Seducing the Sun Fae: A Fada Novel Read online

  SEDUCING THE SUN FAE

  A FADA NOVEL

  REBECCA RIVARD

  PRAISE FOR REBECCA RIVARD

  “Bewitching! Great paranormal romance filled with sorcery and magic and erotic scenes that kept me reading!” ~Vine Voice

  “Primally exciting, sexy and downright fun…an absolute winner!” ~InD'Tale Magazine

  “A powerfully written paranormal romance with an alpha male who takes no prisoners…” ~Goodreads review

  “This is the first of her books for me and I am hooked.” ~Goodreads review

  “There is sex and suspense and everything you could hope for in a shifter book. I can't wait for more.” ~Paranormal Romance Guild

  CONTENTS

  The Fada Shapeshifter Series

  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

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Epilogue

  Also by Rebecca Rivard

  About Rebecca Rivard

  This book is dedicated to my family, from my parents to my husband to my children to my siblings, who have supported and encouraged my writing in ways too numerous to count. I love you all.

  THE FADA SHAPESHIFTER SERIES

  *BEST SHIFTER SERIES OF 2018 ~ PARANORMAL ROMANCE GUILD REVIEWER’S CHOICE AWARDS*

  The fada.

  Shapeshifters created during Dionysus’s infamous bacchanals from a mix of fae, human and animal genes.

  They’re ruthless, untamed—and when they love, it’s forever.

  Stealing Ula: A Fada Shapeshifter Prequel (Nisio & Ula, set in Ireland)

  The Rock Run River Fada

  Seducing the Sun Fae (Dion & Cleia)

  Claiming Valeria (Rui & Valeria)

  Tempting the Dryad (Tiago & Alesia)

  Shifter’s Valentine (Jenny & Chico)

  Sea Dragon’s Hunger (Cassidy & Nic)

  The Baltimore Earth Fada (The Darktime Trilogy)

  Saving Jace (Jace & Evie)

  Charming Marjani (Marjani & Fane)

  Adric’s Heart (Adric & Rosana)

  Fada Shapeshifter Short Reads

  Lir’s Lady (Lir & Isleen, set in Ireland)

  Find out more and read exclusive excerpts: https://rebeccarivard.com/shapeshifters/

  To stay informed and be eligible for giveaways and sneak peeks of upcoming novels, go to rebeccarivard.com or sign up for my newsletter (rebeccarivard.com/newsletter).

  1

  Dion’s breath hitched.

  Damn, the sun fae queen was hot. And not just because she, like all her people, carried a touch of the sun’s radiance within her.

  No, she was tall and lithe with nicely curved hips and breasts that would fill his hands perfectly—and he was a large man. Her dress was a barely-there scrap of gauze the color of ripe apricots, and her face was mesmerizing—exotically tilted eyes and a full mouth that begged a man to taste…suck…bite.

  She approached his hiding place in the stream, flanked by three other sun fae—a regal copper-haired lady and two blond bodyguards.

  The sun slanted through the trees, making her bright hair gleam like a river at noon. The short skirt fluttered around smooth golden thighs.

  Dion’s entire body heated despite the cool water.

  He scowled. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen the queen, but he’d been careful not to get too close, knowing she used her looks as a weapon. He hadn’t expected this immediate, gut-level response. The woman was pure, undiluted sex.

  “What a beautiful day,” she said to the other fae lady, and lifted her hair to cool herself. The movement raised her breasts, pressing the nipples against the apricot gauze.

  He drew a ragged breath and she glanced in his direction. He ducked beneath the surface. He was a river fada, a shapeshifter with a Gift for blending into water and wetlands. The four fae would see nothing but a ripple in the stream.

  But Cleia was powerful. If she tried, she could probably penetrate the illusion. He was counting on the fact that she felt safe here on the lush, flower-filled grounds of her own compound.

  He waited, heart slamming, until with a shrug, she turned back to her companion.

  He slipped between the cattails and lifted his head to watch her pass. Her scent filled his nostrils, sweet and tart, like a fresh-plucked orange.

  She was close…so close. He could’ve reached out and dragged her into the stream.

  His gaze fixed on the vulnerable curve where her hair had fallen forward over one shoulder, exposing her nape and the delicate pointed ear of a pureblood fae.

  His fingers flexed on the stream bed.

  It would be so easy to take her. He was a master of the quick, silent death. But her bodyguards were just steps away. If he were caught, his clan would be embroiled in a war, and weakened as they were, they just might lose.

  Besides, killing a woman didn’t sit right—even a heartless siren like Queen Cleia.

  He had a better idea.

  The two women continued past. He angled his body upstream after them. As he flowed into the dappled shade beneath a massive willow, Cleia threw back her head and laughed at something the other woman said. A throaty chuckle that stroked down his body like a promise.

  His cock hardened—but damn if his lips didn’t lift, too.

