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Through Time-Frankie
Through Time-Frankie
Through Time-Frankie
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Through Time-Frankie

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She looked at him now with the eyes of a woman and realized what she was thinking. Gosh he was hot, so damn hot. She knew she had something of a crush on him. She had known for some months now that Graely was taking over all her thoughts, but he always treated her like a child.
“Frankie,” he said and nodded. “What are you doing here alone?”
“Thinking about things,” she answered. She could always be herself with Graely. Her human friends, well, she had to be human with them. With her da, she had to be a daughter, with Trevor, much the same. With Jazz, she could be honest and open in all things, except about Graely. She couldn’t confide in Jazz about Graely because it would disturb her, and she might think it her duty to tell Trevor or her father. However, with Graely she could be all things—anything.
“It is time, you know it is time,” he offered quietly with that beautiful old Danu accent, something like an Irish brogue, deeper, more pronounced than her own.
“I am uncertain, Graely. This is not what I wanted,” she answered.
“Uncertain, of what? Whether you want it or not, there isn’t anything you can do about it. Besides Frankie, don’t you see how absolutely and completely mesmerizing you are...how beautiful you look?”
“I am uncertain of what I will feel when I finally give in to it. What it does is make me feel different than all other women—not beautiful, just so strange. Can’t ye see that, Graely?” she answered solemnly.
“Frankie, you will always be who you are. What I see in you is perfection. It isn’t a question of giving in to it--it is a question of accepting the wonder of what you can do because of who and what you are. This,” he motioned with his hands, “This is wondrous. It is a good thing, not something awful you have to repress. It is a gift. You are your father’s daughter. This was a beautiful inevitability.”
Frankie smiled at him and suddenly, even before she knew what she was going to do, she let go of her human Glamour and unfolded her wings.
Her wings, she thought as she opened them wide in the breeze. Beautiful and graceful as they spread out on either side of her lithe form. Not her father’s wings, no, not his white silver tipped wings—hers were black.
They were so black that they glittered with blue lights, each feather tipped with white, magnificent to behold as she allowed them to lift her high for a few moments before she soared up. She flew gracefully before she gently brought herself in for her landing and came to stand in front of Graely with a laugh.
She saw the appreciation in his eyes and for a moment, for that moment, all she wanted to do was fold him into her wings, and hold him with her arms. She settled by putting her hands flat on his hard naked abs.
“Graely...do I...well, do I look freakish?” she asked shyly.
“Frankie, you are the most beautiful lass I have ever seen.”
“That is what Jazz and Trevor say, but if my friends ever knew...”
“They are humans,” he shrugged. “It is beyond their ken.”
She saw him stiffen suddenly and then he whispered, “I must go.”
Without another word, he was gone.
She felt a sudden loss and emptiness. It was silly, but lately, each time he left her, the feeling of loss was stronger, as though...

LanguageEnglish
PublisherClaudy Conn
Release dateSep 24, 2013
ISBN9781301267538
Through Time-Frankie
Author

Claudy Conn

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Claudy Conn is a multi published author who got her start with her bestselling historical/regency romances.She tells us that she fell in love with the fantasy/paranormal genre and created a world of paranormal.She hopes you will read and enjoy and join her on her facebook where she loves to interact with her readers.page.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Claudy-Conn-Paranormal-Romance-Author/135826686471445

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    Book preview

    Through Time-Frankie - Claudy Conn

    Through Time—Frankie

    Books by Claudy Conn

    available at smashwords.com

    Through Time Series

    Through Time—Pursuit

    Through Time—Whiplash

    Through Time—Slamming

    Through Time—Frankie

    Through Time—Compulsion

    ~

    Legend Series

    Spellbound—Legend

    Shee Willow—Legend

    Prince in the Mist (Novella)

    Prince Prelude—Legend

    Aaibhe—Shee Queen (Novelette)

