Brighter Than Fear (Fangs & Felons Book 3), page 1
BLURB
In the world of covert operations, trust is paramount, yet I’ve been straying, fostering secret ties with the elusive “unicorn hacker,” challenging my loyalty to the ITU, my SICB family.
No doubt about it, I’m going to be in deep shit when they find out—it’s only a matter of time.
But when an investigation explodes, so does my world—and for the first time, I hear the hacker’s voice, magnetic and captivating, pulling me in deeper.
I also finally get his name.
Rowan Hart, a former agent and a tiger shifter with haunting scars. He becomes an unexpected hero, thrusting us into an alliance against Hornell, SICB’s prime target. Despite clashes with my team, we form an unstoppable duo, until a sudden attack fractures our team, leaving me changed beyond imagination.
As I fight for survival, it takes both my unit and Rowan’s unwavering resolve to keep me alive. Amidst chaos, Rowan’s commitment becomes clear—he’ll move heaven and earth to grant me a second chance at life and, perhaps, with him.
Brighter Than Fear is the third book in an MM urban fantasy romance series. Between the pages you’ll find high-octane action, snarky vampires and shifters, and scorching-hot scenes to make you swoon.
BRIGHTER THAN FEAR
FANGS & FELONS
BOOK 3
BECCA SEYMOUR
RAINBOW TREE PUBLISHING
ALSO BY BECCA SEYMOUR
Zone Defense
No Take Backs | No More Secrets | No Wrong Moves | No Backing Down
Fast Break
Rules, Schmules! | Facts, Smacts! | Regular Smegular! | Easy, Schmeasy!
True-Blue
Let Me Show You | I’ve Got You | Becoming Us | Thinking It Over | Always For You | It’s Not You | Our First & Last | Next For Us
Outback Boys
Stumble | Bounce | Wobble
Fangs & Felons
Thicker Than Water | Weaker Than Instinct | Brighter Than Fear | Stronger Than Fate
Stand-Alone Contemporary
Not Used To Cute | High Alert | Realigned | Amalgamated | Under the Blazing Stars | Best Kind of Awkward
Brighter Than Fear © 2024 by Becca Seymour
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any written, electronic, recorded, or photocopied format without the express permission from the author or publisher as allowed under the terms and conditions with which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution, circulation or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.
NO AI/NO BOT. Becca Seymour does not consent to any Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarize, or otherwise replicate any part of this creative work, via any means: print, graphic, sculpture, multimedia, audio, or other medium. Becca Seymour supports the right of humans to control their artistic works.
Brighter Than Fear is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events and places found therein are either from the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to persons alive or dead, actual events, locations, or organizations is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.
For information, contact the author: hello@beccaseymour.com
Editing: Hot Tree Editing
Cover Designer: BookSmith Design
Publisher: Rainbow Tree Publishing
E-book ISBN: 978-1-922679-64–2
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-922679-65-9
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
About the Author
Also by Becca Seymour
CHAPTER 1
FLYNN SMYTHE
With the loud throb of music pulsing through my EarPods, the thud of rubber on concrete provided an extra beat as I finished my run. It drove me forwards and urged me to keep up the pace.
One more kilometre, and I could collapse and crawl into the shower before finally starting my day.
I pushed myself harder, focussed on the pavement ahead, on the apartment block I called home since graduating from the SICB—Supernatural Investigation & Crime Bureau—Academy seven months ago.
My condo was situated on the edge of the hustle of Sydney CBD. Just close enough to experience the vibrant offerings of the city—which one day I hoped I’d be able to find time to enjoy—and the location was perfect for work.
With just a fifteen-minute drive, I could be at the secure doorstep of the Infiltration Tactical Unit—the official location rather than the kick-arse “lair” my boss, Agent Lucas, created.
I zeroed in on the building’s entrance, my breathing shallow despite my piss-poor attempts at controlling it. The door beckoned me, practically mocked me.
Just twenty more metres.
I slammed my hand against the wall next to the door and gasped, losing all semblance of control as I pulled in ragged breaths. Hanging my head, I inhaled deeply, wincing at the cold air hitting my teeth and making them ache.
How being a human in this world I lived in both sucked as well as kicked arse was a quandary I contemplated daily.
My teeth being sensitive to the biting edge of the winter’s morning air was almost winning top spot of things that sucked.
Obviously, the top spot belonged to me having to work my backside off exercising twice as hard as my fellow agents of the supernatural variety.
But it was a duty I took on willingly.
And I had the best bloody job in the world to remind me that each shuddery breath and aching muscle was worth it.
The door opened, taking me by surprise.
