by Brenda Trim
Copyright © 2015 by Brenda Trim and Tami Julka
eISBN: 978-1-63452-601-2
Editor: Amanda Fitzpatrick
Cover Art by Patricia Schmitt (Pickyme)
*****
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writers’ imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the authors.
Dedication
As summer comes to an end we are faced with major changes in our children’s lives. Tami’s oldest son, Torrey, enlisted in the Marines and her youngest, Nick, is starting the seventh grade. Brenda’s oldest, Maddie, is a senior in high school, her son, Keegan, is going into the fifth grade and her youngest, Izzy, is starting the third grade. Our time with them has been and always will be priceless. We love them to the moon and back.
As always, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to all of our readers! We are thrilled that you have embraced our young, energetic witches and if you’re sad that their stories have come to an end, be sure to check out our Dark Warrior Alliance series, if you haven’t already. We have fierce dragons, angels bent on vengeance and more demons coming your way!
Table of contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Authors’ Note
Other Work by Authors
CHAPTER ONE
“I didn’t fucking do this! I am innocent,” Caine DuBray slammed his fists on the table and looked Zander, his vampire king, in the eyes. He took several deep breaths to calm down. Disrespecting his king would only have beheaded head that much sooner. It was all still so surreal and he couldn’t believe the mess he was in. He had been casually dating a human named Sally for several months, and the image of her lying lifeless with her throat ripped out was imbedded in his brain. Her skin had been a sickly shade of grey, telling him that she had been drained of blood.
“I cared for her, I would never hurt her. Or any female for that matter, it goes against everything I am.” In fact, his father would tan his hide if he ever dreamed of it. He may be an adult but Ellis DuBray wouldn’t hesitate to beat him senseless for disrespecting any female. Besides, he would never risk suffering the consequence for such an act.
Caine gritted his teeth as his eyes roamed the large conference room in the famed Zeum compound. He had fantasized about seeing the inside of the mansion and he couldn’t believe he was finally there. However, in his dreams, he was there because the king had asked for his help with the Vampire Nation’s finances. Even in his worst nightmares, he would never have been there under such shitty circumstances. The rich, wood floors and the high, coffered ceilings may be elegant and immense, but at the moment, they were closing in on him.
Zander pinned him with a hard stare. He felt the power of compulsion coming off his leader in waves. The sharp sting of the force almost had him wincing and lowering his head, but he held his position. He needed Zander to see that he was telling the truth. Not for a moment did he fear Zander would see anything to implicate him.
Zander sighed and placed his hands on the table, clasping them together. His exasperation was obvious. Zander cared about his subjects, but to see his upset over this drove that point home. He’d grown up hearing stories how Zander had been the saving grace for the realm. The development of the Dark Alliance and the Dark Warriors had been nothing short of genius in protecting the humans and realm members.
“All the evidence points to you, Caine. You must see how bad this looks. You were found passed oot in her home, seemingly from draining the puir lass dry. The human authorities were called and you are lucky that Orlando and Santiago arrived at the scene first and sensed your presence. Shite,” the king raked his hands through his hair, disheveling his shoulder-length black strands. “Had they no’ removed you from the home it would have been all over the media. The Tehrex Realm could have verra likely been exposed by this.” The more agitated the King became, the thicker his Scottish accent became.
“I swear to you, Liege, the last thing I remember is going to her house. We had opened a bottle of wine and were talking on her couch and then…nothing. I have no recollection of anything after that. The next thing I knew, I woke up here in the dungeons thirty minutes ago. I swear to you, I did not kill Sally. I know it sounds crazy and I have no idea who would have done it, but I think I was drugged. My head hurts, my stomach is upset, and I’m parched. There is no reason for me to have these symptoms. Test my blood and see what you find.” Vampires were immune to human illnesses and when they had symptoms like these it typically indicated drugs or heavy alcohol use.
Zander had to believe him. He wasn’t ready for his life to end yet. He had too much he still wanted to do. Caine felt as if his body was coiled so tight he may fracture from the tension and had no idea how to relieve it. Nothing in his life had prepared him for a situation like this. He had great parents who loved him and a good job making decent money. Banking wasn’t fraught with life-and-death possibilities in the Tehrex Realm.
“You could be feeling like this because you did the forbidden and killed while you fed, ending up in a blood-induced black-out.” Zander snarled as he stood up, his black combat boots echoing loudly as the large male crossed to a long table at the back wall that held several computers and telephones. The king was intimidating even with his back to him. He wore black from head to toe and strength coiled in the ropes of the muscles covering his body, but it was the power that emanated from the king that grated across Caine’s nerves like razors. He didn’t doubt that Zander could pop his head from his shoulders without breaking a sweat.
Caine’s stomach knotted up when the king picked up the phone. “Jace, I need you to come down to the war room. And, bring your medical bag.” Caine held back his relief at the thought that maybe Zander believed him. He wasn’t going to allow himself any hope until he had something firm to grasp onto. Still, it was a good sign that he was asking the Dark Warrior’s healer to come down.
