Sacrifice

by Nicola Chadwick

  Sacrifice

  By

  Nicola Chadwick

  Also by Nicola Chadwick

  The Scarlet Dawson Series

  Hunted

  Sacrifice

  Rage (Coming out 2019)

  To My Nephews

  Clark, Theo, and Harry

  Your mind can open doors to amazing new worlds, but your imagination will let you experience the wonders and adventures that you will find there.

  Chapter One

  I swiftly dodge Aylesbury’s fist as it comes down, full force, next to my face while I lie on my back trying to catch my breath. I roll to one side, hoping to bring him down to the floor, so I can at least get back up and continue my offense, it might even be defense at this stage.

  “Red, I know you can do better than this. Stop trying to defend yourself and attack,” Aylesbury tells me.

  “I just don’t see why I have to do this? Even my bruises have bruises and it’s only been two days,” I moan.

  He dances on the balls of his feet and swings his fist at me again, connecting with the side of my head. Pain blossoms in my temple, but I quickly shake it off and jump out of the way of his next attack.

  “You agreed to do this,” he counters as we circle each other, neither of us making the next move.

  “Yeah, it was either agree to training, or he was going to stick a guard detail on me. I don’t need a babysitter, I’m perfectly able to protect myself.”

  Aylesbury lunges for me and I crash into him, rolling around his side and spinning to kick him on the ass.

  “I still will stick a guard detail on you, if you can’t prove you can look after yourself,” Bastian shouts from the sidelines.

  We are currently in the expansive training room at The Manor Hotel. All the other Guardians have made themselves scarce after my first bout of training yesterday. It didn’t go so well. I wasn’t able to beat any of them in hand-to-hand combat and I was a very sore loser.

  “I still don’t see how training with a bunch of people who are physically superior to me will help, I’m a perfectly good fighter.” I stop all pretense of even trying to fight Aylesbury and stalk off to the bleachers to get a water.

  Bastian walks up behind me and hands me a towel. “Your last major case involved Demons, Lycans, and the Fae who are all physically superior to you. And I’m pretty sure Aylesbury had to rescue you from a bar fight last week, that was full of partially shifted wolves.”

  I look back at Aylesbury and scowl at him. I cannot believe he has told Bastian. That must have been why Bastian demanded I start training with him.

  “We are meant to be partners, Aylesbury, you should be keeping my secrets, not telling anyone who will listen!”

  He stands there, giving me a knowing smile as he wipes the sweat from his face. I see red and charge him. He never even sees the attack coming. One minute he’s standing there, the next he’s falling onto his back and I have him pinned under me. I swing my fist at his face, but he dodges and tries bucking his hips to dislodge me. I let the fury burn through my veins and let him roll me so he’s on top, only, as I do, I bring my legs up between our bodies and use his momentum to flip him over my head. He lands hard on the mat, the wind knocked completely out of him. As I quickly get up and move back over to him, Bastian grabs my arms.

  “Why is it you can only fight when you’re angry?” he asks. “You need to learn to channel that anger so you can fight whether you’re irate or not.”

  I pull my arm free and glare at them both as Aylesbury comes over to stand with us, still clearly winded. I wince as I roll my shoulder. I must have landed a bit too hard myself.

  Bastian sees me wince. “Go and sit down while I spar with Aylesbury a while.”

  I don’t complain—for the first time ever—and actually move over to the benches. This is the one thing I have enjoyed about these training sessions, so far. Watching Aylesbury hand Bastian his ass is brilliant. It’s the new highlight of my day. I’m pretty sure Bastian is still shocked that someone can actually beat him in a fight, we all were the first time we saw it happen. The Guardians were so shocked they asked Aylesbury to fight Bastian twenty more times before they started to believe what they were seeing. He won every single bout.

  We had to all vow we would never mention this to anyone, Bastian didn’t want to chance word getting out in case challenges for control of the pack started coming in. Aylesbury also had to reassure him there was no way he wanted the job, apparently, he had enough on his plate keeping me out of trouble.

