A Cursed Slumber, the second book in my Veil of Moonlight series, releases tomorrow, February 11! To celebrate, I thought I’d share a couple chapters with you all.

Please note: This book is intended for mature audiences. It has some spice, and there are darker themes compared to my other books.

For those reasons, I’m actually sharing chapters 2 and 4 with you today, which can be read that way without any confusion, don’t worry! 1 and 3 are flashbacks from Rose’s POV, who’s currently cursed in an eternal slumber.

You can read book one, A Crimson Fate, here! It’s 99¢ this week or FREE in Kindle Unlimited, and it’s available in paperback.

And you can preorder A Cursed Fate for 99¢ here!

Without further ado…

Chapter 2

Paxton

Eternal slumber.

Rose was cursed in an eternal slumber.

And it made Paxton murderous.

He gripped the ends of his hair as he paced across his room and back. His chest was too tight to take a proper breath. The tears had started at some point while he was packing a bag, and he’d stopped to try to get his emotions under control. That hadn’t happened though. Instead, it felt as if the world was shrinking in on him.

“Pax,” a soft voice said from the doorway.

But it wasn’t the voice he needed to hear right now, and the realization that he might never hear his beautiful mate speak again brought him to his knees. A sob ripped through his chest as part-howl. He didn’t care who saw him like this. As the beta of the Crimson Pack, he should, but he really didn’t give a single fuck.

“Oh, Paxton.” Brinley lowered next to him, wrapping him in a hug. She must have rushed to follow him from the solarium. He wondered how hard it had been for Gabriel to let her go.

Pax held on to her as tightly as he could, distantly aware that she was damp from the rain that had finally come. Against her shoulder, he whispered, “I love her.”

She ran a hand along the back of his head in a soothing gesture. “I know.”

Pulling away, he met her eyes and saw the truth. She did know. His pulse quickened with worry. “How?”

“Rose told me before I left.”

He shook his head slightly. “Does Gabe…”

“I don’t think so, but I don’t know,” she said. “Before she told me, I’d asked him about you two out of curiosity; I suspected something was going on, but he didn’t seem to notice anything then.”

Pax lowered his gaze, remembering the way his best friend had watched them earlier. Goddess above, was it just a few hours ago that he was sitting under the weeping cherry tree, eating cake with Rose, Gabriel, and their other friends? It seemed like another lifetime.

Not to mention that instead of joining the rest of the village in the fight against the sorcières, Gabe insisted Pax stay to protect her. He’d all but implied he knew something was going on between them, that he knew Pax wouldn’t be able to leave her.

Sighing, Pax ran a hand through his hair again. “The other curse is broken now?”

“Yes.” Brinley grabbed his free hand, and he met her gaze. She gave him a knowing look. “You can leave the village without having to shift.”

“Then, I have to go,” he whispered, not caring that it was after midnight. Now that they could leave freely, he could find answers. He’d searched for years, but it wasn’t exactly possible to do much research or ask around when forced to shift into his wolf form beyond the town walls. Only under the light of the full moon could they leave as humans before, but one night a month hadn’t been enough. “There has to be someone out there who can help, who knows how to—how…”

He couldn’t breathe. It was too much. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He’d really thought they would break it in time to free Rose.

Brinley lifted onto her knees to wrap him in another hug. “I’m sorry.”

He held his friend tightly. This woman, the one who was the root cause of all this. Her mother had been the heiress of the witches; her father had been the Crimson Pack beta. Brinley was the result of their forbidden love and a symbol of hope for so many that the fighting could finally end. The Queen of Reinous didn’t approve, of course, and so she had tried to keep Brinley away from the wolves, even going so far as to take her memories of them, of her mate. And cursing the pack.

Brinley’s mate bond with Gabriel was too strong though. He’d found her over and over, and Paxton knew he would never let the queen, or anyone else, take her away from him ever again.

Tonight, Brinley had somehow broken the curse on the pack that forced them to shift outside of Zareia into the monsters the queen believed them to be. But there had been a second curse. One on the eldest child of the former alpha.

