Keeper of Destinies Read online

  KEEPER OF DESTINIES

  (GRAVEYARD GUARDIANS BOOK 5)

  by

  Jennifer Malone Wright

  Copyright 2019 Jennifer Malone Wright

  License Notes

  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 and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Visit the website of Jennifer Malone Wright at

  www.jennifermalonewright.com

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Mini Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Excerpt from Summer Hollow (A Graveyard Guardians Prequel)

  Other books by Jennifer Malone Wright

  About the Author

  MINI PROLOUGE

  GREG

  Thanksgiving with the family had always been full of surprises and chaos, but nothing could have shocked him more than when he opened the front door and found Emily on the other side.

  Emily the Seer. The young woman had been a locked away at the Reaper compound when his sister Lucy had been kidnapped by the Empress. None of the Estmonds had seen or heard from her since she’d disappeared as they were running through the vineyard after escaping.

  At first, he didn’t know what to say. He simply stood there, staring at her.

  Emily’s dark eyes bore into his, as if she could see right into his soul. Her charcoal black curls fell down around her shoulders and tumbled down her back. His eyes skimmed over her flowing teal skirt and form-fitting black top. The turquoise jewelry she wore stood out against her dark skin and brought his attention to her smooth, perfect complexion.

  “Emily,” he breathed.

  “Gregory,” she nodded. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

  He shook his head. “Why … how … why are you here? Where did you go after we last saw you in Napa? We were so worried.”

  She tilted her head up and her big brown eyes met his. “I have foreseen that I am supposed to be here. You and the others, you need my help and I am a part of your future.”

  He couldn’t help it, his lips parted and his mouth fell open. “You what?”

  She smiled. “You heard me.”

  “Yeah. Yes, I did.” He turned to the side. “Please come in.”

  She lifted the suitcase at her feet, which he hadn’t even seen, and crossed into the house. “Thank you.”

  “Guys!” he called out in a loud voice. “We’re going to need another plate.” He knew his family had seen the whole thing and Emily had probably seen them hanging out behind him, but he hollered anyway.

  “Well Emily, you’re just in time for dinner.” He gestured the way she should go.

  “Thank you.” Once again, she looked up at him. “I hope I’m not intruding too much. There was no better way to tell you than to just come here and tell you. After I had the vision, I had to come.”

  Though he was a bit skeptical, he didn’t say so. “You’re always welcome here. We were wondering what happened to you.”

  She narrowed her eyes as they strode into the dining room. “I think you should be more worried about what will happen to you.” And then, she turned to the group at the table and smiled. “Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  EMILY

  Nerves caused her stomach to churn as she stepped into the room where the seven Estmond siblings and their guests sat or stood, gathered around a table filled with a Thanksgiving dinner that had to be enough food to feed an army.

  How could she have intruded on their family dinner like this. How could she have interrupted a holiday celebration, especially when it was to deliver news of a vision that was far from anything they would want to be celebrating.

  She should never have come.

  But, then again, they needed to know what the future held for them and if she didn’t come to them immediately, she would have lost the nerve and the lives of these people would be impacted with great tragedy.

  That was something she wouldn’t have been able to live with. If her gift was good for anything, she wanted it to be for saving people.

  Having the gift of sight had never been a blessing for her. Life was hard when you could see what it held for those around you. Therefore, she led an isolated and lonely existence. Which was why coming to the Estmond home was totally out of her comfort zone. She wanted to help people, but nine times out of ten she did that without contact because the person at risk usually just thought she was crazy.

  Perhaps, after all these years, she was crazy.

  Regardless of her sanity, she was here now, facing the people who had saved her and repaying them for what they had done for her in Napa.

  “Emily.” Greg’s voice brought her out of her own thoughts and she glanced up at him.

  “Yes?”

  “Please, sit down. We would like you to join us.” He gestured to the table where the rest of the family was still staring at her.

  With a nod, she moved toward the table, even though she wasn’t hungry at all and even if she was, the tightness in her stomach might not allow her to eat anyway. Greg hurried ahead of her and pulled out a chair beside one of the younger Estmond brothers, James.

  James smiled wide and nodded when she carefully lowered herself into the chair.

  After making sure that she was seated, Greg made his way over to his spot at the head of the table. His dark red hair was longer than the last time she had seen him, but other than that he looked very much the same. He wore a dark blue button up shirt with a collar and a pair of dark-wash blue jeans that fit his figure perfectly. Greg intrigued her. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was about him that made him different than any other guy, but there was definitely something he had that demanded her attention.

  And that something had nothing to do with anything she had seen in her vision, it was more of a feeling.

  Normally, she forced herself to ignore men completely. It wouldn’t make much sense for her to date since her secret had to remain just that … a secret. The worst part was that she sometimes saw the things that others wanted to keep secret, so how would that ever work with a relationship.

