“You’ll have to follow the star yourselves,” Nick said, leading us to a door in a wall that surrounded the courtyard. “When you discover it, you’ll find a place that is safe and warm and dry. And you’ll be able to turn it into a home—at least until the baby is born.”
He ushered us out and started to close the door. Then he stopped.
“And as a solstice gift,” he said, tapping the side of his nose, “I offer you this—no one will see you as you move through the Heights tonight. Now go. Safe journey. And perhaps we will meet again.”
He shut the door behind us, and we glanced at each other in confusion. I hadn’t seen any charms, hadn’t heard a magical spell—nothing but that tapping against his nose. And yet, as we move through the Heights, following the shining star that guided us, no one else seemed to take note of either our small company or the star we followed.
We traveled well into the night. But I knew when we’d arrived. The star stopped moving, its light shining down like a cone to illuminate one building.
It wasn’t a large building, but it had four walls and a roof. It sat on the edge of the Heights, far from anywhere else I’d been.
I didn’t know if I could retrace our steps back to the cottage.
So it looked like this is where we were going to stay.
Eileen open the door first. “Seriously? This place looks like it used to be a barn or something.”
“A stable,” Bain corrected her. “Look. These are stalls.” He moved around checking the building. “It seems sturdy enough.”
“What makes it safe?” Luke said. “It doesn’t seem to be particularly impressive in any way.”
“I don’t know, but we can at least stay here for the rest of the night,” Damon said.
At that moment, the star that had guided us through the night dropped onto the building. I felt it as it crashed into the roof—and then it disintegrated into a thousand shards of light that shot through the walls, the floor, and all around us.
“I think that was our protection,” I said. “I think we should go ahead and stay here.”
My demons murmured their agreement.
Eileen opened the door and took a step outside, then quickly came back in before the door shut. “It’s invisible from out there,” she said.
Of course, we all had file out to check.
She was right. No one would be able to see the building. And I was pretty sure I’d felt a compulsion to ignore the apparently empty space.
This was miracle magic.
And none of us had to give up anything.
Oh, holy hell.
I was terrified for Eileen and her baby. These savior stories never ended well for the one who saves other people.
All magic requires sacrifice.
I just hoped keeping Eileen and her baby safe wasn’t eventually going require more sacrifice than any of us could bear.
Enjoyed this story? Be sure to preorder Unhallowed: Unholy Alliance, Book 1 (A Devil of a Reverse Harem Romance).
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USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times bestselling author Margo Bond Collins is a former college English professor who, tired of explaining the difference between “hanged” and “hung,” turned to writing romance novels instead. (Sometimes her heroines kill monsters, too.)
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The Shifter Shield Series
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Margo Bond Collins writing as Ivy Hearne
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The Hunters’ Academy, Year 1
The Hunters’ Academy, Year 2
Survive or Die.
It’s not much of a school motto—not as inspiring as, say, “Let us give light to the world,” or “Knowledge is liberty,” or even just “Light and Truth.” Those are all real school mottos. So is this one. It belongs to the Hunters’ Academy. And now, so do I.
Since she was twelve years old, Kacela Deluca has suffered debilitating migraines. On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, she learns her headaches are the result of untapped psychic abilities. She’s given a choice: continue to suffer or leave behind everything she knows and join the Hunters’ Academy. The only catch? If she doesn’t pass the entrance exam, she’ll die.
A teen with blocked psychic powers, a panther shifter who can’t—or won’t—shift, a secret academy, and the power to defend the entire world...if only Kacie can unleash her potential before it’s too late.
Fans of Vampire Academy, Mortal Instruments, Harry Potter, and Dragon School will love Hunters’ Academy!
Rose Red: As Red As Blood by S. K. Gregory
Rose Red: As Red As Blood
Rose Red was born as a counterpart to Snow White. A child of darkness to the child of light. A rival, an adversary. They were never supposed to be friends.
One
“You can take your crappy job and shove it up your ass!” I screamed at Larry, before storming out of the near empty restaurant.
The second the cold December wind hit me, I regretted not grabbing my coat first. Pacing on the sidewalk outside, I debated whether I should go back inside. A glance at Larry’s sour face from behind the counter and I decided against it. I’d had enough of him and his roaming hands. If I went back in there, I’d end up punching him and I didn’t want to spend the night in jail. That place smelled and it was impossible to get any sleep.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I sat down on the curb, feeling the cold seep through my jeans.
Why does this always happen to me? My life is one disaster after another.
I couldn’t keep a job, or a boyfriend for that matter. Stuck in this shitty town and pretty soon I’d be homeless when I couldn’t pay the rent on my trailer.
Tipping my head back, I stared at the sky as the first snowflakes fell.
“Why does my life suck?” I groaned.
