Behind the Veil: 3 (Temptation Unveiled)

by Alexander, R. G.

  Behind the Veil

  R.G. Alexander

  Book 3 of the Temptation Unveiled series.

  Sheridan’s world is turned upside down by one magical book and the sexy supernaturals who come with it. Now the latest piece of the prophecy seems to point to her saving the day, but she doubts her supposed powers—and the new man in her life.

  As a warrior, Finn learned the art of patience, a skill that has served him well for millennia—until Sheridan’s impenetrable mind and fierce beauty capture his passion. But Sheridan seems uninterested in the growing lust between them. When Finn discovers it isn’t lack of desire, but the dark secret she harbors that stands between them, nothing can keep him away.

  Surrounded by enemies and endless temptations, Sheridan will have to fight to conquer her fears and embrace her wildest needs with Finn. As the prophecy begins to unravel around her, she’ll be faced with the hardest challenge of all…accepting her destiny.

  A Romantica® paranormal erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

  Behind the Veil

  R.G. Alexander

  Another daughter of my line

  A warrior bold

  Will be forced to fight the enemy

  Within and without.

  The path to the key is hidden in shadow.

  To discover the truth

  She must embrace her gifts.

  To heal her heart and save The Realm

  Her only option is to trust a child of Danu.

  Translation from the Ogham Book of Veils, as prophesied by Áine,

  High Priestess of Danu.

  Chapter One

  Was he done playing games now? Had the lying bastard finally decided to kill her?

  Sheridan dove behind an outcropping of rocks, cursing and choking on a mouthful of snow and ice as she pushed herself to her knees and checked for damage. She wasn’t hurt, but the sight and smell of the charred material on her sleeve made her snarl. The jackass had ruined her favorite leather jacket. That was real enough.

  “Son of a dragon-scaled bitch.” Fireballs? Seriously? If she’d been a heartbeat slower, she would have been hit head-on. She could have been killed.

  That is the point. Are you surprised he is like the others? Did you believe him when he said he was willing to bring you to his home, to train you to fight and then asked nothing from you in return? A predator will appear beautiful as he asks for your trust. Demands it. But you will always be his prey. Haven’t you learned that by now?

  She shook her head, refusing to agree with the oily voice experience had taught her only she could hear. She couldn’t listen to it. Even if the words sounded right. Sounded true.

  Her grip tightened instinctively on her heavy staff as another explosion rattled the ground. That was too close.

  She looked down at the weapon. It was decent enough for a big stick, she supposed. And once she’d gotten strong enough to hold the thing, to swing it, it had proven capable of inflicting a satisfying amount of damage in hand-to-hand. But unless this baby was fireproof, it wouldn’t do her much good today.

  She couldn’t help wishing for her gun. It would even the playing field a bit. At least the playing field in her old, normal, human life where there were laws she could enforce with her badge and her gun. Where there were rules she had to follow and lines she could make sure no one crossed. That was the life she understood. The one without magic.

  They’ve taken that away too. Robbed you of all that made you strong. All you knew.

  “Shut up already,” she whispered harshly, swearing as she watched her breath rise in the frosty air to give her location away. They hadn’t taken everything yet. Her sanity might be in question, but she still had plenty of fight left. She still had strength enough to survive this.

  She listened for the light crunch of sandaled feet on the icy ground. No easy task, since her enemy moved with a supernatural grace, not hindered by the cold the way she was. Not hindered by anything the way she was. Not human.

  But you have rage to warm you and aid your focus. You could kill him before he kills you.

  Yes. Before he killed her.

  She swore she could hear his heartbeat over her own, slow and calm and confident. Bastard. He expects a victory. Her body tensed, ready to swing low and catch him off guard long enough to hold the dagger in her belt to his throat. To win. To shatter his serenity the way hers had been shattered over and over again this past year.

  The sudden unexpected tingle up her spine made her gasp. A new arrival. She remembered that feeling. It only came with one particular Fae. The one she’d vowed never to speak to again.

