Scorching Secrets

by Kaitlyn Hoyt

“Why are you doing this, Dravin?”

  “Because I need more power. I need your power. Once I find a way to take it, you can believe me I will. Those with power have control. I’m tired of working alongside those measly humans. They know nothing about us, and we are immensely more powerful than them. Even the mages who have no magic yet are more powerful. It’s time they realize that.”

  “Why do you have to hurt people for control?” I ask. “Can’t you just take the resources you already have and use it for good?”

  “Where’s the fun in that, love? Being bad is so much more fun.” He smirks at me and before I know what is happening, he grabs my chin and pulls me toward him; his mouth suddenly hard on mine. I scream against him and bring my left knee up. I am aiming for his crotch, but my knee connects with his stomach instead. He breaks away from me. I then bring that leg up and kick him against the chest. He staggers backwards, shocked. “So, you’ve been training, I see.” He grins evilly and slowly walks toward me again. I feel the dull pain of the impending headache as his eyes narrow in concentration.

  I grab my head and fall to the ground as the pain intensifies. I cry out as the pain gets even worse. I don’t see any images this time, just feel the blinding pain. My knees curl under me as I start gasping for air. A sharp pain hits me in the stomach. My body is thrown to the side from the kick.

  The pain in my head lessens to the point that I become conscious of my surroundings again. I see Dravin standing over me. “You’ve gotten stronger, but you’re still nothing compared to me.” I gasp as I try to sit up. When I’m standing again, Dravin walks toward me, “I’ll never stop looking for you, so you better hope that nothing happens to Larkin.” He punches me in the jaw, sending me flying backwards. My head cracks into the hard wall. I’m out before I hit the ground.

  Colton

  I am watching Ryanne as she sleeps on the couch. I keep glancing over at Liam to make sure he isn’t acting strange or in pain. Whenever she falls asleep, I’m always worried that something is going to happen to her.

  “What did you do to Natasha? You must have done something really bad to make her want to join Dravin.” Emma just had to bring it up again. We’d gone a full ten minutes without anyone saying anything.

  “I didn’t do anything to her.”

  “Did you have sex with her and then dump her? I’d be angry if that happened to me,” Emma says.

  “I didn’t have sex with her, Emma—not that it’s any of your business. I did break up with her though.”

  “Hmm, I’m just trying to figure out why so many people are trying to hurt Ryanne. I mean look at her. Does that look like the face of some ruthless killer?” Right as Emma says that, Ryanne gasps and rolls off the couch. She lands on the floor with a thud. Pushing herself up, she grabs her side, along her ribs, and hisses. I jump up when I see the giant red mark on her jaw.

  “What happened?”

  “Where’s Logan?” she whimpers. She must be in a lot of pain if she is asking for Logan. I yell for Logan and walk toward her. She tries to stand but cries out and falls back to the ground. She removes her hand from her side and grabs her head. Where’s Logan?

  He runs straight to her side and places his hands on her back. She is still making pained noises. His face furrows in concentration as he heals her. She gasps and arches her back. The slight pop of bones moving back into place sounds from her body. She quiets beneath his touch and stills. He takes a step back, and I can tell that whatever he saw made him extremely mad.

  Ryanne pushes herself off the ground and slowly stands up. She turns around and walks straight toward Logan. “Please don’t say anything.” She reaches out and grabs his arm, trying to make him look at her.

  “Logan, what happened?” I demand. I need to know what Ryanne doesn’t want us to know. Logan looks like he needs to punch something. Heck, I want to punch something, and I don’t even know what happened to her specifically.

  “Please.” She’s pleading with him now. Logan looks down at her and shakes his head. She sighs and leans her head against his chest. He wraps an arm around her and looks over her to me.

  “Dravin,” whispers Logan. Ryanne tenses against Logan and for good reason. She knows how angry I am at him for what he did to her last time.

  “It’s not that bad,” Ryanne says—her voice muffled against Logan’s chest.

  “Not that bad? You woke up and fell off the couch crying out in pain!” She turns around and looks at me. She looks fine now, but that’s only because Logan healed her. If Logan wasn’t a healer, she’d be in a lot of pain.

