by Meg Xuemei X
I’m sad to part with Half-Blood Academy, but all good things must come to an end. However, Mari’s and her mates’ journey doesn’t stop here. They soon will have a big wedding to plan and a location to pick for their honeymoon. And Mari will time travel to visit her mates in the past and stir up shit.
And, my next reverse harem fantasy series, Fever Fae, will be released in June, 2020.
Meg
P.S. If you enjoy this book, would you consider leaving a brief review on Amazon? <3
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FEVER FAE (FEVER FAE BOOK 1)
Yes, to the hottest, baddest Fae Kings. No, to being their bitch.
When my parents mysteriously disappear, leaving me to raise my six crazy, younger siblings, my dreams for college are dashed.
It gets worse when someone sends a slew of monster assassins after me and my family. Their untimely arrival is followed by three devastatingly hot Fae assholes who stalk me.
Baron, the pompous and dominating Summer King, thinks I’m a dark Fae and wants my head. Then he changes his mind and declares me his fated mate. Hells-a-no. Especially now that he wants me to prove my worth. Really?
Then there’s Rowan, the possessive and cruel Winter King, who offers to protect me from the assassins, but only if I accept his obnoxious courtship requests.
And finally, there’s Night King Rydstrom, a dangerous and mysterious Fae with an ass that doesn’t quit, who thinks he has every right to play me like a fiddle.
Too bad for them, I’m not the docile type they're used to commanding. I might want to screw them, but I have no intention of joining the trail of broken hearts and bodies in their wake.
For I hold a deep, dark secret. Their arrival has woken in me the very forbidden magic they’ve been hunting, and I, Evelina Green, am going to have a wicked good time teaching these Alpha Fae a lesson.
SNEAK PEAK OF FEVER FAE
The alarm blared in my ears.
Jerking awake, I swung an arm to hit the retro clock’s bell to stop the shrieks, only to knock over a hummingbird desk lamp. The lamp hit the floor, and its gold-accented glass panels shattered.
Shit. Mom was going to kill me for breaking her favorite touch lamp. What excuse could I give her? I’d already used every excuse in the book for all the accidents I’d caused.
Then a sharp pain stabbed my middle and surged to my brain, clearing any sleepiness.
Mom was gone, as was Dad. They’d vanished without a trace three days ago. I’d dropped out of college, a dream I’d worked so hard for, and left my hot boyfriend to come home to take care of my six younger siblings.
I hit the clock and the shrieking alarm shut up. I forced my eyes open and stared until the clock came into focus. The needle pointed to five.
I groaned. Five AM was a goddamned hour.
I had to get up and make breakfast for my siblings, like Mom used to do. I’d clean up the mess of the broken lamp after those little buggers were out of the house.
It sucked to be the oldest child.
Why did my siblings need to eat? Couldn’t they just grow up like the weeds in the backyard instead of requiring maintenance?
My mouth drooping, I dragged myself to the edge of the bed and perched there. For a second, I debated throwing myself back onto the pillow and letting the world burn.
And then my siblings would miss school. Chaos would whip the house with them all home, and I wouldn’t have a moment of peace. Then social services would pay us a visit and take them away because I couldn’t provide for my siblings.
Mom might forgive me. Dad would be so disappointed, since he always had high expectations for his eldest daughter. The last thing I wanted was to let them down, even though they weren’t here.
Pain and anxiety throbbed in my veins.
I tramped to the window and wrenched open the thick flowery curtains. A mass of gray light splashed across the sky.
All the tiny hairs on my nape bristled. My breath caught as I realized someone was watching.
I scanned the street, skimming beyond the tree lines along the driveway that curved around the front yard of my Spanish-style house. I didn’t spot any movement. Even the shadows around the perimeter didn’t stir, yet I knew for sure I was being observed closely. I’d always been more sensitive than the average person, but unfriendly surveillance was a first.
Did this new development have anything to do with my parents’ disappearance? My heart rammed into my ribcage. I’d have to wait until my siblings were out of the house to scout the neighborhood and investigate.
