Wickedly Twisted: Fairy Tales for Adults

by Davis, Lia;

  “You look amazing, Robin, the seamstress did a beautiful job stitching the arrows on.” Archery had brought Marion and I together, so to honor that I asked her to incorporate them. She outdid herself, intricate arrows in silver were sewn into the bodice. You can’t tell what they are unless you are up close and I look forward to Marion getting very close to that part of my body.

  Colin clears his throat and motions for us to join him at the entrance to the church. As he signals the organist to start, I try peaking over to catch a glimpse of Marion but I’m unable to see over Colin’s massive shoulders.

  Colin and Joan walk down the aisle first, Friar Tuck and Scarlet go next. I really wanted the Friar to marry us but the Archbishop wouldn’t hear of it.

  Mother squeezes my hand and turns to walk next. “Wait, we’ve already twisted so many rules and traditions, let’s do one more. Walk with me down the aisle? I want you to give me away.”

  “I would love that, my dear.” I link arms with her, take a deep breath and take the first steps inside. I didn’t have to search for Marion, I couldn’t miss him. Standing on the dais in his robes and gem-encrusted crown, he commands attention. It still doesn’t feel real, all these months later and I still can’t accept the fact that I am going to be Queen and live in a castle!

  Marion only has eyes for me, and we never break contact during the long walk to the front. I see everyone bowing and curtseying toward me but I’m not ready to accept that part yet.

  Finally, I reach his side. We kneel and bow our heads to wait for the opening prayer.

  “I am truly blessed to be here today officiating this ceremony.”

  Gasps are heard throughout the church. Marion’s head snaps up so fast, his crown wobbles. “Father, you’re here?” Marion jumps to his feet and crushes his father in a hug. “How is this possible, how did you know?”

  “Colin sent men as soon as you proposed. It took them a while to get to me but we had already decided that the worst of the war was over and I could go home. This just sped up the process a little. I’ve already missed so much, I was not going to miss my only son’s wedding, too.” His pale blue eyes turn from Marion to me. “And this must be my new daughter-in-law? You are as beautiful as I have been told. I heard what you did for our people, I’ll be forever in your debt. Let me start to repay you with a wedding present.”

  I wanted to believe it but I couldn’t till I saw my father come out a side door onto the dais. I blame it on the gown, but my mother beat me to him. I’m not sure who was crying harder though.

  Marion’s hand lands gently on my shoulder. The realization that the new queen is standing in front of the entire peerage blubbering is a sobering one.

  “Your Highness.” My father bows deeply until Marion rushes to tell him to stand.

  “Welcome home, sir. It may seem a little late but I was hoping to have your permission to marry your daughter?” The humor isn’t lost on any of us.

  “I’d be honored to call you my son.”

  “Well then, Robin, how about it? Will you make an honest man out of me?”

  “Absolutely not, I want you wickedly twisted.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Cassidy lives in the Tampa, Florida area with her high school sweetheart, their three children and one crazy dog. She loves reading and going to the movies but not nearly as much as she enjoys watching her kids either playing ball or performing with one of their instruments. She also loves to travel and hopes to one day watch a baseball game in every MLB stadium in the country.

  To learn more about Cassidy please visit her online at

  www.cassidykoconnor.com.

  You can also find her on Facebook at

  www.facebook.com/cassidykoconnorauthor

  She always welcomes new friends and encourages readers to reach out to her.

  CELIA’S CONNECTION

  (Twin Flame series #1)

  By Gracen Miller

  Chapter One

  Celia

  A charley horse crippled her, a fiery sting through her ass cheek, nearly putting Celia on her ass.

  Breaths pummeled the air, creating bursts of fog in front of her face, as she leaned against the pine tree. Panting loud in her ears, she struggled to regulate her breathing. Celia’s legs burned from crouching beneath stumps, skidding down hills, climbing knolls, and running at breakneck speed. This curvy girl avoided exercise. Neither were her fashionable shoes built for escape. If the men chasing her didn’t kill her, this physical assault no doubt would.