On Rosalyn.

And now, she was stuck in an eternal sleep.

“I’m so sorry, Pax,” Brinley repeated, as if she somehow knew exactly what he was thinking.

Taking a deep breath, he kissed the side of her hair. “It’s not your fault.”

And it wasn’t. She might have been why the curses were set, but he didn’t put any of the blame on the princess. She was a pawn in these ridiculous games just as much as they were—if not more. But nothing more than that. No matter how much his heart ached for his mate, he knew that Brinley would do anything she could for Rose too. This wasn’t her guilt to carry.

“I have to find a way to wake her,” he said.

“Where will you go?”

“I have no idea…” That was what terrified him. He didn’t know where to even start searching. But he couldn’t sit still any longer. For six years, he had been trapped behind these walls, unable to do anything.

For even longer, he had known Rose was his mate and that there was nothing he could do to help her. Day after day, he’d watched her grow physically weaker. And it had been torture. 

There was nothing romantic about the bond to begin with; he’d felt nothing but a fierce need to protect her, make her happy. But he’d always been like that with her. It wasn’t until her sixteenth birthday, when she’d purposely tried to make him jealous, that the connection shifted into something more. Suddenly, he couldn’t stop thinking about her, dreaming of what it would be like to hold her close and never let go. But because of her age, he’d kept her at arm’s length. Even though she’d hated it and begged him not to.

Now, he would do whatever it took to make sure they got their future together.

“It’s not fair,” he told Brinley, confessing what he’d never said aloud. “We’re supposed to be together now.”

“I know.” She sat back to see him once more.

Clearing his throat, he wiped his damp cheeks on his shoulders and pushed to his feet. He offered Brinley help up, and then he kept her hand in his. His friend had been through too much already in her twenty-one years. It was more evident than ever right now. She had dried blood and dirt along her arms, and her dress was tattered and torn, stained across the hemline. She and Gabriel had to have run straight in from the battle.

“What happened?” There were so many questions flooding his mind, but he figured that encompassed most of them, and it was as good a place to start as any. He went to his wardrobe and started grabbing clothes to shove into the bag where it waited on his bed.

Brinley took a seat beside it. “My grandmother locked me up and came for you all after I… I tried convincing her to help the pack. She left André behind to look after me, assuming he was on her side, but instead, he set me free.”

Paxton vaguely remembered the wizard from before. “He helped you escape six years ago too, right?”

“Yes. He’s my best friend.”

“So, you two rushed here to fight off your own grandmother?” He didn’t intend to sound disbelieving, but he heard the doubt in his voice the moment the words escaped. Shame filled him; she didn’t deserve that. But he still needed to ask.

“We did,” Brinley said as he put another tunic in his sack, not seeming remotely offended. Another reason he appreciated her so much—she seemed to understand he didn’t mean it negatively. “I was searching for Gabriel and found him facing her. She… stabbed him before I could get to him.”

Paxton abandoned what he was doing, snapping upright and turning toward her. He’d seen Gabriel in Rose’s room before coming to pack and hadn’t noticed anything wrong. Gabriel seemed tired but not physically hurt. “Stabbed? Is he—”

“He’s fine; I healed him.” She shook her head, lifting a hand to wave off his concern. “But when I saw it happen, I… I shifted to run to him faster.”

His eyes widened. “You shifted?”

She nodded, a small smile creeping up on her lips.

“That’s… I’m so proud of you, little wolf-witch.” He tried to smile too but couldn’t. In any other circumstance, he would be excited for her, celebrating and cheering for her. But he couldn’t bring himself to be happy when his heart lay shattered in a million pieces upstairs.

“It broke the curse on the pack,” she continued in a soft tone, and he knew she would never hold any of this against him, that she understood. “It wasn’t enough to just love and accept all of you; I had to accept that part of myself as well.”