I’ll protect them, Mom, Dad, I promised as I yanked back the curtains to obscure the view of any stalker.
A foreboding chill slithered up my spine, knocking the last trace of sleepiness from my system. Yet I rubbed my eyes out of habit before throwing on a pink T-shirt that said: What’s my weakness? Six pack abs and a trail of golden hair. The hem settled a few inches above my knees.
I didn’t bother with pants since I hadn’t done laundry yet, which was on my next to-do list. I opened the door and bumbled downstairs.
The house was quiet. All of my siblings were still slumbering. Well, sweet dreams, I thought bitterly. Pausing in the middle of the stairs, I yelled so my voice filled the house. “Wake up! Don’t make me come yank your hair. I’m not nice like Mom!”
“You’re a big bitch, Evelina!” A high-pitched voice came from an upstairs room. Safiya was my least favorite sibling, a fifteen-year-old who demanded the world revolved around her. When it most often refused to indulge her, she was ready to throw a fit.
She wasn’t my biggest fan, but she wouldn’t dare to use the B-word on me when my parents were around.
“This bitch is the one who puts the bread and butter on the table now,” I said. “Unless you can do the same, you’ll get the fuck up, eat something, and go to school to get the fuck out of my sight.”
None of my siblings reacted to my swearing, not even a sigh.
But I wouldn’t dare to whisper an F-bomb in my parents’ presence. More painful reminders they were gone, and we didn’t know why.
I stumbled down the stairs to the ground floor, yet I didn’t hear anyone getting out of their beds or even stirring, other than that three of them pulled up their blankets to cover their heads.
I had superior hearing. I always knew what my siblings were up to in their rooms. Like Emmett, my sixteen-year-old brother, would always masturbate heavily if he obtained new manga porn comics. I never understood the appeal of the drawings of big fake boobs and ridiculous round asses on the pages.
I jogged to the common room, and from under the counter, I snatched a hyper whistle I bargained from eBay for an occasion like this. Then I returned to the base of the stairs, put the silver whistle in my mouth, covered my ears, and blew it with my full lung capacity.
The sharp, piercing sound blasted through the house, worse than the fire alarm.
The whistle was up to 152db loud, long range. It was ideal for self-defense, survival, and emergency uses. I considered this situation an emergency since I needed all my siblings to be up now and get ready for school while I cooked.
I stopped blowing and uncovered my ears, grinning when I heard groans from upstairs. Still no feet hitting the floor though. So I blew again, the shrill whistle screaming like a drill sergeant on steroids.
“Stop, Evelina! Fuck. Just stop, Evie! We’re up!” Siblings shouted their pleas, and I stopped blowing the whistle, happy that I was more effective than Mom.
Emmett traipsed down the stairs and shook his head at me in disgust. “You’re the most terrible sister on earth,” he concluded.
I shrugged, still grinning. “Depends who’s judging.”
Safiya stomped after Emmett, glaring at me. Then the rest of my siblings
poked their heads out of their shared rooms before charging toward the three bathrooms, shoving or bumping each other out of the way to claim the first right to use the bathroom.
Those little buggers were unruly, yet they regarded me as a terrible sister. But as long as they didn’t bite anyone, I could deal with it. I understood how hard it was for the seven of us fighting for limited resources all these years.
Turning on my heel, I padded into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. It was mostly empty now. I’d have to go shopping today.
Then I’d have to look into our financial situation. I had no idea how we’d afford groceries next week, let alone the mortgage payment next month. I wanted to search the house again to see if my parents left money, or any clue related to their disappearance that I’d missed during the previous sweeps. After I investigated the neighborhood to see who was spying on us.
Tomorrow I would head to the police station again to check on my parents’ missing case, though I knew it was a long shot that the cops would find anything. I just couldn’t give up any hope, no matter how dismal and slim it was, or I’d collapse from the inside.
I forced back the tears that stung my eyes.
And I also needed to find a job within a week if I wanted to feed a family of seven.
