Midnight Magic, page 92
Zander kissed her head again. "Our baby. Our son." He rubbed the baby's head.
Zander truly was an amazing mate and alpha. Not many men, even human men, would take in a child on the spot and call them his son. Especially after just having gotten himself tangled up with a crazy lady like her.
"What will you call him?" asked Melisandre.
"I've always loved the name Tyrael."
Eonis touched the boy's cheek. "Then he will be known as Tyrael from now on and forever. Eldest son of Zander and Natalia."
Natalia smiled at Tyrael. "Let's go upstairs and show you your cousin. She's nine months younger than you, but you're much larger, so you'll have to learn to be gentle with her. And always protect her."
"Don't worry," said Zander. "We'll teach him. We'll teach him everything we were never taught."
Natalia beamed up at him and then looked at Melisandre and Eonis. “Our pack. Our family.”
* * *
Thank you for reading!
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*.*.*.*.*
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK
If you enjoyed this book, you may also enjoy...
* * *
Fairelle Series
Red the Were Hunter - Book One
Yanti's Choice - Free Fairelle Short Story
Snow the Vampire Slayer - Book Two
Jamen’s Yuletide Bride - Book Three
Zelle and the Tower - Book Four
Cinder the Fae - Book Five
Belle and the Beast - Book Six
Gerall’s Festivus Bride - Book Seven
Jak the Giant Healer - Book Eight
* * *
Rituals and Runes Anthology
Midnight Magic Anthology
Rejected Mates Anthology
ABOUT REBEKAH R. GANIERE
Rebekah is a USA Today Bestselling Author and Award Winning, Emmy Nominated Screenwriter. Her debut novel Dead Awakenings, hit the bestseller list on release day. She has won several awards in both writing and screenwriting. Books in her popular fairytale retelling series Fairelle have won many awards including Best Fantasy Series of 2014 from the Paranormal Romance Guild. Rebekah is a prolific author releasing upwards of five books a year and is currently working on six different series.
Rebekah is the former President of the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter of RWA as well as a member of several local and online chapters. In her spare time when she isn't writing you can find her teaching all over the US and online. Rebekah has been a guest speaker and panelist at Comic Cons and conventions all over the US. Her first feature film, based on her novel Rekindling Christmas, was nominated for an Emmy for Best Picture.
KISS ME, CHAOS BY QUELL T. FOX
COPYRIGHT
Kiss Me, Chaos © 2022 Quell T. Fox
Edited by: Proofs by Polly
KISS ME, CHAOS
Black magic is for the weak and desperate.
* * *
Adalaine needs a lifeline.
* * *
She’s drowning in her life at Starbound Academy and has no way of fixing it.
* * *
When Adalaine is invited to a party with her peers, she jumps at the chance, thinking this is her opportunity to fit in. Only instead of going well like she’d hoped, everything goes horribly wrong.
* * *
The only thing that gets her through the worst night of her life is meeting a friend in an unexpected place—the cemetery. What does it matter if he only has half a face? You can’t judge a book by its cover… or can you?
CHAPTER 1
I open my eyes and squint to see the time. A very blurry 5:37 is what I make out on the clock.
“Of course,” I mumble, rolling away from the reminder that I need to get up soon.
It would be my luck to wake up twenty-three minutes before my alarm is scheduled to go off. Barely enough time to fall back into a good sleep. By the time I doze off, it’ll just be waking me up again.
Deciding to just get up now, I turn back to the clock and press the button to shut off the alarm before picking up my glasses, putting them on, and getting out of bed. My fuzzy bunny slippers are warm on my feet as I step into them. The floors here are always cold so I often have something on my feet, no matter what. The school building is old and the heat doesn’t work the best. You’d think they’d spell it to make it more comfortable, but nope. Apparently, cold floors are not an issue here at Starbound Academy.
Making my way to the other end of my room, I put on my bathrobe over my pajamas and pick up the caddy that holds all of my shower supplies. At least if I head in there now, it won’t be as full as it normally is, and maybe I can take a shower in peace and not worry about the other girls tormenting me about whatever they chose for today’s topic. Every day it’s something different, and they’ve become quite creative with it too.
I quietly make my way out of the room, not wanting to disturb Elizabeth, my roommate who needs to have every second of sleep she can get. I’ve been yelled at more than once for ruining her beauty sleep. Bothering her is the last thing I want to do, considering she’s the worst of the girls in this school.
Beauty sleep? I mean, come on. Like she even needs it. She’s one of the prettiest girls in school, the most popular too. How she got paired living with me, I have no idea. It was probably an accident. She said so herself, and even brought it to the headmistress but there was nothing she could do at the time. We’re near the end of our first year and I’m still here, so I guess it’s where I’m staying.
Only two more years living with my worst tormentor. If I can survive it, then I know I can survive anything.
Carefully unlocking the front door, I look around the room once more before pulling it open and stepping out. The hallway is empty and quiet. Maybe no one has gotten up yet? That would be amazing.
