Obscured Lover (Blackness Falls #2) (A Paranormal Romance Book)

By Shania Tyler

Playing in the dark…

Piper knows what she is getting into when she signs up to join her friends in another world:

1-friendly vampires

2- interesting elves

3- staying in one of the most lavish homes in the mountain she's ever seen.

What she doesn't expect is to find herself attracted to the mansion's wealthy owner.

He's got tall, dark, and vampire down to a science.

It's too bad he avoids her like the plague.

But Piper has yet to meet a man she can't wear down, and when opportunity presents itself, she'll have to decide if she's willing to pay his price.

…Tempted by fate

Theo has never been so hungry for a woman in his life and his self-restraint is about to snap…

It is not a good thing when you're a leader of Rebel army on the verge of war, but never has a woman wound him so tightly.

He has been alone for too long and he's ready to give in.

But Theo makes one demand of her.

He wants her forever.

But when enemies arise, the promise of tomorrow vanishes, and choices must be made that could affect the world.

Will lust or love win the day?

Can the fate of one couple have the power to change the world? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shania Tyler
• Release date: Oct 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393754817

Shania Tyler

As a young girl, Shania has always been fascinated with the world of vampires, dragons, fairies, elves and angles. So strong was her fascination that she always felt there is indeed such a world out there. A world where creatures of supernatural powers can transcend beyond time and space, not confined to the rules of the human world, and being able to live for eternity. In Shania’s writings, you will find an infusion of passionate romance, action and mystery, and sometimes with a touch of suspense. She enjoys creating a dark complex world containing entities of a supernatural or otherworldly nature and being able to bring a romantic flavour to the plot and amongst the characters. It brings her great joy to see her childhood fantasies becoming a reality through the pages that she wrote. Some of her inspirations of writings include Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, J.R. Ward’s The Black Dagger Brotherhood series and Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton .

Book preview

ACT ONE

LOST

prologue

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Theo of the House of Heron stared out into the darkness that spread like a cloak over his mountains. Morten had always been beautiful, but with the arrival of the stars two months ago... the sight was breathtaking.

Clusters of stars made the Asea sky glow in a way it hadn’t in nearly three hundred years. They glittered like diamonds laid out on silk blanket, ready for their inspection, knowing they'd be found to be without flaw. Torches lined the hillsides and the tinkling of his men working in his stone mines made the night almost magical.

The only thing that broke the tranquil scene was the whispers and giggling that came from his side.

He glared in the direction of his friend Mason and his wife Kelly. The newlyweds had their arms wrapped around one another with their heads bent close. Actually, Mason’s dark head was doing all the bending as Kelly was a petite woman with wild blond curls that stopped at her shoulders. The three stood at the entrance of his home, awaiting the arrivals of Kelly’s guests, who she’d invited to visit during something they called ‘summer break’ at her collegiate school on Earth.

He’d offered Kelly and Mason the chance to greet the guests alone, but they’d insisted that he accompany them since it was his home.

He wished he hadn’t.

As the Colester, or leader of the city of Morwen, he had better things to do. The Rebels, the army that Theo financed, had just fought and won a battle two months ago, but Theo would be foolish to think their enemies defeated. There was still much to do.

And besides that, he was thirsty. He hadn’t had blood in days.

Stop it, Mason, Kelly said in a happy tone that said she didn’t mean for Mason to stop anything at all. In fact, her words were more encouraging than anything. Theo knew his friend understood when his wife’s laugher filled the night.

He loathed to admit that he hated his friend’s happiness just as much as he loved it. Mason, more than anyone, deserved happiness... but it irritated him at times like this. When, instead of finding the peace he usually did from staring down from the top of the Morwen Mountains, he had to listen to whispers that he could clearly make out, thanks to his supernatural hearing.

A torch moved up ahead and footsteps sounded as their guests came up the long stone stairway that led toward the house. They’re coming, he said to the couple, who’d moved from simply holding one another to ravishing one another’s mouth.

The one holding the torch proved to be his Fairman, or doorkeeper, Roose. He was followed by three others. He recognized the other male as Ethan, an elf who’d grown up on Earth, but now lived in Morwen and fought on the side of the Rebels.

