∞∞∞
To my dearest Ry,
If you are reading this, it means I am no longer alive. I would have given anything to have you in my arms one last time or just to be able to tell you that I love you. You are so special, Ryan. You are more than I could have ever hoped for.
I may not have been able to see you or protect you from the horrors you have lived through, but believe me, my dear, I know all about them.
The woman you live with now is not the woman I married.
You having this letter means Stevie has told you about what you are, but your sister doesn’t know the full story. Stevie will take you to our coven in Wonder Lake, and you will learn about your gifts. I need you to find a man named Jackson Marshall. He is the Alpha of the Alaskan Wolf pack, and he has a seer within his pack that will help you. The seer will tell you everything else you need to know. She will tell you where to find a man named Nicholas Stone; he is the king of the fae and a good friend of mine. He is the key to help you unlock your gifts.
Once you have done all this, there is something else you need to know, daughter. I have done something that you will not be happy about. You have powers that are beyond this world. I didn’t know about your gifts till it was too late, and I am sorry that I have failed you, my dear.
In order for you to survive the release of your powers, you need to wed a man from another realm. When two worlds merge as one, you will be released from the confines of the block he placed on you.
I had to change the original spell the king performed so he could never use you without your consent. You must agree and want to wed in order for my spell to break. I added this failsafe in case of my death, so you would have to be willing and not forced. It was the only way I could protect you without someone trying to use you for your gifts.
I am so sorry for all of this. I wish I was there to guide you, my dear girl. You are stronger than any other supernatural; your power is what can lock the fae realm, not your blood, like the legend has foretold. Your blood is the key, though, to grant vampires the ability to walk in the daylight. I know this must be a lot to take in, but I have more to say yet.
The day I turned you away, when you came to the house, I had no other choice! Your sister is changing, and the day you came was one of her bad days. You see, the legend left out the part that one twin would be born pure of heart and good, while the other would be born of darkness.
Your sister is losing control faster than I could have imagined; this darkness inside her needs to lead and craves power and destruction. She wants me to step down and let her lead the Knox coven, but I can’t have that. She is not the true heir to the throne, you are! She will try to take the throne from you, Ryan, and you cannot let that happen. You need to go to the Knox coven and find a lady named Mya, she will help you, and you can trust her.
You need to save your sister! She needs you. Once you learn to control the power you wield, you can banish the darkness inside her. This will come at a cost, but I haven’t been able to find out what that cost is. Mya may have been able to find this out in my absence.
Your mother was also cursed, my dear; her mother’s spell backfired. She thought she cast a spell that would conceal the child from anyone who wished to harm her—that wasn’t the case. She messed up somehow, and your mother paid the price for your grandmother’s mistake. Mya can tell you this story when you find her.
Your sister has just arrived home, so I need to go now, my dear. Just remember that you are strong and you are worthy. You can do this, daughter. I know you can, as my blood runs in your veins. I love you to infinity and beyond Ry-Ry.
Love always and forever,
Dad xx
I burst out into uncontrollable sobs, my heart breaking and begging for my dad. He fucking loved me, and that bitch kept me away from him. I hated my mother more than I ever had in this moment. I felt the power inside of me building and heating my blood. I didn’t try to stop it or calm down; I needed to release the pain inside of me. I screamed out, and as I did, a blast of blue light shot out from inside me. I slumped back into my chair, sobbing. When I felt two strong arms wrap around me, I didn’t scream or flinch. At this point, whoever it was could kill me and it would hurt less than the pain in my chest. I was lifted from the chair and then cradled in someone’s lap; my eyes may have been open, but they were so cloudy from all the tears rushing from them that I still couldn’t see.
“I got you, love. You’re okay.” Dom was the one holding me and stroking my hair while I broke apart in front of him. I didn’t feel embarrassed or ashamed, just numb and shattered. “Let it all out, babe. I promise I’ll hold you through it all.” His kind words made me cry harder. I cried for the loss of my dad, the loss of the life I could have had, and the loss of my sister to this darkness that was eating her alive.
“I….I…I….didn’t…say…bye.” I couldn’t form a proper sentence; I was hiccupping and sobbing too much.
“You didn’t say bye to who, love?”
“D…D….Dad.” I cried harder, the guilt was killing me. I never said goodbye to my dad, I never went to his funeral. I was too angry at him, because I thought he abandoned me.
I thought he chose my sister over me. He thought I would be safe with my mother, so he took the child that he thought needed his help more. I turned in Dom’s lap so I was pretty much straddling him and wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in the crook of his neck. He didn’t say anything, just moved my legs so they were on the outside of his thighs; he used one hand to stroke my hair and the other to rub up and down my back. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but it must have been a while, because I dozed off and woke to the sound of voices.
“Now is not the time for this fucking conversation and your jealousy, Nicky boy.” I smiled internally at Dom calling Nico Nicky boy. “She needed me to hold her while she broke; she is hurt and angry. You need to start telling her the fucking truth. I will not sit by any longer and watch this beautiful girl be destroyed by you.” Dom was sticking up for me, a notion that had my heart warming.
“She is not yours to hold! She is mine. What is it with you three and constantly telling me how to deal with her? Stay the fuck out of my business, Dominic.”
