Aidan and Brennan looked at each other in surprise as the girl laughed softly.“Well, you know her now; this is my dear great-granddaughter that I had to kill,” Lidora Nader said while handing the girl the nut bread. “Look what your grandmother did with her own hands!” she added theatrically.Briccia sniffed it with her eyes closed and smiled.“It smells delicious, Grandma, thank you. It would be great to eat it with chamomile tea. Can you put the kettle on for me?” she asked.The old woman gave her a kiss on the head and left the cabin as if nothing had happened while Briccia put the bread on the nearest table.“I suppose she already thinks of Summerville’s bakery as ‘her own hands,’” she teased, “but it’s the thought that counts.”“I see her very much alive...” Brennan murmured to Aidan, but it was the girl who replied.“And I hear very well, too. My grandmother likes to be very theatrical. She always says she had to kill me because everyone out there thinks I was born dead,” she ex
“I’m not sure I can answer that question for you.”‘I’m not sure I can answer that question for you?’ Was that all Maddox had to say?Rhiannon had turned that over in her head and Raksha’s a thousand times, until they had both fallen asleep, unable to understand why Maddox wore the exact same mark on his shoulder as Aidan and herself.She was sure she didn’t share the same kind of bond with him that she shared with Aidan; after all, the bond that linked her to Aidan had been meant to save her life. However, she knew her mark had been made by herself over the centuries, and Maddox having it had to mean something, right?“You’re driving me crazy,” was the first thing she heard in that early morning when she opened her eyes again.“I’m sorry. I guess I’m just too worried about this,” Rhiannon replied to her she-wolf.“More like you’re worried about everything else and you’re using this as a good excuse to escape it,” Raksha assured her.“Well... it doesn’t look like that’s going to chang
If Rhiannon really wanted to know what was really going on between her and Maddox, why she felt so strangely safe at his side, or why she had sensed that potential in him to become a Royal Alpha, then yes, perhaps that was the most dangerous question of all.The problem was that her head and heart had deceived her before. She had let all her feelings take the lead, and they had failed her...maybe it was time to let instinct guide her.She caught the first ring between her index finger and her thumb and popped the clasp open, feeling Maddox’s grunt of satisfaction as she pulled it out of his ear. She had felt it as well when Raksha had forced out all the silver from her body, she just hadn’t had time to enjoy it as she should have, or at least not as he seemed to enjoy it.She removed the second ring and could see the hair on Maddox’s skin stand on end as he closed her eyes. Silver no longer had an effect on her, but she knew that those four hoops piercing his cartilage were, by far, m
Brennan held him up as he cursed loudly, attracting the attention of Briccia and old Lidora.The priestess’s eyes turned as blue as her wolf’s as she examined the wound.“Silver bullet,” she murmured. “Do you feel very bad?”“They wounded her... they wounded Rhiannon...” was all Aidan could mumble, his eyes wild.“Calm down, she’s healing,” Briccia assured him, and his face took on a strange calmness. “But this is only the beginning. This means they’re already hunting her.”Aidan’s jaw tightened, feeling Akela howl inside him in despair. Briccia placed a hand over his wound and his eyes clouded over completely, losing all the brightness that her wolf's eyes had given her.“I’m so sorry to tell you this, but you’ll have to take sides,” the girl whispered in a sad voice. “The war is about to begin... and I’m afraid you won’t make it in time for the first battle.”And indeed, hundreds of miles away from them, the first hunt led by King Caerbhall against the resistance had already begun.
Rhiannon had no memory of the minutes she had spent in the company of the Goddess after her death when she was only ten years old. She couldn’t remember the moment Raksha had been bestowed on her or when her body had changed... The only memory that lingered in her mind was that she had saved the world from a destroyer summoned by the Goddess herself to wipe out the corrupted race of lycans.That night she had not only saved a baby but an entire race. However, she had allowed herself to forget that the Goddess’ destroyer had remained on Earth alive, latent, and unnoticed... and that it was her responsibility.It was only logical then that he had been an outcast all his life, it was logical that his mere presence made the lycans nervous, and it was truly fortunate that he had been cautious enough to know how to control himself with silver since the power of a Royal Alpha was little compared to the power a destroyer of the Goddess was capable of invoking... and right that moment, the que
No one had touched a single hair on King Caerbhall’s head since he had been locked up in one of the cells of the compound, perhaps that was why he was angrier than could be expected. Mind you, the gag hadn’t been removed either so he wouldn’t disturb, so the mixture of drool with blood and sweat had brought His Majesty down a couple of notches on the seat of royalty.Finally, around noon, he felt himself being dragged out of the cell and into the center of the complex. There was no auditorium there, but it seemed that everyone had settled where they could to see what was about to happen.Eleven elders served as jurors, and the trial was presided over by Dereck, the Alpha of the European packs.Rhiannon stood off to the side with two of her paladins because Maddox was busy patrolling back and forth along the compound wall, from one tower to the other, as if readying himself for some attack from the outside.“Everything all right with him?” Alanna asked Rhiannon pointing towards him, an
“Are you sure about this?” Maddox murmured who was very close to her, and Rhiannon turned to meet his gaze.“Am I sure I can execute my family’s murderer?” she asked, raising a contemptuous eyebrow. “What do you think?”Around them the lycans began to move toward the grounds outside the compound. Ano ver two hundred yards perimeter was made with a double line of soldiers guarding it along with the paladins, Cedrik, Dereck, and General Gallagher. None trusted that Caerbhall’s plans were restricted to the duel alone, for they all knew that, according to the ancient laws, even victory did not guarantee him freedom.“If he kills me—” she said, turning to Maddox.“Don’t even think about it!” he interrupted her.“If he kills me,” she insisted, “don’t let him get out of here alive, okay?”“If he kills you, we won’t have a queen for this rebellion,” Maddox scolded her.“No, you’ll have a martyr, which is much better.” She laughed sadly. “Without Caerbhall and Aidan there would only be Erea. I
There was not a single cry from the crowd, either of horror or surprise, to indicate that they disagreed with the way that freed wolf was tearing his lycan apart; and by the time the Keqzhara’s circle of protection vanished, Milo, Alissa, Hikaru, and Raksha were already restraining him, for it was evident that he was severely unhinged.Rhiannon gestured Alanna to leave them alone; after all, Aidan couldn’t hurt her without hurting himself.The field gradually cleared until only Aidan, his Beta, Rhiannon, and the stony figure of Maddox, ten yards away, remained; no word or gesture form Alanna had made him leave the place.Rhainnon released Brennan’s bonds, and Brennan untied Aidan’s.“You could have fought for him,” Rhainnon murmured. “He was a murderer, but he was your father.”“I know I could have fought, but I wouldn’t sacrifice Akela to a deranged wolf,” Aidan growled, staring at the ground as he wiped tears from his face. “I swore to protect him before anyone else, and my word is