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A Fey's Wolf

Page 15

by Elle Boon


  “Well, shit. Alright, let’s do this.”

  His tone of resignation had her kissing him again. She licked at his lips, moaning when he took over. Time stood still as she truly thought of willing their clothes away. The stillness around them brought her back to reality halting any plans.

  “We’re no longer in Kansas, are we, Toto?” Torq asked with a groan.

  Through their mental link, she saw the image of a great tornado sweeping a young girl and her puppy away into a weird land. The imagery was pretty similar to where she’d taken him, minus the tornado.

  “Hey, I’m not a dog. A wolf is not a dog, woman,” he growled.

  Before he could nip her bottom lip, she stepped back with a laugh. “Welcome to Fey, Torq.” She turned to see the home she’d grown up in, the one she was technically now the head of. Goddess, it hurt to think her parents, who’d sent her off without so much as a pat on the back, were now no longer alive, thanks to Troyer.

  “Hey, we don’t have to do this,” Torq whispered, his hand smoothing up and down Talia’s spine.

  She looked up at the once grand home fit for royalty, but in Fey, there were many royal homes. Literally, one only had to cross a border and you’d find one. Yet, she’d never been treated as a princess. “It doesn’t look vacant. I wonder if Troyer left caretakers?”

  Torq felt his wolf rise. With Talia’s blood also coursing through him, he knew he could face whatever foe came at them. “What do you sense?”

  Talia shook her head, the dual suns making her dark hair appear even more lustrous. “Something isn’t right,” she said.

  Ah fuck, he hated to hear those words from his mate. Also hated to see the determined light enter her gorgeous eyes and knew there was no way he’d get her to wait for him while he checked things out. Just then, she turned to him, a slight grin on her face, letting him know she’d read his thoughts. With a finger tapping her temple, she slipped her hand into his. “Let’s go, big guy.”

  Yep, he was totally whipped the way he allowed his tiny female to lead him up the walkway. At any minute he expected trumpets to blow and announce their arrival, but the silence was worse. When they got to the huge double doors, Talia whispered a few words, a spell of some sort, and just like that, they opened. No dust motes floated, no butler greeted them. A little anti-climactic, but he figured it could’ve been worse. “So, what now?” he asked.

  Talia walked forward, her hands moving in patterns. Torq stayed close, his wolf on alert for danger. Walking down a long hall past the grand staircase, he imagined Talia as a child sliding down the railing. The image made him smile. Her abrupt halt had him grabbing her by the hips so he didn’t knock her over.

  “We’re not alone here,” she whispered.

  Well fuck him running. Of course, it couldn’t be that easy. His hands partially shifted as he released her. “What is it?” He didn’t smell the obnoxious odor he’d come to recognize as Dark Fae, but in this realm, maybe it was masked.

  She bit her lip. “My parents.”

  Torq stared down at his mate, seeing the hope and fear mixed in her eyes. “Where?” If her brother had killed the parents and buried them on the property, maybe she was feeling or sensing that.

  Talia shook her head, reminding him they were so in tuned with one another she could read his mind the same as he could hers. Without pausing to think, he entered her thoughts, seeing what she saw. The familiar scents assailing her as they stood near the closed door that led to the family’s sacred lower level. Fucking-A, they had a sacred lower level. Torq wasn’t sure he wanted to visit such a place, but his mate was already turning the intricate dial, one that only the owners knew the combination to.

  “I go first, farfalla,” he ordered. No way in all the realms would he allow her to walk into a trap or to stumble upon Goddess knew what, before him.

  Her sweet laugh made him hard, but she gave a regal nod.

  As they descended the stairs, the scent she’d recognized as her parents got stronger, yet he didn’t smell the acrid scent of death. No, what he smelled was anger, fear, and hopelessness. Instead of a dark cavernous room, he was again shocked to find the place lit with some sort of lighting he had no words for, yet what drew his gaze and Talia’s gasp, was the couple chained to the wall.

  “Mother, father,” she exclaimed in a whisper.

