Read Prowled Darkness (Dante's Circle Book 7) Online
Authors: Carrie Ann Ryan
Tags: #Romance, #Fantasy, #Paranormal, #Werewolves & Shifters, #Witches & Wizards
“I can never repay you,” Malik said, his voice cracking once more.
Jonah shook his head. “You are my Leo and I’d like to think, my son. I would do anything for you.”
Malik blinked back tears and met Eliana’s gaze. She nodded, and Malik swallowed hard. “Will you be godfather? Will you be Penelope’s family?”
Jonah smiled. “I would be honored.”
Malik held his family close, knowing that he would be able to rule his Pride and find his own path with them at his side. He’d almost lost them once, he
had
lost Eliana more than once, and now he would ensure that would never happen again.
He was Leo. He was Eliana’s mate, Penelope’s father.
And he was home.
5 Years Later
Time changed in an instant. One minute, you’re drinking a beer with your friends, talking about the increasingly scary storm outside; the next you’re flying through the air with your body slamming into the nearest wall when lightning strikes. Or rather, when lightning strikes
inside
the room and hits you and six of your friends dead center.
Eliana looked around Dante’s Circle and knew her life had changed the night the lightning struck, yet she wouldn’t take that back for anything. Her life had changed again when she’d met Malik, and once more when she had her child.
Five years had passed since she’d risen from the ashes, and as she ran her fingers over her skin where the glamour covered that new feather, she knew she’d finally learned to take the changes in her life as they came.
Malik kissed her temple. “Doing okay?”
She smiled. “I’m doing fantastic. Though I still think it’s weird that we’re celebrating Pen’s fifth birthday in a bar.”
Her mate rolled his eyes before giving a shrug. “She wanted to see all her aunts and uncles, and this place is the easiest place for everyone to meet without having to deal with going to new realms.”
It made sense, and since her baby Penelope—who wasn’t a baby any longer—was currently giggling hysterically with Hunter and Becca’s Hazel, she couldn’t really feel weird about being in the bar that had changed it all.
Lily and Shade were slow dancing in a corner while their daughter Kelly was dancing with Samantha—Ambrose, Jamie, and Balin’s daughter. The two were mimicking the slow dance and laughing each time they stepped on each other’s feet. That particular triad was in a deep conversation with Becca and Hunter as they drank and ate.
Hunter’s friends had come with their twins Lavender and Raven, and Leslie and Hawke were currently on the floor with the twins, rolling around like lunatics rather than parents. Honestly, Eliana wouldn’t have it any other way.
Dante, Jace, and Nadie weren’t making out in their corner, but from the way they kept looking at each other, Eliana was pretty sure they were thinking about it. The only thing that probably stopped it was the fact that their twins, bear cub Luke and dragon Kieran, were doing a little dance in front of them. Of course, that dance turned into a rumble, and Jace sat up, trying to give Luke pointers about how to fight against a dragon. Seriously, Eliana never wanted that bear to grow up fully.
Faith and Levi were having an argument about something, though it didn’t look too serious. Their son Colby chased Eli around the room with a squirt gun of all things. Eli’s parents, Amara, Tristan, and Seth were trying to clean up after their little terror of joy, but Eliana didn’t think that would last long.
It was funny to think that at one point, she’d felt alone. Now she had so many people in her life she could barely breathe. This group of mismatched paranormals, royals, and Alphas, predators, and sweet prey were her family, her circle, and her future.
Lightning stuck overhead, and everyone froze. Calmly, each of the seven women looked at one another before breaking out into laughter. No matter how much time passed, lightning would never be the same.
They
would never be the same.
Each of them had a new life, a new future, a new path. They would all have their forevers as they would always have each other.
And everything had started here in Dante’s Circle, where nothing was ever as it seemed. Yet their worlds were just as they’d always wanted.
Theirs.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading
PROWLED DARKNESS
. I do hope if you liked this story, that you would please leave a review where you bought the book and on Goodreads. 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
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Make sure you’re signed up for my
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The Dante’s Circle is complete now and I know I will always adore these characters. Thank you for coming on this journey with me! If you’re just starting the series, you can go back to the beginning and find out what happened when Lily meets Shade in
DUST OF MY WINGS
.
Dante’s Circle Series:
Book 1:
Dust of My Wings
Book 2:
Her Warriors’ Three Wishes
Book 3:
An Unlucky Moon
The Dante’s Circle Box Set
(Contains Books 1-3)
Book 3.5:
His Choice
Book 4:
Tangled Innocence
Book 5:
Fierce Enchantment
Book 6:
An Immortal’s Song
Book 7:
Prowled Darkness
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Text CARRIE to 24587
New York Times and 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.
