Page 24

EMBER

F ive Years Later

“Ember!”

A voice called from one of the cubicles. I looked up from my paperwork and turned to my fellow employee and best friend, Samantha. She peeked over the cubicle, her eyes round with worry as she gnawed on her lower lip.

“Are we still on point for the deadline with Linda Smith? I know she’s been sick and all but the boss really wants that sequel out.”

I smiled. “Touched base with her just last night. We’re on target.” I gave a thumbs up.

“Oh my God,” Samantha said, leaping up from her chair to run around her cubicle and hug me. “You’re a lifesaver.”

I laughed and pushed at Samantha, “I’m always a lifesaver for you, apparently,” I said teasingly .

“Because she struggles with getting her shit together,” Paul said, a twinkle in his eye from where he sat at the next cubicle.

“Hey,” she snapped at him. “I don’t write the novels; I just oversee the author's work and edit!”

“And yet,” Paul sighed, raking his hand through his brown hair. “You fail to wrangle them into shape, relying on our poor Amber here.” He smirked at Samantha.

She placed her hands on her hips and shot him a withering glare. I pressed my fingers to my lips in a desperate attempt to stifle my giggles. Though my giggles soon died at witnessing their banter.

Amber.

Paul had called me by my fake name, the alias I had used since arriving in the human realm.

I sighed. It felt like so long ago when I had passed through the portal.

I had been completely lost and unsure of how to function in this mysterious and foreign new place.

But then I had been found by a pack of werebears and werewolves, who had felt the disruptive actions in the portal and had come sniffing.

I explained my situation to them and was immediately led to the alpha female, Sasha Hunter.

Her pack took me in, a mixture of werewolves, bears, and latents, and instructed me on how to survive in the human realm—a world so vastly different from the mystical Lanair realm.

She and her mate, Damon, a werebear—had been very accommodating to me and welcoming.

I knew I could never have gotten this far, blending in as a human without their help.

Now I go by the name Amber Hill and work as an editorial assistant at Crescents Publishing House.

I was thriving in my new life, a life that left no room for heartache and no thoughts of Drake or my past life as a princess .

“Anyway,” Samantha huffed, turning her back on Paul. Her words snapped me out of my reverie. “How is my little Mellie doing today?”

A smile touched my lip as I thought of my five-year-old daughter. “Melodina is doing as well as can be expected,” I said. “She…,” a frown tugged at my lips. “Got into trouble at school a few days ago.”

Paul straightened in his chair at that. “What? Not my Mellie; she’s a little angel.”

I snorted. If I knew one thing about my daughter, she could be a little terror to those she didn’t care for. “She hit another child at school for teasing her.”

Samantha pumped her fist into the air. “That’s my girl!”

My eye twitched. “And this is why I don’t invite you to my house often.”

Deflating, Samantha cried, “What? I don’t get it!”

“She means you’re a bad influence, Sam,” Paul laughed before he swiveled around in his seat and took another sip of his coffee.

“Who asked you?” Samantha snapped, her hands clenching at her sides. She then returned her gaze to me. “Why was she teased? It can’t be because of her looks; she’s a beautiful little girl.”

I blinked at Samantha, unable to voice exactly what the real reason was. It was exactly my daughter’s physical characteristics that posed a problem to human children.

Melodina was a very beautiful little girl, and I wasn’t just admitting to that for vanity’s sake. Several people commented on her looks, and there had even been attempts to scout her for modeling. But I knew where her ethereal-like beauty emanated from—her father.

Drake.

Melodina had the same onyx-colored hair as her father— long and silky, it fell to her waist. She had my large blue eyes; however, her skin was a light-tanned complexion—a middle ground of both Drake and my skin tone.

Though the one inherited trait that gave her problems was her slightly pointed ears.

A few days ago, she had come crying to me about the children calling her an elf. Then she had promptly proclaimed:

“So I punched her right in the nose! I might be an elf, but she was Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer after I was done with her,” Melody had said, folding her arms across her little chest with a smug smirk curling her lips. The facial expression was identical to her father’s when he was self-assured.

Pulling my thoughts back to the present, I replied to Samantha.

