“Back to my plan. If we win this then Vex said he will be at the finish line with Silas’s sisters to claim his prize. That’s where we confront him. Silas can collect her sisters, but we don’t give him his precious prize. We shoot him full of iron bullets which will hopefully weaken him as he is part Fae, then I use the stone to destroy him,” I say, touching the gun in the back of my waistband.
“I can see a few holes in your plan, Red,” Aylesbury tells me. “Firstly, how are you going to use the stone to destroy Vex when you can’t even hold it without passing out?”
Bastian cut me off as I open my mouth to answer him. “Leave that to me, by the time we reach the finish line she’ll be able to wield the stone.”
I frown at Bastian, unsure how he thinks he will achieve that, but then I suppose he is a demigod.
“Secondly, what’s to stop Vex teleporting out the minute you shoot him,” Aylesbury counters again.
“Actually,” Raven says, standing up. “The prize this time is a star—
“They’re a myth and have nothing to do with stopping Vex teleporting,” Aylesbury cuts in.
“If you let me finish,” Raven says, getting mad at him. “This star is only the second one to ever fall in Faerie. It cannot be moved from where it fell and is currently protected by a shield, spelled so that only a member of the winning team may claim it. A star holds more magic than any living creature from both realms. Every day that passes diminishes the magic inside the star. The star fell a week and a half ago, making this tournament a race against time to reach the prize. Vex will know all this, which means he will want to use the star as soon as its in his possession, which means he won’t teleport out straightaway.
“If you shoot him full of iron before the star is passed to him, he will be too distracted by both the poison in his system and using the star before its power weakens further. This should give you enough time to use the stone against him.”
Aylesbury looks at Raven, shocked that she has managed to find information that is extremely valuable and use it to help plug the holes in my plan.
I smile at her just as Jessica runs up the stairs and says, “Adam is here for you, Scarlet.”
“Show him up, Jessica,” I reply as Bastian begins to growl.
I turn to him and say, “You wanted me to run the business here and sleep here, you can’t expect me not to receive visitors here too.”
“He touches you and I’ll end him,” Bastian says before sprawling on one of the sofas at the side of Jinx. He strokes her head, looking like he’s relaxed, but I can tell by the way his muscles shift under his shirt that he’s ready to pounce.
I roll up the sleeves of my shirt as I move over to the table and snag a piece of bacon from the table where Steve, Cain, and Dante are digging into bacon, sausage, and eggs. As I swallow the delicious morsel, I turn to see Adam walk up the stairs.
He walks straight over to me, a purpose in his stride. As he looks me over, he frowns. I wonder if it’s because, since I returned, I had refused to entertain both my Nymph and Fae forms which put me back to masquerading as a Human. He looks me over again and smiles. “Scarlet, I see you still aren’t healing. You know, if your mate can’t do the job properly—
He doesn’t finish the sentence as Bastian slams into him from the side. Adam laughs and throws his hands up in surrender. “I’m joking, I’m joking,” he says.
Bastian doesn’t calm down but moves to stand at my side, his arm possessively draped around my shoulder. I wiggle trying to dislodge him, but he just anchors me to him further.
“Adam, why are you here?” I ask.
“I’ve come to claim my favour,” he says, turning his attention back to Bastian. “I’ve watched the news and I want to be one of the members of your team in The Enduring Tournament.”
Chapter Five
“Why would you want to enter the games?” I ask Adam, gaping at him. Why anyone would volunteer for that is beyond me.
“It doesn’t matter because he’s not going,” Bastian says.
I pull myself out from under Bastian’s giant arm, turn to him and say, “Why not? He will be a massive help. The fact that he can charm metal alone means he would be an advantage to our team. Just imagine all the instant weapons.”
“Are you forgetting the bargain you made with me, Lycan?” Adam says to Bastian, ignoring me completely. “You said you would give me anything if I could find you someone that could teleport. All I asked in return was a favour of my choosing to be granted whenever and wherever I wanted, no questions asked. Without my help, you wouldn’t have her back right now.”