“Brinley.” He didn’t know what to say to that. Moving closer, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her another hug. He knew how big of a deal this was for her. She’d been in such denial about her father, about this side of her lineage. Paxton hadn’t been as close to her father as Gabriel had, but he did remember Keir—their beta who fell in love with a witch. He knew Keir would’ve been proud of her, just as Pax was.

“I don’t know why it didn’t break the curse on Rose too.” He heard the emotion in her voice, the blame she carried, as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and said, “André is assessing her now. I… I think you should wait to see what he says. If anyone has an idea of where to start, it’d be him. He’s worked with my grandmother since I was a child.”

Pax went still, his heart pounding yet again. The same man who’d been left behind to keep an eye on an imprisoned Brinley, who’d set her free to accompany her here and supposedly fought with her, had worked alongside the cruel queen, the High Sorceress, for over a decade. And now, he was upstairs doing the goddess knew what to Rose.

Brinley’s brow furrowed. “What?”

Without explaining, he took off running out of his room and to the iron spiral staircase at the end of the hall.

Chapter 4

Paxton

“Stop!” Paxton shouted as he ran through the dim solarium. The glass walls and ceiling were nothing but pitch black, the clouds that finally brought them rain blocking out all evidence of starlight. Only the lanterns closest to the bed were lit.

Gabriel looked up from his spot next to Rose in clear confusion. But Pax trained his attention on the man sitting in the chair on the other side of the bed instead. André slowly stood, glancing behind him to Brinley, who had followed him in here. Daciana and Joel must have already left, probably helping the villagers. 

“What’s going on?” André asked.

“Pax, it’s all right,” Gabe said, as if reading his mind.

No, not his mind. Brinley’s. Paxton turned toward the witch, begging for her to understand. “He worked for her.”

Brinley shook her head and grabbed his arm. “He helped me get back here—”

“To spy on us!” He yanked away from her, which caused Gabriel to jump up and storm toward them. But Pax was already moving to stand between Andrè and Rose. “Or to finish the job your grandmother started.”

“I understand your doubt—”

Paxton cut the man off, lifting a hand with extended claws. “Back. Up.”

André quickly quickly obeyed, giving him some space. Space that was filled by Gabriel in the next second. “Pax, slow down. Take a deep breath.”

“Stop telling me what to do.” Rage coursed through him. All he saw beyond the red haze was the man who’d worked with the witch who did this. Who’d hurt his mate.

“Paxton,” Gabriel said in a lower voice, some of his domineering alpha power seeping through. “Get it under control. Now.”

He couldn’t though. Everything inside him was screaming, shouting to tear the world apart. To do whatever it took to wake Rose, to bring her back to him. He needed her more than he needed the air in his lungs. Because without her, he couldn’t breathe anyway.

A strong hand gripped his shoulder, sharp claws piercing his skin just enough to pull his attention to Gabriel again. His alpha. His best friend and brother in all the ways that mattered. And most importantly, Rose’s brother, whom she thought the world of.

“I know you feel helpless right now,” he said quietly.

“You have no idea,” Paxton growled.

Gabriel turned his head toward Brinley. “She wasn’t asleep, but she was taken from me for years, Pax. Her memories were stolen, and they made her hate me. I know it’s not the same, but I do understand.”

All at once, Paxton realized what he wasn’t saying. When he met Gabriel’s gaze again, he saw it. Gabe knew.

Pax swallowed and took a deep breath.

Nodding, Gabriel said, “Again.”

With another slow inhale, some of the anger ebbed away. At least enough to think more properly. To stop trying to attack his alpha and brother. His knees weakened, and it took all of his strength not to collapse to the floor. Instead, he sat beside Rose on the edge of her bed and focused on her. His chest ached unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He held her hand, brushing a thumb across her smooth skin.

“She’s in a state of permanence,” André said in a soft voice from where he now stood near Brinley.

Paxton looked over at him and finally noticed how exhausted he appeared. Just like Brinley and Gabriel. He reminded himself that his friends had just fought in a battle against the witches, while he had been inside with his mate. And as much as he wanted to deny it, André did help them. Supposedly.

