by Amy Marie
Grabbing Virginia’s hand, both women were ready to attack, combining their powers together. Simultaneously, my mother launched her spell toward Max, while Virginia hurled hers at Pat, who was still trying to get to her feet, unprepared for what was coming her way.
“No!” I roared at the top of my lungs. Summoning up all the energy and power within me, I prepared to save the two people who meant anything to me: my aunt and my mate. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Stepping in front of Max to take the blow if I needed to, to save him because the world needed him in it still, I held my arms out in front of me, palms facing my mother and Aunt Virginia. I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes, and released it with a shout. My feet moved forward after disintegrating their paltry attempt at magic. Mine was so much stronger. I could feel it coursing through me. “You will leave and never return. You will never think of Max again, and you will stop trying to breathe life into a feud, which should have died out long ago in Germany, before either family left the borders.
Mother shook her head back and forth. “No. He is meant to die. You are supposed to kill him! It’s your destiny!”
“Why, Mother? Because you can’t? He is my destiny, but he it is my destiny to love him, stand beside him, and to work together with him to make this world a better place. Our story isn’t the only one. His family version is different from ours. The printed fairy tale is different again, but those people lived over a millennia ago. Are we really going to continue to fight a war that has long been dead and buried? His family suffered too. Mila did put a curse on him. Isla did try to kill the princess and stole her children, and not only did she steal them, she threw them in the lake, hoping they would drown. We cannot dispute that. So, when does the killing end? There were wrongs on both sides, can you not see that? It’s time this ended. I’m Max’s mate, Mother. It’s time for a new beginning and to write a new fairy tale.”
“No. I don’t accept this. I forbid you from forming a pair with him.”
“It’s done, Mother. You have a choice to make. You can stand down and leave, pretend we don’t exist any longer or, if you keep trying to kill him, not that you could—I heard what you did on the day I was born—you will be the only one to blame for what happens here. I love him, and I will protect him at all costs.”
“I think you ladies need to leave,” Fizz stated, holding a rifle out in front of him, his aim on my mother and aunt. He was wearing camo-colored clothes, and I had the feeling he’d been here since the beginning.
She glared at him. “Liquescimus.” His gun began to melt in his hand, causing Fizz to drop it. His hands were already forming blisters.
“Mother,” I growled.
“You’ve betrayed me. You are no longer my son. I’ll kill you, and then I’ll kill him slowly, draining his life from his body, drinking it like a cocktail,” she hissed venomously.
“Do you feel the same, Virginia?” In response, she attempted to hit me with an arrow of energy. Takes less magic, moves faster, but easier to deflect.
Inhaling a deep breath, I released it slowly and felt Max slide his hand into mine, linking our hands together. I smiled. Even in this shit situation, I could smile because he was at my side. “Last chance,” I declared, looking directly at them. Now, I had to protect Max next to me, Aunt Pat to the right of us about five meters, and Fizz to the left about seven meters away. Yesterday, I would have been terrified. Hell, an hour ago, I would have tried to escape, but not today, not now. I could feel the magic and power swirling within me, free from whatever prison in which it had been bound.
Max was the key to it all.
Aunt Pat was right. I had to choose between family and Max, and I chose Max. Somehow, I knew it would come down to this, but I wished it hadn’t.
They closed their eyes, and I called forth my own magic and power, whispering words under my breath. They pushed their free palms toward the sky, and I could see everything they had collecting there. The ball was enormous. Please, let me have enough. They attacked, I countered, allowing my magic to blast out of me, protecting the ones I loved, decimating that which would destroy us.
A bright glow surrounded us, and I grabbed Max, pulling him into my body, holding him close. I couldn’t lose him. We buried our faces in each other’s necks until the blinding light dissipated.
When we could see again, my mother and my aunt were gone, and the only thing that remained were two piles of white ash. I’d killed my own mother, my aunt. Unable to support myself, I fell to my knees, and Max dropped with me.
“If you hadn’t, they were going to kill you,” Aunt Pat consoled me softly.
Tears cascaded down my face, and I could no more stop them than I could stop time. “In my head, I understand that, but she was still my mother, even as mental as she was. I sound mental, trying to defend her when I didn’t like her and hadn’t for a long time. Over the last five years or so, she’d changed.”
“She and Virginia had become so set on revenge and power, it made them crazed. You, my dear boy, remained pure and good. You listened to your heart and thought through things logically instead of accepting everything at face value. If you had been as irredeemable as them, it wouldn’t have mattered that Max is your mate, you would have killed him.” She kneeled down and grasped my chin to lift my head. “You did what you had to do. Mourn the loss of your mother, but never feel guilty that it came to this. You protected your mate as would any knight of old, rescuing him from his tower.”
Max
Holy fuckballs. Did that really just happen? I was here, saw everything, and could still scarcely believe it.
My disbelief or belief had to be pushed to the side for now. We’d deal with that later, or I would. Lorde needed me, and listening to his aunt, I had to agree. He was my knight in shining armor. He saved me from a death sentence, made me believe in love, and accepted me for who and what I am.
Wrapping him in my embrace, I whispered, “I love you, Sir Lorde.”
