Light Me Up Read online

  All night long...

  Tycoon and secret supersoldier Noah Gallagher never expected to beat the Obsidian Group at their evil game—genetically altering runaway kids—but he did, with the help of the brave and beautiful Caro Bishop, the love of his life. The two of them survived that wild adventure, but only just. Noah is crazy for his new bride, knowing all the while that being with him puts her at constant risk. Their love, their closeness, and the intense passion they share are shadowed by fear. Obsidian’s relentless hunt to recapture its rebels will never stop. Noah would die to save her—but now is not the time to tell her that.

  Caro’s relaxing on their deluxe honeymoon in Italy, rediscovering treasures of Renaissance art, when they’re invited to the public unveiling of the latest secret sensation in the art world, the newly excavated Cross of Orazio. Caro is beyond thrilled. Noah is not. The guest list is packed with politicians, corporate moguls, celebrities, and entourages. Social media coverage will follow them everywhere.

  Caro’s wild to go and Noah can’t deny her pleasure of any kind. They’ll stay off the red carpet. Admire the cross and leave for an erotic rendezvous he’s planned in advance, right down to the rose petals and silken cords. What could go wrong?

  Everything. The fabled Cross of Orazio is more than it seems, and now he and Caro are right in the line of fire...

  Visit me at my website, http://shannonmckenna.com, for news and updates, but the best way to stay in touch is to subscribe to my newsletter! Here’s the link,

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  Also by Shannon McKenna

  The Obsidian Files Series

  Right Through Me

  My Next Breath

  In My Skin

  Light Me Up

  The McClouds & Friends Series

  Behind Closed Doors

  Standing In The Shadows

  Out Of Control

  Edge Of Midnight

  Extreme Danger

  Ultimate Weapon

  Fade To Midnight

  Blood And Fire

  One Wrong Move

  Fatal Strike

  In For The Kill

  Stand-alone Titles

  Return To Me

  Hot Night

  Tasting Fear

  Anthologies

  All Through The Night

  (with Suzanne Forster, Thea Devine and Lori Foster)

  I Brake For Bad Boys

  (with Lori Foster and Janelle Denison)

  Bad Boys Next Exit

  (with Donna Kaufman and E.C. Sheedy)

  Baddest Bad Boys

  (with E.C. Sheedy and Cate Noble)

  All About Men

  (a single author anthology)

  Light Me Up

  An Obsidian Files Novella

  Shannon McKenna

  Praise for the novels of Shannon McKenna

  “Blends an intensely terrifying psychic thriller with a

  mind-blowing erotic romance.”

  —Library Journal, on Fade To Midnight

  “Blasts readers with a highly charged, action-adventure

  romance...extra steamy.”

  —Booklist

  “Pulse-pounding...with searing sex and raw emotions.”

  —Romantic Times, 4 ½ stars

  “Shannon McKenna makes the pulse pound.”

  —Bookpage

  “Shannon McKenna introduces us to fleshed-out characters in a tailspin plot that culminates in an explosive ending.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “An erotic romance in a suspense vehicle on overdrive...sizzles!”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “McKenna expertly stokes the fires of romantic tension.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “McKenna strikes gold again.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Her books will take readers on a nonstop thrill ride and leave them begging for more when the last pages are devoured.”

  –Maya Banks, New York Times bestselling author

  “Full of turbocharged sex scenes, this action-packed novel is sure to be a crowd pleaser.”

  —Publishers Weekly on Edge Of Midnight

  “Highly creative...erotic sex and constant danger.”

  —Romantic Times on Hot Night (4 ½-star review and a Top Pick)

  “Aims for the heart with scorching precision.”

  —Publishers Weekly on Ultimate Weapon

  Copyright

  Copyright © December 2018 Shannon McKenna

  http://shannonmckenna.com

  Cover Design by Wax Creative

  Edited by Hilary Sares

  Interior Design by Renee Rocco

  Digital ISBN: 978-0-9977941-6-8

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Contents

  Also by Shannon McKenna

  Light Me Up

  Praise for the novels of Shannon McKenna

  Copyright

  Contents

  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

  Right Through Me

  Chapter 1

  My Next Breath

  Chapter 1

  In My Skin

  Chapter 1

  Want More?

  Meet Shannon McKenna

  Infinite evil…

  They were the ultimate secret weapon of the Obsidian Group, a shadowy cabal of super-rich investors determined to create a race of lethal supersoldiers. No one noticed when runaway teenagers disappeared from the streets and alleys. No one heard their screams as they endured terrifying experiments. Not all of them survived.

  For those who did, Obsidian’s brain enhancements and body modifications proved spectacularly successful—but the captured teens rebelled, burning the Midlands Research Facility to the ground and vanishing.

  Now, years later, they live deep under cover. They keep their incredible abilities secret, trusting only each other—knowing that their tormenters will never give up the chase.

