Fated Love: A Vampire Paranormal Romance Novel (The Twisted Destiny Saga Book 4) (10 page)

He started at her words, frozen for a moment by her question.

“Ryan?” she pressed.

He grunted and sank down into the bed, turning away from her. He felt her watching him for a few moments and then she closed the door quietly behind her and left.

“Shit,” he breathed.
Of course I fucking love her. But now everything is so damned complicated because of the Jada thing. They can’t both be my mate. So which one is it?

Ever since Damon had suggested that Vazra could have
engineered
things between them, he hadn’t been able to get it out of his head. And when he’d seen her, the love in her eyes, he’d been disgusted, knowing that it could’ve all just been manufactured.

The recent separation between them and the Luca thing had just intensified those feelings to the point where he couldn’t stand to look at her.

He didn’t know what was real.

And a wolf relied on his instincts.

The fact that he couldn’t do that unnerved him. He didn’t want Cora anywhere near him until he could figure things out. He didn’t want to screw things up permanently with her. There was too much at stake—their son, for one.

But, fuck, the moment she’d straddled him, he’d wanted to fuck her—weakness or not. It still felt right—the pull between them.

But all he’d been able to think about was what he’d done with Jada. How he’d slept with another woman.

How could he fuck Cora knowing that? It would’ve been wrong.

God, if Cora had any idea how much self-control he’d had to exert to force her hand from his cock in that moment, she would’ve given him a frigging medal instead of being angry with him. That
pleasure power
of hers was like nothing he’d ever felt. A few more seconds and he would’ve come. Guaranteed. A hell of a feat, because wolves could last for ages. That was how intense her power was when she used it on him sexually like that.
Fuck me.

CHAPTER 19

“Down boy!” Ryan commanded his cock as he pulled on a fresh pair of jeans.

He’d woken up hard, which was nothing new, but the fact that he’d stayed that way for the last couple of hours was the strange thing—even after taking a cold shower. And he wasn’t just turned on in the normal sense of the word. It was beyond that. It was bordering on painful, actually. His cock was throbbing for release. Was it because of Cora’s actions last night? That’d been hours ago. How could that still be affecting him? But if it wasn’t that, what was it?

He tried to refocus his mind—and his insatiable cock—as he slipped on a black, ribbed t-shirt. He reached into the wardrobe once again and pulled out a leather jacket. As he slipped it on, he silently thanked Nathanial for being such a good host and having his people provide the clothes that he liked. Anything he wanted was here. He didn’t need to request a thing.
Shit, he knows me well.

Cora had been right—he did feel a lot better today. Strong. Powerful. Like the Wolf King that he was supposed to be.

And now he needed to go home to his son and to check on his wolves.

But first he needed to talk to Nathanial, both about their strategy with regard to Oriana’s threat, and about the thing with Jada. He hadn’t had a chance to tell him anything yet. He hadn’t seen him since that day in the dungeon.

It was odd. He would’ve thought that Nathanial would’ve come to check on him. It was in his best interests to make sure the Wolf King was recovering as quickly as possible. They had to do the coronation ritual soon so Ryan could officially take his place as joint King of the Dark Realm. It would seal the peace between wolves and vampires and, the quicker that happened in light of the threat they were facing, the better.

As soon as he left his room, a powerful scent hit him.
Holy shit.
Why hadn’t he smelled it before when he’d gone to the kitchen last night?
I was really out of it. In fact, I hadn’t even smelled Cora at all. It’d been Luca who’d sensed her presence. He’d backed off me as soon as he’d sensed her and she’d walked into the kitchen just a few moments later.

He sniffed the air, drawing the scent to him so he could get a lock on it to follow it. It led him down the corridor, past the kitchen, and along a narrower corridor. He stopped outside a door secluded right at the end of the hall. He pushed it open and gasped at what he saw.

Jada?

He shut the door behind him and leaned against it as he tried to absorb his shock. “What are you doing here?”

She leapt off the bed and bounded towards him. “How did you open that door? I’ve tried repeatedly. Maybe it only opens from the outside?”

Before he could utter a response, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. “I can’t believe you’re here. It’s been killing me not to be near you.”

Being so close to her sent his cock into a frenzy.
Fuck, it was her. It was her being here that’d been making me so fucking horny.
He gripped her arms, unwrapping them from around his waist.

