Beyond The Veil: A Paranormal & Magical Romance Boxed Set

by Multiple Authors

  She wished for Aedan right now.

  “He’s just muscles. I’m to teach and train you to protect yourself with your gifts. Much more important!” He practically yelled the words at her before turning away on a rush, as if he intended to hide his face from her view. “The group, the one your aunt fears, they’ve somehow infiltrated this room. It shouldn’t be possible with the wards your aunt and I placed on it. But somehow they’ve managed.”

  “How do you know they infiltrated this room? What did they do? Do you know about this group? She can’t seem to even give me a name.”

  “Only what I feel of them. They’ve left a paper trail without titles all these years. Her father did her a great disservice in keeping her in the dark as far as who they are. I could more easily fight them if I knew more about them than what I feel. I can only assume how dangerous they are that he thought his family safer for the not knowing,” Darcaryn added as if reading from a book in front of him.

  “So, they are here you said, infiltrated, the word you used? What do you mean by that? Are they upstairs in the castle? Is my aunt okay?” she breathed out the questions despite her constricted lungs.

  “No, they’re not physically here. They’re throwing garbage attacks, creating illusory manifestations. They must’ve blocked the electricity to the lights. The atmosphere changed then. I should have been more in tune, but you distracted me.”

  “I distracted you?” she questioned. “This is my fault? How? What? I don’t understand what you’re saying. They just attacked us? How?”

  “You, your beauty, and your intoxicating powers, so strong, so innocent, and so unused…” he stumbled. “I’ve been attracted to you from the second I first saw you last night. So, with the intimacy between us while teaching you today, I failed to recognize when the feeling of lust, of pure want, took on baser tones, were no longer purely mine, but a magical exaggeration of what I felt. They intruded, created pseudo-thoughts in my head, and, I’m sure your mind as well. They introduced sexual arousal. I’m embarrassed that you felt the intrusion first. It feels like chaos, thoughts both yours and ones they forced you to feel, believe in, confuse the mind. Depending upon how strong you are, you can fight for your own reality, act on those feelings instead of what is being forced upon you.

  “You did that, I assume. You stopped the kiss. Maybe my attraction to you is one-sided, so only I was blindsided by their magic. You have my apologies for even letting things go as far as they did. We must maintain a professional, working relationship. I didn’t expect to feel so much…and so immediately. There’s always an amount of intimacy to magic, but with you, the attraction, intense and instantaneous, surfaced last night the moment you opened your door.”

  He turned to her then. His eyes looked like a stormy sea, a much darker blue than before. Most of his coppery locks had fallen free of his ponytail by now, making him appear wild and reckless, as if the storm had already tossed him about. The absolute savage beauty of the sight halted her attempt for words. Fear. Lust. She couldn’t discern which emotions were truly hers.

  “We must go. Your aunt must know of this,” he demanded.

  He opened the door, and she followed, her legs feeling unbalanced and shaky. She still attempted to decipher all he'd said. It seemed so confusing. She paused for only moment to flash a quick glance back at the dying man of stone on the floor. Something in the reflection of his eyes sent a chill through her body, as if ice water coursed through her veins.

  Looking back to follow Darcaryn, the sensation increased until her entire body trembled violently. What was wrong with this man? She couldn’t put her finger on what was off about him. Yet, sure as shit, she knew in her heart some sort of darkness dwelled within him. Him and her aunt seemed cut of some similar cloth in that way. She never believed in either of their presence she was getting the full truth, if she’d gotten any at all. If that constituted love and protection, she wanted no part of it. Playing along took on more dangerous overtones.

  Chapter Six

  Left alone in her room for the remainder of the day, with even dinner brought up with apologies from her aunt, she’d taken the time to try to search for this mysterious group. With all she’d heard, a pointless attempt, but the idea of her aunt and Darcaryn lying bothered her. An itch she’d be damned if she wouldn’t scratch. She’d had it with the magical crap, the revenge crap, and all the other crap. Still feeling unhinged from her time with Darcaryn, unsettled, and maybe even horny, she paced her room, aching to have a run.

