Beyond the Veil Mira- The Complete Series

by Trina Bates

  I pull away from her mind and sit here while she processes the memories. Her eyes are closed as well and her smile became infectious as the three of us watch her relive those moments. I didn’t just send them to her, I sent them to everyone that I’m linked to. To show them my love and how much they all mean to me.

  I can feel so much love flow into me from so many different people, my heart expands and I can’t help but let a few happy tears fall.

  “You really have been blessed. I am so joyful that you have had these encounters, made such unbreakable bonds. I only wish there was one of me there. I should have been there, not finding you was, and has been, my biggest regret. I don’t know if you remember, but when you first came to my home, the reason I was so upset is because that was the anniversary of when I lost you, when that… man took everything I, we, could have had.” Anger marred her beautiful features, her eyes burning with the intensity of the sun, glaring daggers into the wall in front of her. If Alastor was here now, she would surely kill him.

  “There isn't a thing we can do about that. I know we will never stop harboring our own feelings, but we do have to move forward. The next thing on all of our lists is to take him out of the equation for good. The worlds and Realms need to be rid of him,” I grit out, glaring at the same wall she just was.

  When I turn, I see Rhett and Rhydian standing on the other side of Siv. Arms crossed, nodding their heads in agreement.

  “That’s what we actually wanted to talk to you about, gorgeous. Gor and Torunn have had some pretty epic conversations with us while you were asleep,” Rhett pauses and turns to Rhydian.

  “We think, while we have the time, since we have no idea how long it will take for him to find you, we need to stay here and train. Torunn wants to bring in a friend of hers that has recently come back from the wars. Not a Valkyrie, but a Succubus, from the shifter Realm. Her name is Lyanna, and I have a feeling with her and her mates here, she will be able to lend us something we haven't had before.”

  He pauses and lifts up his hand with a grin, “Not only seduction, as a defense, but her mates, one is an Incubus, one a Hellhound, and one a Dragon. They’re immortal, all having their own unique gifts. Blue needs time to heal with her mates, and asks that if she stays to help, that we help find them a way to be able to shift in to their other forms, their human forms that were taken from them. Would you agree to that?” Rhydian finally ends, and asks with trepidation. His fear at all the things he just said, sinking heavily on his face. His eyes ever shifting and he wrings his hands tightly together.

  All the information he just unloaded on me damn near makes me sway on my feet. -It really doesn’t ever fucking end, does it?- I ask my guys feeling overwhelmed. There are so many things happening I don’t know which way is up.

  -It will, one day. But it’s all worth it,- Ebbin says. I know he’s right, it feels like there’s always so much. We never get a break. Is this really what the rest of our long lives are going to be like? No rest, no time to get to really know each other on a deep level, like we all want so bad? The concern and unease rushing through me aren’t doing anything but making the familiar darkness creep in.

  I thrust my hand out to Merrick and he looks at it in confusion.

  “My pendants. My emotions are going haywire right now and I feel better when I know I have them with me,” I tell him wiggling my hand in his face. He reaches inside of his pocket and hands me my necklace. When I put it on, the instant relief washes over me and I can finally think straight.

  More people, more Realms. Spells to change Blue’s men back into ‘real boys’. The training and staying here, safe, is something that’s easily agreed upon. The rest, that’s what has me standing here stalk still. I don’t know if I want to bring others in to this crazy shit show I call life. I don’t want to endanger anyone else. I feel like this is my fight and enough people have already gotten hurt. Blue, Siv, myself and all the guys… everyone around me has put enough on the line. Some being burned more so than others.

  “Working on Blue’s men, I think that needs to happen first. Can we take this one step at a time? There’s so much to think about and I only want to worry about one thing at a time. I still need to somehow get back to Lyra, as well and see how this little one is doing,” I say looking down, rubbing my armor clad stomach with a smile.

  “We do. Do you think she will give us those strange holographic pictures of her in your womb?” Rhydian asks walking up to me, placing his hand over mine.

  “I hope so. I would love to see how big she’s getting.” I grin.

