by G. Bailey
"Carry on," Wyatt tells them, and they do, but slowly, as they watch us.
Wyatt offers me a stool at one of the empty work tops and goes off to talk to one of the people. The woman moves aside, clearly in fear, as he asks, "Can I help myself?"
"Ye-yes," she says, and Wyatt nods. I shoot the girl, around my age, a small smile, and she drops her head to look at the ground as she waits.
Wyatt brings over a plate of bacon, eggs, and hash browns. We eat in what would be a comfortable silence if it wasn't for the people in the room stopping to stare at us now and then. It's like they haven't ever seen Wyatt or me eat before today.
Wyatt surprises me by taking my empty plate and washing them up before we leave. We take a lot more corridors until we get to the stables.
"I should get to training soon," I say. I missed yesterday as well.
"I sent a note to Leigha, she will understand. Nonetheless, Leigha has to get ready at some point for the ball," he says.
"Not long until we can go home. I’m not a fan of dancing and dressing up, but I’m excited because I know we can leave after," I stop in my tracks as Wyatt opens the stable doors. He doesn't have time to answer as he chats with the two men in the room. They rush off to get Wyatt’s horse while I worry. I don't want any more rides in the snow, but I don't tell Wyatt that as his huge, white horse is brought out. Wyatt places me on the front of the saddle and takes his place behind me. Every part of my back is touching him as he wraps an arm around me and grabs the reins with the other, guiding the horse out of the stable.
“What’s your horse’s name? I didn’t ask before.”
“Star,” he tells me.
“Simple, I like it,” I say, and he kisses the top of my head.
"I'm glad I don't get cold that much anymore." I shiver a little as a cold wind hits my face. My leather jacket is doing little to stop the breeze.
"Not much further," he tells me.
We travel into the forest and take a left down a worn path. At the end is a cave entrance with two women statues outside. I lean back to look at them when I realise that they are both familiar. They both look like Elissa.
The one looks just like my dreams with long hair circling her, and the other statue looks a little like her, but she has shorter hair and a slightly different facial expression. I’ve never seen her with short hair.
"I wanted to show you this," Wyatt says.
"It's Elissa," I reply, and Wyatt hums as a response. We get off the horse, well I fall off with Wyatt’s help, but it's not as bad as before.
Wyatt ties the horse up before we both walk in. Inside is an altar of some kind, filled with lit candles, and incense fills the air.
"There are a few of these places where people come to worship the goddess. My father allows it to exist because my mother loved this place," he tells me. I didn’t think people believed in her anymore.
"It feels tranquil," I tell him.
"It is," he says, looking at the candles. They’re all different, and there are twenty of them, in a circle.
"Wyatt, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Freddy straight away. I should have," I say.
Wyatt takes my face in his large hands and rests his forehead against mine.
"I am sorry, not you. I was just shocked and possibly jealous of Jaxson’s part in my son’s life. I spoke with Jaxson, and considering we both love you, I want this to work between all of us," he tells me.
"I love you, too," I whisper, and he kisses me. The passion overrides anything else as we wrestle with each other. Clothes disappear as we tear them away, desperate for each other. When we both are finally naked, and Wyatt settles himself over me, he doesn't wait or pause as he pushes himself inside me. I moan loudly as he holds my hip with his one hand and pulls my neck towards his mouth. Wyatt stops to look back at me, still inside me.
"There's no going back after this, you will be mine," he warns me.
"There was never any going back from the day I met you. I've always been yours, Wyatt," I whisper, and his eyes turn silver before he kisses my neck. Wyatt sinks his teeth into my neck as he starts thrusting away inside me. The pleasure is overwhelming, and we both lose ourselves. Wyatt pulls back to kiss my lips as he picks up more speed. I lean up and bite into his neck. Something changes the minute I taste his blood, because the pleasure increases; every sip tastes like Wyatt, and I'm filled in every sense with him. My body explodes in pleasure as Wyatt finishes with me, our moans filling the cave.
"Winter, the future is uncertain, but I will keep you safe," Wyatt says passionately as he looks down at me.
"Together, we will keep us all together, and we will be safe," I say.
"Together," Wyatt whispers, a shared promise as he fills me again and makes love to me until the stars fill the skies.
Thirty-Six
Winter
“Two days off, and it’s like you have never been trained. Pathetic,” Leigha says as I pick myself up off the floor. I just hit about three-quarters up the tallest metal wall and then slid all the way down. It’s the highest I have ever gotten. Leigha is standing a few steps away, dressed in all black with a mean look on her face. Alex and Drake aren’t here today because Alex is sorting our clothes out for the ball. Drake has to go with her, and he did not look happy about it. I don’t blame him.
“That’s not fair. I did the whole course in five minutes. Like you demanded!” I say with my hands on my hips.
“You didn’t complete the course,” she says with an unimpressed look.
“That’s impossible,” I say, and she laughs. I watch as she takes off her hoodie and walks to the start of the small path leading up the wall. She runs fast towards it and jumps. She lands perfectly on top of the metal wall and looks down at me.
“Not impossible, and you can do this.” She jumps down and lands in a crouch before standing.
