A Shot in the Dark

Copyright © 2023 by Jessica Lynch All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover by Covers by Aura CONTENTS Foreword Prologue 1. After and always 2. Chester’s change 3. Remember the cheesecake 4. Catfish 5. Get ready 6. Bianca’s suggestion 7. Drew’s question 8. Hellhounds 9. Want it, take it 10. Raphael and Grey 11. Welcome home 12. Arcadia 13. Tanya 14. The curse 15. Choose Epilogue Pre-Order Now True Angel Available Now Stay in Touch About the Author Also by Jessica Lynch FOREWORD A Shot in the Dark is the second entry in the Shadow Pack trilogy featuring Bianca Howell and her beloved mate, Drew Black. At the end of Total Eclipse, the titular total eclipse has come and gone. So sure that the lunar event would allow them to return to Arcadia—the hidden territory of the Shadow Pack they both belong to—Bianca has to admit that they’re trapped on the outside of the hybrid pack’s potent wards. She’s also dealing with the aftermath of her first confrontation with Ol’ Nick—the devil himself—as well as the curse of the shadows that has its claws in her beloved mate. Throw in a talking cat that has her wolf side on edge, and this Nephilim is ready to tap into her impressive magic to get back to her friends and family—no matter what it takes. This one is a little shorter than book one. With the way this series was mapped out, there was more world-building necessary in both setting up Bianca as a Nephilim and her relationship/romance with Drew. While it seems like there might be a bump or two for the mated couple in this part, they’re totally committed and in love… even with the curse trying to come between them. I had to end the book where I did, though, and I’m sure you’ll understand why—and I hope you stick around for the conclusion in Purple Moon! Enjoy! xoxo, Jessica PROLOGUE Running helps me think. Always has. But as I tear through the trees, paws pounding on the hard ground, my triangle-shaped ears arrowing back as I pour on the speed… all I’m thinking about now is what will happen if my pursuer catches me. I’m fast. Always have been. Even when my childhood best friend would challenge me to a race through the closely grown woods that served as a natural border for the hidden territory of Arcadia, the only times he ever caught up to me was when I let him. Twenty years later and Andrew Black is still challenging me. It’s different now, and the charge in the air as he closes in on me and my wolf makes that obvious. So does that thrill of anticipation spurring me to run even faster. That way, when my mate catches up to me, he’ll feel like he’s earned what I’m more than willing to give him—and I’ll be ready to let him have it. We’re not in Arcadia anymore. Not for a lack of trying; for more than two months, we’ve tried to make it back to Shadow Pack territory without any success. Instead, we’re racing through the thick woods that belong to all of the shifters who call the Livingston Bumptown home. Tonight, though? A pair of mated wolf shifters own it. I’m a wolf. Well, a Nephilim, if we’re being technical, since my father was one of the Fallen, an Othersider who fell from the celestial cities up above. But because of my mother’s side, I’m part-wolf shifter, too. So is Drew, though he’s like what I always thought I was until I learned the truth: part-wolf, part-witch. On a night like tonight, though? We’re pure wolf, and not only because we’re both running in our fur right now. The full moon is out. Silly human movies lead Ants to believe that my kind of shifter only goes to our fur during the full moon. That’s not even a little true. We can shift from fur to skin and back as many times as want to, as often as we want to, and even though both of us are hybrids—Drew’s half-witch, while I’m half-angel—that doesn’t make us any less of the shifter-type of a Para. But we’re wolves, and I’d be lying if I said the full moon didn’t trigger some of our wildest instincts. Our blood runs a little hotter, our hearts beat a little faster, and our bodies are primed to mate. Throw in the echoes of the devil’s curse that Drew’s been suffering from for longer than I want to think about and I should’ve known tonight was inevitable. Just like I should’ve known that—with the darkness momentarily overtaking my sweetheart of a mate—there was no way I could keep up the lead when he wants to catch me far more than I want to keep ahead of him. Because, honestly? I don’t know who I’m kidding. I spent more than a decade fantasizing what it would be like to have Drew as my mate, and now that I finally do? It’s a miracle that I don’t “stumble” long before I sense the heat of his big, black wolf’s breath ruffling the white fur on my tail. I could’ve poured on the speed. I’ve lived in the Bumptown longer than Drew, and though he’s become very familiar with the layout of the woods, I still have the edge. I could’ve stretched out the run— —but when I recognize the clearing that I subconsciously led him to, I decide this is the perfect place to end the chase. Drew found this place first. I’ll give him that. Months ago, when he found me in Livingston and recognized that I was his fated mate while I was still in denial that it could be true, he