by Quinn Loftis
Resounding Silence
The Grey Wolves Series
Novella #2
Quinn Loftis
The Grey Wolves Series
Published by Quinn Loftis
© 2016 Quinn Loftis
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For the men in my life.
Bo, you are my best friend, and I’m so thankful
to share my life with you.
Travis, Jonivan, and Gus, you each are such a blessing and I love helping you navigate this adventure we call life.
Praying God’s blessing over each of you.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You give me life when I deserve death. You give me mercy when I deserve judgment. You give me love when I am anything but lovable. Thank you for blessing me.
Thank you to my husband for his unwavering support and friendship. I could not have imagined a better man for me.
Thank you to Jamie Davis for being an amazing friend, editor, formatter, sister in Christ and person. You put up with my craziness and for that I am eternally grateful.
Thank you to Jessica Hill for being a wonderful friend, another sister in Christ, incredible Beta reader, and faithful prayer warrior. I treasure you and wish we lived closer together!
Thank you to Kelsey Keeton at KKeeton designs. You, my dear, are so very talented and I am so thankful to get to work with you. Thank you for your friendship, your prayers, your encouragement and hard work. I am honored, truly to know you.
Thank you to Kelli Cole form being an amazing BFF. Thank you for loving my kids and helping my family so much. Thank you for taking a chance on my books even though they weren’t your genre. I truly appreciate it!
Thank you to ALL of my readers. I could not do what I do without you. I am so blessed and so very humbled by how you take your time and money to read my books. It blows my mind.
God bless you all and make His face shine upon you. May he fill your hearts with joy and wrap His arms around you.
With all my gratitude,
Quinn
A Story of Thalion and Cyn
The events chronicled herein occur after the destruction of Reyaz the Warlock, which was recounted in Sacrifice of Love. A few months of peace were enjoyed by the various supernatural races before an increase in attacks by vampires in the human realm, which was recounted in Den of Sorrows, forces the elves, fae, and werewolves to go to battle once again.
Prologue
“You stand before me now as children, but when you have concluded my training, you will leave as the best warriors in all the realms. It is your duty and your fate. Give your all because there will come a day when you have to protect those who cannot protect themselves. If you fail in that moment, they will die. You will have to live with that for the rest of your lives. Give your all now, and you will not fail when the time comes.” ~ Ridion, Fae Warmaster
Cyn stood staring with eyes as wide as saucers at the huge man before her and at the other children around her. The man was stern and imposing, but she didn’t feel that he was cruel. He was determined; she could see that in the set of his jaw. There was a challenging gleam in his eyes. She was not sure what the man was determined to do, and she had no idea what challenge he held in store for her.
Nor could she see herself as a warrior. Oh, she had known this was her fate, of course. She’d known that for as long as she could remember. Cyn had been told for the past six summers that she would one day begin her training to become a fae warrior—one of the chosen few that protected not only her realm, but all of the supernatural realms. Finally, that day had come. Her mother and sire had brought her to the castle and assured her she would be a great warrior and have the privilege of protecting others when they could not fight for themselves. She thought that sounded very courageous, but at the same time she didn’t want to leave her parents. Her sire had clasped her arm in the fashion of the fae warrior, and her mother had given her a brief hug and then they’d been gone. From that moment on, she was on the path of her destiny.
“Show no fear, little warrior.”
Cyn looked up at the powerful fae woman before her. The young girl fought the urge to step back. Cyn knew immediately this woman must be one of the high fae, for only they carried the continuously radiating aura that seemed to pulse in the air around them.
“Do I look afraid?” she asked, curious to know if her fear was showing through to those around her.
“You look lost, and that can be as deadly as looking afraid. I will give you some advice, which will cost you nothing. Regardless of whether you know what you are doing, pretend you do. Believe you do. This belief will project an air of confidence that others can sense. It will inspire your comrades and strike fear into your enemies. No matter how afraid you might become in a situation, project courage and bravery always. And when the time comes that you find yourself in a place of such darkness that you are not sure if light will ever appear again, you be the spark that starts the flame.”
The woman began to walk away, but Cyn reached for her hand and stopped her. “Who are you?” she asked her.
She gave Cyn a sly smile. “I am Perizada, child. One day, if you’re good enough, you will fight alongside me. But I accept only the best as my personal warriors, so work hard. You will need to be strong for what lies ahead of you.”
“Is that all you’ve got?” Ridion chided as he blocked yet another kick from Cyn. “I’ve been training you for six years. I must be losing my touch. You embarrass me. Give me more!”
