by I. T. Lucas
Dark Dream’s Temptation
The Children of the Gods Book 26
I. T. Lucas
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS ORIGINS
1: Goddess’s Choice
2: Goddess’s Hope
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS
Dark Stranger
1: Dark Stranger The Dream
2: Dark Stranger Revealed
3: Dark Stranger Immortal
Dark Enemy
4: Dark Enemy Taken
5: Dark Enemy Captive
6: Dark Enemy Redeemed
Kri & Michael’s Story
6.5: My Dark Amazon Novella
Dark Warrior
7: Dark Warrior Mine
8: Dark Warrior’s Promise
9: Dark Warrior’s Destiny
10: Dark Warrior’s Legacy
Dark Guardian
11: Dark Guardian Found
12: Dark Guardian Craved
13: Dark Guardian’s Mate
Dark Angel
14: Dark Angel's Obsession
15: Dark Angel's Seduction
16: Dark Angel's Surrender
Dark Operative
17: Dark Operative: A Shadow of Death
18: Dark Operative: A Glimmer of Hope
19: Dark Operative: The Dawn of Love
Dark Survivor
20: Dark Survivor Awakened
21: Dark Survivor Echoes of Love
22: Dark Survivor Reunited
Dark Widow
23: Dark Widow’s Secret
24: Dark Widow’s Curse
25: Dark Widow’s Blessing
Dark Dream
26: Dark Dream’s Temptation
27: Dark Dream’s Unraveling
PERFECT MATCH
Perfect Match 1: Vampire’s Consort
TRY THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS SERIES ON AUDIBLE
2 FREE audiobooks with your new Audible subscription!
Copyright © 2019 by I. T. Lucas
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Dark Dream’s Temptation is a work of fiction!
Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations and/or events is purely coincidental.
Contents
Prelude
1. Julian
2. Ella
3. Kian
4. Ella
5. Vivian
6. Ella
7. Julian
8. Ella
9. Vivian
10. Magnus
11. Syssi
12. Julian
13. Ella
14. Kian
15. Ella
16. Turner
17. Vivian
18. Ella
19. Syssi
20. Kian
21. Julian
22. Losham
23. Julian
24. Ella
25. Tessa
26. Ella
27. Julian
28. Ella
29. Vivian
30. Ella
31. Carol
32. Ella
33. Losham
34. Ella
35. Kian
36. Ella
37. Julian
38. Ella
39. Julian
40. Ella
41. Julian
42. Ella
43. Julian
44. Ella
45. Ella
46. Julian
47. Ella
48. Julian
49. Ella
50. Vivian
51. Ella
52. Amanda
53. Ella
54. Julian
55. Ella
56. Kian
57. Ella
Series reading order
FOR EXCLUSIVE PEEKS
Prelude
“Ella? Are you even listening?”
Despite how fascinated she was by Julian’s story, Ella was drifting off. With the hum of the private jet’s engines lolling her to sleep, she was fighting a losing battle with her eyelids. They simply refused to stay up no matter how hard she tried to stay awake and hear more about the mythological gods, their immortal offspring, the immortals’ split into two warring factions, and their millennia-long fight over humanity’s future.
It was a riveting tale, especially since it pertained to her and finally explained her telepathic ability. According to Julian, she was a descendant of the gods and a carrier of their godly genes.
At any other time, Ella would’ve hung on Julian’s every word. But not today, not after what she’d been through.
“I'm sorry, Julian, but I can’t keep my eyes open.”
“I understand.” He looked disappointed. “It’s too much information for you to absorb, especially so soon after all of that excitement. You need to rest.”
A wave of guilt washed over Ella.
She owed her freedom to Julian. The least she could do was keep her eyes open and listen to him as he revealed his most guarded secrets to her.
Without his help, Ella would’ve still belonged to the Russian mafia boss who’d bought her, his wife for the rest of her freaking life and a mother at eighteen.
She’d been spared the first part; however, a pregnancy was still a possibility.
Her period was a week late. She could be carrying Gorchenco’s child.
But then, stress had caused delays before, and Ella prayed it was the culprit this time as well.
She had to believe that Fate had arranged the chance meeting between Julian and her mother for a reason. After that, and then all the trouble that went into rescuing Ella, it didn’t make sense that Fate would abandon her now.
What also didn’t make sense was that one conversation with a woman he’d met at a psychic convention had such a profound effect on Julian, prompting him to mobilize his entire clan to help Vivian rescue her daughter.
