Avery straightened where he sat beside her, a strange chill moving through his body. “Why do you ask?”
“I saw one in Christ Church Meadows before I, well… became a Wisher, I guess.”
Avery processed this, but it was hard. If he wasn’t mistaken, the creature she was describing had been extinct for countless generations. And there were some fae who believe it had never existed at all; it was just a legend.
“You saw one?”
Selene frowned, her gaze searching his face. “Why do I get the feeling you don’t believe me?”
But Avery wanted to hear more. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
“Well,” she began, “I was just leaving St. Michael –”
“St. Michael? You mean the earth elemental that Chroi sent to protect you.”
Now it was Selene’s turn to look taken aback. “Earth elemental?”
“Yeah,” he smiled. “Foul-mouthed, filthy because he’s always playing in the dirt, and smells like rain?”
Selene swallowed hard and shook her head. “Wow. That describes him perfectly. I… had no idea….”
“The fae are everywhere, raven one. You’ll learn more as time passes.” He picked up a honey crisp apple from the bowl of fruit on the night stand nearby, and took a big bite. After he’d chewed it a bit, he said, “Keep going. Tell me about the stag.”
Selene blinked. “Oh.” She straightened a little. “Well, I was leaving St. Michael and this white cat appeared.”
He interrupted her again. “Wait. A white cat?”
Selene sighed heavily. “If you’re going to keep stopping me, there’s no point to this.”
“Sorry.” He held up his hand. “Go on.”
“This white cat appeared and I just had this feeling that I should follow it. So I did. It kept going faster and faster and… I noticed that as I followed it, the paths were different. The trees and the canals were different too. Even the air was different.”
This time, he didn’t say anything. Avery was getting a funny feeling, and there was no way he was going to stop her now.
“The heat was gone, and it felt really comfortable. I felt light, even. Like… the way you do in dreams, when there’s no pain and no bad smells and no discomfort. Anyway, the cat moved so fast I had to run after her. She rounded a corner, and I followed her. When I got to the other side, the cat was gone.” She stopped here of her own accord and her gaze became distant, as if she were lost in the past. “And there was this magnificent stag. It was so white, it seemed to glow. And its horns spiraled up so tall…. They were covered in honest-to-god sapphires and emeralds and rubies, I swear. It watched me for a minute. And then it turned around and ran away.” She looked up at him now. “And the real world came crashing back in on me.”
Avery felt stunned. His ears rang a little when he said, “What you’ve described….” He shook his head, disbelieving that he was about to utter the words he was going to say. “It sounds a lot like a Tuath Stag.”
“Oh?” Selene said. What else could she say? She obviously had no idea what a Tuath Stag was. Then again, there was an uncertainty in the ice of her eyes, as if somewhere in there, a memory were thawing. And it should. The Tuath Stag was in her blood, as it was in the blood of all fae.
“The Stag is legendary. It is a guide. It’s told that the Stag will appear to those who are chosen… and guide them to their destinies.”
“And what about Minerva?” she asked, almost at once.
“I don’t know,” Avery replied. He hadn’t heard anything from Cal or Minerva since he’d come back to the castle with his new bride. No one had.
“If it’s my destiny to be queen, then I shouldn’t be hiding in here. We need to go out and find my sister – and deal with these spells, and even with the god, Kamon.”
Avery’s brow rose. He had to admire her tenacity. Hell, he would always admire that. It bloody well turned him on.
“That’s a long hit list. And you’re not ready yet,” he told her, hoping against hope that she would trust him in this.
She eyed him for a moment before she finally smiled warmly. I can hear you going, “please, oh please, oh please believe me,” she spoke into his mind.
Avery chuckled and leaned back in the overstuffed chair he’d pulled up beside the large sofa where she sat. Selene had made a nest of soft blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals around herself – and the cat, whom she’d insisted be fed like royalty, still rested contented as can be on the foot of the couch.
Avery looked at him now, and saw the opportunity to change the subject. “What do you think his name is?”
Selene eyed the cat and shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably something terribly auspicious, though.”
She was smiling, but suddenly her grin slipped a little. Her gaze slid to the pile of books on the bedside table to her right. “I finished my mother’s journal.”
Avery held his breath. It had been a day and a half since he and Selene had sequestered themselves in the castle so she could recuperate. The amount of wish magic she’d generously used up helping to end the destruction in the werewolf battle and then to bring the werewolves back from the dead – every last one of them – had utterly drained her. But the demand upon her hadn’t ended there, and the spell that had been left for her in her parents’ house had weakened her further. Finally, she’d scraped the bottom of the proverbial well by casting the spell that allowed her to postpone her mourning to a later date.
In the time since, Avery had returned to Oxford to take care of some business. The snow had somewhere in the interim stopped falling, but now the city, and several others all across the UK such as Italy and Spain, were experiencing rather violent thunder storms. If the weather truly were Minerva’s doing, she was having a field day with Mother Nature.
In Oxford, Avery had retrieved the journal from Selene’s parents’ home, along with various personal items and documents, in the hopes of keeping them out of the hands of thieves. He’d also… “disposed” of her parents’ bodies. To all who were concerned, Alma and Thomas Trystaine had never so much as been born.
