Read Evermore, an Arotas Novella (The Arotas Series) for Free Online

Lucien’s army fled to the corners of the globe
and she is not about to let them get away.
    “Where
should we go?” she asks, knowing a break would be nice, but she
could never allow it to be permanent. Her responsibilities lie here.
This is her home.
    A
small smile stretches along her lips as she realizes for the first
time, amidst the mass chaos and influx of hunters and immortals
arriving daily, Bran castle finally feels like home to her. It is
more than a brick-and-mortar building. It is a gathering place of
friends and family.
    Maybe
one day she and Gabriel can move out of the castle, build a small
home of their own where they can have some privacy. The castle
grounds certainly have enough room for them to use, or perhaps they
could tear down the old lakeside shack and make their own cottage.
    Gabriel
tilts his head to the side, contemplating. “I think I’d
like to go to Chicago first.”
    “To
see your family?”
    “To
say good-bye to my past.” His hand drifts down to her waist and
pulls her to him. Her body molds against his as he presses her
against the wall. His gaze is intense as he stares down at her. “You
are all the family I will ever need.”
    As
she lifts up onto her tiptoes to kiss him, Roseline realizes that for
the first time in a very long time, she feels happy. Truly,
unabashedly happy.

FIVE

    Six
months later…

    Roseline
stares out over the frozen tundra spread before her, gripping
Gabriel’s hands tight enough to shatter bone. The winds are no
less vicious than the last time she stood here. The cold bites at her
cheeks and nose. “You can do this,” he whispers against
the gusting winds, his breath warm against her ear.
    A
part of her wishes she never had a need to return to the Senthe Base,
to the place where she lost so much, but duty demands it. No, not
just duty, a gut feeling. Something has been calling her to this
place for the past two weeks. She can’t explain it. It’s
not something as explicit as a message in a dream or a vision, but
the reality of the need is no less urgent.
    After
their time spent abroad, they returned to Romania as planned. The
past three months have been consumed with training. The halls of Bran
Castle now echo with the near constant clash of steel swords and the
thud of arrows hitting their targets. Immortals train alongside
hunters each day, learning from each other. It is a sight that
Roseline never dreamed could be possible, but Nicolae’s vision
of a new world finally came true with the official signing of the
truce between these two groups of warriors. Roseline and Gabriel
remained at Bran Castle long enough to take part in this momentous
ceremony before leaving for their own journey.
    Now,
instead of attacking each other, hunters and immortals band together
to track down the remaining pockets of Lucien’s army that
scattered across the globe. Many of them have dug in deep, forcing
the warriors to be gone for months on end. Others give in to their
thirst and come into the light of day and are easily squashed out.
    No
matter how many of her enemy are found, Roseline can’t shake
the feeling that something more is coming. Something big.
    She
releases her vise-like grip and offers Gabriel a tight smile. “It
was right to come here.”
    His
gaze narrows, searching her face. How many times has he looked at her
in this same manner over the past few months? Analyzing her words
against the emotions he knows she bottles up inside.
    She
has never let him see the pain Fane’s death has caused her. Not
out of wanting to hide from him, but because it is too personal. She
loved Fane once, more than life itself. Admitting this openly to
Gabriel is something she would rather not do.
    So
she keeps her pain locked firmly away in the recesses of her heart. A
part of her feels as if it has continued to wither in his absence.
She suspects that Sadie knows of her inner turmoil but is able to
offer little help now that she has returned to America.
    It
had taken a