I must have somehow missed Shae’s scent, probably smothered out by the scents of the vampires around her. His chambers were located on the ground floor in the corner opposite the basement. The ten wolves followed me up the stairs and the tingling feeling spreading from my scalp down my back had me turning around to them.“Open the gates. Now.”They dispersed and I could feel Abeloth reaching out to Echo. They were close but I had no time to think about how they’d gotten here so quickly. It was just past two am meaning they’d had to leave minutes after I’d left.I could feel their presence but I had no choice but to go forward and find Shae. My cover was blown in any way but Marcel had underestimated me, I’d already killed almost thirty of his men in the space of an hour.I encountered five more vampires and one managed to swipe across my throat as we fought and I broke his neck before ripping his throat out. My wound closed as I held my breath and the blood dried as I ran shoulder fir
Twenty-four hours later we were back in Chehalis and I opened my front door to the welcoming sight of our family wiping happy tears from their faces and welcoming us home.The last day had been busy, filling in reports for Clark, giving them all the information that I had and listening to how Ryder had found me. He’d sent Shae back to Mexico with the rest of the men. He, Maxim and Milo had stayed behind saying they were going to look for me.Sorin wasn’t happy and neither was Clark but they relented because they also had other duties to oversee. Ryder had pulled charred wood and debris from the living room and found the trap door. He’d led them down the tunnel and into the vents.Ryder hadn’t told our family about what I’d done and it didn’t matter now, we were all safe and back home. Chandra and Lauren reached me first, kissing my cheeks and hugging me tighter than I’ve ever been hugged in my life.Riley was in my arms and I didn’t want to let go of her and soon Hunter was on the oth
For days afterwards I couldn’t look Lauren or Chandra in the eye and Ally seemed to notice that something had happened. It took her three days to corner me, three days of her sleeping in my bed and my mind working overtime.“Are you sleeping with them?”“No.”Her eyes held a hint of sadness as she looked at me. “But you want to.”“What does it even matter if I want to or not?”“Because I wake up every morning with your erection pressed against my ass.”I sighed and briefly closed my eyes. “If it bothers you so much go sleep in the guest room. We’re not a thing Ally.”“Not yet.” Determination were steeled in her eyes and I had no clue what she actually wanted.My days were swamped with requests since news had spread that I wasn’t dead. Ivan was the first to call me and I could hear the emotions in his voice as he yelled at me for being alive while I laughed. Our conversation about Mintia wasn’t a good one.Milo fell into step next to me every morning as I jogged through Chehalis and so
Watching Hunter and Ally leave my house hurt so much that I almost couldn’t stand it. She’d been gone for two weeks and I felt that void in my house, in my heart and in my soul. Riley was sad, she missed them both.Ryder sat across from me on the couch and I couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. “What the hell are you doing?”“I spoke to a lawyer. If I push this I’ll have to prove paternity, get a court order to have my name put on his birth certificate then I’ll have more rights to him. Joel says she was being generous with the school holidays.”“You’re going to go the legal route?”“What else am I supposed to do? I have a right to have him in my life, in my house!”“You are stupider than I thought. She loves you Wynter and all you had to do was love her back!” Ryder’s voice was angry but it didn’t match the anger that I felt.“She’s marrying someone else! She doesn’t love me Dad, maybe she did a long time ago because if she did she wouldn’t have left me!”“She left because you k
I woke up to Echo roaring furiously in my head. I could feel danger all around me. “Wynter! You have to get Milo and run!” My mother’s voice was anxious but also steadfast. I peered into her bright eyes and sat up straight.There was smoke and fire, shouting, gun shots and screams. She picked me up from bed and I could feel her big stomach under my legs as she ran down the stairs just as Uncle Felix burst through the kitchen door.“Megan, you need to get the kids to safety.” Felix’s voice was loud over the din as he yelled at her.She ignored him and moved to the porch as she lowered me to the wooden flooring below and I stood in front of her. “I love you Wynter, but now you have to run.” Her voice was laced with urgency as she hugged me tightly and kissed the top of my head.I nodded my head as Echo separated from me and Felix picked me up and placed me on Echo’s back. I felt Milo behind me as Felix hugged him once and pushed him right up against me and his arms came around my waist.
