I ran to Breandan and dropped to my knees.
He stared past me whispering nonsense, broken apologies to his family, and pleas for forgiveness.
“You reached me when I was lost so deep dreams were reality.” I cupped his face, and tried to make eye contact. “I did need you to follow me. I’ll always need you. I left because I wanted to avoid you suffering. It’s all gone wrong.” He didn’t realise I held him. “We’ve lost people, but so many have faith. Can’t you feel them?” I tearfully searched his blank face. My voice broke. “Please look at me.”
Insane laughter echoed through the night.
The winds picked up, and the river surged violently. Rain pelted. Forked lightning split the sky and stabbed the earth in jagged spears.
Marinette heaved her torso from the ground. She balanced on her stomach, legs spread. “I’m patroness of the undead, you fools.” Pushing onto her feet, she remained stooped, and the hole in her chest gaped obscenely. Her tattered dress flapped against it. “I’ll possess another vessel, younger, with greater beauty. I’ll use the white witchling.”
Gasping, Ana jerked. Twisting her hands into her stomach, she backed away, frantic, swinging her head side to side.
Marinette flailed an arm. “Kill all my pets. I’ll resurrect new zonbi to grovel at whim. I’ll make the bear my plaything.” She smirked. “I’ll pervert the one you love until he curses your name.”
I kept my concentration on Marinette trying to sense the depth of her remaining power. Maeve hadn’t sacrificed her life in vain. I suspected Marinette herself helped craft the amulets.
By design or accident, Maeve used Vodoun power against its maker.
“Ana has a habit of seeing nasty problems coming. I have no fear for Baako, he’ll never be yours.” I stood and glared over my mate’s head. “Breandan is mine, as I am his.” Taking a leap of faith, I pressed a kiss to Breandan’s lips, stood, and faced my enemy. “Our love is something you cannot break.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Breandan
Darkness is not just the absence of light. It can be pressure. So heavy the lightest breath weighs the world. Clean darkness. Crisp. It was so unlike the sweltering heat of light. Blinding light. Painful. I’d always turned from darkness to embrace the light, ever hopeful, ever ready to be its champion.
And now….
I no longer knew myself. Grief made me a stranger. I clung to sweet nothings whispered by my heart, and I despised the organ for it.
Holding onto love should not be so hard. Why does the promise of a future with her cost this much?
Love demanded too high a price.
I saw their faces. Maeve and Lochlann, my kin. Memories of when we were children flickered on the veil cast over nightmares I struggled to be free of.
Love was worth fighting for. Yet what happened when it stopped being enough? Does everlasting love outweigh the consequences of all you do in its name?
People I loved suffered and died.
Yet life went on.
Was wonderful.
‘You’ve found what makes existence beautiful. Stand up, go to her and live life.’
Bleeding for the one truly lost, my heart swelled upon hearing the voice. “You’re waiting for us?”
‘Yes, little brother.’
My knee lifted.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Rae
Silently weighing each other, Marinette and I faced off with grim resolve, gazes locked.
The wind blew my hair around me in a cloud. Tugged on my tunic and rustled it against my skin.
Colours became vivid, and sound deafened. I inhaled. Mingled scents brought to mind diverse memories, most were good, others ghastly. The good and bad warmed me because they made me who I am. Someone strong enough to know it’s impossible to defeat Marinette with violence. Just as she knew to weaken me meant removing the most powerful motivation I possessed – Breandan – I knew a physical attack would strengthen her.
Power surged inside me, the brightest of flames lighting my very soul. Gasping in surprise and pleasure, I laughed, placing a hand over my heart.
Startled, Marinette took a step back, wary at the sudden change in my demeanour. Her eyes popped wide. “NO.”
Pure and sweet, an aggressive flourish of sapphire energy rushed towards me. The sparkling power mingled with my own then exploded, swallowing Marinette whole, restraining her in chains of radiance.
Each kiss, smile, heartbeat and touch Breandan and I spent loving each other strengthened the strike. Marinette possessed no defence against the magnitude of our love.
