector of the dark net she’d discovered yesterday.

  Few knew of the deepest, most secure sector of the Web. Many covert organizations stored their data there. Its location offered remote access for operatives without anyone being the wiser.

  Her synapses sifted through the streams of data, popping security protocols with ruthless swiftness. She didn’t have time for finesse. She’d been gone too long, especially since she hadn’t told her team she was leaving.

  Bits of intel drifted within her conscious. Without her team and a system to dump data, she couldn’t do much more than locate and mark potential locations. Her objective was to find Conver’s files so someone else could copy the data over. She’d located secondary data sites for Conver’s known associates yesterday.

  An intricate web of complicated security protocols caught Devyn’s attention. Wow. She hadn’t ever stumbled across anything that complex before. Curiosity had her unravelling strands of code, undoing protocols, and delving through exposed tunnels before she could reconsider her actions.

  She’d lost all sense of time, but weariness plagued her. She’d been under too long. Damn. Just a little longer. She moved faster, severing the final strands of protection around the data network. Sensory alarms appeared in her mind, but she nipped them before they could alert anyone to her presence.

  Finally.

  She delved into the data, foraging through video footage from over two decades ago. My God. This was it. Conver’s data network. She’d found it.

  Anxiety battled the exhaustion that had begun plaguing her. She noted the network’s location and severed her connection. Now all she had to do was get this to the SEO. This could be it. The sword needed to bring Conver and ARES down once and for all.

  Chapter One

  Conver’s foot soldiers had appeared and spread like cockroaches within moments of her arrival in Chicago. Had the entire network she’d breached been an elaborate ruse?

  Surely not.

  Making her way to the psychic sector of West Englewood had been a challenge, but she was here. On her turf. All she had to do was go to ground, wait out Conver’s perimeter search, and then she’d be free to contact the SEO.

  Anticipation surged within her. Dagan would be surprised. The Shadow who’d been
her contact at the SEO had become an addiction. His husky voice always left her quivering with curiosity. Would he be as forward in person? Probably not. They mysteriousness of concealing her identity had created a sexy conversational banter she’d missed this past week.

  Had he noticed she’d missed her weekly call?

  Probably.

  Devyn doubted Dagan missed much. The intel she provided ensured her importance. The goldmine she had now would definitely be something he’d want.

  Footsteps, followed by raised voices, caught her attention as she darted deeper into the alley. Gunfire boomed around her. Bullets whizzed by her, ripping into the trashcans of Pete’s Pizzeria. The bombardment continued as she crouched behind a dumpster. Her pulse raced; apprehension replaced the hum of anticipation she'd felt before. Conver had gotten too close. She was trapped, pinned like a bug under a microscope.

  She remained still. The bullets ceased. Her shallow breaths filled the area. They’d been firing blind. She honed in on the surveillance camera’s footage from across the road and watched them leave. Relief steadied her breathing, channeled her determination despite the rising fear. She couldn’t get caught.

  Devyn had gone two years without feeling the clawing terror, the inescapable reality that she was cornered like a feral animal. She gazed from one urine-drenched alley corner to another, noting the piles of decomposing, maggot-infested garbage.

  Trash collection was almost non-existent in this corner of Chicago, the slums where the psychics like her had squatted and claimed their turf. They hadn’t exactly had options—it wasn’t as though anyone else wanted them around. Public pressure and political agendas shuffled the residents of Chicago around in an unspoken separationist movement. The result had been all psychics contained within West Englewood. Most of the drug dealers and gangs had even fled the area.

  Freaks. Devyn and the other psychics had been labeled quickly when the rest of humanity discovered their existence. But she couldn’t worry about politics when death was chasing her down.

  She moved from her hiding place behind the dumpster and surveyed the area. This wasn’t where she’d prefer to die, but she would do what was necessary. Everything hinged on her getting the data she’d stumbled across to the SEO. Comprised of the highest grade and best-trained psychics, the Shadows had spent two years after their escape four years ago forming the SEO. Their initial intention was survival.

  Then they’d discovered the other facilities, non-military ones like Devyn had lived in. Risking their own lives, the SEO had attacked every compound they discovered and freed the captives—most of whom had been lower gradient psychics.

  They’d freed her once, and now she needed them to continue breathing. Okay, they hadn’t exactly freed her the first time. She’d sensed their presence before they struck, and she and the other captives rebelled against their ARES captors—using their presence as a diversion.

  After the diabolical genetic testing and super-soldier experiments were made public, ARES covertly continued their universally condemned work. The upper echelons of the government-run alphabet agencies had too much at stake for the covert military organization to fail.

  This made people like Devyn dangerous. Destroying everyone associated with the facilities was the focal point of her existence.

  She’d lived under Conver’s microscope since they’d found her in a foster home shortly after her seventh birthday. Fortunately, Doctor Myra Lang had declared Devyn a mere level three telepath—common enough to be unimportant, yet strong enough to be held in case her services were needed. The bitch had no idea how wrong she’d been.

  Footsteps thundered from a distance, probably one alley over. She needed an alternate route around Conver’s men.

  Devyn focused, suckling on the metadata drifting in the atmosphere. Ah, she’d missed the city. The morsels of data streamed into her. Her synapses hummed, sated by the calming presence of her third eye’s power. For the first time in a week, she was whole again now that she was back in the bustling psychic sector of Chicago. Leaving the city and her team a week ago had been a difficult decision, but the right one. Her powers had become more focused without the residual white noise of bustling Chicago’s technological strain vying for her attention.

