Tangled Innocence (20 page)

“I love you,” she said. “Both of you.”

She blinked again as both of her men smiled widely at her.
She looked over her shoulder, aware that she probably shouldn’t have said that
for the first time in the middle of a bar in front of the people who were her
family, but not her mates.

However, no one seemed to be paying attention, their focus
on their own mates or friends.

She looked back, and Jace and Dante were still smiling.

“I love you both, too,” Jace said. “Though I think I’ve said
it before.”

“You both know I love you, but it’s still nice to hear,”
Dante put in.

Nadie slapped their arms. “Come on! This was supposed to be
romantic and cherished for our memories for all time!”

Dante kissed her. Hard. “I’ve looked into your face and
known your heart since the moment you knew what I was, what I could turn into.
I’ve loved you from the start, Nadie Morgan. I might not say it, but it will
shown in all of my actions, my thoughts, and my hopes.”

Well then.

“Okay, so maybe I’m an idiot,” Nadie mumbled.

Jace kissed her temple. “But you’re our idiot.”

“Hey!”

“Aww, I love watching you three,” Lily said from her perch
on Shade’s lap. “You guys are so adorable.”

Nadie waved off her friend and sighed into her mates.

She’d never forget the bear that had given his life for her,
never forget the smile on Torrent’s face as he fought with pride.

The bears hadn’t blamed her for his death as the blame lay
on Stacia. Now, Nadie spent her days in the bear realm, teaching cubs and
watching the future Torrents and Jaces learn to growl and claw with the best of
them. She did it in his honor and knew that Jace loved her all the more for it.

Things had changed so much since the night she’d decided to
give it all up. Instead of walking away alone, she’d given up the fear of the
unknown and had fallen head over heels in love with a dragon and a bear. She’d
found the power within and learned that not only could she fight for her life
and the ones she loved but she was fucking good at it.

The innocence she’d fought to hold for so long had tangled
into something beautiful, something seductive, powerful, and loved.

She was Nadie Morgan.

Succubus.

Mate.

Fighter.

Lighting-struck.

There was no going back, only going forward. And as she
leaned into the dragon, then the bear she called her own, she knew she’d be
okay.

After all, she had everything to fight for.

The
End

Next up in the Dante’s
Circle Series:

Faith finds her path
in FIERCE ENCHANTMENT

Thank you so much for reading Tangled Innocence. Dante,
Nade, and Jace’s story was a long time coming and I hope you enjoyed it. I do
hope if you liked this story, that you would please leave a review. Not only
does a review spread the word to other readers, they let us authors know if
you’d like to see more stories like this from us. I love hearing from readers
and talking to them when I can. If you want to make sure you know what’s coming
next from me, you can sign up for my newsletter at www.CarrieAnnRyan.com;
follow me on twitter at
@CarrieAnnRyan
https://twitter.com/CarrieAnnRyan , or like my Facebook page
(https://www.facebook.com/CarrieAnnRyanAuthor). I also have a Facebook Fan Club
(https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarrieAnnRyanFanClub/) where we have trivia,
chats, and other goodies. You guys are the reason I get to do what I do and I
thank you.

What’s coming next in the Dante’s Circle world? In 2015 I
hope to get Faith’s story, Fierce Enchantment, out and in your hands. I also
plan on writing Liam and Alec (and their secret third shh!). It all depends on
timing and other series goodies. But don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging for
too long. I get many questions about this series and yes, I will be writing
about Amara and Eliana as well. I’m not saying goodbye any time soon!

If you are just starting the Dante’s Circle series with this
book, welcome! You can go back and read Dust of My Wings, Her Warriors’ Three
Wishes, and An Unlucky Moon. Each of those is found on its own or in a special
Dante’s Circle Bundle. Also, the novella, His Choice, set in this world is
found not only in the Ever After Anthology, but you can find it on its own in
May!

If you’re looking for more Carrie Ann Ryan books, you can
check out my Redwood Pack, Holiday Montana, and Montgomery Ink series. I have
many more releases coming this year and in the next. To make sure you know when
they come out, sign up for my monthly newsletter and release list.
http://bit.ly/18aFEqP

Thank you again for reading and I do hope to see you again.

Carrie Ann

USA Today Bestselling Author
Carrie Ann Ryan never thought she’d be a writer. Not really. No, she loved math
and science and even went on to graduate school in chemistry. Yes, she read as
a kid and devoured teen fiction and Harry Potter, but it wasn’t until someone
handed her a romance book in her late teens that she realized that there was
something out there just for her. When another author suggested she use the
voices in her head for good and not evil, The Redwood Pack and all her other
stories were born.

