Electric Heat

ANCIENT
MAGIC HAS BEEN UNLEASHED INTO THE WORLD. IT’S WILLING TO DO ANYTHING TO
SURVIVE, EVEN IF IT MEANS WAR. ONLY ONE WOMAN CAN KILL IT…OR SET IT FREE.

The local
witches’ coven offers Raven a trade: Surrender herself to them for one week or give
up a member of her pack. She thought they wanted to study her, but Raven
discovers something far worse—murder. To save her pack, Raven must make the
ultimate sacrifice…her freedom.

WHEN
DARKNESS IS UNLEASHED…NO ONE IS SAFE.

Witches are being
drained of power and killed using a wild magic that’s been dormant for
centuries. Tasked with locating the one responsible for releasing it, Raven
soon finds herself the prey rather than the hunter. The more lives the magic
claims, the stronger the killer becomes. As she and her pack scramble to
unravel the secrets of the coven, her own beast starts to wake, and she begins
to wonder which is more dangerous…the killer or her beast. But one thing is
sure, if the coven and pack don’t learn to work together, none of them will
survive the coming storm.

This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and
incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form in any
manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case
of brief quotations for articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or
encourage piracy of copyrighted materials.

Copyright © 2015
S
tacey
B
rutger

Cover artist: Amanda Kelsey of Razzle Dazzle Design (
www.razzdazzdesign.com
)

Editor: Faith Freewoman (
www.demonfordetails.com
)

All rights reserved.

A
special thank you to all my reader and fans for their support.

I
wouldn’t be here without you.

For
all those who believed in me along the way:

My
fabulous editor, my parents and family,

As
well as my loving husband.

Thank
you from the bottom of my heart!

 Chapter One

DAY ONE: LAST
NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON – TWO HOURS BEFORE SUNRISE

R
aven
stood outside of the warehouse called
Talons
, the club where the fanged,
furry, and spell slingers normally gathered to blow off steam. Tonight they
were waiting for her to surrender herself. If she didn’t, she’d lose her pack,
and everything they’d gone through would have been for nothing.

She was a rare conduit, able to absorb and wield
electricity. If the witches thought they were going to study her, then the joke
was on them. In a desperate move to save a member of her pack, she’d set free the
seething darkness inside her, and ended up breaking her only means of
protecting others from her lethal touch.

The beast she’d spent a lifetime repressing now raged below
the surface. Whatever power she managed to gather just wasn’t strong enough to
rebuild the core needed to contain it.

Though her wounds had healed from the recent fight, it felt
like she’d been dropped in a vat of acid, then rubbed with sandpaper for good
measure. She felt so brittle even the slightest brush of air made her skin burn.

The moon began its descent. As its rays hit her, she tensed
and waited for the moon’s call to trickle through her. Waited for her creature
to rise and take over, stealing the last bit of humanity she’d managed to preserve.

Instead, the cool rays felt soothing.

She should be relieved. No rampant desire. No lust demanding
to be appeased. Which proved one of two things. Either her power had grown too
strong, or, what she feared more, the creature who’d awakened within her was
much too strong to be roused by the moon like a common shifter.    

She ignored her silent shadow—as much as one could ignore
the ParaConsulate’s trained assassin—waiting for Randolph to make his move, but
he seemed content to observe. Being watched grated on her nerves, and the beast
beneath her skin bared its fangs, stretching as if testing the limits of her body.

Her fingers curled into fists as she struggled to resist
doing something stupid, like going over there and demanding he back off. She
recognized her creature’s thoughts and impulses, but refused to cede control, not
until she’d ensured her pack’s safety. She grabbed the power teeming under her
skin and shoved the creature back. After a minute of struggle, the beast
snarled but relented.

For now.

Soon one of them would snap, and Raven feared it would be
her.

Raven scanned her core…or where her core had once been.
Nothing remained but a barren, desolate spot in her chest. She’d unleashed the
creature to save Taggert when he nearly died while rescuing her. Now the
creature fed off her power, stealing her last hope of eventually wrestling
control back. Raven pushed deeper, hoping to find even a hint that her other
animals had survived.

A dark crater had swallowed everything, leaving behind a vast
emptiness that left her reeling. When the aching loneliness threatened to
smother her, she swallowed the lump in her throat and retreated from her core,
firmly locking away the pain.

She would survive one more week without imploding.

She took strength in knowing Rylan awaited her beyond the
club doors. When the vampire had been on the brink of starving to death, she’d
refused to let him take the coward’s way out, refused to let the people in the
labs win, and convinced him to take her blood. After one taste, he’d suspected
the truth.

That she wasn’t quite human.

He’d seen her creature break from her hold once.

Once had been enough.

Raven remembered only vague snippets, but waking up covered with
blood was not an experience she cared to repeat. Everything in their path had lain
in ruins. It mattered little that it was the labs she’d decimated, the prison
where human scientists had experimented on those with even the smallest hint of
anything supernatural. Thank the gods enough of her had remained inside the
creature to allow her fellow inmates to escape unharmed.

After the destruction, Rylan had come back for her. Pulled
her from the rubble. He should’ve let her die. Instead, he promised if she ever
became a problem, he would eliminate the threat.

The reason he was there tonight.

To judge if she was worth saving.

But first she was determined to do this one last job. She needed
to secure her pack. The men had barged their way into her life, bound
themselves to her and forced her to care, and she was very much afraid she
couldn’t live without them. They’d sacrificed everything for her, now it was
her turn to do the same for them…by surrendering to the witches.

Any hope she’d harbored that the witches might be able to
help her contain the creature lay crushed beneath the brutal truth.

It was much too late for a cure.

She took a shaky step toward the door.

The magnetic locks created to keep out humans opened easily
under her touch, revealing just how much things had changed in the past weeks.