Pax didn’t trust him, but he did trust Brinley. She would protect them from him if necessary. He had absolutely no doubt. And if she couldn’t, Paxton would tear his head from his body without a second thought.

In the meantime, the wizard was the only one with any sort of information on this curse. So, Paxton tried to remain calm and patient as he asked, “What does that mean?”

“She’s frozen in time.” Brinley moved closer, stopping at Gabriel’s side as he reached out for her, seemingly subconsciously, looking about as miserable as Paxton felt.

“Her body is sustained in this state; it doesn’t need nutrients or anything to survive,” André said, picking up Brinley’s explanation. “She’s alive, but not really living. She could stay like this for the rest of time and never change or die.”

“She won’t age,” Gabriel whispered.

“She’s not suffering?” Pax asked.

André shook his head.

Lifting his free hand, Paxton pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. At least like this, he had time to find a way to break the curse. He didn’t have to worry about running out. That didn’t mean, however, that he wanted to delay any longer. After all, he would still age.

“Do you know how to wake her?” He looked at the wizard again.

“No. I’m sorry. I wasn’t there when the curse was cast, but from what I’ve heard of it, it was more personal. It was meant to hurt Donovan, not the one who was actually cursed.” André shifted on his feet as a few more people joined them. Joel and Daciana returned. With Harris.

Gabriel put a hand on Joel’s shoulder, quietly questioning him and Daci. Presumably, they went to check on things in the village. But Paxton’s attention was on Harris. Rose’s best friend stared at her, looking seconds away from losing it. He shook his head as tears began to fall.

“She’s still not awake? The curse on her really wasn’t broken too?” Daci’s brown eyes stayed on Rose as she went to Brinley’s side. As André began explaining again, Daci looked at Paxton with so much sorrow in her gaze. She was the first to officially know about him and Rose being mates, though he suspected Harris knew too. After she walked in on them kissing, they had no choice but to tell her the truth. They had still been fully clothed, but there wasn’t any denying what they’d been doing. Not with Rose straddling him, grinding against him, and his hands on her back beneath her shirt…

He cleared his throat to stop those thoughts and stay in the present. They hadn’t even slept together at that point, but holding her, feeling her, had meant everything to him. Now wasn’t the time to think about that though.

“I’m leaving for Créll,” Pax said, returning his gaze to Rosalyn’s face. She appeared to simply be in a peaceful sleep. He thanked Déesse above that the curse hadn’t been something worse. At least she was no longer in pain. She’d tried so hard to hide it, playing it off as just exhaustion and weakness, but he knew the truth. He’d felt the echoes of her pain through their bond, steadily growing worse the past couple of years.

“Pax…” Brinley had explained that her grandmother fell from the parapet, and while no one could find her body below, if the old witch had died, the curse would have broken.

Meaning, the queen was out there somewhere. She would return to Château de Reines and regroup before attacking again. It wasn’t a question of if but when. He had no doubt the woman would want to come back and finish what she started. But Paxton would end her before she could.

“At least wait until the morning so you can get some rest,” Joel said, ever the concerned caretaker of the group.

Were it anyone else, Paxton would have scoffed. Instead, he just shook his head. “What, like you all are going to rest tonight?”

He knew there was no way he was going to be able to sleep. And even though his friends had just fought in a horrendous, bloody battle, he knew they would head back down into the village to help care for the wounded and burn the dead. Gabe and Daci would secure their pack, just as he should, but he couldn’t. If that made him a bad beta, if Gabe decided to replace him, he would accept those consequences.

Not caring who was in the room, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Rose’s brow, lingering an extra moment. With his lips still brushing her soft skin, he whispered, “I’ll fix this.”

He kissed her temple and swept some of her hair back.

I love you, Rosalyn, he sent down their bond, hoping it made it to her, even in sleep. We will get our happily ever after, I promise.

