Midnight Deception

Midnight Deception Bloodlines Book Three By Erin O’Kane Copyright © 2023 Erin O’Kane Midnight Deception First publication: 2023 Editing by Elemental Editing & Proofreading Formatting by Kaila Duff Cover art by Logan Keys All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilisation of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to places, events or real people are entirely coincidental. Written by L. Guyatt as Erin O’Kane [email protected] Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Afterword About the Author Also by Erin O’Kane Dedication This book is dedicated to everyone who is silently struggling. I see you. Chapter One The snake is poised to strike, its impossibly large spines rattling down the length of its back as it hisses at me in warning. A shout catches my attention—my father’s voice. Panic claws at my chest as I turn, finding the huge snake’s tail wrapped around my father’s body, constricting tightly. My body shakes, but not with fear, as would be expected, but because of the icy air that suddenly wraps around me as tightly as if the snake still had me in its clutches. Breath mists the air before me, and I’m momentarily distracted. Everything seems to shift, and in the next blink of my watering eyes, I see Joel in the snake’s grip, not my father. Gasping, I jerk forward, only to pull up sharply as the snake hisses louder, its body coiling more tightly around my mate. But then Joel is nowhere to be seen, and in his place is Syn. Horrified, I shake my head, unable to comprehend what’s happening. In the thump of a heartbeat, it’s now Nicolai who’s the unfortunate soul caught in the snake’s tightening embrace. “Laelia! Save me!” he rasps, his face twisting in pain as his breath wheezes out of him, his chest being crushed with each passing second. I try to run forward, not caring about myself as the snake roars its final warning, except my feet won’t move. Glancing down, I see ice encasing my legs, freezing me in place. Tugging with all my strength, I try to free myself, a cry of frustration ripping from me as I fail to break free of the ice. Seeing that I’m no longer an immediate threat, the snake turns to my friend and slowly slithers towards him, its fanged maw opened wide. Shaking my head in denial, I shift my gaze to my friend. He’s stopped struggling now, and he is looking at me with such crushing disappointment that it causes me physical pain. “Why didn’t you save me?” Darkness surrounds me before I can reply, dragging me away from the horror that’s unfurling before me. I try to fight it, but the tugging is persistent and stronger than I am. The darkness engulfs me fully, and an urgent feeling settles over me, telling me that something important is happening. Unable to resist it any longer, I become consumed by the shadows. The dark fog clears from my mind, and I swim my way to consciousness, slowly becoming aware of something soft beneath me. Despite this, my whole body aches like I’ve just run a marathon. Did I sleep in a strange position? I have no idea where I am or what’s happening. All I know is that I have the feeling that something terrible just occurred. That, and I’m freezing cold. Instinctively, I reach for my bonds, only to find that they are gone, a sense of numbness surrounding the place where they usually reside in my chest. This pulls me further from the fog, my mind sharpening. As I reach for my wolf, I’m relieved to find her still within me, but she doesn’t respond as she usually does. Instead, it feels like she’s slumbering and I can’t quite reach her. Even when I search for the forbidden presence that lives deep within my soul, I find a disconnection between us. Why am I so distant? Something is blocking my connections, something is wrong, and I need to figure it out soon. However, I don’t rush to get up. I need to be smart about this. I don’t think I’m in any immediate danger, and playing dead is probably the best way to keep it that way for the time being. I use the relative quiet to assess my current position. I’m lying on my front, sprawled across something soft, as though I’ve been deposited and left as I landed, my feet dangling over the edge. It doesn’t feel like I’m on a bed, so perhaps a couch. There’s a part of me that calms from knowing I’m not on a stranger’s bed. I don’t even want to contemplate where that could lead. My head is resting on my arm, which is extended above me, the numb, tingling feeling in my fingers telling me I’ve been here for some time. I should move to reposition myself and ease my aching limbs, but I feel so weak that even opening my eyes is impossible right now. Face down and unable to take in the room around me, I use my other senses in the hopes that I can figure out where I am. Steady, rhythmic breathing tells me there are others in the room with me—two, I believe. The scents here are strange, almost metallic, and instinctively make me want to flinch away. The familiar, comforting smell of my pack is missing, meaning I’m not back home in our forest, which brings me to the question, where the hell am I? Racking my brain, I slowly recall the events of