With a smile on my face, I move down the hallway quickly and stop at the community bathroom that is shared by all of the girls who room on floor six, which ends up being about fifty of us. Thankfully the maintenance staff in this school are well paid and I’ve never seen the bathrooms anything less than spotless.
I put my ear to the door before pushing it open, wanting to know what I’m walking into, and when I hear nothing, not even a whisper, my smile grows, and I push it open.
Empty.
“Yes!” I say in a loud whisper.
The entire year I’ve been here, I’ve never once had the bathroom all to myself. If I’d have known all it would take would be to wake up early, I’d have been doing it sooner. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy sleep, but a nice hot shower without interruption? Does anything beat that?
The bathroom is usually packed by the time I get here when I wake up at six, so I didn’t think twenty minutes would make much of a difference.
I guess I was wrong.
I make my way around the corner, to where the showers are, grab a towel from the shelf, and pick the closest stall on the right. I close the curtain and put my things down on the shelf beside the towel before pulling open the other curtain and starting the shower. It takes a few minutes to get warm, so I get undressed while I wait. I put my glasses in my robe pocket and hang it up on the hook and leave my dirty pajamas on the shelf. Picking up my toiletries, I head into the shower and suppress the sounds of pleasure.
The water is warm and the pressure is okay. It could be better, but also worse, I know that. I can’t wait for the day I graduate from this school and get my own place, so I can do with it what I want. I’d thought it would be that way when I got here, but Elizabeth doesn’t approve of anything I like. Even if it’s in my own room. And because I don’t feel like fighting with her since she’ll make my life worse than it already is, I just go along with it.
I wash my hair and body quickly. I’d love to stay in here longer but don’t want to push my luck. If I can get back to my room before the girls end up in here, it’ll be all the better.
I shut the faucets off, squeeze the excess water from my hair, and pull open the curtain.
For all of two seconds, I’m confused, but then the fear sets in. The sheer panic of what I am looking at. Or what I’m not looking at, I should say.
All of my stuff is gone. All of it. Every last bit of it.
My pajamas, robe, slippers, even the clean towel!
And my glasses! No, not my glasses. I can’t see a thing without them!
I step forward and pop my head out of the curtain and see nothing. The bathroom is empty.
“Hello?” I call, wondering if someone else is here. Maybe someone who can help me?
I get no response. None at all.
“Oh, no, no, no.” Tears fill my eyes at the realization of what is going on. I look around again, as if they could be hiding from me, but there is nowhere to hide. Poking my head out again, I pop my head into the shower beside me… empty.
They did this. The girls did this to me. Somehow, they knew I was here early and took my stuff. They’re always doing something, always playing some kind of cruel prank, but this is easily the worst thing possible. How could they think this is okay? This is beyond anything they’ve done before. They certainly know how wrong this is which is exactly why they did it in the first place. They’ve tried all the small things already: stealing my books, putting signs on my back, starting rumors… that’s old news. So old in fact, that it doesn’t bother me anymore. Which is exactly why they’ve upped their game.
I have no clothes and I can’t see a thing.
This is so, so bad.
It has to be at least six by now… someone will show up, right? Someone who isn’t in on this? Someone who can help? One of the girls on this floor must have to use the bathroom, maybe I can wait it out.
Knowing I don’t have much of a choice, I sit on the bench and wait. After only a few minutes I start to shiver as the cold sets in. My body is damp, and my hair is dripping.
After what has to be ten minutes, I realize no one is coming.
I stay as long as I can, but I can’t sit in here all day. I have classes to get to! It’s the second half of the year, meaning the classes are even more important. It’s the last semester before we get to use actual magic.
I glance around one more time, realizing I only have one option.
* * *
*.*.*.*.*
* * *
Peeking my head out the door, I see not a single person in the hall which makes no sense.
Every girl on this floor can’t be in on this, can they? No freaking way!
I look both ways again, just to make sure, and I listen real good too. I hear and see nothing. This is either the craziest thing to happen or the luckiest.
I pull the door open the rest of the way and scurry out, heading straight towards my dorm with the only thing I could find wrapped around me—the shower curtain.
As my bare feet slap on the cold floor, I wonder if I’ll ever see those adorable pink bunny slippers again. My dad bought them for me, and I’ll never be able to replace them.
My door is finally in sight, just at the end. I can make it. There’s like fifty feet left. I hurry my steps, holding my arms around me, trying to ignore the icky feeling of the wet plastic on my skin.
But just as I allow hope to fill me, just as I think this is going to be over, that I’ll be in my room any second, Headmistress Flerowitz steps around the corner, her eyes widening and steps faltering. We both stop at the same time, mouths dropping open.
Crap.
She huffs out a breath, her cheeks turning red. “Adalaine Beauregard! What in the world are you doing?” She hurries towards me. “Is this your idea of a joke?”