“I didn’t know this before, and neither did Minerva,” Selene said now, “but it was in Oxford that my parents adopted us. It turns out, it wasn’t from any agency at all. We were left, together, on their back doorstep.”
Avery’s eyebrow raised, but he wasn’t surprised. Changelings had often been left in this manner; it was where the stereotype came from in the first place.
“There was a note left with us,” she continued. She reached over and pulled a yellowed and folded piece of paper from between the pages of a brown leather journal on the bedside table. She carefully unfolded the letter and handed it to Avery.
Avery began to read….
My dearest strangers, I have watched you for some time. I believe you will make fitting and loving guardians for my daughters. They are not safe here. They are not safe with me. We are in a war zone. I must flee my home and, in doing so, hopefully draw the enemy with me.
Far from my babies.
Their names are Minerva and Selene. They are special. But may the fates spare you from ever learning just how special they are.
I can not be here to thank you. I can only kiss their cheeks one last time and beg of you never to speak of their origins. Not with anyone, least of all with them.
In the years to come, if fortune deems it so, perhaps we will meet again.
A mother can only pray, and wait.
And leave you with the two halves of her soul.
Avery slowly looked up from the letter, and though he would never admit it, there was a pressing moisture behind his eyes. He held it back and met his queen’s gaze. “Your parents returned to Oxford in the hopes that you would be reunited with your mother.”
Selene nodded. “My mom must have seen the change coming over my father and must have thought… it was just time. They were growing old. They were in their forties when Minnie and I were left with them.”
&nbs
p; Avery thought about the note. “You know… it’s entirely possible that your mother is still alive and out there somewhere.”
Selene’s expression was unreadable. But there was hope behind her ice blue eyes. And hope, real hope that came from a need deep down, was quite impossible to disguise.
She smiled a decidedly winsome smile. “I know.”
The End.
Stay tuned for book six in the Big Bad Wolf spinoff series, The Kings: The Unseelie King. Release date, TBA.
For a thrilling adventure with the series that started it all, enjoy Heather Killough-Walden’s critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling Big Bad Wolf series, now available in one incredible tome of sexual tension, romantic suspense, and dark paranormal bliss! The Big Bad Wolf Romance Compilation is available as an eBook at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as other eBook sellers. Four sizzling paranormal romances for $3.99!
Praise for the Big Bad Wolf series and its spinoff, The Kings….
“The Vampire King by Heather Killough-Walden is riveting and page-turning. Keep an eye on this author.” – USA Today
"The continued high-quality storytelling provided by Killough-Walden indicates she is a star on the rise." - Romance Times
"I was strictly a vampire girl until I came across this pack of big bad Alphas -- Killough-Walden has converted me! Sexy, daring, and action-packed from start to finish. Warning: if you have a faint heart, do not read this." (About the Big Bad Wolf series) - Dianna Hardy, paranormal romance author of The Witching Pen.
“Heather Killough-Walden happens to write books so brilliant, I'm a fan! (I was the minute I started reading Hell Bent.) There aren't many I'd give my crown to, but this lady is totally worthy of my adoration!” – Poppet, paranormal romance author of Dusan.
"Hold on tight as these big bad wolves take you on a paranormal romance ride you won't soon forget!" (About the Big Bad Wolf series) - Christine M. Butler, paranormal romance author of Moonlit Dreams
*****
The Heat, Book One of the Big Bad Wolf series
Lily St. Claire is a simple Southern girl who has no idea what she is in for when she decides to move back to her hometown in Louisiana after a decade of being away. But between the two very different alpha werewolves who instantly begin fighting to claim her as their mate and the serial killer who has her in his sites, she's about to find out.
*****
The Strip, Book Two of the Big Bad Wolf series (warning, contains graphic violence)
Green-eyed Malcolm Cole is a cursed werewolf, an alpha in the most powerful sense who has given up hope for any kind of happiness or peace in his life.
Until he catches wind of Claire.
Claire St. James, Charlie among friends, is an amazing young woman with an incredibly special gift. Cole recognizes this at once and swears on the spot to claim Charlie as his mate.
Of course, he isn't the only one with such plans. Charlie is too precious to let go without a fight, and one of the most powerful alphas in the world has already staked a claim, whether Charlie - or Cole - like it or not.
*****
The Spell, Book Three of the Big Bad Wolf series
Dannai, aka the Healer, has begun dreaming of werewolves. She'd always been able to hide the fact that she was a dormant, using her magic to shield her promising scent from the alphas she's been forced to work with. But now that they've invaded her dreams, her world has been turned upside down. For, though every dormant dreams of her intended mate - Dannai is dreaming of two wolves, not one. And neither one of them is good news. One is a notorious killer. The other is Lucas Caige.
Lucas Caige is a man with a haunting past. A warlock took his brother from him fifty years ago and he's spent his life outrunning that dark magic. But fate has a way of throwing sand in your gears, and just when Caige thought he could forever leave behind the magic that brought pain to his life, his path crosses that of the Healer. Dannai unwittingly casts her spell over him the moment he lays eyes on her. She's stunning, she's kind, and everything about her wreaks havoc on his senses. She's also magic incarnate.