  Their terrified eyes darted about the space, before landing on Talia then settled on Torq. Neither said a word. It was as if their vocal cords were frozen. Torq had a sneaking suspicion Troyer had done just that.

  Talia walked closer, her hands moving gracefully, power flowing all around her, pulling at him and their bond. He walked with her, keeping pace and lending her his strength. When they were within feet of the elderly couple, he felt as if he’d ran through quicksand with a tank on his back. Looking at Talia, her brows were furrowed as her hands continued moving, a blue light sparking from her finger tips. Inhaling a deep breath, she drew on the magic in the air, allowing the Fey blood within him to fuel his depleted strength.

  “How?” the older version of Talia croaked.

  Talia didn’t speak, her eyes darted to the man next to the woman. She pointed at him, uttered a word, and then he fell to his knees, his hands clutching his throat.

  “Is Troy...is he gone?” Talia’s father asked.

  Torq growled. “That’s all you care about? Whether the bastard who had you locked up like—animals is gone? Not a thank you to the daughter you washed your hands of for saving you? We should put you back the way we found you,” he spat.

  Talia’s mother stood up, her hand shaking. “No, please don’t. What he means, is, are we safe from him? If Troyer is still here, we must hide, quickly.”

  “Troyer is dead,” Talia said in an even tone.

  Her father gasped. “Dead? If you hadn’t come for us, we’d have died here.”

  “We didn’t come for you. We came.” Talia turned to him, the pleading look in her eyes halting his words.

  “What my mate means is, I had no clue you were here. When your son tried to kill me and my family, he said he’d already killed you. I came to say goodbye to my past once and for all. Now that you’re free, I’ll be going.” She turned away, reaching for Torq’s hand. She’d called Troyer their son, not her brother. To her he was not her family.

  “Talia, wait. We’re sorry. So very sorry for everything.”

  Torq snorted but cut it off with a cough. He didn’t want to forgive her parents for all the years she’d gone through, knowing her parents disliked her. The pain that she’d shared with him.

  “We tried to reach you many times, but our missives came back unopened. We were told you wanted nothing to do with us. You see, Troyer, he was very jealous of you, but we didn’t know it at the time. It was only after we’d discovered you’d gone to Earth that we tried to reach you through the Fey Queen. As we were planning our journey, he, Troyer, locked us down here. I’m not sure what he did with our staff,” her mother sniffed. “I pray they were all fired and found new jobs, but I fear he wasn’t that kind.”

  “He was evil,” Talia said. She opened her palm, showing them what he’d done on Earth. Her parents look of horror couldn’t be feigned.

  Her father stood taller. “He was jealous of you. It was my fault. I was always comparing him to you,” he admitted.

  Torq glared at him. “You treated her like shit. Made her feel less than shit, yet he was jealous of her?

  “She was always so much more powerful than the rest of us. Even as a child, she could do things we couldn’t. I sadly thought my wife had stepped out on me. I’m not proud to admit that, but there you have it. For all those years, I couldn’t imagine my child being more powerful than I. The only solution had to be I wasn’t her father. I took my frustrations out on my wife and Talia. Which in turn made your mother resent you, Talia. We made huge mistakes, and for that, we’re sorrier than we can ever say.”

  Pain radiated off Talia in waves so deep, he wrapped his arms aroun
d her, glaring daggers at the people who were supposed to love and protect their young. “And what made you realize she was yours, exactly?”

  “The Fey Queen paid us a visit. She...she said she was ashamed of us as Fey and as parents, but mostly as her people. She said if she could, she’d have removed us not only from our stations, but from the realm itself. At the end, she turned her back on us and said until we did right by you, she’d do nothing for us. We didn’t think there was anything we could do to make right what we’d done, but we wanted to. Your father and I prepared to travel to Earth and beg your forgiveness. We’d heard you’d mated with a man named Keith, so we were ready to stay there with you, or close enough to be a part of your life.” Her mother shuddered, tears rolling down her face.

  “Before we could journey though, Troyer arrived. He’d heard through the Feyvine that we were leaving to mend things with you. I’ve never seen him so filled with hate. After that, time blurred,” her father sighed.

