A Twisted Fate : The Dream Trilogy - Book 2

by Samantha Barrett

  “Shhhh, love, it’s just me.” I relaxed instantly at the sound of Nico’s voice. He removed his hand from my mouth and then placed it on my lower back, guiding me back toward the way I came. When we were far enough away from Dom and Sophia, he asked, “How much of that did you hear, love?”

  “More than I should have,” I answered honestly. He grunted but didn’t comment on me spying on his sister and Dom.

  “I want to take you somewhere, if you will let me.”

  “Nico I appreciate the offer but I just…”

  “Give me an hour, please.” It wasn’t often Nico said please. Interesting.

  “Since you said please…” We both chuckled at my reply. “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise. I’m going to open a portal so we can get there faster.” I didn’t argue, and we continued to walk toward the woods. A couple of minutes after we reached the tree line, we came upon a clearing. Nico removed his hand from my back and stood in the center of the clearing. He was whispering words under his breath and then a portal appeared. I don’t think I would ever get used to this whole magic thing, it was always a sight to behold. Nico reached a hand out to me and I placed my hand in his without hesitation and stepped into the portal. It felt like we were being sucked in by a Hoover! Once we stepped out the other side of the portal, I gasped.

  Nico had brought me to my favorite place on Earth, the real Lake William.

  Chapter 12

  Nico

  I heard her gasp as the portal closed behind us. Was that gasp because she was happy I brought her here, or was she pissed off because this was the place Kai had brought her, and where she thought he died?

  “Nico, I…I—” Dammit, I made a huge mistake bringing her here. I bowed my head, feeling defeated, letting my black hair hang over my face, shielding my eyes. Nothing I do seems to make her happy. Instead I have a knack for pissing her off.

  “I’m sorry, I’ll take us back now.” As I turned around to open another portal, she grabbed my hand. My eyes shot to hers. She had a beautiful, shy smile on her face, and her eyes told me what she could not. She was glad to be here, but unsure what her next move would be.

  “I’m shocked you brought me here. I have never been to Lake William before. Well, of course I have, but only in my dreams. I didn’t even know this place was real until recently.”

  I couldn’t stop the grin that crept across my face. I made her happy by bringing her here! I am going to take that as a big win. She grasped my hand and led me along the small trail toward the lake’s edge. Once we got to edge, she let go of my hand, kicked her shoes off, and shuffled closer to the edge of the bank, easing down and letting her feet dangle at the water’s edge. I followed her lead, though I must say I can’t remember ever doing something so mundane. There is little time for such things when you are a king. We sat in comfortable silence for a while, just gazing out at the lake and the mist-wreathed mountains. I can see why she loved this place so much. Alaska was one of the most beautiful places here in the Earth realm.

  “You know how I knew about Jax not being my mate?” I turned to look at her; her long brown hair was hanging like a curtain, shielding her face from me. I leaned over and gently tucked it behind her ear so I could see her profile. She sucked in a breath at my touch and smirked. I loved how my touch affected her.

  “I have an idea,” I answered.

  “If your idea is that Kai told me, you’re wrong.” I stiffened.

  “I don’t understand, love. If it wasn’t Kai, then who was it?” She took a deep breath and then turned so she could look me in the eye.

  “My dad. He’s been coming to me in daydreams as well.”

  “How long has this been happening?” Randall Knox was dead. The only way for him to be able to come to his daughter was if his remains were never properly consecrated back to the earth, or so I have been told.

  “Since we arrived in Alaska.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I didn’t know what it was at the beginning. I only started to think they were real and meant something when I met Kai and then you. After we left you in Farrarie, I started to pay more attention to my daydreams, in case they were real, you know?” She turned and focused her attention back on the lake, and I did the same.

  “I understand what you are saying, love. So when Kai came to you and you realized that he was still alive, you thought that maybe—?”

  “That maybe my father was alive?”