Redwood Pack Series:
Book 1:
An Alpha’s Path
Book 2:
A Taste for a Mate
Book 3:
Trinity Bound
Redwood Pack Box Set
(Contains Books 1-3)
Book 3.5:
A Night Away
Book 4:
Enforcer’s Redemption
Book 4.5:
Blurred Expectations
Book 4.7:
Forgiveness
Book 5:
Shattered Emotions
Book 6:
Hidden Destiny
Book 6.5:
A Beta’s Haven
Book 7:
Fighting Fate
Book 7.5
Loving the Omega
Book 7.7:
The Hunted Heart
Book 8:
Wicked Wolf
The Talon Pack (Following the Redwood Pack Series):
Book 1:
Tattered Loyalties
Book 2:
An Alpha’s Choice
Book 3:
Mated in Mist
Book 4:
Wolf Betrayed
(Coming October 2016)
Montgomery Ink:
Book 0.5:
Ink Inspired
Book 0.6:
Ink Reunited
Book 1:
Delicate Ink
The Montgomery Ink Box Set
(Contains Books 0.5, 0.6, &1)
Book 1.5
Forever Ink
Book 2:
Tempting Boundaries
Book 3:
Harder than Words
Book 4:
Written in Ink
Book 4.5:
Hidden Ink
Book 5:
Ink Enduring
(Coming June 2016)
Book 6:
Ink Exposed
(Coming November 2016)
The Gallagher Brothers Series:
A Montgomery Ink Spin Off Series
Book 1:
Love Restored
(Coming September 2016)
The Branded Pack Series:
(Written with Alexandra Ivy)
Book 1:
Stolen and Forgiven
Book 2:
Abandoned and Unseen
Book 3:
Buried and Shadowed
(Coming July 2016)
Dante’s Circle Series:
Book 1:
Dust of My Wings
Book 2:
Her Warriors’ Three Wishes
Book 3:
An Unlucky Moon
The Dante’s Circle Box Set
(Contains Books 1-3)
Book 3.5:
His Choice
Book 4:
Tangled Innocence
Book 5:
Fierce Enchantment
Book 6:
An Immortal’s Song
Book 7:
Prowled Darkness
Holiday, Montana Series:
Book 1:
Charmed Spirits
Book 2:
Santa’s Executive
Book 3:
Finding Abigail
The Holiday Montana Box Set
(Contains Books 1-3)
Book 4:
Her Lucky Love
Book 5:
Dreams of Ivory
Stand Alone Romances:
From New York Times Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s Redwood Pack Series
There were times to drool over a sexy wolf.
Sitting in the middle of a war room disguised as a board meeting was not one of those times.
Gina Jamenson did her best not to stare at the dark-haired, dark-eyed man across the room. The hint of ink peeking out from under his shirt made her want to pant. She
loved
ink and this wolf clearly had a lot of it. Her own wolf within nudged at her, a soft brush beneath her skin, but she ignored her. When her wolf whimpered, Gina promised herself that she’d go on a long run in the forest later. She didn’t understand why her wolf was acting like this, but she’d deal with it when she was in a better place. She just couldn’t let her wolf have control right then—even for a man such as the gorgeous specimen a mere ten feet from her.
Today was more important than the wants and feelings of a half wolf, half witch hybrid.
Today was the start of a new beginning.
At least that’s what her dad had told her.
Considering her father was also the Alpha of the Redwood Pack, he would be in the know. She’d been adopted into the family when she’d been a young girl. A rogue wolf during the war had killed her parents, setting off a long line of events that had changed her life.
As it was, Gina wasn’t quite sure how she’d ended up in the meeting between the two Packs, the Redwoods and the Talons. Sure, the Packs had met before over the past fifteen years of their treaty, but this meeting seemed different.
This one seemed more important somehow.
And they’d invited—more like
demanded
—Gina to attend.
At twenty-six, she knew she was the youngest wolf in the room by far. Most of the wolves were around her father’s age, somewhere in the hundreds. The dark-eyed wolf might have been slightly younger than that, but only slightly if the power radiating off of him was any indication.
Wolves lived a long, long time. She’d heard stories of her people living into their thousands, but she’d never met any of the wolves who had. The oldest wolf she’d met was a friend of the family, Emeline, who was over five hundred. That number boggled her mind even though she’d grown up knowing the things that went bump in the night were real.
Actually, she
was
one of the things that went bump in the night.
“Are we ready to begin?” Gideon, the Talon Alpha, asked, his voice low. It held that dangerous edge that spoke of power and authority.
Her wolf didn’t react the way most wolves would, head and eyes down, shoulders dropped. Maybe if she’d been a weaker wolf, she’d have bowed to his power, but as it was, her wolf was firmly entrenched within the Redwoods. Plus, it wasn’t as if Gideon was
trying
to make her bow just then. No, those words had simply been spoken in his own voice.
Commanding without even trying.