Behind the Veil: 3 (Temptation Unveiled)

R.G.
Alexander

Book 3 of the Temptation
Unveiled series.

Sheridan’s world is turned upside
down by one magical book and the sexy supernaturals who come with it. Now the
latest piece of the prophecy seems to point to
her
saving the day, but
she doubts her supposed powers—and the new man in her life.

As a warrior, Finn learned the art
of patience, a skill that has served him well for millennia—until Sheridan’s
impenetrable mind and fierce beauty capture his passion. But Sheridan seems
uninterested in the growing lust between them. When Finn discovers it isn’t
lack of desire, but the dark secret she harbors that stands between them, nothing
can keep him away.

Surrounded by enemies and endless
temptations, Sheridan will have to fight to conquer her fears and embrace her
wildest needs with Finn. As the prophecy begins to unravel around her, she’ll
be faced with the hardest challenge of all…accepting her destiny.

A Romantica®
paranormal erotic romance
from Ellora’s
Cave

Another daughter of my line

A warrior bold

Will be forced to fight the enemy

Within and without.

The path to the key is hidden in shadow.

To discover the truth

She must embrace her gifts.

To heal her heart and save The Realm

Her only option is to trust a child of Danu.

Translation from the Ogham Book of Veils, as prophesied by
Áine,

High Priestess of Danu.

Was he done playing games now? Had the lying bastard finally
decided to kill her?

Sheridan dove behind an outcropping of rocks, cursing and
choking on a mouthful of snow and ice as she pushed herself to her knees and checked
for damage. She wasn’t hurt, but the sight and smell of the charred material on
her sleeve made her snarl. The jackass had ruined her favorite leather jacket.
That was real enough.

“Son of a dragon-scaled bitch.” Fireballs? Seriously? If she’d
been a heartbeat slower, she would have been hit head-on. She could have been
killed.

That is the point. Are you surprised he is like the
others? Did you believe him when he said he was willing to bring you to his
home, to train you to fight and then asked nothing from you in return? A
predator will appear beautiful as he asks for your trust. Demands it. But you
will always be his prey
.
Haven’t you learned that by now?

She shook her head, refusing to agree with the oily voice
experience had taught her only
she
could hear. She couldn’t listen to it.
Even if the words sounded right. Sounded true.

Her grip tightened instinctively on her heavy staff as
another explosion rattled the ground. That was too close.

She looked down at the weapon. It was decent enough for a
big stick, she supposed. And once she’d gotten strong enough to hold the thing,
to swing it, it had proven capable of inflicting a satisfying amount of damage
in hand-to-hand. But unless this baby was fireproof, it wouldn’t do her much
good today.

She couldn’t help wishing for her gun. It
would
even
the playing field a bit. At least the playing field in her old, normal, human
life where there were laws she could enforce with her badge and her gun. Where
there were rules she had to follow and lines she could make sure no one
crossed. That was the life she understood. The one without magic.

They’ve taken that away too. Robbed you of all that made
you strong. All you knew.

“Shut up already,” she whispered harshly, swearing as she
watched her breath rise in the frosty air to give her location away. They hadn’t
taken everything yet. Her sanity might be in question, but she still had plenty
of fight left. She still had strength enough to survive this.

She listened for the light crunch of sandaled feet on the
icy ground. No easy task, since her enemy moved with a supernatural grace, not
hindered by the cold the way she was. Not hindered by anything the way she was.
Not human.

But you have rage to warm you and aid your focus. You
could kill him before he kills you.

Yes. Before he killed her.

She swore she could hear his heartbeat over her own, slow
and calm and confident. Bastard.
He expects a victory.
Her body tensed,
ready to swing low and catch him off guard long enough to hold the dagger in
her belt to his throat. To win. To shatter his serenity the way hers had been
shattered over and over again this past year.

The sudden unexpected tingle up her spine made her gasp.
A
new arrival.
She remembered that feeling. It only came with one particular Fae.
The one she’d vowed never to speak to again.

Finn was here.

Her instincts, her body’s reactions, told her that he had to
be. Her heart began to race for reasons that had nothing to do with the fight,
her blood heating in spite of the cold.

Adrenaline and arousal.
No
. She wasn’t aroused. Didn’t
have any desire to rub up against him like a cat until she was drowning in his
scent. To finally know what it felt like to touch him. To taste him.

Her teeth dug into her lower lip, tasting the coppery tang
of her own blood instead. It was anger. That was all she felt for him. It was
the only thing she could allow herself to feel, and by far the safer emotion.

