A Twisted Fate : The Dream Trilogy - Book 2

by Samantha Barrett

  “That’s it, mi amor, keep going, you’re doing great.” Kai’s words of encouragement helped boost my confidence. I focused harder on drawing the magic back inside me.

  Chapter 26

  Nico

  She was doing it! The dome was getting smaller and smaller. I could see by the strain on her face it was taking a toll on her. She was doing fucking amazing. I just wished I was by her side instead of Kai. I should be the one there holding her hand and whispering words of encouragement instead of him. I know she doesn’t feel the same way about him anymore, but my jealousy knows no bounds. She was my ever after, and he was a threat to that. What if I told her the truth and she chose him? I wouldn’t survive that. She was mine, and I would make her see that. I had to show her that I was the better man and the right choice. She was my hugacko and nothing would change that.

  “Keep going, Ryan, you’re doing it.” Jackson’s voice snapped me from my thoughts. The dome had shrunk; it was only covering Ryan now, and Sophia and Kai moved back a step. I don’t think they wanted to be trapped in the dome again.

  Moving my gaze from Ryan to her sister and Tyler, they were surrounded by at least ten of Jackson’s men in wolf form.

  Shifters were at their strongest when they were in their beast form.

  “Keep going, love, nearly there,” Dom encouraged her. I watched as the last of her force field shrunk inside of her. She opened her eyes, looking around, and then started to sway. I shot forward and caught her just as she collapsed in my arms.

  “I got you, baby.” I kept one arm wrapped around the base of her neck while scooping her legs up with the other, cradling her against my chest. She looked so worn out.

  “What should we do with her sister and Tyler?” Dom posed a great question, what do we do with them?

  “Jax, do you still have the holding cells I made for your father?” Many years ago, I made Jackson’s father some holding cells; they were strong enough to hold a shifter, and the iron bars I used muted fae magic. I also cast a powerful spell to mute any witch’s or warlock’s magic, as well.

  “Yeah, but do you think it’s a good idea to hold them, though?”

  “Do you really think letting the bitch that tried to kill Kai and oh, hang on, wants to kill my whole fucking world, go free is a good idea, Jackson?” Seriously, Jackson was working my last fucking nerve. Jax started growling and baring his teeth. As much as I would love to throw down with Jackson and release some pent-up anger, now wasn’t the time with Ryan passed out in my arms. “If you want to hit the gym later and spar, I will be happy to oblige, Jax. Right now isn’t the fucking time, though.”

  “Nico’s right, Jax.” At least Dom was seeing some fucking sense. “We need to question her sister and find out what the fuck she and Randall are planning.”

  ∞∞∞

  After leaving the others to deal with Stevie and Tyler, I made my way back to the compound. I laid Ryan down in her bed and sat next to her, gently stroking her hair.

  “When you find out what I have been hiding, please don’t hate me, little one. I only did it so I could protect my people. I thought giving Randall your mother would grant my sister’s freedom and put an end to this war, but I was wrong. I didn’t know you back then; I didn’t know then what I know now.” I heard someone gasp behind me and quickly stood so I could face the intruder—or intruders, in this case. I stood there staring at both Ryan’s cousins.

  “What the fuck have you done, Tink?” Shit. They heard. Fuck.

  “I can explain…”

  “You better fucking start explaining now!” Alex was yet to say a word. Chase, on the other hand, had no problem hurling insults at me. “You are a fucking lying piece of shit. Our father told us that fae were honorable people and couldn’t lie; clearly he was wrong.”

  “Technically we can’t lie.” I was trying to stall so I could come up with a good excuse, anything was better than the truth at this point.

  “All you have done is lie to her.” Chase had a valid point, I haven’t exactly been very honest.

  “Nico, I have heard nothing but good things about you from our father and our uncle. You are starting to make me regret ever believing a word they said.” I felt guilt at Alex’s admission; this wasn’t who I am as a person.

  “I never meant to hide these things from her, but the more time that passed, the harder it got to tell her the whole story.” I felt exposed admitting my feelings to the warlocks.

