Libra Ascending: An Epic Urban Fantasy Romance (Zodiac Guardians Book 1)

by Tamar Sloan

  She obligingly gathers her hair into a pile at the back of her head so that he can clasp it around her neck.

  He steps closer, a movement that feels so natural. His hands gently lift the cord up, sweeping her jaw as he closes the clasp. His hands linger after, and their eyes meet. His fingertips at the base of her neck raise delicious goosebumps, and the urge to close the small distance and kiss him is hard to resist. His full lips look so inviting, beckoning her closer.

  But it’s not to be.

  She turns away and lets her hair down, and Tristan removes his hands, his disappointment like a mask on his face.

  “Now what?” she asks, her voice cutting through the tension in the air like a knife.

  Tristan takes a few steps back, giving her space. “Hold your stone and say the word ‘Akash’,” he instructs.

  Lifting her hand to the pink gem now sitting against her collar bone, she braces herself, unsure what to expect. She wraps her fingers tightly around the stone and shakily says, “Akash.”

  A burst of light radiates from her stone, rays shooting from the gaps between her fingers. Something cool and solid starts to cover her chest, her arms, her legs, even her face. The process feels like it takes an eternity, even though she knows it must only take a few seconds. She’s so preoccupied with the encasing around her face that she doesn’t realize her fingers and feet, her entire body is fully enclosed, until she looks down.

  Unlike Tristan’s midnight purple suit, hers is a dark platinum pink.

  “Excellent,” Tristan says, his voice crisp. “Now, we’re ready.”

  25

  Tristan

  Brielle’s the Libra.

  Three words. And everything’s changed.

  Brielle’s. The. Libra.

  As Tristan holds the truck door open for Brielle, he finds he can’t look her in the eye. He should be doing a happy highland jig seeing as he’s found the first Zodiac Guardian. He wishes Zarius had been here to see the gem burst to life in Brielle’s hand.

  The pink tourmaline.

  But the disappointment is heavier than Tristan expected. It seems to weigh down every cell in his body. And not only is it heavy, each shard is sharp and jagged, embedding themselves into the very fabric of his being. It tells him this feeling won’t be leaving anytime soon.

  Brielle climbs in, her hand wrapped around the stone at her throat. It would’ve been good if she had more time to adjust to her suit and newfound powers, but time is one thing they don’t have right now. Once she’d relegated her suit back to its stone, they knew they had to leave.

  The Skins have Zarius and Tess.

  Climbing into the driver’s side, Tristan clenches his teeth. Obviously, he wanted to find his soulmate so bad that the first Zodiac Heir he came across, he decided she must be it. It was his impatience at its best.

  Or worst.

  Because now his heart aches as much as the rest of him.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Brielle asks, her voice a mix of determination and apprehension.

  Tristan pauses. If Brielle had been his Gemini Twin, they could’ve combined their powers. There probably wouldn’t be a fight. Chardis would be running scared.

  But Brielle’s the Libra. They’ll have to depend on his fighting skills and her ability to nuke the Skins with their own poor choices.

  It’s going to have to be enough.

  “The warehouse is going to be surrounded. They’ll want us arriving but not leaving.”

  Brielle nods, no doubt having thought of this.

  “I’ve spent most of my life learning how to fight. The suit will only make me stronger. I’ll go in first, you back me up.”

  Brielle nods again. “And we get your parents out of there.”

  Tristan turns the key in the ignition. It all sounds so simple. So straightforward.

  But this is the most dangerous scenario he’s ever walked into.

  Before he pulls out of the driveway, he turns to Brielle. “If things get hairy, I want you out of there. I can fight, you can’t. We can’t afford for them to capture you.”

  Brielle tightens the hold on her stone. “Okay. But I’m going to do what I can to help.”

  Tristan was kind of hoping that she’d stop at the okay. “No heroics, okay?”

  Brielle narrows her eyes at him. “Has Zarius ever said that to you?”

  Turning away, Tristan starts the truck. That’s exactly what Zarius has said to him in the past, but it’s the fact that Brielle is intuitive enough to pick that up that had Tristan thinking they were soulmates in the first place.

