Marked by Blood: Book 2 of The Marked Series

by Ford, Rinna

  The three men thought over my message for several minutes, then Amos called for someone to bring us some breakfast. My grandfather, mates, and I sat in the office for most of the day and made a plan for the journey to Dev and Ainsley’s cabin on the other side of the country.

  Xander and Matias would be coming with me, without a doubt, and I convinced Amos to stay behind in case we needed back up. But the problem was, my casting abilities were messed up. How could I get us there? The only option we could think about was to bring another caster, and Camille was the only one I trusted enough to do the job. She was a snarky bitch, but she was my snarky bitch.

  Amos brought her in to ask if she’d do the job and she accepted without hesitation, like I knew she would.

  “Abso-fucking-lutely,” she smiled. “I’m in.”

  With that, we included her in the strategy session, which lasted until dinner time.

  The plan was we, Matias, Xander, Camille, and I, would leave early in the morning, well before the sun rose for the day the next day. I would use what casting ability I could manage to teleport the four of us there, since I knew where we needed to go, with a boost from Camille if I needed it. We’d all carry backpacks with us in case we find something that could be useful, and we’d look for any clues that might tell us what happened to Dev and Ainsley.

  Amos made a contingent plan to get us out if things went south and I couldn’t teleport us home, which included another cell of the rebellion that was situated near Dev’s cabin. I didn’t like involving outsiders, but I agreed back-up plans were necessary for success.

  With the plan in place, we all left Amos’ office to get some rest and prepare ourselves for the next day’s mission.

  “I’ll catch you guys at dinner,” I told my mates just outside the office door. They both looked a little worried, so I felt like I needed to give them more. “I want to talk to Amos about something else my dad said.”

  “I thought you told us all of it?” Matias said to me. He wasn’t happy to be left out of something important.

  “This doesn’t have anything to do with the trouble ahead, I promise. It’s something private, okay?”

  It took a second, but they seemed to understand and each kissed me before walking away. When I was completely alone in the hallway, I knocked on the door and cracked it open before Amos could answer it.

  “Everything okay, Emelia?” he asked, getting back up from his desk. “You having second thoughts about the plan?”

  “No, nothing like that,” I replied. “I just… my dad said you are a great dragon and an even better man. I, I thought you’d want to know how he felt about you, even after all this time.”

  Amos stared at me, his mouth gaping open and tears began to glisten in his eyes. He turned away and rubbed the moisture away with the heels of his hands.

  “Did he say anything else?”

  “Just that I need you as much as you need me and we should be good to one another.”

  He let out a huff of a laugh. “Sounds like your dad. Thank you for telling me, Emelia. Now, go rest. You have a busy morning ahead of you.”

  For a second I felt like I had done the wrong thing by telling him, but then I realized he was trying to not appear weak in front of me. When he turned around and I hadn’t moved toward the door, he gave me a puzzled look.

  I walked across the floor and wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug. He didn’t return it for a second, but then he gave in. I closed my eyes as I felt his warmth envelop me. It was what we both needed and until that moment, I believed Amos didn’t realize what he was missing. I surely didn’t.

  We were family and would rely on each other. We needed to be good to each other and hope for the best because like my dad said, hope was all we had.

  “I’ll see you at dinner?” I asked as I walked back toward the door.

  He nodded with a smile, a genuine smile and I knew I had made the right decision after all by telling him about my dad’s words.

  I hoped what just happened was an indication things were finally going to start going in the right direction for me. I was full of hope for it.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  My grandfather sat next to Matias, across from me at dinner like he promised and he told us about his life. It was exactly the light-hearted evening we all needed.

  I went to bed with both of my mates again like I did the night before and fell asleep in the exact same way, curled into Xan’s side with Matias holding me from behind. I loved having them both close and I was glad things had worked out for us. I didn’t care where I was as long as I had them by my side.

  I slept dreamlessly, not that I expected to talk to my father again, and woke up before the alarm Xander set. Matias’ hand that was on my hip, went under my nightshirt and trailed up my skin until he was cupping my breast.

  I parted my lips to moan, but he covered my mouth with his other hand.

  “Shhhh. We don’t want to wake the dragon,” he said. “Or do we?”

  I looked at him in horror, but then I melted into the idea of having them both at the same time. Outside of the feeding incident where I went down on Xan in front of Matias, we hadn’t done anything like that as a threesome. I wondered if Xan would be okay with the idea too? Matias obviously was by the tone of his voice and how hard his cock grew as he ground it into my ass.

  Matias removed his hand from my mouth and it trailed south, dipping below the waistband of my panties and finding the slick heat of my pussy. He pressed down on my clit with his thumb and rubbed it in small circles as his other digits teased me to the point I couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

  I whimpered softly as an orgasm washed over me, and when I opened my eyes after the feeling began to lessen, I saw Xander’s eyes locked on my face, intently.

  “Fucking beautiful,” he said, easing my sudden embarassment. “I didn’t think I’d be okay with this sort of thing, watching you get off to someone else, but that was the most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever seen. Watching you come undone? I want to see it again, this time with your mouth wrapped around my cock.” His gaze drifted over my shoulder to Matias, who was listening to our interaction. “You think you can make her cum again?” he asked.

