Alannah
a Slater Brothers novella
Copyright © 2018 by L.A. Casey
ISBN-13: 978-1912223022 | ISBN-10: 1912223023
All rights reserved.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, establishments, organizations, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously to give a sense of authenticity. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
License Notes
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For Edel, who is the best soundboard.
ALSO BY L.A. CASEY
Slater Brothers series:
DOMINIC
BRONAGH
ALEC
KEELA
KANE
AIDEEN
RYDER
BRANNA
DAMIEN
Maji series
OUT OF THE ASHES
Standalone novels
FROZEN
UNTIL HARRY
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Coming Soon
Acknowledgments
About the Author
“Alannaaaahhh … I’m coming for you.”
I spun around, my hair a mass of thick, dark waves flying after me. I looked from my left to my right, wondering where the echoed whisper was coming from. The voice that spoke was uncomfortably familiar to me, but I couldn’t recall who it belonged to. All I knew was that fear caused my muscles to tighten, and my throat to run dry. My body was tense, and the hair on the nape of my neck stood at attention. Something was very wrong. I looked around once more, and it was only at that moment I realised that I couldn’t remember walking into my office. I looked down at my body and blinked in surprise. I definitely couldn’t remember putting on the beautiful white dress I was wearing. In fact, I couldn’t remember when I purchased the dress in the first place.
“Damien?” I called out, confusion gripping me. “Where are ye’?”
“He’s a little tied up at the moment, angel.”
I shrieked when the voice spoke directly behind me, but when I turned to face the person, I was met with thin air. My body began to tremble, and silent sobs climbed their way up my throat. I jumped when I heard a clicking noise to my right. My lips parted with shock as I watched my easel set itself up without a person in sight to perform the action. I wanted to turn, to flee the room and never look back, but I couldn’t. I was frozen to the spot as my eyes were locked on the impossible scene before me.
I sucked in a sharp breath when I blinked, and suddenly, I was standing in front of my easel with a pencil in my hand. A large blank canvas was before me, and as if I was controlled by someone else, my arm rose, and my hand began to draw on the canvas. I whimpered with fright as I fought for control of my body, but I was completely at the mercy of whatever possessed me. I could do nothing but watch in horror as my hand drew an image at an unnatural speed. It wasn’t just an image, though … It was a sketched film.
I had drawn perfect likenesses of the Slater brothers, and when they began to move, smile, and turn to look at me, my heart just about beat out of my chest. I watched as their smiles turned to frowns, then as their frowns turned to pained expressions as cuts and tears appeared on their bodies. Thick, red liquid began to spill from the brothers, but then it wasn’t just on the brothers anymore; it began to seep through the canvas. I watched as it slowly dripped down the sketch and splashed onto the floor, causing a puddle to form around my bare feet. The liquid splashed onto my white dress, decorating it in red.
The smell was heavy and metallic, and I knew it had to be blood.
“I think this is your best creation yet, angel.”
I fell onto my behind when control of my body suddenly returned to me. It didn’t hurt like I expected it to. In fact, I felt nothing at all. My breathing was laboured as a shadow fell over me, and apprehension flooded me. I looked up, and when my eyes landed on him, my lips parted, and my heart stopped.
“Morgan?”
Morgan Allen, who was really Carter Miles, smiled down at me, and his vibrant violet eyes seemed to twinkle in delirious amusement.
“Angel,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
I furrowed my brows as I clumsily got to my feet and stumbled a few steps away from Morgan, putting some much-needed space between us.
“You can’t be ‘ere,” I warned. “Ye’ promised that ye’d go away and stay away.”
“That was when you rejected the Slater brothers,” he said with a wicked grin. “But you’ve made up with them … You’ve opened your heart to them once again, and I can’t have that, angel. Not when they’ve killed people close to me. Murderers don’t get a happily ever after, not in this story.”
My knees knocked together and threatened to give way at any moment.
“Mor-Morgan,” I stammered. “Ye’ said ye’d never hurt anyone … D’ye remember that?”
“And you said you loved Damien and that you wanted to marry him and have his babies, but that’s not true,” he replied with a menacing snicker. “I guess we’re both liars.”
“I … I do want to marry Damien and have his children. I do.”
“No, you don’t,” Morgan replied smugly. “I’m in your head, angel, remember? That means I know everything that goes on inside it. You want Damien, but you don’t want his last name or his kids.”
“No,” I said, wrapping my arms around my waist. “No, that’s not true.”
“It’s the fear in you,” Morgan continued as he slowly began to circle me like a predator. “You said you wanted to marry him, to have his children … but when you thought about that, you realised you were too scared to make it a reality because what if you had his babies and they died? What if you married Damien and he died? Starting a life with him was too terrifying for you to consider. You’re playing games with Damien, and you know he doesn’t like games.”
“Shut up!” I pleaded. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”