by Cooke, CJ
Destiny Rising
Destiny Series: Book Two
CJ Cooke
Destiny Rising
By
CJ Cooke
Version 1.1: January 2021
Published by CJ Cooke
Copyright © 2020 by CJ Cooke
Discover other titles by CJ Cooke at https://cjcookeauthor.wixsite.com/home
All rights reserved, including the right of production in whole or in part in any form.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, either living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
Contents
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
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
The Story Continues in Destiny Realised
Chapter 1
Note From The Author
About the Author
Also By Cj Cooke
Chapter 1
Sykes
From the moment we lost Britt and heard Aria's cries, it was like the whole world stood still for a second. I felt my stomach drop out as I realised it could have been any one of us lying dead on the ground. This was real. We weren't just messing around. We were fighting for our lives. We were fighting for our mate's life.
Whatever the demons had done to open the portal was having some kind of effect on our surroundings. The air felt dank, the sky had clouded over and blocked the sun. It was dark, and desperation hung thick in the air. Our desperation. We were all starting to realise this wasn't a fight we could win. It was only when Aria's scream of rage filled the air with the echoes of her magic and her wings burst free from her back that the world seemed to suddenly start again. The demons turned to face her and before we could surge forward to protect her from them, they all just suddenly turned and ran towards the back of the academy buildings.
I had no idea what was going on, but a collective breath was released when they turned and ran. For all of two seconds at least. Until Madame Nines came running from the other side of the building.
"Dominic, we have closed one gate, but there is another opening. We must leave before the next wave makes it through." She glanced around at the battlefield where we all stood. A few students were still alive writhing on the ground. The eight remaining Elites were still standing, together with Trent and three of his friends. A few of the teachers, including Caleb and the Headmaster, were with us. But that was it. The smell of blood was thick in the air. My stomach rolled.
"We’ll be retreating to seek refuge with the pack. Are there any students alive on the other side of the building?" the Headmaster asked grimly. He didn't turn to face her. He stood firm watching the building. At first, I thought he was just watching it burn, but then I realised his eyes were moving window to window seeking out survivors. We’d heard the screams inside at the beginning of the battle. There wouldn't be anyone left alive inside, which was probably for the best as most of the building was completely engulfed in flames now.
"A group ran towards us while we were closing the first gate. Some of the teachers were able to erect a protective field around them. They were removing it when I came to you. They should be here any time soon." It was then that her eyes found Aria, still kneeling on the ground holding Britt's body. Silent tears still ran down her face as she turned to face Madame Nines.
"Impossible," she whispered, putting one hand on the Headmaster's arm. She quickly turned her head to him. "It is true then?"
"Now is not the time," the Headmaster cautioned, just as another group of teachers with several students ran around the corner of the building. This must be the group she had been talking about. Our fellow students who had turned and run when we were fighting for our lives. Fucking cowards.
Kyle and Liam knelt beside Aria and were gently talking to her. I moved around in front of her. Only Britt was between us. Kneeling in the soft mud, I tried not to think about what was making the ground wet.
"Aria, we need to leave before more demons come. We're going home to the pack. Pass her to me, sweetheart, and I'll carry her home." I slipped my arms under Britt's body and gently pulled her from Aria's grip. Her tear-filled eyes suddenly snapped to me, but she didn't fight me. "Don't worry sweetheart. I'll keep her safe."
Aria just nodded grimly at me, and Kyle pulled her towards him, whispering soft words to her. At first, I thought she would break again, that she would slump into her mate's arms, seeking his comfort while she continued with her tears. But my beautiful mate, true to who she was, gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek and climbed to her feet. She looked magnificent. Her wings shone at her back, the armour that wrapped around her body only made her look stronger. She stood tall. She didn't let her grief crush her even though I could feel the echo of it squeezing her from the inside.
"They’re nearly through,” one of the teachers shouted as the final group ran towards us—the last group. There must only be thirty of us left.
“Then we move out now,” the Headmaster shouted. “Every able body student, help anyone you find who is injured. We move as a group. Elites and teachers take the perimeter. We need to protect the students in the middle carrying the injured.”
“They’ll only slow us down.” A snarky voice carried through the group.
Of course, it was Della, the fucking bitch. There wasn’t a mark on her. Of course, she’d run like a fucking coward leaving her fellow students to die. Of course, she would be the one to refuse to offer any aid. She showed her true colours right now, and for all her beauty and attraction, it was nothing but ugly.