Clenching his jaw, he stood to face his friends. It was Brinley who rushed toward him, wrapping her arms around him without hesitation. He hugged her shorter frame tightly, not wanting to let go. She’d only been here for a few months, but she was already such an important part of their lives, of his life. And it had nothing to do with the fact that one day she would probably be their luna, or that she was his best friend’s mate, or that she was half-witch, half-wolf. All of that was great, but even without it… Pax could no longer imagine how it would be without her here with them.

Well, that wasn’t true. He knew what it was like. Everyone was a little less happy, less hopeful. She’d brought something special to this pack.

And she’d become one of his closest friends so quickly. Unexpectedly.

“I’ll be fine, Princess,” he whispered.

“You have to come back to me.”

His chest tightened. He wasn’t quite sure how it happened, and if things could get back to normal, he knew it would drive his best friend crazy, but sometime between Brin fighting with them to get away and refusing to cooperate, she’d burrowed into his heart. He adored that stubborn streak that rivaled Gabe’s. She’d proven time and again just how much she would sacrifice to protect them all, and Paxton hoped she knew they would do the same for her.

Brinley Evnar, Crown Princess of Reinous, had an army at her beck and call, whether she realized that or not.

Paxton squeezed her a little tighter, grateful for her friendship in so many ways. Grateful she’d been close to Rose the past three months, knowing they’d created a bond of their own.

“I’ll return as soon as I can,” he said loud enough for them all to hear, rubbing her back. His parents had died when he was a young boy. The closest thing he had to family was Gabe and Rose, but he imagined that how he felt about Brinley was how one cared for a sibling. He loved her, but it felt completely different than the love he felt for Rosalyn. Hell, it was different than the love he felt for anyone. Reluctantly, he released her but kept one arm around her shoulders, needing her to stay there just a little longer. She kept an arm around him too, lending him strength he wasn’t even sure she knew she possessed.

“You should take someone with you,” Daci said.

Pax shook his head again. “Everyone needs to stay here and regroup. Prepare for more to come; I doubt this is over.” A thought struck him, and he looked at Gabe. “Maybe it’s time to reach out to—”

“I know,” he said, cutting Pax off.

Furrowing his brow, Pax eyed his best friend. Gabe’s gaze briefly flickered to Brinley, silently begging him not to say more, but it didn’t matter. She’d caught the exchange.

“Who?” she asked.

Gabriel sighed and shoved a hand through his dirty hair. “Later. One thing at a time.”

“You promised no more secrets.” Pulling away from Pax, she crossed her arms over her chest, giving her mate quite the look.

Momentary guilt flooded Pax, but also confusion. She still didn’t know? Internally groaning, he decided to let Gabe deal with that. Pax couldn’t right now, although as soon as he returned and was able, he would be there for her in any way she needed—even if that involved fighting with his alpha. Kissing his friend atop her head, letting her know he would support her wholeheartedly, he said, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“You can’t go after my grandmother,” Brinley said while still glaring at her mate. “She’s too strong, too… unpredictable. It’s dangerous. We don’t even know where she is right now.”

Paxton hated that she was right. “But if she’s out there alone in the woods after fighting, she might be vulnerable. It’s our best shot.”

“Then, take someone with you,” Daci repeated, drawing out each word.

“Our people need you. All of you.”

Brinley opened her mouth, no doubt to argue, so he cut her off with a lie. “Just let me go look for her. I won’t try to fight her alone. I’ll follow her, see where she goes and what the situation is, then I’ll return so we can come up with a better plan. I won’t do this without you.”

They all looked like they didn’t believe him, but no one called him out on it, which he appreciated more than they knew.

Once Brinley acquiesced with a nod, he gave her one more hug and kiss to the temple. “Love you, little wolf-witch.”

She sniffled. “I love you too.”

With a watery smile, he recalled just how much she’d loathed them a few months ago. Goddess above, leaving her was a lot harder than he’d anticipated. He forced himself to walk around her, patting Gabe on the chest and whispering, “Sorry about bringing… him up.”

