Beyond the Darkness. Alexandra Ivy

>

      HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF

      Salvatore allowed his hands to skim up her bare thighs, his gaze drinking in the sight of her delicate face framed by the fall of golden hair, the shimmering hazel eyes.

      The male in him reacted with predictable desire to her beauty, but the stirring of his wolf was unexpected. He’d never experienced having his animal so close to the surface during sex, and he was caught off guard by the violent excitement that pulsed through his blood.

      She sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes glowed with the inner fire of his beast, filling the room with a golden light. But it wasn’t fear that rippled over her features. It was the same raw need that clawed at him.

      He needed to mark her with his passion, with his scent, with his very essence.

      As if sensing his possessive animal instinct, Harley nipped his bottom lip.

      Salvatore sucked in a sharp breath as Harley planted a path of wet, demanding kisses over his chest.

      “Harley.”

      His plea was cut short as she wiggled down his body, the tormenting kisses heading ever lower.

      Unaware of how close he was to the edge, or perhaps simply enjoying her power over him, Harley continued to drive him mad, her lips sending tiny shock waves through his body…

      Books by Alexandra Ivy

      WHEN DARKNESS COMES

      EMBRACE THE DARKNESS

      DARKNESS EVERLASTING

      DARKNESS REVEALED

      DARKNESS UNLEASHED

      BEYOND THE DARKNESS

      Published by Zebra Books

      Beyond The Darkness

      Guardians of Eternity

      ALEXANDRA IVY

      ZEBRA BOOKS

      KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

       http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Chapter Fifteen

      Chapter Sixteen

      Chapter Seventeen

      Chapter Eighteen

      Chapter Nineteen

      Chapter Twenty

      Chapter Twenty-One

      Chapter Twenty-Two

      Chapter Twenty-Three

      Epilogue

      About the Author

      Chapter One

      It wasn’t his finest day, Salvatore Giuliani, the mighty King of Weres, had to admit.

      As a matter of fact, it was swerving toward downright shitty.

      It was bad enough to regain consciousness to discover he was stretched out in a dark, nasty tunnel that was currently ruining his Gucci suit, and that he had no clear memory of how he had gotten there.

      But to open his eyes and use the perfect night vision of his werewolf heritage to discover a three-foot gargoyle with stunted horns, ugly gray features, and delicate wings in shades of blue and gold and crimson hovering over him was enough to ruin a perfectly horrible mood.

      “Wake up,” Levet hissed, his French accent pronounced and his wings fluttering in fear. “Wake up, you mangy dog or I’ll have you spayed.”

      “Call me a dog again and be assured you’ll soon be chopped into bits of gravel and paving my driveway,” Salvatore growled, his head throbbing in time to his heartbeat.

      What the hell had happened?

      The last thing he remembered, he’d been in a remote cabin north of St. Louis to meet with Duncan, a cur who’d promised information regarding his traitor of a pack leader, and the next he was waking up with Levet buzzing over him like an oversized, extremely ugly butterfly.

      God Almighty. When Salvatore got out of the tunnel, he was going to track down Jagr and cut out his heart for sticking him with the annoying Levet. Damned vampire.

      “You will not be doing anything unless you get up and move,” the gargoyle warned. “Shake your tail, King of Slugs.”

      Ignoring the grinding pain in his joints, Salvatore rose to his feet and smoothed back his shoulder-length raven hair. He didn’t bother knocking the dirt from his silk suit. It was going in the nearest fire.

      Along with gargoyle.

      “Where are we?”

      “In some nasty tunnel.”

      “A brilliant deduction. What would I do without you?”

      “Look, Cujo, all I know is that one minute we were in a cabin with an extremely dead Duncan, and the next I was being dropped on my head by a gorgeous but très ill-mannered woman.” Bizarrely, the gargoyle rubbed his butt rather than his head. Of course, his skull was far too thick to harm. “That female is fortunate that I did not turn her into a beaver.”

      “It had to have been a spell. Was the woman a witch?”

      “Non. A demon, but…”

      “What?”

      “She is a mongrel.”

      Salvatore shrugged. It was common among the demon world to interbreed.

      “Not unusual.”

      “Her power is.”

      Salvatore frowned. He might want to choke the gargoyle, but the tiny demon possessed the ability to sense magic that Salvatore couldn’t.

      “What power?”

      “Jinn.”

      A chill inched down Salvatore’s spine and he cast a swift glance up and down the tunnel. In the distance he could sense the approach of his curs and a vampire. The cavalry rushing to the rescue. His attention, however, was focused on searching for any hint of the jinn.

      A pure-blooded jinn was a cruel, unpredictable creature who could manipulate nature. They could call lightning, turn wind into a lethal force, and lay flat an entire city with an earthquake. They could also disappear into a wisp of smoke. Thankfully, they rarely took an interest in the world and preferred to remain isolated.

      Half-breeds…

      He shuddered. They might not possess the power of a full-fledged jinn, but their inability to control their volatile energy made them even more dangerous.

      “Jinn have been forbidden to breed with other demons.”

      Levet snorted. “There are many things forbidden in this world.”

      “The Commission must be told,” Salvatore muttered, referring to the cryptic Oracles who