Embrace Me At Dawn

• Title Page
  
• Chapter One
  
• Chapter Two
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Four
  
• Chapter Five
  
• Chapter Six
  
• Chapter Seven
  
• Chapter Eight
  
• Chapter Nine
  
• Chapter Ten
  
• Chapter Eleven
  
• Chapter Twelve
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Fourteen
  
• Chapter Fifteen
  
• Chapter Sixteen
  
• Chapter Seventeen
  
• Chapter Eighteen
  
• Chapter Nineteen
  
• Chapter One
  

Embrace Me At Dawn

By

Shayla Black

Embrace Me At Dawn

Shayla Black

Copyright 2012 Shelley Bradley LLC

Edited by Chloe Vale & Amy Garvey

Published by Shelley Bradley LLC

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

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

Bonus Material and Excerpts at the end of the book

Dedication and Acknowledgements

A book doesn’t happen by one person alone, at least not in my world. A book takes a village for me, so I’ve got many people to thank.

First, I wouldn’t have even considered undertaking this project on my own without Sylvia Day and Sophie Oak encouraging me. I still might not have done it without my husband’s support. So I dedicate this to you. Courage isn’t always easy, but somehow you all make me find some just when I need it.

The army of cheerleaders helped me so much with the actual tasks around writing a book, and I can’t not thank you all from the bottom of my heart. To Rhyannon Byrd and Angel Payne, I SO appreciate your enthusiasm and kind words as I fed you chapters. I know I’ve got true friends in you both. Laurie, what would I have done if you hadn’t bought that damn timer and told me to go write for twenty minutes at a stretch every freaking day for weeks? I NEEDED that. Bless you. And to Pearl, you don’t know how much you improved my mood just when I had to have a pick-me-up. A HUGE shout out to Rich for writing me a killer blurb! It’s epic, and I owe you. The book would NEVER have made its way into reader’s hands without the help of my editors, Amy Garvey and Chloe Vale. Your feedback and last minute dedication to help me, even as I was running behind, enabled me to get this book out on time. Lastly, I can’t even begin to thank Christie Von Ditter, my assistant, enough to cover everything she’s done to make this book a reality. Your feedback on this book while still juggling all my other projects was crucial. I wouldn’t still be standing without you. Finally, to the fans of this series who encouraged me to keep going and the Doomsday Brethren players who write diligently on Facebook every day to keep the stories and the excitement alive, you have really touched me. Thanks much to you all!

Chapter One

Present day - England

Anka MacTavish held her breath as the most beautiful man she’d ever seen stormed toward her, one heavy footstep after another. Lucan, her mate.

Former mate,
she reminded herself. He hated her now, with good reason. She could have blamed a number of people for that. She mostly blamed herself.

His full mouth thinned into a grim line, blue eyes narrowing as he drew closer. At the sight of his obvious anger, she turned away toward the surprising warmth of the rare January sun, praying the golden rays would chase away the perpetual chill that had plagued her these last three months.

It almost worked. Then Lucan grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him, dragging her so close to the familiar heat of his body. Suddenly, she didn’t need the sun at all. Finally, she was warm. Their gazes connected, and heat seeped into her veins. Her heart lurched in her chest. A jolt of connection grabbed her all the way to her soul.

As quickly as he’d grabbed her, Lucan yanked his hand back. Sadly, the connection she felt was all one-sided now.

“
Are you out of your mind?” he growled. “No. The answer is absolutely no.”

Anka let her lashes flutter down, breaking the pull of his furious stare, then forcing herself to step away from his beloved warmth. She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I suppose you heard that I intend to ask Bram to let me fight with the Doomsday Brethren.”

Admittedly, asking the leader of the warrior wizards dedicated to ridding magickind of the evil Mathias d’Arc to allow a witch to join their ranks had been a long shot. But damn it, she had a personal stake in this fight. Those males who followed Bram into this terrible magical war all sought peace, to make magickind safe again. Admirable. Once upon a time, she’d wanted that, too.

Now, the need for vengeance beat in her chest even stronger than her own heart. She wanted nothing more than revenge against the malicious wizard who had forced her to break her sacred bond with Lucan. Mathias had ravaged her body until she barely knew her own name, and in doing so, had destroyed her once-beautiful life.

“
Yes.” Lucan leaned into her personal space, his glare intimidating, as he, no doubt, meant it to be. “He’d better not agree. It’s mad! I won’t have it.”

That familiar woodsy-musky scent of his hadn’t once failed to arouse her in the century they’d lived and loved together. It didn’t fail today, either.

Inching back, Anka sent Lucan a sad smile. Not for one second did she imagine that he refused her because he loved her enough to be concerned for her safety. Three months ago, before her world had shattered, yes. No mate had been more caring than Lucan. Today? She winced. He didn’t want to see her, much less fight beside her. Bloody hell, after Mathias had taken her captive, then plundered her mind and body, she’d eventually fled to her former suitor, Shock Denzell—Lucan’s enemy—for protection and succor. For that, her former mate hated her.

This was the most conversation they’d had in weeks, maybe even since Mathias had abducted her from the home she’d shared with Lucan.

Even thoughts of the harrowing days that had followed as the madman’s captive made her want to crumble. For a long time, she’d done nothing more than hide while fighting off one nightmare after another, and licking her wounds.

No more.

Shoving aside both regret and tears, she tossed her head back and met Lucan’s damning stare. “It’s no longer your decision.”

Instantly, his jaw clenched. His fingers plowed through his dark hair. Those blue eyes of his could look so tender. Now they glowed with fury and condemnation. “You’re right; it’s not. And as much as I hate Shock, I know him. There is no way he’ll allow you to fight with us.”

It’s none of his business, either.
Anka kept the thought to herself. The last thing she wanted to discuss with her former mate was her current lover. At least, Shock was her lover when he was sober. Lately, that was never. More and more, Shock had begun grabbing a bottle and escaping into the bottom of it. Anka hadn’t tried to stop him.

Lucan wouldn’t care about her personal drama with Shock. The only thing that mattered to him was that she hadn’t returned home after escaping Mathias and his torture. In fact, Lucan probably thought she’d willfully betrayed him, doing her utmost to rub salt into his wound by running to Shock. Never mind that breaking the mate bond had obliterated her memories of Lucan for weeks afterward. Never mind that she’d been barely alive and instinctively sought a safe haven in case Mathias hunted her again. When she’d first reached Shock, she’d been dangerously low on life energy. And he’d been more than happy to share hot exchanges of frequent, raw sex with her to repower her magic and keep her alive—at least at first. Her former mate didn’t know or care that, for weeks now, Shock had only touched her enough for brief energy exchanges, or that, for the most part, Anka didn’t mind.

Lucan only cared that she had betrayed him. And as much as she wanted to rail, she understood completely. In his place, she would feel utterly stabbed in the heart. Still, she would tell Lucan right now that she still loved him and always would—if she thought for a second that there wasn’t too much water under the bridge between them or that he’d give a damn.

“
Shock’s opinion on the matter shouldn’t concern you,” she returned softly. “I’ve offered to lend my wand to a fight that’s desperately outnumbered. The decision to accept or not is Bram’s. If you’re so against me joining, talk to him.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “The second Sabelle gave me the news, that went on my agenda.”