  Several times she’d become uneasy during her fruitless searches. So, she’d stomped to Aedan’s room and demanded to be taken to her aunt. She wanted answers about her mother, the woman people barely spoke of as if she’d never existed. In fact, this whole place, this entire situation, didn’t sit right. Truth had been withheld. Beyond that, now she believed lies were being shed.

  She no longer believed her aunt or Darcaryn were telling her the whole truth about this society either. Surely they knew who they fought, just didn’t want to let her in on the information yet, for whatever twisted reason they had. Maybe they thought her and her so-called magic were too innocent, or her mind was too fragile. They couldn’t be more wrong. They obviously didn’t know her at all and hadn’t given her enough credit. Maybe she didn’t have the magical training, but she could handle whatever they threw her way. What she couldn’t handle was being under informed.

  Whatever the case, Aedan had fought her tooth and nail to keep her in her room.

  “You must’ve been a fantastic SEAL,” Kyna spat on her umpteenth trip to his room.

  Night had come and brought with it an ice storm that pelted her window like tiny stones striking her last nerve as well.

  “I’ve recently read in my forced isolation this afternoon, that SEALs are trained to be experts in everything, yet they don’t ask questions. The politicians deliberate, and you’re called to do what is necessary without questions,” she spat a line she’d found on the Internet, having researched SEALs as well.

  Aedan interested her. What could she say?

  “Yes. Though we train to be experts in whatever’s thrown our way, we take orders, and we react,” he confirmed. “There’s a perfect scenario for SEAL mentality. A sergeant tells the SEALs they were never there. And, the SEALs answer they are never anywhere. Even the laws don’t pertain to what they do. They can be anywhere, anytime, do anything they’re told to do. I follow the same rules here under the employment of your aunt. I’m paid to believe she knows best and to protect you no matter what, with my life if need be.

  “Look, I know you’re going stir crazy, and I’m sure you had a hellish morning with Darcaryn. All I’ve been told is there’ve been magical attacks. I deal in the physical, though, and my instructions are to keep you in your room,” he finished by pointing to their adjoining wall. “Case closed. You’re right, no questions asked.”

  “I’m not a teenager you, or she, can lock in a room!” she hissed, and felt immature for doing so.

  “I know that, but where would you go anyway with the weather the way it is? I know you want answers, but the only woman to give them to you is working on other matters to keep you safe. So, please, find the patience. You want to talk? I mean not sit in your room alone at least?”

  “That’s okay. I’m fine. Been searching the Internet for this group, though I’ve nothing to go on other than to search terms like Ireland and secret society. That only gets you a lot of craziness about the Freemasons, the Illuminati, and the Knights of Templar for starters. Wasn’t aware they were a secret, but guess they mean what they do is a secret. Sorry, just stating the obvious. I’m angry and want to rant. No, I want to run.”

  “I understand. You’re entitled. But, yes, old and shadowy groups of elites who try to control every aspect of life on the planet,” he quoted, as if he’d read the very pages she had this afternoon. “I’ve read all about them, too.”

  “I see we’ve stumbled upon some of the same sites. Although, I trust
nothing of all the horrendous conspiracy theories of mind control and satanic worship, along with the whole link to the church thing. While I believe less than half the stuff I find online, they do seem to work in world affairs apparently. And, I doubt my family and me are important enough to fall under their radar, whatever it is they actually do. I did read some creepy stuff, though. Some along a magical level, I guess you could say. A few sites claimed they had programmers, trained through a blood baptism just downright too disgusting to be easily forgotten. But, they talked about circles, channeling, and use of demons like I think my aunt said, messing with minds through spells, and all that. I don’t know.”

  “I can’t help you there. Never had dealings with any of them.”

  “That you know of, and even if you did, wouldn’t your information be classified?” she teased.

  “Guess.”

  “Big help there. Maybe I’ll go drown myself in my large tub!” she joked.

  “Do what?” he stormed.

  “Joking. How about I just take a swim in it then?”

