Shades of Darkness (Redemption Series)

by Price, Melynda

  All the air rushed from Mitch’s lungs like he’d just been nailed in the solarplex, leaving him fighting for breath as his hopes and dreams came crashing in around him. Running over to Kim, he grabbed her shoulders. She grimaced, trying to pull herself free from his biting grip. “Where is she?” he demanded, giving the woman a stern shake. “Something must be wrong!”

  It had taken him so long to get Olivia here. So many wasted days, hours, months…hell, years… She’d just turned nineteen and was in her second year of college when they’d met. He and Ashley had been friends. She was dating Nate at the time, and was unfortunately off-limits, so she’d set him up with Olivia. He’d never done that sort of thing before, gone on a blind date, that is. Mostly, he’d agreed as a favor to Ashley, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to invest a few friendship chips he could hopefully cash in later. Puntang had never been in short supply, and he hadn’t been looking for anything long-term. But then he’d met Olivia…and holy shit, he’d never seen a more beautiful woman. She’d literally taken his breath away. Quiet, reserved, and clearly on their date under duress, she’d intrigued the hell out of him.

  He was used to females throwing themselves at him, still was, but not this one. She was different—she’d made him work for it, and he just loved a challenge. He still hadn’t crossed the finish line, and with her pulling a Julia Roberts in a bad remake of Runaway Bride, it didn’t look like that was going to happen anytime soon, either.

  Where in the hell was she?—that’s what he’d like to know. No one walked out on him—leaving him standing there at the altar like some pussy-whipped chump. Olivia was his, and he’d find her, if it was the last thing he did.

  “I don’t know where she is!” Kim cried.

  “Maybe something’s happened to her.” That would explain the sudden disappearing act. Digging his cell phone out of his pocket, he dialed Olivia’s number. Her phone rang several times before rolling over to voicemail. “Dammit!” he yelled, slamming his phone shut. “Where in the hell could she be!”

  ***

  “Liam! Put me down!” Olivia cried as he carried her over his shoulder, the train of her wedding dress dragging along behind them. “Liam! I’m serious! Put me down!”

  He crossed the street and toted her several blocks east before stopping in the parking lot of the city park. The wedding party had all parked their cars here, planning to hold an outside reception. Musicians gathered in the bandstand, setting up their instruments, while caterers unloaded trays of food in the gazebo.

  Liam stopped abruptly and tipped Olivia back, catching her in the cradle of his arms. He stared down at her with his penetrating violet gaze holding an intensity that robbed her of all rational thought. “Do you really want me to?” he asked her, his voice wrought with emotion. “Do you want me to let you go?”

  Olivia knew he wasn’t talking about her Cinderella slippers touching the asphalt. There were times over the last three years she’d thought it, times when she was sure of it. But now, after seeing him again, being held in his arms, she was sure she’d go through every agonizing minute all over again if it meant she could have this one moment with him.

  She stopped struggling. Her heart raced as the memory of his touch lit her veins with liquid fire. “No,” she whispered softly as Liam slowly lowered her to the ground, letting her slide down the front of his impossibly tall, chiseled body. When her feet connected with the sidewalk, she stood there staring up at him. Her arms clung to the corded muscles of his neck, his wrapped loosely around her lower back. “Don’t let me go…” she begged, fighting back tears that threatened to overtake her.

  Liam looked like he was in physical pain when he reached up and gently tucked a fallen strand of hair behind her ear. His gaze fell to her parted lips and for the briefest moment, she thought he was going to kiss her—Lord help her, she wished he would. But instead, he pulled back his hand, fisting it tightly against his side.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked, watching him struggle for control, trying to honor the physical boundaries of a guardian. It was obvious being here wasn’t any easier for him than it was for her.

  “I have to get you out of here. Evercrest isn’t safe right now. A legion has been sent—”

  “What! You’re kidding me,” Olivia exclaimed, her hope shattering like blown glass. Had she really expected him to return because he loved her?—because he couldn’t stand the thought of her marrying another man?—yes, sadly, she had. What she hadn’t expected, however, was this. “Why today? You couldn’t have waited. Really…?”