The wind picked up, forcing me to shield my face. The cold was biting into my flesh. When I could stand no more, I got to my feet and the wind suddenly dropped, leaving a deathly stillness. I glanced up and down the empty street. Creepy.
“As white as snow, as red as blood,” a whispered voice said.
Leaping back, I spun around, trying to find the source, but there was no one around.
Great, now I’m going crazy on top of everything else! To hell with the coat, I’m getting out of here.
The keys to my truck were in my pocket. Once I got the heater going, I’d be fine.
The truck was parked up the road, near the bridge. Breaking into a jog, I hurried toward it, eager to get out of the cold. I was now thoroughly creeped out. The thought of going home to an empty trailer, didn’t sound too appealing.
As I unlocked the truck door, I was yanked back by the hair.
“Let go!” I screeched, slapping at the hand that had hold of me.
“I don’t think so, Ruby. You and me need to talk,” Ted said, his hot breath on my cheek.
Elbowing him in the ribs, I pulled away from him. “Go to hell, Ted, I’m not in the mood.”
He glared at me, his beady little eyes glinting in the streetlight. “Oh boohoo. You owe me two gra
nd cash. I’m done waiting.”
“Well tough because as of five minutes ago, I don’t have a job.”
He ran a hand through his thinning hair. “You are going to pay me back now.”
“Here,” I snapped, digging out the measly tips from my apron and hurling them at him. Less than five bucks. The bills floated away on the wind before he could grab them.
I used the distraction to try and get into the truck, but he dragged me away, slamming me into the bridge rail. Pain lanced through my back. He was a big guy, well over six feet. His grip like iron, I lashed out with my foot, kicking him in the shins.
He responded by shaking me. “I’ve had enough of your bullshit. You don’t want to pay? Fine. Then you can take a swim instead.”
“No!” I shrieked as he grabbed me around the waist and tried to tip me over the rail backwards. If the fall didn’t kill me, the cold water would.
I clawed at his face, trying to keep my feet on the ground. “Help!”
Even if anyone was around, I doubt they’d do anything to help me.
Ted tipped me further back. Gripping his hair, I held on. If I was going over, he was coming with me. I jabbed my thumb into his eye, making him scream. He let go of me and I slid onto the ground, breathing hard.
Crouched against the rail, I felt anger build inside me. After everything he was going to kill me over money?
Ted rubbed at his eye, then he lunged at me. I threw my hands out and Ted’s feet left the ground. He sailed over me in an arc, straight over the rail and into the water below, screaming all the way down. There was a splash as he hit the water.
I sat in stunned silence as I tried to comprehend what just happened. He flew through the air, but no one touched him.
Did I do that?
Two
Barreling into the trailer, I yanked open the fridge and grabbed a bottle of beer. Wishing it was something stronger, I knocked it back.
Did I just kill someone?
That’s insane. I didn’t touch him and there wasn’t a court in the land who would convict me of that. Except, he did attack me and I’m sure my DNA was all over the body.
“Shit!” I muttered, sinking to the floor. Nothing would survive in the river, would it? I could go to the cops, but I didn’t relish the idea of spending Christmas in jail, not for a lowlife like Ted. He did try to kill me first, so surely this was self defense? He had no family, would anyone even report him missing?
I downed the rest of my beer, my hands shaking as I brought the bottle to my lips. When it was empty, I reached for another. A drunken haze sounded good right about now.
My phone rang, startling me. I dug it out of my pocket to find my best friend, Lily’s name flashing up on screen. I took a breath and answered it. If I didn’t, she’d only come looking for me.
“Hey,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Where are you? I thought you were coming over,” Lily said.
“Oh. Yeah, I forgot. Sorry.” I took another sip of beer.
“Well come over now.”
“I can’t, Lil. I’m tired, think I’ll just go to bed.”
“It’s starting to snow, the trailer is going to be freezing tonight. Come over, we can catch up.”
I took the phone away from my ear, heaving a sigh. Lily was back from college for winter break. As much as I loved her, I really didn’t want to hear about her perfect life. She got to go away to college, she had the perfect family, the perfect everything. I had no one. My parents were long gone, my only living relative couldn’t stand the sight of me. I honestly wondered why Lily even bothered with me. We were so different, like night and day, but she was the one person who had always been there for me.
“Ruby?”
I put the phone back to my ear. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be over soon.”
It beat spending the night alone in this piece of crap. My heater broke a few weeks ago and I didn’t have the money to get it repaired. Or money for anything now.
That made me think of Ted. Why did I ever borrow the money in the first place? I got it into my head that I would use it and skip town. Spend the summer on the road and never look back. Then Lily came home, so I put it off. I hooked up with a guy and put it off some more. It ended with that jerk wad stealing the money. My shot at freedom went up in smoke.