  “I’d love to, my friend,” Matias told him and he ripped the panties away from my body in one quick motion, making me gasp.

  Xander, not to be outdone, pulled the shirt up and over my head, leaving me completely naked in between them. He then situated our bodies so they were flush and our mouths were fused together in a passionate kiss.

  Matias pulled my hips back toward him until I had no choice but to go down on all fours. I kissed my way down Xan’s chest and stomach until I came to his boxer shorts, pulling them down his legs and off his body.

  I continued licking and kissing all around his dick and balls but never actually touching the place he wanted my mouth the most. My fangs lengthened into sharp points and I smiled seductively up at him. Then without any other warning, I sunk them into his inner thigh. He cried out, as his dick grew impossibly hard, but he didn’t cum. I pulled back seconds before he had the chance to.

  “Oh god, I hate you,” he panted heavily. I just chuckled.

  But then it was my turn to cry out as Matias lined up his huge dick with my pussy and slammed it home. He pulled it out once, then thrust right back in, making me scream again. With my mouth open wide, Xander pushed the head of his dick into my mouth and began fucking my face in time with Matias’ thrusts behind me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they’d talked about a situation like this one with me between them.

  Xan’s movements became more rigid and I knew he was close. I reached between my legs and rubbed my clit, sending another wave of intense pressure to my core and I moaned around the cock in my mouth.

  “Oh fuck!” Xan screamed as he came hard down the back of my throat.

  Once he was spent, he pulled his softening dick out of my mouth and reached over, pinching my nipples. The extra pressure from anothe
r pair of hands was exactly what I needed. Then it was my turn and I screamed as the waves of pleasure hit me over and over again.

  Matias was last. He came, screaming my name, then we all collapsed on the bed just in time for the alarm to go off. I began to laugh, which made Matias and Xan start laughing too. It was insane what just happened, but oh so good.

  “A good fucking before the sun rises is supposed to be good luck, right?” I joked.

  “Definitely,” Matias agreed, and Xander piped up with a grunt of annoyance at my bad joke.

  I really loved my men.

  * * *

  After we all showered and got dressed, the three of us made our way down to Amos’ office where we were supposed to meet my grandfather and Camille. However, there was a third person we didn’t expect to be there that we should have.

  “I’m not letting Camille go out there without me,” Grayson demanded.

  “I told you, I’ll be fine,” she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, but I could tell by the little smirk on her face she loved his protectiveness. She talked a good game, but she loved her bear shifter fiercely and he loved her too.

  “Grayson, I don’t know if I can teleport with four extra people. Three, more than likely, but four...” I said to him. “My magic has been messing up a lot lately and I just don’t know what I can handle.”

  “Well, she’s not going if I don’t go too. You have your mates to look out for you, but who will look out for her, huh?”

  “You don’t think we can protect Camille too?” Xander sneered toward him.

  “I don’t need protecting, Grayson!” Camille screamed at the same time and all three of them began yelling over each other.

  All of a sudden, there was a loud whistle and everyone became silent, all turning their heads toward Matias, who’d definitely had enough.

  “Camille, do you think you can give Emelia enough of a boost to teleport all five of us?” he asked my friend.

  “I don’t know, maybe.”

  “Then I say we try it. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work,” Amos piped in. “I, for one, will feel better knowing you have another set of eyes to watch your backs. But Grayson, they need Camille and I believe they can all take care of each other if things go bad. You understand me?”

  “Yes, sir,” Grayson frowned.

  “If it doesn’t work and you can’t be teleported, then you have to let her go.”

  The two shifters locked eyes for several seconds before Grayson looked away and nodded his understanding.

  “Okay, then. Emelia, Camille, whenever you’re ready.” Amos motioned toward the center of the room where all the furniture had been pushed back, leaving plenty of room for us to congregate.

  Camille stood in front of me and held out both of her hands. I slid my hands into hers and immediately felt a jolt of magic. Since I was the caster who was familiar with the location of the cabin, the other three grabbed onto my skin wherever the could. Matias stuck his hand around my waist under my shirt while Xan and Grayson held onto my forearms.

  I closed my eyes and pictured the woods outside of the cabin, just beyond the treeline. It was the same place Xan and I hid when the cabin was under attack, where I met Ronan for the first time. I remembered the trees, the rocks, everything.

  When twenty seconds passed and nothing happened, I asked Camille for more help. Almost immediately, I was hit with power I wasn’t ready for even though I asked for it and the five of us were off.

  We reappeared in the exact spot I planned on, so at least that part worked out. Hopefully everything else about the trip would work out that way.

  We all looked around in all directions, hearing and seeing no one, so we all felt it safe to approach the cabin. It looked so small, so abandoned with the porch sagging to the side and the front door completely ripped off.

