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Book: Scorched Fury: A SkinWalker Novel #5 (DarkWorld: SkinWalker) by T.G. Ayer
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Authors: T.G. Ayer
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cheeks and fly away. It didn't seem fair losing so many people. Anjelo, Logan and now Gracie. Good, loyal, loving people so easily removed from our lives. Sometimes I wondered if anyone realized how tenuous our hold on our loved ones was.
Gracie was loving and cheerful, scolding and cuddly. Not that I'd ever hugged her. I'd thought all along that she was Fae royalty and I'd treated her with the respect she'd deserved. Something deep in my heart twisted knowing I'd been lied to. That all that time I'd known Gracie, all those years of seeing her so often, all those poisons she'd scoured the Faelands to find just for me, all that time she'd been lying to me.
Tara had been lying to me.
But in the face of Storm's betrayal, Tara's omission was minor. A small hurt that was inflicted because she'd cared for me enough, because she'd wanted my safety above all else. Storm hadn't cared about our safety. All he'd wanted was to ensure he avenged himself for what he'd lost.
I branched off the highway, heading into the trees and up into the hills, my paws slammed into the soil, raising little clouds of dust. The loping movement of running as a cat was calming, everything in sync, fluid, cohesive. Cloaked by leaves and shadows, I pushed myself to move faster, feeling the burn in my muscles, the tightening in my lungs.
So deep was I within my thoughts that only the sound of the gravel beneath my claws brought me back to awareness. I'd run on automatic, heading for my father's house without thinking about direction.
Slowing to a stop, I changed to human form, the rucksack still secure on my back. Naked, I hurried around the house and headed for the old pool house. With us kids all grown and gone, Dad hadn't bothered with the upkeep of the pool, but with our three young guests it looked like he'd finally made an effort.
The water twinkled and the pool house looked almost new with its sparkling lick of white paint. I entered and changed as quickly as I could, before hurrying to the kitchen entrance a few feet away and keying in my code. After the whole Storm debacle Baz, our resident vampire - yes we have a vampire living in our home - had insisted every person have their own codes, and that we all used them when we entered and left the property. It seemed pedantic but with Baz and the goblin twins Alina and Alix Longford still living with my father, it had made a lot of sense.
Technically Baz, or Sebastian Ross, hacker extraordinaire, had been partially turned by a vamp-demon, but the end result after being bitten tends to be the same. For Baz, vamp speed merely made him more dangerous at the keyboard. So we kept him. Or he stayed. I can no longer be sure which.
The keypad beeped and the door clicked open, giving me a chance to get my breath back. I entered the hallway, the empty kitchen offering no warmth or welcome. The living room though was perfect.
Alina lay on her stomach in front of the fire, the firelight making her red hair glow. Mom sat beside her while the two of them discussed the sheer recklessness of Nancy Drew's antics. Mention was made of lockets and a lane called Larkspur, but all was forgotten when Alina looked up and caught sight of me.
The excitement in her eyes brought an answering grin to my face, and although I was eager to visit with Logan, I entered the room and returned her enthusiastic hug. Mom smiled at me from over the child's head.
"So where is your little brother?" I asked softly.
She shrugged. "Doing boy things?"
"Now what in the world could be a 'boy thing'?" I asked, crouching down in front of her.
"Chopping wood. With Baz."
"Ah. I see." I smiled at the disappointment in her eyes. "So . . . did they explain why chopping wood is a boy thing?"
Another shrug. "I think they wanted to be alone."
"Oh." Interesting. "Is Alix troubled by something?"
"Maybe." Alina made a face. "Baz said that Alix needed some manly advice."
I gave an exaggerated sigh. "Well, if Baz thought so then he must be onto
Gracie was loving and cheerful, scolding and cuddly. Not that I'd ever hugged her. I'd thought all along that she was Fae royalty and I'd treated her with the respect she'd deserved. Something deep in my heart twisted knowing I'd been lied to. That all that time I'd known Gracie, all those years of seeing her so often, all those poisons she'd scoured the Faelands to find just for me, all that time she'd been lying to me.
Tara had been lying to me.
But in the face of Storm's betrayal, Tara's omission was minor. A small hurt that was inflicted because she'd cared for me enough, because she'd wanted my safety above all else. Storm hadn't cared about our safety. All he'd wanted was to ensure he avenged himself for what he'd lost.
I branched off the highway, heading into the trees and up into the hills, my paws slammed into the soil, raising little clouds of dust. The loping movement of running as a cat was calming, everything in sync, fluid, cohesive. Cloaked by leaves and shadows, I pushed myself to move faster, feeling the burn in my muscles, the tightening in my lungs.
So deep was I within my thoughts that only the sound of the gravel beneath my claws brought me back to awareness. I'd run on automatic, heading for my father's house without thinking about direction.
Slowing to a stop, I changed to human form, the rucksack still secure on my back. Naked, I hurried around the house and headed for the old pool house. With us kids all grown and gone, Dad hadn't bothered with the upkeep of the pool, but with our three young guests it looked like he'd finally made an effort.
The water twinkled and the pool house looked almost new with its sparkling lick of white paint. I entered and changed as quickly as I could, before hurrying to the kitchen entrance a few feet away and keying in my code. After the whole Storm debacle Baz, our resident vampire - yes we have a vampire living in our home - had insisted every person have their own codes, and that we all used them when we entered and left the property. It seemed pedantic but with Baz and the goblin twins Alina and Alix Longford still living with my father, it had made a lot of sense.
Technically Baz, or Sebastian Ross, hacker extraordinaire, had been partially turned by a vamp-demon, but the end result after being bitten tends to be the same. For Baz, vamp speed merely made him more dangerous at the keyboard. So we kept him. Or he stayed. I can no longer be sure which.
The keypad beeped and the door clicked open, giving me a chance to get my breath back. I entered the hallway, the empty kitchen offering no warmth or welcome. The living room though was perfect.
Alina lay on her stomach in front of the fire, the firelight making her red hair glow. Mom sat beside her while the two of them discussed the sheer recklessness of Nancy Drew's antics. Mention was made of lockets and a lane called Larkspur, but all was forgotten when Alina looked up and caught sight of me.
The excitement in her eyes brought an answering grin to my face, and although I was eager to visit with Logan, I entered the room and returned her enthusiastic hug. Mom smiled at me from over the child's head.
"So where is your little brother?" I asked softly.
She shrugged. "Doing boy things?"
"Now what in the world could be a 'boy thing'?" I asked, crouching down in front of her.
"Chopping wood. With Baz."
"Ah. I see." I smiled at the disappointment in her eyes. "So . . . did they explain why chopping wood is a boy thing?"
Another shrug. "I think they wanted to be alone."
"Oh." Interesting. "Is Alix troubled by something?"
"Maybe." Alina made a face. "Baz said that Alix needed some manly advice."
I gave an exaggerated sigh. "Well, if Baz thought so then he must be onto
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