Fighting Destiny

by Amelia Hutchins

  “Here and now Ryder, I want to be yours. Completely yours.” I whispered knowing it wasn’t what he had asked for, it was more. It was a treaty of sorts until his time was over in which we would probably become enemies once more.

  His kiss was soft when he claimed my lips again, his thrust inside of me was gentle and driven not by anger or need, but by an urgency to make every second of the time together count. And he did, driving himself inside of me until we exploded yet again.

  He was gentle and hard and insatiable with his needs. When I thought I couldn’t handle anymore, he healed the pain with his magic and we started all over again. He was gluttonous, his stamina off the charts as he continued battering my body pleasurably. He was beautiful and wild with his need, his brands pulsing as he exploded with release.

  Ryder had explained the time difference to me between bouts of making love. We’d been inside Faery for two days according to Faery time, while in the human world only a few hours had passed. We didn’t leave because Ryder had been done with me, or that the twenty four hours in the human world that we agreed to were up. We left because everything changed horribly. The hounds had gone off howling and whining until Ryder had gone outside to check on them only to come back in with anger pulsing from him in hostile waves.

  “Get ready to leave, I had Malinda pack you an overnight bag,” he nodded towards a corner and was out the door before I could ask him what was wrong.

  When I was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans I walked out still barefooted onto the porch, where the thirteen stood glaring at me. “What’s wrong?”

  Ryder growled low in his chest, hatred in his eyes, “What happened? Your fucking Guild attacked my club while you kept me distracted Witch,” he snarled.

  Shock swept through me, “No way, they wouldn’t. That would be a suicide mission, for the entire fucking Guild. Alden wouldn’t give that order Ryder, ever!”

  “They did and those who openly attacked have been slain,” Zahruk growled.

  I swallowed, a feeling of hopelessness settled on my shoulders. This wasn’t happening. Alden would never have given those orders, not unless he was trying to wipe out the entire Guild, which would be the end result. “When is my contract up?” I asked not meeting Ryder’s angry stare.

  “When I fucking say it is,” he smiled coldly returning to the old Ryder effortlessly.

  Thirty

  He sifted me back, barely slowing to throw open a portal and uncaring of any damage I might take. He was in as much of hurry to get to his people, as I was. Only he wouldn’t let me go to mine. I’d fallen on my ass as we had sifted in, the world spinning as I fought the urge to throw up everywhere.

  Gone was the gentle lover who had been playful and completely different than he’d been in Faery. I struggled to my feet with my hand on my head as he watched his men who had sifted in shortly after us. I had no idea what had happened, or why he was acting like this other than he’d said we had attacked them. “Where’s my coven?” I asked through the lump in my throat.

  “Go to the room you were staying in and don’t come out unless you’re invited Synthia,” Ryder growled.

  “Fuck you! Where are they?” I demanded and was instantly shoved up against the wall with his hands around my throat. I didn’t cry out, I didn’t flinch, “Where the fuck are my friends?” I snarled not caring if he tightened or loosened his hold, as long as he told me where they were.

  “They’re in the fucking the basement, chained to the walls because they were inside my club when it was attacked. I’d watch your mouth unless you want to join them. I should have known it was a fucking act, should have seen through it,” he seethed.

  I smiled coldly, “Is that what you think? That I fucked you just so they could do it? I don’t play games and I had nothing to do with what happened—if you’re really stupid enough to believe that I would do that, please put me with them Ryder.”

  His eyes narrowed, his teeth ground together as he tightened his hold around my neck.

  “Go ahead, finish it Fairy,” I whispered feeling the blood as it rushed to my head, or leaving it. I met his eyes and held them with challenge.

  “If you think I wouldn’t just because we fucked—think again,” he growled.

  I struggled to keep focus, “Fuck you, fucking means nothing to the Fae…I’m smarter than to think just because I fucked, you it would change a damn thing between us. Either finish it or let me go Ryder, decide.”

