A Wolf's Embrace (Wolf Mountain Peak Book 4)

by Sarah J. Stone

  “That's not what they told me,” Ariel said, looking back to her dying husband.

  “They knew they were killing Alexander,” Cole said. “That's why they kept wanting to meet in your hotel room. In the beginning they wanted to concentrate their energy onto him.”

  “How do I know this is real?” she asked, her hands shaking.

  “Here,” Cole said, handing over his phone.

  ‘Marina Campball only victim of fiery explosion,’ said the article.

  She had been spelling the name wrong in her searches. And there, on the front of the article, was the face she had come to know so well.

  Other news articles showed the same thing: various wordings of the same story with different pictures of the same woman.

  “It's almost sundown,” Cole said. “I don't know if they can close that vortex without you. But if they can, we will be trapped here forever.”

  Ariel looked between them and the phone again and again. But within moments, she knew what was right. Her mother had saved lives. She wasn't a dancer; she wasn't a pageant queen, but she had a good heart. And Ariel was going to make her proud.

  “You won't be,” she said, rising up. “I never wanted to be queen, but I am their queen. They cannot deny it any more than you can. Pack your things. We're all going home tonight.”

  Chapter 15

  She chose to use every bit of her acting training to approach the vortex site. Her heart was pounding, but she was trying to keep her poker face. Cole had made it clear to her that they needed to get back home, away from the carapaces and soon. She didn't want to know what the consequences of waiting too long were.

  “Are you ready, Ariel?” Alvin appeared ahead of the rest of the pack. “We are excited to close this one. This is a big one.”

  “It's also the last one,” Ariel said, and Alvin froze. “Which you neglected to tell me. You didn't tell me that you were trapping them.”

  Alvin went pale.

  “You said that they would know,” she continued. “When would they know? When it was too late?”

  Alvin said nothing, and she pulled out the photographs.

  “This isn't my mother,” she said.

  “That is your mother. Do you not see her face? It's–”

  “That is her face,” Ariel said. “This is not her body or her job. I'm not an idiot, Alvin. It started with the touring community theater, which is not a thing. “

  “I can explain,” Alvin said.

  “My husband explained to me already,” Ariel said, “that she was a nurse, and that she was killed in an accident. Google confirms this, which is the same thing I used for an image search. You lied to me.”

  “We had to,” he said at last. “We had very little time to close the vortexes, and your brother-in-law was moving fast in his murders. We needed you to understand and relate.”

  “My brother-in-law has been in a hazy hell for the past few years,” she replied. “And I'm sure that you would be, too, given what he's been through. You wanted to kill them. They wanted to kill you. I’m sick of it.”

  “Carapaces have always been enemies of the dragons.”

  “What are we, robots programmed that way?” Ariel snapped. “We can make our own choices. This age-old feud is ridiculous”

  “They killed your mother!” Alvin cried.

  “Yes, they did,” she said. “Two wrongs don't make a right. When Alexander took the throne, he stopped the carapace slaughter. The sins of the father are not to be revisited on the son.”

  “Ariel, we are your family!” Alvin said. “You are my daughter.”

  “And you gave me up,” she said. “You didn't have to. You didn't. This is a newsflash to you, but mixed-race relationships are frowned on in many places in the world. People find ways to make it work. And if the carapaces are all united now, it wouldn't have been that hard for you two to figure out. But you chose another path in life. You chose to sit on your thrones, and then, dear God, you give me shit for choosing to sit on another throne.”

  “That is not your throne! They are not your family!”

  “They were there for me,” she said. “They did not judge me for what I was. They did not leave me on my own. They knew it was a difficult relationship–a mixed relationship–and they didn't run for the hills.”

  “Because your husband is addicted to you.”

  “Because my husband saved me!” she screamed. “And I will do the same for him. You may be my blood family, but I've had enough of this.”