  “I’ve had worse. I just wasn’t expecting that to happen.”

  “What happened exactly?” Liam asks. He’s angry too but calmer than I am. “I didn’t feel anything.”

  “I don’t know. I fell asleep and then all the sudden Dravin was talking to me. I kicked him, so he got mad and retaliated. Nothing really,” she shrugs and walks back to the couch. Olive runs over and sits down in her lap. Ryanne starts absentmindedly petting her.

  “Ryanne,” says Logan, “more than that happened.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t have to tell everyone what actually happened.” I can’t help it. I growl at her. What happened that she doesn’t want everyone to know? “He was just giving me a warning.”

  “Logan, what happened?” I try to sound calmer than I feel. I know that I’m really not fooling anyone. Ryanne drops her head into her hands as Logan starts explaining.

  “He cornered her and started asking about Larkin.” Logan looks toward Larkin who is standing in the corner, looking worried. “He wanted to know where you were; if you were helping her. He said something about needing more power. He wants Ryanne’s power because with power comes control. She asked if he would ever consider using his resources for good. Dravin said that being bad was more fun and then he—”

  Logan stops talking and looks at Ryanne. She’s staring at him with wide eyes and shaking her head. “He kissed her.”

  “He what?” Ryanne winces as I yell. I glare down at her. She stands up and starts walking toward me.

  “I took care of myself, Colton. I’m not the same girl that Adam attacked a year ago in the park. I’m able to defend myself now.” I look down at her. I know that she can defend herself, but I hate that these guys are always able to find a way to hurt her. I hate knowing that someone else had their lips on hers. Her soft supple kissable lips that are parted and right in front of me… I know that she didn’t kiss him back, but I am still angry anyway.

  “She did fight back, Colton.” I don’t take my eyes from Ryanne, who is staring back at me. This waiting thing is going to be very difficult.

  “What happened next?” I say without looking away. I am asking Logan because I know that Ryanne will leave out details. She blinks and steps away from me but remains close. Logan explains everything, not leaving out any details about her injuries. She places a hand on my crossed arms to try and calm me. I actually do feel calmer when she touches me. I’m still angry but glad that she’s here safe and not stuck with that man.

  “It was just a warning to me. He wanted to prove that he’s stronger than me; that he still has ways to get to me. Granted, I didn’t use any magic against him, so I don’t know how he knows that he’s so much stronger than me,” Ryanne says, hand still on my arm. I’m trying not to look down at my arm, because I know she’ll remove her hand and step away if she sees my glance. However, she does the opposite of that. She takes a step closer, so she’s basically pressed up against me and whispers, “We need Larkin’s help, so stop glaring at him like he’s the bad guy.” I hadn’t realized that I was doing that. Sighing in frustration, I look away from him.

  “Why didn’t you defend yourself with magic?” David asks her. Darn David. She takes a step back and turns toward him, removing her hand. It takes all my will power to suppress a sad groan.

  “I don’t want Dravin to find out what I can do with my magic. In the vision of…in the vision I had, he said that once h
e found out the extent of my powers he could extract all of it. I didn’t want to give him any information about my magic.” I know that the vision she is referring to is the one where she saw Dravin kill me. Ryanne looks away from my brother and glances back up at me. “Do you think you and Liam can help train me again? Without magic?” She glances between the two of us. Without looking at Liam, I agree. I’d probably agree with anything she asked me to do…to an extent. Especially if it’s accompanied by that breathtaking smile she just gave me.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  When I don’t infuse magic into my limbs, fighting is a lot harder. David and Colton had trained me previously, but apparently I’ve gotten lazy because of my magic. I’m not hitting as hard as I thought I was. It seems like while everyone gets stronger, I stay fixated at the same strength level. On top of that, since the guys know that I can do gymnastics stunts, it’s hard to surprise them. I have to work really hard to even get a staggering hit in. I’m knocked flat on my butt more times than I can count.

