Fated Ties: A Werewolf Paranormal Romance Novel (The Twisted Destiny Saga Book 3) (2 page)

As soon as he did, Oriana bounded over to Ryan and wrapped her arms around him. She held him tightly in a motherly hug for a long while. “I have missed you so much, my son,” she breathed. She only pulled back when the wolf pup suddenly emitted a low growl.

“He’s on edge,” Ryan explained.

She nodded her understanding. “May I?” she asked, reaching out her arms. “I would love to hold my grandson.”

Ryan smiled at her and handed him over carefully.

“He is only a few days old, yes? How has he shifted to wolf form?”

“He was unsettled by Luca and Michael’s attack,” Ryan told her.

As Nathanial looked on at the scene in front of him, he knew immediately that something was very wrong. It was the look in Oriana’s eyes as she held the wolf pup in her arms. She was scrutinizing him, studying him. It was very discreet, but they had been married for centuries and he knew her well. As if to prove his point, the wolf pup’s quiet growls escalated to ferocious. He swiped his claws at her, drawing a deep scratch along her upper arm. Ryan rushed forward and took him from her quickly.

“Sorry. He’s never…that’s the first time he’s reacted like that.”

Nathanial eyed Marella and spoke to her through telepathy,
“Wolves have the keenest senses of all supernatural species. He’s sensing something from her—some ill intention.”

Before Marella could respond, Oriana asked her, “What are you doing here in the Dark Realm?”

“The child needed someone of white magic to accompany him across the realms.”

“And
you
offered to come, knowing all you know about Nathanial and what he did to me?”

Nathanial growled and stepped between her and Marella. “Get. Out,” he said, seething.

“You do not command me, Nathanial!” she thundered as she called her magic to her and both her palms flashed with silver light. Silver light that was tinged with black.

“You do not use black magic in my realm, Oriana!” he roared, gripping her wrists and forcing her palms down, away from him.

Suddenly, Ryan forced his way in between them. “Mom, stop. Calm the fuck down,” he urged. He looked at her as he held Nathanial at bay behind him. “We can’t keep reliving the past, or we’re just gonna keep making the same mistakes over and over again.”

“He killed your father, Ryan!”

Ryan took her hand in his gently and she absorbed her power immediately to avoid hurting him. “I know, Mom. I know. But we
have
to move forward. There’s too much at stake.”

“How can you say—?”

“
Because
my son is the bridge.”

“I am well aware,” she said tersely, her glare fixed on the wolf pup.

“Mom?”

“Your majesty!”
a call came from the Great Hall, startling all of them.

Nathanial recognized the voice instantly. His chief advisor, Haraz. “They are here,” he told Oriana.

She reached for Ryan and ran her hand tenderly along his cheek before saying softly, “There is so much you do not know, my son.” And then her gaze fixed upon the wolf pup again. “And I am sorry, but I must do this.”

Before any of them could respond, she raised her hands, enveloping herself in a bright, silver light. And then she disappeared.

Ryan looked between Marella and Nathanial and asked, “Was that a threat?”

“I—” Nathanial began.

But he was interrupted by Haraz and his three other advisors rushing into the lounge. Haraz fixed him with an intense, expectant stare.

Nathanial eyed Marella and Ryan, telling them, “I must deal with this.” And with that, he ushered his advisors into the Great Hall, leaving the two of them to deal with the shock of Oriana’s return.

CHAPTER 2

Marella stood in between the stacks on the second level of the Great Hall. She held a mammoth volume before her with her magic. It floated in front of her. She flicked her wrist lightly and the page turned at her command. After more than an hour of searching, she’d finally found the book she’d been looking for.
Unification: The Bridge.
Following Oriana’s unsettling parting words to Ryan, she realized she needed to know more about the
bridge
, his and Cora’s son, in order to try to figure out the significance of her sister’s comments. Had her words really been intended as a threat? And, if so, what had it really meant? What was she trying to do?

“Avoiding me, angel?” Nathanial’s voice came from behind her suddenly.

She jumped at his sudden unexpected presence. It caused her to lose control of her magic and the book fell towards the ground. In a flash of vampire speed, Nathanial was there, catching it in his strong arms before it hit the ground and she lost the page she’d been reading. He smirked at her and looked at the title on the huge, brown, leather-bound book. He cocked an eyebrow. “The
bridge
?”

“I’m trying to understand more about the significance of Ryan’s son, so I can determine whether Oriana’s words to him were a threat. She doesn’t make idle threats, Nathanial.”

Nathanial nodded. “She does not.” He gave the book a light tap and it rose in mid-air once again, floating in front of Marella, in the exact position that it had been prior to his arrival.

“Thank you,” she said, impressed by his thoughtful gesture and the amazing ease with which he had just used his magic. He was stronger in that respect than she remembered. “You’ve been practicing over the last couple of centuries?”

