Table of Contents
Legal Page
Title Page
Book Description
Dedication
Trademarks Acknowledgement
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
New Excerpt
About the Author
Publisher Page
A Totally Bound Publication
Power of Rhythms
ISBN # 978-1-78430-170-5
©Copyright Taige Crenshaw 2014
Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright August 2014
Edited by Rebecca Douglas
Totally Bound Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorized or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2014 by Totally Bound Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN
Warning:
This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Totally Sizzling and a Sexometer of 2.
Blackstone Haven
POWER OF RHYTHMS
Taige Crenshaw
Book four in the Blackstone Haven series.
Unexpected revelations lead a woman on a path that will change her destiny…
Pandora Zahi is used to being in control of her life—both professionally and more importantly, personally. She doesn’t have time for a mate and sure as hell not one she isn’t sure if she’d rather eliminate or kiss. Zyric has her off-kilter and for a Siren, that isn’t a comfortable feeling at all. It’s time for her to take back the power and show Zyric that although he thinks he’s the one in charge, she is. She knows he still has secrets and she will unearth each one and teach him he should never hide what shouldn’t be hidden.
Zyric has many secrets and in one touch, Pandora unravels most of what he has concealed. With the revelation, he is now clear to pursue the one thing he wants above all else—Pandora. He will push through her walls to break that control. He wants to get deep beneath the exterior Pandora portrays to the world to the woman underneath. She is his future and his soul craves hers. However before they can have a future, he must take care of a past wrong that will affect them both. Zyric knows if he was a better man, he would walk away…but he isn’t able to leave the woman who’s his match. Together they will create a melody that resonates under the power of rhythms.
Dedication
To my mother, who has always been my number one fan. Because of you, I love to read and write.
To my big sister and second mother who has always believed in me.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Leverage: Electric Entertainment
Trailhawk Cherokee: Chrysler Corporation
Star Trek: CBS/Paramount
Chapter One
The glass shattered in her hand and immediately blood welled in the deep cuts on her palm. It took everything in her to not curse aloud. With a thought, she healed it while taking a deep breath. The heightened sense of awareness coursing through her made everything seem too much. She had no idea what was going on within her and she didn’t like it one bit. Turning, she materialized a new beaker and got back to work.
“You’re tense.” The sensual male voice she knew so well came behind her from her right.
The tension within her unknotted and she felt as if she could breathe again. She frowned, not sure what to make of that.
“Pandora.” The tinge of an Irish accent in his voice was smooth like cream but packed the punch of whiskey.
Pandora Zahi controlled her shiver as she envisioned him speaking in Irish Gaelic as he thrust int— She cut off that thought before it could fully form. What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t even like him, much less want to fuck him. Something is definitely wrong with me.
“Cat got your tongue, Pandora?” He sounded closer, although she hadn’t heard him move.
“Me and my dogs don’t want cats around.” Pandora thought of her friends who were shifters then amended, “Well, except those that can become human.”
“What’s your beef with cats?” He came even closer.
His scent of the sea and fresh air sprinkled with a wisp of sulfur filled her senses. She scowled as the aroma made her thoughts whirl when she tried to place where she had smelled the combination before. It eluded her once more. Pandora felt she should know it and with that, she would have knowledge of what kind of being he was. It was frustrating that she couldn’t figure out what he was. He didn’t put off any signature of power but her instincts made her aware he was powerful.
“I don’t have anything against them. Just best for them to keep their distance. They tend to get punch-drunk when around me. Makes ’em loopy and really friendly to me.” Pandora smiled wryly. “From what Ian said, seems I put out some sort of vibe that draws all sorts of felines, including shifters, to me.”
“Really.” He stopped right behind her back. “That I’ll have to see. I’ll introduce you and your dogs to my Bengal.”
“Zyric, I don’t want to meet your cat.” Pandora pivoted to face him. “And my dogs don’t much li—” She looked down then amended, “Didn’t seem to like you much before. Now they seem to. Traitors.”
She glared at each of her Alaskan Malamutes sitting on either side of Zyric. Talon, the sable and white colored one, cocked his head to the side while Sula, whose coat was red and white, gave her a look that Pandora fancied was patronizing. The damn dog had her personality and it would have been the same look she would have used.
“I’m a likable guy.” Zyric shrugged his broad shoulders.
