Burning Roses

by Amanda Perry

  Burning Roses

  Chosen Storm | Book 2

  Amanda Perry

  BURNING ROSES

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  COVEY PUBLISHING, LLC

  Published by Covey Publishing, LLC

  PO Box 550219, Gastonia, NC 28055-0219

  * * *

  Copyright © 2019 by Amanda Perry

  * * *

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the writer, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design Copyright © 2019 Covey Publishing, LLC

  Book Design by Covey Publishing, LLC, www.coveypublishing.com

  Copy Editing by Covey Publishing, LLC

  Printed in the United States of America.

  ISBN: 978-1-948185-70-7

  First Printing, 2019

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  About the Author

  Also by Amanda Perry

  Note From The Publisher

  MORE COVEY BOOKS

  Chapter 1

  With one visit to the council of Elementals, my entire world changed. The gods and goddesses spoke to me—told me my fate as The Chosen wasn’t a mistake. They said I need to trust my family and myself, to train and prepare for a battle with the one person who terrifies me more than anything. The coming months may be the most challenging of my life, and I fear I’ll let the gods and goddesses, as well as my new family, down.

  After waking from my strange dream-meeting with the gods, I spend a lot of time convincing Caleb to relent and allow me off his lap to leave the council. The room continues to spin, and my body vibrates with adrenaline. Later, when it wears off, I’ll need to rest. For now, meeting the gods and goddesses of the elements and the blessing as The Chosen gives me more energy than I know what to do with.

  “Are you sure you’re okay, Riley?” Leanne frowns when I sway on my feet.

  If the room would stop swirling, I would be able to walk in a straight line, but other than that, I feel fine. Caleb would likely lose his mind if I said my thoughts out loud, so instead, I reply with a simple nod.

  “Sis, you’ve got to stop these antics,” Jaxon huffs, running his hands through his hair. “If you want to cuddle up with Caleb, I’m sure asking is all you have to do. You don’t need to pass out on us.”

  “Noted,” I say drily.

  Caleb snorts and shakes his head. He leans into me and whispers in my ear, “You can cuddle with me anytime, baby. No asking necessary.” His voice alone causes sparks to shoot up and down my body from my hair to my toes and back. The sensation brings a small whimper from me, and Caleb inhales sharply at the sound but doesn’t say anything.

  He takes my hand, squeezing it gently. We gather by the door of the large room to wait for Dad to address the council. “We’ll be in touch, but for now, Riley needs to rest.” Dad’s tone leaves no room for argument.

  The Elemental Leads and council members, Scarlett, Misty, and Jett, easily agree with him. Even Forrest, the grouchiest of the four council members, reluctantly agrees. “Take care of yourselves and Riley. She’s very special.” Jett’s words bring heat to my cheeks.

  On the one hand, I appreciate them considering me special. On the other hand, I know they only think I matter because I’m marked as The Chosen. If I was simply Riley Storm, a normal seventeen-year-old girl, they wouldn’t blink twice at me.

  Scarlett hands my dad the sad little rock I formed. It was supposed to be a diamond, but when they inspected it earlier, it wasn’t even close. Jaxon and Leanne can help me figure out what I made at some point—they possess the most knowledge on gems with their Earth affinities. Dad leads the way out of the room with the council, making our way down the long hall toward the waiting area and elevators.

  “Let’s get food, then we can go rest for a bit,” Dad suggests to us while taking Leanne’s hand.

  My stomach growls with the mention of food. After all the energy I expelled during the test with the council, I’m hungrier than ever.

  Caleb squeezes my hand gently again, gaining my attention. “What sounds good?”

  “Anything, really. I’m starving,” I admit.

  While he turns to ask Jaxon and Cassie what they want to eat, I peek down at Caleb’s hand around mine, smiling at the comfort it brings. My smile vanishes as I notice something on his forearm that wasn’t there this morning.

  I stop suddenly, pulling Caleb to stop with me. “Is that a tattoo?”

  “Uhhh…” Caleb glances down at his arm and uses his free hand to run a finger over the design. There’s no way he could have gotten a tattoo without me noticing.

  Jaxon and Cassie snicker at him, though I don’t understand why.

  “Caleb?” I ask again, staring at the intricate detail on his arm.

  The design consists of a band with orange and red flames coming out of it. The band itself goes all the way around his left forearm. The twists and turns of the band remind me of Celtic knots, but if you search hard enough, hearts form from the intertwined knots. It’s beautiful and matches him perfectly.

  “Baby girl.” He sighs, running his free hand through his hair. “Let’s stop at the hotel and go through the lengthy process of figuring out what we want to eat. We can explain this more then, okay?”

  With a nod, I allow him to pull me to the lobby. My never-ending list of questions grows, but I force myself to be patient and wait for the explanations when the time is right.

  As we approach the elevator, the high-pitched, squeaky voice of Britt, the receptionist, can be heard. I pull Caleb closer to me without conscious thought, wrap my arms around his waist, and hold him close.

