Darkness Unveiled

by Emerson Knight

  DARKNESS UNVEILED

  (SKY BROOKS WORLD: ETHAN BOOK 2)

  Emerson Knight

  McKenzie Hunter

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  DARKNESS UNCHAINED (SKY BROOKS SERIES BOOK 2)

  MESSAGE TO THE READER

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  Prepared for an awkward conversation, I parked my white Audi R8 in front of Murphy’s Pub, across the street from Josh’s high-rise condo. Actually, the condo was mine—an investment property I leased to my brother because it helped me keep tabs on him, and it was close to the pack’s club, which he managed. Managing a nightclub played well to his strengths—and his weaknesses. Once a floundering nightspot that appealed almost exclusively to the supernatural community, the club was now a premier attraction for the Chicago social elite and drew plenty of celebrities, rock stars, and professional athletes who appreciated Josh’s hands-on approach to customer satisfaction. His attentiveness, however, was a double-edged blade. The club provided the pack with a number of valuable connections, but his participation in the festivities was becoming an obsession—especially lately. His increased appetite for recklessness was not just limited to partying.

  Josh was a powerful witch, serving the Midwest Pack as a blood ally. Personally, I didn’t trust magic. It was seductive and unpredictable, which is why I didn’t want him training Sky, but he thought otherwise. She had a natural ability to borrow magic and use it. He wanted to know how she was able to convert dark magic to natural magic, and training her gave him a chance to explore her ability. He wanted power—always more power—but their sessions had led to predictable mishaps. He was drawing attention to himself, and to the pack, and he was putting her safety at risk.

  I turned off the engine. Before I could open the door, I saw her walking on the other side of the street toward the condo building. A further glance revealed her Honda Civic parked nearby. Perfect timing. I hesitated, waiting in my car while I considered the ramifications of what came next. At the best of times, my brother was sensitive to what he perceived as my intrusive, overbearing attitude. Over the last year, I had done my best to give him the space he wanted, to let him make his mistakes and learn from them, but putting Sky at risk was a line I needed to cross.

  She didn’t want my protection, either.

  After Sky had watched Josh destroy the Gem of Levage a year ago, Sebastian had invited her to join the Midwest Pack, the most powerful pack in the country—against my objection. She still hadn’t made a formal decision, but she seemed determined to lead an independent life. He was going out of his way to ease her into joining us, using Steven and Winter as connections that served both as protection and encouragement. I didn’t want Sky to join the pack. I’d told her so, and she’d kept her distance from me ever since. She didn’t understand my objection. It wasn’t personal. I wanted her safe, but there were risks to joining the pack—dangers I didn’t feel she could properly anticipate. She didn’t know enough of our world to make that choice, and she didn’t want to. She wanted to remain on the outside looking in, but that wasn’t possible, either. Once she formally declined or Sebastian withdrew the invitation, her relationship to the pack would largely come to an end, but I would always be there to protect her, even from a distance.

  Deciding my chances of talking sense into either of them together were almost nil, I opted to pick up some steaks in the natural foods store next door. A short time later, I approached my Audi with a grocery bag in one hand and my key fob in the other. When I pressed the fob, unlocking the door, the corresponding double chirp was engulfed by the sound of an explosion from the building behind me. I turned to see the windows blown out of Josh’s condo on the twentieth floor. The vibration from the explosion triggered an incongruous chorus of car alarms from the parking garage and vehicles parked on the street. I dropped the grocery bag and ran toward the building as the doorman backed away from his post, his attention fixed upward toward the source of the explosion. He didn’t bother to stop me as I slipped inside past a group of panicked residents hurrying out of the building.

  Inside the lobby, more anxious residents emerged from the elevators to be directed toward the exit by a uniformed concierge. “Please exit the building in a calm, orderly fashion,” he pleaded in a strained voice. Not trusting the building’s power, I entered the stairwell and ran up to the twentieth floor. I emerged from the stairwell to find my brother—apparently unharmed—outside his door, partially surrounded by his frightened neighbors.

  “I left the gas stove on.” He smiled, the full measure of his considerable charm on display as he soothed their anxiety with a deep, humble sincerity. “My bad,” he pleaded, splaying a hand over his heart.

  Concerned for Sky, I roughly pushed through the neighbors and past Josh without a second glance. Relief washed over me when I found her safe, sitting upright on the dark gray couch. She appeared shocked, staring at a dozen small cuts on the backs of her hands. I rushed to her, kneeling as I took her hands into mine. “Are you okay?” I asked, examining her. She nodded. Gently turning her wrists, I saw more cuts on the back of her forearms. Judging by the location of the cuts, I assumed that she’d been able to cover her face with her hands just before the explosion occurred. In her shock, she seemed to have forgotten her animosity toward me.

  “I think I blew up your condo,” she said, her expression blank.