  Might be an easier death if I flung myself off a cliff.

  She should’ve never met with the Feds and turned over her father’s cooked accounting books. New level of stupidity right there. As the kingpin of Goldilocks Enterprises, Daniel Goldilocks’ enemies outnumbered his friends, but not his firepower. And damn sure not his reach. She’d learned that lesson the hard way when the books went missing and she’d hit the top spot on his most wanted list.

  I’m so screwed.

  Despite him being her daddy, they didn’t have a tight relationship. After her mother’s murder, she’d lived the majority of her life in boarding schools. She’d caused drama at those institutions just to piss him off. Snuck out of her bedroom at night and fucked convicts at the all-boys juvenile detention a couple of miles away, making sure she got caught more than once.

  Daniel hadn’t cared, but a Goldilocks never gave up that easily. Undaunted, she’d stolen petty shit, but when that induced no response, she’d gravitated to grand theft auto, intentionally wrecking her classmate’s car. He’d paid off the family. She committed larceny then and spent a six-month stint in juvie. Her criminal activities amused him, and he’d called her a ‘chip off the old block’. His pride was worse than him ignoring her, so she’d executed a 360 change in behavior and graduated with honors. Graduation gave her real freedom.

  Working as a bartender in Miami, Florida, she’d been anonymous and content having no rapport with him. Visits and phone calls were nonexistent, and he didn’t support her financially so she owed him nothing. Or so she’d thought until his goon showed up unannounced to bring her ‘home’. Home was not with Daniel.

  She’d refused to go with his men, and they’d roofied her. Later she’d woke up, groggy, with a dry mouth, and in his jet landing at Opp’s airport. With her balance unsteady thanks to the fucking drugs, his hired thugs bustled her off the plane, into a limo, and drove her ‘home’.

  Her father’s right hand man, Rico, had greeted her like he was pleased to see her. Celia had barely kept from grabbing the Ming Vase off the hall table and smashing it over Rico’s head.

  In the dining room, her parent and Carl Stewart dined. No one greeted her when she entered. Instead, her father had looked her dead in the eye and said, “Carl, please accept Celia, my beloved daughter”—Celia snorted at the ‘beloved daughter’ part because it was total bullshit—“as my gift to you as a token of my commitment to our business ventures.”

  Carl had peered at her, his eyes lighting with dark pleasure.

  Sputtering in outrage at her father’s audacity to hand her over like he would a car or necklace, she had all the proof she’d ever needed that her dad didn’t give a damn about her. And that he saw her as not his family, but his property. “You can’t give me away like that. You do not own me.”

  “Mind your manners in the presence of your betters, girl.”

  Like always, her temper had gotten the better of her and she’d shot back, “If I was in the presence of anyone better than me, I would consider my manners. Since I’m not, you both can fuck off.”

  Daniel’s jaw clenched. She knew that look; she’d seen it every time she pissed him off. Good. At least he knew she wouldn’t consent to his gifting, and neither would she go amicably without a fight. Spinning on her heels, she’d made a direct path for the door only to have Rico block her exit. He shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

  Celia pivoted and scowled at her father. “Tell him to get out of m
y way.”

  Her parent patted his mouth with a cloth napkin and leveled a cool stare on her, but what he said was directed at Carl, “Would you like me to deal with her or do you prefer to begin her training?”

  The cruel twist to Carl’s mouth as he perused her figure made her skin crawl. Death would be a better fate than whatever he planned for her.

  “Deal with me? Deal with me!” With any luck, that final screech would’ve been unattractive enough Carl would cut his losses and run in the opposite direction. “I’m twenty-six years old and I’m the only person who owns me. Not you or this dickhead.”

  “You’ll refer to me as master in the future.” Cold, dead eyes regarded her, and she rubbed her arms to eliminate the sudden dread prickling her skin.

