by Tanya Holmes
The Darkest Frost
Volume 2
A Gothic paranormal
romance with a twist!
Tanya Holmes
Publisher: Virtual Acquisitions
Cover Art: Cover Me, Darling
Interior Design: Joel Friedlander
Copyright © 2015 by Tanya Holmes
www.tanyaholmes.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Holmes, Tanya – The Darkest Frost, Volume 2
1st Edition, October 2015
ATTN READERS:
The Darkest Frost, Volume 2 is not a standalone. This is the second and last installment of a two-part serial. Please read The Darkest Frost, Volume 1 first. The Darkest Frost, Volume 2 begins where Volume 1 left off.
Praise for The Darkest Frost, Volume 1
“This book blew my mind... I LOVED it! Another one to add to my top favorites this year.”
KT Book Reviews
"When finishing a book fills me with an almost all consuming want and need to have the next book in my hands at that very moment, I know I have found a winner."
Book Briefs
“[Tanya Holmes] has once again given readers a plot that is different, unexpected, and with an unforeseeable twist.”
Jill's Reviews
“Dark Murder Mystery gone Paranormal. Unexpected, Engaging and Unputdownable!! Even Better??? I haven’t read anything like it….EVER!!”
Bookaholic Confessions
“...she needs to write paranormal more often! This book was brilliant…”
Nerd Girl Official Reviews
“It's been a while since I've read a Paranormal Romance. But, OMG what an awesome story to welcome me back to my first love with books…The Darkest Frost reads like a classic with a wicked and twisted gothic storyline.”
I Heart YA Books Blog
“…it’s brilliant! The intricacy of the characters in the story is amazing…It’s very interesting and there are twists in this story that just come out of left field. It’s…wow, so good!”
Sassy Kiwi Book Blog
“The Darkest Frost Vol 1 has a twisted storyline. The sexual pull is off the charts, the romance aspects are addictive, and the paranormal details get better and better. I can't wait for the next installment.”
FGMAMTC Reviews
“…this book was impossible to put down. There was mystery, romance and red hot sexy. What more could a girl want? I can’t wait for Volume 2!”
The Alpha Book Club
“Tanya is very deliberate and thoughtful in her writing, and it shows with each chapter. The development of not only the characters, but also the entire scenario is amazing and truly pulls you in.”
A Cup and a Book Blog
“I love books that catch me by surprise and keep me guessing. The Darkest Frost by Tanya Holmes was a true page-turner full of secrets, seriously steamy sexual tension and enough twists to keep me reading through the night.”
Love Between The Sheets
“The story is unique and refreshingly original…The surprise is what makes this book really soar. There were so many times during this read, where I was so surprised that I had to take a minute.”
Books Can Take You There
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
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
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
The Music of The Darkest Frost, Volume 2
Appreciation
Acknowledgments
About The Author
A Message About Piracy
Places and Spaces
For Daddy. I love you still.
Love is composed of a single soul
inhabiting two bodies.
—Aristotle
--
CHAPTER 1
THE FROST ESTATE
DEARBORNE, MARYLAND
Denieve
____________________________
I cowered in bed with the covers yanked to my chin. How long would he keep this up? As if in answer, another loud crash exploded overhead. I gaped at the ceiling and prayed it would stop…that he would stop—yelling, cursing, breaking things, hurling objects at the walls.
Angry footsteps pounded above me as he paced the floor. A temper tantrum is what it was. Xavier Frost was having a meltdown. He’d been at it since I fled the kitchen hours ago, and there was no end in sight. Any second I feared he’d come banging on my door again. He’d done it twice already, and each time my resistance weakened. God help me if he came back, because I might do something stupid.
Like let him in.
Crazy, right? The man was totally batshit. Yet I was drawn to him. The mystical pull was identical to what I’d experienced with Braeden, his twin brother. But make no mistake, there was no excuse for what Xavier and I did in that kitchen tonight, especially given what my mother went through with my dad’s infidelity. He cheated on her all during her illness, and I never forgave him, even after he died. So who was I to judge him or anyone?
But the bigger question was, how the hell did I get here?
Well, it would be easy to blame my dead best friend—correction: dead ex-best friend. After all, Caryn and her lies led me to Dr. Braeden Frost and his hell-raising brother. Caryn and her lies manipulated me into staying. Were it not for Caryn, I’d still be in New York doing psychic detective work—things like hunting sexual deviants, serial killers, and psychopaths. I’d be happy spending another dateless night in my closet-sized, one-bedroom apartment, eating bad Chinese food and binge watching Supernatural.
