EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2017 Elena Kincaid, Maia Dylan, and Sarah Marsh
ISBN: 978-1-77339-156-4
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Karyn White
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
Once again, we would like to dedicate this book to our Sinfully More Erotic Street Team members, who inspired this series. We love you guys and are so grateful for your friendship. And a special thank you to Julie and Debra for naming our two baddies in this book.
BOUND TO THEIR FAETE
Beyond the Veil, 3
Elena Kincaid, Maia Dylan, and Sarah Marsh
Copyright © 2017
Chapter One
Corrine sat in the den with her niece, April, and with Erica. It had been two weeks since the battle that had taken place on Gabe’s property, two weeks since Kheelan had been defeated, his insane plot for revenge thwarted, finally ending the reign of terror she had to endure at his and Alefric’s hands for over a decade. And finding April after all this time had been a blessing. It almost made her feel as though she had her sister back once again. Corrine was still trying to help April recover what few memories that she had of her parents before they were taken from her by a madman.
Corrine looked over at Erica and April and found her heart swelling with happiness that the two of them had found their true mates. But underneath it all, for Corrine, there was always the empty ache for what she’d been denying herself ever since arriving on Gabe’s doorstep and pleading for protection.
She could feel him walking closer toward her now. Even though their bond had been denied, she could always still feel him to a certain extent, as if the Goddess was trying to prove her point.
April and Erica went quiet when Gabe appeared in the doorway. He obstinately stood there unmoving, preventing not only Corrine from escaping a long overdue conversation with him once again, but trapping April and Erica in a very awkward situation.
Oh dear. It seems my Alpha has finally run out of patience. Corrine thought it was a marvel that he’d lasted as long as he had. It was just one more thing to love about him, that he’d given her as much space as he had simply because she asked it of him.
“I think it’s time we finally had a talk, Corrine.”
“There’s that rotten word again,” Corrine said matter-of-factly while turning to face the window instead of Gabe. “Time. There’s not enough of it. I need more.”
“What the hell does that even mean?” he snapped. “I have loved you for so many years.” His voice cracked on a pained note.
Corrine glanced at the girls, and she could see how uncomfortable they were, having to be in the middle of this, but Gabe kept talking, his voice sounding strangled. It was her fault that he’d been pushed to this. Corrine knew she’d left him no choice really. She’d made an enormous mistake, thinking that she could manipulate the will of the Goddess, and now she didn’t know how to fix it.
“I don’t regret a single moment of loving you,” he went on, “even knowing you are meant for someone else. I couldn’t have helped it even if I did know when we first met, but you’ve had plenty of time to tell me, Corrine.”
“It’s complicat—”
“Complicated?” Gabe cut her off, raising his voice enough to make Corrine turn to finally look at him. The pain she heard in his voice was breaking her heart. “You owed me the truth, no matter how complicated it was.”
“You’re right,” she said after a moment’s pause.
Corrine was about to continue, but a commotion at the front door diverted all of their attention.
“Where is she?” a masculine voice yelled from the hallway. Corrine knew that voice, and it sent a shiver of awareness down her body.
Seconds later, he came barging into the den, pushing right past Gabe.
“Braxas? What are you doing here?” Gabe asked.
Corrine felt the blood leave her face as the other man she had been trying to avoid thinking about centered his gaze on her.
“We’ve been friends for a very long time, Gabe,” Braxas said, still looking only at Corrine. “We’ve had each other’s backs more times than I can count, which is why I left after the battle in the Fae realm.” Braxas then finally turned to look at Gabe. “Out of respect for you both, I stepped away, despite how much it made my heart break to know my mate was in love with another man.”
“Your mate?” Gabe’s expression was a mixture of sadness and fury.
They both turned to look at Corrine as Braxas continued. “I saw her, and I knew. Then almost immediately after, we were fighting a battle. I felt the stab Kheelan delivered to her as if he had stabbed me himself, but then I also heard you cry out in pain, Gabe. She was then healed and the two of you were locked in an embrace, the love you had for each other evident. It would have been better if I had actually been stabbed in that moment and less painful for sure.”
“Is this true, Corrine?” Gabe asked. “Is he your mate?”
Corrine couldn’t find the words, horrified at what a coward she was being. She’d never meant to hurt him, but it seemed like that was exactly what she had ended up doing. Her lack of response must have said everything to Gabe. He shut his eyes and curled his hands into tight fists at his sides.
Goddess, why couldn’t she find the words to explain this to him?
“You should leave … now,” Gabe whispered through gritted teeth, his eyes still shut.
Corrine inhaled sharply. She wasn’t quite sure if he’d been talking to her or Braxas, or even if he meant for them both to leave until he finally opened his eyes and looked directly at the other man, his wolf very close to the surface.
“Out of respect for our friendship, don’t make me ask you again, Braxas.”