The Headmaster spun towards her, and we all heard the barely contained rage in his voice. “If you do not wish to sully yourself with their blood, then cower in the centre like a coward and let the rest of us get on with it.” He stormed away from her while she spluttered her outrage. She was clearly expecting some sympathy from her friends, but everyone had already turned away from her and looked for survivors. Not that we found many. Only six students were still alive amongst those who had fallen, and most of them didn’t look like they would make the journey back to the centre of the pack lands.
Once we had all of the non-fighting students gathered in the middle, the rest of us took position around them ready to move out with the injured enclosed as much as possible. Aria stepped away from the line and grimly assessed the sorry bunch of us in front of her.
“I’ll buy you as much time as I can and meet you at the pack,” she said, drawing the twin swords from her back.
“What?! No! You’re coming with us now!” Kyle shouted, reaching for her.
I knew how he felt. There was no way we could leave her behind. Not here. Not in this place reserved only for the dead.
Aria pulled us away from the group, and the Headmaster and Caleb came with us.
“We can’t move the group fast enough and the second portal is nearly open. You won’t get a far enough head start before they are on us again, and
none of them has any fight left in them,” she said, nodding towards the group.
She was right. Most of them were barely standing. The only reason why some of them were managing to hold the wounded up was that they had spent the battle cowering behind a protective field. Those of us who had the skill to protect the others were barely standing. We were in no state for another fight.
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to leave you behind, to sacrifice yourself just to buy us running time,” Kyle said.
He hadn’t let go of her, and she wasn’t pulling away. If anything, she looked like she wanted to fall into his arms, but I could see the determination in her eyes that was holding her strong.
“I’m not going to sacrifice myself. I’ve only just found you, and I’m not willing to risk this,” she smiled at him. “I’ll do what I can to buy you as much time as possible, as soon as it gets too risky, I promise you this badass bitch will be flying right out of there. It won’t be much, and the longer we stand here arguing, the less good it will do. You need to get them as far away as possible. We don’t know what is coming through the next portal.”
Kyle heaved out a sigh. We all knew what she was saying made sense. Out of all of us, she was the only one who could make a swift exit. But I didn’t like it. I didn’t know if I could walk away from my mate while she faced this on her own.
“What makes you think you can just fly out?” Caleb asked. “You’ve had wings for all of ten minutes. Can you even use them?”
In response, Aria gave her wings one flap, and she was hovering in the air next to us as they beat gently at her sides. “I feel like I’ve had them forever,” she simply stated.
“I don’t like this, but she is right,” the Headmaster said, looking grimly at the ground. “I know you don’t want to leave her, but you would be putting her in more danger by staying. You can’t fly out of here. You know if the threat grows too great, she won’t leave your side, and you’ll all die here for nothing but your own stubbornness.”
I could already feel my wolf rebelling inside me, and I knew my brothers would be facing the same dilemma. The Headmaster was right. Staying would place her in greater danger, taking her with us now would as well. But leaving her went against everything I was.
“I know this is the most difficult thing I could ever ask you to do,” Aria said, looking the three of us in the eyes. “You have to trust me to do this.”
“It’s not about trust, sweetheart,” I said, leaning my forehead against hers. “Walking away from you is like tearing out my very soul. I don’t know if I can physically do it.”
“Look at them,” she said, pointing at the group of survivors behind us. “They won’t survive without you. I will be with you as soon as I can, but you all have to leave now if they are going to have any chance of making it out of here alive.”
Kyle glared at the ground like he was searching for something, anything, he could tear apart and kill. “You have two hours. If you aren’t back with us by then, we’re coming back for you, regardless of who has to die for us to do it.”
We all took turns pulling her into our arms before turning and moving out with the survivors. We could maybe make it to the part of the pack lands where the pack was housed if we ran hard for four hours. Realistically, with the injured and everyone running on empty, it would probably take nearer to eight hours. If we could make it there without crossing paths with any more demons, we might be able to save some of the injured.
One of Trent’s friends was carrying Britt to free us up for the holding position on the edge. The least we could do for her was take her home and give her a proper burial. But we were leaving so many behind, dead on the ground where they had fallen. We wouldn’t even have the option to bury the rest of our dead.
We set off at a hard pace. As we neared the tree line, I ached to turn around and look at my mate. But I knew if I did, I wouldn’t be able to leave her. I gritted my teeth and tightened my grip on my sword, forcing myself to just run.
