When
the past calls Storm Gennaro for assistance he willingly comes to help the man
who walked away from him. Thirty years is a long time to be parted from the one
person meant to stand at your side forever.
Heath
Madden is sick, and his family call Storm to help save him. All the hurt and
betrayal suffered at the man’s hands resurfaces, but not everything is as it
seems.
The
past has come back to wreak havoc on their lives and as they dig deeper they
realise they aren’t the only ones whose lives are being played with.
The murmuring of voices in the room pulled Heath
back into the land of the living. His heart raced as he wondered if Storm was
still there. Part of him hoped that the man had left to allow him some peace,
but the more selfish part of him wanted Storm to still be there, worrying over
him. Blinking rapidly, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the light.
“He’s awake,” Ian said from somewhere nearby.
Callie came over and peered down at him. “How
are you feeling?” There was such sadness in her eyes.
“Where’s Storm?” His throat felt dry. These
days, he could never quite seem to quench his constant thirst.
“Gone,” Trace stated as he came and joined the
others beside the bed. “He left as soon as he told us what was wrong with you.”
There was something going on, something they
were afraid to tell him. “And?”
Tears leaked out of Callie’s eyes and ran down
her face. “Storm says you’ve been poisoned. Someone is trying to kill you.”
Trace glared down at Heath, and he cringed. “You
knew what our safety rules have always been—don’t eat or drink anything we
haven’t prepared ourselves. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I haven’t. I mean, I, along with all the rest
of you, know the danger. There isn’t anything I have ingested that one of us
didn’t prepare.” He stared at them all, and it hit him hard that once Storm had
found out he was dying, he’d walked away. Being mates obviously didn’t mean
that much to the man. He was probably out there right now, fucking someone else
without even giving Heath a minute’s thought. Lucky he hadn’t let Storm know
how much his being back hurt. He wouldn’t give his so-called mate the
satisfaction of laughing in his face. Still, he couldn’t help but ask, “Is he
coming back?”
“I don’t think so,” Ian said quietly. “He was
very pissed off and angry when he told us what was wrong with you. We may have
had some words, and he isn’t very happy with any of us right now.”
Heath wondered what could have gone down that
had them all so upset. “What happened?” He grimaced as another wave of nausea
rushed through him like a tidal wave.
“Um…he may have told us that not everything
we’ve heard about him is true,” Trace said
Callie jumped into the conversation. “He told us
to sit down and think about all the things we have heard about him, and where
he was at those times. Once we did, we would see the truth.”
“And?” he asked when they all fell silent.
Ian coughed and looked ashamed. “When we sat
down and did what he asked, we realised there was no way he could have done
those things. Especially the ones immediately after we all turned away from
him.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” There was
no way Storm was innocent. Heath didn’t want to hear that he had wronged his
mate for all those years for no reason.
Trace frowned. “We did a little digging. When we
walked away and left Storm in the nightclub the night of the fight, he was
arrested. Storm spent the next year behind bars in a human prison, so there was
no way he could have been in any of those photos you received. The time frame
isn’t possible. As much as I hate to admit it, I think Storm is
innocent.”
“But Ian and I saw him practically fucking that
woman, didn’t we? We saw it with our own eyes.”
Ian nodded, “But he did try and explain to us
that she was his working partner, and we didn’t believe him. It turns out Storm
owns a detective agency, and the woman we saw was Maggie Margaret–she really
was his business partner. She was killed that same night. The job they were on
was a setup, and all hell broke loose. About a year later he got a new partner
by the name of Dean Birkwell, and no, I don’t think they are in any sort of
relationship. I think that if we keep digging we will find out he hasn’t done
most, and maybe not any, of the things he’s been accused of.”
Pain arced through Heath as he finally
understood what was happening. “Fuck me, what have I done?”
“Don’t you mean what have we all done?”
Callie said sadly. “We turned our backs on him when he needed us most, and then
when we finally track him down, it’s only to use him for his abilities.”
“I hate to admit it, but he was really cut when
he left here. I know he wanted to stay, but he left so you wouldn’t have to see
him when you woke up,” Trace told Heath.
Dizziness swamped Heath when he tried to sit up.
It took three attempts for him to complete the task. “I need to find him.” He
turned to his sister. “How did you find him?”
“I called his Skype name. Surprisingly, he’s
never changed it.”
“Get me to the computer. I need to talk to him.”
He waited impatiently as Callie gently pushed him back onto the bed and Trace
went to grab the laptop. He dialled in the contact name he had known so well
and used so often. Back then, before the fateful night, he and Storm had been
the best of friends.
