Embrace The Shadows (Shadows Ascending Trilogy Book 3)

by Jenn D. Young

  “Do you realize how stupid that was, hellion?” I growled. How could she endanger herself like that? Going in blind to a situation that she knew to be ridiculously dangerous was reckless and stupid.

  She narrowed her eyes at me, hating when I played the overprotective big brother. I didn’t do it often, preferring to let her make her own mistakes, but not when it came to something as dangerous as this. It was part of the whole pushing people away thing too. Protect myself and them from getting too close.

  “I can handle myself, Vincent,” she snarled my name. Fire emerging and lighting her green eyes again.

  It was a welcome change from the crying girl that I had hugged a few moments ago. Color slowly spread across her cheeks as she stabbed me in the chest with a chipped fingernail. “I’ve lived in this world for six centuries, I think I can make my own decisions, thank you very much,” she huffed and threw her tangled mass of blonde hair behind one shoulder.

  I gave her an assessing glance up and down with arched eyebrows. “Drya you’re standing in the middle of the council chambers in the same dress you wore two days ago, looking like an absolute wreck. I would say that things didn’t go as you intended and you should have called for some fucking help.” I crossed my arms over my chest and faced off against her ire.

  “Well,” she snorted. “They didn’t exactly work out. But, I did gather some information and I know where Craig is so we can apprehend him for questioning. Or use him as bait.”

  “If you’d bothered to come to us in the first place, you would’ve known that we have a direct line to Layla and know where Lorelei is being held already,” I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose as she took a step back.

  “Layla? How do you have a direct line to Layla?” Her eyes widened in shock. That’s right. She didn’t know of Nicolae’s mating as we had decided to keep it a closely guarded secret. That would probably explain the fact that he couldn’t change his behavior toward her when giving her comfort. She would have sensed that something was off.

  My gaze turned to Damius and Nicolae, trying to determine their thoughts on sharing the information with her. She was still compromised until we could get all traces of the drug out of her system. Until then, she would need to be kept under strict guard with only the most trustworthy of the inner circle guarding her.

  “Drya,” Nicolae let out a deep breath. Drya whirled around to face him and Nicolae’s face softened as he looked down at her. “Layla is my mate.”

  “What?” Drya laughed, clutching a hand to her chest. “You can’t have a mate, not like that. You aren’t a Seraphim. Unless…”

  “Layla is,” I finished for her.

  “We met when I was taken by The Syndicate, and our bond snapped into place. We haven’t fully consummated it yet.” Nicolae’s eyes darkened and his face turned expressionless as he masked his emotions.

  “Oh, Nic,” Drya breathed and made a motion to touch him before stopping short. “You still gave me comfort. It had to be so uncomfortable for you. Yet, you did it anyway. Thank you,” her voice broke as she became overwhelmed with the depth of her emotions.

  It was the biggest struggle for the sexual demons; they were powerful empaths, able to sense the emotions of everyone around them and internalize them. Many had chosen to bury their empathic nature early in their lives, but never Drya. She had chosen to retain her feelings and hold on to her compassion for those around her.

  “It’s fine,” Nicolae shrugged and played off her statement. Of course he would. That is what Nicolae did best, shrug everything off and hide behind his sarcasm. “Now tell us where Craig is so that we can at least send someone to get that fucking traitor.”

  Drya’s lips curved into a smile. “I like the sound of that. He is at one of their safe houses just outside the city. There wasn’t much security and should be easy to take down for one of our teams. I don’t think they really cared much about him after he served his purpose.”

  I rubbed my hand over my jaw. “I’m surprised that they even kept him alive. Must be planning to use him for something in the future,” I mused.

  “Perhaps,” Damius replied. “Drya, you’ll need to be isolated and put under Adreon’s care while you’re still recovering from the effects of the drug. For your own safety and health.”

  Drya nodded dutifully. “I understand, Damius. I would never willingly do anything risk the security and safety of our kind or the council. You know that right?” Tears pooled in her eyes and I looked away.