    Trapped—Legend

    Free Falling—Legend

    Catch & Hold—Legend

    ~

    Shadow Series

    ShadowLove—Stalkers

    ShadowHeart—Slayer

    ShadowLife—Hybrid

    ~

    Hungry Moon Series

    Hungry Moon: Quicksilver

    Hungry Moon: Destiny

    Hungry Moon: Jodi

    ~

    Witches, Warlocks, and Dark Magic

    Dark Love

    Netherby Halls

    Lady X

    Journey

    ~

    Risqué Regencies

    Myriah Fire

    Oh, Cherry Ripe

    Rogues, Rakes & Jewels

    Taffeta and Hotspur

    Wildfire Kiss

    After the Storm

    Runaway Heart

    Lady Bess

    Lady Star

    Serena

    Mandy

    Disorderly Lady

    Madcap Miss

    ~

    Multi-book Bundles

    The Complete Legend Series

    Through Time Series Box Set

    Claudy Conn’s Bestselling Regencies

    Through Time—Frankie

    By

    Claudy Conn

    Copyright Page

    Through Time—Frankie

    By Claudy Conn

    http://www.claudyconn.com

    Copyright © 2015 by Claudy Conn

    First edition edited by: Kathryn Riehl

    Second edition edited by: Karen Babcock

    Cover Artist: Kendra Egert

    All rights reserved

    Published in the United States of America

    Smashwords editions

    First edition, December 2013

    Second edition (in Through Time Series Box Set), March 2015

    Second edition (as single title), April 2015

    Excerpt of Through Time—Compulsion

    Copyright © 2015 by Claudy Conn

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Names, characters, and events depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

    No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

    ~ Love is the master key that opens the gates ~

    —SO SAYETH Oliver Wendall Holmes

    ~ One ~

    FRANKIE SAT ON the grassy edge of a precipice overlooking a green, patchwork valley. She had her knees pulled up and her arms wrapped tightly around them.

    This had always been one of her favorite places in the Grampian Mountains of Scotland, overlooking the neat green valley below. Time had flown by, and she was finally eighteen. Maybe now she wouldn’t be treated so much like a child.

    As she looked over the edge of the sharp cliff, it occurred to her that she was at the edge, all right—physically, mentally, emotionally. In fact, at the moment her life was a bit of a mess, but she could handle it.

    Looking up at the blue sky, she considered the billowing clouds slowly floating on their journey. They were low and felt so near, almost near enough to reach out and touch. She smiled to herself before releasing a long sigh. A hawk flew by, dove, and came up with something in its mouth, and Frankie thought how once she had wondered what it would be like to swoop and sail in the air on her own power.

    So much was happening to her and in such quick succession that it had all been more than a little difficult to handle, but handle it she did. She could because she had been handling everything anyone had ever thrown at her since she was eleven years old and lost her first adoptive father and then her mother.

    Those days in Ireland seemed so far away.

    However, what was happening now—in particular, what was happening to her now—was way different than anything she had experienced before.

    She had never wanted to be defined by her physical attributes, but there was no getting away from this. She had been sick with apprehension and confusion. How was she going to handle what she had become?

    She had always known she would never be normal. At first, she had not realized she was more than a Fios, and then she found out she was Fae … and now?

    Now, she was so much more—she was Daoine.

    She was Daoine Fae, the highest caste of Fae. How confusing was that? And then to top that was the fact that her dear da, her biological father, was respected above most even though he was not actual royalty. He was known to all, which made taking on a low profile and hiding herself in a corner impossible. Not that it was her style; it wasn’t.

    It had been a shock to learn that the man she had known growing up in Ireland, the man she had mourned as her father, had not been her ‘real’ father. Her Fios mother had kept that secret hidden.

    It had been a thrill to discover that Deimne the Daoine Sluagh was her da. He was ultra-magnificent and, although haughty, a dear-heart. Picturing him, she smiled widely but then again sagged into a sigh.

    She had not realized what having him as her father would mean. It had never occurred to her that all things might one day change.

    Very little of her human self was left, and she had liked her human.

    Daoine Fae was who she was. Fios had quietly taken a backseat, but she was pleased to find that she still had a very human heart. Her heart beat in a Fae body, and with that heart, the human in her brain still whispered human philosophies so very unlike Fae philosophy. Fae lived forever and viewed the world from a different vantage point. She was torn between the two.

    Physical changes had rushed through her, overtaken her in sudden sweeps, over the last few weeks. The first change had been to her hair color.

    She awoke one morning to find that her rich, gold-streaked auburn hair was now pitch-black and that the gold streaks were nearly platinum.

    What was she going to tell her friends? That had been her first thought after the initial shock. Her friends admiring her new ‘do’ believed she had dyed her hair to achieve the new ‘look’. Why—why had her hair turned black?

    A few days later, her eyes changed. It wasn’t only the fact that they became completely Fae, an iridescent shade of hazel, but her ability to see long distance had dramatically improved. Fae eyes stared back at her when she looked in the mirror now. Her da had said that from what he could remember, she had taken his mother’s coloring. That had both pleased and saddened her, for she saw so little of her own mother in her looks now.