“Oh, you know,” I said, waving her off. “Just the usual thing little kids get picked on—eyes too big, goofy smile, that sort of thing,” I lied.

Samantha blinked. “But none of those apply to Mellie.” She scoffed. “Children can be such brats nowadays.”

“And that’s why I’m not having any,” Paul replied, his gaze never straying from his computer as he went about editing the latest manuscript.

Samantha leaned over his chair, tilting her head to peer at his face. “That’s not why.”

He blinked as if just now hearing her. “What do you mean?”

“You can’t spawn any mini Pauls because you can’t get laid. ”

Paul snarled at her, balling up a piece of paper and flinging it at Samantha. She wheeled away laughing.

I shook my head at my friends. Then I glanced at my watch; it was 4:30 pm.

“Hey, I’m taking off early,” I told them, reaching for my purse under my desk. “I promised the nanny that I’d be home early so she could get the night off to spend with her husband. It’s their thirtieth anniversary.”

“Tell them congrats for me,” Paul said.

Samantha twirled a lock of her blonde hair. “Speaking of husbands, we still have to find you one, Amber.”

I shook my head at my friend’s meddling. “I told you, I don’t need a man in my life.” I walked out of my cubicle and headed down the corridor. Leave it to Samantha and her melding.

“But Mellie needs one in hers,” she called out after me.

I stiffened, pausing midstep as her words sent my heart lurching. Little did Samantha know, Mellie did have a father. He wasn’t dead, as I’d weaved the story to my colleagues. He just existed in another realm.

I sighed. Mellie could never know about him. I had raised my daughter as a human. She had no idea of her mixed heritage and could never know. It was safer that way—it kept her away from any potential war and politics of the Lanair realm.

But Samantha’s words haunted me the rest of the way home.

I parked the car in the driveway of my condo and stepped outside, closing the car door behind me. I peered up at the charming little two-story house; the paint was a lovely peach, with white trim—the front door a nice mahogany color.

The door…

It was slightly ajar. And the frame appeared as if a chunk of the wood had been snapped out. Like…someone had broken in.

My heart kicked into overdrive. The blood in my veins pumping throughout like supercharged pistons. Dropping my purse, I raced inside the condo. I called on my inner wolf. She leaped to her paws, ears pricked and hackles raised, ready to call upon the shift and engage whoever was on the other side.

I darted down the long corridor, my gaze snagging on the bloodied footprints and blood smears that streaked down the length of the hallway. One was a distinct crimson handprint, followed by a smaller handprint. My lungs seized in my chest.

Stars, no!

I whipped around the corner, rocking to a stop as my gaze caught on the living room.

The couch was tossed on its side, the dining room table flipped over, and chairs knocked down as if someone was running after something, chasing someone.

In the center of the living room lay Thelma, the nanny.

Crimson blood pooled from beneath her body, forming a dark puddle on the hardwood floor.

Her eyes were still wide open; her face twisted in a cry—frozen in time.

I shook my head slowly, the room spinning out from underneath me. “No, no, no! ”

I surged past the nanny as I combed through the condo.

“Melodina!” I cried. “Melodina! Where are you?”

She was not downstairs. Vaulting up the stairs at the back of the living room, I stopped in another hallway.

I burst into her room. Her bedsheets were undisturbed, and her dolls and toys were propped on the dresser as always.

I fled her room and burst into mine. Empty.

The house was empty, save the body downstairs.

I sank to my knees, and my body was wracked with uncontrollable tremors.

Mellie’s body wasn’t in the house. Which meant someone had abducted her. I ran downstairs and returned to the living room.

I raked my quivering fingers through my hair.

Okay, Ember, get it together! You can do this. You need to track your daughter’s scent.

I inhaled deeply, breathing in a steadying breath.

Then I sniffed the air, letting the scents waft into my nostrils.

The iron metallic tang of blood was the strongest. It permeated the room, thick and cloying, bitter at the back of my throat.

Then, I caught the sugar and nutmeg scent belonging to Thelma.

Tears pooled in my eyes as my gaze snagged again on her body, covered with blood. I swallowed thickly.

Focus…

I inhaled deeper and caught the scent of lavender and rain that belonged to my daughter. And underneath her scent rose another, this one foreign and familiar all at once—a scent of sunshine and earth…and Lanair.

