I screamed as soon as his fangs pierced my skin. He had a death grip on my head. I couldn’t move. I heard my cousins shouting out my name, but I couldn’t answer them. My eyes rolled, searching for help, and landed on my sister, who stood by, watching Randall drink, a smile on her face. The look of satisfaction on her face broke my heart. She wouldn’t have to wait long for my death; I could feel my head getting light and my eyes getting heavy. I could feel the pull of death, and I welcomed it. Just as I convinced myself to let go, there was a whoosh of air, and Randall was gone.
I couldn’t get my eyes to focus, and I was drifting in and out of consciousness. I felt an arm at the back of my head and then one under my legs. Someone was carrying me. I was trying to fight to open my eyes, but they refused. The harder I fought, the faster the darkness came, and eventually I couldn’t fight any longer and darkness won.
I could feel the heat of the
“He said that if I ever need his assistance or help that I should say the words on the card,” I told the four men in the room, and they all nodded and told me to go ahead.“I think it’s in Latin or something. I’ll try my best. Azarah metronia openinga portass!”As I finished saying the strange words, a strong wind picked up in the room. Chase grabbed my arm and pulled me across the room to stand by Melakai and Jackson, and Alex followed us. The wind started swirling into a circle, and it grew larger, almost to the width of a car, and it was growing taller than Kai. The wind was so strong it pushed all five of us into the corner of the room. Then as abruptly as it started, the wind died down.On the other side of the portal, I could see a beautiful castle and a large expanse of open land so bright and vibrant that it took my breath away. Before I could get too lost in my thoughts,
“You touch any of them, and I will kill you all, mark my words. Your king will not save you from my wrath. We did not come here to fight; we came here to help you.” I just hoped that they believed me. I don’t think I could even kill a fly intentionally.“Stand down!” the king shouted, but I could hear the undercurrent of amusement in his voice and it pissed me off. It felt like he was laughing at me.“Come forward, little one.” I put my hand on Alex’s shoulder to tell him to step aside, and he looked at me, his eyes communicating the fear he felt on my behalf. I gave him a small smile and nudged him to the side.“Hello again, love,” the king said once I had stepped out from the cover of the others. I looked up to see those beautiful violet eyes staring at me with amusement and desire, just like the last time I saw him.&l
“Wait—four? What four?” I asked.“Yes, there is someone else, but we will get to him soon. Let me tell you how we all came to know each other first. Many years ago, there were two young boys who loved to run away from their duties and escape to the Earth realm for some fun and to watch the other supernatural kinds. They wanted to get a look at what the others could do—how they could wield magic and how they could fight. Also so they could go to a pub and get drunk.” Nico and Kai both laughed at that.“One night the two boys snuck out of the castle and went to the pub. The two boys were drinking beer when they heard a fight just outside of the pub. When they got outside, they saw two young teenage boys being attacked by at least twelve humans. The boys could tell by their scent that the two getting beaten were supes, so they helped the two boys and ran off the attackers. Once all that wa
“When the fae queen started seeing Randall, she thought no one knew. Nico and I started following her to the Earth realm and learned of her affair with the vampire king. We knew she was going to flee Farrarie, so I was tasked to follow her and guard her by Nico—she was his intended bride, after all. Neither of them wanted the marriage, for they never loved each other; they were only to wed for the purpose of merging both the kingdoms together. I followed the queen to your realm and guarded her until I was ambushed by a group of vampires one night and nearly killed. I didn’t know at the time that the queen had begged Randall to save me, as she and I had become close friends in the time we were in the Earth realm. Randall did as she asked, thinking I would not survive the change, but to his utter dismay, I did. The reason I can walk in the daylight is that I was turned with fae blood in my system, and after Randall learned this, he would feed on the queen and
“Well, that explains why they were super uptight about the whole thing,” Alex said with a chuckle. Jax and Kai shot him a death glare.“Shut up, Alex. Why did you both come here, then, if you knew we were bound to see Nico?” I asked.“Because I would follow you through the fires of hell, mi amor. I wanted to protect you. I thought Nico would punish you to hurt me,” he said with a sigh and looked at the floor.I knelt down in front of him and placed my hands on either side of his face and lifted it so he could look me in the eyes. I didn’t miss the growl that came from Jackson, or the snickers coming from the other four males in the room, but I chose to ignore them and focus on the broken man in front of me.“Thank you for wanting to protect me, even if it meant fighting your brothers. I now understand why you did what you did when I was younger. You
“It all makes sense now; Kai couldn’t come back after the queen died. He stayed with Randall so he could try and protect your sister. You sent your best friend into the lion’s den to try to infiltrate Randall’s enforcers, which he did. What you didn’t expect was how far said bestie would go to protect the queen and then your sister. You have not retaliated to Cane’s threats for fear of him hurting your sister. Kai followed us here with an agenda of his own, didn’t you, Kai—you needed the king to think you came to Farrarie for me and not to tell Nico what you had learned,” I said breathlessly.I knew I was right; I could feel it in my bones. Dom started clapping beside me, and I turned to see the biggest smile on his face.“They seriously do not deserve you. I swear you are smarter than what anyone gives you credit for.” Dom had such awe in his voice as he spoke. Wait&mda
“Tell her, Dom,” Nico ordered with a sigh.“You may be king, brother, but you are not my king, so watch the way you speak to me! If your sister does not surrender, Ryan, we will have to take out the threat by any means necessary.” Dom cast his eyes downward, clearly anticipating my unhappiness.My blood started to boil, and my hands started to glow blue. Alex and Chase jumped back, and before I knew what I was doing, I raised my hands at the four men in front of me and blasted the whole lot of them across the room. Nico crashed into the far wall, and Dom smacked into the door and then crashed to the ground with a groan. Jackson was blasted through the nearest window, and Melakai hit the book shelf and collapsed the shelves, sending books cascading down on his slumped body.“Holy fuck, Ry! You just smashed the shit out of them without even trying,” Chase said with
“All of you can kiss my ass! I don’t need a babysitter in my room, and do not ever talk about me like I can’t make my own choices. I am a grown-ass woman, and no one will ever take away my freedom to choose what I want again! Do I make myself crystal fucking clear?” I was seething, and I know I went over the top, but I couldn’t hold back. Control was my trigger button.“Oh, Ry, I’m sorry. I never meant to upset you, I promise.” I could see Alex meant every word he said when he looked at me; he was never a good liar—his eyes always gave him away.“The only reason we want to have someone in the room with you tonight is that we’re worried about your safety. Your sister or Randall could ambush you, and it would just give us peace of mind if someone was here to watch out for you. Please consider it.” I never thought about it like that, and deep down, I