Rage (Scarlet Dawson Book 3)

by Nicola Chadwick

  “Really, that’s all you’re going to tell me? Just hold your hands and the power will stop.” I say, then my eyes widen when a thought hits me. “Bastian is going to kill you both.”

  “I know. It's brilliant, isn’t it? You’ve just got to love pushing that guy's buttons,” Jackson says from behind me.

  “Plus, it will stress Phoenix out, he’ll be panicking that Bastian’s going to kill us for encroaching,” Trenton says, grinning wider.

  “You know I really like the way you two think,” I say with a smile.

  “They’re both going to shit a brick when they realise, we have to sleep in the same room as you,” Jackson says with a snigger that’s cut off by another wince of pain.

  “Even though we will be in our wolf forms the entire time,” Trenton says with a smirk.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “What do you mean?” Bastian roars at me.

  I smile and reply, “You actually want me to repeat myself again.” I sigh and start again. “Your father believes the power I hold is currently too much for me to handle. He has asked the twins to stay with me so that they can use their ‘secret weapon’ status to stop me from using the power. That means I go nowhere without them.”

  Bastian stops pacing our room and turns his glare on the two white wolves currently braced against my legs.

  “I thought you’d be happy about this. It means I’m constantly protected,” I add sarcastically.

  “Tell me why my father wanted this to happen, he’s meant to be showing you how to control the magic in the stone, not stop you from using it entirely,” Bastian grinds out.

  “Because every time I get angry, I start to suck the life out of everyone,” I say, beginning to get frustrated at having to rehash the same things repeatedly.

  The twins both whine and press further into my legs.

  “Can’t they block the power without touching you?” Bastian says, clenching his jaw.

  I smile. “I don’t believe so. Unfortunately, I still don’t know exactly what they can and can’t do so I can’t really tell you.”

  Bastian stares at them intently for quite a few moments. His eyes narrowing in concentration.

  I frown at him and ask, “What are you doing?”

  “As their alpha, they should respond to me and shift back. They’ve always fought me on this, only Phoenix can get them to change back if they don’t want to.”

  “Are they actually more alpha than you?” I say with a grin.

  “No,” he growls out. “They’re just stubborn arseholes that forget what will happen to them if they ignore me. They’re a lot like you in fact, stubborn and willful.”

  I grin at him and sink my hand into the fur at Trenton’s head.

  Bastian takes a breath and says, “They do not sleep on the bed, they do not enter the bathing chamber at all whilst you are in there. I will still be sharing your bed and they will only touch you if absolutely necessary. Now, follow me, the others are waiting for us in Jared’s room.”

  Bastian stalks off without a backward glance. I take a moment to watch his magnificent body as he walks away then I sigh and follow him. As we move a few doors away to another domicile carved into the rock I wonder to myself why he’s not telling me to get some rest. By my calculations, it was already quite dark outside.

  Everyone is already gathered around Jared’s room when I walk in with the wolves trailing behind me. Aylesbury is standing against the wall at the side of the door. He looks me up and down then smiles at me. “Red,” he says in greeting, no longer sounding like he is annoyed with me. Then he begins to slow clap while looking at me: weirdo. I raise my eyebrows at him in question. “Really, Red, am I the only person happy about the fact that you’ve just killed Bryn,” he says as he looks around the room.

  “I honestly thought I’d feel a bit happier myself that he’s dead.” Instead, I feel nothing.

  Aylesbury smiles at me as I settle against the wall by his side.

  “Finally,” Silas says, rushing over to meet me. “That guy is driving me up the wall, he’s constantly hovering,” she says, pointing her head in Adam’s direction. Adam flashes me a sly grin.

  Rather than reacting to Adam’s grin, I look at Silas as she settles against the wall at the side of me and my chest begins to constrict again, the information I was withholding from her was killing me. Both wolves whine and swiftly change back, both instantly grabbing my hands, and wedging themselves between Silas and Aylesbury.