  I watch as Bastian circles Aylesbury. He darts in to land a fist against Aylesbury’s chest, and that’s when Aylesbury strikes. One minute Bastian is upright, the next he is on his back at Aylesbury’s feet. I clap my hands together as I move over to them.

  Aylesbury holds out a hand and helps Bastian to his feet. Bastian frowns at him like he still can’t understand what is happening. I love his confusion, it is satisfying.

  “Why can’t I just fight you, if Aylesbury can take you I’m pretty sure I’d be in with a chance?” I ask Bastian as I let a sardonic smile lift my lips.

  “Until we have sex I’m not fighting you, it’s getting hard enough functioning around you without tumbling around on the floor.”

  When Aylesbury hears that he quickly makes himself scarce, muttering about a shower. Bastian just glares at me rather expectantly. I’m hardly going to drop to the floor and demand him to take me.

  Not long after we had met, Bastian saved my life. When he infused the blood he gave me with his life force, it started the bonding ritual. Apparently, the bond wouldn’t have started if we hadn’t both been attracted to each other, but I’m still a bit dubious about that. I then gave him my blood to stop him from turning into a cursed monster, and while I hoped I hadn’t passed on my life force, I was now pretty sure I had. The last time we kissed, his eyes had gone black just like my eyes do when I’m highly emotional. This all resulted in a need to consummate what we had started.

  It also tended to make others want to stake their claim on me as the bond wasn’t complete. What Bastian doesn’t know, is if it hadn’t been for the incomplete bond, the bar fight wouldn’t have started last week, and I wouldn’t have needed rescuing. I wasn’t going to tell him that though, I was still trying my hardest to take it slowly, even though in the eyes of most immortals we are already married.

  I sigh when he moves closer to me. “You can get that idea right out of your head, I am not having sex with you in the middle of the training room floor.” I push him away and stalk off to the changing rooms for my own shower.

  After a quick shower and change I exit the changing rooms and head in to the lounge area where I see Quinn sat with Aylesbury deep in conversation, Dante is perched on the edge of the sofa almost crowding Quinn, like he doesn’t trust Aylesbury isn’t interested in her that way. I’m pretty sure Quinn’s into Dante the same way, but Quinn showed a lot of interest in Jared when he was about too. Dante leans over and touches Quinn’s leg as she laughs at Aylesbury. I smile at the gesture as I walk over.

  Dante’s attention swings my way first. “Hey, Scarlet, how was training today?” he says with a grin.

  “Fantastic,” I say sarcastically.

  “She’s just gutted she can’t beat me,” Quinn says, smiling as I come to sit opposite them.

  “More like I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “We can give it another go if you want, you did pretty well with Bastian that first time, until things went awry,” she says, smiling.

  “I think I have enough bruises today thanks, Quinn.”

  Raven walks in then and joins us. I had only seen her a couple of times since she recovered from being in her coma. She throws herself down on the sofa rather dramatically.

  �
��Hey, Raven, you okay?” I ask her.

  She mumbles something, and Dante shoots a look to Aylesbury. “I think we should leave these lovely ladies to their girl talk,” Dante says, he obviously heard something I didn’t.

  They both get up and quickly move through the door as if a disaster was about to befall them.

  Quinn looks at Raven, then asks, “What’s up, little bird?”

  Raven looks at her nails as she answers in a low voice. “I’ve been trapped here for two weeks with nothing to do, I’m beyond bored.”

  “Why are you trapped here? Surely you can go and do anything you want,” I ask her, moving to the edge of my seat.

  “Bastian won’t let me go anywhere, I even tried sneaking out last night. He just drags me back,” Raven answers. “I literally have no life anymore.”

  “Just give him time, Raven, you did almost die,” Quinn says as I roll my eyes.

  Raven notices and smiles.

  “I guess things still aren’t going so well with you guys?” Raven asks me.

  “Well, if he was more interested in getting to know me and less interested in getting me to bed, things might be going a lot differently.”