  “Well, today, I think we all need to relax, look through a few books to see if we can find anything about what’s going on with Blue’s harem. I want us all to shower first, though not together sadly. And then I think it’s time to get ahold of that freaky little goblin,” Merrick says with a full body shiver. I know he hates Lyra, and it makes me bite my lip seeing his reaction to even thinking about her.

  “Deal. Siv, make yourself at home. Merrick, can you show her and everyone else where they can put their things? If we’re going to be here for awhile, I want everyone to have their own space where they can go to relax. I know this place has more rooms than what I have gotten to explore. Fucking cabin my ass,” I mumble under my breath while I walk to the stairs.

  I hear a few snickers from behind me and shake my head. They all know this place is a mansion. Why not just call it what it is, a mansion cabin?

  “I will!” he shouts after me when I’m already halfway up the stairs.

  Mira:

  Undoing my armor while I wait for the water to get nice and hot, I look in the mirror and notice how much more pronounced my belly actually is. When I rub my hand across it, I feel a flutter and then a small blip. I know it’s Alyria and my heart starts to race, a grin from ear to ear splitting on my face.

  “Hello, little Alyria. I’m your mommy. I can’t wait to meet you, actually, there’s a lot of people that can’t wait. I hope you know how utterly loved you already are,” I whisper to her, looking down and going wide-eyed in wonder when I see something push out, the size of a finger right under my belly button. It’s small but I didn’t think this would happen for months to come. From what I have read, this doesn’t usually happen until around month six. I'm barely coming up on three months! And just a day ago, my belly was flat. I couldn’t tell there was anything there.

  I brush it off, saving it for when we see Lyra and rush into to the shower, enjoying the hot stream cascading over my back as I wash and feel the stress of the last few days wash away.

  Putting on a t-shirt, a pair of sweatpants and some fuzzy slippers, I take the quiet time and finally sit down in the chaise that I bought, what feels so long ago, after grabbing a random book off of the shelf. I pull a throw over my feet and lean back. Before I get the chance to open the book, I read the blurb on the back, giggle at how strange it all sounds. How familiar really.

  It’s about a woman, that must protect a mysterious group of men from her master who wants them dead, it's time for her to play the game and hope the tables turn in her favor. The forbidden attractions she finds when she meets her men, are something she has to choose. Something she has to make the hard choices for. There are so many lies, can she conquer the master or will they all fall trying.

  When I turn the book over, I sigh at how beautiful the masked woman is. Her dark eyes seemingly peering into your soul, the beautiful headpiece she wears, and the mask to hide her, I love it and dive in.

  What feels like hours later, I finally shut the book, only getting about half way through when I feel my stomach turn and it grumbles at me that it’s hungry. I’m surprised no one came searching after me, but thankful too. I know we have a lot to do, but taking a moment, or a few, to relax has me feeling fresh and renewed. I get up and wander downstairs in search of something to eat. Everyone is gone, though I can hear their voices down the halls.

  I smile when I see Ebbin standing at the stove, searing a steak in butter and
garlic with sea salt. There’s a baked potato fixed with chives, more butter and a dollop of sour cream with fresh green beans and bacon on a plate next to him. My mouth salivates and I grin when he takes the rare steak out of the pan and sets it on the plate, unattended while he goes to clean up the mess to his left. I sneak in behind him and swipe the plate off the counter and rush into the living area before he even knows what happened. I giggle, still holding the plate, my back to the wall when I hear him slap the towel he had over his shoulder, onto the counter and curse.

  “Motherfucker! Rhett, you fucking dicknose boner jockey! Where the hell is Mira’s food! I’m going to kick your ass you little wizard!” he shouts. I get a little pouty when I hear this was already supposed to be for me, so I walk out sheepishly, my head hung low and my bottom lip pushed out.

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t really going to eat it. Okay, maybe I was, but now I feel bad that you made it for me and I did that,” I confess, still pouting with a mock sniffle.

  He laughs and comes over to me, rubbing both of my shoulders and kissing my protruding lip.

