Storm: The Empire Chronicles

C
opyright ©
2015 Alyssa Rose Ivy

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written approval of the author.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

C
over Design
: Phatpuppy Art

I
woke up with a start
. I didn’t even remember falling asleep, let alone in a bed. The last thing I remembered was getting back in the truck with Vera while Slade drove. We were on our way to find the witch’s haven in Connecticut. We were going to find my mom. I thought over the revelation Levi had thrown at me. My mom was a witch. What did that mean for me? My Pteron side was clearly dominant, but did I have magic in me? The thought made my stomach turn. I pushed it from my head and turned my thoughts to the motley crew I was traveling with. I wouldn’t have chosen them myself, but we’d stop the witches together, even if one of them was my mom. I couldn’t worry about that. The Society and the world were at stake.

I sat up. Something was off. I was in my old bedroom back in New Orleans. The black silk sheets were the same one’s I’d stripped off my bed before leaving, and a stack of books sat piled on my desk. How the hell had I gotten back here? Levi. He had to have knocked me out or something to bring me back. But was that possible? He was strong, but not that much stronger than me.

I sat up with my feet off the bed. I glanced down. I was completely naked. There was no way Levi would have stripped off my boxers. Was Vera involved in this somehow? My body reacted to the thought of her. With everything else going on I shouldn’t have been thinking about sex, but I was. Sex with Vera.

But where was she? My room wasn’t big. Without bothering to find clothes, I wrenched open the closet door. It was empty. Maybe she’d left already.

I slipped on a pair of boxers before walking out of my room. Hopefully Owen was around and could explain what the hell was going on. He wasn’t supposed to move out until the end of the month.

“Nice of you to join the world.” Levi grinned from his seat on the couch. He was shirtless and eating a bowl of cereal.

“What did you do to me?”

“Uh, I think you did it to yourself.” Levi’s eyes twinkled with amusement.

“I blacked out and dragged myself back here?” I narrowed my eyes. “And where’s Vera? I sure as hell hope you didn’t strip me buck naked yourself.”

He laughed. “Vera? Was that her name? I thought she was Barbie #500.”

“You son of a bitch.” I lunged for him, but he blocked me.

“Whoa. Calm down. I guess that one meant something to you?”

“You know she means something to me. This game has to end. Where is she and why am I back here? I have work to do.” I struggled to keep calm. I couldn’t afford to transform and do something I’d regret.

“Are you okay?” Worry crossed his face. “I thought you had a late night, not lost your mind.”

“I need to go. I don’t have time for this.” I turned to head back to my room.

“You had your last exam a few weeks ago. Where do you need to go?”

“Exam? I haven’t taken an exam in ages.”

“Ok, this joke needs to end.” He seemed as confused as I was.

“You’re the one messing with me.”

“No I’m not.” He walked over. “I have too much bullshit going on with my dad to mess with anyone.”

“With your dad? You don’t even have to listen to him anymore.” After years of sitting underneath his shadow, Levi had taken the reins of The Society and with it the right to make his own decisions.

Levi laughed dryly. “Oh right. Just like you don’t have to listen to yours.”

“You’re the fucking King.”

“Shut up. I’m putting that off as long as I can.” He seemed serious and that worried me. I’d known Levi my whole life, and this joke didn’t fit. Something was off.

I knew of one person who would help me with him. “Where’s Allie?”

“I thought her name was Vera. Did you have a second one with you last night I didn’t notice?”

“She’d kill you if she heard you make a joke like that.” Allie wouldn’t put up with it.

“Who were these girls that have you so uptight?”

I walked back to my room and grabbed my phone. I searched for Allie’s name, but it wasn’t in there. I walked back out. “Ok. Joke’s over.”

“For the last time, there is no joke.”

“No joke? Then why am I here? Why are you here? Why aren’t you home with Allie?”

“I thought Allie was one of your little Barbies.”

My chest clenched. Two jokes about Allie being one of my conquests. Not a chance. Levi worshipped his wife. She was his queen, and she meant everything to him.

“How’s Casey?” Surely he’d get serious if I mentioned his half-sister.