  “Keith is dead. This is Torq, my mate.”

  Torq wanted to laugh as his female dropped that bomb into the silence that had descended.

  “Let’s take this upstairs. I don’t like being down below surfaces,” Talia announced.

  He knew she was thinking of the years she’d spent as a captive. “Lead the way.” His arm went out, indicating her parents should go first. No way in hell was he giving either of them his back.

  Talia sighed. In a blink, they all were back upstairs. The light from the windows made him breathe easier. “There, now nobody has to go first or last.”

  “Are you here to stay?” her mother asked.

  “Goddess, no. I came to turn my rights to all this over to whoever wanted it. I’m never coming back here for good. My place is on Earth with my girls and my mate.”

  “You have children?” her mother asked with an excited squeal.

  “Listen, I know you have clearly created a life outside of Fey, but your mother and I’d like a chance to make up for the past. We may not deserve it, but please, give it some thought,” her father implored.

  “You both have been through an ordeal. I think you should take time to heal yourselves, then we’ll talk, later.”

  As her mother opened her mouth to say something else, Torq watched Talia’s father place his hand over her lips. Silent communication flowed between the two, then the older woman straightened her spine, wiped her tears with a cloth that appeared out of nowhere, and nodded. “Agreed,” her mother said. “We shall see you soon. Thank you for your generosity, Talia Taluleth.”

  Torq growled. “That’s Talia Dunn,” he corrected.

  They left the Fey Realm after Talia showed him around, but she was only interested in where he was taking her. With her Fey powers flowing in him, he had the power to move them from one place to another. As they shared more of each other, she wondered just how powerful he’d become. A shiver wracked her frame as she contemplated his already powerful body taking her to new heights.

  “You keep thinking thoughts like that and I’m liable to drop us into a void or some shit,” Torq growled.

  She opened her eyes to find they were indeed not in a place of darkness, but rather outside a ranch style log home. The sound of young female voices laughing and an animal’s extremely loud and angry bark, had her moving swiftly around the side of the home.

  The site that met her eyes made her blink, and then blink again.

  “Gizmo, I’m going to teach you to poop in one place. These lawnmines are huge. Like...ack, look at these. Seriously, what did you eat?”

  Talia looked at the small blonde girl holding a shovel filled with what appeared to be dog shit, only that animal sitting on its haunches looked to be larger than even Torq in his shifted form. “Is that your brother?” Talia asked pointing at the animal.

  Her mate looked at her, then the girl by the big beast, then at her before he began laughing. Talia noticed they’d drawn the attention of not only the pooper scooper girl, but another who’d been gagging nearby and the huge beast. Her mate, the big oaf was still laughing. “Torq, stop it,” she ordered.

  “Excuse me, ma’am, but can we help you?”

  “Rebel, put the poop away before you speak to company.” The other girl coughed. “Oh my word, Gizzy, you’re so going out to pasture. Surely there’s a farmer who needs manure for his plants. We can rent him out or something.”

  “Hi, girls, is your dad around?”

  The girl holding the poop shovel, dropped the end into the ground, then looked at her and Torq, her head tilted to the side. Immediately, Talia knew this was Arynn’s daughter. “Hello, uncle, you look like my dad. Who did you bring with you? She feels powerful.”

  The one named Rebel snorted as her sister jumped in front of her, grabbing the shovel. “Go get mom, she’s powerfuller”

  Torq tossed his head back, opening the gate. Talia wondered why they even bothered having one when the huge beast could easily jump the darn thing. Wait, did the two girls just threaten them with their mom?

  “Yes, love, they did. Be nice, I think they’re scared, but aren’t they adorable?” Torq walked into the yard, dragging Talia with him.

  “That’s so rude. My dad says we should use our outside voices,” Rebel said.

  Talia thought her girls would’ve acted the same if they’d had the chance to grow up together. One taking up for the other while one would have more sass than...well, no, both her girls had sass. “If you know this is your uncle, why are you being so sassy?” she asked.

  “Because she has to clean up his shit, and she’s pouting.”