And then his lips crashed against hers. He slammed her against the opposite wall with such force that the walls reverberated from the impact. “Fuck, baby. I’ve missed you too,” he said before thrusting his tongue into her mouth. She responded just as ravenously. He could feel her own intense desire, her desperate need for him.

“I can’t wait, baby. I need to take you now.”

She nodded fervently. “Yes, Ryan. I need you inside me! Now!”

His fingers slid into the waistband of her tiny come-fuck-me shorts. But before he could tug them down her legs, powerful hands suddenly gripped his shoulders, ripping him away from her. He stumbled back and looked to see Nathanial blocking his path to Jada. Instinctively, he rushed him, needing to get to her. It was his only thought. He needed to have her now. Now!

* * * * *

Nathanial thrust his right hand out, pushing Ryan back. “No!” he thundered. “Back up!”

Ryan growled back at him ferociously. “She is mine!”

Nathanial saw the golden glow in his eyes and saw him flash his teeth. He was ravenous, completely out of control. The animal in him had breached the surface. It was driving him wholly. The wolf. He could feel the same intensity from Jada. The sexual tension in the room was such that Nathanial himself could barely breathe, could barely resist it. He had never felt anything quite as strong. It was beyond the pull of a mating bond. He knew what that felt like—he had it with Marella. But this was something else altogether.

He felt Jada pushing against him and he thrust his hand back and gripped her neck, slamming her against the wall and pinning her there with one hand.

He caught Ryan’s incensed reaction. He was going to rush him. He would attack.

He needed to get Jada out and separate them before things escalated.

“Luca!” he called out.

A sudden gust of ice-cold wind ripped through the room and Luca was beside him a second later. He took in the situation quickly. “What the fuck?”

“Get her out of here. Move her to the top room in the tower over on the other side of the castle. Spell it so that Ryan cannot pick up her scent, no matter how close he is,”
Nathanial told him telepathically.

“What are you telling him?” Ryan thundered. “She is mine! Step aside.”

“Shit,” Luca said, eyeing Nathanial. “What’s happening here? This is the wolf that he fucked—that I smelled on him yesterday?”

“I’ll explain later. Just get her out of here,” Nathanial commanded. He watched Ryan lunge at him. “Now!” he bellowed to Luca.

Luca took her arm and teleported away with her. A split second later, Ryan’s full weight slammed into Nathanial, driving him into the wall.

While they were evenly matched with regards to their strength, Nathanial had far more experience in battle. He broke Ryan’s hold on him, spun him around, and wrapped his arm around his neck, forcing him into a powerful chokehold. He exerted pressure slowly until he felt Ryan’s body weaken against him.

His wild struggles ceased momentarily and he collapsed to his knees.

“Good. Relax, Ryan. Calm down.”

“Need…her….” he growled quietly.

“I know. I know,” Nathanial said soothingly. “We’ll find out what’s happening here.”

“Mine,” Ryan whimpered. “It…hurts…mine.”

“Shh. Clear your mind. Focus on my voice. Relax now. Relax.”

Nathanial felt a sudden presence behind him and craned his neck to see Luca standing in the doorway looking in on the scene before him with disbelief.

“Where is Cora?” he asked his son.

Luca hesitated.

“You’re really going to try to deny it to me? I know how you feel about her and I have no doubt that you are tracking her whereabouts as though she were your prey. As a result of you employing such vampiric abilities, you will know exactly where she is at any given time, Luca.”

“She has returned to the human realm. She is with her son in the wolf compound. She left a few hours ago, rather upset.”

Nathanial nodded. “She must have interacted with Ryan then, despite my insistence that she leave him alone to heal. I hadn’t wanted her to sense this…difference in him.”

“He told me last night that he believed the wolf girl to be his mate.”

“A natural conclusion given his strong pull to her.”

“You don’t think it is that? A lust spell, perhaps?”

Nathanial shook his head. “I fear it is worse than that.
Love
. But magically induced. Can’t you feel it? The magic emanating from him?”

Luca concentrated for a few moments. “Yes, now I can.”

“You need to practice your magic more. You should have been able to sense it immediately. It is extremely potent, Luca.”

Luca grunted at his condemnation and then asked, “What are you going to do?”

“I need to locate the source.”