Instead, I’d come to the Frost estate undercover to investigate Caryn’s murder allegations against Braeden, allegations that were patently false. I should’ve left then, but noooooo, I had to satisfy my stupid curiosity. I had to follow my heart. So where did that leave me now? Torn, confused, and trapped in a creepy old mansion with the deranged twin of a man who’d done nothing but lie to me as well—maybe even more so than Caryn.
Yes, it would be easy to blame her for everything if I were still in denial. Caryn didn’t force me to stay, didn’t force me to open my heart to Braeden. She didn’t force me to have these bewildering feelings for his brother either, nor did she hold a
gun to my head while Xavier and I mauled each other in the kitchen.
That was all my doing.
Braeden had originally planned to return Wednesday, but he’d texted me an hour ago saying business would keep him until Friday. Either way, I was prepared to own it all. No excuses. Taking full responsibility for my reckless behavior was the first step. What I did was wrong, a momentary weakness that would never, ever, happen again.
I was in love with Braeden Frost. I knew that now. Yes, I had “feelings” for Xavier, feelings that were bewildering and frightening, but Braeden was who I wanted. Who I needed. I just prayed he’d have it in himself to forgive me.
If not, if he threw me out, if he never wanted to see me again, then so be it. Though painful, I would leave. Which is why I did something I hadn’t done in years. I cried myself to sleep.
I woke to a screaming phone a few hours later. It was a nurse from the clinic I’d visited last week. She had my test results. Much to my relief—and frustration—everything came back normal. The doctor concluded my symptoms were “likely psychosomatic” with stress being a “possible trigger.” Yeah, right. Not that I wanted a disease, but some kind of diagnosis rather than the tired it’s all in your head mantra would’ve given me closure. Migraine still plagued me, and as of this morning, I had a general feeling of malaise and nausea.
Emotionally, I wasn’t doing much better. I was in no shape for more Xavier drama, so I spent most of the day avoiding my cell phone and him. And I spent the night behind a locked door.
Sometime after dawn the next morning, I heard him outside tending Braeden’s plants. That he left the house at noon helped a little. It gave me the space and solitude I needed to sort things out, but when evening rolled around, paranoia set in again. I needed rest. The landscapers were due tomorrow, and I think the carpenters were coming to fix the French doors in Braeden’s suite too. Not to mention Braeden’s appointment with Samuel Nowak, the little old man who’d been lurking by the gates for weeks.
I got through the day without running into Xavier, but at two in the morning, I yanked the covers over my head when I sensed him outside my door. He didn’t knock, just stood in the hallway for a couple minutes before sighing and taking the stairs. Several times during the night, I awakened with the distinct feeling I wasn’t alone. That he was right there with me, lurking in the shadows. I even thought I saw him sitting by my bed, watching me, but when I looked at the chair again, it was empty.
* * *
THE FROST ESTATE
DEARBORNE, MARYLAND
BRAEDEN
____________________________
Braeden dropped his bags where he stood and surveyed the carnage. His suite was a shambles. Overturned furniture, broken glass, books, and pictures lay scattered across the floor. At the other end of the room, Jim Colona’s two grandsons were busy repairing the French doors Danielle shot open during the night of the storm. Their table saw competed with the racket from the hammers and the landscaping crew outside.
He’d been gone, what? A little over a week? And this is what he had to come home to? Was one damn moment of peace too much to ask?
Xavier strode from the bathroom, running a comb through his shower-damp hair. He glanced up, his expression cooling when their eyes connected.
“You’re back,” Xavier said over the noise. His voice was as icy as the look on his face. He went for a duffel bag on the bed, stuffed a pair of jeans inside, then yanked the zipper closed.
“What the hell happened in here?” Braeden scanned the chaos again. “It looks like a cyclone hit.”
Xavier shot him a venomous glare in answer. He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder and brushed past Braeden, bumping him aside.
“So you’re ignoring me?” Braeden stared after him in stunned disbelief as Xavier disappeared into the hallway. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“The fuck out of here. That’s where.”
Xavier thundered down the stairs and Braeden took off after him.
“What the devil is wrong with you?” Braeden demanded once he caught up with him outside.
Cutting past a crew of tree-trimmers, Xavier spat, “I’d ask you the same thing if I didn’t already know the answer.”
Braeden yanked him around. “You trashed my room!”
“And you trashed my life! Now you’re trying to do it again!” Xavier shoved him back and kept going.