  He clenched his jaw. She would not hook him like a foolish young fish.

  This was the glittering, party-girl queen who’d lured some of his best warriors, then cast them aside. The men returned home pale, worn out. And with each man she stole, the clan’s fishing grounds grew less fertile, the children weaker and more sickly. Even Rock Run’s vineyards produced half of what they once had.

  And it had been going on for twenty years. Twenty fucking years.

  Enough. No more would Queen Cleia take his men to feed her royal ego. She’d revealed a weakness to his youngest brother Tiago, and Dion intended to take advantage of it.

  He’d seen all he needed. But he hesitated, curiously reluctant to leave.

  When he realized he was waiting for another burst of laughter, he cursed and turned abruptly downstream. Water slapped against the bank. The guards rushed toward him.

  He called on his power. Energy rippled over his skin, cool and refreshing as a summer storm. His limbs changed to fins and a tail, his gills grew more prominent, and scales formed a shimmering armor.

  By the time the guards reached the stream, he was an enormous silver fish.

  They snarled and cursed. “Thrice-damned river fada.”

  A fae ball seared through the air in a fiery arc, just missing his head. He flexed his tail and dove deep, heading back to his river.

  Soon, whispered the water as it slid past his scales. Soon.

  The Rising Sun compound was just eight miles from Rock Run as the crow flies. The way home took Dion across the Susquehanna Flats, a shallow area at the top of the Chesapeake Bay.

  As he swam, he plotted. The sun fae were at their weakest during the dark nights of the new moon. He’d have to wait two weeks until early June.

  He turned up the Susquehanna River. From there it was a short swim to Rock Run, his home creek. A
sentry in river-dolphin form swam toward him, whistled a hello. Dion flicked a fin in greeting and continued to the Rock Run base.

  The entrance was six fathoms beneath the surface. He arrowed down through an underwater passage, surfacing in a small grotto that appeared to be a dead end. Even if human divers—or the fae—made it this far, they’d never guess this was Rock Run’s main entrance.

  He shifted back to man and slipped through a hidden door into the base’s twisting system of caverns, where he shook himself dry, pulled on a pair of shorts and headed for his quarters.

  Luis, his second-in-command, stepped out of the operations room and wished him a formal good evening. “Boa noite, meu senhor.”

  Dion nodded. “Boa noite. Something wrong?”

  Luis had been the fourth Rock Run warrior ensnared by Cleia. She’d kept him as her lover for a little more than a year. He’d returned in better shape than some of the others, but his mating had produced only one child in five years and he’d never regained his full strength.

  The warrior had always been wiry, but now he was gaunt, his cheeks bruised hollows in his face. The clan’s healers had done what they could, but Luis was growing weaker by the month.

  Somehow the queen was still draining Luis’s energy even years after his return. She had to be stopped.

  “Perhaps,” his second replied. “You know the new earth fada alpha?”

  “Adric?”

  The Baltimore Earth Fada Clan had been rocked for years by a bitter internal struggle for alpha. Apparently some young whelp—this Adric, a cougar shifter—had finally come out on top.

  Luis nodded. “Rodolfo saw Adric and a couple of his men on our land near the western border. Two cougars and a black panther. The three of them spent about an hour scouting around—checking out the vineyards, looking over the local humans.”

  “He’s sure it was Adric?”

  “Sim. He recognized his scent.”

  “Damn.” The last thing the clan needed right now was a clash with the Baltimore shifters. They’d been sniffing around Rock Run for years, waiting for a chance to grab a piece of it. “They must have heard we’re in trouble. Someone must have talked, damn it. I thought I made it clear—”

  “Someone always talks. They don’t mean to, but—” Luis shrugged. “And hell, if I was Adric, I’d pounce, too. As the new alpha, he needs something big to hold onto his followers. If he could grab a piece of our territory—or better yet, kick us out of Rock Run altogether—they’d fucking crown him king.”

  “Not going to happen. I’ll slit his throat myself if I have to.”

  “So. What do you want to do?” Luis leaned against the wall, exhaustion pinching his face. At Dion’s sharp look, he pushed himself upright again.

  Dion hesitated, wanting to order Luis to get some rest, but the other man would take it as an insult. “What have you done so far?”

  “I ordered the sentries to double their patrols in that sector.”

  “Good. Keep the double patrols for the next few days and inform the tenentes we’re on alert. Warn the locals as well.”

  The local humans were farmers and employees of the vineyards and winery, descendants of the people who’d emigrated with his parents from Portugal. The clan took their protection seriously.

  “And notify me ASAP if anything else happens. I don’t care what time it is, I want to know.”

  “Of course.” Luis headed back into the operations room.

  Dion continued to his quarters. The past few years, he and his men had been forced to hire themselves out as mercenaries and assassins to keep the women and children fed. It was a role all too easy for them to fill.

  Every fada male had a cold-eyed, ruthless animal inside of him—literally.

