Academy of Assassins (An Academy of Assassins Novel Book 1)

by Stacey Brutger

  “Change. You?” The word emerged as more of a growl, his teeth and jaw still not back to normal, and she knew it took a concentrated effort for him to speak in his current state.

  She must look bad if he was willing to try to communicate with her. “I’ll be fine after I have a shower. You all have ten minutes before I commandeer the bathroom, so you best hurry.”

  She didn’t wait for anyone to agree, but immediately went to her room and gathered her last set of clothing. She removed and cleaned her weapons, her body stiffening now the fight was over, a few of the nastier cuts still bleeding sluggishly. She gave the men an extra five minutes, then hobbled out of her room to get cleaned up. To her surprise, the bathroom was empty.

  She carefully locked the door, needing to be alone for a few minutes to process what happened. It was the one place where she was guaranteed they wouldn’t follow. The warm water felt so wonderful, she groaned. Blood and black sludge disappeared down the drain, and she stood under the spray until the water ran clean, and her muscles gradually unlocked.

  After twenty minutes, the silence was beginning to get on her nerves, her mind kept seeing Ascher disappear into the rift over and over again. She punched the wall to banish the image. The tile cracked, the skin across her knuckles split, but the pain did little to distract her, the cuts healing under a minute.

  She needed to do something.

  The injuries from the fight had scabbed over, leaving lines and punctures marks scattered all over her body, until she resembled Frankenstein’s monster…or maybe his kid sister. In a few more hours, the trauma under her skin would knit together, and the scars on her body would fade as if they never existed.

  Morgan toweled off and hastily dressed, then wiped the steam from the mirror. Her image shimmered before being replaced with that of her cousin. “I tried to warn you what would happen.”

  “Warn me?” Her hands curled into fists, and she cursed herself for foolishly leaving all her weapons in her room. It was all she could do not to lunge through the mirror and strangle him. “You killed dozens of innocent people and kidnapped twice that many.”

  “Whoa!” He held up his hands, shaking his head, his eyes concerned. “It wasn’t me. The primordial realm is on the brink of war. I was trying to protect you, but the other faction must have discovered your location. They’re the ones who attacked. They know you’re the one who will decide which side wins the war.”

  Morgan narrowed her eyes, uncertain if he was telling the truth or lying.

  She knew only one thing…she didn’t trust him.

  When she didn’t respond, Ethan gave a gentle smile. “You really don’t remember your past.”

  Morgan decided to bide her time and see if she could trip him up somehow. “No.”

  “You were born for one purpose…to save the two realms. Our world has split into two factions—one wants to remain here, while the other wants to invade Earth.” He heaved a sigh and shook his head. “Even when you were little, you knew your duty. You were the strongest of all of us, and volunteered to have the ritual marks placed on your back. You were going to seal the portals completely, but before the ritual could be completed, you were kidnapped and your memories wiped.”

  He peered off to the side, his face whitening, and he fidgeted nervously. “They’re coming. You need to come home and finish the ritual before it’s too late. I can open a portal, but it will last only a few seconds. You’ll have to hurry.”

  The truth and lies were so intermixed, she couldn’t sort them out.

  When she didn’t immediately jump at his offer, he scowled and changed tactics completely. He dropped the charade, going from meek and scared to hard and cruel. “You are as stubborn as always. If common decency doesn’t work, maybe this will help you decide.”

  The image whirled as he turned the mirror, and she sucked in a startled breath to see Ascher bound in chains in some dungeon.

  “Morgan? You okay?” She heard the guys knocking on the door behind her, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the image of a beaten and bloodied Ascher. His face was bruised almost beyond recognition, both of his eyes nearly swollen shut, his lips were split, and so was his brow. Knowing he could heal almost as quickly as she could told her how badly he was wounded.

  “You can get him back. All you need to do is turn yourself over to me.”

  Her back stiffened at his demand. “All you do is lie. How am I supposed to believe anything you say?”

  Humor lightened his face. “Not all lies. War is coming. If you weren’t so damned hard to locate, none of this would’ve happened. It took me years to find where you disappeared. I’ve tried to spare you, tried to find substitutes, but none of the other girls were strong enough.” His eyes turned hard. “They just weren’t you.”

  “Or maybe you found an incompetent cohort.” She noted his sneer and cocked her head, her own smile turning hard, more a baring of teeth. “Why don’t you come here and finish the ritual yourself? I’ll even wait right here for you.”

  The polite knocking on the door became pounding.

  “If you don’t open this door in the next minute, I’m going to break it down,” Ryder’s voice thundered into the room, echoing off the tiles.

  She didn’t have much time.

  “Coward,” she taunted. “Don’t you have enough balls to do it yourself? Or maybe what they say is true, and you don’t have enough power to open even a simple portal.”

  A snarl curled Ethan’s lips, his eyes darkening to murder. “I wasn’t lying to you. The Primordial World is on the verge of war. With the power in your blood, I will be able to permanently open a portal between worlds. While the others conquer your world, I will be left in charge to rule the primordial realm. By turning yourself over to me, you would be saving a life. Mine. They’re growing impatient. If I don’t keep my end of the deal soon, they will hunt me down and try the ritual using me as the sacrifice.”

