“I am.”
“Then surely you have a base level of intelligence.” Louie sneered.
“Get to the point.” Owen held my hand firmly in his own.
“I believe it’s time we give Daisy and Owen a little bit of an education on Allures.”
“I’ve been asking for one for days.” I didn’t keep the annoyance out of my voice.
“Let’s move to the patio. We’ll be more comfortable there.”
“I’m fine right here.” I stood my ground. I was done being toyed with.
“Allures are only born from other Allures.”
“Born in what way?” I knew we weren’t talking about human conception here.
“An Allure has only one gift to give. She can give half her essence only once to a deserving human she wishes to have as a companion.”
“Why would she have to give half her essence to spend time with him?” It’s not like Allures had trouble making friends.
“Let me continue. When I’m done, I’m sure you’ll understand.”
I nodded. “Continue then.”
“Once given the essence, that human becomes an Allure with all that comes with it.” Louie smiled. “It’s truly the greatest gift, and you’ve gotten it double.”
“What do you mean?” Owen asked. “She was only given some in a magic paste.”
“She was given the entire essence of one of our kind. Not just half.”
“What does that mean?” My body started to shake from a mixture of anger and fear.
“I don’t know yet, but I can’t wait to find out.” Louie reached out a hand to me and then dropped it. “We’ll get to find out together. Roland will be with us too.”
“Together? Roland? What are you even talking about?” My head was spinning as I tried to process what he was saying.
“Roland, would you like to explain, or should I?”
“Might I explain?” Violet said softly. “Daisy might prefer to hear it from me.”
“Go ahead.”
“As Louie explained, when we give half our essence to a human they become an Allure and stay as our companion.”
“You keep saying companion. What does that mean exactly?”
“It can mean anything. Usually what it sounds like: companionship, company, someone to pass the time with.”
“Pass the time with? That doesn’t sound like an exciting way to spend your life.” I thought back to the cab driver from New Orleans. He’d reminded me of the importance of living your life instead of standing back and watching.
“We have a lot of time, Daisy.” She pursed her lips.
“Meaning?”
“They’re immortal…” Owen squeezed my hand. “I’d always heard that, but I’ve never met an immortal creature before.”
“Immortal? As in you live forever?”
“Yes.” Violet smiled. “We stop aging when we become an Allure.”
“Oh wow…” They’d dropped hints, and now it was all coming together. But that wasn’t what we’d been discussing. “But what does Roland have to do with figuring things out?”
“Hugh is my companion. I made him. My maker has moved on to a new role that pulled him away, so it’s just us.”
“Then why’s Roland with you?”
“My maker disappeared years ago.” Roland moved toward me. “I’d searched for her across the globe, with no sign.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“You get it, right?” Hugh asked. “The pieces are falling into place?”
“Huh?”
Roland smiled at me. “We share a special bond with those who make us and those we make. We are most comfortable when we’re together.”
“You’re losing me.”
“How do I make you feel, Daisy?” Roland asked.
“You relax me…” Then everything dawned on me. “The essence I have, it’s from your maker?”
“Yes.” Louie was the one to answer. “And from the Allure I made.”
“Wait. What?”
“That’s why I said the three of us would figure this out together. You’ve joined our family, so to speak.”
“No. I’m not joining any family. I’m not an Allure. This change can be stopped. Even without Kalisa’s help we can figure this out.” I wasn’t becoming one of them. I refused to let it happen. I was human, and I wasn’t going to let that change.
“There’s has to be a way to separate the essence from her.” Owen pulled me close to his side. “She doesn’t want to be an Allure.”
“It’s a gift. Of course she wants it. Who wouldn’t want immortality and immeasurable power?” Louie stepped toward me. “It’s going to be wonderful, Daisy.”
I shook my head. “I’m not an Allure. We can stop this. Give it to someone who wants it.”
“Why? You deserve it. It only works on someone worthy.”
I shook my head again. “No. I’m human. I want to be human.”
“Let’s go, Daisy. We can leave.” Owen tightened his hold on me.
Louie glared at Owen. “Daisy is becoming an Allure. She needs to be with her own.”
“Since when do creatures have to stick to their own? That’s never been mandated or recommended by The Society.”
“The Society? Again with that? We don’t care about The Society.” Hugh crossed his arms.
“Either way we’re going.”
“She needs to know the rest. She has to know everything,” Violet said sadly.
“What else is there? What else do I have to know?”
Violet pursed her lips. “With all the gifts, come loss.”
“What kind of loss?” Owen asked when I couldn’t.
“Loss of real feelings.”
“What?” I choked out. “What do you mean?”
“Why do you think I’ve been telling you to hold on to your memories of Owen? Those are the only feelings of love you’re ever going to have. Once you fully change you’ll be incapable of it.”
“That’s impossible. Someone can’t be incapable of love.” What was the point of anything if you couldn’t feel love? Isn’t that what our lives are all about?