  “She is more understanding than you give her credit for. She has been through hell at the hands of her mother. It is going to destroy her when she finds out you lied to her, again. What did you do with Nina?” Fuck, I had to tell them now.

  “Nina left on her own accord, I swear. I just intercepted her. I thought that taking her and trading her to Randall would grant my sister’s freedom.”

  “Why would Randall want Nina?”

  “Because, Chase, he didn’t know about Ryan then. I thought if I could give him the child of the queen, that would be the end of it.”

  “Why do you look like you just ate a lemon, Tink?” I really hated that fucking nickname from Chase. I glared at the bastard. “Stop stalling and spill now!”

  “Nina sang like a canary and told Randall she had twins. Randall knew about the prophecy. He had planned to take Ryan from you at that party but couldn’t. He saw how strong she was. He also knew when Kai was able to get her when she blew his office apart that Kai had feelings for her. He couldn’t rely on Kai to control her emotions. Stevie made it easy for him when she had planned to lock you three up.”

  “I get what you’re saying, but Ryan won’t be that mad. It’s not like she loves her Mom.” Alex really was the smart one; he knew I was holding back. Ryan is going to hate me.

  “When Randall realized Ryan was real, he cut the deal off and wouldn’t let Sophia go. He changed the terms of the deal and said I had to give him Ryan in exchange for my sister.” Both Chase and Alex looked like they wanted to kill me, but I wasn’t finished yet. “I told Randall I couldn’t do it, and I was gonna figure out a different way to get my sister back. Randall started sending parts of Ryan’s mother to me for my betrayal. I swear, I have been trying to get her mother back, I know she hates her, but at the end of the day, that is still her Mom.”

  “You bastard. You were going to trade Ryan, weren’t you?” I can’t directly lie when someone asks me a question. I took a deep breath. It was time I admit how much of a piece of shit I am.

  “The thought did cross my mind. I had searched for my sister for years, and no matter what I did, Randall was always a step ahead somehow. You have to understand I didn’t know Ryan well when I considered Randall’s new trade.”

  “You lying piece of shit!” I spun around to see Ryan sitting up in her bed shooting a death glare my way. “You planned to trade me for Sophia?” I started shaking my head, ready to try explain myself, but she wasn’t having that. “That I do understand, but taking my mother and lying about it? I have looked for her for months, and this whole fucking time you knew where she was! I don’t like my mother, but she is still my mother, and you handed her over to the fucking devil himself.”

  “I…I…sorry.” Fuck, I couldn’t even put a sentence together. She was never supposed to find out like this.

  “Sorry? I can’t with you Nico. You have lied to me for the last fucking time. You knew where my mother was and never told me. Wait. My mother was at Randall’s mansion when I was, wasn’t she?” I didn’t bother to speak, I just nodded. “Get the fuck out and stay the fuck out of my sight, Nico.” I lowered my head and stood rooted to the floor for a minute, after a long inhale of air I turned and started to leave the room. Just as I opened the door ready to step out, she spoke. “You were right, you know.” I turned and looked back over my shoulder.

  “I was right about what?”

  “Kai was definitely the better choice and better man.” Well, fuck me, hearing that felt like a dagger to the heart.

  Chapter 27


  Ryan

  I asked my cousins to leave as soon as Nico did. Once again I needed time alone to process the information that had been kept from me. I could understand Nico wanting to trade my life for his sister, that wasn’t the problem. I was angry that he lied about it. He knew where my mother was the whole time. He never once mentioned while I was at Randall’s mansion that my mother was there, that she was being tortured. I am so beyond hurt and angry. I just started to trust him and then he goes and pulls this shit. How am I supposed to forgive him? Once a liar always a liar.

  I was sitting in the single chair by the window, looking out at the beautiful Alaskan scenery. It was so beautiful here. I loved the cool, crisp air in the morning. I could live here. I started thinking that I might actually do it, after all this shit is over with that dick Randall.

  I might just move here. I knew Nico wanted me to live with him in the fae realm, but that wasn’t going to happen. We would get married as planned, unlock my powers, finish this fight with Randall, and then go our separate ways.