    Glamour, human Glamour, was something she wore now all the time. She had expected that her eyes would change as she reached her majority. She had known the Fae changes would come. What she hadn’t known, what she hadn’t expected, was the fact that something dark inside her had grown as well and now competed for a voice. Although she had managed to keep that dark power caged and suppressed, she knew it had strengthened over the last six years and wanted out.

    When she peered at herself in a mirror and brushed her long black hair with the white-gold streaking its long waves, it was as though a stranger looked back at her.

    She had celebrated her eighteenth birthday with her dear ones at her side: her father, Deimne, of course, and Trevor of Lugh and his mate, her beloved mentor and closest friend in all the world, Jazmine Decker.

    She had reached a Fae milestone, and her body had changed seemingly overnight as a living witness to what she actually was—what she actually had become. Human seemed so very non-existent in her these days. Human, being human, was a distant dream.

    At eighteen she had attained the height and most of the attributes she would always have as an immortal being. She was five foot six and looked older than eighteen, but she would continue to show some aging until she was twenty-five. She already felt twenty-five. After all she’d experienced, how could she not?

    Life had become so much more complicated than it had been only months before.

    Suddenly she was inundated with secrets about herself she had to keep well hidden if she was going to be able to maintain the wonderful human friendships she had developed over the last six years.

    She thought of her da and how thrilled he had been with her changes. But then he was always thrilled with her.

    He had lived thousands upon thousands of years, eons. Frankie, on the other hand, had only eighteen to her name and wondered how it was possible to live so long.

    Her thoughts wandered aimlessly in her head, but she realized she was not unhappy—quite the opposite. Life with Jazz and Trevor and her da had been completely beautiful, exciting, and full of love. She didn’t know what she would have done without their support, especially during the recent changes she had gone through, especially this last, painful transition.

    Her da had been ecstatic about this latest transition, but it was the one thing she was having the most difficulty dealing with. She wished it had not happened to her, and how could she tell him that? She couldn’t; it would hurt him. He would see it as a rejection. Jazz understood, however.

    They were spending the summer in Scotland, touring the Highlands. It was partly Trev and Jazz’s birthday gift to her, since they knew how much she loved the Highlands, and it was also a chance for them to do something special together before they went their separate ways.

    Come fall, she would be off to study at Trinity in Dublin. Jazz would give up her job as a marine biologist in South Carolina to move with Trevor to Faery, the Isle of Tir. Jazz was like that. Trevor had given up a position on the New Council that the queen had formed six years ago to give Jazz the human life he knew she needed, a human life that had been cut short. Now Jazz felt it was her turn to do the same for him.

    Oh, they would still have their home in Charleston, and Frankie knew that she would always be welcome there or wherever Trev and Jazz lived, but it wouldn’t be the same.

    Life was continuing to change so fast.

    Suddenly, a shiver of anticipation traveled through her body, and she got to her feet

    * * *

    As always Frankie felt him before she saw him.

    She didn’t know how it was, but from the start they had shared a connection she had never been able to explain to herself.

    She turned as he came into view, and her entire body trembled with pleasure as a smile flittered over her face. Why did he have such an affect on her?

    He had always hovered about her life.

    He had always stood back, and yet she knew he was a friend, one that would never desert her. Her father had forbidden him her company, but Frankie had always had a mind all her own, and she had not given him up. How could she? He seemed to be a part of who she really was.

    She needed him. He had been there for her these last six years—in and out, never intruding, never taking, and only giving little bits of wisdom. He bolstered her when she was down, always encouraging her to go to Jazz with her problems. He stood strong, like an unseen protector.

    Softly she said, Graely.

    She was always mesmerized by his height, by his breadth, and his style. Her eyes traveled over his massive chest with the Celtic cross tattooed near his left shoulder, to the band of Celtic knots around his biceps .

    His black, silky hair fell in layers around his exquisitely handsome face. His dark, amber-lit eyes always seemed impenetrable, but she never failed to see the light deep in their depths.

    He was a Dark Prince and had darkness in him, a darkness she knew he was attempting to dislodge. Yes, he was a Dark Prince, but he was nothing like his wicked brothers.

    Trevor and her da told her that they did not trust him. They told her he was an abomination, created outside the Wheel of Being. Jazz withheld her opinion but was ever watchful.

    Frankie knew they could not be objective. They had fought a bloody war with the Dark Princes and the monsters that inhabited the Dark Realm. Their opinions were clouded by that life experience, but Graely was not a part of that.