  “Don’t count your chickens, asshole.” Carl Stewart was a crazy bastard. A real psychopath. At fourteen she’d watched him beat a girl almost to death just for rejecting him. Carl had bought off the family and the law. No telling what he’d do to her if he thought he owned her.

  So, no fucking way was she marrying the monster—if that was even the plan. Fucking her until he tired of her and then putting a bullet in her brain seemed more like his style.

  “You’ll be fun to break, but you will break.”

  They’d see about that, she cowed to no one, but her bravado wavered a little just the same. This was a game she should probably play smarter. Her sarcasm and outrage only earned her their disdain. “If you’re smart enough. Maybe I’ll break you instead.”

  A smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, but they remained devoid of any real humor. Her new master appraised her as he sipped his wine. “Her hair will be the first thing to go. Not fond of the tattoos either. Only loose, trashy women have them.”

  Celia snorted, but then again she enjoyed her sexuality. “Only uptight fucktards like you think that way.”

  “She does have a nasty mouth on her.” Carl wrinkled his nose in displeasure. “I’d like to see how you deal with her, Daniel. That’ll tell me how to proceed with her discipline.”

  Her dad snapped his fingers, and his thug, Rico, clenched her shoulders, gouging his fingers into her flesh for the cruel enjoyment of inflicting pain. She went for his groin with her knee, but he managed to avoid the contact, and he smacked her. Not hard, but enough to remind her how he conducted business. Her belly quivered at the slight reminder of the pain he could exact. And had.

  Rico forcibly shoved her into a chair, fisted her hair, and yanked her head back. Neck aching, she bit back her groan at the harsh angle, and glowered at him. She’d suffered many times at this man’s hands, always with her father’s permission, and most often at his command. Fear edged into her mind, even though she attempted to remain courageous, but she’d never won a match against her father.

  There’s always a first time. This would be that time because she’d kill herself before she became Carl’s plaything.

  Rico trailed his finger along the side of her face, from temple to jaw. She would’ve recoiled from his touch, but his hold on her hair remained too tight.

  “You know how this goes, Miss Goldilocks.” The excitement in Rico’s eyes begged her to challenge him so he had a reason to inflict harm on her. “You can submit now, or I’ll see that you hurt until you surrender.”

  Celia gulped. Whenever Rico meted out punishment, she ached long after her surrender. Rico knew how to deliver the most pain with minimal visible proof of abuse. It took her no time to decide cowing now wouldn’t be such a tragedy. It’d give her time to plot an escape. She nodded, her stomach souring when she caught the smile on Carl’s mouth. This victory went to them.

  “I don’t care what you do with her, but you’ll marry her.”

  What did it matter if she married Carl? She was no virgin, and that wasn’t a secret. Sexual liberty could almost be considered her second life motto—her first motto being to stick it to her father—and she’d fucked half the—

  Celia tripped over something and lost her balance, jerking forward on a clear trajectory to the hard earth. Arms cartwheeling, she somehow managed to catch herself on a tree. Ignoring the sting of scratched palms, she at least remained upright with her thoughts centered on the here and now instead of the past.

  Gotta hide soon, before nightfall. She didn’t know her way around the area to navigate it after dark. Not that she knew her way around during daylight either since she was lost three steps into the forest.

  The advancement of dusk cast shadows about the timberland. She had been raised a city girl in a small southern town. All her former friends were citified and privileged. Pools had been their hangout, not local swimming holes in the forest. Sure, she’d heard of Blue Springs and Open Pond, but she’d stayed in town with her stuck-up, fake friends. Friends that refused to help her escape her parent’s current hit. A few had even tried to turn her over for the reward money.

  Fuckers.

  Thinking Daniel’s thugs wouldn’t follow her into Conecuh National Forest, she’d ventured within as a last resort. The joke was on her. Even wearing their high-priced, high-sheen loafers, his brutes had tracked her into what might as well be a jungle… or the rainforest.