“Another girl? Wow, no wonder you’re so—”

“No. Don’t go there.” Implying I’d been with Casey was a low blow even for him. He’d known we’d slept together, but I wanted her sister. I wanted Vera.

“What the hell is going on with you?”

“I’m asking you that same question.” He wasn’t acting like himself. He was acting like he used to act, before he met Allie.

Either he was playing an elaborate trick on me, which made no sense considering everything else going on, or I was dreaming. I was still exhausted from flying everyone out. That had to be it.

I used my trick. I could always tell if I was dreaming because I couldn’t feel my shifter form in my dreams. I focused and tried to release my wings. They released quickly, with nearly no effort.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Owen walked into the room.

“Are you in on this too?” I asked.

“On what?” He feigned innocence.

“Jared’s lost it.” Levi moved his finger around his ear in the universal sign of crazy. “It sounds like he was with three girls last night.”

“It’s Levi who’s crazy. You need to get Allie.”

“Allie?” Owen stared at me blankly.

I wasn’t dreaming, I was fully transformed, and Owen was a crappy actor. He couldn’t pull this off. “Then get Casey.”

“Casey who?” Owen gave me another blank stare.

“They’re some of the girls he was with I guess. There was also a Vira or something.”

“Vera.” Saying her name scared me more. Where was she? Why wasn’t I with her?

“I don’t know how you do it. Don’t you get tired of it?” Owen whined the way he always used to. He’d shut up about it once Levi got with Allie. Why were they both acting weird?

“Owen, what’s the date?”

“Uh, June 25th.”

“June?”

“Yes… what month did you think it was?”

I ignored the question. “And when was graduation?”

“Why do you care? I bet you’re not even going to walk next year.”

“Next year?” I retracted my wings.

“Yes… when we graduate.”

I put my head in my hands. What was going on? It was like I’d been transported back in time. I hurried back to my room and threw on more clothes. If Levi and Owen were messing with me, there was one sure way to find out the truth.

I walked outside without bothering to say anything to my friends. If they were screwing with me, they were both going to get a piece of my mind. King or not, Levi had crossed a line.

I jogged toward Levi’s parents’ house. There was no way Robert Laurent would play along with a game like this. I’d ask him about Allie and get to the bottom of things.

I knocked on the door of their stately white house, and Helen, Levi’s mom, opened it. She smiled. “Hi, Jared. Is everything okay?”

“I can’t get through to Allie, is she with you?”

Helen’s brow wrinkled. “Allie? Is that a friend of yours?”

“Allie Davis.”

“I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about.” Helen frowned.

“Is Robert around?”

“No. He’s at work. Did Levi tell you the news?”

“What news?”

“The hotel sold.”

“The hotel?” I asked. “Davis sold it?”

“No, he bought it. Wait. Is that who the girl is? Is she related to the new owner?”

“Never mind. I’ll find her myself.” I ran back toward our house.

There was no question about it. Something had set back the clocks. The question was why and what could I possibly do to change it?

M
urphy could be an asshole
. It was hard to believe I hadn’t noticed it from the beginning, but then again my mom had hated him so nothing else really mattered. The problem now was I had no idea how to get rid of him. I lay in bed listening to the sound of voices. Something was going on, but no one was telling me anything. It’s like they trusted me when it was convenient for them, but otherwise I was always left in the dark.

I missed home. I missed my parents, and most of all I missed Casey. I hoped she was doing all right. Hopefully she was still doing well in school. She was the smart one. She was the one who had a future. I didn’t need to go to college, but she did.

I closed my eyes and listened to the muffled conversation. The only words I could pick out were boss and war. That couldn’t be good.

The door squeaked open, and I slowed my breathing so Murphy would think I was asleep. I wasn’t in the mood for sex, especially not with the way he’d embarrassed me in front of the pack. Part of me wanted to run away, but where would I go? The one place I could never go back to was home.

He slipped into bed next to me. “I know you’re awake.”

I kept my eyes clenched shut.

“I know you can hear me.”

He moved over me, but I tried to stay calm.

“I’m sorry, baby. But this is my pack. If I don’t show them I’m in charge, I’m going to lose respect.”

I could feel my blood boiling.