  “Okay. Remember I can hear you over there,” he grumbled.

  “Yeah. Great.”

  “I meant, I can hear you if you need anything. Just call for help.”

  “I can wash my own back, thank you very much.” She huffed out before he saw the blush that crept up her cheeks as images of that scenario formed in her all too vivid imagination.

  On the other hand, reverse the situation, him naked and dripping wet. Now that had to be an unbelievable sight. She slammed her door closed behind her, shutting herself in her room. It had begun to feel more like a prison with each passing hour, no matter how beautifully decorated. She wanted to explore this castle of a house, but that had been forbidden for her safety as well.

  She started the water pouring into the tub, gave Aedan something to hear. Her tub sat in three stone walls, in one of the turrets, each with a deep set window filled with plants, candles, and towels. Once in the water, the jets bubbling away the stress of her day, her mind flowed back to her time in training with Darcaryn. Warmth stirred in her stomach, under her skin, very different from the heat provided by the water. Even with physical proof, her mind still doubted the whole magical aspect of their connection. She didn’t believe some group had spelled them into attraction either. Yet, what other explanation worked? Could she be having lustful thoughts for both men? If so, what she felt for Aedan bordered on the romance novel dream of love at first sight her mother had told her about. What she experienced with Darcaryn, she could only describe as some base physical urge. Lust, plain and simple. Magically induced or not.

  She pushed thoughts of the men away and let these ideas about magic they’d fed her swarm in. Concentrating on seeing the warmth as light, she tried to push the negative away. With her arms above the surface of the water, her skin still tingled, warmed despite the chilled difference of the air. An intense prickle of electricity fired through her arms. The need to take control and to let it go at the same time overwhelmed her.

  With anger still brewing, white flames shot from her fingertips and into the water. A sudden small wave formed, blew the water right out of the tub onto the windowsill. Not relenting, but reveling in the exhilaration, the high, she let the stream grow, bank off the window, and then flow back into the tub. Addictive, she let the rush of emotions that had churned within her all day go until the water moved at such a speed it splashed her face. She bit her lip not to scream with excitement.

  Releasing the tension and control in her arms, she watched with a tinge of sadness as the water died back down to the movement of the jets. She let out an internal whoop and did a victory wiggle until she heard the creek of the floorboards.

  “Aedan?” she called.

  “Yeah?” his voice came, but too faint to be just outside the door.

  “Where are you?”

  “On my way!” his voice shouted back, even as she heard his footsteps.

  “Wait, I’m in the tub!” she exclaimed, and heard his footsteps stop with the sound of her bedroom door cracking off the wall as he slammed his way in.

  “Why’d you yell?” he demanded.

  “Uh…well…it wasn’t fear. I’m fine.”

  “Okay. If you’re okay, then I’ll let you get back to your bath.”

  “I am. Thanks. And, sorry again.”

  “No apologies. Anytime,” he huffed.

  She followed his retreat back into his bedroom by the sounds of the doors opening and closing. Once she’d confirmed his whereabouts, she got out of the tub, dried off, and climbed into her pajamas. The day wore on her. Shaky excitement turned to weighted fatigue. She shuffled to the bed and let herself fall to the soft mattress. Her warm, moist skin quickly heated the blankets as she drifted off to sleep.

  In her dream, rain fell in a mournful patter onto her skin. She sat alone, cold, on the icy ground, tensed for attack. Wind howled past her ears. Her cry, strangled in her constricted throat, came out like the squeals of a small, injured animal. Crazed laughter circled around her, taunted her. Then, something fell at her feet so hard the ground shook. Blood, a ripe tomato red, poured from her aunt’s body, from her head, her chest, and even her legs. The ice beneath her gave a cracking sound.

  Kyna reached for the rocks she could see. She hoped she could save herself from falling through the ice and plummeting into freezing water.

  The laughter grew wild into shrieks that threatened to burst her eardrums. With each deep breath, the cold stung her airways. A scent of muck and death hung in the air, metallic and mossy. Her skin, throbbing and burning from the cold, ached as the sudden frail warmth of her aunt’s blood seeped into her clothes. Another crack gave way to a more human sound of shuffling feet.