  “I’ll let it slide, this time. But that’s the only one you get. Go eat Bugs, I know you and Alyria need it,” he tells me, turning me and pushing me to go sit at the island. I see another plate filled with the same foods and grin at him.

  “You made us both food! It’s seems like forever since we’ve been able to sit down, the two of us and eat a real meal. Thank you so much.” I lean over and kiss him.

  “Eat,” he tells me and we both dig in, savoring every bite of the delicious meal.

  Full and happy, I rinse off both of our plates and drag him along with me down to the study to go see what we can find to help Blue, and her, as Merrick called it, harem.

  Rhett:

  After our showers, we knew Mira needed time alone, not to process but to simply not think. I was chomping at the bit to go up there and try and fix all the wrongs I had made, but Merrick talked me out of it. With her sitting so close next to me, her face immersed in another history book, trying to help her best friend, all I can do is sit here, thinking of how bad I want to pinch her ass, pull her into me and let her play with my hair, or make her finally say how I have the best dick out of everyone.

  I don’t think my jokes would be well received right now. Not with how badly I fucked up her protection spell, or whatever had happened to me that made me act so strange, so hateful. I’ve never felt something so dark before. It’s like, there’s an entity inside of me that makes me do strange things at certain times. Fire. I don’t know what it is, but when I first see fire, even my own flames, there’s this feeling, deep within that is so familiar, yet unknown, so connected to me, but I can’t actually connect with it.

  I’m fearful of what it is and could be. But now, with what we are all having to go through, it’s coming closer to the surface, fighting its way through. I can’t tell any of them. I know they will think I’m a liability, and I’m starting to wonder the same. I need to either figure this out or leave. I don’t know how to start with either one of those. I wish my fathers weren’t such pieces of shit, or I would ask them. Like Mira, my parents abandoned me. Right at the worst time in my life. When my mother and my little sister were taken from me. At least Siv tried, even once to find Mira, I doubt my own fathers did even that.

  “Alright, I got ahold of Lyra, she wants us to come there now. Since we are hiding out, she has dropped the wards around her home so Rhett,” Merrick says looking to me, “Can you take us into the same room we were in the first time?”

  “Are you really that much of a knob gobbler you think I can’t? What happened to the trust man?” I say in mock hurt, grabbing my chest with a smile splitting my face.

  “Fuck you, let’s just go. I want us in and out before anyone can get a read on us that we’re there,” he says, looking to Mira with such adoration I almost lose it and say something else in a jest to how whipped he is. But that’s just it, so are we all. She has us all wrapped around that amazing little finger of hers.

  “Why don’t you let me try it?” Mira asks him with her brows pulled down. She looks so fucking adorable.

  “Because gorgeous, we don’t know if the Conclave can trace your magic. We know they can’t with mine so we’re safer doing it with me doing it,” I tell her, trying to ease the downcast feeling she’s having. We all love how steadfast and strong she is, but sometimes she doesn’t think everything through. She’s still so new to this world, and it’s a little frustrating at times, but there’s nothing we can do but show her, teach her the right ways.

  I look into her gorgeous silver, red eyes and smile, pushing my love into her.

  -I don’t know when or how, but our lives will get easier. I promise.- I tell her, and only her. Her eyes light up and a small smile adorns her gorgeous face. She nods once letting me know she understands and then claps her hands as she stands up and rushes out of the room.

  “What the hell?” Merrick questions.

  “What?” I ask back, worried he’s feeling something off.

  “I fucking tell her we need to leave now, and she rushes out of the room?!” he seethes. I know he’s not mad at her, but Merrick has always been a leader, and if people don’t follow, it gets on his nerves. Mira follows her own sets of rules, I don’t honestly know how Merrick has made it this long without blowing up on her.

  “You know she isn’t going to listen to anyone, and give her a second, you do see that Rhydian, our daughter’s dad, isn’t here, nor is Ebbin, ya know, the fucking love of her life. Maybe she went to go get them. Chill out man,” I say to him, he looks at me with wild eyes and he flips me off before he too stalks off. I follow behind so when we are all together, we can get going. Let Merrick and his little tantrum run off and let him feel like he’s the one in control again, not Mira. Not likely. Even I know not to test her anymore. She’ll have all our asses. Not that I would be complaining…

  When I come to an abrupt stop, I stand here with my hands in mid stride, my mouth wide open and my heart beating wildly in my chest. My eyes follow the scene before me with rapt interest.

