by Leia King
“Right,” Luca said. “Okay. Yes, I can do this.”
And with that, he teleported away.
A moment later, he reappeared in the courtyard below. He called softly to her.
She turned around and, as soon as she saw him, she grinned from ear to ear.
Before Luca could utter another word, she bounded towards him and flung her arms around his neck. Caught off guard, he hesitated briefly.
And then he returned her affections and wrapped his arms around her. A warmth coursed through him, the likes of which he had never felt before. It was the connection between them. The bond between destined mates. He’d finally found her, the one woman he was truly meant to be with.
He looked up at the castle roof where his father watched them.
He smiled happily, overcome with joy. Thank you, father.
15
“Ryan! I don’t want to do this!”
Ryan watched Jada eye Kristoff warily as she sat on the edge of the bed. Her gaze drifted to his and Cora’s joined hands.
“Is this because your wife is back now?”
Breaking from Cora, he told her, “No, sweetheart. I’m sorry, but the bond between us isn’t real.”
Tears formed in her eyes. “It’s real to me.”
“I know it feels that way, but—”
“But nothing! It is real, Ryan! I know you felt it too!”
Ryan caught Cora’s eye and looked away quickly. Talking about awkward.
Thankfully, Kristoff cut through it, explaining to Jada, “It was designed to make you feel certain things, child. Nevertheless, it is a manufactured bond, not real.”
Ryan saw the hurt in Jada’s eyes and he pulled her to him. He held her tightly and nodded to Kristoff, silently telling him to get on with breaking the bond. The quicker it was done, the quicker Jada could be at peace.
As Ryan watched Kristoff close his eyes and hold out his upturned palms, he told Jada, “I’m sorry for the way I treated you near the end. You deserved better than that.”
His heartfelt apology made her cry harder and he tightened his hold around her.
A moment later he flinched as a sudden, sharp pain shot through him. He glanced over at Kristoff and saw balls of red fire glowing brightly on his palms. He was entranced in his magic.
Jada let out a pained cry.
“It’s okay. You’ll be okay,” Ryan whispered to her.
He craned his neck to look at Cora. She stood much like Kristoff but, instead of red fire glowing from her palms, there was that familiar silver. Her eyes were open and she smiled reassuringly at him.
A few moments passed and the pain dissipated.
“It is done,” Kristoff announced. “The bond is broken.” He eyed Cora, “Did you do it?”
Cora nodded.
Jada pushed Ryan away all of a sudden and he stumbled back in surprise.
As she looked at him, there was confusion in her eyes. “Your majesty? How did I come to be here? And you—what is going on?”
Ryan cleared his throat and said in his most commanding, business-like tone, “You were upset. As the sister of my second-in-command, I was offering you comfort. Are you all right now?”
She scratched her head. “Uh… yes. I’m sorry about that. Please forgive my forwardness.”
Ryan waved his hand dismissively. “Not a problem. Don’t worry about it.”
“I… I guess I should get back to the camp.”
“Actually, Damon is here in the castle. He’s waiting for you in the lounge.”
“The castle? That’s where this is? But wolves and vampires—”
“A lot has changed. You haven’t been well, so you don’t remember. Damon will fill you in.”
She nodded her understanding. “Okay.”
Ryan opened the door for her and stepped aside so she could pass.
“Thank you, your majesty. You are very kind.”
He nodded politely and she hurried past him. “First turn on your left,” he told her.
He shut the door with a heavy sigh and turned back to Cora and Kristoff. “Thanks.”
“I see why you were so drawn to her,” Cora commented.
“Uh oh. That’s my queue to leave and let you two have at it,” Kristoff said as he sauntered past them and left the room.
“What does that mean?” Ryan asked after he’d left.
“She’s hot.”
He tensed. “Well, things are resolved now. That’s what we should focus on, right? Like you said back at the apartment?”
She sighed with resignation. “You’re right. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I get it. Let’s just put all of this behind us. Jada. Luca. There’s just you and me now, just like it was always meant to be. Okay?”
“Yes,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I’d like that.”
“Clean slate?”
“Clean slate,” she agreed.
“Good, now let’s find out where the hell Kristoff just fucked off to. I want our son back!”
16
“Why are we outside the gates?” Ryan asked.
He stood holding Cora’s hand tightly, watching Kristoff craft a large circle of salt on the grass of the forest, just outside the Dark Realm gates. Nathanial was lighting candles with his dark energy and placing them along the circumference of the circle. They flickered softly with red light.
“Because there is a chance that we may pull Oriana out along with your son,” Kristoff answered.
“And we do not want her inside the Dark Realm,” Nathanial added.
“So if we do end up pulling her out as well, we kill her immediately,” Ryan said.
Cora rubbed his arm and told him gently, “We won’t be able to. We’ll be caught up in the spell with Kristoff. Nathanial is here to protect us if we do pull her out, as all three of us will be vulnerable.”
“And I am here to help him,” a voice came from behind them.
They spun around to see Marella walking through the Dark Realm gates. Well, struggling, given how far along she was with her pregnancy.
