by A. K. Koonce
When Fate Unravels
A.K. Koonce
When Fate Unravels
Copyright 2017 A.K. Koonce
All Rights Reserved
First Kindle Edition: 2017
Cover design by Premade Book Covers by Andreea
Editing by Proofreading by the Page
The content of this book is protected under Federal Copyright Laws. Any unauthorized use of this material is prohibited. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without express written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales are entirely coincidental.
To my very first reader and my best friend, Courtney.
Table of Contents
Chapter One – A Secret Society
Chapter Two – Rejection
Chapter Three – The Attack
Chapter Four – A Proposal
Chapter Five – The Red Hills
Chapter Six – Atticus
Chapter Seven – A Formal Introduction
Chapter Eight – A Life Long Lost
Chapter Nine – What Do You See
Chapter Ten – The President
Chapter Eleven – Like a Memory
Chapter Twelve – What I Wanted
Chapter Thirteen – Mine
Chapter Fourteen – Why Did I Say That
Chapter Fifteen – A Touchy Breed
Chapter Sixteen – Hostility
Chapter Seventeen – In the Dead of Night
Chapter Eighteen – Hysteria
Chapter Nineteen – The Bonding
Chapter Twenty – Something Almost Normal
Chapter Twenty-One – Emptiness
Chapter Twenty-Two – Crimson Eyes
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
A Secret Society
My knees drop into the thick mud, sinking me closer into the bay water that my mother’s bloody and disfigured remains drifted out into all those months ago. The Emerald Ocean took her away from me on calm waves. A shuddering breath pushes past dry lips. My usually closed emotions come tumbling out of the door as soon as it cracks open.
It’s late, the normally clear water is a mass of inky black waves, hinting at the mystical creatures that lurk beneath the serene surface. The moon is nothing more than a sliver of color slashed across the sky, minimal light scatters into the shadowy surroundings.
All my life, I had never seen a real mystic, but now I know they’ve always been here. They’ve carefully hidden themselves away from the mortals, watching us from afar.
The unseen fae of the Emerald Ocean are a perfect example. Anyone could happen upon the beautiful water source, I’ve come here hundreds of times now, and yet, I’ve never once seen what lies on the other side of the eerie water. The world below the surface is a hidden cove, tucked quietly away from society. This sort of separation seems to work for the mortals and the mystics.
For now.
The world slips away from me in this moment, though. Closing my eyes, I force the surrounding noise from my head. Leaves begin to quiet in the wind, the restless owl in the tree is now unheard, the distant beating of drums dissolves until only my pounding heart is heard in its place. Reality silences to find a few moments of peace in my muddled mind.
Inhaling the cool night air, I can almost smell all those evenings we spent by the crackling fire. The memory of his silver gaze always sparkles within the starry sky. His smile is unclear in my memory, never quite right, but his beautifully sad eyes are always perfect.
I can’t remember how my mother’s voice sounded and that alone is enough to make me want to scream, my chest growing tight and constricted. It just isn’t fair. There are so many things I should have said to her. Unspoken and repentant filled words slice like broken glass through my thoughts.
The love and tragedy they left me with are always there, carried around with me every day, just under the deep layer of pain in my chest.
Behind me, a twig snaps in the forest and my hand instantly slides over the smooth hilt of the sword at my hip. His sword. Another thing he left me with, another reminder to physically carry around. I open my eyes but remain motionless. My sight is no longer watching and dreaming of the stars up above but is now searching the darkness for the source of the noise.
“Are you coming tonight, Princess?” a deep and sulking voice calls out to me.
I release the breath I was holding hostage within my lungs and let go of the hilt of the sword. It’s just Kaino. My eyes burn with unshed tears, all the unshed tears I’ve refused to release for months. Strangely my body feels stronger with the tension pressing in on my chest.
Next month will be one year. But it doesn’t matter. A day. A year. A lifetime. I’ll never see my mother or Asher or even Ky, again. The hole in my heart shudders but doesn’t quite close.
A slow sigh releases from my heavy lungs and I give myself one more second.
With reluctance, I stand. Thick mud and debris covers my jeans and boots. A sloshing sound accompanies my steps from the bay to the dry land where Kaino’s dark, animalistic eyes greet me. He’s taller than me by a few inches but something within him cringes away from me. Not physically, but I’m left at arm’s length no matter how much his father forces us together.
White tendrils of smoke waft into the night sky behind him, an unseen fire accompanies the beat of the drum deep within the woods.
“I didn’t think you’d join us tonight,” he drawls in a bored, even tone. His eyes pause on the glowing Crimson Sword, before taking my arm in his. Everyone here is careful not to touch the mystical blade that never leaves my hip.
We walk through the forest, the dry leaves crunching beneath our boots. The smell of burning wood sails through the cool night air.
