Sabine frowned, nodding at the anger and hatred that dripped from my words. “She was crazed after she came back. Something was off, Aria. I don’t know why she did what she did to you, but whatever the reason, know that she wasn’t the same when she returned from the Nine Realms, heavily pregnant with you and Amara.”
“It doesn’t excuse her actions, Sabine. She tried to murder me.”
“Yes, and Aurora saved you. She never tried to murder Amara directly. She only aimed for her when you were both in her womb, so not sure you can assume she’d go for her now. That is what we are saying, and since we left this place, she hasn’t been able to find you. Aurora made certain we were untraceable.”
Our mother, God love her, wasn’t selective about the creatures she took between her thighs. Freya also never kept track of who had fathered us, making it impossible to know what we were until the change began within us; then, we handled it on our own. Aine and Luna had glowing blue eyes, marking them alpha wolves, alerting us to their heritage. Sabine and Callista were nymphs or sirens, but it was hard to tell since there wasn’t much difference between the two species. We’d resorted to calling them hookers because it made them laugh when we did. Kinvara and Valeria were succubi, the result of our mother getting busy with a horde of incubus demons on one of her trips into the Nine Realms. She’d created her own twisted version of Noah’s ark, but with daughters.
Our father’s blood only determined half of what we were; our mothers, the other. Unlike my sisters, who had realized what they were by their sixteenth birthday, I had no idea what I was. Where they depended on nature to cast magic or spells, I wielded it from someplace else. It was exhilarating when I used magic, but there was a call to something darker within me that preened proudly when I did. As if something deadly slumbered within me and had yet to awaken fully.
“Cars are coming from the east,” Luna stated, staring in that direction. She tilted her head, listening as we all followed her gaze.
“Friend or foe, Luna?” Sabine asked softly as if she feared they would hear her.
“Silly sister,” I chuckled darkly. “They’re all foe.” I watched the dark highway behind us and then narrowed my gaze as headlights finally came into view.
Luna sniffed the air and smirked generously. “I smell men, and nice smelling ones at that. Alpha wolves or something else similar to the genetic makeup. I smell raw power and violence in the air that screams of danger. Eight men or so,” she said, sniffing once more before nodding. “I’m thinking foe.”
“But we like men,” Aine said as her own nose lifted, inhaling deeply. “Especially ones that smell like these creatures. Meow, mommas, get ready. Get your game faces on.” She fluffed her hair and fixed her breasts before speaking again. “Definitely foe, but I can use some hate fucking about now.”
“How do you know they’re foe?” Sabine asked, worrying her lip between her teeth as she waited for their answer.
“Easy, Aria just said they’re all foe,” Luna snorted, rolling her eyes as she adjusted her breasts and compared hers with her twin, Aine’s. She withdrew a tube of lip gloss, slathering it on her lips as we all studied her prepping for sex.
“You guys are disturbing sometimes,” I muttered.
I reached up, hooking my silver hair behind my ears, not that it would help with the wind howling around us. I didn’t need a mirror to know my eyes would be bluer than green with the lack of sleep I’d had in the last twenty-four hours. I’d had nightmares and had given up trying to sleep at the thought of returning to this place.
The car’s pulled up, aiming high-beams directly at us. It forced those who were sensitive to light to cover their eyes as it shined over us. I silently inspected the men unloading from the black SUVs, moving toward us in a dark, lethal way that couldn’t be concealed, no matter what mask of civility they’d donned to enter this realm.
My eyes locked onto the tallest male, inspecting him as muscles pushed against the shirt he wore. He was a good head taller than the others. Power exuded from him, pushing against my flesh as he reached up and pushed light brown hair away from his face. Ocean-colored eyes slid over the lot of us before they moved back to me, lifting his nose, inhaling our scents.
“You’re unwelcome here. Leave, and you can live; stay, and you die,” he announced with an accent I couldn’t place. He was sex in the purest form, and even I couldn’t tear my eyes off him—or couldn’t until Kinvara snorted.
“Is that how you welcome ladies to town?” she asked, her pheromones filling the air to tempt him to her. Hussy.
“I won’t ask again, ladies.”
“You don’t have the authority to tell us to leave,” I said, pulling his lethal glare back to me and off of my sister. I crossed my arms over my chest, daring him to tell me I was wrong. When I got mad, I dug my heels in deep and didn’t give an inch of room for anyone to push me around.
Chapter 2
He smiled coldly, studying my face while I did the same to him. His power wrapped around me threateningly. It was debilitating power that tightened around my throat, causing the hair on my neck to rise in warning. The smirk on his sinful mouth told me he had done it on purpose, knowing it wasn’t something that could be ignored. His intense gaze swallowed me whole, drowning me slowly as it beckoned me into the deep waters, white-capped waves that promised to consume me.
