My whole life I'd given into her, doing what she said and never questioning her. I thought she had the best interest of the coven at heart, but now I wasn't so sure.
I stood between her and Derek and spoke to him without turning my head. "Get out of here, Derek. I'll handle her."
Mother limped forward, her leg bandaged. My chest had its own bandages as well. Her power slammed into me before I expected it. Maybe I really didn't expect her to attack her own daughter, at least not full force.
I fell back and into Derek's arms. He caught me and righted me, then let me go just as fast, but I'd felt something between us as we touched. A spark of magic.
I spun to face Mother, fury burning in my hands. A new kind of power pulsed through me, and I realized that Derek had fed me some of his magic.
It had his flavor, his energy and resonance. I didn't yet know what I could do with it, but I allowed it to settle into me as if it had always belonged.
My senses expanded, and I could feel the earth pulse with its own strength. Water, air, fire, earth, all of the elemental magic fused in me as I realized with shock that Druids controlled it all, and now, so could I.
Mother's air magic pushed at me, like invisible boulders crashing into my weak defenses.
I looked at Derek and his eyes softened for just a moment, giving me a glimmer of hope for what might be.
I strengthened my shield with the Druid magic and searched myself for ways to go on the offensive and end this for good.
My new power wrapped around Mother's attacks, turning them back against her.
Derek had given me a reflective magic. Whatever Mother threw at me was returned to her in equal force.
As Mother attacked herself, I pulled deeper and commanded the earth to send up roots to entangle her.
The earth didn't want to obey me, and fought against the darkness it sensed in me, but another flush of power from Derek infused me, and the earth submitted, shooting vines through the floor.
Mother screamed as vines wrapped around her, trapping her and rendering her harmless.
"You're not going to do this, Mother. He's leaving here safely."
When I turned to Derek, he shifted, looking unstable as he howled at the moon and, with a forlorn glance at me, ran into the woods and disappeared.
Mother stared up at me with cold eyes, and I wondered if she had ever really been warm, or had I always projected love onto her out of my own desperate need to feel something from the woman who'd given me life.
THIRTY ONE
Is Love a Tender Thing?
DEREK
Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boist'rous; and it pricks like thorn."
— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
NOTHING MADE SENSE.
Life. Love.
It didn't add up.
She'd saved me, after her family captured me.
She'd gone up against her mother to defend me, but she'd been the one to injure Dean.
I'd fed her power, but I also wanted to punish her for the pain she'd caused my family.
Running through the woods, down streets and through the town, I hid in the shadows, using what little magic I had left to cloak myself as I made the long trip home. My injuries burned and ached, and I knew I'd feel it tomorrow, but it wasn't the physical pain I feared.
In the morning I'd wake up and my whole life would be a lie. My heart would remember the pain it was in, and I'd lose everything I thought I'd gained.
A part of me didn't want to wake up, but I knew I had to.
When I got home and got dressed, I found my dad in the library, but he wasn't working, just staring out the window. He rose and hugged me. "You made it home. I've been forming a plan of how to break you out, but you're here."
I told him everything.
Men cry.
People don't think we do, and usually we don't, but sometimes, we do.
That night I did.
I cried in front of my dad and showed him the tattered shreds of my heart as I pulled out the engagement ring I'd bought her with some of my trust money. I wanted to get her the best money could buy. Now, it served as a cruel reminder of the life that could have been.
My dad stared into the two-carat diamond, his eyes glazing over, and I knew he saw something I didn't.
"Son, not all is as it seems. You fell in love with her heart, and what you saw was her truth. There's more to this story than you know. Don't give up yet."
He gave the ring back to me. "Keep it safe. You'll need it someday."
The little moments of life are often the sweetest. It was all those little moments with Rose that ran through my mind as my father and I sat in silence.
How she looked as she ate her dreadful cereal.
The kindness she showed to everyone, people or animal.
The way she made me laugh with her understated humor.
I had to ask myself, could that woman I'd fallen in love with truly be my enemy?
"Dad, you said something before, about how there might be innocent people in the coven, people who don't know the truth of what's happening."
My dad nodded. "Yes. It seems especially likely now, under the circumstances."
"Could Rose be innocent, despite having been the one to injure Dean?"
"If someone or something attacked one of us, would you do everything in your power to stop them before they harmed us?"
"Of course," I said.
"And what if you later found out that we hadn't really been under attack, that you had harmed an innocent because you'd been misguided, or misinformed? Would that make you evil?"
I considered his question. "Not evil. Still in the wrong, but not evil. It would be a fatal mistake."
I got his point, so I had to determine how much Rose really knew about her coven and her family, and what she thought was happening that night when Dean was attacked.
And I needed to find out why Dean had gone there in the first place, but the only person I could ask, couldn't respond.
"Dad?"
He turned to me. "Yes?"
"I've decided not to leave. You were right all along, this is my home and I'm needed here. I need to be here."