At least I’ll get out of here when they send me to prison.
Feeling thoroughly depressed, I grabbed some clothes from the cupboard by my bed, tossed them into a bag and drove over to Lily’s house. Well, her parents’ house. Her dad was a doctor, her mom a lawyer. They lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods in town.
Parking my truck across the street from the house, I got out, wondering if I should tell Lily what happened.
No, I can’t drag her into this. She has a shot at a real future, I’m not screwing that up for her.
Besides, she’d only try to convince me to go to the police. There might not even be a point. For all I knew, Ted could have survived. He could be home right now, half frozen but alive. Okay, I had a healthy dose of denial, but it was all I had to hold onto right now.
As I approached the house, I could hear voices coming from the backyard. Opening the side gate, I headed back there, thinking it would be Lily.
As I got closer, I realized that it was her parents and they were arguing about something. I hesitated, not wanting to interrupt.
“I really thought when she went away, she would make new friends and forget about that girl,” Mrs. Blanchard said.
Wait, are they talking about me?
Lily’s parents have never liked me. More tolerated.
“Yeah, well, she’s in her final year. Soon she’ll be off to med school and this town will be a thing of the past,” Mr. Blanchard said.
I was pressed against the wall, listening intently to every word. They always put on a front when I came around, but I saw the looks they gave me, the tight smiles.
“It can’t come soon enough. I can’t understand why they’re friends. It never made any sense to me, given what they are,” Mrs. Blanchard went on.
What we are?
“We agreed not to talk about that anymore.”
“The dwarf said…”
“Don’t call him that. Wouldn’t surprise me if that creepy shit burst out of the trees,” Mr. Blanchard said sharply.
Now I wondered if they had lost their minds. What the hell were they talking about? A dwarf? I had to have heard that wrong.
“We made the right decision, didn’t we?” Mrs. Blanchard asked.
“Darling, we have our perfect little girl. Of course we did.”
My mind buzzed with possibilities. Was Lily adopted? How did that have anything to do with me?
Worried I would get caught, I headed around to the front door and knocked. A few minutes later, Lily answered the door. She grabbed me in a hug before I could say hello, even though she knows I’m not a fan of hugging. She’s the only person in the world who can get away with it.
“I made popcorn,” Lily said. She was dressed in pink pjs with kittens on them, her blonde hair scraped into a ponytail. Even at almost twenty-one, she’s still a big kid at heart.
We headed up to her room, while I thought about what her parents said. Should I tell her?
When I saw the movie set up for us to watch and my favorite snacks on the second twin bed in her room, I decided against it.
One night of normalcy is all I need. I could deal with everything tomorrow.
Once we were settled, I found myself asking, “So, how was college?”
Lily launched into the whole saga and I zoned out, nodding every now and then to make it look like I was listening. At least while she talked, I didn’t have to. I busied myself, fishing green jellybeans from the bag, my favorites. I didn’t feel like eating, but I ate them anyway. Anything to distract me from thinking about Ted.
“So, will you?” Lily asked.
“Huh?” What did she ask me?
She arched an eyebr
ow at me. “Tomorrow? Will you come with me?”
“Uh, sure.” It wasn’t like I had a job to go to. She probably wanted to grab lunch or go shopping.
“Great, I’ll text you when.”
We settled down to watch the movie, some old romance Lily loved. Despite her parents’ attitude to me, I felt safe here, it was familiar. The old comforter on the bed, Lily’s boyband posters still hanging from the walls. I would miss nights like these when she finally left town for good.
Despite my best efforts, my mind kept wandering back to the incident on the bridge. Even if I did cause it somehow, then it was self defense. I wasn’t wasting tears, or ruining my life, over someone like Ted.
The Blanchard’s conversation stayed with me and I found myself at my grandmother’s house the next morning.
I hadn’t spoken to the woman in months, but she did have my parents’ stuff boxed away in the attic. Was there some connection that I didn’t know about? I didn’t know a lot about my parents, or their lives before I was born.
I let myself in the back door, noting the lack of car in the driveway. Hopefully, I could be in and out and she would never know I was here.
The house was quiet and smelled faintly of sage and incense. My clothes used to reek of the stuff when I lived here. She used to burn it regularly to keep evil at bay. Mad old bat.
Heading upstairs, I found the boxes shoved in the corner of the attic, simply marked – Sally. My mom’s name.
At two years old, Daddy dearest skipped out on us. Six years later, Sally followed. I haven’t seen or heard from either of them since. I moved in with Grandma, who wasn’t exactly thrilled to be saddled with me. The woman hated me.
Opening the nearest box, I rifled through it. It was full of old clothes and half empty perfume bottles.
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