  Why did the thought of leaving Nico and never seeing him again cause an ache in my chest?

  I knew I had feelings for him, that much was obvious, but you couldn’t build a relationship on just feelings. You needed communication and trust. I didn’t trust Nico, and we sure as shit didn’t really communicate. I still found it gross that Nico was supposed to marry my grandmother. I mean, come on, that is fucked up, right? I knew Nico and the other three guys were way older, but how much older than me are they?

  Questions like these are banking up. I know they’re trivial, but there are things I felt like I should know. I need to find someone who could answer these questions—maybe Sophia?

  I was pulled from my thoughts by a knock at the door; I didn’t bother to move, just told whoever it was to come in.

  Holy shit, did I somehow mind link her or something? Sophia and Aurora walked in, closing the door behind them.

  “So is this how you plan to spend your last day as a single woman?” I hadn’t actually thought about that.

  “Um…no?” I didn’t mean to sound so unsure, but what were my options, really? It’s not like I actually had any friends that would want to throw me a party. I saw a look of pity on Aurora’s face, but Sophia’s held a look of determination. Oh no, that could only mean trouble. Sophia made her way over to me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me to my feet in one fluid motion. “What are you doing, Sophia?”

  “Well, you’re not going to sit around here and wallow in self-pity. My brother’s a dick. Get over it, you’re still marrying him.” Wow, she really didn’t mince words, did she? At least she agreed that her brother was a dick. I decided right here and now that I like Sophia, a lot.

  “We have a suggestion.” I looked past Sophia to see Aurora; she seemed hesitant.

  “Okay, why do you look like you ate a lemon, Aurora?” Sophia sighed, I turned to look at her, waiting for her to answer instead of Aurora.

  “Fine! We're taking you to see your sister.” Wait, what?

  “Where the hell is my sister?”

  “In the cells. Now, if you want to see her, you need to hurry up.” I nodded to Sophia and quickly followed both the girls out of my room and down a zigzagging maze of hallways. We emerge from the building to a side of the compound I had never seen. It was barren and dark from the shade of the huge trees, and I felt uncomfortable being on this side. There was no warmth to be found from the sun, only darkness. “Hurry up and stay behind me.” I nodded. We began walking toward an old shack; it looked really old. If a strong gust of wind came, it would probably blow it over. When we reached the front of the shack, Sophia knocked on an old, wooden door.

  “Who is it?” Hey, I know that voice.

  “Open the fucking door, Dom, it’s cold as shit out here.”

  “How cold does shit get, little dove?” I could hear the humor in Dom’s voice. Sophia didn’t answer Dom, she growled instead. Holy shit, she could give a shifter a run for their money with that growl. You could hear laughter coming from the other side of the door before it was opened. Sophia pushed past Dom and made her way inside, and, not wanting to freeze my ass off, I quickly followed. Dom shut the door as soon as Aurora entered. The room is tiny; with just four of us inside, it was a tight fit. Looking between my three companions, I asked.

  “Where’s my sister?”

  Dom just smiled and said, “Hold on love, she’s below us.”

  Huh?

  Dom placed his hand on the side of the wall and we started to descend. Oh my God, the room was a secret elevator. “If we had prisoners sitting above ground, anyone could try setting them free. Doing it this way, the elevator only works with certain magic signatures and palm prints.” That was freaking smart, no one could break in and try stealing the prisoners.

  “So, who can get to people below us?”

  “Jax, Nico, Kai, and two of Jax’s trusted guards, and well, of course, me.” I didn’t respond as the elevator came to a halt. Dom opened the wooden door we entered through above ground and exited. We followed Dom out, and I was shocked.

  There was proper lighting down here and the walls weren’t made of dirt or rock but rather concrete.

