This is for you Jan! I know I said I wouldn't do it, but I left you al hanging. A reader expressed they would like more on the cubs Tawny carries but there wasn't much I could write without giving away too much. But here is an epilogue I hope you enjoy. Please do not forget to leave me a review and hope it will be all five stars!!! lol Thank you for taking this journey with me. I am so excited for book 6, who else will be coming back to read The Beta & the Jewel Thief, Mike's book?
***Thank you for reading The Crimson Grimalkin, Tawny's story. Thank you to all my readers for your continued support and involvement. Please remember to leave me a review on the book details page. By doing this you help readers find my books and enjoy the stories just as much as you have. For updates and chapter teasers, check my i*st*gr*m >>> authorjwgstout Or my F_B group for readers >>> Author Jwgstout *** The Beta & Jewel Thief Chapter 1 – The Job LYRICI look around, peering down one end of the street and up the other. The last thing I need is for anyone to see me. Us. I grip the tiny hand in mine a little tighter. I raise my other hand and knock on the worn and cracked door, quickly glancing around at our surroundings again. For the millionth time. All the while listening for movement from the other side of the door. I knock again when I hear nothing. Tap, tap, tap. My nerves ramp up as I wait, listening, looking, “Hurry up” I whisper sigh. The bite of cold nipping at u
TAWNY7 MONTHS EARLIERI look at Mason, the warrior were-cat that my best friend and now Queen, Lamia sent to accompany me to the were-cat Kingdom. “Nervous?” He asked.I smiled politely, “Have you ever been here?” I ask him, deflecting from answering the question. I was nervous as shit, but I refused to let anyone see how much. I had spent the better part of my life timid and weak. I was no longer that girl and refused to show any insecurities. “Nope, but I have met many fellow were-cats from the Kingdom after Queen Lamia opened a trading route with them.” He said proudly.I hum in response. I met Lamia a few years ago when my father and I came to live in the Royal Moon Pack, the capital of the werewolf Kingdom. She saved my ass from another kicking the day I met her, and we became the best of friends. Unfortunately, sad times were thrust against her and in a few short months, she lost her mate and the child she was carrying. All because of a Rogue King’s greed. She was kidnapped an
TAWNY Day two in Cambiador: I find myself waking up in the bright room. My short body - lost in the crisp white sheets of the enormous bed I’m sleeping in. It’s so big and high that when I literally crawl to the edge and sit, my feet dangle off the side and I have to hop down. Landing on two feet, I stretch and make my way to the overly lavish and gold-accented bathroom. I pause by door number three and open it a crack, just to hear Mason’s deep snores coming from his makeshift bed on one of the couches in there. I chuckle to myself at the sound. I had met Mason a few times, but never really spent an extended amount of time around him. I liked him though. He was down to earth, quick-witted, and an all-around nice guy. Hopefully, they would sort his room out today. It angered me that they would shove him into something that was no better than a broom closet. Like he was beneath them, less cow shit. After showering and smelling like I dove head-first into a dumpster full of flowers,
TAWNY I know I heard him right. My brain just wasn’t processing his words. I scoff, quite loudly. “Come, sit with me, Tawny. Humor an old man,” King Armand gestures to a bench facing one of the small bridges over a larger pond. He takes a seat sliding over for me to sit next to him. I oblige, leaving a little distance between the two of us, and lock eyes on the bridge. I don’t know where else to look and I’m keeping my mouth shut right now. Doing the whole think before you speak thing. We sit in silence for a few moments. And I wonder if he is waiting for me to speak, or if he is gauging my reaction. Before I can think of what to say his gravelly voice fills the silence. “Our laws here, in the Cambiador Kingdom, are different to wolf and bear kingdoms. In many ways. They are outdated and older than me.” He chuckles, “I sent Kolby to MacTire to establish an alliance with Alpha Lamia because I think we could learn a lot from her. Plus, our kingdom has no other alliances.” “Why Lami
TAWNY I hardly slept at all last night. The thoughts of the family’s situation from yesterday played on my conscious. Wondering what happened to them after they were let go, where did they go? Would they be looking for food again and run into the same circumstances? I hoped not. I wanted to go find them – help them. Provide for them. The little boy’s pale face and malnourished body were a vision I couldn’t shake. It was Mason who held me back, stating that it was not our place to interfere. He didn’t know of my grandfather’s wishes and proposition to make me queen. That was something else that kept me awake in the late and early hours of the night. I didn’t know what to expect when I came here. It certainly wasn’t this. The impression I had of my grandfather before I arrived was slowly changing. At each turn, he kept contradicting what I thought I knew. Surprising me. I was determined to be indifferent to him – to hold him at arm’s length, but in three days I found myself liking hi
TAWNY I spent the next few days with Gillian going over the laws of the Cambiador Kingdom. Getting to know its history and the main players in running this kingdom. To say it was different from how the Moon Kingdom is run - is an understatement. Cambiador is a rich country full of wealth and technology that is supplied around the continent. They even trade with humans in boroughs. In the evenings, after dinner, I meet with Mason and discuss how their warriors are trained. What their army looks like and how it compares to MacTire’s. Honestly, it doesn’t. They may have a plethitude of gold and wealth, yet they lack the skills to defend their kingdom if it was ever necessary. After dinner, I have been sitting with my grandfather in his study, learning, talking, and getting to know each other more. I find the more we are around one another the more I like him. King Armand is nothing like I first assumed he was. Nor is he the man I had painted a picture of in my head. I can honestly sa
TAWNY SIX MONTHS EARLIER I avoided Kolby Crimson for the better part of two weeks. Although I did have to formally be introduced to him. That was awkward as shit. Shaking his hand and feeling the tingles erupt all over my body. Every time I was in close proximity to him my body would start to heat up, a searing flush racing across my skin and sending flutters into chaos in my stomach. I couldn’t be around him for long otherwise I was sure I would disintegrate into a pile of ashes. How could he act so casually around me? Did it not affect him? And every time the heat would give way to a different kind of burning, a wave of anger that stemmed from my frustration and confusion. Was he waiting for me to say something? Because that wouldn’t happen. There was no way I was going to put myself on the spot like that. No way I would show vulnerability to a man who was my supposed mate and appeared as if he could care less. Then there was the odd occasion I would run into him in the palace w
TAWNY I wiped the blood and sweat from my brow in an over-exaggerated movement. I was beaten, tired, overwhelmed, exasperated; as many words, as you can find to explain how broken a will and resolve was - I was it. The sun was peaking over the horizon, the red glow in the sky reflecting the blood that drenched the streets of Cambiador. The aftermath of the carnage I stood amongst, was unimaginable. The streets ran red with blood that was slowly being absorbed by the dry dirt. I looked up to Mason, hoisting yet another body over his shoulder and placing it in the bed of the truck, with the others. We had lost five of Mason’s warriors he brought with him from MacTire. Five too many and countless warriors and civilians of Cambiador. I didn't know these... people. They didn't know me. I grew up an outcast from this kingdom, I grew up with wolves, but it didn't make me sympathize with them any less. I saw the pain in Mason's eyes, and I see it on the faces of warriors, in the civilians