Fated Ties: A Werewolf Paranormal Romance Novel (The Twisted Destiny Saga Book 3) (9 page)

“I strongly advise against that,” Vazra’s voice boomed from the door suddenly.

Cora froze, but yelled behind her at her father, “I won’t let you do this to her.”

“She has committed treason!”

Josh eyed Marella and he saw the defeat in her eyes. She knew that it was too late now. Josh and Cora couldn’t get her out now that Vazra had arrived. Cora had already expended too much power to heal David. There was no way she could challenge her father. He would wipe the floor with her. And judging by what he’d witnessed in the dungeon in the last few minutes, that could be a literal description of what he might do.

“You’re a monster,” Cora called behind her.

As Josh racked his brain, trying to determine a plan to get all three of them out of there alive, he was vaguely aware of Vazra launching into a speech about treason.
Good, he’s distracted.
As he continued on and on, Josh watched Cora discreetly press her hand to Marella’s belly. He saw a telltale flash of silver light—just a split second thing. Marella’s eyes widened in surprise and she smiled gratefully at Cora.

Suddenly, he felt something pulling on him. He heard Cora gasp. In the next second, the two of them were being pulled away from Marella and towards Vazra by and invisible force.

“What are you doing?” Cora demanded, her fierce gaze boring into her father’s.

“You have disobeyed me, committed treason by freeing one prisoner and now trying to free another! You are banished!” he thundered.

“Vazra! No!” Marella called out.

But it was too late. He brought his hands together and a moment later they vanished from the room as though they had never been there.

CHAPTER 11

“Fuck!” Ryan roared as he slammed his hands into the invisible barrier of the White Realm gates. He’d been at it for the last ten minutes, but the damn thing wouldn’t give way.

“He’s refusing you entry…or Cora. It’s her blood that normally allows you access,” Nathanial said from behind him as he cradled Orion in his arms.

“Shit!” Ryan breathed as he turned from the barrier and walked over to them.

Nathanial handed Orion back to him and ran his fingers roughly over his face in distress.

“Look, we’ll find another way.”

Nathanial’s gaze snapped to his. “I already know another way.”

The look in his eyes unnerved Ryan. “Wait! What other way, Nathanial?”

“
I
can break the wards he has protecting the entire realm.”

Ryan pressed his hand to his chest, holding him back. “No.”

“If I do not, he will torture and kill Marella and our child, Ryan. What would
you
do?”

“Something stupid. You know me well enough now. When it comes to Cora, I never think straight. But what you’re suggesting is
something stupid
. You know it will bring war down on all of us. I can’t let you do this, Nathanial.”

A sudden, thunderous explosion behind them interrupted their conversation. They both spun around to see Cora and Josh tumbling from a flash of bright, white light.

“That fucking asshole! He banished us?” Cora thundered.

Sprawled out on top of Cora, his hand inadvertently on her left tit, Josh quickly rolled off her. And as he did, he caught sight of Ryan and Nathanial. “Uh…hey, Ry,” he said, getting to his feet and holding his hand out to Cora.

“Ryan?” Cora exclaimed. She took Josh’s hand and followed his gaze as she got to her feet. Her eyes lit up and she bounded over to him. “I’ve missed you
so
much!” she cried as she wrapped him and Orion in a suffocating hug.

With his free hand that wasn’t holding Orion, Ryan wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. He thought he felt her tremble as he touched her, but he dismissed it.
Don’t be ridiculous. She’s my wife. She loves my touch. It drives her fucking crazy.
“God, I’ve missed
you
.”

When she pulled back, she took in Orion. “He
is
in wolf form,” she cried. “He’s so cute!” she said, fondling his tiny ears and making him purr. “Aww, he purrs just like you when I stroke you in wolf form.”

Immediately Ryan felt Josh and Nathanial’s judging eyes on him. He shook his head at Cora and said, “Some things are between us, my love. Would you like me to blab about our sex life to the guys?”

She pulled back and smiled sheepishly. “Oops, sorry.”

He took her hand in his and then asked Josh, “Cop a good feel of my wife’s tits, did you?”

“Fuck you, Ry. You saw for yourself that it was an accident. Right, Cor?”

