Hidden Warrior ebook

A human girl with a troubled past. 

A fae prince from a stolen kingdom. 

When he whisks her away to the fae realm, there is no going back to her old life. 

Under the rule of a captivating queen, the kingdom of Fargelsi has brought the three fae lands to the brink of war. And now that same queen has her eyes set on a new pawn—a human girl. 

Allied with the usurper king, the royals seek to overthrow all those who oppose their unmatched power. Unmatched—until Brea Robinson arrives and proves to be more than they bargained for.  

As the motivations of those around her become clear, Brea must decide if she can trust the handsome prince who abducted her, or if she might be safer across the wastelands and swamps, in a land in desperate need of the magic she doesn’t know she has. 

The man's—Griff’s—hand clamped down on Brea’s arm as the world twisted and bent around them. A wave of dizziness washed over her, but his grip kept her upright. 

She tried to speak, to breathe out the protests and the questions swirling in her mind, but nothing came out. 

Everything disappeared. The snow, the bare winter trees covered in a thin sheen of ice. 

Even the police officer faded into the background before she couldn’t see him at all. Loch, Griff had called him. His smooth voice echoed in her ears, calling after her with a mixture of fear and fury until even that was gone and all that remained was a heavy silence. 

Warmth. It was the first thing she noticed. Gone was the dreary Ohio winter. She pried her eyes open to find the sun breaking through flowering trees overheard. It was the dead of night a moment ago. 

Neither of them moved for a long moment before Brea finally lifted her eyes to her abductor. 

His violet eyes flashed when they met hers, and that was how she knew. 

She'd never left the Clarkson Institute. It was all in her head. The first day back to school never happened. She never attacked Myles, never went to prison. It was all just a terrible nightmare. 

Ripping her arm from his grasp, she walked backward. “You’re not real. None of this is real.” She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping when she opened them, she’d see the sterile walls of her room and know she was safe. 

Well, as safe as she could be when her own mind played tricks on her. 

But it didn’t go away. The fresh smell of spring permeated her nostrils, so different from the icy air that filled her lungs only moments ago. 

“Come on, Brea,” she whispered to herself. “Wake up. You’re safe.” 

The man continued to stare at her and cocked his head, one corner of his mouth lifting into a half-smile. “Are you talking to yourself?”

“No,” she huffed. Why did she even respond to him? He was just a figment of her imagination. 

His lips parted into a full grin. “I hate traveling to your realm in the winter.” He brushed the dusting of snow from the sleeves of his shirt. 

Brea’s eyes followed his movements, taking in the clothing that looked straight out of one of the fantasy movies she and Myles always watched together. 

Myles. She choked on a sob and turned her back on the stranger. That part was too fresh in her mind not to be real. Her best friend was dead because of her. What had she done? The guilt opened up a chasm inside her, but no tears came. It was Brea’s curse. Girls were supposed to cry, weren’t they? To let their emotions out. At least, that was what Myles always said. But of the two of them, he’d been the crier. 

She’d never wished for tears more than in that moment. Myles deserved every bit of emotion she could muster. 

Her back shook as she tried to force them out. 

“What are you doing?” The man put a hand on her back, and she jumped away from him with a yelp. 

“You’re not supposed to be able to touch me.”

“What are you talking about?” 

“Before… when I’ve… seen things…” She sucked in a breath. “You know what, I don’t have to explain anything. You're not real.” She walked forward, hoping she could find some way out of this nightmare. 

Around her, blooms flourished among the trees. Her feet crunched through the crisp green grass, but they weren’t the only ones. 

The man followed her. 

“Brea, wait.”

“I’m ready to wake up now.” She reached a clearing and lifted her face to the sky, begging for some higher power to make this all go away. 

“You’re not asleep, and you’re not imagining things.”

She turned to face the man who’d called himself Griff. He was ridiculously attractive—if you were into that kind of thing. His long auburn hair was tied back away from the flawless skin of his face. Intense green eyes—no longer flashing violet—locked on her, but she refused to meet them, focusing instead on the pointed tips of his ears. 

“You’re a delusion.”

“I’m not.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“I just want to go home.” To wake up in the twin bed she’d slept in since she was a kid and start this day all over again. “I never left the institute. Myles isn’t dead.”

