- Home
- Amelia Wilson
Strong Love
Strong Love Read online
Strong Love
The Blue Falls Series Book 2
By:
Amelia Wilson
Table of Contents:
Invitation From The Author
Also By Amelia Wilson
Prologue
Chapter One – Two Waterfalls
Chapter Two – Back to the Stream
Chapter Three – Climbing the Falls
Chapter Four – Exposed
Chapter Five – A Sinister Plan
Chapter Six - Rescue Mission
Chapter Seven - It's the Witch
Chapter Eight - That Escalated Quickly
Chapter Nine - March of the Fae
Chapter Ten - Free at Last
Chapter Eleven - A Plan is Born
Chapter Twelve - The River and the Trees
Chapter Thirteen – Return of the Necklace
About The Author
Note From The Author
Preview: A Rizer Wolfpack Series Book 1
Copyright © 2018 by Amelia Wilson
All rights reserved.
http://ameliawilsonauthor.com/
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited, and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Invitation From The Author
I am currently recruiting BETA readers for my review team.
If you would like to participate by volunteering to read advance copies of my latest books, and leaving an honest review on Amazon, please sign up for my email list here: JOIN NOW! I contact subscribers through email when each book is ready for review. You will be under no obligation, and can accept of decline on a book by book basis.
Join the Amelia Wilson Readers club now if you want to receive the exclusive hot short story paranormal romance “ To Catch A Killer” for FREE and get notifications of new releases and promotions.
∞ Amelia ∞
Also By Amelia Wilson
A RIZER PACK SHIFTER SERIES:
Love Beyond the wall
Sight of Love
Claimed by Love
In Love with the Enemy
Love for you Alone
A Rizer Wolfpack Series BOX SET
RUNE SERIES:
Rune Sword
Rune Master
Rune Hunter
Rune King's Daughter
Rune Romance Complete Series BOX SET
SENSUAL ABDUCTION SERIES
Aeon Captive
Aeon Fugitive
Aeon War
Aeon Ending
Sensual Abduction Series Box Set
UNBEARABLE ROMANCE SERIES
Bearly Deniable
Hunting for Love
The Soul of a Bear
UnBearable Romance Series
THE ADNA PLANET SERIES
Baston
Sca
Ruby
The Adna Planet Series Box Set
THE BLUE FALLS SERIES
Rival Love
Strong Love
Magic Love
PHOENIX RAISING SERIES:
Awakening
Ignition (July 18)
WICKED VAMPIRE SERIES:
A Chosen Fate
A Dark Truth
A VAMPIRE IN DISGUISE SERIES:
A Friend in Love
A Witchy Girl
A Final Game
A Vampire in Disguise Box Set
Others...
To Catch A Killer
The Alien Surrogate
Alien Message
Wild Winter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmeliaWilson/
Website: http://www.ameliawilsonauthor.com/
Twitter: @AmeliaWilsonB
Instagram: @ameliawilson.author
Prologue
Blood pounded in his ears, and the floor seemed to sink away. For a minute, he didn’t know where he was then he recognized the pattern in the rug. He was in his bedroom, but something wasn’t right, something was very wrong with the atmosphere and with his vision.
Tae couldn’t understand what was happening. His brain was fuzzy. The person he’d killed had been the witch who’d murdered his family. He was sure of it. It hadn’t been Tatiana. It couldn’t be Tati, could it? There was blood on his hands. The evil wrinkled skin and long black hair of the witch had been replaced with the smooth skin and honey brown hair of his wife. She called out to him before her eyes closed, the last thing she saw her husband, her killer. He slammed a fist into his head.
"No!"
He rubbed his eyes and saw the witch lying there with her eyes open again. He shook his head violently. What was real and what wasn’t? When he looked back at the bed, it was his beautiful wife lying there again, and her eyes were closed.
She wasn’t moving, crimson stretched from her breast to her stomach staining the front of her dress. There was blood on the floor. Tae’s head hurt, pounding behind his eyes. Something was wrong with his brain, with his perception. He held his hand in front of his face and watched it fade in and out of focus. What had he been doing earlier? He couldn’t remember. All he remembered was that the witch broke in and she threatened his wife.
He stumbled around the room with the knife confused. A girl, one of his employees, was trying to tell him something. His mind couldn’t focus. She must have done this, she had to.
“Who are you?” He held the knife out in front of him pointing it at the girl.
"Did you do this?"
“What are you talking about sir? I wasn’t in the room with you. I came when I heard you screaming. Please put the knife down, they're going to take you away."
"Seraphina, be careful. He's not himself."
That was Rytas's voice. His brother would put an end to this madness, wouldn't he? It was just some nightmare, some bad dream he couldn't wake up from.
“Guards, he’s trying to kill again. Seize him,” Rytas said.
Tae couldn’t let his own guards take him. He wasn’t guilty of this. He needed time to clear his head and figure out what had happened.