  “With her gone, we’ll have you,” the crazed laughter formed words.

  A scream tore from her throat then, ripped out of her tight lungs. She grew horse in seconds, but her body continued the effort. Then, someone grabbed her. She coiled against the assault.

  Without thinking, head still down, she pushed with her palms against the arms around her. She let all the fear inside turn to anger. Pushing her light, she let it flow outside of her body. Her attacker let out a growl of pain as he released her and fell back.

  She jumped to a crouch, on her bed now. Her dream world faded into the present. As reality came into focus, she recognized Aedan sitting on the floor rubbing at his biceps. His bare and bulging muscles bore reddish smudges.

  “What the hell!” he grumbled. “I was just trying to wake you from a bad dream. One damn lesson with Darcaryn and you burn me with your hands. Great! Just fucking great! I deal in reality. I can fight with every weapon known to man, but your damn hands knock me on my ass?”

  He jumped up like a mountain lion, right into a defensive pose.

  “Your arms… I’m so sorry. Shit. I just reacted. I can’t control it yet, and with bad emotions it’s supposed to be more powerful.”

  “Bad what?”

  “Emotions, like fear and anger. In my dream, my aunt died. I…I…” she stammered.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. It just felt so real… The dream.” She tried to shake off the fear.

  Sorrow overwhelmed her from seeing her aunt covered in blood.

  “It was just a dream. I’m here now. Damaged, but here,” he complained. “Whatever rays of light that came from your hands, they not only blinded me, but they burned. It was all hot and cold at the same time. I guess I can’t explain it other than to say it was painful. And I’ve dealt with my share of pain. Damn, wish I had that kind of weaponry literally at my fingertips.”

  “Can I do anything? Cold washrag? Anything?” she offered as she ignored the ball that formed tight in the pit of her stomach.

  “No, you’ve done enough. Just sit there and calm down. You’re going to pass out if you keep breathing like that.”

  Kyna hadn’t realized how labored her breathing was until Aedan pointed it out. She tr
ied to calm herself, but a tingling in the back of her mind remained.

  Chapter Seven

  The sound of three sharp raps at the bedroom door made Kyna jump and reach for Aedan. Despite her clinging to his forearm with a death grip, her fingernails firmly embedded in his skin, , he half carried and half dragged her over to the door. Pulling it open revealed Darcaryn with a piece of paper in his hand and a sour look on his face.

  “Your aunt has been taken. I’ve no idea how they got into this house as well guarded as it is, both physically and magically, but they did. Her personal servant lady, whatever her name is, found this letter on her bed. Again, no name is on it other than to be signed in the same weird symbols. It threatens that you are next on their list, Kyna. They say with your aunt’s help, they will take you next.”

  “Gone? She’s gone? You’ve searched everywhere?” Kyna yelled.

  “Yes, all here have searched, not only the house but the grounds. There’s no signs of her. I’m sorry,” Darcaryn claimed, though his voice betrayed little to no emotion, let alone remorse.

  “Is anyone still looking for her?” Kyna barked.

  “Yes,” he spat back. “Of course. Her security team, the one she had here long before Aedan was hired. They’re working with the police. I decided to report her missing. I’ll let you know any news as soon as I get it.”

  “I don’t understand why they didn’t just take me?” she grumbled.

  “You don’t understand your powers,” Darcaryn went on as if agitated by her questions. “But they do. They know they were stifled for year. So, they know you being here now, untrained, gives you a wild card, a violent edge, especially with all the negative emotions the news and the journey would cause. They’ll force your aunt to help them gather you.”

  “What do they want from me? I just don’t get it. They don’t know me at all.”

  “No, but they knew your grandfather,” he grumbled. “Did anyone tell you your biological father as well as your father in the States both died in mysterious accidents? I’m sure you were told they were just accidents. They were not. Make no mistake. No one tries to protect you and lives.”