Pandora watched the motion while mulling over the lilting cadence of his words again, which made her believe he would speak Irish Gaelic. In her travels, she’d heard the accent enough times to recognize how it sounded. She lowered her gaze, taking in the expertly tailored flowing dark red shirt that stopped at mid-thigh of his charcoal gray slacks. It was another thing she always noticed about him. The way he dressed reminded her of something but she couldn’t place that either. She focused on his face—his features depicted his Latin heritage. His long raven hair was pulled back and held at the top of his head by a braided tie that matched his clothing. Zyric’s almost translucent gray eyes studied her and Pandora refused to shift under intense scrutiny.
“There are many other words I could think of and likable isn’t one of them,” Pandora retorted.
“Ahh…Pandora, I missed your sharp tongue.”
“You’ve been gone?” She lifted an eyebrow.
“Maybe.” He chuckled then sobered. “Catch me up on what’s been going on.”
“Wh—?” She cut herself off then decided to fill him in. “We’ve been working on some things and…”
She leaned against the metal table behind her,
telling him about the project he’d been placed here at Conundrum for—the company she co-owned with her friends. Zyric asked questions as she spoke. He was supposedly here for something to do with The Klionhs, a drug she and her friends had developed in college and they’d thought had been destroyed. It hadn’t been and instead had been taken by one of their professors. They had since recovered all the data with the help of the some of the Blackstone family, who the town was named after. Zyric had come to them not too long after, under the guise of working for the same governmental agency from which the drug had been retrieved. She’d found out that the reasons for him being there were false. She was still planning a way she would reveal she knew Zyric was lying then finally get some answers of who he was.
“How long have I been gone?” Zyric slipped in the question.
“Six months,” Pandora answered, well aware he was trying to catch her off guard. She decided to indulge him to see where his inquiry was leading.
“Yes.” Zyric crossed his arms over his chest. “A little after your partner threw his fit—”
“You drugged his dog.” Pandora lowered her voice. “If you had drugged mine, they would have been still trying to find pieces of you.”
Wesley was one of her partners, and his first meeting with Zyric had made him hate the man on sight. Even now Wesley refused to work with him and would gladly see Zyric punished for what he did.
“It was, as I stated before, for a reason.” Zyric tilted his head to the side. “If there was another way, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Although it wasn’t an apology, it was the first time Zyric had admitted he was wrong.
“Tell that to Wesley.”
“I will.” Zyric smirked. “That is, if I can get him not to attack me and actually listen.”
“Good luck with that.”
“I figure I’m going to need it. Wesley seems like a very stubborn man—much like most of his friends.”
“Ahhhh, you say the sweetest things.” Pandora snickered. “Say that to the rest of them and they would love you.”
“So calling you all stubborn is a compliment then?”
“Definitely.”
“So noted.” Zyric studied her. “You look tired.”
“Expended a lot of energy a few days ago to help a friend with a pesky stalker issue that got a pain in the ass off her and her family’s backs.” Pandora rubbed the back of her neck before lowering her hand.
She usually wouldn’t feel the effects of what she did, yet she was, which added to the list of something being off. She briefly thought of what had happened to end the Blackstones’ issue. Now they just needed to figure out what the repercussions of it were and what was really behind it.
“Help with a stalker? Sounds like a story there. Tell me,” Zyric demanded.
She glared at him. “I don’t like your tone.”
“Don’t care if you do.” Zyric took a step. “Tell me about this stalker.”
“He’s gone, w—”
“You killed him.” Zyric went deathly still.
Pandora frowned, not sure what his issue was. “In a way—”
“There is no ‘in a way’. Either he’s dead or not.”
“What is it to you?” Pandora reached for him.
Zyric stepped back, not allowing her to touch him. She narrowed her gaze and put her hand down. Pandora smiled grimly. He was very cautious to make sure she didn’t touch him and it bugged her.
“Why are you so afraid to let me touch you?”
“Because you are a touch telepath and I don’t want you in my head.” Zyric lowered his lids partially over his pale gray eyes. “Tell me about the stalker. Is he dead?”
“I’m not telling you anything.”
Zyric flashed one hand out, grabbing her around the neck so fast she didn’t see him move. She wouldn’t have needed to if she chose to stop him from touching her. Deliberately, she let him and Pandora smiled. She was indeed a touch telepath and in her case, she didn’t need to be the one doing the touching to read thoughts—she could use any touch to read the other person. He lifted her off the ground, holding her by one hand.
“Tell me,” he spoke softly, but it made all the hairs rise on her body.
“Bad mistake, Zyric.” Pandora pushed out with her power.
Zyric didn’t even flinch, although she knew the surge was immense. She kept it up as she delved into his mind. Pandora scowled as she got none of his thoughts. Instead she shuddered as knowledge burst through her.