Milo drove and I slept in the truck as we tackled the twelve hours back to Hartwell. We hadn’t been home in more than three years because we rarely had a day to ourselves before another assignment came through.We had taken two days to pack up the furnished apartment, cancel our lease and we left at five am with the two bikes on a trailer and headed back to Georgia and the unknown. Ryder, of course, was happy that we were finally coming home.“Death for treason.” I opened my eyes and looked over at Milo.“Clark’s not an idiot Milo. What he didn’t say was that now the Supreme Councils will handle the assignments which means that they decide who’s taken out. There’s nothing stopping them from keeping certain people alive. The Unit wasn’t monitored and we did our own investigations to determine guilt. That’s not going to happen anymore.”“Greed and manipulation is the order of the day once again.”“Which was why the Unit was started in the first place, to eliminate all the manipulation a
It was six am when Milo and I returned to the farm from our twelve mile jog. We had discarded our shirts by mile 5 as we ran straight through Hartwell. We rounded the house and found Ryder on the porch, arms crossed over his chest, clearly waiting for us.“Oh shit, you’re dead.” Milo’s voice came from behind me as I stood with my hands on my hips trying to catch my breath.“You think I wouldn’t notice? You think I’m that stupid that I wouldn’t know what you and Alexis did?” Ryder’s glared cut straight through me.“Dad, I can explain.” Who was I kidding? I couldn’t explain what had happened between us.“Yeah please do. Tell me about you picked Alexis up from a party drunk and then waited for us to go to sleep before bringing her home.”Milo clutched his chest over his heart as he breathed out. “Oh thank the gods.”“Shut the hell up.” My whisper was harsh, even to my own ears.Ryder fixed his gaze on Milo and I could see the lingering question in his eyes. “Thank the gods what Milo?”“N
“Let’s go.” Milo ruffled my hair and I swatted his hand away.“Piss off.”“Come on, we haven’t seen the three W’s in three years.” Milo’s face was inches from mine as he leaned over the couch.“You just want to get laid.” I looked at the grin on his face.“So? You need someone that doesn’t pass out on you.” He ducked his head as my fist aimed for his head.“Low blow asshole.” He chuckled as a smile finally appeared on my face and I knew he was right. We both needed to get out.Half an hour later we parked our bikes in front of G’s. Warner, Wilson and Winston were three brothers who had bought the dilapidated piece of land straight out of high school and opened a bar. They worked the bar themselves and named it G’s, short for their surname Gates.It was off a beaten down dirt road, basically in the middle of nowhere and the best place to hang out. They didn’t check ID’s since Warner bought it when he was eighteen and the liquor license was in their father’s name.I pulled out a chair f
Watching Hunter and Ally leave my house hurt so much that I almost couldn’t stand it. She’d been gone for two weeks and I felt that void in my house, in my heart and in my soul. Riley was sad, she missed them both.Ryder sat across from me on the couch and I couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. “What the hell are you doing?”“I spoke to a lawyer. If I push this I’ll have to prove paternity, get a court order to have my name put on his birth certificate then I’ll have more rights to him. Joel says she was being generous with the school holidays.”“You’re going to go the legal route?”“What else am I supposed to do? I have a right to have him in my life, in my house!”“You are stupider than I thought. She loves you Wynter and all you had to do was love her back!” Ryder’s voice was angry but it didn’t match the anger that I felt.“She’s marrying someone else! She doesn’t love me Dad, maybe she did a long time ago because if she did she wouldn’t have left me!”“She left because you k
For days afterwards I couldn’t look Lauren or Chandra in the eye and Ally seemed to notice that something had happened. It took her three days to corner me, three days of her sleeping in my bed and my mind working overtime.“Are you sleeping with them?”“No.”Her eyes held a hint of sadness as she looked at me. “But you want to.”“What does it even matter if I want to or not?”“Because I wake up every morning with your erection pressed against my ass.”I sighed and briefly closed my eyes. “If it bothers you so much go sleep in the guest room. We’re not a thing Ally.”“Not yet.” Determination were steeled in her eyes and I had no clue what she actually wanted.My days were swamped with requests since news had spread that I wasn’t dead. Ivan was the first to call me and I could hear the emotions in his voice as he yelled at me for being alive while I laughed. Our conversation about Mintia wasn’t a good one.Milo fell into step next to me every morning as I jogged through Chehalis and so
Twenty-four hours later we were back in Chehalis and I opened my front door to the welcoming sight of our family wiping happy tears from their faces and welcoming us home.The last day had been busy, filling in reports for Clark, giving them all the information that I had and listening to how Ryder had found me. He’d sent Shae back to Mexico with the rest of the men. He, Maxim and Milo had stayed behind saying they were going to look for me.Sorin wasn’t happy and neither was Clark but they relented because they also had other duties to oversee. Ryder had pulled charred wood and debris from the living room and found the trap door. He’d led them down the tunnel and into the vents.Ryder hadn’t told our family about what I’d done and it didn’t matter now, we were all safe and back home. Chandra and Lauren reached me first, kissing my cheeks and hugging me tighter than I’ve ever been hugged in my life.Riley was in my arms and I didn’t want to let go of her and soon Hunter was on the oth