A babble of tense voices greeted her when she opened the door.
All her rage and pain harden into resolve, and Raven pushed forward.

“You’re late.” The witch rose as she spoke, her voice
vibrating with outrage. Whatever else she was going to say evaporated when
Raven stepped into the lights. The witch’s latte-colored skin paled, and her
mouth snapped shut.

Durant prowled forward from the back of the club, his
complete attention riveted on her. The creature quieted a little under his
regard, seeming almost pleased by his attention.

“I’d recommend not touching her.” Randolph’s voice came from
behind her.

Durant didn’t react to the suggestion in any way. He halted
inches from her, scanning her from head to toe, leaving every inch of her
tingling under his scorching regard. He didn’t seem shocked at her condition.

Jackson, her overprotective enforcer, must have called to tell
him what had happened. She wasn’t surprised.

They’d warned her shifters were sly.

Sneaky.

Willing to do whatever it took to protect the pack.

And since she was one of the rare female alphas, they took
those rules to the extreme when she was involved.

Durant lifted his hand to touch her, and Raven flinched. Her
cheeks burned at the telling action, but more than anything she didn’t want him
to touch the creature.

He was
hers
.

A little rumble vibrated in her chest, the creature
protesting her declaration.

“You have something in your hair.” Durant slowed his
movement, refusing to retreat, his eyes shading to a brilliant gold with his
emotions.

She felt a tug, then he held up his hand.

It was a chunk of meat.

The piece was all that remained of the Professor who’d sought
to destroy the pack and the peace the paranormal world had sacrificed and
fought so hard to maintain.

Only then was she aware of how she must appear. Even dressed
in black, there was no concealing the fact that every inch of her was covered
with bits of human remains. Congealed clumps of rotting blood splattered her
face, the stench growing worse the longer it was exposed to air. Her stomach
churned, and she feared she might vomit.

“I’m sorry to be late. If you would grant me another hour to
prepare, we can leave.”

The witch gave a regal nod. The shock had worn off. What
remained was more dangerous.

Curiosity.

* * *

Raven followed Durant toward his office, noting his normally
pristine clothes were rumpled. Memories of the last time she had entered his
lair swamped her, the way he’d kissed her, demanded that she touch him. Her
heart felt bruised at the thought of never touching him or the others in her
pack again. Whatever future they might have together could never amount to
anything if she didn’t find a way to survive the changes threatening to consume
her. If the creature gained control, she would be nothing more than a rampaging
beast.

Her eyes locked on the office chair that stood so proudly
displayed next to the desk, the one where he’d allowed himself to be cuffed,
willing gave up all his precious control to her, just to gain a simple kiss.
The sight of it nearly ripped out her heart, and she blindly turned away when
her tangled emotions threatened to trip her up. But no matter how much distance
she put between them, she couldn’t outrun the haunting leather scent that was uniquely
his. She shivered, knowing even if she lived to be a hundred, she would recognize
his delicious scent anywhere.

The creature scratched beneath her skin, trying to chisel
away the shell Raven was building between it and her pack. She couldn’t allow it
freedom, couldn’t risk that it might harm those under her care.

“You can clean up in here.” Durant’s impassive facade
cracked, his gruff voice little more than a rumble.

Heat blazed off him when she passed within inches from his
tense body, but he held onto his control and maintained his distance. Water
trickled behind the closed door. When she followed the sound into the bathroom,
she stopped short. She should have expected something a little out of the
ordinary, especially since he’d deemed her own bathroom inadequate and
demolished it.

The room was twice as large as his office. One entire wall
was a waterfall, splashing into a huge pool at least twelve feet across.

Large enough for a full-grown tiger.

The mental image gave her pause.

She tore her gaze away to find Durant opening a set of glass
doors to a shower stall that was larger than her king sized bed and turned on
the spray. Steam immediately filled the enclosed space. As he stepped out, his
eyes met hers, and he marched straight toward her.

Raven leaned to step back, then carefully placed her foot
back down. She was not prey. She would not be chased. A stab of anxiety jabbed her,
and she was unsure which thoughts were hers and which were the creature’s.

“I can manage from here.”

He halted, his hands clenching and unclenching. “I’ll abide
by your wishes and not touch you, but your injuries need to be inspected, then
dressed.”

There was an awkward silence, more than space and steam
separating them, and she bit her lip against the frantic need to bridge the
growing distance. It was better this way. Raven knew if she asked, he’d leave
her alone.

So why couldn’t she force the words out?

His indomitable pride would take a hit. He was already
balanced on a razor’s edge about not being included in the forest raid. She was
afraid if she pushed him any further, he’d never give her another chance, and
the fragile feelings building between them would vanish forever.

She gave a tiny nod and turned her back, catching the slight
relaxation in his shoulders from the corner of her eye. He drew close enough
for his breath to brush the back of her neck. She tensed, uncertain whether she
would be able to reject him a second time if he touched her, but he only
unlatched the necklace and carefully placed it on the stone countertop. The
heat in the room gradually notched up, sinking below her skin, but nothing
penetrated the bone-deep chill that had taken root.

She tugged the shirt over her head, wincing when her ribs
protested. Very conscious of Durant watching, she quickly shucked her boots.
Her jeans were a little more resistant, dried blood gluing the denim to her
thigh.

A sharp tug released the pant leg, and the barely-healed
wound throbbed in protest. She could still feel the bone sticking out of her thigh,
but when she looked, she saw only smooth skin. That was if she discounted the throng
of bruises that checkered her body. Ignoring the little growl from behind her,
Raven did her best to cover her limp as she entered the shower. Every muscle protested
the abuse she’d suffered a few hours earlier, and her legs quivered with the
effort to remain upright. She couldn’t afford to show weakness, or her pack
would never allow her to leave.