  “Yeah”

  “I really wished that was the case, but my father told me that there was no way he could come back. The thing with Kai coming back is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal. He also told me that Kai would play a big part in the coming battle.” I reached over and grasped her hand in mine, locking my fingers through hers. I knew that reality had to hurt even more after losing her sister.

  “Have you told any of the others about your father coming to you?”

  “No, I wasn’t ready to share this with anyone. I didn’t even tell Kai or my cousins.” Knowing that I was the one she trusted with this information meant so much to me.

  “Thank you for your trust.”

  “Wow, the great Nicholas Stone is thanking a common witch.” We both chuckled at her attempt at a joke. After a few moments of silence, I asked, “What part does Kai have to play in this war?”

  She took too long to reply, so I turned and saw that tears were rolling silently down her face. I pulled my hand from hers and wrapped it around her shoulders so I could pull her close to me. She leaned her head on my chest, and I wrapped my other arm around her and tightened my hold. We sat like that for a while until her sobs slowed and she was able to get her breathing back under control.

  “Kai can never return to Farrarie. He doesn’t know. The spell I used cancelled out any remaining fae blood that may have lingered in his system. Kai thinks the spell killed him and then brought him back. In part he is right, except the spell killed his fae side. Kai is full vamp now.”

  “Kai has seen himself as a full vampire for a really long time now, love. He will not be mad at you.”

  “You don’t understand, Nico. The spell my father told me to use has a failsafe against our kind.” She said our kind. Hearing those words made something in my heart flutter. I was beyond proud.

  “What are you trying to say, love?”

  “If Kai ever steps foot in the fae realm again, he will go up in ash.”

  “No, love, I cast the spell on my realm to burn all vamps aside from Kai.”

  “Kai was made from Randall’s blood, correct?” I nodded. I had a feeling I knew where she was going with this story, and I didn’t like it. Farrarie was Kai’s home. “The spell wiped all remains of Kai’s blood from his system, so the only blood that remains in Kai’s system is Randall Cane’s.” Oh fuck.

  Chapter 13

  Ryan

  I felt Nico tense. Now he understood what I was trying to say. I knew Kai had hoped to return to his homeland after Randall was defeated, but now he could never go home. I abused his trust in me, and Kai was never going to forgive me.

  “The spell you cast, though—Kai said he told you what spell to use. He would never use a spell that would block him from returning home.”

  “I didn’t use the spell Kai told me to use.”

  “What? Why?”

  I could hear the anguish in Nico’s voice; he was devastated his brother could never go home. Even after their big falling out, Nico made Kai exempt from the spell he cast in Farrarie after Randall kidnapped Sophia.

  “Because my dad told me the spell Kai wanted me to use would never work.”

  “There has to be more to it than that, love.” Nico was smart enough to know I was hiding something else. Blowing out a breath, I forged on.

  “We needed Kai to turn fully. When Randall falls, Kai is now a true heir to the vampire king. No one will be able to contest his claim to the throne. Melakai will be named King of all Vampires, through blood.” I felt
Nico stiffen, and his arms dropped from around me. I moved away from him and sat up straight, staring out at the lake. I was a coward and didn’t want to face him.

  “What have you done?” The sheer disbelief in his tone made me flinch.

  “I did what I had to in order to ensure Kai returned to us.”

  “You took away his choice! Kai hates being a vampire, and now you have gone and made him a true heir to the race he despises most!” Nico was shouting now, and I wanted desperately to run away, but I couldn’t.

  “You wanted me to be open and honest with you, Nico, and that is what I am trying to do.”

  “I know, love—it’s just a lot to take in. I think I just need time to process what you have told me.” That was fair enough. I mean, I did just drop a bomb on him. I just needed to make sure that he didn’t tell Kai before I had the chance to.

  “Can you please not say anything to Kai? I will tell him, but I just need to find the right time.”

  “You have my word, love, but you need to tell him soon, before this war breaks out. I would hate for him to be blindsided by the news.”

