by G. Bailey
"I'm getting jealous of my cats," Atti says, nodding at them both. Jewels’s large head is taking over my lap, and Mags is pressed against my side as I gently stroke her soft fur, avoiding the spiky tail.
“I need a favour,” I ask him, remembering the mini-demons.
“Will I get a kiss from the princess if I say yes?”
“Yep.” I grin, and he laughs.
“What would the princess want?” he asks.
“I need a distraction, big enough that most of the guards will go to it for around ten minutes. Oh, Wyatt has to be with you too, Drake as well, if possible.”
“What will you be doing?”
“Something not dangerous, I promise.”
“So you’re not going to tell me?”
“You probably don’t want to know,” I say, knowing he’ll want to come with me, and he can’t be the distraction if he does that.
“Time scale?” he asks, and I grin.
“Soon,” I respond, and he nods, clearly thinking about it.
"We should be going back soon. Leave Winter, guys," Atti says, and they both move slowly. Jewels licks my cheek, making me laugh before walking back to stand next to Atti. One on each side.
"Why did you cut your hair?" I ask him as I get closer.
"I felt like a change," Atti shrugs.
"You’re hot either way," I reply with a slight blush, and he grins at me.
"Thank you, Love," he says and pulls me closer to him. I look up as he leans down and kisses me gently. I don't notice him use his powers this time until we’re in Wyatt’s bedroom.
"I should go," Atti pulls away, one look suggests he doesn't want to.
"You’re right, only a week or so until I can leave," I say smiling.
"I can't wait for that," Atti says and vanishes into thin air.
I wander around my room, and I jump when the door opens. Two humans come in the chamber, both dressed in rags with dark-coloured skin and dark-brown hair. They both instantly lower their heads and bow at me.
"No, don't do that. I'm not . . . I was human like you," I mumble out as I move over to them. They both lift their heads but don't say anything. I notice the trolley full of sheets outside the room, and I assume they are here to clean something.
"Are you here to clean?" I ask and they both nod.
"Can you talk to me?" I ask, as they both glance at each other.
"We are not allowed, princess. We will change your bed sheets and clean," the taller one says.
"How about I do it?” I ask, and they look at me like I’ve grown two heads.
“I don’t think–” the one starts, so I suggest something else.
“Could one of you get me some lunch instead? I have no idea where the kitchens are," I say. I have an idea, but this place is a maze.
"I can do that," the smaller girl says and moves quickly out of the room.
"I will clean," the other girl says, shooting a look full of worry at me before she gets sheets off the trolley.
"And I will help you," I say.
"You are a princess, they would kill me and my family for letting you do such things," she says, looking at the floor. This is so wrong.
"Then it will be our secret. How long have you lived here?" I ask her.
"I was born here," she tells me.
"Oh," I reply, and she looks at me. Her pale-blue eyes like mine, the same dark-brown hair, and we could have swapped places in a second. I could have been born here and her in my place in the world. I can’t imagine the life she has here, but I don’t know how to help her without getting myself killed.
"Why don't you escape?" I ask after a while of silence, both of us just staring at each other.
"The same reason you don't, I have people I love here. My whole family is here, and we don’t have your powers. If we are lucky, one of them might choose us as a mate," she tells me.
"Even if you don't love them?" I ask.
"Love is just fairy tales," she says.
"It's not," I reply quickly.
"Maybe not for you, princess, but for me, it is," she says, and we clean the room in silence until the door swings open. Talen is standing there, holding the door open.
“Out, the princess and I need to chat.”
“Don’t,” I say, but the girl runs out of the room. Talen shuts the door and walks over to me as I drop the bed sheets on the floor.
“No protectors around? Silly mistake, little girl,” he says.
“I don’t need them,” I respond, trying to hide my shaking hands behind my back. Talen is creepy and evil. He watches me as I keep eye contact with him. His eyes are slightly red, meaning he fed recently. Talen is wearing a black suit, a black tie and his white shirt has a drop of blood on it.
