I caught the Queen’s scent and turned my head towards the hall. The King was yelling at me but I ignored him as I started running down the hall towards the Queen. By the time Florin and his warriors reached her office I had her in front of me, my hand around her throat.“Wynter … what are you doing?” Florin had his hands up in front of him, pleading with his eyes for me to let her go.“We’re going to have a little talk, you, me and the Queen. Your warriors need to step out or I snap her neck right now.”He nodded his head and the three warriors backed away from us, out the door and stood watching me with careful eyes from the hallway. I didn’t want them gone, they needed to hear this as well. Sorin’s face appeared and Florin seemed to exhale in relief.“Hello Sorin, nice of you to join us.”“Wynter, what’s going on?” He knew exactly what was going on but it wasn’t like I’d had time to warn him.“This is madness Sorin! He needs to let her go and explain why he killed my daughter!” The
Anger had swirled through Ryder for weeks after leaving Mintia and Wynter behind. Milo and Abigail had been quiet in the backseat and Shae had cried all the way to Bucharest. Nova hadn’t said a word yet but Ryder knew well that she would.Two days later Ryder stood on his porch and Nova finally let loose. He could see swirls of silver in her eyes as she sat down on the porch swing and he finally joined her after minutes of silence.“I love you Ryder but sometimes I don’t know who you are.”“You know exactly who I am. I never hid anything from you.”Nova sighed as she turned to look at her husband. “What you did was inexcusable.”“He put her life in danger!”“Don’t raise your voice at me.”“I’m not … I’m sorry. What else was I supposed to do? He touched my daughter! His filthy hands pawed at her, he slapped her and …”“And he didn’t get very far. Wynter killed him for touching her. He did what you expected of him, what Typhon expected of him.”“It doesn’t matter, he stood in this house
The days passed agonizingly slow and eventually turned into weeks as he investigated Wynter’s death. He’d flown to Romania three days after the bond had snapped, spoken to Ivan himself, sat in his chambers and he couldn’t find anything. He had never been in Wynter’s room before but even then he couldn’t get a sense of what had happened.The Elders had taken it hard refusing to let Wynter be replaced. Ryder had looked at the photo of Luciana on Wynter’s office desk, listened to Ivan’s stories about how much Wynter had loved her, how perfect they were for each other.“He wasn’t in the right frame of mind Sire.” Ivan’s eyes were still red rimmed even after weeks.“I lost my bonded half Ivan. I know what he must’ve felt. At least I had both my children to live for.”“We found his car three days after his death, abandoned in Bucharest. We don’t know where he went when he got there or if he ever arrived in Bucharest. There were no hotel bookings and no flight bookings either.”“Thank you fo
Riley and I had driven the six hours to Bucharest and booked into a hotel. Our flight back to the States left the following morning. I lay in bed and thought about my next move and where I should go with her. I was about to close my eyes when I felt the pull of the dragon realm.“Wynter Grey.”“I’m at your service Lord Typhon.” I bowed my head respectfully as Typhon inhaled sharply and I looked up at him.“I can grant you one desire in this life, you have saved the realms of dragon although I cannot give you the life you seek but I can grant you one wish.”“If I can’t have Luciana back then I wish for all my bonds to sever so I can live in peace.”“It is done Wynter Grey.”I woke up with the sharp pain of my familial bonds snapping, the blood oaths I’d taken snapped all at once and I gripped the sheets beneath my hands as pain seared through my soul. The pain lasted for hours and not once did I stop to think that my family now thought me dead.I felt better when I woke up in the morni
The double date with Billy wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We met them at a restaurant in Centralia and I was mildly surprised. The décor was comfortable, the menu a feast for my eyes and the setting was perfect.We looked out over the park and ordered drinks as we waited for Billy’s date and her friend to arrive. Billy had a huge grin on his face and I couldn’t help but smile as the door chimed open and I looked up at the two women that scanned the restaurant.One had a wild mane of red hair and she wore a skin tight dress that revealed every curve on her body. The other woman had light brown hair and she was dressed more conservatively than the redhead. Billy stood up and the redhead smiled and kissed him with tongue.I stood up and faced the other woman that tried not to look at them. “Hi, I’m Ethan.”“Hi, Margot.” We shook hands and I pulled out the empty chair next to mine for her. “Thank you.”They ordered their drinks and I felt slightly nervous. Margot wasn’t at all wh
Margot and I got together every weekend, sometimes at her house and sometimes at mine. The crew had met her and they all liked her and she became part of our circle without any effort. Our kids played together and we’d sneak off to some corner and a few times we really had to act quickly.We had rules for this friends with benefits situation that we found ourselves in. Weekends we were together, sometimes sleeping over but during the week we focused on our jobs and our kids. We weren’t dating other people and we weren’t dating each other either, not really.I had turned twenty-six and Christmas was around the corner. Every year we had Christmas together at my house with Chandra, Lauren, Billy and Joey. We exchanged gifts, ate our fill and drank wine. It was usually a peaceful day but this year we’d include Margot and her son, Robbie.It was Saturday afternoon and I lay on Margot’s couch and watched some movie portraying the life of Vikings. The violence didn’t bother me but Margot loo
A week went by and I felt bad for Margot but had to give her points for not even sending me a text. I missed her but I also couldn’t give her more. She wouldn’t understand my predicament because wolves could bond with humans.It was Friday night and I’d just put Riley in bed and read five stories before she finally fell asleep. There was something different in the air and I felt that dreaded feeling creep back into my soul. My phone rang on the kitchen counter and I answered Chandra’s call just in time.“Hey.”“Why are you out of breath? Did I catch you in the shower?” Chandra laughed as I chuckled.“I was upstairs, phone downstairs. What do you want?”“Someone’s not getting any.” Lauren laughed from behind her and I smiled at her straight forwardness. She could be lucky that I loved her. “I wanted to invite you over for dessert and introduce you to my friend that’s visiting for a few weeks. She’s fae too and might just give you a whole new fantasy for the shower.”I laughed out loud
I pulled open the front door just as Chandra reached to open it. She narrowed her eyes at me and in that moment it didn’t bother me. I was the old Wynter now, the one that never got hurt. I walked past her to the sidewalk and grabbed the dustbin that I hadn’t brought in from the street the previous day.“You are full of secrets Wynter Grey.”“I take it she told you.”Chandra and I stood in the driveway, facing each other, knowing she’d ask but not sure if I’d answer. “You could have confided in me, you know.”“What would’ve been the point?”“Why did you want them to think you were dead?” Her eyes searched mine but found nothing and that both shocked and scared Chandra.“I didn’t. I changed my name to get away from Romania and everything that was expected of me there. I didn’t know they thought I was dead.”“And Alexis? You love her right?”“Loved. I don’t anymore.” I didn’t want to have this conversation with her but the truth was, she was my best friend and she deserved answers to he
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