“My ex-wife is one of the most powerful sorceresses in all the realms. She has a huge grudge against me. It was necessary for me to do so.”

She nodded sadly. “I see.”

An awkward silence fell between them. Words that both of them wanted to say were frozen on their lips. It had been an entire day since Oriana had shown up in the Dark Realm, so unceremoniously and the two of them had barely spoken at all, aside from a polite nod here and there whenever they’d passed by one another in the castle. The air was thick with tension between them.

Marella suddenly broke it and called to Nathanial, her finger on a passage in the book, studying it intently. “Look,” she said, ushering him over to her.

He peered over her shoulder and they read the passage together:
“Born of both the dark and the white and being a hybrid wolf, the bridge possesses instincts more sensitive than any supernatural creature in existence. His senses are attuned to both white and dark creatures. Moreover, he has the ability to communicate with beings across all realms. The bridge is eternal, not bound by the laws of nature, nor mortality.”

Nathanial gasped. “He cannot be killed.”

“This also explains why he reacted the way he did to Oriana. She
is
a threat to him and he felt it immediately. It is also why he has remained in wolf form and did not shift back. She must still be somewhere in the Dark Realm. He cannot be reacting to Luca and Michael anymore as they are imprisoned and not a threat right now,” Marella added.

Nathanial hastily ripped the book from his own magical hold and held his right palm up to it. He closed his eyes briefly as his palm emanated a black glow. A fraction of a second later it disappeared. He turned back to Marella and she eyed him in question. “Oriana cannot know about this, that the bridge cannot be killed or of any of his special abilities. I have hidden the book where she will never find it. She must remain ignorant. I will send my hunters out to locate her. She cannot remain in the realm.”

As he turned to go, Marella gripped his arm, stopping him. He turned back. “What is the matter, angel?”

“I…I think it would be best if we…take a step back…with us…for now…while she’s
around
.”

“No,” Nathanial growled. “I will not agree to that.”

“It is too dangerous right now.”

“You underestimate both of our abilities, Marella. You give your sister too much credit.”

“She is using
black
magic now, Nathanial. That power brings nothing but destruction. The people who wield it are driven by the need to inflict pain, death, and misery.”

He took her hands and held them tightly as he said softly, “Stop this negative talk, angel. I will not let anything happen to you.”

“I’m not worried about
me
.”

He chuckled. “While I love that you care for my well-being, I am not an easy man to kill.”

“Nathanial—”

He silenced her by trailing his hands slowly up her thighs. “Mmm…you took my advice on the silk pants.” The black, silk pants she was wearing fit snugly to her shapely body, clinging to her butt. A silver, strappy tank top with white flowers adorning the straps was the only other thing she was wearing. It was just low-cut enough to reveal the tops of her soft breasts, but not too low to be trashy. She looked elegantly casual—her go-to look.

Judging by the look in Nathanial’s eyes, he approved.

He stepped into her. “Even dressed down, you are incredibly beautiful,” he whispered in her ear. “So unbelievably sexy,” he said as he licked her neck, causing her to shiver from the sensation. “I can barely be within a few feet of you without needing to take you.”

“We can’t…no….” she protested weakly as his hand slipped inside her pants.

His gaze snapped to hers and he grinned wickedly. “No panties, angel? You expect me to walk away now?”

“Stop changing the subject. I know what you’re trying to do.”

“And what is that?”

She thrust both her hands at him, pushing him back. “You’re trying to seduce me into forgetting all about my reservations.”

“Right now, I’m trying to hold back the desire to play rough with you after you just laid your hands on me like that. And, I must say, I am so glad to hear that I have so much power over your body
and
your mind.”

“You’ve known that since the first time we made love.”

He winked at her. “Longer.”

She gripped his shirt and jerked him towards her. “It works both ways, Vampire King.”

As she tightened her grip, he grinned at her. “Give me what you’ve got.”

Her lips smothered his, drawing him into a rough, frenzied kiss. She summoned just enough of her power to rip his shirt from his body.

He smirked against her mouth at her bold move, but his lips never left hers, as he deepened their kiss, his tongue massaging hers desperately, unyieldingly.

She broke their kiss and her hot tongue trailed slowly down his neck, to his collarbone, to his chest. He moaned loudly. Spurred on by his reaction, she scraped her teeth over his torso, nipped gently at his pecs, his toned abs.

He grunted as she bit down harder, breaking skin.

“Amazing,” he breathed. “Yes, bite me, angel.”

He slapped his hands against the stack behind her, either side of her head, leaning over her. “You bring me to the edge so incredibly quickly, angel. My control shatters.”

In a flash of vampire speed, he slammed her against the stacks.

