Fated Betrayal: A Paranormal Erotic Romance (The Twisted Destiny Saga Book 2) (2 page)

“I’m sorry,” he told her, apologizing for almost wolfing out at her father.

The barrier dissipated and Vazra lowered his palm. He spoke softly as he looked at Cora and told her, “You are purely supernatural, Cora. I had no choice but to put you in a suspended sleep. The white magic in you was so strong, so powerful, that sending you directly to the human realm without a transition like an induced
dormio
would have killed you. The transition was necessary. Your own body determined the length of time that was needed in sleep before you were ready to awaken safely in the human realm.”

“I could have protected her,” Ryan told him.

“You were too close with your brother at that point in time, Ryan. The risk would have been too great. You were not aware of the extent of Luca’s manipulations at that time. You wouldn’t have seen his betrayal. He would have stolen her away, right under your nose.”

“This is Nathanial’s doing, not yours and not my father’s,” Cora said.

Both Ryan and Vazra were taken aback by her quick acceptance of such an awful revelation, of the fact that she had lost so much of her life because of circumstances.

“How are you so calm?” Ryan asked.

“
Because
, I know.”

“Know what?” he asked, pressing her further.

Cora looked at her father and smiled as she questioned, “
You
led me to Ryan that night, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What? It was Luca. He tapped into your magic and awakened something in you. We figured that out, remember?”

Cora shook her head. “No. That’s what I’d thought too at the time. But the feeling inside me that night, guiding me—I just felt it now when I touched the barrier. It was my father’s magic.”

Vazra smiled at her. “Yes. When Luca tapped your power, it sent out a beacon to me. I was able to reach you then from the White Realm. I knew where Ryan was—I had been keeping an eye on him for a long time, as I had promised his father I would prior to his death. I guided you to him. As soon as Luca found you I knew you were no longer safe and that I had failed in that regard. I knew then that I had to get you to Ryan as soon as possible because you did not understand our world, but Ryan did. I knew he would be able to protect you.”

“I—I didn’t realize,” Ryan told Vazra.

“Is that an apology?” Vazra asked with amusement.

Ryan scoffed. “Don’t push it.”

Cora took his hand and pressed it to her belly. “This is what matters now, baby.”

Ryan couldn’t help smiling back at her. He knew what she was doing. She was trying to make him calm the hell down and let her father off the hook by making him focus on their child. And, damn her, it was working. She had him wrapped around her little finger. He would never have—and had never—calmed down so quickly for anyone. But Cora wasn’t just anyone. She was his mate. And that gave her a power over him that no one else had. It worked both ways, too. He heaved a heavy breath and nodded at her.
Fine, I’ll let it go. For now.

“Thank you,” she said.

“There is much we need to discuss about the coming war. But first, a little break may be advisable,” Vazra said. “Why don’t you visit the royal gardens?”

It was obvious to Ryan what Vazra was really saying. He wanted him to calm down so he’d be in an agreeable mood for when they sat down to talk business.

“I think that’s a good idea, right, baby?” Cora asked.

Ryan nodded and hissed, “Yes.”

“My guards are right outside the door. They will give you directions. I will gather my Royal Court and we will all meet at nightfall.”

Cora nodded and Ryan let her lead him out of the throne room.

CHAPTER 2

“I feel like a Hollywood movie star. It’s…odd,” Cora told Ryan as they walked hand in hand through the royal gardens.

“Having their princess return after so many years is a huge thing, Cora.”

Ever since they’d left the throne room and made their way to the royal gardens, they’d been besieged by curious glances and a flurry of hushed whispers as they’d walked by faeries, white witches, warlocks, and many other beings in the palace corridors.

There were whispers of excitement and joy:

The princess returns.

It is her, Cora, the White Realm Princess.

And then there were anxious whispers:

The Wolf King walks in the White Realm!

The princess is with a wolf!

When they had reached the gardens a few moments earlier, both of them had been floored by the absolute beauty before them. Ryan had never seen anything like it. The Dark Realm was nothing but death; there were no gardens. And Cora had only ever seen nature in the human realm. Here, in the royal gardens, things were completely different. It really was another world altogether. Shimmering silver, lilac, bright blue, and turquoise foliage surrounded either side of the glowing, white, pebble path that they walked along. The flowers were huge and their colors far more vibrant.
And
they moved as Ryan and Cora walked by. Cora had touched one that looked a lot like a rose and it had made a peaceful humming sound as her fingers had skimmed lightly across its petals. There was a powerful energy emanating from the gardens that they had both picked up on. A calming serenity.

“Have you seen anything like this before—in the Dark Realm?” Cora asked.

