by G. Bailey
A mark is on the middle of his forehead, just like mine. The same place, the same black colour, and I stumble back. What the hell was that? I try to think if anyone has ever touched my mark before, and I can’t remember. I don’t think anyone ever has.
“I knew it,” Ryland says with a big smile as he tries to reach for me, but I move backwards, holding up my hands. I don’t understand why he is happy about this. I’ve just given him a life of being hunted by the king, and the guards are on their way to us now.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t–” I get out as I take big steps backwards.
“Cassandra, it’s not–” he starts to say when something loud bangs into the side of the ship, and I lose my footing. I slide across the wet floor, and my back smacks into the wooden wall. My whole side hurts, but I pull myself to my feet, seeing that the guard ship is right next to ours. I lean up over the wooden side of the ship, and I can see they have landed a big plank of wood between our boats. The guards are rushing on to the ship.
“Here, take this, and then we need to talk when we get out of this,” Ryland says after he runs over to me and hands me a small dagger. The dagger is bright green with a black handle.
“Stay behind me,” he says, pulling out a large sword from behind the wheel. The sword is silver, and it glows a faint green when Ryland lifts it up. The guards run up the steps, and Ryland meets them before they can even step on to the bridge. His sword meets theirs, and he kills the first man without even trying. I pull my gaze away from the fighting just in time to see a guard picking Livvy up and dragging her by her hair across the deck as she holds on to my egg for dear life. I can see Hunter holding a big sword and he swings it down over the head of a guard running on to the ship. I look away to see Dante on the side of the ship, daggers in his hands, and he is throwing them at the guards on the plank. They fall into the ocean as he hits them. The ship rattles again when a cannon fires loud and hits the lower part of the ship. Livvy’s scream shakes me from just looking, and I know I have to help her. My pirates all have their hands full and can’t help her. Her screams are begging me to help as she looks up at me. I flash a look over at Ryland, surprised to see him handling his own with at least ten guards circling him.
I climb over the wooden wall and jump down onto the main part of the ship, running with my dagger in my hand over to the guard who is dragging Livvy towards the plank of wood.
An arm wraps around my waist suddenly, the force knocking me off my feet, and I fall to the ground, the dagger slipping out of my hand and sliding across the ship.
“No!” I shout, feeling my mark going warm, and I struggle against the guard.
“Time to go,” a man says from behind me, and I turn my head to see a middle-aged guard looking down at me. The guard is dressed in all dark green, with a sinister grin, and he picks me up like I weigh nothing. I kick at him and struggle to get out his grip as he throws me over his shoulder and walks over to the edge of the ship. I scream, feeling my hands burning and look down to see my hands dripping with water. What in the seas? I struggle more, kicking and screaming for him to let me go. The guard picks me up by the back of my coat and holds me in front of him. My feet are hovering above the ground, and water is falling from my fingers, mixing with the pouring rain. My eyes catch Hunter’s on the other end of the ship over the guard’s shoulder, seconds before something hard is smacked into my head.
There’s a look of fury in his eyes, a look of promise, and a look that tells me all I need to know.
My pirates will save me.
Epilogue
Hunter
“I’m going to kill every one of those guards. I knew a few of them that escaped,” I spit out as I watch the ship sail off into the Storm Sea. We can’t follow them there, and they know it. Our ship isn’t designed for those waters, and my father would use his powers to destroy our ship when we got close. His castle overlooks those seas.
Bastards.
“They won’t kill her. They’re taking her to the king,” Chaz says, wiping one of his daggers free of the blood on it. Every one of the guards who walked on to this ship are dead, and I glance over to see Jacob as he throws the bodies into the sea. That girl Cassandra brought aboard the ship is missing, too, along with the dragon egg.
The ship is wrecked. The cannons did a good job of making sure we can’t follow them for a few days while we repair it. Jacob and Zack fired as many cannons back as we received, but had to stop when they got Cassandra on their ship. They moved the plank too quickly for us to stop them. All I saw was the guard throw her over his shoulder and then whack her on the head with the back of a dagger. I ran for her, but I was too late. They had her.
I remember how I grabbed a rope and tried to jump over to the other ship, but they had a good head start by then, and I couldn’t make it. I had to watch them take her.
Ryland comes down the steps and I see him for the first time. My hands tighten when I see Cassandra’s mark standing out on his forehead. The upside-down triangle. Each changed one has a different mark.
“You’re one of her chosen?” I ask, not wanting to believe it.
“Yes,” Ryland says. Cassandra will have her power now, even if it’s weak. The more people she chooses, the more power she gets. My mother had four, and was powerful. My father found a way to take her power, all of it. Now, the shell of the woman who was my mother is all that is left, and her other chosen are dead. Killed by my father.
“We have to get her back before he gets her,” I say, and no other words are needed.
“Time for us to go home, brother,” Ryland says. Home to a place where I swore I would never return to until I could kill my father. A place full of horrors and memories I don’t want to remember.
But, Cassandra is there, my little bird.
“Time for us to see our father and get our girl,” I say as I see Jacob coming over to us. He looks as furious as we all feel. I glance over at each one of my friends, seeing their nods and knowing the same thing as we do.
Cassandra belongs to us, and no one is taking her.
Saved by Pirates series continues with Love the Sea…
Author’s Note
Hello and thank you for buying my book! You’re amazing, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support. A big thank you to Michelle, Taylor, Anna, Meagan and Chesca.
A review would be amazing, and I would love you for it.
Thank you to all my family for their support.
Please keep reading for the first two chapters of Winter’s War, Her Guardians series book four…
(Out December 2017)
Also by G. Bailey
The King Brothers Series-
Izzy’s Beginning (Book one)
Sebastian’s Chance (Book two)
Elliot’s Secret (Book three)
Harley’s Fall (Book Four)
Luke’s Revenge (Coming soon)
Her Guardians Series-
Winter’s Guardian (Book one)
Winter’s Kiss (Book two)
Winter’s Promise (Book three)
Winter’s War (Book Four)
Her Fate Series-
(Her Guardians Series spinoff)
Adelaide’s Fate (Coming soon)
Adelaide’s Trust (Coming soon)
Adelaide’s Storm (Coming soon)
Saved by Pirates Series-
Escape the sea (Book One)
Love the sea (Book Two)
Save the sea (Coming soon)
One Night series-
Strip for me (Book one)
Live for Me (Coming soon)
The Marked Series (Co-written with Cece Rose)-
Marked by Power (Book one)
Marked by Pain (Book two)
Snow and Seduction anthology-
Triple Kisses
The Forest Pack series-
Run Little Wolf- (Book One)
Run Little Bear- (Coming soon)
Protected by Dragons series (Five book series)-
Win
gs of Ice- (Book One)
Wings of Fire (Coming soon)
Wings of Fate (Coming soon)
Links
Here are all my links,
(I love to be stalked so if you have some free time...)-