  A shoulder hit the door.

  The wood shuddered but held.

  “Sounds like a fitting end.” Morgan smirked, knowing it would piss him off.

  A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You don’t get it, do you? I’m trying to help. With me gone, do you really think they will stop hunting you? At least I can make it nearly painless. They will tear you apart to gain control of your magic.”

  Another thud sounded behind her, and the door cracked ominously. Hands wiggled into a small opening, prying the door apart, removing large chunks of the wood paneling at a time.

  “I will take the third option, where I kill you, then them, and I live. I spent the past ten years of my life training to kill, and I’m very, very good.” Something he saw on her face made him blanch. “I’ll take those odds.”

  She spied Neil wiggling his small frame through the hole in the door and dragging himself into the bathroom. While she was distracted, primordial magic flickered to life. The runes along her spine sank deep, warmth spreading through her and wrapping around her until she couldn’t separate herself from it anymore.

  “Morgan, look out!” Neil shot to his feet, then ran toward her.

  Morgan whirled to see Ethan was chanting. A trickle of blood ran down his upper lip, his eyes turned milky, and the mirror began to ripple as a portal ripped open.

  The force of the blows against the door escalated and shards of wood peppered the room.

  She was being dragged toward the rift when Neil knocked into her. Instead of being sucked into the portal, her feet slipped out from under her, and her back slammed against the floor, knocking the breath out of her. She watched in horror as Neil was yanked forward in her place and inexplicably pulled toward the mirror. He twisted and reached for her, terror blanching his face white.

  Morgan heard the door splinter, but knew they wouldn’t get there in time. Ignoring the pain, she lunged for him, the tips of his fingers barely brushing against hers, when Ryder and Draven tackled her from the side and they all went skidding across the tile.

  “No!”
Despite her shout of denial, Neil was sucked into the primordial realm. As the portal began to close, she struggled against the guys’ hold, but the bastards were too strong. She slammed an elbow into Draven’s face, twisting and wiggling, using her feet and knees to land blows to Ryder.

  Neither of them gave more than an inch.

  “Someone get Kincade.”

  “Fuck, you have the luck of a leprechaun, you troublesome bitch.” Ethan looked pissed, his deathly pale complexion taking the starch out of his words. “You have twenty-four hours to turn yourself over to me, or your friends will die a very painful death in your place. If I can’t have you, their sacrifices might give me enough power to get me what I want.”

  Morgan struggled harder, accidently cracking her head against the tile floor as she tried to flip Draven off her, but they were like octopuses, and she was unable to escape their arms and legs no matter what she did. She watched the mirror slowly cloud over with silver.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Kincade’s roar thundered into the room. He didn’t hesitate to grab Ryder and drag him away by his feet, then fling him away.

  The wolf rolled and came to a stop, crouched on his hands and feet. “Stop. Don’t let her go.”

  But Kincade didn’t seem to hear him. He plucked Draven off her and tossed him across the room, where he crashed into the wall.

  Draven pushed his palm against his right temple and blood immediately trickled through his fingers. “She was going to trade herself for the others. She was almost taken. If not for Neil, she would be gone.”

  Kincade stood frozen, his chest heaving as he stared down at her like a soldier deciding what to do with his stolen plunder. He crouched, then grabbed her foot, and began to pull her toward him. She kicked out with her free leg, but he easily captured it, not deterred in the least. “I felt your fear and rage through the connection.”

  He spoke hoarsely, easily subduing her struggles by pinning her legs between his. He leaned forward until he was crouched over her, and she stilled when she spotted his deadly pale green eyes.

  He was a second away from snapping.

  “You were going to do it.” He sounded devastated.

  Shattered.

  “You would’ve left me behind with no way to get to you.” He cupped her face, his hands gentle but firm. “You would’ve abandoned me.”

  He gathered her to his chest, and she finally noticed he was shaking. She hesitantly touched him, felt him shudder, and shot a concerned glance at Ryder.

  “When a witch dies, her protectors usually die within a year. They generally throw themselves into one battle after another until they’re killed, eventually driven insane by the loss.”

  Morgan’s breath halted in horror, the world narrowing to a pinpoint. “I didn’t know.”

  A lame excuse.

  She wanted to protest that she had no intention of dying, but she honestly hadn’t considered the risks, her thoughts consumed with killing her cousin and saving Ascher and Neil.

  Ryder limped out of the bathroom, Draven staggering behind him, leaving her alone with Kincade. She wanted to call them back, but bit her lip against the urge.

  She did this.

  Meaning it was her job to fix it.

  “You were leaving.”

  “But I didn’t.” She tried to pull away, but his hold was set in stone. “I’m here.”

  It was like he couldn’t hear her, his mind locked away in his own private hell. Morgan hitched her leg over his thigh, then used her hips to flip him until she was on top. It allowed a precious few inches to separate them. His hands flexed and clamped down on her hips, preventing her from escaping.

  His eyes made it impossible to breathe.

