Maggie didn’t leave his side. She knew her babies were safe with their grandparents and Rocky’s continued silence worried her. The whole scene she had just witnessed made her quake in her shoes if she thought about it too long. Rocky was her lifeline. Her safety in a roiling sea.
She helped him, holding the hose while he scrubbed at his hands and fingernails, getting every last bit of blood before he took the hose from her and doused his head and toso.
“Brrr. Isn’t that cold?” She couldn’t help but comment. It had to be near freezing out here, and yet he was nearly naked and now wet and didn’t seem to mind.
“Honey, I’m a grizzly bear,” he reminded her, turning off the hose and sending her an amused expression.
She remembered how he’d looked and felt in his alternate form. He’d been massive and yet, soft and furry. Almost cuddly. Not that she thought he’d enjoy that phrase. She’d keep it to herself for now. Hug the remembered feel of his soft fur to her heart.
“Is that why you call me honey?” she asked instead, turning the subject.
He grinned and pulled her into his arms. He was still wet, but the sweater she wore protected her from the worst of it.
“It is a well known fact that bears love honey. And this bear, in particular, loves you, honey.”
After the ordeal they’d been through, she could barely speak as tears welled in her eyes.
“I love you too, Rocky,” she managed to choke out.
He lifted her in his arms and carried her into the house. He took her right into the bedroom and kicked the door shut with one heel while his lips sought hers.
“You’re safe now, Mags,” he crooned into her ear as she tried her best to climb his torso like a tree. “Nothing and no one will ever hurt you again if I have anything to say about it.”
She was shaking now with reaction. “I can’t believe it’s finally over. All those months of running—”
“Are at an end,” he confirmed, sitting down on the big bed, keeping her on his lap as he held her close. “There may be trials to come,” he went on. “I won’t lie to you. Being a shifter in the modern world has its dangers, and these Venifucus are plotting something terrible. We’re fighting them. It’s an ongoing thing, and our boys will be targets simply because of what they are.”
“The next Lords, right?” she asked. “Because they’re twins?”
“Because they’re intensely magical,” Rocky clarified. “And yes, because twin births are rarer than rare among shifters. They are significant because we believe they are directed by the Goddess Herself.”
“They’re so little. It’s hard to think of them being like Tim and Rafe one day.”
“But they will be. And we’ll be here to guide them. To help them become the men they are destined to be.” Rocky kissed to top of her head as she nestled against his chest. She felt warm and protected. Surrounded by his love.
“I like the sound of that.”
Epilogue
Christmas Eve
Rocky had been working on the terabytes of information from Tony’s external hard drive for some time. It would take weeks to sort through all the files and figure out what to do with the information. The Lords had tasked him with the project, since he knew Tony better than anyone.
He was working on his laptop while Maggie listened to the news from the outside world on the television in the living room. They’d been through so much in such a short amount of time. It was nice to spend a quiet moment with her in such regular, commonplace pursuits.
But then he heard something in the distance…growing nearer.
“What in the world is that?” Rocky asked, rising from his seat on the couch. They were sitting by the fire, enjoying a few moments of privacy while his parents put the babies to bed.
“What? I don’t hear anything,” Maggie answered, turning off the television before joining him. He could see the concern in her eyes. She still hadn’t quite recovered from the ordeal they’d been through, but she was getting a little more secure every day.
“Singing.” Rocky went to the window and peered out.
A group of shifters sang carols as they hiked through the woods toward Rocky’s house, giving him ample warning of their arrival. By the time they were on his doorstep, Maggie and Rocky were ready for guests. The knock on the door came as no surprise, but when Rocky opened it, the sight that greeted him did.
A large blue spruce had been transplanted from elsewhere in the forest to his front yard. On it were garlands of popcorn and berries that would no doubt feed the feather winged population the following day.
“Maggie, you’ve got to see this.” He made room for her under his arm as she moved to his side. Her little gasp of appreciation told him she was as impressed by the gesture as he was.
Rafe and Tim stood off to one side with Allie as Betina sprouted gossamer wings that shone in the moonlight. Fluttering her wings, she lifted herself to the very tip of the tall tree and placed a magical pulse of her energy to light up the top branch like a star. Applause broke out from around the clearing and Rocky realized nearly the entire wolf Pack had come.
Allie stepped forward and held out her hands to Maggie. “We want to welcome you and the boys to our community, Maggie. We hope you like our gift.”
“We didn’t think you’d mind the tree there,” Rafe said as he came up behind Allie, placing one hand on her shoulder. “We can move it later if it’s not exactly where you want it, but we figured this position would look nice from inside and outside.”
“It looks good.” Rocky leaned forward to shake Rafe’s hand and then Tim’s. “Thanks for doing it. I think Maggie can’t be in any doubt now as to how welcome she is here.” Rocky settled his arm around her shoulders.
“It’s beautiful,” she said with a tear in her eye and a slight hitch in her voice, clearly moved by the shifter community’s gesture.
