Fighting Destiny

by Amelia Hutchins

  “Where am I?” I asked wishing I could sit up.

  “Guild hospital. There’s been a lot of wrangling while you were out. Ryder is claiming you and I are Fae and no longer fall under Guild jurisdiction, he tried to keep you and demanded the Guild turn me over as well. Alden filed a formal complaint and injunction against Ryder and brought you back to the Guild until this could be sorted out and speaking of, he failed to protect you from danger so the contract is void. You attended the Engagement Ball which was in the contract, by Fae law you were there by invitation…only problem is, he said if we didn’t want to send everyone else to face a boatload of charges, that you had to come back willingly and renew the contract.”

  I blinked at the overload of information from Adam “So let me get this right, if I don’t go back to Ryder…the strike team does?”

  Adam sighed and shook his head, “They said they would Syn, but that’s up to you. You can choose walk away this time.”

  “No,” I snorted, “That wasn’t an option. They were my team last night—”

  “Last week,” Adam said sheepishly as he scratched his head and crinkled his nose.

  “Last week?” I winced as I tried to sit up. “Why didn’t anyone wake me up?” I shook my head as much as it would allow me to.

  “You were treated by the Fae, Ryder said it might take your body a while to heal since you haven’t um…transitioned yet,” Adam winced and stood fully up again.

  “Transitioned my ass and no, I’ll go Adam. Tell the team they did well, to stand down. I’ll go see Ryder,” I met his emerald eyes that now had that ring of lime.

  “You don’t have to Synthia, I’ll find a way to deal with him,” Alden argued.

  “Alden, listen to me. I did this. It was my idea, my team, my coven, my responsibility. He has answers, I need them. Adam needs them and sooner or later without help —we will end up hurting someone and then the Guild will have to hunt us. I can’t live with that, can you Adam?” I asked meeting and holding his eyes before looking behind him to where Larissa held his hand.

  “No,” he said as his teeth ground together.

  “I can do this, you made me strong enough and smart enough Alden. Sooner or later we have to learn to be what we are and you haven’t found a way out of being Fae yet. I can’t feel my magic right now and without it I’m a sitting duck.”

  “I don’t like it, Synthia,” Alden continued.

  “You don’t have to like it, we just have to deal with it,” I whispered closing my eyes briefly before opening them back up, “What happened with Arianna?”

  Adam snorted, “Well she was one of us, but she’d been dead for a couple years Syn. Her body is being wrapped and readied to be taken back by the Seattle Guild in a few days. They are going back through the missing persons files now. Seeing how many of them might have been the first victims. The press is going absolutely ape-shit crazy over this and hounding Ryder, they’re camping on his doorstep. We got you out before they could connect us to anything. You got lucky Syn, this time.”

  I’d killed his puppet, or her puppet—which meant soon we’d know who had been pulling her strings and why. I closed my eyes and tried shaking off the sick feeling that came with knowing she’d been a victim before a tool.

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  I stood outside Ryder’s estate after fighting through the press, who even now were flashing pictures of me standing in his driveway. I was dressed in low hip hugging jeans and a baggy shirt that hid the fact that my ribs were wrapped from where Zahruk had stabbed me. I stood my ground, watching as fourteen males piled from the house shirtless. Someone needed to put a freaking warning label on these guys. May cause hormonal overload.

  Ryder stood in the middle, his eyes sliding down my body slowly. Probably looking for damages. We said nothing. I could feel the Fae pulsing with their wild magic, waiting for me to strike, or do something stupid. I shook my head wondering if we’d get into a pissing contest next. Maybe I had interrupted their workout session, which could account for the lack of dress and pissy looks I was getting from them.

  “You ordered me here,” I said finally breaking the silence.

  “I did,” Ryder said with his lopsided grin that looked more dangerous than friendly.

  “I’m here,” I mumbled.

  “You are.”

  “Okay, we gonna measure dicks all day Ryder, or are we gonna sign a contract?” I snapped.

  “You don’t have a dick Syn, I would have noticed,” Ryder’s smile lifted roguishly.