  And right now, that word isn’t one he wants in his head.

  They haven’t gone far down the road when Brielle speaks up again. “What’s your power, Tristan?”

  He flicks a look her way. “I have visions of the future. Always two though, and only one of them is the truth.”

  Brielle’s mouth forms a silent O. “And there’s no way of telling which one is the future that’s going to happen?”

  “Nope.”

  Tristan’s tried to see if he can tell. What’s the point of seeing two alternate realities and not knowing which one will come to pass? He’s spent hours looking back on all the dual visions he’s had. Is it the first one? Is one vision longer than the other? More vivid?

  But he’s always come up empty handed. Nothing differentiates them apart from the ending. There’s no rhyme or reason as to which vision turns out to be the future he’ll live.

  Like the two visions he had when he first arrived in Mirror Point. Cassandra, battered and bruised. Tristan refuses to think she’s dead. And Brielle…One vision with a pool of blood.

  Death is undeniable in that one.

  Tristan’s hands tighten on the wheel. At least there’s no Cassandra where they’re going. They have enough going on right now. And, when he has to face that reality, he’ll just have to make sure it’s the second vision that’s the true one.

  Right now, he needs to focus on Zarius and Tess.

  The drive to the warehouse is a quiet and tense one. Tristan knows Brielle’s not ready to face this. She’s only seen a sample of what the Skins are capable of. But her powers could be the difference between freeing Zarius and Tess or…losing them.

  Plus, Tristan doubts Brielle would’ve let him leave her behind. There’s a tough streak in her that he’s not sure even she knew existed.

  They reach the bottom of the hill where he parked when he was here with Tess. “We’ll walk to the top and scope the place out,” he tells Brielle.

  She nods, her face tight. “Makes sense.”

  Lying on their bellies, they peer over the rise. The warehouse looks exactly the same as last time. Big. Square. Unassuming.

  Tristan watches closely, not surprised that nothing’s moving. “The Skins would be invisible,” he explains to Brielle. “Who knows how many are patrolling.”

  “There’s going to be a lot of them, isn’t there?”

  “Like I said. They want us walking in, but not walking out. They’ve learned that’s not as easy as they’d like it to be.”

  Especially now that they have their suits.

  Brielle lets out a slow breath. “I suppose there’s only one way to find out.”

  Tristan’s about to reach out and squeeze her hand but he stops himself. Brielle’s obviously scared, but she’s not backing down. That, he can respect.

  But she’s not his soulmate and he needs to stop acting like she is.

  Tristan turns and scampers down the hill a bit, then stands up. “I’ll go in first and clean some of them up. Count to ten and then join me.”

  Brielle frowns. “What if there’s a lot of them?”

  Tristan grins for the first time since he found the basement trashed. “Ten seconds is enough.”

  He grips his stone as he looks at Brielle, waiting for her to do the same. Her shoulders squaring resolutely, her hand comes up, wrapping around the tourmaline that is her birthright.

  They say the word s
imultaneously. “Akash.”

  This time, Tristan knows what’s coming. As a purple just a shade away from midnight wraps around him, he welcomes it. He revels in the rightness of it.

  He draws strength from it.

  Looking at Brielle, he takes in her deep metallic pink as she faces him, legs slightly parted. She’s sleek and kinda sexy and…Tristan looks away. Not his soulmate.

  And right now, his parents need him.

  Knowing the Skins are expecting him anyway, Tristan doesn’t bother with sneaking up like he did last time. With a quick nod at Brielle, he leaps into the air.

  Just as he suspected, it’s like gravity’s been dialed down. He arches high and streaks forward. As he surges toward the warehouse, he realizes he can hear the wind rushing past him, but he can’t feel it. That he’s not cold or hot or unsteady despite being several feet off the ground. He can’t wait to take this baby for a spin.

  He hits the ground several yards away. Another leap and he lands beside the water tank in a crouch.

