by Franca Storm
“I will kill you here and in the real world,” she warned them both.
An explosion of white light shot through the dark night inside the dream. Something was trying to force itself through. Two shimmering, ivory gates.
“The gates to the White Realm!” Michael exclaimed.
“Get… the… location,” Luca struggled to eke out against Cora’s tight grip around his neck.
“Already working on it.”
“No!” Cora screamed.
But then everything disappeared.
Cora woke up suddenly in a major panic.
It took her a moment to realize that she was screaming. She glanced around frantically.
She was outside. In a forest?
“Cora!”
She looked up to see Ryan gazing down at her. He was carrying her through the forest, holding her tightly to him.
A white-haired woman, wearing a black velvety dress that flowed down to the floor, was speaking to her. Her eyes seemed gentle, reassuring, even. It took her a while to regain her equilibrium and get her bearings.
“Center yourself. Breathe,” the woman was saying.
“Cora! Tell me you’re okay! Please, my love,” Ryan called.
She stopped struggling, calming down, and looked up at him. “I’m okay. I’m good,” she said. “Put me down.”
He gently eased her to her feet. “Is the pain gone, my love?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I feel fine. Angry. But fine.”
“Angry?”
“Luca and Michael were in my dream.”
Ryan’s eyes snapped to the woman’s. “You were right.”
The woman nodded sadly.
“What happened, my love? Did they… did Luca… hurt you?”
Cora could tell from his hesitation that it wasn’t what he really wanted to know.
“He didn’t rape me,” she told him, answering the question that he couldn’t bear to ask.
He released a sigh of such relief that she saw just how terrified he’d been.
She watched his expression shift, as he looked her over. He’d picked up on something. Damn his wolf senses. He sniffed her and reached out, trailing his fingers lightly down her chest. “You’re bleeding.”
She shuddered at the memory of what had happened to her in that awful dreamscape. But she managed to play it off, shrugging. “I heal fast.”
His eyes narrowed. “He hurt you. Tell me, Cora.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine now. Just let it go, please.”
“Let it go? Like you made me promise not to make you talk about what happened at his mansion, to let it go then too?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck!” he roared. He thrust his fist into the trunk of a nearby tree. The force of his punch took out a good chunk of it. He howled in pain and fury, the sound reverberating the ground beneath their feet. “I’m gonna kill him! He’s dead! He hurt you, Cora! He hurt my wife! I won’t fucking let it go! I won’t! I’m not gonna let this stand!”
“Ryan!” the strange woman called to him.
“If I were you, I’d calm down, before you shift, brother,” Luca’s voice sounded suddenly. “The White Realm won’t allow a wolf passage, even if you have bound yourself to the King’s daughter.”
The bastard stood a few feet back, flanked by an army of twenty vampires, along with two of Michael’s wolves.
“I will kill you!” Ryan thundered. “You dare to touch my wife? I’ll rip your undead heart from your fucking chest!”
Luca smiled, clearly enjoying Ryan’s pained reaction. Cora grimaced as he just piled on. “She has the most exquisite taste, doesn’t she, brother? And the power rush of her blood?” He licked his lips. “Incredible.” He glared at him with contempt. “She’s all the sweeter when she’s resisting, too. Not that it did her much good against my compulsion. She was too weak this time to withstand it.” His eyes flashed. “She just had to take it, to let me do to that delectable body, what I wished.”
Ryan roared and lunged forward.
But Cora grabbed his hand, tugging hard to pull him back. “Please, Ryan. There are too many. It’s what he wants.”
“He hurt you,” he said, shaking out of her grip.
“There will be another time. Please, baby. Please.”
Ryan kept his furious glared fixed on Luca.
She reached into his mind with their link. Please, baby. Step back. We can’t take them all. And Michael’s wolves are here. I don’t want any of us to suffer that pain from their poison again. I am angry as well. It was me who went through it, after all. I need you right now, so, please, stay here with me.
Ryan grunted and he turned to her. His gaze softened and she could see the pain in his eyes, pain for her and what she’d had to endure at Luca’s hands.
He stepped back and wrapped his arm around her protectively.
Enraged that Ryan had calmed down, Luca signaled his army to attack.
“Stop!” the mysterious woman bellowed.
She clapped her hands and a shimmering wall appeared between them and Luca’s army.
A magical barrier.
Luca snarled. “You cannot hold it against so many of us for so long. You are out of practice, witch. It’s a shame the princess’s magic is so unstable, or you could have pushed us back.” He took a step back and called out, “Michael! Some assistance!”
