“Hi, I’m Jackson, and I’m going to be alpha of the greatest wolf pack the supernatural world has ever known,” Jackson said, shaking his head while laughing, Nico smirked at him and then continued.
“One of the other boys from the other realm said—” He was cut off again.
“Nice to meet you, Jackson. My name is Melakai, but my friends call me Kai, and I am the right-hand man to the prince of the fae.” My jaw hung open at Melakai’s admission. I looked to my left and right, and felt a little comfort that both Alex and Chase had similar looks of shock on their faces. The king continued.
“The other boy that came with Kai then said, ‘Hi, my name is Nico, and I am the prince of the north and east castle in Farrarie.’ All the boys then looked to the other one that was standing next to Jackson and he said—” The king was once again cut off, this time by a whoosh of wind, and then out of nowhere, a man appeared. I yelped and dove behind Alex and Chase, who stood and blocked me from the view of the strange man. I could see through the gap between their bodies that the man had a cloak on, with the hood up so you couldn’t see his face.
“Hello, my name is Dominic. My friends call me Dom. I am a hybrid, the first of my kind. My mother is a fae, and my dad is the alpha of the New York wolf pack.”
“How the fuck did you get in here?” Alex asked the man.
“Clearly you weren’t listening to the story, young one; I am the fourth member of this group, I guess you could call it. I was just filling in my part of the story; the others got to say their part, so why shouldn’t I get to do mine?” Dominic asked, tilting his head to the side. “Now if you both step aside, I would like to see the young woman that has been causing so much trouble with my brothers.”
“Why don’t you take the cloak off and stop scaring her, then she might be more forthcoming and her ‘boys’ might step aside for you.” The sarcasm was thick in Jackson’s tone, but Alex and Chase both shook their heads stubbornly. I stood up behind them and pushed through the middle of their bodies. Chase grabbed my arm as I made it to the front of them.
“Take your hand off her now before I remove it for you,” Melakai snapped at Chase.
“You need to mind your own fucking business, Cane. We cannot trust any of you with all the lies you have told, and especially your new friend that has just arrived,” Chase retorted, I cut them both off from any further arguing by speaking for myself.
“I have to agree with my cousin. We cannot trust any of you. I trusted you, Nico, and you played me for a fool. The same goes for you, Melakai. You both have lied to us, and now you expect us to stand here and listen to more of your bullshit? I don’t think so. Nico, thank you for allowing us here, and for the story, but we want to go home now! Also, new guy, nice to meet you, and hope you have more luck with these jackasses,” I said as I headed toward the door. I looked over my shoulder to make sure Alex and Chase were following, and just as I turned back around, a figure appeared in front of me. I screamed.
“I did not mean to scare you, little one. Please do not leave just yet. You have not heard the rest of the story” Dominic said.
I had to take a few calming breaths to try to slow my heart rate. I felt Alex and Chase bristle behind me; they did not like our exit being blocked. I didn’t even know how we were going to get home, but we would have figured it out, I’m sure.
“Why should we listen to anything you all have to say? All they have done is lie to me since I met them. Why would that change now?” I asked Dominic. He smiled and leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“Because, my dear, they will tell you the whole truth. They could not do that before, but they can now because we know which side you are on.” I could feel the power radiating off of him… it was like a drug.
“Please let us explain further, Ryan, and it will all become clear. If you are not satisfied with the truth we tell you, I’ll transport you back to the Earth realm and leave you be, I swear.” Nico was pleading with me, and I saw the truth in his eyes.
“This is the last chance I will give the three of you; if any of you lie to me again, we are done. Do I make myself clear?” All three of them nodded and took their seats. I gave Alex and Chase a smile as I passed them to take my seat on the couch we occupied before. They followed suit. Dominic sat beside Nico on the couch in front of us. Once he was seated, he pulled his hood back, and a gasp escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
He was beautiful. He had silver-colored hair that was short on the sides and long on the top, but that wasn’t the part that got my heart fluttering. It was his eyes. He had eyes that could see into your soul; they were magical, and the color was a beautiful violet color like Nico’s, but brighter. His skin was so tanned that it looked like he had been kissed from the sun. His hair color and skin color made his eyes stand out like beacons. He leaned forward and placed his forearms on his legs. The cloak he wore did nothing to hide the muscles underneath.
“Would you like to hear the rest of the story, or should we just go on a tour and I can show you my room?” Dominic said with a wink, Nico leaned over and slapped the back of his head.
“Excuse Dom, he tends to think with his other head ninety percent of the time,” Nico said while scowling at Dom.
“What can I say—when I know what I want I go for it,” Dominic said with a smirk at me; I shook my head and laughed.
“Well anyway, before I was rudely interrupted for the third time—after all three boys introduced themselves, they went back to the pub to have a few beers and chat. None of them knew much about the other races, only what they had learned in books. The boys continued meeting secretly for many months, and they quickly became the best of friends. They even swore a blood oath to each other, which lasted for many years—until everything changed. Did you each want to tell your sides, or should I tell the rest?” Nico asked, looking from Jax to Kai and then to Dom. Melakai spoke next.
