Page 57 of A Luna’s Dynasty (Celestial #1)

F elicia moved like a specter through the misty forest, her breath swirling around her.

Memories clawed at her mind as her thoughts drifted back to the past. She held a very deep and dark secret, one that Asher could never find out about.

Years ago, she orchestrated the demon-wolf attacks.

She caused the war that killed Asher’s parents.

She had purposely sent her brother Brody along with Asher, having planned to have him killed along with Asher’s parents.

His parents had to go because they focused too much on fated mates.

With them around, Asher would never choose her.

And then her brother … he knew she had a malicious nature.

When she mentioned that she liked Asher, he told her no.

He told her to stay away from Asher. That was when she knew he had to die, too.

Plus, it was the perfect way to make Asher blame himself for what happened to him.

Her lips twisted up. She felt no remorse for killing her brother.

It was necessary, and it worked perfectly.

Asher’s guilt allowed her to get close to him.

Eventually, they both fell in love, and it was perfect.

Everything was perfect until that bitch showed up.

She balled her hands into fists as she saw the glimmer of a tavern in the distance.

This was where she found him the first time.

The half-demon Abaas, who she’d hired to kill members of her pack.

She might have been young, but she knew what she had to do then.

Just like she knew what she had to do now.

Asher's last words seared her. ‘Lita is my mate. You are never welcome again unless you accept her.’ She had no choice. She had to erase Lita, just like she’d erased Brody.

Just like she’d erased Asher’s parents. Only then would Asher come back to her.

She'd orchestrated the wolf attacks that nearly took Lita's life.

She could do it again. But she needed someone more capable … someone who was stronger.

She thought about when Brody’s lifeless body was carried back to the pack.

She thought she would have felt regret and pain, but she’d felt nothing.

She had to pinch herself to force the tears to fall.

His life meant nothing compared to her own happiness.

It had been so simple to manipulate Asher's guilt, to make him love her after his best friend’s death.

All she had to do was mention being all alone and he was there, comforting her.

Brody’s death became her greatest weapon.

All that hard work just for some blonde, green-eyed interloper to ruin everything!

But no matter, Asher would be hers again.

She only had to make the princess disappear.

The shadows of the forest shifted and groaned as if they could feel her intent, as if the trees themselves bore witness to her schemes and her desperation.

The dark tavern loomed, sinister and expectant, the only place she could find help for what she needed. Or die trying. It was where you could hire mercenaries. A place she found out about from a rogue wolf she’d befriended while trying to figure out a way to get rid of those who stood in her way.

Felicia quickened her pace, her heart pounding with the thrill of revenge.

Asher had first sought answers here after Brody's death. She’d gone with him, playing the grieving sister while he'd searched for information about the demon wolves.

Luckily, Abaas had not been here then. Hopefully he would be here now.

She opened the door and pushed inside, the sour stench of blood and smoke welcoming her.

It brought back memories of when she first came here.

She was braver then. Now that she was older, she understood how dangerous this place was.

A bitter smoke hung in the air, so thick she could taste it, and all eyes followed her as she slipped inside.

Rogue werewolves bared their teeth at her, but she pressed on, seeking the one face that might change her luck. She found it at the bar. Abaas.

He had a powerful aura that filled the room.

She slipped onto the stool beside him, and he didn’t even spare her a glance.

She cleared her throat as she glanced around.

A band of werecats watched her, eyes glinting and cruel, and from the darkened corners, vampires followed her with their endless, hungry stares.

The tavern held the very creatures that haunted her nightmares, but Abaas was the most dangerous of them all.

She had used him before, and she would do it again.

An ominous presence radiated from the man beside her, his brown eyes sharp and cruel.

He leaned against the bar, broad and impatient, his aura all demon and rage.

His expression twisted into an arrogant sneer, and her heart stammered as she tried to find her voice.

She had to pretend to be confident. "I have another favor to ask," she managed.

Her plea was almost a whisper beneath the noise of the tavern, but she could see his muscles tense with her words.

He was not an ally, but he was powerful and her only hope.

She forced herself to believe that he would agree.

He would have to. "I can make it worth your while," she added, and the thin bravado in her voice turned to dust in her throat.

He gave her a dismissive look and returned to his beer, crushing her fragile hope.

“Leave or be killed,” he growled in a gruff voice.

She clenched her jaw and begged herself not to break.

She was so close. Abaas had been her best option, and he was slipping through her fingers.

She could still feel the familiar, contemptuous disregard in his posture, as if he had already forgotten she was there.

But she couldn't give up, not when everything depended on it.

“I can reward you handsomely, I promise.” She saw a brief flicker of something in his eyes—anger, interest, maybe both—but he downed another swig of beer before waving her away again.

His expression told her he didn’t need her or her money.

He turned away, bored with her plea, more interested in the bubbles that settled in his glass than in anything she could offer.

Abaas contemplated just snapping the wolf's neck now. Annoying creature. He only took the job from her before because he needed to hire specialty trackers to find the fairy princess. She’d eluded him, constantly slipping from his grasp.

He needed to find the new princess before she became pregnant.

Then it would be too late, and he would have to wait all over again for the next princess to be born.

He found her recently and was even able to mindlink her but she vanished. She had been protected in a blocking barrier and now he couldn’t pick up any trace of her. He made a foolish mistake. He never should have tried to communicate with her. Now, time was against him and he was desperate.

