Guardian of Darkness

  Guardian of Darkness

  Darkness Series

  Katie Reus

  Guardian of Darkness

  Copyright © 2018 Katie Reus

  Cover Art by Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs

  Edits by Julia Ganis

  Digital Formatting by Author E.M.S.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

  Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book. This purchase allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. You do not have the right to resell, distribute, print or transfer this book, in whole or in part, to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload this book to a file sharing program. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  ISBN: 9781635560343

  Table of Contents

  GUARDIAN OF DARKNESS

  Copyright

  Dedication

  About the Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Two Years Ago – Letter One

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Two Years Ago – Letter Two

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Two Years Ago – Letter Three

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Two Years Ago – Letter Four

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Two Years Ago – Letter Five

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Two Years Ago – Letter Six

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Thank You for Reading!

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Complete Booklist

  For every reader who wanted this story!

  He saw her die in a vision…

  Before five years ago, Gabriel had never met Vega, but he knows how she’s going to die. He knows he’ll be involved…unless he can make sure they never meet, never cross paths, so that his vision will never come true. So he left his pack behind, joined the Stavros pack and was determined to never let that future play out. To never meet her at all. Fate had other plans—and she walked right into his life when he least expected it. For the last five years he’s avoided Vega whenever possible even while trying to keep an eye on her. But when she gets cagey with her pack and disappears, he has no choice but to follow her. Now, circumstances are forcing them to work together and he’s determined to protect her against any threat. If that means dying for her, he’s more than willing to. But she doesn’t want his protection. If anything, she’s determined to prove she’s stronger than everyone thinks.

  She’s writing her own future…

  Vega isn’t the same moody teenager who came to live with the Stavros pack all those years ago. With college behind her, she’s been recruited by a division of the government’s supernatural Black Ops. Trained and more than ready for her first mission, she doesn’t expect Gabriel to crash her assignment. To save her cover, they pretend to be a couple. But soon lines are blurred and neither can deny the incendiary attraction between them. As they race to stop a man who wants to sell out their people to the highest bidder, they find themselves fighting for a future together. With time running out, she has no choice but to rely on the irresistible male who’s turned her world upside down. Unfortunately, in order to save the woman he loves, Gabriel has to give her up.

  Chapter 1

  Vega inhaled the crisp winter air of the New Orleans graveyard. She’d been living in the historic city for over three years and had just graduated college early. This would be one of her last treks through one of the “Cities of the Dead” for a while, and she was going to miss it. Only New Orleans could turn graveyards into an aspect of tourism, and they’d done it well. Because the city was built on a swamp, people had to be buried above ground—in mausoleums and beautiful stone crypts. During the daytime, places like this were filled with people and teeming with life.

  Now, at midnight, it was empty and loosely guarded. She’d seen a few human gang members loitering near the entrance and had used her gift of mental persuasion to send them away.

  “Seriously, a graveyard at midnight? This is ridiculous, even for you,” she muttered, knowing the female she was meeting would be able to hear her.

  The rumble of distant traffic reached her ears, but other than that, it was silent. Most people were indoors, getting out of the unusually cold December night and likely preparing for the winter break.

  “Come on, show yourself. I had to sneak out, so let’s get this over with.” Because there was no way in hell Neema—her mentor over the last year—wasn’t already here. She’d set up the meeting, and, knowing Neema, she’d probably been here for hours.

  Vega sensed more than heard or actually scented Neema. Allowing her claws to release as she withdrew one of her blades, Vega swiveled. And came face-to-face with a slim, dark-skinned lynx shifter in human form—who held a blade to Vega’s carotid artery.

  “That’s sloppy, Vega.” Neema frowned, not withdrawing the blade.

  “Is it?” She increased the pressure of the blade in her own hand—positioned close enough to slice deep into Neema’s femoral artery.

  Neema’s bright smile lit up the dim graveyard. “That’s more like it.” She dropped her blade and stepped back, sheathing her weapon as Vega did the same with her own. “So, you ready?”

  Vega nodded, knowing she was as ready as she’d ever be. She felt light years away from the teenage girl she’d been when she’d moved here. The whole “drawing a knife on her” type of greeting didn’t even faze her anymore. “Yeah. Why all the cloak-and-dagger bullshit for this meeting?”

  Neema shrugged and pulled out a red apple from her satchel. “Wasn’t sure if you’d told your parents yet and didn’t want any of your pack to see you talking to me.” She took a big bite of her apple as she watched Vega.

