Dark Ambitions: A Snarky Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance (Brigit Grey's Misfortunes Series Book 1)

by Maya Daniels

  Or worst yet, taking us to the Guild.

  Because if they took us there, that would be a fate worse than death.

  Out of breath from running, I glanced behind me to make sure Crystal was keeping up, but also to ensure the mages weren’t closing in on our trail. Luckily, the coast was clear, and for the first time since I’d found Elijah in that alley waiting for us, it seemed like something was working in our favor. I

  t was about damn time.

  “Do you even know where you are going?” Crystal asked, her words heaved through heavy breaths. She must not be an exerciser either. Laughing internally at my stupidity, I thought maybe Crystal and I would’ve been good friends if we met under different circumstances.

  “Yeah, your apartment is right ahead.”

  “You’ve only been there one time. How the hell do you remember how to get there?” she exclaimed, holding one hand pressed to her side, as if she was trying to hold her insides where they belong.

  Slowing my pace, I let her catch up with me. “Good memory, I guess.” Hysterical laughter bubbled out of me as idiocy kept spilling through my lips. “Or something else, but if that’s the case, I have no clue what it is.”

  I was losing my mind, and the fact that Crystal’s laughter matched mine meant she was riding shotgun on the same bus. We sounded like crazed maniacs, but then she spoke, and I realized her laughter wasn’t because of what I’d said. “Well, your memory sucks because you are going the entirely wrong way.”

  That froze me in my tracks. “Well, then, genius, how about you lead the way. And you better move a little faster or I’ll start kicking your ass.”

  “With pleasure.”

  Taking the reins, so to speak, she bolted in the opposite directing like the hounds of hell were nipping at her feet and led us to her apartment. Which was all the way on the other side of town. By the time we arrived, my legs burned, my lungs were on fire, and every single muscle everywhere hurt—including my cheeks and places I didn’t know one used like ever. I guessed I was scrunching my face wrong while I was running or something. Leave it to me to do something like that.

  I couldn’t even run like a normal person.

  Who knew there was a right way and a wrong way? Probably exercisey people, that was who. I’d have to catch one of those one day and grill them on intel just to prepare for situations like this. I knew what I was doing, distracting myself so I didn’t have a meltdown in the middle of crisis, so I rolled with it.

  Once inside the building, we took the stairs two at a time and made it to her door. She went through the crazy lock routine like some elaborate chicken dance, sliced her hand in a way you’d think it was what a normal person would do to lock their door, and slapped over the bolts and chains, the blast of magic just as powerful as last time.

  “Okay, we are safe,” she huffed, still breathing heavily.

  I was breathing like a freight train, too. This was way too much shit to deal with in a two-day period. And honestly, it was more like a day and a night, so saying two was being generous with the amount of hours I spent being attacked, scared, running like a dumbass, getting almost kidnapped, and horny as hell.

  “I’m glad, because that sucked big time.” Groaning, I plopped right in the middle of her entryway.

  “Badly.” She chuckled, the sound reminding me more of a sob than a laugh. “Donkey balls, even.”

  I snorted ungracefully at that; I couldn’t help it. Never would I have expected Crystal to say “donkey balls,” not in a million years. And she’d said it with such a straight face that I lost it. Tears streaming from the corners of my eyes, I doubled over.

  “What in the world did I just walk in on?” Elijah spoke, hopping inside to join us through the now-open window of the apartment.

  Both of us jumped out of our skin, Crystal shrieking like a banshee and almost hitting her head on the metal crisscrossing the back of her door.

  When I finally collected myself, I snarled at him through clenched teeth. “Where the hell did you come from?”

  “And how the hell did you get through my wards?” Crystal chirped.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Elijah winked without a care in the world, that sexy smirk lining his face.

  I couldn’t help what I did next, and I blamed it all on the hormones and the adrenaline from running for my life. Truth be told, sexual frustration was churning inside me like it was a river battering an already cracked dam, but I would never admit that out loud.