Corrine stood up from the couch, horrified at the scene about to play out before her. “Stop it.” Her words came out as a whisper. “Stop it,” she repeated several times, each time her tone growing firmer, but her plea fell on deaf ears, especially since the two men were now growling loudly at one another, locked in a staring contest.
Braxas sounded more animal than human when he stated, “I am not leaving without her. Never again! She is my mate. We. Are. Bound.”
Apparently, that had been more than Gabe could take, and suddenly both men were shifting, locking themselves in battle. As their growls and roars filled the room, the thundering sound of feet running on the hardwood floor in their direction could also be heard.
Suddenly the den was overflowing with people as Gabe’s men tried to separate the very angry wolf and cougar. They looked as though they were trying to kill each other, which was yet another result of Corrine’s hubris. When she’d first had the vision of her mate and the trials that he and his pack would be subjected to in the coming years, she thought she’d be strong enough to resist the pull to seal their bond. From the conflicting visions the Goddess had shown her, Corrine felt as if she had to deny mating with Gabe for the time being. She could not let that future play out. She had to protect him, and at the time, she also she needed his help in staying out of the hands of the Fae when Alefric had stolen the throne, especially since Gabe was the only one she knew she could trust.
So she had created a spell to subdue the mating effect
s, hoping to give herself and Gabe a little more time. As the months and then years went by, she had more visions which only became more complicated, not less. They had revealed Gabe lying bloody and broken after they had mated. Another war loomed somewhere over the horizon, a civil war amongst the shifters this time. Corrine found herself at the center of it. She saw Gabe’s pack losing the battle, but in some instances, they were victorious. In both scenarios, however, Gabe did not survive. Then something in her present kept shifting the varying futures, like the two big battles that had recently been fought. Finding out that she had two mates instead of just one the first time she had laid eyes on Braxas, had been another shock to her. The visions altered again, only this time, she saw Gabe having a chance to survive.
“Stop them, Corrine,” Erica prompted her from where the three women were huddled in the corner away from the chaos. “They’ll only listen to you.”
“Gabe, Braxas, stop!” Corrine yelled out, hoping she could get through the battle haze. “You are both my mates.”
At her declaration, the room went still, all eyes shifting back and forth from her to the wolf and the cat, both of whom now stilled and stared intently at her.
“This is my fault. I thought I was doing the right thing, so I cast a spell to delay the mating drive, and now something has gone wrong,” she confessed. Corrine figured she might as well do it in front of everyone since they’d all know soon enough anyway. The pack did not keep secrets well. “I had hoped the side effects were just affecting me, but I can see now that it was naïve to hope for. I’m so sorry.”
Corrine couldn’t even look at them after she apologized. She felt so ashamed. She had known when she found that book of dark magic in Kheelan’s workspace in the dungeon before she’d made her escape, that it was not a power to be trifled with. Against her better judgment, she had taken it with her anyway. She knew before seeking refuge with Gabe that none of her spells or potions would mask the scent of a mate from a wolf, so she had gone to the book and found something that would.
Now that dark magic had taken hold inside of her, leaving her unable to remove it, and slowly but surely, it would end up killing her. That’s what her sister Ilyra had meant by “her time was running out,” when she’d appeared to Donovan and Jason in the Shadow Realm and asked them to deliver that message to her. The magic was also preventing them from moving forward with the mating, but the connection was still there, and it would drive all three of them to madness and destruction if she didn’t find a way to fix it soon.
Corrine felt as if she did not deserve her mates at all. She had already betrayed them and put them in harm’s way, and they hadn’t even started yet.
Chapter Two
“I’m so sorry.”
Sorry? She was sorry?
Corrine had just ripped his heart out of his chest and thrown it away and she stood before him saying she was sorry. Gabe was pissed. Hell, he was beyond pissed and sitting firmly in the category labeled homicidal. He wanted nothing more than to allow his wolf to rip the throat out of someone and bathe in their blood. And he had just the feline in mind.
But he couldn’t.
Why? Because the woman he had given his heart to all those years ago was standing in front of him asking him not to. Goddamn it! Surely, when the one person you trust above all others turns out to have deceived and manipulated you in the most horrendous way, it meant you were allowed to flip them the middle finger and tell them to fuck right off, and that you could kill who you wanted to and they had no say in the matter. Apparently, Gabe was that much of a schmuck because he couldn’t say no to her.
With a growl he embraced the flare of pain that accompanied his shift, pulling his wolf back within him. He looked around the room and caught the eyes of his men. With a flick of his head, he told them all he wanted them out. Donovan nodded then held his hand out to his mate.
“But I think I should stay and—”
Gabe let loose a growl, filled with his dominance. April immediately stopped talking. Her eyes widened, and her head tilted to the side in submission. Even the dominant little wolf had no choice but to submit now that she had officially become a member of the pack.