  “You okay?” He glances down at me, curiously.

  “Yeah.” I smile tightly, squeezing him. He returns the smile with a more genuine one and wraps his arm around me, guiding me toward the exit.

  Everything about the receptionist screams threat. For some reason, my instincts tell me to protect Caleb and keep him close. He’s supposed to be mine, no one else should be able to take him away. This morning, when Britt fluttered her eyelashes at Caleb, I kept my mouth shut and pretended to not notice. Now, I think I understand what everyone tried to explain about a strong pull to your soul mate after being Blessed. The simple thought of being away from him makes my stomach twist and my heart burn.

  Before we can step up to the elevator, Britt skips in front of us. “Caleb!” She pouts. “Don’t I get a hug before you go?” She moves closer to Caleb, as if to kiss him, even though I’m almost attached to his side. She angles her body to push herself between us.

  Caleb tenses and takes a step back, pulling me with him. Before I can react, Leanne steps up to us and physically pushes Britt away from Caleb. “You shou
ld be ashamed of yourself, Britt.” Leanne’s hands go to her hips as she scolds the girl. “You know better than to try getting between two soul mates! Especially when one of them is so newly Blessed. I will be giving your mother a call about your behavior.”

  Britt pales and opens her mouth to reply. Before she can say anything, Caleb speaks up, “I’m done with your bullshit, Britt. I’m Riley’s soul mate. You’re nothing to me, to either of us. You need to stay away from me, knock off the desperate needy crap, and find someone else to bother.”

  I can’t help my wide grin while Britt turns an ugly shade of purple. She takes a deep breath and flips her hair over her shoulder before stomping off to her desk. “Your loss!”

  Her words make me want to light her underpants on fire. The tips of my fingers warm as I toy with the idea. Caleb must realize where my thoughts go because he rushes us to the elevator before I can do anything to the brat.

  “Take a breath, baby girl.” He kisses the top of my head.

  His voice alone causes my whole body to relax into his embrace. I didn’t realize how tense I became until he holds me close and I melt. His presence continues to calm me on the drive back to the hotel. We remain relatively quiet until we reach the hotel. The adrenaline slowly wears off, and talking feels like a lot of effort.

  We forget the incident with Britt by the time we make it back to the hotel and head to Dad and Leanne’s room because it’s the largest. The living room area is almost twice the size of the one in our room. I vaguely wonder why we need such elaborate suites when we’re only staying for a long weekend, but I don’t comment.

  Before anyone sits, Jaxon speaks up, holding out his cell phone, “Who wants Chinese? I’m too hungry to argue about where we should go, so I’ll call the place down the road that delivers.”

  Caleb perks up. “They had killer pot stickers last time we were here.”

  Jaxon quickly writes down orders as everyone calls them out, and Caleb ends up ordering my food for me, taking away the pressure of trying to choose. He knows what they offer, and I usually like his choices. Jaxon leaves the room to place the order.

  “I can’t believe what a long day this has been.” Cassie dramatically plops onto the couch. “I mean, the council, the testing, Britt’s dumb ass, the passing out… You sure know how to make things interesting, don’t you, Ri?”

  “Ri?” I raise an eyebrow.

  “Well, everyone else has a nickname for you.” She pouts. “Mark calls you kiddo, Leanne calls you honey, Jaxon calls you sis, and we all know Caleb calls you sugar pumpkin sweetie cakes.”

  I can’t stop the surprised laughter from bursting out. Caleb glares at his sister for a moment before rushing over and sitting down in her lap.

  “Umph! Caleb, get the hell off me,” Cassie grunts, pushing on her brother’s back. “You weigh as much as a truck.”

  “Say you’re sorry,” he demands casually while inspecting his nails like he has all the time in the world.

  “Never!” Cassie yells, hitting his back with every word. “Off! Off! Off! I’ll play dirty, Caleb.”

  Caleb snorts. “You can’t win against me, Cassie.”

  “Wanna bet?” She grins mischievously. I know exactly what she’s about to do because I would do the same thing in her position. “Jaxon, help!”

  It takes a total of three seconds for Jaxon to enter the room and assess the situation. At first, I’m sure he will rush to Cassie’s aid, but he shocks me by grinning and sitting on the other end of the couch. “What did you do this time, sweetheart?”

  “You’re no help,” she growls. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

  “Oh, I am on your side.” He chuckles. “But I also don’t want Caleb to light my hair on fire or some shit. It took me a month to grow my eyebrow back last time.”

  “Is being bald worse than sleeping alone for the next month?” Cassie grits out. “It’ll make for some long nights for you, Jaxon!”

  Next thing I know, Jaxon pulls Caleb off Cassie and into a headlock. “Sorry, bro. A guy’s got needs.”

  “Fuck off, Jax.” Caleb grabs and twists Jaxon’s arm to force him to loosen his grip.