Kaino’s hard eyes never stop scanning the shadows. He’s a mystic of few words and even fewer emotions but a mind that seems to never sleep. His posture is stiff, much like that of the other warriors of the Wandering lands, but his is different. Distant, like he’d rather not be arm and arm with me—or anyone for that matter. As if my touch might set him on fire. He’s never given me the feeling he doesn’t like me. In fact, he’s one of the few friends I have here.
My life in the Wandering community is the total opposite of my life in the work camp. My friends and family are gone, along with the controlled lifestyle I once lived. The government doesn’t interfere with the Wanderers like they do the human camps. Part of me thinks the hidden society of mystics is a threat to the humans. It would explain the secret treaty between this community and the government.
I’m the only human here. It’s odd; last year I had never met a mystic and now they accept me as one of their own.
I was lucky to be brought here. To find such a safe haven within the hell I have lived. It’s a miraculous feeling to feel safe and alive when you once felt death rattling your slow beating heart.
The Wanderers are something different, something unique in today's restrained world. They are free. They are encouraged to live how they please, to grow old however they like. As long as they remain a secret society the government will never hinder their way of life. Only if they do not interfere with the controlled villages south of here. The villages I once lived in. The friends I left behind are still forced to work and live and even reproduce how the government directs them.
I shake the weighted thought from my mind before it manifests into anything more.
In the darkness, I peer at my friend as we walk through the thick forest. Kaino is a friend but never r
evealing. Never personal. I know as much about Kaino as his exterior allows me and he, in return, knows the same about myself.
He’s actually quite handsome. Giving him another side glance, my eyes trail dark brooding features, which are embellished even more when his long lashes brush against high cheek bones. He could be more handsome, if he wasn’t so stern all the time; a frown eternally etched across his face.
I was offered one of his secrets when we first met. Only one in the entire year that I’ve been here. Just under the bulky muscle of the warrior’s scarred body, lies a dormant trait. A trait that the Wanderers have kept sheathed for nearly a decade in cooperation with The Exception Treaty.
Beneath Kaino’s detached expressions and his depthless dark eyes, lies an animal rattling its cage to get out. An animal that’s kept caged in honor of the treaty between the Wanderers and the government. An animal that might be consuming Kaino from the inside out.
A werewolf.
* * *
Kaino leads us toward the raging flames in the distance. The flickering fire is held high by strong logs twice my size and make the mystics seem small and insignificant, despite their dominant personalities. Laughter and music blow through the breeze the closer we come to the gathering. Tonight’s celebration is the biggest I have seen.
He leans in close to me and whispers in a deep voice, his warm breath fanning my cheek, “I’m glad you chose to join us. Every Wanderer will be present for tonight’s celebration.”
I nod at his words, my eyes scanning the crowd. The Wanderers celebrate every night. In their culture, every day is a celebration because their people didn’t always have the freedoms they have now. So rejoice, drink, love, and repeat.
It’s true though, it is an enormous turnout. Hundreds of people are gathered in the clearing before us. I watch as females in minimal clothing dance barefoot on the dry dusty ground. Some of the males in their usual attire, shirtless with black jeans and black boots, drink and laugh while others sway with the females to the pounding drums. The structure of their bodies are finely lined with a lifetime of training and strength. The werewolves are fearless to the point of carelessness, a confidence flows off of them with every breath they take.
Their clothes are usually what gives their heritage away. The warriors and wolves who make up most of the Wandering community refuse to wear anything constricting. They’d probably be naked if they could; their feral instincts just pushing at the surface to get out. The fae, though there are few within the village, are easily recognized by their beauty as well as their formal, crisp attire. Intelligence and mischievousness dances within their always watchful eyes.
As a human, I try my best to just blend in. My main goal is to truly go unnoticed. Not that that method works for me, the village princess. I struggle to keep the disgust from my face every time I hear the mocking title.
A single Infinity witch also mars this culture. She fills me with pain every time my gaze meets her pale green eyes that are identical to my own. My stomach twists, the breath dying on my lips… She’s the ghosting image of my mother.
Asher once told me Infinity witches appear as we wish them to. Their features are made up of our desires and hopes. It pains me that my hope is to see my mother, I can’t even look at her without tears burning my eyes. I spot her white blond hair instantly in the crowd and bite my lip until I taste blood, blinking hard until my eyes focus on anything else. With my focus kept on the blazing fire, I can still feel her eerie presence even as the flames scorch my sight.
Does she know what I see?
“Two weeks until our annual Treaty Celebration. Representatives from the city will join us in honor of our years of friendship. We celebrate to honor them as our guests. So tonight, we must revel even more for the lack of fun we will have in the preparing weeks,” Kaino says through clenched teeth.
He chances a glance at me out of the corner of his eye and I pretend to keep my focus on the flickering fire. He looks away quickly, taking a cup of alcohol off the closest table as we walk into the heart of the party. The warmth of the flames and the crowd floods my body.
People sway and dance around us. A few wolves watch me closely as I suppress the anger and annoyance that threatens to bubble to the surface, allowing it to smother out in my constricted breaths instead. Their eyes ignore the set of my jaw, the way my fists clench at my sides, the rigid posture of my shoulders and spine. They ignore the way they make me feel—just seeing an object.