  I stifled a relieved chuckle as I examined the damage to the unit. The large dark area rug that covered the hardwood floors was littered with bits of glass, most prominently beneath the blown-out windows. Not a single one remained, and a cold wind blew into the unit. The couches had been moved slightly, pushed outward from the large cocktail ottoman nearby—the obvious epicenter of the explosion. I didn’t need to see the magical components sitting on top of the ottoman to know what had happened.

  “Are you the resident, sir?” inquired an authoritative female voice at the door. The police officer’s radio squawked. “I’m at the unit now,” she answered. “Emergency services, stand by.”

  Sky glanced nervously at the components as I casually scooped them into one of the ottoman’s compartments, shielding the police officer’s view with my body. I cleared my throat, letting Josh know it was safe to let the officers inside, then rose and turned to meet them. There were two—they always came in pairs—and they weren’t ours. An anxious-looking building manager followed them.

  “Ma’am,” the lead officer addressed Sky, glancing with concern at the cuts on her hands and arms, “do you require medical assistance?”

  “I’m fine.” She rose, gathering herself. “Just some minor cuts. I’ll have my doctor take a look, but I’m fine.” She added nervously, “It was just a gas leak.”

  I glared at Josh. This wasn’t the first incident. Over the last few months, my brother had grown unusually reckless, pushing the envelope of his powers, and not just with Sky. There were safer places to test his magic—the retreat, for example. I was beginning to suspect that he wanted to draw attention to himself. Perhaps he was testing the limits of what he could get away with. As I watched him now, confronted by two police officers, the manager, and a host of unhappy neighbors, he appeared to be in his element, charming all of them to forget every
thing and walk away. Only not everyone was buying his story this time—not completely.

  The scowling manager strode into the kitchen to check for more damage while the other officer, with both hands gripping his black belt, walked up to the broken windows—mindful of the glass he was stepping on—to look out.

  I glanced at Sky, who looked miserable, as if she’d failed an important test, and felt my jaw clench. My anger stewed another fifteen minutes until Josh finally ushered everyone out of the unit, closed the door, and turned to me with a triumphant grin, his arms held out wide as if embracing our supposed awe. As usual, he wore faded jeans and a short-sleeved graphic t-shirt, drawing attention to the tattoos that covered both of his arms. His golden brown hair was a chaotic mess and the shadowy stubble of his beard never seemed to grow or fade. We were as far from each other in appearance as we were in temperament.

  For the moment, I swallowed my anger to address Sky. “I’ll take you home.” I turned to my brother, glaring. “When I return, we are going to talk.”

  He rolled his bright blue eyes, letting his arms collapse until his palms smacked against his hips. He turned away, preferring to survey the damage to the condo than to face me.

  “I’m fine,” Sky insisted, remembering that I made her uncomfortable. She rose, avoiding my gaze. “I’ll drive myself.”

  “Someone should be with you in case there is a residual effect from whatever magic you two were playing with.”

  “There won’t be any ‘residual effect,’” Josh snapped. He walked past me to take Sky’s hands, clutching them together at his chest as he drew her gaze to his. “Check in with me later. Just to let me know you’re okay.”

  “It’s not like I’ll be alone,” she answered, somewhat exasperated. “Steven will probably be there.”

  My scowl deepened as I resisted the urge to shake my head. Sebastian had assigned Steven to keep watch on her, to keep her safe and connected to the pack while she took her time considering his offer to join us, but Steven had unilaterally taken the liberty of surpassing his mandate. He spent so much time at her home that he’d begun leaving his belongings, effectively moving in, which I found highly inappropriate.

  Sky retrieved her keys, gave Josh an apologetic glance, then left.

  After the door closed, he dropped onto the couch, his knees splayed and his hands in his lap. “Let me guess, this is going to be the big brother speech.”

  I fought back my irritation, glancing at the destroyed windows as I measured my words carefully. “Teaching her to use magic is an unnecessary risk.”

  “I admit,” he said begrudgingly, “sometimes I push her too hard, but that’s how witches are trained—testing boundaries. Ethan, I know this looks bad, but Sky is learning. A year ago she could barely raise a ward. Now she can move small objects. She still has to borrow my energy to do it, but she’ll continue to improve. And her defensive wards are competent.”

  “Good,” I snapped. “Then she’s learned enough.”

  “She wants to learn,” my brother insisted, his defiance rising. “And I’m going to continue to teach her.”

  I glared at him, which only served to harden his determination. “You confuse your endless pursuit of power with benevolence.”

  His face tightened into a scowl. “We agreed about the whole smothering thing.”

  “I’ve done my best not to interfere, but you’re blatantly drawing attention to yourself. Josh, this isn’t just about Skylar. Sebastian has noticed your behavior as well. You’re not just exposing yourself; you’re drawing attention to the pack. That’s a problem. I know you don’t want to hear that from me. Keep it up, if you want to. Eventually you’re going to create a problem you can’t talk your way out of.” Then I won’t be able to help you, I nearly added, but Josh would only have become more intractable.