  Finn was here.

  Her instincts, her body’s reactions, told her that he had to be. Her heart began to race for reasons that had nothing to do with the fight, her blood heating in spite of the cold.

  Adrenaline and arousal. No. She wasn’t aroused. Didn’t have any desire to rub up against him like a cat until she was drowning in his scent. To finally know what it felt like to touch him. To taste him.

  Her teeth dug into her lower lip, tasting the coppery tang of her own blood instead. It was anger. That was all she felt for him. It was the only thing she could allow herself to feel, and by far the safer emotion.

  Sheridan growled. Usually fighting eased her sexual frustration, exhausting her until the only thing that ached were her muscles from overuse. But exhausted as she was, it was now all she could think about. Just because he was here.

  Damn it.

  “Dirty pool, Sparky,” she called out tauntingly, desperate for distraction. “Too afraid to fight me alone? If you needed reinforcements, you should have called on the Wolfman instead of Tinker Bell. You’d have better odds.”

  “You sensed that?” The beautiful male voice floated over the rocks and down into her hiding place, sounding surprised and oddly pleased. “More importantly, you sensed who? I believe the sensation I’m now feeling is akin to parental pride. Among your many other gifts, including that amusing ability to trash-talk, we now know you have an internal Fae detector.”

  He made a noise that sounded insultingly like a snicker. “And when you got here, you thought you had no special abilities.”

  Pompous jerk. She held her staff defensively and walked around the large granite outcropping that had concealed her. Stopping a few feet away from her tormentor, she glared. “When I got here, I thought a lot of things.”

  “Some of them were even true.” Raj smiled serenely, as if they hadn’t just spent the last four hours sparring. She also caught a quickly concealed expression of pity in his gaze. “Most were not. You allowed your anger to distract you again, Sheridan Kelly. It’s happening more often now.”

  Taking a few slow breaths to clear her head, she swore and nodded, feeling the red haze that had started to blind her dissipating. “I did. In my defense, that was dirty pool. I wasn’t expecting fireballs. Nobody expects fireballs. Show me any other human who would and I’ll call you a liar.”

  Her excuse was just that. An excuse. He was right—she’d lost control again. Listened just enough to that paranoid voice in her head to forget they were only training. Forget that he wasn’t her enemy. Far from it. In fact, in the last few months, there were times she believed Raj to be her only friend.

  How could that have slipped her mind?

  He chuckled and stepped closer, his bare bronzed chest emitting the unnatural heat she’d come to expect from him, warming her as he came within reach. It made her more aware of the chill seeping into her limbs.

  “Certainly,” he agreed amiably, “as soon as you show meanother human who could have avoided my last shot. Particularly after being exposed for this long to the
elements. How many times must you be reminded, Sheridan? You are not human. Your body has acknowledged what your mind still refuses to accept. You are a descendant of Áine. I know you sensed that shot coming. You just didn’t move fast enough.”

  He pulled out the two short Bahi sticks dangling on a cloth belt at his waist and raised them in challenge. Hell. Sheridan had learned to hate those damn things. She’d watched him practice when they’d first arrived and believed his movements to be beautiful. Now all they meant was that she would probably lose her staff and her pride before she could defend herself, which would be the cherry on top of an already wonderful day for her ego.

  He noticed her glare and shrugged. “We could always go back to fireballs. At least this way I won’t put our new arrival or your jacket in any more jeopardy.”

  “My favorite jacket.” Sheridan clutched her long staff so tightly her knuckles whitened. “And I’m sure Fairy Finn can handle your hot balls.” This time she was the one who snickered. “But you won’t be able to handle me if you keep talking about my special senses. I have the same five everyone else does. The same instincts. I see fire. I run from fire.”

  Raj tilted his head, his long ebony braid spilling over one shoulder and sending the arousing aroma of exotic spices through the air as he circled her slowly. “I’m not talking about Finn. Pay attention. I knew you were stubborn. Perhaps it was wrong of me to believe I was the best choice to instruct you. Maybe you should have trained with the Viking berserker instead. You had anger enough today to pass for one at a distance.”