I held back my humourless laugh when I smiled at Macca, the guy from apartment 4, as he headed out for his day on whatever construction site he needed to be at. Because, yeah, not having supernatural hearing or reflexes or any superpowerful senses also sucked monkey balls.
The human plight wasn’t something I wanted to get caught up in. Life was far too amazing for that.
The warmth of the entrance hall embraced me as I stepped inside. While it offered a welcome relief, I still had to get my butt up to the third floor, and the lift remained broken.
With a sigh and a few grumbles, I made it up the staircase and unlocked my apartment door. Less than two minutes later, hot water sluiced down on me, easing my burning muscles.
Absorbing the heat and stillness, I centred myself before going over my itinerary.
On top of some initial investigative research I needed to pull for Michaels, one of the field agents in our unit, my day ahead looked intense.
Running point as the lead handler for a case Chris was working meant I’d been running on adrenaline for almost two weeks. Hell only knew how field agents, deep in infiltration, dealt with the mounting stress and pressure.
I suspected all field agents fit the mould of an adrenaline junkie and were slightly unhinged. A smirk formed on my lips as I thought about my friend Shaw’s reaction to the assessment. No doubt he’d be in complete agreement.
I washed, dried myself off, and downed my premade smoothie. As I settled into my car, my phone buzzed. I started the engine, using it to distract myself from the uptick of my pulse.
Right on time.
I ignored my shaking hand as I opened the encrypted messaging app. My heart stumbled, just like it did every single morning at 7:12 a.m.
And fuck if I could hold back the twitching of my lips when I read the name selected for today’s exchange.
SparkleSorcerer:
Why did the hacker stay calm during the cyberattack?
Every day the jokes got worse. But at least today, it was one about hacking rather than unicorns.
Was I frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how the unicorn hacker had discovered our inside ITU joke about the name that stuck? Quite possibly. Especially as I’d asked more than once but never received a straight response.
AgentTech:
Do I want to know?
Was it possible to flirt in a text when you didn’t even know who the person on the other end was? Hell, I didn’t even know if it was a man, but fuck, I really, really hoped it was.
I’d had too many horny dreams featuring a faceless man over the past few months—occasionally with the not-as-disturbing-as-it-should-be addition of the unicorn hacker fucking me hard with a unicorn-horn-shaped dildo.
Since I had practically zero experience bottoming, it was one hell of a dream.
Though maybe one of my dreams when the unknown hacker actually had a “real” horn protruding from his head as I debased him should have been more concerning. Especially when I’d woken panting and wishing I could drift back to sleep to ride the horn as he jacked me off.
It said a lot about my life and state of mind that the thought of riding a unicorn horn got me revved up.
I shook my head, trying to push away the visual.
Everything about this exchange was wrong on so many levels.
It would likel
y be the reason I got my arse fired or even arrested one of these days.
SparkleSorcerer:
Because they had CTRL of the situation!
I snorted. How could I not?
AgentTech:
Bad… oh so bad.
Every single time I responded to the unicorn hacker, I was one step closer to being in a whirlwind of trouble. But I couldn’t stop.
Nor did I want to stop.
It wasn’t like I was hooked on our exchanges.
My eye twitched at the thought, and I called bullshit.
A new message cut off my spiral into weighing up the odds of right and wrong.
SparkleSorcerer:
Before you drive away, are you ready…?
I’d been freaked the first five or so times they’d said such a thing—explicitly implying that they knew what I was doing or where I was. But now, a shiver of awareness rippled over my skin. Errors flashed, and warning signals begged for me to take notice, but I was blind to them. Ignored every single alarm.
Being in so deep, pushing too far made me feel alive.
Reckless.
Forbidden.
Perhaps I was on the brink of a system crash, and everything I’d worked for would short-circuit and blow up around me, but in the rush, the charge of something “more” was too addictive for me to ignore.
SparkleSorcerer:
I’m the science of atoms, reactions, and more, mixing elements and compounds, that’s for sure. When you study me, you’ll surely be vexed. Tell me, what comes after “chemistry”? What’s “next”?
Fuck, how I loathed and thrilled at these frustrating riddles I got from the hacker.
The app shut down, just like it always did when they signed off. It was my cue to pull away and drive to work.
Disappointment weaselled its way through my system, a familiar feeling lately.
I swallowed down my self-loathing at just how needy and pathetic my crazy crush was and focussed on getting to work, my thoughts not straying far from the final words in our exchange.
Whatever they meant, I suspected by the end of the day, they’d make sense.
They always did.
All that meant was, the unicorn hacker knew what I was working on and had information I’d yet to figure out for myself.
