by Lucy Auburn
I can hear Wyatt call out, "You c-can do it!"
"Fucking stab the asshole," Levi says in a hoarse voice.
"To the left!" Mason guides me, helpful as always. "Fast, sure—just connect with something!"
Grayson is quiet. No doubt he's bitterly afraid we might lose it all just as we found it. Love isn't something he's used to letting himself indulge in at all.
I want to make him believe in me.
So I fight.
Brutus fights back.
I stab at him—he grabs my wrist and twists it until the bones creak. I grab the knife in my other hand and connect with his arm. He fades into fog, gathers behind me, and strikes me with a bolt of electricity.
Crying out in pain, I stumble forward, to my hands and knees, and have to scramble on the ground for the knife as it skitters away from me. Brutus used just enough force to hurt me, to maim me even—but he doesn't want to kill me. Not yet. Not until he's tried again to manipulate me into destroying the only thing that can take him down.
"You'll never be able to defeat me," he gloats. "Not like this. Blind as you are. Helpless. Weak. You know it—we both know it."
I think of Sasha. I can imagine her now, with other deaf friends, her hands flying around her in sign language, cochlear implant turned off. Not every weakness is a weakness.
Even Grayson is formidable when he limps around with his mouth turned down in pain. I've seen him push through it and use his cane. And I've seen Wyatt struggle to speak without growing bitter or angry; I've watched Mason face down things that could kill him without being afraid of getting a mortal wound that'll never stop bleeding. Even Levi, ridiculously noisy as he is, lost the thing he loved the most and dared to get up again.
So I get up too. Grab the knife. And feel a warmth in my chest, a strange kind of acceptance that this is who I am now: blind, but not without sight, because so much more has been revealed to me.
No, it's not acceptance I'm feeling.
It's the pentagram warming against my chest.
Even though I'm not touching the guys, it's activated somehow.
My heartbeat picks up, and I barely manage to dodge another of Brutus' lightning bolts, guided by Mason's shout of warning. Reaching my awareness out, I feel more than see the guys, like bright spots of color or fuzzy bits of warmth.
And I definitely feel the pentagram doing its thing.
Now if I can just...
There. That's it.
Grabbing my connection to the four of them, I feel it suddenly: Wyatt's strength, Levi's poison, Grayson's telepathy, and Mason's illusions. They fill me with power. Next to my Fourfold Affinities, they give me the ability to do anything.
I can't see Brutus, but I don't need to. My force field, its power tripled in strength, blankets the room. I can feel where he is as he gathered energy for another lightning bolt.
As he strikes out with it, I don't step away. I hold my hand up, and with Wyatt's strength, I deflect the bolt.
A cheer goes up; Levi's voice is raucous. "Yeah, that's it! Fucking get him!"
Brutus moves, scowling slightly, my force field sensing his expression. I tighten my grip on the knife and narrow my eyes as I peer into his mind.
I can sense his intentions with Grayson's telepathy. Feel his thoughts, his raw anger, his desire to just get it over with and kill me. And his fear of the knife in my hand, and the power I'm showing him now.
So I send an illusion into his mind, showing him what his emotions want: me stumbling to the side, defeated. His next lightning bolt hitting me. Mason's illusions fool him.
Wyatt's strength makes me impossibly fast as I get close to him.
Levi's poison pours into his body as I close my hand around his arm and use all of what I've got.
He cries out as I weaken him, falling to his knees, incredulity running through his mind. "What—how—"
"Some Conduit connections are stronger than others."
"But you're not even looking at me right now. You can't even see what you're about to—"
I silence him with a knife to the jugular.
Then, for good measure, I stab him in the chest. As his body slumps to the ground, I add a few more stabs just in case, until I reach seven. Then eight. Finally, nine.
What can I say, some things never change. I've always been thorough in the stabbing department.
Once I'm really sure he's dead, I drop the knife and stumble over to the guys. The power of the pentagram is leaving me quickly, and my body is drained from holding so many Affinities as once, but I don't need them.
I unchain Wyatt first, kissing him, tears slipping down my face. He uses his strength to unchain Mason, and together they free Levi and Grayson, whose leg has seen better days. We all huddle together then, arms around each other, holding on tight.
I kiss them and try to pretend I'm not crying.
They hold me and murmur words of affection in my ear.
Sighing, I repeat the words I never thought I'd be able to say, after everything: "I love you."
It's after some time has passed that Levi blurts out, "How the fuck are we going to get home?"
Which is of course when two impossibly large, glowing golden doors appear in the middle of the room.
Epilogue
Two Years Later
"The trampoline was Levi's idea."
"Duh. Obviously."
"It doesn't really go with the decor. Or the grounds. Or the rest of, well, anything."