  “I promise I will tell him soon.”

  “Can I ask you something?” I had been waiting for him to ask this question; I knew it was only a matter of time.

  “Of course.”

  “What happened between you and Melakai? You seem different toward him now.” There it is—Nico was very perceptive.

  “That is a bit of a long story.”

  “I have nothing but time when it concerns you, love, in case you haven’t noticed. After all, I did leave my realm to be run by my second in command so I could be here with you.” I hadn’t even thought of that. Nico was a king, yet here he was, in my world, trying to help me save his world.

  “Nico, I’m so sorry. I hadn’t even thought about what you’ve given up to be here.”

  “You’re most welcome. Now can you put my curiosity to rest, please?” With a laugh, I began to tell him the truth.

  “When Kai came to me in those daydreams I told you about, he said he may not make it and that I deserved to know the truth. He told me that he used his power of emotional control in the beginning of our relationship to manipulate my feelings for him. Don’t get me wrong—I was attracted to Kai the moment we met.” Nico started growling. He did that so often that I was starting to wonder if he was a shifter as well. “Kai only tried to manipulate my feelings for him because he wanted me to choose him.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if I chose him, he would have taken me away from my sister and all this supernatural stuff, so I would remain oblivious to all this and I would never know what I was. If I didn’t know what I was, then I could never be used by anyone.”

  “I get his reasoning, but I don’t agree. You can’t hide from what you are; you would have figured it out eventually.”

  “Kai also told me now that I know the truth, he and I could never be.”

  “You would never be his, love. You have been mine since we first met ten years ago.” I ignored the fact that he was referring to when I was eight years old, because that was just creepy. “I can see the look on your face, and no I did not mean it like that. What I meant is that you would never belong to Kai because you are my hug—”

  Nico was cut off by a portal opening behind us. He jumped to his feet so fast and yanked me up by his arms, positioning himself in front of me so whoever it was would have to go through him to get to me.

  “Relax, brother, it’s just me.” How the hell did Dom know where to find us? Sensing there was no danger, I moved to stand beside Nico and smiled at Dom. “Hello, love,” he said with his usual rakish grin.

  “What is it? Why are you here, brother?”

  “I thought you might like to know that Kai is up and moving about. We’re all gathering in the mess hall to catch up before we call it a night. He said he has some things to tell us about Randall.” Nico looked down at me with a regretful smile. Our little bubble of peace had just been burst. We both quickly put our shoes back on and Nico clasped my hand once more and we stepped through the portal.

  ∞∞∞

  After exiting the portal, the three of us went directly to the mess hall. Nico still had my hand firmly planted in his, and I didn’t protest. I liked the feeling of him touching me. The whole team was here: Jax, Aurora, Sophia, Alex, Chase, and Kai, as well as two others I hadn’t seen before. Once we made it to the table where they were gathered, the two newcomers bowed their head at Nico. Obviously they knew who he was.

  “Ryan, this is Maverick, my right-hand man and commander of my army.” Nico gestured to the burly man that had long, straight black hair and the most beautiful bright green eyes, they almost seemed like they were glowing. This guy was freaking huge—his arms were the size of a bear’s. I smiled shyly and waved; this guy scared the shit out of me. Nico gestured toward the second man; he was tall and lanky, he looked like he was built more for speed and agility than brute strength. He had short-cropped brown hair that was shaved on the sides, and yellow eyes. I am guessing all fae had different colored eyes to humans, it would explain why I have a ring around my pupils. “Ryan, this is Larick, he is our spell master. He helps train our people in defensive and attack magic.” That piqued my interest immediately.

  “Hi!” God, I wanted to slap myself. I meet these guys, who are obviously important to Nico and the fae realm, and all I can do is squeak out a lame ass hi. Everyone chuckled at my obvious awkwardness.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.” Hold up—Larick just called me your majesty.

  “Oh, I’m not a queen; my sister is the queen of our coven.”