  Two hours later, I am lying on my back with Liam and Colton sitting on either side of me, breathing heavily. “That was not fun.” Placing my arms over my eyes, I block out the sunlight. The sun is setting, disappearing behind the trees, casting small shadows across the yard. The warm and cool colors merge together as the darkness pushes forward. Colton and Liam both stand up. Colton puts a hand out to help me stand up. “No thanks. I’m good down here.” Laughing, he reaches down and grabs my arms. Without my help, he lifts me off the ground and sets me down. Playfully, he pushes me toward the back door of the house.

  I smile over my shoulder at him. “Gosh, no need to be pushy.” I hear him laugh as I skip into the house. Shortly afterwards, everyone joins us in the kitchen. Larkin grabs a bottle of water and sits down at the kitchen table. He opens his mouth to speak but stops.

  I jump up on the counter and take small sips of my water. Colton walks over and stands beside me. He’s still slightly taller than me. Not fair. “I think that we should find a way to bring Natasha here and question her. Find out why she joined Dravin’s side,” Larkin finally says.

  I start choking on the water I was swallowing. Colton reaches behind me and starts hitting me on the back. “You want to bring her here?” I manage to get out after a few seconds.

  “I have a friend that’s still in Dravin’s compound. He says that he can get her outside. I’ve already discussed a location to meet with him. I’ll sneak up on them and put a blindfold on her so she can’t see anything about the house. We don’t want to give her any clues to our location. I don’t think you, Ryanne, should be around when we question her though; just to be on the safe side.”

  I don’t want to be around anyway. It makes me so mad that she would just blindly accept whatever Dravin told her. I told her everything that happened to me when I was captured by Dravin, and she still went over to his side. “When are you going to do this?” I jump down from the counter, waiting for his reply.

  “I’m meeting with Kyril in five minutes.”

  So soon? “I’ll be sure to make myself scarce at that time.” I lean against the counter and try to keep a placid expression. I know that Liam and Colton are watching me trying to determine how upset I am about this development. They don’t need to know how bothered I am by Natasha’s presence. I finish my bottle of water and put it in our recycling bin when Larkin’s watch beeps. He looks toward me, silently telling me that it is time.

  “I’m going to go take a shower. I need one after that training exercise anyway.” I’ll keep you company. Olive tells me as she follows me upstairs.

  Entering the bedroom, I smile down at her and place her onto my bed. “Stay here, I’ll be quick.” I jump into the shower and wash the sweat off my body and out of my hair. I lather the floral smelling shampoo through my hair and rinse it out. After shampooing and conditioning, I get out of the shower. I don’t want to leave Olive alone for too long. I get dressed in a large grey cut off sweatshirt and black yoga shorts. I push the sweatshirt to the side, revealing my left shoulder. Since I have time, I decide to blow dry my hair. When I blow dry my hair, it is straighter than when I let it air dry—still a wavy mess but less curly.

  I set the blow dryer down and start to walk back into the bedroom when my chest tightens. I stop and lean against the door frame, trying to coax air into my lungs.

  Ryanne, what’s wrong?

  I open my mouth to respond, but I can’t get anything out. I gasp as the air is pushed further out of my lungs, and I stumble to the ground. If I can make it to the stairs…

  I try to make it to the bedroom door but can only go halfway. Olive jumps off the bed and runs toward me. I lose sight of her as the room around me starts spinning. I’ve experienced this once before and already know who is responsible. I black out.

  Colton

  Larkin transports back into the room holding a very surprised but not scared Natasha. A large black blindfold is covering her eyes. “Ahh, now I see what’s going on. Well, not technically, but you know.” She waves him off and then straightens up. “Hello, Colty,” she coos at me.

  I take a small step toward her. Liam places a hand on my shoulder and pulls me back. I’ve never wanted to hit a girl before, but she’s now the first one on my list. “Why Natasha?”

  “Why?” She has the audacity to laugh. “Why? Because everyone that was at the battle talked about how great she was. The girl got herself stabbed! How is that great? I came over here that day to see if we had a chance of getting back together, and I see you with her. I saw the way you were looking at her. It was obvious that you had feelings for her. She’s nothing compared to me, Colton. She can’t give you what I can.”

