Branded Wings
Guardians of Grigori
An
S.I. Hayes
Novel
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to any person, place or theory is in no way intended or to be inferred as fact or reference.
The work is the singular property of the Author, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission, unless as part of a Review, Interview or Public push of the work and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Contains adult situations. 17+ only
Cover Design by Author S.I. Hayes
sihayes.com
Branded Wings
Copyright ©2016 Hayes
ISBN-13:
ISBN-10:
All rights reserved
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also by S.I. Hayes
DEDICATION
Chapter 1 Sig
Chapter 2 Ryane
Chapter 3 Sig
Chapter 4 Ryane
Chapter 5 KEEGAN
Chapter 6 Ryane
Chapter 7 SIG
Chapter 8 Aella
Chapter 9 SIG
Chapter 10 Keegan
Chapter 11 Aella
Chapter 12 Sig
Chapter 13 Keegan
Chapter 14 SIG
Chapter 15 Aella
Chapter 17 Sig
Chapter 18 Aella
Chapter 19 Greisen
Chapter 20 Aella
Chapter 21 Greisen
Chapter 22 Aella
Chapter 23 Sig
Chapter 24 Ryane
Chapter 25 Aella
Chapter 26 Sig
Chapter 28 Greisen
Chapter 28 Ryane
Chapter 29 Keegan
Chapter 30 Ryane
Chapter 31 Sig
Chapter 32 greisen
Chapter 33 Aella
Chapter 34 Sig
Chapter 35 Aella
Chapter 36 Ryane
Chapter 37 Sig
Chapter 38 Ryane
Chapter 39 Sig
Chapter 40 AELLA
Chapter 41 SIG
Chapter 42 Keegan
Chapter 43 Sig
Chapter 44 Aella
Chapter 45 Sig
Chapter 46 Aella
Chapter 47 RYANE
Chapter 48 Sig
Chapter 49 Ryane
Chapter 50 Aella
chapter 51 sig
chapter 52 ryane
chapter 53 greisen
chapter 54 Aella
chapter 55 Keegan
chapter 56 sig
chapter 57 aella
chapter 58 sig
chapter 59 Aella
Chapter 60 sig
chapter 61 keegan
Chapter 62 Ryane
Chapter 63 Keegan
chapter 64 Sig
chapter 65 Aella
Chapter 66 Sig
chapter 67 Ryane
chapter 68 Keegan
Chapter 69 Sig
Chapter 70 Aella
chapter 71 Sig
Chapter 72 Aella
chapter 73 Greisen
Chapter 74 SIg
chapter 75 Aella
chapter 76 Sig
chapter 77 Alewar
chapter 78 Ryane
chapter 79 Aella
chapter 80 ryane
Chapter 81 Sig
Chapter 82 Ryane
Chapter 83 SIG
chapter 84 Ryane
Chapter 85 SIG
chapter 86 Keegan
Chpater 87 Greisen
chapter 88 Keegan
Chapter 89 Ryane
Chapter 90 Keegan
chapter 91 Aella
Chapter 92 Ryane
Chapter 94 Sig
Chapter 1 Gage
About the author
Sign up for S.I. Hayes's Mailing List
Also by S.I. Hayes
(The Roads Trilogy)
In Dreams... The Solitary Road
In Dreams... The Unavoidable Road
In Dreams... The Savage Road
Centuries of Blood: Becoming
Heart of Stone
Battleborn
Sweet Girls
Administrative Duties
(Manhattanites Series)
Xander & Asher
(The Natural Alpha Series)
California Moon
(Guardians of Grigori Series)
Fated Binds
Midnight Run
Branded Wings
Faery Road
Written with Will Van Stone, Jr.
Awakenings: The Wrath Saga
Written with J. Haney
(A County Fair Romance)
Stolen Moments
Winter Kisses
Spring Fling
Freedom Rings
(A Sex, Drugs and Rock Romance)
Vegas Lights
Hell In Heels
Tatted Up & Tied Down
(Working Class Beauties)
Avery
DEDICATION
TO THE FIRE.