  “Stop saying that. We know. We understand. Now get over it girl.” Nicolae laughed, trying to lighten the mood as he spoke, but Drya clung tightly to her guilt.

  “I’ve already alerted Adreon, who should be here soon to watch over you. Meet him downstairs in the infirmary,” Damius spoke softly, his voice low and soothing. The vampire obviously had a bit of a soft spot for Drya and her ordeal. He didn’t speak this nicely to anyone. Especially after his tirade and yelling at her when we first arrive. Maybe he was feeling guilty?

  Sensing my thoughts, he raised his arm and flipped me off. “Vincent, Nicolae, let’s step into my office.” He gestured for us to follow.

  The door closed behind us with a reverberating slam.

  7

  Vincent

  Of course, Leo was waiting for us as we entered Damius’ office. He was the last person in the world that I wanted to deal with right now. I growled low and deep in my throat, my chest vibrating with fierce intensity as my hands curled into fists at my sides. We had not settled our differences after our last encounter.

  One that Damius and Lorelei had to break up. It was only because of Lorelei that I didn’t beat him into submission right now. I could practically hear her voice in my head, trying to restrain me as I thought about my murderous intentions when it came to Leo.

  My thoughts turned sour as my mind turned to my mate. I needed her here beside me. I needed her mind connected to mine. The distance was driving me utterly insane. Even though it had been mere hours since we had connected in our dreams, it was too long to go without her.

  “We need to come up with a plan of attack,” Damius said as he sat his large frame into the chair behind the desk. Leo stood by his side with his arms held behind his back, his back ramrod straight in the perfect soldier posture. Gods, he made me sick.

  “That’s rather obvious, isn’t it?” Nicolae snorted.

  Damius cut him a withering glance, but Nicolae didn’t back down as he plopped down into one of the chairs on the opposite side of the oak desk.

  “What is your plan, master strategist?” I muttered sarcastically through gritted teeth.

  Leo snorted. “Are we going to go back to this old game again, Demon?”

  “Enough!” Damius bellowed. “I’m not going to deal with this shit again. We’re trying to find and rescue Lorelei and Kaniul or have you forgotten that?” He slid his glowing red eyes to me, and I resisted the urge to shrink beneath his gaze.

  There weren’t many beings that could stand toe to toe with my power, but Damius was one of them. The fury currently radiating off him was nothing to be trifled with. So, I swallowed my pride for once and lowered my eyes. I hated the show of submission, my demon roaring with anger at the act.

  But I had to pick my battles. Getting Lorelei back was much more important than my foolish pride. Not that my demon was happy with that, but he agreed with me about Lorelei being the ultimate goal.

  “Nicolae, what did Layla tell you would be the best plan of attack moving forward?” Leo rumbled, looking just as contrite as I did.

  “She needs some time to get things in place and set up the people that are loyal to her. We’re staying in touch every night and she’s placed Lorelei under her protection,” Nicolae answered with conviction.

  “How long does she think that’s going to take?” Damius asked, running his hands through his thick, black hair.

  I was anxious for the answer as well. I didn’t know how much longer I was going to be able to hold out being
this disconnected from Lorelei. It had been two days of pure hell other than the small amount of time we were able to spend together in our dream together last night.

  The Nightmare Demon let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know, Damius. She’s working in a highly dangerous environment. If she makes one wrong move, her mother could discover what she’s planning and literally stab her in the back. Or torture her for information about us. It’s a bit of a delicate situation.” His eyes flashed black as his skin flickered and horns appeared on the top of his head. Emotions were high. It was a tense situation.

  A bit of an understatement, to say the least, but Damius needed to understand what Nicolae and I were dealing with just trying to keep our emotions under control.

  Damius pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “The longer that Lorelei is in their clutches, the more time that they have to prepare their insane ritual to resurrect Xandrios. That is definitely something that we don’t want.”

