After deliberating with Liam about whether we should make our coupling known to Ava we came to the decision that we would not offer the news but if she should ask then we would address it. Who I was in a relationship with was none of her business in my opinion because their rules in Ireland did not apply to us here. I'm not a part of their coven.
As we walked back down the stairs, they were still waiting for us at the entry way. Jax wore a look of pride. Like he was happy to see me shun Ava. Wendy looked worried and Chase just stood there, leaning against the wall. Ava stood beside Wendy and watched as we came to stand in front of them."Chase, can you show everyone to the dining room? We will be more comfortable there." Liam asked.Chase just nodded his head in response. He started to lead the group toward the hall to the right of the entryway."It's the other way Chase." I hollered out."Oh, that's right. Sorry. It's hard to keep up with houses of this sizWendy was feeling a bit sluggish, so she had asked Chase to take her home to his house. We would be undoubtedly causing a great deal of noise getting me trained for the fight that we knew was coming. We didn't know when, but we knew it would be soon. I walked Wendy to the door with instructions to call me when she had arrived at Chase's and again when she woke up. She waved me off with some non-sense about me being overly paranoid. Liam walked with me not to see them off but because at this point, we were not going to leave each other unless it was necessary. I hated the fact of Wendy leaving with him, but we weren't positive about anything right now and I didn't want to risk hurting her without knowing what was going on and having proof of it."You just got back so humor me and call me when you get to Chase's house and again when you wake up." She hugged me tightly and agreed.Liam clapped Chase on the back and winked, "I guess I'll see you soon friend. I turned the surve
"I think a shower sounds great right about now. Let's get Ava set up and secured in her room so she can get comfortable," I looked at Jax, "I suppose you want to get cleaned up as well?""Nah, I will wait until you get done. I don't want any unnecessary breaks in surveillance."I loved that about Jax. He was loyal and dedicated to a fault."I appreciate that," Liam offered. I was happy that their little dispute about my fragility was over.We walked back to the house together and separated once inside. Jax went straight to the surveillance monitors, while Liam and I showed Ava to her room, showing her where everything was along the way."We are literally two rooms away. If you feel unsafe for any reason, please yell as loud as you can."I replaced the current ward on her window with a more lethal one of my own creation. Anyone who tried to come through her window would be sliced open from limb to limb. I was serious when I promised someone my protection
Liam and I had just gotten our clothes on when we heard Jaxon screaming up to us from the bottom of the stairwell."Wendy's in trouble!"My body felt cold as the blood drained from my face. I ran toward the door and down the stairs."What happened?" I said as soon as I got halfway down the staircase."No time to talk, watch the cameras! I'm going to her."Jax all but flew out of the door. Liam grabbed me by the arm and we ran to the surveillance room. There was nothing there. Oh wait! There she is.The screen played the grisly scene before my eyes. Wendy ran naked, her wings completely exposed as she fled from the man she loved."I have to go to her. We have to help her Liam," I pleaded."I have to break my promise. I'm going with Jax. As soon as I leave, I need you ward the front door with the same spell that you put on Ava's room."I nodded my head in a hurry and followed him to the door. I made quick work of putting the new ward up and
We had sent our package to Ireland over a week ago and there had been no communication or hint of Chase's return to us. Liam had been missing his comrade, but he tried his best to not let it show. I knew better, but I respected him enough to not make his thoughts common knowledge. Every day, at least a couple times a day I would try to locate Chase using a locator spell, but I was having no luck. Every now and again I would catch a glimpse of him, but it would disappear before I could nail down a location. That's how I knew he was still alive.We had determined that standard shipping was not going to be an option. Packages leaving and entering the country had to go through customs and we couldn't risk someone opening that box and finding the severed head. I had to send it out magically using a levitating spell."I don't know if she has even received the package yet. I don't know how long it takes for magical transport because it's never been done before." I explained to Ja
Liam cleaned the wood from the bathroom floor as I held a cool washcloth over my eyes, to reduce the swelling from my endless rounds of tears."Go figure we fix one door and break another.""That would be our style, wouldn't it?"I watched as he finished getting the last couple of splinters up with his hands."I'm sorry again that I made you do that," I apologized."It wasn't your fault and now that we both know where we stand, we can and will move past this.""You're right, as usual.""Something tells me I shouldn't get used to hearing that."I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek, "Damn right you shouldn't."He laughed and playfully spanked me as I walked by him to get dressed into my training clothes.I stood in front of the mirror that hung on the door of the walk-in closet and looked at my reflection. My gray eyes had stood out against the pale complexion of my face. The dark of my hair now pulled up tightly in a ponytail seeme