“Shit! I did agree to that,” Bastian says. “But if you use this favour to stab me in the back as you did in Faerie, then I will make you suffer before I kill you.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Adam says with a shrug.
“Then why did you kiss Scarlet in that bar knowing I was watching you from across the street, you know she’s mine and yet you keep conning her into kissing you.”
So, he had been watching me when that happened. I had wondered how he had known.
Both Bastian and Adam take a step towards each other, with me sandwiched in the middle. I try pushing at them to get them to separate but they don’t budge. Being squashed between this much testosterone was stifling.
“You can’t blame me that you only partially mated with her. It makes her very… alluring,” Adam says, smiling as Bastian presses further into me trying to get to Adam.
“Adam!” I shout, gaining his attention. “Stop provoking him, we need to work as a team in these games if we are all to survive, and we can’t do that if you two are constantly at each other’s throats.”
Adam grins and backs off. “I’m willing to play nice so long as he agrees to.”
Bastian grunts and steps away from me then turns his attention to the breakfast platters waiting on the table. Steve, Cain, and Dante have all finished up their breakfast, clearly not interested in the conflict with Adam and Bastian. They move their plates to the kitchen as Aylesbury sits down with Raven and Silas.
I move over to Dante and Cain who are now leaving and say, “Have either of you seen Quinn, I haven’t noticed her around for the last couple of days.”
Cain and Dante share a look before saying, “No,” at the exact same time. Something is happening, but I wasn’t sure what. I watch them both leave then move to stand over Aylesbury, so I can steal food from his plate.
“Adam, can you make iron bullets?” I ask him while chewing a mouthful of bacon.
“No, working with iron makes me just as sick as any Fae. I can procure some for you though. Why do you need bullets, I thought everyone mainly used swords now?” he asks, frowning a little at me.
I explain the plan to him so he’s on the same track as us. Bastian gives me a look that I take to mean he doesn’t want Adam to know, but I trust him even though I know he’s probably got his own agenda.
Our team now consists of me, Bastian, Aylesbury, Silas, Jared, and Adam. Although I’m unsure what state Jared will be delivered in. I ask Bastian, “who will you be asking to join us now we already have six team members.”
“I made some calls when you were moving offices, you’ll be meeting the final members of the team tomorrow,” he says, returning his glare to Adam who has made himself at home and is sitting next to Aylesbury, eating eggs, and grinning at Bastian’s scowl.
“So, you’re not using the Guardians?” I ask him, perplexed that he wouldn’t use his elite team of Lycans. They were meant to be the strongest and best warriors the Lycans had. Even some of the best Alphas never made it into Bastian’s team of Guardians.
“I’ll need them here,” he says, not elaborating further.
I find my thoughts drifting back to Quinn and wondering why she’s not around. I’ll be needing her help again to clear my cases as I’m not sure how long we will be gone for.
Aylesbury interrupts my thought process, “Quit stealing my food,” he says as I reach
again for another piece of bacon. As I shove the last piece off his plate into my mouth, he swivels in his seat to pin me with a glare.
After everyone has eaten, Aylesbury and Adam go to locate the supplies we will need for the games. The list we had come up with over breakfast was endless. Bastian has disappeared again, leaving me alone with Raven and Silas. We decide to go back down to the office and start compiling what little information we have about Vex, so we have a backup plan in case we can’t bring him down.
We sit at the big, round oak table located in front of the windows in the office. Raven has her laptop out and is starting to type up the information that both Silas and I give her. I sit to her left, tapping a pencil against the countertop while watching people as they walk in and out of Rick’s bar, some carrying their take away breakfast orders.
Silas sighs loudly then says, “So far we have down that Vex is the original identity. Derren, your dad, my dad, Summer, and Rozen are the other identities we know for definite. I remember a few more, Delaney, Smithson, and Rhodes. But he won’t use those identities when he knows I know who they are.”
