King Cave
A Forever Evermore Novel
King Cave
Scarlett Dawn
The long-awaited sequel to the bestselling, award-winning King Hall: the revolution is here, but the most dangerous attack may come from within...
The safe, comfortable world of Lily Ruckler and her fellow Mystical Kings and Queens is rocked to the core by the attacks at King Hall. Not only does Lily have to kill the Commoners attacking her people, she also has to assume the mantle of leadership, and bring the surviving Mysticals to King Cave.
It should have been too much, but she is not alone. Ezra becomes her rock, her best friend, the one person who understands. As Pearl and Jack struggle with inconsolable loss, Ezra and Lily work to keep the Mys community safe in their new home, and plan a deadly retaliation.
Their friendship saves them both...but it also draws attention. Whispers. Judgment. It's not normal for Shifters and Vampires to be friends, and when a horrifying truth is revealed, their relationship morphs from unusual to unspeakable. Lily is good at keeping secrets that could get her killed. Is she willing to risk Ezra's life as well?
About the Author
Scarlett Dawn is drawn to all things quirky and off-beat. She believes there are no boundaries for an imaginative soul. Her love of the written word started at an early age, when her grandmother would take her to bookstores every weekend. Dreams came alive within the books she found there, and now, she is thrilled to share her stories with others who have fallen under the spell of taking fantastical journeys. Scarlett resides in the Midwest of the United States with her husband, three children, and two dogs.
You can interact with Scarlett Dawn on her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorScarlettDawn
Acknowledgements
First, thank you to my kiddos. I love you. I love you. I love you. One for all three.
Thank you so much to all of my fans! All of your supportive words are so wonderful to hear. I am just as thrilled for you to read this next instalment of the Forever Evermore trilogies. I hope you love it! *hugs*
While this story would never have been accomplished without the patience and support of my family, I want to give a special thank you to my editor, Kate Cuthbert. She is utterly amazing, along with the rest of the Harlequin Australia staff. I have truly found a home with them.
Thank you so much to my copy editor, Nicolene Hale. She is simply amazeballs. There is no other one word to describe her. She’s the type of copy editor every author would be blessed to have.
Also, to my beta reader, Bindi: you rock my socks off. You didn’t even blink an eye when I emailed this story to you at the last minute. *bear hugs* You are amazing. Truly.
To my husband,
You’re it for me.
I knew it the moment I met you.
You always have been. You always will be.
No other words are needed.
You’re it.
Love forever evermore,
S.D.
Contents
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Bestselling Titles by Escape Publishing…
Chapter One
July 1, 2013
Elder Antonio Farrar, the closest person I had known to a father while growing up, turned his attention to the window he had my gun pointed at while echoes of warfare clashed in the air, fighting their own personal battle for loudest demand.
Screams of agony.
Shouts of victory.
Booming explosions.
Cries of the innocent.
Ricocheting gunshots.
Curses of reckoning.
Demands of the organized.
Shrieks of loss.
Antonio’s golden eyes narrowed, and he fired my weapon as another Com tried to enter through the broken window. Our enemies, the Commoners, were swarming outside our safe zone, the late Mrs Jonas’s office. The only entry: the window I had thrown my uncle out of earlier today, before I had executed him with a single silver bullet to his forehead.
Ezra Zeller, the Prodigy Vampire and one of my very best friends, stepped in front of me, sheltering my body from the window’s access. Any of his visible skin was covered in drying blood, which was not his own. His black ceremonial robe was still soaked with it, sticking to his powerfully massive frame. At six feet, five inches tall and built for protection, no stray bullets would hit my much smaller five feet, two inches, hidden behind him.
Which I didn’t appreciate. I didn’t want him hurt any more than he wanted me harmed.
“You want us to run?” Ezra asked in disbelief, his large, almond-shaped spring green eyes narrowing on Antonio. “I thought you were the terrifying Mage! You fought in the damn war beside my dad! He told me stories about you!” Ezra shook his head rigidly. “You may have trained Lily to run, but my father,” Elder Cahal Zeller, one hell of a powerful Vampire, “sure as fuck didn’t teach me to run away with my tail tucked between my legs. Mysticals are being attacked out there,” his body was beginning to tremble, his muscles bulging under his blood drenched robe, “and I’m sure as hell not running like a damn coward.” To my complete shock, Ezra turned on his heel and stalked toward the broken window, shouting over his shoulder, “Keep everyone in here safe while the Mystical with the balls takes care of business.”
“Stop him.” Antonio’s quiet eyes met my stunned gaze. “We don’t have time for this.”
Reacting on instinct, and both irritated and scared for Ezra as he neared the exit, I leaped using my Shifter strength. My shoulder slammed against the small of his back, even as I wrapped my arms around his stomach.
We went down, both of us grunting.
I knew he would twist inside my hold, and I let him. What I hadn’t expected was for him to flip our positions. I should have, but I didn’t. My back landed ruthlessly on the floor.