  Stomping up to Elijah, my palm connected with his face, leaving red, swollen fingerprints across his cheekbone. He just started at me through slanted eyes, which I couldn’t blame him for after pulling a dick move like that. He’d helped us when he didn’t have to, and proven himself to be a friend instead of a foe, and here I was repaying him by giving him a bitch slap to the face, literally.

  Fuck his sexy smirk. He deserved it.

  “What the hell was that for?”

  Annoyed that he even had to ask, I spoke without thinking, which looking back had been my biggest downfall my entire life. “For breathing, and smirking, and making my hormones go crazy, that’s what that was for.”

  The trademark tilt of his full lips grew, and my annoyance along with it.

  “You’re an asshole,” I told him, stabbing an accusing finger at the tip of his nose.

  “Duly noted, Ms. Grey. Duly noted.”

  Storming into the bathroom, I slammed the door like a two-year-old child throwing a tantrum. Men. Who was the moron who thought creating them was a smart idea?

  Blowing a breath through pursed lips, I turned the tap on and slapped water at my face. Cold water.

  I needed to chill.

  Or I could do something stupid like march back out there and kiss the asshole senseless until he forgot his own name.

  This time, my palm connected with my own face.

  14

  Standing in the middle of the living room, I focused hard not to fidget as awkwardness floated around us making it difficult to breathe. Elijah shuffled to the window, looking out, while Crystal stumbled to the kitchen, dropping her bag on the ground, the contents spilling all over the floor like colorful vomit pouring out of the leather. I tossed my bag to the side and sat on the sofa in the middle of the soft cushions, planting my feet on the coffee table perched in front of it.

  “We need to have a talk, so I’m very glad you are sitting down.” Elijah slowly turned to face me, striding over and plopping right next to me too close for comfort.

  I slid away from him, tucking myself into the opposite side of the furniture like he was contagious.

  A chuckle fell past his lips, the deep seductive sound echoing around me and sending my hormones into overdrive.

  Jesus. This guy and that voice of his …

  “Well, considering everything that has come out of your mouth so far has been useless, I can’t wait to hear this new word vomit.” Lodging my elbow onto the arm of the couch, I stared down my nose at him, waiting for him to speak.

  He didn’t, instead only the corners of his lips twitched as he fought the need to curl them up in his trademark smirk. The smirk of all smirks, as I’d named it. Eventually I was going to scratch that shit off his face. I didn’t know when, but the day was coming. Still, my cheeks burned at the thoughts flitting through my mind, and I turned away to watch the entrance where I hoped Crystal would come out of any minute now and break up this shit show.

  It didn’t happen, of course.

  No, I was destined to be stuck alone with this guy for however long while Crystal did whatever she was doing—which was probably steering clear of us because she could sense the thick tension saturating the air and it made her uncomfortable— but I wasn’t about to be the person who asked questions in this scenario just to feed his ego. It was already inflated to a point I was shocked his head hadn’t exploded yet. He said we needed to talk, so talk he would, or it would be as silent in the living room as the aftermath of someone telling a dead jo
ke at a funeral.

  Sorry not sorry, thank you very much.

  The thick air made it difficult to breathe, so I rubbed my neck in hopes to get some relief from the penetrating look Elijah was giving me. Talking in uncomfortable situations used to be my forte, and I did want to speak right that moment, so much it was driving me to the point of insanity. But I was as stubborn as a mule and wouldn’t allow myself that indulgence. Pride. Such a shitty thing, yet always present in my life.

  It’d bite me in the ass eventually.

  “You need to understand that I’m not your enemy.” Elijah decided to be the bigger person.

  I couldn’t help it, I scoffed. Those were the first words he decided to say? What the frick was wrong with this hunter. “Okay, stalker—er, I mean tracker, say whatever helps you sleep better at night.”

