CHAPTER forty-four: Loose ends

  Esme was chanting to herself after she returned to her cave in the forest that created a boundary between Ancientrova and Valeria.

  Happy tears coursed down her sagged cheeks as she thought her whereabouts had been successful. After the Hybrid Werewolf King Lucas Conroy ignored her admonitions and went ahead to save his mate, she had hoped they would remain hostage of Fehr Rahl, the true blood vampire king.

  But Alas, she heard that the King was back in the Castle. She did not give up until two nights ago that she was able to appear in his mate’s dream.

  “I curse you, Alpha King Conroy and hope your mate will hate you after she knows of what you did to her kinsmen!” she muttered, shaking her head.

  That said, Esme thrust aside the tattered hangings that covered the entrance to her cave and ambled into the cold darkness.

  She fumbled about, trying to rekindle a dying flame in the hearth. Then all of a sudden, she stiffened, her head snapping up.