  Nope. She’d always known that she was meant to be alone and that she didn’t need a man. There would be no romance or growing old with anyone in her future.

  Now, her visions told her otherwise.

  “I … I’m so sorry for interrupting on your holiday meal.” Emily inhaled deeply after the words were out, trying to calm her still frazzled nerves.

  “Nonsense.” Olivia waved her hand in the air, as if dismissing the notion that she had burdened them at all. “We are always happy to have others join us for the holidays. Now stop apologizing and serve yourself up some food.”

  Emily didn’t want to make herself anymore of an inconvenience by eating their food, but she was starting to feel hungry from the trip, so she leaned forward
and scooped some mashed potatoes onto her plate.

  “Do you want green bean casserole?” James asked from beside her, holding his hand out for her plate. Surprised, Emily mumbled, “Yes, thank you,” and handed her plate over to him.

  “There you go.” James seemed content with the amount he put on her plate, but instead of giving her plate back to her, he turned to the other side and handed it off to Steph. James’ twin didn’t even ask, she just reached in and served up a giant spoonful of some sort of fruit salad that looked absolutely wonderful, so she didn’t mind that Steph hadn’t asked if she wanted any. When she was finished with Emily’s plate, she passed it on to the next person who would ask her what she liked. That continued until the plate returned to her, full of the food everyone had dished up for her.

  A few more minutes passed and finally, Lucy, the youngest of the Estmonds, asked her, “What did you see in your vision?”

  Lucy was the only one of the family that she really knew at all, if you count being kidnapped and locked up with someone as knowing them, that is. She didn’t really want to talk about this now. She didn’t want to ruin their dinner by tainting it with her bad news. “It can wait until tomorrow. I didn’t intend to ruin your meal. I actually forgot it was a holiday until I got here.”

  Lucy shook her head, her dark red hair shimmering as she moved it side to side beneath the light. “We don’t mind. If it’s important enough that you felt you needed to come to us right away, then it is important enough to talk about now. We trust you.”

  Emily knew that not everyone at the table believed that she was truly a Seer. It wasn’t a big deal. She was used to skeptics, and dealing with people who didn’t believe had simply become part of her life. Lucy believed her, and in this instance, that was enough. If at least one of the family believed, then the rest would eventually follow.

  “I just …” Emily stared down at her food. “It … It isn’t good news and I don’t want your holiday meal, that is supposed to be filled with love and laughter, to be suddenly filled with doom and gloom.”

  Lucy threw her head back and laughed. “Well, for a Seer, you don’t know much. Doom and gloom is basically how we roll. The love and laughter are always inside this home and with this family, so we are going to love and laugh that doom and gloom right in the face and tell it to get the hell out.”

  The rest of the family agreed, and Jack pulled Lucy over to him and planted a kiss on her lips. She flushed, pink rising into her cheeks as she pushed him away. “Stop it. I want to hear what Emily has to say.”

  It took another moment for the family to quiet and once again, everyone was staring at her expectantly.

  She didn’t want to tell them. She didn’t want to ruin the memory of this Thanksgiving for the entire family. The words wouldn’t come. Try as she might, she couldn’t will herself to open her mouth and just tell them what she saw.

  Greg must have sensed her hesitation, because she heard him say her name, his voice soft and firm. “Emily.”

  She glanced over at him. He had set his fork down and his head was slightly tilted as his gaze locked with hers. “We need you to tell us. Don’t worry about intruding, don’t worry about ruining anything, just … don’t worry about any of that. We need to know what you saw.”

  Oddly, his words did calm her. She still didn’t want to tell any of the family what was going to happen, but she felt more confident in the fact that she had come here to tell them and she had to finish that mission.

  The problem was that it wasn’t the end of the mission. She had to stay here with them … with Greg. How would the Estmonds deal with her intrusion when they heard that little gem. ‘Oh hey, by the way, I have to move in with you guys for an unforeseen amount of time. Thanks, now point me in the direction of my room.’

  Right, like that was going to go over well.

  “Okay.” Emily set her fork down on her plate and straightened her spine so that she was sitting tall when she delivered the news. “When you go to Florida, one of you will not come back.”

  A sudden, heavy silence fell upon the room. It seemed like hours as she waited for someone to speak. She intentionally kept her gaze fixed on her lap, not wanting to accidentally give away anything by letting her eyes stray to the one she was talking about.

  She would tell them if they wanted to know, but not until then. Sometimes, it was better to leave things in the unknown. It made it easier to let fate control what was to happen. Other times, people wanted to know so that they could try to prevent what was to happen. It was her belief that you shouldn’t try to change what the universe has dealt out for you. But, in this instance, she was willing to make a concession on that. If they wanted to change the series of events leading up to their loved one’s death, then she would help them.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, Lucy spoke up. Her hands rested on the small bump where her son or daughter grew within her. She inhaled deeply and then released a long breath before asking, “Which one of us?”