  He ran his hands through his hair, tousling it, as his cheeks turned pink, then red with frustration. “I’ll be more careful,” he conceded dismissively. I had the distinct impression that I was expected to leave. I glanced around the condo, calculating the cost of the damage. Josh could fix it, but too many people had witnessed the damage. If the windows were suddenly repaired an hour after the explosion, there would be questions. I had insurance to cover the damage, but this would be my third claim in a year to cover damage caused by my brother’s experiments. My premiums were going to skyrocket.

  “I’ll help you clean up.”

  “I got it.” From the couch, he began a series of gestures, drawing forth a gentle magical force that felt like a warm breeze as it blew through the room, sweeping the glass into a pile before the debris disappeared entirely. Then he cast a ward that enclosed the living room, shielding the broken windows from the cold wind outside. When finished, he turned to me expectantly, his gaze flicking toward the front door. “I’ll open a gap for you so you can leave.”

  “Don’t bother,” I said, easily breaking the entire ward on my way out.

  Leaving the building, I cursed myself for making such a gross display of breaking Josh’s ward—reckless. After my mother’s death, I’d inherited some of her magical abilities—Josh had gotten the rest. But were-animals weren’t supposed to use magic. I wasn’t just a were-animal, but that was my secret. Exposure would put my life and Josh’s at risk. I’d hidden my abilities until last year, when I’d broken his magical field during a fight. Breaking a ward was possible, but a field was much stronger. I’d spent a good deal of time convincing him that breaking his field was a fluke, that my abilities were negligible. I’d just thrown that lie in his face.

  I paused outside my Audi with the door open, then turned back to stare up at the blown-out windows of my unit. A pair of bicyclists stopped to chat with a group of gossipy tenants lingering by the curb, spreading the word of what had happened to anyone who would listen. I shook my head, resisting the urge to punch the Audi, then climbed into the driver’s seat and drove away. I tried to drown my frustration with the radio, but after a few minutes of guitar-grinding rock, my knuckles remained white on the steering wheel. Disappointed, I turned the radio off.

  Why is Sky so much more comfortable with my brother? The answer was immediate. He dotes on her. He indulges her curiosity about magic. He puts her at risk to resolve his own curiosity and she doesn’t see it, while I make the hard choices to protect her. The realization didn’t improve my mood.

  Josh had always been a handful. I’d spent my entire life taking care of my brother: looking out for him, protecting him from others and himself—and he’d fought me every inch of the way. I squeezed the steering wheel with both hands, as hard as I could, wondering if I would ever figure out how to get through to him. My brother listened to few—none more than our godmother, Claudia.

  According to the time on the dashboard clock, there was a good chance I would find her in her gallery nearby. I frowned, remembering it had been weeks since I’d last visited her, and turned onto Broadway. A few minutes later I parked outside a large brick building just off the main street. Inside, I strode past paintings and sculptures from Chicago’s most sought-after artists without sparing a glance. Others came to Claudia’s palatial gallery in awe, but I’d grown up here. Not that I wasn’t interested in art, but Claudia was always my primary concern.

  My heels clicked on the crackled, salmon-pink concrete floor. A handful of patrons were scattered throughout the gallery, some lingering on the strategically placed boutique sofas and benches, contemplating various pieces. I found Claudia with a young couple, discussing a painting of her own creation, though she had not signed it. Seeing her brought a smile to my face. She was an elegant, slender woman in her mid-fifties, with shoulder-length brown hair she always pulled into a bun. Always artfully dressed, she wore a cream-colored pantsuit with a pink camisole and long matching gloves—she was never without the long gloves that protected her while in public. A string of pearls hung gracefully around her neck.

  I stopped a respectful distance away and waited patiently while my godmother ge
ntly informed the patrons that the painting wasn’t for sale, a portrait of two boys she privately claimed represented myself and Josh. The smaller of the two, with short ruffled hair, lay on a bed in peaceful slumber, his expression angelic, while the other boy protectively knelt close by. His chestnut hair was flecked with gold and his deep blue eyes were somber and intense, displaying a wariness beyond his years as he watched over his sleeping brother, unaware of the looming shadow behind him. The painting was a gift for me—one I had yet to accept. While I admired Claudia’s considerable talent, I found the imagery spoke more to her perception of my brother and me than to fact.

  Curiously, Sky seemed to have become obsessed with the painting. According to Claudia, she visited the gallery frequently and never failed to leave without attempting to purchase the painting. Disappointed, she always left with another piece in her possession. What did she see in it? I had no idea. Claudia wouldn’t have explained the painting to Sky. That wasn’t her way.

  “If you have any more questions, do let me know,” she told the young couple, who wandered toward the far end of the gallery. My godmother’s expression brightened as she approached me, smiling broadly and offering me her gloved hands, which I accepted. “Ethan.”

  I air-kissed over each of her cheeks, mindful not to touch her skin. “It’s been too long,” I said, grateful to see her.

  “Whenever you have time is fine, dear,” she said sincerely. “And the same is true for Josh.”

  I felt my jaw clench at his name. She noticed before I could relax, and I saw a knowing, eternally patient look come over her. “Why don’t we retire to my office,” she said politely, leading me there without waiting for an answer.