Carrie Ann is a bestselling author
of over twenty novels and novellas and has so much more on her mind (and on her
spreadsheets *grins*) that she isn’t planning on giving up her dream anytime
soon.

www.CarrieAnnRyan.com

Now
Available:

Redwood
Pack Series

An Alpha’s Path

A Taste for a
Mate

Trinity Bound

A Night Away

Enforcer’s
Redemption

Blurred
Expectations

Forgiveness

Shattered
Emotions

Hidden
Destiny

A
Beta’s Haven

Montgomery
Ink Series

Ink Inspired

Ink Reunited

Holiday,
Montana Series

Charmed Spirits

Santa’s Executive

Finding Abigail

Her Lucky Love

Dreams of
Ivory

Dante’s
Circle Series

Dust of My Wings

Her Warriors’
Three Wishes

An
Unlucky Moon

His
Choice (In the Ever After Anthology)

Coming
Soon:

Redwood Pack

Fighting Fate

Loving the Omega

The Dark Fates Anthology

Dante’s Circle

Fierce Enchantment

Montgomery Ink

Delicate Ink

Did
you enjoy this selection?

Why
not try another romance from Fated Desires?

From USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s
Redwood Pack Series

Chapter
One

Her wolf wanted to eat him up—one tasty morsel at a time.

Lexi Anderson sighed.

No, that wouldn’t be happening.

It didn’t matter that she wanted to lick the man at the
party with many generous swipes of her tongue because it just wouldn’t happen.

It didn’t matter that she wanted to bury her hands in his
hair while he pumped himself into her, their sweat-slicked bodies sliding
against one another as they came together hard.

It still wouldn’t be happening.

She took a deep breath, the outside air filling her lungs
and cooling her down—at least somewhat. As she tried to relax, she took in her
surroundings, needing something far greater than her to function. The trees
stood around them, tall, ancient, almost comforting. The sun warmed her skin in
the cooling air, though just from looking at the man across from her, she was
heated plenty already.

She took another breath, holding it in for as long as she
could. The scent of forest and the coming rain would never be enough for her.

Lexi would never know the feeling of the land beneath her
four paws, the brush of wind in her fur, nor the release of home and center
when the moon’s pull finally took her wolf.

No, she would never have any of that, yet she should have
been used to it by now.

She’d been a latent wolf—a wolf trapped within her body,
unable to shift, but still part of her in a sense—for all fifty years of her
life, and wishing for something different was only making things harder for
her. Since latent wolves couldn’t shift into their wolf forms, they were
forever bound to their human forms and cut off from the wolf part of their
souls. They couldn’t even hear their other half’s thoughts. Oh, they could feel
something, or at least feel the instincts and some of the urges that came with
being a wolf, but they didn’t feel the same connection that others did.

It had been a miracle in itself that she’d survived into
adulthood, as most latent wolves died from the added stress to their bodies
because of their inability to shift.

She was one of the lucky ones.

If one could call it that.

There were more important things in her world than the fact
she would never be able to shift into a wolf.

Namely, the little boy playing in the front yard of the
Alpha’s home.

Parker, her eight-year-old son and love of her life,
currently played in a pile of wolf babies. Well, only one baby was currently in
wolf form, as the others were too young to change yet, but her Parker seemed to
be in heaven.

Finn, the son of the Heir to the Redwood Pack, jumped on
Parker’s stomach. Luckily the three-year-old had learned enough control in wolf
form that he didn’t have his claws out. Wolf children didn’t shift until they
were at least two or three years old when they would have at least a semblance
of control over their little bodies.

Even though Lexi had grown up in the Talon Pack and knew
that children play-fought in both forms, she still winced. It had been awhile
since she’d been around other wolves for long periods of time, and she didn’t
like the idea of her baby being hurt by Finn’s little claws.

It was, after all, only the third time the other little boy
had shifted into this form. He had remarkable control though, considering his
age. Lexi wasn’t sure if that had to do with the royal blood running through
his veins, the fact that he would one day be the Heir and then eventually the
Alpha, or that he was wise for his age. He’d already been through so much,
almost being killed by the hands of their worst enemy. He’d been changed
dramatically, even at a young age.

All of that together seemed to have made one strong little
wolf.