“Come on, my mate,” Donovan said in a low voice, and Gabe could hear his wolf in his tone. His Beta was not happy that Gabe had silenced his mate, but in that moment he didn’t really give a fuck. “Gabe needs a moment to talk with his mate … um, mates?” Gabe shot him a withering look, his growl turning feral, and Donovan immediately presented his own neck in submission. “Sorry, Alpha. Mate, singular for sure. No disrespect intended. April, come on, baby, let’s give them a minute to talk in private.”
Gabe waited as his men filed out of the room. He met the stare of the two other women as they walked passed him with one of his own. He had risked his life and his pack to help save both Erica and April, and he had a lot of respect for both of them for sure, but in this matter, they had absolutely no right to this conversation. He was aware that his former friend Braxas had shifted back and was standing just behind him. The two of them had been going at each other with the intent to seriously maim the other just minutes ago, and now, even with a truce, momentary or not, Gabe remained with his back to him. From the very feline-sounding growl that emanated from him, Gabe knew the move was recognized as the disrespectful act it was intended to be.
Within moments, the room was emptied, and Gabe stood staring at Corrine. Although there were two Alpha shifters in the room with her, Corrine’s gaze remained locked on his. She obviously knew that he was the bigger threat in that instant. She always was the smartest person in the room, he thought.
“Don’t you glare at me like that, Gabe Errikson,” Corrine scolded as she crossed her arms across her chest and rocked back slightly on her right leg. With her arms the way they were and her hip jutting out, she was the picture of haughtiness that had his dick reacting the way it always did when she behaved like that. He grinned wickedly when her gaze dropped to his cock before quickly returning to meet his eyes. Color rose in her cheeks. “And you can put some damn clothes on, too. It is distracting and not something I want to see.”
Gabe raised an eyebrow and shot her a look. “Really? Unless I am mistaken, and I never am, the room just filled with the most delicious scent of your arousal, and that tells me that you want to do more than just look at my dick.”
Braxas stepped up to stand on his right, and Gabe tensed when Corrine’s gaze flickered in Braxas’s direction. Gabe waited for the slam of jealousy to rock him again. When Braxas had first announced his claim on Corrine, Gabe had been filled with a jealous rage he thought would drive him to eviscerate the man, but now, although it was still there, it was more of an echo of that first initial blast. For now, he steadfastly pushed away that thought and what it could mean.
Braxas inhaled deeply. “I’m afraid I am going to have to agree with Corrine. I don’t want to look at your dick either, Gabe. It’s irritating knowing you are getting aroused by my mate. And, Corrine, I can scent your arousal, sweetness, and it is indeed the most delicious aroma I have ever encountered.”
Corrine groaned, raising her eyes to the ceiling. “Goddess, save me from overbearing naked shifters. I am not going to look or talk to either of you until you are both dressed, and we can have this conversation without your dicks waving hello at me.”
Gabe had to bite back a chuckle as he moved to the sideboard that sat against the wall and removed two pairs of running shorts, flinging one pair at Braxas before pulling on the second pair. “There you go. All covered up. Now, explain why you felt the need to deceive me.”
Corrine’s gaze flew to his, and he watched as her face paled. “It was not a decision I made lightly. However, it was one that I thought I had no choice but to make at the time. I am so sorry that I deceived you, but I thought if I could fix it … if I could just make it right…”
“Why? Why did you have to?” Gabe asked, and paused waiting for an answer, but Corrine simply stared at him with a h
elpless expression. “Do you have any idea what that did to me? I have felt a connection to you from day one. You know that I’ve never tried to hide my feelings from you. I thought that there was either one of two things happening. Either I was so completely broken that the fates and the Gods deemed me unworthy of a mate—although the connection was so damn strong between us, I knew that I could have loved you forever even if you were not meant to be mine—or that there was a mate meant for me somewhere out there and I would have to face dishonor when I eventually found her and forced the breaking of that bond.”
Corrine gasped. Her hand flew to her chest. “You would have done that for me?”
“I would have fucking done anything for you!” Gabe roared. “You had my trust, you had my confidence, and goddamn it, you had my heart. All of which you have just shat on because of your deception and your manipulation. Gods, do I even really know you?”
Braxas stepped forward. “Look, we are all overly emotional here. Perhaps we should take a moment to calm down.”
Gabe growled as he spun in his direction. “You do not speak right now. I am this close,” Gabe lifted his left hand, his forefinger and thumb only a millimeter apart, “to ripping your spine out through your throat. This is between me and Corrine. If you feel the need to speak in the next few minutes, ask yourself this: How would you feel in my shoes? If the woman you loved just admitted to magically closing the damn link that bound you to her as her mate so you felt a fraction of what you should in her presence, then announced that she was destined for two mates? How would you fucking feel?”
Braxas stared at Gabe and cast a quick glance at Corrine before returning his attention to him. Gabe watched as a myriad of emotions swept over the man’s face before his expression fell into one of understanding. Braxas nodded and held up his hands in surrender. Gabe dipped his head in acknowledgment and turned back to Corrine.
Bound to Their Faete Page 1