I got this. I can do it, I murmured to myself as I took out a crate of eggs.
I turned the gas on and put the pan on the burner. When I was almost done with mixing butter and scrambled eggs, all my siblings arrived, except for Fawn. My six-year-old sweet, youngest sister was the most mature one among us. She never fought anyone, so she was always the last one to use the bathroom.
I’d fetch her after I was done cooking.
Asuka and Nox, the dirty-blond twins, rubbed their eyes and yawned at the same time before one of them picked two bowls and the other fetched milk and cereal. The twins took care of each other, and only each other. I had no problem with that since they didn’t bother anyone else.
Asuka poured gluten-free Honey Nut Cheerios into a bowl for Nox, then into the other bowl for himself, and Nox added the milk into the bowls. They each took their bowl to their side of the table and dug in, ignoring the others.
“Emmett, could you microwave the pre-cooked bacon, please?” I asked politely. There was no need to yell now that they were behaving. “Safiya, I need you to set the plates, please. Everyone, I’d highly appreciate it if you could get your lunchbox ready and put it on the counter after your breakfast.”
“I don’t eat bacon!” Safiya pouted, flapping her long hazelnut hair. “It’s greasy. Skincare might not be important to you, but it is to me. Mom always made me omelets with lots of spinach, mushroom, and a pint of ricotta cheese.”
“I don’t have time to make omelets,” I said. “There are so many of you, and I don’t want any of you to be late for school again!” I said, not wanting to admit I didn’t know how to make an omelet.
“Then at least make some pancakes!” Safiya sneered.
I had never made pancakes either. I’d never lingered in the kitchen when Mom cooked since I tried to avoid chores at all costs.
“Well?” Safiya pressed a fist on her narrow hip, giddy that she’d just put me on the spot.
Until this day, I’d never realized how rotten and spoiled we all were. We took our parents’ love and labors for granted. And now these little leeches expected me to take Mom’s role until they could sip me dry.
“Make it yourself,” I snapped at my sister, stirring the eggs hard. “You’re a big girl.”
“I don’t do kitchen work,” Safiya said condescendingly.
“That’s too bad, princess,” I said. “I hate to pop your pink bubbles, but you’re under new management now.”
Safiya shot me a venomous stare.
“Uh, Evie, I think the eggs are overdone,” Emmett said, laughter in his voice.
Among us, only Emmett and Safiya resembled my parents. They both got Mom’s hazelnut hair. Yet the two of them were the opposite in all the other aspects. Emmett was the most laidback teen. You threw high drama at him every second of the day, and he’d gulp them down like mild mint tea with a goofy smile on his face.
I dumped the overcooked scrambled eggs onto a big plate. They were still edible.
“I want waffles!” shouted Cassidy, my eight-year-old, pain-in-the-butt brother. He was the only one among us who had curly hair. He could use a haircut soon. Guess I would have to do it for him since we couldn’t afford a hairstylist.
“We ran out of waffles, buddy,” I said.
“My name is not Buddy,” he barked. “And I only eat waffles!”
“Well, I’ll go shopping and get waffles and other stuff either today or tomorrow!” I barked back as I slammed the pan back on the stove and rushed toward the toaster since the kitchen smelled of burned bread. I yanked out the toast slices and tossed them to an empty plate.
The brown bread looked mostly fine other than the blackened edges. My siblings wouldn’t get cancer eating them, right? I might need to Google the subject later.
“You’ll eat whatever I put on the table,” I said, glaring at each of them in turn.
“You suck!” Safiya snickered. “And you know that.”
“I want Mom,” Cassidy demanded. “I want Dad! And I want them now.”
The agony that I’d tried to push to the edge so I could deal with this life returned, beating in me. My siblings didn’t understand that our lives had changed. One moment, everything had been fine. One moment I had giggled in my boyfriend’s lap and drunk my fill of pungent draft beer in a wild Manhattan party. The next I received the phone call that my parents hadn’t returned home and my siblings had no other guardian.
The pale-green family van was still parked in the driveway.