He laughed. “It wasn’t that big of a deal. They all know we fuck.”

I opened my eyes and pushed him off me. I couldn’t stay silent any longer. “Knowing something is happening behind closed doors is different than humiliating me the way you did.”

“You liked it.”

“I did not.”

“Yes you did.” He slid a hand up under the bottom of my cami. “You like begging me for things.”

“You’re a pig.”

“I’d be careful, Vera. You’re already in trouble.”

“I’m in trouble? What did I do?”

“You didn’t obey quickly enough. I got nervous there for a while.”

“I’m going to sleep outside.” I started for the end of the bed.

He wrapped his hand around my arm. “No you aren’t.”

“You can’t make me sleep with you.”

“Technically I can. I am the alpha of this pack whether you like it or not.”

“Your pack is not going to support rape.”

“I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a rapist.”

“Then let me go.”

“Sure. I’ll find a replacement.”

“Good luck with that.”

“I know of a perfect one. She kind of looks like you, but she’s younger. Less of a fighter. I bet she’d listen better.”

My chest tightened and my body froze. “Stop it, Murphy.”

“What? You don’t think she’d be interested? She slept with my brother already. Don’t act like she’s innocent.”

“You stay the hell away from Casey.”

“I will.” He pushed me back down on the bed. “If you behave.”

“Aren’t you tired of me anyway?”

“Not yet. You’ll know when I am.”

“And then what happens?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answer. Nothing he could say would be a good thing. “Am I thrown out of the pack?”

He laughed. “You think you’re leaving this pack? Nope. If I get tired of you, you’ll find a way to make sure I’m interested again. I can and will replace you with your sister. And I’m not sure if she’s as strong as you are.”

“Stay away from her.” I was pleading. No matter what, Casey had to stay away from this mess.

“Why would I bother with her as long as I have you?” He ran his fingers up and down my stomach.

“And you have me.” Any thoughts of leaving disappeared. I had to find a way to keep Casey safe. She deserved better.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He cupped my breast. “I’m glad we were able to come to an understanding.”

My eyes flew open, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I blinked a few times trying to shake the unbelievably realistic dream. I'd felt Murphy's hands on me. Felt his breath. It had to have been from the stress of everything.

I looked over. My hand was touching Jared's in such a way that made it seem like we'd been holding hands at some point. He was still sound asleep. His face was tense. I wondered if he was having a disturbing dream of his own. He'd been exhausted before hearing the news about his mother being a witch, and that information had to have hit him hard, even if he tried to play it off. Jared had such a tough exterior, but inside he was vulnerable. Especially regarding his family. I knew the feeling. I also understood being surprised about who your family was. Who you really were. He'd accept it. He might not at first, but he'd deal with it in order to help us. He understood how much was at stake.

He squeezed my hand. His eyes didn't open, and his breathing remained steady.

"You okay?" Slade asked from the front of the truck.

I snapped out of my observation of Jared long enough to realize we were parked in the woods. "Where are we?"

"About an hour south of the haven, I think." Slade turned to look at me.

"Why are we stopped?" I looked out the windows at the trees surrounding us on all but one side.

"Watching the rest of you sleep made it hard for me to resist."

"How long was I out?"

“Over an hour.” He stretched as if to emphasize how long we’d been there.

"And the others?" I peered toward the front. Gemma was sleeping too.

"Gemma not long, Jared as long as you."

"This has to be a record for sleep for him." I glanced at Jared again. His eyes were tightly closed, and his breathing was still steady and deep.

"I’d think so. Pterons sleep even less than us."

Than us. Maybe he meant all bears, but I got the sense he meant our clan specifically. It was still strange to consider myself so integral to a clan, but on the other hand intrinsically I believed it. I’d never felt comfortable with Murphy’s makeshift group, but my family’s clan was different. The people of Norco were real. They worked together because they actually belonged together. They tied their fate to one another and believed they had to in order to succeed. At another stage of my life I’d have scoffed at the ‘our hearts beat as one’ attitude, but now I could respect it. The world was a dark place when you were on your own.

"Do you think I can actually do this?" Slade didn't know me, but I figured that might mean he'd be more honest.