“They can if they’re an Allure.” Violet watched me. “We can touch everyone else’s emotions, and we understand them still, but we don’t really feel them. Like me right now. I’m sad for you, but I don’t really feel it. It doesn’t hurt me. We still have sensations, like the high you get after touching someone else’s emotions, but that’s it.”
“No! I’m not losing my ability to feel. That’s all I have. What am I without it? That’s what being human means.”
“And you won’t be human.” Hugh sighed. “Once you fully turn it won’t matter anyway. You won’t feel the loss.”
“But you’ll remember from time to time.” Violet fixed her eyes on me.
“There has to be a way to stop this. Owen’s right. We can separate the essence from me and give it back. You can find someone else.” I was in panic mode mixed with shock. If it weren’t for Owen’s strong hold on me I wouldn’t have been standing.
“Good luck with that.” Louie laughed dryly. “You think it’s that easy?”
“We’ll figure it out. If there’s a way, we’ll find it.” Owen went stone still.
“This is all so entertaining: a Pteron so desperate to hold on to his human love that he’ll promise the impossible.” Louie clasped his hands in front of him. “Perfect really.”
“Violet, help me. Please,” I begged. “How do I do this? What do I do?”
“Violet will not help you.” Louie stepped in front of Violet, blocking her from view. “There’s no help she can provide. Separating the essence from you would kill both you and the essence unless it was done the right way.”
“Then do it the right way!” Owen jumped into Louie’s face. “Do it.” His eyes darkened and his wings spanned out, ripping through his t-shirt.
Louie stepped back. “Simmer down, bird.”
“Fix her now.” Owen’s eyes were now completely b
lack. Combined with enormous wings and an incredibly muscular body, Owen was a formidable sight.
“There’s only a few beings capable of fixing her, and even if you found them they wouldn’t do it. They’d see her potential and refuse.”
“We’ll find them. We’ll convince them.” We had to.
“Like I said, good luck with that. When you’re fully changed come find me, Daisy. I look forward to welcoming you.” Louie took my free hand and kissed it.
I shook Louie off. “Violet, please. Where can I find help?”
“She can’t help you, Daisy. You’re on your own.” Louie’s eyes locked with mine.
“Please. Something.”
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be.” Louie looked mildly sympathetic, but I didn’t trust it. I didn’t trust anything. It’s then that I realized something.
“You knew she couldn’t help me. You knew it before you called Violet, yet you still had them bring me here.”
“Of course. I knew from the moment I met you that the change couldn’t be undone. The others knew it too. Violet knew before she even brought you here.”
Violet scowled. “It’s not like that. I didn’t know for sure. Everything I did was for your own good. You need to believe that.”
“Wait. This whole time you knew Kalisa couldn’t help?”
Roland nodded. “We knew it wasn’t likely in the beginning, and once you manipulated that guy we knew you were fully changing. I’m sorry, but we had to get you back here. You belong with us. We’re the only ones who can make your change better for you.”
“No! I’m not changing!”
I heard a door slam, and I turned toward the house in time to watch two men dragging Kalisa down the stairs. I watched in a state of shock as she struggled against them.
“I’m not changing,” I repeated, much quieter this time.
“Bring her over here,” Louie ordered his men.
Owen’s arm tightened around me, and without looking I knew his eyes were probably black again. I swallowed hard, trying to prepare myself.
“It’s you. How are you, child?” Kalisa’s eyes twinkled.
“How am I? How can you even ask that?” I searched her face for some sort of explanation. Surely she’d had a reason for cursing me that way. “Why did you do this to me? Why?”
“I was only doing what my master willed me to do.” She grinned, revealing her rows of capped teeth. “I do as I am told.”
“What? You aren’t making sense. No one else was there that day.”
“He spoke to me here.” She touched her temple.
“You put a spell on Daisy because of voices in your head?” Owen stepped toward her. “Are you crazy?”
She laughed again. “I’ve been called worse.”
“Please. Reverse the spell. I’m begging you.” I yanked myself free from Owen’s hand and fell to my knees.
“I can’t, but I can tell you who can.”
“Who?”
“No one can. Don’t listen to her. Can’t you tell she’s crazy?” Louie stepped between us.
I looked around him. “Tell me, please. Make this up to me.”
“Find the Creators in Energo. That is the only way.” She started laughing again, and the men started to pull her away.
“Energo? Where’s that?” Owen called after her.
She glanced back over her shoulder. “Somewhere you’ll never find on your maps.”
Owen looked at her and then back at me, as if debating whether to follow after her. He stayed at my side.
“I’m sorry, Daisy.” Violet turned her back to me.
“You’re sorry? For what exactly? For lying to me? For forgetting to tell me I’m turning into one of you? Let’s go, Owen. Get us out of here.” I squeezed his hand.
“Absolutely.” Owen wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Come and find me when you’re ready.” Roland watched me sadly. “I’ll make myself easy to find.”