  She was surprised to find tears running down her face. Her body was reacting to the loss, the grief of what could have been overtaking her. It would have been better if she never met them and never saw what she could have had.

  But it had taught her a valuable lesson at least. She had thought she was indifferent to her marriage–indifferent to her husband and her in-laws.

  She wasn't. She loved him. She wasn't sure that they would ever be a fairy tale couple, but she didn't want to be without him. She didn't want to divorce him. She didn't want to be apart from him anymore.

  “We can't do this without you,” Alvin said. “We aren't strong enough. You, Ariel, you are strong enough. You are the missing link.”

  “I'm also your queen,” she said, raising her chin. “You and the dragons aren't so different. You have to listen to your queen, and when you die, Alvin, all the carapaces will be mine. What makes you think I won't side with the dragons and get rid of them all?”

  “You wouldn't dare,” he said. “You're no better than they are!”

  “Wouldn't I?” she raised an eyebrow. “Queens have done worse to end wars, and this war ends here, do you understand?”

  “Your mother wouldn't have wanted this,” Alvin said in a last-ditch attempt. But Ariel knew exactly what her mother would have wanted, and she didn't need to be a nurse to understand her.

  “She wanted no more slaughter, and no more death. She wanted everyone to stop killing each other. She risked her own life to save people. That's what she wanted.”

  Alvin said nothing to that, and Ariel knew she had won. She looked around at the redheads around her, staring at her with stunned faces.

  Two days ago, she thought she'd never see her dragon family again. But it was her blood family she would now break ties with.

  “This vortex will stay open forever,” she said. “And if I can find a way to open the rest of them again, I will.”

  “If you bring your husband back here, he won't survive,” Alvin said. “Not around us. In his kingdom around you, your powers are suppressed enough. But his time on Earth is done. And I understand there are very few who will bring you back here.”

  “So be it,” Ariel said, raising her chin high. “I couldn't dance forever. I've known that for a long time. And if I never have to dance Prince of Egypt again, that's fine. I'm not a princess anyways. I'm a queen twice over.”

  Alvin softened slightly. “Good for you, Ariel. Many of us wander through life not really knowing who we are. You're one of the rare few.”

  Her heart broke, and she lowered her head. “Just leave it open,” she said, turning away. It was time to go home. No one moved, and she didn't turn back. “Just go.”

  “Goodbye, daughter,” Alvin said, and she sighed.

  “Goodbye, father.”

  She waited half an hour after they had cleared out to make sure that the carapace magic was gone. Finally, she sent the text indicating the all clear. When the dragons arrived, she knew they were against the wire.

  “You can't come back,” she said to Alexander as she slipped an arm around his waist. “I'm sorry. It's as simple as them being too powerful when they hang out together.”

  “I know,” he said, weakly. “Fifteen years, Ariel, and I never thought it would end like this.”

  “End?” she replied. “Why would it end?”

  His face reflected surprise.

  “I can no longer transport you,” he replied. “And I cannot ask my brothers to take the risk.”
>
  “Cole,” Ariel spun around. “Do you love me?”

  Cole smirked. “Of course, I love you. I have to come back anyway, all the time. Enya and I won't mind the company, would we?”

  “Cole, you can't,” Alexander said. “She is my wife. My responsibility.”

  “If you feel so strongly,” Ariel said. “Then we'll stay in the kingdom.”

  “What?” Alexander asked, in shock. “You'll give up your life here?”

  “If you would have asked me six months ago, I would have told you that you were nuts and pushed the divorce papers on you. But having you away from me and seeing you like that made me realize that I've been taking you for granted. I don't want to be apart from you, Alexander. I don't want our marriage to end.”

  He grasped her hand, leaning slightly into her.

  “I never wanted that, my dear. I knew what I was saying all those years ago.”

  “I think I did, too,” she said. “But it scared me. All I wanted was a home and a family, and it's been staring me in the face this whole time.”

  “Shall we go home then?” he said, and she nodded.

