Dressed all in black, hoods covering their heads, it was impossible to see their faces, but the gold chain and medallion around their necks identified them as high-ranking Unseelie. Jamison wondered at first if it was a trick, but as he watched, he realized that the men approaching them were precisely who they appeared to be. Fear racing through him, he took a quick glance back at Miranda, but she was standing firm, her lips moving as she recited the spell that would free her of her bonds.
When the Unseelie reached them, he could see the strain on Miranda’s face, but Abagail began to whisper along with her, then Darby stepped out of line and joined her voice to theirs. The air around them began to stir, and the Unseelie looked around them warily, but then one of them rode forward and pulled his hood down to reveal the scarred, ugly face of Miranda’s tormentor.
“The witch belongs to me,” he rasped. “Bring her to me and we’ll let you live.”
“I belong to no one,” Miranda announced right on cue. “I denounce your tether on me. I reject the black magic that ties me to you. My mother is dead, and you have no hold on me. Be gone, Malcolm, and take your tether with you. You own neither my body nor my soul.”
Jamison watched with pride as Miranda recited her lines, then began to repeat the spell. Malcolm roared and jumped down from his horse, closing the distance between him and Miranda in only a few steps, but Jamison didn’t move, even though his muscles were straining to protect her. Miranda tipped her chin up in the air and stared at Malcolm, the spell spilling out of her mouth faster and faster, until he knew that his moment had come.
With a roar he couldn’t contain, he rushed at Malcolm, but he was faster than Jamison, and before he knew it, he was tumbling to the ground, all the air gone from his lungs. As he lay there struggling to breathe, Malcom strolled over to him. “Did you really think you could hide behind a bush?” he asked. “I think I’ll kill you first.”
From deep within the robe he wore, Malcolm pulled out a long sharp knife and raised it over his head. The breath came whooshing back into his lungs as around him, the other Unseelie finally struck, jumping off their horses and charging the others. He wanted to scream out a warning, but the knife was headed straight for his heart, so he jumped to his feet. Before he could recover completely, Malcolm lunged for him, and he felt the knife slide through the flesh of his stomach.
As he fell to the ground, he heard Miranda scream, and then time seemed to slow to a crawl, seconds ticking by slowly as the life began to drain out of him. Malcolm was standing over him, laughing manically, Miranda’s screams fading into the background. Anger flooded him to think that evil was going to win, that everything he’d been through was going to be for nothing, and some of his strength returned.
“Kill him, Miranda,” he screamed as loud as he could.
She stopped screaming and focused on Malcolm, her face a mask of anger. She slowly raised her hands in the air, and around them, the trees began to shake with the force of her passion. “You’ve hurt enough people, Malcolm; it’s time you returned to the hell you came from,” she yelled.
The spell that came out of her mouth brought Malcolm to his knees, screaming in pain, and Colin called out the signal to attack. Rain began to pour down on them, its stinging coldness keeping him from passing out as he watched the Unseelie fall one after another. When Malcolm finally lay still, Miranda rushed to Jamison’s side and knelt next to him in the mud.
With shaking hands, she probed the wound, gasping when she saw the blood pouring out of the gash. “Don’t die, Jamison. Malcolm is gone. I broke the tether,” she repeated over and over, her tears mixing with the rain on his face.
“I love you, Miranda; you made me a better man,” he said, his vision beginning to grow dim.
He felt Miranda take his hand, felt her squeezing it in hers, then the sharp cut of a blade on his palm. “I’m not going to lose you,” she said, slicing open her palm.
She forced their hands together and began reciting a spell, her tears still pouring down her face. Only a few seconds later, his body began to tingle and his palm began to get hot, then the wound in his side began to burn and sting. He sucked in a deep breath but kept his eyes locked on Miranda’s, the love he saw there filling him with warmth.
“I love you, Jamison,” she said, smoothing the hair back from his face with her other hand. “I’ve shared my life force with you, so I hope you really meant it when you said you loved me.”
He felt his strength returning and sat up, then looked down where their palms were joined. “I guess this means I’m stuck with you forever or something,” he said.
Miranda nodded. “It was the only way I could save you,” she said.
“Well, since all I want to do is spend the rest of eternity with you, I think that’s just fine,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “That’s how long it’s going to take for me to get tired of loving you.”
“I think eternity sounds like a pretty good thing,” she said, cupping his face in her hands. “Just as long as it includes more of those nights you promised me.”
Also By Serena Meadows
Fae of Ballantine Series
The Fae Prince
The Fae Warrior
Rescued by The Fae Prince
Fae Mistaken
***
Daddy Wolves of the Wild Series
Not all love stories start with sunset strolls down the beach. These powerful shifters have defended the ones they love, and picked up some painful scars along the way. But don’t let the rock-hard muscles or glowering looks fool you. Beneath the brutal exterior is a beating heart that’s just found its mate, and after such a long wait, the flames of lust will incinerate anything that gets in their way.
Mountain Wolf’s Nanny (Book1)
Mountain Wolf’s Curse (Book2)
Mountain Wolf Playboy (Book3)
Mountain Wolf’s Courage (Book4)
Daddy Wolves of the Wild Series
***
Dragons Secret Society Series
A sinister mastermind and his coven of witches are determined to annihilate the world’s shifters, once and for all. Facing impossible opposition, courageous alphas and their clans fight claw and fang to protect their innocent kin. But the only antidote to death is new life, and the only force greater than evil, is love. In this heart-stopping series, virile alphas and their men must learn to seduce instead of slaughter and bare their hearts along with their weapons.
Dragon’s First Shift (Book1)
Dragon’s Forbidden Mate (Book2)
Dragon’s Flame (Book3)
Dragon’s Prophecy (Book4)
Dragons Secret Society Box Set
***
Wolves of Gypsum Creek Series
The tiny town of Gypsum Creek is home to a high number of brooding, sexy-as-sin men that disappear with each full moon. The heroes in this boxset of steamy, standalone stories will get your heart racing…and tongue wagging. But you’d better watch out. The howling has started, and no lady is safe when the wolves of Gypsum Creek go on the hunt.
Third Time a Charm (Book1)
Triumph (Book2)
Young Love (Book3)
Restoration (Book4)
Her White Wolf (Book5)
Wolves of Gypsum Creek Box Set
***
Fairplay Shifters Series
Sexy shifters who desire more than power… Bold, sassy witches who want to take control of their own lives… What is stronger: love, or the forces of darkness that threaten to destroy everything they hold dear?
Justin (Book1)
Jake (Book2)
Quinten (Book3)
Steven (Book4)
Dalton (Book5)
Daniel (Book6)
FairPlay Shifters Box Set (Books 1-6)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Serena Meadows has always been obsessed with writing short stories since she was in junior high school. She writes paranormal romance stories of all types but writing about sexy steamy alpha shifters is her p
assion. She lives in Denver with her two dogs. On her downtime (which is rare), she enjoys hiking and camping in the mountains or riding her bike with her own alpha male to keep her safe and warm. Typically she enjoys an evening curled up buried in a good book or watching Netflix. She also enjoys time with good friends.
HOW TO CONNECT WITH ME:
Sign up to my newsletter to stay updated with all my new releases, and free giveaways!
If you prefer, you can follow me on Bookbub or Amazon to stay updated with my new releases.
Feel free to email me at [email protected]
Thank You!
Serena Meadows
Fae Mistaken (Fae 0f Ballantine Book 4) Page 13