“I stayed with Nico for many years. I know we may all look young, and we have let you think that, but in truth we are all far older than you may comprehend. Jackson is the youngest of us,” Kai said looking at me to see my reaction.
“If you were here with Nico growing up, does that mean you are a fae?” I asked.
“I was a fae until I was turned into a vampire.”
“Why were you turned into a vampire? How did you come to be with Randall?”
“When the fae queen started seeing Randall, she thought no one knew. Nico and I started following her to the Earth realm and learned of her affair with the vampire king. We knew she was going to flee Farrarie, so I was tasked to follow her and guard her by Nico—she was his intended bride, after all. Neither of them wanted the marriage, for they never loved each other; they were only to wed for the purpose of merging both the kingdoms together. I followed the queen to your realm and guarded her until I was ambushed by a group of vampires one night and nearly killed. I didn’t know at the time that the queen had begged Randall to save me, as she and I had become close friends in the time we were in the Earth realm. Randall did as she asked, thinking I would not survive the change, but to his utter dismay, I did. The reason I can walk in the daylight is because I was turned with fae blood in my system, and after Randall learned this, he would feed from the queen and draw some of her blood to feed his most trusted guards.”
“Oh my God, so that’s why you hate the name Cane?” I asked, finally understanding why he hated me calling him that.
“Yes and no. I hate the name because he forced me into the blood oath that I could not refuse, thereby making me his heir to the throne should he ever fall. It ensured that I would never be able to rise against him if there should be a war between the vampires and the fae.”
“What did he have over you, Kai, to make you go against your people? And why can’t you rise against him in battle?” I asked.
“He used the queen’s life as a bargaining chip. I failed her and my best friend,” he said, anguish plain on his face. “It is written in the blood oath that I canno
t rise against him. I am bound by blood to honor that or I will die. Me being here isn’t going to break the oath, but if I try to harm the king in a fatal way, the oath will take its pound of flesh.”
“Wow, I never expected that. I just thought you were his loyal solider,” I said, feeling guilty for assuming the worst of him.
“It is not your fault, mi amor; I gave you no other reason why you should think differently of me.”
“But if you all broke the blood oath to each other, how can you not break it with the king?” I asked. Dom was the one to answer my question.
“The blood oath was broken when Kai turned. Technically he is dead; he has no heartbeat, so upon his change the oath broke between us, and more things changed.” All four of the guys had solemn looks on their faces.
“Please fill in the blanks for us. How did you all stop being brothers or whatever you want to call it?” Chase asked.
“There were many factors: the fact that Kai chose being next in line to the throne instead of his brothers, and the fact that the fae killed my father,” Jackson stated flatly.
“I never killed your father, nor did my people. I swear it to you, Jackson, if you would have just given me the chance to explain when this all happened none of this would have come to pass,” Nico said, with such conviction in his voice that you just knew he was telling the truth.
“I never chose the throne over any of you. I never wanted it. I just made Randall believe that I did so I could better protect the queen and Sophia,” Melakai said, looking Jackson in the eyes.
“But you failed, didn’t you, Kai! She died anyway, and you still get to be prince of the vampires! The only reason he keeps you around is for fear that the queen’s blood supply will run out, and then he’ll still have you, a willing fae blood donor,” Jackson spat at Kai. I saw Kai flinch at Jax’s words; they were harsh and hurtful, and Jax meant every one of them.
“I never helped him kill the queen! I tried to SAVE HER!” Melakai shouted. Jackson stood from his seat, and Kai did the same. They were staring into each other’s eyes, a silent battle of wills to see who would break first.
“That’s what you say, but where were you when my father was killed? None of you came to my aid…not one of you. So much for brothers,” Jackson snarled. He was making his way to the door when Dom spoke.
“The fae didn’t kill your father, Jackson—the vampire king did; Kai has been working with Nico and me to try to bring him down.” Jackson stopped dead in his tracks and spun around.
“How the fuck do you know that, Dominic?” Jax snapped.
“Because I followed him and saw him do it, Jackson. I cannot do anything to harm him, therefore I could not tell you outright—not that you ever gave me the chance,” Kai answered.
“Okay, guys, can we cool down for a minute? Because we are not getting anywhere with this story,” Nico said while motioning for Kai and Jackson to take their seats again.
“I will finish the story if no one else interrupts,” Dominic said, and we each gave him a nod and he continued.
“Not long after Kai was turned, we all felt the snap in the line, so to speak, when the blood oath broke. I was here in Farrarie with Nico. We knew neither of us broke it, so we traveled to the Earth realm to check on the others. We saw Jackson with his pack when we snuck onto his lands, so we knew it was Kai who had fallen. We traveled to the manor of the vampire king, and what we saw through Randall’s window was almost impossible to believe. Kai was on his knees in front of Randall, and we saw him drink from a chalice full of blood and watched his eyes change color. We knew then that Kai was not dead, but had been changed into a vampire. We waited for Kai to meet with us like we normally did every month at the pub, but he never showed. We couldn’t contact him or see him. We tried to plan a raid to steal Kai from Randall and bring him back here, so we could have our brother back. We never expected that the night we raided the manor that Kai and Randall wouldn’t be there. That was the night Jackson’s father was killed.”
