Marked by Destruction (The Marked Series Book 3)

by Cece Rose

  “Hitting me right here, man,” Locke says, mimicking himself being stabbed in the chest humorously.

  “Yes, I’m very attached,” I answer with a tight smile.

  “Then you should go with Locke. He’s less likely to do something stupid with you to look after,” he replies, and Locke doesn’t look thrilled. I nudge him in the stomach playfully as I walk past him and towards the hulking dragons.

  “Being stuck with me won’t be that bad,” I tease, and he jogs to catch up with me, sliding his arm around my waist as he reaches me. I feel his hot breath against my neck and shiver.

  “Being stuck with you was my plan the whole time,” he whispers in my ear quietly. I pull back and look at him, seeing the devious grin and playful look in his eyes.

  “Sneaky. I like it,” I reply, leaning up to kiss him. I’d intended just a quick, light kiss, but Locke isn’t having any of that. He pulls me up against him tightly and crushes his lips to mine. I mould right into him, forgetting that we have a scaly audience waiting for us.

  A loud, impatient roar reminds me of their presence, and I sigh, turning around to face the dragons. Trying to appear confident as I walk up to them, I stride quickly towards the dragon that I think is Taelon, but I can’t stop my eyes from widening a little at the sheer size of him. The fact they really don’t have harnesses, or anything else to hold onto, doesn’t help my anxiety either.

  “Ladies first,” Locke says in a humorous tone, seeing my hesitance to climb up onto the beast. I roll my eyes at him, before realising I have no idea how I’m supposed to actually get up onto the dragon.

  East notices my predicament and uses his air mark to lift me up into the air and safely deposit me onto the dragon’s back. I shoot him a grateful smile as Locke uses his own power to bring himself up, and he rests his arms around my waist. I watch the others as they each get onto a different dragon’s back.

  I rest my hands tentatively on the dragon and notice that the skin beneath my hands doesn’t feel slimy like I’d expected. The scales feel pretty smooth, but a little cool to the touch. I look around for something to grip onto, and spot a sharp ridge at the top of his back, where his neck meets it. Hesitating before grabbing on, I freeze staring down at it, my hands half out-stretched. Should I hold onto that, or is it frowned upon?

  My decision is made for me when the dragon just lurches up into the air, and my hands slam down onto the ridge, gripping it so tightly my knuckles go white. Its wings have stretched out into a massive wingspan that I couldn’t have imagined it having. The dragon’s wings curl as it builds up air underneath them, before launching itself even higher into the sky, the air slamming into us the higher it soars. As the dragon finally evens out in the air, I realise how tightly Locke is gripping my waist and smile. He won’t be asking for loops and turns anytime soon.

  “This is incredible!” Locke shouts in my ears, needing to shout over the air rushing over us.

  “Terrifying!” I correct him, trying not to look down. I really don’t need to see how high we are right now.

  “Terrifyingly incredible,” he amends, and I feel the rumble of his chest as he laughs behind me. I close my eyes tight and just feel the air flowing around us. My stomach lurches every time the dragon drops or rises like a damn rollercoaster.

  Opening them again, I finally look around and see the world below us, looking so much smaller with how high we are. I take in the strange landscape, and I feel my body relax a little, having to remember to keep holding on, as I finally let myself just enjoy the ride.

  Chapter 11

  Mackenzie

  Standing unsurely at the edge of the forest we’ve landed beside, I watch as Taelon shifts back into human form. He smiles warmly at us once he finishes the shift.

  “Enjoyed the journey?” he asks.

  “Surprisingly, yes,” I answer, while glancing around us. “So, which way is it to the Zarrci Honzel?” I add, not exactly seeing a sign.

  He gestures to a large stone by the edge of the forest. “That is the starting point, but there are no other directions,” he says simply, and the guys practically explode in outrage.

  “No way,” Enzo says stiffly.

  “How do we know that this forest leads anywhere?” East questions.

  “We’re meant to just trust you?” Logan asks.