The little fluff ball mock growled at Parker then rolled
onto his back, leaving all four paws in the air. His cousins, Micah and Brie,
who were both under two, gave up trying to tickle Parker and went to give Finn
a belly rub.

Something oddly hollow echoed in Lexi’s chest at the sight.

These babies were part of a family. A family that, while
they had opened their home to her, Parker, and her brother, Logan, wasn’t hers.

They would never be hers.

Not really.

She thought she had a family before with the Talons, and
then that had been shattered. The Alpha had exiled her, cutting her off from
the Pack because of something out of her control. Logan came with her because
he was her brother. God, she hated that she’d caused him to be a lone wolf,
shunned because of what had happened to her.

They spent over eight years on the run until finally coming
into contact with the Redwoods. For some reason, they had opened their wards
and let them into their Pack—blood bond and all.

She knew not everyone within the Pack was happy about it,
but the Jamensons, the ruling family, wanted them.

Lexi still wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

A man, Patrick, yes, that was his name, walked past her and
glared. Not so odd considering most wolves who didn’t really know her seemed to
do that, but she didn’t know this man or what his problem was.

She raised a brow, and he looked down on her as though she
were five-day-old dog poo.

Great.

He walked away, and she looked off in the distance. It
seemed making friends with people other than the Jamensons was going to be a
lost cause. In Patrick’s case, it didn’t seem as though she was missing
anything.

“Still on the outside looking in?” Cailin Jamenson, the
Alpha’s only daughter, asked as she walked up to Lexi’s side.

Lexi gave the gorgeous woman a weak smile, feeling
positively frumpy and old in her tattered jeans and shirt. It wasn’t as if Lexi
had a closet full of clothes after being on the run for so long. In fact, most
of what she was wearing and possessed was borrowed.

Damn, she’d have to change that soon. It didn’t sit well
with her that she didn’t have much to her name. She left most of her belongings
when she left the Talons and hadn’t been able to add to her wardrobe and
personal things over time. That whole experience left Lexi feeling less than
attractive.

Cailin, however, looked like God’s gift to man with her long
blue-black hair flowing down her back and her piercing green eyes that seemed
to see more than Lexi wanted. The woman would make fashion models feel inferior
with her sharp cheekbones, curves like a goddess, painted-on jeans, and a tight
tank that only emphasized the woman’s way-too-perky breasts.

Lexi had a decent body because of the healthy metabolism and
genetics of being a wolf, but there must have been something special in the
water the day Cailin Jamenson was conceived.

Logan didn’t stand a chance.

Lexi snorted at that thought, and Cailin raised her brow. It
was plain to see that Logan and Cailin were potential mates. Because fate was a
fickle bitch, each wolf had many—or sometimes not so many—potential mates that
they could meet throughout their long lifetimes. Just because the mating urge
rode hard and a connection could click into place at any moment didn’t mean
that the two parties had to act on it.

From where Lexi stood, it seemed the lone Jamenson daughter
wanted to be as far from Logan as possible.

There had to be a story there, but considering Lexi had even
more secrets of her own, she wasn’t about to start prying.

Much.

“Lexi?”

She blinked as Cailin moved closer, her eyebrows lowered.

“Sorry. I’m just thinking.” Well, it was the truth, though
Lexi wasn’t about to tell Cailin what she was actually thinking about.

“Do I want to know what about?” Cailin asked, tucking a
strand of hair behind her ear.

It was May and summer was already starting its angry burn
across the rest of the country, but in the Northwest, it was still a bit cool
with the cloud cover. Plus, the Pack’s den was situated between two cliff faces
and surrounded by tall trees. Though not actually Redwoods, they were close. It
was a running joke—like a thousand years running—that the Pack was named after
trees that didn’t actually exist in their chosen area.

Lexi didn’t quite get it, but it wasn’t a big deal. She was
just happy this Pack seemed to have opened their arms to her and her family.

At least the Jamensons had.

The rest of the Pack…yeah, not so much. An image of Patrick
filled her mind, and she blinked it away.

That was a thought for another time. Right now, she had a
little boy’s birthday to celebrate, a certain wolf to avoid, and a pretense to
show another wolf that everything was okay while she herself avoided that
certain wolf.

It was confusing enough that Lexi didn’t need to add another
set of worries to her already full plate.

“Lexi, hon? What the heck is going on in that head of
yours?” Cailin moved to block Lexi’s view of the tangle of children and stared
right at her face.

