Zoe looked at Cressida and smiled. She could tell most of the injuries were superficial, so she quickly cleaned them. None of them needed any bandages. "I don't trust her. There's something off about her scent. Be careful." Lyra told Zoe, still trying to get a feel for the young woman."Do you know who attacked you?" Zoe asked as she cleaned a few scratches on her arm. "No. I was taking an early morning walk when I was attacked. So tell me about this place." Cressida didn't want to waste time with her fake story. She needed to move fast before anyone was able to tell she wasn't a human."There's not much to tell. We just prefer to live in a remote location away from the city." Zoe answered cautiously. Cressida smiled widely at her."It's nice out here. So was that your brother you were with? He's really hot. Do you think I have a chance with him?" Cressida could feel the anger in Zoe, and it took everything in her not to laugh."He's not my brother. He's my
Ryder woke up when he heard Zoe crying. He was concerned that she was hurt, but when he looked into her eyes, she looked heartbroken."What's wrong?" He asked, sitting up and pulling her onto his lap. Zoe cried even harder as she clung to him. Ryder had never done anything to make her think he would ever leave her. They were already fully mated, but that didn't stop the pain in her heart from the dream she had. It had felt so real. When she could finally speak, she looked up into his eyes. He had so much concern and love for her she felt ridiculous for thinking he would betray her."I had a bad dream," She said, leaning against him, burying her face in his neck. His scent made her heart feel a little better."What type of dream?" Ryder asked softly, running his hand up and down her arm. "I dreamt that you and Marisa were having sex. When you were done, your marked and mated her. It felt so real I expected to wake up alone." Zoe replied, sliding her hands over his w
"What do you mean she was your first mate?" Zoe asked carefully. Nick looked around and realized there were too many ears."Let's go somewhere we can talk privately," He said. Ryder led Zoe, Nick, Darina, Chase, and Sonia to his office. Once they had all sat down, Nick took a deep breath."Dad, I thought Mom was your fated mate? How were you mated to that witch?" Zoe questioned. She saw the look of pain on her mother's face, making her heart ache."Your mom is my fated mate. I was mated to Cressida about thirty years before I met your mom. I was a king with no mate, searching desperately for my fated mate. I didn't realize she was a human that hadn't been born yet." Nick wrapped his arm around Darina. He knew this hurt her every time it was brought up, but he needed to explain how he mated with the witch."When I was searching for my mate, I ran into this beautiful young woman. I instantly felt the mate bond; even my wolf felt it. We knew we had finally found our ma
Nick met with Julius and tasked him with finding a hybrid witch to help them with Cressida. His heart still hurt thinking about how she had betrayed him all those years ago. He was in love with her, and when he found out it was all a lie, it took time for him to trust another woman until he met his real fated mate, Darina. She was the angel that brought him back to life. Nick smiled as he walked toward Ryder's office. Without Darina, he would have continued down that lonely black hole of despair. When he opened the door, he saw his mate sitting with Zoe, talking quietly on one of the couches. He walked over to where Ryder was seated at his desk."Everything okay?" Nick asked Ryder looking toward the two women."Yeah, they're talking about Cressida. They both have their concerns about what she did to you and how she got in Zoe's head. I think Darina would prefer not to have her anywhere near you." Ryder answered truthfully. He glanced up at Nick, who was frowning."I w
Ryder jumped up when the room went black, ready to fight, but Ariel was doing a little show and tell. She made an image appear in front of them. It looked like a black forest with a small hut."Sorry about the sudden darkness, but it's best for what I want to show you. This is Cressida's forest. She has a spell on the entire area, so she knows when anyone enters. There are several caves; in one, she keeps men who she refers to as her soldiers. Do you know anything about what Cressida does?" Ariel looked around at the others."No. We know she likes to mess with people's lives, but that's all." Darina answered bitterly."I've hired spies to go into her forest and report back to me. Some of them didn't make it out, but the ones who did all told me the same thing. Cressida prefers young virgin women over men. She puts a spell on them, making them sexually compliant with her. After having sex with the women multiple times, she'll have one of her soldiers come in and have se
Cressida was so angry that Charlotte was not what she appeared to be that she sent her back to the park they had been in. The witch felt fury like she hadn't felt in a long time. It was all Ryder and Zoe's fault. Once she got her hands on them, she would torture them as soon as she had robbed them of their power. She didn't know what to do with no woman to keep her distracted and no spell to place. Cressida paced around her hut, trying to come up with a plan. Maybe it was time to send her army to the Dark Moon Guardians. They wouldn't expect her to attack. She laughed as she sat down, looking through her spell book that had the darkest magic. The soldiers were her distraction; the magic would get her what she wanted. ________________"What do I need to do?" Zoe asked Ariel. She hoped that this plan worked and that she could resist Cressida's spell and kill her once and for all. "You are one of the chosen ones, so you may have some natural resistance. I don't do blac
Ryder looked at the man and woman in front of him, unable to speak. They said they were his parents, but he was sure he had never seen them. Yet, he felt like he knew them."What do you mean, you're my parents?" Ryder asked cautiously. Zoe squeezed his hand as the couple made their way over to them."We're your birth parents. I'm your mother, Azra, and this is your father, Thane." Azra answered. She wanted to run to her son and take him in her arms, but she wasn't sure how he'd react."I thought Connor killed you. King Nickolas said he killed everyone." Ryder said, trying to hold back his tears so they wouldn't see how hurt he was. If they were alive, why didn't they look for him? Why did they let him get tortured repeatedly? He saw Azra look down with pain in her eyes."He did kill us, or at least we can't return to the world as you know it. This place we're in now is a special realm that the moon goddess made. We wanted to go to you each time we saw you getting hur
Ryder and Zoe appeared in the office as though they had never left. Nick, Darina, and Ariel looked at them in shock. "Where did you go?" Nick asked, walking over to the couple and looking them over from head to toe."We were summoned by Ryder's parents," Zoe answered as she tried to catch her breath. Flying between realms was invigorating. The other three looked at them with confusion."What do you mean?" Darina asked, thinking maybe they had been dreaming because everyone Ryder considered a parent was dead."My birth parents, Thane and Azra, summoned us. The moon goddess made another realm, and they're living in it. When Connor killed them, that was where they were taken to, but they can't return here." Ryder explained still feeling emotional after seeing his parents, who he thought had died. "That's amazing. Did they tell you anything?" Nick questioned."They said Ryder and I are fully mated. Thane showed me how to make myself invisible when I want, and we can