“Time for a shower first?” Arianna asked, looking down at her sweat-stained sports bra and shorts.
“Always,” Thomas replied. He, like Andrew, was not in the habit of telling her no.
Arianna ducked out of the training room and ran past their hosts on her way to get clean and make it back to Thomas within five minutes. Maxim Moro nodded to her as she passed him a second time. He was the youngest of his clan at twenty-two, and there wouldn’t be another for at least eight years. The cycle would begin again soon to increase the clan members, and he would be expected to contribute. The wurdulac were a dying race, as they could only feed on loved ones. They were always born with pairs in mind, and his mate had been born two years before him, but Maxim was completely captivated by Arianna. She was similar to them in many ways, especially being limited to the blood of only people she loved, but since she came from multiple night humans she had an abundance of people to feed from. Jealously of her freedom kept Maxim around, but more so, he was fascinated by the outsider. The wurdulac did not often allow outsiders to enter their territory, let alone their homes.
Serg Moro, Maxim’s father, followed Arianna as she made her way to the library. He lagged a bit behind. Both father and son watched her intently. They could feel the immense power that came off such a small girl. She did her best to rein in her power, but even before she had taken the five keeper’s blood a month ago, she was never really good at keeping her power to herself. They were as fascinated by Arianna’s personality as they were with the uniqueness that she truly was.
“Surveillance shows eight people around the estate,” Serg said, joining Thomas and Arianna.
“Only eight?” Thomas asked.
“The rest are with Devin and Turner,” Molina replied, entering the room as well. “They assume that if they can’t follow Arianna, they can always follow Devin.”
Arianna took the bottle of water from Andrew as he entered, now fully-cleaned and changed as she was. Andrew sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him. Arianna leaned back into his arms to listen to Thomas and Molina talk more with Serg. It was distracting to sit like that, but Arianna knew her time was limited. Soon, they would be surrounded by men trying to win her, and if she couldn’t prove herself to the men, she wouldn’t get any more time with Andrew. Arianna worried that if they failed to win the tournament, Andrew would truly lose it, and against nine powerful night humans, he didn’t stand a chance. Andrew’s hands skimmed down her arms, distracting her from her horrible thoughts.
“It looks like they found tunnels seven and nine last night,” Serg added, watching Arianna’s mood fluctuate.
Thomas rubbed his forehead, ignoring Arianna and Andrew. “So that leaves only tunnel three to leave from?”
“Yes,” Serg replied. Unlike his son, he was not just fascinated by the outsiders. Instead, he felt an overwhelming sense of duty to help this young girl after the visit from her great uncle. Gabriel had showed up on his doorstep only a month ago asking for a favor after years of not seeing each other. In return, he promised the wurdulac a possible cure from their limited feeding. Serg didn’t want to change his clan, but he could tell it was only a matter of time before they would die out. Fewer and fewer children were being born each cycle, and Gabriel offered hope to him. Gabriel assured him that the young, innocent girl sitting before him was the key.
“That makes things a bit harder,” Thomas complained. “I really wanted to have at least two tunnels open so that we would create a distraction.” The wurdulac estate sat above a honeycomb of tunnels. For over a century the wurdulac had used the tunnels to come and go without other clans knowing the exact entrance to their estate. While keeping them isolated from the world, the tunnel system also kept them safe.
Thomas looked at the screen of the computer before him. It would have been nice if all the tunnels were open, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. The leading clans were all too persistent in their claim of Arianna. If only her guardian Devin had somehow tricked her into marriage before she turned seventeen, this all could have been avoided. Clan law stated an unwed female was up for contest by all clans if unwed by seventeen. Thomas tried to study the screen. Heck, he would have married her to keep her from this fate. Arianna reached over and placed her hand on Thomas’.
“Getting away shouldn’t be a problem,” she tried to reassure him as the worry creases deepened in his forehead while he was pensive. Thomas looked up from the screen and smiled slightly at her.
“I know,” Thomas replied. She was stronger now. They didn’t need tricks to escape, but it didn’t hurt to have several plans.
Andrew had made sure she was completely trained to sneak around. It would be the only skill that could keep her alive when all hell broke out. Thomas tried to plan for every scenario that might happen at the clan tournament, but he was sure nothing would go as planned. Thirteen powerful men, all hungry for her blood, in one location, was not going to lead to anything productive. Thomas’ need to protect her outweighed every other thought for the past month. He was thinking in circles from sundown to sunup. He didn’t have the brawn to fight for her, but he did have the brains. It was just that there were so many unpredictable variables that kept him wondering.
‘We can do this,’ Arianna did her best to reassure Thomas mentally. She could feel the strain pour off him. Arianna leaned back again into Andrew and looked up to his eyes. He felt Thomas’ worry also. She didn’t think this would turn out well either, but she had to be strong for everyone. Each day of training was making her stronger, but they were out of time.
“I can take her out through the lower caves,” Maxim suggested from behind his father. Thomas looked to Maxim hopefully.
“I don’t know if that is a good idea,” Serg replied, considering the offer. “The lower caves are unsafe.”
Thomas’ hope faded at their new option. The ground beneath the wurdulac tunnels was riddled with caves, but they were considered dangerous even though the night humans had immense strength and skills, caves could be a trap for someone who didn’t know where they were going.