    She looked at him now with the eyes of a woman and realized what she was thinking. Gosh, he was hot, so damn hot. She knew she had something of a crush on him. She had known for some months now that Graely was taking over all her thoughts, but he always treated her like a child.

    Frankie, he said and nodded. What are you doing here alone?

    Thinking about things, she answered. She could always be herself with Graely. Her human friends, well, she had to be human with them. With her da, she had to be a daughter, and with Trevor, much the same. With Jazz, she could be honest and open in all things—except about Graely. She couldn’t confide in Jazz about Graely because it would disturb her, and she might think it her duty to tell Trevor or Frankie’s father. However, with Graely, she could be all things—anything.

    It is time. You know it is time, he offered quietly with that beautiful, old Danu accent, something like an Irish brogue but deeper, more pronounced than her own.

    I am uncertain, Graely. This is not what I wanted, she answered.

    Uncertain of what? Whether you want it or not, there isn’t anything you can do about it. Besides, Frankie, don’t you see how absolutely and completely mesmerizing you are … how beautiful you look?

    I am uncertain of what I will feel when I finally give in to it. What it does is make me feel different than all other women—not beautiful, just so strange. Can’t ye see that, Graely? she answered solemnly.

    Frankie, you will always be who you are. What I see in you is perfection. It isn’t a question of giving in to it—it is a question of accepting the wonder of what you can do because of who and what you are. This,—he motioned with his hands—this is wondrous. It is a good thing, not something awful you have to repress. It is a gift. You are your father’s daughter. This was a beautiful inevitability.

    Frankie smiled at him, and suddenly, without making a clear decision to do so, she let go of her human Glamour and unfolded her wings.

    Her wings, she thought, as she opened them wide in the breeze. Beautiful and graceful, they spread out on either side of her form. Not her father’s wings, no, not his white, silver-tipped wings—hers were black.

    They were so black they glittered with blue lights, each feather tipped with white, magnificent to behold as she allowed them to lift her high. She soared and then went into a glide, playing, in the air before she gently brought herself in for her landing and came to stand in front of Graely with a laugh.

    She saw the appreciation in his eyes, and for a moment, for that moment, all she wanted to do was fold him into her wings and hold him with her arms. She settled for putting her hands flat on his hard, naked abs.

    Graely … do I … well, do I look freakish? she asked shyly.

    Frankie, you are the most beautiful lass I have ever seen.

    That is what Jazz and Trevor say, but if my friends ever knew …

    They are humans. He shrugged. It is beyond their ken.

    He stiffened suddenly, and then he whispered, I must go.

    Without another word, he was gone.

    She felt a sudden loss and emptiness. It was silly, but lately each time he left her the feeling of loss was stronger, as though …

    Frankie? Jazz shifted in only a few feet away.

    She adored Jazz, but she knew what was coming and said, Yes?

    You know that I picked up his scent, right? Jazz asked.

    I know, Frankie answered, screwing up her mouth.

    Your father would be horrified to know you are still meeting with Graely.

    I know, she said and sighed. "But ye can’t ask me to stop seeing him, not ye, Jazz … because ye know that it wouldn’t be right to ask me to cut him out of m’life. He is a part of it."

    Jazz plopped down on the soft turf and patted a spot beside herself. Come on, baby, sit with me.

    Frankie sat down beside Jazz, tucking her wings in further, and the two women playfully knocked shoulders. Right, then, Jazz, have at me.

    Is that what you think I want to do? Jazz shook her head. Nope, not doing that. You are grown—well, maybe not quite, because eighteen doesn’t really cut it in the world of experience. Jazz smiled at her.

    So what are ye telling me, then, that when I have more experience I will cut out m’friends because m’loved ones tell me to? She shook her head. It isn’t going to happen. And, Jazz, when it comes to experience, ye can’t say I haven’t had m’share.

    Instead of bratty, that sounds so cute with your Irish lilt, Jazz said. No, that isn’t what I was going to tell you. In fact, I don’t want to tell you a thing. I want to ask you a question.

    Fair enough, Frankie agreed.

    "When Graely visits with you … what do you feel?"

    Frankie eyed her beloved Jazz and sighed. "In a word, free. She laughed at Jazz’s expression and hugged her fiercely. Oh, don’t look like that. Let me see if I can explain meself. I should have said, outside the family, I never am, ye know, free as a human … with humans, that is. I can’t be meself. And on Tir, and Daoine, I haven’t quite found a good fit. I’ve come to maturity in human years, not quite in Fae years, and, well—it is what it is. But with Graely is the only time, outside the family, I can be meself. I can jest let go and be meself."

