Shadows of Fire (The Shadow Realms, Book 1) by Brenda Davies (free e books to read .TXT) 📕

did a little sadness. Thelast thing she needed was a baby in this crazy world, and one whosefather would never know about its existence, but she couldn’t shakeher lingering disappointment.

She tucked Sahira’s bottle of birth controlinto a cabinet where she wouldn’t see it and closed the door. Shewouldn’t have any use for it again for a while. Asshole or not, itwould be some time before she moved on from Cole.

Through it all, she realized that either Colewas not her consort, or she lacked another vampire trait. From whatshe’d heard, a vampire who lost their consort was inconsolable andoften went to the grave soon after.

While she was grieving and lost, she didn’tplan to die any time soon, and she wasn’t inconsolable. Life wenton, she would get over this, and one day, she would forget him justas he’d forgotten her.

Or at least she hoped she would.

At least she hadn’t been foolish enough tolove him. But as she told herself this, she recognized it asanother lie.

On the morning of the eighth day, she wentout to dispense as much food as they could spare to the dejectedpeople rambling past the manor. Most were looking for work or food,but some seemed so broken that she wasn’t sure they knew where theywere anymore.

They couldn’t spare much food, but theircrops would soon be ready to harvest, and they were alreadygathering peas and tomatoes from the garden.

On the tenth day, she fed the people beforeheading into the woods. She had to gather some supplies from theshed before heading for the garden.

She emerged from the shed with a shovel andgloves when something zipped through the tree’s shadows. It movedso fast she couldn’t tell what it was, but it was something morethan human, and that meant it was a threat.

Lexi dropped her gloves and shifted her holdon the shovel as she prepared to bash in the brains of whatever wasmoving through those trees. She caught another blur of movement toher right and turned to face it.

Whatever was out there was screwing with thewrong immortal. She’d never sought a fight before, but she’d gladlytake her anger at Cole out on this asshole.

And then the blur vanished. She stared at thepine tree it stopped behind as she willed it to emerge. Was itMalakai?

Her heart raced at the possibility. Shehadn’t seen him since that day with Cole, but she didn’t kidherself into thinking he wasn’t coming back.

Lexi held her breath as she waited to see ifMalakai had finally returned. After a few seconds, Orin steppedout.

For a second, she was relieved to see himinstead of Malakai, and then she recalled how much trouble he couldcause her, and she scowled at him.

He grinned at her as he eyed the shovel andlifted his hands. “Easy there, killer.”

She shifted her hold on the shovel. She’dtold him never to come back here, and she’d meant it.

“What are you doing here?” she snapped.

His eyebrows rose, and even she was surprisedby the vehemence of her tone. But she’d had enough of him andall dark fae. As far as she was concerned, they could allreturn to the Gloaming and rot there.

“What has your panties in a bunch?” he askedwith wry humor.

“You’re disgusting.”

He grinned as he leaned against a tree. Hecrossed his legs and folded his arms over his lean chest. Thestriking similarities between him and Cole only made her want tohit him more.

“So I’ve been told,” he murmured. “But Ithink I’m pretty amazing.”

“You’re the only one.” She bent and liftedher gloves from the ground, hefted the shovel over her shoulder,and started through the woods. She’d prefer to smack him with theshovel, but she didn’t want to be anywhere near him. “Get out ofhere.”

“Would you like all of us toleave?”

His words froze her, and for a minute, shestared straight ahead as she watched the sun’s rays playing throughthe trees and listened to the bird’s song. It was such a peaceful,beautiful morning, and she’d been looking forward to losing herselfin the garden. She wanted her hands in the dirt and the rich aromaof the earth filling her nostrils as it eased her heartache.

Instead, she was dealing with asshole numbertwo of the dark fae realm. His older brother had taken over thetitle of asshole number one.

With a sigh, she turned back to him. Sheopened her mouth to ask what he was talking about, but before shecould, more shadows moved through the trees and drew closer.

The first one to emerge was a young womanholding a small boy in her arms. The woman was human, but the tinyfangs on the boy indicated he was part vampire. Soot streaked theirnoses, cheeks, and torn clothes as they stared at her from hauntedeyes. No child should have eyes that wise and sad, but sufferingetched his face.

From behind them, more people and immortalsemerged from the woods. In the end, three men, two women, a littlegirl, and the boy stood before her.

She stared at their battered countenancesbefore shifting her attention to Orin. She’d prefer never to speakto him again, but she couldn’t walk away from these people.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

He stepped away from the tree and approachedher. “They’re being hunted.”

“Why? And by who?”

“Because they survived the marketplace and bythe Lord’s followers. No one was supposed to survive theattack, but they did.”

“I….” Her gaze flicked to them as Orinstopped before her. “I don’t understand.”

He clasped her elbow and led her a few feetaway. She glowered at him as they walked, but she followed him.There was no point fighting when she wanted answers.

“Yes, you do,” Orin said as he stopped andturned to face her. “They’re on the run.”

Lexi jerked her arm free of his grasp andgave him a seething look. “And you’re helping to keep themalive?”

“Yes.”

She studied him, but she didn’t see anythingsmug in his gaze this time. No, all she saw was an earnestness thattempted her to punch him. He was an asshole, and she much preferredhim that way.

She was sick of being used and manipulated bythe dark fae, and even if Orin meant well, she’d told him never toreturn. He was using these people to manipulate her into doing whathe