Shifter (Wicked Woods #6) Read online

  “So what’s going to happen?” Briony asked.

  Sophie shrugged. “Pietre’s lieutenants seem to be either dead or gone. Fallon’s the oldest vampire left, and all the kids who were turned… well, they remember him from school. I think if anybody can teach them not to kill humans, it’s him.”

  “Will that work?” Kevin asked.

  “It worked for George.” Sophie looked over to the diner’s owner. “Who is now Councilman George, incidentally.”

  “How did that happen?” Briony asked. “I mean, people can’t just decide that you’re going to be on the town’s council.”

  “Ordinarily, no,” Sophie said, “but the circumstances are pretty special now. We have a town where people have just found out that they’re going to have to live alongside the supernatural. We have a large vampire population, one that’s mostly made up of people’s kids. It needs people on the council with the experience to cope with the situation.”

  “So George got a job?” Briony finished.

  Sophie smiled. “Not just George. There are a lot of vacancies now all the council representatives who supported Pietre have been persuaded to resign.”

  “When did that happen?” Kevin asked.

  Sophie looked at her watch. “Oh, I think Vigor will be getting around to the last of them about now. Would you want to hold onto a seat if you’d been helping vampires? After everything Pietre has done?”

  “So who else is on the council?”

  “Most of the Preservation Society,” Sophie said. She looked slightly uncomfortable. “And me. I couldn’t find a way to talk myself out of it.”

  Briony found herself thinking of the way Sophie was around Vigor. She couldn’t imagine Vigor staying in this world, yet Sophie would need to if she was going to attend council meetings.

  “I can commute,” Sophie said as though guessing Briony’s thoughts. “It just so happens that my great-niece is very good at making gateways.” Sophie smiled. “You’re going to need to be.”

  Briony hadn’t thought of that. There was so much to do here, but Palisor was hers now. Hers and Kevin’s. They’d have to go back and forth a lot.

  “It sounds like there’s a lot to do,” Briony observed.

  Sophie nodded. “Yes. But some of them will be more fun than others.”

  Epilogue

  They held the wedding in the cloud palace, with row after row of guests stretched out across the great hall. Briony stood in front of the thrones at the head of the hall with Kevin. She wore a dress of silver and white fabric that seemed to shimmer with every breath she took. She said the two words she’d wanted to say ever since Sophie and the others suggested doing this over.

  “I do.”

  The crowd cheered, and there were enough people there that for a moment or two it was deafening. Maisy, Steve and the rest of the Preservation Society were there, looking around like they couldn’t quite believe the place they’d walked into. Archer, Fletcher and the rest of the dragons were on balconies around the place. As Briony said those two beautiful words they leapt off, transforming and breathing fire in a kind of aerial salute. Josh, the werewolves, Hugtandalfer folk from a hundred different parts of her kingdom… they were all there to watch her marry Kevin. They didn’t seem to care that they were already married. For royalty, it was the show that counted.

  The Hugtandalfer in charge of the ceremony nodded. “Then I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss.”

  If anything, that got an even bigger cheer from most of the room. Briony felt like joining in with them in that moment, because she would never get tired of kissing Kevin like this. Not having to hold back, her arms thrown around his neck and her mouth exploring his for what felt like forever.

  It wasn’t forever, of course. There were still so many other things they needed to do. There was the official crowning, which Sophie took charge of while Briony sat on the main throne. Her great aunt placed King Waltham’s crown on her head. It was a little large, Briony noted. Probably, Vigor already had people working on producing a smaller one. He’d taken to seeing to so many of those small details as one of her new advisors and the head of her security.

  Briony reached up, lifting the crown from her head as they’d practiced for this part of the ceremony. Kevin knelt before her, looking up at her with nothing but love. Briony reached out to place the crown on his head before returning it to her own. Kevin had insisted on that piece of symbolism along with everyone else. While Briony wanted to crown him alongside her, he’d insisted that it should be clear that she was the queen, and he was simply her consort.

  Queen. In theory, Briony had been the queen for a while now, but that had always felt like just a label. Something to call herself to get people to help against the vampires. A way of unlocking the power that they all needed to save themselves. They’d been so busy fighting that it hadn’t felt like being the queen of Palisor was anything different.

  Now, it was finally starting to sink in what being the ruler of a whole other world meant. Servants bowed or curtseyed to Briony in the halls when she went past. People wanted her to help make decisions about what to do with rebuilding spots the vampires had damaged. And there were the gates. One was open in the corner of the great hall now to let people back and forth between Palisor and Wicked. Briony had decided to keep one open permanently between the two spots. It would have to be guarded, but she wanted the people she cared about to be able to go back and forth between the worlds.