    Jazz considered this, and Frankie watched as Jazz played with a strand of her long blonde hair.

    Frankie waited and it was a long moment before Jazz finally turned to her. Jazz’s unmuted, aqua-lit iridescent eyes were full of understanding, for she too, was now all Fae. "Do you have … well, are you attracted to him? He is very handsome, and I could see that a young woman would find him, well, no denying that he is definitely hot."

    Frankie put up a hand. Stop that, Jazz. I’m not ready for this, because I don’t want to lie to ye. I love ye, Jazz, and I can’t tell ye what I don’t know for sure. Aye, then, he is—well, he fills m’eyes, he does, with his dark, broody expressions, and his amber-lit dark eyes, and his … well, aye, so he is, attractive, as ye say.

    Are you, I mean … well. Jazz stumbled over the next question. Getting in too deep?

    "No, I haven’t gotten in too deep with anyone yet, Jazz. But if ye are asking if I think about it? Well … if ye want the truth, I will tell ye, but for yer ears only. Not Trevor’s, not m’da’s. Don’t be going and pillow talking with Trevor about what I tell ye now."

    Jazz crossed her heart. No, this is girl talk, not meant to be repeated.

    Frankie hugged her. "I know ye, and I know ye can only hold it from Trevor a short while. But I will tell ye this, if I think about it, romance that, is, I think it would be exciting to have Graely look at me like that, but he doesn’t. He has never once treated me as anything but a child. Not even a friend, really, but a child. It is most insulting now that I am a woman. Now more than ever, he treats me like a kid that he must forever protect."

    Good. That raises my opinion of him a notch, which, by the way, has never been that of Trevor’s or your father’s. I saw Graely do … an exceptional thing during the war, and I can’t forget that or refuse to credit him for it.

    Then, is it yer blessing I have, Jazz?

    "Not quite going that far. Come on, your da and Trevor are waiting for us back at the cottage. Then, we are going to go to Loch Ness and take a boat ride and look for Nessie. Think we’ll see her this time?"

    Frankie laughed, donned her human Glamour, and brushed the grass from her jeans. Of course! I took a swim with her last night and arranged it when you were all so busy making plans for today!

    ~ Two ~

    BRIGHT RED AND yellow flashed by in a graceful movement and landed in a palm tree. It squawked loudly, breaking the silence of the new dawn as the first of two suns emerged from their sleep.

    An elk as large as an elephant jumped into a rushing river, heading for the lush vegetation on the other side that gave promise of a sweet breakfast.

    Everything in Conglam was as it should be.

    Conglam was wild, exotic and tropical, as colorful as anything in Faery but a universe away and apart. Its inhabitants were an odd assortment of various species, many of whom had left their own worlds and cultures to start another in this welcoming realm.

    In this particular part of Conglam, most of the sentient inhabitants were shapeshifters who had left a world known as the Realm of the Wolves because they did not fit in for one reason or another. They each wanted to maintain their individuality and yet fit in and be comfortable. In Conglam they found harmony and peace, and this morning all but one were happily going about their morning rituals.

    These Shapeshifters were content. They loved Conglam even more than they had loved their native world. They tilled the land as farmers, mixing vegetables into their raw-meat diet. They catered to the part of them that had always been human, for while they were born wolf shifters, they were able to shift into human whenever it suited them.

    The Shapeshifters had brought with them many of their own native plants and animals, and all had adapted and thrived. Theirs was a peaceful existence.

    All but one was sweetly content. Darmon wanted more.

    He looked into the pond at the edge of his feet, and his reflection rippled back at him.

    He should have started his own pack a long time ago. He knew he was overdue to be his own pack leader, but to do that he needed a mate.

    He had been of age for some years, and his alpha parents had been nagging him ceaselessly to choose a mate. But an alpha wolf’s mate was not someone he could just choose. It had to be right. It had to be a bonding of physical, mental, and magical.

    An image came to his mind, an image of the one, the only one that he wanted, for he hadn’t found that connection with any other. He didn’t care that she had already given herself to another and that the other was the Dark Prince Pestale. He didn’t care, because he knew Eslym was the only one for him!

    * * *

    On the other side of the jungle, the Blue Demons lived in a colony they had established a thousand years ago. They were, as a rule, sullen types. They had been unhappy with their lot in their own world and came to Conglam all those centuries ago looking for something more.

    They loved the tract of land they took as their own. They had no opposition and were content. They were meat eaters, but at times they needed more than the blood they got from the raw

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