Prowled Darkness (Dante's Circle Book 7)

Table of Contents

Author Highlights

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Prowled Darkness

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Epilogue

A Note from Carrie Ann

About Carrie Ann and her Books

Excerpt: Wicked Wolf

Tattered Loyalties

Delicate Ink

Dust of My Wings

Prowled Darkness

A Dante’s Circle Novel

By

Carrie Ann Ryan

Prowled Darkness

A Dante’s Circle Novel

By: Carrie Ann Ryan

© 2016 Carrie Ann Ryan

ISBN: 978-1-943123-41-4

Cover Art by Charity Hendry

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.

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Praise for Carrie Ann Ryan….

“Carrie Ann Ryan knows how to pull your heartstrings and make your pulse pound! Her wonderful Redwood Pack series will draw you in and keep you reading long into the night. I can’t wait to see what comes next with the new generation, the Talons. Keep them coming, Carrie Ann!” –Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling author of CRAVE THE NIGHT

“Carrie Ann Ryan never fails to draw readers in with passion, raw sensuality, and characters that pop off the page.  Any book by Carrie Ann is an absolute treat.” – New York Times Bestselling Author J. Kenner

"With snarky humor, sizzling love scenes, and brilliant, imaginative worldbuilding, The Dante's Circle series reads as if Carrie Ann Ryan peeked at my personal wish list!" – NYT Bestselling Author, Larissa Ione

"Carrie Ann Ryan writes sexy shifters in a world full of passionate happily-ever-afters." –
New York Times
Bestselling Author Vivian Arend

“Carrie Ann’s books are sexy with characters you can’t help but love from page one. They are heat and heart blended to perfection.”
New York Times
Bestselling Author Jayne Rylon

Carrie Ann Ryan's books are wickedly funny and deliciously hot, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. They'll keep you up all night!” USA Today Bestselling Author Cari Quinn

"Once again, Carrie Ann Ryan knocks the Dante's Circle series out of the park. The queen of hot, sexy, enthralling paranormal romance, Carrie Ann is an author not to miss!" 
New York Times
bestselling Author Marie Harte

Praise for the Redwood Pack Series…

“You will not be disappointed in the Redwood Pack.”
Books-n-Kisses

“I was so completely immersed in this story that I felt what the characters felt. BLOWN AWAY.”
Delphina’s Book Reviews
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“I love all the wolves in the Redwood Pack and eagerly anticipate all the brothers’ stories.”
The Book Vixen

“Shifter romances are a dime a dozen, but good ones aren’t as plentiful as one would think. This is one of the goods one.”
Book Binge

 “With the hints of things to come for the Redwoods, I can’t wait to read the next book!”
Scorching Book Reviews

“Ryan outdid herself on this book.”
The Romance Reviews

Praise for the Dante’s Circle Series…

“This author better write the next books quickly or I will Occupy Her Lawn until she releases more! Pure romance enjoyment here. Now go put this on your TBR pile—shoo!”
The Book Vixen

“I, for one, will definitely be following the series to see what happens to the seven.”
Cocktails & Books

“The world of Dante’s Circle series is enthralling and with each book gets deeper and deeper as does Carrie Ann’s writing.” Literal Addiction

Praise for the Montgomery Ink Series…

“Shea and Shep are so cute together and really offset each other in a brilliant way. “
Literal Addiction

“This was a very quick and spicy read. I really enjoyed reading about Sassy, Rafe & Ian. I really hope there will be more of these three in the future.”
Books n Kisses

Praise for the Holiday, Montana Series…

“Charmed Spirits was a solid first book in this new series and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.”
RR@H Novel Thoughts & Book Thoughts

“If you’re looking for a light book full of magic, love and hot little scenes on various objects, then this book is for you! You’ll soon find that tables are no longer for eating meals of the food variety … Bon appétit!”
Under the Covers

“The book was well written and had the perfect setting the steamy bits where really really hot and the story one of sweet romance. Well done Carrie”
Bitten by Love Reviews

To my Readers.

Thank you loving this series even more than I thought possible.

I can’t believe its over. I started the Dante’s Circle series years ago thinking it would be fun to write as many as paranormal creatures as possible. And yet each time I started a new book, I got to find so many new worlds, I knew I’d fall in love over and over again.

Thank you Kennedy Layne, Stephanie, Charity, Chelle, and Dr Hubby for helping me with Prowled Darkness. You guys pushed me to finish this one the way it should have been!

Thank you for following me through this journey and I hope you love this story as much as I do.

Happy Reading!