A gust of cold wind ripped through the forest and Michael appeared in a flash of vampire speed beside Luca. He smiled with amusement as he took in the scene in front of him.
“Shaye, it’s been a couple of lifetimes.”
Shaye? That’s her name.
Michael went on, “Say, didn’t you and the wolf have a thing once?”
Shaye caught Cora’s eye and looked away awkwardly. Oh. So, she was Ryan’s ex-girlfriend, the one he’d messaged for help. “Stop it, Michael!” Cora ordered. “No one cares.”
Michael turned his attention to Ryan. “Planning to stay on your leash, wolf? Or, would you rather let loose?”
As Ryan emitted a low growl at Michael, Cora was distracted by a sudden, sharp pain shooting through her belly. She slapped her hand to it.
Her movement caught Ryan’s attention and he eyed her out of the corner of his eyes.
His concern poured into her head. What’s wrong, my love? Are you hurt?
No. Just an ache. Probably just hungry. It’s been a while. She knew none of that was true. But, now wasn’t the time to stress him out more. Things were bad enough with a frigging army facing off with them.
It was possible Ryan may have seen through her bravado, though, because his voice was back a moment later. I need to get us out of here.
Where exactly are we?
We’re standing at the gates to the White Realm.
What? They were? She couldn’t see any sign of them. She didn’t get the chance to ask him what that was all about.
Luca’s voice interrupted their telepathic conversation. “Shaye, you can’t hold that barrier and conjure the gates. It’s one or the other.”
Another sharp pain shot through Cora, the sensation far more painful than the first. She couldn’t help it. She collapsed onto the grass, gripping her stomach, grunting in agony.
Ryan dropped to his knees beside her. “What’s wrong? What is it, my love?”
“How disgustingly sweet of you, Ry,” Luca commented of Ryan’s endearment.
Cora tensed, worried it would set Ryan off again. She was incapacitated, unable to hold him back if it did.
But she needn’t have worried, because he didn’t pay it any mind at all. He was focused wholly on her, his worry for her trumping all else. He was frantic that she was hurting.
He stroked her hair gently and whispered, “Talk to me, Cora.”
The awful sensation started to subside, just a suddenly as it had come on.
“I’m okay,” she breathed. “It’s gone now,” she said, trying to get to her feet.
Ryan pulled her up and supported her weight against him, his arms
wrapped around her, protecting her. He eyed Shaye in question, clearly hoping she might know what was happening.
Shaye’s eyes met hers and she saw some sort of realization in them. Her eyes widened, then she looked away abruptly.
Ryan caught it too. “What, Shaye?” he pressed.
“You know what’s wrong with me, don’t you?” Cora said.
Shaye hesitated as she looked between them and their enemies. “Not in front of them.”
A blinding, silver light swept through the forest, obscuring everyone’s vision.
And then everything disappeared.
CHAPTER 28
Ryan removed his hand from his eyes, as the blinding light dissipated.
“We are here,” Shaye said. “The White Realm palace.”
“How? We didn’t even pass through the gates!” Ryan exclaimed, scanning the room urgently.
“Welcome,” a deep, male voice boomed from behind them.
They all spun around to see a middle-aged man striding into the room. Although, given what Ryan knew about the White and Dark Realms, someone’s appearance was little indication of their true age. He could be hundreds of years old. His white-grey hair hung down to his shoulders and matched his long beard, which was as silky as his hair. He wore silver robes, like that of a priest, that brushed the floor as he walked, giving the appearance that he was floating towards them.
Immediately upon seeing him, Shaye dropped to her knees and bowed politely, murmuring submissively, “Your majesty.”
Ryan watched Cora tense. He wasn’t surprised. Given Shaye’s reaction, his wife was looking upon her father for the first time in hell only knew how long.
“Vazra, right?” Ryan spoke. Best make sure. “King of the White Realm?”
“Indeed. And, you are Ryan Winters, King of the Wolves.”
Ryan eyed Shaye, who was still on her knees, bowing before the king. Not my style. “I appreciate you allowing me into your kingdom, but let’s get one thing straight, right off the bat, yeah? I’m not bowing at your fucking feet. I bow to no one,” he told King Vazra.
King Vazra smiled. “Just like your father, Ryan. Blunt, abrasive and cursing like a sailor.” He moved closer until he was just inches from him and added, with a wink, “Everything I liked about him.”
Ryan was taken aback and failed to stifle a laugh. “Really?”
“Indeed. Your father and I were close friends for centuries.”