  I rolled my eyes and then rubbed them in frustration. “Your man stabbed me Ryder, because he thought I was a danger to your fiancée. I broke in because you were in danger. I tried to talk to you when this first went down and you didn’t listen to me then, so I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have listened to me about this. You’re too fucking stubborn. We were hunting a killer, you were getting ready to marry his or her puppet and I saved you. I did what you wanted me to, only there was no assassin unless you consider the one pulling the strings on your…well whatever she would be now.”

  “You broke into an engagement party with almost every house of royal Fae in attendance, an engagement that I set-up, there was never going to be any wedding Synthia, ever. I was trying to draw out the Light Fae among other things and you ruined it.”

  I blinked at him. No wedding? He hadn’t planned on going through with it? And why was he trying to draw out the Light Fae? Ryder had more secrets and I was starting to wonder if he wasn’t trying to start an all-out war with the other castes of Fae. “Why would you need to draw out the Light Fae?” I asked trying to pull more information from him.

  “That’s none of your fucking business,” Ryder growled, “You broke Fae laws Synthia, without a good fucking reason.”

  “You were about to start a fucking war Ryder, on my Guild. I saved lives. I don’t regret it, not even if it leaves me your fucking slave for eternity. I was born to save people, I’m good at it. I take out bad people. I do what no one else wants to do Ryder. I get the job done.” I winced and grabbed my ribs before realizing what I had done and righting myself again.

  “You’re not healed,” he growled.

  “Nope, still human,” I said hiding the pain in my voice.

  “You’re in pain.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Who is stubborn?” He said moving closer to me.

  “I am. Never said I wasn’t.”

  “You should be healed by now,” he whispered as his eyes met and held mine.

  “Nope, not yet. I need to finish this and get home. I need to find the puppet master. He needs to die. Like yesterday.”

  “You won’t be going home this time. You will be staying with me. Indefinitely.”

  “No, I won’t. I was stupid last time to sign before reading every detail. I came here because you forced me back. You knew I’d come,” I watched his eyes sparkle in answer, “Well I’m here, you didn’t protect me, you got me stabbed. You broke our contract, Alden thought it was a temporary clause, but it wasn’t. If you failed to protect me from harm you forfeit your claim on me. That’s why I’m here, because you don’t like to lose.”

  He smiled and tipped his head, “It won’t happen again and I didn’t lose Syn. You’re here and I told you. I always win.”

  “Ahh, but remember Ryder, you’re as stubborn as I. We’re both hot headed. Where there’s a flame, someone’s bound to get burned and this time it won’t be me.”

  “You burn pretty hot Syn, I haven’t forgotten,” he whispered smiling softly.

  “Not gonna happen, I’ll be making my own contract. It goes both ways. Watch what you wish for, you just might get it.”

  “You’re going to need to feed sooner or later Syn,” he warned as his eyes turned hard.

  “Then I guess we better get to negotiating Ryder,” I challenged him back.

  “Is your body changing?”

  “Nope, I’m still me.”

  He smiled, “Your eyes are Fa
e Syn, unique as well. I have never seen a mix of blue and purple before. I’m curious as to how Adam became your familiar.”

  “He’s not my familiar, he’s my family.”

  “No, he calmed you. He grounded your power with his own. Most Fae spend eternity looking for a familiar who can ground their powers. Yet you, a newborn walked in with one in your pocket. Explain.”

  “Explain?” I laughed, “Okay, last week? I was a Witch. I knew where the hell I belonged Ryder, this week? This week I’m a fucking Fairy Ryder. A fucking Fairy, my entire life has been a huge fucking lie. I got people who loved me killed because I can’t think of another reason for those Fae to be inside my house that day. No one can, but now that I know I’m Fae—or turning Fae, I know they were there for me. So explain? I have no fucking idea, Ryder…I don’t even know who my actual parents are, or why they hid me. Adam is only getting pieces of what he thinks we are —hell! He doesn’t even know why he is drawn to me, but he is. When I get pissed or upset—he feels it! Nothing in my life makes any sense now. The only thing I do know is that I don’t want any of this.”

