Page 6 of Twilight Echoes
Only it didn’t.
Until today.
And in front of Darrell Hughes of all people.
What the hell did that mean?
It couldn’t possibly mean what she thought.
That would be crazy.
Only, Darrell was a wolf. And an alpha wolf to boot.
“Hey, little sister,” Amanda said. “How’s Twinkle Toes today?”
“That’s a loaded question,” she mumbled. “How are you feeling? And how’s Jackson?” Avery missed her sister so much. Vermont was only four hours away, but still, she used to see Amanda nearly every day. Now it was more like once a month. And it had been three weeks since their last visit.
“I still have a bit of morning sickness, which is more like vomiting fairy dust, if that makes any sense. My fairy powers aregrowing, but it’s hard to separate what are mine and what are the twins. And what’s weirder is that I can hear the babies talk. Well, they do not talk, but they have their own language. I sort of understand it. Jackson gets it better than I do. And Dromon and Sadie are always around, yapping at my belly.”
Avery laughed. “Sounds amusing.”
“It is.”
“Well, I’ve got two weird ones for you,” Avery said. “First, guess who is now the choreographer for the ballet?”
“Oh no. They replaced Brandon? You’ve been working with him for seven years. You love him. What happened?”
Avery took a tissue and dabbed her eyes. “He has cancer. He starts chemo next week. Poor man. But he has a positive attitude and lots of support.”
“I’m so sorry, sis. That sucks,” Amanda said. “Who did they get to take over?”
“Darrell Hughes.”
“Oh my God. You had such a crush on that wolf.” Amanda laughed. “Auntie Alley was mortified that you danced with him. She thought for sure he was going to ruin you. She made it weirder when you had all those posters in your bedroom and made Daddy take you to watch him perform.”
“Speaking of that crazy witch, did you hear she’s still making a stink in prison, accusing Jackson of setting her up and using black magic to do it.”
“Yeah. No one is listening,” Amanda said. “So, is Darrell still as adorable as ever?”
“Oh, he’s something all right. But that brings me to weird thing number two. He’s so sexy that I blinked fairy dust right off my lashes. Then it came out of my fingers.” Avery waved her hand, half expecting to see the strange particles, but nothing happened.
“What? No way. Are you serious? Have you told anyone? Daddy? Called Trask?”
“I’ve been a little busy at rehearsal and trying to make sure I can contain that shit so no one notices,” Avery said. “But I think Darrell saw it.”
“Interesting. It’s hard for me to control it all now because a lot of it isn’t mine. But what is, I can sense. You’ll figure that out. You’ll feel something build deep in your core. If you concentrate on that, you can command it to your body. But it gets really hard when the wolf—the mate—that unlocked it is present.”
“Darrell can’t be that,” Avery muttered. “Do you know what that means?”
“Yeah. Either he’s already imprinted on you or the fated mating has begun.”
“That is so fucking weird. I’m only twenty-four years old. I don’t want to be pumping out babies.” She shivered. “I planned on dancing for this company for a couple more years. After that, I might turn in the toe shoes and choreograph for a major ballet. Or maybe even start my own touring company. But settling down is not on my radar.”
“Maybe not. And who knows how long it will take for that to happen,” Amanda said. “But come on, Avery. Would having Darrell as your forever be so bad?”
Avery contemplated that thought for about three and a half seconds before shoving it to the side. “Not the point.”
“I’ve lived on this farm now for three months. I’ve learned so much about the myths, legends, and predictions. No one really knows what it all means for the paranormal world. The first pairings unlocked the royal fairies and brought back wolfairies. But even Trask doesn’t understand what’s happening now. His visions have been scrambled. His word, not mine. And the new history books are at a standstill.”