“Shadow mate.” She grabbed his wrist and removed his hold on her neck before she floated back, crossing her legs under her and levitating over the metal table as she stared at him. “Fuck. How the hell am I your shadow mate?”
“Bond shadow.” Zyric corrected. He matched her pose, levitating and coming at her. “Now tell me. Did you kill the stalker?”
“Fuck, that’s even worse. Why are you so obsessed with Lethra?” Pandora narrowed her gaze. “If I’m your bond shadow, that makes you a Shadower. Who the hell are you?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Zyric kept coming and he grabbed her on the shoulder. “Did you kill Lethra?”
“Forget Lethra. How are you a Shadower and Sin and Savage not know?” Pandora was baffled. Usually another being would recognize its own race, unless that person was hiding. And to do that took a lot to fool someone without slipping up. “What do you not want them to know?”
“You will tell me about Lethra.” Zyric sank into the shadows and yanked her with him.
“Arrogant man. You can’t keep a Siren someplace if they don’t want to be there.” She pulled her power then breathed.
A wave flowed over them and they came out of the shadows as it created a funnel enclosing them. Pandora controlled the water while staring at him. Zyric smiled a moment then shed his skin. Magenta light flowed where he was and he circled Pandora.
“Lethra. Tell me now. Is he dead?” His voice came on a newly built path in her mind.
“I will tell you nothing.” She roared. “Tell me what you are hiding. Are you here to hurt my friends? Answer me now or I will kill you.”
“You cannot kill me, bond shadow,” Zyric taunted.
“I have no qualms, as your race does, about ending your life. Sirens mate for life but they have to love first before they pick the one for them,” Pandora said as she yanked the water to her, forming a sword out of water and holding it before her. She pressed the tip against Zyric’s throat. “Who sent you here?”
“No one sent me. Tell me about Lethra?” He spoke even lower.
Power thrummed between them and Pandora felt his rise to meet hers. From the strength of their combined energy, they would level the land of Blackstone Haven and beyond. If it would protect her friends, she was willing to do it. They would survive it.
“Bring it.” She lifted her sword and lashed down.
Zyric caught it between two fingers and smiled at her. “Violent woman. You do not kill your bond shadow. I will get your love, Pandora, and the idea of a drop of my blood even spilling will be unbearable to you.”
“You can keep those delusions.” She drew another water sword from the air and prepared to kill him.
“Pandora, don’t kill him.” Lethra materialized next to them.
“Why not? He is here to hurt Sin and Savage. He is too curious about you, too.” Pandora shifted the sword in her hand as she stared at Zyric, marking where she would plunge the blade.
“He’s our brother,” Lethra said.
“Brother,” she said in disbelief then her mind flooded with memories of her childhood. “Bastard. What did you do to my memories?”
“Tweaked them so you wouldn’t recall me, Dora.” Zyric smirked.
She recalled now why he was so familiar. “Fuck you.” She jerked away, striding across the room to get some space between them.
“Always saying such loving things to me, Dora,” he called after her.
“Don’t call me that before I wrap you in seaweed,” she
warned.
“Last time you did that it was hell getting it out of places I’d rather not mention.” Zyric laughed.
“Stop messing with Pandora,” Lethra said. “Explain why we saw you die, yet here you are alive.”
Pandora leaned against the wall and faced them. She too wanted to know how that was possible. Zyric opened his mouth to speak but before he could, Sin and Savage ran through the door then skidded to stop before Zyric and stared, awe on their faces.
“Brother,” they whispered in unison.
“The echo. I have missed the echo of your voices,” Zyric said softly.
“What did you do to us?” Sin demanded.
“Why did we not recognize you when we saw or heard you speak?” Savage scowled.
“He probably tweaked the way he looked and sounded to you, seeing as he was fucking with people’s memories too,” Pandora said.
The men all looked at her.
“What? I’m just saying Zyric seems to like to fuck around with people’s memories and shit.”
“Oh, oh.” Savage looked at her cautiously. “You pissed off Pandora. You better fix it.”
“I will.” Zyric stared at her.
The possessive look in his eyes made her bare her teeth and growl. Zyric chuckled—a decadent sound. He winked and focused back on his brothers.
“D—”
She growled in warning. Zyric flicked a glance at her then smirked, looking back at his family.
“Pandora is correct. I did make it so you would not know it was me.” Zyric held out his hands. “It was for your protection. All of your protection. This all started long ago when Lethra foresaw you two as king.”
“What?” they all said together.
“Blagden, even though he enslaved Lethra, couldn’t chance you two getting near the throne as Lethra had foreseen. He had a few steps to his plan. He banished you,” Zyric said.
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