Jax sent a swift kick to my gut that doubled me over followed by an upper cut to the chin that sent me flying across the yard. I landed flat on my back and for a split second it felt like I couldn't breathe. Something in my ribcage had cracked. I heard it. I could sense Liam's panic as he started to run towards me."I'm ok," I yelled across the yard as I directed my magic to mend the fractured rib.I felt the warmth expand throughout my body as I stood to my feet. When I examined myself, all of my bruises had completely vanished, and my rib was healed."My healing magic must be getting stronger. I just healed all of my bruises and my fractured rib."I could feel Liam's relief as I cracked my neck and prepared myself to run at Jax. I pushed off and ran as fast as I could. I was quick thanks to being part vampire, but not as fast as Jax. If I didn't successfully perform this maneuver it was going to feel like I had collided with a semi. Jax was running at m
"Such fitting weather for a funeral," I thought to myself as I stared out at the rain. With Wendy being a faerie, we couldn't hold a traditional human funeral, so Chase and Liam crafted a coffin for her with their own two hands. It was beautiful, fit for a Queen, and a thousand times better than the ones you could order at a funeral home. Her resting place would be in Liam's back yard, in a beautiful spot lining the woods. Chase couldn't bring himself to return home yet, so we thought it was best to put her to rest here.Jax and I had tended to cleaning her up and dressing her, working diligently to remove any remnants of the monster that killed her. Jax had taken me to the cottage yesterday to pick out something for her to be laid to rest in. It took me hours to find her favorite yellow dress that I had made for her.Jax had taken two pictures from her nightstand to have blown up so they could sit beside her casket. One was of her and Chase. He had dipped her back and she
My heart was pounding and the muscles in my legs were screaming in protest, but I couldn't stop running. This was the toughest training session yet considering I was fighting three men with supernatural powers and one well aged witch. I stole a glance behind me to see Jax closing in."Faster!" I yelled to myself.I turned my attention forward and almost ran into Ava. She sent a spell that would have connected with my head had I not ducked out of the way in time. With the flick of my wrist I threw my magic at her and sent her to her knees. I spun around to face my attackers just as Jax had closed in on me. There was no time to think. His concrete hard fist was coming at me.I blocked one hit, now two, and sent him flying back with one swift kick to the sternum. I stepped quickly to the side to avoid the hit coming at my head from the left. This time from Liam."He sure got over his idea of taking it easy on me." I quietly noted.I blocked his hit and before I
Saraid all but ran from the room and up the stairs with Liam following closely behind, both afraid of letting go of eachothers hands. Once they reached the top of the huge staircase Saraid turned and jumped into Liam's arms, straddling his waist and locked her lips on to his. He carried her to their room, never breaking the kiss. With one arm around his neck, Saraid reached behind herself and turned the knob and pushed open the door to their room. Liam kicked it closed, and fumbled with the lock before crossing the room and tossing Saraid on the bed, pulling a slight giggle from her as she bounced from the impact on the mattress. She sat up and immediately began to pull on the button of Liam's pants, quickly pulling them from his body as her unbridled need for him grew stronger. He kicked his shoes and pants off simultaneously. Her hands hungrily tore at his shirt until it joined the rest of his clothes on the floor and she pulled him down on the bed so she could climb atop his waist
Every eye in the room was trained on Liam as they waited anxiously to see if Treasa's magic was the key to recovering Liam's memories. Saraid dropped to her knees in front of Liam and rubbed Treasa's hair back from her sleeping face. Her heart was pounding against her rib cage as she saw the familiar red barbed wire like mark glow slighty before fading back to its usual dull red appearance. "Liam?" His eyes shifted between Saraid and the sleeping child in his lap, "When did we get back home?" Saraid plopped herself down on her butt and began to laugh hysterically. She didn't find anything about the situation particularly amusing and deep down she felt relieved. She didn't realize that he wouldn't have any recollection of everything that had happened in the past few months. The last time Liam remembered her, they were at the cabin and he was chained to a tree by Graten. How was she going to explain the twisted chain of events that led to her now being bound to Graten as well? Would
An awkward silence befell Saraid and Damon as they sat and discussed the peculiar predicament, they found themselves in. Treasa returned in no time and sat on the floor between them with her arms full of her favorite toys.“Where’s Daddy? I have his favorite dollies so he can play too,” she asked Saraid, her innocent face scrunched up in a sign of confusion.Saraid fought back the tears threatening to fall all over again as she brushed her sweet angels bangs from her face, “Daddy is out helping the Guardians with some important training so it’s just you, me, and Grandpa this time.”Treasa’s smile failed and was replaced with a frown of disappointment, but only for a second. She looked into Saraid’s eyes and asked, “Daddy’s sick, isn’t he?”“What makes you ask that,” Damon interjects.“Because Daddy is not Daddy. When Daddy is Daddy, he always plays with me,” she lifts her chin and challenges Damon to say otherwise.Saraid grabs Treasa under her arms and lifts her, so she sits on her l