“I know my way through them,” Maxim continued. “I’ve been exploring them since I was ten.”
Thomas typed more while Molina looked on. The grounds were littered with night humans waiting for Arianna to leave. Each person that was tracking her had brought additional men to keep a watch out. Their jumpy figures showed their anxiety as the day was drawing closer.
“Where does your path end up?” Thomas asked Maxim.
“Move over there,” Maxim pointed to the left of the screen. “I can get through the caves and up at several points, but this would be the closest to your location.”
Thomas zoomed in and smiled. Arianna could walk right under the men waiting outside, and they wouldn’t know the difference. Not a single man was as far out as Maxim could go. In fact, she would be close enough to the tournament estate that it wouldn’t even take over an hour of running to get there. Thomas looked back to the third tunnel. It wouldn’t be long before someone found it. The night humans dotted the countryside, pacing and searching in their quest to find her. Thomas nodded to Maxim.
“How long will it take to get through?” he asked.
“About three hours,” Maxim replied.
“And Andrew will fit through?” Thomas questioned, knowing that Andrew would be in full protection mode from the moment they left the house.
Maxim nodded regretfully. He would rather leave the baku behind, but that was for personal reasons and not safety. With Andrew around, Arianna hadn’t even looked once his direction. Maxim wanted to catch her eye, but Andrew was all consuming. Maxim could see, as everyone else had, that Andrew was Arianna’s mate, but it didn’t mean he liked it or wanted to accept it. Serg placed his hand on Maxim’s shoulder and squeezed lightly. He knew his son was fascinated with Arianna.
“And from there will you need us to get you to the estate?” Serg asked.
“No,??
? Andrew replied, now looking at the screen as well. “We will be better off, just the two of us. Arianna and I can travel during the daylight hours and not be restricted like the other races.”
“Then we will plan for this to happen tomorrow at eight in the morning that wy you can exit the caves at eleven, burning hours.” Thomas looked over to confirm with Molina. Molina nodded. No one liked leaving Arianna to travel alone, but they all knew that she was safest with Andrew. Arianna nodded to the people around her. She was their hope to change the night human world and that would have to start with this tournament.
AcknowledgementsAs with any work of fiction, there are many people to thank along the way.
To you, the reader. Thank you for taking the time to read this story. If you liked it, please leave a review on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, your own blog, my blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. The greatest help you can do to keep a writer going is to support them by spreading the word about their books and leaving them encouraging words. If you were really inspired, join my superfan team to get updates not offered to everyone else.
Also I would like to thank my editor and cover designer. A good editor is essential to getting the story correct. Thank you so much, Kathie, for catching all those errors. I will be working hard to better my writing through seeing everything that I have to work on. Thankfully she can catch everything to make this a better novel for everyone else to read. Thanks also to B. for going over every last page to catch any little error I didn’t correctly fix. A thank you also to Ravven for such a pretty cover. She again designed a beautiful cover that I have already had people comment about before the book was released. A great cover helps get people interested. They may say never judge a book by its cover, but everyone does! I greatly appreciate all those that can do what I cannot, like editors and cover designers. I am grateful I was able to find two great professionals to work with on this book.
I’d also like to thank my hubby for continuing to push me further down the writing road. He gives me time when I need it to work on my stories. He encourages me to keep going each and every day on this adventure. And he does all the behind-the-scenes effort to make this work. This would be so much harder without his help. So thank you, B. for pushing me off the deep end (or the cliff as I see it sometimes). Thanks also to my little ones who keep me going from before the sun comes up ‘til long after it sets. Love you AK and KB.
About the AuthorOriginally from Wisconsin, B. Kristin currently resides in Ohio with her husband, two small children, and three cats. When not doing the mom thing of chasing kids, baking cookies, and playing outside, she is using her PhD in biology as a scientist. In her free time she is currently hard at work on multiple novels including the third to this series. She is a fan of all YA fantasy and science fiction and continues to read and review on her own blog at www.bkristinmcmichael.com. You can find her on twitter, facebook, and goodreads also.
Summary:Arianna Grace is about to turn seventeen, and her life has been very complicated lately. She is the leader of four clans of night humans: dearg-dul, baku, tengu, and lycan. While the four clans seem to get along better with each other, there is internal conflict on both sides of her family, not to mention the three boys vying for her attention. Devin is set on keeping her safe above all else. Turner’s goal is to make her happy. And Andrew wants her for himself. At some point Arianna will have to choose between them, but first she needs to survive the plots against her.
Edward Lucan is making a chase for the power to lead the baku clans and is playing his cards by using his nephew Andrew to lure Arianna into a trap. Unfortunately for Lucan, Andrew has his own plans. He has spent the last year waiting for Arianna to see him as more than a friend, and he now finds it necessary to make a move for her affection, despite his uncle.
In the dearg-dul estate, Arianna discovers that the ambitious Lord Seeger has been laying his own strategies for power and is slowly poisoning her. After getting away with her grandfather’s murder, he is setting his sights on her. Luckily for Arianna, her team is on to all of the plans and is making their own counter strategies. Will it be enough to keep Arianna safe? Several people close to Arianna have been keeping secrets. If Arianna is to take power and control of the night, she will need to know the truth. Will someone finally tell her what it really means to become the legend everyone is waiting for, before it is too late to turn back?
B. Kristin McMichael, Becoming a Legend
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