  She rolled her eyes and he continued, weaving his Bahi sticks with a fluid, almost hypnotic grace. “What was it you called Hawk and his brother Val? Brad One and Brad Two? Would you rather I’d brought you to them inthe Tuatha’s Realm of Joywhen you demanded these lessons? I’m sure they would have been happy to explain the dangerous effects of rage on a warrior—in between their intimate sessions with their mate, Linnea. Surely five minutes a day of tutoring is all you’d need, since we both know that is all the time they would spare you.”

  Sheridan furrowed her brow in consternation. Why was he trying to provoke her? He knew why she’d come with him. Raj was quiet, effective and, though he was not human, he was also not technically a member of the Fianna—those supernatural chest beaters who guarded humans and their precious North Portal from the Dark.

  Usually.

  Their latest full-time job had more to do with destroying her family dynamic.

  But not Raj. He aided them, but rarely in battle. He wasn’t one of the “super” men in love with her cousin—or her mother—and his mere presence didn’t drive her insane. Out of all of them, he’d been the safest choice. Or so she’d believed until they came here.

  Maybe it was this place, his homeland retreat in the Himalayas. He’d changed since they arrived. Less smoke and more fire. More aggressive and, she couldn’t help but notice, more masculine. She supposed getting away from all those over-the-top alphas might have given Raj room to spread his wings. Literally and figuratively.

  She was at the top of the world, with ageless mountains resting like sleeping giants around her, making her problems seem small. Another planet away from the worries and people that had sent her packing to begin with.

  Being so far removed from her family’s new yet constant companions? From Finn and prophecies and the Dark? It made her want to stay. Fireballs be damned.

  His comments may have been an attempt to throw her off balance, but he had a valid point. Her anger was holding her back. Distracting her. This time it had been so bad, she’d almost let it overtake her. The voice in her head was getting stronger, and better at fueling her fear and frustration. Her hate. She couldn’t let it win.

  Don’t you understand? I already have. Your inability to control yourself is proof enough of that.

  Like a berserker. She knew she had no inborn ability to harness her anger, yet neither could Hawk, really. The Viking couldn’t control the berserker inside him once it was released. It was a consciousness of its own, he’d claimed—made of blood and teeth and red-soaked rage. Only his brother or Linnea could bring him back. Only love.

  Sheridan wasn’t going to lie to herself and say she hadn’t craved that power, especially when she’d found out it was what had killed her kidnapper and leader of the Dark Fae, Eonis…but she had no one she was close enough to who could pull her back if she lost her way. Not anymore. They’d all found a new focus. New people to love.

  She jolted when Raj tapped her staff with impatient force, sending a jarring vibration up her arm. “Didn’t I tell you to pay attention? No one said we were done with training.”

  Sheridan pushed back with her own weapon, focusing on his movements, stepping instinctively into the seamless dance that was his fighting style. “Forgive me, oh great and powerful Master. I’d mistakenly believed you were the kind of man to welcome guests when they arrived. Offer a little coffee or tea? You know how Finny likes his tea. I thought royals were trained in etiquette.”

  His beautiful features were both kind and mischievous as he managed to get behind her and tap her back lightly with a Bahi stick. Another point for him.

  “How can I properly respond to your sarcasm when you ask to be forgiven so sweetly?” His chuckle faded and his expression grew somber. “I will welcome our guest, Sheridan, if you will promise not to see this as a betrayal.”

  Raj raised his voice without taking his eyes off his sparring partner. “Welcome, Kyle. I see Finn’s sense of direction has left you victim to the elements. You’ll have to forgive him—my sources tell me he’s been a bit of a prick lately.”

  “Kyle?” Sheridan heard a familiar voice swearing farther down the hill and clenched her jaw. “What the hell is he doing here?”

