The Marked and the Broken

by Ivy Asher

  The faintest sound of fabric scraping against wood reaches me in the dark, and I freeze. I call on the runes on the helix of my ear and focus past the sound of my own pounding pulse. I scan my surroundings, my knees bent and my body ready for anything that may come my way. But after what feels like forever just standing and listening, I don’t see or sense anything out there that poses any threat. I put one foot in front of the other again, and before I know it, I’m walking into a cleared area where an old barn stands.

  I feel a magical barrier a few feet away, and I call my Defensive magic forward. I close my eyes, and when I open them, it’s with a sheen of magic filtering my view. A coral-colored dome protects the grumpy looking barn. I think back to everything that Becket and Bastien have taught me about barriers, and I filter through my options as I stare at the coral glow of the obstacle in front of me. I don’t want Silva to know that I was in here, so shattering or overtaking this protective magic—which is usually my go-to—is a definite no go.

  I pull on more Defensive magic from my core and direct it to pool in my hands. I crouch down to the base of the barrier and run my index finger in a straight line up the side of the barrier, standing as I move higher. I weave my intention to go unnoticed and leave no trace, with the yellow-orange magic in my hands as I go. My magic coats the magic of Silva’s barrier, and a slit in the side of the dome forms directly in front of me. Silva’s protections aren’t overly strong, and the lack of over the top security measures on the building makes me question whether he’s hiding anything in this place.

  I step through the slit in the barrier, and as soon as I’m all the way in, all noise of the forest disappears. It’s quiet in here, and the sound is distorted like I’m underwater. Why would Silva put sound protections on this place? I file that question away and quickly make my way inside the barn. It’s so dark I have to manifest a ball of fire in my hand so I can see through the inky blackness. The fireball lazily floats above my moving palm as I search for a light switch. I spot one just to the left of the door and flip it on, causing the fluorescent lights above me to sluggishly blink to life. The buzz of electricity as it runs through the bulbs fills the quiet of the barn, and I look around, not sure what to expect.

  At first glance, the roof is two stories above me, and the inside of the barn has been quartered off. I walk through the room that I’m in and open the door to my left. It swings open with a slight creak and reveals the spells that Silva was talking about, or at least I think that’s what’s in here. I recognize stoppered bottles of the shifter saliva Sabin and I took from his family’s warehouse. I didn’t know how many of the bottles survived the shifter attack, but it looks like a couple of cases arrived here unscathed.

  I don’t walk through the doorway or feel the drive to explore this room. I don’t actually know how volatile these spells might be, but it’s not worth the risk of accidentally blowing myself up. I close the door, and that same angry creak voices its displeasure at being disturbed. I move to the doorway on the wall to my right. The one light switch must control the illumination in the back rooms of the barn too, because I walk into a bright room with large maps covering two of the four walls. I move closer to one of the maps and run my gaze over the dark green markings that have been made on them.

  If I’m reading this layout of Europe correctly, it seems Lachlan, Keegan, and Silva have been tracking lamia movement in Greece, Portugal, Poland, Romania, and Belarus. There are clusters of green Xs in all of these countries and lines connecting the clusters. Without a key or someone to explain what all the writing means, it’s impossible to decipher for certain, but I don’t miss that the largest cluster of green Xs is just across Belarus’s border with Russia. There’s a small blue star close to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, and something about its presence niggles at my mind.

  No matter how I try to reach for whatever it is that’s bugging me, I can’t get my mental fingers around it. Sets of computer screens demand my attention, and with a shake of the mouse, the screens come to life. I have no idea what to make of the images I see on them. One looks like ruins of some kind. There are crumbling piles of old stone, and one stubborn wall with a small cut out for a window still fighting against the elements and refusing to topple over. On another screen is a picture of a man or more likely some kind of supe.

  He looks older than Lachlan and his coven, but I’m not sure exactly how much higher up his age range would fall. He’s handsome, has curly brown hair, and his frown lines seem etched into his skin like a warning. There’s nothing familiar about him, and the picture gives no indication of why Silva or anyone else would be interested in him. The third computer screen has a tab that requires a password. I click on the two screens with images on them, but they don’t respond to the commands of the mouse, and it’s clear that, without the password, I’m not getting any more information about what’s on these computers.

  I leave them and scan the rest of the room for anything else that might be of interest, but aside from a couple chairs, the desk that takes up most of one wall and only has markers in the drawer, and the computer screens nestled in one corner, this room isn’t hiding anything else. I move to the last door. I open it cautiously, and it gives way without a sound.

  The room is the same packed dirt as the rest of the barn, but it has dark splotches that mottle the color. There’s a bucket in the corner, and something about the smell in the room has my hair standing on end. My gut churns with warning, but I can’t place what it is about this space that is setting my internal alarms off. I move to step further inside the room when the telltale creak of the door that leads into the spell room breaks through the silence like a cannon.

  My adrenaline spikes, and my heart starts to race. I swallow down my fear and quietly shut the door to the room I’m not going to get to explore. I move soundlessly until my back is pressed against the wall directly next to the door leading into the room. I never shut it behind me when I came in here, but it’s closed enough to offer my movements some cover and so that I’ll be able to grab whoever pushes the door open before they see me.