I gasp before saying, “Delaney? As in my old boss at the Guild?”
“Yes, how else was he meant to manipulate you once you left the orphanage. I’m pretty sure he had someone on the inside there as well, and there was also a teacher at school, but I’m unsure which one,” she tells me.
I knew he had integrated himself completely in my life, but I didn’t realise it was to that extent. Which meant, “Do you think he could have taken over a Lycan? Someone close?” I say to Raven.
“I’m not sure that he could pull that off, our sense of smell is too acute. Each person and their animal smell is unique, for example, you can tell that someone is a puma or wolf based on their smell. Your scent, for example, is very similar to Bastian’s, which is how we know you are mostly mated. Once you are fully mated your scent will be the same with the subtle difference of male and female. We can always smell one of our own.
“Taking this into account, I doubt Vex could fool our sense of smell. Then again, he seems to be extremely clever and adept at manipulation, so he could very well fool us,” Raven tells me, proving what a brilliant idea it was to hire her, she had a lot of potential in research and admin. It seemed like she could store a lot of facts that could help us out in a big way in the future.
“Silas, now we are talking about smell, how could Adam and other Fae tell that I was partially mated?” I ask her, curious as my sense of smell was pathetic in comparison to the Lycans.
“I have absolutely no idea unless it’s something that happens with age. As far as I can tell, you seem the same as you did at school. Though don’t forget I was raised by a psychopath who only wanted to influence and manipulate the world around him so that everyone fell into the path he had chosen. Plus, in Faerie, I’m considered a baby. You’re not really classed as anything else until you reach your first century.”
There was so much I still didn’t know but, as Silas just said, we were essentially babies in the immortal world.
“So, we basically have a small list of names and the powers they have, but this list could be a hell of a lot longer based on the fact that Vex has been around for thousands of years.” I sigh and shuffle my chair closer to Raven’s so that I can see the list we have so far.
Vex – Fae / demigod – Soul Stealer
Derren – Fae – Teleportation
Rozen – Demon – Demon Magic
Jareth (Scarlet’s dad) – Fae / Human – Shifting
Summer (Silence’s mum) – Fae – Truth
Delaney – Human – No powers, works at The Guild
Smithson – Human – No powers, works for The Council
Rhodes – Fae – Fire
“Raven, are you sure that’s my dad’s name? Jared never mentioned it before,” I say, looking at the unfamiliar name now associated with my dad.
“Based on the information you and Silas gave me and the search I conducted on Jared, yes, it is,” she says before she starts another search on Delaney, Smithson, and Rhodes.
“Silas, what about the documents that you were compiling on Vex, can you remember any other names from them?” I ask her, disappointed that we still barely knew anything.
“I had a lot more names, most of which I can’t remember but, on the rest, I have no definite proof. We haven’t added my father yet to the list. His name was Fallon and he had the power of coercion.” Silas’s eyes go dull when she mentions her father, and I again feel a slight stab in my heart as I think that she lost him because of me.
With no more names to add to the list, we all go to our desks to research what names we do have, hoping that the information we compile now will help us if the plan doesn’t work. By mid-afternoon, I’m almost falling asleep at my desk. I look over to see that Silas has already got her face in her arms on the desk and her breathing has evened out.
I get up and leave Raven tapping away at her keyboard, still looking fresh-faced. I wave goodbye and let her know I’m going upstairs for a quick nap.
I sluggishly walk upstairs and into Bastian’s room, I have my shirt unbuttoned and my trousers pooled around my ankles before I realise I’m not alone in the room. The tiredness of a few seconds ago disappears as I whirl around to face Bastian who has frozen in place in front of the closet. Unfortunately, I whirl around too quickly and get tangled in my trousers which makes me trip and face-plant the bed. As I quickly untangle myself and stand back up, I see Bastian edging towards the door.