“One day, your life could depend on you being able to jump high and fast. When someone is chasing you, this may be the only way you can escape,” she says and lowers her voice to a whisper as she adds, “Like castle walls, for example.”
I know she’s right, this metal wall is roughly the size of the stone walls that surround the castle, and if I needed to escape, I’d need to be able to jump them. I give Leigha a determined look.
She smiles, “Finally.”
I take a deep breath as I walk over to the start of the path towards the large wall. I can do this. I run with everything I’ve got and push as hard as I can into the ground. I fly up, and my heart feels stuck in my throat when I clear the wall. The downside is that I see the ground, and I know I’m going to land on my side. I close my eyes and instead of feeling the hard floor, I feel a cold wind surrounding me. I open my eyes as I’m lowered to the floor. Atti is standing by the door, his one hand stretched out. His arm and hand are glowing slightly white. He winks at me before leaving.
I hear his whisper in my mind a second later, “Good job, Love, I knew you could do it.”
I hear Leigha clapping as she comes over from the other side of the wall. I stand up slowly.
“Time for some combat and working on your powers, let’s go outside,” she says and turns. I didn’t expect a “well done” from her, but I know she’s proud of me. I can just tell, or maybe I’m hoping. I’m treating myself to a slice of chocolate cake tonight, okay maybe the whole cake.
We walk outside, and Leigha stops in the middle of the stone courtyard that has the weapons around it. The snow is pushed to one side, and there are two vampires practising fighting with metal swords. They stop when they see us, they bow and then go to stand at the side. Stopping to watch us.
“We’ll start with that power of yours, explain what you feel when you use it. It might help,” she says, standing about three steps away.
“When I’m mad or angry, I get this pressure in my body, and it just leaves. I then start glowing, and a blue wave hits everything near,” I tell her.
“So, it’s moving things with your mind but not quite. I
t’s just protective at the moment,” she muses.
“Yes,” I say slowly.
“Try to use it on those guys and me,” she says and looks at the guards.
“What?” I ask, but she ignores me.
“Come here and help your princess,” Leigha calls to the guards who bow and move to where she points.
“Close your eyes and remember something that scares you or makes you angry,” Leigha suggests.
“I don’t think–” I start, but she cuts me off. I hate when she does that.
“Don’t think, just feel,” she says. I close my eyes and remember Talen as he ran towards me. The anger in his eyes, the blood on his shirt–and the fear fills me. The pressure rises, and I open my eyes as the blue wave leaves me. I have no control, but I do try to stop it.
“No,” I say as Leigha and the guards go flying backward. I run over to Leigha as she gets up.
“Very good, do it again, but think about lifting me, instead. You need to plan what you want your power to do,” she says.
“Are you mad?” I ask, and I see the guards get up, running away.
“Such pussies,” Leigha says, watching them with a mixture of disgust and humour. I can’t help but chuckle.
“Use your power again,” she says. I do it and she goes flying through the air again, but Leigha just gets up as I cringe. Wyatt walks into the courtyard and comes over to press a gentle kiss on my lips. We haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other since we fully mated a few nights ago. It’s like our relationship has changed now that we don’t have any secrets. I feel closer and more in love with him than ever before. Wyatt asked me everything I knew about Freddy last night, and I showed him all the messages he had sent me.
“I have an idea,” Leigha says as I break away from Wyatt.
“I’m not hurting you again, it’s clear I have no control,” I tell her.
“Not me. Your mate.” She waves a hand towards Wyatt.
“No,” I start, but Wyatt kisses me and moves a few steps away.
“I trust you, go for it, sweetheart,” he grins and opens his arms. I close my eyes and find the pressure again, willing it not to hurt Wyatt. The pressure fills my mind, and I open my eyes as the blue wave leaves me. I try to stop it or control it, but it doesn’t work. Wyatt goes flying as I run after him.
“Let’s go again,” Leigha says behind me as I kneel next to Wyatt. He looks fine, although a little shocked as he sits up.
“No, we won’t,” I turn a glare at her then look back at Wyatt. “You okay?” I ask him and run my hand through his blond hair.
“You’re stunning,” Wyatt says and kisses me. We don’t train for the rest of the day because Wyatt carries me back to our room, and we do our kind of training.
Thirty-Seven
Dabriel
“The human from the prophecy exists,” a dark angel called Lucifer from the council repeats my words as I stand in front of them all. All eight of them are giving me mixed looks of shock and fear. Four light angels and four dark angels, who rule over all of us. Each one of them is ancient and late into their extended lives. These are the angels that the rumours are made from. They healed humans once, and the people turned against them when they couldn’t save everyone. Many stories were written because of that. I don’t know if there is a god, but I know there once was a goddess. The witches stepped in and stopped the angels from killing thousands of humans. That’s what caused a massive war between our races and why we have little of our people left. They now hate humans, the ones they used to love and sing songs about, just because they forgot about them.
“Yes,” I say simply. The council all stand behind a half-moon table, each one has their family symbol sketched into the table they stand in front of. I glance at the royal marks on the back of my hands, the two angel wings. I wonder what it will look like on Winter.