  Xander walked up first, testing out the porch’s stability then when he deemed it safe, he motioned for us to follow. Walking into the cabin was devastating. Everything was thrown about, ripped to shreds, or blown to pieces. The kitchen cabinets hung open and all the plates were smashed on the floor. The couch was overturned and half into the fireplace. Looking up, I saw a large hole in the roof of the house. Whatever made the hole, destroyed the bottom half of the stairs as well, making it almost impossible to go upstairs. I had wanted to look in my room and Dev’s for clues, but seeing the state of the stairs, I didn’t think that was possible.

  “We should probably split up,” I said aloud.

  “Yeah, probably a good idea,” Camille agreed. “This place gives me the creeps. No offense. I mean, I bet it was nice, once…”

  “Xan, I think you, Camille, and Grayson should look through the front rooms and Matias and I should go back to Dev’s study.”

  “Emi, I’m not leaving…” he began to argue.

  “Xan, besides me, you know this place better than anyone else here and Camille will know what kind of things to look for. Please, just stay with them. I promise, we’ll be just down the hall.”

  He breathed out through his nose in a huff but then leaned down slowly to kiss me only once.

  “Stay out of trouble, please,” he said.

  I pecked him again then grabbed Matias by the hand and we ran down the hallway toward the study.

  I didn’t know what to expect when I walked into the room, but to see it perfectly intact wasn’t it. When I stepped over the threshold, the walls shimmered as if I deactivated a spell. Dev must have preserved it somehow.

  “Why didn’t the casters from the Council ransack this room too?”

  “I don’t know, but I think your uncle made is so you were the only person who could come in here.”

  I nodded my head because it sounded like something Dev would, and could, do. I walked further into the room and went straight for my uncle’s desk first while Matias started looking through the bookshelves. The map was still laying on top in the exact spot he left it when he told me to run away. My fingers traced over the details as I remembered the moment.

  I shook my head, trying to bring myself back to the present and began opening drawers. I found random papers and notebooks filled with Dev’s writing, immediately stuffing them into my backpack. The bottom drawer was locked and I tugged on it a couple of times getting nowhere. For some reason, I had the urge to lay my palm on it. After a second of touching the wood surface, the lock clicked and the drawer popped open.

  I glanced up at Matias, who was watching me then back down toward the drawer. Books. Spellbooks, in particular, were stacked on top of one another. I grabbed those and lay them on the desk. There was a long rectangular box in the very back. I pulled it out and saw that like the drawer, it too had a lock on it. I lay my hand on it, hoping for the same outcome as before, but nothing happened.

  I called Matias over and asked him to put the box in his backpack while I fit the spellbooks into mine and we continued searching. We had gotten through one whole bookshelf when Xan and the others walked in.

  “Whoa. Jackpot!” Camille smiled and ran straight for the far bookshelf.

  “Did you find anything?” I asked my dragon mate.

  “Camille grabbed some stuff from the kitchen and living room, but I didn’t see anything I thought we could salvage, I’m sorry, baby.”

  “Yeah! I found some ingredients for potions and spells! Good stuff too!” She was hastily pulling out books and flipping through them before shoving them back into their places.

  The rest of us were going through things with a little more care. Xan, Matias, and Grayson because they didn’t know exactly what to look for and me, well, I wanted to savor everything I came in contact with.

  It was all Dev’s stuff. He spent years putting things on those shelves exactly as he wanted them. To me, that meant I should respect it all even though I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. The room may have looked exactly like the day I ran away, but I knew it wasn’t exactly as it all seemed.

  “Emelia Stratton!
”

  We all stopped whatever we were doing at the sound of my name spoken over what sounded like a megaphone.

  “Emelia! We know you are in there, darling. Why don’t you come on out and have a talk? Hum?”

  I looked at Xander, than Matias, my blood running cold. Trouble had found us, just like my father said we would.

  Chapter Thirty

  “What should we do?” Grayson asked. He had moved over to stand next to Camille, between her and the door like any good protector would. My mates did the same thing to me without realizing it.

  I looked between the two men whom I loved and took a few breaths in and out, calming myself. A calm Emelia was a smart Emelia.

  The loudmouth outside was obviously someone from the Council, but I knew it wasn’t Ronan, thank fuck. I knew I would know his Scottish brogue anywhere.

  “Camille, do it.” I told her. We decided before we left that if we ran into trouble, Camille would cast a spell protecting the shifters so they can still shift. Taking away a shifter’s beast was cutting them off from their magic.

  She said the incantation, focusing over Grayson, Xander, and me. I felt Soleil roar in my head and I knew she was angry, but I tried to quiet her down because it’s hard to think with that kind of noise in your head.

  I looked at Camilla again, this time saying, “Camille, you keep on looking through the bookshelves and bag anything that looks valuable. Grayson, stay with her.”

  “On it.” She didn’t even look away from the shelves to answer me, just kept at her task.

  “What are you going to do?” Grayson asked us.

  “We’re going to get a closer look,” I said, breathing in and out deeply.

  I began walking out the door but Matias stopped me, pushing me behind him. He went out first followed by me and then Xan. We took quiet steps through the hall until we came to the living room.

  “Emelia, it’s rude to keep company waiting, darling,” the annoying man said.