The Thorn Chronicles-Books 1-4: Kissed, Destroyed, Secrets, and Lies

by Kimberly Loth

  “She’s right, Dante, this is more than just a fancy spa. We need work spaces.”

  “What is this place?” I asked, looking around in awe. The space was gorgeous, all blue and gold. “Did Ginny help with the design?”

  Dante scoffed. “Pahlease, Ginny doesn’t know the first thing about interior design. She only dresses people. We work together for the perfect package. But Naomi still won’t tell me what it is.” He looked pointedly at Naomi.

  She sighed. “I did tell you. It’s an exclusive club by invitation. Women only. Now, I also told you I needed 150 rooms done by tomorrow night. Do you think your crew can handle that?”

  He nodded. “But the common areas won’t be finished and the pool still needs some work.”

  “Not a big deal. I appreciate you working on such short notice. The pool can wait.”

  “I’m going to check on my crew. Ta ta.”

  He pranced off down the hall. Naomi waited until he disappeared into an elevator, then spun and looked at me with a wide grin.

  “What do you think?”

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “It’s our headquarters.”

  “For your new group?”

  She put her arm around me. “For our new group.”

  I was happy for her, I really was, but I could never truly be a part of this new group. I wished I could tell her.

  “This place is massive. How many rooms does it have?”

  “A thousand. It will be a while until we fill them all, but maybe someday.”

  “So, you expect the group from Jena to arrive tomorrow night?”

  “We are having a council meeting tomorrow and I expect that group will be the first thing they discuss. Realistically it will be a couple of days until the women get here, but I want to be ready just in case.”

  “Are you going to tell Puck about this place tomorrow then? It seems logical to let him know where you are going to put the girls.”

  Naomi shook her head. “No. He knows they will placed in hotel rooms until they can be safely reunited with their families. I expect he’ll have enough problems to deal with that he won’t bother following up with me.”

  More lies and secrets. Damn. I hated this.

  “This seems so convoluted. I think we should just tell him.”

  Naomi frowned. “I’m not ready for that yet. I still don’t even know how this is all going to work, and I need to know at least that much before I can bring him in on it.”

  Elizabeth sniffed. “Honey, you’ll be lucky to keep that boy when he discovers all this.”

  Naomi sighed. “I know. But it’s for the best.”

  Elizabeth patted her on the shoulder. “You just keep telling yourself that, dear. Now these old legs can’t stand anymore.” She plopped herself down on a cushy couch and Andrea joined her.

  Beth and I sat across from them and Naomi found a chair.

  “We need a name,” I said.

  “Any ideas?” said Naomi.

  “Well, somewhere in the title we should have the word woman, girl, sister, or something like that, since it’s women only,” Elizabeth suggested.

  Naomi nodded. “I agree. Any other ideas?”

  “What do we do that is unique?” asked Andrea.

  “We strip people of their powers,” I answered.

  Beth giggled. “We could be the Strippers.”

  I rolled my eyes, but Andrea picked it right up. “We should be more specific than that. We are the Vegas Strippers.”

  I chimed in. “Yeah, and we could dress all sexy. The boys wouldn’t know what hit them until it’s long over.”

  Naomi was getting impatient. “We want them to respect us. Try something else.” That girl had no sense of humor.

  “We are Shades. Maybe The Shade Sisters,” said Elizabeth. The nunnery again. I wondered if Naomi had slipped and said something to Elizabeth.

  “Exactly what is our purpose?” I asked.

  “We are going to make sure the Guardians and Destroyers all follow the established rules,” said Naomi.

  “So we are like spies?”

  “Yeah, I guess. We’ll be out among them, but secretly. Obviously, some will know us, but I plan to make it so most of the girls are not known by either party. None of us will ever be able to be out in the field. Everyone knows us.”

  “Let’s be that then. We can use it as an acronym. Sisters Protecting Young Shades. SPYS.”

  Naomi smiled. “Love it.”

  Elizabeth, Andrea, and Beth all nodded.