  “You do like him, though, don’t you?” Quinn asks, raising her eyebrows.

  “No,” I say far too quickly.

  Quinn says, “Yes, you do,” at the same time as Raven says, “Liar.” They both face each other and grin.

  “Give him time—

  “Quinn, don’t you pull that bullshit with me,” I tell her, cutting her off.

  Raven grins again. I look at her, noticing she has a similar smile to Bastian, but while her hair is dark like his, she looks nothing like him, she’s small for a Lycan and very delicate-looking. Even her personality is completely opposite to Bastian’s. She twirls her shoulder-length, straight hair as she looks at me with her hazel eyes.

  “I can see the cogs turning, Scarlet,” Quinn says.

  “I was just wondering what type of animal Raven turns into, or are you like Bastian?” I ask. She didn’t look anywhere near as strong as the others but looks could deceive you.

  “I’m a falcon. There aren’t many of us left, bird shifters are quite rare, yet another reason why I’m coddled,” she replies with a sad smile.

  “So, if you’re a Falcon, were your parents too?” I ask.

  “Yeah, both my mum and dad.”

  “So, Bastian’s like a freak of nature then,” I say to her, smiling at the ammunition she’s providing me.

  “You could say that,” she says, going all shy again.

  “Are your parents still around?” I ask, wondering if I’d ever have to do the whole meet-the-parents thing, which I have to admit, is not something I’d look forward to.

  “Our mum died giving birth to me, and, because they were mated, my dad didn’t really survive much longer without her. Don’t look so sad, I didn’t even know them, Bastian raised me, and it happened a very long time ago,” she says, offering me a weak smile.

  “It happens more than you think with mated couples, but because each Pack is like one big family there’s always someone to raise any young left behind,” Quinn explains to me, moving to sit on the table in front of me and Raven.

  “That’s good to know. I admit, I barely know anything about Lycans, and, what I do know, is mainly rumor and what I’ve learnt in the last few weeks,” I say, although I admit the rumors were correct about Bastian. He was scary, I just had no sense of self-preservation where he was concerned.

  “We could teach you,” Raven tells me. “As our queen, you’ll need to know everything eventually.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think that queen thing’s going to work out so well for me.”

  Quinn starts bouncing in her seat. “Why don’t we have a girls’ night out, me, you two, and Jessica? Jessica’s a bit stressed, Raven needs to get out. We can tell Scarlet some trade secrets while getting hammered and letting loose.”

  Raven’s eyes light up as I say, “Sounds like a really good idea. Plus, Bastian can’t say no if you’re going out with two of his Guardians.”

  “One of whom is his new second-in-command,” Quinn adds.

  “Wow, really. Who, Jessica? Is that why she’s stressed?” I ask Quinn.

  “Why would you think its Jessica and not me? I’m offended,” Quinn replies, holding her hands up to her chest, her mouth hanging open as she acts insulted.

  “I’m so pleased for her, she’ll make a good second,” I say, ignoring Quinn’s outburst.

  “Bastian really doesn’t tell you much, does he?” Raven says to me, like she’s surprised at this.

  “He’s been more interested in getting me to train with him since the incident with the wolves,” I say with a grimace.

  Quinn starts laughing. “Aylesbury said it was hilarious, I have to admit I have never known them do that before. You actually made some of them shift, they were that confused by your scent.”

  “Why would they all go nuts like that, I was literally just trying to ask a few questions. Half of them wanted to fight me, the other half wanted me.”

  “To be fair to the wolves, most people who mate tend to finish the job in one night,” Raven points out, pinning me with her stare. She does have a point.

  I glare at her, and say, “Not like I had a choice in the matter now, is it.”

  Dante chooses that moment to walk back in alone. His eyes find Quinn’s first before looking at Raven to see she’s giggling to herself.

  “Any interesting cases lately?” Dante asks me, grinning, he’d obviously heard the last part of the conversation.

