Wolf Shifter Diaries: Lies Tamed (Sweet Paranormal Wolf & Fae Fantasy Romance Series Book 2) by E. Hall (13 inch ebook reader .TXT) 📕

“What do you propose we do, Greyson?”

“Release Kenna and the others, and you and I can figure it out,” my dad says.

That ticks my vampire off. “Release us?” I say, striding forward. “I’m not anyone’s to barter.” Corbin receives my darkest look.

“Oh, but you are. I’m a Council member. I hold the threads to your fate.” Melchior laughs darkly.

A blood curdling cackle rushes out of me. Must be the vamp influence. On instinct, I thrust my fists at the fae king, shoving him back. He staggers, taken off guard.

I stride forward, closing the space between us.

He smooths his shining robe. “You will pay for that with your life.” A blast of cloudy magic rocks from Melchior’s hands.

Greyson angles the scepter in front of me at the same time I attempt to block it with what feels like a shield.

At my back, the werewolf rouses. Corbin attacks.

The night fills with the electric sounds of fae magic coming from Clove and Melchior and a deep cracking as it rebounds off the scepter my father wields. I wonder where he found it. I’m not looking for answers. They’ll have to come later. Power and anger consume me.

Scuffling and growls mix with the wind whipping through the trees, causing branches to scratch and night birds to hoot.

To my father, Melchior says, “I’ll restore your life if you give me the scepter.”

“I care not for my life, but the future of the magical world.”

“Then what will you consider?”

“You know very well, Councilman,” Greyson grinds out.

Melchior tilts his head as though considering the demand. The surrounding air stills. “Inspired, but no. That won’t work.”

Clove steps forward, giving our father a careful sidelong glance. “Melchior, you made me a promise if I brought you Magical’s Most Wanted.”

“Didn’t your mother teach you that fae are tricky?” Melchior glances at the woman in the chariot.

She must be Jana.

Clove glowers. My expression matches my brother’s, only it’s aimed at him. I cannot believe he betrayed me too.

Melchior folds his hands together. “I suppose a happy family reunion will not be on order today. What a shame. Visalia, finish the wolf. Jana, do something about your pest of a son.” He turns to Greyson and me. “I don’t have the time or interest in negotiations.” His voice is like thunder.

Watching his every move, my father angles the scepter at Melchior. The king’s eyes are obsidian and the air surrounding him is thick.

He reaches for the scepter, but Greyson shoves it forward, piercing him. His face flashes with surprise. Iron tips the scepter. When his drop of blood falls to the forest floor, my hunger flares. It consumes me. I’ve never wanted something so much in my life.

The wolf and fae have receded within. My vamp nature has taken over. The thirst for blood blankets my mind, pulling my attention toward him. Whereas it once made me queasy, now an unnatural longing fills me.

The wind Melchior controls threatens to knock me off my feet, but I continue to advance on him. I am not a hunter seizing my prey or a puppet master pulling the strings or a game player manipulating my pawns.

I lock on my target. The king is mine.

The vague awareness of Corbin and the werewolf fighting nearby and my father and Clove, along with Jana struggling over the scepter fades.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Pieces of Melchior’s voice drift toward me over the wind. “You seek answers, the truth, and I can give them to you. I can give you the realm, Kenna.”

“I don’t want the realm.” A smile peels back on my lips. “I want your blood.” I lunge.

Pure instinct opens my mouth, forces my jaw to bite down. But before my teeth break the fae king’s skin, I’m blown back. Only, it’s not the fierce wind. Rather, Clove’s magic slides across my vision. I struggle to get up, but his power holds me down.

Melchior surges toward me, a riot of ego and anger. “She’s done.”

My father lunges with the scepter aimed directly at the fae king’s heart, but he falters, and it’s thrown from his hand.

Clove moves to catch it at the same time his mother, Jana, extends her arm. The gold handle lands in her hand. In one swift motion, she thrusts it at my father, stabbing him.

I kick to standing at the same time my father, already a ghost, seems to flickers, a candle shifting in the breeze. “Dad, are you okay?” I ask, shaking off the bloodthirsty vampire trance.

My mother appears out of nowhere, throwing back a red hood, and crouching in front of my dad.

He whispers, “Don’t let Melchior have the scepter.”

Jana’s eyes flash cruelly. “I’ll be returning this to my king.”

I’m on my feet and grip the other end of the cold metal handle. The three prongs angle toward her.

“Give it to me,” I say over the roar of the wind.

Someone grips my shoulders.

Jana’s eyes widen, and then I’m falling toward her with the scepter between us. Clove’s hands drop from my shoulders at the same time iron tips drive into her stomach. She drops back. Clove rushes past me. He must have shoved me so the momentum forced the scepter to stab her.

Wrenching it from his mother, he lifts it in awe and triumph before releasing a blur of blindingly bright magic and disappearing from sight along with the scepter.

I hurry back to my parents.

“What can I do? How can we stop this?” I ask.

“Break the curse,” my father mutters. With a warm look at both my mother and me, he turns faint and then fades completely.

Cold apprehension, fear, and sadness crawl through me. I try grasping for my father, but he’s gone.

I don’t know