  His smile faltered, or maybe it was the stars rushing up around me that made it appear so. I felt his hands release my neck. I felt my body go limp as my legs gave out, unable to hold myself up any longer. He caught me before I fell. I saw the flash of remorse briefly before he covered it up with anger.

  “Pussy,” I said, or I think I did.

  “Say again?” Ryder tilted his head.

  “Pussy,” I ground out through the pain in my throat, tears rushing to my eyes.

  “You, Synthia, have a fucking death wish,” he snarled.

  “So do you,” I challenged him, I knew it was suicide, but if I couldn’t get to my coven through my own stubborn pig headedness, they’d absorb my powers through my death and Adam would channel the power, he’d feel the bond sever.

  “I’d behave, or you might find yourself chained to my bed,” he replied huskily.

  “Right now I’d choose death over your bed.”

  His men snickered. I was upset, scared and fighting for my life and the lives of my coven. If we had attacked, nothing short of a miracle would keep the Fae from wanting our blood. What the fuck could Alden have been thinking to attack the freaking Fae?

  “Take her to my room,” he growled.

  “I said, I’d rather fucking die,” I said with enough force to mean it.

  “No, you choose death because you think it will save your fucking coven, it won’t. I won’t kill you Syn, I could think of many uses for you—”

  I dropped and kicked his legs out from beneath him and jumped back up, Dristan was there defending Ryder the moment he hit the floor. I kicked his legs out and as he came down I lifted my leg and smashed his face against my knee with the use of his hair. Once more, I went crashing against the wall, my bones jarring while my teeth clattered from the impact.

  “Fucking move and I’ll feed from you Syn, I’ll keep you as my fucking Pet,” Ryder warned his tone harsh as his eyes swirled with anger.

  I lifted my head defeated, “Let them go,” I cried, I would beg if he just let them go. They couldn’t pay this price, they were everything to me. Everything worth fighting for.

  I felt him pushing against my mind before he released me. “Put her in my room and chain her.”

  “Ryder, if you do anything to them. Anything. I’ll fucking hunt you down and cut your fucking heart out,” my words came out crisp and clear, I meant every fucking word of it.

  “I know you would Syn, that’s why they’re locked up instead of dead like the rest who walked into my club and killed my people,” he said softly no longer meeting my eyes.

  “No, Fae can’t be killed. Not by any weapons we own,” I argued.

  “You could have Syn, you tied my fucking soul to yours,” he retorted.

  I smiled, “Yes, I can. Not them. Me, Ryder, I was with you…unless you have forgotten already.”

  “You’re saying they couldn’t have done what you did?”

  “No one else knows how to tether souls,” I swallowed realizing I’d just given him ammo to use against me.

  His lips twisted coldly, “Good to know, chain her in my room and gather the others.”

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  I was dragged down the hallway and taken to Ryder’s room by a Fae I hadn’t met before. He was silent, yet I could feel the sliminess of his aura pressing against my skin. This was all wrong, it made no sense. Alden wouldn’t have done this.

  I was pushed into the bedroom door frame as the door was opened, my face taking the brunt of the damage. My nose exploded, blood bursting from i
t to run down my chin and onto my shirt. I should have fought and run. I wouldn’t leave this place without my coven though and Ryder knew it.

  “Fucking whore, move it,” the Fae barked when he had the door open. He pushed me again, even though I’d stopped in front of the bed. I knew where the chains were, I’d seen them on my one trip here. “Take your clothes off, let’s see what is driving Ryder to fuck something so beneath him,” he said crudely as his hands grabbed my breast.

  “Wrong fucking girl,” I growled as I spun using my hands as weapons, one grabbed his ear and the other connected with his chin and twisted, a sick crunch echoing through the room as Zahruk walked in.

  “You broke his neck,” he replied calmly.

  I wiped the blood that was dribbling down my face without any sign of stopping soon on the back of my arm and replied coldly. “He deserved it.”

  “He did this?” His hand indicated my face, “You are deadlier than we had thought.”

  I gave him a nod, “And?”

