A Twist of Fate Read online

  A Twist of Fate

  Aidy Award

  Contents

  Introduction

  Pomp and Circumstance

  1. The Ghost in the Darkness

  2. Beacon of Light

  3. Sanctuary

  4. Her Lion

  5. Sworn Enemies

  6. Responsibility

  7. Acquiescence

  8. Claimed

  9. Hells to the No

  10. Courage

  Also by Aidy Award

  A letter from the author

  A Touch of Fate

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2018 by Aidy Award.

  * * *

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions” at the address below.

  * * *

  The Author of this Book has been granted permission by S.E. Smith to use the copyrighted characters and/or worlds created by S.E. Smith in this Book; all copyright protection to the characters and/or worlds of Magic, New Mexico are retained by S.E. Smith.

  * * *

  Aidy Award

  www.AidyAward.com

  * * *

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  * * *

  Book Layout ©2018 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Cover Design by Melody Simmons

  * * *

  A Twist of Fate/ Aidy Award. – 1st ed.

  Created with Vellum

  For everyone who learned to make their own choices, even when it was really hard.

  Save the geek girl, save the galaxy.

  * * *

  ―Aidy Award

  Introduction

  Imagine…

  A world where being abnormal is the norm.

  Magic, New Mexico Kindle World brings together outstanding paranormal and science fiction authors to expand on the Magic, New Mexico series created by New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author, S.E. Smith.

  Live…

  Magic is a town where witches, aliens, vampires, werewolves, goblins, sorceresses, pirates, time travelers, and paranormal live, work, and can be themselves. The residents of magic are very protective of each other – so all the baddies better be warned!

  Love…

  It’s time to fall in love with the action, adventure, suspense, and romance inside Magic, New Mexico. Curl up with each book now and discover what makes Magic, New Mexico different from the rest!

  I’m S.E. Smith, the creator of Magic, New Mexico and I invite you to curl up with each book now and discover all the action, the magic, and the love that makes Magic, New Mexico the ultimate go-to series for Paranormal / Science Fiction Romance readers.

  For all the stories, go to MagicNewMexico.com/books/

  Grab your copy today!

  Welcome to Magic, New Mexico.

  https://www.magicnewmexico.com/books/

  S.E. Smith

  Pomp and Circumstance

  This betrothal was absolute bullshit. His people were dying, their people were being attacked all over the planet, and his father was worried about whether his mate would give him sons to carry on the bloodline and take over the throne.

  Who the fuck needed an heir if there was no one left in the kingdom?

  The young lioness his mother had chosen for him looked unhappy and bored out of her skull by the inane details of the upcoming nuptials and crowning ceremony. Fed felt exactly the same.

  No, he wasn’t simply bored, he was angry. Pomp and circumstance should never trump the lives of the people who expected him to protect them. Not even his father.

  “Fedelis. Please pay attention. It’s not like we have a crowning every day.” His mother chastised, but she understood how he felt about this ordeal.

  “We shouldn’t be having one now.” He did his best to keep the anger out of his voice. It wasn’t her fault his father couldn’t see past tradition.

  If it hadn’t been for her, Fed would probably already be wed and sitting on the throne. She’d talked his father into letting Fed continue his military training. Only she could convince King Leonidas that his son, the protector of the throne, needed any more time honing his skills.

  No, he’d used the extra time to search out answers to what was attacking the Honese and leaving them husks of themselves, devoid of their souls.

  Fed wrapped his hand around the soul ember dangling from his neck and sent a quiet plea to the Fates to help him destroy the mysterious threat.

  “My liege.” The lioness approached him and curtsied, her knees almost touching the floor.

  Fuck. This was the kind of woman he was supposed to marry and rule the kingdom with? He didn’t want to be saddled with a simpering sycophant.

  “Rise, lioness.” It was hard to keep the irritation out of his voice. She glanced up at him briefly and then to his mother.

  Yeah, yeah. This wasn’t protocol and Fed was sure that was all she knew. Lioness princess or not, she was going to have to loosen up. She wouldn’t be able to do that with the King and Queen looking on.

  “Mother, will you excuse us?”

  His mother rolled her eyes but walked away. He’d pay for that later with a lecture on etiquette. She was the only one he would tolerate it from, because she was the one who’d taught him to buck protocol when it needed to be in the first place.

  His bride-to-be stared at the floor. He’d better show her what kind of woman he expected to share the throne and his bed with now, so she could scurry away. She would. If he scared her enough. “What is your name?”

  “Leona.”

  Of course, it was.

  She’d probably been groomed since the womb to be chosen as the consort to a prince. Given the perfect name, the perfect education, the perfect look. She was beautiful, and he couldn’t care less.