“Why do you tell us this now?” Lucifer asks me once the whispering stops. Dressed in all black, matching his pitch-black wings and black hair that is long like mine, Lucifer is the youngest of the council and the easiest to talk to.
“Is this a weak explanation as to where you have been the last few months?” Gabriel, a dark angel, asks. He would want that; he brought my two brothers up and tainted them, turning them into monsters like him.
“I tell you because I am your prince, soon to be your king. Times are changing, and I wish to know what the vampire king asked from you,” I say, and each one of them goes silent.
“He wished to know where something was, something lost in the past,” Michael tells me, a light angel who is usually very wise but sounds like an idiot right now. I respected him growing up, but I know he hasn’t seen the future in many years.
“Did you tell him? What did he offer you, and why wasn’t I told?” I demand, my skin glowing and wings spread out in anger.
“You are not king, and it has not been decided you will be. The past and future are hidden from us since your birth,” Michael replies.
“Maybe because you have become so biased in your beliefs not to help anyone but yourselves, the goddess has turned her back on you,” I say. His face goes red in anger, making his short white hair look even whiter. His wings are a lot smaller than mine as they spread out, and a few symbols appear on his arms but nothing like mine. My symbols cover all of me.
“Humans do not deserve our help,” Gabriel says, his voice cold and bitter.
“Who are you to make that choice?” I ask, and none of them say a word.
“Answer me, what did you tell him?” I say, my voice echoing around the domed room we are in. The room has white and black marks all over the walls, and the ceiling is made of glass.
“We will not. Furthermore, we believe that if you mate with the human, you will bring nothing but a war to us. We have finally made a deal with the vampire king who will keep our future clear,” Gabriel says. The rest of the council are silent.
“That was not your choice to make. You forget who you all are,” I respond.
“You forget that you are one of three princes, there isn’t a rule stating the oldest should have the throne. You are best to remember this, young prince,” Lucifer warns.
I laugh, my laughter filling the dome.
“I would rather destroy our whole race than let one of my brothers rule. They have no humanity and care for little. They would walk us into a war without blinking,” I say. I have seen it. Winter would be the price of such a war, and I will never let her get hurt again.
“That will be our choice, young prince,” Lucifer replies.
“I saw your future,” I tell him, and his eyes widen. Dark angels can only see the past of the person they touch. I want a debt with one of them, so that they can tell me Winter's past. Lucifer is the perfect dark angel for that. I only have to get him on my side.
“I saw my brother standing over your dead body, your wife’s, and your teenage sons’. War was destroying the very city we have, everything was burning, and our people were screaming,” I tell him.
“That could happen if you are king as well,” Lucifer says, his face pale and his fists clenched. Lucifer’s black marks begin glowing against his dark skin, and his black wings are stretched out in anger. He has a lot of marks, that’s how he got on the council in the first place, and I also know he isn’t a bad person.
“No, it won’t. My brother was wearing the crown, it was dripping with angel blood. I can stop that future,” I tell him, I wait for him to nod at me before I turn and walk out of the council room as they demand me to return.
Thirty-Eight
Winter
"Wow, you lasted a minute longer than usual," Leigha’s sarcastic tone comes through as I groan face-down on the grass.
“That’s what she said,” Alex shouts over.
I roll on my back as Leigha looks down at me with a smirk.
"Bitch," I pant, and she laughs.
“If you would just work on your powers, we wouldn’t need to do this,” she says as she offers me
a hand and pulls me up. Fighting against Leigha is hard. She doesn't give me a break and happily kicks my ass every morning. She’s a good teacher, she shows me how not to attack her and corrects my moves. So, I can last a minute against her now, and we have only been fighting like this for five days.
"You’re not using your vampire skills, your extra speed and strength. You’re still thinking like a human," she says as she walks around me.
"I was human until recently, how do I think like a vampire?" I ask her sarcastically.
"You don't think, you are a vampire. It’s inside of you, you just have to realise who you are," she tells me.
"You sound like you’re going to break out in song in a minute," I say.
"I'd rather break your face, but I'm trying to be a good girl," she deadpans. I try to hold in the chuckle and fail, she just glares at me.
"Why don't Alex and I fight? Drake has trained her, and she is good, better than you," she says, and I swear I almost hear the “anyone is better than you” she wants to add on. Alex is watching us from the side as she paints her nails since Drake is with Wyatt this morning.
"Okay," I shrug. I watch as she calls Alex over, and they get into position. It's hard to watch them fight because they move so fast. I have to force myself to slow them down and watch. It's weird to see Alex move like this; she avoids nearly all of Leigha’s hits and sweeps under her arm when Leigha almost gets her. Leigha is better in the end, she manages to get Alex by her shoulder and flip her over.
"You broke my nail," Alex says from her place on the ground.
"You’re such a girl," Leigha stares down at Alex, who looks at her.
"You could be too," she suggests. A faint blush appears on Leigha’s cheeks as an answer. I’m about to step in when a gigantic boom from a distance distracts me, and fireworks flash in the sky. What the hell? The guards, who are here training, run too quickly for my eyes to see until we are left alone.