My fangs jutted forth, claws slicing out.

“Summer fae,” I growled low in my throat. They had been in here .

But why the hell would summer fae be here in the human realm and my home? No one knows about Melodina being half-shadow fae.

I approached Thelma and kneeled down, rolling her onto her back.

In the middle of her chest spanned a row of deep cuts in the shape of slivers with jagged edges.

Starbursts, a weaponized light that summer fae could harness to bring down the enemy.

Except Thelma had been no threat to the fae.

But she’d been an obstacle in the way of what they’d wanted—Melodina.

I saw her broken fingernails, the blood underneath them, her torn clothing, and her tangled mass of hair. She had fought and died trying to protect Melodina.

I brushed a hand along her ice-cold brow. “Thank you,” I whispered in a hoarse voice. “Thank you for fighting to the end for my daughter.

I pushed to my feet, my legs feeling numb, my body weak with despair.

It was my turn to fight for my daughter.

I couldn’t go after Melodina by myself into the summer fae realm.

Werewolves were forbidden from entering their territory.

I’d be killed on sight. But I knew of a race who was strong enough to go toe to toe with them—the fearsome shadow fae.

The only being who could save her now was the shadow fae crown prince, Drake, her father.

My gut twisted at the thought of revealing Melodina’s identity to him.

But I had no choice….I had to save my daughter, no matter what the costs.

My lips thinned; I pulled out my cell phone and called 911 for Thelma’s murder.

I knew it wouldn’t do any good. The police would never find the culprit.

But Thelma deserved this much, and her family needed to be contacted as soon as possible by the police.

My fingers tightened around the phone. This would also clear me of being a suspect in Thelma’s murder.

Within fifteen minutes, the police arrived at my door. I stood leaning against the wall of the corridor, unable to look at the murder scene, when the knock at the door came.

Pushing off the wall, I answered the door. A fleet of officers poured inside. They gathered photos and evidence, one officer staying by my side to question me. I told him where my last whereabouts were, and he made a call to the publishing house.

“Your alibi checks out,” Officer Tanner said, ending the call on his smartphone.

He turned to me. “Your coworkers, Samantha and Peter, told me you were there at the time the murder took place.” Pity flashed across his face as I stared back at him, my body feeling as if it had aged fifty years in the span of five hours.

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “We will do our best to find your daughter. We have cops all along the city combing the area and have put out an amber alert. If anyone has any information or tips about your daughter, we’ll have them soon.”

I nodded numbly. Then stepped out of the condo. There would be no tips, no news coming into the station. I was on my own in this. I shook my head. No, I needed Drake’s help.

Pulling out my car keys, I slipped into the car and pushed the ignition button. I drove out of the subdivision heading for the outskirts of town. Ahead of me stretched a large expanse of woods, their shadows slinking over nearby buildings under the moon's pale light .

My inner wolf whimpered, pacing about my mind.

We’ll find her. I told my inner wolf. I promise.

Parking along the curb, I stepped out of the vehicle and entered the woods.

The sounds of crickets filled the dense forest, leaves ruffling as deer and other animals scurried over the underbrush.

All slinking away from the predator in human form, slipping around the trees.

My eyes glowed amber as I headed for the center of the forest, a quiet rage seething and percolating in my gut.

My claws sliced out, my fingers flexing.

My gums ached with the need to rip out the throat of whoever was responsible for taking my daughter.

Then I felt it. Up ahead, the air shifted.

Magic called to me, like a siren’s song, guiding me straight toward the portal.

I stopped and lifted my hand, waving it through the air.

The air rippled like a stone cast upon the waters of a lake.

Then the space illuminated with a pale pinkish light in the shape of a large oval about my height.

The portal.

It only opened to Lanair, those who sought to travel between realms. The portal only responded to the blood of Lanair.

I gazed at the rippling gelatin-like substance of the portal.

I never wished to return to the otherworldly realm and would have been content in life never to look upon the werewolf or fae.

But I couldn’t live life without my daughter.

And if my daughter needed Drake’s help to find her, she would get it.

Whatever the hell I had to do, I would see this through. My brow hardened with grim determination. With that, I slipped into the portal.