TWISTED FATES BOOK 2: EVEN MORE TWISTED

Fate sat on his throne looking into the Pool of Destiny, a treasured gift from his sister, the Goddess Anagke. Though small in stature, the golden intricately designed pool bestowed upon Fate the ability to keep a watchful eye on all the inhabitants within the mortal realm of earth. Staring into the tumultuous swirls of blue and green liquid, Fate was able to observe as the pathetic little humans lived their mundane lives according to his will. He enjoyed himself for a while, at least for a time. Then, as all things tend to do with immortal beings with insurmountable amounts of power, he was bored. He, too, began feeling the itch of monotony that plagued his life. Day in Day out. It was all the same; he would check his list, decide who lives and dies; wash, repeat, and continue.

It wasn’t until a certain witch and human came into play did his existence feel any sort of emotion. It seemed that the witch, who, of course, he was quite familiar with being that she offered him entertainment from time to time. The way she would procure unsuspecting women into her web of lies only to take their life force as her own, resulting in their demise. Yes, she was definitely entertaining, that is until she messed up. It seemed that she made a deal with one particular human whose designated demise was thwarted by a meddling old witch and a vampire. This, of course, was displeasing to Fate, and he would have handled the human’s, now turned vampire’s, termination, but as usual, things did not go as they should have. Instead of patience, the greedy little witch sought out and took the life force from another female. One that was not on Fate’s list for death. She stole an unsanctioned life force. This act was unforgivable—a blatant disrespect to the God himself. Deciding to take an unauthorized life, she may as well have declared that she was a Goddess herself. Such a vile act angered Fate to no end, and he knew that he would no longer allow her existence to continue.

No.

Fate had such delightful plans for her indeed.

The other problem with Fate’s recent demeanor was his growing fascination with the little vampire female. There was something about her that made his blood boil to volcanic levels. He spent many days just watching her and loathing her piteous existence. He made it his gratifying mission to bring her such grief and suffering in hopes that she would break to the point of death. And yet, she continued to survive. Every damn thing he threw at her, she wouldn’t die, and it was relentlessly setting him over the edge. What made it worse was that despite his hatred for her, there was another emotion that he couldn’t quite understand. It would appear whenever Fate would observe her pain and suffering. Once, he actually felt a single tear flee the boundaries of his dark and cold grey eyes. He hadn’t been aware of its presence until he felt the tiniest trickle of water trail its way down along his cheek.

This little vampire was infuriating, and yet he couldn’t stop watching her.

Suddenly an idea popped into his head the sent a shiver of excitement to flow throughout his entire being. He smiled to himself as he was now resolute on what he was going to do about this little vixen. It was time to go to earth.

He summoned his sister to his throne room. She would need to keep watch over his tasks in his stead while he was away.

“Anagke, can you please come. I have a matter to discuss with you of dire importance.”

A beautiful young woman entered Fate’s throne room. Anagke, his sister, was stunning, as most Goddesses are; though small in stature, her aura exuded great power. Her long ebony tresses that cascaded along her back and silver eyes gave her an almost angelic appearance. But appearances can be quite deceiving; she was not to be underestimated. She may look like an angel, but she was just as cunning as her twin brother Fate.

“What is it, brother, that you have called upon me at this hour?”

“Well, hello to you too, Ana. I am planning on taking a little trip to the mortal realm for a small amount of time.”

Ana raised her eyebrow at my statement. She was such a nosey little thing.

“What spurred this decision, brother, and what does it have to do with me?”

“In my absence, I will need you to keep an eye on things for me. As far as my reason behind my departure, let’s just say I have an irritating itch that I need to eradicate once and for all.”

Ana just huffed and rolled her eyes at me. Gods, for her being a Goddess herself, she could be so immature at times.

“So, will you do it or not, Ana?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not really.”

“Fine.”

“Thanks, Ana. I owe you.”

Ana just smirked, then turned on her heels to walk out and head back to her room but not before she had to make sure she got the last word in, of course.

“Yeah, you owe me more than one, Danny.”

**************************************************

One Month later

Sammie

Ever since Dev’s been back, it feels like something is off; and by off, I mean really, really off. For starters, when he had returned, he didn’t even come to see me, nope. Instead, he went directly to his pack. Hell, I wouldn’t have even known of his return if it wasn’t for Aiden telling me three days after his arrival home to Blood Moon Pack.

Suspish? Oh, I’d say so.

When the elusive Alpha Montgomery finally did make an appearance, which of course was five days after his return, our little talk was not so much a talk but rather him telling me that he was sorry for blowing everything out of proportion. He said the misunderstanding was all his fault and that he trusted me and did not wish to discuss it any further than that. I was never even given the opportunity to retort, respond, acknowledge, hell a fart couldn’t have even been passed in the time span it took before he suddenly planted a quick peck on my forehead and bolted back to his pack to “catch up on all the work he was behind on.”

Again I ask you … suspish?

Yep.

Since that awkward encounter, I haven’t really gotten to spend a lot of time with Dev. Another attack occurred on his pack, and he had to deal with everything there. He’s also been somewhat distant. We haven’t even been intimate since his return. Which if I notice it, considering I am still working on getting past my PTSD, then that’s saying something.

What makes everything even more bizarre in my life is that Samantha suddenly contacted me last week, catching me completely off guard.