Under one of Ethan’s arms was a large box and walking under his other arm was a woman with long red hair that didn’t seem to know whether it wished to make waves or curls. Her dress was made of silks and chiffons that ranged from dark purples to deep oranges. Bangles and beads hung from her neck and wrist and—

Theo was distracted when he caught sight of the other woman. No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t the sight of her that he noticed first. It was her scent. She smelled of forbidden heavens. Then he saw her.

The woman’s beauty was a swift hit to his gut. Theo was forced to hold on to the golden doorknob behind him to keep upright. She was simply that breathtaking. She was pale and tall and wore a black costume that left her arms exposed, with only thin straps keeping it up, while her legs were completely covered by loose pants. Her hair was as dark as the night, and she wore it in a high ponytail that made his fingers itch. He was sure by its length he could have wrapped his hand around it three or more times. Her motions were fluid, as though she knew that her presence controlled the room. He watched the way she smiled as she spotted Kelly and then the women shared a tight embrace. Theo couldn’t pull his eyes away from her mouth. Her lips were painted red, the only spot of true color on her. The color of blood.

The ache began in his teeth. He needed to turn away, but try as he might, he didn’t wish to stop looking at her.

But then Kelly said something to her, and she looked up at him with warm brown eyes and smiled.

The group came over to Theo but it was the woman in black’s scent that arrived first.

Kelly did the introductions in his native language Chabar. Theo, these are my friends, Piper and Meg. She motioned her hand to each so he would know who was who.

Piper.

She was still smiling at him, only now her hand was out toward him.

Gods, she was tall. She was only a few inches shorter than him and with her standing so close... her scent had his teeth aching once more. His eyes settled on her nose and the spill of spots that covered the tops of her cheeks, crossing over that delicate bridge.

Hello, she said as her brown eyes called his back. Her voice was another blow. Throaty and deeper than most women. Hello was one of the only words he knew in English, but he was sure that no one said it like her.

Theo tightened his hold on the door.

Piper’s smile began to waver. By not shaking her hand, he was being uncivil.

Theo thought that good, because since the woman had arrived, he’d learned two things. He was more attracted to Piper than he’d ever been to a woman before... and he had to stay far, far away from her.

He slipped inside the house, leaving his friends and their guests confused, but didn’t stop moving until he reached the sanctuary of his office, where he would stay until his guests left.

How long could a summer break last?

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chapter 1

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Piper watched the guy slam the door in her face and gasped. How rude! She’d barely met the guy, and she already knew she didn’t like him.

Kelly turned to Mason and said something in a language she didn’t understand, seeming to be asking Mason questions he didn’t know the answer to. Theo’s name was said.

She took a moment to study Mason as he spoke to Kelly.

The guy was Top Ten material. He had black hair and green eyes unlike any that Piper had ever seen before. He had a classic Prince Charming chiseled face with a fighter’s body and his clothes said bad boy in every way. He wore a black leather jacket, a black shirt, dark jeans, and boots that looked like they’d seen better days. Piper thought Kelly had done pretty well for herself in the looks department, but she planned to find out for herself if Mason made her happy.

According to what she’d heard from Ethan, Mason and Kelly had only known one another for a few days before they’d married, but they seemed happy.

Piper turned to Meg. Do you know what they’re saying?

Meg shrugged and bopped her strawberry head from side to said in a vague answer, but was smiling brightly at the pair. Something about Theo. She twisted hands together in front of her, causing her bangles to jingle. She’d been a flowerchild since Piper could remember, which was the second grade.

Ethan came over and kissed Meg on the cheek. He was another good looker, but Piper remembered a time when he was a gangly kid who was always taller than the rest of the class. In high school, he started to fill out his height, until he finally looked like the poster guy for the most prestigious fraternity on campus that he was. He wore his blond hair short, had stunning blue eyes, and wore a polo and khakis better than anyone else Piper knew.

Want to see the house? He carried a large box under one arm.

Sure, Meg said. She turned to Piper. Are you coming?

If His Majesty doesn’t mind, she said with heated sarcasm.

Ethan frowned. I don’t know what’s up with Theo, but he’s usually a really nice vampire. Ethan grinned. Maybe he just... doesn’t like you.

Piper punched him in the arm. Hard.

Ow!

Meg laughed and rubbed Ethan where Piper had hit him. You asked for it, she said to her man.

Ethan gasped dramatically and knocked on the door. Hey, I’m your boyfriend now. You two can’t gang up on me anymore.

Piper laughed.

