Red and Her Wolf (29 page)

Violet lost herself in the hypnotic rhythm.
Ignoring the bright flare of light behind her lids.
She wouldn’t look. Couldn’t see what her Aunt had done to herself.

“Oh, Mir,”
Danika
sniffed.
“My sister, my sister.”

“It is done, Red.” Ewan’s warm breath caressed the side of her neck.

Terrified, she took a deep breath, and like ripping off a band-aid, looked.

Danika
was kneeling, murmuring softly to the earth.

“Where did she go?” Violet pleaded, glancing around, desperate to see her Aunt. But there wasn’t a trace of her in the trees. She’d gone, vanished.

Ewan led her toward a softly crying
Danika
.

Violet frowned, glancing at him, a question on her tongue, when she noticed
Danika
gently cradling a black seedling. Its long stem swayed in the gentle breeze.

Danika
looked at her. “The roses, now I know what she meant.”

Reaching out a hand, Violet silently asked to hold the seedling. With a trembling shudder,
Danika
passed it--almost reverently--to her.

Violet ran her finger along the smooth stem.

“The tree is a giver of life. Though full of dark magic, its wooden heart will always remain pure,” Ewan whispered.

Danika
knuckled tears from her eyes. “Miriam did know how to contain the Black’s soul. Her sacrifice will not be in vain. I will plant her in the roses. It’s what she wanted.”

Chapter 18

Violet ran, bare feet kicking up stones. Her heart pounded. Snow fell in thick clusters. She couldn’t escape him. He was so close.

Then she heard him.

He was running, panting.

“No,” she yelped, and then he was on her, tackling her to the ground.

White light exploded off his body like flames,
then
Ewan was kissing her face, her nose, her chin. Growling as his hard erection drove into her thigh.

“I won,” he snarled, voice more beast than man, and he nipped her chin.

She laughed, blood singing, adrenaline pumping. “No fair. I told you to give me a ten second head start.”

Golden eyes glowed in the deep twilight. “I lied.”

“Oh, who cares,” she moaned, desire coiling down her stomach, making her toes curl.

His body was warm, like a thermal blanket, heating her even as the snow drifted lazily around them.

It’d been a year since that night, a year of laughs, sadness, and hope. Hope because Violet knew she was more than the darkness inside her. Ewan had showed her.
Loved her.

“I adore ye, Red,” he whispered in between trailing hot kisses along her throat.

She thrust her hips up, excited by the friction of his skin rubbing along hers. Wet and ready, she moaned.

“I love you too, Ewan.
Always.”

She bit him, just like he liked it.
Marking the spot above his heart with her teeth.
He hissed, and thrust harder.

“You’re mine. All mine,” she said, pressing a kiss against the bite.

He tugged on her nipple, and she arced, gently scraping her nails on his head.

Desire flooded her, made her moan and groan. Her nails pierced the sensitive skin of his skull.

He growled, white teeth bright in the liquid moonlight.

She traced the curve of his lips. “My, what big teeth you have.”

Ewan snapped them at her. “The better to eat
ye
with, my dear.”

Violet
laughed,
a sound of pure unadulterated joy. “Then what are you waiting for? Need you now,” she mumbled, dizzy with pleasure.

“
Mmm
, like this,” he rumbled, deep voice a hot caress against her breasts.

Then his hot hard length slipped inside and Violet rocked on him, riding the spiraling staircase that would take her beyond the here, above the clouds.

“Forever,” he whispered.

And that’s just how she wanted it.
In his arms, making love… forever.

Epilogue

Danika
touched the large oak tree. A thicket of roses surrounded its gnarled black base.
Galeta
had been furious that Miriam had outwitted her. But it was a victory
Danika
could not rejoice in.

It was a wound to know her friend was lost to her forever. All that remained was a gnarled old oak.

“Thank you, Mir. Thank you for loving like you
do
, for protecting that girl. Ewan is madly in love and Violet feels the same. I planted more roses last week. Not sure if you noticed.” She sniffed. “They’re blacks, I thought they were appropriate.”

