Fated Betrayal: A Paranormal Erotic Romance (The Twisted Destiny Saga Book 2) (5 page)

Ryan’s eyes narrowed in fury at the obvious sexual subtext in David’s comment. He forced himself to remain calm as he watched David smirk at him as he returned to his seat. This meeting was business and he wasn’t about to let that asshole control it and make it personal. This was a meeting concerning war. He couldn’t think of anything more serious than that. He had a job to do. He had a duty to remain level-headed. He had people counting on him—Josh, his pack, the rest of the wolves in the human realm, and his pregnant wife.

So, he blew past David’s comment completely and addressed Vazra and the rest of the court as he said, “I have claimed my birthright as King of the Wolves and declared war upon the Vampire Prince, as a result of his persecution of my subjects within the human realm. It’s a war that will reach beyond vampires and werewolves. All supernatural beings will need to decide whose side they are on. I’m here today to determine where the White Realm will stand.”

“By crossing the Vampire Prince, you may inadvertently cross Nathanial too, Ryan,” Vazra told him.

“Luca is working with Michael,” Ryan revealed. “His father’s enemy.”

The Royal Court exchanged looks of disbelief.

“I am already aware of this,” Vazra told his court. “Calm yourselves.”

“He wants your daughter’s blood,” Ryan told him. “He wishes to drain her and use the power himself—the strength of the White Realm coursing through her veins—against King Nathanial to usurp him so that he and the Vampire Prince can take the throne as their own.”

David’s eyes narrowed at the mere suggestion of draining Cora. Marella gasped in shock. And Asha shook her head with disbelief.

“The princess is not safe, should she leave the White Realm, your majesty,” David told Vazra.

“
I
will protect her,” Ryan said.

“You may be the Wolf King, but you are no match for Michael’s magic, Ryan,” David told him.

“I’m not leaving my wife here for an extensive period of time without me.”

“You are welcome to stay here with her,” David said.

“He cannot. He has responsibilities to his pack
and
every wolf in the human realm that is currently under his protection due to the threat from Michael and the Vampire Prince,” Shaye explained.

“Her rightful place is here in the White Realm. Not in the human realm and certainly not in the despicable Dark Realm,” David pressed. He gazed lovingly at Cora as he said, “She belongs in the light.”

“That’s not for you to decide,” Ryan responded calmly.
I have no intention of taking her to the Dark Realm, but there’s a strong possibility that we’ll make our home in the human realm.

“You cannot protect her beyond these walls! You risk not only her life, but that of everyone here in the White Realm! If Michael got a hold of her power, it could destroy the Dark Realm and the White Realm alike!” David thundered, shooting to his feet.

“She is
my
wife!” Ryan roared, finally losing his temper and shooting to his feet also.

“Stop!” Cora bellowed. “Sit down!” she ordered both of them.

Shocked by her outburst, they both complied immediately.

“You all underestimate
my
power. Using only a fraction of my full power, I breached the Dark Realm magic surrounding the Vampire Prince’s estate
and
wounded him severely enough to force him to make a hasty retreat. I also healed my husband, the formidable Wolf
King
, pulling him back from the brink of death.”

Everyone stared at Cora in awe for a long while.

“You really breached Dark Realm magic?” Marella asked.

“Yes.”

“Impressive.”

Vazra rose to his feet. “Yes, she is. I was hoping to save this revelation for the time when my daughter and I had completed her training. But in light of the
heated
discussion here, it appears that it cannot wait. My daughter’s power is stronger than
mine
.”

Everyone around the table gasped in shock, including Cora herself.

“
She
is the key to winning this war in the human realm.
But
I do not wish to go to war with King Nathanial. The time has come to make a lasting peace. We can coexist with the Dark Realm, so long as Nathanial has the same vision as I do. Before we launch into a heated debate here, you need to know that the
bridge
has arrived. Cora and Ryan have conceived the first child ever to be born to beings of pure royal blood from either side of the divide. The child is destined to unite both realms in peaceful coexistence.”

David shot to his feet again and bellowed, “This is blasphemy! I do not and
will
not support this!”

Before anyone could say anything, he stalked out of the room in fury.

Ryan rolled his eyes.
Good riddance, asshole.

“Does anyone else share Davidas’s beliefs?” Vazra asked, looking between Asha and Marella.

