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
Hi everyone! I apologize for this chapter running a few days behind. I got a little sick, and had to spend a few of my days not doing anything. We're back up, and full speed ahead though, and I look forward to you running through this journey with Aspen. Much, much more to come!
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 30 - NightmareWhite hands were reaching for me through the darkness, as I ran down a long hallway. The sickening smell of death followed me, and I gagged as I tried to move as quickly as I could away from the beast. My foot caught on an uneven stone, and I stumbled and fell to the floor, landing hard on my side. I scrambled to get back up and keep moving, but was not quick enough, as thin bony fingers wrapped themselves around my ankle and dug sharp claws into the soft skin.“We found you.” The voice high pitched, and blood curling. As a monstrous face with white eyes appeared from the darkness behind me. I screamed, and clawed on the stone underneath me, but it was no use as it began to drag me towards its lithe figure. Opening its wide mouth into a guttural laugh; sharp teeth gnashing together in victory. My heart was beating fast as I fought to get away; reaching to pull on the gnarled fingers, but they had too tight of a grip arou
Chapter 31 - BareMoira burst into my room carrying a large pile of cloth that seemed to be in every color and style. Her face wash flushed as if she had been sprinting through the castle, as she struggled under the weight of the fabric in her arms.“We have four hours to get you ready for dinner. That’s not nearly enough time.” She huffed at me, and threw the pile over the large couch in front of the fire place. I rolled my eyes, and reached out to rub a particularly ugly green colored fabric between my fingers.“I don’t feel the need to impress the king.” I replied more sharply than intended. It was the truth though; forget his rules of formal clothing, I would much rather stir his pot than entertain his ideas. Moira glared back at me; obviously in no mood to deal with my black cloud.“Remember that that we need-“ Moira started.“We need to keep up our front, ye
Chapter 32 - GamesDevin took a step towards his brother; his hand outstretched as if he could reach him from where we were standing. His face was set in stone, but I could see his eyes as they flashed between fear and anger as he looked in at his little brother bleeding from the wall he was chained to. I remained still as I watched; my entire body unwilling to move towards the revolting scene, as I my heart pounded audibly in my chest.“You’re close enough son.” A voice rang out from the back of the dining room, and we both whipped around to look at the person speaking. The king stood at the large wooden doors at the front of the dining room, a large inhumane smile plastered across his fat features. He was holding what looked to be a large syringe, full of a silver-colored liquid, and was looking at Devin with a humorous glint in his wicked eyes. The king was enjoying this, watching his sons suffer under his hand; his twisted mind
Chapter 33 - RunA loud bang erupted through the dining room, and the eye contact between the king and I was broken as we turned to see that Devin had slammed his fists into the table. Dark red wine spilled over the bare wood as the glass chalices toppled over. One rolled to the end of the table, smashing to ground, sending crystal shards spraying in all directions against the gold flecked marble floor.“I AM NOT A WOLF!” Devin snarled, and kicked his chair away from him, sending it flying back into one of the awaiting guards who managed to catch it with a loud grunt. He lifted his arm to point a shaking finger towards me, his blue and brown eyes flashing in anger. “She, is not my mate. She’s barely-“ Devin’s words were lost when a loud hiss sounded at the front of the room. We all turned our heads just in time to see a bright white light encase the entire dining area, followed by a loud earth-shattering boom.&nbs
Chapter 34- RoyalThe road was uneven and pitted, causing us to ricochet around the little black car as we flew down the long dirt road through the thick and deepening woods. We had one mile to go before we crested the border of Ben Avon’s territory, and we all held our breaths as the reality of escape sat just barely from our fingertips.I was gripping the leather seat of the car so tightly that my knuckles were beginning to turn white, and I didn’t know if it was because of Simons reckless driving, or the fear that I would be dragged back into that castle kicking and screaming all the way to the cave of the children. A shiver ran up my spine as my thoughts began to fill with milky eyes, and stretched skin.“We’re going to the Gold Moon pack.” Simon’s voice cut through the silence, pulling me from my thoughts, and breaking the tension that sat thick in the air. I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me behind
Chapter 35 - WolfEverything moved in slow motion as Keagan began to open his eyes. Simon slammed the brakes on the car, swerving us to the right of the highway, and coming to a dead stop on the side of the road. The sudden deceleration causing me to jerk backwards into the car seat, as the tires screeched across the slick blacktop.Moira’s door flew open and she jumped from the car, moving herself as far from the wolf as possible, as Simon ripped himself out from the driver’s seat. Leaving the driver’s door open as he scrambled from the car and into the cool night air.I stayed where I was though, frozen in time, as I watched the drowsiness visibly clear from Keagan’s mind. His molten gold eyes sharpening as he began to realize that he was not only far from home, but now surrounded by strangers.I didn’t have enough time to react as those liquid eyes slid to me, and he let out a low and dangerous gr
Chapter 36 - Cousins “Come on Moira, he’s not going to bite.” I teased the little mousy girl who stood huddled behind the trunk of a large tree a few feet away from me. She squinted her big brown eyes, glaring daggers at me from behind a couple sap-soaked leaves that were dangling in front of her face. “It’s not the teeth I’m worried about, it’s the claws.” She shuttered being over dramatic, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her antics. “He’s your family, he’s not going to hurt you. Look, he’s already carrying on with Simon, and we both know how impenetrable that man can be.” I nodded my head in the direction of the guys, and Moira shifted to look over at them. Her eyes going quickly going wide before she let out a small terrified squeal, and ducked back behind the tree. “He looked at me!” She squeaked at me, and I threw my hands up in the air, exasperated. “That’s enough, let’s go.” I reached ou
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