Did I feel resentful? Envious? I sighed as I passed through the first security barrier at the official office, showing my ID and passing the retina scanner.
Guilt shifted in my chest as I realised I didn’t feel either of those emotions. I wasn’t sure what that actually said about me.
Instead, I was impressed as hell by the hacker and fell a little deeper.
I was one giant push away from being swallowed whole by the illegal exchanges I’d been having.
But hell if I was willing to stop.
It didn’t take long to settle in at my workstation and become absorbed in my tasks. With a deadline looming, I stayed focussed, or as much so as Shaw would let me.
“What do you mean, you’ve never had a birthday cake?”
Shaw looked so perplexed that I reached out and patted his shoulder. It wasn’t enough to distract him, though.
My mortification grew when he said, “Seriously, Flynn.”
My eyes widened. Shaw never first-named me. Shit had apparently just got real.
“What? It’s no big deal.” I willed my cheeks not to turn beet red, hating the attention, especially when it was about something as silly as a birthday cake.
“Mate, not a big deal?” He parted his lips, his brows shooting so high, I started to cringe in expectation.
“Smythe.”
I jumped to attention at the sound of my boss calling my name. I was always eager and never one to drag my feet. My speed would give Shaw a run for his money when in panther form. “Coming,” I hollered towards Mathew Lucas’s retreating back.
The interruption couldn’t have been timed better if I’d orchestrated it myself.
“Don’t think this conversation is over.” Shaw’s disgruntled voice followed me, but I wasn’t too concerned about him accosting me when I stepped foot back in the main hub of our base of operations.
Michaels, a senior agent who was also Shaw’s boyfriend, was due back any time now. It meant they’d disappear somewhere to suck face for at least half an hour.
Entering Lucas’s office, I offered a tentative smile. So far, I’d never been in his bad books. Never pissed him off enough that I feared for my jugular.
I suspected that if—though when was more likely—he found out about my communication with the unicorn hacker, that would change.
But from the expression on his face—soft smile and questioning gaze—I figured I was safe for another day.
“Why don’t you take a seat.”
Following orders had become the norm. Two years at the academy drilled that into me. The almost seven months working for the SICB’s elite covert Infiltration Tactical Unit—the ITU—made the whole rule-following aspect as natural as breathing.
Something I thought my boss appreciated, especially since not everyone on the team was all that great at following directives. They did provide hefty entertainment, however. It helped that they were incredible agents. Though if it was possible for vampires to go prematurely grey, I suspected Lucas would be a total silver fox by now.
As soon as my butt hit the soft leather of the visitor’s chair, I relaxed my shoulders, my attention on Lucas as I waited for him to begin.
“Any update on the Kaldone case?”
“Yes,” I was pleased to report. “I’ve followed a trace to Melbourne. Found four offshore accounts, at the last count. I’m just formalising the data to send up the chain of command.”
“That’s great. I’ll catch up with Kent this afternoon.”
Contentment fluttered in my chest, all soft wings and gentle calm.
Kent, my mentor, was a vampire who apparently didn’t pull her punches. Except with me. Since meeting her during my last few weeks at the academy—when I was brought onto the team early with Shaw—Kent had seen something in me that nobody really ever had before.
Not even my parents.
Potential.
Not only that, but she’d also sort of dragged me into the close-knit unit with a threatening glare and a sharp tongue directed at anyone who dared to underestimate me.
It was a hell of a thing and made it impossible not to lean into her special kind of acceptance.
My weekly dinners with her and her wife, Jada, simply cemented my place in her family.
Aware Lucas remained quiet, silently studying me, I focussed hard on controlling my breathing.
Every day I surrounded myself with supernaturals. I had done so for years, even before joining the academy. It didn’t make that natural fight-or-flight instinct any easier to ignore.
As a human in a world filled with supernaturals who had far superior strength, speed, and reflexes, I learned at an early age to rely on my intelligence. It was the reason I’d come so far.
My affinity with computers came easily. There was little I couldn’t navigate or figure out. Few digital loops and routes I couldn’t travel. And with both Lucas and Kent being literal geniuses, too, every day I learned from and was supported by the best.
With the exception of one person I couldn’t figure out—species unknown—who continued to perplex us all. Truth was, they ran circles around us.
Of course I was back to thinking about the unicorn hacker. They were never far from my mind.
Being intrigued was one thing—acceptable and understandable, even. It would be a whole other ballgame if anyone realised just how much I was crushing on the mystery person.
Not sure how anyone would react to that news.
With the way Lucas stared at me, I suspected where his thoughts lay.
