Ryan's POV
Stevie’s coming, Nico hid something from me again, and Stevie wants to kill Nico. I keep running those words through my head on a loop. What did Nico do? Why would Stevie be coming here? Has she had a change of heart? Oh my God, Kai will have to face her. I didn’t even think of Kai.
As soon as Aurora finished telling us her vision, I left the mess hall and returned to my room, needing some time to sort my head out and prepare for my sister’s arrival. Now I had to read the letter from my dad that Nico somehow has. Why does he keep breaking my fucking trust? Speak of the devil. The man himself has just walked through my bedroom door, without knocking.
“When a door is shut it means you need to knock!”
“I didn’t knock last night, and it seemed to work out well for the both of us.” The fucking cheek of this arrogant asshole!
“I was
Ryan's POVI avert my eyes from Dom’s face so he can’t see the truth; the truth is Dom is right. I am scared of what I am feeling for Nico.“Take it from someone who has been where you are, babe—don’t run, embrace it.”“How have you been where I am?” I sound like a bitch, but come on. Look at Dom; what stupid woman would run from him? He’s beautiful, with those violet eyes, sun-kissed skin, and shaggy silver blonde hair that you wanted to run your hands through. He was a handsome man, but he was also kind and caring. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.“I was in a similar situation many years ago, and I was too much of a coward to admit my feelings. I lost my chance with the one I crave, but you haven’t lost Nico, there is hope for you two. I see the way my friend looks at you, and I see the way you look at him. You are both s
I woke panting and out of breath, my hair sticking to my forehead and cheek. My steamy dreams always left me this way, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.In my dreams I was strong, confident, and sexy—and adored by my men. I was none of those things in real life: I always second-guessed my decisions, and my long hair was plain Jane brown. I had strange eyes that seemed to unnerve people. They were a bright shade of green, and there was a ring of yellow around my pupils. I was not adored by anyone in real life. My mother beat me throughout my childhood, and my father left with my twin sister just after we turned five.My mother would tell me that she was preparing me for when “the others” would come. I never knew what that meant, and if I tried to ask, she would simply say I needed to toughen up. That was always her excuse for beating me and locking me in my room for days on end.“A weak bitch can’t lead anyone,”
On the way up the stairs, I paused to look at the many photos that lined the wall, almost all of them of Stevie, from her first day of school to her graduation, and photos of her on her birthday—well, our birthday.The one that got my attention had Stevie, Dad, and me in it. We must have been about 4 years old, and one of us was perched on each of his knees and smiling. I wished I could have gone with my Dad and Stevie when they left, but my mom wouldn’t let both of us go. Truth be told, she only wanted to keep one of us so Dad had to pay her child support.Stevie noticed I had stopped following her up the stairs, and she came back down and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. She knew it was hard for me to see the photos. She had a happy childhood and a loving parent. I had neither.“He never stopped loving you, and he talked about you all the time.”“Then why did he never fight for me? He never came back once after you left,
I was done listening to their conversation about me, which was happening without me, my fury building as I heard about things for the first time. Unfortunately, as I turned to go back upstairs, my foot caught on the stair tread, and I fell, letting out an involuntary shriek as I bounced and rolled. I was waiting for the last bang when I knew I would connect with the tile floor, but suddenly I stopped.When I opened my eyes, I saw my sister and cousins in the kitchen doorway, mouths hanging open and eyes wide. I looked down and realized my body was levitating a few inches off the floor and emanating a blue light. I let out another scream, and my body dropped the remainder of the way to the ground with a thud. Within seconds, the others were on either side of me, barking questions.“Are you ok, Ry?”“How did you do that?”“Are you hurt anywhere?”I couldn’t t
Stevie and I were dragging our bags down the stairs, when we heard Chase yell out.“Yo! Cab’s here! Move your asses, ladies; we need to go.”Stevie and I glanced at each other, grinning in anticipation. We hurried the rest of the way down the stairs to the front door. I followed Alex out with my suitcase trailing behind me, and Stevie stopped just outside the door. I turned to see her holding her hand over the door handle whispering something, and then I saw her hand glow.I gasped and almost tripped on the path by the taxi. I thought I was the only weird one—a freak, as my mom used to say. Stevie began to walk toward me with her bags in tow, eyebrows raised as she saw my expression.“Ry, why do you look so shocked?” Stevie asked“Your hand! I saw what you did. I saw your hand glow,” I screeched.Stevie shared a look with the boys before bringing