A small party followed that mostly took place outside in the snow. Maggie got into a frolicking snowball fight, though nobody was aiming to really hit anything. If Maggie was the only person bundled up tight in layer upon layer of winter clothes, nobody seemed to mind.
Marissa and Joe came outside with the babies—now wide awake and laughing at all the commotion—in their carrier, and thermal flasks full of hot mulled cider and the ingredients for s’mores. The sugary snacks were soon being toasted over an impromptu campfire in the barbeque pit at the side of the house, and Rocky knew Maggie was enjoying herself.
She settled in his embrace as they sat in front of the fire, facing the new tree somewhat distant in their front yard. Marissa and Joe kept watch over the babies, who had shifted into little bear cubs and wriggled out of their carrier. They were sniffing around the new tree and gumming some of the popcorn hanging off low branches, but Marissa’s sharp eye kept them out of any real trouble.
Rocky marveled at his family—new and old—and the woman who had made this happy scene possible. Maggie was the center of his universe and he’d keep her warm and safe for as long as she’d let him. The rest of their lives… And he prayed they would live a long, long time.
“Rocky,” she whispered, clutching his arm. “Do you see him?”
He followed her line of sight to the new tree with its magically glowing star on top and his heart nearly stopped. “I do, honey,” he whispered.
There was no need to say more. They both saw the ghostly outline of Tony, bending to touch each of his sons, as if giving them a benediction from beyond. Marissa and Joe didn’t seem to see anything amiss, but it looked like the babies were very aware of their ghostly visitor as they moved into Tony’s phantom touch, trying to lick his hands with their tiny grizzly bear tongues.
He spent a long time admiring his boys before standing once again and facing the fire. Rocky was frozen in place, afraid if he moved he’d shatter the moment.
He could see through his old friend, and the magic of the glowing star atop the tree seemed to illuminate Tony’s outline as he smiled and nodded in Rock
y and Maggie’s direction. Did he approve of their new relationship? Rocky wasn’t sure.
Then Tony took all doubt away, sending them both two thumbs up—a gesture he’d often used to convey happiness and approval while they were growing up. That gesture and the broad smile on his face left Rocky in no doubt. This was Tony and he was giving them his blessing.
“Thanks, brother,” Rocky whispered, tightening his arms around Maggie as she began to weep. “We really miss you.”
Tony acknowledged his words with a smiling nod as he faded from view.
Maggie turned in Rocky’s arms and buried her face against his chest, crying, when he noticed a gentle presence come up beside them and sit.
“Don’t worry, Margaret,” Betina said softly. “Your first love sees what happens here and approves. You will see him again, both here and in the next world.”
The words and Betina’s comforting, magical presence made Maggie stop crying, thank goodness. She wiped her eyes as she sat up again and faced the older woman who had revealed beyond a shadow of doubt tonight that she was fey. Rocky didn’t quite know what to make of her now. Fey were among the most magical of creatures, rarely seen and seldom involved in earthly affairs. That she was here now, with the Lords in this time of increased danger, seemed ominous. And yet hopeful at the same time.
When she saw she had Maggie’s attention, Betina went on. “I’ve heard Antonio was a gifted shaman. I have seen the truth of it myself here tonight. He left a part of his soul in this realm, probably to look after his boys. He will watch them from afar as they grow, and occasionally—at very special times—he may be able to communicate with them. This is something only the most powerful of magics can accomplish, which should give all were hope for the future. Twins born of such a sire will be strong leaders for the new generation.”
“But I’m with Rocky now. I love Tony. But I love Rocky too. I love them both. I think I always have.” Maggie’s voice shook with emotion and Betina reached out to touch her shoulder.
This was the sticking point. Rocky knew Maggie would never really be his until she’d come to terms with the conflict within her heart.
“He knows, dear. He’s always known that you love Rocky as much as you love him.” Betina smiled and it felt like the whole world was filled with a magical sparkle, even in the pale moonlight of a cold winter’s night. “The heart knows no limits when love is true.”
Betina got up and walked away, her words ringing in their ears.
Rocky held Maggie as a light dusting of snow began to fall.
“I loved Tony and that will never change,” Maggie said after long moments.
“I know,” Rocky replied solemnly. “I don’t want that to change. I loved him too. He will always be my brother. But there’s room in our hearts for more, honey, just like Betina said.”
Maggie turned and kissed him, and he had his answer. Her mind was settled and her heart open wide. Rocky could feel the last little barrier between them fall and his heart filled with joy at the love they both felt.
Wrapped up in each other, only Betina saw the tall, glowing shadow of a man smiling down on them from just out of reach.
The End
Thanks for reading Rocky. The next book in the series is called Slade, or you can go back and start from the beginning with Lords of the Were.
