Rage (Scarlet Dawson Book 3)

by Nicola Chadwick

  I turn and plant a quick kiss on their cheeks. They both flash me huge grins and begin tucking into their food. I risk a glance at Bastian and he’s now vibrating a little, a vein in his temple is throbbing as he clenches his jaw. I arch my brow at him as Phoenix stands, reaches over the table, and clips his brothers around the ear.

  “What did we do?” Trenton moans while rubbing his ear.

  “Survived birth,” Phoenix says dryly.

  “I bet that’s why he never takes us anywhere, brother. He’s afraid of our prowess with the ladies. Although I always thought it was because we were hiding our ‘you know what’ from the world,” Jackson says, looking at Trenton.

  Phoenix’s head whips up and he locks eyes with Jackson and begins to growl.

  Bastian places a hand on Phoenix’s arm and says to me, “Trent and Jax have lived a sheltered life because of their unique… affliction, so it's best if some people don’t know that they exist. Their family is descended from the first Lycans and, until I came along, Phoenix was next in line to lead our people.”

  “Luckily, Bastian challenged our dad and became The Beast Master because I have my hands full, keeping these two in line never mind an entire world of Lycans,” Phoenix tells me.

  “I bet your dad doesn’t like that,” I say to Phoenix.

  “He wouldn’t have if he’d have survived the challenge.”

  “You mean Bastian killed him?” I say, immediately regretting saying anything in case it was a taboo subject.

  “Don’t worry,” Phoenix says to me, noticing my change in emotion. “We’re pleased he did it. He was trying to sell these two on the black market. They may have been put on this world to test me, but no one messes with my family. Plus, he was an abusive dickhead.”

  “Why was he trying to sell your brothers?” I ask, intrigued by the story.

  “For our—"

  Phoenix gets up and clips Trenton around the ear again.

  “It’s like they have no off switch,” he says to Bastian, sitting back down.

  The conversation dies down while we all eat our food, but once I finish eating, I climb out from between the twins, hoping that at some point I’d get to find out the extent of their gifts. All the caution and mystery surrounding what they could do was starting to make them sound like they were extremely powerful.

  As I start to head out, Lykos grabs my hand as I pass him at the end of the table.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he asks me.

  “To find Adam,” I say, arching an eyebrow when he doesn’t let me go.

  He gets up from his seat, still holding my wrist. “I don’t think so.”

  “Why not?” I ask, pulling my hand from his grasp.

  “Training,” he says, making me groan out loud.

  I’d almost forgotten.

  Lykos marches out of the tent, with me trailing quite slowly behind. When we reach the training tent, and the Faraday cage is engaged, I turn to him and ask some of the questions I really needed answers too.

  “When you accessed the magic in the life stone, did you hear voices?” I start out asking.

  “No. Why? What do you hear?” he asks, frowning at me.

  So that wasn’t a good sign.

  “A female voice wants me to open myself to her.”

  “I can’t really say if that’s normal or not. I never heard anything, and I accessed the power far easier than you did. The magic simply reached out to me and I used it. It’s not like I can even research this either.

  “You’ve had a stronger reaction to the stone here so this time when I pass it to you, I want you to stop fighting against it and accept it.”

  “Before you do, could the reason I’m having difficulty have anything to do with my mixed blood? I’m half Woodland Nymph yet I haven’t displayed any of their magic. The only magic I have is my shifting which is from my Fae side. Then there’s also the Vampyre blood thing.”

  “It may have something to do with it.” Lykos pauses for a few seconds and starts tapping his chin with his index finger. “Sit on the floor. I want to try something.”

  I sit on the floor with my legs crossed, and Lykos sits opposite me adopting the same pose.

  “Close your eyes.” I shut my eyes, following his instructions, trusting him completely. “Clear your mind of everything.”

  I try but thoughts escape and pop into my mind; it’s like I have no ability to switch off.

  “You’re not trying, Scarlet.” Lykos’s voice holds a note of exasperation. “Clear your mind and concentrate on the feeling you get when you change forms.”