  There was a party after the wedding. Actually, there had been a party going on for most of the week. Apparently, royal weddings were rare enough on Palisor that the people weren’t going to settle for anything else. But this was the main party, a grand ball with Hugtandalfer musicians playing stringed instruments and flutes, singing in ethereal voices and keeping up a steady rhythm on drums covered in dragon skin. Briony danced the first dance pressed tightly to Kevin, wishing that the moment would never end. Eventually though, she knew she had to talk to their guests.

  She started with Maisy, Steve, and the others. Maisy hugged her.

  “Congratulations! You look amazing!” Maisy stepped back and stared at her. “What does it feel like to finally be married to Kevin?”

  “I was married to him before,” Briony pointed out.

  “I know, but doesn’t this feel… I don’t know, more official?”

  It did, kind of, though the simple ceremony Vigor had presided over had felt so intimate and perfect. Honestly though, the thing that mattered was that they were married. The details of how it was done weren’t important. Or rather, they were, but only from the point of view of her being Palisor’s queen and having to put on a show.

  Josh was next after Maisy. He slipped in before Briony could move on to her aunt or one of the waiting Hugtandalfer representatives. That was good, because Briony had spent much of the last week hammering out a deal with him, and she wanted to make sure the werewolves’ king remembered it.

  “I’m still not sure you’re doing the right thing, allowing so many vampires to live,” Josh said.

  “We’ve been through this,” Briony pointed out. “And we have a deal, Josh. We do have a deal, don’t we?”

  Josh nodded. “Yes, we have a deal. I will allow the vampires of Wicked to live in peace. I will also help to hunt down any who kill humans. In return…”

  “In return, your werewolves get to come into Palisor when they want,” Briony said. “Some of them might even want to live here.”

  “Maybe.” For a moment, Josh let the careful calculating façade slip a little. “Enjoy the rest of your wedding day, Briony.”

  “I will.”

  Josh slipped away into the crowd of well-wishers. By then though, Briony was looking elsewhere, for the one person she wanted to talk to more than anyone, but also the one person she was dreading talking to. She spotted him on the edge of the crowd and slipped after him, catching up with him at the entrance to an antechamber.

  “Fallon…”

  �
�Briony.” He turned back to her. His face was unreadable. “I thought… I didn’t want to get in the way on your wedding day.”

  “You know this is just for show. I’m already…”

  “I know,” Fallon said. He smiled. “And I thought I’d feel worse about that. But I can’t hold a grudge. I’m not Pietre. I just want you to be happy.”

  That meant a lot, coming from him.

  “I know you’re not Pietre,” Briony said.

  “Is that why you did so much to stop me from dying? Me and the others? Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful. It’s just… is keeping me, Jake and George alive worth all the destruction some vampires have wreaked? Is it worth what some of them will do in the future?”

  Briony nodded. “Always. I won’t kill the good to get rid of the evil. And that’s not just for you. There are all the kids Pietre turned as well. They deserve a chance.”

  “Not all of them will take it.”

  “Some will. That’s enough.” Briony reached out to touch Fallon’s arm. “You have a choice, too. Remember my promise?”

  “Yes,” Fallon said, “I remember. Can you do it? Can you actually transform a vampire to human?”

  Briony nodded. “I think so. It will only work if they choose it, and I think I can only do a few at a time, but I can do it. Do you want it, Fallon? Do you want to be human again?”

  Fallon hesitated. “I want it more than you could ever know, but…”

  “But?” Briony echoed.

  “But the young vampires Pietre turned need leadership. Some would want to be human again too, but not all of them, and if you couldn’t turn them at once, what then? How many would give into their urges before you had a chance to turn them back. As much as I want to be human, they need me as a vampire.”

  “So you’re going to stay as you are just to help them?” Briony asked. It was such a selfless thing for Fallon to do. She knew how much he wanted to be as he was.

  Fallon shrugged. “If not me, then who? I’m the oldest of the vampires we know are good. If it’s not me, then it would be George or Jake. Or none of us, and the new vampires become a threat to Wicked.”

  “Okay,” Briony said. She knew he was right. It hurt that he was right, but he was. She smiled, and she thought she saw him start to reach out for her, but he stopped himself. They’d have to remember that now.

  “There will be vampires who will want the transformation,” Fallon said.

  “I’ll help them if I can,” Briony promised.