About Bianca D'Arc
Bianca D'Arc started her professional life running a laboratory. After grad school, she started to climb the corporate ladder in the shark-infested streets of lower Manhattan. Along the way, she studied various forms of the martial arts, racked up hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles, and learned that life is too short to spend it doing something you dislike. She now writes full time and loves it more than anything, though she'll always miss her first love... her laboratory.
www.biancadarc.com
The Ice Queen by Jovee Winters
About The Ice Queen
Long ago, tragedy struck and turned a young woman into the ice queen of legend…
Evil has come to Luminesa's forest. The Goblin has stolen three innocents and thrust them into a violent and terrible time loop - in her own lands. And the only way to save them is to go to them herself. But there's a problem, because the moment Luminesa steps foot inside that magicked place she too will get sucked into the Goblin's nefarious scheme. Freedom can only be had if she can figure out the riddle of the key, and she only has one month to try. Failure means death for them all.
There is absolutely no time or room for romance, but that's exactly what happens when she first sets eyes on the centaur male, Alador. Luminesa's been burned in love before, nearly losing her life to the hands of a crazed male she'd once thought a friend. Since that night she's hated men, all men, no matter what form they come in. But Alador is different, kind, gentle...with soulful green eyes that seem to peer through the icy veil of her legend to see the real woman beneath. His touch makes her burn, and his kisses make her feel alive again.
Luminesa will do everything in her power, to make sure they all leave there alive. Even if that means killing anything that stands in her way...
Foreword
The rose in the valley is blooming so sweet. And angels descend there the children to greet…
~Hans Christian Andersen~ Nom de plume of one of the thirteen keepers of the Tales
The Snow Queen as told by the Keeper of Tales:
Two children who are the best of friends, Kai and Gerda, like to tell tales of the Snow Queen, a beautiful woman with bees that dance through the air like snowflakes about her. During one particularly cold and blustery night, the Queen comes to the window and taps on it, awakening Kai. But when he opens the window for a woman he believes to be more beautiful than all the stars in all the heavens, she tricks him and flings a sliver of a spelled mirror into his eye, instantly bespelling him and turning his love for his friend, Gerda, toward wickedness. Kai is then tempted away to the Queen’s Ice Palace, where he is held and told he can never leave unless he can spell out eternity with shards of ice. And it is only Gerda’s love for Kai and her unyielding desire to find and return him home that eventually breaks through his spell and dooms the Queen to an eternity of loneliness…
Or so you have read time and time again. But now I shall pen the true tale of the Ice Queen.
Her story begins as most stories do.
Once upon a time…
~Anon
Prologue
The Under Goblin
“Come in, Goblin.” The rusted and ancient-sounding voice of the forest witch, Baba Yaga, bade him enter.
Wrapping the hunter-green cloak tighter around his body, he stepped through the door of a house unlike any other in all of creation. A rickety, dilapidated wooden structure, it had a pointed roof, a chimney poking through that was full of holes, and moss that seemed to grow from every conceivable nook and cranny.
But that wasn’t the strangest part of the house at all. Oh no, that dubious honor belonged to the mammoth-sized chicken feet the decrepit building sat upon.
He hated going there. Hated haggling with the three-faced witch.
She sat on the floor, her withered frame covered in warts and rags, and tossed sun-bleached chicken bones down by her feet as she murmured excitedly to herself.
Baba Yaga was in crone form today. It was said that her moods matched her facade.
The Goblin, as he was called by all—his name had been lost to time, even to himself—clenched his jaw and eyed the strange house whose walls literally breathed in and out with every step the chicken feet took.
Baba had nothing in her home. No curtains to shade the windows. No table to eat dinner at. No kitchen. No rooms. Nothing more than an empty space the size of his water closet back home.
And though he loathed the very thought of haggling with her, there were few quite as powerful as she when it came to the dark arts.
“Why have you come, male?” she asked, and he shuddered. That screechy tenor of her voice could no doubt brea
k glass. Listening to her talk was like hearing the wailing, echoing song of a ghost at dawn.
Opening his mouth, he never got a chance to speak because she tossed down her bones again.
Cackling softly to herself, she tsked beneath her breath. “Aye, I see. Ye’ve come for a bit of revenge against the woman of ice.”
He swallowed, his stomach churning with anger. No one ever interrupted him and lived.
But Baba wasn’t just anyone. Her power was far greater than his. Swallowing his pride, he nodded. “Yes.”
She tossed her bones down again. Her back still to him, she stared intently at the grayish-white knuckles. “I see no fault in her. You’ve a pettiness to your soul, Goblin. A darkness that festers and boils and will someday be your demise if you let it.”
Nostrils flaring, the Under Goblin bunched his fists by his sides. Whether she agreed with him or not made no difference. Luminesa had become a thorn in his flesh.
Tossing the bones once again, she cackled, the sound hollow and empty, like the rattling of dead leaves over gravel.
“She spurned you once. Ah, the vanity of pride.”
“Will you help me?” he snapped, daring to take a step toward her.
And still without turning, she snapped her fingers, and one of the vines of moss that’d been nothing but a harmless bit of greenery had suddenly snapped down around his throat, banding with the strength of a constrictor.
Alphas for the Holidays Page 138