  The Obsidian Files are their stories…

  Noah Gallagher and Caro Bishop (Right Through Me) barely survived their recent adventures, but they emerged intact…and wildly in love.

  Now they’re going to celebrate that survival. A sensual romantic honeymoon in Italy is just the thing…and an invitation to a VIP party to unveil the Cross of Orazio, a priceless medieval artifact, couldn’t be more perfect.

  Except that it’s not. Nothing is ever simple for these two, because the stunning gold-and-jewel encrusted Cross is not what it seems—and
soon, Noah and Caro are facing down deadly danger once again…

  Chapter 1

  The wine was great, but it didn’t take the edge off Noah Gallagher’s razor-wire tension. Caro, his bride, was giving him that worried look from across the restaurant table.

  Damn. There was no off-switch for the battle program raging in his head.

  He wanted everything to be perfect for Caro. Including himself. Good goddamn luck with that. After the shitshow they’d barely survived a couple months ago, he was wound up even tighter than he’d been pre-Caro, which was really saying something.

  Now it was all about her. Protecting her, defending her, pleasing her. His rebel band of mutant misfits back home were laughing at him, but he was too in love to care. He was the owner and CEO of Angel Industries, and the hundred-million-dollar biomed company he’d founded didn’t require his constant presence onsite. Besides, he’d organized his life so that he ran the show. Everywhere. Always.

  But not with Caro. With her, all bets were off. She was fascinating, mysterious, brilliant. Bad-ass in every way. He was humbled by her. Dazzled. His Obsidian-modified eyesight saw and analyzed people’s energy auras, and Caro’s shifting clouds of color mesmerized him. Next he’d be taming a goddamn unicorn for her to ride.

  Shit. He couldn’t afford to be giddy. Couldn’t stop it either.

  He couldn’t dial down the hyper-vigilance, although everything here seemed OK…so far. The bistro Caro had chosen was hidden away in the medieval Trastevere district of Rome. Quaint, picturesque. He sat with his back to a stone wall painted an earthy terra-cotta color, blooming honeysuckle draping down so low the flowers practically tickled his shoulders.

  Their corner table by the burbling fountain kept other diners at a safe distance. Caro had been charmed by the bronze nymph pouring water over the mosaic bowl. Copper lanterns flickered on the high garden walls, casting complicated decorative shadows. Candles glowed on the table. Very romantic. Good thing no one was hiding in the shadows. He was sure of it. He’d checked. More than once.

  They’d fueled up on amazing spaghetti carbonara, then a plate of delicious local cheeses and fresh fruit. The waiter had just delivered Caro’s slice of ricotta cheesecake flavored faintly with orange. All excellent. There was nothing not to like.

  He should be relaxed, mellow. Licking his chops at what the night might bring. Feeling smug for actually getting Caro to marry him, even after all the crazy shit that happened to them. Even after she learned the startling truth about him.

  It still blew his mind that she’d said yes. It probably always would.

  But he knew better than to take good things for granted. He was going to show Caro an amazing time in Europe. He meant to indulge her slightest whim. Only the best for his lady. Every hotel, every meal, every shopping binge, every experience had to be fucking epic.

  He had no time to get data-slammed by programming permanently installed in his head. Bullet trajectories, facial-recog checks, threat assessments, a constant stream of kill plans—they buzzed in there like angry wasps. None of it had anything to do with her. It wasn’t remotely fucking fair that she had to deal with it. On any level.

  He tried to hide it, but he couldn’t. Not from Caro. It stressed her out, too, though she was playing it cool right now.

  But he wasn’t. Which drove home just how damaged he was by the creepy techno-shit done to him years ago in the Midlands labs. Genetic mods, cybernetic implants, brain stimulation. In his own particular case, aggressive ocular enhancement.

  Augmented visual processing, otherwise known as AVP.

  The better to see you with, my dear. Now that he had Caro to look at, his turbocharged AVP was finally good for something he gave a shit about.

  Caro looked smoking hot in the dark blue dress he’d bought for her in Paris. Stretchy, silky fabric lovingly crisscrossed over her beautiful tits. His latest gift, a large diamond pendant, sparkled at the hollow at her throat. The diamond and sapphire engagement ring he’d given her glittered on one hand, her wedding band glowed softly on the other. He loved the way they looked on her slender fingers.

  Her big, gorgeous gray-green eyes gleamed as she studied him. Her lips were full and red, curved by a cautious hint of a smile as she brushed back a lock of long, curly dark hair lifted by the breeze.

  He wanted to reach across the table and stroke her face, just to remind his fingertips of the creamy fine, hot smoothness of her skin. To assure himself that she was real. This whole thing was real.

  If he managed not to torpedo it with his bizarre modifications, that is.

  He pushed the thought away and focused on the dress, remembering how the soft fabric yielded to his hands and mouth when he caressed the silken warmth of her breasts. The dress was holding up well so far. So it should, considering what he’d paid for it.

