Wolf Shifter Diaries: Lies Tamed (Sweet Paranormal Wolf & Fae Fantasy Romance Series Book 2) by E. Hall (books for men to read TXT) 📗

Trying to move to the surface, I’m pushed deeper, blinking the seafloor into focus.

As the air leaves my lungs, my surroundings take on a rainbow hue. Stars dot my vision. Then it’s as though the moon brightens around me—how can that be?

But I can’t breathe.

We shouldn’t have come.

I  was wrong about this.

Dead wrong.

Someone jostles me. I try to respond, but it’s as if I’m floating away. Then all at once, I’m above the surface, gasping for air. The sky is still steely. Wolf-Corbin stands in the shallows. Water drips off his fur. He inclines his head, snarling in warning.

Beside me, a man grips me from under the arms, holding me upright. He saved me.

Or at least he’s the likeness of a man. And there is no mistaking the smoky gray ghost eyes that reflect my own.

“Dad?” I whisper, choking slightly.

He nods. “You’re either really dumb or really brave.”

“Hello to you too,” I stutter in a way that matches the hammering in my chest. The rushing waves and thick whitewater threaten to knock me off my feet as I struggle to keep my footing.

Greyson’s face lights up with a smirk. My eyes don’t betray me. But he’s gray and smudgy like a child cut him out of an old photograph and dropped it in a puddle. However, the vagueness of him stops me from wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders. He seems cold and barely there, but fear and sadness burn away within me to reveal hope and joy.

Being so close to the certainty of him renews my power. I could move the ocean with one swipe of my hand or draw all the sand close and dump it in if I wanted to. I straighten, flexing my fingers and breathing deep.

“I’m Kenna. Where have you been?” I ask with a hand on my hip.

“Waiting for you,” Greyson says or whispers or maybe it’s the wind. It’s hard to tell.

“Are you a hollow ghost?”

He nods his head, his eyes sad and happy at the same time.

Corbin, still a wolf, stands sentry by the shore.

“Can you come out of the water?” I ask.

“With your help. But do I want to come out of the water? It looks like you have a watchdog.” Ghost-Greyson eyes Wolf-Corbin.

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. You have a lot of explaining to do, Greyson Slade.”

His lips twitch. “You remind me so much of your mother.”

“I take that as a compliment. And you can be sure she wants to give you a talking to, as well.”

His gray outline is still visible as we leave the water and step onto the sand.

“I was held underwater for a while. Did you try to drown me?” I ask.

“No, you had to pass through the veil. It’s what separates the living world from the otherside, a place where hollow ghosts and others dwell. You did a brave thing.”

“I didn’t know what I was doing so maybe I am dumb,” I say, echoing his earlier comment. “I went on instinct.”

I swiftly assess him and whether he’s a threat. I don’t sense as much. Rather, this might be the single most exciting thing ever. My father is back. I can’t believe it. I wasn’t wrong or crazy. I smile, wanting to hug him.

From behind me, Corbin bares his teeth with a low snarl. Right now, he feels like the only danger here.

Unlike Alister who glimmered like ghosts in movies, my father is a smudged charcoal drawing against a gray canvas. We walk toward the campsite. He’s tall and well-built for a ghost. He must have been formidable when he was still whole.

“So what brings you here?” Greyson asks.

“You know, looking for my father who’s a hybrid like me. Mom said I might find you at Bahia Magia. She also mentioned I have magic after keeping that to herself for nearly eighteen years. Oh, and your ghost butler, Alister, sends his fondest regards.” My tone has sharp edges.

“And I’m here to haul you in for crimes against magic-kind,” Corbin says, having shifted back to physical form.

My father dims. I stand between them. “Corbin, that wasn’t what we talked about.”

He glares at me. “No, but this man is a criminal. He’s harmed countless people, started the Klave, and is wanted by the Council.”

Greyson laughs darkly. “I see that you’re wrapped around the fae’s finger.”

Corbin’s lips pike down.

“If you’re referring to me, I lean heavily toward my wolf nature,” I say.

My father flickers. “I can explain everything, but we need to get out of here.”

I park my arms in front of my chest. “Not before you tell me what brought you here.”

Corbin edges menacingly closer.

Greyson glances over his shoulder toward the sea. “I made some discoveries. The only way for me to confirm the truth was to make a trade.”

“A trade for what?”

His pause hangs in the air until the wind shifts. “My existence.” He ghosts a sigh, literally.

Our eyes meet. Gray and gray. I wonder if that’s why he’s named Greyson. Something ripples between us that’s less antagonistic and more like patience or compassion or some other virtue that I was feeling short on until a moment ago.

He opens his hands as though helpless. “I’m sorry, Kenna. I owe you more than the ghost of whom I was, but that’s all I have to give other than information.”

“Then I guess that’ll have to be enough,” I say more harshly than I mean to.

“Our family tree plays directly into what’s going on in the magical world.”

“The one you’ve been trying to destroy,” Corbin says not giving up.

“Sometimes ruin comes before rebirth.”

“I think our understanding of what that means differs.” Corbin