Lexi might have been a couple inches taller than the other
woman, but Cailin had a presence that couldn’t be ignored. She only had to ask
her brother.

She shook her head then smiled. At least she thought she
smiled. It might as well have been a grimace considering the way Cailin’s
eyebrow rose.

Again.

“I’m fine. Really. I think I’m just tired. That’s all.”

“Not sleeping?” Cailin asked.

“Not really.” That wasn’t a change though. Lexi rarely slept
through the night. She never really had considering she was latent. Her body
was a little more wired than most because she couldn’t expel energy the way the
other wolves could. Not to mention the whole on-the-run thing didn’t exactly
soothe one’s nerves.

“Do you need to talk to Hannah about getting something to
help you sleep?” Hannah was the Pack Healer, the one person connected to the
Pack through bonds that enabled her to use the overall energy and her own
powers to Heal others. “If you don’t want to go to her, I can probably help. I
used to grow the Pack herbs until Hannah took over.”

Wolves’ metabolisms were such that they couldn’t take the
usual human drugs or even get drunk on alcohol. It was great for the wolves,
considering their genetics helped with maintaining their bodies for centuries
and sometimes even longer, but sucked for things like the common cold. Wolves
didn’t actually die of old age like humans did. Those that reached a certain
age became elders and usually shut themselves off from the world because of all
their memories. Cailin had once grown the herbs and harvested other plants used
as natural remedies to help the wolves. Now that Hannah had come into the Pack
when she’d mated Cailin’s brother, Reed—as well as another man named Josh—and
become the Healer, Cailin had been out of a job.

From the tone Cailin used just then, Lexi had a feeling the
woman didn’t quite know what to do with herself now. Sure, Cailin babysat her
numerous nieces and nephews—increasing in number daily it seemed—but the young
woman didn’t really seem to have a place in the Pack beyond the blood in her
veins.

Cailin was only in her early twenties though and over eighty
years younger than her brothers, who were all within a year or two in age.

No wonder the woman looked lost.

Oh great. Now Lexi was worrying about another’s problems
rather than her own. It made her forget the lingering doubts, fears, worries,
and scariness in her own life at least a little while.

“I’m fine, Cailin, really,” Lexi finally answered. “I don’t
need to take anything to sleep. Logan and I take turns freaking out around the
house when we have long nights and can’t sleep.”

Cailin stiffened at the mention of Logan’s name, and Lexi
inwardly cursed. Great going. It wasn’t as if Lexi didn’t know the other woman
was pointedly avoiding Logan.

An unwritten rule existed between the two of them.

Lexi didn’t mention her brother.

Cailin didn’t mention hers.

Ever.

Damn it.

“Thank you for offering though,” Lexi added lamely. “It’s
nice that your family is still holding a birthday party, despite all that’s
going on.”

Oh, holy hell. Her attempt at changing the subject had
failed. This topic was just as bad as the original subject. Mentioning
everything that was “going on”—war, death, and torture—wasn’t the best way to
cool the tension rising between the two women. No, it was the exact opposite of
what she’d hoped to do.

Though, really, there didn’t seem to be a safe topic. It
wasn’t as if Lexi knew the Jamensons that well since she’d just become a
Redwood, and with the war with the Centrals—the main focal point and reason why
Lexi, Logan, and Parker were there in the first place—there wasn’t much else to
talk about.

Honestly though…

Cailin grinned, despite the mood. “We’re family. Finn’s the
first grandbaby, the first of them to shift. It’s a big deal. Plus, he’ll be
Alpha one day.”

“So he gets special treatment?”

Cailin shook her head. “Oh no. Not at all. Each of those
babies, and the ones to come, will get parties, love, and everything else they
need. If we didn’t do that, then what the hell are we fighting for?”

“I guess that makes sense.” It did. Though since she’d been
shunned from her own Pack because of the actions of others, she still didn’t
quite believe it. Oh, she desperately wanted to, but she couldn’t.

Not anymore.

“It damn well should,” Cailin grumbled. “My Pack is in pain
because of those assholes, and I’ll be fucking pissed if we win and lose
ourselves. We’re Pack and family first, warriors second. That’s what we need to
be in order to stay who we are. I was wrong once when I asked my dad if we
could go dark to win. Fucking wrong. I’m not going to do that again. We’re
going to beat those fucking bastards, and we’re going to do it all the while
blowing out candles on birthday cakes and making babies.”