Embrace Me At Dawn by Shayla Black

in. After appearing at dawn as instructed, Bram had sent her to the ballroom and told her to wait. Pacing, she fidgeted, and each minute that ticked by chafed. She’d been waiting for weeks. Months. Revenge was a red haze in her head. The next drink she craved. The drug she needed to keep living. She had no patience for waiting.
    But like everything since the night she’d been ripped from her former life, she didn’t have a choice.
    Gnawing delicately on her lower lip, she fingered the handle of a wicked-looking knife hanging on the wall, ran her palm down the length of the bright red punching bag hanging nearby, recoiled at the sight of a very menacing gun gleaming in a rack full of weapons.
    God, was she in over her head? The room reeked of sweat and testosterone. They practiced violence here every day of their lives. She’d never killed anything, not even an insect. But she’d make an exception for Mathias. That meant starting here and learning every one of these weapons proficiently. No matter how much it terrified her, how much it wrung from her body or heart—even if it cost her very life—she would take that bastard down.
    Suddenly, she felt heat at her back. An arm wrapped around her neck and dragged her against a hard body. The man’s other arm hooked around her waist with a growl. Panic descended and she screamed, fighting and thrashing with her body. But her attacker’s height, weight, and strength was superior, his hold unyielding.
    Anka tried to teleport away, but something blocked her magic. When it didn’t work, she bent her head, bit him, dug her nails into his forearm. Shoved, pushed, screamed. Nothing. He didn’t budge or move even a fraction of an inch…except to press a growing erection into the small of her back.
    The feel of his silent demand made her freeze. A sob caught in her throat. “Don’t. No! Please.”
    Instantly, he released his grip on her and stepped back. Breaths heaving, heart pounding in a frightening rhythm, adrenaline flushed through her system as she whirled and backed away, wide-eyed.
    “ Lucan?” She pressed a hand to her chest, stunned.
    He merely nodded at her. “I see we’ll be starting at square one.”
    “ What are you talking about? What the devil are you doing here?” She frowned. “We’re not starting anything. Where’s Marrok?”
    He shrugged, his black T-shirt clinging to his lean frame and broad shoulders, outlining every ripple of his pectorals and abdomen. Her mouth went dry. He’d always looked fit and masculine when they’d been mated. Now he looked so incredibly male. Virile, formidable. Like the warrior he’d become.
    “ With Caden, presumably whipping Duke’s arse back into shape. A few days away with the humans to try to contain the Morganna situation and…” He shook his head with faint regret. “No one here gets a break for any reason. That should probably be your first lesson.”
    She wrapped her arms around herself, thoughts flying. It wasn’t as if she’d asked for a break; she’d begged to be here. But Anka refused to start an argument with Lucan, even if he seemed to want it. “Lesson? I’m waiting for Marrok or Bram, so we can start my training. I certainly wasn’t expecting you to sneak up on me and attack. Don’t do that again!”
    A grim smile lifted his mouth—one she’d seen curl up in joy, turn down in sadness, open to her with passion before he seized her lips in a tender kiss. This caustic expression was one she’d rarely found him wearing. “You’ll be waiting forever on them. I’m it, love. I’m your trainer. Over the next weeks and months, I’ll come at you at any way I damn well wish to make you learn, and you don’t get to tell me no.” He raised a sharp brow. “Still want to be here?”
    Anger pricked her, followed by horror. What the devil was going on? Anka shoved her confusion aside and focused instead on quelling the hurt that Lucan didn’t seem excited about being here with her. “ You’re