  Sometimes Dion felt uneasy at what hard bastards he and his warriors had turned into, but right now he welcomed that ruthless streak.

  Because if young Lord Adric proved to be a problem, Dion would have no qualms whatsoever with taking the S.O.B. out.

  But first, Cleia.

  His lips peeled in a feral grin.

  2

  TWO WEEKS LATER

  Cleia revved her sport bike and shot across the Susquehanna River bridge, pushing the solar-powered motor to its limit.

  Her bodyguards raced to keep up. She was being irresponsible, but she just didn’t give a damn. She’d woken up that morning edgy, wanting…something, she wasn’t sure what.

  She turned down a dirt road and went another mile or so before turning up a narrow path—straight into Rock Run River Fada territory. Behind her, she felt Artan and Grady’s disapproval, but to hell with it. They were her bodyguards, not her brothers.

  The shapeshifter was planted in the center of the path, big and broad and arrogant in jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt, a scarf wrapped around one bulging bicep. She had to swerve to miss him.

  For a heart-stopping moment she fought for control of the bike before screeching to a halt just beyond him. She whipped around.

  “You ass—" She swallowed. Hard.

  Holy mother, he was gorgeous. A mane of black hair, bold Mediterranean features, a heavily muscled chest that strained the fabric of his T-shirt. Bare feet, a dead giveaway that he was a river fada. They hated shoes.

  Not that she wouldn’t have known he was a river fada anyway. Not with that big body and screw-you attitude. She’d bet her favorite jewels that if she’d ridden past, he’d have laughed and turned away—leaving her the one wondering.

  Excitement sparked low in her belly. She was a two-hundred-year-old fae, and with her powerful glamour, could have just about any man she wanted. But she was tired of men who came too easy.

  Something whispered that this man was dangerous…and she was jaded enough to want him even more.

  She activated her glamour and swung off the bike, removing her gloves and helmet and shaking out her hair.

  “Olá, Senhor,” she said in Portuguese, his clan’s preferred tongue.

  He stared back with eyes the same silver-blue as the river in spring, startling against his olive skin. “Bom dia, Cleia.”

  No “Queen Cleia.” She raised a brow. “You know who I am?”

  “Of course.” His gaze swept insolently down her body, clad in brown biker’s leathers and a yellow top.

  Heat jolted through her. She stared back, caught by those odd light eyes as if he’d thrown a net over her. All her senses came alive. Her lips parted and her breath skidded in and out.

  Then Artan and Grady pulled up on either side of her and the river man shuttered his gaze.

  Her fingers clenched on her gloves. He seemed somehow…less. But why should that bother her? She’d already decided she wanted him.

  With a shrug, she amped up her glamour and beckoned him closer. “Come, ride with me.” It was an order and they both knew it.

  He glanced at the guards and remained where he was. Waiting for them to back off. She hesitated. But what could he do in the split second it would take Artan and Grady to get back to her?

  “Move back,” she ordered. The two men grumbled but did as she asked, wheeling their bikes to a spot several yards away.

  She turned back to the river fada. “Ride with me.”

  He stepped forward to take her hand. Electricity shot up her arm and she jerked, but he firmed his grip. Not hurting her. Just letting her know he’d release her when he decided.

  Their eyes met, clashed. His nostrils flared.

  “Cleia?” Artan started forward, Grady on his heels.

  “Stand down,” she snapped without taking her gaze from the man before her. Stars, they acted as if she were a defenseless little girl, not the most powerful sun fae in the world.

  The guards halted but remained where they were, midway between their bikes and her.

  The river man stared at her lips. It felt as if he’d tasted them; they tingled and ached for more. She moistened her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. He followed the motion with his gaze and then gave her a slow, knowing
smile.

  A tremor fluttered up her spine. It was as if he saw through her glamour to the woman beneath. The real woman, the one she never allowed outsiders to see.

  “Who are you?” she whispered. She swallowed and repeated the question more forcefully. “Who are you?”

  He turned her hand in his. After that first jolt, his fingers were cool; his touch, like all the river people, as soothing as rain.

  “Dion.” A low voice that slid over her skin like rich, raw silk. “Dion do Rio.”

  Dion of the River.

  She tugged at her hand and this time he let it go.

  Shoving her hands into her pockets, she regarded the big, barefooted man, wondering if she were about to make a huge mistake. Certainly, Artan and Grady were glowering at him suspiciously, but their family had guarded hers for centuries and trusted almost no one.

  Most fae looked down on the fada, said they were little better than animals. Descendants of Dionysus and his wild followers, the fada were shapeshifters created during the god’s infamous bacchanals, a mix of fae, human, animal and the god himself. Insular and clannish, they lived closed to nature in underground caverns and dens.

  The other fae were right. Fada were dark, untamed…ruthless. But what the other fae didn’t know was that fada made the best lovers.