He clung to me, crying for his loss and because he had to be the one to deliver the killing blow to protect the people he loved. His aunt was right, he shouldn’t feel guilty, but then he wouldn’t be Lorde if he didn’t. He wouldn’t be the man I loved.
As he dealt with his pain, I would be here for him, no matter what.
“Fizz?” I called out, still holding Lorde.
He squatted next to me. “Yeah?”
“The—”
Fizz didn’t let me finish, “I’ve already taken care of it. You worry about your mate, and I’ll deal with the rest.”
Nodding, I mouthed, “Thank you.”
“Why don’t we go inside for a cuppa, and Fizz can do what he needs to do?” Pat offered.
It was weird. I still had the odd feeling from her, but it didn’t make me antsy, and I never had that with Lorde. Was it only because he was my mate?
“You have recognized his magic since the day he was born. It protected you,” Pat said as she passed me to open the front door.
Narrowing my eyes, I asked, “How did you know what I was thinking about?”
“Sometimes, we just know. Your swan is the same, he knew you and Lorde belonged together.”
I grinned. “We do.” I helped Lorde onto the couch and pulled him back into my arms. His sobs had abated, but he wouldn’t release me, and I didn’t want him to. It had to get better from here, right?
“Love you,” he hiccupped.
“Love you, too,” I repeated, relieved to have him with me still, ecstatic to be loved, sad that he was in pain and I couldn’t take it away.
This was the beginning of our happily ever after, and I could only cross my fingers, send positive energy out into the universe, and say a prayer that it got better from here.
Epilogue
Lorde
Three Months Later
“Honey, I’m home,” I called as I stepped into Max’s apartment. Correction, mine and Max’s apartment.
Other than one night apart, we’d been inseparable si
nce the incident at the cabin, for which I’m grateful. After everything that happened, I needed him, depended on him. In fact, we got married in a small ceremony at his parents’ home a couple weeks after the incident, one which my father attended with a huge smile on his face. I couldn’t remember a time when he looked so happy.
And I didn’t know what Fizz did, but he arranged for my mother and aunt to be declared legally dead. I learned with him, it was probably best not to ask questions. In my opinion, I suspected his past consisted of much more than his being a SEAL, something he would neither confirm nor deny.
“Balcony,” Max shouted through the open door.
At least it was warmer now. The bloody simpleton liked to go out there whether he shifted or not, no matter the temperature. The first time I found him naked out there after a flight, Fizz laughed like a hyena and declared, “He’s your problem now.” Then he left me alone and went to his wing, completely separate from ours, the wanker. I should have known from that statement alone, this would be a regular thing.
“What are you doing out here?”
He was staring out across the cityscape. “Thinking.”
“Never a good sign.” I chuckled.
He spun around with a grin on his face and a sparkle in his eyes. “Never.”
“What?” I asked suspiciously. He was plotting, and that could be dangerous. One time, he convinced me to go skinny dipping in Lake Michigan. If I thought my dick curled up and hid when I ran out to the car naked, when I went skinny dipping, it tried to lodge itself in my chest as far away from my groin as possible. I didn’t even know how I let him talk me into that. Of course, he shifted and was happy as a lark swimming around as a swan. He was crackers.
“I know you said you didn’t want to come work for the company,” he hedged.
I rolled my eyes, and he held up his hand. I waved him on.
“The corporate life isn’t for you, and you love dealing with your books.” He paused, and I nodded.
It was true. I made a good living appraising and dealing in rare books. It was my passion, and when I had to travel for work, Max usually came with me. His father was nice enough to come out of retirement and handle things at the company whenever we decided to take off.
“What if we opened a bookstore. You could oversee your old books, new books could be sold, and we could run a reading program for adults who need help. Sometimes they are embarrassed to go to a library or school. So, if we have a back room where they can relax, what do you think? A book store doesn’t have to be as quiet as a library, we can do whatever we want, and we can help people at the same time.”
I had to admit, it was a solid idea. “What about when I travel?”
“You won’t have to be there all the time, only when you wanted to be, which I assume will be most of the time when you aren’t out of town.”
“And do you have a name for the store?” Biting his lip, he nodded a bit sheepishly, and I pulled him into my arms. “And what would that be?” I kissed his neck.
“Happily Ever After, where magic and happy endings are real.”
“You even have a tag line?”
He swatted me but didn’t do any real damage. I’d been to the gym with him, I knew how much he could lift, and I’d seen him hit the punching bag. If he chose, he could probably knock me out. “If you don’t like it, then we can pick something else.” Max didn’t fool me. I could see the grin tugging at his lips and the way his eyes still glinted with happiness.
It went both ways; I couldn’t fool him either. I loved the name, loved him, and loved our life together. “It’s perfect.” Leaning toward him, I captured his lips with mine. I could never get enough of him.
We didn’t stop until we were both breathless and hard, but when I tried to coerce him to go to bed with me, he refused, “Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“I have two more things I want to say. First, thank you.”
Frowning, I tilted my head to the side and asked, “Why?”
