Mated in Darkness
A Talon Pack Novel
Carrie Ann Ryan
Contents
Mated in Darkness
Mated in Darkness
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
A Note from Carrie Ann Ryan
About the Author
Mated in Darkness
A Talon Pack Novel
By Carrie Ann Ryan
Mated in Darkness
A Talon Pack Novel
By: Carrie Ann Ryan
© 2021 Carrie Ann Ryan
eBook ISBN: 978-1-63695-215-4
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-63695-198-0
Cover Art by Sweet N Spicy Designs
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book 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.
For my readers.
Long Live The Pack!
Praise for Carrie Ann Ryan
“Count on Carrie Ann Ryan for emotional, sexy, character driven stories that capture your heart!” – Carly Phillips, NY Times bestselling author
“Carrie Ann Ryan’s romances are my newest addiction! The emotion in her books captures me from the very beginning. The hope and healing hold me close until the end. These love stories will simply sweep you away.” ~ NYT Bestselling Author Deveny Perry
"Carrie Ann Ryan writes the perfect balance of sweet and heat ensuring every story feeds the soul." - Audrey Carlan, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
“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
“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
"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
Mated in Darkness
As Tracker for the Redwood Pack, Kaylee Jamenson knows her duty. She’s seen war and heartache, but now the battle hits closer to home when a Packmate goes missing. With rogues on the rise, the Alphas of the Redwood and Talon Packs send her to find their lost wolf before all is lost.
Yet nothing is as it seems and as the hunt grows dangerous, so does the threat to her heart when fate throws a curveball in her path.
Her mate.
Chapter 1
Kaylee
The wolf in front of me snarled and I glared at the stranger with red fur before I slid to the side, their claws raking down my skin. I cursed under my breath, rolled in the dirt, and shook off the pain.
Another wolf came at me, its dark fur sleek under the fading light, and pushed me to the ground before he jumped at the wolf who had clawed me.
I sighed, rolled my eyes, and got back up. “Conner, stop it.”
My twin didn’t pay me any attention, but I didn’t think he would.
This was why Conner and I were rarely on patrol together. The twin bond was a thing, and a growly over-protective twin brother who thought because he was a fraction more dominant than his baby sister that she needed protecting meant that the two of us should not be fighting together.
However, we were just out for a stroll, the two of us taking time between our shifts because we enjoyed each other’s presence.
It wasn’t our fault that the rogue had come at us—a rogue that we hadn’t even realized was out in the woods outside the Redwood Pack den.
My brother needed to remember that I was a dominant wolf, and I knew what I was doing. I was an enforcer for my cousin, Gina. She expected me to be able to fight, and I did. Conner was also an enforcer, and that meant he thought he needed to protect me at all times. No matter that I was bleeding, in quite a bit of pain, and my wolf kept batting at me.
Conner had shifted quickly, the ability coming to him faster than most of our generation. I didn’t have that kind of time, and so I had stayed in my human form.
Most wolves took at least a few minutes, if not longer, to shift into our wolf forms, but Conner could do it almost instantly if he needed to.
He’d be shit later, and he’d sleep hard and eat his weight in carbs and protein, but he could shift in a blink of an eye.
He’d seen the rogue come at us and shifted after stripping down quickly. He’d become his wolf at the exact moment I let my claws out to fight the wolf who’d lost his humanity and wanted to end our lives.
The Redwoods had been through more than one war to protect our people, as well as every single human, witch, and shifter on Earth.
I had been part of two of those wars, one against the humans when they had realized those things that went bump in the night were real.
The other against the Aspens when their former Alpha had tried to take down the Talons. The Talons were our allies, so much so we were practically one Pack at this point.