The force behind it caused some of the books to tumble from the shelves. She yelped as he did it again, slamming her into stack after stack as he claimed her mouth aggressively. When he finally stopped, his fingers slipped into the waistband of her pants and he tugged hard, forcing them down to her knees. He slid a finger along her slit, making sure she was ready to receive him. She smiled to herself. Even in his haste to take her, he still made sure she was all right.

“Your body craves me, angel. So wet, so eager for my cock to fill you.”

He slipped a finger inside her.

“Yes! More,” she begged, bucking against him as his thick finger filled her.

Her voice was so desperate that she barely recognized it. Her need to have him was almost painful. He had complete control over her body and her mind in that moment.

“Yes. Beg me again,” he whispered, as he teased her by pumping his finger in and out of her tight heat excruciatingly slowly.

She threw her head back, whimpering against his torture. “Please! Take me now!”

He pulled his finger out of her so suddenly that she cried out in protest. He drew it along her bottom lip and then prodded between them.

“Open,” he commanded. “Taste yourself.”

She parted her lips and he slid his finger inside her mouth. She sucked hard and grinned at him as she saw what it was doing to him. It was all over his face. Dark, fiery eyes flashed at her. He was about to lose control.

A moment later, he confirmed just that as he pulled away to rip open his pants. He freed himself, gripped her hips and hoisted her up, driving her down onto his hard cock.

She cried out at his roughness.

His gaze snapped to hers and she saw concern there. He was worried he’d hurt her. She’d never been with a vampire before, or anyone who even came close to matching his strength and she knew he was aware of that.

“Fine. I’m fine,” she panted.

“Angel.”

“Really. Please. Don’t stop, Nathanial. Fuck me. Give me everything!” she basically screamed at him. Having him inside her, unmoving, was driving her out of her mind.

Her words did something to him and, the next thing she knew, he was snarling and vamping out. He was releasing his inner demon. The vampire part of the man. A thrill ran through her as she watched it rise to the surface, watching his features contort and his fangs drop.

And then he unleashed himself on her, pounding into her furiously, frantically. The stacks shook around them from his sheer power. He shielded her with his body as the books fell from their shelves, tumbling down around them. As they smacked into his back, he didn’t even react. He was focused solely on her.

She cried out when he stopped abruptly. One of his hands, gripping her thighs, left her. She looked up to see him pushing against the stack behind them as it threatened to topple over onto them. It had to weigh more than a ton, yet, he eased it back into place with just one hand, his bicep straining under the pressure.

“Your strength is….” she gasped.

He lowered them to the floor without pulling out. In fact, he was still fucking her as he did.

“What, angel?”

“A turn-on,” she choked out. She used her power to push him onto his back. She straddled him quickly. “So…fucking…hot,” she breathed as she eased herself down onto his impressive length. She cried out as the tip of his cock hit that sweet spot deep within. “Yes! Yes!”

To her surprise, he didn’t try to regain control. Instead, he leaned forward and clawed at her tank top, shredding through it. Her bra suffered the same fate a second later. His experienced fingers didn’t so much as scratch her flesh at all. He cocked an eyebrow at her as if to say:
did you expect anything less than perfection from me?

He kneaded her breasts. The sensation was incredible. He knew just how to touch her, how to please her. She responded by rolling her hips and grinding down on him hard. He panted beneath her and she saw the strain in his jaw as he tried to hold back his release. She leaned in and he wrapped his arms around her, taking her in a hungry kiss. He thrust his hips up, driving so deep that she pulled back from their kiss and screamed in ecstasy. She was so close. So incredibly close.

And then his fangs clamped down around the soft, sensitive flesh of her left breast.

The sweet bite of pain had her losing control. She came hard around him, an earth-shattering orgasm racking her entire body.

He thrust deep. Once. Twice.

And then he roared as he shot his hot seed inside her.

His hands fisted in her hair, pulling her mouth back to his and he kissed her frantically, wildly as he rode his own powerful release.

“I’ve never…that was…intense,” he breathed.

She collapsed on top of him like dead weight, all her energy completely expended. “We nearly brought the entire library down around us,” she murmured against his chest.

He stroked her hair and chuckled. “You were incredibly turned on by it.”

“Shut up,” she said, slapping his chest playfully.

“I’ve never made a habit of undertaking such feats of strength during sex, but if that’s what it takes to bring out that wild side of you that I saw just now, I can work with that,” he teased.

“It was hot,” she admitted.

“
Hot
, was it?” he asked, amused by that word coming out of
her
mouth.

“Yes,” she chuckled.

He shifted his weight beneath her and gestured to the bite marks etched into his chest. “This was
hot
.”

Her eyes widened as she got her first look at the damage that she’d done. “Oh my God. I’m so s—”

“Please don’t say ‘sorry,’ angel. I thoroughly enjoyed it, believe me.”