“You think you are safe?” he says and laughs. His laugh crackles around the room. He moves quickly right in front of me, and I panic. The power I’ve only felt once before fills my body, and I watch as a blue glow moves out of me and slams into his chest. He flies across the room and hits the wall, breaking the mirror that he hits.
“What are you?” he asks. I lift my hands as I see they are glowing blue. The door opens again, and Leigha comes in, quickly moving next to me.
“Get out, you will be lucky if the prince doesn’t kill you for this, Talen. The king cannot protect you all the time,” she says calmly.
“Don’t threaten me. You will soon be underneath me screaming my name. Someone needs to teach you some respect, and that you’re just a woman,” he spits out.
“She is my defender and protector. She will not marry anyone. Run along and tell the king that. You don’t deserve any respect, Talen, from any person–woman or not,” I tell him. I straighten my back and smile at him, feeling a confidence I didn’t know I had.
“You can’t do that!” he shouts at me, his face slowly turning red.
“She can,” Drake says, walking into the room. He walks over to Talen and punches him. The force slams him into the wall again, and he slides down, unconscious with blood all over his face. Drake picks up his foot and walks out, dragging Talen behind him.
“Thanks!” I nervously shout after Drake and shut my door. I lean against it and look at Leigha.
“Thank you,” I tell her.
“A servant came running to me, she told me he was in your room. I sent her to find Drake.”
“I will have to thank her,” I say, and Leigha nods.
“You shouldn’t be alone, but well done on using your power,” she says.
“I didn’t mean to,” I reply.
“You did. We will work on your powers tomorrow. I didn’t want people seeing you use them and turning all blue, but it doesn’t matter now that Talen has seen you,” she says, although she doesn’t look that worried.
“Okay.” I nod, and she walks to the door.
“I will stand guard until Wyatt returns,” she says. I want to tell her that might be a long time if he hasn’t gotten himself killed by my other mate. Worry and the urge to throw up fills my body.
“You don’t have to–” I start saying and she stops me.
“Winter, you just saved me from a life not worth living. I will protect you until you release me, but I will be your friend endlessly,” she says.
“Thanks,” I say, feeling a blush. Leigha shows me a rare smile before she shuts the door.
Thirty-Four
Wyatt
"Atti, I'm going to fucking kill you," I shout as Atti disappears on me. I was walking down the corridor, trying to calm down when he grabbed me and brought me here. We are in a field in the middle of nowhere. What the fuck is he doing?
I sense him a moment before he comes back, with Dabriel and Jaxson at his side.
"I'm going to sort your mess out with Winter," Atti tells me and disappears, but I just stare at Jaxson.
The new king doesn't look as worried as he should be.
"You fucking bastard. You kept my son from me?" I say, my voice is loud and full of anger. I go to move to hit him whe
n Dabriel runs between us. His skin is glowing, and he’s giving me a clear warning look. I respect Dabriel, but fighting an angel isn't easy. They’re great warriors. Even if the dark angels are more the fighters of the angel race with their ability to cause pain with their touch, light angels aren’t easy to beat. They train all their lives, and with their capacity to heal themselves and fly, a fight could go on for a while, and they would still beat your ass.
Jaxson just nods, a grim look on his face when I look over at him.
"Demi didn't want you to know. I was blood bound never to tell you, I couldn't," he tells me.
"What?" I ask, feeling the painful shock of his words. When you are blood bound, it's a promise you can never break. The result would be death if broken.
"Why would you agree to that?" I ask him.
"She threatened to leave if I didn't. I had just met her, and she was scared of me, afraid of her past. She wasn’t thinking right, you know how scared she was. How heartbroken that she couldn’t be with you," he says.
"You brought my son up," I say, the anger fleeting away. I can't be mad at him, not now. I don't know why Demi made him do it, but I guess she was scared of my father finding out. I don't blame her, not in that sense. This whole situation is fucked-up. Winter is mated to us both, and hurting him would only hurt her.
