Free Dark Alpha's Embrace by Donna Grant

probably live longer than Aunt Maureen.
    Jordyn cleared her throat. “Do you have any kids?”
    “No. And before you ask, I don’t plan to. This ends with me.” River looked from Jordyn to Baylon. “No one else will have to suffer.”
    “You can’t be the only one who wanted this,” Baylon said.
    River looked away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kyran and Fintan appear. “My aunt and her two sisters vowed to end it.”
    “But your line continued.” Jordyn frowned. “How?”
    River picked up the apple and turned it in her hand. “Maureen’s youngest sister, Mary, was gang-raped. They took her one night and kept her for a week. By the time Maureen and the family found her, Mary had lost her mind. She had to be committed.”
    “Damn,” Fintan murmured.
    “After my mother was born, Mary somehow got ahold of a razor and slit her wrists. She died before the Dark could kill her.”
    Kyran ran a hand down his face.
    River knew exactly how he felt. It was her family, and yet there were times she could barely take it all in. “My mother was raised by my great-grandmother and Michelle, the middle sister.”
    “Not Maureen?” Jordyn asked.
    River smiled as she thought of her great-aunt. “She was the one to initially take my mother to raise. I don’t know how it was decided or why, but Maureen left the family here in Scotland and moved to Ireland.”
    “Smack in the middle of the Fae,” Baylon said.
    Jordyn made a face. “Not something I’d have done.”
    “But a perfect place to hide. They didn’t look for her there. Between that and hiding her beauty, Maureen was able to watch my mother grow and learn her heritage from her family.”
    Kyran caught her gaze. “When were Michelle and your great-grandmother killed?”
    “The day after my mother’s thirteenth birthday.” River didn’t know what the significance of thirteen was other than puberty. They were too young to survive on their own.
    “Did your mother know the family history?” Jordyn asked.
    River nodded. “Of course.”
    “But she had a child,” Fintan said. “Why would she continue the line?”
    She wistfully thought of her parents. So carefree, so naïve. “My father convinced Mum that if they didn’t speak of it to me, then the Fae would leave us alone. If I wasn’t taught, then how could it be passed on?”
    “But you went to Maureen’s,” Baylon argued.
    “Yes.” River set aside the apple, no longer able to think about eating. “That was Mum’s doing. In her heart, she knew I had to learn. If she couldn’t teach me, then she would make sure Maureen could. She kept it from Dad. He thought Maureen was from my grandfather’s side.”
    Fintan’s white eyes focused on her. “Whatever woman decided not to have children must have been persuaded—or forced—in some way. The same could happen to you.”
    “Why do you think I’ve taken such precautions to stay hidden?” River asked. She stood, the book in hand. “You laughed at my clothes before, but believe it or not, they helped.”
    She watched as Fintan’s gaze slowly ran down her body from the sweater that gently hugged her to the jeans that conformed becomingly against her legs. When he looked back into her eyes, she saw desire in his gaze.
    “It’s not just the clothes,” Jordyn said. “It’s the hair, the glasses, and the attitude. You were still pretty though few noticed. Dressed are you are now, everyone would be looking.”
    “Aye,” Kyran said.
    River’s gaze slid to him. She wondered what he thought of her change in clothes. If he desired her, he hid it well—unlike Fintan.
    While Fintan said and did whatever he wanted, not caring how it affected others, Kyran was like a caged beast. Waiting for the time he could escape and decimate everything around him.
    Why then was it Kyran she found herself attracted to? Why was it him she wanted to look at her as if he could devour her with one kiss? Why was it him that she yearned to have claim her?
    She