“Yes, of course.” Her expression became serious as she looked between Ryan and Nathanial and told them, “It was Vazra…he banished us. Well…me…Josh got caught up in the fallout, trying to help me out.”

“He banished you?” Nathanial asked, stepping closer to her. “That is why Ryan can’t gain access into the White Realm then.”

“You’re going in to rescue Marella,” Cora said aloud, realizing his agenda.

“How do you know that?” Nathanial demanded.

“Nathanial,” Ryan cautioned, warning him to tone it down with his wife.

“I am sorry,” he said to Cora.

She shook her head. “Forget it. I know you’re not in the best frame of mind right now. Josh and I were down in the dungeons. Marella is there. I tried to free her, but my father found us and cast us out.”

“I don’t understand. Your power is stronger than his,” Nathanial said, confusion blanketing his face.

“I’d expended too much power just before we realized she was there.”

“How?” Ryan asked.

“I…uh…I didn’t even know there was a dungeon until I heard a call from one of the prisoners...in my head…he led us there to help him.”

“David,” Nathanial said.

“What?” Ryan snapped. “You saved that fucker? After he basically raped you?”

“Ry! Fuck, man!” Josh growled at his brash comment, throwing him a warning look to back off. Ryan understood it immediately. They’d known each other too long for him not to.
Leave it. We’ll talk.

“You didn’t see what Vazra had done to him,” Cora said.

It wasn’t lost on Ryan that she’d just referred to her father as “Vazra,” just as she had before she’d been reunited with him. Now she was basically saying that she couldn’t bear to refer to him as her father anymore.

“I healed David and it drained my power, so I couldn’t stop Vazra when he confronted us. I swear, if I’d known she was there before, I would’ve gone to her first, Nathanial. I only found out thanks to Josh’s keen wolf senses. He smelled—”

“Our child,” Nathanial cut in. “He smelled our child,” he murmured sadly.

As he turned away to hide his agony, Cora took his hand. Clearly startled by her sudden heartfelt gesture, he turned back around and regarded her. “It is not your fault. It is mine. I should never have let her leave the Dark Realm. I should have stopped her.”

Cora squeezed his hand and smiled up at him. “Your child is fine. I felt her. And
your
magic. You enveloped the baby in some sort of protective cocoon.”

Nathanial nodded. “Yes. How was Marella? What did he do to her?”

“It was…tame…compared to what he did to David.”

“I know what he did to him,” Nathanial revealed. “How tame?” he asked worriedly.

Ryan saw her hesitate, unwittingly signifying to all of them just how bad it really was.
Fuck.
Josh saved her from having to answer and told Nathanial, “A few bruises on her face and shallow cuts across her torso.”

Nathanial’s eyes flashed with red fire. His fists clenched. His entire body visibly shook with rage.

Cora quickly added, “He won’t be able to harm her again. Before he banished us I protected her.”

“A protection spell?”

“A powerful one. Vazra won’t be able to break it. He isn’t strong enough to breach my magic.”

In a gesture that shocked everyone, Nathanial suddenly wrapped his arms around Cora and pulled her against him, hugging the life out of her. “Thank you. Thank you,” he breathed into her hair.

Ryan and Josh exchanged a startled look.
Well, you don’t see that every day. The almighty Vampire King hugging someone like there’s no tomorrow.

“What’s wrong with her?” Ryan whispered to Josh as he watched Cora’s entire body tense up from Nathanial’s hug.

Josh’s gaze snapped to his. “You and I need to talk. But not here. In private.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

But, before Josh could answer, Nathanial released Cora and she turned back to them. She noticed Ryan staring at her and cocked an eyebrow at him in question.

Josh elbowed him and Ryan blurted out, “Uh…so…how did you learn to do that? The protection spell and the healing?”

She grinned at him. “Ryan, I did learn to do a few other things with my power, aside from that thing I did to your dick.”

“Cora,” he hissed. “Really? Again?” he said, gesturing to the look on both Josh and Nathanial’s faces.

“Oops. Sorry,” she said, blushing furiously.

“What thing?” Josh asked.

“Josh, I’m not going to—”

“I wouldn’t be so rash there, Ryan,” Nathanial cut in.

“Oh my God,” Cora said, burying her face in Ryan’s shoulder to hide her embarrassment.