  “Would you have preferred I waited until you were Mrs. Mathis?” he growled. “Marriage is a sacred covenant, Olivia, one which not even I can negate.”

  His flare of anger caught her by surprise. Looking into his eyes was like staring into a kaleidoscope—green, amethyst, and amber flecks nearly drowned out his dark violet glare. She knew him well enough by now to know each color represented an emotion she’s just triggered in him. He was jealous and grieving, but mostly, he was just pissed off. Come to think of it, she couldn’t remember a time she’d ever triggered that amethyst glare. Looking up at him, she began to feel like she was staring into the eyes of a stranger. What happened to her patient, loving guardian angel?

  “You have more guests at your wedding than were invited, Olivia. Believe it or not, this was the least conspicuous way to get you out of there, or would you have preferred an all-out battle in the wedding aisle?”

  Tears filled her eyes and began spilling down her cheeks, again. Apparently, she was destined to become a slobbering mess. The scowl on his face softened a touch, and she wondered if he regretted the harshness of his tone.

  “I just want a chance at a normal life!” she sobbed. “I can’t keep living for what will never be, Liam, and now I’ve hurt Mitch, and I’ve frightened my family! No one even knows where I am!”

  Olivia knew she was making a scene. She was already starting to draw the attention of the reception attendants. Several of them cast her worried glances, and a few of the men looked like they were getting ready to come over. Apparently, a woman sobbing in a wedding dress was a drama magnet.

  Liam sighed heavily, dragging his hand through his hair before reaching out to take Olivia’s arm, gently steering her toward the black Camaro and out of the view of watchful eyes. “Look, I’m not saying this is easy for you.” He opened the passenger door and helped her inside, stuffing her dress and train in around her. “But I’d rather have you pissed off and alive than happily married and dead.”

  ***

  Three uninvited guests sat in the back pew of the old church, attempting to blend in and doing a piss-poor job of it. All dressed in similar dark suits, the starched Gumby getup only added to Rowen’s irritation. Sliding his finger alongside his collar, he tugged at the choking tie that felt more like a noose. He wasn’t happy about having to grow his hair back for the “big day,” but a bald guy with tribal tattoos trekking his scalp wouldn’t blend in very well, now would it? His six-two muscular build and four-inch goatee were conspicuous enough. As the drama and chaos unfolded, it wouldn’t be too difficult to slip out the back unnoticed once they got what they came for.

  Rowen sat quiet as a church mouse, watching as Roger, Olivia’s father, tried to comfort his wife, while Mitch paced the aisle like a caged tiger. Now, that one had a temper. Rowen wondered if that sight-seeing bitch had any idea what she was getting ready to say “I do” to. Not that she’d have the chance to partake in such nuptials.

  The guests congregated like lost sheep milling around, speculating as to where, oh where could their little bride be? Hopefully, someone would pull their head out of their ass soon and call the police. Typically, Rowen didn’t have much use for the boys in blue, but anything to put some extra heat on Liam right now would be fine with him.

  “I can’t believe he took her, that underhanded son of a bitch. How did he know we were here?” the lanky demon, Rhen, asked. At least his black shoulder-length hair helped
cover the tats running down the side of his neck. Rowen had insisted he remove the silver stud in his septum, along with the steel bars that pierced his brow and lip, before they got out of the car this afternoon.

  He looked over at Rhen and fought the urge to punch the dumb bastard in the face. Imbecile… He’d told the Dark Court he would have been better off alone, but after Max’s fuck-up, they insisted on sending a legion. He tried explaining that Max had been careless. The dipshit had let himself get distracted by a female. In the end, Max’s head hadn’t been in the game, and it’d cost him—dearly.

  Rowen was determined to finish what Max had failed to do. Unfortunately, in the meantime, he’d have to tolerate the presence of these assholes. “Of course he took her! You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” he growled, glaring over at Rhen.