All consuming, you pull down the walls we have built to protect our hearts. You melt the blocks of ice and pave the way to new adventures. Love, lust, sex, and passion are your bedfellows and we welcome the chaos your heat brings. May it forever desolate us and rebuild us anew.
Chapter 1 Sig
MY FINGERS WRAPPED firmly around the steering wheel as I took to the highway. I was on a mission to find a girl. One that stirred up my insides just a pinch. I’d met her in a coffee shop called the Groove Brew. A funky little place that had a super retro style my best friend Ryane would love. I’d have brought her with me, but she was a newly turned Vampire now, and I wasn’t sure how all those fresh clean necks would affect her. Besides, who brings a girl with you while looking for another? That would be crazy.
I’d had the girl’s number. She’d given it to me after a snarky exchange and some hard flirting. She told me to call her, and I would have, but the cup got damaged and I couldn’t read it. So, on Ryane’s suggestion, I’m driving forty minutes into town to see if I can catch her at work.
IT TOOK ME TWENTY MINUTES to find a parking spot, as it was, it was a block away. I walked briskly, but not fast enough to raise my heart, although it was already racing. Last thing I wanted was to be running in there looking for her like some dammed deranged stalker Dragon. The shop came into view and I steeled myself. Took a couple deep breaths and opened the door. The smell of the coffee hit me first, relaxing my nerves. I loved the scent of fresh ground beans. It reminded me of growing up.
My parents had owned a boulangerie, and always served the freshest coffees and finest teas with the pastries. I used to love being in the shop when they worked, I loved to help them. It always made me feel good... Useful.
There was a line. Fuck. It figured. It was like seven in the morning on a Sunday, shouldn’t these people be in a church or something? I scented the air, it was faint but I could still smell her. I lifted my head, looking over the crowd in front of me. I didn’t see her. Just a few guys at the counter. Damn. Maybe she’s in the back. I hoped. I stepped out of line looking at the décor, waiting to see if she’d show up. A lot of the stuff was price tagged. Good, at least I looked like I was shopping. I did spy an old fashioned record player that was bundled with a band from the twentieth century called The Doors. I wondered if they were any good. Maybe Ryane would like it. I picked it up, and since the line had filtered down to stragglers I took my chance. By the time I got to the counter there wasn’t anyone left behind me.
“Hey there man, what can I do you for? Welcome to the Groove Brew,” the fellow behind the counter greeted me. He couldn’t ha
ve been more than seventeen, but like the girl I was looking for, he wore black pants and a red shirt with the company name on the chest.
“This contraption, a double espresso with milk, and what kind of pastries do you have?”
“Today’s specials are lemon honey scones or chocolate almond biscotti. Both are pretty rad.”
Rad? Really? He’d said rad. I smirked. “Gimmie three of each, and throw in two large light and sweet coffees if you could.”
“No problem.”
I was flipping through the records that were stacked with the player when he started talking again.
“You pick that up for your girl?”
“A girl, not my girl.”
He looked me up and down with a keen smile.
Really? Do I vibe that way all of a sudden? I cleared my throat. “Speaking of the fairer sex. I was in here yesterday, there was a golden blond working.”
“Oh, nothing. I- I didn’t have enough on me for a tip, so I was wondering when she’d be back into work.” I hoped my thinly veiled lie would seem legit.
He laughed. “Well, Late August, early September I suspect. She left for Europe last night. Taking a summer in Amsterdam. Lucky bitch.”
“Fuck.” I couldn’t hold it in. He looked up at me with a shake of his head as he crated the coffees and bagged the sweets.
“Sorry, man. Guess you missed your window. That’ll be fifteen even, for the foodstuffs and a hundred twenty for the record player and the tunes.”
I handed him a hundred and forty. “Keep the change.” I stacked the coffees on top of the player, and took my bags and my disappointment out of the shop.
