Her slap took me by surprise and my head snapped to the side. I raised a hand to my stinging cheek even as she jabbed a finger in my face.
“Elena!” Vali roared, grabbing her hand to prevent another slap, even though I doubted she was going to try it again. She was grieving, not stupid.
“This is your fault,” she hissed at me, her words vibrating with fury and grief. “She is dead because of you. Will you never get tired of bringing so much death and destruction to those who love you? Who will be next, huh? My brothers?”
“Elena, you are way out of line,” Vali growled in a menacing way, but she ignored him. Instead she just glared at me with poison and hate in her eyes.
I said nothing in my own defense. What the hell was there to say? She had just perfectly echoed the thoughts that had run through my mind only seconds earlier.
“Elena,” Vali tried to redirect her ire again, “she didn’t—”
“She didn’t what?” Elena whirled on her older brother, her mouth twisted in an ugly scowl and her words dripping with scorn. “She sure as shit didn’t keep Lucy safe. Nor did she come for her when that psychopath had us locked in a cage for close to two weeks. And yet Lucy never stopped defending you. Right up to her last moment, she was defending her precious, beleaguered Kit.” She sneered at me in disgust. “You’ve done nothing to deserve that sort of loyalty from her, and then she died for you. I hope her face haunts you for your eternal life, you piece of shit.” She spat at my feet, then turned on her heel and stalked back down the hill to where a dark-haired man was just arriving in a blacked-out town car.
When Elena spotted him, her pace increased to a run, and she launched herself, sobbing, into his arms. Over her head, Finn met my eyes with pain in his own, and I looked away.
“Regina,” Vali said, trying to take my hand once more, but I jerked out of his grip.
“No, she’s right. You know it, too.” I tucked my hands under my arms, hugging my body tight and steeling myself for what needed to be done. I’d saved Simon and Lucy over and over again when we’d been at the orphanage. I’d saved them from Mr. Gray and all the other sick psychos. So that what? My mother could torture Lucy and kill her. So that Simon could butcher my friends and murder the one real father I’d ever had. Yeah, I’d saved them, and look what happened. My kind of saving wasn’t really a blessing, was it? “Lucy’s death is on me. As is Jonathan’s, and River...” I sucked a deep breath, remembering the midnight black, fire-eyed beast he had become. A hell-hound, according to the supernatural bible. Or that was as close as Wesley could work out based on the sketchy details given within those pages. “Elena is right. I can’t keep putting you all at risk. It isn’t fair.”
“Regina, what are you saying? We’re bonded for all eternity. We’re in this together whether you like it or not.” There was a stubbornness to his voice, but it was underscored with pain. He knew what I was saying; he just didn’t want to make it so easy.
“That doesn’t mean you have to become collateral damage in my mother’s war,” I told him firmly. “I promised Lucy I would get revenge for what that bitch did to her, but I have no intention of losing any more of you along the way.” As I said the words aloud, I sensed my resolve hardening and my magic responding. Since breaking the bracelet off, it had been different... more sentient. And now it was angry. Furious. Blood-thirsty.
All I needed to do was embrace it.
“Kit,” Vali said, this time with a little more urgency to his voice. It was too late to talk me out of my plan, though. I was already opening myself to that dark, violent magic, feeling it fill my body and then flood my soul.
There would be no turning back from this. Not until Bridget was dead.
“Regina, love. Your eyes have turned black. What’s happening to you? Talk to me, please.” Vali sounded panicked. For the first time ever, fear echoed in his voice, his posture—even his eyes. That terror wasn’t anything I wanted to hear again, and that made it all so much easier to walk away. I couldn’t be the cause of my men’s loss of self.
Across the graveyard, the massive black form of River’s beast stepped out of the shadows of a tree, and I met his glowing, red eyes without hesitation. He was here for me, and on some level, I’d been waiting for him. River would never abandon me, no matter what darkness consumed either of us. He would help me in my quest, and when it was done... we would either be saved or damned.
Either way, my remaining loved ones would be safer, and Lucy would get her vengeance.
I blocked out the sounds of Vali’s protests, using my magic to keep him from following as I strode across the grass to where River waited. The last thing I saw before my hand touched his obsidian fur was my five remaining guardians running toward me, trying to stop me... from what? It didn’t matter.
The second my fingers touched fur, we were gone.
To be continued in The Alpha’s Pack...
About the Author
Hello! I’m Tate, or TJ, or Goldie 2. I write books about people who do things, meet other people, things happen and stuff gets said. I am a wine and coffee addict who swears too much and thinks of sarcasm as the highest form of wit.
For more rambling, contact me directly via my website!
www.tatejamesauthor.com
Or join my readers group on Facebook!
www.facebook.com/groups/tatejames.thefoxhole
Ps. Thank you so much for buying/reading The Crow’s Murder. If you made it this far, it’d mean the world if you left a review on amazon!
Also by Tate James
Kit Davenport Series #1 The Vixen’s Lead
#2 The Dragon’s Wing #3 The Tiger’s Ambush #4 The Viper’s Nest
#5 The Crow’s Murder #6 The Alpha’s Pack (2018)
Once Upon A Harem (multi author series) Trials of Deception (September 25th 2018)
Standalone Contemporary Slopes of Sin (November 2018)
Co-Authored by Tate James and C.M. Stunich
Hijinks Harem
#1 Elements of Mischief
#2 Elements of Ruin
#3 Elements of Desire
The Wild Hunt Motorcycle Club #1 Dark Glitter
#2 Cruel Glamour (2018)
#3 Torn Gossamer (2018)
Foxfire Burning
#1 The Nine
#2 The Tail Game (TBD)
Turn page for Chapter One of Trials of Deception…
TRIALS OF DECEPTION
By Tate James
Three trials. Three weeks. Three Royal Princes.
It should have been an easy task for a skilled mercenary like Rybet Waise. Simply break into the royal palace, and rescue her friend from the executioner's block. But when Rybet accidentally qualifies for the Trials, she finds herself with little choice but to see them through.
A thin veil of etiquette, elegance and glamour hides the true nature of the Trials. Behind closed doors, they are brutal and bloody, and to fail means to forfeit her life.
Thrust into the limelight and forced to compete with the Kingdom's elite sweethearts, unlikely allies emerge, and bonds are formed. But someone will stop at nothing to see her fail.
After all, she's nothing but a dirty Pond-dweller.
Rybet will do whatever it takes to survive until the Golden Ball, Princes be damned.
Trials Of Deception
Chapter One
“That one,” I whispered to the grubby faced boy beside me. “You see? The one with the beer gut? He's half asleep, an easy mark.”
We stared across the crowd to the cluster of guards following the smartly dressed Royal Steward as he went door to door through the richest part of Lakehaven—capital city of Teich—delivering invitations to the most eligible women in the kingdom.
“Are you sure now is the best time to be doing this?” my companion asked with a tremor in his voice. “Surely with the Trials about to start, everyone will be on high alert?”