Fated Love: A Vampire Paranormal Romance Novel (The Twisted Destiny Saga Book 4) by Franca Storm Page A

can’t breach the walls, Ryan! She’s put up a protective barrier. It just burned two of our guys!” Damon yelled to him over the noise of battle.
    “Our objective is to cause a distraction, not to take the castle!” Ryan returned. “We need to hold our position.” I told them not to breach the barrier. Fuck.
    “Yes, your majesty.”
    Ryan and the five hundred wolves at his back had been forced into the same defensive position for the past two hours, struggling to hold their ground from the two-pronged threat of the attacking vampire guards and Oriana’s consistent shower of black magic raining down on them. He’d left several hundred troops back at the camp. He couldn’t risk the entire wolf population in the battle.
    They stood in formation on the bridge of the castle. If Ryan had wanted to actually take the castle, he would’ve approached discreetly through the gardens at the right side of the castle. He would’ve taken more of a guerilla approach. But with their current objective, they needed to be as visible to the enemy as possible.
    Ryan smashed his fist into the face of a vampire approaching from his left. The vamp flew back twenty feet, lost his balance, and fell over the edge of the bridge. Another came at him and he gripped him by the chainmail at his chest and hoisted him off his feet. Damon swept his claws at his neck, decapitating him in one vicious swipe. Ryan nodded his gratitude.
    Damon had had his back the entire time. And he was damn good at it. Oriana had directed all of “her” attacking vampire guards towards him, thinking that if she took him down, then his wolf army would fall. She was wrong. Damon would never let that happen. He was a natural leader. He’d never lay down if his King were defeated. If anything, it would just fire him up.
    “Maintain position! Do not break formation!” Ryan thundered behind him at his wolves as he caught sight of a couple of them moving towards the barrier in an attempt to breach it. At his thunderous command they immediately ceased their approach and rejoined the army, slipping back into formation.
    “Defend. Do not attack! Follow my lead!” Ryan bellowed. “Obey your King!” He had to utter such commands, because a wolf’s natural instinct was always to attack, never to defend. But Ryan knew that he wielded enough power to guarantee their obedience over their natural urges.
    A collective growl of acceptance rumbled beneath his feet, vibrating the bridge.
    Damon eyed Ryan in awe. Ryan smirked. “Told you.”
    “Yeah. I’ve never been able to control them like that.”
    “They can feel my power. They respect and fear it equally.”
    They continued to battle. Thankfully wolves didn’t tire easily. They could keep up the pace for hours. No creature had more stamina—not even vampire.
    But then the worst happened.
    Oriana descended the steps with a protective silver, shimmering bubble enveloping her. She raised both her palms and fired magic that looked like pure silver at the feet of Ryan and the front line. Howls ripped from all their throats and they all took several steps back.
    It was pure silver. She was firing fucking silver at them.
    “Use your shields!” Ryan bellowed. “Brace yourselves!”
    She fired again but it was impossible to block all of it with the shields. The sickening screams from his wolves churned Ryan’s stomach. He couldn’t let it continue.
    He stepped forward, right into the line of fire.
    A rush of silver rained down over him.
    He turned into it, letting his leather jacket absorb some of it.
    But silver was a bitch and it still burned through to his skin. He hissed.
    “Back up!” he called over his shoulder to his wolves.
    “Ryan! No!” Damon roared.
    “That’s an order!” Ryan fired back. Back up didn’t mean what he knew it sounded like to his mother, what he had intended it to sound like. It was code for his wolves to execute their back-up plan. To feign a retreat amid a distraction—currently being