by Rachel Jonas
Season of the Wolf
book four in THE LOST ROYALS saga
a series written by
Rachel Jonas
Season of the Wolf
Copyright © 2018, Rachel Jonas
Cover design by Rachel Jonas
Edited by Megan D. Martin
This work is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including, but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Rachel Jonas (R.C. Jonas).
This e-book is licensed for personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Description
The dragon within Evangeline mourns, but her wolf has one thing in mind … revenge.
When the Sovereign caught wind of there being a forbidden hybrid living in Seaton Falls, he came to collect her. What he didn’t know was that Liam, her warrior, was more than willing to sacrifice himself for the only girl he’s ever loved.
But saving her meant losing a part of himself, his true form—his dragon. This transformation has compromised his mission to protect his soulmate and future queen, and time is no longer on their side.
It hasn’t been long since Evangeline accepted her abilities, but she must quickly learn to rely on her own strength if she’s ever going to fix this. Her survival, and Liam’s restoration, depend on it.
The foundation of Seaton Falls has been shaken and a new day is on the horizon. An influx of outside shifters preparing to wage war, and the arrival of a few highly-anticipated guests, are only the beginning.
Maybe the odds have finally shifted in the clan’s favor.
Or … maybe they’ve just been set up for an even harder fall.
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“Season of the Wolf”.
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The Lost Royals Saga
The Genesis of Evangeline, Book 1 (Available Now)
Dark Side of the Moon, Book 2 (Available Now)
Heart of the Dragon, Book 3 (Available Now)
Season of the Wolf, Book 4 (Available Now)
Fate of the Fallen, Book 5 (Final Installment—late summer/early fall 2018)
Chapter One
Evie
Silhouetted trees resembled statues beneath the night sky.
I cleared the rail of my balcony, driving both feet deep into the snow when I landed. Naked and chuffing warm breath into the chilled night air, cold scattered across my skin in stinging pricks. With a quick scan to make sure I was alone, I ran.
Hard. Fast.
Faster than any normal human could even fathom until I cleared the newly-built wall surrounding our property—a feature I still hadn’t gotten used to.
There was no time to slow down, shift in peace. I had to make do on the run.
No turning back, Evie.
You can do this.
You have to do this.
It wasn’t lost on me that the odds of penetrating the Sovereign’s camp again were slim to none. There was no telling what I’d face when I got there, but I was going anyway. Whether this endeavor would be a failure or success, I’d try.
I couldn’t afford to overthink things. My focus and intentions had to be singular.
This was for Liam.
Bone shifted over bone in a series of painfully sharp jolts, cracking beneath my skin as my feet trampled snow. I muffled a scream, replacing it with a low growl that resonated from my chest. It was all I could do to weather the pain.
With what felt like an explosion in my spine, I was on all fours, staring at fur covered limbs as I sprinted through the woods in full wolf form. The air’s scent filled my nostrils and it was different from before—what was once one smell, now broken down into many.
Glancing back, I kept the pace. It wasn’t lost on me that, last time I took off like this, I ended up with an arrow through the leg and Liam was taken; another reason I felt compelled to right the wrongs. Had it not been for me, had it not been for him protecting me, none of this would’ve happened.
I shook off that last thought, doing all I could to dispel any useless emotions. Guilt was definitely useless.
My eyes focused miles ahead, to the clearing where I stashed a bag with two changes of clothes during my dry-run. Once I made it that far, I’d be on to phase two—boarding a bus headed north.
North to track down the Sovereign’s army.
To track down the witch that hexed Liam.
I knew the success of this mission was farfetched, and probably the dumbest thing I’d ever done, but she was the only one who could fix this.
The only one who could fix him.
At first, when I spotted light from above, I thought I imagined it, thought the moon had cast an odd hue with these keen eyes of mine. Trudging ahead, the strange orange glow flickered in my peripheral, strobing between thick trees now.
Not the moon.
Dallas.
I picked up speed, packing snow to the ground with my paws, leaving deep tracks that brought to mind one of many reasons it would have been ideal to shift into my dragon.
But … she’d been silent for weeks.
There was no trace of her strong presence, the surge of energy pulsing from the center of my chest, through my limbs. She’d practically disappeared, retreated to some distant place within to mourn.
I suppose to her, the loss of Liam’s dragon did feel like death. It was the link connecting her to him, and now, it was gone. Acknowledging her despair made me lose my breath every time. The tightening in my chest was a dead giveaway.