“Angel, you are almost ready to give birth. Go back inside,” Nathanial ordered, approaching her and reaching for her arm to usher her back inside.
She shook herself out of his grip and said, “She gets under your skin too easily. I am here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Your magic may be strong, but it isn’t pure right now because of my child inside you.”
“Exactly. It’s not, which will be an advantage when dealing with a creature as impure as my sister.”
Nathanial shook his head and looked to Ryan for his backing.
Ryan chuckled and held up his hand that was joined with Cora’s. “Really? You think I’m in any position to give you advice on winning an argument against your woman?”
“Hey!” Cora said, punching his arm. “You win. Sometimes.”
Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “When?”
He watched her think for a moment. “Well, I can’t think of an example right now, but I’m sure it’s pretty even.”
“Okay, my love. Sure it is.” He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. “It’s okay, I know I’m whipped. But I love you too damn much for it to be any other way.”
“Fine,” Nathanial acquiesced.
“Thank you,” Marella responded with a wink. “Good decision.”
Nathanial growled.
Ryan saw Marella smile at him, her hand stroke Nathanial’s arm. Nathanial rolled his eyes, but he was smiling at her touch and he took her hand, pulling her close. Clearly he was whipped too.
“Okay, we’re ready to get started,” Kristoff announced as he lowered himself to a sitting position inside the circle. He crossed his legs and then held out his hands to Cora and Ryan.
“Great. Holding hands in a circle like kids and hippies,” Ryan grumbled.
Cora pulled him into the circle and sat down, forcing him to do the same. “Like this,” she told him, crossing her legs and holding her rig
ht hand out to Kristoff.
Ryan swallowed his protests, reminding himself that they were doing this to get their son back. And that was all that mattered.
He followed her instructions and took Kristoff’s hand and held out his right hand to Cora. She weaved her fingers in his and smiled reassuringly at him.
“Focus your thoughts on your son. You’ll enter a hypnotic trance, much like a shared-dream state. Once you find yourselves there, use the power of your bond to call your son to you. I need to stress that we don’t have a lot of time. You must find him as quickly as possible. This is black magic. Enabling you to reach into Spiritomb is a violation and the spirit realm will not tolerate it. As such, I will be forced to fight their protests. I cannot maintain the level of power required to do so for very long. Understood?”
Ryan and Cora both nodded.
“Good,” Kristoff said. “Now, close your eyes.”
“We’re here.”
Ryan glanced around at the thick, white fog surrounding them. “Wherever here is. I can’t see a damn thing.” He let out a wolf howl, calling out to his son. “Orion!”
Cora called out in wolf, also.
He smiled. “Impressive. You’re telling him you love him.”
“Josh taught me.”
“I knew he was the culprit,” Ryan jested. “I… wait. He’s coming. I can sense him.”
“Come on, Orion!” Ryan encouraged.
And then they watched as Orion bounded through the fog towards them. Ryan made a move forward, but Cora warned him, “Don’t let go of my hand. It will break the spell.”
“Come here, son,” he said, reaching out with his free hand.
Orion leapt over to him and Ryan hooked his arm around him, lifting him off the floor and pulling him to his chest. Tears pricked his eyes as he held him against him. Orion licked them away, purring happily.
Cora laughed. “Let’s go.”
“I had hoped you would stay dead, princess,” Oriana’s voice echoed around them.
She stepped through the fog.
Ryan snarled at her.
“No,” Cora told him.
“We need to kill her. She took our son!”
“We will, baby. But not now. We need to get Orion out of here. Turn around and keep walking.”
“Cora—”
“Please. I can’t lose him again. Can you?”
“No.”
As they turned around, Ryan sensed movement behind them from Oriana. He saw Cora’s eyes flash with silver fire. And, without letting go of his hand, she spun around and fired a bolt of magic back at Oriana. It ripped through her black magic coming their way and blew her back through the fog.
“We need to hurry. She could recover quickly here and latch onto us,” Cora said.
A hole ripped through their surroundings and Ryan could see them back in the real world, sitting in the circle with Kristoff as Nathanial and Marella guarded them on high alert in case of an appearance from Oriana.
“Do we just walk forward?”
“I think so,” Cora said. “Hold him tightly, Ryan.”
“I am. Don’t worry.”
Ryan led the way and pulled Cora behind him.
Just as they stepped back through the hole, he heard Cora gasp.
He turned to see Oriana grabbing onto her arm.
Cora tried to shake her off, but it was too late.
Ryan opened his eyes to find Orion nestled in his lap.
“Orion!” he cried, gathering him in his arms. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you, son! I love you!” He turned to Cora as she was just opening her eyes as well. “Cora, we did it! He’s here!”
“Oh my God!” she shrieked. “Baby!” she said, nuzzling Orion in Ryan’s arms. She pulled back suddenly and glanced around. “Shit! Oriana grabbed onto me as we were stepping through the hole.”
She eyed Kristoff, who seemed fine, except for being a little out of it, clearly still coming down from the spell. His eyes were glazed over and he hadn’t returned to reality yet. Ryan looked away as he spotted Marella and Nathanial emerging from the forest, arguing. There were burn marks all over the forest floor.