The king replaced the receiver on the cradle and turned back to face Caine. The leader of vampires and Dark Warriors sat on the edge of the table, bracing his weight with his hands. “Here is what’s going to happen. Jace is going to take your blood. Och, speak of the devil. Jace, you are aware of the situation regarding Caine. He believes that he has been drugged. Take his blood and analyze it for everything. Doona leave any possibility oot. This matter is far too serious.”
Caine was sweating and his heart raced with fear, but maybe there was a way out of this nightmare. “Thank you, Liege,” he replied, genuflecting before Jace approached him.
“Have a seat, Caine. You are shaking far too much for me to do this while you are standing. It won’t take long.” Caine didn’t know why he was shaking so badly. Even if he had no memory of the evening, he knew deep down he was innocent. Jace pulled out a chair and Caine sank into it, allowing some of the tension to leave his shoulders. He rolled up his sleeve for him to draw the blood as the Dark Warrior opened a bag and placed several tubes and a needle on the table.
Z
ander’s voice brought his attention away from what Jace was doing and his words had the tension returning ten-fold. “That willna be enough to prove your innocence. It may prove that you were under the influence but that doesna mean anything. You could have taken drugs of your own accord, after all. We need more proof than that or you will face the sentence. My hands are tied.” Zander spread his arms, palms up and shrugged his shoulders. It was clear the king wanted to believe he wasn’t responsible, but there was only so much he could do. Just the fact that he had allowed him to voice his position spoke volumes about Zander.
It was one thing to be given the chance to prove his innocence, but he had no idea how he was going to go about it. Zander was right. The circumstantial evidence was damning and there were no witnesses he could call on. The only other person that had been in the house was dead. Caine’s gut dropped to the floor and he was having difficulty breathing. This couldn’t be happening. It was a nightmare that would never end. “How much time do I have?” Jace withdrew the needle and swiped the drop of blood that escaped before his natural healing took care of the wound.
Zander glanced down and pinched his forehead with his thumb and first finger. “I can give you seventy-two hours. No more.” He looked up then and Caine saw the regret and sorrow in his blue eyes. “Jace will place a tracker under your forearm that will allow us to know where you are at all times. If you try to remove it, it will kill you. It will also compel you to return for sentencing at the end of that time.”
As a full-blown panic attack struck him, Caine hardly felt Jace implant the device. His head was swimming, he couldn’t draw a breath, was sweating profusely and his pulse was racing as if it could escape this reality. “Seventy-two hours isn’t enough time. You know I really only have half that amount of time, since I can’t go out during the day. What am I supposed to do?”
Jace placed a compassionate hand on his shoulder and drew his attention. He found it difficult to focus on what the Dark Warrior was saying and had to shake his head to clear the fog. “Only magic will be able to solve this mystery. I suggest going to the Rowan sisters. They helped me with a rather ugly situation and they’ve helped many others in the realm, as well. In fact, if rumor is to be believed, they are next in line for Wiccan leadership. Anyway, it hurts nothing to ask and they can investigate during the daylight hours.”
Zander walked into his line of sight. “Jace is right. They are a valuable resource. They have a shop downtown, Black Moon Sabbat. Bring me that evidence, Caine. You have seventy-two hours or I will be forced to put you to death.”
*****
“Oooh, look at this silver Druzy. I bet it sparkles in the sunlight. I love it. I’m keeping this one for me, it matches the color of my shoes perfectly,” Suvi yelped excitedly as she and her two sisters unpacked their replacement shipment from RockCandy Leatherworks. She’d bet that they were Shannon’s best customer given that they’d had to place an extensive order twice in less than a month. Between the car bomb and the skirmish with Cele, their store had seen its share of destruction.
“You’re right. I never thought there would be a stone that sparkled as much as those shoes, but it does,” her sister Pema added. She heard the incredulity in her sister’s tone. Pema was the oldest of the triplets and by far the most practical.
“You should call your BF Plain Paula and see how many calories you would burn running around in those six-inch stilettos,” Isis, the middle sister said, laughing. Suvi joined her laughter and soon all three of them were crying from laughing so hard. Plain Paula was a running joke between her and her sisters. The female was beyond annoying with her constant lectures about fitness.
Suvi sobered and glanced around their shop. Only with the help of Isis’ mate, Braeden, had they been able to make as much progress, and in such a short amount of time, in repairing the shop. She was glad to see it finally open for business after the explosion that resulted from their magic colliding with Cele’s. That incident had been the second time in weeks that the shop had been destroyed. The first time, it had been Cele’s daughter who had attempted to kill Pema by planting a bomb in her car that was right outside their shop. In short, they may have lost everything, but it was replaceable. What mattered most was they hadn’t lost their lives.
