Winter's War (Her Guardians series Book 4) Read online

  Winter’s War

  Her Guardians Series

  G. Bailey

  Contents

  Winter’s War

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Description

  Winter’s War

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  25. Epilogue

  Authors Note

  Also by G. Bailey

  Links

  Adelaide’s Fate

  Adelaide’s Fate

  Dark Moon Excerpt

  26. -

  Winter’s War

  Her Guardians Series

  Copyright

  © Copyright 2017 by G. Bailey.

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  The author acknowledges the trademark owners of various products, bands, and/or stores referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Cover design by Olivia Pro Design

  Dedication

  To Michelle, for not only being the best editor, for being a friend.

  Description

  The blue-sided human will choose a side.

  When four princes are born on the same day, they will rule true.

  Her saviour will die when the choice is made.

  If she chooses wrong, she will fall.

  If she chooses right, then she will rule.

  Only her mates can stop her from the destruction of all.

  If the fates allow, no one need fall.

  For only the true kings hold her fate, and they will be her mates.

  The prophecy is true, the war is here, and her saviour will die.

  **Reverse harem series**

  Chapter 1

  Atticus

  Wake her up, wake her up, new king. For the crown will fall, the crown will fall. The crown will fall . . . .

  The shaking of the ground wakes me up from my deep sleep and the strange dream. I can’t remember anything other than words about waking someone up and the child-like voice that sang them. I glance over at Winter, who is pressed to my side, her arms wrapped around a pillow. The room is still dark, the stars lighting up the sky outside, and it’s cold. Colder than I remember it being when we fell asleep. Winter moves slightly, rolling onto her stomach and her soft, dark hair spreading across the pillow. My mate.

  I smile when I see the marks on her back, a beautiful reminder of last night. I’ve waited so long to be mated to her, to my Winter. We finally have everything, and even with her grandfather causing issues, I know we will make it through this. I didn’t wait this long to mate with her, only to lose her. That is never happening.

  The room shakes again, and this time I know it’s not a dream that woke me up. I sit up and pull myself out of bed, careful not to wake Winter up. The room shakes again as I throw on some jeans and a shirt. What the fuck is going on?

  I storm out of the bedroom, and there’s a dark witch outside, her head covered by her cloak hood, so I can’t speak into her mind. When she lowers her hood, I see that she is an older woman I don’t know, but she bows to me. Where are the guards?

  “Watch Winter, and do not let anyone in this room. If she wakes up, tell her to stay inside,” I say, knowing full well Winter wouldn’t stay inside, but I hope that she doesn’t wake up. At least, this witch will be able to tell her where I am. The witch straightens up, and her dark-grey eyes watch me closely, before looking at the door behind me.

  “Yes, your highness,” she says in my mind. I pull on my power to lead me to the throne room and hope I can find some answers there, if nowhere else. The room is in chaos when I appear in the middle of it. There are at least fifty demons in the room attacking my witches. One runs straight at me, with a large, silver sword and an emotionless look in his eyes. The demons look worse than the last time I saw any of them; the grey skin is peeling off their faces in places, and the smell from them is overwhelming. They smell like death. I quickly pull on my fire power and throw a line of fire towards him with my hand. The demon-possessed man doesn’t even move out of the way as the flames head towards him and burn him into nothing. There was no scream, and that’s the weird part. It’s like he didn’t feel anything. How can you fight against demons that don’t care if you hurt them? A loud growl gets my attention, and I look over to see my familiars, Mags and Jewels, jumping onto demons and using their large teeth to rip the heads right off them. I kill more demons as I make my way over to them.

  “They want the queen,” a witch runs over to me. I cover her from the two demons following her by using my wind power to throw them through the glass windows, smashing the windows to pieces Witches with the air gift start to copy what I did and start throwing them through the windows rather than trying to kill them in here. I look over at the witch, who has a deep cut down her face and black ash covering her, mixed with blue dust from the dead demons.

  “How do you know that?” I ask, lowering my hands a little but keeping an eye on the enemies around us. The castle shakes once more, followed by a loud howl that I recognise as Jaxson’s. I forgot he was staying at the castle tonight. Everyone else went back to the Goddess’ castle.

  “The king let Taliana’s parents out from the dungeons. I was there, and the demon king said he wants Winter,” the woman pleads. She looks familiar, but I don’t know her. She clearly cares about Winter, and that’s enough for me to believe her. I pull on my power to try and find her, it doesn’t work. I can’t feel her, only darkness. No.

