Into Darkness: The Akrhyn Series (Book 1)

by Eve L Mitchell

  “It plays more of its hand to impress you,” Cord said as he turned to her.

  “Impress me? I think it hates me and made it quite clear,” Tegan pulled her hair over her shoulder.

  “You put yourself in unnecessary danger,” Salem scolded.

  “I was questioning it,” Tegan protested.

  “You were doing well,” Cord murmured, “the hair was a move of brilliance.”

  “Thank you,” Tegan looked at him as his eyes flicked to hers with a brief smile.

  “Pity we couldn’t keep the other one here while he was talking,” Cord looked at Marcus, “it gave a lot away though.”

  “It did, you did well Tegan,” Marcus clasped her shoulder as he left the room, passing Sloane on his way out.

  “You did do well, although if there is a next time, can we maybe not flirt with the Drakhyn?” Sloane said as he pulled her into him.

  “I wasn’t flirting,” Tegan laughed as he led her out of the room.

  “I know, but you were all soft and playful and it played havoc with my sanity,” Sloane gripped her hand. “Come on, let’s go see Martha and see if she has any food for us.”

  “Food for you, you mean?” Tegan smiled at him, before turning back to look at the room. “I should stay here, discuss what the Drakhyn said.”

  “I am quite happy to never hear the words that thing said to you again,” Sloane admitted.

  “Don’t be foolish, cousin, we made progress,” Tegan pulled her hand from his. “Words cannot hurt anyone.”

  “Unless you’re a Castor and then they can hurt many,” Sloane muttered as Tegan went back into the room.

  Salem, Cord and the older man in robes, who Tegan guessed was Cord’s Prime, stood talking quietly as Cord brushed the ashes of the Drakhyn into small containers.

  “Tegan,” Salem greeted her again. “Prime Castor Becker and Castor Ivanov will take these ashes back and test them.”

  “Test them for what?”

  “I always suspected that the Drakhyn shared a hive mind,” the older Castor said as he watched Cord carefully collect ashes. “It’s something else to see it.”

  “It was fascinating,” Salem nodded thoughtfully. “Less so when it’s happening in front of your child.”

  Tegan shifted uncomfortably as Salem looked at her once before turning back to the Castors, realising perhaps what he had said.

  “You think they will come in two days?” Garrick asked.

  “I don’t know,” Salem sighed heavily. “Some were so sure that they weren’t organised to do so, but I don’t doubt them after witnessing that tonight, do you?”

  “No, Elder I do not,” Garrick shook his head. “You did well Sentinel,” he said as he turned to Tegan. “I am not sure I would have had the quick wit you showed when you realised it was another talking.” He gave an embarrassed laugh, “I think I would have run for the door. One of the most sinister things I have ever seen.”

  “I feel like I could have gotten more out of it if I had tried,” Tegan frowned. “I am surprised you let me in there with no one?”

  “We couldn’t get in,” Salem scowled at Cord. “Castor Ivanov sealed the door and told us to trust you were in no danger.”

  “Confident,” Tegan murmured.

  Cord straightened from collecting ashes. “You had it handled, and if you didn’t, I was on the opposite side of the door.”

  “I didn’t need you,” Tegan tossed her hair and then hated herself for doing so.

  “I know,” Cord smiled that smug grin of his as he turned to his Prime. “I am ready, you?”

  “Sometimes, I think you forget I am the Prime and you are merely the Castor,” Garrick said good naturedly as he reached for Cord’s arm.

  “What is your punishment?” Tegan blurted before he could portal.

  “Three days teaching novices with powders,” Garrick answered as Cord grunted and then they were gone.

  “He gets three days punishment?” Tegan turned to Salem in disbelief. “Three days!”

  “If you stomp your foot I will laugh,” Salem grinned as he walked past her.

  “His punishment is pathetic.”

  “I do feel that the novices will be punished more than Cord,” Salem said as he locked the door to the room. “He will not be a pleasant teacher when he has those ashes to test.”

  “Three days…”

  “Would you like me to talk to Commander Bryce?” Salem looked at her as he clasped his hands behind his back.