Intricate details of Dallas’ flaming wings were easily seen now as he closed the distance between us. My clean exit hadn’t been as clean as I imagined.
“Turn back,” he called out into the night, gesturing toward home with the wave of his hand.
Those words went in one ear a
nd out the other.
“Evangeline!”
I ignored him and stayed focused on the black bag that came into view. I’d tucked a watch inside one of its pockets, a means of keeping track of when the bus would arrive. If I had to guess, I was cutting it close.
Thanks to Dallas, I had to alter the plan. Instead of stopping to change, I now gripped a canvas strap between my teeth, deciding I’d try to lose him first.
The thick underbrush of the woods suddenly thinned and the town’s lights glittered on the horizon like distant stars. There was no way I could run the streets looking like an overgrown Husky. Especially not with a backpack dangling from my teeth. People would assume I’d eaten someone’s kid and, needless to say, that wouldn’t go over well.
There weren’t many options, and when Dallas swooped in front of me, I knew he was equally aware of my plight.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
That question flitted through my thoughts and each of my motives came rushing in. Short answer: I was doing this because, if I didn’t, I’d die inside. The options were to be proactive and do all I could to find this witch, to bring her back so she could fix things, or continue to sit by watching, waiting for him to wake up.
And if he didn’t …
Don’t think like that.
I tried to shove the thought aside, but it’d been harder to get rid of lately—the longer it took Liam to show signs of life.
I wanted to scream at Dallas, to yell for him to get out of my way. However, as my wolf, I wasn’t afforded the convenience of verbal communication. When he slowed in front of me, I darted to the left, narrowly dodging his reach … and a tree.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he asked, his voice fading behind me for only a moment until he caught up, nearly matching my speed. “Because if you’re doing what I think you’re doing … alone,” he added, “you may as well just run out into traffic, kid. Death by semi-truck would be a walk in the park compared to what Sebastian will do if he gets his hands on you.”
Truer words had never been spoken. I was certainly at the top of the Sovereign’s list of people he wished to end with slow, painful torture. However, what Dallas, and maybe others, failed to realize was that being in limbo with Liam’s life hanging in the balance for weeks was just as bad. Maybe even worse.
The flare of light beside me dimmed and I glanced in that direction, toward Dallas when he darted away. For a split second, I thought I might have convinced him to let me continue on, but that moment was fleeting.
The sound of wood splintering seemed to come from every direction. It wasn’t until I was rolling through the snow with the sky tumbling around me that I realized the noise had been straight ahead—a tree Dallas leveled in my path. Likely, with one blow from his shoulder. Without enough time to react, I tripped and barreled toward the thicket of bushes that finally stopped me.
My head spun and I now stared at my paws in the air. Snow crunched to my left, followed by a rugged face covered in blondish scruff popping into my line of sight.
“You all right?” he had the nerve to ask, that drawl of his making the question seem all the more cynical. It didn’t help that, judging from the tension in his jaw, it took everything in him not to laugh.
Smug bastard.
If I could have told him to ‘suck it,’ I would have.
Instead, I righted myself and sat, shaking off the temporary daze … and all the snow I accumulated on my fur as I rolled.
Dallas circled me now with no flames shrouding his tall, broad frame, only the lava moving in his veins for warmth.
“Sorry I had to do that, kid, but … Elise would kill me if I came home without you.” He smirked again. “Plus, Hilda and I kinda like having you around, too, so you can imagine how rough it would’ve gotten at the house if I hadn’t stopped you.”
Dallas wasn’t the most expressive person in the world, which made it even more surprising to hear him admit such a thing.
His large hands came to rest on his waist and he let out a breath, eyeing me as I sat there, still panting from the run.
And maybe a little from the rough fall, too.
Our gazes locked and there was a softness behind his I hadn’t expected. Perhaps that look meant he wasn’t totally oblivious as to why I’d taken such a risk tonight. Seeing him with Elise over the past few months, I was positive he loved her. It wasn’t so farfetched to think he could relate to what it would feel like to lose that—to lose love. If something were to ever happen to either one of them, the other would be torn apart with grief.
“So, are we in agreement that you have to come back home?” he asked. “Or are you gonna make me knock down every tree in these woods?”
I’d just lowered my snout to grab the bag again, deciding to ignore his lecture and make another run for it, but then there was a sound … one that made the fur on my back stand on end.