  The council meeting was held in the library at Alejandro’s house. It was larger than most council meetings since it included all of us girls. We were deep in the middle of all their problems.

  Puck started the meeting by doing all the introductions. I hadn’t actually met most of them. Naomi seemed to know a few, and one old man gave her a big hug. His mouth dropped open when he saw Elizabeth.

  “Lizzy,” he said. She looked up at him and blinked for a few seconds.

  “Neal?”

  They embraced and it was a little weird watching them. There was an energy between that felt wrong somehow. Puck narrowed his eyes. Neal and Elizabeth looked at each other for a couple more minutes and then both went and mingled with other people.

  Beth turned to me. “How was your little adventure with Puck?”

  I shrugged. “It was an adventure. I’m pissed because I lost Raven and Julian. Also, we’ve wasted too much time already, we need to get those girls in Jena.”

  “I expect that we will be going out on rescue missions after today’s meeting. Between Jena and Tombstone, Puck’s got a mess on his hands.”

  Andrea interrupted. “Not to mention the havoc Julio is creating while we are gone. We used to intercept three or four girls a week before we left. Only one every few months ever got through. Now there are dozens every week.”

  Something occurred to me then. “That’s why you went on jobs with Morgan when you were in Tombstone. You were rescuing the girls.”

  She nodded. “Beth always went out with Wyatt. Did she ever tell you the real reason she broke up with him?”

  Beth scowled. “That’s not Sunday’s business. Especially not now.”

  Andrea grinned. “Of course it is. Beth befriended you because she wanted to get you away from Wyatt. She dumped him because with her unique talents we needed her to be available to respond to calls from any of the Elizabeth’s girls. The last three girls we missed were because she was out with Wyatt and couldn’t get away. We were going to have him hook up with another Shade from our group so we could monitor his movements. We didn’t know what you were, so in the beginning you were just in the way. But it worked out for the best. Look at us now. At the Guardian headquarters.”

  I crossed my arms and looked at Beth. “This true?”

  She nodded. “But don’t tell me you didn’t have plans for me. You knew I was a Shade practically from the moment we met. You wanted to know what I could do.”

  She wasn’t too off base. This probably wasn’t the best time to bring up past mistakes. We were all friends now and that was all that mattered. Well, sort of. Beth and Andrea would never be friends. They’d been frenemies long before I ever met them. They pretended to get along, but really they hated each other.

  Jordan came up behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. “We should probably sit down. I think Puck wants to start the meeting.”

  Jordan led me to the nearest couch, where we were joined by Andrea and Beth. Elizabeth and Naomi sat on another couch. The rest of the council sat in chairs that were spread out across the room. Every eye was on Puck.

  He explained exactly what happened when we visited the group in Jena and what happened with the couple from northern California. Thankfully, he left out the part where it was my fault that they escaped.

  “What about Jordan’s car? Can we have the police track it?” asked Neal.

  “Already done. So far, nothing.” Puck ran his hand th
rough is colorful hair. “On top of all that, you remember that group in Tombstone? Apparently, Julio survived and our two spies have gone silent. I’m afraid something has happened to them. We’ve got a ton of work to do.”

  One of the men that I didn’t know spoke up. “Puck, you’ve got another problem that you haven’t talked about.”

  Puck turned to him. “What’s that?”

  The man pointed at me. “The girls. What are you going to do about them?”

  Puck scowled. “They’re going to join us, that’s what. This is not a problem. Now, who is willing to lead the rescue effort in Tombstone? I will be going to Jena.”

  “Wait,” the guy said. “This is a problem. We know the girls are dangerous. How are you going to ensure that we, the real Guardians, don’t get hurt in the meantime?”

  Naomi’s face went beet red and her fists clenched, but she didn’t say anything. This was rare for her. Usually she was up for a fight with any Guardian if she thought he was being dismissive.

  Puck’s face was set. “We have real problems to deal with. This is not one of them. As soon as Naomi is ready, she will join our ranks and you will treat her like any other Guardian. If you can’t handle that, then maybe you shouldn’t be on my council.”