  “Jealousy? That’s why she did this?” Emma whispers to David.

  “Don’t talk bad about her, Natasha. You have no idea what she’s going through,” David says, the anger obvious in his voice. He pulls Emma to his side—to protect her and to keep him calm.

  “See, she’s got you all wrapped around her tiny little finger.” Natasha points, but since she can’t see us, she isn’t pointing at anything. “That girl is nothing special. She got lucky and has a lot of magic, but one girl can’t stop everything that’s going on. It’s better that you guys realize it now and join the winning side.”

  “Ryanne told you everything that happened with Adam and Dravin, and you still went to their side. Why?” Liam asks.

  “Dravin’s kind. He wouldn’t do something unless it was totally necessary. She has information; he needs it. Adam told me all about their little sexscapades.”

  “Sexscapades!” I yell at her. Liam is fully holding me back at this point. Olive runs into the kitchen and prances around my feet. I ignore her and turn back to Natasha. “Adam lied to you.”

  “Who cares? At least now I get a chance to get revenge for what she did to me! She took away any chance I had with you!”

  “I took that away, Natasha, not Ryanne! I didn’t and still don’t ever want to get back together with you.” Liam gasps behind me and loosens his grip. He falls to his knees, grabbing his chest.

  “I understand that now,” she says as her smile grows. “Oh, and there’s one thing about me you should know: my power’s evolved. I no longer need to be in the same room as someone to asphyxiate them. You might want to go check on your little girlfriend upstairs. She’s probably unconscious by now…if she’s not dead.”

  Larkin transports Natasha out of the room. Logan and I run out of the kitchen and bound up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I slam the door open in Ryanne’s room and rush in. She is lying on the ground on her side with one arm is over her head, the other is across her stomach. I run over to her body and roll her onto her back. Placing an ear on her chest, I listen for a heartbeat. Thump….thump. It is faint but still beating. Logan falls to the ground beside me, hands outstretched and already trying to heal her.

  Emma, David, and Bragden all run into the room. Liam stumbles in a couple seconds later, still having di
fficulty breathing. Larkin transports into the bedroom and looks at her. “Is she going to be ok?”

  “I don’t know. She’s still alive but barely. Logan’s trying to heal her.” I glance down at Ryanne, willing her to respond to Logan. I need her here. She still hasn’t moved. I look at Logan, and he’s still concentrating. Something isn’t right.

  I look over her body looking for anything obviously wrong.

  “She not breathing, Logan!” I say. My panic levels are starting to rise. What if Logan can’t heal her? Logan opens his eyes and shakes his head.

  “Move out of the way.” I move backwards and let Logan move to where I was previously sitting. I don’t want to leave her side, but Logan knows what needs to be done; I don’t. My feet move me so that I’m standing near Liam and Emma. She already has silent tears streaming down her face and Liam looks…horrible.

  Kneeling near Ryanne’s head, Logan places a hand on her forehead and two fingers under her chin and tilts her head back. Leaning down, he moves his ear over her mouth and confirms that she isn’t breathing. Taking a deep breath, Logan bends down, pinches her nose closed, and places his mouth on hers, expelling the breath into her. He continues to do this, only pausing to breathe himself. When nothing happens, I fall to my knees. I crawl over to her limp body and grab onto her hand.

  “Ryanne, don’t you dare leave me! I need you here. Quit being stubborn, and come back to me!”

  Logan continues to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She’s unresponsive. I’ve watched her die once; I can’t watch it again. I realize now how much I hate the idea of her not being in my life. She is stubborn, sarcastic, impulsive, and infuriating at times, but I love all that about her. I love her…I love her. She makes things interesting, and I can’t imagine not seeing her smile again. Not watching as she yells at me or hearing her laugh at something I say. Not being able to make her blush so easily. Not seeing her…

  Emma is sobbing now. David is trying to console her, but it isn’t working. I stare down at Ryanne waiting for any sign of life. Anything that will tell me that everything will be all right. After an agonizing amount of time, Logan exclaims, “She’s breathing!”