And then he had hurt him.
“Hello.”
The face appearing on the screen was not one he
knew, but one he’d seen before, and a surge of jealousy washed over him. “I
want to talk to Storm.”
“He’s sleeping right now, and I won’t wake him
up. Not even for you.” The man glared out from the screen at him.
“You don’t even know me,” Heath snarled.
The other man snorted in disgust. “I may not
have personally met you, but I’ve been guarding you ever since Storm and I
hooked up.”
The words “hooked up” clamped around Heath’s
heart and squeezed tight. “Are you fucking him?”
“That, sir, is none of your business. Who the
hell do you think you are to make a claim on him now?” The anger rolling off
the other man had Heath almost willing to shut the link.
“Please, Dean, I really need to see Storm. I
need to talk to him.” If Dean was startled by the use of his name, he didn’t
show it.
Dean stared back at him thoughtfully. “Things
aren’t always what they seem. I think it might be best if I bring you here
because this link may not be safe, and Storm has already had someone following
him today. I won’t risk him going out again this soon. If you can get to the
transport station on Elkin Street in the next ten minutes, I’ll swing by and
pick you all up. Be waiting at the side entrance.” He paused as if in thought.
“Yes, it’s best if all of you come, because whoever started this whole mess
thirty years ago isn’t done playing with any of you yet.”
“But I want—”
Dean cut him off. “Just be there. This is your
one and only chance of making things right with Storm, and if you are playing
him—then you will regret it, because I will make you pay for the rest of your
miserable life.”
Heath inhaled sharply as Dean’s eyes bled out
until they were solely black. The vision only lasted for a second before Dean
blinked, and his gaze was once again his silver-grey colour. “Okay, we’ll be
there.”
Dean disconnected, and Heath pulled in a slow
breath before he spoke to the others in the room. “You heard the man. We need
to get to the station on time.”
“Do you think it’s a trap?” Ian asked as he
began gathering their belongings.
“No,” Trace said. “Whatever we assumed, I don’t
believe Storm would be involved in what’s happening to Heath now. I think he
was sincere in what he told us earlier.” Heath sat there and watched the others
get things organised when a thought struck him. “Am I really dying?” he asked
the room at large. When they remained silent, he had the answer.
If he was going to die, he wanted to finally
tell the man who was his mate exactly how he felt about him. He didn’t want to
leave this world without first having told Storm that he had always loved him,
even when he was pissed beyond belief at him. In the last twenty-nine years
they had crossed paths exactly three times, and each time they had wound up
having sex, yet never once did the words “I love you” pass either man’s lips.
The sexual encounters were a need that struck them every nine years, and so far
they had avoided each other in between. Heath knew that he had callously used
the man who would have quite willingly offered him the world. At the time he
had felt justified in holding onto the hurt and betrayal he thought Storm had
incurred, and couldn’t even allow himself to offer the slightest bit of comfort
in return. Every time they parted, he knew, he took another piece of Storm’s
heart with him.
The reason he couldn’t comfort his mate was that
each time he left Storm, something terrible always happened to him. The first
time he had nearly been run over, and to this day, he believed the driver was
aiming with the intent to kill. The second time, he had been beaten so severely
that he had ended up in a hospital for the next two weeks. The third time, in
the middle of the previous year, he had no sooner left Storm than he saw
another man entering his mate’s lodgings, and as he stood there, he had watched
them embrace. After witnessing this, Heath had turned and walked away,
determined never again to go near his mate. Now he had a name to go with the
man who had torn his heart apart almost a year earlier–Dean Birkwell.
The Gaean Prophecies: Admetus
Gaea
Blurb
Jarkebb Arindad: The banished son of Lord
Jondalar Arindad, ruler of the Elven-kind, was sent to find the saviour the
prophecies foretold of. He came back with his foster brother and best
friend—Grayson.
Grayson Gellespie: Finds himself thrust into the
role as the saviour of a world he believed was nothing but an imaginative
story. What does he do when he finds out it’s all real? How will he find the
way to save them all?
Bailin Greer: Warrior of the Deepwoods Faerie
Glenn was tasked
by the Lady to be the saviour’s eyes behind enemy lines. What happens when the
bad guy isn’t the enemy?
Alone they’ll fail. Together, their combined
forces will have the power to forever change the world in which they live Three
stories woven together to tell the beginning of the Gaean Prophecies... Apart
from saving the world—our heroes have to fight to be with their bond mates
along the way.
Until next time, take care!
♥ Julie
The books sound really good will have to put them on my wishlist. :)
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