  “No, of course not,” Tegan grumbled. “I can do my punishment for a month.”

  “And be the better Sentinel for it,” Salem said as they began walking back up to the main floors. “Where has your cousin gone?”

  “Food,” Tegan answered absentmindedly.

  “Of course,” Salem looked at her sideways as they walked. “You contacted Leonid?”

  “I sent a message, but father has not replied,” Tegan answered. “That is not unusual, I don’t think he answered the summons of his Council. He just accepted he had to go.”

  “A male of few words,” Salem agreed. “Have you ever questioned a Drakhyn before?”

  “No, never.” Tegan glanced at the Principal, “Did I do okay?”

  “Yes, I think you got all you were going to get from it,” Salem nodded. “Yes, you did well Tegan.”

  “Thank you, Principal.”

  “I thought we decided you were going to call me Salem?”

  “Thank you, Salem.”

  “See, you didn’t choke,” Salem held the door open for her as they reached the study. “How do you feel about this bond you share with Cord?”

  “The mate bond?” Tegan looked at Salem and then looked away again. “Is it possible…” she took a deep breath, “is it possible my mother would enter me into a binding betrothal like you were in with Mikayla?”

  “You think it’s a binding bond?” Salem asked in surprise.

  “I have never known or heard of Akrhyn to be bonded, unless it was Lycans.”

  “Your mother would not do that to you, Tegan,” Salem sat down behind his desk. “She hated my binding ceremony almost as much as I did at the time. No, she would never take free will away from her child.”

  “Oh,” Tegan looked at her feet.

  “Besides, you were unborn when she passed, the ceremony has to be placed with the recipients present, it wouldn’t work in the womb.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Tegan sighed as she looked out of the window into the woods. “You said ‘at the time’, you came to accept the ceremony?”

  “I did,” Salem looked at his daughter and gestured her to sit. “I loved Celeste with everything I had, but I was a Sentinel and Heir. I had duties to my House and to Mikayla, I had been reckless and careless. I knew I was bound, and I knew I couldn’t get out of it.” Salem looked at his hands. “I tried anyway, I gave a blood offering to the Ancients to break the binding, they didn’t answer, and I would have bled out if Marcus hadn’t found me.” He stood and made his way to his drink’s cabinet. “When I regained consciousness, my father was so filled with rage. He forbade me to see Celeste again or lose my right to be Heir.”

  “You chose Heir.”

  “I did, it was all I knew, it was all I wanted,” Salem admitted. “Mikayla was willing to forgive the fact I loved another, she said I would love her in time. She was right, I did.”

  “Do you think it was because you were bound?”

  “I think that helped,” Salem nodded, sitting back down with a tumbler of bourbon, he handed Tegan a bottle of water. “And Mikayla was a wonderful woman, she gave me two wonderful children.”

  Tegan nodded as she stared at her bottle of water. “You forgot my mother?”

  “Never.” He replied quickly and she looked at him in confusion. “Celeste will live forever in my heart, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her gentleness. She was so alive. A wonderful Sentinel but she cared so much for others. I wronged her, terribly, her family never
let me forget it, even if I could.” Salem took a deep drink of his bourbon. “I didn’t get to say goodbye, I didn’t get to say sorry.”

  “She loved you,” Tegan said softly into the quiet of the room. “She kept journals,” Tegan took a deep breath. “Father let me read them when I was old enough, she wrote about you a lot.”

  “I didn’t know she kept journals.”

  “She wrote in them… after,” Tegan glanced at him quickly before lowering her eyes again. “I have them with me, if you would like to see them?”

  “I would like that very much, Tegan.”

  She nodded as she ran her hands over her thighs. “I’ll bring them down.”

  “You stared that Drakhyn in the face without a flicker of emotion and you sit in front of me looking ready to run at the slightest movement,” Salem said bitterly.

  “The Drakhyn cannot hurt me,” Tegan responded. “I don’t know you and you broke my mother’s heart.”

  Salem closed his eyes at the staggering truth of the words. “Forgive me, I was out of order.”