  Bastian looks on and narrows his eyes, so does Phoenix. Lykos walks up to me and says, “It works then?” before moving off to the side and sitting on a wooden chair in the corner.

  Phoenix engages the Faraday cage and begins talking. “After this round of fights, we were declared the winners. Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to decipher the clue.” He holds up a piece of parchment that says the words ‘stay to’. He then quickly set it alight with a match burning the evidence.

  “Zeke also announced that tomorrow we will remain in camp and we will instead be travelling at night.” Phoenix continues. “We will also be fighting another round before setting off tomorrow. The fight will be immediately before we leave, meaning that any injuries incurred will slow us down.”

  “I’m pretty sure if we’re travelling at night the next part of the clue will say ‘the light’,” I say to everyone.

  Aylesbury looks up and says, “I agree.” A few of the others frown at us so Aylesbury elaborates. “If we are travelling at night, that means the Formorians and other nighttime creatures will have free rein. What’s the one thing that kept us safe from them today…”

  He pauses for dramatic effect and I say, “The light.”

  “Makes sense,” Silas says, nodding her agreement as she speaks.

  “But if that is, in fact, the clue, then how do we stay in the light at night?” Jared asks. “I’m presuming that a quantum torch won’t protect us.”

  “You’re right, it won’t,” Lykos replies. “Only UV light works.”

  Bastian and Phoenix share a look and Phoenix smiles as he runs his fingers through his hair. “I feel so smug right now.”

  “You're always smug,” Bastian replies then says to the rest of us, “I told him not to bring the UV torches. I said they’d be a waste of space.”

  “But I brought them anyway,” Phoenix says, smiling. “There’s only three, though, but at least we have a plan.”

  “None of you are taking into account the size of the beam and the reach of the Formorian,” Lykos says, standing. He pauses, his eyes sweep the room and when no one says anything he says, “By the time the Formorian is burnt enough to shy away from the beam it will have already grabbed you and disappeared.”

  He then transforms into one of the massive beasts, his large black and red frame, hunched over in the confines of the room.

  Aylesbury jumps and backs into the door. “Warn a guy next time,” he says, holding a hand against his chest.

  I stare in fascination as he transforms back into his normal self, then swing my gaze until it’s fixed on Bastian and ask him, “Please tell me you can do that?”

  “Can’t say I’ve ever tried, but if I can, they can,” he says, pointing to the twins.

  Silas breathes a sigh of relief at my side. “On that note, are we done here? I’m shattered,” she says with a yawn.

  “I’d try to say up as late as possible, the longer we sleep tomorrow the more refreshed we will be tomorrow night,” Aylesbury says then adds with a sly smile, “In fact, Pixie, why don’t you come back to my room for a bit, I’ll see if I can keep you up for a few more hours.”

  I look at Silas and see that she has taken Aylesbury quite literally. Adam, however, storms past us all muttering, and he clearly knows what Aylesbury is getting at, even if he has no intention of following through.

  Phoenix disengages the Faraday cage and we all go our separate ways. I decide to take a walk around and explore this underground kingdom. I pace for a few hours trying to distra
ct myself from what’s to come, to live in the now. Every time I think I’m ready to go back to my room and sleep, I get myself all worked up over Bastian’s attitude problem, but then his attitude in this instance is of my own making.

  I find myself torn over how to handle what’s going to happen. It made it easier knowing I’d have to take the twins with me and that they would be okay but keeping this from everyone, especially Bastian felt like a betrayal.

  I finally head back to my room, to find him awake and studying the maps. I ignore him at first as the twins, in wolf form, settle at the foot of the bed. I take my trousers and shoes off and climb into bed, pulling the covers tightly around me. While I try to ignore Bastian, I can’t ignore him when he climbs in bed a few moments later. When he pulls me close, I sigh, falling asleep instantly with a smile on my face.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  When I wake the next day, I’m alone in bed. I can tell by the way I still feel drowsy that I’ve had a longer sleep than I’ve had in a long time, my body must have really needed to catch up.

