Chapter 21 - History
Devin woke me up in the late afternoon, when the sun was starting to sink into the bright rolling clouds. The sky was turning colors, bright pinks, reds, and purples all melting into the light blue painted a perfect end to the day. Devin needed to meet his father for dinner, and he was going to use the opportunity to ask for a little more freedom for me. The thought of finally being allowed out of the blank walls I had been staring at for weeks had me giddy, even if I had to be escorted everywhere. Devin walked me from his room to mine, and placed a soft kiss on my forehead before shutting the door and locking it behind him. The loud metal loudly grinding into place into the lock, as he left me alone. My body was still sore from the past day’s events, and as I lifted my arms to stretch, I caught a whiff of myself and wrinkled my nose.
“Time for a much-needed shower.” I said to myself, and moved towards the small bath
Chapter 22 - Red *Prince Devin’s POV* Warm light shimmered across my body as it filtered through the dark curtains of my windows. I opened my eyes, slowly taking in the soft shadows that danced across the opposite wall. Swirling and changing colors as the sun was starting to sink lower in the sky. It was probably late in the afternoon, and I had uncharacteristically slept the entire day. I sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and looked at a clock that was ticking on the opposite wall. It was only quarter past six, so I still had a little less than an hour before I had to meet my father for dinner. I sighed, and swung my legs off the soft mattress, stretching my arms above my head before standing. I turned to pull the thick comforter back over the pillows, and a small lump caught my attention on the other side of the bed, black hair spilling out from under the blanket in long obsidian waves across the dark silk sheets. My eyes widened
Chapter 23 - Fear My heart was beating fast as Devin ripped me through the hallways, terror increasing my breathing as we took staircase after staircase down to the lower levels of the castle. He was looking straight ahead of us, the muscles of his biceps flexed tight in anger, as he held my arm in a steel grasp. I didn’t know what had changed in the hour we had been apart, and by the way he was acting, I was afraid to ask. This wasn’t the prince who had held me tightly through the morning; this was a different kind of monster. If it wasn’t for his telltale blue and brown mismatched eyes, I would think it was a completely different person who was dragging me around so carelessly. It was as if he regressed back to the prince I had originally met in the dungeons, a person full of distrust and hate, calling for my head without asking any questions first. I stumbled over my feet after a particularly quick movement around a corner, and almost fell to the gr
Chapter 24 - WhiteTime seemed to stand still as I stared back into the unblinking white eyes. My mind screamed for me to move, to get up and run as far away from this creature as possible, but my body stayed frozen in fear stuck to the cold and damp floor. If the creature could sense my alarm, it paid no mind to it, as he continued to analyze me through the darkness. It was close enough that I could feel its putrid breath fanning over me, and I could feel nausea starting to come in waves, although I didn’t know if it was from the fear or smell.“Sssilent, why are you sssilent?” The creature asked, making my eardrums scream at the sharpness of the sound. I watched as its eyes shifted to the side, as if it was tilting its head in confusion. The white eyes glowing in the darkness, just enough for me to see them, but not enough to get a good glimpse at its face. Although, I wasn’t sure I wanted to see what it actually looked lik
Chapter 25 – Secret“Shut the fucking door, Marcus! Hurry!” The person who was pulling me away from the creatures screamed, and the sound of metal grinding on stone again rang through the room. My eyes snapped open to see the beasts charging at us; stumbling over each other trying to get close enough to sink their disgusting jaws into the closest flesh they could get to. They were running on all fours, arms bending out at a devastating angle every time their knuckles hit the hard stone floor. Their mouths were open wide, long streams of black colored drool dripping from their pointed teeth, and they were screaming; an ear-piercing sound that resonated around the cave, stuck somewhere between human and beast, and so wicked that it made my skin crawl and my heart stop. Their eyes were wide and wild, the milky color adding to the brutal look of them, as they charged forward towards the murderer of their brother. I reached out with the tendrils of
Chapter 26 - Shifter“She never asked for this, any of it. The only reason she is here is because she didn’t want to be impregnated with one of those deformed creatures.” Moira’s voice was quiet, speaking in hushed and angry tones. “Now she’s getting thrown into a war she doesn’t even know about.”“What do you want me to do Moira? We can’t just smuggle her away from the kingdom. The King will destroy the village looking for his pet.” A gruff male voice said quietly, and I recognized it at Marcus.“She’s not an object.” Moira snapped at him, and grunted in anger. “We can’t just let her continue to be subjected to this abuse.” Silence enveloped to room, and I heard someone shuffle their feet across the ground nervously.“We could take her to the Gold Moon Pack.” Marcus said quietly, and I heard Moira gasp as if the mention of