Darkness was nothing against the light.
Breaking eye contact with the thrashing godling, I turned and lost the ability to breathe.
He was beautiful.
All we’d suffered and the harsh words spoken in pain and fear meant nothing because we were together.
He defied his brother and defended our bond. He’d challenged the laws of nature to resurrect me. He’d witnessed his family ripped apart and his sister taken in the most violent of deaths.
Despite everything, he walked towards me with singular intensity, knowing it ended, and he smiled.
We’d won.
Shredding into dust, the ground fell away. Suspended in the vast nothing I felt pure joy. The deafening grinding of earth merged with the trilling of the circling winds. I scarcely perceived the surrounding typhoon of power.
There was no hesitation as Breandan gathered me close. His arm around my back shielded me from harm. His magical essence enfolded mine as he thumbed my lip. “I yearn for tomorrow.”
Sighing, I curled my fingers at the nape of his neck. “Why?”
“I yearn for tomorrow because each day the sun sets I am certain loving you more is impossible. Each dawn I am proven wrong.” Lowering his head, he closed his eyes not to the blinding light, but in awe of us. “You belong to me.”
“I know that.”
Breandan cupped my cheek. “They wait for us.”
Blissful, I smiled, tightening my hold as my heart swelled. “I know that too. I love you.”
Our magics ignited around us in apocalyptic destruction.
Unable to wiggle free, Marinette’s scream of terror lingered, a shrill peal that ripped through our plane of existence and beyond. She exploded into a swarm of black moths. Their fluttering wings caught fire then disintegrated to whitened-ash.
The world stilled beyond my notice.
There was only him.
He kissed me.
EPILOGUE
Cael
Demons mourned at the boundaries of the watery crater left in the wake of battle. So many died. It felt sacred, a place of eerie tranquillity. I stood pensive at its smouldering edge beside Conall, dealing with a tremendous sense of loss as he struggled to breathe though his.
Incapable of expressing my feelings, I hesitantly touched my Elder’s shoulder.
Shuddering at the touch, he fell to his knees and sobbed.
There is nothing to say.
I turned on shaky legs and fled, breathing hitched and blinking fast, hoping against hope the pain tightening my chest would ease with time.
There was no trace of the Loa, or of the bodies of Breandan, Rae, Lochlann or Daphne. Already there were whispers that the gods plucked them from life and set them down in the Otherworld.
Ana was inconsolable, detached.
She’d sighed and shrugged when word of the grimoire’s disappearance reached her ears. Despite the heartbroken Pride Alpha’s firm assurances to the contrary, Nimah blamed her for Amelia’s death, and Ana said nothing to refute it. The Coven Daughters called her Mother and would do so until she was ready to acknowledge them as her Children.
I longed to hold her and offer comfort, but none of the words I thought of seemed worth saying. Maybe one day I’d be brave enough to mend the broken paternal bond.
After journeying back to the fairy Wyld, I couldn’t say why I felt the need to leave Conall’s dwelling
and walk the woods. Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps her hand guided me even then.
Heavy breathing had me spinning and peering into the darkness. The werebear appeared to me from the mist. It led me deeper into the forest then disappeared as if conjured from nothing but my confused imaginings.
Behind me, someone hummed thoughtfully. “Would you hate me if I said I’m proud of you?”
My heartbeat thundered at the softly spoken words.
It cannot be.
I turned.
Slowly.
She stood alone in dappled moonlight.
I have so much to say.
Night after night I dreamed of facing her again. Some nights I apologised, others we laughed, and some she held me as she had before, and cried tears of joy not sorrow.
“Why?” I breathed. “Why me? Conall would give anything to see you.”
Her nose wrinkled. The saddest smile teased her lips. “He’d beg me to stay. I wouldn’t be strong enough to tell him no.” She studied me. “But I knew you’d understand why we can no longer remain so present in this world.”
“We?”