  “We can’t take a risk like that. There’s no proof that there is anything but danger if we follow your direction, not that you’ve really given us any,” Daniels states.

  “This is the way of our marked kind. All of our people must find the way themselves from this point forward,” Taelon explains, and I can see the tension in him as he does. He doesn’t like being questioned like this.

  “Look guys, we don’t really have another choice,” I begin, but I’m cut off by a dark look from Daniels.

  “There is always another choice, Kenzie,” he says firmly.

  “You may not trust this guy, but I have faith in Kelly,” I reply, standing my ground. We are going to look for this damned Zarrci Honzel. I need my powers back so that I can fight. I refuse to be helpless like this forever.

  “Are you sure?” Logan asks me, and I nod.

  “I know Kelly is going through things,” I say, taking a moment to try and stop myself from thinking about the reason she is feeling so low and out of sorts. If I let myself think about him, I’ll be useless to everyone. “She wouldn’t tell us this was the way if it wasn’t. We need to trust her.”

  “This is for you. It will help you listen,” Taelon says, thankfully moving the conversation away from the awkward point it had reached. He pulls out a small silver looking tube. It’s about the size of my arm, and it seems heavy.

  “Listen? Listen to what?” I ask.

  “To the marks,” he answers cryptically, and places the tube in my hand. I nearly drop it because it’s so much lighter than it looks. I turn the silver tube over in my hands a few times, looking at the unfamiliar symbol etched on it. The symbol is a circle, with ten straight lines escaping out the centre.

  “Good luck, Mackenzie. Do not worry, if you and your men die, we will bury your bodies in a respectful way,” he says calmly, like it’s a normal and reassuring thing to say and not really, really weird.

  “Err…thanks,” I reply awkwardly, watching as he turns around and runs, shifting back into his dragon form and shooting into the skies with his friends following suit.

  “We forgot to ask how we are supposed to get back to them, and to Kelly, when this is all over,” Mr Daniels growls in frustration. I slide the tube into my jacket pocket and peer up at the stone.

  “We didn’t have any chance to ask, and I have a feeling they wouldn’t tell us anyway. We need to get to this place, and get my marks back. Let’s focus on one thing at a time,” I say, placing my hand on his arm. He takes my hand, kissing the back of it gently, and linking our fingers.

  “You’re right, one thing at a time. Everyone should still be on guard though, we don’t know this world,” Mr Daniels warns, and the guys all nod their agreement. Enzo and East walk in front as we head into the forest, and the twins stay behind us. I keep my eyes on the trees as we pass them. It’s amazing how different they are to anything I’ve seen. It’s like the roots make up the main part of the tree, and the leaves sprout out the roots all the way up them. There are dozens of bright pink and blue flowers dotted around, and even the grass has strange little blue bugs moving through them.

  “What do you think Alaric is up to?” I ask, and I’m met with only silence in response. Mr Daniels looks down at me for a second, rubbing his thumb over my wrist in a soothing notion as he replies.

  “The plan was to take the academy first. Once he has full control of the academy, he will attack the London council, then every other council after that. If all the councils fall, he will be the only leader and he’ll have full control over all of the marked,” he explains, and it makes sense. The quickest way to bring us down would be to get rid of the most powerful of us. The co
uncils. Our leaders. Without them, it would be chaos.

  “And then what?” East asks, clearly listening in, and a quick glance around suggests all the guys are listening as they watch us.

  “Then he will attack the human governments, the human royals, the human leaders with his marked army. He plans to take over the entire Earth,” Daniels says, and I rest my head on his shoulder as we get follow along the edge of the forest and the large stone comes into view again.

  “He will destroy everything. We have to get back to Earth soon, and I have to kill him. No, I want to kill him, for Ryan,” I say, and I feel Mr Daniels kiss the top of my head.

  “We will kill him for Ryan,” Enzo says firmly, turning and locking those black eyes I love onto my own, showing me his resolution.