  He holds himself there, his breathing even as he listens for movement. A leaf skitters over the ground. A beetle scrapes its body over a pebble. But apart from that, there’s nothing.

  He’s just done a quick lap around the warehouse when he stops. He’s not alone like he thought he was.

  Brielle is standing in the place he just left.

  Tristan shakes his head. “That wasn’t ten seconds,” he mutters quietly.

  She shrugs. “I wanted to be here if you needed help.”

  Tristan blinks behind his mask. Brielle’s voice sounded as if she was talking directly into his ear. It seems they can talk directly to each other with these suits.

  Brielle looks around. “They’re all inside, aren’t they?”

  Tristan nods, trying to shake the foreboding that’s swelling in his gut. “They knew we were coming, so they’ve concentrated their fighting power in one location.”

  Inside the warehouse.

  Making this trap as inescapable as possible.

  Tristan pauses. “Do you want—”

  “I want to use my powers to help, Tristan.”

  Tristan nods, acknowledging the determination in Brielle’s voice. “We’ll go in carefully, then. Use any element of surprise we can.”

  Brielle doesn’t answer, instead moving around to stand behind Tristan. “I’m ready.”

  The slightest tremble tells Tristan that despite the resolve, Brielle’s scared. He’s glad. It means she has some idea of what they’re about to walk into. Reaching around he gives her hand a quick squeeze.

  Soulmate or no soulmate, they’re going to have to work as a team.

  Keeping close to the wall, Tristan moves stealthily to the door. Grabbing the handle, he turns it as slowly and quietly as he can.

  If he can take out even a couple of Skins before they’re seen, then he’ll use any advantage he can get.

  But as he opens the door and peers through the crack, two things happen.

  Zarius roars with rage. “Get your hands off her!”

  Tristan sees his parents tied to two poles a few feet apart, the glint of a knife at Tess’s throat.

  Actually, three things happen.

  His heart screaming with anguish, his mind exploding with fury, Tristan runs through the door.

  “Tess!”

  26

  Brielle

  Brielle is frozen in the doorway, left stunned by Tristan’s roaring charge into the warehouse at the sight of his parents.

  In an instant, Skins materialize all around to meet him head on. His fury fuels him, quickening his response time so that he catches every strike before it comes his way. He catches one Skin’s fist and hurls him backward, then flips over two Skins that charge from both sides, sending them both flying with one roundhouse kick.

  But even with his suit and his rage, Brielle fears there are just too many Skins for him to contend with alone. And he’s not here alone.

  Screw sitting on the sidelines waiting to be tagged in. She has these supposedly badass powers. It’s time to use them.

  Thanks to Tristan’s sledgehammer entrance, no one notices her slip through the door before it closes. Brielle sneaks up behind the nearest Skin—the one farthest from the mosh pit circling Tristan. She’s not sure how this is supposed to work, but she figures her best bet to make her power the most effective is by touch. She grabs the Skin’s shoulder and, just like she did with Suki and Marie before, she wills the amplification of his guilt.

  The Skin spins around so quickly, he has Brielle by the neck and off the ground in a flash. In desperation for her life, for the ability to breathe again, she slaps both hands on his wrists at her throat and pushes with all her will for him to feel his guilt.

  Nothing happens. The Skin doesn’t flinch. If anything, his grip tightens, and the blood in her face pounds with more intensity.

  She can’t feel his guilt. No visions of his past misdeeds invade her mind, even when she welcomes them in with her fast-fading consciousness.

  None of it is working. Her stone doesn’t work.

  She’s a failure. And now she’s going to choke to death.

  Just as her range of vision begins to narrow, the vice around her neck releases her, and she lands on her knees on the floor. Her starving throat sucks in air, and blinking rapidly, she looks up. Tristan has the Skin by the shoulder. He swiftly snaps his neck, letting him topple to the floor in front of Brielle.

  “Are you okay?” he asks, his voice right in her ear despite him standing a few feet away.

  She nods, even though she’s far from okay.

  “Keep yourself hidden,” he says. “Remain our secret weapon.” He turns around and returns to the fight, and she scrambles behind a stack of wooden pallets before she can be seen.