  Angling his body toward me, he pressed his lips in a firm line, obviously not amused at my deliberate audio typo. A muscle ticked in his jaw, and I loved seeing it there. It was like a timer on a bomb, and I couldn’t wait for the explosion. “I am here to help you, Brigit. To keep you safe. As things are at the moment, I really need you to believe that.”

  Blinking at him to make it apparent that he was full of shit, I couldn’t believe what he just uttered. “That’s what we’re going with? Yet, for some reason, every single time you are around, so are the mages. What a strange coincidence.”

  “I got rid of them this last time, remember?” He kept me locked in his intent gaze, sweetness oozing from his lips like molasses. My fingers twitched, and so did my left eye.

  Could I clock him? I could, right?

  “So … we definitely have a lot of shit happening around us, and I’m not so sure staying hidden will ever be an option again.” Crystal barreled into the room with the force of an elephant stomping inside a china shop, a steady wind left in her wake. For such a small woman, she sure had a presence when she wanted to.

  Smiling on the inside but trying to keep it off my face, I was more than grateful for her arrival. “It will be. Probably not for me, Crystal, but for you, definitely. I’ll draw them out and lead them away.” Pausing, I really had no idea if anything I was saying was truth or if it was just gibberish flying from my mouth, but one thing I was certain of: if I went on my own, they would come after me and leave her alone. I hoped it was true, for her sake. “And then hopefully you can redo your wards and never have to deal with these asshats again.”

  “And you …” she trailed off, eyeing Elijah with venom in her eyes. “What did you say to her? This stinks like some shit you’d shove in someone’s head.”

  Elijah stood, grinding his teeth in frustration, and moved to the other side of the room as if putting distance between us would help matters somehow. I didn’t blame him, either. He had two hormonal women to deal with, and neither of us was being particularly nice to him. “I’m not your enemy.” Clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides, he shrugged.

  “So you keep saying,” I blurted out, “yet your actions are still a bit iffy, to say the least. And we have no idea what your intentions are.”

  Looking at me as if he wanted to roll his eyes but was too polite to do that, he shook his head. “My intentions are what they are, and you will know them when the time comes. Right now, what you need to know is I am on your side, and it would be wise not to work against me.”

  My eyebrows hit my hairline. “Really? Would it be wise? Oh, well, since you know all the wise things to do, maybe you could share some more, oh regal one.” Snorting, I ran a hand through my tangled hair. “We get it. We know you are the hunter, and we know you are capable of big, bad things. Wolf in sheep’s clothing and all that mumbo jumbo crap that I just really—”

  “Shhh,” he hissed, cocking his head toward the door.

  “Don’t ‘shhh’ me, you—”

  He silenced me with a narrowed glare I’d never seen on his face until that moment. Shoulders stiff and body poised for an attack, he stood like a motionless statue full of coiled power in front of the window. My brain caught up with what was happening, and a shiver raced up and down my spine.

  Something wasn’t right.

  Someone was coming.

  I heard the dull thud of someone ramming something at the ground floor of the building, almost as if they were attempting to break down the wards.

  “Uh, guys… we have intruders,” I stated the obvious as if everyone in the room didn’t already know that.

  “They can’t break Crystal’s wards down.” Elijah turned to me, a relaxed gait to his step as he inched closer.

  The building shook, and plaster rained from the corners of the ceiling.

  My heart jumped to my throat, and my feet were moving of their own volition as I rushed to open the sliding glass door that led to the small balcony. Leaning on the metal railing, I glanced down and had to tighten my grip so I didn’t pitch forward to my death.

  Mages.

  Swarms of them, all dressed in black and standing in the weak light cascading from the main entrance of the building, they looked ready to climb the walls Spiderman style. Their magic was floating toward the building, prodding at the wards Crystal erected around the perimeter, and each time it made contact, a boom of distant thunder reached my ears.

  “They’re trying to bring the building down.” My voice sounded distant as my heart jackhammered wildly in my chest. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “With us it in,” I added, which after the fact sounded ridiculous, but the shock taking over me wasn’t something I could shake.