My dad smiled. "I'm glad to hear it, Son."
"And I have a favor to ask."
"Anything," he said.
"Will you help me find the truth about what happened tonight? Will you help me get Rose back?"
THIRTY TWO
My Only Love
ROSE
My only love sprung from my only hate.
— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Dear Diary,
When we see reflections of ourselves, do we see our true self? It's a question I've been pondering as I consider how to see the world for what it is.
The Great Mystery can never be unraveled, for with each layered uncovered, like an eternal onion, it reveals another. But what of the smaller mysteries? Those, I feel, must have answers, and I intend to find them.
I've sat for hours, staring out my window, replaying our week together in my mind. The way he laughed at my jokes and smiled so tenderly before he kissed me. The stories he told of his family. The many meals he cooked that didn't consist of food that looked like children's toys. The tales he told and secrets he shared and the truth he laid bare for me to see.
I saw him, I know I did. So if I saw him, and if he is the man I love, then I'm not seeing the truth of something else.
That is the mystery I must unravel, if I ever hope to bring him home to me.
THIRTY THREE
Where Two Raging Fires Meet
BLAKE
And where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury.
— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
DARKNESS HID OUR covert meeting. While everyone else slumbered, we embraced the night, throwing shadows into the wind with the candles we'd brought.
Rainbow paced the kennel, her leg already heale
d through magic.
I didn't know what had happened, but there'd been a shift in power and Rainbow didn't like it.
I'd found her tied up by roots and had cut her free. Everyone assumed she'd kick Rose out of community for her betrayal, but I knew she needed her eldest daughter for the power she wielded.
What would come next, I could only imagine.
Rainbow poked her finger into my chest. "Keep an eye on her. Watch her and make sure she doesn't have any contact with this Derek character. He's bad news for her. We need her to use her powers more if our plans are to succeed. Find ways to force her, to drain it out of her. Can you do that, Blake?"
I shrugged. "I'll try, but so far your plans haven't been working too well. The attack you staged with the Druid got her to use her gift, and she only hated it more. What's the point?"
Her eyes formed slits and tore into me. "The point, oh cheeky one, is that if you want all the powers promised to you, you'll do as I say."
My legs shook in fear and excitement. I needed these powers to woo Rose and to become a man people would respect.
"Speaking of, I have your first reward." She held up her hand as if swatting a fly. "You will get your first fill of power tonight. It will help you keep Rose out of trouble and get her on board with our plan."
My heart beat through my chest. I'd waited for this day for years. "What do I need to do?"
She drew a pentagram into the snow and dirt and retrieved a covered bowl from her large bag. "Kneel before me."
I did as she said, palms slick with anticipation.
Sticking her fingers into the bowl, she trickled its contents over my head. Something sticky dripped down my face as she muttered words in another language.
A wave of energy forced its way into me, clawing painfully into my soul. I gripped my chest and fell to the ground. "What did you put on me?"
She loomed over me, her long hair swept up in a bun. "The blood of innocence. The puppies sacrificed themselves for your first taste of true power. To make it more permanent, we'll need pure blood from a human, but that will come later.
"Enjoy this while it lasts, Blake. If you fail to do as instructed, you will not be pleased with the consequences."
Death haunted me from all sides as I struggled to breathe. Puppy blood dripped in my mouth and eyes, stinging them.
The power that took me over felt foreign and invasive.
For the first time, I doubted my alliances, but I was in too deep to back out now.
Opening myself up as much as I could, I accepted this strange force and felt it remaking me into something much stronger.
Into a brand new me.
~THE END~
*Watch for Seduced by Pain coming February 14, 2013 to continue Rose and Derek's journey.