His indifference twisted into her like a knife, the pain sharp and precise.

This was supposed to be her last chance.

Her last hope. The thought of returning to the forest empty-handed made her breath hitch.

The thought of Asher in Lita's arms made her frantic.

But before she could say another word, she was approached by someone wearing a cloak.

"You want someone killed?"

"Yes." Her voice was as unsteady as the resolve that had brought her here. "Her name is Lita. I need her dead. She’s in the Black Ice Pack. She is supposedly the fairy princess, and—”

“Get the fuck away from here,” Abaas growled at the cloaked figure, who swiftly backed away. He narrowed his eyes at Felicia. “You’re sure she’s the fairy princess?”

Felicia smiled, the first taste of victory on her tongue. "Yes," she said, and she felt the small word turn like a key in a lock, unleashing something dark and terrible in the man beside her. “She is mated to the alpha of—” She continued to ramble, but he blocked her out.

Abaas snarled. Dammit, she already found her mate!

“I need her dead, and—”

"I will claim the princess for myself," he declared.

“Just make her disappear.” She felt the sudden shift in him, his voice rough as a strange possessiveness took over, one that seemed to run deeper than hers.

He stood, motioning for her to follow, his mind already chasing Lita's trail. She could feel the power in his stride, the determination, and she felt her own need to match it.

Felicia's fear dissolved, and she stepped behind him.

This time, she wouldn't lose. This time, she'd have it all. She didn’t care why he wanted her.

As long Lita was no longer with Asher, that was all she cared about.

Besides, he would be the perfect pack distraction.

With so much chaos going on, Lita might accidentally be killed before Abaas could take her.

Her lips curled cruelly as she began to work out her own plan.

Abaas was blind to everything but the burning need to claim his fairy heir.

His mind seethed with memory—the last princess running from him, never recognizing the mate pull.

Rage grew alongside obsession. She would not escape him again.

If he couldn’t have her, then her daughter was now his.

He had to have a fairy princess. She would belong to him.

He moved into the night with a feral certainty, a promise that threatened the world.

This time, he’d have it all. This time he would crush every threat.

The intensity of his determination consumed him, a wildfire that left nothing but Lita in its path. Her new name rang in his ears, an echo that sent his mind reeling with the sudden proximity of her. It drove him forward, made him forget Felicia's presence until she fell in step beside him.

"Lita's with the alpha of Black Ice," she panted, clutching the name like it was hers to give. Like it was hers to hate.

"Dead," he growled, his voice sure and final. "I'll kill them all."

“No! I want the alpha for myself.”

He refused to let this alpha stand in his way. The pack meant nothing to him. Felicia meant nothing. The princess would be his, and she’d know what she had cost him when he crushed her precious mate.

His footsteps pounded against the ground, each one a promise, a threat. Felicia struggled to keep up, struggled to convince him that he was not alone in his hatred. "You'll never find them without me," she insisted. "Asher will try to hide her, to protect her."

Abaas barely heard her. The world around him shrank, burning at the edges of his obsession until he was blind to all but Lita. "No one can protect her," he snapped, pushing forward, needing to feel the chase, needing to feel that she would soon be his.

“She has a protector with her, some guardian, but I’m sure you’re stronger than him.” Felicia watched as he stopped abruptly.

“A guardian is with her?” He finally looked at her, watching as she nodded her head.

Dammit. His mind reeled. A guardian … he couldn’t beat a guardian.

There was no time to find a beast powerful enough to go against one.

He needed a new plan. A diversion. His warriors.

He looked at Felicia, a new scheme crawling into place.

She could lure the princess while his warriors distracted the pack.

He would capture her, put a fairy heir in her belly.

Claim Elysia. She would be his. He moved like a wolf through the night, planning his attack.

A beast was loose inside him, and the thrill of the hunt gave it strength. He wouldn't lose her this time.

The sky above them loomed black and endless, as if it might swallow them both.

Abaas felt its weight, felt the urgency press in around him.

He had to act now. He had to be quick, cunning, and ruthless.

His mind whirled with possibilities, with desires that made his vision blur.

If he couldn't overpower them, he would outsmart them.

He had to catch her before she became pregnant.

His thoughts spiraled around the same relentless need. The same all-consuming obsession. A fairy heir. She would give him his heir, and it would open the gates to Elysia, to power and control beyond any he had ever known. His breath came fast, wild with urgency.

It should have been his already, but she’d rejected him. She didn’t give him a chance. Fate gave him a fairy princess mate, and that was what he would take. He didn’t care if it was her daughter or granddaughter or great granddaughter. As long as he got his heir, that was all that mattered.

He ran forward, blind to everything but the vision of her at his feet, of her belly swelling with the fairy heir that would secure his claim.

His arrogance fed his need, his madness turning into a cold, deliberate fire.

His thoughts were justified. It should have already been his.

Faster. His feet moved wildly as his mind raced.

Savage joy filled him as he envisioned his future.

His obsession burned as he became dizzy with his predicted victory.

It consumed him, filling him with a terrible purpose.

Lita … she would belong to him. He would catch her, claim her, and dominate her.

He was coming. A cruel grin spread over his lips as he raced through the night.