Chapter 27 – Identical “You can’t think that I would actually fall for that did you Moira?” I snapped at her, and rolled my eyes. “Everyone in the kingdom knows that Devin is an only child. The king’s pride and joy.” I spat, and turned away from her, leaving Moira doe eyed behind me. I stepped back over to one of the chairs, and sunk back into the soft cushions, folding my arms over my chest as I looked at the three people in front of me. All of them looking back at me with their mouths hanging open like fish; stunned at my reaction. “I-‘m not lying!” Moira barked at me, and I raised my eyebrows at her. This day had been too eventful already to throw some mysterious brother into the mix. She wanted to protect her cousin, and I understood that, but making something up about a lost brother was bordering mental. “Alright, Moira. If you’re not lying, then where is he?” I asked with a half-smile on my face, enjoying watching her squirm. She looked a
Chapter 28 - Threader “You want to kill the king?” I felt my heart come to a stop in my chest as I watched Simon slowly nod his head at me as if he was explaining it to a child. I looked between Marcus and Moira, looking for some reasoning in the nonsense, but both had a determined glint in their eyes as if there were no other options. “Are you all insane?!” I all but squeaked out, as my voice had gotten so high it was barely there anymore. Droplets of sweat were starting to slide down my forehead, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the heat of the spewing fire, or the consistent rollercoaster of my emotions. “We’re not insane Aspen. You’ve seen what he is capable of.” Moira said stiffly, and Marcus nodded his head to agree with her; both of their faces grim with solid understanding. “Did you already forget about the law that sent you here in the first place?” Nausea turned my stomach at the thought of the fate that I just had just ba
Chapter 29 – Again Moira and I slid silently through the halls of the castle. Listening intently for any sudden noises or footsteps, and moving as quickly as we could without being spotted. The sun was just starting to set, and deep orange light was cascading thick shadows over the stone. We were moving back towards the cave of the lost children, and even though it was late enough that most of the staff had gone home for the night; there were still many guards milling about the castle. They had kept me in the hidden infirmary room for the twenty-four hours I was supposed to be with the children, as we prepared a plan. It wasn’t anywhere near perfect, or really a good plan at all, but it was all we could do with the little information that we had. It consisted of very few, but precise steps that could either save the entire kingdom or get all of us slaughtered. Either way we wouldn’t have to see what was to come, and I was beginning to accept eith
Chapter 56“Witches have been gone for over a hundred years Fern.” Terran spoke first, breaking the tension in the silent room. “They were killed in the wars so many years ago.”“How did they obtain their magic Terran?” My mother challenged, “I know you have some history books in this den of yours.” Terran let out an annoyed growl at her, and shook his head like a dog shaking water out of his fur. The action almost funny if it wasn’t for the seriousness of the situation.“They were normal humans that were gifted magic by the moon. From what I understand, there was no rhyme or reason to it, and sometimes it wasn’t even passed through bloodlines if the child was deemed unworthy.” Callum said, cocking his head to the side in thought.“This is nonsense.” I added, looking between the three of them. “I’ve never done a damn witchy thing in my life. What do witches even do anyway, cast curses at people who glare at them?” I waggled my fingers at Callum, and he jumped back as if I was throwing
Chapter 55 I let out a war cry as I lunged for the women standing in the entryway of the Alpha’s office. Throwing my earth magic out in a quick blast around me, I formed deep trenches between everyone else in the room and the devil I set my sites on. No one was going to get in my way. I heard someone yelling my name, but let it skitter through my brain as I closed in on the brunette. Fingers flying out and wrapping tightly around her thin neck, before slamming her against the wall. She was taller than I was, but I pressed into her just the same, forcing her into the plaster hard enough to send pieces scattering in our wake. It was almost surprising that I didn’t push both of us through the wall with the sheer force I hit her with. I tightened my hand in a bruising grip around her soft skin, snarling like a beast close to her face. Sparks were flying around my fingertips, dancing against the milky color of her neck and I held back the urge to fry her completely. “How dare you.” The
Chapter 54 The Alpha called an emergency meeting with all of us, as well as his closest and most trusted wolves. We met in the safe conference room as the day before, and I tried my best not to think about how Simon and I had defiled was seemed like almost every inch of this room. The thoughts still circling my mind even as the Alpha, and his two men pinned us with fierce glares from across the table. “Do they have any weaknesses? Did they give you a timeline to when they would be here? How many are there?” Terran shot in rapid fire at me, and I tried to answer to the best of my ability, but to be honest, I knew little about the Children except for the short time in their cave, and the couple of visits they so graciously paid me. “Iron is a weakness, just like all Faerie.” I started, and thought about the chilling time Moira had just barely saved my life from the herd of them in the cave. “I was able to kill one with my magic, but I had used ev