  Now the same technology she’d shunned the past few days would save her. She accessed traffic and bank cameras—anything and everything that allowed eyes-on access to the enemy that was herding her into a proverbial cage. There were too many of them. No exit strategy existed.

  Damn.

  A strong arm encircled her waist, crushing her against a brick-like torso before she could react. Pain pierced her mind, radiating from her temples. Startled by the psychic intrusion, she writhed in her captor’s embrace and threw up what telepathic walls she could.

  The bastard shattered each defensive layer she created. Hot breath fanned across her cheek when he lifted her up off her feet and planted a huge hand over her mouth. Dangling like a doll, she punched the meaty arms holding her captive.

  “Enough.” The harsh psychic hammer pounded her into submission. She stilled, unable to maneuver past the thick mental fog he created. “I need you to be quiet if you want to live.”

  That voice. Dagan. This was the contact she’d slipped info to at the SEO.

  She clamped his wrist and pressed hard, but he maintained his hold. The proximity to one of the most lethal people in existence skittered apprehensive pangs along her spine. She’d chanced returning to Chicago because of him, but how had he known she’d be here?

  “Ah, I see you found our little rabbit.” A second man turned the corner into the alley, his gaze sweeping the narrow corridor. Great. Another Shadow Elite. The operatives were fierce, uncontainable forces she couldn’t ever dream of beating in a fight.

  They operated within the gray area, by their own rules. Lower level psychics—most of the children—weren’t stupid enough to cross the SEO, which was why so many street kids had suffered the hunger of poverty and the perils of homelessness without asking for help. Which was why Devyn had formed Indigo Order. Where the SEO left off—protecting and generally kicking ass—Indigo Order picked up—feeding, educating, nurturing.

  The only problem was the SEO didn’t exactly know much about Indigo Order or who operated it. Anonymity meant survival on the street, and she, along with her team, had become legendary.

  “Whoever the hell she is, she packs a serious punch,” Dagan said.

  Bullets ricocheted off the dumpster at the mouth of the alley. The second man turned as the man holding Devyn tugged her backward until they were pressed against the wall. She remained complacent. Now wasn’t the time to fight, and she wasn’t stupid enough to think she could best a Shadow Elite operative.

  “You have her under control?”

  “I’m thinking she’s stronger than she’s letting on. She’s throwing up barriers almost as fast as I’m breaking them and hasn’t slowed yet, so I’m guessing she’s figured out we’re the better alternative to ARES.” He squeezed her waist. “If I let you go, are you going to run?”

  Devyn shook her head.

  “Good girl.”

  Good girl? Oh, hell, no. He released her, and she slammed her foot into his shin.

  “Fuck.” He growled and narrowed his obsidian gaze on her when she whirled to face him. “What the fuck did you do that for?”

  “I’m not a dog to pat on the head, you condescending ass.”

  “She’s got your number, Dagan.”

  “Shut it, Rex. Maybe you could handle the bullets so we can get out of here without extra holes.”

  Dagan. She’d been right. This was him. Devyn swallowed as she covertly studied the man she’d been communicating with—not that he knew who she was. Unruly, thick, black hair accentuated a rugged jaw line. Dark eyes reflected curiosity and tension as they swept over her before returning to guarding the alley. He was tall, probably six two, maybe three, with broad shoulders and a massive chest that tapered down to narrow hips. He w
as exactly what she expected a Shadow to be—lethal, barely contained power. Would he recognize her voice? Probably not. She’d flown so far under radar no one knew who Indy of the Indigo Order was. All they knew was the organization helped the disadvantaged with psychic abilities remain safe from ARES.

  More importantly, they fed intel to the SEO so they could keep Conver from rebuilding the massive militant regime he’d had four years ago—before the shadow operatives like Dagan escaped.

  “The roaches are everywhere,” Devyn stated. “We’re surrounded.”

  Rex chuckled. “Roaches. I like it.”

  “How do you know?” Dagan asked.

  “We don’t have time for a conversational fuck right now. We’re three against nearly a hundred. Those aren’t good numbers. Please tell me it isn’t just you two.”

  “You know too much.” Dagan prowled closer, leaning into her personal space until hot breath fanned her forehead. “Who the hell are you?”

  Devyn swallowed. Fine. They preferred to see the situation for themselves rather than take her word for it. She could respect that. She popped the security on the neighborhood cams and looped them to SEO headquarters.

  She stood matching Dagan glare for pissed-off glare for a moment, waiting for her actions to catch up to the two Shadows before her. Sometimes being covert was a pain in the ass.

  “Later, man. There’s a shitload of firepower headed this way. Ace got access to surrounding cams.” Rex lunged backward a couple of feet when a body tumbled from the rooftop. Agonized groans came from the prone attacker. “I’ll give you two a lift. We’ll rendezvous at position Charlie.”

  “Copy that.” Dagan grasped her shoulders. “Hold on to me, and try not to move. Once we land, shadow my moves, and don’t panic. Okay?”

  Devyn nodded as weightlessness settled into her limbs. Before she could fully realize they were levitating, she and Dagan were shooting upward and to the left, until they landed with a hard thud onto the rooftop of an abandoned warehouse.