  “Leona, look at me.”

  Her eyes flicked up catching his gaze as instructed, then back down to the floor.

  “Look. At. Me. Now.” He grabbed her chin and raised her face to meet his.

  Her pupils were dilated, and while he knew he was considered good-looking, she wasn’t aroused. No, exactly as he’d thought. She was timid and scared like a doe who was about to be eaten by a predator. Otherwise the lioness that shimmered near the surface, wanting to shift would have come out and taught him a lesson.

  She swallowed and surprised the shit out of him by finding her voice. “Yes, my liege.”

  “Good girl. If we are to be mated, you’re going to have to unlearn all of your training to be a lady when you’re with me. The only time I want to see you on your knees is when you’re begging me to fuck this pretty little mouth of yours.”

  Oh, yes. That had done it. Her eyes were as wide as the moons.

  “The rest of the time you will behave as befitting the queen you are to become. You must display power and confidence for all. You’ll submit to no one but me.”

  Right before his eyes, this little lioness grew a backbone. “Will I even become queen? You’ve no desire to rule.”

  Interesting. The court was good for one thing. Those busy-bodies were better than military intelligence at ferreting out secrets. Even his.

 
; “You’ll be queen because tradition dictates. I have no say in the matter. But you do. If you do not want to be mated to me, you may simply walk away.”

  “And you’ll do what, my assassin prince? Go off to fight the scourge plaguing our homeland while another suitable bride is found? Who will protect the crown while you’re fighting other’s battles?”

  Assassin prince? It was his responsibility to protect his father, as it was for all heirs to the throne. Yes, he had killed those who would try to harm the king or usurp the throne for themselves. He wasn’t sure that made him an assassin.

  Leona tilted her head and studied him, no longer scared. “You didn’t know we call you that, did you?”

  “Who is this we?”

  He hadn’t meant to snap at Leona quite so harshly that time. She wasn’t as simpering as he’d originally thought. She hadn’t gone running from him yet.

  “Everyone,” she said matter of factly.

  “The court gossips, you mean.”

  “No. I mean everyone. The court, the staff, the villagers, the witches, the other shifters, all of the people of Honaw. Your people know what you are.”

  Fates above.

  “What do you think I am?”

  “The future king and my future husband. Together we will rule Honaw.” She held her chin high and conveyed the confidence he expected from a royal princess.

  She just might do.

  Too bad she wasn’t his true mate.

  Neither of their embers lit up when they’d met. They were as compatible as could be expected, and she would be a fine ruler.

  But they would never have the love and deep connection only fated mates found in each other.

  The Fates were not known to be kind to royalty.

  Regardless, it was time for him to do his duty.

  “Come, Leona. The crown awaits.” Fed took his future mate’s hand and they approached the throne where his mother and father sat deep in discussion. Hmm. They were arguing. Fed and his mother were the only ones who did so, and even then, rarely.

  His mother stared daggers at the king. “You’re being unreasonable, Leonidas. You can not exclude—”

  “I’ll not have it. That is my word and it is final.” His father sliced a hand through the air.

  They were likely arguing over Fed postponing the crowning. His mother needn’t worry about that any longer.

  Fed cleared his throat. “King Leonidas, Queen Gorgo, may I present our future queen, Leona.”

  His father already knew who she was, of course. But tradition dictated the introduction as part of the heir’s acceptance of the betrothal.

  Leona curtsied, but this time did not lower her eyes. It was the perfect first impression.

  “So, you’ve found your bride. Good. Then tomorrow I will relinquish the crown to you and finally get to sleep in for once.”

  His father laughed at his own joke, but his chuckle was cut off in mid-breath. “No. It can’t be.”

  They all turned and saw the royal guard running into the chamber, spears held aloft. There were at least twenty and all had panic in their souls.

  Fed instantly shifted, his lion form bursting from within with only one thing on its mind. Protect the King.

  Leona and his parents shimmered into their lions as well. Fed and the two lionesses formed a barrier between this oncoming danger and the king. But where was the danger?

  Soldiers in both their lion and Honaw forms fell as some invisible force sliced through them. Yet none were dead. They sat or lie where they were, alive, breathing, blinking, unable or unwilling to stand and fight. It was as if they’d become empty husks of themselves.

  Soul stealers. Leonidas’s voice resonated through all of their minds.

  Fed still saw nothing. He could not defend against that which he could not find. More of the guard fell as they raced toward the royals, leading whatever was taking them out directly toward the king.

  Father, run. Go now, protect the crown. Fed commanded, the only time he had any say over his father.