  I work to slow my breathing and focus on the door and any movement in the other room. Whoever it is, they move as soundlessly as I do, and I’m surprised when a hand appears out of nowhere and pushes the door open. I spot the runes on the ring finger of whichever of my Chosen has decided to follow me, and I’m instantly relieved and irritated at the same time.

  “Valen, what the fuck?” I demand, my question exploding into the silence like a firework, and Valen jumps and lets out a small yelp.

  “By the stars, Vinna, you scared me.”

  “You scared me, you ass. Why are you following me around?”

  Valen gives me a sheepish smile. “We wanted to know where you were sneaking off to, and I won the roshambo off.”

  I chuckle, not able to help myself. “You rock-paper-scissored to see who would follow me?” I ask, my tone exasperated with just a touch of amusement.

  “Of course, arm wrestling takes too long,” Valen tells me matter-of-factly before his attention turns to the room and its contents. “What are you doing in here?”

  “Spying,” I admit casually, as I join him in looking around again.

  “Find anything good?”

  “Not really. I can see where Silva and the others have been tracking lamia, but I have no idea what all the markings on the map mean or where the pictures on the computers are from and what significance they have.”

  Valen steps further into the room and quietly peruses the map and then the computers. Unlike me, he actually tries to type in a couple of password options, but nothing is correct. He studies the picture of the man just like I did and then looks at me with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “Yeah, I got nothing,” he admits, and we both step back to the map and stare at it for a minute.

  “The thing I still want to know is how did they end up over here? The sisters said they were following up on a lead, but where did that lead come from? Wh
y is Silva being so squirrely about this place. What’s he up to?”

  “Well, aside from the fact that he doesn’t trust you, he also has a tendency to treat Bastien and me like we’re still thirteen. He never really tells us about missions or plans because he thinks we’re kids and can’t handle it. I know there’s mutual distrust on your part too, but honestly, he’s not behaving out of character.”

  “Well, you would certainly know him better than I would,” I admit.

  I turn back toward the weird dirt room that Valen’s interruption kept me from looking through, but he reaches out and grabs my hand, keeping me from leaving. I turn around to find worry in his eyes.

  “Are you okay?” he asks me, and I’m not sure what to say. “We’re worried about you. You’re pushing pretty hard, not giving yourself any time to just breathe and process,” he tells me, his stunning hazel eyes searching mine. “What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”

  Valen pulls me into him, and I tilt my head back as he brushes stray strands of hair out of my face. His brow is furrowed with concern, and his lush lips are pursed with questions.

  “Fuck, Valen, I don’t even know,” I tell him on a deep sigh. “I feel like if I stop, I’ll have to look at all the crazy shit that is my life right now.”

  “Crazy bad or crazy good?” he asks, his green and brown eyes drinking me in.

  “Both,” I say, but it sounds more like a question than a statement.

  Valen waits patiently for me to collect my thoughts. He doesn’t press or try to coax more out of me, but gives me the time and quiet support to put it together on my own. He stands there, lending me his silent strength, happy for me to soak up as much as I need for as long as I need.

  “In less than three months, I’ve learned that I’m not human, and then I learned that I’m not even a caster; I’m some other magical being that no one knew existed anymore. The only living family that I have hates my guts, and I have no idea why. Talon, the one person who did care about me, turned out to be a lamia, but he only clued me into that fact as he was dying in my arms.

  “I’ve been abducted twice now, forced you and your coven into a relationship with me, marked a wolf shifter, and now three other casters have some runes that match mine and some mystery ones. We’re here in a country I’ve never been, to rescue an uncle who wishes I didn’t exist, and to deal with the lamia who killed your parents and mine. And…” I hesitate for a moment, a little shocked by the words that sit on my tongue. I debate for a second how smart it is to release them, but I stare at Valen’s beautiful face and the understanding look he’s giving me, and I decide what the hell.

  “I’m fucking scared.” As the words tumble out of my mouth uncensored, I can feel the stress and tension I’ve been carrying slowly lifting. I look into Valen’s patient hazel gaze, as the words I’m scared spill out, and it’s right then and there that I realize how much those two words encompass everything that I’m feeling. Because regardless of whether I’m being attacked by a grizzly shifter or looking into Sabin’s dark green eyes when he tells me he loves me, I’m fucking terrified.

  I’m terrified of getting too close and too dependent on them. What if Enoch and the others turn out to be Chosen, what will Knox and Bastien do? Will they leave? How will Valen stay if his brother goes? We’re quite possibly about to face off with Adriel and his entire nest. What if we don’t survive, or worse, what if they don’t, but I do? Nothing in my life has ever been stable, and if there’s one thing I know for certain, no one ever stays. Not even when they want to.

  8

  “Is it normal to be more freaked out by the good things in life than I am by the bad things?” I ask Valen, my voice small and unsure.

  He pulls me even closer, my chest against his, and his eyes skate around my face, looking for something. “I don’t know about normal, but it makes sense given the circumstances. When Talon found you and put you up in a safe place to stay, how long did it take before you trusted that situation? Before you started to trust him?”