  They spend the next half hour wrestling on the floor, neither one admitting defeat. The first time I watched them goof around like this, I was terrified. Even now, the play fighting makes me uncomfortable, but I push it aside and let them have their fun.

  While the boys get out their energy, Cassie moves over and sits next to me. “Do you think they’ll ever grow up?”

  I shrug, then cringe when Jaxon throws an elbow into Caleb’s side. “They’re going to hurt each other one day.”

  “They haven’t yet,” Dad reminds me. “I’m putting my money on Jaxon this time around.”

  “Please.” Leanne rolls her eyes heavily. “Caleb managed to get out of his grip in less than thirty seconds. Jaxon’s slacking.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Jaxon growls, tugging on Caleb’s arm around his neck. “Your confidence gives me the warm fuzzies.”

  “They’ll call a draw before anyone wins, anyway,” Cassie says. “They always do.”

  “Then, we work out a point system,” Dad suggests.

  Leanne nods eagerly. “Five points if their opponent drops them to the ground.”

  “One point if they make some sort of sound of pain,” Dad adds. “And a point for each time they make the other one curse.”

  “No.” Leanne shakes her head. “That’s not fair, they curse at everything. We wouldn’t know for sure if it’s because of the fight or because they just cursed.”

  “They both do it enough that the points for it will be fair,” Dad argues.

  When the doorbell rings seconds later, Cassie jumps to her feet to answer the door. At the sound of the doorbell, the guys pause their antics until Cassie walks back into the room with three bags of food.

  “Draw?” Jaxon asks.

  Caleb nods. “Draw.”

  Cassie grins widely. “Told you guys they’d draw.”

  “Quiet, woman,” Jaxon jokes. “I need food, and it’s more important than kicking Caleb’s ass. I can do that anytime.”

  “You fucking wish,” Caleb scoffs.

  “Damn.” Dad pulls out his wallet, hands Leanne a ten-dollar bill, then shakes his head. “If you’d have kept your mouth shut, I’d be ten bucks richer, Montgomery. You had to go and curse.”

  “It’s not cursing,” Caleb argues. “It’s sentence-enhancing.”

  “I call bullshit on that,” Jaxon snickers.

  Cassie rolls her eyes and motions for us to follow her to the dining table. “You guys are hopeless. Let’s talk about tattoos and eat. Riley’s been patient for the information she wants, and I’ve been patient for the food I want.”

  I almost forgot about their promise to explain Caleb’s tattoo to me. My curiosity rushes back while we all settle around the dining table.

  “So, this is just a small thing we never got around to telling you about,” Caleb admits with a sheepish grin. “When an Elemental has been Blessed, they get their mark. Jaxon explained it a while back, but with all of the information we were throwing at you, none of us had the chance to elaborate on it.”

  “Sorry, sis,” Jaxon says. “It slipped my mind with everything else going on. It’s a minor detail in the scheme of things.”

  I wave off his apology. “It’s been kind of crazy lately. I don’t expect you guys to tell me everything in one go, but why didn’t I see it before?”

  “We told you when you’re Blessed, your senses are enhanced.” Caleb pauses, waiting for my nod to confirm I remember. “Sight is one of them. Only a Blessed Elemental can see these marks. They look like tattoos, but they never fade and can never be removed or covered. Fallen are also given a mark, but theirs is on their left palm, and it’s always a crimson circle with two swirls like horns coming out of it and an elongated diamond in the center.”

  Dad continues, drawing my attention away from Caleb. “When you went through the Blessing
s with the council, did you feel a slight sting anywhere?”

  “Yeah, I did.” I recall the four stinging sensations from earlier today, just before I passed out. “A few, actually.”

  Cassie bounces up and down in her seat, quickly swallowing a bite of rice. “Can we see?”

  I frown. “See what?”

  “The sting is a sign of where your mark was left. If you show us the spots you remember it happening, we can likely see your marks,” Dad explains it to me while I push myself to my feet.

  I remember the one on my ribs first and lift my shirt enough to check the spot that caused me slight discomfort earlier. On my right side, running about two and a half inches long and one inch wide, from my bra line to my waist, is a beautiful seahorse made of multiple shades of blues and swirls, like waves, making up the lines. The intricate detail is perfection, and I fall in love with it immediately.

  Cassie smiles and continues to bounce excitedly. “It’s so perfect. It looks just like waves. Oh, I love it!” she gushes. Her affinity for water makes her partial to this specific mark, but it really is wonderful.

  “Where else, baby?” Caleb’s gaze doesn’t leave the seahorse while he waits for me to show the next mark.

  After thinking for a second, I remember the sting on my ankle, so I take off my shoe and sock. Lifting my pant leg, I’m excited to find a beautiful dandelion on the outside of my right ankle. The dandelion itself rests on the side of my heel, while its seeds blow in the wind, toward the top of my ankle. Upon closer inspection, I notice five tiny birds intertwined in the seeds, with their wings spread as if soaring away in the wind. A sixth bird rests on top of the dandelion.