Asha sat forward and told them all, “I understand your reasons for wanting to unite the realms. But Nathanial cannot be trusted. Perhaps, if Ryan and he ruled together?” She looked at Ryan as she said, “I trust the wolf. I can smell his sincerity.”

“Ryan?” Vazra said.

Ryan shook his head vehemently. “Nathanial murdered my father, banished me from my home, and kept me from my mate for three hundred years.”

“Alliances aren’t built on personal sentiment. They are built on need,” Vazra told him. “It might change your mind if I told you what is actually happening in the Dark Realm right now. The wolves currently under his rule need your help. The time is right. They have formed a formidable resistance that Nathanial is constantly fighting to hold back. It has been that way for the last two centuries, since your father was murdered and you were banished. They don’t respect him, or recognize him as their ruler. They want the Wolf King.
You.
”

Ryan took his words in. He didn’t say anything for several moments. All eyes were on him. He rubbed the stubble on his chin roughly as he considered his response carefully. And then he glared hard at Vazra. “Seeing as though this is the first time I’m hearing of this from you, I need time to decide on my best course of action,” he said, rising to his feet, agitated by Vazra’s obvious attempt to try to back him into a corner.
Fucking manipulative White Realm fuckers.

Cora’s gaze snapped to his and he knew immediately that she’d just read his thoughts. He looked away quickly when he saw the hurt in her eyes. The last thing he wanted was to upset her, but he knew he was right about this. He wasn’t a fool. He’d lived for a long fucking time. He’d seen a lot. They were all trying to manipulate him—especially Vazra and David.

“How much time?” Vazra demanded.

“Me and Shaye will be heading back to the human realm tomorrow. It’s close to the full moon and I need to protect my wolves. I’ll return to the White Realm a few days later when I’m satisfied they’re fine.”

Vazra nodded. “All right,
but
Cora needs to remain with me.”

“What?”

“She has just learned to unleash her power. I need to keep her here until her magic is stable.” He asked Cora, “Do you feel confident enough that you are in control of your magic right now, that you won’t be a danger to anyone around you?”

“Don’t put her on the spot like this!” Ryan hissed.

“No, Ryan, it’s okay. My father is right. It’s too dangerous right now for me to leave.”

Ryan let out a frustrated breath and told Vazra, “Fine. She stays.”

And, without another word to anyone, he turned and strode out of the throne room.

CHAPTER 6

Ryan stood leaning over the stone wall that looked out on the royal gardens below. He released a heavy breath as he fought to calm himself from the meeting with Vazra’s court that he’d abruptly ended just moments prior.
They want me to form an alliance with King Nathanial of the Dark Realm? How the hell can they ask me to do that?
But even as he asked himself
why
, he already knew their reasons. And, on a purely logical level, they made sense.
Alliances aren’t built on personal sentiment. They are built on need.
Vazra had said those words to him and Ryan knew them to be true. Yet, right now, even considering an alliance with Nathanial—the man that had singlehandedly destroyed his life—was beyond comprehension.

I need more time. And I need to get away from here to be able to think clearly. I need my wolves.

“War involves as much spilling of blood, as it does politics,” a silky, smooth voice came from behind him suddenly.

He turned around to see Marella, Head of the Coven of White Witches, smiling at him kindly.

“Clearly, that’s the case here,” he snapped.

She joined him beside the wall. “You feel they are trying to manipulate you?”

“Aren’t they?”

“They all have their own agendas.”

“And what’s yours?” he challenged.

“Whatever yours is.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What?”

She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper as she said, “Oriana always believed you’d come to the White Realm one day. The Princess was your destined mate and your mother always had faith that you would find one another. She made me vow to her that when you
did
come, I would help you.”

Ryan was taken aback at hearing Marella talk about his mother. He didn’t say anything for several minutes. He just stared absently out at the gardens ahead. To her credit, Marella remained silent, waiting for him to absorb what she’d just told him.
So, her loyalty is to my mother and me, not to Vazra? No wonder she’s whispering. If Vazra found out, he’d probably banish her from the Royal Court and the White Realm itself.

“Why give my mother your loyalty, rather than your king?” he finally responded.

“He could have stopped what happened.”

“He had no choice—the White Realm was too weak to stand against Nathanial.”

“Was it?”

Ryan’s gaze snapped to hers. “That’s the history as I know it—as many people know it.”