  “You’re broken?” Tegan looked at him in confusion.

  “What?” Salem laughed suddenly in understanding. “No, it means I should not have spoken out of turn.”

  “Oh,” Tegan sipped her water. “You all speak with words that confuse me, they are out of context from what I am used to.”

  “We spend too much time with Sloane,” Salem chuckled.

  “I would have thought it was Zahra that would use the slang words, with her being with humans.” Tegan suddenly stood as a wave of dread washed over her. “By the grace of Arflyn…”

  “What is it?” Salem rose too in alarm at the sudden change in Tegan.

  “Zahra… has anyone checked on Zahra?” Tegan looked at him, fear in her eyes. “They’re watching us, and they are waiting for the female… she isn’t here!”

  “No…” Salem reached for the phone, “Get Michael!” he ordered tersely as he began to dial. Tegan nodded once before turning and running from the room, praying to the Ancients that she was wrong.

  Tegan ran through the halls, panic making her push faster. She had no idea where Michael would be, but she tried the training rooms first. Her brother was as vigilant as she was in terms of training and she thanked the Ancients, that today, she wasn’t wrong. She found him sparring with Sloane. The training room had a few more Sentinels in it and she moved into the room before addressing him.

  “I don’t know what he’s doing either, Michael,” Sloane said in exasperation as he dodged a heavy blow. “It’s not like Cord will actually tell me.”

  “Michael!” Tegan called softly as she hurried into the room. “We need you in the study, where’s your phone?”

  “Tegan? What is it?” Michael asked dropping the kali stick and hurrying forward.

  “Have you heard from Zahra?” Tegan asked him, seeing his confusion, “Since she left from here, has she returned your calls?”

  “No, she’s being a drama queen,” Michael said, relaxing slightly at the line of questioning.

  “Come, you need to come to the study,” Tegan pulled his arm.

  “Tegan what is it?” Sloane asked as he came up and stood beside them.

  “They’re waiting for a female, Michael,” Tegan said in a low voice, casting a look around the room at the handful of other Sentinels in the room. “They all but said she isn’t here,” she paused as the look of horror descended on Michael’s face. “Zahra isn’t here.”

  Michael took off at a run to his father’s study, Tegan and Sloane following closely behind. They ignored the looks and calls they got as they ran – disregarding the fact they may be causing a panic amongst the Sentinels.

  “Did you get her?” Michael demanded as he entered his father’s study.

  Salem looked up, just as he was placing the receiver of the phone down. “Yes,” he slumped in the chair. “The Headmaster confirmed she is in class,” he dropped his head into his hands with relief.

  “I’ll leave now, get her, bring her home.” Michael confirmed turning to the door.

  “Wait!” Tegan called out, wincing as they all turned to her. “Should we bring her here?”

  “Tegan,” Michael shook his head, “I know she was mean to you, but this is the best place for her.”

  “Is it? This has nothing to do with how she spoke to me, it matters not what she said,” Tegan looked to Salem. “But if they are out there watching, as we know they are, they’ll see us go for her and more importantly, bring her home.”

  “I want my daughter here.”

  “I understand, I just think we need to be clever,” Tegan acknowledged. “I mean there’s no guarantee that it is Zahra they wait for, but we can’t be seen to be giving them ground.”

  “Giving them ground?” Michael demanded. “This isn’t strategising, Tegan, this is my sister.”

  “She has a point,” Sloane spoke for the first time. “And it isn’t just Zahra, there are other Sentinels that we need to think of who are with her.”

  “Others?” Tegan asked in confusion.

  “Zahra is guarded,” Salem confirmed. At Tegan’s widening eyes he hurried on. “She does not wish to live as a Sentinel, but I cannot let her be out in the world, defenceless.”

  “She has guards?” Tegan was almost speechless. “Does she know?”

  “No,” Salem admitted.

  “How many guards? They aren’t Elite?” Tegan guessed.

  “No, they are the same age, Sentinels in training,” Michael answered. “They need to blend, Elite tend not to blend.”

  “But this is against what she wishes,” Tegan shook her head in confusion.

