Broken Dove

BROKEN DOVE DANCE OF THE DEAD BOOK 2 C. LYMARI Broken Dove© 2023 by C. Lymari 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. Editing: Rumi Khan Proofing: Proofing: One Love Editing Cover: TRC Designs CONTENTS Also by C. Lymari Author’s Note Broken Dove Foreword Part I Preface Closed Eyes 1. Summer Running 2. Summer 3. Luke Truths & Lies 4. Summer Broken Pieces 5. Summer 6. Luke Scars 7. Summer 8. Luke Shadows 9. Summer Grief 10. Summer Starlight 11. Summer 12. Luke Best Show 13. Summer 14. Luke Colors 15. Summer 16. Luke Strength 17. Summer Part II 18. Luke Sunshine & Rain 19. Summer 20. Summer Mistakes 21. Summer Bliss 22. Summer 23. Luke Hurt Me 24. Summer 25. Luke 26. Luke Fool 27. Summer Beauty 28. Summer 29. Luke Endless Summer 30. Summer Epilogue Thank You Acknowledgments About the Author ALSO BY C. LYMARI Homecoming Series It’s Not Home Without You- Hoco #1 (Second Chance/ Forbidden) The Way Back Home – Hoco#2 (Friends-to-Lovers) You Were Always Home -Hoco#3 (Enemies-to-Lovers/ Second Chances) No Place Like Home- Hoco#4 (Friends-to-Lovers/Sports) All Roads Lead Home- Hoco #4.5 (Insta love/ age gap) Home At Last- Hoco#5 (Second Chances) Sekten Series Savage Kingdom Cruel Crown Brutal Empire (Extremely dark & full of triggers) Dance of the Dead Series Swan Song (Dark age gap/daddy romance) Broken Dove (Dark Romance/Age gap) Standalones For Three Seconds (Forbidden/ Sports Romance) Falcon’s Prey (A Dark bodyguard Romance) In The Midst Of Chaos (MC dark romance) Gilded Cage (Dark Fairytale Retelling) Press Play (Romantic Suspense/Thriller) Boneyard Kings Series (with Becca Steele) Merciless Kings Vicious Queen Ruthless Kingdom (Reverse Harem) Bonus Stories Hollow Vow (Halloween special) Home Sweet Home (Homecoming prequel) Clymaribooks.com/bonus AUTHOR’S NOTE Broken Dove is a dark romance. If you have read my books before, you know they can be triggering. Although it is in dual POV, it is told mainly from Summer’s perspective, so it might seem a little confusing at first. For more information on triggers, you can go to my website: clymaribooks.com/triggerwarnings Enjoy the crazy ride. Love, Claudia. BROKEN DOVE Welcome to The House of Silence I lived my life with darkness all around me. Everywhere I went, I needed constant guidance. I listened. And obeyed. I learned to dance so I could be freed from my gilded cage. A dove who could not find its way home. Then one day, I met Luke. He made me feel happy—safe. Mending my wings so I could soar once again. All the while biding his time to rip me to shreds. Because, at one time, I belonged to La Casa Del Silenzio. If their whores weren’t blind, they were mute. Too bad for everyone, I could still speak the truth. With him at my side, I could conquer my past. But I don’t think either of us expected my wings to finally snap… Here’s to finding beauty in our scars. FOREWORD “Believe nothing you hear, and only half that you see.”—Edgar Allan Poe PART 1 Winter PREFACE Summer My heart once ached to see the wonders of the world. To scour the earth until I couldn’t go on anymore. I was young with dreams and a full life ahead of me. Now I was scared to go out alone, with nothing but my shadow keeping me whole. But I guess that was what growing up did to you, right? That fearlessness we were born with, the one that made us climb trees and ride our bikes at top speeds, diminished with each passing year. The price of growing up was not aging but losing ourselves to the fear of living. When I was young, things were so simple. Right and wrong were as clear as night and day, but the older I got, the more I realized that the world had shades of gray. If I could describe the man next to me, it would be just that. He wasn’t nice, and he wasn’t kind; he just was. The kind of man that existed for himself and no one else. The kind that was selfish and rude but would do anything in his power to protect those who were brave enough to withstand the trials of his affection. Like salt to the sea, flowers to spring, he was a part of me. Even now, as he held my hand, I could tell he was holding back. Every time I took one step forward, he took three steps back, and at this rate, I wasn’t sure if I would ever be on the same page. It was like he was fighting a war on all ends. “You look beautiful,” he said, and I had no doubt he was beginning to notice my discomfort. My smile was weak, but I believed him. It was in the way he stopped breathing when I walked into the room earlier. The way his hands touched the tiny tendrils of hair that framed my face. The delicate way his finger traced the hollow of my throat and then dipped down to my collarbone with a barely there graze of my chest. Even though I had spent the last few years prancing around in tights and a tutu, I had not felt as exposed as I did now because being naked didn’t count. I spent the better part of my childhood catering to old men and women who liked to have pretty little things to look at, touch, or feel. You could say I had been desensitized to my sexuality. It was a weapon. Something to be exploited. I knew my body, but I wasn’t in love with it. I thought I would never feel desire, yet being here with him made me feel like a woman for the first time in forever. The dress I wore