“Except his closest allies, being his Royal Court. The White Realm was as powerful as the Dark back then, but Vazra didn’t want the complications of war. And so he didn’t lift a finger. A decision that sealed your father’s tragic fate, forced your mother into hiding, led to your banishment, and kept you from your rightful mate for centuries. The consequences were dire and they are something that I cannot forgive.”

“Why?” Ryan asked. He didn’t buy that it was just because Marella had been a friend of his mother’s. His wolf instincts told him there was much more to it.

Marella’s eyes locked with his as she laid her hand gently on his arm. “Because, Ryan, I was not just a friend to your mother. She is my sister.”

Ryan stepped back as though she’d just slapped him across the face. “What?” he choked out.

“It is a secret I have kept for centuries—from everyone—including the king. The knowledge would be too dangerous in the hands of our enemies. I am your mother’s sister.
You
, Ryan, are my blood kin.”

Ryan stared at her, once again finding himself speechless. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Standing before him was a member of his family—something that he’d lost so long ago and something that he’d grieved over for years after his banishment. And now Marella was telling him that all this time she had been here in the White Realm.

“Why didn’t you come to me sooner?”

“Vazra is aware of every being that walks in and out of the White Realm gates. My doing so without his permission would have raised a red flag. In all likelihood, he would have followed me. I couldn’t risk it, Ryan. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I get it.”

She moved closer to him and discreetly held her palm out between them so that no one else could see but them. She waved her hand over it and something materialized on her palm: a black ring of thorns adorned with what looked like diamonds.

“This belongs to you. I’ve been waiting a long time to finally give it to you.”

“What is it?” Ryan asked hesitantly, glaring at it.

“It belonged to your father. He came to your mother the night before his execution and gave it to her for safekeeping. He wanted you to have it.”

“Are these diamonds?” Ryan asked as he picked up the ring. He was surprised that the black thorns weren’t sharp at all.

“Fragments of the moon,” she corrected him.

“What?” Ryan gasped.

Marella smiled. “Taken from a night of the full moon millennia ago by the first white witch. She forged it for
her
mate—a wolf. It enables the wearer the ability to exercise complete control over his shifts.”

“I can already do that. I’m a pureblood wolf. I can shift on a whim without the pain that other wolves experience.”

“Not during the full moon,” Marella reminded him.

Ryan started in shock. “Christ.
This
can give me control even then?”

“Yes, so long as you wear this ring, you will no longer be a slave to the full moon—a necessity as Wolf King, where it is not always
convenient
to shift along with your wolf subjects, especially when you need to act as their protector. You cannot do that when you are as much a slave to the power of the full moon as they. That is why your father wore it.”

Ryan slid the ring onto the middle finger of his right hand. It fit perfectly. He hissed as it burned.

“It is melding to your essence,” Marella told him.

The pain subsided after a few seconds and Ryan asked, “How does it work?”

“I will warn you that the first time you use it may be difficult, because you need to call the darkest part of the wolf within you to the surface. And, I have been watching over you, Ryan. I know you have suppressed it for a long while.”

Ryan shook his head. “I can’t. That part of me is…dangerous…a monster. I was reminded of that with that damned waterfall.”

Marella’s eyes widened in shock. “You went to the faerie waterfall?”

Ryan nodded. “With Cora.”

“The darkest part of the wolf rose and you hurt her,” Marella said. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

“
Hurt
would be an understatement.”

She laid her hand over his and told him gently, “This ring will prevent the darkest part of the wolf from being destructive, like it was tonight.
But
you must call it forth first, so it can be channeled by the magic of the ring. The full moon rises in the human realm tomorrow night. Try it then. Shaye will be there to protect your wolves from the Vampire Prince, so it is the perfect time, because you will not need to worry about their safety. You can focus on you.”

Ryan took her words in. And then he sniffed the air suddenly and told her, “Someone is coming.”

She nodded and made a move to leave.

Ryan’s hand shot out and gripped her arm. “Thank you,” he told her sincerely.

She smiled kindly. “One more thing: a wolf’s instincts are
never
wrong, Ryan. Remember that during the coming days. Many will try to manipulate you because of the power that you hold as Wolf King. Only
you
will know the right path to take. Listen to those instincts of yours—no supernatural being has instincts more attuned than the Wolf King. It is your greatest advantage over them all.”