  The waiter stopped at his elbow, startling Noah out of his erotic reverie and zinging him into full battle readiness—

  No. Breathe. He forced himself to nod courteously to the waiter, who calmly refilled Noah’s wine glass. For a split second, the guy’s appreciative gaze dropped to Caro’s cleavage. Then he moved on to another table.

  Noah’s phone hummed in his pocket. Caro’s eyes flicked toward it. “Hannah again?”

  So she knew his ringtones. He didn’t want to answer. His relationship with his little sister Hannah was…well…complicated was one way to put it.

  “I’ll see what she wants later,” he said.

  “It’s the fifth time,” she observed. “Maybe you should answer.”

  “I already know why she’s calling,” Noah said. “I read all the texts. She’s guilt-tripping me about not rushing to Asa’s bedside. And for not racing home to see Luke now that he’s finally been found.”

  Caro’s graceful dark brows rose. “Family’s important,” she said. “No one knows that better than you.”

  Noah grunted. “Luke’s not going anywhere. I talked to him. He’s doing great. He’s madly in love with that woman he met, Dani LaSalle. And he’s feeling no pain. I talked to Asa, too, several times. He’ll be released from the hospital soon. There’s no rush. For any of them.”

  “Maybe not.” Caro took a bite of her dessert and considered his words as she savored it. “But I get why Hannah was scared for him. Bullet to the abdomen, nicked liver, massive internal bleeding. It was touch and go for a while.”

  “He’ll be fine,” Noah repeated, more forcefully. Thinking about Asa at death’s door was the last thing he wanted to do on his honeymoon. His brother was a goddamn idiot, mixing himself up in Obsidian business. Asa wasn’t Midlands-modified, hadn’t been hardwired, didn’t have advanced sensory processing to protect him.

  What the fuck had Asa been thinking, going off with the team on a rescue mission?

  In fact, Noah was pissed at the entire crowd. They’d gotten into all kinds of near-lethal trouble since he’d left, as if to punish him for taking time away. First Zade and Simone almost got themselves killed, and he and Caro had ended up rushing back home for that whole drama. Then, on their second honeymoon attempt, Luke finally emerged from his nerve-rattling year of being MIA. Just in time for a huge firefight involving one and all, in which Asa had ended up gut-shot, dangling from a goddamn helicopter.

  The fuck? Couldn’t they all just keep their heads down and behave? Just for a few weeks? Was that so much to ask?

  “I’ll talk to them all later,” he said again. “They just keep pressuring me to make a decision about Brenner.”

  A shadow flashed over Caro’s face at the mention of Brenner, the Obsidian slave soldier cruelly exploited by their nemesis, Mark Olund. They’d won their battle with Mark a few weeks ago—only barely. Noah, Caro, and the rest of his team survived. The same couldn’t be said for Mark’s kidnapped Obsidian slave soldiers.

  Four had died. The fifth, Brenner, ended up comatose, cared for at Asa’s se
cret mountain fortress until some weeks ago. Until he woke up…and joined their team.

  “You can’t put Hannah off forever.” Caro’s voice was neutral, but he sensed her disapproval. If he hadn’t been wearing full-protection shield contact lenses, he’d be able to see it in the shifting arrays of colors and patterns that pulsed around her body. Her energy signatures. Sigs, he called them.

  Caro’s sig was special. Unique. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He didn’t appreciate having a grim scroll of combat data racing across his field of vision while he was admiring it.

  She forked up a bite of the dessert and held it out, a seductive challenge in her eyes.

  “Try this,” she commanded him. “It’s amazing.”

  He ate it, but was too busy monitoring the positions of everyone in the room to actually taste it. Diners, waiters, busboys, cashier. He’d run background checks on everyone already. Had to, for anyone in the same room as his wife for any period of time.

  Yeah, it was paranoid overkill. He knew it, owned it. It changed nothing.

  “Noah,” Caro said. “You’re doing it again.”

  He went on the defensive. “Doing what?”

  “I feel your AVP going full bore. All the time.”

  “And?” He tried not to sound belligerent, with limited success. “So? What if it is?”

  “Nothing.” She took another bite, closing her eyes with sensual bliss. “You can take a rest,” she told him. “Nobody’s gunning for us here. Relax. At least try.”

  “I do try,” he said stiffly. “And I do relax. In the suite.”

  Their hotel prepared excellent food and Caro was a good sport about ordering room service, knowing how badly he needed the down time. But that didn’t change the fact that she loved wandering around Rome, trying the little out-of-the-way places recommended by offbeat blogs and travel guides.

  He had to bite a whole lot of bullets, but he hung in there.

  “Right,” she said wryly. “With the blinds down. While you peer through the cracks. You’re on red alert all the time.”

  He hated being the one who’d put that worried look on her face. “Caro, look. I’m stimmed up to be hyper-vigilant. I’d turn it off if I could.”