“Oh, but I do, little girl,” he chuckled darkly. “I am the king here. That means I hold all the power over any who enter Haven Falls and my jurisdiction,” he snorted, stepping closer to where I stood, silently taking him in. He stopped mere inches away from me and sniffed the air again.
I inhaled his scent, barely containing the shiver that raced down my spine. It was a mixture of sandalwood and a hint of whiskey. The button-up shirt he wore did little to conceal the contours of his body, which I studied absently. Not too beefed up, but more than a swimmer’s build. His arms were lightly tattooed, with writing in ancient languages, if I wasn’t mistaken. He wore jeans that hugged powerful legs ending at black Doc Martin shit-kickers. I pulled my gaze from his body and rested it on his face, taking in the sharp jawline that was lightly dusted in a five o’clock shadow. His mouth was full, sensual, and pulled back tightly to reveal a smile that was all teeth.
“Are you finished eye-fucking me?” he asked darkly, his voice sending a shiver racing down my spine.
“Maybe,” I said before giving myself a mental shake. “Since when does Haven Falls need a king?” His eyes did a slow perusal of my body, stopping briefly over the top I wore, which crisscrossed over my chest, exposing my midriff and sides, leaving a little more cleavage than I was comfortable with being exposed to his heated stare. My skirt was slit up the sides of my legs, revealing both thighs before it stopped at my hips. The boots I wore matched his, but they were more for comfort than kicking ass. Slowly, his eyes lifted to my breasts once more before stopping on my face.
“Since I took control of it,” he growled. The sound of his voice slithered over my flesh, wrapping around my throat until air no longer could enter my airway. “Who the fuck would you be, little girl?”
“Aria Hecate, daughter of Freya Hecate, born of Hecate,” I smirked impishly, watching as his eyes narrowed, and the tick in his jaw hammered at the mention of my last name. “These are my sisters, and I assure you, even as the king, you don’t have the authority to remove us.”
He chuckled seductively, closing the distance until he was in my space, breathing my air until there wasn’t enough for the two of us to inhale. His breath fanned my flesh; his proximity forced my neck to careen to hold his stare. He lifted his hand and brushed a single finger over my cheek as he stared me down.
“Hecate,” he hissed as if the name was something vile stuck to the tip of his tongue. “Fucking witches.” Snorting, he stared me dead in the eye as if he’d be happier with his large hands around my throa
t.
“Well, not sure on the fucking part, but we’re definitely witches.”
“And what is your other half, Aria Hecate? Your mother was a whore, one who slept with any creature brave enough to crawl between her thighs.”
“Me? Who knows, because as you’ve so delicately pointed out, my mother is a whore,” I noted, studying the way his eyes narrowed on me as he lifted his nose, inhaling deeply. “You want to sniff my ass too?” I assumed he was an alpha wolf, but the power radiating off of him wasn’t anything I’d felt before.
“You should leave before it’s too late, witch.” His men chuckled behind him, and I narrowed my eyes on him, letting my eyes slide down his frame before coming up to frown as if he were lacking. “Your kind is nothing but fucking trouble.”
“You don’t know me, so I suggest you stop stereotyping me with other witches. I’m not leaving because some asshole tells me to leave. I have it on good authority that, at this moment, no Hecate witch sits on the council, which means there is a line to get into this realm that isn’t getting pushed through. Tell me I’m wrong, oh great King of Haven Falls?” He stared me down with coldness in his gaze that sent ice humming through my veins. “Without one on the council, the covenant cannot award citizenship to immortals wishing to enter this realm. They need our bloodline present to approve those applications, and the process calls for a vote from each original bloodline, or did that change when you proclaimed yourself a king?” I waited for him to say something to counter it, but his eyes just gazed into mine, until I swallowed hard, my confidence shaking as he continued to watch me chillingly. “Mmm, didn’t think so. Not even a self-proclaimed king has the authority to overthrow the covenant.”
“Aria,” he said, tasting my name on his tongue while I smirked. I had expected him to argue, not to step closer and lift my chin. His touch sent butterflies racing through my insides. “I don’t care who the fuck you are, or what last name you throw around. I own this fucking town. I will eat you for breakfast, little girl, and I enjoy eating pretty things.”
“I hope that’s not a metaphor for eating pussy! Aria is a virgin, and someone has to pop that overly ripe cherry!” Kinvara shouted, and I turned, staring at her. The entire clearing was dead silent after her words had filled it.
I blushed as the male studied me, noting the reddening in my cheeks. He smirked wolfishly, which caused my eyes to lower to his sensual mouth. I pulled my face away from his touch, shooting Kinvara a deadly glare as she shrugged innocently.
“Hey, I’m all for you getting that cherry eaten. Gods know you need to get some before you explode,” she offered, wincing.
“Shut up, Kinvara, you’re not helping the situation,” Sabine groaned.