Amsterdam? The Seelie Court was in Amsterdam. Perhaps she was a servant to the Fey. It wouldn’t be so farfetched, but if that were true, what was she doing here? Gone until September. That was right, I forgot that it was June. With the upheaval of normal life from Keegan’s kidnapping, time had moved on without us. We wouldn’t be required to go back to the University until the Fall. The students of Grigori University would be going home until then, making ghosts of this town.
It was good though, it would give Keegan and Ryane time to adjust to their new situations. She had the Pepper Pot restaurant to attend to and decisions to make about her living arrangements. She had the townhouse on campus that she was renting through the school and the house left to her in Samuel’s will, along with all that money. Hell, she didn’t even need to finish school if she didn’t want to, she was set.
A sudden fear gripped me. What if she dropped out? What would I do? What would Keegan do? I sped up the truck, I had questions for them that needed some answers.
Chapter 2 Ryane
“I CAN’T BELIEVE HE left me with such a mess,” I muttered to myself as I haphazardly dragged the new garbage bag to the front door. Sig had left in a hurry and didn’t much care that he was leaving me with a kitchen floor covered in fish fry and old coffee grounds.
Just as I was about to open the door to get rid of the trash, a knock came which proved to scare me right out of my skin. I jumped, dropping the bag on the floor by the door. I looked through the peephole to find, standing on the other side were two young women, one holding a dish of some kind, while the other was looking around rather conspicuously.
I cracked the door and they both looked up with smiles.
“Um, hi,” the taller of the two quipped. They looked sorta of familiar, but I couldn’t readily place them. “I’m Tessa, this is Kimmy.” She motioned to the Gawker, who waved sheepishly. They were both dressed fairly well for such an early morning.
“Okay... How can I help you two?” My stomach was grumbling and an odd sort of burn was starting. Was I thirsting?
“We um, well, we were friends of Samuel’s and we thought we’d bring this over for you.” Tessa lifted the dish to reveal a tart pan and the smell of apples and cinnamon filled my nostrils. “It’s a tart. My mother said it was appropriate to bring by food.”
“Um, alright... Thank you, both.” I reached out my hand to take the dish as they looked past me and inside curiously. The burn in my stomach tightened. “Uh, did you want to come in? I just made coffee.” I opened the door further, but they stepped back. No! My body screamed and my fingers dug into the doorframe tightly.
“We were on our way to church...” Kimmy answered reluctantly, as though telling me where they were headed was somehow wrong.
“I insist.” I pushed the door open all the way with my hip, the tart balanced in my free hand. I never let go of the doorframe.
“I guess for a few.” Tessa pushed Kimmy ahead of her, and I closed the door. Now it was their turn to jump. “Thanks.”
“No problem, Tessa was it?” She nodded. “Come
into the kitchen. How did you two know Sam, or that I was here for that matter?”
“Um, well, that’s sorta... Private,” Tessa answered back, a blush coming into her cheeks.
“I see.” So much for my illusions that Sam was a monk. Apparently, if my feelings from these two were right, he was sleeping with at least one of them.
“Cuz that answer didn’t just tell her,” Kimmy added as she sat down on the stool at the kitchen island. “We used to come play board games on Thursday nights and stay over, okay?” Kimmy finished begrudgingly as she looked around. “You don’t plan on selling this old place do you? He loved this house.”
“It wasn’t on my list of things to do. I wish you would relax a little. You seem really hostile.” I stared at her and she seemed to relax almost as soon as I’d suggested it.
“Sorry, it’s just losing Samuel sucks. He was a really great guy.”
“Yeah, and we just don’t get why he was at that abandoned warehouse.” Tessa pursed her lips. “Did he have something to do with what happened to that Deviant Class guy, Keegan?”
My chest tightened. Like the rest of the state, she’d heard about his kidnapping, probably from the newspapers and the tabloids. Were they here for a look? That sorta pissed me off to think about. “Sam was working, I suspect.”
“Yeah, Hunting. But I thought he had retired.” Tessa looked at the coffee pot longingly.