"It goes with Levi."
I snort. Penny digs her claws into my lap, leaning over to stare at Eve's plate, which has a bit of sushi on it. My best friend, ever the sucker, grabs a bit of tuna and shares it with the cat.
Frowning at her disapprovingly, I point out, "That's not fair. You know I can't eat sushi."
"Rules are for suckers."
"And for pregnant people," I retort, shifting in my chair, which makes the cat move around. "No one should get to eat raw fish until I do."
Penny glares up at me; I can tell by using her eyes, even though I can't see her expression through my own. It's been a while since the guys and I have managed to recharge our weakness-killing connection with an orgy. I'm a little too pregnant to handle that many dicks at once.
I mean, I can. It just makes my lower back hurt. And I usually have to pee in the middle. Sometimes twice.
Beside me, Eve just shrugs, something I can see through Killer's eyes, as well as the eyes of Brute, the giant pit bull I let Wyatt bring home against my better judgment. "You're the one who got knocked up," she responds. "Wrap it up if you can't take it."
I grumble. "Really, what was I thinking?"
"That Mason would make a cute baby?"
"You know I don't know whose it is," I point out, laughing a little. "We'll probably figure that out after the birth. Especially if the baby has Levi's sense of humor. Or Wyatt's size. Fuck." Horror and dread fills me. "I hope she doesn't have Wyatt's size."
"Mmmm. Yeah, you should probably pick the shortest one to have a baby with first. Too bad you can't keep track."
"Shut up and get me another bag of chips."
She does, god bless her. Of course, by the time she gets back with them, I need to pee again. That's my life these days.
When I get back from the bathroom, I find the guys waiting for me on the front lawn. Arizona Manor might not look quite like it did in its glory days, but we at least have the garden back up, the roof repaired, and most of the inside looking better—though it has more modern furniture in it now, since all the old Victorian stuff had things living inside it.
A good thing we managed to get it up and running in time, too. Even with my upgrade to a suite of my own at the university, sharing a room with the guys was getting old. We needed the six bedrooms—seven if you count the bonus room—for ourselves. And the baby, who is currently kicking my bladder, which I swear I just emptied.
"What's this?" I eye each of my Conduits through Penny's eyes. They're all dressed nice and arranged
in a row. "I thought we were just having a casual garden party to celebrate getting into the Shadow Fold. Now I see you're all wearing blazers and ties. Except for Levi, who... is that your bowtie that squirts water?"
"Get closer and find out."
"C'mon." Mason reaches out and takes my hand, and I stare into his joyful expression. "We're going to take a group picture. To commemorate the occasion."
"Fine, fine." I grumble as I get into place, mouth already watering for more chips. "Just one picture though."
Mason snakes his arm around my waist, and on my other side, Grayson's hand grabs my lower back, while Wyatt reaches past them to rest a hand on my shoulder. Levi just stays the odd guy out, content to... oh, of course, he squeezes Mason's ass cheek and gets an elbow to the gut for his troubles.
"Alright, the camera is... on?" Eve stands in front of us and fiddles with things. "Ah, got it."
"Do it quickly!" I tell her, grouchy already and desperate to sit back down again. "I'm not going to stand here forever."
Mason leans in to murmur in my ear, "Smile, darling. It's a joyous occasion."
"It is," Grayson agrees, apparently hearing him. "Though not for the assholes and bastards of the world, who will soon be our dead Marks."
Levi wonders aloud, "How many do you think we can get in our first year on assignment?"
"A dozen," Wyatt guesses.
"I bet more."
Eve figures out the camera. "Alright, smile!"
We do—for what feels like a hundred photos but is probably just five. My smile grows warmer as time goes on. I really do have everything I need, everyone I love, all gathered in one place.
I just wish my bladder weren't getting kicked to death.
And that I didn't just pee myself a little.
Wait, maybe a lot.
As Eve takes another photo, realization crashes down on me, and I blurt out: "It's happening! My water just broke!"
The best laid plans, as they say. We were supposed to go to this one hospital, and there was a bag packed back on campus. But of course, one little trip away, and it all goes to Hell.
What feels like twenty-four hours later, but is actually seven and a half—a mother has to know these things, to grouse about to her child later—Penelope Lya Arizona is born.
And she has her father's eyes.
Afterword
Thanks so much for going with me on Ellen’s journey! If you’re interested in seeing more of the Cain University students, please join my Facebook group, Lucy’s Realm.
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Read Next: Phoenix Academy
If you like sassy heroines, paranormal romance, and a lot of humor, check out my Phoenix Academy First Years series!
I’m just a girl trying to survive. Dying? Unexpected. Coming back to life? Even more so. Now these four snarky demons are haunting me. Shirtless.