Ryan nodded his understanding and then she disappeared in a flash of white light.

Seconds later, David walked out of the palace on his way to the gardens below. He stopped short when he noticed Ryan.

“Thinking about earlier?”

Ryan growled inwardly at his reference to how he’d hurt Cora earlier. “If you have something to say, be a man and be direct about it.”

“A man?” David scoffed. “I am a faerie, more than man.”

“As am I.” He folded his arms across his chest and eyed him calmly.

“There is no woman like the princess. She is one of a kind. Special. I am thankful that I had her before any other.”

Ryan smiled with amusement.
Nice try, asshole.
“You forget how attuned my senses are, faerie. She was a virgin when she came to me. No man had taken her. Until me.”

David’s eyes narrowed, angry that Ryan had dismissed his ruse so easily. He didn’t know enough about the wolf species. Ryan could see that he’d had no idea it was possible for them to smell purity on a woman of a separate species.

“She loved me first.”

“Another lie. It’s impossible for her to love anyone other than her true mate.”

“She doesn’t belong with a creature of the dark. You will snuff out her light.”

“Are you so naïve, that you believe the dark and light are such separate entities?”

David grabbed his arm suddenly.

Ryan hissed as the silver from his cursed ring burned his flesh. But he didn’t pull away. It would be a sign of weakness.

“This ring is made from faerie silver, the purest of all white magic, Ryan. And it burns
you
. So, tell me again that the dark and light are not separate entities,” David said, smiling victoriously. “You are no different than a vampire in that respect, wolf. Just like the cross and the sun burn their evil flesh, my ring burns you. You think yourself better than Nathanial and Luca? Just like them, you are driven by the monster within to inflict pain and death. The princess will see that soon enough. And she will turn away from you. It has already started, Ryan. The incident at the waterfall was just the beginning.”

“She’s destined to be with me,” Ryan retorted, seething.

David scoffed. “If there’s one thing I know about Cora, it’s that she hates submitting to any notions of destiny. The only reason she submitted to the part of her destiny involving being with you is because of the pull between you—the sexual desire—something that she wasn’t used to dealing with on account of her purity. But you have already taught her a lot in that respect. And it will work against you soon enough when you watch her conquer it.”

“You’re wrong,” Ryan snapped.

“Her power has the potential to transcend her father’s—the most powerful man in all the realms. You think when she learns how to wield it properly that her magic won’t be able to transcend destiny itself?”

Ryan shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

“She
will
desire other men. You’ll see soon enough.”

Ryan’s hand shot out and gripped his shirt, jerking him towards him. “Is that a threat?”

David smiled maliciously as he said, “A promise, wolf.”

“You won’t touch my wife.”

David shot out his palm and a blast of golden light assaulted Ryan’s chest. He cursed and fell back against the wall, releasing his grip on David. He shook his head to will away the disorientation that the faerie’s magic had caused. And when he turned back, he was gone.

He growled ferociously, the force of his fury causing the ground to reverberate beneath his feet.

I need to kill him
. Ryan had disliked David immediately. The guy had no idea how lucky he was. When he’d found him in his chambers earlier, his instincts had willed him to rip his head off. And normally he wouldn’t have hesitated. Any threat to his wife was enough to seal the guy’s fate.
But
he’d forced himself to hold back, because he was in the White Realm. He was on King Vazra’s territory; he couldn’t kill a member of his Royal Court in his own home. No, he had to wait until the time came when David stepped through the White Realm gates into
his
territory—the human realm. And then he wouldn’t hesitate to rip his fucking head off.

Ryan had tried to give him the benefit of the doubt—which was wholly unlike him in the first place—but the guy kept pushing it. He’d disrespected him, burned him with silver
twice
, and just moments ago he’d basically told him that he planned to make a play for his wife.

Although, it pained him not to be able to end the faerie fucker now, he managed to take some comfort in the fact that he trusted Cora. He knew how in love she was with him. He trusted that she would never give herself to another man, least of all, David. And while Ryan was away and back in the human realm with his wolves, Cora would be spending all of her time with her father, training to control her power. If David did go to her, Ryan had every confidence that she would send him away immediately. The faerie was a fool. Cora’s power was growing so much every day. If he tried anything, in all likelihood,
she
would kill him.