“What? No, of course not!” I hiss.
She grips my elbow and drags me to my door, spinning me to face her. She bends her neck but still towers over me. She’s a tall woman, standing at five-foot-eleven. She weighs two-sixty and loves using her past as a wrestler in most conversations, which is the only reason I know her height and weight. It’s such an odd thing to remember, but I can’t choose the knowledge my brain chooses to keep.
“You will get in your room, get dressed, and meet me in my office immediately.” Her eyes burn with rage as she speaks, and she gives me no chance to say anything back. She turns on her heel and stomps down the hallway. I sigh and open the door to my room; thankful it’s at least unlocked.
As I step into my room, all of my stuff is exactly where it was before I left. Robe is hanging by the closet, toiletries on the shelf, bunny slippers in front of the bed… aha! And my glasses are right on my bedside table. I snatch them up and put them on.
I let out a sigh and grab my uniform to get dressed.
It’s going to be a crappy week.
CHAPTER 2
The headmistress’s office is pristine. Everything is shiny and in perfect order. I swear she looks for students to keep in detention just so they have to clean up this area because she certainly doesn’t do it herself—I’d know since I’ve done it on many occasions. After school, she has to hurry home to work out and practice her moves, since she’s sure she’ll one day go back to wrestling and will eventually hold a title for it.
After an ankle injury that got her taken out in the first place, there is no way they’ll let her back in. It’s too dangerous. I see the way she struggles at the end of the day just walking in the heels she chooses; how will she withstand moves or even land on it? And if an opponent knows of her weak spot? That’s a target.
She can’t go back but she won’t hear it.
I accidentally overheard her father—the previous Headmaster—telling her just that. I swear it’s the reason she has it out for me in the first place. I heard something I wasn’t supposed to, something that embarrasses her, and she doesn’t like it.
Completely unfair, but I’ve learned that’s just how life is.
Unfair.
“Miss Beauregard?” I look up to find Wentzel, the headmistress’s assistant who happens to be an Aviamorph, which means he turns into a bird. Though, right now, he’s in his human form, sitting in his chair behind his desk. I’ve never had the opportunity to shift, but I will next year. He helps out in one of the classes that I’ll be taking during my first semester.
“Yes?”
“Headmistress Flerowitz will see you now.”
“Thank you, Wentzel.” I smile at him, and he returns it before going back to whatever it is he’s doing on the computer. I get up and head into the headmistress’s office.
“Shut the door,” she grunts, not bothering to look up as I step in.
I do as she asks and shut the door behind me before moving towards her desk and sitting in the seat across from her.
She still doesn’t acknowledge me, just continues to write on the paper she has laid out in front of her. I know better than to say anything though. This isn’t my first time being in this office, unfortunately. Actually, I’ve probably been in here more times than anyone else in this school and none of them have been my fault. Not a single one. Just like this time, yet here I sit, once again.
I wait patiently, twiddling my thumbs, knowing I’m probably on the verge of failing Ancient Runes at this point, considering how much time of it I’ve missed from sitting in this very office first thing in the morning. My professor for that class is not one who believes in making up work.
“Time wasted is time lost, Miss Beauregard,” he says each and every time I walk in late.
It’s also one of the hardest classes of this semester, so of course, I’d have it first thing in the morning.
If I don’t pass all of my classes, I won’t be able to perform magic next year. I can’t let that happen. For so many reasons. It’s not just about the magic, I have a plan and I need to stick to it. That plan does not include having to repeat classes.
Finally, the headmistress sits up, puts down her quill, and folds her hands on the desk in front of her. She pins me with a hard stare, those bland brown eyes meeting my own. They’re sad and boring and I kind of feel bad for her. I can sense how miserable she is, and instead of dealing with it, she takes it out on everyone else. “Adalaine, I hope you know that the only reason you haven’t been expelled yet is because of your father.”
“But—”
She holds up a hand and I snap my mouth shut. Arguing won’t get me anywhere.
“I owe him dearly for my position on the FWW,”—that’s the Female Witch Wrestling team—“and I made a promise to him that his daughter would graduate from this school. I do not break promises. But with that being said, I am out of options here.” She stops talking and stares at me. I’m not sure if she wants me to respond or just sit here while she figures out what to say next. Apparently, keeping my mouth shut was the right choice. I love my father dearly, but damn him for doing anything nice for this woman. “I cannot have girls running about the hallways without clothes on. Even if this is an all-female school!”
“But I—” She holds up her hand again and I close my mouth, letting out a breath through my nose. I’ll never get to explain my side of the story and I don’t know why I bother trying when this is how it goes every single time. She may not break promises, but she sure as hell only keeps the bare minimum. It was promised I would graduate, not when or how. She also never said she would be nice to me. I bet if her position at this school wasn’t on the line, she’d join right in with the rest of the girls who do horrible things to me. I’m not entirely convinced she doesn’t meet up with them and help them plot.