  “I know,” I say simply. I won’t rest until my father pays for taking Ryan’s life. The stone comes into view as we step back out of the forest, and it’s bigger than I thought it was. It stretches into the sky, made of a pure white stone and it’s smooth, with no visible marks on it. I look around, seeing nothing, and I have no clue where we should go from here.

  “Let’s spread out and search the area before the sun sets,” Enzo suggests.

  “I’m going to check out the stone,” I say, stepping away from Mr Daniels. They walk off and start searching, while I walk straight up to the stone. I walk all the way around it, not spotting anything, and I place my hand on it, and it just feels cold. I pull the tube out of my pocket, pressing it to the stone and nothing happens.

  “Great,” I mutter, sitting down, and resting my head against the stone.

  “Mackenzie, Earth child,” I hear a male voice whisper, making me jump, and look around. When the ground starts shaking, I freeze, and then it suddenly collapses in on itself. I fall straight down, not having any marks to help myself. Screaming so loud my throat hurts, I plummet down the hole in the ground. The drop feels endless as I continue to descend, with dirt hitting my face the entire time.

  “Kenzie!” I hear Locke scream, seconds before my head hits something, and everything goes black.

  Chapter 12

  Mackenzie

  “Kenzie!” A voice shouts my name, and I lift my head off the ground, holding my hand to my forehead where it throbs. I lift it away, feeling blood on my hand and everything is a little blurry. The room is pitch black except for little rays of light coming from dots in the ceiling where I fell, so I can’t see much, but I remember someone shouting for me. At least I hope that was someone shouting to me.

  “Hello! Anyone here?” I shout, coughing and forcing myself to sit up. Everything hurts, and I can’t heal myself. I hate being this helpless. Blinking rapidly as blood drips into my right eye, I try to wipe it away, only to feel dirt from my hands sticking to the blood on my face. Ugh.

  “Kenzie?!” I hear Locke shout from my right. Relief spreads through me, and I breathe out the long, nervous breath I was holding.

  “I’m here, but I can’t see anything!” I shout back. A small light comes into view, and then I can see Locke walking towards me, holding a make-shift flaming torch. It’s really more of a stick with fire balancing on the end. Something that would spread easily if it wasn’t for his fire mark. What I would give to have my fire mark in the darkness here. He rushes over when he sees me, falling to his knees, and putting the fire down next to us. It lights up the room, which is actually a tiny cavern and covered in bits of dirt and rocks.

  “Shit,” is all he says, placing his hand on my cheek, and I feel it start to warm up. I sigh as he heals me, the pain disappearing slowly from my body, and I sink my head into his hand.

  “Is anyone else down here?” I ask, lifting my hand, and pushing some of the dirt out of his hair. He looks as bad as I do, but he doesn’t seem to care. He only seems focused on me.

  “I don’t know. I saw you fall, and I ran and jumped in after you. This place is a maze though. Tunnel after tunnel that go around in circles by the looks of it,” he tells me, and takes his hand away.

  “Thank you for jumping in after me,” I whisper, loving how sweet that was. He didn’t think of his own life, he just jumped. I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing for him, because I would.

  “I’d follow you anywhere, Kenz,” he says, leaning closer and gently kissing me before pulling away, and standing up.

  “I found a room, it’s clean and has running water. We should camp there for the night, and hopefully, the others figure something out by morning. If nothing else, we should have some more natural light during the day,” he says as he picks up the torch, and then leans back down for something else.

  “This is yours,” he offers me the silver tube, and I glare at it.

  “I heard a weird voice when I was leaning against the stone holding that thing. I’m sure that tube is haunted or something,” I say stubbornly, not wanting to take it. “I don’t like ghosts.”

  “This might be part of the journey we need to make. You should still keep it,” he responds, appearing serious and thoughtful. I’m not used to that from Locke, so I do as he asks. I put the tube into my pocket and take Locke’s hand. We walk out from the small room we are in, and down a tunnel leading out from it. Locke leads me to the right, and we eventually come to a cosy room. It has a fire lit in the middle, a small bit of running water dripping down the one side of the wall. I can’t see where the water is going or where it’s coming from, but I’m grateful for it. I run over to it, washing my face and drinking some.