She sighed, glancing at the wild abundance of roses. Every night since planting her best friend within the small rose garden, she’d returned and planted one new rose. There were whites, reds, yellows, orange, pinks,
creams
… an explosion of color that she knew Mir would have wanted.

“I love you, sister. I’ll never forget. But I must return to the mortal realm, Jinni’s mate is in trouble. I know all will be well, but…”
Danika
stuttered as the fresh pain lanced through her heart. “I must go, dear. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

She stood, dusted off her spider silk skirt, and grabbed her pouch of fairy dust. Sprinkling the gold flecks liberally on the garden.

The roses swiveled, blinking rose colored eyes gratefully back at her. They never talked here, as if they knew that were rooted on sacred ground.

“You’re welcome,” she murmured to them, then patted the tree one last time.

Heat infused her palm and in her heart, she knew Miriam had thanked her too.

A word from the Author:

Marie Hall has always had a dangerous fascination for creatures that go bump in the night.
And mermaids.
And of course fairies.
Trolls.
Unicorns.
Shapeshifters.
Vampires.
Scottish brogues.
Kilts.
Beefy arms.
Ummm
...
Bad boys!
Especially the sexy ones.

On top of that she’s a confirmed foodie, she nearly went to culinary school and then figured out she could save a ton of money if she just watched food shows religiously! She’s a self-proclaimed master chef, certified deep sea dolphin trainer, finder of leprechaun’s gold at the end of the rainbow, and rumor has it she keeps the Troll King locked away in her basement. All of which is untrue (except for the food shows!), however, she does have an incredibly active imagination and loves to share her crazy thoughts with the world!

If you want to see what new creations she's got up her sleeves check out her blog:

www.MarieHallWrites.blogspot.com
.

Also, if you loved this story please leave a review, reviews make her very, very happy!

Stay tuned for a special sneak peek of Jinni’s Wish: Kingdom Book 4, due December of 2012.

Sneak Peek: Jinni’s Wish

Chapter 1

“What kind of name is that?” Paz Lopez hopped on one bare foot, while simultaneously gripping the cell phone with her chin as she attempted to slip her blood red pump on; very nearly breaking her neck in the process when she stumbled over the corner of her cream shag rug. “Dang it,” she hissed.

She could already picture Richard rolling his eyes on the other end of the line.
“
Diabolique
.”

This time, she was the one to roll her eyes. Plopping down on the edge of her unmade bed, doing what her father used to always say:
work smarter, not harder
. So much easier to put shoes on when sitting, instead of hopping around like a broken jack in the box.

“I heard you the first time. But that doesn’t sound like any kind of carnival I’d want to visit.
Sounds creepy.”

“
Aww
, come on, chicken. Todd and I are going and it’s
sorta
lame that all you ever want to do on a Friday night is
vegg
in front of that dinosaur you call a
t.v
. and down 2.2 glasses of
vino
.”

She loved her brother, she really did. But ugh… she rubbed her nose, stomach churning with nerves and irritation. Now was so not the time to be talking about carnivals, or whatever the hell this
Diabolique
place was. She had an art show in an hour, today was her make it or
break
it day. It’d taken months for the hottest gallery in town:
Moderne
, to even agree to potentially hosting an exhibit for her.

Of course they hadn’t. She was too new. But she had a friend, who knew a friend, who knew a guy who had an exhibit scheduled and was in need of ten more paintings to fill the space. Fast forward several boxes of tissues, lots of chocolate, and probably two (okay three) bottles of champagne later, Paz was here.
Ready to break out.
Become a name.
Finally.

If only her stupid nerves would settle down and stop making her feel like she was totally going to puke all over her pearl gray goose down comforter. Pinching her nose, she counted slowly to ten.
But only got to three before Richard starting acting obnoxious as usual.

“I know you’re there. I hear you breathing.” He proceeded to pantomime harsh deep breaths. “Answer me, or I will stalk you. I know where you
liiiiveee
.”

Giggling, she yanked her purple head pillow off the bed and shoved it against her stomach. Maybe pressure would ease the knee knocking nerves. “You’re really annoying.”

He snorted. “Yeah, well Todd loves it. So tell me you’re coming.”