Chapter 53 I woke wrapped in Simons body, so entwined that I didn’t know where he started and I ended. We had ended our little encounter in the office three orgasms later, and only after Keagan had awkwardly knocked on the door and told us to find a different room. We had ended up in Simon’s room shortly after, where he tucked me tightly into his body, and we both fell asleep in an exhausted and naked heap. His breath was even and warm against the skin of my neck, as he continued to sleep. He had chosen to leave the following week to meet Marcus at the gate with the two wolves of the Gold Moon Pack, and he needed as much peace as he could get before they began tracking down Moira in the absolute pits of hell. My heart squeezed uncomfortably at the thought of him going into danger without me, the thought of losing another person in my life scratching at the back of my mind. If he failed, I not only lost him, but Marcus and Moira as well. Everything about this was absolutely fucked,
Chapter 52 “We cannot send my pack into a vampire den with absolutely no information, or even knowing if your friend is still alive at this point. I understand that she is your family Keagan, but my hands are tied right now. My top priority is protecting this pack from Ben Avon, and that has proven to be much harder than any of us anticipated.” Terran said firmly, but not without sympathy. We had been at the Gold Moon pack for a week now; gathering strength and speaking to the Alpha about our plans for rescuing our sweet Moira from Alaric and his Night Walker clan. It had been a whirlwind of meetings, greeting the pack members, and finding time to curl up in one of the very large beds that Terran had offered to each of us in his personal home. Everything had come to a head when Marcus was able to get past Devin and Ben Avons’ defenses to send word that he had located the den of the vampires, and was going to begin preparations to move that way. Knowing that he would be going alone
Chapter 51 “Aspen.” His voice was rough, husky. The deep tones scraping against my head like a metal rake. Goosebumps chasing the magic that was wrapping and warping itself around my arms; rearing its head in protection against the monster in front of me. My fight or flight kicked in, and I began to struggle furiously against his arms that were holding me tight to his chest. I could hear my name being screamed repeatedly from behind me, but it was a dull noise as I struggled to get away. “Aspen Stop!” Devin’s voice came out in a strangled order, as I slammed my foot into the ground, forcing my magic down my leg and into the ground. Dust flew out from under my foot, and a booming crack sounded from underneath us. Then we were falling. My entire body pitched forward, and Devin’s arms loosening from around my waist. I pushed his chest away from me, putting distance between us before landing to the ground with a hard thump. My shoulder taking the brunt of the impact, as I landed on my
Chapter 50 – The GateWe travelled in a tight group through the darkening woods; Terran’s pack spread out around us in a defensive circle. Most of their wolves choosing to stick with their fur and teeth, rather than walk on two legs next to us. The few of them that had changed stood close to Terran, surveying every move we made as we walked closely behind the Alpha. Terran had paid them no mind though, and had kept Keagan next to him, speaking in quiet hushed whispers, as if their very presence would disturb the forest itself.“The pack village is only about a mile from here. Normally it’s much faster on four legs.” Terran spared us a glance, and small tilt of his lips. “We should be there in about ten minutes.”I nodded back at him, and he turned towards Keagan, keeping on the conversation that was too quiet for my ears to pick up. “Well,” I started, and looked up towards Simon’s face; his sapphire eyes glancing quickly to mine. “We aren’t dead yet.”I had meant it as a joke, but wa
Chapter 49 – Meet the AlphaWe were surrounded before Keagan’s words had sunk in. Six wolves of varying colors, each one larger than the next one, had moved in to block any chance of escaping.“Thanks for the heads-up” Simon said under his breath. He had pushed me behind him in an effort to place himself between me and the wolves, but failing as two wolves moved in behind me.“I tried, but I was racing wolves who have been allowed to run much longer than I have.” Keagan snapped back at Simon, the irritation in his voice obvious at he back into the two of us to tighten our small circle.“Now is not the time you two.” I growled at both of them. The wolves were tightening their circle, teeth snapping and hair raised as they moved on silent paws towards us.A gray wolf with blue eyes moved in almost close enough to touch my arm, its hot breath fanning across my skin, and causing goosebumps to rise on the base flesh. I flinched back away from it, nerves fluttering through my belly, and my
Chapter 48 – Not an ApologyDarkness has come upon us quickly. We had made it to the line of the Gold Moon pack an hour before sundown, and Simon suggested we wait until morning to go an speak with the Alpha. Not wanting to agree with anything he said, I opposed, but Keagan had agreed with him. Thus, leaving me the odd man out in the decision.We walked about a mile back from line, and tucked ourselves under a thick section of pine trees that had long and spindly branches that brushed against the soft ground. It wasn’t a bed or a hot shower, but it provided some semblance of shelter and coverage from anyone who may happen to be hiking through. I had pushed myself as far from Simon as I could go, placing as much space as I could between us in the small area. Curling myself into a small ball against one of the sappy trunks, and covering myself with a sweatshirt that Keagan had pulled from his backpack. We weren’t able to light a fire, as to not attract the unwanted attention, but I co