Braeden wasn’t far behind. “Over seven decades have come and gone, and you just can’t let it go—”
“And you can’t stop being a manipulative dick. I’m sick of your schemes. Your lies!” He wagged his head in disgust as he continued to march. “You fucking planned this whole thing. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you murdered Finn just so you could have an excuse to disappear.”
“That’s insane.”
“Then what was the point? You leave me here with…” He stabbed a hand at the house. “With her! And for what?”
“Stop trying to change the subject. I want an explanation! What possessed you to destroy my things?”
“You’re still whining about your stupid room?” Xavier stormed away. “Get over it!”
“Answer the bloody question! Why did you—”
“Because! You’re doing stuff again. Controlling me—controlling her!” He kept walking with Braeden on his heels. “You want her for a wife. That’s why I’m here. Because a Join is the only way you can save her from the latest mess you’ve created. So that’s why you left us here alone. To let nature take its course.”
“Xavier…”
“Well, be careful what you fucking wish for.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Xavier barked a bitter laugh. “Oh, you’re gonna love this. She was all over me, man. Damn if I didn’t want her too. And badly.” He rounded the house, pinched two fingers together, and held them up. “I was ‘thisclose’ to fucking her in the kitchen.”
“You’re lying.”
“Hit a nerve did I?” Xavier smirked, still charging ahead. “Well, I’m only speaking truth. But a conniving bastard like you doesn’t know the meaning of the word.”
Rage churned in Braeden’s stomach. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t fuck her, if that’s what you’re asking. But I did make her come—twice if memory serves. I didn’t even have to take her clothes off.” He raised his palm as he walked, displaying his hand. “After I kissed her stupid, I used this. One touch and I had that tight little pussy of hers trembling—”
That’s all it took. With his brain filling with hellfire, Braeden lunged.
* * *
THE FROST ESTATE
DEARBORNE, MARYLAND
Denieve
____________________________
A cacophony of hammers and saws upstairs and a lawn mower in the garden startled me awake. Once again my head was banging and nausea and weariness plagued me, but there was a bright spot. Braeden was back. I sensed him, which set off the tugging sensation I got in my stomach whenever one of the twins was near.
I moved to stretch, but stilled when something on my nightstand hit my peripheral vision: a note in Xavier’s handwriting. So last night wasn’t a dream. He had come to my room. How he’d gotten in was beyond me since I’d locked the door. I snatched up the small scrap of paper.
D,
I didn’t lie. It wasn’t a game.
—X
PS: I’m still not sorry.
My hand trembled as I reread the words. What we’d done to his brother didn’t seem to matter to him. I crumbled his infernal note, tossing it in the trash. No denying my heart fluttered while reading it, and I hated that, but what I hated most was the fact that I wondered when I would see him again. Because he wasn’t lying.
There was truth in his note and in the words he’d said the night we went at it in the kitchen. How did I know this? Because I peeked into the hallway after he’d gone upstairs the first time—just before his “tantrum.” Because an intense
residual scent socked me in the nose the moment I opened the door. Seemed that was all my gift was good for lately. Residuals. But I was grateful. Now I didn’t have to wonder about his true feelings.
I’d smelled anguish. Not hatred. Frustration. Not contempt. Fear. Not duplicity. Xavier Frost had meant every word he’d said, which terrified me. There was sincerity, vulnerability, and something bright and true buried in the depths of his soul. I’d gotten small, maddening glimpses of it, but he’d kept it so well hidden....
Enough! It wasn’t up to me to figure him out. That was a job for mental health professionals. Fact was, I knew who I wanted and it wasn’t Xavier! I just had to sit down with Braeden and explain my side of things, and I’d do that the minute I figured out what my side was.
An exterior door slammed on the first floor. I threw the covers back and scrambled to the window. Three pickup trucks spilling over with plywood, power tools, gardening equipment, and mulch were parked in the courtyard. A landscaping crew was hard at work trimming several young maples and exotic bushes. Meanwhile, the flowering shrubs Xavier and I had saved the other night preened beneath the sun.
My breath caught when Braeden and Xavier came around the left side of the house. They were in the throes of a heated argument. Seeing them together sent my pulse racing and my imagination into overdrive.
What if they’re fighting about you? paranoia whispered. Yes, what if Xavier confessed? Just the thought made my stomach lurch. Who knew how he’d coin his version of events.
I moved closer, gasping after Xavier shouted something that had Braeden storming up to him like a freight train. He snatched Xavier by the collar and clocked him hard enough to knock him down, but Xavier retaliated by scrambling to his feet and returning the blow. It sent Braeden flying into an evergreen. Another fiery exchange later, Xavier flashed a middle finger, then peeled off in his Hummer.
