SHADOWLOVE--STALKERS Read Free

his father and grandmother required. He could no longer be content to stand along the edge and keep out of the fray.
    His grandmother had already objected to his plan. She had called Shawna an innocent who should not be drawn into the new war, but he no longer had a choice…and at any rate, Pentim was already searching for the girl.
    She couldn’t escape Pentim and his clan without help. There were too many of the Rawley Clan, and some of them had powers that were singularly suited for stalking.
    No one knew the secrets his grandmother and father harbored. None knew his own deeply personal sorrows—sorrows born of power he wished he didn’t possess. However, as of late, he was glad for the mana he owned. It gave him an edge, an edge he knew he would need soon.
    He had turned to go back into his home when it hit him. A blast of darkness assaulted him, and he put a hand to his head. He felt as though he were being pulled into a black hole, then discovered himself on the other side— another episode.
    He stood close to her. He reached out, but of course he was in a vision; she couldn’t see him or feel his presence. He couldn’t touch her, but damn, he sure as hell wanted to.
    She was wearing a black silk nightgown. One thin strap fell from her shoulder, and her full breasts captured his attention. She stretched and then climbed into her bed. He felt a blast of desire, and his sudden hard-on made him uncomfortable. She was so incredibly beautiful with her golden hair a mass of waves around her intoxicatingly lovely face.
    Shawna had been the woman that occupied his visions. In his nightmare vision he had seen Pentim Rawley take her and turn her…
    He couldn’t let that happen—she was too important to him. He needed her to play a role in his plans to take down Pentim and his Rawley clan. All at once and with that thought, he realized where he was—on his front steps. He shook it all off as he went inside and closed the door at his back.
    He still had a hard-on, and the image of her face and body swam around his mind, keeping him hot with desire.
    There was no way he was going to allow himself to get involved with the beauty. He wanted one thing from her only, and that was to set her up as bait!
    He had goals to accomplish. He had his family’s anonymity, so deeply treasured, to protect. He would have to proceed with stealth.
    Another night to the full moon. and then he would be prepared for what lay ahead…
    * * *
    Had she known, Shawna Wellsly would not have agreed with his summation of her abilities—and innocent ? She did not think so. Had the question of her innocence come up, she might have conceded that in some ways perhaps she was, but in most ways, she was streetwise and more. She had to be—she wanted to live, and she wanted to find a life more fulfilling than just staying alive.
    However, now, staying alive would be good.
    Pentim and his clan had other plans for her, and she would have to be at her most cautious if she were to elude them. Her grandparents had warned of this day, and here it was up close and way too personal.
    The clan she feared the most—the clan all others feared—was searching for her . Some young are raised without the help of a father because the father had died or walked away. Shawna’s father would have done much worse had he known of her existence. He would have turned her and then used her special abilities. The thought she could be turned—made to kill, to take human blood—sickened and terrified her.
    And now when her entire life lay before her, she had to give it up because Pentim had accomplished the unthinkable—he had discovered he had a daughter.
    Six months ago she had one of her ‘dreams’. In it she saw Pentim Rawley—leader of the Rawley clan, or as he liked to think of himself, vampire prince—in the moments after he learned that he had a daughter. And Shawna knew what she had to do.
    She immediately took to the road. She had a plan, and it was simple: she