  I use my power to take me to my bedroom and find our bed empty, a feeling of dread fills my stomach. I pull the door open to find the older, dark witch is gone. The castle shakes again, and I use my power to find Jaxson. There isn’t a witch strong enough to move the ground like this, and knowing Jaxson, he would be outside. The whole castle is shaking as I disappear, and I know it’s lucky the castle doesn’t fall. I appear in the gardens. What was once a beautiful place is a disaster. The trees are on fire, and a dead witch looks up at the sky from beside my feet. My mind goes to Winter when I look down at the dark witch’s hair, which is only a little darker than my Winter’s. I cannot lose her. I stand straighter when two demons run at me, their grey skin giving them away, as well as the empty look in their eyes. They have big, silver swords raised at their sides, and I use wind to divert the fire in the trees towards them. They don’t stop running as they burn, the awful smell filling the night, but I bet they are better dead than having a demon in their bodies. I lean down and close the witch’s eyes. She is so young, and it’s a shame her life ended like this. A growl gets my attention, and I look to my right, seeing Jaxson.

  Jaxson has split a hole down the middle of the royal gardens that you can’t miss, and it’s smart, as my witches are pushing demons into the hole. Jaxson is in wolf from, and is ripping the heads off demons as he runs past. He is massive like this, taller than a human a
nd at the right level to kill them easily. His black fur is covered in blood and blue dust, and I know he must have been fighting since the start of the attack. Two witches run up to me, and I use my air power to push three demons following them into the hole.

  “There are too many, Your Highness,” one witch says, and she must only be sixteen by her looks.

  “Go to the Goddess’ castle,” I tell them both and send an image of the castle into their minds.

  “Thank you,” she says and disappears with her silent friend. I look over to see some are using wind and most using fire, I’m proud of how they are working together. I try to find Winter again, finding I can’t. There’s nothing, but I’m not giving up. I will find her.

  “Jaxson!” I roar into his mind when a demon runs at him from behind with a large, silver sword aimed at his head. I pull my power and lift the demon off the ground, throwing him into the hole, but it gets Jaxson’s attention as his glowing, green eyes lock onto mine across the fire and death that surrounds us.

  “Winter is gone!”

  Even over the witches’ screams, the distance between us, and the noise from the shaking ground, Jaxson’s threatening growl fills the night; a growl that speaks of pain, revenge, and a promise. We will find our queen.

  Chapter 2

  Jaxson

  “Where is she?” I growl out when Atti gets to me through the demons he kills on the way. A demon runs at me, and I grab him by the neck, lifting him up in the air and watch as he dies. The clothes he was wearing fall to the ground, and I look down. I shake the blue dust off the jeans he was wearing and pull them on, thankful they fit at all. Atti stops walking toward me to throw a demon into the hole. I pick up a silver sword off the ground by the leather handle and quickly run, swinging it down on the head of a demon that leans over a dead witch. Atti lifts his hands, using air to throw two more demons into the hole and then ducking when another witch does the same and throws a demon over his head. I woke up to this madness when five demons came into my room. They got a shock when I shifted and killed them all, or would have if they didn’t fight like emotionless zombies. It took me a long time to even get to the gardens, killing countless demons that I came across. I tried to help the witches in the gardens, but there were, and still are, so many demons here. So, I made a hole for them to throw the demons in. Otherwise, the ones without the fire power had no defence and no weapons. If there are this many in the castle, then the screams I can hear from the city tell me there are just as many out there. They are dying, and all I can think of is what Atti said, that Winter is gone. He has to be wrong.

  “I can’t find her, I can’t sense her Jax,” he says, his words filling me with panic. She can’t be dead, I would know. Our mate isn’t dead. Yet, I can’t feel her like I would usually be able to. I can’t sense her around, and Atti wouldn’t just say this.

  A demon runs at us, and Atti shoots a fireball at him, burning a hole in his chest, and the demon collapses into blue dust. I stomp over to a demon who is holding a young witch on the ground. She is struggling to hold him off with her air power.

  “The whole city is under attack. Atti, you’re their king. You need to tell them to go to the castle!” I shout as I pull the demon off the witch on the ground, throwing him into the hole. Winter would never forgive us if we let our feelings cloud our minds over the responsibility we have to these witches. We can’t just leave them. Atti closes his eyes, his body glowing a yellow colour as he tells the whole city to leave,

  “Everyone leave and go to the Goddess’ castle. It’s safe. I’m showing you the image now. Everyone go, leave the city, and you will be safe.”

  I hear the same thing as the witches do, and they start disappearing. Atti stumbles a little, his hands going to his knees as he takes a deep breath. That must have been a fucking lot of power. I grab Atti’s arm, shaking him a little, and he nods at me. This isn’t the time to give up. We need to find Winter, and we can’t do that here. He straightens up and flashes us back to the Goddess’ castle, straight to Wyatt and Dabriel, who are pacing Winter’s bedroom.

