Seduced in Shadow

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Seduced in Shadow

ISBN 9781419917042

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Seduced in Shadow Copyright © 2008 Stephanie Julian.

Edited by Carole Genz.

Photography and cover art by Les Byerley.

Electronic book Publication July 2008

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

SEDUCED IN SHADOW

Stephanie Julian

Author’s Note

In the contemporary world, magic holds no sway. But looks can be deceiving.

Old gods remain. Old ways continue.

Mythical creatures live among us…if you know where to look.

The Etruscans were a mysterious civilization that came to prominence in what is now northern Italy. The ancient Greeks feared them. The ancient Romans revered them.

Their culture was powerful and sophisticated on the surface. But what they kept hidden was much more interesting… Magic!

The magical descendants of the ancient Etruscan race still walk the Earth. They comprise two groups. The
Enu
are of human descent, the
Fata
are spirits of the forests, water and air. Both have the ability to control the elements with the
arus
, the magic in their blood.

For centuries, the Etruscans have maintained their culture, practicing their rituals and their way of life in the shadows, behind closed doors.

But they live among us. And they’re more powerful than you’ll ever know.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Audi: Audi A.G.

Disney: Disney Enterprises Inc.

Dr. Dolittle
: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Fortune 500: Time Inc. Corporation

4Runner: Toyota Motor Corporation

James Bond: Danjaq LLC

The Matrix
: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Miata: Mazda Motor Corporation

Spock: Paramount Pictures Corporation

The Lord of the Rings
: Saul Zaentz Company DBA Tolkien Enterprises Tinker Bell: Disney Enterprises Inc.

Stephanie Julian

Why the hell did she do this to herself?

Fiorella Johannson’s lungs stung, her knees hurt and the heavy-duty bra she wore to bind her 36Cs cut into her shoulders.

She’d only started running fifteen minutes ago.

She kept telling herself that she really didn’t have time for this. Becoming a freelance marketing consultant had meant she had to work twice as long and three times as hard to make
almost
as much as she’d earned at her former job with the non-profit Children’s Foundation of the Winter Group. And she’d worked nearly sixty-hour weeks there…

Oh yeah. She ran to reduce her stress levels.

At least, that was what the doctor had prescribed.

“Ellie, you need a hobby,” Dr. Prescott had said during her last visit. “Tranquilizers are not the answer to everything. Do you have a boyfriend? A girlfriend? Take up knitting, crocheting, a book club. Your blood pressure’s in the red and your panic attacks are increasing. Do you have regular sexual relations? What about exercise?”

Crocheting?
Ha!
Sex? Not lately. Guys were taboo after the Daniel debacle and girlfriends in short supply since she’d returned to her hometown four months ago to live in her mother’s house while she started up her business. All her friends from high school had either moved away or were married with children and had little time to socialize. And her mom and her newly retired second husband were traveling around the country in a motor home and weren’t expected back for another two months.

Because exercise had seemed like the lesser of all evils, she’d bought a pair of sneakers. Much less trouble than a boyfriend and they didn’t lie about their job or sleep with your roommate.

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Seduced in Shadow

Ellie had leaped into running with both feet, a bad habit that usually got her in trouble. Screw working up to a three-mile jog by walking first. That would’ve been boring.

She’d started running at Gring’s Mill but the flat trails were uninteresting and crowded. She’d wanted something less populated, where she could hear herself think.

Then she’d remembered Nolde Forest from an elementary-school field trip and here she was for her fourth go-round in less than two weeks.

The protected woodlands had beautiful trails. She could hear the birds singing in the trees while the small creek to her left burbled. No one else was on the trails at six a.m. on a warm Sunday morning in April and that suited her just fine. Of course the park didn’t actually open until eight, but that was a minor detail.

Inhale, one…two…three…four.

Exhale, one…two…three…four.

Damn, this uphill shit sucked.

Ellie slowed to a walk to catch her breath, rubbing at the dull ache in her chest.

A loud crack to her left startled a gasp out of her. She turned a complete circle, trying to see everything at once. Light haze softened the early dawn air, creating misty shadows through the large trees on either side of the path.

Her heart pounded, and not from exertion. Someone was out there. She felt someone’s gaze on her but saw no one.

Shaking her head, she started to jog again. “Stop, you idiot. You’re just scaring yourself.”

After all, she was used to solitude. She spent a lot of time alone for her work. Hell, she actually spent a lot of time alone by choice. Wasn’t that pathetic?