  With her heart in her throat, she struggled to catch her breath as she glanced over her shoulder. She spied no one, but she wouldn’t because the efficiency of her father’s men astounded even her. They were ghosts.

  Celia pushed away from the tree and sprinted as fast as she could in fashionable boots. Breathless a few minutes later, she zigzagged through the underbrush until her chest hurt, her lungs ached, and her legs grew numb. Even her fingertips tingled.

  Celia staggered to a halt when she spied a sign announcing…

  Entering Blackclaw Matos Bear Territory.

  A slightly smaller print below that read…

  All trespassers will be eaten on sight.

  The Blackclaw Matos werebear clan didn’t fuck around. A decade ago the clan had moved into LA—Lower Alabama, a corny joke in Southern-speak, one lost on Celia since it showed a level of redneck she wasn’t inclined to associate with.

  Since the bears’ arrival to their area, Daniel had become obsessed with acquiring their land. In the beginning, he had plotted to run them off. The bears had dug their heels in—added claw marks to trees to mark their territory—and had scared off more than one poacher brave enough to venture onto their land.

  The sound of crunching leaves behind her snatched her gaze about. She saw no one. Probably just a deer, a bunny, or some other creature scampering about the woods, but she fretted her potential killers advanced.

  Definitely safer on werebear land. After the bears had dispensed a few of her father’s trespassers in pieces, he’d stopped sending men into their space. No one with any common sense encroached on bear acreage.

  If they catch me, I’ll be dinner. Regardless of her choices, someone would want her dead. It came down to which was the lesser evil.

  Celia took a deep breath and ran headlong into enemy territory.

  Chapter Two

  Nick

  The world had gone bat-shit crazy when the daughter of the overlord of the Goldilocks family had gone missing. The courthouse was abuzz with her disappearance. Daniel Goldilocks kept a stern eye on his only child with a team of bodyguards that rivaled secret service. He’d glimpsed her a couple of days ago—surprised by her appearance because he couldn’t recall the last time she’d been in town—being bustled into a limo, and he’d pitied her. With a father like hers, her life would no doubt be short-lived.

  Nick Matos would never go after an enemy through a family member, especially not a woman. His moral standards were higher than Goldilocks’ common enemies. He doubted too many of them would have ethics elevated enough not to use Celia against Daniel.

  “She’s probably dead.” Nick thanked his secretary for the document she handed him as she departed his office.

  “Rumor has it,” his fellow lawyer and bear clan member, Mason, sat across from him and confided
, “Daniel put a five mil bounty on her head.”

  Holy fuck. That was some serious cash.

  “On his daughter?” Nick gave the contract an abstract glance as he thought about the reward that’d been offered. Wasn’t five million the same figure as the reward for any information regarding her disappearance?

  “Yeah.”

  Placing a hit on his only living relative didn’t jive with the black-hearted bastard Nick regularly went toe-to-toe with. Sure, Daniel was ruthless when it came to business, but he’d only ever protected his child. At least that’s the way it’d appeared from Nick’s point of view.

  “You’ve heard he murdered his wife.”

  Nick elevated his eyebrows and sent Mason a dismissive headshake. “Rumors with no proof.”

  Daniel had been tried for the homicide the year before Nick’s clan had moved to Covington after inheriting a large acreage of land. In the small city, some residents wouldn’t believe his innocence despite his acquittal. Nick knew the fucker was guilty of other murders, but making the charges stick was always the problem. It helped that around these parts a city judge and sheriff could easily be bought. And were paid heftily for looking the other way.

  “They’re both bullshit rumors.”

  Mason inclined his head. “Rumors say the judge in Daniel’s pocket seems worried.”

  “Yeah, worried about his own ass.”

  His buddy shrugged.

  “Give me one reason why he’d put a bounty on her head.” The idea was ludicrous.

  “Reese”—the Circuit Judge’s bailiff—“said she’s working with the Feds.”