  “Yes,” she replied. “Now, sit before you fall.”

  It took Cole and Peter concentrating and Ariel trying to suppress her magic to get them home. She never thought she'd have been so relieved to land in the ante chamber of the throne room. Nicholas happened to enter just as they emerged.

  “Where the hell have you been?” he asked, looking frustrated. “Building a new kingdom?”

  “You could say that,” Ariel said as she snaked an arm around Alexander's waist. Back home, he was already regaining color. “We're back now, anyway.”

  “Good,” Nicholas said. “Because I've been holding down the fort, and there's so much to do. Alexander–”

  “I will take it,” Peter said, grabbing the scrolls Nicholas gave him. “I am king. You will report to me.”

  “About bloody time,” Nicholas said. “Cole, I need your help. Let's go.”

  “All’s well that ends well,” Ariel said to Alexander in English, as the rest of them left the room. He smiled, kissing her on the cheek.

  “You might forget English if you spend enough time here,” he said.

  “Dragon lore sounds prettier anyway,” she replied. “I'm content, Alexander. What I spent my whole life searching for is right here. I just needed to realize it.”

  “I will do anything I can to keep you happy,” he said, and she shrugged.

  “You do make me happy,” she said. “Hell, if I was getting all sappy, I'd say I love you.”

  “Oh, my dear,” he said. “I have loved you since the moment I first saw you dance. I knew you were strong; I knew you were different. That’s why I had no hesitation marrying you. I knew that whatever happened, you would find a way, because you've had to find a way your whole life.”

  She leaned into him, taking comfort in his arms.

  It wouldn't be an easy future ahead of them. But she was determined that, whatever happened, they would get through it together as husband and wife.

  ***THE END***

  Book 3: Peter

  Chapter 1

  “Peter!”

  Peter sat up with a start, his heart hammering his chest. He was tense, on guard, looking for threats.

  The fact that he had no idea where he was for half a moment threw him off.

  His leg hurt from the sudden jerk against the four-post bed. His head throbbed from lack of sleep. This wasn't the way Other was supposed to be. Other was supposed to be heaven–a place free of pain, stress, and responsibilities.

  But Peter, the dragon shifter king, was not in the Other anymore. He had closed his eyes one day, many years ago, unable to deal with the pressures of life on the throne. He had been the crown prince, his father's greatest pride, when he simply decided to fade in the Other–to die, for all intents and purposes. He was depressed; he could barely breathe through his depression. But he had been pulled back from that magical world a few months ago, finding his father dead and the crown on his head. He wasn't the only one who had returned from the Other. It appeared that the veil had basically fallen, and there were many others who were thought dead walking their streets, flying the skies, and returning to all the worlds of the universe. It wasn't just the innocent either. Those who had been executed for crimes were starting to show their faces again.

  It was a very different world than he had left, and being king was almost the least of his worries.

  “Peter,” Alexander said, again. Alexander was his Irish twin, just fifteen months his junior. Up until Peter's return, Alexander had been running the kingdom under a complicated rule. He had done a good job, despite the fact that inheriting the throne had never been in his life plans. And now, as Peter waded through the heavy soup of his mind, Alexander guided him as best he could. “You're supposed to appear on the throne in five minutes.”

  “Oh,” Peter ran his hand over his face, trying to get his bearings. “You can do it.”

  “I am not king,” Alexander said, taking a stance. It wasn't that he disapproved or questioned his king, his brother. It was that he felt that he should not be taking duties that were meant for the king. When Peter was gone, it was a duty he did with heavy shoulders. Now, he felt that his job was to act as heir and regent when he could.

  “I am fully aware of that,” Peter replied, gritting his teeth. There had been mornings when he screamed at him; mornings when he simply didn't answer; mornings when he felt like he couldn't understand a word that anyone said. “What do I need to know?”

  Alexander sighed. He had tried to go over this last night, but Peter didn't want to listen.