  “Damius,” I sighed and paced along the dark hardwood floors. “I know that better than anyone here—”

  “No, Vincent, you don’t,” Damius bit out, interrupting me. “Because I remember when Xandrios was still in full possession of his powers and the sheer chaos that he unleashed when he went on his rampage. You weren’t born yet. You have no idea what kind of terror awaits us if he’s set free.” The vampire had risen to his feet, his palms firmly planted on his desk as his gazed flickered between Nicolae and me.

  “Nicolae and I are doing everything that we can to get them out of there,” I bellowed, my temper flaring to life in response to his ire. “Do you really think that we’d let our mates be trapped in that hell hole any longer than they have to be? That Nicolae would want his mate underneath the thumb of the person that tortured them?”

  My demon bubbling to life beneath my skin. My claws lengthened as my fingers flexed and my fangs extended past my gums. “While I understand that you may be older than us, Vampire. We have a hell of a lot more to lose.” I slammed my sharp, claw tipped hands down on the desk, leaving deep grooves in the dark expensive wood.

  “Demon, you’re walking a very fine line right now,” Damius rumbled, power gathering around him as he leaned forward. His nose was scant inches away from mine and I could feel the heat of his breath on my face.

  I may have backed down to his earlier directive with Leo, but I wouldn’t back down now. Fuck that. He was way out of line with this shit.

  “Don’t insinuate that we don’t know what the stakes are.” I gathered my own abilities within me. Even though I couldn’t connect with Lorelei, I could still draw on some of her abilities as my own. The sparks danced between my fingers, electrifying the air with a distinct air of raw, primal power.

  “Shit,” Leo and Nicolae breathed at the same time.

  “Fuck,” Damius cursed and slapped his palm on the hard surface of the desk, making the solid oak crack down the middle. “Calm the fuck down, Flane. I’m not implying or insinuating anything. So put your lightning fingers back. I have no desire to be knocked backward and have to repair another wall in this place.”

  “You can draw on the Astrapi from Lorelei?” Nicolae’s eyes bulged from his head as he stared down at my fingers.

  I shrugged. “Apparently I can. Didn’t know for sure but looks like it.” I gave Damius a wry smirk and sank down into the chair opposite Nicolae, across from Damius.

  “Now I have to get another new fucking desk,” Damius muttered and threw his body back into his own executive office chair.

  “Serves you right for being such an ass,” I muttered.

  He arched an eyebrow at me before rolling his eyes and giving up. “I just can’t with you guys. It’s like trying to reason with a bunch of toddlers.”

  “Waaaaaah,” Nicolae whined before bursting into fits of laughter. Damius glared at him for a fraction of a second before the rest of us joined in the humor of Nicolae’s outburst.

  “You do a horrible baby impression.” I reached over and slapped him across the back of the head, but it didn’t stop his belly rolling laughter.

  “I don’t know about you, but I need something insanely stupid to laugh about.” Nicolae held his stomach with one hand and wiped away the tears from his eyes with the other.

  “You’re such an idiot,” I muttered, shaking my head.

  “Now that we’ve all had a good laugh, can we get back to the matter at hand?” Leo asked, still leaning against the wall to Damius’ right. He hadn’t found the humor in Nicolae’s statement, and his face was just as severe as it had been when we walked through the door.

  “Why do you always have to be such an ass?” Nicolae asked sharply.

  “Why do you always have to be sarcastic?” Leo replied haughtily.

  “Children,” Damius growled and drew our attention back to him. “Enough. Just enough. I’m tired, I haven’t fed, and I’m beginning to get a headache. I haven’t had a headache in centuries,” he added under his breath before letting out a deep exhale. “Now, Leo.” He pinned the Greek general with a stern stare. “Without pissing off the entire room, will you please explain your plan?”

  Leo huffed and I don’t even know how it was possible, but his spine straightened even more as he spoke. “The facility that they have seems to be in the middle of the Cascade Mountains. Hidden underground, much like where we rescued Lorelei from the first time.” He waved his hand and the wall behind him blinked to life with a detailed map that showed the terrain where the facility was located.