“Fuck you, Nicky boy. If she wanted you here, she would say it, but she isn’t, is she? We know you're awake, love, and if you want me to swap with Nico I will, if not I’ll kick the bastard out.” I didn’t lift my head or say a word, just shook my head. “Well, there you have it, Nico. Get out and send someone to fix her door again. I broke it down getting in here to her.” The room was silent for a moment, all you could hear was loud breathing and I am assuming that noise was coming from Nico.
“Fuck. Fucking fuck. Ryan, I’ll be outside waiting.” I didn’t acknowledge Nico’s words, just remained buried in the crook of Dom’s neck. “Just know that I am sorry and that I am here if you need me.” I heard the sound of footsteps and then the door squeaking shut.
“He’s gone now, babe.” I slowly started to untangle my arms from around his neck and lean back, so I could look at him. I expected to see pity in his eyes, but all I saw was understanding. That shocked me. How could he possibly understand what I am going through?
“Do you want to talk about it?” I sat and pondered his request, my eyes skipping to the door that is just hanging on by the hinges at an odd angle. Dom understands what I am saying without words. “I cast a spell as soon as he stepped out; he can’t hear us.” Wow, Dom really was a powerful warlock. I didn’t even hear him utter any words. I made a move to get off Dom’s lap, feeling awkward for the position were in. His arms shot out and locked around my waist; I snapped my eyes to him in confusion. “How about I take you to your favorite place and we can chat there?”
“Okay,” is my only reply, Dom helps me from his lap. My legs feel numb from being crammed into the chair for so long. Dom bends down and retrieves the letter from my dad. I don’t say a word as he folds the note up and puts it back into th
e envelope.
He hands me the letter, and I quickly shove it into my back pocket, not wanting to see my dad’s handwriting again. Dom turns away from me and starts to chant.
I guess he’s opening a portal to Lake William. Once the portal is open and Lake William is visible on the other side, Dom grasps my hand in his and starts to lead me toward the portal. Just before we enter, I hear loud noises coming from outside.
“Dominic! Un-bar this fucking door now! I can feel your power and know you have opened a portal.” Dom starts laughing. I look to him, confused as fuck.
“I also spelled the door so no one else could break in.” I smile at his deviousness. What a bloody clever warlock you are, Dom. “Hang on, I need to remove the sound spell.” Dom says a few words under his breath that I don’t understand and then shouts, “Be back soon, Nicky boy, we have three hours to kill before the wicked witch gets here.” With that said, he grabs my hand again and we step through the portal.
∞∞∞
Lake William is beautiful, surrounded by mountains and trees as far as the eye can see. The old jetty sways as the wind blows the lake’s water. I make my way down the pier and sit, Dom joins me and dangles his feet over the edge as well. We don’t speak for a while, just stare out at the beauty that is Lake William. This place has brought me so much happiness over the years; I can’t explain, but I feel like this place is a part of me.
“You know Nico is probably going to beat my ass when we get back.” Shocked, I turn and look at Dom to see if he’s joking, but he’s not.
“Why?”
“Because Nico isn’t the only one who can hide his tracks. When a portal opens, it leaves a magic signature behind, just like every magic user has a different signature.” I nod my head, not really sure where he is going with this. “Well, I made sure that my portal left a trail to follow to South America.” At his admission we both start laughing knowing Nico would be furious and trying to find us.
“He doesn’t scare me.”
“I know he doesn’t love, sometimes he wishes you were afraid of him so you wouldn’t keep running from him.”
“I will never fear him, I only run because…”
“You run because you’re feeling more than you want to for the angry bastard, and that scares you.” Well, fuck me with a silver spoon, Dom was more intuitive than I gave him credit for.
Chapter 18
Ryan
I avert my eyes from Dom’s face so he can’t see the truth; the truth is Dom is right. I am scared of what I am feeling for Nico.
“Take it from someone who has been where you are, babe—don’t run, embrace it.”
“How have you been where I am?” I sound like a bitch, but come on. Look at Dom; what stupid woman would run from him? He’s beautiful, with those violet eyes, sun-kissed skin and shaggy silver-blond hair that you wanted to run your hands through. He was a handsome man, but he was also kind and caring. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.
“I was in a similar situation many years ago, and I was too much of a coward to admit my feelings. I lost my chance with the one I crave, but you haven’t lost Nico, there is hope for you two. I see the way my friend looks at you, and I see the way you look at him. You are both stubborn fuckers, and sooner or later one of you has to give in.”
“Who broke your heart?” What can I say, when in doubt, deflect the attention to someone else.
“I know what you’re trying to do and it won’t work. We’re here to talk about you, not me.” Well, there goes that plane of deflecting the attention from me and my fucked-up love life.
“I don’t want to talk about me, though. I swear I’m not really that interesting”
“I beg to differ, love, you are an anomaly, and have been fated to marry my best friend but loved my other best friend, and then he died and now he’s back and now you don’t want to jump his bones.” Well, when he put it like that, I sounded like a fucking hussy.
“I don’t want to talk about Kai.”