He ran, fighting through the guards coming to take him out. When he got into the yard, he looked for the quickest exit. Taking off to the woods, he heard them behind him and ran with the branches slapping him in the face cutting his skin.
“Sir, what’s wrong.” The nymphs and dryads in the woods were coming out to greet him.
“Keep them from finding me, please,” Tae begged them knowing they would use the trees and water to help him get away. He had built loyalties with the creatures that inhabited the woods. He just needed time to find his mind again, then he would find who killed her.
Running until he couldn’t anymore, he collapsed on the ground, and the dryads of the trees bent their branches to protect him until he could get himself up and run again.
Chapter One – Two Waterfalls
Seraphina held back a groan and an eye roll as she watched the young bears of Cedar Falls and Blue Falls as they practiced spinning each other around in circles in the Great Hall of the Slamarian clan. She was careful not to lean too far over the railing already covered with a satin ribbon doused with glitter. A giggle traveled through the air up to her as one of the boys stepped on one of the girl’s feet. It was hilarious. Suddenly every one of them was dying of laughter, and Seraphina was in hell. This was not where she wanted to be, but a mission was a mission.
For a while, she thought the death of the former alpha would mean war between his clan and the Alornians, their nearby rivals. The people had loved Harold, the previous alpha. It was a great loss to even the fae, her people when he was killed. Somehow the clans had re
ached a kind of peace when the true killer had been revealed, and they were celebrating with a grand ball. Well, they called it a grand ball. All it really consisted of were both sets of were bears getting drunk and spinning each other on the dance floor. She’d seen such a ball before. From the look of it, all the attendees were going to be younger, giggling cubs.
The first thing Seraphina noticed about the ball was the name. The theme being the two clans coming together. The Slamarians lived in Cedar Falls, and the Alornians lived in Blue Falls so whoever oversaw such things cleverly named the ball Two Waterfalls. Being a water fae Seraphina could appreciate it, but still found it lame. She also had a challenging time understanding why they were taking a full weekend to prepare. It seemed like decorations and food could be made ready the day of the ball. There were no real formal invites. Announcements of the event usually consisted of the leader of the clans gathering its people in the square and sharing the news of the event in one speech.
More of the satin ribbon hung from the banisters and molding all over the hall, and large bouquets of purple and yellow flowers graced each table setup so far. There was no way she would get out of the room without glitter covering her whole body. The lights were hung from the chandeliers to the wall with blue bulbs to mimic water. There were large pictures of the waterfalls on each wall. The theme carried throughout the room, and if it weren't for the table and other natural fixtures, it would probably be too much.
Her job at the moment was to observe and report. The primary goal was to figure out the entrances and exits as well as security. What the fae had planned for the ball would take stealth. Unfortunately, her impulsive King, Rytas chose two days before the ball to lay out his plan. This meant she didn’t have a lot of time to execute her own.
The paranormal war Rytas had in his mind to incite didn’t affect her personally. She would just as soon have everyone remain peaceful, but she would also fight if that’s what her king wanted. Plus, her mother wanted her to stay on the king’s good side so he’d take care of them. Somehow her mom had it in her head that he paid Seraphina a higher salary than he did. She barely made the payments for the bills and her mother’s credit card debt every month.
It was completely selfish, but her mother had never been one to put others before what she wanted. Seraphina had practiced all her life and was a good shot, a fast learner, and smarter than most of the other water fae. She mastered persuasive magic and had figured out how to use it to better their community. Most of the time Rytas, wanted her to gain land for them or resources. Of course, this mission wasn’t bettering anything, it just made it worse. Disrupting the peace of a world was never a good plan. But he had his reasons and reluctantly she played along.
Seraphina needed to get into the house and steal a very valuable crystal bear during the ball. The goal was to set it up so the Alornians looked like the thieves. This was how Rytas planned to force the war despite the peace agreement. Since he’d given her next to no time to plan, she was flying by the seat of her pants. She’d tried to wear a very human ensemble so she wouldn’t stick out. Humans often worked for the weres and there were so many people milling about no one would notice her at least for a little while. A pink flowery dress, black flip flops, and the white cardigan were so not her style, but it fit with what she wanted to portray.
She moved about noting locations and seeing where the best ways to get into the house from the tent were. The Fae moved along with the usual hustle of humans and found the chore to be a bit tedious. Finally, frustrated with trying not to look suspicious, she waved a hand in front of a servant. The woman had just dropped off a series of trays and headed back towards the rear of the place when Seraphina encountered her.
“Tell me where the best entrances to the house are.” Making sure to keep the woman’s eyes focused on her, she gently touched her shoulder using her persuasive magic. She didn’t want to use force, she wanted it to be a simple process.
It could get quite cruel if someone didn’t do what she asked right from the beginning, but the young maid seemed susceptible to it immediately. She led Seraphina around the tent lifting the side and pointing to side doors and the kitchen where she could easily slip into the house. As she broke the connection with the maid, someone else got her attention.