It’d been useless to ask our neighbors if they’d seen anything the day my parents vanished. Our house sat alone at the end of the lane, and the nearest neighbor lived a few hundred yards beyond the trees that lined our property. Yet I had gone to their place, knocked on the door, and waited for the elderly couple to open the door a crack. I’d begged for information, but they insisted they didn’t know anything, and their yellow-furred cat had given me the evil eye.
“Shut up, little dude, and eat your breakfast.” Emmett cuffed Cassidy’s head fondly and grinned at everyone. He put the plates of overdone scrambled eggs, perfectly microwaved bacon, and partially burned toasts on the center of the table. “Dig in.”
Cassidy shouted for strawberry jam, another thing we didn’t have. Tension gripped my shoulders and I clenched my jaw to keep from screaming.
“Cassidy, I got you peanut butter,” Fawn said, sounding like a sweet angel as she entered the dining room. She wore a uniform skirt, high knee socks, and spotless, shiny shoes. Her silver-blonde hair flowed down her tiny shoulders.
“You do?” Cassidy asked. “I couldn’t find it anywhere.”
Fawn whipped a jug of peanut butter in front of her little brother. He opened the lid, pasted thick peanut butter on a piece of toast and placed it on a plate for Fawn as she climbed onto the chair beside him. Then he started to serve himself.
Nox gave her a look and poured her a glass of milk, but he didn’t help Cassidy.
Fawn beamed at everyone. “Good morning!”
I strolled to the table and picked up Fawn’s glass of milk. “I’ll heat it for you, angel.” I kissed her crown, and she hugged me.
I always had a soft spot for my youngest sister ever since my parents adopted her at three.
“Mom and Dad won’t be back for a while,” Fawn said like a prophet. “Evie talks mean, but she cares. She’s the best we’ve got if we want to survive. Monsters are coming.”
A chill sliced up my spine, not at my sister’s prediction, but the sudden drop in temperature. My breath puffed out in a little cloud. Then a stench hit my nostrils, and a snarl rose from the corner of the dining room adjoining the kitchen.
A beast that looked like a creature from hell stared a
t my siblings, its crimson eyes glowing with a murderous light. It stood over eight feet tall with fangs longer than my forearm protruding from its giant, hideous jaw.
I stared at it, uncomprehending. What the fuck? What the actual fuck?
It was like seeing a nightmare forming right in front of me. I’d thought monsters only existed in books or movies.
Cassidy screamed, “Monster! We have a monster in our dining room!”
“Oh my god! Oh my god!” Safiya shouted.
Emmett’s face turned deathly pale, his mouth open like a fish out of water. The twins leaned toward him for protection while huddling to each other. Emmett spread his arms to shield them.
Fear punched my guts. My heart beat so fast that I was afraid it would tear out of my chest.
“How did it get in?” I shrieked. “I locked the doors. I closed all the windows last night!”
“It didn’t come through a door or a window,” Fawn said. “It showed in my dreams.”
“This isn’t fucking happening!” I uttered in horror, more to myself.
The monster snarled louder, as if offended by our reactions. Thick fur rippled and muscles flexed along its massive shoulders.
If it pounced, we were dead. Our torn corpses would litter the house, blood painted everywhere. And my darling Fawn would be a morsel in the monster’s belly.
I glanced at the glass of milk in my hand—the only weapon at my disposal.
My terrified gaze fixed on the monster, my breath growing ragged and shallow. Dad had trained me in swordplay since I was old enough to hold a stick, but the strenuous physical training was useless without a weapon in reach. Even if I’d had my dagger on me, I had no advantage over a monster from a nightmare.
The monster growled gutturally again, and a wave of anger swirled in me. This wasn’t fair. My parents’ unexplained disappearance and being forced to abandon my college dream was unjust enough. Now I had a monster who wanted to eat us, too?
The terror that kept my siblings frozen in place hit me like a living black wire, and my anger rose to a blaze of fury. I was their only protector now. They pissed me off sometimes, but I would never let any monster harm them.