  Mira is standing before me, Ebbin in front of her, ravishing her, right here for all to see. His hand down the front her sweats, and her hand down the front of his unbuttoned jeans. Rhydian is behind her, his hands up her shirt, she’s moaning into Ebbin's mouth, but grinding herself back into Rhydian. My mouth dries, my own pants feeling a little tight, and I can’t move. The only thing I want to do is join, but Merrick shuts that down real quick when he clears his throat angrily, and they all pull away from each other looking sheepish trying to right their clothes. None of them look up, they all stare at the ground embarrassed. I don’t know why. We are all together in this, if the other night when we were all together wasn’t some kind of indication to that, I don’t know what will be. I laugh finally able to move and slap Merrick on the shoulder as I pass. I smirk to Rhydian and Ebbin and stare at my little Mira as I stalk to her and pull her into my own mind blowing kiss. It doesn’t last long, long enough for me to get a hard on and then I’m being pulled literally away by someone’s massive hand on my shoulder. I turn and grin up at an even more annoyed Merrick. His face red, lips pressed tightly together and his eyes are mere slits.

  “Don’t be mad I got to her first. Go fucking whack off and chill out. You’re ruining the moods of everyone around you,” I tease him, earning a slap in the back of the head. Something snaps in me and I can’t see or feel what’s going on. It’s like I’m trapped in my own mind, watching a dream play out before me.

  My white hair is whipping around me and getting caught in my mouth. After I spit it out, I turn on him. Shoving him hard away and my flames come to life around me, ready to do my bidding.

  This mother fucker thinks he can just slap me around?! Like I’m some petulant child. Fuck no!

  I rush to him only a few feet away, pick him up by the collar of his expensive shirt, lifting him off the floor and loving the sound of his racing heart and the
tears of his shirt beneath my hands.

  “Touch me again, and it will be your last, Fae,” I spit out, his eyes wide and hands held out to his sides in surrender. His fear spiking something more inside of me, I love the smell and taste, and seeing him, the almighty fucking Merrick so panicked, I laugh in his face, and throw him a good twenty feet away and relish in the sounds of something cracking inside of him when he hit the wall.

  “What the FUCK?!” Mira shouts, coming around. I know she’s pissed but I don’t care. She can either get out of my way or feel my wrath as Merrick just did. She’s never had any faith in me, never chosen me first. She lets her fears rule her, I don’t need someone so… weak in my life.

  I can see the terror in her eyes and sneer at it, and her. When I do, I see the change take over her as well. She’s trying to bring her own magic forth.

  -This will be fun. Please, show me what you think you got.- I think to her, glaring at her small frame. She glares back and smiles wickedly at me. I know in the back of my mind, people are shouting, yelling for this to stop and for her to get away, but we are both caught in the darkness and reveling in the thick arms of the evil within us.

  I put up a barrier, knowing full well if I don’t she can really do some damage. When she thrusts her hands out to me, I’m thrown back, much like Merrick, and my body is filled with the most intense pain that I can’t help but scream like a weak, pitiful Hollow.

  “Leave, leave and don’t you dare come back here until you figure out your shit. I might love you, but you will NOT endanger ANY of us. I have already lost my daughter once. And here you are, doing what you can to cause more shit. I will fucking end you if you try to hurt me or my daughter again. Hellfire will run rampant through you and end you for good. Get the fuck out, NOW, Rhett,” she seethes, my mind finally my own again. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s obvious that dream I was watching, was no dream. Her words… they are all truth. I really did try and hurt her, and my own fucking brother. What the hell is wrong with me?! I think to myself, hating that I’m a passenger in my own body and doing such heinous things. I can hear their thoughts, feel what they are all feeling. Anguish, revulsion, fury, doubt.