  Anguish and longing were scored into his face, and she knew if she made the wrong move, he would shut himself away from her forever, reverting to the unfeeling assassin she first met. If she destroyed this bond between them, she would be no better than Catalina.

  “Kade…”

  At the shortened version of his name, his eyes took on a deep glow, his gaze dropping to her mouth in complete fascination, and he gave a tortured groan. “Please.”

  Unexpected heat flared between them, and her lips tingled with need, her nerves fluttering like small furies had taken up residence in her stomach.

  She’d never voluntarily kissed anyone before, except once…him.

  He had been her first.

  And right then, she wanted nothing more than to kiss him again.

  She hesitantly leaned forward, lightly brushing her lips against his. His guttural groan sparked a deep yearning for more, setting her heart to thumping against her ribs.

  This time when her lips touched his, he jackknifed into sitting position, wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and ran his hands up her back, taking complete control of the kiss. His lips were hot and demanding and so damned good, she wrapped herself around him, unable to get enough.

  He tasted intoxicating, each drag of his lips pulling her deeper under his spell, until she wanted more. She ran her hands across his shoulders, his skin as smooth as polished marble, but so very hot to the touch.

  She marveled at the flex of muscles under her fingertips, wanting to explore him further, and cursed when her fingers tangled in the clothes that separated them. When she scrapped her nails down his back in frustration, he growled deep in his chest, pulling her harder against him, and she gasped in shocked pleasure, the wild, wicked emotions wonderful and hypnotizing…and so consuming they scared the crap out of her.

  It was too much, too soon.

  How could she fall for someone she just met, who acted like he hated her half the time?

  If she allowed herself to care any deeper for him, it would devastate her if things between them fell apart.

  As if sensing her conflicted emotions, Kincade eased back with one last nip, then pressed his forehead against hers, as if unable to put more distance between them. “You’re going to kill me.”

  Her heart spasmed, and she covered his mouth with a shaky hand, stricken at his husky comment. “Don’t ever say that again.”

  The words hit too close to home.

  When she pushed away, he released her… reluctantly. When he helped her to her feet, he stayed within touching distance, hovering close enough to snatch her away from danger. The few minutes of no worries, no fears, evaporated, and everything came rushing back.

  “We’re going to get them.” Kincade hesitantly touched her lower back, the confident man suddenly uncertain of his welcome.

  The hair on the back of her neck rose at the hard note in his voice, and she whirled on him. “You are not going to leave me behind.”

  “They’re hunting for you.” His voice was hard and implacable. “You’re too important—”

  “Bullshit!” She thumped his chest with her fists, but he didn’t even have the grace to stumble back. “That is not how this group is going to work. None of you are expendable. Understand?”

  She began to pace, Kincade watching her with frustrated, calculating eyes, and she knew he was going to try to slip away without her. “Who is to say you leaving isn’t part of their plan? As soon as you enter their realm, they’ll know I’m not with you—that you left me behind…alone…vulnerable.”

  A scowl hardened his face. “Why do I get the feeling you would make sure of it?”

  She gave him a sharp smile. “I have no idea what you mean.”

  His shoulder’s slumped in defeat, and she almost felt bad.

  “Is there anything I can say to make you stay?”

  Morgan was already shaking her head and snorted. “Not on your life. You’re the one who wanted to be a team, so from now on we work as one.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  “We have twenty-four hours to rescue the students who’ve been taken.”

  Morgan avoided looking at Kincade as she spoke to the guys in the main area of their barracks. She wasn’t ready to face him yet after the explosive kiss they sh
ared. One look, and everyone would know what happened, and she wasn’t ready to deal with anything but the mission.

  Draven narrowed his eyes on her, sensing what she wasn’t saying. “What happens after twenty-four hours?”

  Morgan lifted her chin, swallowing back the turmoil churning in her gut. “I either turn myself over to my cousin, or he will kill all of them in my place.”

  She would do what she must to save Ascher, Neil, and the rest of the students.

  This was her fault.

  If not for her cousin, none of this would have happened.

  “Fuck.” Draven stood abruptly, his chair clattering to the floor as he began pacing. “I take it you have a plan? Because I’m not turning you over to that bastard.”

  Morgan recognized the determination in their eyes.

  The team would never allow her to surrender herself.

  She needed to think of something brilliant, and soon, or the students’ deaths would be on her head.

  “There is only one plan.” Morgan wouldn’t accept anything less. “We get back our people.”

  Something kept pestering her about the attack, and she frowned as she tried to pin down what was bothering her. “Which brings up the question of how they managed to open three rifts in such a confined space.”

  Kincade’s silence spoke volumes.

  “You know something.”

  “When we were clearing the auditorium, we found three witches with their throats slit. They weren’t even aware of anyone sneaking up behind them until it was too late. A sigil was carved into each of their foreheads.”

  Morgan felt sick to her stomach. “Someone in the school is helping Ethan. Why?”

  “Power.” Atlas gave her a cynical look, his expression softening a little when he spotted her confusion. “Why does your cousin want you so badly?”

  Morgan didn’t want to tell them. She could handle being hunted wherever she went, looked at with either suspicion or avarice, but it would destroy her to have them look at her the same way.