  “Then why are we here?” Cale asked. If not for the long, jagged scar running down the side of his face, Cale would have looked the least obtrusive of the three. The white puckered deformity started at the corner of his right eye and disappeared into his blond short-cut goatee. Cale had earned that little beauty, compliments of Liam during the Great Fall. A gift Cale was more than eager to reciprocate.

  “To get information!” Seriously, how could these two be so stupid? Did he have to spell everything out for them? “If her family can contact her, or the police can pin them down, then we can find out where he’s taking her.”

  Mitch stopped pacing long enough to growl, “I’m going upstairs to check out her room.” He spoke to no one in particular, charging toward them as he stormed down the silken aisle runner. Red rose petals lay crushed beneath his feet, leaving behind bright red streaks across the pristine maiden’s path. “Maybe she left a note or something…”

  ***

  Haden stood inside Olivia’s dressing room. Her light vanilla-jasmine scent clung in the air, teasing his nostrils. So close…he fumed. Maybe it’s still here. He walked over to the little desk where Olivia’s jewelry box sat tucked in the corner of the make-shift dressing room and opened each of the drawers, rifling through them—frustration quickly building with each empty drawer. As Haden pulled open the last one, it snagged on something. Forcing it open a little farther, he could see a pearl necklace wedged deep inside.

  Footsteps echoed down the hall, falling at a determined pace and growing closer with each step. Out of time, he reached inside and grabbed the pearls, pulling them loose to dislodge the drawer. The necklace suddenly snapped, sending a cascade of iridescent balls bouncing across the hardwood floor. Hearing the click of the door knob, Haden stepped across dimensions a second before a tuxedoed man burst into the small room.

  Pearls still ticked against the floor, rolling every direction as the guy took two steps inside and stopped. Looking down, he lifted his foot and bent to pick up the small white ball trapped between the sole of his shoe and the hardwood floor. Fear filled the groom’s eyes as he looked around the room. Spotting Olivia’s cell phone, Haden watched as he charged the desk and snatched up the mobile device sitting beside her jewelry box.

  Turning abruptly, the guy ran out of the room yelling, “Call the police! I think someone took Olivia!”

  “You think?” Haden chuckled darkly as he stepped back over to the earthly realm. Stretching his senses, he tried to get a bead on the female, but as the minutes passed, so had her scent, leaving him with a nose full of the warrior’s spicy fragrance. One was just as good as the other, though… Where the angel was, sure as shit that’s where his female would be.

  Chapter Two

  “Where are we going?” Olivia asked, staring into the lap of her tear-stained dress.

  Glancing over at her, Liam turned down a side street. The Camaro’s engine growled as he punched the accelerator. “Back to your apartment to get some of your things packed.”

  “I’m already packed. For my honeymoon,” she replied coolly.

  “Olivia, believe me, if there had been any other way—”

  “I need to call Mitch,” she interrupted. “I have to explain to him what happened. He’s got to be worried sick.”

  “What are you going to tell him?” Liam challenged, arching his brow. “That an angel abducted you in order to keep you safe from demons that are trying to kill you because you can see them?”

  She was taken aback by his bluntness. Funny, she didn’t remember him being this…crass. “Of course not!” she snapped, her own temper kicking up. “But I have to tell him something! I’m sure everyone’s panicked. So unless you want to see my face plastered across the ten o’clock news, you’d better let me use your damn phone!”

  Sighing, Liam reached into his pocket, dug out his cell, and handed it over to her.

  “Thank you,” she replied sarcastically, snatching it from his hand.

  “It will be safer for Mitch if you don’t tell him anything,” he advised. “Safer for your parents, too.”

  Olivia paused halfway through dialing Mitch’s number and pinned him with a hard glare. “Are they going to hurt him? Are my parents in danger, Liam?” She didn’t wait for him to respond. “What if they come here? Ashley lives here! God knows, she’s been hurt enough because of this!”