It only took fifteen minutes into the run before Della, and a few of the others who ran away from the fight started to complain about wanting to stop for a break. Those who had stayed to fight and were beyond the point of exhaustion were just keeping a steady pace, eyes forward, one foot in front of the other. No one could take the whining any longer after about an hour, and we agreed to stop for a five-minute break.
Those carrying the injured gently laid them on the ground and did the best they could to treat their wounds. We had no supplies with us, so the help we could give them was limited. I doubted many of them would make it the whole way there. We were making good time though. If we could keep up this pace, we might get to the pack in four hours. The Elites, even though exhausted, took up sentry positions around those who had collapsed to the ground. The teachers were huddled off to the side, making whispered plans. Kyle, Liam and I were obsessively watching the sky hoping to catch a glimpse of Aria. She’d only got one more hour before we were going back for her.
“Everyone get back up. We need to keep moving. We’ll stop again in another hour,” Caleb said, walking back over to the group. “If you’ve been carrying some of the injured, swap out with someone else so you can have a break for the next hour.” There were several moans of complaint, but they were ignored.
“Do you think we should send someone to scout the rear and see if we’re being followed?” I asked Caleb when he came over to us.
“I know you want to check on Aria, but this group is less experienced and more vulnerable,” he said, looking back at the others struggling to get up off the ground.
“It isn’t about that, although I would more than gladly go back to her and abandon this lot,” I admitted. “Nothing personal,” I added, and I actually meant it. “We don’t have much left in us and if someone slips through and attacks from the rear, I don’t think we’ve any chance of stopping it wiping us out.”
“I can’t say I would blame you if you did run back to her,” he sighed. “You’re right, but this run is going to take everything everyone has left in them. We have to trust Aria has our backs. We’d do better to have someone run ahead and get some of the pack to come and give us cover.” He looked ahead longingly, and I could tell he wanted to do it himself, but I also knew he would never be able to bring himself to leave us behind. There was no way my brothers or I would volunteer, and I didn’t think we would even go if the Headmaster ordered us to. We were serious when we said we would only give Aria two hours before we went back for her. There was no way any of us would be willing to put more distance between us.
Kyle was scanning the horizon behind us, and I saw him lift his head and scent the air. Before I even realised what he was doing, Aria had landed beside us. She looked tired and whilst she was covered in demon blood, I couldn’t see any injuries on her. The three of us were all on her immediately in one big collective embrace, and she took a moment to just hold us before we moved back and saw the Headmaster and teachers had already rushed over to us.
“The portal has closed, and the bulk of their force has withdrawn,” Aria reported. “But six or eight demons made it past me and are coming this way. You need to keep moving.”
“How could you let that many past you? I always knew you were useless, but to put us all at this much risk …” Della screeched from the middle of the pack of survivors who’d gone back to huddling on the ground.
“Enough!” Kyle boomed. “Aria risked her life and stayed behind, to buy us time to escape. We would all be dead now if not for her. And you, you ran away like a coward and left your classmates to die defending the Academy. Now you have the nerve to accuse Aria of failing. You may be a witch Della, but you’ve fallen under pack jurisdiction for a long time. And it’s about time you were held accountable …”
“Okay, okay,” Aria said, stepping in front of Kyle and drawing his attention. “Tempers and emotions are running high, but we don’t have time for this now. You need to get up and keep moving. I’ll double back and start to p
ick off those following.”
“No, you’ve risked your life enough for them,” Kyle said, pulling Aria back into his arms. “You should fly ahead to the pack and ask them to send reinforcements to us.”
“The demons are not far behind us. They would have caught up to you before I could even make it to the pack, plus I think you’re forgetting I have no idea where it even is.” Aria snuggled against Kyle tightly, and I watched her draw his scent in as she did so. I’d noticed her do it a few times with us, and I wondered if she knew she was doing it.
“Caleb is right. Someone needs to go ahead to the pack and get them to send us reinforcements. We won’t be able to keep up the pace we are. We need supplies to treat our wounded,” I reasoned. “But Aria is also right, Kyle. She’s the only one that can hold our back. You know I hate to say it, brother.”
“I’ll go,” Liam sighed in resignation. “If I shift, I’m faster than any of you. I can probably make it at a full run in about two hours. It would take the last I have in me, though, and I won’t be able to come back.” I knew what Liam was sacrificing by offering this. Leaving our mate behind in this situation would be the hardest thing he would ever do.
“There is no need for anyone to go,” Madame Nines said, clearing her throat. “I think I can send a message through to the seer at the pack and she can inform them we need their assistance. If someone can make a fire, I can speak to her through the flames.”