  I try to concentrate on the tingling sensation that sparks over my skin, and as I do, I feel it shimmer over my skin, I know I’ve changed form but not sure what to.

  “That’s it, hold that feeling,” he says to me.

  I hold onto the feeling, my entire body covered in a pins and needles type sensation.

  “Now look where the feeling comes from and trace it back to its source.”

  How the hell am I meant to do that? As I hold the feeling, I realise I’m also holding the thought, I think about it and I do it. That how I usually manage to switch form, I just think what I want to look like, and it happens.

  “Nod, if you have it,” he tells me, his voice becoming soothing.

  I nod.

  Lykos presses something into my hand and the thought I’m holding onto expands and I’m suddenly swamped with voices. Thousands of them fight for dominance in the darkness of my subconscious. One voice stands out amongst them all.

  “Come to me, Scarlet, I can make you whole.”

  I ignore the voice. While female and soft, the tone creeps me out. I’m afraid of it.

  “Whatever you thought before to get you here, use it,” Lykos says. “I want you to reach down with your hands, feel the earth below you and bring it forward.”

  I reach down to the ground and feel a tingle in my hands that’s just like when I shift. I concentrate on it and pull it through my hands. I feel it spread and the tingle surrounds me.

  “Open your eyes, Scarlet,” Lykos tells me.

  I open my eyes and see that we are now surrounded by a carpet of grass and flowers. My eyes widen when I realise that I’ve created it, the power is coming from me. Is this what Nymphs can do?

  Lykos’s mouth twitches at the sides like he’s about to smile then thinks better of it.

  I think about the connection I can now feel to the power I’ve unlocked and store the information away, hoping I can access it again. I remove my hands from the ground while keeping a hold of the stone that I now clasp tightly, the chain hanging freely from my palm. I stand, unable to believe the grass and wildflowers are still there. I slip the chain over my head and let the stone rest against my skin, no longer feeling the cold sensation that I did before.

  Lykos moves over to where the rusted metal cube that is the Faraday cage floats above us, reaches out for it, and it drops into his palm revealing Bastian, Phoenix, Trenton, and Jackson. The twin’s mouths drop open and Bastian stalks over to me frowning.

  “What?” I ask, frowning back.

  He doesn’t answer me instead he turns to Lykos and says, “What did you do?”

  Lykos smirks a look very similar to Bastian’s usual smirk. “I simply unlocked her natural magical abilities.”

  I look around at their shocked faces, then look down at my hands. I knew I’d shifted when we first started so I wasn’t surprised to see the ivy vine curling from my left hand around my arm. The ivy bracelet that now encircles my right hand remains no matter what form I take.

  “I’m really not understanding what the problem is,” I say to Bastian, lifting my head to gauge his reaction.

  He walks over to me and grasps a piece of my hair, lifting it until it’s in front of my face. It’s dark almost black, the same colour my hair goes when I’m in my Human form. I quickly check that my ivy vine is there. Then gasp.

  I turn to Lykos. “What did you do?”

&n
bsp; “I didn’t do anything, you unlocked your natural magic as a Nymph,” he says plainly.

  Bastian grabs my arm and says, “Scarlet, try to shift.”

  I reach into myself for the tingling that usually shifts my forms. I look down at my arm, but nothing happens.

  “What the hell,” I say to no one in particular.

  “It’s like all your forms have merged,” Bastian says, tracing the ivy vine up my arm. “Your eyes are pale grey, your hair is dark, and your ivy vine is visible.”

  I start to feel the anger rising in me when I say to Lykos, “Why can’t I shift?”

  “My theory is that your Fae magic was suppressing your Nymph magic and also your ability to access the magic in the stone,” he tells me.

  “But,” I say, unable to say anything else as I try to process the fact that I could no longer shift, but, instead, I could grow things. I think I’d have rather kept the shifting; it came in handy when I was working a case. My eyes were the worst part of it all, was I really stuck with the creepy soulless eyes of my Fae form? The anger I feel rises exponentially, even though I know this needed to happen so that I could access the stone’s power.