  “I’m not going to tell them. Not yet anyway.”

  Neema simply nodded. “I figured. It’s why I didn’t call or text either. Wasn’t sure if they’d overhear us.”

  Vega had been second-guessing her decision for some time now, but she knew that in the long run it was better for her to not tell her very powerful parents that she’d been recruited by the supernatural black ops division of the US government. Because that would not go over well.

  At all.

  Especially when she also told them she’d been covertly training with the division over the last year—and had been recruited even earlier. Oh yeah, they’d lose their minds. She’d rather tell them once she had a few missions under her belt. It was a mental thing, but she wanted to know for certain that she was ready for this job and would be good at it. If her parents saw her spectacularly fail? No, she’d rather wait just a little longer.

  And s
he needed to do this. Wanted to do this with every fiber of her being. For most of her childhood it had just been her and her mom, Lyra. Then when she’d finally been introduced to her dad, she’d gained the entire Stavros pack as family and friends. Which was all she’d ever wanted. As a hybrid vampire-wolf shifter, her dual nature could never be denied. And her wolf side needed a pack, needed others to feel as if she belonged to something bigger than herself.

  But she would always be viewed as Finn and Lyra Stavros’s child. Everyone would always want to look out for her because she was basically the princess of her pack. And she adored her pack for that. But she wanted more in her life—to strike out on her own and become her own person away from them. Some of her pack still saw her as that emotional teenager she’d once been. The one who’d yelled and cried at her dad when he’d been his overprotective self. So she understood her pack’s view of her because holy hell, she’d been full of hormones and emotions a few years ago. But she wasn’t that girl anymore.

  Now she wanted to develop friendships away from the pack. To make a difference in the world in her own right. And she just wanted to be herself.

  Vega Marius Stavros. Whoever the hell that was.

  All she knew was, she wasn’t going to figure stuff out living back home with the pack, under the watchful eye of two powerful, overprotective parents with an entire compound full of people at their command.

  “So when do we roll out?” she asked.

  “I leave tomorrow, but August wasn’t sure if you’d be waiting until after Christmas?”

  August McGuire, the male who’d recruited her, had given her the option of either starting on a mission as soon as she’d graduated, or after Christmas, but there was no guarantee when the next op would be starting. “No. I’m ready to go tomorrow.”

  “You sure?” Neema’s amber eyes glinted under the moonlight.

  “Yeah. I want in on this mission.” She didn’t want to be sidelined, miss a chance and then have to wait until the next one. Or be put on a different assignment from Neema. Because while Vega had been training, she was still nervous. Energy hummed through her, the urge to leave the city right the hell now, strong.

  “Thank the goddess.” Neema reached out, squeezed Vega’s shoulder once. “You’re ready for this, girl. We’re going to hit some snags, probably get in some bloody fights and things will definitely, absolutely go wrong.” Her eyes gleamed with excitement.

  “This your idea of a pep talk?”

  Neema snorted and dropped her hand. “No. Shit always goes wrong on missions. But you have so fucking got this.”

  She hadn’t realized how much she’d needed to hear that until this very moment. “Thanks. So how do we do this? I’m going to tell my parents in the morning that I’m not coming home for Christmas.” She was dreading seeing the pain in their expressions because she knew it would hurt them. And hurting them was her only regret in this.

  “Meet me at the airport at noon, then. We’ve got a plane on standby.”

  “You gonna tell me where we’re going?”

  “Nope. You’ll get read in on the plane.”

  Excitement surged through her that this was finally happening, but she kept her expression neutral. She could at least pretend to be cool about all this even if she wanted to go all Julie Andrews and break into song and dance. “See you then.”

  Neema disappeared into the shadows of the mausoleums and Vega headed toward the gated entrance. The gates were about twelve feet high, but she scaled one in seconds, using her strength and speed to maneuver up and over them. Since she’d physically covered the only two nearby video cameras across the quiet, cobblestone street, she also removed the covers before heading home on foot.

  Back when she’d started school her parents had insisted that she get a place off campus and she hadn’t fought them. She wasn’t human and she couldn’t pretend she was. But she’d wanted a degree in political science—which she’d gotten. With a double major in criminal justice. And she planned to continue her education, but that was for later. She was very long-lived and had plenty of time. Now, she wanted to work and prove herself—to herself, as crazy as the thought was.

