Veiled Threat
Page 21
Holding off the hordes long enough for me to do what I had to do.
Whatever the hell it was.
Three days and Blaz came flying into sight, three figures on his back. Shit, had he really brought …
Frank insisted. He said he wasn’t leaving his family to fight demons without him. The boy has some spine.
Blaz landed and Liam slid from his back first. Shit, who the hell cared if we had a serious PDA?
I ran to him, threw myself into his arms and buried my face in his neck. His arms tightened around me and we stood like that, clinging to one another. Around us people swirled and talked, but for that moment it was just him and me.
No words were needed as I slid from his arms. We were together. That was all that mattered in that moment.
Blaz stood beside me picking at his teeth with his claws. Chaos should have been your name. Everywhere you go, you bring change.
“Complaint department is over there.” I pointed at the ogre’s tents, which were colored in the tones of their skin. Not a single black tent sat amongst them, a distinguishing mark. Blaz laughed and rolled onto his back, stretching out fully. As if Blaz’s return was the signal, everything seemed to happen at once.
From behind Doran’s abode came the clatter of hooves and within moments the black stallion of the Tamoskin Crush slid to a stop in front of me.
Tracker, the time draws near. We stand with you against the darkness. Nikko is what you may call me.
I gave him my thanks, nodded and headed inside. As night fell, I called a council meeting.
Doran, Berget, Raw, Liam, Erik, Pamela, Alex and Blaz, Eve, Nikko, even Charlie came. Faris was a no show, off on some errand or another for Doran. Of Will and Deanna, I’d heard nothing. Which pissed me off to no end, but for all that it irritated me, there was nothing I could do about it. Not yet anyway.
Before the meeting, I met privately with Thomas out near Blaz on the outskirts of Doran’s property. He shook from head to toe, his lanky arms and legs all but knocking together. “Thomas. There are going to be a number of vampires at the council meeting, Faris included. Can you hold your shit together?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes. Frank and I spoke at length about what this trip would require of me. If the boy can do it, so can I. But I do not like it, nor will I ever trust the blood drinkers.”
“You only have to trust me. Not them. That and do your best not to unleash a zombie horde on us, okay?”
Thomas gave me a tight smile and held out his hand. “You have my word I will do my best. If I must, I will walk away.”
I took his hand and held it, my grip tightening. “Faris, he’s more than just a vampire to you, isn’t he?”
The necromancer’s jaw twitched furiously and then he jerked his hand from mine. “Yes.”
That was it; that was all I could get out of him. But it explained a lot if Faris had something to do with Thomas’s captivity.
From there, the council was to meet.
We gathered outside where the fountain spewed water, teasing the lazy koi.
Of course, the council meeting never happened, or at least, not the way I’d thought it was going to. No, Blaz was right, my name should have been chaos.
Doran lifted his hand to bring the council to order when the veil slashed open and Faris fell through, bloodied beyond belief. He was missing his left arm, taken at the shoulder; bite marks and wide, open wounds covered his body.
Confusion erupted and Liam moved first, opening a vein up in his wrist with a single slash and holding it over Faris’s mouth before I could even suggest offering my own blood.
“Drink up, bloodsucker, it’s the only time I’m giving freely.”
Faris drank deep and his wounds healed, but his arm didn’t grow back. The gaping hole sealed over with bright pink, new skin, but that was it.
He leaned on the tiles. “Orion is making a bid sooner than we thought.” Faris’s icy blue eyes found mine and for the first time, I saw fear in them.
“The doorway in the castle, the one that goes to the deep veil, it has been …” His words dried up as he shook his head.
Faris didn’t have to finish the words, I knew them already, but I asked anyway.
“He got it open, didn’t he?”
Faris nodded, the council members around us hanging on his every word.
“Yes. And he’s sending through his demons. Not in hordes, but carefully chosen packs. One of the packs did this to me like I was a child to be tossed between them. A toy to be broken.”
There was the sound of sucked in air around the courtyard, the uneasy stamp of Nikko’s foot on the tile. The idea of Faris being manhandled was … difficult to see, even in my mind.
“How bad could that be? Against all of us, the odds are in our favor, look at us,” Raw said, his hand on his hips, legs spread in defiance. I caught a flash of red in his eyes as his anger and pride filled him.
Erik let out a low laugh. “The odds are not in our favor, ogre. This is bad. Yet bad doesn’t begin to describe what we’re up against if Orion is sending his packs through. They will make way for the demons who will set up Orion as king. The four horseman. If the packs are coming through, the four horsemen will be next and we don’t want that. Trust me.”
I met his eyes, felt the blood pool from my face. He had to be shitting me, us. “Four horseman?”
He nodded and everyone else melted away. The four horseman of the apocalypse would soon be upon us, and Orion had set it in motion. He set them on us and now we had to face them.
This was not what we needed right now. But then again, when would there be a good time to have the four horseman show up on our doorsteps?
Yeah, never.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
Coming August 2014 …
“Wounded”
A Rylee Adamson Novel #8
Authors note
Thanks for reading “Veiled Threat” I truly hope you enjoyed the continuation of Rylee’s story, her friends, and the world I’ve created for them. If you loved this book, one of the best things you can do is leave a review for it. Amazon.com is where I sell the majority of my work, so if I can only ask for one place for reviews that would be it. Again, thank you for coming on this ride with me, I hope we’ll take many more together. The rest of The Rylee Adamson series, along with my other novels, are available in both ebook and paperback format from Amazon.