"His name is Fredrick, but we call him Freddy. I have a photo for you, I knew it wouldn’t be long before we needed to chat," he says and pulls out his wallet from his jeans. Dabriel moves out of the way, his powers disappearing now that there is no threat.
"Here," Jaxson hands me a photo of a boy around eight. His hair is brown and blond at the tips. He looks like Demi, so much that it hurts a little. His eyes are the same colour as hers, but his grin, in this photo, looks like me.
"He is nine now and a real pain in my ass," Jaxson says as he messes with his hair, watching me carefully. I expect he still thinks I’m going to try and kill him.
"His powers?" I ask.
"He is immune to silver, heals extremely fast, and is very fast. Faster than most wolves in the pack. He’s training with two swords, and he’s good. I think spending so much of his life in the pack makes him smell more like wolves. If you get close enough, you can feel it a little. Every wolf in my pack would protect him. I will keep him safe," he tells me. He apparently loves my son, and I bet Freddy loves him like a dad. A little jealousy fills me before I realise how stupid I’m being. I wouldn’t have been any sort of dad to him, I would have kept him hidden away from me. I’m too closely watched, someone would have told my father. One look at Freddy, and he would have known who his mother and father are.
"Thank you, I owe you for keeping him safe," I say, offering my hand to him.
"You were always a brother to me. I would have done it anyway, without him being my nephew. Just for you," he says and shakes my hand. He pulls me into a hug and pats my back.
"I have missed you, my brother. You are the only one out of these idiots that can hold your drink," I say with a grin and tuck the photo into my trouser pocket.
"You know angels don't drink," Dabriel groans.
"Except you when you’re mad," I smile tightly. I owe these men my life, more than once over. When I was younger, I hated my life. I was the unwanted son, my mother was dead, and I was beaten daily. My father said it would make me a stronger king. Dabriel healed me time and time again. Jaxson and Atti made life worth living. Now, they are family to me, or at least Jaxson is now that he is mated to Winter. It won’t be long before Atti and Dabriel mate with her too, she loves them. It’s easy to see.
"Not often," Dabriel answers tightly. I only laugh as a response. Angels are the most uptight people you will ever meet. Dabriel is a little different, but you can't change everything about where he comes from. His brothers are worse, a pair of idiots, in my opinion.
"So, half of us are mated," I muse.
"And you’re a father, it has been an interesting few months," Dabriel comments.
"How are Winter's powers coming along?" Jaxson asks.
"Better, Leigha is training her well. Leigha hasn’t tried her other powers because she’s struggling with her normal vampire ones. It won’t be long until we can move her back to her apartment, and we can work on them more," I say.
“Have you asked if she wants to move back? She could run into the pack. You could come too and live near Freddy while we tell him,” Jaxson offers.
“I'll ask her,” I nod.
"I can't find anything about her kind of power," Dabriel says.
"She has dreams of the goddess and her sister. More recently, she told me she had a dream about two people claiming to be her parents," I tell them. Neither of them seems that shocked.
"Let me guess, one of them wasn't her mum?" Jaxson asks.
"Or her father. I don't know what's going on, but I think her mother is the next best option to get some answers," I say.
"Do you think she could be related to the goddess? That could be the reason she has such a high connection to them in her dreams?" Dabriel says.
"Perhaps, but why haven't we heard about a child of the goddess?" I wonder out loud.
"We can't guess this, it's too important," Dabriel says.
"There a pub over there, why don't we go for a drink? Atti will find us," Jaxson offers.
"I’d like that," I reply, and he nods. Dabriel grins as we walk over the field.
Things are finally back to normal with us, well, better than normal now, because we love Winter.
Thirty-Five
Winter
"Winter, you’re so lovely. My lovely, lovely Winter," a voice mumbles to me as I open my eyes, not seeing much in the darkness of night. Wyatt is lying next to me on our bed, a relaxed grin on his face which doesn't match the Wyatt I just saw earlier tonight. I stayed awake until one in the morning, but he didn't return. I had guessed he was staying away from me. The overwhelming smell of beer and spirits hits me as he moves closer.