  As she turned onto another cobblestone street lined with historic homes in a very quiet residential neighborhood, she wasn’t surprised that she was still alone. It was too late for people to be out. Of course if she’d been in the Quarter it would be different. But this close to Tulane after most people had gone home for winter break?

  Quiet.

  She liked it too. This type of silence was so rare in her life, when she was constantly surrounded by people and her pack. She glanced up at the Spanish moss on the oak trees where colorful strands of beads draped the branches and leaves.

  When one of the shadows along the tree branches moved in a way that defied the laws of physics, she tensed, ready to withdraw her blade. Then she scented him.

  Gabriel.

  The tension in her shoulders loosened, but just as quickly all the muscles in her body tightened for an entirely different reason.

  Clenching her jaw, she picked up her pace as she reached the heavy gate surrounding her townhome. If he’d been following her and had overheard her conversation with Neema, she was screwed.

  But she wasn’t going to assume anything just yet. Her parents hadn’t told her that he was in town, but that didn’t mean anything. They didn’t tell her everything and she knew her dad liked to have Gabriel watch after her on occasion—even if Gabriel would rather be anywhere but with her. He’d made that perfectly clear years ago. She ignored the small dagger twisting in her chest at that thought. She’d had a massive crush on him when she was eighteen, and when he’d been tasked with guarding her that first year in college they’d become friends.

  Then, after a year, he’d decided he didn’t want to be her bodyguard anymore. After that, he’d decided not to be her friend either. Screw him. She’d locked up thoughts of him, of their short-lived friendship. Or what she’d thought had been a friendship. Apparently it had only been one-sided.

  Instead of opening the five-foot-high wrought iron gate, she grasped the metal in between two of the spikes along the top and propelled herself over it. Her boots landed with a quiet thud on the stone walkway.

  There were more lights on in her home than there had been when she’d left. Which meant her parents weren’t in the carriage house where she’d left them.

  Awesome.

  She rolled her shoulders once. She hadn’t been doing anything wrong. If she was truly going to grasp this new aspect of her life and gain the independence and freedom she desired, she had to be the person she wanted to be. And she wasn’t a pup who asked for permission to go out.

  Instead of being quiet or sneaking around in her own house, she stepped into the front foyer and slipped her leather jacket off before hanging it on the rack by the door. After unzipping her knee-high boots and sliding them off, she called out, “Mom, Dad? You guys in here?”

  “In the kitchen,” her mom said, not raising her voice much.

  Thanks to her supernatural senses, Vega easily heard her. In the kitchen with its exposed antique brick walls and hanging copper pot rack, she found her mom drinking a warm glass of blood and her dad leaning against one of the granite countertops, sipping what smelled like coffee.

  “Hey, guys. What’s up?” They’d told her they planned to watch a movie earlier, which was code for stuff she didn’t want to think about. She’d assumed she had a couple hours before she needed to be back.

  “Everything okay?” her mom asked, her grayish-violet eyes brighter than normal.

  “Yes.” She hated lying to her parents, and okay, technically she wasn’t. But she was still holding out on them. “How was the movie?”

  “Where were you?” her dad abruptly asked, not even bothering to make small talk like it was clear her mom planned to.

  She turned to face her dad. To the pack, he was a powerful leader. He could be harsh, but he was always fair. More fair tha
n most, she thought. He had a soft side that not many saw. Right now he wasn’t looking at her as an Alpha looked at a packmate, he was looking at her like a concerned parent. “Out meeting a friend.” And she wouldn’t apologize for it.

  “You didn’t answer your phone. I got worried,” her mom said quietly.

  Oh, hell. She turned back to her mom. “I’m sorry. I left it here. I never meant to make you worry.” Which was the truth. She’d left it out of habit. When she wanted to meet with Neema, or August or anyone else on her new team, they did it without electronics so no one could track them. But her mom tended to worry about her more than what Vega thought was normal for parents. She couldn’t blame her though. Not when Vega had been kidnapped as a teenager and shot multiple times because of the blood that ran through her veins. Not to mention her crazy dead uncle had wanted to use her blood to open a Hell Gate. So yeah, her mom could worry.

  “We figured that was it.” Her dad’s tone was gruff, but she heard the worry lacing his words as well.

  Which just made her feel like crap. She straightened. “Is something going on I should know about? A new threat to you guys? Me? The pack?” Tension coiled in her belly until her dad shook his head.

  “No. We’re just being overprotective parents.” His voice was wry.