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling silly for saying that to someone who was just a figment of my imagination but compelled to apologize for all the same.“Never be sorry, mi amor. I will take whatever time you give me.” I smiled at his sweet words.“Now that I am here, what would you like to do?”“I wish we had time, mi amor, but you are nearly at your destination now, and I must get back. I will visit you soon and explain everything, I promise.” What the hell was wrong with me? My dream guys were always weird like they actually had somewhere else to be. Sometimes I wondered if my subconscious was trying to make them seem more real.“Okay Kai, sure thing. Next time I want les
“Keep your damn voice down. I have no idea how he would even know she exists. Dad made sure no one knew about her to keep her safe. I wonder how long he has been visiting her if it is him?” Alex butted in. “Long enough for her to feel the need to protect him from us. She doesn’t want us to know that he visits her, and she doesn’t even know who he is.” I came around the corner then, having had enough of all this talk behind my back. They needed to start telling me the truth, right now. “I need to learn what? And who the fuck is coming for me?” They all spun around in shock. Stevie pursed her lips, obviously annoyed that I had been listening in on their conversation, but I didn’t care about her feelings right now. “Why don’t you have a seat, and we can start from the beginning and work our way up to the why and what, okay?” Chase was looking at me with pleading eyes, so I nodded and took a seat
“Stevie, it’s not your fault...” I didn’t get a chance to finish before Alex cut in. “We have company.” Chase moved to stand in front of me as if to shield me from our visitor. Stevie and Alex stood on either side of Chase, their bodies coiled tight with tension. I didn’t hear a car or even footsteps. “Well, well, the infamous Knox family has returned.” The man’s voice sent shivers down my spine, and not in a good way, either. “Tell me, Miss Knox, where is your father? Surely the great Ralph Knox did not let his prized daughter come here alone, unprotected?” The man’s voice had a harsh edge to it, and you could tell from the condescending way he spoke my father’s name that he hadn’t liked him. I didn’t understand why. This was the first time Stevie had been here, so how did he know her or my dad? Before I could think about it more, my sister spoke. “Randall Can
Ryan's POVI avert my eyes from Dom’s face so he can’t see the truth; the truth is Dom is right. I am scared of what I am feeling for Nico.“Take it from someone who has been where you are, babe—don’t run, embrace it.”“How have you been where I am?” I sound like a bitch, but come on. Look at Dom; what stupid woman would run from him? He’s beautiful, with those violet eyes, sun-kissed skin, and shaggy silver blonde hair that you wanted to run your hands through. He was a handsome man, but he was also kind and caring. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.“I was in a similar situation many years ago, and I was too much of a coward to admit my feelings. I lost my chance with the one I crave, but you haven’t lost Nico, there is hope for you two. I see the way my friend looks at you, and I see the way you look at him. You are both s
Ryan's POVStevie’s coming, Nico hid something from me again, and Stevie wants to kill Nico. I keep running those words through my head on a loop. What did Nico do? Why would Stevie be coming here? Has she had a change of heart? Oh my God, Kai will have to face her. I didn’t even think of Kai.As soon as Aurora finished telling us her vision, I left the mess hall and returned to my room, needing some time to sort my head out and prepare for my sister’s arrival. Now I had to read the letter from my dad that Nico somehow has. Why does he keep breaking my fucking trust? Speak of the devil. The man himself has just walked through my bedroom door, without knocking.“When a door is shut it means you need to knock!”“I didn’t knock last night, and it seemed to work out well for the both of us.” The fucking cheek of this arrogant asshole!“I was
Nico's POVAs soon as she drifted off to sleep, I chanted the spell to bring us back to her bedroom in Jackson’s compound. The sun was already rising, and I knew sleep would evade me. I had never felt like this for anyone in my many years of being alive. I laid there, just looking at her sleep in my arms. Her tiny body was nestled in the same position as it was before I took her to our dreamland, and I ran my hand up and down her side, just needing to feel her. As soon as she learned the truth about what I had done she would hate me.I am the reason she is here. I don’t have the balls to tell her the truth, but I know I need to find a way before Kai tells her. I lay there watching her sleep for so long that I must have drifted off too, jerked awake some time later by a constant knocking on her door. Before I could untangle myself, the door smashed open and slammed against the wall. Ryan sat straight up, ready to scream until she saw it was