I must have somehow missed Shae’s scent, probably smothered out by the scents of the vampires around her. His chambers were located on the ground floor in the corner opposite the basement. The ten wolves followed me up the stairs and the tingling feeling spreading from my scalp down my back had me turning around to them.“Open the gates. Now.”They dispersed and I could feel Abeloth reaching out to Echo. They were close but I had no time to think about how they’d gotten here so quickly. It was just past two am meaning they’d had to leave minutes after I’d left.I could feel their presence but I had no choice but to go forward and find Shae. My cover was blown in any way but Marcel had underestimated me, I’d already killed almost thirty of his men in the space of an hour.I encountered five more vampires and one managed to swipe across my throat as we fought and I broke his neck before ripping his throat out. My wound closed as I held my breath and the blood dried as I ran shoulder fir
I frowned at Ryder as the pilot of the private jet announced our destination. We were heading to Mexico, hours from Guatemala. He ignored my not so subtle looks and each time I tried to get him alone, he busied himself with Maxim.We drove in a large convoy into the resort town of Puerto Vallarta. I sat in the back of the SUV that Ryder drove and a huge walled estate came into view. The overpowering scent of wolf caught my attention as the gates opened and Ryder drove inside.An old man stood by the bottom of the steps, a younger man’s arm under his elbow. “Ryder Grey! You are a sight for sore eyes my old friend!”“Gideon, it’s good to see you!”“You remember my son, Phillipe.”Ryder and the old man hugged briefly and he shook hands with the younger man, who was also smiling. Wolves and vampires eyed each other and Maxim climbed out when I did. The old man regarded me with a smile on his face even though I didn’t smile back.“Ah you brought the Dragon Slayer with you.” Gideon regarded
Six hours later, Maxim and I walked through the front door of my house where Ryder paced up and down speaking on the phone. “I want the spell lifted Marlo! And let me know the moment you have a location on her.”“Dad, what happened?”Ryder turned to look at me as fury swirled in his eyes. “She’s gone Wynter, that’s what happened. Disappeared from her bed in the dead of night. Chandra’s shield was broken and we found Milo outside near the river with a broken neck.”“She’s gone?” Maxim had paled and his bag fell to the floor.“You brought their King here?”“Dad, we know who has her. Marcel took her …”“We need people, trackers, warriors, hackers. He’ll have her out of the country before nightfall.”“My men are an hour behind us. I have all of that. Marcel was banished to Guatemala, he’ll have a stronghold there. This is an open declaration of war and it won’t go unpunished. Wynter do you still have contacts inside the Unit?”“Yes. I’ll call Clark, he can gather intelligence for us.”“I’
Days went by with nothing out of the ordinary, except that Ally had gone back to sleep at Chandra’s house but Hunter had opted to stay with me. That day had cemented our relationship, when he thought he’d lose me and I thought I’d lose him.I hardly slept those first few nights but sat on the couch and watched Hunter sleep on the sofa bed. His dragon hadn’t separated from him yet but then again he was only four and mine had appeared when I was five.His dragon was the same shade as mine and Riley’s was the same as Ryder’s. I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing so I made my move and left in the dead of night while Milo ran the perimeter and the house was asleep.I left a note with instructions and even though the bonds had flamed back to life when Ryder had hugged me that first day, I knew they wouldn’t follow me. They had to take care of everyone here while I went and did what I did best.I boarded a plane twenty minutes later, having timed it perfectly beforehand. The flight was ab
Ally made herself comfortable in my house, like really comfortable. I didn’t talk to her about sleeping next to me since Echo said there really wasn’t anywhere else for her to sleep and he ignored me when I pointedly looked at the other couch.Milo went with me on the weekly grocery run and it felt like old times again. Milo and I hadn’t talked about that fight and I wasn’t going to bring it up either. We’d both suffered enough and there was no reason to relive the past.“Put that back.” I glared at Milo as he held the offending object in his hand.“You don’t have one, therefor you need one.”“I don’t need a purple apron.”“Well maybe since you knocked up my sister, she can wear it.”“You knocked up my sister too Milo.”“True.” He grinned at me and placed the apron in the trolley as I shook my head and walked away from him.We finished our shopping and loaded everything into the SUV as Milo kept glancing at me. I ignored his looks all the way to the house as I parked and started unloa
Ally remained in the living room as Riley took Nova, Shae and Abby upstairs to the guest rooms while Milo and Ryder got their luggage from the car. Ally looked around nervously before standing up and sitting down next to me.“We have to talk Wynter, alone. Can you come over to Chandra’s house a bit later?”“I’m sorry I kissed you, it shouldn’t have happened.”“Wynter … please.”She left again as quickly as she had sat down and was out of the front door. It could only be about that kiss, we really had nothing else to talk about and I knew that she’d felt that bond groping for us just as strongly as I had.“Wynter, you really don’t have to give up your room for us. We can go stay in a hotel.” Ryder still had the luggage in his hands and I looked up from the couch.“Not a chance. I’ll be fine down here.” I took a suitcase from him and headed up the stairs to my bedroom where he and Nova would sleep.I put the suitcase down and took some clothes from the walk-in cupboard and found Ryder l