  Walking further along, I saw quite a few cells, the bars on them seemed thicker than normal prisons—well, ones that I had seen on TV, and they were a darker color as well. We walked another minute and turned a small corner, and I stopped dead in my tracks. The cell at the end of the hall held my sister. She was sitting on a makeshift bed made out of a concrete slab. Her brown hair was a tousled mess, and her posture showed me how defeated she felt. I rushed past Dominic and stopped right in front of my sister’s cell. She didn’t lift her head or even acknowledge our presence.

  “What’s wrong with her? What happened to my sister?” The person that answered wasn’t one that I expected; I turned my head to look at the cell next to my sister and saw Tyler.

  “She draws her power from nature. Being so far underground and surrounded by concrete blocks that off.”

  “Open the door, I want to go in.” I needed to make sure she was okay. I know Stevie has done some fucked-up shit, but she was still my sister.

  “I can’t do that, love.” I turned to glare at Dom. How fucking dare he bring me down here and then deny me a chance to sit with my sister and try fix things?

  “Open the fucking door Dom, I want to—” I stopped speaking immediately and spun around to face my sister when I heard her voice. She was still sitting in the same place, with her head hanging low.

  “You can’t come in here, Ryan.”

  “Why not, Stevie? I want to help you.”

  “You can’t help me!” She snapped her head up and locked her gaze on mine. That’s when I saw it—the darkness I saw in her eyes earlier had receded. Her being down here was a good thing, I think. She was cut off from all magic, which meant the darkness inside couldn’t get to her down here.

  “Stevie, I need to explain things to you, Dad told me…”

  “You think I don’t know about the darkness inside me? I have known all along, Ryan. Dad tried to hide it from me. Mya told me the truth. Oh and don’t think that I don’t know you took her from the coven.” I gasped. How the hell did she know that? If Stevie knew all along why didn’t she try to get help?

  Chapter 28

  Nico

  After leaving Ryan’s room, I wandered around the compound for a while, trying to sort through my thoughts. I had no idea where I was going, I just couldn’t stay in one place at the moment. I don’t know how I wound up outside Jackson’s office door. I was kind of glad that I did, I could use someone to talk to. I knocked, waiting for him to invite me in. When he did, I opened the door and entered. Jackson wasn’t alone; Melakai was sitting on one of the couches, gazing out the window.

  “I’ll come back later.” I turned to leave, only to be stopped by Kai’s words.

  “I’m sorry.” I thought I might have misheard him, I turned to face him. “I should
n’t have tricked Ryan. I thought if I did, I could save her from all of this.” With a long exhale, I made my way over to the other couch and took a seat. Jackson moved out from behind his desk and sat in one of the single chairs.

  “I get why you did it, I just don’t like that you did it.”

  “I didn’t know what she was to you back then.” I turned to look at Jackson;, he at least had the decency to look sheepish. “Don’t blame Jackson, he told me the truth so I would back off and leave you and her be.” I was shocked, to say the least.

  “Thank you?”

  “Don’t sound so shocked Nico, if you had of told me from the start she was your hugacko, I never would have continued what I was…doing.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Kai—you would never have stopped.” He finally pulled his gaze from the window to look at me. Kai had changed since he came back; his eyes told you how haunted he was on the inside.

  “I love her, Nico, but you are my brother. I would never try to destroy your bond with her. She is yours, not mine.” I heard the pain in his voice. He didn’t want to admit that Ryan was mine. I respected Kai so much right now, I know this can’t be easy for him.

  “Okay, both of you, do know she is not an object? She can’t be owned.” Both Kai and I snapped our gaze to Jax. “Don’t look at me like that, either of you. This is why she is always pissed at the pair of you.” I looked to Kai, who looked just as confused as me.

  “What do you mean, Jax?”

  “My God, Nico, you are thick. She hates that you both talk about her like she can be owned. She has lived through a horror story, her mother wanted to own her and control her. Her sister tried to control her. She finally got away from her mother when you kidnapped—”

  “I didn’t kidnap her, I just borrowed her.” Both Kai and Jax glared at me. Yeah, okay, that was a piss weak attempt at sticking up for myself. Jax, Dom, and Kai knew what I had done with Ryan’s mother, I told Dom and Jax after I realized Kai knew.