“Who are you?” A deep voice startled her, and she jumped back from the maid to find where the voice was coming from. She had to keep looking up and up until her eyes landed on a huge man. His handsome face looked down at her. Piercing eyes of green cut through her. At the moment, he looked wary of her with a hard expression. She found him even more appealing because of it. She was of course up to no good but hoped her persuasive magic would work on a werebear. She’d only used it on humans before.
“Well hello there, I’m Seraphina. I’m checking out the venue for the Slamarian alpha.” It was the first thing that came to her mind. Immediately after this, she searched for a good reason to be checking out the venue.
“Why?”
“Why do you need to know?” Seraphina asked, poking his huge arm with her index finger.
“I need to know because I’m head of Alornian security, name’s Donovan, and I wasn’t made aware there would be Slamarians patrolling as well.”
Damn it, Seraphina would tell the head of security she was with security. It was just her luck. Her ability to think quickly on her feet had been derailed a bit by the handsome overpowering man. If she played it right, she could make this work.
She turned on the magic, the only card she had to play. It wouldn’t work on him like it did with humans, but it would make her a lot more believable.
“The alpha wanted extra protection. Something about a witch spreading rumors of ruining the ball. They are not leaving anything to chance, so I'm doing as I was told.”
“Penelope? She just got out of prison for the last time. See I'd heard the same rumors, that's why we're beefing up security for this event.” He moved fast, and she had to take quick steps to keep up with him as he made his way around the ballroom.
Wow, Seraphina couldn’t believe that worked. She’d made it up, completely. She knew witches could be nasty but hadn’t heard about them in a while.
“So, I bet you’re really strong, huh?” She wanted to change the subject since she had no clue who Penelope was. She pushed her hair out of her face and batted her lashes. It wasn’t something she would normally do, but she wanted to seem as harmless as possible to the giant were bear.
“I need to check this out with the alpha.” Donovan started to walk away to find Stefan, the Slamorian alpha. A quick glance around told her the Alorian Alpha, Walter, wasn’t there yet. During the initial planning period of getting a war started her leader had made sure she was familiar with the were’s in power and what their histories were. His motivation hadn’t been made clear to her, he just said to trust him. In her culture, you didn’t question the leader.
When Stefan’s predecessor had been killed, Rytas thought he had it made. It seemed he wouldn’t have to start anything and the were’s would go to war without any outside influence. But he was wrong. The current regime held fast to the treaty and made every attempt to avoid another blood bathed war like before.
Seraphina reached up and put a hand on his arm but took it away when he glared at her. “Look, sir, I’m just checking the perimeter, same as you. I’m not doing anything wrong, and I’m not bothering anyone by being here.” She smiled up at him hopeful that sounded convincing.
She saw the change when he finally really noticed her. His demeanor shifted, and he looked at her face with a kind of absent-minded smirk. She felt a strange whirl in the bottom of her stomach and took a step back from him. He took her breath away with his dark features and broad shoulders. He shook himself and put the stern look back on his face.
“My job is to make sure this joint event runs smoothly. I don’t know why I feel like telling you this but I’m in charge in case a witch who has given us some trouble in the past shows up and tr
ies something.” Donovan looked around as if making sure no one heard him. The Fae wondered what he was going to say if anything.
The magic had worked on him if he was sharing information. She smiled to herself, I must be getting stronger to influence a huge bear like this. The fae’s magic was like an instrument they had to learn to play over time. It was something that came with practice although some of the fae possessed a stronger gift than others. She was getting stronger every day, and she loved it.
“Well, I’m going to continue to do my job then.” Turning she walked away hoping he didn’t ask any more questions.
Seraphina felt a strange melancholy walking away from him. She felt like she knew him, his energy was that of a kind soul, and she was used to being around those with cold hearts and selfish plans. She had a job to do though, so she made her way towards the closest entrance the maid showed to her.
Surprisingly for a place where a huge ball was going to be held, there weren’t that many people in the house. She could hear people walking around in the kitchen, and an occasional servant would run by with flowers or another large spool of glitter ribbon. None of them seemed to notice her. She knew where Stefan’s office was thanks to an inside source Rytas didn’t feel she needed to know about. He had been able to get close to the alpha and told Rytas everything in exchange for some kind of payment. What it could be, Seraphina didn’t know.
She found the room quickly and slipped inside. The alpha’s office was clean and organized. She noticed everything lined up perfectly across his desk. The books on the shelves were alphabetized, and everything had its place. And there on the bottom shelf alone sat the crystal bear.
There was a clear box around it with a black key code pad. This was part one of the mission. Seraphina needed to figure out the code. If there was an alarm, she didn’t see it, but as she approached she worried she might set something off. If she did then everything would be ruined. Slowly she moved towards the bear, its crystals made colorful patterns on the wall from the lamp that illuminated them from the desk.