“I can’t do this anymore! What was the point of all this if I was just going to keep losing him,” Saraid silently asked herself? She stormed through the mansion, throwing everything she could lift in her anger. She now had the last person responsible for taking Liam away from her and she wanted nothing more than to still her beating heart, but she couldn’t, not yet.A glint of silver caught the corner of her eye, tucked away in the corner atop a small wooden table. It was a picture of her and Liam the day they first sat upon the throne. She felt her breathing slow as she slowly crossed the room and took the picture into her hands. They looked so happy and so in love as they gazed into one another’s eyes. The memory of that day sent a small stream of warm tears down her cheek.“I am yours and you are mine forever,” she whispered through her tears.Her life with Liam seemed to move through her mind like a slow-motion movie. All the good and all the bad, and all the things designed to te
“Jaxson Claiborne, you better call me back! I’ve left you message after message. It’s not like you to ignore me!” Wendy screamed into the phone right before she smashed her finger down on the end call button.Chase reached for her and immediately halted her pacing. He had a random burst of energy and found himself feeling close to normal. He wasn’t sure what happened, but he knew it had something to do with Saraid. Knowing she’s alive made them that much more determined to get in touch with Jax so they could go find her.“Wendy, Jax is bound to Saraid just as I am. Chances are he was hunkered down somewhere too weak to do anything,” Chase tried his best to comfort her.“It is likely that his battery died too,” Damon added.She began pacing again, wearing a spot in the floor, “Jax is always prepared for everything. He would not be caught without a charger or some way to get in touch with us. I’m telling you; something is wrong!”A high-pitched wail drew their attention away from the co
The night air was crisp and added to his misery as he sat up from the dampened ground. Questions plagued his thoughts. How did he get here? Where is he? His eyes darted back and forth, taking in his surroundings. He was protected from the elements by what appeared to be a makeshift shelter of some sort. Every wall was comprised of twigs, moss, and mud. Whoever built this place must live here, but where is here and who lives here?A faint sound of feminine humming drifted in through the missing entryway. He noticed his legs were stiff and hard to move as if he hadn’t moved in days. It also caught his attention that his clothes had been changed because he now wore clothes that he didn’t recognize. A small grunt escaped him as he moved to follow the humming coming from outside.Surrounded by trees along the bank of a river sat the silhouette of a female moving something around in the water. Careful not to startle her, he carefully walked in her direction, his guard up so he wouldn’t be c
Graten had flipped every piece of the furniture in the mansion, feeling slightly defeated when he failed to find her there. He was sure that she had vanished into Purgatory, but she would be here at the mansion, right? He won’t rest until he finds her.“Come on Saraid, where are you?” he asks the empty room.Maybe she’s not even here. She could have just vanished to get away from me. Or maybe when she wound up here, she decided to go out to look for me.“Hmph, Fat chance,” he mocked himself but decided that seeing if she was at his place was better than doing nothing.He jogged through the mansion until he found himself seated on his motorcycle. The turn of the key left an echo like thunder in his wake as he went barreling down the old dirt road in the direction of his brewery. If nothing else maybe, he will run into her along the way.As the brewery came into sight, he noticed a familiar car in the lot. He couldn’t place where he had seen it before, but his gut told him that it was S
The room looked like hers, only everything was grey and void of any color. The last thing she remembered was crying herself to sleep and then there was a glimpse of Graten and now she was here. Here she assumed is Purgatory. She needed to get home, but she could barely keep herself standing so her chances of calling magic was slim to none. She sat up on the bed and tried to call upon her magic and felt nothing in return. It was just as she thought. Her magic was depleted and that meant that Chase, Guin, and Jax were suffering as well.“I’m such a selfish asshole!” she cursed to no one in particular.How could she have let herself get this weak knowing that she had other people’s lives tied to her own? She couldn’t even remember the last time she saw anyone outside of the mansion. Anxiety seemed to give her enough strength to get to her feet and begin her search for the only person who could help her.“He’s gotta be here somewhere,” she grunted to herself and she stumbled through the b
The echoes of protests and shouts reverberated through the walls of the stone mansion, the subjects of the coven hammered Damon and Wendy with questions regarding the whereabouts of their Queen. They shared a look of understanding as they approached the angry crowd. How were they going to explain something that they themselves didn’t know the answer to?“I understand your frustrations and your confusion. The Queen has been extremely busy handling a few pressing matters in which we cannot disclose. I assure you that she is alive and well and you will see that as soon as she is able to make an appearance,” Damon spoke as calmly as he could to the now quieted crowd.“We’re just supposed to take your word for it?” a man stepped to the front of the crowd.Damon smiled, “Your skepticism is understood, but yes at this time I ask you to take my word for it. If something had happened to my child, do you think I would be standing here in front of you trying to make peace instead of avenging her