Suvi watched Ronan and Braeden, her sisters’ mates, roll their eyes at the gushing that was going on over the interchangeable stones for the jewelry they carried. Pema and Isis had gone back to unpacking while Suvi mused at how much their lives had changed in the past few weeks. Pema had found her mate, a bear shifter with a penchant for growling, and now Isis had her mate who brought his son. To say that their house was full was an understatement, but Suvi wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Don’t you have enough stones? And, aren’t you supposed to be selling those?” Ronan asked Pema with a husky laugh as he crossed to her side and crushed her in an embrace. Suvi sighed at the sight. It was terribly romantic to watch them. They adored each other and couldn’t seem keep their hands off one another.
Isis and her mate, Braeden, were also madly in love, but they didn’t express it as openly. Theirs was a stolen touch, followed by a heated gaze, probably because it was difficult for them to be more openly affectionate with Donovan around. The stripling had been through an ordeal, almost dying at the hands of Cele, and needed constant reassurance from his father and his new mother that he was safe and no one was going to hurt him again. They all doted on the stripling. It was hard not to love him with his curly, brown hair and big, blue eyes that would steal anyone’s heart.
Donovan dropped the bags of tea and began jumping up and down, waving his tiny, little arm in the air. “Aunt Suvi always says that females can never have too many jewels. Don’t you know that, Uncle Ronan? Kids too. I love the Lil’ Rock that Shannon made me,” he squealed, holding his wrist out for everyone to see the leather strap with a black, onyx stone. Suvi couldn’t help but ruffle his hair and smile.
“You are correct, little one. And, don’t ever forget that, either. The grumpy, old bear still doesn’t get it. What has Auntie Suvi told you about that?”
“That I must shower my mate with love and affection and lots of jewelry and shoes. Oh, and all that growling I hear is really just Uncle Ronan play-wrestling with Aunt Pema,” Donovan responded. Suvi winked at her sister and her mate. Too many times she’d had to entertain the boy and explain what the noise was. No doubt his budding cambion senses understood the truth on some level.
“Is that what my dad and mom were doing the night of their mating ceremony?” he asked innocently. It warmed Suvi’s heart to hear him calling Isis mom. She had worried that it would be difficult for him to embrace her sister given his loyalty to his birth mother. Not, in Suvi’s opinion, that the female deserved his allegiance in any way when she abandoned the boy as a baby and hadn’t tried to contact him even once.
Isis choked out a laugh. “Well, Donovan. What your dad and I did was…uh,” Isis faltered and Braeden came to her rescue.
“We were completing our mating, son. You know there are many steps to cementing our union and earning the Goddess’ blessing. The ceremony is a public part and the blood exchange is private.”
“The best part was seeing the magic that made mom’s stone grow into her palm. It was cool,” he said grabbing Isis’ hand to look at the sapphire embedded into her sister’s palm. Suvi considered the chocolate diamond in Pema’s palm and looked down at her own, empty one, wondering when she’d find her Fated Mate and what color hers would be.
“You’re right. It was very cool,” Braeden agreed.
“Will my mate’s stone do the same thing? Because I think that would be awesome,” Donovan asked as he danced around the store, trampling bubble wrap as he went.
Braeden stopped him and tickled Donovan’s tummy. “No one knows what the Goddess has in store for you. If you’re lucky you will find someone as wonderful as Isis.”
“I hope so. Hey, does this mean I’m going to have a little sist
er or brother soon?” Suvi laughed at the way Isis paled. She doubted her sister would be ready for a child for a while yet.
The tinkling of the new chimes above their door startled her and interrupted the conversation. She hadn’t gotten used to their new sound yet, the metal’s tone was much harsher, but served its purpose. She turned around and felt the breath leave her body in one great exhale.
A God stood before her. A male, well over six feet tall with a firmly muscled body, took up the entrance. He wasn’t like most supernatural males, either. Most were rugged and casual, preferring jeans and t-shirts. There were the exceptions and this male was one hell of an exception in his black, two-piece suit that was tailored to his sculpted body like a work of art. His shaggy, black hair didn’t fit his attire as disheveled as it was, falling into his green eyes.
The sensation of electricity rippling through her veins stunned Suvi. There was always a rush when she practiced magic, but this was so much more than that. She was captured by his gaze and her entire being woke to pay attention. She noticed the haggard look on his face as he loosened his blue pin-striped tie, walking into the store. The way he moved reminded her of a panther and she wanted desperately to be his prey.
“What’s wrong with Suvi, daddy?” She heard Donovan ask followed by Braeden’s chuckle.
“You’ll understand some day, son. Come on. Let’s go get some ice cream down the street.” She heard the door sound again when Braeden and Donovan left, but she didn’t move. She couldn’t. She was rooted to the spot.
Caught in an erotic trance, Suvi became aware that she was gawking. In her defense, any female would be in this male’s presence. The touch of her sister’s hand on her shoulder brought her out of her apodyopsis, and she blushed with embarrassment.
“Are you the Rowan sisters?” The somber note to his deep voice had Suvi doing a double take and that’s when she noted the haunted look to his gorgeous, green eyes. She wondered what put that look there, and oddly, she wanted to put a smile on his face and make that expression disappear.