  “And, you could have easily done so to Dristan, yet you chose to only damage his legs and his pride,” he mused as he closed the distance between us silently.

  He was trying to surprise me, so he could take me down easily. He, like Ryder had the raw electrical current that was palpable when in close proximity. I considered my options as I stood watching him. If he chained me, I would be able to undo them easily. I wouldn’t be able to get away if I took any more injury. I sat on the bed with a calmness I wasn’t feeling. I watched as Z removed the subdued Fae from the room before coming back to place the chains on me.

  “You need your nose looked at,” he said moving my hair to secure a white metal collar around my neck.

  “You gonna let Larissa do it?” I asked but his eyes narrowed as he shook his head, “Pass then.”

  “She’s okay, a little shaken up but otherwise she and Adam are fine,” he replied.

  I scanned his face, he looked as if he was telling the truth, but I’d already trusted Ryder which had been a huge mistake I wouldn’t be repeating anytime soon. When the collar was on and secured to a chain, he grabbed a remote and turned on the oversized television that was mounted to the wall to the local news channel. I sat numbly watching it, we’d attacked. We’d killed. How the fuck? We didn’t have any Fae killing weapons. No one except the killer had them…

  Zahruk left the room for a few minutes, leaving me to absorb the news that played on the TV. This wasn’t fucking happening. Not now. I’d given in to Ryder, just to have him do exactly what I’d been afraid of. I knew better, I was better than this. I shut down my mind and listened to the reporter.

  Anger pulsated inside of me. It was a fucking set up. Smart. Calculated. They were pitting us against each other. And what was worse, it was fucking working! I lifted my head as Zahruk came back, his eyes lowering to my nose as he tossed a clean set of clothes on the bed.

  “That needs to be healed, it hasn’t stopped bleeding Synthia.”

  “It will. Took a door frame to my face, I’m pretty sure he meant it to hurt,” I said through the thickness in my mouth.

  “You know you’re stubborn as fuck, right?” Zahruk said with a soft smile on his face, he was making it impossible to hate him.

  “Go away,” I replied turning away from him to watch the news.

  We’d attacked the Fae, or so it had been made to look that way. The reporter said the Guild had been locked down and unavailable for a comment on why they had invaded the club which had resulted in the deaths of seventeen Fae.

  I scratched at the collar and eyed the clothing that sat folded on the bed. My shirt was covered in blood, my entire body shook with anger and pain. I exhaled as I moved off the bed and flicked my eyes to the door which stood open a sliver. I unbuttoned my pants and shimmied out of them using the top I had worn to wipe away some of the blood on my face.

  Dressed in a form fitting tank top and some short spandex shorts, I curled up on the bed not caring that blood was oozing out on the pillow. I should have let them heal me, but right now I didn’t trust them, they wanted revenge. Revenge for something we hadn’t done and we were close at hand to take the brunt of their anger.

  I closed my eyes and tried to focus on a plan, any plan that would get us all out. I couldn’t focus. I could feel my power draining as I lay there. The blood wouldn’t stop and had only increased in flow since Zahruk had put the stupid collar on. I pushed away the feeling of needing to close my eyes and struggled to sit up, but couldn’t. I cried out fighting the dread that was consuming my mind.

  I had expected Z to come back, instead Ryder stood over the top of me looking down. “What the fuck? Syn what the hell did you do?” He asked looking around the room as if it held the answers he needed.

  I gasped, I couldn’t get air, my body shook as I gasped and tried to bring air in through my throat, but it wouldn’t work…The harder I tried, the less air I got. I was dying. My hands clasped around the collar, my eyes growing slack as I struggled to fight against the oblivion drawing me in.

  “What the fuck? Zahruk!” He was yelling, his hands working against the collar deftly as he pulled it off from my neck.

  “What’s wrong?” Z asked walking in taking in the scene as I still gasped for air, “Bloody hell!” He sifted, or maybe I was starting to see things.

  “Don’t you fucking die Syn, don’t…god dammit! Where’s the fucking healer?” Ryder was commanding me not to die. He had some serious God complex going on.