“Okay, how about you tell me why you are so upset, reading a letter from your father, but you’re fine when you have daydreams about him?” Okay I guess we were getting into the heavy shit.
“How do you know about me seeing my dad?”
“I may have done a little spell so I could listen in on you and Nico the other day when you were here.” Fucking wanker! He heard me confess everything to Nico, and now he wanted to sit there with a fucking smug look on his face.
“You fucking bastard, how dare you—”
“I did it in case Nico lost his cool and I needed to step in. I never meant to hear all of that, I swear. I would never have done it if I didn’t worry Nico would go ape shit. I didn’t hear everything, I stopped listening after that.”
“Why would he go ape shit?” Dom turned and looked out over the lake for a moment. I waited patiently knowing he would eventually tell me when he was ready.
“Nico is jealous and overprotective of you because you are his hugacko.”
“What is a hugacko?”
“Werewolves have mates, as you know. Their soulmate, if you will. Werewolves, after they turn, can scent out a mate. They will travel the world to pick up on the scent of their mate. Well, for a fae, it is much more complex. There is no scent to follow; they physically have to be in the presence of the person to find their hugacko. The last time a fae found their hugacko was over a hundred years ago.”
“Why didn’t Nico tell me?”
“Because when a fae finds their other half, normally they understand the feeling and accept the bond straightaway. Your fae half hasn’t been unlocked yet, so he is hoping that when it is unlocked, you will feel the bond as he does.”
“That doesn’t answer my question, Dom.” I could tell he didn’t want to answer me but we have gone too far into this conversation for him to pull back now.
“Nico didn’t want this discovery to have any sway over your decision to marry him. He wanted you to marry him because you have feelings for him and not out of duty to a bond you don’t even know about.”
I sat there, stunned for a long while, mulling over what Dom had just said. Nico is an asshole most of the time, but him keeping this from me isn’t his normal asshole behavior. Him keeping this from me is one of the sweetest things he could have done. He didn’t want to pressure me.
“What if I flat out refused to marry him and say to hell with the fae realm?” Dom laughed.
“He would have tried fucking hard to convince you to change your mind. Nico is a controlling prick and expects people to yield to him, but when it comes to you he’s different.”
“How so?”
“He would have let the love of his life—his soul mate—leave him and his people to die, if that is what you really wanted. He would never force you to stay, Ryan, even if it broke him to let you leave.” This new discovery about Nico was doing weird things to my heart. I cared about Nico so much. I didn’t want to lose him, but I still couldn’t trust him. He has lied to me so many times.
“How about a change of subject?” It hit me that Dom could help me find Mya.
“I need your help.”
“I have a feeling helping you with this task is going to get my ass kicked by the broody bastard who’s trying to track our whereabouts.” I giggled at Dom’s description of Nico. He wasn’t wrong; Nico really was a broody bastard.
“I need you to help me find someone.” Dom turned and stared at me, like he was trying to decipher my deepest secrets.
“Who and why?” Here goes. I need to be honest with him. I owe him that much if he is going to help me.
“A lady named Mya; she is from the Knox coven. She is the lady that can hopefully help me save my sister.” The look Dom gave me told me how skeptical he was—he didn’t think my sister was savable. I wasn’t sure, myself.
Chapter 19
Nico
“I’m going to kill that fucking bastard!”
“Calm down, Nico, you know he will keep
her safe.” I turned to pin Jackson with a fucking death glare. The look I had on my face had him shutting his mouth real quick. That smug fucking bastard masked his trail and sent me on a fucking wild goose chase through South fucking America. I was going to kill him.
“They have been gone for fucking hours!” I was going out of my mind, worrying and wondering if she was safe. What if her sister got to her or even fucking worse what if Randall managed to ambush them?
“Brother, they have only been gone for just under two hours, Dom said he would be back before her sister arrived, correct?” I looked to Sophia, who was occupying the single seat by the window in Ryan’s room. I knew she was right. Dom would bring her back before her sister arrived, but it didn’t stop me worrying though.
“What if they got ambushed or something?” I voiced my fear to the group. Jax, Kai, Aurora, Sophia, and Ryan’s cousins came running when they heard me threatening to kill Dom when I felt him open a portal. Kai and I tried to break the door down, but couldn’t break through Dominic’s magic. I had to ask her fucking cousins to help me break the seal. I hated how strong Dom’s magic was. It hurt my pride so much having to ask those bags of dicks for help. They may be Ryan’s cousins but they were annoying assholes.
“Dominic would lay down his life for hers.” I pinned Kai with a look that told him out of everyone in this room he was the last person I wanted to answer my question. “Hate me all you want king, but I will always protect her and so would Dom. We know what she is to you now.” Hearing him admit that he knew Ryan was my hugacko filled me with a sense of relief; he knew he could never have her or take her from me. She was made for me.
I felt the whoosh of a portal opening behind me and spun around to see Dominic walk through with Ryan’s hand clasped in his. I saw red, already moving toward him, ready to beat the fucking bastard till he was begging. As soon as I was within striking distance, I cocked my arm back, ready to hit the prick, when Ryan rushed in front of him and screamed at me.
A Twisted Fate : The Dream Trilogy - Book 2 Page 10