He didn’t wait for a response, just kept moving, afraid that if he delayed much more, he would’t be able to go. But he did stop in front of Harris to repeat the same words he’d told Rose, “I’ll fix this.”

The boy dipped his head, seemingly in shock. “I didn’t get to tell her goodbye.”

“It’s not goodbye.” Paxton gripped the young man’s shoulder. “And you spent the day with her for her birthday; that meant so much to her.” When Harris didn’t respond, Paxton sighed and pulled him into a hug. His heart felt as if it had been shredded to pieces, but he knew Harris had his own sort of pain right now.

“Was she happy?” Harris whispered. “Were you with her?”

“Yeah. I was holding her, telling her I loved her. There didn’t seem to be any pain; she just… fell asleep.” Stepping back, he held the young man’s gaze. “Watch over her while I search for a way to break the curse?”

“Of course.”

Pax knew Harris would need the job of protecting her, of doing something to help. He inhaled deeply, nodding to himself, then he started toward the door again. As he made it to the path that led out of the solarium, Gabe called out, “Be careful, Paxton.”

Pax paused and glanced at him once before looking at Rosalyn one last time. She looked so small and fragile in her bed. Seeing her unmoving, unconscious form nearly made him choke up again. His throat tightened as his eyes burned.

“Come on,” Joel said in a soft tone, drawing his attention away from his mate and back to the task at hand. “I’ll help you pack some provisions and walk you out.”

It took less than twenty minutes for him to have two full bags and a horse settled. He ran a hand along Ares’s flank as he and Joel headed toward the gate. The rain had stopped, and it was the first time he saw the utter disarray the village was in. There were so many injured and dead. Too many. He should be helping.

“We’ve got this,” Joel said, seeming to read his mind. “You need to go.”

Pax hadn’t even realized his steps had faltered, but he was grateful his friend saw and understood. They reached the city wall, and he hesitated before the open gate. He stared out over the darkened ground. The clouds drifted across the full moon, casting deep shadows throughout the meadow and forest beyond. More bodies were scattered out here, and the sight nauseated him.

“So much death,” he whispered. “All because of that vile woman.”

Joel put a hand on his shoulder. “I know you want revenge; trust me, we all want La Sorcière dead. But I really don’t think you should go after her alone.”

Turning to face him, Pax said, “I told you I won’t—”

“Oh please, I know you just said that to get out of there. We all do. But I honestly think going to find the witch would be a mistake. You can’t take her on by yourself, Pax, and deep down, you know it. And if you’re killed or cursed—since that’s her thing, apparently—you won’t be able to help Rose.”

Shit. He was right. He hadn’t even thought of that. Sighing, Pax ran a hand through his hair. “Then, what am I supposed to do?”

“Search for another way to break it,” Joel said.

“How? We’ve searched for years.”

“But that was before we knew exactly what the curse was. We didn’t know it would put her in this slumber.” Joel crossed his arms. “I don’t know… There has to be something though. Do you remember the tales we heard growing up of the Warlock of the North?”

“You think I should search for a fairy tale?”

“Unless you have a better plan than attacking the most powerful witch in the queendom and her army, without the help of our very own wolf-witch…”

Pax let out a breath. “All right. I get your point. I’ll ask around to see if anyone knows of the dark warlock and where to find him… if he even really exists. Tell the others so they don’t freak out and think I’m facing the queen.” Which brought him to his next question. “Brinley really broke the other curse?”

“Yes,” Joel said with a small smile, walking toward the invisible line that had served as their prison for the last six years. Since Queen Mildred killed Gabe’s father, took Brinley, and cursed the Crimson Pack.

Pax glanced up at the cloudy sky. Before, even with the full moon, such coverage would have forced them to shift into their wolf forms. Lifting his chin, he took another deep breath and stepped through the gate. A sigh of relief escaped him as he remained human.

For the first time in six years, he mounted a horse and raced away from his home without having to shift.

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