Blood & Brujas (Fate of the Acna #1)

by Mikayla D. Hornedo

The emotion of fear from a man who didn’t expect that tightness in his stomach or the flow of his blood to speed up when peering down at me.

The Amapola line, the line of witches blessed by Naom, all had jewel-colored hair and eyes, marking us as the strongest among our fellow brujas.

We referred to him as the Rey Falso, False King, because he overthrew the royals that sat on the throne before him, taking it for himself and calling himself king.

I barely believed in the concept of Verdaji—your one true mate picked by the goddesses of our world—as I’d never seen it myself.

His eyes were on my ass, as expected. My curves were just another weapon at my disposal, and I had plenty of them.

“Regardless of what you were being punished for, you didn’t deserve that.”

I’d seen her smirk and gently smile before, but her true smile, her genuine smile. It was enough to make the breath catch in my chest. I wasn’t offering her anything outrageous, just the chance to make sure she could defend herself from any harm. But she smiled at me like it was the best gift I could give her. I wondered where she’d been, what she’d been through that would make the offer so important to her, but I just nodded.

“You listen to me. Being a woman does not make you weak. Anyone who ever told you that was trying to hold you back. You are strong, and you are capable.

“Now your blood calls to me. It screams for me to come and take it by force. I don’t want to do that. I want you to want me to do it, but at a certain point, I won’t be able to contain myself any longer,”

“Winners get to come,”

“You should expect the absolute worst from everyone, then you’ll never be caught off guard,”

didn’t, but I was drawn to you. I could sense your power. Powerful people tend to be drawn to each other. I knew I’d be seeing you again.”

But at this moment, he looked at me like he knew me. Like he’d been there for every other time my mother punished me. As if he held the same rage I did for all the shortcomings this life had served me.

“You didn’t deserve that. Remember who you are, Dayanara. You are a force to be reckoned with,” Ax stated, moving the hair in front of my face behind my ear. “You will always have a place among my people. I hope to see you again one day.”

and there were a few pages with the corners folded down to mark their spot. Fucking psychopath.

She was like a classic painting, where you found something new to admire every time you looked at it. There wasn’t a single thing out of place with her, the closest thing to perfection I’d seen in a long time.

Kaizer looked at me like I was a monster, his lips pulled back and his chest heaving. But Zuri…She looked at me like I was the Goddess of Death, and it didn’t bother her at all.

This wasn’t a lust-fueled kiss any longer—it was my very being reaching out to hers. As if our souls had been separated for centuries and were finally coming back together as one. I could feel it down to my core, that this was right, that we were right.

I always believed that you could be spiritual without necessarily being that religious. You can feel the connections around you, the essence of the world, feed into it, and let it give back to you. Blaming everything that happened in your life on some invisible fate, some force, seemed like an easy way out to me.

“Morality has given you all a false sense of right and wrong. Things are not black and white, and you are not a singular thing, Dayanara. You do what you must.

“What can I say? I like my women a little murderous.”

“Oh no, I’m very much a why choose one side when I could have both type of girl.”

You get to decide who you are; from this moment, you don’t do shit that you don’t want to do. You don’t act like anyone other than your authentic self. I know you don’t need me to do your heavy work, but I’ll assist in any way I can. If you want that kill, it’s yours. I’ll help deliver it to you.”