It turns out you can die and live again. At least I can.
When a night out goes murderously wrong, I chose leaping to my death over getting tortured. Except it turns out I don’t die like everyone else.
I’m a phoenix — or so they tell me. Apparently I need training at the Phoenix Academy.
What I really need is to get rid of the four demons haunting me wherever I go, showing up when my heart is beating fast — whether I’m nervous, afraid, or well... other things.
But I also wouldn’t mind learning how to light things on fire with my mind or take out a man twice my size with my bare hands. All things the instructors at the academy want to teach me... if I can survive long enough.
Because there’s something deadly lurking in these halls, and it’s coming for me next.
Welcome to the first year at Phoenix Academy, a place where the paranormal lives — and dies — and lives again.
Excerpt:
It all started with a severed dick.
Not in the way you’re thinking; I’m no Lorena, poor thing. I wasn’t the one slicing and dicing. If I had, I would’ve picked a nice julienne, really gone to town on the thing until it was unrecognizable ribbons of flesh. Leaving it whole, swinging bits and all, just seems... cruel. Especially when the dude it was attached to was still (mostly) alive at the time to see his family jewels get taken and dangled in front of his face. What a last image to have seared into your retinas as you die.
Not that he didn’t deserve it. Richard was like the worst version of your shittiest ex-boyfriend. Imagine an actual pile of garbage given human form.
And his nickname was Dick, after all, so the demons were clearly going for something when they took his actual dick from him. It would’ve been funny if it hadn’t been so incredibly fucking disgusting. Demons do have a sense of humor, apparently.
I just wish they hadn’t killed me too.
Coming back to life was a real bitch.
Read Phoenix Academy: Awaken now!
Read Next: Blue Phoenix
Want more Phoenix Academy? Read the Blue Phoenix spinoff!
Life was hard as a witch on the run. Then my psychotic father killed me. I came back. Now my touch drives men mad… and I’ve got three shifter familiars. Whoops?
Special powers aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Especially when you can’t control them.
The headmaster at the Phoenix Academy says she can help me with that—along with some teachers and students.
One of those teachers? A witch hunting mage.
Three of those students? Are now my familiars.
What I want more than anything is to get revenge on the Heretic—the powerful man who took everything from me. Also known as Dear Old Dad. First, I need to get control of what’s happening to me.
And try not to kill anyone.
Including my new, sexy familiar trio: Xavier, Reggie, and David. We’re stuck together, whether we like it or not. That is, if we can survive the semester.
There are secrets lurking beneath the ground of the academy, and thanks to my magic, they’re coming for us. We might not survive to graduation.
Welcome to another year at Phoenix Academy, a place where the paranormal lives—and dies—and lives again.
Read Next: Fae Like Me
If you like new adult romance, especially urban fantasy and paranormal romance with a kick, check out my Selena Pierce series!
I just learned I’m a part fae succubus. And I need to find the men to sate my sexual appetite...
Here I thought I was a normal college girl with a high libido. Turns out that’s wrong—I’m so much more. I have powers, and if I don’t learn how to control them, I’ll wind up killing someone.
Baton Rouge has never been so hot as it is when I meet Leon and Naomi. And Tae Min, Petyr, Elah, Vincent: all fae. Here to guide me into my new life.
A life that includes hunting down the demon summoner who framed my best friend for murder. Catching bad guys, meeting dark fae, making a harem—my new life is different.
Worst of all, now I know my parents lied to me. I was never theirs. And my real parents?
Well, they’ve got a hell of a surprise in store for me.
Life isn’t easy for a fae like me.
Read Fae Like Me now!
Also by Lucy Auburn
Phoenix Academy
The First Years
Phoenix Academy: Awaken
Phoenix Academy: Unbound
Phoenix Academy: Forged
Phoenix Academy: Reborn
Phoenix Academy: Freed
Blue Phoenix
Phoenix Academy: Madness
Phoenix Academy: Mayhem
Cain University
First Kill
Kill or Be Killed
Final Kill
Coleridge Academy Elites
The Snake in the Grass
The Pawn
The Knight
The King
Selena Pierce
Fae Like Me
Hell Sucks
Godspring
Seven Trials
The
Black God
Wild Heart Chronicles
Primal
Feral
Savage
or… get all of the above as the
Wild Heart Bundle (free!)
Standalones
Three for a Witch
Queen Sector
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About the Author
Lucy Auburn is an urban fantasy/paranormal romance writer who lives in the Southwest. She loves writing interesting stories about strong women. Some of the writers who inspire her include Patricia Briggs and Sarah J. Maas.
She values her privacy and does her best to keep her online life and her real life separate.
Catch up with her…
www.LucyAuburn.com
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