Before I could respond, Owen took off, and my stomach lurched. It had been years since I’d flown with him, and this time I was too numb by the recent news to enjoy it.
He flew for a few minutes before he landed behind a formation of rocks. He set me down carefully. “You okay?”
“What am I going to do?” I fell to my knees. “What the hell am I going to do?”
Owen held out his hand to me. “You’re going to stop saying I.”
I accepted his hand and moved to standing. “Why?”
“Because we’re in this together.”
“Why? Why are you willing to help me?”
“Because I’m not losing the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“You don’t owe me anything. You can go on with your life.”
“Daisy,” He took my face in his hands. “Look into my eyes. Does it look like I can just walk away and go on with my life?”
“I don’t know. You pretty much just met me.”
“You and I both know that isn’t true.”
“We do?”
“Do I need to remind you of how long I’ve known you?”
I nodded.
His lips crashed into mine, and I eagerly welcomed him. I needed to taste him, to feel the way his body felt wrapped around mine. I needed to feel, to remember why finding a way to stay human was so important. Becoming an Allure meant losing this—losing my love for Owen, and after years of searching, I wasn’t losing him again.
Daisy and Owen’s story continues in Lust (The Allure Chronicles #2) releasing in 2015! Please keep reading for a preview of Dire (The Dire Wolves Chronicles #1) an NA Paranormal Romance by Alyssa Rose Ivy.
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Dire
The Dire Chronicles
Alyssa Rose Ivy
Preface
A single howl made me stop short. “The wolves!”
“Let’s hope they are farther away than they sound.” Gage tightened his hold on my hand and pulled me forward.
Three more howls filled the night. “They sound closer.”
We picked up the pace, and I chanced a glance behind me. That was a mistake. Several large grey wolves came into view. “Run!”
Gage didn’t need to be told twice. He broke into a run without letting go of my hand.
I ran as fast as possible over the frozen snow, but we didn’t get far before the wolves started circling around us. “Oh my god.” Could things get any worse?
“You have to make a run for it.” Gage’s voice quivered. “They’re going to kill us.”
“I’m not leaving you.” I tried to stay strong, and I kept my eyes locked on the wolves. There were five of them. All of them were massive, much larger than any wolf I’d seen before, but one of them was even bigger and had a large silver streak running down its back. That wolf seemed to be staring right at me.
“I’ll distract them. You run. I’ll catch up.”
I spotted an opening next to one of the smaller of the wolves and went for it. I didn’t make it far before one of the wolves stepped in front of me. I froze, paralyzed with fear, before my legs were knocked from under me. Suddenly, I was lying in the snow with a giant wolf hovering over me.
“We’re fucked.” Gage voiced exactly what I was thinking.
The silver streaked wolf stared down at me. It’s almost glowing eyes bored into mine. Was I really going to die as half-frozen food for a giant wild animal?
Then things got hazy and the air seemed to buzz. Moments later it wasn’t a wolf on top of me—it was a man. A completely naked man with a faint scar across his face.
“What the heck?” I tried to scurry back, but Hunter didn’t move. His very exposed parts nearly touched me. I didn’t want to notice his size, but I did. He was huge. He also didn’t look remotely concerne
d with the cold.
His lips brushed against my ear. “Were you going somewhere?”
Chapter One
Mary Anne
He wore black athletic shorts that sat low on his hips and gave me a fantastic view of his perfectly sculpted abs. I had a strong desire to touch those abs with my hands and quite possibly my tongue. His bare chest was equally as alluring, all muscle with just a little bit of sweat sliding down.
“Thanks for waiting up for me.” He walked into his room and closed the door. “I was worried you’d have fallen asleep already.” He slipped off those black shorts and walked toward his bed that amazingly enough I was already tucked into. He pulled back the blanket. “And you’re wearing the lingerie I like best.” He grinned wickedly as he slipped in beside me.
“Isn’t the best part taking it off me?” I bit my lip, knowing that it would only turn him on more.
“You remembered.” He slipped the strap down off my right shoulder.
“I remember everything about you. I always have.”
“How’d I get so lucky?” He slipped off the other strap as he left tiny kisses from my shoulder up toward my neck.
“You know you’re the only one I’ve ever wanted.”
“I know.” He pushed my top down and out of the way. “I feel exactly the same way.” His mouth closed around my breast.
“Mary Anne!”
My eyes flew open as someone pounded on the door to my dorm room. I blinked a few times, trying to hold on to the remnants of my dream.
“Mary Anne!” The voice yelled louder.
I grudgingly dragged myself across the room and opened the door. I wasn’t surprised to see Genevieve standing there.
“Finally!” She pushed into the room. I closed the door and cut her off before she could sit on my bed. I needed to make it first. I pulled back my jersey knit lime green sheets and navy blue comforter. As soon as I smoothed out the comforter, she took a seat.
I sat in my desk chair and watched her. “As lovely as it is to see you, I’m guessing there’s a reason you’re here?”
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