  His father roared, shaking the room with his power. Fedelis, no. You must carry on the Semper line now.

  If the attack had come one day later, that would be true. Here and now, Fed was the last thing standing between the king and his destruction. His duty above all others, including taking over the mantle of ruler, was to protect his father by any means possible.

  Mother, take him. Seek the shelter of the safe room.

  The light in his mother’s soul ember lit up surrounding them all in its warm glow. She shoved at his father with her head and shoulder and his own light bade him to obey her.

  Only for his true mate would the king retreat.

  Something slammed against the edge of the soul ember’s light, creating a spider-web of cracks in the air.

  For a brief moment, Fed saw the face of one of the fallen guards. He’d been barely recognizable, the ghostlike features dark and menacing. Evil.

  A chilled spear of understanding sent a shiver into his core.

  That same guard’s body sat staring into space not ten meters from them. Holy Fates, the scourge plaguing their planet, their home was here.

  Fed lashed out at the ghost in front of him with his razor-like claws. He caught nothing but air. No injury, no blood, no enemy.

  He backed up, forcing his family to move out of their shocked silence and begin their retreat. The bubble of light around them shook again and the webbing turned to cracks. Whatever protection the light of the soul ember was affording them would not last much longer.

  Some powerful magic was at work here. No witches on Honaw could wield their arts like this. He’d never seen any of them do more than help heal the sick and wounded. Except when they were called upon to pull a piece of a shifter’s soul into their amulets so that he or she may one day find a mate.

  His mother cried out at the beings continued to strike at the light from her ember protecting them all.

  Sweet Fates above, what is happening?

  Leona yowled and clawed at the air. She snapped her jaw at nothing. The attackers were coming from all sides now. My prince. Save—

  A whoosh of dark nothingness struck, shattering the shield around them and sent Leona’s body careening back as if hit by a massive projectile. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she dropped to the ground.

  Mother, father. Run.

  Fed didn’t know what this threat was, but he knew they were being systematically hunted. If his parents had a chance at escaping, he needed to provide a target the enemy couldn’t resist.

  He waited only the second it took for his king and queen to dash toward the nearest exit. The one that led to the inner chambers and the safe room.

  If he could give them enough of a head start, they might make it. He jumped up on top of the throne and then onto the carved rock ledge that bore his family’s crest above it.

  The roar he let out was even louder and literally earth-shattering than his father’s. Even as he crouched to pounce and evade the walls continued to shake.

  No, wait. That wasn’t just his roar. That was the sound of a Star Ranger ship coming in for a landing.

  The ceiling of the room exploded, raining chunks of rock down all around him. Weapons fired into the space, illuminating the room, but not seeming to damage the enemy. He was almost blown over as the shiny metal of a fighter ship swooped down, hovering just above the hole it had blown in the roof.

  A door on the side opened and a ladder dropped into the room a meter above his head. “Fed, jump.”

  Fed didn’t have time to think because a scatter grenade came flying out of the door toward the floor. The dumbstruck guards and Leona were down there. He would not sacrifice them even in their handicapped states.

  He jumped, but not for the ladder. He used all of his strength and catapulted himself across the room, tackling Leona and covering her body with his own.

  The grenade went off, and he braced himself for the pain of shrapnel hitting his hide. None came. Maybe
he was already dead.

  He opened his eyes to a fine dust of dark black dust sprinkling down and covering the room in a million sparkles.

  That was one fucking weirdass grenade.

  Shit. It must be a chemical weapon. Great. He and his people would probably die a horrible painful death. That’s what he got for training with the Star Rangers. He’d never trusted those sons of bitches.

  Fed glanced in the direction his parents had run. At least they had gotten away.

  A star ranger in full combat gear slid down the ladder from the ship and jumped the final few meters to the ground. Fed growled at him but didn’t want to move until he was sure Leona was okay. She hadn’t said a word, not even a squeak of protest for landing on her with his full weight.

  The ranger lifted off his helmet and looked around. Damn, betrayed by one he’d thought of as a friend. It was Coal, his training officer.

  “Fed, man. Did they get you?” Coal rushed to his side and shoved his shoulder.

  If Coal was prancing around without his helmet on, the chemical weapon must have a short life. Fed carefully extracted himself from Leona. She was breathing, and her eyes were open, but there was something missing from her gaze.

  Life.

  It was as if she wasn’t in there at all.

  This time his growl started deep in his chest. He let it rumble in there as a warning before he jumped on Coal, taking him to the ground, his teeth at the ranger’s throat.

  “Whoa. Down, kitty. I just saved your fucking life.”

  Fed shifted, replacing his teeth with his hands firmly around Coal’s neck. “Explain.”