  Bastian takes a step away from me while I struggle to suppress the anger.

  “Scarlet, I need you to release the power you’re holding,” Lykos says as Bastian looks on worried.

  I know I’m holding onto the power, I can even feel my anger feeding it. I can’t seem to let go, a part of me doesn’t want to. I feel like I’m no longer in control of my body as I watch all the grass and flowers wither and turn brown, quickly become nothing but dust.

  Bastian steps into me and grasps my face with his hands. “Scarlet, let it go.”

  “I can’t,” I say, my voice a whisper. Whatever this was it was consuming me.

  My gaze holds onto his, pleading. His head lowers and he claims my mouth in a searing kiss.

  Did he really think this is the best time to kiss me? As his lips move over mine, I stop thinking and start participating when his tongue flicks against my own. He deepens the kiss and I step into his body, his hands framing my face, grip me tightly. My body begins to react to the kiss, and I wrap my hands around his back trying my hardest to get closer.

  Bastian ends the kiss pulling away first as I let out a moan of protest. He rests his forehead against mine and a throat clears at our side. I pull away realising where we are and what is happening.

  The grass and flowers are no more but the power I was holding onto has dissipated. I narrow my eyes at Bastian, even though his kiss stopped me from doing whatever was happening.

  “What was that?” asks Trenton, looking on in awe.

  “I have an idea,” Lykos says, moving to the entrance to the tent. “Scarlet, don’t access your magic if you can until I’ve had time to think this through.”

  What sort of power was that? Nymph magic only created it never destroyed. Well, I didn’t know that for certain but all the studies I’d read at The Guild indicated that Nymph magic was all about creation and the protection of your territory. It’s a shame Nymphs were rare, if I knew more, I might have an idea what had just happened to me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I wake the next morning alone, so I flop onto my back and stare at the roof of the tent. I’d spent a good portion of last night looking in the mirror trying to get used to the idea that I no longer looked like any of the forms I was used to. Instead, I was a weird combination of all three. The combination of dark hair and pale grey eyes wasn’t as weird as when the eyes were combined with my red hair, but it still freaked me out.

  I’d managed to corner Lykos again before I went to bed, but he offered me no explanation as to why he’d prefer me not to access the new power I could now wield. When I finally managed to sleep, I’d spent the night plagued by nightmares and whispered voices. Each time Bastian woke me, I only had a vague recollection of the dreams and each time I fell back to sleep the horrors returned.

  I fling my hand out onto Bastian’s half of the bed and feel a piece of paper tangled in the sheets. I pull it free and turn my head to read it.

  Breakfast in the team tent. X

  I could only assume it wasn’t some kind of trap and that Bastian had left the message, but that niggling feeling that it was somehow Vex made me slightly wary. Even though logically I knew he wouldn’t dare enter this tent in case he left behind any scent.

  I roll over and climb out of bed, quickly pulling on the clothes I’d left out last night. Just in case, I strap on my hip sheath and secure Neria at my side.

  I head straight into the team tent and find everyone there except for Adam. Silas sits on the medical bed as she’s checked over by Phoenix and Aylesbury. I ignore the others as they study the maps, and I walk straight over to Silas.

  “How are you feeling this morning,” I ask. “Are you okay?”

  “Pretty sick of everyone asking me that,” she replies, rolling her eyes at me. Phoenix grabs a flashlight and looks in her eyes, but, at the same time, she swats him away and jumps down from the bed. “I feel fine,” she yells at Phoenix before stalking over to the others looking at the maps.

  I follow slowly behind her. While her back is still turned, I silently ask Aylesbury if she’s started the mating bond. He doesn’t answer, so I swing my gaze to Phoenix, who just shrugs in reply. I narrow my eyes at them both in suspicion.