He inspected me, unnerving me with the intensity of his stare. Lightning crashed above us, and I peered up, staring at the sky covered in dense clouds. It struck again beside us, causing my eyes to narrow as my sisters jumped. The male had yet to look away from me, and when my gaze moved back to his eyes, there was something sinister within them. The wind picked up, howling eerily, sending my hair whipping against my face. I turned my back to the male, staring at where the lightning continued to strike without stopping. I stepped back absently, unable to shake the feeling that something was in the woods, watching us.
I bumped into something hard and unmoving. I looked over my shoulder before staring up into stormy eyes that narrowed on me as he inhaled once more. The heat of his body slithered over my bare flesh, but the power he exuded was worse than the heat. Tearing my gaze from his, I watched as a dark shadow slipped from the forest.
“What the hell is that?” I whispered, barely loud enough to be heard over the crashing of the lightning as it hit the ground.
“You tell me, Aria,” he demanded, touching my waist, causing my skin to pebble into goosebumps from the single brush of his fingers.
“Mine,” it hissed as if it was the ugly little bugger, Gollum, from Lord of the Rings. “Aria Hecate is mine!” it screeched, causing me to tilt my head.
“Pass,” I muttered. “That’s not ominous or anything.”
“Come to me, Aria. Let me taste your sweetness, little one,” it continued.
I didn’t need an invitation. I exploded into action, running toward the creature as power erupted around me. It smiled, waving its hand, beckoning me closer. I stopped where it had been, turning in a full circle only to find not a single trace of the beckoning creature. My hands lifted, uprooting trees from where they attached to the ground, holding them suspended in the air as I peered around, finding no sign of the creature. Slowly and methodically, I placed the trees back into the ground. Lightning crashed beside me, and I turned, inhaling the scent of burned ozone before veering toward my sisters, running right into a chest that smelled of heavenly male.
I peered up, frowning at him suspiciously. His hands captured my waist, pulling me against him as he peered down. “Let me go now,” I stated coldly.
“Witch, huh?” he hissed. “Witches do not control the elements, nor do they have enough power on tap to uproot hundreds of trees, let alone to place them back into the ground.”
“You don’t get to fondle me or ask me questions. I don’t even know your name,” I ground out, studying him as his touch sent a pulse of electrical current racing through me.
“It’s Knox. What the fuck are you, Aria?”
“Mmm, what the hell are you? Not an alpha wolf; your eyes aren’t blue enough. Not an incubus, because you’re not oozing enough sex for me to toss my clothes down and beg you to touch me. Not a demon, because you don’t carry their scent. The writing on your arms suggest you aren’t from here, so who the fuck are you, Knox? And why are you in my town?”
“I asked you first.”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I whispered, licking my lips as he watched. “Let me go, asshole. I can already tell that I’m not going to like you. So, unless you plan on stealing a base, get the fuck off of me. I’m not into baseball.”
“Afraid of the bat, or just not good playing with balls?”
“It’s the balls. I always seem to make them explode unexpectedly. No one seems to like it when their balls explode prematurely.”
“That depends on within whom they explode.”
I stuttered for a retort and then clamped my mouth closed, blinking at his statement. Well, that backfired. “Keep your balls away from me.”
“Afraid you may like my dick?” he asked, lifting his hand to push away a stray strand of hair. “Be a good girl, and I may even let you suck it.”
“You two going to fuck, or you want a few more minutes alone?” Luna asked, watching us.
I ignored her, pulling my arm from Knox’s hold before I sidled up next to him, watching as he studied me. “I wouldn’t suck your dick if it contained the last air molecule in the entire universe, puppy. You’re not man enough to handle me, anyway. You’re probably like every other male on this planet who thinks bitches should bow down and worship that tiny little thing between your legs. I don’t fucking bow to anyone. I sure as fuck don’t bow to “some self-conceited, self-absorbed, self-appointed king” to a town that should be burned to ashes and destroyed, asshole,” I muttered as I turned, marching back to where my sisters stood, listening to everything we said. “Let’s go before something else welcomes us back or tries to kill us.”
“I suggest you be at the council meeting tomorrow and learn the new laws of Haven Falls. If you fuck with me, little girl, I will fuck you back. I don’t have mercy when I fuck my enemies. If you don’t like the new laws, you can get the fuck out of my town.”
“Who says I would ever want mercy from you?” I snorted as I spun on him, lifting a brow in question. “You don’t scare me, Knox. You don’t even register on the scale of things I fear.”
“Yeah, let’s test that fucking theory, shall we?” he as
ked. A loud crashing noise exploded, and the world vanished around me.
About the Author
Amelia lives in the great Pacific Northwest with her family. When not writing, she can be found on her author page, hanging out with fans, or dreaming up new twisting plots. She’s an avid reader of everything paranormal romance.
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