“The girl?”

“No, she was as caught up in it as Ryan.” Nathanial cautiously released Ryan and climbed to his feet. Ryan remained on his knees, lightheaded from Nathanial’s powerful chokehold and out of sorts from his intense interaction with Jada. “Luca, summon Michael here. I will need his help to locate the source as quickly as possible. You do not say a thing to the princess. Are we clear?”

“I had my opportunity to do so last night when she found Ryan and me in the kitchen. It is not for me to tell her.
He
needs to.”

“I see. That is not like you.”

“I love her,” Luca murmured. “That is why.”

Nathanial’s gaze softened as he told him quietly, “I am sorry, Luca. Cora is his, not yours.”

“What if their bond isn’t real and this thing with the wolf girl is?”

“I highly doubt it. We both just felt a magical presence.”

“What we’re feeling could just be the bond taking hold, though. We can’t be sure.”

Nathanial couldn’t deny that. They didn’t know for sure. “We will know soon enough. Bring Michael to me.”

Luca nodded and left the room to seek out Michael. Nathanial turned back to Ryan. He was now climbing to his feet. “I am sorry I had to do that.”

Ryan smiled. “I’m sorry
I
tried to kick your ass.”

“I need you to return to the human realm. All the while you are here you will feel the pull. Being in another realm will weaken it substantially. Do not tell Cora. I can’t risk anything destabilizing her magic at the moment while Oriana is still out there. She will be unable to read your thoughts, so you do not need to worry about that. In the dungeon, I spelled you with a block.”

“What about the coronation ritual?”

“Your head must be clear when that occurs. Soon, Ryan. I will get to the bottom of this.”

“I’ll help. It’s
my
problem, Nathanial.”

“There is nothing you can do. You don’t possess any magical ability, so you will not be able to locate the source.”

“All right,” he agreed with a frustrated sigh.

“Leave now.”

Ryan crossed to the door. He stopped then and turned around. “Thank you.”

Nathanial smiled kindly. “You do not need to thank me. This situation affects all of us.”

After Ryan left, Nathanial had barely had a few minutes to himself to determine the best course of action when Luca returned with Michael and Haraz in tow, teleporting in front of him.

“That was fast,” he commented, surprised.

“We were already on our way to you when Luca found us,” Haraz said with a deep bow. Michael immediately followed suit, eager to please his King. Nathanial could feel his fear.

Nathanial cocked an eyebrow expectantly. “On your way to me?”

“Oriana has possessed the human realm vampires,” Haraz reported.

“How long ago?” Nathanial thundered, incensed that Oriana had taken control of
his
subjects yet again. The scathing insult of that didn’t go unnoticed.

“It has just happened. We would not have waited to report such a thing to you,” Haraz told him.

Nathanial looked them over, studying Haraz and Michael. Their coats were shredded. Their shirts were stained with blood. They’d clearly done everything in their power to contain the vampires.

Oriana had a great deal of power.

But she didn’t have more than
him
.

She was a mere sorceress—not even of royal blood. And he was King of the Dark Realm. He might not be able to kill her, but he could most definitely incapacitate her. The only issue with that was that he couldn’t risk leaving the Dark Realm again, not this soon following her attack. His subjects needed him to remain for reassurance. The last thing he needed was an uprising forming. He’d already spent far too much time away lately—more than he had ever done in all his centuries of rule. He needed to project stability to his subjects, not rumors of abandonment.

“Where are they?” he asked.

“We don’t know. It was strange, as though they had no scent,” Haraz said.

Michael cut in, “She’s spelled them to prevent us from tracking them with ease.”

“Haraz, you will bring Marella to me. I do not want her in the human realm while this is going on. She is not as strong as normal. Her magic is compromised by our child. Accompany her here. Protect her.”

Haraz bowed low and teleported away to do his bidding.

“Luca, go to Cora. Have her work on dropping the veil that Vazra and Oriana have formed over the White Realm. She has the power but she will need instruction from someone with extensive magical knowledge and training. Be careful.
You
must not touch the barrier as it is fused with sunlight.”

“You are preparing to unite the realms?” Luca realized.

“Yes. That cannot happen if I am blocked from reaching into the White Realm. Power has to connect from both sides.”

“You think this will stop Oriana in her tracks,” Michael realized.