Sheridan growled. Usually fighting eased her sexual frustration,
exhausting her until the only thing that ached were her muscles from overuse. But
exhausted as she was, it was now all she could think about. Just because he was
here.

Damn it.

“Dirty pool, Sparky,” she called out tauntingly, desperate
for distraction. “Too afraid to fight me alone? If you needed reinforcements,
you should have called on the Wolfman instead of Tinker Bell. You’d have better
odds.”

“You sensed that?” The beautiful male voice floated over the
rocks and down into her hiding place, sounding surprised and oddly pleased. “More
importantly, you sensed
who
? I believe the sensation
I’m
now
feeling is akin to parental pride. Among your many other gifts, including that
amusing ability to trash-talk, we now know you have an internal Fae detector.”

He made a noise that sounded insultingly like a snicker. “And
when you got here, you thought you had no special abilities.”

Pompous jerk. She held her staff defensively and walked
around the large granite outcropping that had concealed her. Stopping a few
feet away from her tormentor, she glared. “When I got here, I thought a lot of
things.”

“Some of them were even true.” Raj smiled serenely, as if
they hadn’t just spent the last four hours sparring. She also caught a quickly
concealed expression of pity in his gaze. “Most were not. You allowed your
anger to distract you again, Sheridan Kelly. It’s happening more often now.”

Taking a few slow breaths to clear her head, she swore and
nodded, feeling the red haze that had started to blind her dissipating. “I did.
In my defense, that was dirty pool. I wasn’t expecting fireballs. Nobody
expects fireballs. Show me any other human who would and I’ll call you a liar.”

Her excuse was just that. An excuse. He was right—she’d lost
control again. Listened just enough to that paranoid voice in her head to
forget they were only training. Forget that he wasn’t her enemy. Far from it.
In fact, in the last few months, there were times she believed Raj to be her
only friend.

How could that have slipped her mind?

He chuckled and stepped closer, his bare bronzed chest
emitting the unnatural heat she’d come to expect from him, warming her as he
came within reach. It made her more aware of the chill seeping into her limbs.

“Certainly,” he agreed amiably, “as soon as you show meanother
human who could have avoided my last shot. Particularly after being exposed for
this long to the elements. How many times must you be reminded, Sheridan? You
are
not
human. Your body has acknowledged what your mind still refuses
to accept. You are a descendant of Áine. I know you sensed that shot coming.
You just didn’t move fast enough.”

He pulled out the two short Bahi sticks dangling on a cloth
belt at his waist and raised them in challenge. Hell. Sheridan had learned to
hate those damn things. She’d watched him practice when they’d first arrived
and believed his movements to be beautiful. Now all they meant was that she
would probably lose her staff and her pride before she could defend herself,
which would be the cherry on top of an already wonderful day for her ego.

He noticed her glare and shrugged. “We could always go back
to fireballs. At least this way I won’t put our new arrival or your jacket in
any more jeopardy.”

“My
favorite
jacket.” Sheridan clutched her long
staff so tightly her knuckles whitened. “And I’m sure Fairy Finn can handle
your hot balls.” This time she was the one who snickered. “But you won’t be
able to handle
me
if you keep talking about my special senses. I have
the same five everyone else does. The same instincts. I see fire. I run from
fire.”

Raj tilted his head, his long ebony braid spilling over one
shoulder and sending the arousing aroma of exotic spices through the air as he
circled her slowly. “I’m not talking about Finn. Pay attention. I knew you were
stubborn. Perhaps it
was
wrong of me to believe I was the best choice to
instruct you. Maybe you should have trained with the Viking berserker instead.
You had anger enough today to pass for one at a distance.”

She rolled her eyes and he continued, weaving his Bahi
sticks with a fluid, almost hypnotic grace. “What was it you called Hawk and
his brother Val? Brad One and Brad Two? Would you rather I’d brought you to
them inthe Tuatha’s Realm of Joywhen you demanded these
lessons? I’m sure they would have been happy to explain the dangerous effects
of rage on a warrior—in between their intimate sessions with their mate,
Linnea. Surely five minutes a day of tutoring is all you’d need, since we both
know that is all the time they would spare you.”

Sheridan furrowed her brow in consternation. Why was he
trying to provoke her? He knew why she’d come with him. Raj was quiet,
effective and, though he was not human, he was also not technically a member of
the
Fianna
—those supernatural chest beaters who guarded humans and their
precious North Portal from the
Dark
.