Meg grabbed his arm and said, Ah, the good old days. But she was grinning up at him just as hard as he was grinning down at her.

A well-dressed servant opened the door to the mansion. Piper took in everything as she stepped inside. The marble floor made the thousands of lights that hung from the golden chandeliers flood the entryway with light. Walls the color of coffee with two milks made Piper immediately feel warm and welcomed.

The only thing that didn’t make her feel welcomed was remembering Theo’s face at their meeting.

She wanted to knock herself out for finding him attractive, but there was no way around just how gorgeous he was. The moment Kelly had pointed him out, Piper had thought Theo was by far the hottest, sexiest guy she’d ever seen in her life.

His dark hair was pushed back and cut short, but a slight wave kept it from making him look too serious. His face, however, had looked cut from stone by a skilled sculptor, and his eyes had been onyx, like black gems shining from the depths of his soul.

He’d worn a black suit over his tall frame with a black shirt underneath. A small gold chain peeked from underneath, but its end was hidden from sight.

If Piper hadn’t just left Earth to travel to another world, she would have said Theo was a mob boss, like a young Al Pacino in The Godfather if he’d been pale, sexier, and a vampire.

That would have been a twist for the movie.

But this wasn’t Earth and so she had no idea how the mob worked here, but one thing was clear. Theo was loaded. Very hot and very loaded. And very rude!

Piper’s eyes moved to the dark carpeted stairs that flowed out to the center of the room. The wooden banisters looked so polished they might as well be wet. She had no problem assuming they’d pass the ‘dust check.’

A few servants passed between one room to the other and her eyes were drawn to their pointed ears and the burn marks around their throats. They were freed slaves.

Kelly had told her about the vampire government called the Evaness that had put the elves into slavery, locking them into silver chains that blocked their power and scarred their flesh. It was why they’d gone to war, to free the elves, and though they’d won, the freedom part, she said, was taking time.

Kelly had told her that Theo funded the Rebel army, a group made of both vampires and elves who were fierce abolitionists, which was a point in Theo’s favor, but his score for personality was still in the negative.

Because she didn’t want to appear impolite, she turned her eyes away from the staff and looked at the house once more.

The doors to all the other rooms around her were open, making the house seem open concept, but a room could easily be closed off for privacy, which she liked. She could make out a dining room and a living from where she stood, but the urge to know the house inside out grew.

Ethan led them down one of the back hallways, which was lit with hanging lanterns. Kelly had warned her that there was no electricity here and being without her cell phone for two months seemed like suicide, but the more she explored, the more she had the feeling she wouldn’t miss the latest episode of Grey’s.

There was a massive library and a banquet hall.

This is Theo’s office, Ethan said as they passed the first pair of closed doors she’d seen since arriving. She wondered if Theo was hiding in there. He’d run off so quickly after meeting them. Her hand ached to grab onto the knob and see for herself, to see what he looked like while sitting behind his desk. She was sure he’d exude all that great power he gave off while standing at the front door.

Her eyes widened when she realized her hand was around the knob. She let it go and turned to find both Ethan and Meg were gone. She was at the end of the hall and wondered where they’d gone. Her eyes caught sight of a flicker of light outside the window and she looked out.

Then she stepped closer and stared at the men fighting one another. They stood around a large field surrounded by torch lights that went far into the distance. There were hundreds of fighters wielding swords. Her heart raced until she caught sight of the men on the sidelines of the large field. They were talking and looked to be laughing. One man from the fight seemed to come out and tag a sitting man. They switched places.

It was a mock fight, practice for something, but what?

She stepped away from the window, turned, and jumped. Oh, I didn’t know you were there.

Theo stood by the same door she’d thought to open. He was leaning against its jamb with his hands hidden inside the pockets of his dark slacks. One foot was cross over the other and though his body didn’t completely face her, his dark eyes were glued to her.

His Majesty, as she was calling him now, said nothing as he openly stared at her with a look that seemed to be both interest and disgust.

She reached up to touch her hair, but then stopped. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d allowed a man to make her feel self-conscious. Not a single moment came to her recollection in the last twenty-two years of her life. She would not let this... vampire, make her feel any less than the great woman she knew herself to be.

Kelly had told her that all the vampires in Morwen were really nice, but apparently, she’d forgotten to warn her about her host. If Piper could ignore him for the next two months, she would, but just as she’d never been self-conscious, she’d also never backed down from a challenge.