Breandan appeared at her side. “You think I would let my heart roam without protection?”
I cannot for the life of me tell how he got there without me seeing.
He kissed her temple and brushed the hair away from her neck. Rae leaned into him and stared adoringly.
“She needs constant looking after.” Daphne sauntered from the shadows and the hairs on the back of my neck lifted.
Rae sniffed.
Breandan chuckled and kissed her pointed ear.
Daphne paused and looked over her shoulder. “See. I told you. They’re fine without us.” Her black eyes glowed green and blue at the edges. Her gaze slid to mine curiously. “He’s not a threat anymore.”
I felt a presence at my other side. With a heavy sense of foreboding, I turned to find a lord who had become a legend to the fairy Tribe. The same fairy that run me through with a sword. The old wound ached as he glowered at me.
Lochlann stirred.
I flinched, waiting on the hit.
His eyebrow lifted in amusement. His arm harmlessly crossed my chest so his hand could tenderly cup the vampire’s face. Daphne leaned into his palm and sighed with contentment.
The moment her attention diverted, Lochlann narrowed his eyes, viciously baring his sharp fangs.
Opening her eyes to catch him in the act, Daphne walloped his stomach. “Enough.”
Lochlann’s eyes softened in contrition as he gazed at her, but they managed to slip me a glare. “I do not trust him.”
“I know, big guy.” Grabbing the waist of his trousers, Daphne yanked him towards my sister and her life mate. “We’re going missing for a day or so.” She grinned wickedly. “He needs the occasional reminder of why listening to me is worth his while.”
Flushing, Lochlann shrugged, and allowed her to lead him away.
Shaking her head at them, Rae looked at Breandan beseechingly. Kissing her temple whilst nodding reluctantly, he let her go.
Flinging her arms around my neck, she hugged me. “You did great, little brother.”
Outlandish as the embrace felt, I stiffly moved my arms to hug her in return.
Stinging, my eyes slipped closed. Raw emotion clogged my throat, and overflowed for this female. Believing I was more than the summation of my past, she’d risked unfathomable pain. “Will I see you again?”
Letting me go to rock on her heels, Rae grinned and shrugged. “I don’t think you’ll need me. Nobody does anymore. There’s balance.”
“I need you,” Breandan murmured gathering her into his arms. “All to myself.”
She lowered her lashes, blushing fiercely.
Enchanted, Breandan scooped her into his arms, turned, and left.
Rae wrapped her arms around his neck and wriggled her fingers at me as he strode away. Our gazes locked one final time. She winked then they disappeared.
Alone, stunned, I stood in silence quite unable to move.
A riot of sound rumbled from the pit of my stomach and chugged from my throat as a sidesplitting guffaw.
Dawn crept past the horizon before I recovered enough to stagger home to the Wyld.
Rae
Overcome by happiness, I watched my brother bend over double with laughter then eventually walk away, albeit a tad wobbly.
I wondered if he’d share this encounter with our Elder, and found myself unable to decide if that would be a good or bad thing.
Sensing my disquiet, Baako grumbled.
Shaking it off, I smiled broadly and patted my Familiar’s snout. “Thank you for bringing Cael to me. It’s just what I needed to let go.” I ran my fingers through his warm fur. “I’m sorry about Wasp, Baako. I know you wanted to Claim her, but her heart was broken. She loved Devlin. Deeply. You’ll find another.” I turned my face to the sky. “The weather is going to get worse. Go home. Hibernate. You’ll wake if I need you.”
Chuffing a goodbye, he dipped his head to nose my stomach then ambled away.
Strong arms wrapped around my waist. Pulling me into his chest, Breandan nuzzled my neck. “Satisfied?”
I tucked my hands under my cloak and rubbed my arms. “I’ll never stop being afraid for them.”
“Our presence is meddlesome.” He sighed and pulled up my hood. Snow started to fall. “Their protection is not our purpose. Not any more. You fulfilled your destiny.” He gazed down at me lovingly. “And I am so proud of you.”