  “Here.” He circled a location on the map, the electronic board highlighting it in a sharp yellow. “And here.” He marked another area with a second yellow circle. “These are going to be the two points of entry that we are going to have a chance at. They are for deliveries. Highly secret and passed to us from Layla.” Leo inclined his head in a small gesture of thanks to Nicolae.

  Nicolae’s mouth twitched in amusement and he gave a mock salute. With his middle finger. “We still have to wait for the opportune moment,” Nicolae added thoughtfully. “There’s a lot more security at this facility. It’s the place that Adrianna spends most of her time. Where she keeps her most precious experiments and possessions. She has some of the most powerful demons and vampires on her private security detail.”

  Leo nodded. “I’m aware of that fact. There are several that I personally want to get my hands on,” he snarled while cracking his knuckles. His hazel eyes sparkled with unrequited fury. Yet another story from Leo’s past that I had no desire to dig up or try to figure out.

  “But we still have to wait for Layla’s all clear signal?” I asked, addressing Nicolae.

  He nodded and turned to Leo. “Leo and I have discussed it. Once Layla finishes laying the groundwork, she will get Lorelei and Kaniul out by escorting them to the western point.” He indicated the spot on the map.

  “We will have soldiers at both locations on the off chance that a plan goes awry or anyone tries to escape,” Leo added.

  My eyes cut to Nicolae. “Layla isn’t planning on coming with us, is she?” A feeling of foreboding rolled through my belly at the thought.

  His face fell, despair at the thought washing over him as he shook his head. “No. She said it isn’t the right time yet. That there’s still more work that she must do. More things she needs to do to lay the foundation for the destruction of The Syndicate. I tried to persuade her, but she’s a stubborn one. Much like your own mate, Boss.”

  I let out a snort of laughter at the comment. “Serves us both right, I suppose. For being such assholes in the past.” I shrugged before I clasped Nicolae on the shoulder. “You know we will get her back for you, my brother. Nothing will stop us.”

  Nicolae’s lips twitched up at the corners, but his eyes were haunted as he stared down at his feet. “I don’t know how you did it for so many years.” He cleared his throat to settle his emotions. “To know she’s there, but to not be able to go to her or touch her. It’s the most brutal form of torture I’ve ev
er endured.”

  I pursed my lips as his words hit me square in the chest. My fingers curled along his shoulder and I tried to offer him the comfort that I could. Knowing that he had been tortured for years at the hands of Adrianna and how much pain he’s suffered. I knew the agony of knowing your mate was there, just within your reach, but not being able to take her and claim her as your own.

  It was a pain that now bound Nicolae and I even further together in our brotherhood.

  “We will get her, Nicolae. I swear this to you.”

  8

  Lorelei

  I drew in a harsh breath as the door to my cell slammed open and Adrianna sauntered in with Layla close on her heels. Adrianna’s ice blue eyes sparkled with unrestrained glee as she licked her lips, taking in my prone form. Layla gave me a knowing look, trying to ensure my silence and cooperation.

  After my shared dream with Vincent, I was bare and vulnerable. I wanted nothing more than to retreat into myself and cling to that fragile memory of him.

  But Layla wouldn’t allow that.

  As soon as Vincent had disappeared from my dreams and I’d woken up, she was in my mind, talking to me.

  “You need to stay calm and patient. This is all part of the plan.”

  “What fucking plan, Layla? I’m going insane right now without my mate,” I screamed at her in my mind, somehow refraining from yelling the words aloud.

  She sighed. “This is the way that things must play out. You must trust me on this. Fly on, little angel. Fly on.”

  The way she uttered the phrase my mother always used made my skin prickle with awareness. Goosebumps pebbled along my arms, my mind whirling with the possibilities. This was all getting to be a bit too strange for me. First, I heard my mother’s voice last night, just before I fell asleep. Now, Layla was quoting her words to me.

  What the hell was going on?