  I stretch lazily while flopping onto my back when my foot connects with something warm and furry. I sit up rubbing my eyes, when I open them, I find both Trenton and Jackson curled on the bed in wolf form.

  Their eyes are open and watching me while their snouts are covered by their tails. It’s almost like they know they’re going to get into trouble and are trying their hardest to look cute so that it doesn’t happen.

  I roll my eyes at them as I get out of bed and quickly pull my trousers on. “I’d suggest moving off the bed, if Bastian finds you on it, I dread to think what he’ll do.”

  They both shift back to Human form and begin to roll themselves up in the sheets. My eyes narrow at them when I realise what they’re doing. “What the hell! I thought you were my friends! Do you realise that you're putting my scent all over you and your scent all over the bed I share with Bastian?”

  They both sit up and grin at me. “It’s you he’ll kill not me,” I say to them before going to the bathroom to refresh myself.

  Once I’ve gone through my usual routine, I leave the bathroom and pull my boots on. Both twins are silently watching me which, when you consider one of them is totally blind, is kind of creepy.

  “What time is it?” I say, trying to break the sudden tension in the room.

  “You managed to sleep considerably late, we have around three hours left of the afternoon,” Jackson replies as Trenton stands in front of the door.

  “What are you doing?” I ask him.

  “Making sure no one is close while we have a small discussion,” Trenton replies, sounding rather serious for a change.

  “It’s time we explained to you what we can do,” Jackson says with a sly smile. “We are completely unique. We’ve searched through many ancient and modern texts for answers as to what we are and why we are the way we are but no one, not even the Fae, have answers.”

  Trenton shuts his eyes and leans against the door.

  “Ignore Trent for now, he’s making sure no one hears what I’m going to tell you.” Jackson reaches out a hand, so I take it and he pulls me down to sit on the bed beside him. We both turn and get comfortable before he begins. “When we were in the womb there was only one of us. Yet my mother birthed two babies. From birth, everyone knew we were different. Our father killed our mother who wanted only to protect us from the outside world. Our father tried repeatedly to kill us, and when that failed, he tried to exploit us.

  We like to refer to ourselves as mirrors. We mirror everything around us, essentially even ourselves. We may have been born separately but we are essentially the same being, which is why I can see but Trent cannot.”

  My eyes widen, and I think back to that moment where they joined hands and became one with each other.

  “Are you saying you’re one person with a huge split personality disorder,” I say to them, amazed at what I’m being told.

  Jackson laughs then says, “Yes, we are. Trenton can see everything I do, I can hear everything he hears. When we are apart, he is blind, and I am deaf. We cannot survive without each other. We also cannot die.”

  Wow. “Really?” I ask.

  “My father tried everything, nothing works.”

  “You’re definitely Lycan, though?” I ask, really intrigued.

  “Yes, all our bloodwork comes back Lycan, we can only assume that we are a magical anomaly.”

  “So, what can you do exactly?”

  “We can mirror anyone’s power in our vicinity; it’s the only reason you’re not constantly trying to suck the life out of everything. Although when it comes to your power, we can’t see the dead, only their leftover magical signature,” Jackson says, smiling at me.

  “If you can mirror the magic around you then surely you can help me bring Vex down, doesn’t that mean you’re as powerful as him?”

  “Essentially, yes. The only downside is that until we physically see the person’s power, we can’t always sense what they can wield and some magic we just can’t duplicate. Some people are easier to read than others, but once we feel their power it's ours forever. For example, we know that Vex is on one of the other teams, but we can’t figure out who he is because he’s staying hidden. He’s not using his power.”

  “Please tell me you haven’t shared that info with anyone else,” I say to them, beginning to panic that it was all going to fall apart before it had even begun.

  “We are only telling you all this because you need us for what comes next,” Jackson says.