Beaming at his praise, I turned in the circle of his embrace and looped my arms around his neck. “Is it bad to wish for wiggle room?”
“Four godlings interfering? That is more than wiggle room, love. We would disturb the balance, and that is not acceptable. I finally have you all to myself.” Breandan brushed a snowflake from my cheek. It melted under the warmth of his touch. “Our people will be fine. It will be hard to watch them suffer, but that is life.” He thumbed my bottom lip then kissed where he’d stroked, chuckling quietly as I touched my tongue to his. We shivered in pleasure. “Is it awful to focus your attentions on me?”
“No. I won’t meddle, I promise.” I snuggled into him. Though content my brows pulled together. “Now what?”
Breandan stared at me with a particular look of astonishment.
Deadly serious, I stared back.
We’d survived.
Together.
His lip twitched. I sucked on my bottom lip. We burst into hysterical laughter.
“Seriously.” My giggles puttered as I grasped the enormity of what we’d achieved. “What on earth do we do with all this power? We’ve all the time in the world to do what?”
“Hmmm. What to do?” Breandan lowered his head. “What could I want to do with my irresistible life mate?” My heart fluttered when he pressed his hips to mine. Breathed into my ear, “Guess.”
Teasing, his lips hovered a hairsbreadth from bestowing kiss.
I scarcely kept my legs beneath me. Formulating coherent thoughts to speak was too bloody hard. Breathless with anticipation, I scooted closer angling my face up.
Breandan jerked straight and left me hanging.
Evading the swipe of my arm, his hand reached across his chest to clutch his elbow. The other lifted and his elegant fingers tapped his chin. “Nothing to say? Pity. I have something in mind.” Eyes shimmering with lambent heat, mischievous, he strode backwards. “I spent endless time chasing you for answers. It is time you did the same.” Dazzling me with a grin of pure sunshine that warmed me to my toes, Breandan beckoned with a crook of his finger. “Catch me, and I will tell you.”
He faded. A radiant silhouette that glowed bluish silver then vanished.
Fluffy snow blanketed the forest canopy and sparkled in the pale dawn. The undergrowth was frozen. Icy. Weak rays of sun broke through the whitish overcast, and blade-like icicles stuck to the tree boughs glistened.
“Snow is lovely, but….”
Stretching my arms, I
wiggled my fingers. Smiled when my magics swelled to bursting and infused the air with warmth and life. Breathing in deep, I shut my eyes and let nature bloom. Green grass sprouted beneath my feet and vines tipped with yellow and blue flowers twisted around my ankles.
Cold wind stirred my hair into an inky cloud. Brought the heady fragrance of winter evergreens and the earthy scent of my life mate into the sanctuary of my burgeoning Spring.
The sound of Breandan’s laughter was an ethereal resonance in the forest.
He summoned.
Loved and loving, I followed.
THE END
OTHER BOOKS
Glamour (Rae Wilder #1)
Compel (Rae Wilder #2)
Enchant (Rae Wilder #3)
Chaos Theory (Cosmic Lovely #1)
Die, My Love (Dark Creature #1)
Bite, My Love (Dark Creature #2)
Lunar Light (Beautiful Damned #1)
Smolder (Dragon Souls #1)
***
COMING SOON
Burn (Dragon Souls #2)
Flux Equinox (Cosmic Lovely #2)
Moon Burn (Beautiful Damned #2)
Try something different?
CHAOS THEORY (Cosmic Lovely #1)
Kali doesn’t know what to make of Blue. His scientific knowledge surpasses genius, and his understanding of the universe is effortless. His mind intrigues her, and his body attracts her in the worst way. Fascinated, Kali accepts when he asks her on a date ... then is abducted by aliens. Kali escapes captivity to discover earth under attack, and the only thing standing between life and death is Blue, a boy alien to her in every way conceivable.
***
Read on to sample Part One.
***
PART ONE: CONTACT
Summon (Rae Wilder) Page 28