“Judging by the marks all over the ground and the look on your faces, I’m guessing Oriana did make an appearance?”
“Yes. She’s free,” Marella reported.
“And you couldn’t stop her?”
“I wounded her,” Nathanial reported.
“We could have done a lot more damage if you hadn’t trapped me in a protective field, Nathanial!”
“If she had struck you with her magic it could have wounded you and our child, Marella!”
Marella shook her head with disbelief. “You are too paranoid.”
“And you are infuriating at times.”
“Guys!” Ryan yelled. “Forget it. She’s gone for the time being. Let’s just get back inside the realm before she comes back. She can’t enter because of Cora’s barrier.”
As Ryan heard his own words, he was surprised at his own levelheaded, calm response. Considering his usual react-and-ask-questions-later response, combined with the fact that he wanted to kill Oriana more than he’d ever wanted to kill anyone, it was odd. But as he looked down at his son in his arms, he understood why. Now that he finally had him back, all he wanted was to be with him. He didn’t give a damn about going after Oriana right now. He didn’t give a damn about anything else. Only his family.
“Come, my love,” he said, holding out his free hand to Cora.
She took it and he pulled her close as the three of them walked back through the Dark Realm gates.
17
Ryan held the door of his bar open for Cora, who had Orion clutched tightly to her chest. He was still in wolf form and Ryan had taught her how to hold him properly and to avoid being scratched by his little, but very sharp, claws.
Cora pointed to the end of the bar, “Over there is where Mommy and Daddy first spoke to one another. Your Dad was being his arrogant Alpha self at the time.”
Ryan laughed. “And trying to get into Mommy’s pants.”
“Ryan! Don’t tell him things like that.”
“Believe me, he’s heard me say worse.”
“What?”
“Aw, I’m just kidding.” Mostly. Oops.
She huffed and carried Orion through the bar towards the steps that led up to his apartment.
Ryan followed after them, telling Orion, “Your Mom showed up here on the pretense of having accidentally been clawed by poisonous wolves. She claimed she needed my help, when we both know what she really wanted.”
Cora jabbed her leg into his shin.
“Ow!”
“Don’t be a pussy.”
“Pussy? So we can use that word around him?”
She rolled her eyes.
Once they reached the landing, Ryan jogged ahead of them and opened the door. “After you, wife and son.”
He heard her gasp as she stepped inside. “Oh my God, Ryan!” she exclaimed excitedly.
The entire apartment had been renovated from top to bottom.
It had once been a bachelor apartment, having just one room and a tiny bathroom. Now there was just one mammoth living room. All the furniture was new. A wraparound, cream couch and matching, oversized chairs. He heard her laugh as she caught sight of a tiny version of the chairs, which he’d bought for Orion. The furniture faced a huge, flat-screen television that was mounted on the wall above a state-of-the-art entertainment unit.
Over on the other side of the room was a real log fireplace. Her gaze shifted to a stone table beside it and she smiled as she took in the sight of the spell books piled on top of it. Over on the wall were shelves lined with various potion bottles.
She turned to him in surprise.
“Nathanial’s idea. For you to practice your magic.”
“Very sweet.”
“Come, I’ll give you a tour.” He took her hand and led her through an open door to the left. They walked into a brand-new k
itchen, complete with granite countertops and an island that doubled as a breakfast bar. All the appliances were a sparkling silver color. “This is where I’ll teach you how to cook.”
“Hey!”
“Please, my love, I know you don’t know how.”
She smiled sheepishly. “True.”
He pulled her through the living room and beneath an arch that was also new. It led into a narrow corridor with two closed doors on the far side of the wall.
He opened the left one and drew her inside. “Master bedroom.”
“Wow, it looks exactly like the room we had in the White Realm.”
A four-poster bed carved out of white stone was situated at the far end of the room covered in red, silk sheets with decorative pillows on top. A canopy of silver-colored drapes hung from the posts and brushed the white-carpeted floor. To the left was a wall of white closets. And to the right, was a door into an ensuite bathroom.
“It is the room that we had in the White Realm. All the furniture is from there,” he told her.
She turned to him, grinning widely. “I can’t believe you did all of this, baby!”
“Well,” he said as he led her along the corridor and opened the other door. “It wasn’t all me.”
As soon as they stepped into the room, Josh and Shaye exclaimed, “Surprise!”
“You did all of this?” Cora asked as she glanced around the room. It was a nursery for Orion.
Josh bounded over to her and planted a chaste kiss on the top of her head. “The three of us, Nathanial, and the pack.”
“I love it!”
Ryan wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his chest. He rested his head on her shoulder and gazed at Orion sleeping in her arms. “I want us to live here. I know it’s over a bar and it’s small, but it’ll work for now while Orion’s still a pup. When he’s older we can move to my lodge outside the city. But for now, he needs to be around other wolves to learn.”
“Wow, you’ve really thought this all through, haven’t you?” She turned in his arms to look at him.