  “This also isn’t important at this time,” Michael threw his hands in the air in frustration. “I want Zahra home, now.”

  “We need Cord,” Sloane said quietly from the corner. “He can go in, retrieve them all, portal them here. The watching Drakhyn will never know.”

  “Is there no one else?”

  “Afraid not, Tegan,” Sloane winked at her. “Don’t worry, Zahra and Cord hate each other.”

  “I don’t care about that, he’s just not what I would think of, if someone said high school human,” Tegan answered.

  “Sloane will go. He blends in better,” Salem nodded in agreement. “I can’t believe I have to call on the Castor again.”

  “At least it’s not like he will remind you of it…” Sloane laughed gently at Salem’s scowl as he lifted the phone.

  “Prime Castor Becker,” Salem said formally into the receiver, “I require use of your Castor Ivanov.”

  As Salem spoke to the Prime Castor, Tegan moved forward to Michael who was restlessly pacing. “It will be okay,” she said softly.

  Michael grabbed her hand and squeezed. “I just need her here, safe.”

  “I hope bringing her here will make her safer,” Tegan murmured as she squeezed back.

  Sloane stood back quickly as Cord appeared in the room. “You do know I am not at your beck and call, Principal, I was busy,” he snapped. Still wearing his black Sentinel fatigues, he no longer wore the thick black hooded shirt, but a white t-shirt instead. Tegan admired the sinewy muscles of his arms, before pulling her eyes away from him in case she was caught. Her eyes met Sloane’s who was smirking at her, flushing she looked at her feet.

  “I need Zahra home,” Salem began, ignoring Cord’s comments. “And the others with her.”

  “Have they been threatened?” Cord asked.

  “Not yet,” Salem replied. “But there are three female Akrhyn in that school, my daughter is one of them.”

  “They will be safer there,” Cord snorted in exasperation. “Bringing them here could be exactly what they want.”

  “I want my daughter home, that is an order.” Salem stated firmly. “Take Sloane with you, he blends in more than you do.”

  “I’m almost insulted.” Cord, however, didn’t look at all interested nevermind insulted, Tegan thought. “Brother.” He held his hand o
ut to Sloane who took it with confidence, at the last minute he snagged Tegan’s hand too and then they were gone.

  “Why would he take Tegan!” Michael shouted into the empty air, looking at his father in consternation.

  “It could be reflex, the bond making him reach for her,” Salem said as he leaned back in his seat thoughtfully.

  “Do you believe that?”

  “No,” Salem looked at his son, “I believe he just likes to be contrary.”

  “Zahra is never going to cooperate if she sees her,” Michael hung his head.

  “No, hopefully Sloane will talk sense into his betrothed.”

  “He’s such a complete ass sometimes,” Michael slumped into a chair.

  “He is.”

  The two of them sat in silence as they waited.

  “I don’t think I am supposed to be here, Castor,” Tegan looked around the empty halls of a school. “Take me back.”

  “No,” Cord started moving forward with confidence.

  Tegan shared a worried look with Sloane, before hurrying to catch up with the Castor. “Cord, she doesn’t like me, she won’t cooperate if she sees me,” Tegan protested.

  Cord stopped to look at Tegan, he regarded her carefully before he smiled slowly and resumed walking.

  “Cord, I have to agree. I don’t think Tegan is a good idea, you didn’t hear Zahra the night she met her,” Sloane cast an apologetic look at Tegan who waved off his concern.

  “Hmm,” Cord sidled up to a door and peeked in through the small square window. “Little tiger, come here.” He pulled her towards him, Tegan’s smaller height nestling against him. “Look through the window,” Cord instructed. “These are humans at study, look at them.”

  Glancing curiously at Sloane who shrugged, his face betraying his bewilderment, Tegan rose on her toes to look through. There were about twenty humans in the classroom, their heads bent over books in concentration while the older human walked back and forth at the front of the class, speaking from a book.

  “This is an English class,” Cord explained.

  “They cannot speak English?” Tegan glanced up at him, seeing his small smile as he looked down at her had her hurriedly looking back into the room.