Ryan laughed. He looked at Nathanial and understood why he was baiting him as well. He needed something to take his mind off the fact that they couldn’t get to his mate. Ryan knew that feeling well. It was excruciating. And that was why he looked at Cora and said, “Here, take Orion. He’s missed you.”

She took their son from him gently.

Ryan crossed to Josh and Nathanial and drew them to him. He lowered his voice to a pitch that he knew Cora couldn’t hear and then proceeded to tell them what they’d wanted to hear.

“Holy Christ!” Josh exclaimed.

“Hmm…I will keep that in mind when I next see Marella.”

“That’s not fair…I don’t know a sorceress,” Josh exclaimed. A grin crept across his face as he asked Ryan, “Can I borrow yours?”

Ryan slapped him across the back of the head.

“Ow!”

“Ryan! I cannot believe you told them!”

Ryan took her hand and drew her to him. “Aww, darlin’. What choice did I have after you blurted it out? You can’t talk about pleasuring my cock around other guys and expect them not to react.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled away. Cradling Orion close to her chest, she slowly approached the White Realm gates. She reached out hesitantly and touched the invisible barrier.

After a few moments she sighed and pulled back.

“You cannot breach it?” Nathanial asked.

She jumped at his sudden presence. “Shit.”

“Sorry.
I
can breach it, Cora.”

Cora shook her head. “No, you can’t. The wards are different now. I don’t know when he did it, but he’s changed them recently.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, reaching for the barrier.

“No! Don’t touch it!”

But it was too late. His fingers pushed against it. He hissed and pulled back quickly. He gazed at his hand. The tips of his fingers were burned. “It’s fused with sunlight,” he realized. “
She
helped him to do this.”

“Oriana?” Ryan asked, approaching them with Josh at his side.

Nathanial nodded.

“There’s a hint of black magic as well,” Cora informed them.

Nathanial picked up on the anxiety in her voice. “You’re afraid of black magic.”

She looked away and murmured. “My power...when I use a lot of it…it unleashes something…dark.”

“What? Why didn’t you say anything?” Ryan demanded.

“I was going to, once you came back from the Dark Realm.”

Nathanial rested a gentle hand on her shoulder and told her, “I know what you are referring to. I have battled it myself—something that is a lot harder for a vampire to do, as we already possess a darker nature to begin with. I can help you.”

“I—” Cora hesitated.

“There is no one else who can breach the gates, Cora.”

“Nathanial!” Ryan growled. “If she doesn’t feel comfortable, then we will find another way.”

“There
is
no other way!”

“I’ll do it!” Cora hissed.

Nathanial nodded. “Good. We will begin once your strength has returned.”

“Until then, let’s head back to the wolf compound,” Ryan said.

Josh cleared his throat noisily. “Uh…Ry?” he said, gesturing to Nathanial. “I get that you guys have moved past the whole wanting-to-kill-one-another thing. But…think about this.
Vampire
King.
Wolf
compound.”

“They’ll just have to get over themselves and accept it,” Ryan snapped before storming off.

* * * * *

Nathanial watched worriedly as Ryan strode away in the distance, leading the way to the wolf compound.

“What the hell was that?” Josh breathed in shock.

“Nathanial?” Cora asked. “Did something happen in the Dark Realm?”

Nathanial registered their expectant stares.
Did something happen in the Dark Realm?
What was he supposed to say to that?
Too
much had happened and all of it had obviously finally caught up with Ryan.

Luca and Michael had invaded the castle in a ridiculous attempt to seize the throne, which had caused Orion to shift into wolf form. His mother had shown up and threatened his son. He’d had to battle the wolf resistance’s head Alpha while fighting a sickness. He’d just managed to avoid being tempted by that wolf whore, Jada.
And
then he’d found out that his mother had poisoned him. And, through all of that, the thing that Nathanial suspected was nagging at Ryan the most was the strong bond forming between the two of them. He’d watched him try to deny it, but it was futile. A father-son relationship had developed between them. It was one that neither of them had desired, made all the more intense by the fact that it had been Nathanial who had killed Ryan’s father all those years ago.

“He just needs sleep,” Nathanial responded, before gracefully excusing himself and following Ryan’s path.