  “We don’t just mirror other people, we also know things. It’s not like we’re psychic, we just suddenly become aware of things and what needs to be done. Phoenix thinks it’s because we have a proclivity for meddling. But then, do we meddle because of the things we know?”

  “What else can you do?” I ask.

  “How do you know we can do more?” Jackson asks, raising his eyebrow at me.

  “The way you’re speaking insinuates there’s more to come,” I say, shrugging, and trusting my instincts.

  He smiles as he says, “We know what you’re hiding from the others,” he says, changing the subject. “We know you’ve been shown how to end this. We watched her show you and we know that you can’t do it without us.”

  They had said repeatedly they would be with me to the end. If they couldn’t die and were immune to my power, they were literally the only people in the world who could help me.

  “When the time is right, you will need us to prove your loyalty to Vex,” he says as I meet his gaze. “When he asks you to prove that Tera’s power is in you, you’re going to kill me and raise me from the dead.

  My eyes widen, and I shift uncomfortably. “How am I going to do that if you can’t die and I can’t access the death power?”

  “Subterfuge. All you need to do is stab me and do one of those weird hand flourishes I’ve seen the Fae do when they are using their magic.”

  “Like this,” I say, flourishing my hand like I’d seen Bryn do.

  Jackson laughs at my attempt.

  “Stand,” he says. “You really need to practice if you expect Vex to believe you can handle the power.”

  Trenton steps away from the door and moves to stand with us. “Like this,” he says, throwing his arm out at his brother.

  I watch him and repeat the action until its ingrained in my head. My arm aches but the movement quickly becomes easier to do.

  Once we’ve finished practising and are about to head out the door. Trenton stops me by placing a hand on my arm and says, “In the vision Tera showed you, you die when you give Vex what he wants. The power not only kills you but the others as well. That doesn’t have to happen. Things aren’t always what they seem, they never have been. You should trust the others with your secret.”

  Trenton’s words stay with me as I walk over to grab some food. If I’m honest with myself the only reason I hadn’t told the others what I knew was because I was afraid. Afraid of their reactions, especia
lly if I told them the part where I must die otherwise Vex will live. Telling them filled me with the same dread as telling Silas about her sisters.

  I shake off the morose thoughts, knowing if I don’t, I’ll never be able to eat. I look up to find Lykos is the only one sitting at our table, but he isn’t eating. He’s watching Adam fight his brother in the arena. I can also see Silas trying her hardest to pack her backpack with Jared, but every few moments she gets distracted watching Adam train shirtless.

  I smile, slightly distracted myself as I pile my plate high with fruit and bread. I continue to watch the fighting as I eat my breakfast, happy for the distraction when Bastian walks up.

  “So that’s all I need to do to keep your attention,” he says as he sits down opposite me and the twins. I arch a brow at him not quite understanding what he’s saying, as my attention is still divided between breakfast and the fighting.

  He narrows his eyes at me as I turn back to the fight essentially ignoring him as I shove a grape in my mouth.

  “Don’t worry, Bastian,” I say, not taking my eyes off the fight on purpose. “You fighting shirtless would be a far better sight.”

  I can almost feel the smug male satisfaction from across the table.

  “You’re going to die, aren’t you? I’ve protected you all these years for nothing,” Phoenix says, jerking my attention back to the table as he sits with a worried expression on his face. I almost think he’s talking to me at first, but his gaze is fixed firmly on his brothers who are just grinning at him.

  “Don’t know what you mean, brother,” Trenton says with his mouth full.

  “I can smell her scent on you from here,” he says back, scowling.

  “You do realise they are purposely trying to push your buttons,” I say to Phoenix.

  “I suppose you encouraged them?” he says to me.

  I look at Bastian who’s smiling for a change.

  “One day, Phoenix, you’re going to meet someone and they’re going to give you hell,” I reply rather than acknowledging his question. Bastian smiles wider.