  Panic climbed up Olivia’s throat, choking off her air until all she could manage was to take guppy-sized breaths between fresh waves of tears. She couldn’t bear it if anyone else got hurt because of her—not again. Max, her fallen-angel ex-boyfriend, had nearly killed her, Ashley, and Nate three years ago. That they survived the living hell was nothing short of a miracle—literally.

  A shiver of dread ran through her as memories of Max came flooding back like it was yesterday. Sometimes in her sleep, she could still feel that vice-like grip latched on her ankle, pulling her beneath the water’s surface as her lungs screamed for air. It had literally taken years to bury the memories of Max and the torment he’d put her through, but apparently not deep enough, because just the thought of that evil bastard sent her heart racing.

  Liam stiffened in the seat beside her, shoulders rigid. His grip on the steering wheel tightened, the muscle at his jaw clenched as he ground his teeth together. Olivia suspected he was responding to her anxiety. As her guardian, they were bonded, which meant he felt her emotions. Every single last one of her betraying emotions was an open book to him. And didn’t that just suck ass.

  She wished he would reach over and take her hand, giving her that calming strength he so freely offered her three years ago. But he didn’t move—not even an inch. Things were different now, weren’t they? She was engaged to marry another man. For all intent and purposes, she no longer belonged to him, and just the thought of that sad reality left her with a giant-sized hole in her heart.

  She should thank him—really—for his distance, because the last thing she needed was to go down that road with him again. Why should she think, for even one minute, that things would end differently this time? What they shared three years ago had nearly destroyed them both. Obviously, they both still carried the scars of that forbidden love, and seeing him again, being this close to him, raked those wounds open and left her completely raw and bleeding.

  “Balen is with Ashley. She’ll be fine.” Liam’s tight, strained voice offered little comfort.

  Balen was Liam’s best friend and a fellow Ronnin warrior who’d had zero interest in serving as anyone’s guardian—until he met Ashley. Initially agreeing to guard her from Max as a favor to Liam, Balen had quickly formed an attachment to the young woman and had chosen to remain as her protector, even after the threat of Max had been neutralized.

  Casting Liam a sideways glance, she was tempted to inquire about his friend—her friend—oh, how she’d missed them. Sighing, she dialed Mitch’s number and waited silently for him to answer. Shit, she had no idea what she was going to say. She didn’t have long to figure it out, either, because he picked up after the first ring.

  “Hello?”

  Lord, she could practically feel his fear reaching out and touching her through the ph
one. “Mitch?”

  “Olivia! Thank God! Where are you? Everyone’s panicking here—”

  Unshed tears clogged in her throat. “I’m so sorry, Mitch.” She reached up and swiped her palm across her damp cheeks. “I can’t tell you where I am right now, but I want you to know that I’m okay. I never wanted to hurt you, you have to believe that, and I’m doing this for your safety, too.”

  “Doing what? What the hell are you talking about, Olivia? Are you in some kind of trouble? Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”

  Liam shifted restlessly, and she resisted the urge to look at her guardian. It was bad enough having this conversation right beside him. No doubt, he could hear every word Mitch said to her.

  “I can’t, Mitch. I just need you to trust me. I’ll explain everything when I can. I have to go…” her voice cracked. “Tell everyone…tell them I’m so sorry.”

  “Olivia! Wait! Don’t hang up! Sweetheart, I love you! Just tell me what’s going on!”

  “I love you, too,” she whispered before hanging up the phone. The words tasted like bitter acid on her tongue. Did she really?—love him? Maybe she did, in her own way. Perhaps, after all these years, she’d managed to carve out a small part of herself to give to another. But Liam still and always would possess the untouchable part of her heart, the part where her spirit and soul fused. Forcing those words past her lips had been agony. She felt like she’d betrayed Liam and knew, without a doubt, that her heart had already betrayed Mitch.

  The creak of leather and protest of stressed steel forced her attention back to the angel sitting beside her. Liam’s hands tightly clenched the steering wheel. His knuckles blanched, corded muscles straining his forearms. Rigid and stoic, he kept his face turned away from her.