  Raj lowered his Bahi and shrugged. “Have you noticed how time loses meaning here? Yet still it passes. You won’t admit it, but you have surpassed my greatest expectations for you. You are every inch a Druid warrior.” His long ebony lashes shielded his exotic eyes. “The anger that rides you will have to be defeated soon. I wish you would trust me with it. But we no longer have the luxury of patience.”

  He wants to get inside your head. Don’t tell him.

  Sheridan flinched. “I asked you to teach me how to win a fight against the Dark, not for meditation tricks or therapy. And I certainly didn’t ask anyone to drag Kyle into this. Why is he here?”

  His sensual lips tightened almost imperceptibly. “We don’t always ask for what we need, Sheridan. But it always comes to us.”

  She stopped sparring, freeing one hand from the staff to signal an end to their session. “So he’s just wandering up the mountain alone? In this weather? Shit. Kyle!”

  Raj’s laugh echoed loudly across the mountainside as she turned, dropped her staff and ran down the slope toward the bundled-up figure struggling in the snow.

  Kyle’s foul language turned the frosty air blue as it reached her, and Sheridan felt her shoulders relax. This was better than facing Finn, she thought, denying the twinge of disappointment that came when she realized he wasn’t there. So much better.

  Blinking away tears, she ran the last few yards toward him and jumped into his arms. “My hero!”

  “Careful! Your hero is fragile,” Kyle groaned, but he wrapped his arms around her in one of his familiar bear hugs. “Holy hell, Harridan. This place is freezing. And I can hardly breathe, the air’s so thin. Do you know it’s a balmy eighty degrees, humidity thick as soup in Houston right now? I was working on my post-New-Year’s farmer’s tan and breathing in all that wet, textured atmosphere mere moments ago. If your ginger-haired fairy had bothered to warn me I’d be flashing onto the peak of the highest, coldest friggin’ hillside this side of Santa’s workshop, I’d have brought my thermals.”

  Sheridan pulled back to look at him, studying the face she knew as well as her own. The unkempt wavy hair. The warm brown eyes and ruddy cheeks. The bushy beard that hid his smart mouth. Something inside her took a
breath for the first time in ages.

  Kyle was here.

  She buried her face in his neck, enjoying the rough scruff of his thick brown facial hair and the smell of life. Her old life. Heat and sweat. Humanity and…cheeseburgers. God, she’d missed having him around.

  He chuckled and patted her back gently. “Good to know I’m welcome, Sher. Especially since you and the rest of your family have abandoned me to live in the magical Land of Oz and testosterone.”

  Raj appeared beside them and Kyle reluctantly set her down. “What’s cooking, DB?”

  Her beautiful instructor grimaced. “I see you’ve picked up a nasty habit. Dragon Boy is not my name. I prefer Raj. If that is too difficult, Your Highness will do.”

  Kyle’s lips quirked upward. “Testy. It’s a new look for you but I like it. Your Highness though? Word on the street is you abdicated a long time ago.”

  “How did you—?” Raj tensed and inhaled deeply, his eyebrows raised in surprise. “You’ve been keeping interesting company for a human cop. Perhaps there’s a sitcom in there somewhere. Nyctimus and the Detective. It has an amusing ring to it.”

  Before Kyle could think of a comeback Raj turned to her. “I didn’t tell you they were coming because I wasn’t sure when they would arrive. But now that our guests are here, including your cousin, by the way, I’ll go see to their accommodations while you both walk back to the lodge. Consider that the end of your training for the day. But I would hurry. Your playmate looks cold and…he is only human.”

  Kyle made a sound of distress that almost distracted Sheridan from her own panic at Raj’s announcement. Meru was here?

  “Dude, I’m sorry. I really am. Sheridan, tell him I’m sorry. Obviously the lack of oxygen is already messing with my brain. You aren’t really going to make us walk in this, are you? Can’t you just,” Kyle made a waving motion with his gloved hands, “you know…flash us there?”

  Raj grinned with wicked satisfaction. “Oh I rarely travel that way here. Why flash when you can fly?”