Books by Kimberly Kinrade
Also from Kimberly Kinrade & Dmytry Karpov
The Seduced Saga
Seduced by Innocence by Kimberly Kinrade
Seduced by Pain* by Kimberly Kinrade
Seduced by Power* by Kimberly Kinrade
Seduced (The Seduced Saga 1-3, Rose's Story)* by Kimberly Kinrade
Seduced by the Sea (The Seduced Saga, Ocean's Story)
Confessions of a Splintered Heart* (A Contemporary New Adult Romance by Kimberly Kinrade)
The Kiss Me Series
Kiss Me in Paris by Kimberly Kinrade
The Forbidden Trilogy
Forbidden Mind (The Forbidden Trilogy, #1) by Kimberly Kinrade
Forbidden Fire (The Forbidden Trilogy, #2) by Kimberly Kinrade
Forbidden Life (The Forbidden Trilogy, #3) by Kimberly Kinrade
The Forbidden Trilogy (Omnibus Edition) by Kimberly Kinrade
Sunrise & Nightfall by Kimberly Kinrade & Dmytry Karpov *
The Hunter Riley Series
The Black Thorn (Hunter Riley Series, #1) by Kimberly Kinrade & Dmytry Karpov
The Fallen Trilogy
Blood of the Fallen (The Fallen Trilogy, #1) by Kimberly Kinrade & Dmytry Karpov *
Tears of the Fallen (The Fallen Trilogy, #2) by Kimberly Kinrade & Dmytry Karpov *
Flight of the Fallen (The Fallen Trilogy, #3) by Kimberly Kinrade & Dmytry Karpov *
The Chronicles of Corinne
Death by Destiny by Kimberly Kinrade & Dmytry Karpov
Myths of Magic by Kimberly Kinrade & Dmytry Karpov
Paths to Power by Kimberly Kinrade & Dmytry Karpov
The Reluctant Familiar Series
The Reluctant Familiar (The Reluctant Familiar, #1) by Kimberly Kinrade*
The Egyptian Queen (Prequel) by Kimberly Kinrade*
The Three Lost Kids Series
Lexie World (The Three Lost Kids Special Edition Trilogy - Illustrated)
Bella World (The Three Lost Kids Special Edition Trilogy - Illustrated)
Maddie World (The Three Lost Kids Special Edition Trilogy - Illustrated)
The Three Lost Kids & The Death of the Sugar Fairy
The Three Lost Kids & The Christmas Curse
The Three Lost Kids & Cupid's Capture
Bits of You & Pieces of Me by Kimberly Kinrade
* Coming Soon
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, thank you to my husband, Dmytry Karpov. He's part story consultant, part editor, part formatter, part cover artist and 100% inspiration for the juicier parts of this book. I couldn't do what I do without him by my side.
A huge thank you to all my amazing fans who have supported my work and joined me in celebrating the launch of this series. You've shared this book, told your friends, and been so amazing on this journey. It's for you that I write these books.
To my parents, who are still proud of me even though my books have sex in them now. (I know you're reading this, Mom!)
Oh, and a note from the author: I have the best parents and most amazing family. The extreme dysfunction in this book is not based on real life. I get to make stuff up, remember?
Finally, my deepest gratitude to Vickie Dold of IO Book Tours and Daring Books Design & Marketing for supporting my work and looking for ways to give my books more visibility, and to Jan Rippingale, for believing in me even when I didn't believe in myself.
About Kimberly Kinrade
Kimberly Kinrade was born with ink in her veins and magic in her heart. As a child, where others saw shapes in clouds, she saw words. But she was also an entrepreneur at heart. So when her business arrangement with the Tooth Fairy ended, she went pro by writing her fantastical stories and selling them to all her neighbors.
Fast forward… um… many years and many college degrees later… and she is now a published author after a long career as a journalist and freelance writer.
Though she has written in many genres and fields, she's most passionate about the world of romance, paranormal and fantasy where she writes award-winning books for children, teens and adults.
When Kimberly's not writing, editing and writing some more, she runs Daring Books Design & Marketing with her husband.
Kimberly lives with her three little girls who think they are princess ninjas with hidden supernatural powers, her two dogs who think they are human, her two cats who think they are gods (and probably are) and the one man who is her husband, soul mate and writing and business partner—Dmytry Karpov.
Find her at www.KimberlyKinrade.com
On Twitter: @KimberlyKinrade
On Facebook: /KimberlyKinrade
And subscribe to her newsletter for special perks. For a fun fan-based experience, check out IPIAcademy.com and become an Agent-in-Training with International Paranormal Investigations.
Available Now from Kimberly Kinrade
THE FORBIDDEN TRILOGY
By Kimberly Kinrade
Available now on Amazon.
~~~~~
Those inside are special, gifted with unique abilities that make them dangerous to the outside world. Since childhood, they're trained to control their powers and to defend themselves. For years they practice, honing their
gifts for one purpose: to be rented out to the highest bidder as a spy, to be used as a weapon against others.
Sam never questions her role at the secret organization dubbed Rent-A-Kid.
Until she meets Drake.
She reads minds. He controls minds. Together, they might get out alive.
THIS SPECIAL EDITION INCLUDES:
*Award-Winning Book #1 - Forbidden Mind
*Book #2 - Forbidden Fire
*Book #3 - Forbidden Life
*In-Depth Q&A with Author Kimberly Kinrade
*Extensive Bonus Content (Available ONLY in this Special Edition)
Get the whole trilogy, plus bonus content and save money... even if you already bought Forbidden Mind. This special edition gives readers the best deal with the best content!
Excerpt:
This was the moment. Our first meeting. What if the chemistry we had in our minds didn't translate to our bodies? What if he looked at me and ran away?
Ana, reading my mind, tugged me to the door with a motherly smile. My heart clenched at the thought that Lucy and Luke should have basked in that smile over the last eighteen years. The injustice of it all renewed my motivation.
Seduced by Innocence (The Seduced Saga, Book 1 of Rose's Trilogy) Page 14