Ezra loomed over me as his fangs bared, lowering his body, which was firm and heavy, on top of mine. The tips of our noses touching, he hissed, “You didn’t see what I did. There are things out there that will slaughter Mysticals. They’re powerful and strong, even if unorganized. I saw them rip Mys brats into shreds before I could kill them.” His Vampire growled, absolutely furious, and he started to lift off me. “Don’t tell me to run from this.”
In pure panic, I fisted his hair and yanked his face back to mine. I did the one thing I knew would give him pause. Lifting my own head, I flicked my tongue over one of his extended fangs, and he physically jerked against me. Knowing it would feel like a sensual caress, I sucked lightly on his long, sharp fang, gently running my tongue up and down it.
Hearing his breathing hitch, I took the opportunity given. I heaved, jerking him to the side and flipping us so that I was now pressing down on him, blockin
g his body — somewhat — from the broken window and any Com who might appear there. I kept my grip tight on his hair as I lifted my head away.
The blood staining his face did nothing to hide his expression.
Shock.
Perfect. Exactly what I had wanted. He was no longer furious.
“Antonio is an Elder.” I spoke fact, trying to get through to him. “He’s giving us an order, and we’re under attack. You follow his direction even if you don’t understand why.”
Spring green eyes disappeared, only to reappear gradually, in a slow blink. “I can’t believe you did that.”
I sighed heavily. “I had to. You were about to commit suicide.” I shook his head inside my hold when he continued to lay there blinking. “Antonio said we’re surrounded. That there are two more,” I paused when Antonio fired again and killed another Com attempting to enter through the window, “waves of Coms,” my breath rushed past my lips as Ezra flipped us to press my back once more to the unforgiving floor and lay on top of me to hold me down, but I kept on, “about to surge. It’s time to run. Trust me on this. Trust Antonio. He wouldn’t tell us to do something if it wasn’t in our best interest.”
Fangs still extended, Ezra lowered his head so that his features were an inch from mine. “There are things out there I need to kill.”
“You killed all there are here today,” Antonio shouted, clearly past compromising. “Quit rolling around on the damn floor and get up.”
Ezra’s lips thinned as his gaze darted to Antonio. “They’re all dead?”
“Yes,” Antonio muttered through his teeth. “Listen to me when I say that you four need to leave. Lily’s right. You might not understand, but you will,” his eyes instantly glowed golden, “obey me or you will face punishment. I am your damn Elder, with years more experience than you.” His lips lifted into a smile that wasn’t pleasant. “Your choice, Ezra.”
His jaw clenching, the threat clear, Ezra slowly nodded. “As long as they’re all dead, I’ll do as you say.”
Antonio chuckled derisively and fired at another Com. “You’re definitely your father’s son.” It didn’t sound like a compliment.
Ezra ignored Antonio’s razzing, his eyes darting down to mine and deliberately running over my features. “Your distraction was effective,” his monstrous, blood-tainted face lowered further as he placed his warm lips against my ear, “but you’re so getting payback, sweetheart.”
I imagined he would try. You never messed with a Vampire’s fangs. My own, even if small because of my hidden hybrid nature, were extremely sensitive. Ezra knew I understood. Retribution was definitely in my foreseeable future as long as we lived through this.
“Ezra, dear, I agree with Elder Farrar,” Vivian — Ezra’s mom — murmured from her hidden space under the desk, her voice dry. “You should quit rolling on the floor with a Shifter.”
Ezra stilled on top of me, just as I froze under him.
We had forgotten about her. It wasn’t the first time we had done that. Ezra’s mom was just too quiet. She watched, then spoke only when her mood suited. Her mood obviously suited now, since Mysticals of different factions didn’t ‘roll on the floor’ together.
“Right,” Ezra stated loudly, his carefully blank face lifting in her direction. His fangs retracted, leaving perfectly white, straight teeth showing between his partially opened red, wide lips. “I was only telling her—”
“Ezra,” Vivian interjected, “just get off her.”
“Of course,” he mumbled, rising and yanking me to my feet, only to quickly tug me away from the window.
Ezra and I stared at our other besties, the Mage and water Elemental, Pearl Cooper and Jack Collins, who were lying on the floor where we had gently and safely placed them after they had passed out when their mates, Gideon and Nikki, had died. Ezra and I glanced at each other, and it was obvious neither of us wanted to wake them. When they awoke…
I shook my head and turned my attention to Antonio. “They won’t be able to focus. All they’ll think of is Gideon or Nikki.” Their sorrow was going to be unquestionably horrendous when they roused. “They’ll get themselves killed.”
Antonio nodded. “That’s why I’m going spell them.” He brushed a strand of golden hair, which had escaped his hair tie, behind his ear as his eyes darted to Vivian. “Do you have lipstick or lip gloss that I may use?”