“The night we met, I was a cynical man who didn’t believe in love. I didn’t think a man would ever love the real me and was convinced they would only want to blackmail me. For the longest time, Fizz was my closest friend. You taught me I was wrong about it all. My curse became my blessing because it led me to you. And you showed me what it really means to love and be loved.”
I opened my mouth to talk and shut it again, speechless. It took me a little bit, but I cleared my throat and said, “I could say the same thing about you. I was going through life, searching for an escape. I was unhappy, and the last thing I wanted to do was…” My voice caught, and Max rubbed my chest right above my heart. Grabbing his hand, I held it in place. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you, Max, but I don’t regret it. We’re writing our own story now, our own happy ending.”
We kissed again, pressing our foreheads together when we stopped. “Number two,” he began, his mischievous smile appearing. I both loved and hated it.
“What?”
“Pack your bags. We’re going to spend two months in Fira for the honeymoon we never got. We leave in three hours.”
Certain I heard him wrong, I peeked at my watch. Six o’clock in the evening. “What about the company?”
“My dad can handle it.”
“He’s done it here and there, but you said two months. Two months?” The amount of time on the island blew my mind.
“Yes, two months, and this was their gift to us.” He stepped closer, rubbing his body against mine. “Imagine it, the quiet island, the ocean surrounding us, and you and me doing whatever the hell we want. Besides, you have to be over in Athens next month to examine that book anyway. We’re just putting you a little closer than you would have been. Don’t you want to be in paradise with me?”
“Bloody hell. Wheels up in three or leave here in three?”
He grinned widely. “Leaving here in three.”
“Plenty of time.” I dragged him to our bedroom and shut the door.
Max was indeed my happily ever after and my swan prince.
Max
Lorde gave up a lot for me to make sure I was protected, and not a day went by that I wasn’t grateful. I loved him. No one else challenged me, pushed me, and made me re-evaluate everything.
If not for being a swan shifter, for my swan, I wouldn’t have him. He rescued me from my tower, my cage, my anger. Being a swan shifter wasn’t a prison sentence, it was freedom. A past we were never a part of, never wished to be a part of, had forced us together, and we took the chance that was offered.
With the good comes the bad, I understood this very well. I wasn’t under any illusion that with a snap of his fingers, everything would be better, and no matter if he disliked her, she had still been his mother, someone who occasionally had been there for him. There were times he still felt guilty for what happened, and in those moments, the only thing I could do was hold him and love him.
The oddest thing to come out of the whole ordeal was when Pat told us she discovered Gretchen was Mila’s mother in disguise. She was able to transform herself back into a child. She had been manipulating everything since the beginning, and her descendants carried the torch, taking up her cause. Gretchen played both sides, pitting us against them, and the hate lasted for over a thousand years. In fact, it caused Kelly and Virginia to come to Chicago, not trusting Lorde to handle this mission. They’d known who he was the whole time but refused to give Lorde any information. In the library, when I was doing the reading, they planted the suggestion that Mrs. Budley read that particular fairy tale. More than that, they played with my dreams, came into my house, and were intent on playing with me mentally. They couldn’t physically touch me, but they could get to me in other ways.
I met Lorde’s eyes and saw happiness staring back at me. Damn, I loved this man.
“Bloody hell. Wheels up in three or leave here in three?”
My smile grew. “Leaving here in three.” I realized it seemed strange to fly at
night, but I wanted to get there early and decided not to wait to leave. The pilot had no issue with my plans, and the flight would have us landing in Santorini about lunchtime.
“Plenty of time,” Lorde declared, pulling me into our bedroom.
This never got old.
Our happy ending wasn’t perfect, but it was ours, and even with everything stacked against us, I found my happily ever after with my knight in shining armor. The one man who broke the chains and turned my curse into a blessing.
The End
Maria Vickers Acknowledgments
I had so much fun writing this story, and Lorde and Max have become two men who are near and dear to my heart. They are both struggling, fighting the past, and trying to live up to the path chosen for them. They are perfectly imperfect. I did struggle a little bit though, and I want to thank several people.
Becky, my amazing editor. I don’t know how you did it, but you are amazing! Thank you for everything you ever done for me. I know I put you under the gun sometimes with my deadlines, but you are always there for me. Thank you!
Rebecca, OMG! I couldn’t have done this without you. Not only did you proof this for me, you encouraged me, cheered me on, and listened to me vent more times than you would have liked, but you stuck by me. Thank you! Love you and I can’t wait to meet in person!
Shirley, you are amazing. Thank you for beta reading this for me and making sure it didn’t suck. LOL. Love you lady.
Becky, my alpha, cheerleader, and general warden. LOL. Love you! I wouldn’t have finished without you. There were times I was ready to quit, but you wouldn’t let me. You cracked the whip, and thanks to you, I was able to type “The End”. You are an amazing woman and I’m lucky to call you friend.
Samatha, my talented friend and one of my favorite authors. When I met you in 2016, I was sure you thought I was some sort of crazy, you probably still do, but I wasn’t expecting the extraordinary friendship that was forged that year. Thank you for listening to me and cheering me on. I’ve come close to that line more than once and you helped bring me back. Thank you. Love you!