  “And maybe once everything has settled down, when they’re all changed…”

  They both knew that day would never come. There would always be more vampires, or those who wouldn’t transform back.

  “I’m going to keep the gates open,” Briony said. “I want you to visit. Don’t just stay in Wicked, Fallon.”

  Fallon nodded, but Kevin was there then, and Briony had to admit as he put an arm around her that she loved him being there. She turned to kiss him, just briefly. When she turned back, Fallon was gone.

  “He didn’t accept your offer did he?” Kevin guessed.

  Briony shook her head. “He wants to be there for the new vampires,”

  Kevin nodded. “That makes sense. And maybe… well, maybe he needs something like that. Something he can focus on.”

  Now that he couldn’t focus on Briony. Neither of them said it, but it was there. Even so, it wasn’t enough to make them any less happy in that moment. Briony could already feel the desire surging through Kevin, and the love. Always the love. She felt the same. She’d felt it from the start. She’d felt a lot for Fallon, but Kevin… she wouldn’t have been able to let go of him if she tried.

  And now she never had to. That was a good thought.

  ****

  “Thinking good thoughts about the happy couple?”

  Carol started slightly as her brother spoke. She should have sensed Josh sneaking up on her, but in the middle of the party, she’d lost track of who was where. Or maybe she’d just been too busy staring at Briony and Kevin to care.

  “What do you care?”

  “I’ll always care, little sister,” Josh said, putting an arm around her and gently steering her away from the antechamber. “You mustn’t torture yourself about this.”

  Carol looked at him, trying to keep the pain out of her eyes and failing. “I loved him.”

  “But he wasn’t for you, just as it turned out Briony wasn’t for me.” Josh shook his head. “There’s someone out there for you, though. Someone who will make you happy, I’m sure of it.”

  Carol’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t need to treat me like some stupid little girl and tell me fairy stories, Josh. I’m an alpha wolf.”

  “I know,” Josh said. “It doesn’t make it any less true. One day, you will meet someone who’s perfect for you, just as I’ll meet my perfect queen. In the meantime… well, I think a lot is going to change for the pack.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Josh smiled. “I’ll tell you later. Now come on. I don’t know about you, but I feel like heading back. Palisor is beautiful, but Wicked? Wicked is home.”

  *****

  This Concludes the Wicked Woods Series.

  Stay tune for a new series featuring Fallon as the new master vampire of Wicked and the young woman who ends up challenging him in every way.

  Wicked Ways

  2013

  FIRE WARS

  Her destiny was written in the books...but can she change a course that has already begun thousands of years ago? Mackenzy Evers had moved with her mother from Angel Island to Aeros Island during her senior year in post-Erosion Earth. Chance Cutter claims she is his Queen, his goddess to his Fire King, whom he had been searching for years. Their attraction to each other is undeniable, yet why does he seem to hate her? And who is she really?

  Now Available

  From Bestselling Author Kailin Gow comes

  FADE

  "My name is Celestra Caine. I am seventeen years old, which makes me a senior at Richmond High. I never thought this would happen to me, but it has… I’m one of those people you see every day, go to school with, remember seeing at the supermarket or the mall, and then one day you don’t hear about them any longer. They’re gone, and eventually, you forget them."

  Available Now

  From Bestselling Author Kailin Gow comes

  DESIRE

  A Dystopian world where everyone’s future is planned out for them at age 18…whether it is what a person desires or not. Kama is about to turn 18 and she thinks her Life’s Plan will turn out like her boyfriend’s and friend’s – as they desired. But when she glimpse a young man who can communicate with her with his thoughts and knows her name…a young man with burning blue eyes and raven hair, who is dressed like no other in her world, she is left to question her Life’s Plan and her destiny.

  Now Available

  Want to Know More about the Wicked Woods Series, Author Insight, Author Appearance, Contests and Giveaways?

  View the Trailer for Wicked Woods, Behind the Scenes Look at Location Scouts, Character Trivia, and More…

  At:

  http://www.kailingow.wordpress.com

  http://www.KailinGowBooks.com

  and

  on Twitter at: @kailingow

  Wicked Woods Series Playlist

  Dragon Green Children http://amzn.to/vr0lMx

  Wicked World Cold http://amzn.to/rBSZpN

  Stop and Stare OneRepublic http://amzn.to/v3mutp

  Apologize OneRepublic http://amzn.to/tL1Z3F

  Someone Like You Adele http://amzn.to/sxFhCj

  Breathless (Better Than Ezra) http://amzn.to/urplp4

  Someone to Save You (OneRepublic) http://amzn.to/sXkg7a

 

 

 
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