  She should tell him it didn’t work. She’s no secret weapon.

  It now makes sense why she couldn’t tell when or if Adalind was lying. Why she never had visions of her. Adalind is a Skin, possessed by Chardis’s influence. Someone who’s not in control of their actions can’t feel guilty for them. Adalind might as well be a robot, and robots don’t feel remorse.

  Brielle’s power is useless against their enemies. Tristan was wrong. About so many things.

  “Tristan!” a female voice calls out.

  Brielle quietly crawls to the edge of the pallet stack to peek at the two prisoners tied to support beams. His adoptive parents, Zarius and Tess.

  “Why did you come here?” Zarius shouts angrily. “There are too many of them, it’s a lost cause.”

  “As if I could ever leave you behind,” Tristan says. She can’t see him, but his panting tells her he’s still fighting while he talks.

  “Aw, what a touching family reunion.” Brielle would know that voice anywhere.

  Adalind steps out of the shadows and into the light of the fluorescent overhead bulb. Brielle’s blood boils at the sight of her, at the wicked smile now spreading across her ex best friend’s face.

  “Where’s my bestie?” she asks.

  “I told her to stay behind,” Tristan pants.

  “Oh well, we’ll find her soon enough,” Adalind says with a shrug.

  “Ah!” Tristan groans at the same time Tess and Zarius shout, “Tristan!”

  Brielle’s heart jumps, desperate to run out and take action, but she knows she can’t do that. She needs to stay hidden. So far, no one knows she’s here, and that is their secret weapon. She just has no clue how to use that to their advantage yet.

  Considering her powers are useless.

  Tristan comes into view, dragged by two Skins at each arm, and they bring him right at Adalind’s feet.

  “You said if I came, you’d let them go,” he says. Brielle can’t see his expression beneath the suit, but she imagines his perfect teeth barred in rage.

  “Ah-ah-ah.” Adalind shakes her head and wags her index finger. “In fact, what I said was I’d kill them if you didn’t come, not that I’d free them if you did.
You really should listen more closely.”

  “Grr-ahh!” Tristan growls, trying to jerk free of his captors to no avail. “You have me, they’re useless to you. Let them go and I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “Tristan, no!” Tess pleads.

  “We’re not leaving you,” Zarius shouts.

  “Enough of this silly chatter,” Adalind snaps. “Chardis will be here soon, and he’ll decide what to do with all of you.” She tosses her hair over her shoulder and smiles. “In the meantime, I have a little surprise for you.”

  She snaps her fingers and a door behind her opens. Two figures drag something in, but Brielle can’t see past the thick curtain of fluorescent light between her and the shadows they’re moving through to tell what that something is.

  Then they come into the light and drop their cargo with a flop.

  It’s Cassandra!

  Mirror Point High’s queen bee is covered in scrapes and bruises, her once beautiful eyes swollen shut by purple flesh, and the hair she’s always so proud of is mussed and tangled.

  Despite their history, Brielle can’t bear to see her this way.

  “What did you do to her?” Tristan asks, his voice gravelly.

  Adalind sways her hips to one side and waves a hand. “Well, we suspected her of being an Heir, so we subjected her to a series of…tests. But no matter what we did to her, she did nothing but cry and scream and beg for mercy. No powers whatsoever. Pity. We were hoping to kill three birds with one stone, so to speak, but Cassandra’s no more a Zodiac Guardian than I am. Oh well.” She shrugs again, and Brielle’s insides twist with a cocktail of hatred for Adalind and deep sympathy for Cassandra.

  “She’s not breathing,” Tess gasps. “You killed the poor girl and she wasn’t even an Heir?”

  Dead? Cassandra’s…dead? Every tender moment they ever shared in their childhood replays in Brielle’s mind, and a resonating regret for not making amends saturates her to her core. Cassandra didn’t deserve to die like this. She may have become somewhat of a bully the past few years, but she didn’t deserve to be tortured for powers she didn’t even have. Brielle’s eyes well up with tears.