I bit my lip to keep from laughing at the small woman who was now my Kona, the one I offered my life as protection for. I could feel the strength in her spirit. The indomitable steel that pervaded her entire being. Her smile and attitude reminded me of Sebastian, my Prime. The one who'd given me a piece of his soul and brought me to literal life. The ache of his loss, even though it was almost too long ago to count now, still darkened my heart. Drenched my soul in pain. The men who had escorted me from Heilgat Samkoma had given me the very basic information of time and place. There was still much to discover about this new world I found myself in. Kiema, and what a beautiful name she carried, wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. Her cheeks pink, her solemn gray eyes downcast, she said, "Welcome to the club. We're all a little crazy here."The laugh started in my belly as a faint twitch. Soon, my whole body shook and trembled as my throat loosed it to the ceiling. And j

My Kona's mouth dropped wide as she spluttered at my comment. I hid my smile. She was easily riled, this female. I didn't want to hurt her feelings by laughing in her face. "But he's my uncle, too. Does that mean we are cousins?" she asked. She locked her expression away, her light gray eyes both guarded and softer than I had thought her capable of achieving."I carry the last vestiges of Bestia's Prime power in my body. If through no other means, that would make us family - in a way." I nodded. She tried to smile as her eyes filled with tears. "Good." She dashed her fingers under her eyes. "Good. That makes me happy.""And since Prime powers are gold, I would assume that you are carrying pieces of Hellion's power. If you can successfully integrate them into your magical well, you, too, would be a Prime," I explained. The tears vanished as if she'd been traversing a desert. "What?"I repeated myself. "B-bu-but I don't want to be a Prime. Why would Hellion give me powe

Two days laterAzica"We've got until tomorrow to get enough of these warehouses up and running for the Faeries, the Horde, the humans, and anyone else who wants to bunk with us. What can we do to make that happen?" I asked Saint as we walked back into the warehouse that I considered our home. He laughed as he picked me up and twirled me around. "You're the one practically overflowing with power. What do you say to giving your first couple lessons a real-life test?"I gulped. "S-sure. But let's use one of the ones down the street. That way if it implodes, it won't hurt our house."He laughed, right in my face, and set me down with a kiss on my nose. "I'll get the others." He ran from the room. "Great. Because I love an audience to my failures," I yelled after him. **We all met at the old mattress warehouse that Scarlet used to live in. Standing across the street - the safest distance I could get any of them to stand while I tried my hand at magicking a new building

All the men growled and edged to their feet."No. I've got this," I said in all of their heads. "And what about the loves of my life, Hellion?" I asked softly. My voice a sharp contrast to the loudness of his. "Why does yours matter more than mine?""Because –"I flung my magic at him. He stumbled back. Anger ate away the confused look that had taken over his face. "Be very careful with what you say next, Uncle," I sneered the last word. With a wave of his own magic, the warehouse was gone. We stood out in the open, sunlight beating down on us. "Do not think you can take me on, niece. You don't yet know how to use your magic. You are but an infant suckling at the nipple of the well I have available to me." He waved his hands in the air again, pulled magic to rest on his upturned palms.My family gathered around me, ranged themselves into the circles of Guardians and Mates that was repeated on my rune. "I suggest you think very carefully before you try to hurt the pe

"You doing okay?" I asked Kiema as we got the table cleaned up from dinner. She turned to me, smiled, nodded. "As well as can be expected, I guess. I'm still reeling from everything with Hellion. I think I'd come around to trusting him at some point over the last couple weeks. To have it all ripped out from underneath me like that?" She shook her head. "How am I supposed to deal with that?"My heart caught. She'd lived her life knowing exactly who her monsters were. What side of the line everyone stood on. Having the evidence shoved into your face that you didn't know where people stood...that could be life-altering. Damaging. "You realize that the people who truly know you and love you will never do that to you," I said. Grabbing her hand, I gave it a squeeze. She squeezed mine back. "Thanks, Scarlet. I'll stop whining here after a while. Just got to get it out."I giggle-snorted. "If this is you whining, would you mind giving lessons to Asher? He says he doesn't whine, b