Since the Wanderer’s leader, Lord Raske, first told me of his idea to join our races, to submissively put pressure on our government—to put a stop to the segregation within our society— every male I pass seems to think I’m a plaything. Something to be won in honor of their lord.
The idea of a human joining with one of the minority races to end the decades of segregation, abuse and imprisonment is laughable. It would take more than one happy union to make a dent in our country’s oppression.
“Have any of them found the nerve to talk to the intimidating human girl yet?” someone asks over my shoulder.
Turning toward the voice, my lips tug into a half smile at Luca as she hands me a drink. She’s tall with unnatural maroon hair that’s shaved on one side. Confidence and strength radiates from her with every move she makes. A slash of beauty spreads over her face as she smiles back at me, revealing perfect white teeth. Teeth that are entirely…
Predator like.
A prowling stealth guides her steps, eyes sweeping in every detail of her surroundings. A carefully poised aggression sheathed beneath a soft and beautiful exterior.
She was my savior when Shaw’s men attacked. My stomach falls at the memory of my near death and the deaths of those who I love. I push the thought down into the darkness of my mind. “Not yet, but I’m sure they’re just waiting for our Prince to let his guard down,” I say, throwing a glance at Kaino, who stands with perfect posture at my side.
“Like these mystics would know what to say to anyone as beautiful as you.” Kaino doesn’t look at me as he speaks, keeping his eyes on the festivities, all but ignoring me. His half compliment is masked by a blank and careless expression.
A captivating water fae named Nerissa saunters by us. She brushes her curvy frame against Kaino’s bulking arm, sending him a welcoming smile that touches her emerald eyes, eyes that are as deep as the ocean... the ocean that she crawled right out of. A cringe scurries through his immense body, his spine becoming like steel as he pulls away from her touch, a glare hardening his hooded features. The title he holds as commander is washed away, a shrinking figure left hunched in his place.
Her wispy long green hair disappears into the crowd; she doesn’t give the scowling commander a second look.
Kaino’s strange but kind words circle my mind again and I can’t help but smile into my drink. The smirk causes a pain to flare in my stomach, so I bite my lip and the happiness is pulled away as quickly as it came. “Careful. That was nearly a compliment,” I warn before taking a big drink. The alcohol burns and threatens to take my breath away but I’m so familiar with the sensation the drink brings, that I no longer feel the effects of it when it passes over my tongue and down my throat.
An empty expression fills his dark eyes, his emotions once again lost within his calculating mind.
“Only an observation, Princess.”
Luca rolls her eyes and pushes Kaino away. His stumbling steps shuffle a bit under the unnatural power she holds. A look passes between the two of them, a smirking and playful moment, before Kaino walks off toward a group of other warriors and doesn’t look back at us in the shadows of the firelight.
What many within our community don’t know –another blanketed secret– is Kaino and Luca are brother and sister—half brother and sister. Unlike the village I grew up in, many people here have half and step siblings. The community is very open minded. Something I am still adjusting to.
Luca takes my arm and leads me to get another drink. Unlike Kaino, Luca really is
my friend. My only friend. She knows everything. Everything I had. Everything I lost. Everything I now am. She found me alone and dying and made the two days hike back to the Wanderers. A place that accepts the broken and tries to find pieces to put you back together again. Though, I am still standing, I still have tears and scars that the Wanderers will never fix.
I remember the tree we passed when I first arrived. I was starving and bleeding out. Luca dragged me the whole way. I thought I’d die before the graceful warrior got me to wherever she was taking me. But, I remember the tree like it was the gate to heaven. At the time, I had no idea what to make of my saviors.
Carved into the rough bark of the largest redwood I’d ever seen, were the jagged words Wanderers Welcome. The words sunk into me, filling my gentle heartbeats and broken limbs with a strange feeling. A feeling of hope.
“Ahhh and so the circus begins.” A wolfish smile slashes across Luca’s face.
As someone approaches, I turn with another drink already in my hand. I brace myself for whatever wolf might be lurking, but to my surprise it isn’t a wolf at all.
“Hello, Declan.” I give a short, careless nod, refusing to fully acknowledge the hybrid.
“Hello, Fallon.” He gives a mocking nod in return.
Declan is an outcast among castaways. The confident hybrid-vampire moves to stand next to me, earning himself scowls from a few nearby warriors, their rivaling wolf instincts simmering just under the surface. Clearly, he also wants to watch those who watch me… and maybe piss them off in the process.
His calm and familiar presence is enough for fire to burn through me. Something similar to anger and hate settles around my fingertips, and I have to clench my fist at my side to keep the placid look on my face.
I don’t hate him, I have no reason to. And yet, the reminder his features bring is enough to build unwarranted fury within me.
“I haven’t missed the first yet, have I?” he asks, playing with a lock of my long brown hair that Luca had twisted and weaved into a beautiful cascading masterpiece this morning.