"This whole situation is crazy, so I don't know what I think." He stared out the windshield rather than at me.

"Yet you are driving toward the haven." I knew all about doing things you didn’t completely understand, but Slade didn’t strike me as the type to act that way. He appeared more careful and calculated, although something was behind his decision to join us.

He glanced over at Gemma as though he wanted to make sure she was sleeping. "Someone's got to try something. Might as well be me."

"Are you on a suicide mission, or do you want to be the hero?" I found that most times men did drastic things for one of three reasons. The third was to get some, but I didn’t think that’s what was at play here.

"Neither. I care about our people. I know I'm strong, and I will use that strength to do my duty. Your father believed I was the right man for the job. I trust his judgment, and I believe in my own strength."

“That’s surprisingly logical.”

“Our clan is logical. It’s part of who we are.”

“Yet we’re also superstitious and follow rules set centuries ago.” I was only beginning to see this.

“What does one have to do with the other?”

“Nothing I guess.”

“You’re logical too.” He turned toward me. “At least you are when you trust yourself.”

“Then how does Jared fit in?” I looked over. He was still sound asleep. Was it logical to pick an arrogant, albeit unbelievably addicting, Pteron as my mate? Of course I hadn’t really picked him, but as far as Slade knew I had.

“He’s strong and protective. He’s also powerful. Choosing him was a strategic choice.”

“He’s not a bear. He’s a Pteron.” That fact had enraged plenty of bears at the ceremony.

“Despite what happened at the ceremony, your decision was a fine one.”

“It wasn’t a decision I was ready to make.”

“You were. You would have found another way out if that was true.”

“What way out of it? I was backed in a corner.” I had to pick someone, and Jared was the only remotely plausible one. Besides, I knew he’d help me find an out.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. Your decision showed strength. Jared is a helpful ally even if he does annoy the hell out of me.”

I glanced over, expecting Jared to open his eyes. I couldn’t imagine he was really still sleeping.

His breathing remained even. He must have been seriously worn out.

I decided it was time to change the subject. "How crazy is the haven going to be?"

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“That’s not true. You know more about these witches, the crystals, the magic and everything.”

“I don’t know anything about the haven. It’s best that we expect the worse. It’s likely impenetrable and dangerous to outsiders.”

“Are witches anything but dangerous?” In my experience they weren’t.

“Not often.”

“Hey.” Gemma yawned.

“Have a nice nap?” Slade turned to her.

“Yes.” She rolled her shoulders and stretched. “Where are we?”

“I asked the same question when I woke up.”

“About an hour out. I figured there was no reason to get closer until everyone was awake and ready to go.”

She looked over at Jared. “He’s sleeping?”

“Yes. He must have been more tired than he thought.”

“I don’t like it.” Gemma unbuckled and climbed into the back.

I edged away to make room, but I didn’t particularly like doing it. Watching someone near Jared really brought my territorial side out.

She pushed his shoulder. “Jared?”

He didn’t stir.

She put her hands on his cheeks.

“What are you doing?”

“Shh.” Gemma put a finger over her lips. “Let me work.”

“But what are you working on? He’s sleeping.” As I said the word, I started to doubt it. Jared was sleeping unnaturally deep and long.

“Something is definitely up. He’s in too deep of a sleep.” Gemma watched Jared with a worried expression.

“Have Vera kiss him and wake him up.” Slade laughed.

“That’s actually not that crazy of an idea…” Gemma looked at me.

“Uh, this isn’t a fairytale.” Real life never was. Even when you met the right guy, the rest of the world had to be going crazy.

“No… but he did get touched by origin crystals. We had no idea what effect they’d have on a Pteron—” Gemma looked away.

Yet we’d pressured him to use them. I was hit by guilt. “You think the crystals hurt him? You think we hurt him?”

“I didn’t say he’s hurt, but he’s in a deep sleep that isn’t normal. It can’t be permanent though,” Gemma added as though it changed anything.

“It better not be.” I elbowed Gemma and crawled onto Jared’s lap. I leaned over and kissed him. As soon as I touched my lips to his, my head started to spin, and everything got hazy.