~Carrie Ann

Humans aren’t as alone as they choose to believe. Every human possesses a trait of supernatural that lays dormant within their genetic make-up. Centuries of diluting and breeding have allowed humans to think they are alone and untouched by magic. But what happens when something changes?

Eliana Sawyer’s life was rocked from its foundation twice in as many years. She risked her heart and had it shattered into a thousand pieces when Malik left her with no warning. While she’d normally raise her chin and ignore the pain, she can’t forget what he gave her before he disappeared from her life.

Malik Ward is a prince amongst the lion shifters and knows that one day he will have to take a mate. Only, his people can never mate with humans. Under the mistaken impression that Eliana was only human, he forced himself to leave before they’d crossed a line and he broke his vow to his people. Now that he knows the truth about Eliana, however, it will take more than groveling to win back the one woman fated to be his.

While Eliana and Malik embark on a new sensuous path that might lead to disaster, the realms aren’t ready to allow the final lightning-struck human to be enveloped into their fold. The couple will have to combat those plotting against them, as well as the broken promises and heated emotions they share.

Warning: Contains a Leo with a bite that’s worse than his roar, a woman with one last chance at the life she’s always dreamt of, a flame that could extinguish with the wrong sacrifice, and the final journey in the bestselling Dante’s Circle series.

Time changed in an instant. One minute, you’re drinking a beer with your friends, talking about the increasingly scary storm outside; the next, you’re flying through the air with your body slamming into the nearest wall when lightning strikes. Or rather, when lightning strikes
inside
the room and hits you and six of your friends dead center.

Eliana Sawyer’s life changed the moment she felt the energy of the gods ricochet through her body. The world as she knew it became grey, and the things that went bump in the night became all too real. The paranormal world wasn’t that of fiction anymore; now, she lived it. The way she saw the world, the way she saw life and fate changed. She couldn’t plan a future the same way she had. She couldn’t fall in love the way she’d thought to in the past.

After the lightning strike, six of her friends had found out the hard way what happened when they fell in love with someone paranormal—they became paranormal themselves.

Now, years later, here Eliana was—alone, all too human, and on the outside looking in.

Of course, she wasn’t that alone anymore. She never would be again. While her friends had fallen for angels, demons, dragons, and wolves, she’d fallen for a mere human. A human that had taken her heart and shattered it into a thousand pieces, all the while leaving her with nothing but an echo of what he had once been, what they had once been together.

That wasn’t the only thing he’d left her with.

He’d also left the life currently growing in her womb.

Eliana pressed her hands over her belly and tried to not think about everything that had happened in the past, and instead, worry about the future. Of course, the only thing she’d been doing for the past eight or so months had been worrying, but she couldn’t seem to do anything else. Her emotions ran from excitement over the new baby because, damn it, she was going to be an amazing mother; to dread over the fact that she’d be doing this alone. The stops between the two emotions weren’t picnics either.

Malik had left her high and dry with no way to contact him—going so far as to change numbers so his friend—and Eliana’s friend’s mate—Tristan couldn’t even get ahold of him. Tristan had tried to reach out as soon as he’d heard about the pregnancy, but Malik was nowhere to be found. She didn’t want to think about the fact that he’d so clearly cut all ties with the part of his past that was about her, but it was hard not to when the evidence of their relationship was currently doing a little dance on her bladder.

The little squirt tended to do that at all hours of the night. And the day for that matter. She’d heard stories from her friends about how some of them had sleeping little babies during their pregnancy. How those babies had been content to hang around and only perk up with a dose of caffeine. Yet her squirt was apparently a future soccer star.

Why wouldn’t her baby be? It wasn’t as if anything else in recent years had gone easily for Eliana, so why would this?

Little squirt decided to do one last kick straight to her bladder and Eliana winced. There would be no holding back the literal floodgates if she didn’t get out of her chair and waddle her way to the bathroom. Whoever said pregnancy was a gift and women glowed during it clearly hadn’t met her. Of course, maybe if she’d had a partner during it instead of freaking out all by herself, it would be different.

And that was enough of that. No more pity party. So what if Malik didn’t want her and didn’t know he was about to be a father. Or rather, a sperm donor since he’d actually have to
be
there to be a father. She’d do this on her own like she did everything else, and she’d live her life while trying not to ruin her baby’s.

Easy.

She gripped the arms of her chair and tried to lever herself up. Only, when she made a grunting sound, nine men of varying sizes and species came at her, arms outstretched.

So maybe she wasn’t so alone.

Since all six of her friends had found their mates and three of them had happened to find
two
mates, they didn’t lack for men in their group. Only single men.

Eliana tried to wave them off but ended up wincing as little squirt did a summersault.