Usually.

Their latest full-time job had more to do with destroying her
family dynamic.

But not Raj. He aided them, but rarely in battle. He wasn’t
one of the “super” men in love with her cousin—
or her
mother
—and
his mere presence didn’t drive her insane. Out of all of them, he’d been the
safest choice. Or so she’d believed until they came here.

Maybe it was this place, his homeland retreat in the
Himalayas. He’d changed since they arrived. Less smoke and more fire. More
aggressive and, she couldn’t help but notice, more masculine. She supposed
getting away from all those over-the-top alphas might have given Raj room to
spread his wings. Literally and figuratively.

She was at the top of the world, with ageless mountains
resting like sleeping giants around her, making her problems seem small. Another
planet away from the worries and people that had sent her packing to begin
with.

Being so far removed from her family’s new yet constant
companions? From Finn and prophecies and the
Dark
? It made her want to
stay. Fireballs be damned.

His comments may have been an attempt to throw her off
balance, but he had a valid point. Her anger
was
holding her back.
Distracting her. This time it had been so bad, she’d almost let it overtake
her. The voice in her head was getting stronger, and better at fueling her fear
and frustration. Her hate. She couldn’t let it win.

Don’t you understand? I already have. Your inability to
control yourself is proof enough of that.

Like a berserker. She knew she had no inborn ability to
harness her anger, yet neither could Hawk, really. The Viking couldn’t control the
berserker inside him once it was released. It was a consciousness of its own,
he’d claimed—made of blood and teeth and red-soaked rage. Only his brother or
Linnea could bring him back. Only love.

Sheridan wasn’t going to lie to herself and say she hadn’t
craved that power, especially when she’d found out it was what had killed her kidnapper
and leader of the Dark Fae, Eonis…but she had no one she was close enough to
who could pull her back if she lost her way. Not anymore. They’d all found a
new focus. New people to love.

She jolted when Raj tapped her staff with impatient force,
sending a jarring vibration up her arm. “Didn’t I tell you to pay attention? No
one said we were done with training.”

Sheridan pushed back with her own weapon, focusing on his
movements, stepping instinctively into the seamless dance that was his fighting
style. “Forgive me, oh great and powerful Master. I’d mistakenly believed you
were the kind of man to welcome guests when they arrived. Offer a little coffee
or tea? You know how Finny likes his tea. I thought royals were trained in
etiquette.”

His beautiful features were both kind and mischievous as he
managed to get behind her and tap her back lightly with a Bahi stick. Another
point for him.

“How can I properly respond to your sarcasm when you ask to
be forgiven so sweetly?” His chuckle faded and his expression grew somber. “I
will welcome our guest, Sheridan, if you will promise not to see this as a
betrayal.”

Raj raised his voice without taking his eyes off his
sparring partner. “Welcome, Kyle. I see Finn’s sense of direction has left you
victim to the elements. You’ll have to forgive him—my sources tell me he’s been
a bit of a prick lately.”

“
Kyle
?” Sheridan heard a familiar voice swearing farther
down the hill and clenched her jaw. “What the hell is he doing here?”

Raj lowered his Bahi and shrugged. “Have you noticed how
time loses meaning here? Yet still it passes. You won’t admit it, but you have
surpassed my greatest expectations for you. You are every inch a Druid warrior.”
His long ebony lashes shielded his exotic eyes. “The anger that rides you will
have to be defeated soon. I wish you would trust me with it. But we no longer
have the luxury of patience.”

He wants to get inside your head. Don’t tell him.

Sheridan flinched. “I asked you to teach me how to win a
fight against the
Dark
, not for meditation tricks or therapy. And I certainly
didn’t ask anyone to drag Kyle into this. Why is he here?”

His sensual lips tightened almost imperceptibly. “We don’t
always ask for what we need, Sheridan. But it always comes to us.”

She stopped sparring, freeing one hand from the staff to
signal an end to their session. “So he’s just wandering up the mountain alone? In
this weather? Shit. Kyle!”

Raj’s laugh echoed loudly across the mountainside as she
turned, dropped her staff and ran down the slope toward the bundled-up figure
struggling in the snow.

Kyle’s foul language turned the frosty air blue as it
reached her, and Sheridan felt her shoulders relax. This was better than facing
Finn, she thought, denying the twinge of disappointment that came when she
realized he wasn’t there. So much better.