Cyn gritted her teeth. She was twelve summers old and well on her way to becoming a warrior, though she just might be put on trial for murder if Ridion didn’t stop pushing her with his taunting words. She was giving everything she could. She worked harder than any other trainee, and yet he still claimed she was not giving enough. Her foot work was flawless, her punches clean, and her kicks high … at least for someone so short. She could aim a knife better than any of her comrades, and she was in the top ten in both archery and swordplay. She didn’t know what more he wanted.
Just as she was about to take a step toward him, Ridion held up his hand to halt their sparring. “Wait a moment, Cyn. Catch your breath.”
Breathing heavily, Cyn looked at her warmaster as if he’d suddenly grown a third eyeball. If she wasn’t entirely mistaken, she thought she actually heard something like sympathy in his voice.
“You’re frustrated, I can tell,” he continued after a moment. “What is bothering you?”
“I don’t understand what you want from me,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’m one of the best trainees, yet you’re never satisfied with me. What am I doing wrong?”
“Nothing,” Ridion responded simply. “You aren’t doing anything wrong.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Cyn barked.
“The fact that you aren’t doing anything wrong. Th
at’s the problem.”
“Uh, I still don’t understand,” the younger fae responded, a confused look on her face.
“The problem does not lie in your technical performance, in your training effort, or in your discipline. In fact, I probably haven’t seen a recruit in a century work as hard as you at perfection, Cyn. But I don’t need perfection from you. I never have. I need this.” Ridion took two fingers and pressed them into her leather jerkin over the spot where her heart lay. “The darkness we face won’t be beaten by skill alone. If skill alone were enough, I could train anyone to be a warrior and evil would have been eradicated ages ago. I don’t need a person going through motions, doing a duty. Any fae can do that. It takes more. Your stubbornness, your rigidness, makes you a good recruit, sure. But does it make you a warrior? I need someone with a passion to help others, a ferocity that only comes from a hatred of injustice. Those things come from in here.” He gave a final press to her chest and took a step back. “Take the rest of the day to think about that. We start again in the morning.”
He left her standing there confused and frustrated. Cyn understood duty. She understood commitment. But what did passion have to do with fighting? Passion doesn’t parry a sword strike. The heart doesn’t pull a bow string. Hands and arms are what need to be trained.
“Why do you look as though Ridion just tossed your favorite blades into the lake?” Perizada’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.
She turned to look up at the high fae, the woman who’d become a mentor to her while she’d been at the academy. Cyn opened her mouth to respond but realized she didn’t know what to say. Confusion swam in her mind as Ridion’s words echoed in her ears … a ferocity that only comes from a hatred of injustice.
“Did you hear?” Cassius asked as he came rushing into the recruit barracks. Cyn was sitting on her bed lacing up her boots as she looked at him over her shoulder.
“Hear what?”
“We’re going out on a mission,” the eager young man responded.
Cyn stood, her brow lowered over her narrowed eyes. “We still have not reached our seventeenth summer. Why are they sending us out early?”
“Some high fae called Perizada has demanded assistance. Apparently a group of trolls has attacked the pixies, something involving a land dispute.”
Cyn’s mouth dropped open. Trolls attacking pixies? How could the tiny creatures fight against such brutes?
“Do not fret, Cyn. Pixies are quite powerful but the trolls must be captured to be held accountable, and the high fae council is responsible for fulfilling that purpose.” Cassius motioned for her to follow him. “Now speed up, or get left behind.”
It was not until Cyn was standing just inside the veil to the pixie realm that she realized she was actually going into combat. As she watched the battle unfolding before her, her stomach clenched. She wasn’t sure she was ready.
“You are looking lost again, little warrior.” Perizada’s voice came from beside her. “Fortify your defenses and put on your kill face.”
“Kill face?”
“Didn’t I tell you, once upon a time, to always believe that you knew what you were doing? You put on your kill face and everyone will believe you. They will either help you or get out of your way. That is the confidence that you must project … kill face.” The fae smiled to herself and turned back toward the battle.
Cyn nodded as she remembered her first day at the academy so long ago. She schooled her features and pushed her uncertainty away.
“Neutralize the threat. Only kill if you must!” Perizada yelled so that all of the warriors could hear her. “Any injured pixies can be brought back with us, and I will seek out the aid of a healer. Ready yourselves,” she yelled with a mighty voice. “Forward!”
The entire company of warriors charged forward as a united front. Their speed and ease of movement was far superior to that of the trolls. The monsters didn’t stand a chance against the highly trained warriors. Cyn pulled blades from her thigh holsters and threw them with unwavering accuracy. She hit knees and ankles, dropping the trolls where they stood, efficiently incapacitating them. Cyn was just rounding a group of trees when she heard a frightened scream pierce the air. She saw the cause a moment later.