He must’ve done one hell of a sales job convincing them to take on a powerful Russian mafia boss. Especially since Gorchenco was known as paranoid about security and never stayed in one place for more than a couple of days. Planning a rescue around that had been difficult and costly in the extreme.
She owed Julian her life.
If she’d stayed with the Russian, Ella would have died. Either literally or figuratively. Her soul would’ve shriveled and withered away.
“It’s not that I don’t find your story interesting. It’s fascinating, and I don’t want to miss any detail. But I’m just so damn tired.” She smiled apologetically. “If I had known that the part of a damsel in distress getting rescued was such an exhausting job, I would’ve never signed up for that movie.”
Julian’s expression softened. “You’re crashing from the adrenaline high. It’s perfectly normal. Getting away from an exploding gas tanker will do that to a person.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Even though she’d known that the explosion had been staged and perfectly timed, it had still been a terrifying experience.
But it was more than that.
The rescue had been a Mission Impossible style operation, and its complexity and perfection of execution had been awe-inspiring, but that was just the last straw, the explosive
climax that had come on the heels of a traumatic month.
She wasn’t a doctor like Julian, but Ella could figure it out on her own.
Ever since her ordeal had begun, her stress levels had been sky-high, and her body had gotten used to operating on that super-charged fuel. Now that the reasons for her flight-or-fight response were gone, she was deflating like an overblown balloon.
God, she could imagine staying in bed for two weeks straight with her mom coddling her like a little girl.
Yeah, that sounded like a plan.
Despite it all having been her own fault, Ella deserved a little tender loving care after what she’d been through.
Her only crime had been stupidity, and the price she’d paid was too high for that. Nevertheless, it could have been even worse.
If only she hadn’t been so gullible.
She should never have fallen for Romeo and gone with him to New York. Except, in her worst nightmares, Ella could not have imagined something like that happening to her. Suburban girls from good homes just didn’t get lured into a trap by pretend boyfriends and sold into sexual slavery.
“The seats recline all the way.” Julian got up and opened an overhead compartment. “You can take a nap until we land.”
He pulled out a folded blanket and a pillow, then waited for her to turn the seat into a flat surface. When she was ready, he handed her the pillow and put the blanket over her. “We should be landing in about two hours.”
“Thank you. You’re an angel.”
“You’re welcome.”
Gazing at her for a long moment, Julian looked like he wanted to tuck the blanket around her or kiss her, but he did neither.
Instead, he raked his fingers through his hair. “I’ll wake you up when we start the descent.”
What a sweet guy.
Her guardian angel.
Gorgeous, kind, and a doctor, Julian was too good to be true, but she was too tired to speculate as to his motives. Whatever they were, they couldn’t be worse than Romeo’s. Most likely, Julian was precisely who he seemed to be.
Except, Ella was never again going to trust anyone implicitly.
Curling up on her side, she tucked the pillow under her cheek and closed her eyes. As Yamanu started humming another tune, a small smile curled her lips. Was he singing for her?
It was nice of him. But she didn’t need a lullaby. In no time, Ella was dreaming.
She was in a cemetery?
That was odd. What was she doing there?
Who’d died?
“You did.” A man appeared next to her, his face hidden behind a huge bouquet of red roses.
Turning to look at the tombstone that they were both standing in front of, she read the inscription on the granite slab. Most of it was written in the Cyrillic script which she couldn’t decipher, but the name of the deceased was written in English.
Ella Gorchenco.
Cool, her subconscious had provided burial for her sham of a marriage.
But who was the guy with the roses?
As if moving in slow motion, he took a step forward, bent to put the bouquet down, and then straightened and turned to her.
The moment she saw his face, Ella sucked in a breath and prepared to scream.
He lifted both hands. “I come in peace. Please don’t scream murder.”
“What are you doing in my dreams, Logan, or rather nightmares?”
He shrugged. “I’m a figment of your subconscious.”
“Right. And my subconscious also conjured the kiss you forced on me the other night?”
Smirking, he leaned forward and got in her face. “But that didn’t really happen, did it? The lunch meeting with your former fiancé was the only time we’ve actually met in person, and we’ve done nothing but talk. The rest was created by your mind.” He waggled his brows. “Maybe you fancy me? Could I be the mysterious and dangerous stranger that you want to explore your dark side with?”
Hmm. There was something to that.