Griff’s expression softened, and he took a step toward her. “I’m sorry about your friend. But it wasn’t your fault. You don’t know how to control what’s happening to you.”

“Nothing is happening to me except my mind imagining things.” But she felt it, the energy within her. There was no denying how it kicked her heart up a notch and latched onto her anger, her sadness. 

Among all these lies, that felt like the only truth she had. 

Something was very wrong with her. 

Without thinking, she turned and started running, ducking back into the trees. Branches whipped her face, causing a trickle of blood to drip down over her parted lips as she crashed through the woods, trying to get away from the man pursuing her. 

She panted as she leaped over a fallen tree and burst past the tree line, stopping dead in her tracks at the sight before her. Rolling green hills stretched into the distance like a painting of a lonely land, untouched and wild. 

Clear blue skies topped off the picturesque landscape without a cloud in sight. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Griff stopped beside her. 

Her jaw clenched. “No.” Lies, illusions, were never beautiful. 

She could barely make out a house in the distance surrounded by pastures where horses grazed. 

“That’s home.” Griff pointed to the house. “I tried to get the portal as close as I could without scaring the horses with the energy it emitted.” 

“Portal?” She shook her head. None of this made any sense. She walked back into the woods and sat down on the fallen tree she’d jumped over while trying to escape only moments before. 

The events of the day played in her mind like a movie. Returning to school and facing the stares of her classmates. Myles’… death. The word sat heavy in her mind. 

Then the police station and the man who took her away from there. How did it all fit together? 

Griff dropped to the log beside her. “I know this is all a little much, but I promise you it’s real. I just need you to come with me.”

“I don’t even know him,” she whispered to herself. On her many stays at the institute, she’d spent hours and sometimes days with no company but herself. When she got scared or nervous, she talked to herself. At school, she worked hard to hide the habit, but now the words tumbled out. “What does he want from me?” 

“I’ll explain everything in time.” He nudged her shoulder like they were old friends, like Myles would have done. 

She scooted away so he couldn’t do it again. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Where’s the police officer? I want him.” Policemen were supposed to keep people safe, right? 

Griff’s congeniality dropped away and he stood. “That was no human.” His eyes narrowed. “Lochlan is not to be trusted, do you understand?”

“And you are? I don’t know you. I don’t know where I am or how any of this is possible if I’m not just imagining it.” 

“You don’t have a choice, Brea.”

“How do you know my name?” Back in the wintery forest, he’d said her name when he pulled her away from Lochlan. 

“You’ll learn in time.”

Anger burned through her. In time? She deserved answers right away if he wanted her to trust him. Unable to control herself, she lunged from the log, springing toward him and taking him by surprise as she tackled him to the ground. 

“I want to go home,” she yelled. A home she no longer had if her parents truly had signed over their parental rights. A home that no longer included Myles.

Griff struggled beneath her before finally flipping her off and rolling them over so he pinned her to the ground. “Calm. Down.”

“No.” She jerked her knees up, connecting with his crotch. His face twisted in pain, but he didn’t release her. 

“Brea, stop.”

Light exploded from her just as it had before. The pressure on top of her vanished as Griff flew across the clearing. 

Unlike her mother with the Christmas tree or Myles outside the school, Griff didn’t collapse to the ground. Instead, he landed in a crouch before straightening. 

“Well.” He grimaced. “That’s something we will have to get a handle on. Get up, Brea.” 

She refused. Her chest heaved as she stared up at him with wide eyes. “What’s happening to me? What did I do?” She buried her face in her hands. 

She truly was a freak. 

Griff sighed. “Cut it out with the self-pity. I want to make it home before dark.”

She lifted her face to him. “I’m not going to your home.” She had to find a way back to hers. 

Griff shrugged. “Suit yourself. Just be careful of the wolves.” He turned and started walking away. 

“Wolves?” She scrambled after him. 

“These woods are dangerous at night. I wouldn’t want to be caught in them after dark.” 

“At least tell me where we are?” she pleaded. 

He didn’t stop walking. “The world of the fae welcomes you, Brea Robinson.”

Fae? She truly had lost it.