  “Here,” Locke comes over after putting the torch into the fire, and he has a small rag in his hands. He puts the rag in the water, and then presses it to my face. I let him slowly clean me, watching his eyes as he does.

  “I love you Locke,” I say, my voice echoing around the room. He pauses with the cloth on my cheek, and leans closer, lifting my chin with his finger.

  “And I love you,” he tells me, brushing his lips against mine in the most teasing way possible. He quickly pulls away when we hear the sound of footsteps heading in our direction.

  “You hear that?” he asks, and doesn’t wait for my reply, as he stands in front of me, ready to defend me as a familiar face walks into the room.

  “East!” I exclaim, stepping around Locke and wrapping my arms around him.

  “Shit, I was fucking worried,” East admits. I kiss his cheek, looking behind him, but I don’t see anyone else. “I came alone. When I heard Locke shout for you, I ran back and jumped straight in the hole. I don’t know where Daniels, Logan and Enzo are,” he answers my unasked question.

  “They will find a safe way down,” Locke says.

  “That’s not the problem. When I fell, I got caught on a branch and had a chance to look around. There are over ten different holes you can fall into, and all lead in different directions. If they came down after us, it may take them a while to find us,” East explains, and I bite my lip. Crap, we could be lost down here for days, or even weeks.

  “Don’t panic, we will figure something out,” Locke says and goes to sit in front of the fire. East pats my arm as he walks past, pulling his bag off and sitting next to Locke. I walk around the room, seeing nothing but the dirt walls and rocks on the floor. There really isn’t much in here.

  “Kenz, come here,” Locke shouts from the other side of the room. I walk over, following his and East’s gaze to look up at the ceiling near the water. There is a scratching noise, maybe sounding a little like something digging.

  “Ariziadia must have its own wildlife. It could be a mole or something,” I say, just as something breaks through the ceiling and falls to the floor. I look down at the black and white badger. It’s cute as it shakes its head, then shimmers as it shifts back into Enzo.

  “You’re a badger,” I gasp, covering my mouth with my hand.

  “Good to see you too, Crowe. I’ve been digging and crawling for the last two damn hours, and I don’t even get a hello?” he says grouchily, and I run straight into his arms. He catches me easily as I practically leap
at him.

  “I like badgers. They’re cute,” I say into his chest.

  “Not another word, Crowe,” he mutters.

  “But maybe one day you can shift, and I can have a cuddle? That would be so cute,” I say, chuckling as he kisses me. I suspect mostly just to shut me up.

  “Don’t push your luck,” he replies quietly before pulling away and addressing East and Locke. “You haven’t seen Logan or Daniels, have you? They jumped when I did, but this stupid place is a maze.”

  “I was just explaining that to Kenz and Locke,” East answers.

  “We don’t know where they are,” I say unhappily. I don’t want us to be split up again while we’re here. In this unfamiliar world, having my guys close is my only comfort. Plus, there’s safety in numbers.

  “I suppose I can dig through the walls of the tunnels and look for them?” Enzo offers, but I can tell he’s exhausted.

  “It can wait till you’ve had some rest,” I begin, but he shakes his head.

  “Will you get any sleep until you know they’re safe?” he asks, and I consider lying, but I don’t want to do that. Not to him. Not to any of them.

  “Probably not,” I admit begrudgingly. I feel terrible as I see the decision made on his face. “I’ll go search for them. Those two can take care of you while I’m looking,” he says.

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” I mutter, not pleased.

  “They’re not fucking babysitters, Crowe. They’re people who care about you, and right now, you’re in a dangerous place and can’t protect yourself. If someone you cared about was in danger, would you protect them?” he asks me, sounding even more drained. Instead of answering, I kiss him thoroughly and wrap my arms around him tightly. I can feel East and Locke’s eyes on us, just as surely as I can feel Enzo’s hands slide down my back to squeeze my ass. I chastise him with a quick nip to his earlobe once I pull away from his lips.