She was both attracted and repulsed by Logan, and it wasn’t even about his good looks, although he was one of the most striking men she’d ever met. The other being Julian. But where Julian seemed to be pure light and goodness, Logan was the opposite.
One was her Jedi Knight, and the other the Sith Lord.
The question was, who was she?
The way she was feeling now, Julian’s light was almost too bright for her. He belonged to a universe she was no longer a member of. Maybe in time she would feel worthy of someone like him, but not yet.
Logan’s pull, on the other hand, was as undeniable as it was disturbing. Something about his darkness resonated with her.
Like recognizing like.
Ella would’ve never tolerated the presence of the real Logan. He was too scary and too intense. But in her dreams, he posed no threat to her.
After all, if he did something she wasn’t happy with, she could always wake up.
Pushing his hands into his pockets, Logan started walking. “By the way, congratulations on your escape. You must have really powerful friends.”
Ella followed him, compelled to keep the conversation going. “It seems that I do. Although I’ve never met any of them before. They are my mother’s friends. Not mine.”
Logan slowed down, waiting for her to catch up to him. “Gorchenco is probably heartbroken.”
“Yeah, I know. And I hate feeling guilty for making him go through the grief. But it’s his fault. He should never have bought me.”
“He saved you from a much worse fate. Anyone else would’ve raped you on day one.”
Ugh, that was blunt. Dream Logan was just as rough around the edges as the real one.
“That’s true. But if not for Gorchenco, Stefano would have never hunted me down. After seeing my picture in a magazine and realizing that I looked exactly like the Russian’s long-lost love, Stefano seized the opportunity to make some quick money. He knew Dimitri would pay any price to get her back from beyond the grave, even knowing he was buying only a lookalike.”
For some reason, Logan seemed fascinated by her story as if he was hearing it for the first time. The real Logan had probably never heard it, but since he was a figment of her imagination, he should not have looked so surprised.
Except the mind was a strange thing, creating realistic scenarios where she could pretend that she was having a conversation with the real Logan.
In a way, it was liberating.
She could tell him her darkest thoughts and let her subconscious react to them. There was no need to pretend that she was a nice girl with nothing but goodness inside of her. Maybe if she gave that dark energy an outlet, she could get rid of it.
“Gorchenco seemed enamored with you, Ella, not with the ghost of his long-lost love.”
She shrugged. “What is it to you? You wanted to buy me from him.”
Logan laughed. “I did. I still want you.”
Ella stopped and turned to him. “Why? Is it the pretty face?” She waved her hand in front of her.
“That too, but it’s not the main reason. I’ve had plenty of girls who were even prettier than you. But you’re special. One of a kind.”
Ella rolled her eyes. “Did you also lose a girlfriend who looked exactly like me?”
“No, Ella. You’re one of a kind not because of what you look like but because of what you can do.” He pointed to her head. “You and your mother are probably the only two in the world with such powerful telepathic ability, and that’s what makes you both so special.”
Ella was a much more powerful telepath than her mother. Except, she wasn’t going to point it out because it wasn’t important. Besides, she didn’t like to boast.
1
Julian
After the limo with Ella and her family had left, Julian dropped his duffle bag in Turner’s trunk and joined Arwel in the back seat. With Yamanu sitting shotgun, it wasn’t as if he had much choice, but it was fine. His conversation with Turner could wait for later, and Arwe
l was good company.
Tagging along with Ella’s rescue team had produced two unexpected side benefits. Julian had made friends with several of the Guardians, and he’d even made some progress with Turner.
His mother’s mate was a good man with an exceptional mind, but he wasn’t easy to befriend and was as warm as a calculator. This mission had brought them closer. Not close enough to start calling the guy by his given name, that was a privilege only Bridget was allowed.
But still, it was progress, and Julian wasn’t going to let it fizzle away. “I’m glad you left your car here, Turner. It would’ve been awkward riding with Ella in the limo and intruding on the family reunion.”
Turner glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “How did it go with her? I had my noise-canceling earphones on throughout the flight, but she didn’t seem overly distraught to me.”
Julian raked his fingers through his hair. “I think Ella was in a state of overload. In the beginning, she asked some questions, but the longer I droned on, the more her eyes glazed over, and finally she just flat out told me that she was too tired and couldn't keep her eyes open.”
One thing Julian was sure of. Ella had shown absolutely no interest in him. Hopefully, it was just a side effect of what she’d been through, and not something deeper and more permanent.