  “There are various citizens here to plead for mercy, or cases to be resolved. In addition, Ariel has brought us documents from her last trip to Earth that show multiple cases of returnees from the Other.”

  “Brother,” Peter said. “You know I disagree with your carapace wife risking someone else in returning to Earth.”

  Alexander's wife, a marriage of convenience that had turned solid, was a carapace, which meant she could block the magic from the various magical creatures around her. Carapaces were considered dangerous, and were once slaughtered by dragons for their own safety. Having spent fifteen years around Ariel, the most powerful carapace ever born, and then surrounded by malicious carapaces on their last visit to Earth, meant that Alexander's magical defenses had been lowered permanently. He was too unwell to transport her to Earth, where her powers were even stronger. Their youngest brother, Cole, had a human wife who needed regular medical treatments and maintained a life on Earth. Cole was strong, cheeky, and happy to transport his feisty sister-in-law when needed.

  Alexander didn't really want to have this fight again. “Well, you'll have to look at what she has.”

  “Are you prepared to interpret?” Peter snapped at him.

  “I…,” Alexander thought of his full schedule. Not long after Peter had disappeared, he and his brothers had learned English quite well. Ariel also spoke dragon lore almost fluently, and Cole's wife, Enya, was learning. But Peter seemed to be refusing to learn, even though it was now part of his job to review cases from Earth. Dead dragons turning up in all parts of the universe were still his responsibility. “I can't, today, Peter.”

  “Huh,” Peter grunted, indicating that Alexander should go so he could dress. Alexander sighed, closing the door behind him.

  “Ah, that's the sigh of the man who's acting as king without any of the benefits,” his wife, Ariel met him in the hallway with her sister-in-law, Enya. They weren't the only people on Umora who were from Earth, but they were the only ones in the palace. So, despite being radically different people, they could often be seen speaking together on a variety of terms. “What is he doing this time?”

  “It's not what he's doing,” Alexander said, choosing his words carefully. “It's mostly what he isn't doing.”

  “Ah,” Ariel said, smiling. “Learning English, remembering the eight times
we've told him about the history in the past few years, or just flat out refusing to sit on the throne?”

  “It's not that he's refusing to sit,” Alexander said. “It's mostly that I think he's overwhelmed by everything. Being king is not easy on a good day. Being king when you are missing half your information and language is an insurmountable task.”

  “I might be able to help,” Enya said. She was still unsure in her time in Umora, and her dragon lore was broken at best, so she rarely spoke up. Alexander turned kindly to her, raising an eyebrow.

  “Anything would be welcome,” he said. Enya was half a foot smaller than Ariel, and although both girls were thin, Enya's came from a lack of health. She was smart though, despite her body's limitations, and studied translation, already in her third year at school. Alexander suspected that dragon lore was difficult for her because her brain had several other languages bouncing around.

  “Since I've married Cole, I've learned so much of the hidden magic world on Earth. There was a girl I met in the hospital named Yvette. The second she saw Cole, she knew what he was. Turns out, she is working with the people who have returned from the Other, teaching them culture, language, everything, in exchange for their magical ability to convince the hospitals to give her free health care.”

  Alexander processed all of that in silence.

  “Really?” he managed. “That is quite interesting.”

  “She seemed good at what she did,” Enya said, “because she moved right in on Cole like a used car sales man.”

  “What?” Alexander asked, and Ariel laughed, rapidly translating for him. Enya tried to follow the words, trying to remember them for later. It frustrated her that the language was hard for her. “Do you know how to contact her?”

  “Maybe,” Enya replied. “She took a few pictures of Cole and I, and her hospital bracelet dangled in a shot or two. I might be able to find her last name.”

  “Do so, please,” Alexander said. “Perhaps she'll be of use to us. Peter may not respect what we are asking, but I am at the end of my rope. It does not sit well with me that I am behind the scenes, while he should be making the choices.”