Vivian didn’t even bat an eye at the odd request while another round of gunfire echoed outside. She rummaged through her purse and tossed a black cylinder to him, not moving from the security of being underneath the desk.
Catching it deftly, Antonio handed my gun to me. “Just keep shooting while I handle what needs to be done.” I aimed the gun at the window, listening to him move toward Pearl and Jack. “This will make them forget. When you get to your destination, all you have to do is finish the ‘X’, and they’ll remember. Their memories will be fully restored.”
From the corner of my eye I saw Ezra grab Antonio’s forearm. “This won’t harm them?”
Antonio shook his head. “No. I’ll make it so they remember everything except any memory of their deceased mates until the spell is completed.” He paused, rolling his shoulders. “They will be in pain when they remember, but not from anything I’ve done.”
Ezra released him, nodding.
I knew this. Ezra knew this. Both of our mates had died. Pearl and Jack would need us more than they ever had until their lives untwisted from the ache of loss. The feeling of loss for my late mate had never really diminished until I had opened myself to their friendship.
Antonio squatted over them and began to murmur his spell.
Ezra watched for a moment before he stepped over Mrs Jonas’s corpse on the floor, not even giving her body a second glance, and maneuvered to the bags Antonio had brought.
More than curious, I probed, “What things were you talking about?”
Kneeling, Ezra lifted a handheld gun from the depths of one of the bags and set it aside before continuing his search. “I don’t know what they were. Not Com. Not Mys.” My body stilled at the implication, even as he pulled a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt from the bag, which appeared remarkably like the clothes Ezra owned. He grunted, studying them. “I’ll explain later.”
A Com head poked inside the room via the broken window, and I fired instantly. The head no longer poked. Nor did it do anything else, since half of it lay on the floor while the rest of the body lay outside the window.
“Not Com or Mys? How is that possible?” Seeing Ezra raise his hands to yank the blood-drenched robe over his head, I kept my focus directly on the Coms’ access point, giving him privacy. None of the Prodigies — him, me, Pearl, or Jack — had on anything under our robes.
“It’s possible,” he grumbled, to my left. “But I’ll explain it when we have more time.” I could hear him pulling the jeans on, the rustling of fabric. He grunted again. “This is handy, but I think Antonio stole my damn clothes.”
“Or he purposely had them for this exact reason,” I murmured, most definitely beginning to suspect that Antonio knew more in advance than the average individual.
After a moment, Ezra hummed in agreement. “I think he also has your clothes, and Pearl’s and Jack’s, in here.” I heard him rummaging through the bag. “And wipes. Perfect.”
“Ezra, hurry up,” Vivian ordered, definitely using a mother’s tone. “Elder Farrar appears to be finishing.”
Ezra stalked in my direction. “Get changed. I’ll watch the window.” He tugged the black shirt over his head with one hand, holding the opened packet of wipes in the other. When he was finished dressing, I placed my gun in his waiting hand, and he began cleaning his face and arms one-handed with the wipes while keeping my gun aimed at the window.
I darted to the bag of clothes and found inside black cargos and a yellow shirt, which were absolutely mine. I pulled them out and hastily returned to Ezra, hiding behind him — he was the perfect screen so no one could see me — an
d beginning to change. Just as I had zipped my cargos and begun yanking my t-shirt over my head, I heard Pearl and Jack moan. I flinched, praying the spell Antonio was placing on them held true. If it didn’t, I would have to knock their asses out and cart them over my shoulder to get them out of here alive.
A particularly loud explosion woke them fully as I was pulling my hair out of the collar of my shirt. It rocked the building, and I teetered, falling against Ezra’s solid back. We rested against each other for support as the floor trembled under our feet, but the room we were in stayed intact. Earlier, Vivian had rambled that the room may have been spelled, and I was beginning to think she was correct. Especially when I heard parts of the upper floors crumble and bang against the ceiling but not crash through.
“What the fuck?” Jack shouted over the resounding noise, sounding shaken…but not wretched, which he should have with Nikki dead.
“We’re under attack,” Antonio explained calmly. “You and Pearl need to get changed. You four have a job to do to move Mysticals to safety.”
“Were we injured?” Pearl asked, sounding muddled…but not screaming in agony from Gideon’s death. “I don’t remember anything but the initial blast.”
“That’s not important.” Antonio jumped to his feet, moving toward his bags. “What is vital is that you two are fine.” He tossed clothes in their direction. “Listen to my directives while you two change your clothes.”
Feeling confident in my blank expression, I turned my attention in their direction. They appeared confused to the extreme, but no desperation lurked in their expressions and no hurt was visible. In fact, the only perceptible evidence of anything abnormal, other than their bewilderment, was a diagonal streak of pink lipstick across each of their foreheads. Half of an ‘X’. And bizarrely, neither one of my besties seemed to notice the other’s half ‘X’ when they glanced at each other before turning their backs to one another so they could strip down in semi-privacy, doing as the Elder bid them.
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