“We need to talk,” I say to him.
Chapter Six
Bastian ignores me, his eyes zero in on his escape as he makes his way to the door, but I get there before he does and manage to slide my body between his and the door.
His jaw clenches shut as I say, “Why are you avoiding me?” I let my fury show in the glower I give him.
“You’re actually mad at me after you’ve avoided consummating our bond for months! I swear, wench, you are the most aggravating person I have ever met,” he grinds out at me as he takes a step back, separating my body from his.
“And that, right there, has been my point all along!” I shout back, taking a step forward, angling my head because he’s so damn tall. “Would we have ever bonded normally when we wind each other up so much?”
Something changes, a spark in his black eyes and he takes a big step towards me pinning me to the door, his eyes flash again before he claims my lips in the most passionate kiss I have ever experienced. I push my body into his and kiss him back just as fervently. He moves his hands up to hold my face, while his tongue clashes with my own. I realise this is also exactly why we are right together because there is no denying the attraction and passion.
He slides his hands down my arms pulling my shirt off as he goes, leaving me in front of him in my underwear. He then takes a small step back and removes his T-shirt, his arms crossing over as he pulls it over his chest, revealing the tantalising ripples of hard muscle underneath. I inhale sharply as I feel the heat pool in my core. He inhales through his nose and I know he can smell my arousal.
I smile as his eyes become even darker than they were before and step towards him, I place my hand on his chest and trace the contours of his thick muscles as he claims my lips in another hot and semi-brutal kiss. He places his hands on my sides and growls low in his throat before pushing me against the door again, grinding his hips against my own.
I let out a small cry of pain when his hand connects with the unhealed stab wound at my side. He breaks the kiss and backs away leaving my semi-naked body exposed with only the door to hold me up.
“What’s the matter?” I ask him as he stands there looking at me with a horrified expression.
“I hurt you, I knew I would,” he says, his voice low as he moves to sit on the edge of the bed thrusting his hands through his hair as it falls forward across his face.
It never bothered him before when he was constantly threatening me, then I realise
. “That’s why you’ve been avoiding me, you thought you’d hurt me because I’m not healing normally anymore?” I say, moving to stand in front of him.
His eyes roam over the half-healed wounds that cover my body and stop on the most recent injury that is still heavily bandaged, my broken wrist. He shuts his eyes and looks away. I grab his face and angle it up to mine as I move to stand between his legs.
“We both wanted this before Vex took me, most of my wounds are from before then, the only thing that’s changed is a stab wound and a broken wrist. All this will heal when we mate,” I say, dropping my hands when I know he will carry on looking at me and not my injuries.
“But what if you don’t? It already offends my animalistic nature that I can’t keep you safe. I can’t keep standing by while you get hurt… I love you,” he tells me then realises what he’s just admitted to me as his eyes widen.
I don’t think or analyse what he says I just launch myself at him, my lips colliding with his as his arms come around me to steady me. I move my hands up to the stubble I love to see so much as his hands skim down to cup my ass. He lifts us up turns and deposits me on the bed, all without breaking our kiss.
He breaks away from the kiss to trail soft kisses along the faint scarring on my neck, I shudder beneath him at the sensation against my sensitive skin, whilst running my fingers through his long dark hair.
“This won’t change anything, we will probably always argue,” I tell him as his lips move to trail kisses over my fabric encased breast. I moan as his teeth graze my nipple through the lace. “I love you too.”
He stops the attention he’s paying to my body with his mouth and his eyes fly up to meet mine. He arches a brow like he doesn’t believe me.
“I knew I did the moment I thought you died when the caves exploded. I just couldn’t admit it to myself, I wasn’t ready,” I admit to him as he carries on staring at me.
His eyes flash with desire as he moves back up me. “Mine,” he says then claims my lips, his kiss searing and all-consuming.
Rage (Scarlet Dawson Book 3) Page 3