  “Damn it!” Elijah snarled, a barely audible sound coming from deep within his chest, and it carried a tinge of danger. Moving back inside and shutting the door, as if that would keep us safe or something, I eyed him, noticing for the first time the concern etched into the corners of those beautiful eyes of his. “They finally did it. Those assholes are actually going to bury all of us alive.”

  “Did what?” My tone was a whisper, the words carried on the nonexistent breeze in the room, and ice pierced my veins, freezing me from the inside out. I couldn’t move if I tried.

  “They put a lock on Brigit’s magic, so anytime she uses it, it alerts them. The attack in the alley was a setup. You finding Crystal, them trying to take her. It was all a setup.” Elijah stabbed his fingers through his hair, yanking on it in frustration, the look on his face telling me he wasn’t just pissed because they’d pulled one over on him, but also ashamed because he didn’t see it coming. Or maybe disappointed, I couldn’t tell which.

  Even though I could see all the emotions flickering across his face, what bothered me most was the wariness floating through every single part of my being. If he was worried, we were all screwed, but I had to ask to be sure. “And you think I’m going to believe you had nothing to do with it?”

  Crystal moved next to me then, cocking her hip to one side, and amusement flickered through me as I watched Elijah swallow. Hard.

  Yup. He had no idea what he was getting into, but I had no problems sitting back and eating popcorn while Crystal showed him.

  Brigit one, Elijah zero.

  15

  Sighing, Elijah looked anywhere but at us. “I had absolutely nothing to do with it. We don’t have time to argue right now.”

  With a pointed look, I let him know it wasn’t going to be that easy. “Out with it, Elijah the Hunter, or get the fuck out of here.” The shadows writhed through my fingers, oozing out of me through every pore.

  Throwing his head back, the ass laughed, the sound such a contrast to the raining-down plaster around us. Crystal looked like she was about to throw up at the destruction of her once-beautiful apartment, and I couldn’t blame her. This place had been a dream, and if the mages kept it up, it would turn into a nightmare fast. Of epic proportion.

  “You do know that can’t hurt me, right?” Eyes still gleaming with sparks of anger, he sat back on the couch, his back facing us where we were standing behind him. “Go ahead. Give it your all and see how that goes.
Maybe then you’ll listen to me and we can get out of here.”

  Growling through clenched teeth, I stomped forward so he could see me when I spoke, hands clenched at my sides. “Dude, get up. As much as I want to do this shit with you all day, we need to find a way out of here.”

  “And before we do that,” he said, crossing one ankle over a knee, “we need to finish the discussion I started. No interruptions. No sassy backtalk. You. Crystal. Listen. To. Me. Talk.” Tilting his head at me, he raised his eyebrows as if he was mocking me. “Got it?”

  Scowling, I took a few seconds to think about it, and because I had no other options, I gave a sharp jerk of my head once. I didn’t want him to think I was eager although I did feel like prancing from the urgency clawing at me. “Fine. Talk. And hurry the hell up because I really don’t want a building falling on my head anytime soon…please.” I bared my teeth.

  “Sit.”

  “I’m not a fucking dog,” I spat out.

  “Neither am I.” Crystal waddled over, taking on the same stance as I had. It was funny, really, how much the girl had taken to me. I usually didn’t do too well with female friends. Or any friends, for that matter. Besides Pete. Pete proved that he was cool.

  “I can see I bit off a bit more than I can chew with you two, that’s for sure, but needless to say, we can deal with that later. Right now, I need you know that I thought we would have time before they would ever figure out how to track using their magic. They must have some new trick up their sleeve,” he muttered that last part more to himself than us. “As far as I know, they have no idea about me knowing about their manipulations, though I could be wrong. It seems I have been about many other things recently.”

  “No shit, sherlock,” I drawled, looking down my nose at him.

  “What I don’t understand is why they used me”—Crystal pointed at herself with her thumb, then wedged it toward me—“to get to her. Until today—or yesterday that is—I didn’t even know her, and she had no damn idea who I was.”