  “I was referring you being the queen of Farrarie, Your Majesty.” Oh! Before, when I felt embarrassed, that was just a taste of what I was feeling now. Now I was just awkward as fuck. What does someone even say to something like that? Nico saved me from responding by engaging the two in conversation about why they were here and not back in the fae realm training. I tuned them out and pried my hand from Nico’s, taking a seat next to Kai. From the corner of my eye I could see Nico glaring daggers, but Kai either didn’t see Nico’s look or chose to ignore it.

  “How are you feeling?” Kai looked much better, and a lot of his cuts had already healed. Kai still seemed down, though. I could tell he still had a lot on his mind.

  “Much better now.” Then crickets. Okay, so he wasn’t in a talkative mood. I knew I had to witch up and tell Kai the truth about the spell, but right now didn’t seem like a good time. So I chickened out and went with small talk.

  “I’m glad you’re back with us.”

  “Me too, mi amor.” I felt weird hearing Kai call me mi amor now. I wasn’t his love. Well, maybe I was, but he wasn’t mine anymore. I felt a pain in my chest at the thought of losing another person.

  Kai had been a huge part of my life, even before I knew he was real. Kai gave me someone I could talk to when things at home with my mother were bad.

  Each night, when I went to sleep, I could escape to my dreams and be somewhere else, become someone else. My relationship with Kai has always been different to the one I have with Nico. Kai was the one who would listen and was gentle. Nico, on the other hand, would demand things and make me forget through the euphoric bliss of orgasms, until I forgot my own name. I could see now that the times in my dreams when Kai and I were intimate, that the spark and burning desire I felt for Nico was just not there. Don’t get me wrong—I always felt need for Kai but only a base level, almost like I just wanted to feel good, so we would fuck.

  When Nico and I have sex in my dreams, it’s soul shattering and all consuming. Nothing else exists in that moment aside from the two of us. I’m embarrassed to admit that having sex with Nico became like a drug to me; I would crave the feeling of him each night and would find myself disappointed sometimes when I would arrive in my dream land to find Kai and not Nico. I am such an idiot that I did not realize sooner. A thunk on my head pulled me out of my thoughts. Th
e culprit was a bread roll. I snapped my gaze across the table to glare at my cousin.

  “I called your name like three times and you ignored me.”

  “I didn’t freaking mean to ignore you, Chase, you big baby, I was thinking!” At my outburst, everyone around the table erupted in laughter.

  I must admit it was nice to see everyone smile and laugh. It seemed to break the ice a bit, and we all started to talk about mundane things.

  The girls wanted to know what it was like living in New Zealand and what foods we had there. We sat there for a few hours chatting and eating dinner and dessert. It was so nice to get to know these guys better; they may be a shifter, vampire, fae, or whatever else, but they were still people, and it was humbling to hear their stories of how they grew up and all that.

  I tried to hide my fourth yawn, but Nico, the ever observant stalker, noticed and gave me a stern look which said “go to bed.” I reluctantly stood and bid everyone good night. I was beat from the long-ass day.

  Chapter 14

  Nico

  After Ryan left the mess hall, everyone continued to chat amicably about their lives. I noticed Kai had been very quiet for most of this. It was strange, considering he normally added his version of events when I, Jax, or Dom told a story of our youth. However, I didn’t have time to worry about his salty-ass attitude—this might be my only time to ask Ryan’s cousins some things about her. I made my move when there was a break in the conversation.

  “Were Ryan and her sister close, even though they lived apart?” Both of the warlocks’ faces dropped at the mention of Ryan’s twin sister. Chase was quicker to recover from the shock and answer my question.

  “Stevie and Ryan were closer than anyone I know. Even though they lived apart, they would always find a way to see each other or talk on Ryan’s hidden cell phone. It would destroy Stevie when she couldn’t speak or see Ryan because her mother was on one of her tantrums. Stevie and Uncle Ralph tried many times to rescue Ryan,