A growl …
Instinctively, Dallas placed himself between me and whatever lurked out there. With his size and skill, there was no doubt he’d be quite the protector, but … there seemed to be too many. Of what, I wasn’t exactly sure yet.
I sniffed the air, searching beneath the scent of pine and freshly fallen snow. Filling my nostrils was a familiar twinge of disgusting dark fur and razor-sharp claws that could only belong to one particular type of beast.
Mutts.
Unable to speak in this form, I opened and closed my snout two or three times, wishing I had the ability to warn Dallas. However, when he burst into flames and braced himself for impact the next instant, it became apparent I didn’t need to.
So many bodies. They poured at us from all directions. There was no time to think or rationalize, just … do.
My teeth sank into the neck of one and I quickly tossed it aside, hearing its vertebrae snap against the trunk of a nearby tree. Another to my left succumbed to my claws quickly when I tore them through the tough flesh of its abdomen, spilling its intestines on the snow—black ink on a fresh canvas.
Two straight ahead squealed as flames ravished them, their cries dying off in the night as, not too far away, Dallas had just sentenced three more to the same fate.
How many were there?
Were more waiting in the distance, set to attack in case we managed to get through the first wave?
My heart raced wildly inside my chest and I found it hard not to miss my dragon right now. In her form, I was just beginning to find myself, just beginning to feel worthy to wield her power. And now … she was gone. No, not literally, but she may as well have been. I felt the distance, the longing and intense grief we shared.
Breathless, searching the tree line for more, Dallas panted beside me as his flames dimmed. A dozen had come at us, a dozen had fallen. Thick, black blood covered us both, as did their distinct odor. With a look of disgust, Dallas shook a layer of the filth from his arms, speckling the surrounding snow.
He glanced at me and I half-expected the look to be one filled with disdain and frustration. After all, it was because of me he was out here. But instead, he surprised me, not doing much to hide the concern behind his gaze.
He knew like I did … this was a sign of worse to come.
Chapter Two
Evie
Silent, lacking the fight and determination I bridled when Dallas first chased me down, I followed him home. If there were more mutts lurking about, I wouldn’t get very far on my own, making this journey even more of a fool’s errand.
In short, my efforts had been successfully thwarted for the night, and I was stuck.
Powerless.
The moment we walked through the door where Elise paced the foyer, it was clear she’d come undone waiting for Dallas and I to return. My fur, slick with blood, was suddenly the focus of her attention. The initial anger and frustration she aimed at me for running off was quickly washed away by concern.
“What happened?” she breathed, letting her gaze volley between Dallas and I as he traipsed in behin
d me.
“One guess,” he sighed, glancing at the dark liquid slathered all over him.
Elise turned her questions toward me, stammering a few syllables before it came back to her remembrance that, as my wolf, I was unable to speak. She glanced toward the stairs and that regal posture—which she’d let slip for only a moment when she thought I’d been harmed—returned as she pointed.
“Get yourself cleaned up, and then I’d like to have a word with you.”
Liquid glistened in her eyes as she blinked and, right away, guilt set in. I’d run off knowing it would hurt her, but … her feelings, anyone’s feelings, had to be a secondary concern. Liam came first.
Upstairs, I shifted back, making quick work of getting to the shower to rid myself of the mutts’ stench. Beneath the stream of hot water, I breathed deep, doing what I could to block it all out.
Hopelessness.
Failure.
Inadequacy.
Tonight was yet another example of how I was so small in this great big world. A world where good didn’t always defeat evil. A world where love wasn’t enough to save the ones who meant the most. The proof of this theory lie in a bed across the hall—unaware of how much he was missed, needed.
Tears mingled with streaks of water and shampoo that washed down my face. My entire body ached with sadness.
What if this was how it’d be from now on—life moving forward without him?
What if I had to exist with this huge hole in my chest?
No one had said it out loud—in front of me, anyway—but I knew they were worried. He should have been awake by now.
Not only were things looking grim for Liam, there was a general sense of doom everywhere.
News updates had become dark and terrifying. There were sightings of strange animals in northern towns, increasing reports of missing persons. And it wasn’t lost on any of us that those being taken were all able-bodied men between the ages of twenty and thirty. To the outside world, this could have easily been mistaken for a coincidence. But to those of us with knowledge of the supernatural, it was clear these men were taken with a specific purpose in mind.