Darkness Unleashed by Alexandra Ivy Read Free Book Online Page A

who was disappearing into the thick tangle of brush and trees that ran along the bluff.
    “I swear to God, one day…” she muttered beneath her breath.
    She didn’t know what she was going to do.
    But it was going to be evil.

Chapter 3
    The cave that tunneled through the bluff was not large. The main chamber was the size of a human living room, and low enough that Jagr was in constant danger of banging his head. On the plus side, the entrance was narrow enough to prevent more than one attacker from entering at a time, and there was a smaller chamber in the back that had a shallow stream of water that emptied into a basin.
    It was not the fact that it was easily defensible, or that there was a ready supply of fresh water, however, that made the cave seemed like a paradise, Jagr decided.
    It was the armful of warm Were he had tucked close to his body as he lay on the hard floor.
    Leaning on his elbow, Jagr studied Regan’s finely carved features. In sleep they appeared even more unbearably fragile. Her skin was a flawless ivory stretched over the perfectly formed brow and tiny nose. Her lips were lush, when not tightened with anger, and her lashes a thick curtain as they lay against her cheeks.
    So lovely.
    So breathtaking.
    And so terrifying in her ability to fascinate him.
    Jagr shook his head. He’d lived for centuries. Beautiful women had drifted in and out of his life with predictable regularity. But none had possessed the golden innocence of her soul. An innocence that the tortured darkness in him craved. As if her purity could soothe away the festering shadows.
    And of course, there was the fierce, relentless courage that had allowed her to survive her years of torture.
    Culligan had wounded her, but he had never broken her.
    He was one of the few who could truly appreciate what it had cost her.
    She was completely and utterly unique. A creature like no other he had ever encountered.
    A strange hint of warning whispered to his heart. An instinctive awareness that his behavior since arriving in Hannibal was…uncharacteristic. The grim control and cool logic that had ruled him for centuries was being undermined by the tiny, ferocious Were currently snuggled against him.
    He wasn’t sure whether he should be furious or terrified.
    Certainly he shouldn’t have been…smug. As if he’d found a treasure that he hadn’t expected and didn’t even know he desired.
    Perhaps sensing his inner conflict, Regan stirred against his chest. Jagr tightened his grip.
    They had barely arrived at the cave when Regan had collapsed in exhaustion. For all her power and stubborn determination, she’d pushed herself too hard for too long and her body had simply shut down.
    Without hesitation, Jagr had carried her to the back of the cave, placing her against the wall and lying down so he was between her unconscious form and the distant entrance. Nothing would be allowed to get to her without coming through him first.
    At the time he’d told himself it was for her protection. He had made a pledge to keep her safe, and by the gods, that’s what he would do.
    But no matter how he tried to twist logic, he knew it wasn’t a mere need to protect that led him to tenderly cradle her in his arms, or to awaken well before sunset just so he could study her pale, perfect face.
    With a flutter, she lifted her thick tangle of lashes, revealing the emerald eyes that were still clouded by sleep.
    There was a moment as she struggled to recall why she was lying in a strange cave in the arms of a vampire, a renegade hint of sensual awareness darkening her gaze before reality crashed through her fog, and she was angrily shoving her hands against his chest.
    “What the hell…let me go.”
    Jagr was caught off guard by the force of her blow, nearly losing his grip before he could roll on top of her and use his considerable weight to control her attempts to escape.
    Her strength had returned with a vengeance.
    Along with her temper.
    A pity, since he