Ryan shook his head. “No, everything there is blood and death. Nothing like this. Where there are flowers here, there are thorns there. And where there are picturesque ponds and fountains here, there are pits of lava there.”

He saw her shudder at his words.

He wrapped his arm around her and drew her close. “I never want to take you there. You belong in the light, my love. And so does our child.”

“Wolves don’t belong in the Dark Realm, Ryan. They are not dark creatures.”

“You’ve only ever met wolves born in the human realm. Trust me when I tell you that the wolves in the Dark Realm
are
dark.”

She looked up at him as she said, “You were born in the Dark Realm and you’re not evil.”

Ryan looked away as he said, “I learned to control my darker side. But I’ve…done things, Cora. I’m no angel.”

“What? Like what?”

Before he could answer, they both stopped short at what they saw through a clearing up ahead.

A dozen faeries—male and female—were fooling around in a majestic waterfall that cascaded into a golden pool beneath. Their shimmering, silver wings fluttered rapidly as they enjoyed themselves, some swimming in the pool, some pleasuring one another under the waterfall and on the grass embankments, and others lying peacefully and looking up at the thousands of bright stars in the sky. They were all naked, their clothes discarded behind the waterfall.

Cora held her hand over Ryan’s eyes to shield his view of the naked women. “No looking.”

He chuckled and eased her hand down.

“Relax. You’re the only woman worth looking at, my love.”

As soon as he spoke, the faeries started in shock. All eyes turned to them and they focused on him. The women squealed and the men gasped. And in a flash of blinding silver light they were gone as though they’d never been there.

“Why did they leave?” Cora asked him sadly.

“Because of me.”

“What?”

“They sensed dark energy.”

“Oh,” she murmured, frowning.

He could see she was upset that they’d reacted that way to him.

“Come,” she said suddenly, taking his hand and pulling him towards the waterfall.

He laughed as he let her pull him along. She released him and stopped right at the edge of the pool. He watched her shed her leather jacket, quickly followed by her tank top.

“What are you doing?”

“Going for a swim,” she said simply. “With my husband.”

I’m not gonna say “no” to that.
He followed her lead. “Where’s my shy little wife gone all of a sudden?” he asked as he stripped quickly.

“I don’t know. I guess…here…I feel different.”

He nodded his understanding. “You always had to hide who you were before in the human realm.”

“Yeah.”

“It meant you never explored who you really were. You closed yourself off and it made you shy. And…you were a virgin for so long, which made you shy around men like me. But now…” he said and stopped, watching her as she stood naked before him and winked at him slyly. “Now, darlin’. Now, you’re so free.”

He shed the last of his clothes and lunged at her, driving her into the pool. She shrieked as they hit the water with a heavy splash.

She resurfaced first and as she came up for air, he saw her smiling at him happily. “I think it’s also the baby.”

Of course.
“The
wolf
.”

“Yep.”

She reached out and stroked his chest and they both gasped in surprise as a powerful wave of euphoria rushed over them. She drew back quickly, panting hard.

“You felt that?” she asked.

“Yeah. Do it again.”

She pressed her hands to his chest and he shuddered.

“Oh God,” she breathed. “I’ve never felt…what is that?”

“The water must be enchanted,” he said, taking her hands and pulling her with him until they stood under the waterfall.

He watched her eyes glow silver, brighter than he’d ever seen them do before. He could feel his doing the same. All he could focus on was her touch. It consumed him wholly. They were only holding hands and the sensation coursing through him was already approaching pure bliss. And, by the look on her face, and the way she was panting, she felt it too.

Before he could stop himself, his mouth was on her left tit, kissing, sucking, and nipping her ravenously. She moaned and arched her back, pushing it further into his mouth. As he turned his attention to the other one, she wrapped her legs around him and drove herself onto his cock without warning. He was already hard and wanting, but the shock of her suddenly impaling her tight, hot pussy on his cock caused him to grunt loudly and pull away from her tit.

“Ah fuck, Cora. Yes, ride me, darlin’.”

She rode him like a wild animal, screaming shrilly, pulling almost all the way off his cock and then driving herself all the way back down his length, burying him inside her, right to the hilt.

A powerful desire, a frantic need, the likes of which he had never felt before, gripped him, taking complete control. He couldn’t think. He just needed her. He was already inside her, but it wasn’t enough. He needed more. So much more. He was on fire, needing her closer. Craving release immediately.

He felt his claws drop, but he was powerless to stop it. Some inexplicable force urged him on. He swiped them across her chest, drawing a deep wound. She hissed, but instead of deterring him like hearing her in pain normally would have, it spurred him on. He lapped at the blood trickling from the wound he’d inflicted, reveling in the power rush her blood always gave him. But this time it was far more potent and he let himself go, roaring as he released himself into her.