Chapter 21
“So you guys all knew who killed my dad?” Jackson roared.
“No, we did not. We suspected that the vampires were behind it, and when we tried to come to you and tell you this, you tried to kill us both!” Nico yelled.
“Because there was fae scent all over him! How the fuck do you explain that? But you, Melakai, you have betrayed me the most. You knew and never said a word,” Jackson shouted at Kai.
“I tried to tell you and the others, but you would never listen. You all hated me ever since I was turned. You never let me explain what my reasons were for the change. You just assumed I turned my back on you all,” Kai shouted, his face a mask of anger. All these guys were so quick to judge each other and turn their backs, when all they had to do was just open up their ears.
“We all tried to tell you, Jax, but you were not ready to hear what we had to say.” Dom spoke with such sympathy; you could feel how heartbroken he was for not being able to help his friend in his time of need.
“So that explains why Kai and Jax fell apart from you all, but what happened between you two?” I asked, motioning between Nico and Dom.
“Nothing. Dom and I remained close. We tried for many years to help our brothers, but they rejected us many times,” Nico answered.
“So when I told you all who the fae was that I was talking to, you knew who he was? And the reason you didn’t want me to go to the castle when we arrived is because you knew who lived here, right?” I asked, looking at Jax and Kai.
“Yes,” they both said in unison. At least they had the decency to look ashamed of themselves.
“Well, that explains why they were super uptight about the whole thing,” Alex said with a chuckle. Jax and Kai shot him a death glare.
“Shut up, Alex. Why did you both come here, then, if you knew we were bound to see Nico?” I asked.
“Because I would follow you through the fires of hell, mi amor. I wanted to protect you. I thought Nico would punish you to hurt me,” he said with a sigh and looked at the floor. I knelt down in front of him and placed my hands on either side of his face and lifted it so he could look me in the eyes. I didn’t miss the growl that came from Jackson, or the snickers coming from the other four males in the room, but I chose to ignore them and focus on the broken man in front of me.
“Thank you for wanting to protect me, even if it meant fighting your brothers. I now understand why you did what you did when I was younger. You stayed away, hoping that one day I would be free of her and be able to live a normal life. You just never banked on me seeing my sister, did you?”
“I am sorry, but yes, that was my wish. I wished that Randall would never find you, because he would use you and then kill you.” I could tell Kai was ashamed of his involvement in all this, and I hated that he felt like this.
“What do you mean use her?” Alex asked, always so observant.
“Her blood is the key to allow all vampires to walk in the daylight.”
“Why her blood?” Nico asked Kai.
“Because she has the power of fae and witch, which means her magic is stronger than even Dom’s,” Kai replied.
“Holy fuck—so that’s why he killed the alpha. He wanted to take the blood of all the leaders, so when he did eventually find the child, he had the most powerful blood to feed himself,” Dom said with a faraway look in his eyes, like he was watching the pieces all fit together in his mind.
“Wait, if that’s true, then that’s why Randall is pushing the treaty, so he can crown the two new leaders. It was never about sealing the portal to the fae realm; he used Jackson and Stevie’s hate for the fae to push them into agreeing with the treaty, and then he was going to kill them,” I said, finally putting all of my puzzle pieces together as well. If Randall took out all the leaders and drank their blood, that would make him one of the most powerful supes ever.
“Fuck, you could be right, Ryan. I am sorry that I doubted you, my brothers. I was too overwhelmed with my own grief and the
loss of my father to see the truth; will you all ever be able to forgive me?” Jackson asked, looking to each of his brothers. They all nodded and shared tentative smiles.
“Melakai, I ask your forgiveness, as well, my brother, for I should have never tasked you with the job of keeping the queen safe,” Nico said, looking Kai in the eyes, with his hand outstretched. Kai looked at his hand for a moment then stepped around me and put his hand in Nico’s. I took a seat on the couch next to the spot Kai had just left.
“You are forgiven, my brother,” Kai said while pulling Nico into a bro hug.
“So, this whole time, you three have been working together, trying to bring Randall down?” Jackson asked. They all nodded their heads.
“Why have you all waited this long to try take him down?” I asked, feeling like it was the obvious question.
“Because Randall has something that belongs to us, and I need it back before we can take him out. He is the only one that knows where it is.” Nico had so much sadness in his voice that it made me want to take him in my arms and make the hurt go away. Where the fuck did that come from? I need to get my head back in the game.
“What is it?” Alex inquired.
“Something of great importance to me, and I need it back.” What could be so important to a king that he had to have this thing back before he went to war?
“So why don’t you just ask him or make a trade? I’m sure he would give whatever it is back to you for the right price,” Alex reasoned.
“No, he won’t. I have tried for many years. What he has ensures that I will not attack him, even if he starts this war against my people.”
“Then you are a coward, if you let your people suffer,” Chase snapped.
“No, he is not. What he is doing is the right thing. You do not understand the circumstances,” Dom snapped at Chase.
A Beautiful Dream: The Dream Trilogy Page 12