Another crack came from the trees and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
Shit.
Someone
was
watching her.

Ellie glanced over her shoulder. No one there.

7

Stephanie Julian

Tilting her head back, she looked into the trees. No one ever looked up in horror movies. That was usually a big mistake when the killer jumped down and decapitated the stupid girl alone in the woods.

Nope, nothing up there either.

Okay, now she was really creeped out. Should she turn around and run back to her car?

She stiffened her spine and continued running.
No way.
That would be admitting defeat. And though she may be cautious, she wasn’t a coward.

But if someone actually jumped out of the woods, would she be able to fight him off? Ellie was on the average side of everything—height, weight, looks. Nothing special in her opinion.

As if that would matter to a murderer or rapist.

Another crack sounded, this one more like a series of pops. Did she hear footsteps to her left?

She stopped, her gaze darting all around. A flash of movement to her left caught her eye and she screamed, just a short burst of sound.

Two of the three deer that had walked onto the path in front of her leaped away but the third just stood there, staring at her.

“Oh my God.”

Deer. Just deer.

Ellie took a deep breath and tried to slow her racing heart.

“That wasn’t very nice, you know.” She shook a finger at the doe, which blinked large brown eyes at her. “You shouldn’t sneak up on someone like that. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Tilting her head to the left, the doe snorted. And said, “You are trespassing.

Humans are not allowed in until after the sun has been in the sky for a time.”

“Oh, don’t give me that,” Ellie huffed. “I’m not disturbing anyone.”

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Seduced in Shadow

“Your huffing and puffing are very disturbing,” the doe replied before deliberately walking away.

Ellie stared after her, shaking her head. “Hell, even Berks County
deer
are rude.”

* * * * *

Antonin de Feo watched the scene unfold from behind a large oak.

He’d been tailing Ellie since she’d left her home this morning. A bit over a week ago, her brother Justin had contracted the security firm owned by Antonin and his two brothers to provide protective surveillance for his sister.

Because Ellie Johannson was no regular mortal. She was the half-human daughter of Selvans, the Etruscan God of the Woods.

For years, her father had kept her under guard—secretly of course—rotating a new man into guard duty every few months to keep them sharp.

For the past week, Antonin and his oldest brother Camillus had shared her protection, following her every move, and she’d been none the wiser, never showing any sign that she felt their presence.

But now, today, she’d acted as though she’d sensed someone following her.

Interesting but not unremarkable. His brother Cam was damn near impossible to detect but some humans could pick up on Antonin’s proximity, even if they never saw him. Since Ellie was Selvans’ child, she probably had better senses than an
etera
, a regular human.

But this… Justin hadn’t told him about this.

His mouth curved in a smile. He’d been told she didn’t know what she was, what her father really was.

If that was true, then how to explain what had just happened? How did she explain the fact that she could talk to animals?

9

Stephanie Julian

Well, he supposed “understand” would be a better way to describe the communication he’d just overheard. Ellie had spoken English and the doe had spoken deer but the females had understood each other just fine.

Cool.

After another huff at the doe’s retreating back, Ellie started running again, a plodding jog he could sustain until the end of time. But which she seemed to be having trouble with, if her heavy breathing was any indication.

She had to be completely out of shape to be winded from this slight amount of exertion.

As he followed her all the way up the hill, he stayed in the trees to her left, watching her thick, silvery blonde braid twitch down her spine, the curling ends reaching almost to the gap between her purple tank top and her black, skintight shorts.

Creamy flesh peeked out as she ran, drawing his gaze to her flat stomach. From there, he let his eyes wander north. She had great breasts, though they were bound tightly by her bra. Even so, they had enough bounce to give him an aching hard-on.

She wasn’t tall but she had a beautiful body—toned arms and legs, smooth stomach. Athletic but not muscle-bound. She had to do something to keep herself in shape. Or she had really good genes.

And he knew where those came from…

Yes, Antonin saw a little of her father in her Roman nose and lavender eyes, almost as big and round as the doe’s. And that mouth… Man, that mouth had shown up in his dreams lately.

Erotic fantasies that left him hard and aching in the morning.

Though they were harmless fairy tales in comparison to what he’d seen last night, watching over her as she’d gone to bed.

As a
linchetto
, one of the Etruscan
Fata
races, Antonin could dissolve his body into shadow. That talent had proved to be a great advantage on jobs like this one.

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Seduced in Shadow