  “Winter feels gone, where is she?” Wyatt shouts walking over to us, and Dabriel follows. They both look as panicked as we feel. A feeling of sickness is spreading all over me, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t fucking do anything.

  “I can’t feel her,” Dabriel says, and I nod, feeling the same. I feel empty, the place inside me where she was is hollow, now. I can’t sense her.

  Fucking hell, she’d best be alive, or I’m going to destroy the world until I find her or kill myself doing so. There isn’t a life without Winter. I can’t lose her, not now. The only person that could have taken her is her grandfather–the demon king. It wouldn’t surprise me because I have a feeling he needs her for something.

  “The demon king has her, doesn’t he?” I ask, and there’s silence from all of them.

  “You remember that witch, the one that poisoned Winter and a demon killed her?” I ask them all.

  Dabriel replies, “I remember. You think the demon king was protecting her?”

  “Yes. He needs her for something, so that means he won’t kill her. We would all know if she was dead.”

  “We have to find her. Whatever he wants her for, is nothing good,” Wyatt says and then mutters a string of curses to the room. We all feel the same way.

  “Wait, I feel her,” Atti says and grabs our arms.

  I feel a flicker of something, just before Atti takes us to Winter. To our mate.

  Chapter 3

  Wyatt

  “Winter,” I breathe out when Atti bring us near her, but there’s a massive, blue barrier between us. She is standing next to the huge crystal that keeps the witches’ island protected from the world. There are dozens of little cracks in the crystal that shouldn’t be there, and the shaking ground is making more sense now. He is trying to drop the ward on the city, but why? It makes no sense as his demons can clearly walk straight through wards. I guess it would make the witches vulnerable, but we were right, he has her.

  The demon king is standing next to her, his hand on her shoulder. I don’t look at him for more than a second as Winter ignores us. I’ve never seen her look like this, the way she looks at me. Her eyes are silver, completely silver, as she rests her hands on the crystal, and she is glowing blue, the way she does when she uses her power, but it’s darker. The blue almost looks unnatural compared to the light colour it usually is. The way she looks at us all, makes me wonder if she recognises us at all.

  “Winter,” Atti shouts, moving forward and banging his hands on the blue barrier which is stopping us getting to her. Atti’s hands glow white as he tries to break the barrier, but it doesn’t work. I can tell that nothing happens after a minute. If Atti could break this, he would have by now.

  “She is mine, now,” the demon king laughs as the crystal cracks in half. Both pieces fall to the ground, and the cave shakes. The screams from the city get louder, just as I hear a loud roar. What the hell is that? Winter lowers her hands almost robotically, still staring at us with an empty look. A witch appears next to the demon king, placing her hand on his shoulder, and he smiles down at her.

  “You betraying, little bitch, I will kill you for this!” Atti shouts at the witch, and she shrugs a shoulder.

  “You let my daughter die. Taliana should have lived and been your queen!” the witch shouts back, and everything makes a little more sense.

  “Trust me; when I get my hands on you, you will beg for the same death as your daughter,” Atti promises, and the witch pales a little.

  “Winter, Winter snap out of it,” Jaxson shouts, banging on the barrier, and he growls loudly. Winter doesn’t move, she doesn’t even blink as she stares at us. For a second, I think I see a flicker of blue in her eyes, but it’s gone the moment the demon king steps next to her. We need to get him away from her as he must have some way of controlling her. I’m surprised we didn’t think of it before. She is his blood.

  “You are no k
ings, you can’t even protect your queen,” the demon king laughs, and Jaxson growls as I step forward.

  “You will die, and I will kill you,” I say the words slowly, and the demon looks at me with a smirk that reminds me of my father. I know it’s not my father, but it’s his body still, it’s him still.

  “I enjoyed killing your ancestor, he was always the best fighter. Vampires have speed but rarely brains, I believe you have neither. Ah, but children do dream, don’t they?” He laughs.

  “Things have changed in the years you were locked away,” Dabriel says in a clipped tone, his eyes never leaving Winter.

  “And, your ancestor. I liked him . . . but he was stupid as well. He tried to kill me and save Elissa,” the demon king tells Dabriel.

  “You killed your mate, how could you do that?”

  “She stole my child, my child!” the demon king spits out. “But, it doesn’t matter. I have Winter, my grandchild, which is even better,” he says with a dark laugh and nods at the dark witch. I watch as he disappears, taking Winter and the witch with him.

  “Winter!” Atti shouts, but it’s no use. The barrier falls, and the city shakes harder as the ward falls. Screams fill the night as I look at my friends, my brothers.