Ryan's POVOh my God! I felt like I was floating on a cloud. Nico made me come so hard, and fuck did it feel good. He nestled himself between my legs and leaned down to capture my lips in a searing kiss that felt like he was branding me. I could taste myself on his tongue, and I’m not shy to admit that I loved the taste of me mixed with the taste of him. I felt his hard bulge nudging my pussy as he was grinding his pelvis into me. I needed him inside me now.“Nico, I need you inside me now, please” The smug bastard loved it when I begged.“You want me to put my cock in this beautiful wet pussy, love?” I loved his dirty talk, it always made me more needy and wet.“Yes!” It was the only reply he needed before he was stripping himself of hi
Nico's POVAfter Ryan left the mess hall, everyone continued to chat amicably about their lives. I noticed Kai had been very quiet for most of this. It was strange, considering he normally added his version of events when I, Jax, or Dom told a story of our youth. However, I didn’t have time to worry about his salty-ass attitude—this might be my only time to ask Ryan’s cousins some things about her. I made my move when there was a break in the conversation.“Were Ryan and her sister close, even though they lived apart?” Both of the warlocks’ faces dropped at the mention of Ryan’s twin sister. Chase was quicker to recover from the shock and answer my question.“Stevie and Ryan were closer than anyone I know. Even though they lived apart, they would always find a way to see each other or talk on Ryan’s hidden cell phone. It would destroy Stevie when she couldn’t sp
Ryan's POVI felt Nico tense. Now he understood what I was trying to say. I knew Kai had hoped to return to his homeland after Randall was defeated, but now he could never go home. I abused his trust in me, and Kai was never going to forgive me.“The spell you cast, though—Kai said he told you what spell to use. He would never use a spell that would block him from returning home.”“I didn’t use the spell Kai told me to use.”“What? Why?” I could hear the anguish in Nico’s voice; he was devastated his brother could never go home.Even after their big falling out, Nico made Kai exempt from the spell he cast in Farrarie after Randall kidnapped Sophia.“Because my dad told me the spell Kai wanted me to use would never work.”“There has to be more to it than that, love.”
Nico's POVI heard her gasp as the portal closed behind us. Was that gasp because she was happy I brought her here or was she pissed off because this was the place Kai had brought her, and where she thought he died?“Nico, I…I—” Dammit, I made a huge mistake bringing her here.I bowed my head, feeling defeated, letting my black hair hang over my face, shielding my eyes. Nothing I do seems to make her happy.Instead, I have a knack for pissing her off“I’m sorry, I’ll take us back now.” As I turned around to open another portal, she grabbed my hand. My eyes shot to hers. She had a beautiful, shy smile on her face, and her eyes told me what she could not. She was glad to be here but unsure what her next move would be.“I’m shocked you brought me here. I have never been to Lake William before. Well, of course, I have, but only
Ryan's POVI was standing between Nico and Kai.Kai was trying to sit up to assess the situation better. I placed my hand on his chest and shook my head. With a huff, he laid back down and didn’t try to move again. Sophia and Dom were still standing in the same place.Jax, Aurora and my cousins were standing on the other side of the bed.Jax was standing slightly in front of Aurora, ready to shield her if Dom did shift.“Deep breaths, Alpha, I don’t want to have to throw your wolf around as well.”Dom laughed at Sophia’s words, which is what I guess she was hoping for, as some of the tension in his back and shoulders started to ease. He wasn’t fully calm yet, but a lot calmer than he was a minute ago. His laughter stopped abruptly, and tension returned to his body.“You’re right, Soph, I deserve so much worse. I will spend my life making it up to
Nico's POVI’m sitting here, staring at her and the way she is running her hand through Kai’s hair. Since when did she stop being angry at him and when the hell did they become friendly like that? I knew they were close in her dreams, and just thinking about Kai having his hands on my woman made my fucking blood boil. I hate the way I’m feeling, like I’m some insecure child. I have never felt like this before about anyone. I hated Kai just for having her hands on him.“Could you stop fucking touching him? He’s alive, yay! That doesn’t mean he needs you to constantly fucking pat him like he’s your pet.” I snarled, shocked at my own outburst.I saw the others staring at me with wide eyes. Dom and Jax both looked like they wanted to laugh. I narrowed my eyes at them until they looked away. I returned my stare to Ryan and found she was glaring at me. The look she was giving me to