But if Dannai thinks that's going to stop him from doing everything in his power to make her his mate, the little witch has another thing coming.
*****
The Hunt, Book Four of the Big Bad Wolf series
Byron Caige has been a prisoner for the last fifty years of his supernaturally long life. Just when he gives up hope of ever knowing freedom again, he is unwittingly rescued by the very same woman who only wants to see him dead. Katherine Dare – Kat – is smart, fast, strong and beautiful – but unfortunately she’s a Hunter, and she’s convinced that Byron murdered her father twenty years ago.
She’s also Byron’s dormant.
As war breaks out amongst the otherworldly of Earth and threatens the existence of entire races, Kat is faced with a terrible decision. Should she give up her cause and believe Caige when he professes his innocence? Or should she fight him and possibly avenge her father’s taken life – even while she forfeits her own?
The Kings is a Big Bad Wolf spinoff series, and while it introduces new, exciting characters to the Big Bad World, it also re-introduces the Big Bad Wolf characters you've grown to know and love.
The Kings, Book One: The Vampire King
It was immediate for Roman. In three thousand years, he’d never lost control of his emotions, or his heart. But the moment he laid eyes on Evelynne Farrow, he knew she was the woman who haunted his dreams. And everything changed.
Everything.
Evie Farrow has always loved a good vampire romance. In fact, she makes a living writing them. While sitting in a coffee shop and working on her next mega-hot book, Evie is approached by a tall, dark, and handsome man who could have been pulled directly from one of her novels.
Unbeknownst to her, Roman D’Angelo is exactly what he appears to be – a vampire, and not just any vampire, but the king of vampires.
Unfortunately, while Roman is both ancient and invulnerable, Evie is flesh and blood. Just as Roman decides that he and Evie have a date with destiny, for reasons of their own, an ancient god and a homicidal vampire take an equally strong interest in her.
Can Roman fight off the incredible forces that would have Evie as their own long enough to win her heart, or will destiny betray him and destroy everything he has ever dreamed of?
“Lalura had told him about her vision. Thirteen kings on a chess board – and thirteen queens….”
The Kings, Book Two: The Phantom King
Siobhan Ashdown was born of magic; it rides her blood like a phantom, tainted and dark and unpredictable. She is a warlock, and the power within her is unlike any before known to her kind. So it’s no surprise that the most powerful of the demons who feed off of this warlock magic not only recognizes the enormous potential she represents but determines that he will possess her at any cost.
Even if it means war with the entire supernatural world.
Thanatos has ruled Purgatory as the Phantom King since time immemorial. King of a vast plane of solitude, he is a free spirit, a lone rider, a tattooed man of wind and dust and nonexistent boundaries. Then he turns around one morning to find himself face to face with Siobhan Ashdown, a woman with hair as red and wild as his soul, eyes like melted gold, and a spirit as elusive as his own. Time stops, the world tilts, and the fact that she attacks him right off the bat does little to deter his romantic convictions - nor his desire to sink his fangs into her neck.
Thirteen Kings are severed by lust and greed, an ancient vampire and his rogue creation lay claim to what is not theirs, the whisperings of war begin to shake the foundation of the supernatural world, and primordial evil awakens from its slumber to slither across the land in this second installment in the Big Bad Wolf spinoff series, The Kings, by Heather Killough-Walden.
The Kings, Book Three: The Warlock King
Jason Alberich wears the crown of the sovereign of the warlocks, a dark breed that uses darker magic. He wears it well
, skillfully wielding a power that would corrupt others. Yet he has paid the price for his control, bearing the scars of a time when his power had control over him. He is haunted by the regrets of a shady past and now lives each day and night with an isolated soul.
Chloe Septeran is an Akyri like no other. A member of a race that must depend upon warlocks for sustenance in exchange for servitude, Chloe runs from the dark magic users, choosing instead to live free of their hold. She has existed empty and “hungry,” but stubbornly free of the warlock’s dark embrace. However, now the fates have chosen to bring her running to a halt, as the 13 Kings each discover their queens – and the Warlock King discovers his.
A mighty power is awakening, wreaking havoc on the supernatural world. The 13 Kings, their queens, the werewolf nation, and the witch covens with their high leader, Lalura Chantelle, must band together and stand strong in the face of a dawning nightmare that threatens the very fabric of all they hold dear… and from which none may escape.
The Kings, Book Four: The Goblin King
Damon Chroi has known the weight of ruling in loneliness for thousands of years. The tall, painfully handsome fae lord was born with so much power, the fae kings not only envied but feared him, and banished him to a forbidden realm to be forgotten. There, he was tasked with ruling over the deadliest creatures known to the fae worlds, and his veritable battle as their sovereign is never-ending. As one of the 13 Kings, his destiny foretells an end to his solitude with the appearance of an equally powerful queen. But that kind of power is hard to come by. And power or not, Damon can’t imagine any woman willingly joining him in the eternal misery to which he has been tasked.