But it still wasn’t enough.

His cock was still rigid inside her and showed no sign of calming down.

She ground her pussy against him and he felt her contract around him.

“More! Yes! More!” she screamed in ecstasy as she came hard. “It’s not…enough,” she breathed. “Not enough, Ryan. I need more. Now,” she pleaded, her eyes filling with tears from the depth of her need.

He barely recognized her voice at all. It was like someone else was speaking through her, or
something
else. But in that moment he didn’t care. He just wanted to fuck her more. Harder. More brutally. He wanted to fuck her like the animal that he really was.

No, not wanted. Needed.

He had to.

He found himself biting down on the sensitive flesh between her neck and her shoulder.

But not with his human teeth this time.

No, somehow his wolf teeth had come to the surface.

First his claws and now his teeth.

He’d somehow become caught in a half-shift of some sort.

Something in the back of his mind told him to stop, but it was barely more than a distant whisper. The pull to continue was much stronger.

His sharp incisors broke through her skin with ease. She screamed as he ripped through her flesh brutally. Her blood rushed into his mouth. But, despite her screams, she didn’t try to stop him. She just kept riding him hard. He couldn’t count the number of times that she came around him in a powerful wave of multiple orgasms that left her screaming wildly through the still night.

His claws dug into her back, slicing her soft flesh apart, shredding her skin.

She stopped then and screamed in agony.

The sound of her agonized cries managed to reach something within him and he forced himself to pull his teeth out of her shoulder. But his claws kept shredding her. He found himself unable to control more than one thing at once.

“I can’t…stop…I….blast me…with your…power,” he choked out. “Now, Cora.”

“I…I’m too weak…too much blood loss. Please, Ryan. Stop. Please,” she begged, sobbing. “It hurts.”

Suddenly, Ryan felt strong hands on his shoulders. They ripped him from Cora and tossed him across the pool onto the grass embankment.

Instantly, the powerful feeling that had gripped him dissipated and he became cognizant of reality.
Fucking hell, what have I done?

“Cora!” he screamed.

“It’s okay,” a voice came from beside him suddenly.

Ryan turned to see a massive figure of a man approaching him with Cora in his arms. His shoulder-length, golden hair was tucked behind his pointed ears.
A faerie.
His eyes were a deep lilac. He wore dark blue, loose pants made of some sort of silk material. His white shirt billowed against the wind and it was open enough to reveal the start of his chiseled abs. He was clean-shaven and looked to be in his late twenties—in human years.

He knelt down with Cora in his arms, helping her into a sitting position. He couldn’t lay her down on account of the deep wounds on both her back and her chest. He held her tightly in his arms.

“Let me take her,” Ryan said, reaching for her.

“No,” the man said, tightening his hold on her protectively. “She needs to remain as still as possible so she can heal.”

Incensed that another man was holding his wife while she was wet and naked, Ryan emitted a low, threatening growl.

“You do not scare me, wolf,” the man said. “But I understand why you are uncomfortable. Let me ease your tension.”

Ryan watched as the man waved his right hand over Cora’s body. A white robe appeared on her suddenly, covering her nakedness. The man turned to him and did the same thing. Ryan looked down and found himself wearing a robe also.

He knelt down beside Cora and brought his wrist to his teeth. “My blood will heal her.”

“No, she will heal on her own. She does not need
your
blood,” he said with distaste.

“What?” Ryan snapped.

“Your blood is dark. She does not need more of it tainting her. She is pure. The White Realm Princess.”

“She is my wife!” Ryan growled.

“And what great care you have taken of her,” the man said, gesturing to her barely conscious state.

Ryan hesitated.
Shit, the son of a bitch is right. What have I done?
“I didn’t mean to…the water….”

“It’s enchanted. It brings out one’s deepest, innermost desires. It is not intended for Dark Realm creatures, because as you can see,
your
deepest desires are very dark indeed. Hers was pleasure. Yours was pain.”

“No,” Ryan said, shaking his head. “I would never hurt her intentionally.”

“Deep down you want to. The pool does not lie about these things.”

Before Ryan could respond and rip the guy a new one, Cora’s eyes opened and she pushed against the guy’s hold on her. The blood that had stained her white robe had dried now. She was healed. She looked up at the man holding her and drew back as though he’d just slapped her across the face. She scrambled to her feet and tightened the robe around her protectively.

“David?” she choked out.

“Yes, my princess,” he said, getting to his feet.

“David?” Ryan repeated. “Your ex-fiancé, David?” he demanded.

Cora nodded and then her gaze fell on Ryan. He stood up and reached for her but she drew back quickly.

“Cora?” he murmured, hurt that she was reacting like that to him. “It was the water. It was spelled. I am sorry, my love.”