"Are you drunk?" I ask him, and he nods, looking like a happy puppy with his blond hair all messy.
"Did you see Dabriel and Jaxson?" I ask him.
"Yes, Dabriel passed out after four drinks. Angels are such lightweights. Jax and I got into a competition with these biker men,” he says and leans his head on my shoulder.
“We ended up winning and then fighting them because they’re sore losers. So much fucking fun,” Wyatt says, I just notice the slight line of dried blood on his cheek and the dirt in his hair.
"Are you guys alright?" I ask.
"I had to convince them that they did it to themselves, but they’re fine," he laughs.
"I asked if you were alright," I chuckle.
"I'm good, excellent. I'm a dad," he says with a smile.
"That you are," I say a little wide-eyed. I’m not sure if I like drunk Wyatt, but he is cute.
"Atti showed up, grumbled about us being irresponsible and that you need us to protect you. I mean the guy that hides my shit regularly said I was irresponsible," he laughs.
"Yeah, totally strange," I comment, holding my hand over my mouth, so I don't laugh.
"Totally," Wyatt mumbles and lies back on the bed. I grab his arm when he nearly rolls off.
"Oh shit, I forgot the floor was there," he says.
"Yeah, easy to forget the floor," I chuckle. A moment later he’s asleep, and I snuggle into his side before drifting off myself.
When I wake up, I'm alone in bed, and I can hear the shower. I dress quickly in jeans, a purple vest top, and a leather jacket I like. Eventually, I get bored while I’m waiting for Wyatt, so I make the bed. The human who helped me clean up yesterday flashes through my mind as I look at the broken mirror on the floor.
Is there any way I can help them escape?
Wyatt comes out of the bathroom, fully dressed in black trousers and a white shirt. The buttons are undone at the top, and he smiles at me until he sees where I’m looking. The cracks in the wall are huge, and the broken mirror with Talen's
blood on the floor is difficult to miss.
“Who?” Wyatt asks tensely.
“Talen. Drake and Leigha helped me deal with him. He was just trying to scare me.” I say carefully.
“I’m going to kill him,” Wyatt starts for the door, and I stop him by grabbing his arms.
“No, just leave it. He got what he deserved from Drake. I doubt he’ll try that again. I made Leigha my defender, and he hated that. I don’t think he will come after me again,” I say, looking into his dark-black eyes as they glow. They slowly return to the black colour with bits of silver in them.
“Leigha would be a good defender for you, I suspected that was what she was doing training you.”
“So, you’re not going to attempt to murder Talen?”
“It wouldn’t be an attempt, but, for now, I will let him live,” Wyatt quietly says as he kisses my forehead. I don’t miss the “for now” part in his sentence.
“Okay,” I reply.
"Let's get some food from the kitchen, and then I want to take you somewhere," he says, and I nod.
"Hangover food?" I ask, following him to the door.
"Vampires don't get hangovers, and it's harder to get drunk. I think I drank around four bottles of Jack Daniels last night and a lot of beer," he says as he shuts the door behind me.
"I like wine, myself," I say.
"I have a private collection of wines in the kitchen. Each bottle is priceless and extremely old. I can show you if you want. I may even let you try one for a kiss," he teases me. I remember the mini-demons and how we need some expensive alcohol. Maybe they will listen if I bring some costly, old wine. Wyatt is going to kill me.
I paint a sweet, innocent smile on my face as I answer, "I would love to see them."
Wyatt just grins at me and holds my hand as we walk through the many corridors. We pass seven vampires on the way, and each one bows low as we pass. I have to hold back the urge to tell them off and make them stop doing that.
Wyatt takes me into the surprisingly small kitchen, with dozens of cabinets, several cookers, and a lot of humans running around. Each one of them stops as we walk in.