  As I reach the table where the maps are now spread out, I hear a flurry of movement behind me and turn to see Adam walking in. He strolls over without a care in the world and throws his arm around my shoulder, all the while never breaking eye contact with Bastian. I don’t know what shocks me more, that Adam is acting like nothing’s happened or that Bastian isn’t reacting to someone touching me.

  I decide to go with it for once and lean slightly into Adam’s side, throwing an arm around his waist. While I knew he was a typical Fae manipulator and we had shared a few steamy kisses, he was still the only friend I’d ever made while working at the Guild and no matter what Bastian thought, he was always there for me.

  Bastian blinks, breaking eye contact with Adam but still doesn’t say anything to him or us. Instead, he grabs the Faraday cage and throws it into the air above his head. Once it’s engaged, he addresses the group.

  “Last night the twins did a little reconnaissance around the Seelie tent and managed to overhear what the clue is.” He pauses and turns the map around so that it’s facing the rest of us. Someone has plotted out the route we took yesterday on two of the maps, the underground one, and the street map. “The clue is ‘through the valley of leaves and over, go right to the top and only then can you go under.’ Unfortunately, from here there are potentially three valleys we could pass through, so we can’t plot our course until we know the location of the camp. We also think that we won’t know exactly what the ending means until we see it.”

  I pull out from under Adam’s arm and move closer to the map. “Taking into account everything we’ve seen so far, why give us a map of the stars?” I ask. So far it was the only thing in these games that didn’t make sense.

  “I believe they’re going to make us travel at night at some point,” Lykos says from his seat in the corner.

  “That wouldn’t really surprise me,” Silas mutters before joining me and pulling the map closer so we can both study it.

  “No matter where the next camp is located, there’s only one way out of camp today. And that’s this way.” Jared points to a direction on the map.

  “But why this way?” I ask.

  “Because I’ve been scouting the edge of camp all night and unless we go back on ourselves that’s the only way out,” Adam says from behind me.

  “Do you always question everything?” Phoenix asks.

  “Question everything, trust no one,” Aylesbury, Jared, and I all chant together.

  We all crack up laughing as Adam explains, “It’s the first thing Guild Hunters are taught in training.”

  Once our laughter dies down,
I notice Bastian and Lykos have moved over to the table at the side of the room and are pulling cloches from platters of steaming food.

  “We only have half an hour left to pack up and eat,” Bastian says, piling his plate high with meat and eggs.

  We all make short work of breakfast then head back to our tents to pack our belongings and ready our backpacks for the day's trek. I’d already packed mine, so I opt for walking around the camp.

  I get a few looks from the Seelie and Unseelie teams, but I don’t care. As I walk through the Seelie portion of camp Zeke falls into step with me.

  “Why are you here?” he asks me.

  I look at him a little confused at the random question asked. “I’m taking a walk.”

  “No, why are you taking part in the Games?”

  “Oh, to prove that Fae are not elitist assholes,” I answer, using the same reason Summer had broadcast to the world just a few days ago.

  “That’s not really why you’re here and I don’t believe you’re interested in the star either,” he says, watching me with a lot of curiosity.

  I simply shrug.

  “Then tell me what your team will do if it wins the star,” he asks.

  “Destroy it so it can’t be used to hurt anyone,” I say without thinking.

  “But what if it was going to be used for good? What makes you think you have the power to decide what it should and shouldn’t be used for?” he says as we stop at the camp’s edge.

  “Felling a bit philosophical today, aren’t you?” I say as I turn to face him.

  “I’m simply trying to understand your motives.”

  “I barely understand them myself anymore,” I reply with a sigh.

  “One team wishes to gift it their Queen, one team wishes to protect their people, and one team wishes to destroy it. Who do you think should win?” he asks.

  “It’s not the winning, it’s the taking part,” I say to him, offering him one of my least favourite Human expressions.

  “Sometimes, it’s the journey that matters, sometimes a good outcome doesn’t always excuse the wrongs committed to attain it. But in reality, the end does justify the means.”