Free Unleashed by Kate Douglas

dark desires. That is her way with men. Namaka needs complete control. She likes to give pain, but she wants her victims to enjoy it. Even when they don’t. It was not something he had the strength to control, though the darkness is a part of him, as it always will be. Az shrugged his big shoulders. We cannot fight our nature. Addie wrapped her arms around the huge beast and hugged him. “Oh, Az. Thank you. You get a steak for dinner tonight, big guy.”
    Az ran his tongue from her chin to the top of her head. She was still laughing and sputtering and wiping away slobber when he found his spot at the end of the room and curled up on the floor.
     
    * * *
     
    Locan listened in as the beast explained to Addie what had happened in Namaka’s cave, and suddenly it all made such terrible sense. The darkness was in him, but it was something he’d managed to control, at least until now. Namaka’s power took away that control. But how come he’d not known he had this side to him? How did a man bury a drive so powerful, so dark, even from himself? His nature had been fighting not only his arousal, but his need for pain, a need he’d never recognized.
    He shivered, remembering the horrible things she’d done to him, the way his body had welcomed pain even as his conscious mind shuddered in disgust.
    Namaka’s cruelty was not meant to give pleasure to anyone but herself. He’d always known there was a link between pleasure and pain. He experienced it with Jett, the amazing burn and stretch he always felt when Jett entered him, and decided that a little pain, shared with love, wasn’t bad. Not bad at all. But he’d found a darker pleasure with Namaka, one he couldn’t deny. One he truly wanted to understand.
    The same way he wanted to understand the damned hellhound. Now there was a mystery. The beast had settled in to his corner of the room like he belonged here, but it was obvious he was hiding from something—or someone. Namaka had called him with her magic, and somehow she must have freed him from whomever held a claim on him—someone with the power to control a hellhound.
    It had to be someone from the demonrealm, where hellhounds were the traditional guardsmen of the Netherworld, standing duty at the gates of hell, but who? Az raised his head, but his eyes were sad. Locan realized the beast had been listening to his musings. Thank you, Locan said. I haven’t thanked you yet for saving me. If you want to stay with us, we’ll do whatever we can to keep you here. You have my promise.
    That’s more than I had hoped. Thank you. Az sighed and rested his chin on his big paws.
    Locan stretched out in the big bed. Addie threw her leg over his thighs and rested her head on his chest. Jett slept soundly beside them, but he held Locan’s left hand against his face. Connected on both sides by the ones he loved, guarded by a hellhound with a surprisingly tender heart of gold, Locan drifted between wakefulness and sleep.
    Somehow, they’d figure out a way to keep Az safe.
    Addie’d know what to do. She always made things right, didn’t she? That’s what fulcrums were all about. Keeping things in balance.
    His world had tipped way too far in all the wrong directions. He’d find the answers to that dark side of his soul, but not now. Now all was as it should be. Sleep finally claimed him with the sense that, tonight, at least, all was right with their world.

CrystalFire excerpt
     
    Turn the page for a free preview
    of the first chapter of
    CrystalFire ,
    Book 4 in the DemonSlayers series,
    available now from Kensington . . .
     
     

     

Chapter 1
     
    The steady slap, slap, slap of Taron’s sandals echoed off the rough stone walls. He checked his sword, made sure his tunic and pants were properly fastened, and wondered if he’d ever get used to this absurd style of clothing.
    After a lifetime in scholarly robes, it was difficult to believe these new designs were more practical, though he had to admit that the pants