  “I just found a missing race horse, if that counts,” I say enthusiastically, then mumble. “I’d probably have more interesting stuff if I could work with Lycans again, but no, Bastian’s banned that.”

  They all chuckle at that. Quinn stops laughing first to say, “How do you know he’s banned that?”

  “Because Aylesbury can’t keep his mouth shut where Bastian’s concerned, he actually told me any Lycan cases have got to go through him for the time being because Bastian said so,” I tell her.

  “Well, he’s point-blank refused to join the Pack, so I can only assume he’s doing what Bastian says to keep you safe,” Dante tells me.

  I scrunch my brow as a thought forms. “Doesn’t that make Aylesbury a Rogue? Can we have him arrested?”

  Quinn laughs then says, “It doesn’t work like that, Scarlet, Rogues are purely Lycans that have been turned, not born. Its Aylesbury’s decision, although I’m sure when you and Bastian finally get together he’ll have a swift change of heart.”

  We sit and chat a little bit more, but then I realize I’m Aylesbury’s ride and we both have work to do, so I say my goodbyes then walk through The Manor and back down to my truck. I don’t see Bastian at all, but Aylesbury is standing waiting for me, leaning against its grey, beat-up exterior. I really needed a new truck.

  Aylesbury gives me a look of exasperation as I move to manually unlock his side of the car by wiggling the key back and forth until it fits in the lock and actually turns.

  “You need a new car, Red,” he tells me, for the hundredth time this year.

  He waits for me to move around to the driver’s side and wrestle with that lock before he gets in.

  “I don’t need a new vehicle, my truck is perfectly adequate, and far more spacious than your tiny sardine can.”

  I turn the key in the ignition and the damn thing starts to crackle and sputter, I daren’t look over at Aylesbury, I can feel his eyes boring into the side of my head as I pump the gas and twist the key to no avail.

  “You absolute pile of crap! You better start!” I shout as the key breaks off in my hand. I sit there, staring at the broken piece of metal as Aylesbury starts to laugh, really hard.

  I turn to glare at him. “Carry on laughing at me, Aylesbury, I dare you.”

  A knock on the window makes me jump and I turn my glare towards Bastian. He waits for us both to get out of the car then
motions to a brand new shiny black truck parked in front of mine. He holds out the keys.

  “This one is now yours, to replace that heap of junk you insist on dragging around.”

  I gape at him and stare at the shiny black exterior of a really big spacious truck. I notice the number plate says SCAR13T. I narrow my eyes at Bastian.

  “Why does the number plate say Scarlet?”

  “Because I bought you a truck, I’m having your old one towed later.” He gives me that smug smile that’s starting to grow on me a little too much.

  Aylesbury takes the keys out of Bastian’s hand and walks over to the new truck, walking around it, opening every door.

  “Nope!” I say to Bastian

  “What do you mean, nope? Are you refusing my gift over this piece of shit?” he asks, motioning to the dinted door.

  “It’s too much, I’d never be able to afford a vehicle like that, even if I saved every penny I earned for the next few years.”

  “It’s also nonnegotiable. The documents are already filed, and in your name, and I can assure you I can afford every penny.” He grins at me again.

  Was there any point in arguing with him?

  “Fine,” I say, and turn to move over to see what has fascinated Aylesbury so much. I don’t make it one step before he grabs my arm and drags me back to him. He wraps his free arm around my back and pulls me close.

  “I think my gift deserves a kiss,” he says as his lips descend on mine.

  The minute our lips touch my whole body ignites, he senses my immediate reaction and growls before deepening the kiss. As his tongue slides against mine, I moan and wrap my arms around his back. My only thought, to get closer.

  Damn my hormones for making me weak.

  Bastian withdraws at the distant sound of a cough, I can barely register it as my heart pounds against my chest. He looks down at me, his eyes have gone fully black, proof he’s taken on my life essence.

  He rests his forehead against mine as our breathing slows, he seems unwilling to pull away just yet and I really do like the feel of his thick muscles under my hands.