  “I need to know what the mark is on the back of your neck is,” he growled.

  I threw up my hands and stood there, waiting for Ryder to invite me in so we could get this over with. When he didn’t say anything I tapped my foot impatiently waiting. I looked around us at the smiles and smirks from his men. Ristan was there, a guarded look in his eyes, a sad expression on his face. Maybe he felt bad for everything that had ensued after he’d asked me to investigate the Light Heir.

  “Come, we will go inside,” he said crisply.

  I started forward but it hurt, I’d done too much today already and I had yet to fully heal. I flinched as I stepped forward and felt my knees try to give away under the weight. Ryder was instantly there, catching me by the waist to steady me on my feet. “Let go of me, I can manage on my own,” I growled at him.

  “I think thank you are the words you’re looking for Syn. If you’re not healing, we need to figure out why,” he said letting me go and heading back inside, awarding me with a view of his firm ass in his low hung jeans.

  “Did you go broke and couldn’t afford shirts in the budget this month?” I grumbled having to look at his exposed skin.

  “You liked my brands inside Faery. You interrupted a training regimen Syn,” he said smiling over his shoulder. “If I remember correctly, inside Faery you tried to taste every one of my brands—”

  “With my tongue,” I snapped back as his men fought the urge to smile.

  “Don’t tempt me Syn. I’ve decided to only keep one source of food inside my house.”

  “Claire?” I asked glaring at him.

  “You.”

  I tripped over my feet and ran into his back, it made the wound scream in pain and before I knew it I was falling. Once again he was faster the gravity was. He caught me with a worried look in golden depths. “You need to rest. You’re not healing fast enough.”

  “Sucks to be me then. Contract.”

  He smiled coldly, “You drive me crazy and I think you do it on purpose. I had to watch you almost die Syn, do you have idea how fucking hard that was for me? I had to watch them cut you open to stop the bleeding and I watched you bleed out three fucking times before Eliran could stop it. And then I had to watch as your fucking coven came in and took you away from me while citing breach of contract bullshit and I couldn’t fucking kill them because if by some fucking miracle you woke up and I had, you would never forgive me. I saved you Syn, not them. You’d be dead if I hadn’t of been Fae. You’d have died in the arms of your coven.”

  I swallowed slowly and reached up against my will to caress his face gently, “Thank you for saving me, next time—try not letting me get stabbed first.”

  He smiled and searched my face before setting me back on my feet. His hands steadying me before he released me, “I meant what I said Syn, I plan on punishing you. Soon.”

  “Yeah, you like to say that, but you’re going to have to get in line. I’m waiting for a visit from the puppet master at the moment so we need to hurry this along.”

  Thirty Six

  It took three hours to finish signing the contract. Once again I was his property. At least for a while, but I’d stood my ground and refused to back down on some things. I was back in the Guild car and heading to my shared apartment when Larissa called to check up.

  “Local morgue, you stab them, we slab them,” I said smiling impishly knowing she’d hear it in my voice.

  “Syn, how’d it go?” Larissa replied with nervousness inside her tone.

  “It went okay,” I said turning onto the highway and frowning, “Everything okay?” I asked noting she lacked her normal pizzazz tonight.

  “It’s fine, are you on your way home?” I didn’t miss the hopeful note in her voice as she asked.

  “Yup, need something from the store?” I asked wondering if that was the hope I’d heard since I was already out.

  “No, I was just checking,” she replied.

  “You and Adam need me to stay gone for a while?” I crinkled my forehead and made a mental note to set them a schedule, or have them go to his place from here on out.

  “Just come home please Syn, I need you here.” She said and hung up on me.

  I held the phone out, looking at it before shoving it back into the purse between the seats. What the hell had that been about? She’d sounded upset and I really hoped it had nothing to do with Adam. No way in hell was I playing a go between with their relationship. I shook my head and headed home.