  I mull over his question and push a wayward curl off his cheek. “A couple years, maybe more,” I confess, and Valen nods like he expected that this would be my answer.

  “And when Laiken would bring you food or help you after Beth hurt you, how long did it take before you stopped being afraid of the help?” he asks me, his voice low and soft, his tender tone sinking right inside of me and messing with my soul.

  “I never stopped being scared that Beth would find out. I was always scared for Laiken. Always scared for me.”

  “You’ve known us for less than three months,” he tells me and pauses while that sinks in. “Yes, we are tied together. No, we will never walk away,” he adds, answering my unvoiced fear. “If it takes you forever to learn how to trust us, then it takes forever. If you never stop being scared, that’s okay, because there’s six of us now, and each of us will carry the weight of that fear. We’ll build the walls of trust for however long we need to.” He looks down at me, his eyes swirling with strength and assurance. “You are ours, and we are yours, and that’s what it means to be bonded.”

  I pull Valen’s lips down to mine. I don’t know a better way to respond to his beautiful words other than to show him what they mean to me. I’m not eloquent when I speak, I like the word fuck entirely too much to ever be. But as Valen’s full lips meet mine, I realize I can be poetic in the way my tongue dances with his. Reverent when I pull his clothes from his incredible body. Tender as I moan into his mouth. I can love him through my actions and touch in a way I can never seem to get out with words.

  Valen sucks my bottom lip into his mouth and pulls up the hem of my shirt. We break away as he pulls it over my head, and then his lips are back on mine. His hands cradle my face, guiding me deeper and deeper into his kiss. He reaches down and circles his arms around my thighs and lifts me onto the desk. I run my hands up his thickly muscled arms, loving the feel of his soft tan skin on my fingertips and the hard strength just underneath. He steps between my legs, kissing me until every nerve ending in my body is coursing with need.

  I pull his hair out of the tie that’s holding it back. I fan his dark chocolate waves around his strong shoulders and love the silky feel of it. I pull back, tracing his high cheeks and posh nose with my eyes, letting them roam over his chiseled jaw and full lips with pure veneration.

  He pulls me into another kiss, his lips filled with the same kind of worship my gaze has. Violet magic appears on my arms, but neither one of us is fazed as it travels from me to him. His groan of pleasure vibrates my whole body, and it makes me ache even more to move things along. I pull off my sports bra, and Valen chuckles as my lips are pulled from his.

  “Where’s the fire?” he asks on a laugh.

  “In my vagina,” I announce and then crack up. “That sounded way less sexy than I thought it would.”

  Valen runs his thumb across my smile, and his hazel eyes flash with heat. “How did I get so lucky to be chosen by you?” he asks, his tone pure worship, and if I had any response, it would have been swallowed up by his kiss and all the want and admiration he pours into it. I tug at his pants, untying the strings to his sweats as he pulls at the waist of my leggings. My underwear goes with them, and he crouches to pull everything slowly down my legs.

  I want him to hurry; I miss the feel of his body against mine already, but Valen has other plans as he kisses gently back up my calf, behind my knee, up my thigh. I shiver with anticipation and watch him hungrily as he flicks his tongue out to tease my leg. I grab him by his wavy, dark brown hair and redirect his attention to where I want it to be.

  “Ah yes, how could I forget you were suffering with fire crotch?”

  I laugh, but it quickly turns into a moan as Valen spreads me and flicks his tongue out against my clit. He teases me with soft strokes, and just when I’m about to throw him on his back and ride his face, he sucks me into his mouth and shoves a finger inside of me. I shout out my approval, and the vibration of his plea
sed moan sends tingles all the way through my limbs.

  Valen pulls away from my clit with a pop and pumps his finger inside of me slowly. “I’ve been dreaming of doing this since that first night you fell asleep on top of me.”

  “Mmmmm,” is all I can manage as he adds a second finger inside of me and curls them up, hitting a place at the roof of my vagina that I’d like him to spend more time exploring.

  “I woke up, and you were straddling me, and I should have flipped you on your back right then and there and fucked you, but I didn’t, and it’s haunted me every day since,” he tells me, his tone deep and velvety.

  “So fuck me now,” I challenge, and I watch as he circles my clit with his tongue and moves his fingers in and out of me faster and faster.

  I writhe with the sensations his mouth and fingers are giving me, and he growls in approval, his eyes fixed on mine. “You like that, sweet Vinna? Show me how much you like it by coming all over my face.”

  Valen sucks on my clit again and curls and then circles his fingers inside of me. His demand bounces around my mind as I pinch my nipples and happily fall over the edge into a toe-curling orgasm. Valen doesn’t stop fingering me, but his mouth takes mercy on my clit, and he moves his face from between my thighs and nuzzles my hand away from my breasts. He pulls a nipple into his mouth and sucks hard, and I ride his hand, the end of my orgasm stretching out inside of me before fluttering away.

  “Valen, please,” I beg shamelessly as he moves from one nipple to the other.

  “Please what, my love?”

  “Please get inside of me,” I growl, and thank fuck, he pulls his fingers out and replaces them with his cock.