  Talia turned to see a man, who looked very similar to Torq, leaning against the door to the house. His eyes gleamed with mirth. “And no, we’re not farming your beast out to local farmers. Ain’t that right Giz?”

  The ground literally shook as the huge beast turned and ran toward Arynn Dunn, his happy barks had Talia moving toward Torq. “Is that a human dog?”

  “Yes, he’s one-hundred percent human.” Rebel moved next to them. “Well, we think. I mean he was huge before he went to Fey with us, but ya know,” she said, then walked up to the porch, shitty shovel over one shoulder.

  “I’m sorry, I think she was dropped on her head when she was a baby. Hi, I’m Romie. I’m the nice one.”

  Talia instantly fell in love with both girls. Yes, they were clearly very different, but each had a personality that was unique. She could feel the power in both girls, the Fey inside of her recognized them.

  “Rebel Dunn, do not even think of coming onto my clean porch with that.”

  Talia looked up to see a stunning woman, standing next to Arynn.

  “That’s our mother. You don’t want to get on her bad side,” Romie informed them.

  “Hi, you must be Torq and Talia. I’m so glad you came. Ignore my hellions and come inside. Oh for the love of all, Gizzy, don’t drool on my feet,” Sheila groaned.

  Talia laughed, then waved her hand, cleaning the goo off. Yes, she knew she’d found more people to love and call her own.

  The huge beast, who she’d thought for like a second was her brother-in-law, turned big, huge puppy dog eyes toward her. In that one look, she knew he had plans to drool on her. Talia pointed her finger at him. “Don’t even think about it, bub. I’ve fought demons. I can totally take you on.”

  Gizmo whimpered, then sat back with a grin on his doggie face.

  “Come on inside, tell me what’s new with you, besides the fact you’ve clearly gotten a gorgeous mate,” Arynn said with a wink toward Talia.

  When the time came, she wanted to have a whole house of children just like Arynn’s girls and a couple of little boys just like Torq. An image of them each holding little bundles popped into her head. Whether it was a premonition or a dream, she didn’t know, but whatever life gave them whether it was children of their own, or even her daughters children to watch grow, she knew as long as they were together they’d be happy.

  The End

  * * *Keep readi
ng for a sneak peek at book 6, Their Wicked Wolf* * *

  Their Wicked Wolf, Mystic Wolves book 6

  http://www.elleboon.com/books/mystic-wolves-series/their-wicked-wolf/

  Prologue

  Every bone in her body was breaking, sweat pouring off her as she lay immobile thinking if she didn’t move it wouldn’t hurt quite so badly, but she knew better. She knew the pain wouldn’t ease until her best friend healed. Goddess, why would a father do this to his child?

  Sky moaned out loud, then sucked her lips between her teeth, holding the sounds inside as best she could. If her parents heard they’d freak the fuck out and that was the last thing she needed. If she wanted to continue being friends with Taryn, she’d have to suffer in silence like their alpha said, “You want to be friends with my mutt, then you’ll pay the price. You willing to pay, little bitch?” Keith asked coolly. Was she willing to accept the pain mentally and internally, while he inflicted even worse on his daughter physically? The answer was yes, had been yes since he’d first asked. Sometimes, like now when the ability to breathe was almost too great, she regretted her bargain with the devil named Keith, but then she’d watch in horror the nightmare Taryn lived with and she’d give a silent nod, knowing the bastard was aware, knowing he would be waiting to share the punishment he doled out to his daughter with Sky as well.

  Hours later she lay panting, her heart beating too fast, but the need to get up and go see her friend and tend to her very real wounds, had her swinging her legs over the side of the bed. A wave of dizziness made Sky suck in a deep breath before she could get up. “Good Goddess, what did he do this time?” she questioned the empty room. Using her arms to shove herself up, pain shot from her fingers to her shoulders, the screams she’d held inside escaped.

  “Sky, are you alright?” Her mother’s worried voice asked through the door.

  She bit her bottom lip, stilling the tremble. “Yeah, I must’ve fallen asleep and got up too quick. My foot’s gone numb and you know how I seem to fall all the time.” As far as excuses go it was lame, but her mother would buy it.

 

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