*Flashback*

I was once again in the dark chasm within my mind. Samantha stood in front of me with a look of worry, causing her to furrow her brow.

“Sammie.”

“Yeah?”

“We need to discuss something.”

“I assumed so since you contacted me.”

“So petulant.” Samantha rolled her eyes.

“Really? If you called me here for something, can you please just spill without the rude remarks as if I weren’t standing right in front of you?”

A sigh escaped her crimson lips as if she were trying to formulate her next words. Of course, her demeanor struck me as odd, considering Samantha never appeared to be a being that ever thought about anything before she spoke.

This was new.

“Despite what you think, Sammie, I do think before I speak; I just don’t care.”

Rude much?

“Sammie. Can we please not do this. I need to say something, and I need you to listen without the smart-ass commentary.”

I gave Samantha a pointed look then waved my hand in front of her gesturing her to proceed with whatever it was she wanted to say.

“Thank you. Now, as you know, you and I are two sides to your coin. I am your true nature, and you are well … you, to put it simply. With werewolves, these two sides are always separate as they are two separate beings functioning at two different times. With our kind, we are actually able to merge into one being, coexisting in the balance between our truest nature and our humanity. This enables us to be stronger, united, and free from the shackles of certain unnecessary emotional discomforts. I say this because I have noticed the progress you have made since that … incident. But I can also see that you are still burdened by your inability to overcome all your suffering. In all honesty, I feel that if you encountered another painful situation, it could send you further down a spiral then I would be able to reach. If that were to happen, you would be lost forever; feral.”

“Oookaay … so why tell me this?”

“I was getting to that.” She arched her eyebrow, looking at me like a mother looks at their impatient toddler.

Goddess, she’s so neurotic.

“As. I. Was. Saying. I don’t know why but I have a terrible feeling about something, and I think we should merge. This uneasiness tells me that whatever it is will be the catalyst for our loss of control. So as much as I hate to do this, I think we need to merge and soon. I would rather have us on a united front rather than lose us completely.”

The fear in her eyes told me she was deathly serious. Samantha never shows fear. This was not good. I needed time to process what she was saying.

“So if we do this, would I not feel love anymore?”

“You would still feel emotions, Sammie. You just wouldn’t be affected by the ones you don’t want to experience. Like closing some of the drawers in a cabinet. They exist, but we ignore what’s inside.”

She was comparing my emotions to kitchen décor—way to underplay things.

“Can I think about this?”

“Sure. Just know that whatever is going to happen is coming. I feel it in our bones.”

“Ok. I will seriously consider everything, and we can talk later.”

“Fine.”

“Well … if that’s everything, I’d like to get back to the outside world now.”

“Fine. Remember, you need to decide soon, Sammie.”

With that, she was gone, and I was suddenly back in my kitchen.

Goddess, I swear she always has to get the last word in.

** End of Flashback **

Even though everything in my life seems to be turning into a massive train wreck, I was able to skype with Astrid and Shay. I missed my girls so much. I know I couldn’t complain, though. I can’t be selfish when the big baddie out there is trying to make everyone’s lives a living nightmare. I could suck it up for a bit. Besides, today was a day for drama free enjoyment. Somehow, the girls had managed to arrange it so that Michael, Aid, and even Dev would be taking a day off to spend with the three of us.

That’s right, folks, a day filled with nothing but the four F’s.

Friends, Fun, Food and well … you know .. wink, wink.

I got the house completely ready for everyone and made it downstairs just as they all arrived. The girls and I squealed and held each other in our girl group hug.

Everyone here in this room together smiling seemed so long ago. I finally felt like I was home again.

I heard a throat being cleared off to the side and noticed Dev standing there looking shyly at me with his hands in his pockets.

I could see the guilt he held in his eyes.

As much as I wanted to scold him for neglecting me, I just couldn’t. Today I just wanted to relish in my happiness.

Without so much as a warning, I dashed over to Dev and hugged him. He hesitantly put his arms around me then I felt as if all the weight he held on his shoulders melted away. He held me so tightly I was glad I didn’t need oxygen to survive; the man was literally clinging to me as if his life depended on it.

I didn’t care. Dev was here with me. That was all I needed.

I kissed him lovingly before breaking away from his embrace. We would definitely be continuing this later on. But first, lunch.

I turned and faced my little group of friends.

“Alright, guys, I prepared a huge lunch for everyone, so we better get at it before it spoils.”

“Yesssss … I’m starving.”

“Didn’t you just eat like two hours ago, Aiden?”

“No.”

“Dude, I saw you. You had like four Smashburgers on your plate.”

“First off, Mikey, it was two and a half hours ago. Secondly, it was only three. One was a chicken burger.”

“Really?! Really?! Because that makes it even better?”

“Actually, it does. Chicken is less filling and that extra half hour that you conveniently failed to mention is why I am so hungry now.”

“Goddess, you’re such a- “

Michael’s retort was interrupted by the doorbell.

I noticed the guys suddenly sniff the air then tense up. A growl escaped Aid’s and Michaels’s throats while Dev looked … scared?

I went to answer the door when Aid bolted past me, answering it instead.

Another growl permeated the room as my eyes caught sight of the smug-looking bitch standing in my doorway.

That growl was mine.

The bitch was Dasha.