  The man crossed his arms and sat back, apparently with no more follow-up questions.

  Neal spoke up. “I’d like to lead the rescue efforts in Tombstone. I’ve dealt with Julio before.”

  Puck nodded. “Okay. I don’t want any of the girls on the trip to Tombstone.”

  Naomi stood up. “Why not?”

  “For one thing, I need you to come to Jena with me. We have to get three-hundred ladies out of there. Not only that, I can’t risk losing you to that rose. Until the Tombstone situation is under control, I don’t want any of you girls anywhere near it.”

  Andrea spoke up. “I’m going on the Tombstone mission to rescue Morgan. You can’t stop me.”

  Puck sighed, exasperated. “Look, I promise Neal will get him out of there. He’ll do a much better job if he doesn’t have to worry about the girls on his rescue team getting abducted. Plus, I already said I need you in Jena. I can’t pull it off on my own.”

  “But you’ll have Elizabeth, Naomi, Beth, and me. You can let Andrea go,” I said. Andrea was more worried about Morgan than any of us. They were best friends before they finally got together. Now he was on his own.

  Puck pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know how else to say this. Tombstone is our biggest threat right now. It’s not a threat to myself or any of my men, but all of you girls are at risk. Sunday, you of all people should understand that. You lost your power to the rose, do you really want one of your friends to go through the same thing? Until that rose is destroyed, I don’t want you or any other girl in Tombstone.” He turned to Andrea. “Morgan would never forgive himself if you lost your power in the fight to rescue him. Neal is one of the most powerful Guardians I have. He’ll get him out of there.”

  “I’ll go with him too. Andrea, I promise, nothing bad will happen to him,” said Jordan.

  Andrea huffed but she didn’t argue anymore.

  Naomi stood up next to Puck. “And Sunday, dear, you aren’t going with to Jena either. I need you to stay here with Elizabeth.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because someone needs to be ready to help the girls when we get back here. You need to be well rested and ready to hit the ground running. That’s a good job for the both of you.”

  “But I’m the only one they’ve met. They won’t trust you.”

  “She’ll be with me. They’ll trust her,” said Puck.

  I backed down. This wasn’t over, but I didn’t want to pick a fight in the middle of the council meeting. In a way I hoped that Naomi had something much bigger planned for me, she just didn’t want to share it in front of Puck.

  The rest of the meeting was uneventful. They worked out the plan to rescue Wyatt and Morgan. I was surprised that Puck was sending around a hundred men down to Tombstone. He must have felt really threatened by Julio and his group.

  The group going to Jena was very small: Puck, all the council members who weren’t going to Tombstone, and all the girls, except Elizabeth and me. I really hoped Naomi had something big planned for me.

  As soon as the meeting was over, I cornered her. “Can I talk to you?”

  She looked over at Puck who was chatting with Neal.

  “Sure, let’s go to your room.”

  As soon as the door clicked shut, I sprung. “Why don’t you want me to go?”

  “Because I need you here. You and Elizabeth will be at our new headquarters getting things ready. Once the women arrive, I want you to assess each one of them and begin training right away. I don’t want you tired out from the trip, plus I don’t trust Elizabeth entirely. Keep an eye on her.”

  “You trust me?” I asked, surprised.

  “Sunday, you’ve proven that you are the only one I can completely trust. We are in this together. I mean it when I say that I need you. I can’t do this alone. If you insist on going to Jena, I’ll let you. I’m not your mother and I don’t want to be your boss, but I think your skills will be better utilized here. I can’t exactly leave Beth or Andrea with Elizabeth and expect them to do the right thing if it turns out that she’s up to something. They are loyal to her.”

  “I just don’t like feeling left behind.”

  “I know. Hey, you wanna come to dinner with us tonight? Puck is meeting with Jason and he’s bringing his wife, which means it will be nearly impossible for me to pay attention to whatever the boys will discuss. I could use your ears.

  I nodded. Naomi was no dummy. I wondered if she already knew my secret. But if she did, then why wouldn’t she say anything?