“What? He was King of the Dark Realm.”
“There was a time when our two realms weren’t so divided.”
“And my mother? You knew her, too? She was a member of your court, right?”
“More than just a member. She was my chief advisor.”
Ryan wanted to ask more, to find out exactly what had happened to his mother. Was she still alive, like the rumors claimed? Did Vazra know where? But all of that would have to wait.
Cora took precedence. Not only was she about to reunite with her father, but she was ill, in pain.
Too much was happening in the present. The past would have to wait for a little while longer.
“Shaye, please make yourself at home in the palace. I can feel the vampires still at the gates. It is not safe for you to return to the human realm yet,” Vazra said, turning to her.
“I may stay here, your majesty? In the royal palace?” she asked, incredulous.
“Of course. You aided my daughter. You are always welcome now, as my honored guest.”
Shaye nodded excitedly and left the room to explore the palace. Ryan smiled inwardly. Shaye had finally got her centuries-long wish. She’d been accepted into King Vazra’s fold.
Vazra turned his attention back them. He reached for Cora’s hand and she hesitantly accepted it. “We have much to discuss, daughter.”
Ryan grimaced as he watched Cora pull her hand back, hurt blanketing her face. “I don’t know you. Not as my father. Not as anyone.”
Vazra’s expression was pained. “I know and I am sorry.”
Cora turned away. “Was it you who saved me from that dream?” she asked without looking at him.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. It was your proximity to the White Realm gates. It dispelled the magic that the Vampire Prince and that misguided vampire, Michael, were using to keep you there. It also eased your pain, your proximity to pure white magic, soothing it, which enabled your strength to return.”
She spun back around in surprise. “You know about my pain?”
“Yes. I must teach you now about your power.”
“That will cure it?” Ryan asked. “It’ll stop the agony she goes through way too often?”
Vazra nodded. “Not only that, Wolf King. She will be your key to winning the war ahead of you.”
Ryan’s instincts screamed a warning at him. Something wasn’t right. Vazra’s response was messed up. He hadn’t seen his daughter in years. He knew she’d been suffering. His concern should be for her wellbeing alone. Yet, he was referring to her as an asset? A weapon for war? Nah, it wasn’t normal. He stepped forward, demanding, “Is that why you pulled us in through the gates?” Did he want to wield Cora’s power too, just like Michael?
Vazra shook his head at him. “No.” He walked over to Cora. “I had to safeguard the future of this realm.”
“You mean, Cora?”
Vazra’s brow furrowed. “You don’t sense it?”
“Sense what?”
“You have resided in the human realm too long. You’re not used to employing the full scope of your abilities.”
“Excuse me?” Ryan bit back, his eyes narrowing at the insult.
Vazra reached out and pressed his hand to Cora’s stomach, the precise location that she’d been clutching in the forest, where she’d been hurting. He looked between the two of them and smiled. “She is with child.”
Ryan choked, “What?”
He looked at Cora and her stunned reaction mirrored his.
Next in the series…
FATED BETRAYAL
Twisted Destiny Saga
FATED DESIRE
FATED BETRAYAL
FATED TIES
FATED LOVE
FATED BLOOD
Franca Storm Library
SERIES
BLACK THORNS
Reckless
Soulless
Blameless
Heartless
HARD LEATHER
Riding Rough
Riding Wrong (Coming Soon)
FRACTURED MAGIC
Wrecked
Solace (Coming Soon)
BLEEDING LOVE
All or Nothing
Battle Born
Love’s Lies
Dark Hearts
TWISTED DESTINY SAGA
Fated Desire
Fated Betrayal
Fated Ties
Fated Love
Fated Blood
DAMAGED HEARTS
Ready to Love
Hard to Love (Coming Soon)
REVIVE ME SERIES
Want
Ruin
Own
KINDRED CALL: SANCTUM FALLS
Surrendering to Her Mates
Awakening Their Hunger
Resisting Seduction
SINGLE TITLES
Comfort Zone
Franca writes stories about bad-boy alpha males and the tough women who turn their worlds upside down.
She is a long-time fan of erotic romance novels, particularly stories with sexy-as-sin alpha males. Writing romantic erotica is now her obsession and the perfect way to put her dirty mind to good use! She’s got a ton of stories to tell and many more works up her sleeves.
When she’s not writing, she enjoys watching action movies and binging on great TV series. Spending time with her lovable lab, hiking, and listening to hard-rock music, are her passions.
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DIRTY ALPHAS: The Alpha Bad Boy Collection