  I hit the button for the second time glaring at the doors of the elevator. I’d tried to call her again but she’d either hit ignore call or had turned off her phone completely which had made me ignore most of the speed limit signs from the highway all the way home.

  The elevator doors beeped as they slid open. I rolled my eyes and stepped in, pressing the third floor and waiting. When the doors opened on our floor, I felt a twinge of fear, but it wasn’t my own fear that I felt. I groaned, hoping it had nothing to do with Larissa’s fear that Adam was now Fae.

  It wasn’t as if we had chosen it. We couldn’t change it either, the best we could do was ignore it until it became more dominant and then Ryder would help us as had been agreed upon earlier tonight. I exhaled and shook my head as I twisted the knob and found it locked.

  I lifted my knee and groaned as the pain came back as I dug through my purse for the keys. I almost found them when the door opened and a man who wasn’t Adam stood in front of me. “You must be Synthia.”

  I blinked and narrowed my eyes, “And you would be?”

  “Oh, how rude of me. I’m Joseph,” he held out his hand which I didn’t take as I looked over his shoulder to see inside my own apartment. “Do come in Syn, Larissa and I have been waiting for you.”

  He looked harmless enough. Maybe we had a new neighbor? He knew my name so obviously Larissa trusted him enough to allow him inside our apartment, why she’d allowed him to answer the door was beyond me though. I could see no brands exposed from the white shirt and faded jeans he wore that would mark him Fae, or from the Guild. It wasn’t until I met his eyes that I found something off about him.

  “Where is she?” I asked as my stomach dropped.

  “She’s inside,” he said with a smile that didn’t fit right on his pinched features, his hair was a dull brown and looked as if he had been running his hands through it all day. He had eyes that held a keen interest in a shade of grey that was creepy.

  I pushed past him and screamed as I felt the sudden white-hot pain in my back. It was too late. Something was pushed into one of my shoulder blades and I fell to the floor unable to move a single muscle. Tears burst into my eyes as I realized I couldn’t move. I could see Larissa though.

  She was tied to a chair and blood was pouring from her face in several places. He’d come while I’d been out signing the contract. The puppet master had gotten to Larissa and I’d failed to feel an
ything from her from our connection. Worse, she must have been tortured this entire time by a killer I had provoked. I fought to pull any magic around or to me while his malicious laughter pulled my eyes to him. He stood over me looking down with a twisted smile.

  “It won’t help. Those rods were created to hold the Gods, the more you struggle, the more they lock down and drain you,” he snickered, enjoying the pain that was now palpable inside the room.

  “I challenged you, let her go,” I said trying to get Larissa away from danger.

  “No, she’s too beautiful. She has great skin and her eyes…magical.”

  I felt bile push at the back of my throat, everything inside of me screaming that this wasn’t happening. Not again, I couldn’t watch this, I couldn’t breathe. “Mine are better, I’m Fae.”

  “You, I plan on keeping, you killed my masterpiece. You will get to keep your friend, well,” he crouched down and moved a few stray pieces of hair from my face, “You will get to keep pieces of her.”

  “No, please,” I whispered meeting Larissa’s terrified eyes as she tried to speak through the gag tied over her mouth.

  “Let’s get you up. You need a better seat for the show!” He chirped as he easily picked me up and held me pressed against the wall. He had more small thin rods in his hands. He used one hand to press my head against the wall as the rest of my body obeyed him. His free hand slid the pins in one by one, as his eyes lit up. I fought the urge to scream as fire ignited and muscle gave way, tearing as each one was pressed through.

  He was enjoying it, with a calmness that was unsettling. I fought nausea as I helplessly allowed it. He was going to kill us both and I couldn’t do a single thing but watch. I was going to have to relive my past again. There had to be a way to stop this, I tried to pull up a shield that would protect us but nothing happened but a tightening inside my chest.

  Tears of hopelessness ran down my face as he snickered and backed up with his head tipped low as madness lit inside his eyes. “You took him away from me. I could have brought down the entire Fae race. You ruined it!” He lost his composure and screamed showing just how unhinged he was, “No, you will suffer and you will take her place.”