Enjoy!
Shannon Mayer’s Amazon Author Page:
http://amzn.to/19vLaCg
About the Author
Shannon Mayer lives in the southwestern tip of Canada with her husband, dog, cats, horse, and cows. When not writing she spends her time staring at immense amounts of rain, herding old people (similar to herding cats) and attempting to stay out of trouble. Especially that last is difficult for her.
She is the author of the The Rylee Adamson Novels, The Nevermore Trilogy, A Celtic Legacy series and two contemporary romances. Please visit her website for more information on her novels.
Website:
http://www.shannonmayer.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ShannonMayerAuthor
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TheShannonMayer
Shannon Mayer’s Amazon Author Page:
http://amzn.to/19vLaCg
Also by Shannon Mayer
The Rylee Adamson Series
Priceless (Book 1)
Immune (Book 2)
Raising Innocence (Book 3)
Shadowed Threads (Book 4)
Blind Salvage (Book 5)
Tracker (Book 6)
Alex (A Rylee Adamson Short Story)
Contemporary Romance
High Risk Love
Ninety-Eight
Paranormal Romantic Suspense
The Nevermore Trilogy
Sundered
Bound
Dauntless
Urban Fantasy
A Celtic Legacy Trilogy
Dark Wate
rs
Dark Isle
Dark Fae
Copyright
Veiled Threat, A Rylee Adamson Novel #7
Copyright © Shannon Mayer 2014
All rights reserved
Published by HiJinks Ink LTD.
www.shannonmayer.com
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the owner of the copyright and the above publishers.
Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Or deliberately on purpose, depending on whether or not you have been nice to the author.
Original Cover Art by Damon Za
Mayer, Shannon
Table of Contents
Praise for Tracker
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Authors note
About the Author
Also by Shannon Mayer
List Of Characters
List Of Characters
Rylee Adamson: Tracker and Immune who has dedicated her life to finding lost children. Based near Bismarck, North Dakota.
Liam O’Shea: Previously an FBI agent. Now he is a werewolf/Guardian as well as lover to Rylee.
Giselle: Mentored Rylee and Milly; Giselle is a Reader but cannot use her abilities on Rylee due to Rylee’s Immunity. She died in “Raising Innocence”.
Millicent: AKA Milly; Witch who was best friend to Rylee. Now is actively working against Rylee for reasons not yet clear.
India: A spirit seeker that Rylee Tracked in “Priceless”.
Kyle Jacobs: Rylee’s personal teenage hacker—human.
Doran: Daywalker and Shaman that helps Rylee from time to time. Located near Roswell, New Mexico.
Alex: A werewolf trapped in between human and wolf. He is Rylee’s unofficial sidekick and loyal companion. Submissive.
Berget: Rylee’s little sister who went missing 10 years prior to “Priceless”. In “Raising Innocence” Rylee found out that Berget is still alive. In “Shadowed Threads” Rylee discovers Berget is the “Child Empress” and a vampire.
Dox: Large pale blue-skinned ogre. Friend of Rylee. Owns “The Landing Pad” near Roswell, New Mexico. Deceased.
William Gossard: AKA, Will. Panther shape shifter and officer with SOCA in London. Friend to Rylee.
Deanna Gossard: Druid, sister to William. Friend and help to Rylee.
Louisa: Tribal Shaman located near Roswell, New Mexico.
Eve: Harpy that is now under Rylee’s tutelage as per the Harpy rule of conduct.
Faris: Vampire and general pain in the ass to Rylee. He is in contention for the vampire “throne” against Rylee’s little sister, Berget.
Jack Feen: Only other Tracker in existence. He lives in London and is dying. Deceased.
Agent Valley: Senior in command in the Arcane Division of the FBI.
Blaz: Dragon who bonded (reluctantly) with Rylee in “Shadowed Threads”.
Pamela: Young, powerful witch that Rylee saved in “Raising Innocence”. She is now one of Rylee’s wards.
Charlie: Brownie who acts as Rylee’s go between when working with parents on all of her salvages. Based in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Dr. Daniels: aka “Daniels” is a child services worker and a druid Rylee met up with in “Raising Innocence”. Rylee and Daniels do not like one another. Deceased.
Calliope: Future leader of the Tamoskin Crush. Rylee rescued her in Blind Salvage.
Sla, Dev, Tin and Lop: Ogres and friends to both Rylee and Dox who were killed by Orion’s thugs. Deceased.
Orion: Demon that is prophesied to take over the world.
Peter: Old werewolf from northern Russia who met Rylee and Liam in “Shadowed Threads”.
Eagle: A guardian from New Mexico. First met in “Immune”. Mentor to Eve.
Sas: Violet skinned female ogre who was mated to Dox and the triplets. Met in “Blind Salvage”.
Frank: Young necromancer who helped Liam in “Tracker”.
ScreamQueen
Table of Contents
Praise for Tracker
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Authors note
About the Author
List Of Characters