Fear of Fire and Shadow
Page 28
“She seems strong,” Wolfe assured me, as if he heard the concern in my heart, in my words. “In control. She appears to know what she’s about.”
“She is,” I agreed. “She really wants to make a difference after everything I told her.”
Wolfe made a huffing noise. “Still annoyed she didn’t take your advice?”
I slapped at him half-heartedly. And then after a minute, I shook my head, leaning back on my palms, my fingers digging into the rich grass below us. I smiled into Wolfe’s eyes, feeling lighter, lighter than I’d felt since lazy summer days by a brook in Vasterya. “No. I have to confess something … but in doing so, you have to promise you won’t get in our way.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I promise.”
“I mean it.”
Wolfe looked affronted. “If a gentleman offers you a promise, do not insult him by suggesting he won’t honor it.”
“Okay, I apologize.” I studied him intently and once more put my faith in him. “After the wedding, Haydyn is going away. She’s going to travel around the provinces in disguise with L Moss as a bodyguard.”
It took a full five minutes to convince Wolfe not to strangle me and Haydyn. And he cursed a great deal the entire time. “You promised!”
“I know. But this is reckless, Rogan! Anything could happen to her.”
“How can she possibly make a decision about the evocation if she doesn’t have all the facts?”
The muscle in his jaw flexed with his anger as he glared out at the sea. “I can’t allow it.”
“You promised.” My heart crashed against my ribs.
Wolfe glowered at me but I could see the conflict in his eyes. “Rogan, my duty in life is to protect Haydyn. This would be the opposite of protecting her.”
“But you know I’m right.”
He cursed under his breath again. “I know you’re right,” he growled. “But I still can’t allow it.”
“Wolfe—”
“Not as it stands.” He held up a hand to quiet me. “Matai and a number of the Guard will accompany them. Chaeron, perhaps.”
“But that defeats the purpose. People will question who she is if she has an entourage.”
“Then Matai and L will travel with Haydyn. Chaeron and a few of the guard will follow in disguise so they can be there if anything happens. That is the only compromise I’m willing to make.”
I scrunched up my nose in annoyance but mostly because it was a good plan and I should have thought of it myself. I’d just been so worried about anyone learning of it and telling the Rada.
“I love you.”
I softened, melting against him. “I love you too.”
“Then you agree to this new plan.”
“It is a good plan.”
He exhaled heavily, reaching up to brush the hair off my face. “I’m glad. You set out to wake up the princezna … and that’s exactly what you will do, Rogan.”
I smiled, bussing into his touch. I reminded myself that this surreal feeling of contentment was real.
Months ago I would never have imagined loving Wolfe, how, in doing so, I was finally putting the past behind me, finally learning that by accepting my future, I wasn’t turning my back on my family’s memory.
Moreover, I’d changed.
I’d grown up.
Never would I have imagined becoming friends with Alvernian mountain people or thought I’d have the strength to accept what could and couldn’t be changed.
Or that I would finally come to terms with who I was.
“Better yet …”
Wolfe brushed his lips across mine. “What, my love?”
I smiled. Happy. “I woke up too.”
War of Hearts
Read more from S. Young
Thea Quinn has no idea what she is. All she knows is that her abilities have been a plague upon her life since she was a child. After years of suffering at the hands of a megalomaniac, Thea escaped and has been on the run ever since.
The leadership and protection of his pack are of the utmost importance to Conall MacLennan, Alpha and Chief of Clan MacLennan, the last werewolf pack in Scotland. Which is why watching his sister slowly die of a lycanthropic disease is emotional torture. When Conall is approached by a businessman who offers a cure for his sister in exchange for the use of Conall’s rare tracking ability, Conall forges an unbreakable contract with him. He has to find and retrieve the key to the cure: dangerous murderer, Thea Quinn.
Thea’s attempts to evade the ruthless werewolf are not only thwarted by the Alpha, but by outside dangers. With no choice but to rely on one another for survival, truths are revealed, intensifying a passionate connection they both fight to resist. At war with themselves and each other, Conall and Thea’s journey to Scotland forces them to face a heartrending choice between love and betrayal.
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About the Author
S. Young is the pen name for Samantha Young, a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author from Stirlingshire, Scotland. She’s been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and Best Romance for her international bestseller On Dublin Street. On Dublin Street was Samantha’s first adult contemporary romance series and has sold in thirty countries. True Immortality is Samantha’s first adult paranormal series written under the name S. Young.
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