This was his home. The least she could do was be nice.

She put one foot in front of the other and closed the space between them.

His body stiffened, but he didn’t move. His eyes stayed with hers.

Hello, Piper said for the second time that day and smiled when his cologne touched her nose. It was amazing and like nothing she’d ever smelled before with a natural undertone that was very... male. She blinked and jumped back when he pushed himself back into the door jamb even more. His eyes were wide.

She’d been leaning toward him, following that delicious fume coming from him and hadn’t even known it. Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even realize what I was doing. But wasn’t she supposed to be afraid of him? He was the blood sucker.

His eyes looked pensive again.

She chuckled. Oh, that’s right. You can’t understand me.

He kept his body toward the door, but narrowed his eyes inquisitively at her as though he were trying to understand her, but couldn’t.

She grinned wider, seeing the advantage in their situation. You’re know, you’re really hot.

He didn’t react except for to look at her mouth. His eyes rested there and Piper got the urge to squirm underneath his heavy gaze once again.

She tilted her head and studied his face, liking the arch of his heavy brows and finding that his skin gave off a pale glow. His black eyes returned to hers. She lifted her hand. He flinched. She rested her hand on her chest. I’m Piper.

His mouth twitched, the barest of smiles, before he took a step back and retreated into his office.

Piper thought he’d invite her in, but for the second time that day, he closed the door in her face. Jerk, she murmured and walked away.

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chapter 2

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Theo took his blood from a servant in his office at middle night and was looking over his ledgers when Mason walked into his office.

What was that?

Theo looked up and wanted to act as though he had no idea what Mason meant, but he did and he’d rather they had the conversation as quickly as possible so that Mason would leave him be. I find myself attracted to Piper’s blood.

Mason dropped into the chair on the other side of the desk and placed his hands on the edge of the chair arms. He slouched and said, So, that’s why you insulted her? Kelly invites her friends to have a safe and friendly visit to Asea and you slam the door in their faces because you’re drawn to someone’s blood?

Theo placed his pen on the table, folded his hands, and leaned toward Mason. Do you remember the Starburst incident?

Mason shivered at the thought. Yeah, who could forget that? Ethan had brought back Starburst from Earth and given a few to the elf children in the village. What had been a simple act of kindness had quickly turned dark.

The children had attacked Ethan for the bag later and then bloodied each other in order to be the candy’s possessor. There had been biting and clawing and plots of murder from the youth. Ethan had said it reminding him of a scene from Lord of the Rings. Theo had no idea what that meant at the time, but Ethan had since given him the series to read and he had agreed. Candy was officially banned from entering Morwen again.

That is what I want to do to Piper. I want to crack her open and drain every drop of blood from her body.

Mason’s lifted a brow. Like when Maurice smelled Kelly that first time? When Kelly had first come to them, Maurice had smelled the power of Kelly’s blood. It was then that Kelly learned she was not human. It wouldn’t be until later that they found out Kelly’s mother was the supreme goddess Asea and her father an elf, but just the scent of her had driven people mad. Theo had smelled it, too, and had been drawn, but he’d also found it easy to keep his distance. Especially after learning that Kelly was Mason’s pava, his fated one. They’d been literally made from one another, crafted to help one another fulfil the other’s destiny and they were doing just that, together.

Theo looked at Mason. This is worse than Maurice and Kelly. Maurice, if you remember, was willing to share.

Mason sneered. "And if he’d touched my pava—"

"You mean the same pava you didn’t want at the time?" Theo asked.

Mason immediately calmed and looked away. Oh, I always wanted Kelly; I was just fighting it.

Which didn’t make sense to Theo. He’d give anything to find his pava, as would many men. Pavas not only gave their mates strength, but they made them feel complete. Songs and poems had been written in honor the love between a pava and her male pavo and though one half finding the other was rare, Theo had two friends who’d found theirs; Mason and Kelly and his cousin Ronan and his wife Amity.

My plan to exchange Kelly for my gift from the gods was foolish.

Yes, Theo said as he had from the beginning. It was. The gods lived on Talon Island and Mason had run with half a prophesy, thinking he needed to kidnap Kelly from Earth and give her to the gods for power.

Sadly, his plan had worked and Mason had become the Lord of Shadows, a gift that allowed