  Thirty One

  I awoke to pressure on my face. It felt broken, my entire head felt broken. I didn’t bother trying to open my eyes. There was no point. They felt like they were glued shut. I lay still as voices sounded from across the room.

  “She’s waking up, some,” Zahruk said as the bed shifted, but his voice had been across the room, someone else had been on the bed? I tried to remember everything that had happened.

  “Dristan?” Ryder asked his voice low.

  “The one above the useless one is a protection spell, powerful, but fading as if it’s losing its juice. But Ryder, it’s been there a long time. It’s definitely Fae and old.”

  “You’re saying my little Witch is marked by the Fae? By, us?” Ryder said in surprise.

  “No, not per se Ryder, think older,” Dristan replied coldly.

  “Elaborate,” Ryder snapped.

  “It almost looks as if it was branded with blood ink and some very old magic, but that’s impossible considering she appears human and has been living as such since she was a child. Someone went to pretty extreme lengths to hide her if she is Fae, they didn’t want her being found.”

  “Is it possible she was stolen or is she something else?” Ryder mumbled from across the room. “I pushed magic into her and she resisted. It took everything I had to turn her mind to my will.”

  “You’re saying that you could not turn her FIZ?” Zahruk said and whistled low.

  “I hate to butt in, but those were Fae in her house who killed her parents. Chances are they were looking for her and the collar she reacted to was crafted of iron Ryder.” Zahruk said carefully.

  “True, but why would they? The Fae don’t hide their young with humans, it would be suicide for her and the humans if she hit Transition without help. And the reaction to the collar doesn’t make sense if she hasn’t hit Transition, she could be starting the Transition and at twenty one she’s the right age for it to start, if not a little past it.”

  “It’s only suicide Ryder, if you cannot control them…she is being shielded, she has no Fae abilities, she doesn’t feed, she ages normally. Someone made damn sure she appeared to be one hundred percent human,” Dristan said before fingers smoothed down my neck and the hair was pushed out of the way, “It’s a Triquesta, of protection, the words well…I can’t read them and this particular usage of the Triquesta looks to be a protection and concealment brand,” Dristan released my hair and stepped back, his shoes making a soft thud as he walked to the other side of the roo
m.

  “If she is Fae, then why the fuck isn’t she waking up?” Ryder growled low in his throat.

  “No clue, but you sifted with her. I’m going to take a guess here and say it has to do with why the tattoo is fading. You said her tattoo was darker a few days ago and she did not know it was even there right? You also said that you could see it before she entered Faery?” Dristan continued to be the loudest voice inside the room.

  “Correct.”

  “You taking her into Faery weakened it then, she’s changing. Question is what the hell kind of Fae is she?”

  “She could be Light Fae, with her coloring it’s possible. She has enough of their attributes as well,” Zahruk replied.

  What the fuck were they thinking? I was human and I was pissed…sore but pissed. I wasn’t Fae, had the whole fucking world gone crazy this week? I blinked and moaned wincing as I realized everyone had been whispering even though they had sounded louder, Dristan was the first to say something.

  “It lives,” he said making me cover my ears and cry out. It was like razors pounding through my head.

  “Stop screaming,” I whined.

  I turned over carefully, just in time to catch Dristan nodding to Ryder who stood across the room. I glared, this was his fault.

  “Look at her eyes,” Ryder said smiling.

  I closed them. It was too bright, sound was too loud. I exhaled and tried it again. A scream ripped from my throat as everything around me grew brighter, more vivid and painfully so. Something wasn’t right. I’d been dying when I’d last seen Ryder. I groaned, “So help me, if you turned me into a fucking Vampire I’ll bite your dick off!”

  Dristan exploded in a fit of laughter, Ryder didn’t find it so funny on the other hand. His eyes narrowed and ran over my body slowly, as if was trying to figure something out but couldn’t. “The tattoo on the back of your neck Synthia, who put it there?” He asked ignoring my outburst.