  Emily slowly lifted her head, letting her eyes sway to the youngest Estmond child. Their eyes met and held, then she shifted her gaze and let her eyes settle on Jack.

  Jack started and then his eyes widened with understanding, “What … me?”

  “No,” Lucy stated firmly. “No.”

  The Reaper slid his arm around Lucy and scooted as close as he could to her. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I’m too stubborn to die.”

  “But…”

  “Shut it, woman.” Jack whispered in a teasing tone and kissed her on the lips, “I told you I’m not going anywhere. None of us are.”

  “But…”

  He shook his head vigorously. “But nothing. The whole reason she came here to tell us this is so we can prevent it. So … if what she says is true, we can stop it before it happens. Easy.”

  Emily knew first-hand it was absolutely not that easy. Once the universe decided something, it was usually for a reason and trying to prevent it sometimes caused more problems in the long run.

  Lucy nodded, lifting a hand to swipe at a tear that had spilled over onto her cheek. “You’re right. This can be fixed. We always fix the problems.”

  “That’s right,” Jack assured her, his dark eyes glittering fiercely as he dipped down to drop another kiss on her head.

  Emily watched the exchange with fascination. Keepers and Reapers were born enemies and here they were, in love and swearing that they wouldn’t let death separate them. She knew Jack’s mother, and that woman had been the worst thing that had ever happened to her. After her time as the Empress’s prisoner, she didn’t want anything to do with Reapers.

  This was different though. She had seen Jack defy his mother at the compound and she knew from her visions that he was a good man. The other Reaper, Aiden, she had memory of him from when she had been a captive. He was the one doing the dirty work for his Reaper queen. He was the one who had bound her, locked her up and treated her like an animal. However, her visions told her that he too had changed, but what she had seen wasn’t enough for her to trust him completely. It would take a lot for him to earn that.

  It was Greg who spoke up next. “Is the future set in stone? Is this something that we can change, or is the outcome the same no matter what we do?”

  Emily turned her head and met his hard gaze. “The future can always be changed. There are some things that are fated … those are things the universe has decided must remain. Other things are always fluctuating, depending on the decisions and actions of the people involved. We can try to change the course of this vision, but if the universe has decided that is what must be, then there is nothing we can do.”

  Greg nodded. “So, we can try to change it and hope for the best?”

  “Basically,” she agreed. “If we save him and it has been fated that he must die for one reason or another, death will come for him again and again until it finally takes him.”

  A sob escaped from Lucy as she shoved her chair back and jumped up.
“I’m sorry, these hormones. I just … I can’t.”

  The Chosen One hurried from the room with her Reaper hot on her heels. He didn’t even so much as glance back at the rest of the people in the room. Emily knew he didn’t care what anyone else thought, Lucy was his only concern. Not that anyone else at the table seemed worried. It appeared they all assumed their sister was fine as long as she had her Reaper with her.

  Emily cared though. She felt absolutely awful about dumping all of this on them and the last thing she wanted to do was upset a pregnant woman.

  Liv lifted her wine glass and swirled it a couple of times before taking a long swallow. She leaned back against her chair and eyed Emily. “This seems easy to me. We just don’t go to Florida.”

  The blond Reaper beside her tilted his head and turned toward her, his glittering green eyes resting on her face. “You know that we have to. This has to be done.”

  Liv shrugged. “You go and Jack dies. I’m already concerned enough about any of you going there.”

  “We have to.”

  “No.” She set her wine glass on the table. “You don’t.”

  “We have to end this.”

  Emily nodded and glanced up as Lucy returned to the room with Jack at her side. Her eyes were red and wet with tears, but she stood in the doorway silently observing the conversation. Emily continued.

  “Yes. The journey must be made. The Empress must not be allowed to continue this reign of terror. If she does, she will continue to kill innocent people.” She turned and found Jack’s gaze as she spoke her next words. “Reapers are only able to live in this world if they feed on souls. It is common knowledge to leave the human world out of this. The more innocent humans she kills, the more attention is being drawn to the authorities. It won’t be long before Reapers start being exposed as murderers.”

  Jack listened, as did everyone else at the table. He gave her a slight nod of understanding, which gave Emily the courage to continue. “She will attempt to kill the Chosen One’s baby before the newborn is able to breathe its first breath. We must prevent what I saw in this vision, or there will be no fulfilling the prophecy. If the child lives, the child will bring the end of the warring between the Keepers and the Reapers. Your baby, which you will bring forth into the world.”