Four trolls were advancing on a female pixie as two pixie children were cowering behind her. The mother was obviously ready to die in order to protect her young and, if Cyn did not intervene, she probably would. Cyn felt the anger of such a heartless act boiling up inside of her. It burned brighter and brighter the closer she got to the group. The whimpers of the children and trembling of their mother pushed her over the edge.
Cyn pulled the short sword from her back and jumped high into the air, easily covering the distance between herself and the trolls. She landed in front of the pixie woman, blocking the trolls from their intended prey.
“You dare attack those who are under the protection of the fae?” Cyn challenged.
The trolls snarled at her. “You expect us to fear you, little fae?” The leader of the group taunted her. “There are four of us, you fool. We will crush you until there is nothing left but dust.”
Cyn revealed no emotion as she stared her foe down. “You can try. But, I promise, all that you will succeed in doing is feeding the hunger of my blade with your flesh and blood.” Without waiting to see how they would respond, she lunged forward, catching them off guard. The countless hours of training, enduring all of Ridion’s harsh drills, seemed to coalesce into this one moment as her sword whipped through the air and sliced troll flesh as though it were nothing more than a soft square of cheese.
Cyn remembered Ridion’s words as she cut down the first troll, watching as he fell to the ground. Passion, he had told her. She needed to fight with passion. She finally understood. Everything in her roared at her to protect those weaker, those in need, those who could not protect themselves. She knew that she must not fail. If she did, she would somehow lose a part of herself. The idea of such a loss caused her movements to increase in speed, and her sword simply became an extension of herself. When the last troll, the leader, fell to the ground he stared up at her, his breath came in shallow rasps.
“You are not indestructible,” he gurgled at her. “One day you will fail.”
Cyn stared down at him, unable to feel the least bit sorry for cutting down his life. “Perhaps. But until that day, I will continue to stand against evil like you. Every supernatural race will hear of your vile acts and of how you were defeated by my people. The only memory that will be left in your stead will be of the disgrace you became to your kind. You did not die a worthy death. At least, on the day my enemy cuts me down, I will have fought and died worthy, as a fae warrior.”
Cyn turned and walked away from the fallen troll and looked back at the pixie and her young. She gave them a short nod as the sobbing woman thanked her for what she’d done. The children looked up at her with awe and wonder, and it made Cyn walk a bit taller as she marched back to her comrades, who held several captured trolls bound and kneeling.
Peri met her gaze as she reached them and bowed her head in a show of respect. “Well done, warrior.”
Those were words that had been etched on her heart and in her soul. She was a warrior and that day she had proven it. It was her job to stand in front of those like the pixie female and her children and protect them from monsters that would do them harm. It was her job to stand up to the darkness of the world and proclaim that light and goodness would not be snuffed out.
Chapter 1
“Cut me. Bruise me. Shatter me. All of these things I can endure. But leave my heart alone. Please do not touch the one thing that cannot heal.” ~ Cyn
The elf’s lips were warm against her own, and his hands roamed over her in a way that made it clear that he was familiar with her curves. Thalion, prince of the elves, had claimed Cyn as his mate, and he did not keep it a secret. He was bold and possessive, so unlike the males of her race—the fae.
Though the fae were th
e oldest and most powerful of the supernaturals, their couplings were not the result of the matching of souls. The fae were finicky when it came to their lovers, and, whether because of arrogance or simply because of a short attention span, they rarely chose one person for life. Cyn wasn’t too proud to admit that the arrogance of her race prevented them from committing to one person for any length of time. In fact, the only fae that Cyn knew who were mated had been placed with a werewolf by the Great Luna.
“Be mine.” He practically panted as he pulled back from the kiss, keeping her face less than an inch away from his. He’d asked for her heart already so many times, and she’d finally yielded after so many years, but he could tell she still held something back.
“I have already agreed to be yours. You have my heart,” Cyn said, equally breathless. “You have my love.” Since peace had been restored to the fae after Reyaz’ fall, Cyn had had too much time to rethink her decision to give herself to Thalion.
Thalion dropped his arms and stepped back. Cyn felt as though a winter wind had just swept through the room at the loss of his touch.
“I want all of you,” he snapped. “Your idea of being mine, and mine alone, is obviously different from mine.”
“And what if the Great Luna has other plans? She has already chosen true mates for three of my kinsmen. Adam, Elle, and Peri … all placed with werewolves. All true soul mates. All with the mate bond. What if she pairs me with a wolf one day? What if I have to leave you because of a true mate? How can I give you all of me if I might belong to another?” Cyn hated to ask such questions. She knew the words and picture she was painting would cause him pain, but they had to face reality.