  That night, Jordan met me in the foyer. Puck and Naomi joined us a few minutes later.

  “I didn’t realize you were coming,” I said.

  He took my hand and kissed me on the cheek. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  “No. But I know that you do undercover work for Puck. And tonight we’re going to dinner with the Master Destroyer himself. Won’t that blow your cover?”

  “Most of the undercover work I do never gets anywhere near the Master Destroyer, so I’ll be fine. Besides, I want to meet him. He’s actually been one of the best Master Destroyers we’ve had in a long time.”

  We drove to a fancy restaurant down on the strip. We were greeted warmly and the waitress brought us drinks even before we sat down. A young blond woman squealed when she saw Naomi and crushed her in a hug.

  Naomi finally introduced us. “Tiffany, this is Jordan and Sunday.”

  I smiled at the girl and was immediately reminded of Ricki, with her designer clothes and knock off Coach bag. I wondered how Naomi attracted friends like that. We sat in a large round booth. Thankfully I managed to get the seat next to Puck, to make it easier to eavesdrop. Jordan sat on my other side.

  I quickly discovered why Jordan had been brought along. If Tiffany was meant to be a distraction for Naomi, Jordan was meant to be a distraction for me. He kept touching me. He slid his hand under my hair and massaged the back of my neck. Just when my eyes fluttered shut, a shoe connected with my shin. I jerked and looked at Naomi who was staring daggers at me.

  Puck and Jason were right next to me, speaking in low voices, and I couldn’t concentrate on what they were saying.

  I nodded at Naomi and removed Jordan’s hand off my neck. He immediately found his way to my knee. Geesh. That boy could not take a hint.

  Then the food came. There was one thing Jordan loved more than me, and that was food. Finally I was able to focus on my mission; I listened in on Puck and Jason’s conversation.

  “How do you keep control over your people?” asked Puck.

  “I can give a command and they just respond. Naomi knows how it works. Guardians don’t work the same way. I don’t envy the position you are in.”

  “I wish you’d just take them. It doesn�
�t sound like they’ll make good Guardians.”

  Jason snorted. “I’ve got my hands full, thanks. It doesn’t work like that and you know it.”

  “Do you have secret Destroyer groups?”

  Jason shrugged. “Maybe. If we do, I don’t know about them. You forget they have to listen to me. If I give a command they all know it and they have to comply. Unless…”

  He took a bite of his steak and I listened as hard as Puck did.

  “Unless what?”

  Jason took a drink and swallowed. “You know how I was spying on the Destroyers for you?”

  “You mean how you betrayed me to the Destroyers.”

  “Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I could disobey the Master Destroyer whenever I reverted to the Guardian energy. Kai did the same thing. If there is a group that has learned how to be both, then we’re both in trouble, bro. Because being able to fully utilize both powers would put them above all of us.”

  “What about Shades? Do think Shades could create their own groups?”

  “Maybe. But it wouldn’t make much sense since they can’t use much power until they make a decision. Well, except for the girls. They seem to display a lot of power even before they choose.”

  Puck creased his eyebrows. “How do you know about the girls?”

  “Well, I figured you had a few, I should probably too.”

  “I don’t have any. Naomi is still a Shade.”

  “What about that one?” he asked pointing at me.

  “What about her?”

  “She’s a Guardian.”

  Puck’s eyes flashed to Naomi who was deep in conversation with Tiffany.

  “Not her fault, and that’s not public knowledge,” Puck said with a nod in Naomi’s direction.

  Jason raised his eyebrows.

  “So, how many girls have you recruited? Did you forget what Naomi’s mother did?”

  “Only a few. I’m keeping a very close eye on them. Tiffany’s starting to get jealous.” He chuckled. “But it’s been interesting. They’re ruthless. Better Destroyers than most of my men. Their powers seem heightened somehow.”

  Tiffany gasped. “Is that Brad Pitt?” she said loud enough for most of the restaurant to hear. Of course it wasn’t, but everyone still looked. People laughed and Tiffany started rambling to Jason about how she swore the man who’d just walked past us was Brad Pitt.