I couldn’t believe it, Sam had told the stories of his good old days to get into these two co-ed’s panties, and I was sure it made them drop in a soaking heap. “How did you want your coffee?” I asked as Tessa’s eyes roamed over to me. If I wasn’t so insecure I could have sworn she was checking me out. As it was Kimmy had fallen to dumb proportions as she sat on the stool with her feet up on the rungs lazily. She certainly looked relaxed now.
“I can fix it.” Tessa got up, coming around to me. “I know where everything is. Sam liked to be taken care of, especially after the Thursday doubles.” She bumped my hip playfully, sending a surge of energy into my center, making my insides twitch.
What the Hell? I wasn’t into girls, and yet the smell of this one, was intoxicating to me, and what’s more, she was flirting with me. She reminded me of spring, clean and fresh, as she reached over my head and her silky chestnut hair touched my arm for the briefest of moments. I cleared my throat with a nervous laugh. “It’s-”
“Go have a seat, I can take care of this.” She pressed her hot pink manicured hand to my shoulder and I couldn’t help but smile as I sat down next to Kimmy.
I looked at them both and had this feeling that if I didn’t try too hard I could be tumbling with them both in no time, which sent a surge of heat through my already aching body. Where was Keegan when I needed him? “So Kimmy, I take it you both knew what Sam used to be into?”
“Yup, he was a god among them, but he didn’t work anymore.”
“I guess he must have talked about me, seeing as you knew I was here.”
“He used to brag about you all the time.” Tessa smiled as she put down the three coffees then went for the cream and sugar bowls. “Made me jealous, even though I hadn’t ever spoken to you. We both had Professor Jordan for Economics
fourth period last semester.”
“That’s why you look familiar.” I took a sip of my coffee, it turned in my stomach. No coffee! Don’t leave me!
Kimmy didn’t touch hers, but she was staring at Tessa. “Tessa? You think we should go, maybe?”
“Oh, but you just got here. Stay, keep me company,” I coaxed as I made eye contact with Tessa, she seemed to be the decision maker of the pair.
“Kimmy you can go, but I think I wanna stay. See what develops.” A wide smile crossed her face, lighting up her blue-green eyes.
“Cuz that would happen. Aren’t you dating a Deviant? Specifically, the one in the papers? The one who was in the warehouse where Samuel died?”
I stared at her, anger brewing. “Are you accusing me of something?” I growled, surprising myself. “Don’t just stand there throwing insults, either woman up, get the fuck out, or shut the fuck up.”
Kimmy looked away, slouching into her seat, a slight tremble to her pinkish lips.
“Wow, you’ve got a temper.” Tessa brought my attention back to her with a grazing of her fingers over my hand on the counter. It sent a shiver up my arm and the burning in my gut was made worse.
“Not usually. Usually... I’m tame as a kitten.” I smiled at her hand still on mine. “You got a plan there? Honey? Or are you just gonna tease me?” I couldn’t believe what I was saying. Somehow it seemed to be working though.
“Oh, I can tease you for hours if you’d like.”
Kimmy snorted a short laugh. “She wouldn’t know what to do with you.”
“Oh, like you would?”
“I ever get a complaint out of you?”
Tessa turned beet red as she pulled her hand away from mine and slunk around the counter with a pouty look on her face. “Shh, that’s our secret. For Samuel’s eyes only.”
“Well, I’d love to see a bit of that,” I jested, but no sooner than I had finished saying it, Tessa was kissing Kimmy, and Kimmy was crushing her between her now open legs. “Oh- Well,” I stuttered as they made a mess of the kiss. It was over the top, but I guess Sam must have liked it like that. “Easy, there.” I put my hand out to separate them. “Don’t rush.”
They looked at me, and Tessa’s lips twisted up into a grin. She grabbed my stool and pulled me to them as I raised an eyebrow. Their hands were on my arms and they both made to kiss me. Their lips were soft like the edges of rose petals, as they parted mine, slipping their tongues inside, caressing and probing the cavernous space. It was a little awkward at first, but then there were two sets of hands on me, one pulling me in, the other making claims on my breasts. I pulled back from their kiss with a gasp, I needed air.