His jaw was clenched and his body shook with barely restrained anger, but it wasn’t directed at me.
“What happened?” he finally asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I had a run-in with one of my mother’s henchmen. I stabbed him.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed and shoved my feet into my boots.
“Good,” he said. I fingered the hem of my shirt, feeling exposed under his scrutiny. There was a lot that needed to be said, but Declan was, well, Declan. He was bullheaded and stubborn. Nothing I said was going to change that, and right now wasn’t the time for us to hash things out.
“I don’t want to argue with you,” I said. Just because I’d been attacked, it didn’t change things. It didn’t matter that stupid butterflies decided to dance in my stomach every time he was close to me or that I’d let him hold me just now. What mattered was that he had bound me to him with the intent to use me as a weapon. I didn’t think I could get over that.
Declan ran his hands through his white-blond hair, tugging at the strands. “Then don’t.”
“I’m trying not to,” I said as I moved around the bed, heading for the door.
“Spar with me,” he said abruptly.
I frowned. “Spar with you?” Where had that come from?
He nodded. “Neither of us wants to argue, so let’s spar. It’ll be good for us, and I’m sure you’ve been wanting to kick my ass since we met.” Wasn’t that the truth. Almost every time Declan opened his mouth, I wanted to smack it shut. I thought about it for several seconds.
“I have to go see the girl. The witches need to come and retrieve her.”
“Later, then?”
“No claws,” I said.
“No fire,” he responded.
“Weapons?”
“Staffs.”
I nodded. I could live with that. “Later…”
“Later.” He agreed. “I’ll call the witches.”
“Thank you.”
He left me alone in Caden’s room. I leaned against the door frame and pictured sparring with Declan. A smile spread across my face. I was looking forward to throwing him on his ass.
Shaking with the thought, I left to find where they’d taken Marcella. It didn’t take long to find her in the infirmary. Two large shifters stood guard at her door, but they stepped aside when I neared. I recognized one as Devin, a Pack guard I’d met previously while on the job hunting down Daniel Blackmore’s killer. He was a bear shifter in his mid-thirties, with shoulder-length brown hair that he kept tied back at the nape of his neck with a cord. The other was an unfamiliar face, and when he looked at me, it was with thinly veiled disdain. Another fan. Yay me. I really wasn’t winning any points within the Pack, it seemed.
Resigned that he didn’t like me and I didn’t need him to, I turned my attention to Devin.
“How’s she doing?”
“She’s afraid. I don’t think she’s ever been around shifters, because she’s treating us like we’re big scary monsters from her nightmares. She was heavily drugged when she was pulled out, so that may be some of it, but she won’t eat and she won’t let anyone touch her, so she’s still in her dirty clothes. Frankie was able to look at her injuries and patch her up, but that was when she was out; now that she’s awake, she can’t get near her.”
I nodded. Frankie was a coyote shifter, like Robert, and was one of three Pack healers. She’d been through something in her life that had left her permanently and visibly scarred. Given that she was a shifter, whatever it was had to have hurt like hell to leave the mark that it had. If I were a kid and didn’t know any better, I might be afraid too.
Marcella had been though a lot, most of which we’d never even know. A healthy dose of fear was to be expected.
I opened the door leading to the infirmary room she was staying in and quietly closed it behind me. Marcella sat on a twin-sized bed, her legs pulled up with her arms wrapped around her feet. She wore a pink-and-cream floral dress that she pulled over her legs, leaving her bare and dirt-covered toes to peek out beneath the fabric. The dress had seen better days.
“Hi, Marcella,” I said. She didn’t look up; her eyes seemed to bore holes into the soft green comforter beneath her. I stepped further into the room and took a seat at the edge of the bed. She hugged her legs closer but still didn’t look up at me. I looked at the tray that had been left beside her on the end table. It held a simple turkey sandwich and some fruit, but it was untouched, as was the full glass of water.
“You really should eat something. You’ve got to be hungry.” She shook her head. Well, it wasn’t words, but it was something.
“I know you must be scared,” I told her, “but you’re safe here, and your family is coming to get you. They should be here anytime now.” Her head jerked up at the mention of her family. Her eyes were haunted, and I felt my heart clench in my chest. Bruises marred the left side of her face, and distinct finger-shaped bruises wrapped around the column of her neck. Those bastards. I regretted not killing them slower.
“My family is coming?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“They are. I was hired to find you. Olivia should be here to retrieve you soon. I promise.” Her eyes filled with tears at the mention of Olivia, and I felt myself begin to panic. “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t cry. It’s all going to be okay.”
“I missed her so much,” she said. Who, Olivia?
“Marcella, what’s your last name?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Fields.”
“Olivia is your mother?”
She nodded, and suddenly the pieces came together. Olivia had used her position within her sect to justify involving the Pack. Had it been any other witch, and any other child, I wasn’t so sure that they would have reached out for assistance. I wondered how much she’d had to pressure the Evergreen witches to be granted approval to do so.
She hadn’t been frantic as I would have expected of a mother having had her child abducted. No, she’d been calm, treating our meeting like a business matter and allowing me to assume that Marcella was just an ordinary child. She’d failed to mention that Marcella had psyker abilities, too. It was lucky that Inarus had been with me, or we may never have found the trail leading to her.
I could understand her hesitancy in providing the information; she must have been worried that I’d use her position against her. Having the child of a well-known witch was a big bargaining chip, and having a child with chronokinetic abilities was something entirely more valuable. Lucky for her, I wasn’t the type to use child for barter. Neither was the Pack.
“Will you eat for me? Just a little bit. Your mom will be here soon.”
“You promise?” she asked, her violet eyes filled with so much hope I wondered how many times those bastards had lied to her to try and get what they wanted out of her.
“I promise.” I handed her the tray and she reached for the sandwich with delicate fingers, tearing a small piece off before placing it in her mouth.
“Can you help me to understand why you were taken?” I asked her after she’d eaten several bites.
“I’m…different,” she said. Shame coated her words. I scowled. She had nothing to be ashamed of.
“I’m different too,” I told her, drawing fire to the palm of my hand. A small flame emerged, and I watched as her eyes widened.
“You can make fire?” she asked, her tone now showing hints of interest.
“I can,” I told her, edging a little closer on the bed. She instinctively moved closer as well, staring at the flame in my hand. She reached out a finger, but I pulled my hand away.
“Careful. It can burn you.” A wide smile spread across her face.
“That is so cool.” Of course an eleven-year-old girl would think so.
“What is it that makes you different?” I asked.
“Mom says I’m not supposed to talk about it,” she told me, biting her lower lip.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t
want to, but if it helps, I know that you have some kind of control over time.”
Her eyes widened. “How did you know? Did the bad men tell you?”
I shook my head. “Your mom hired me to find you, remember?” I felt bad for manipulating an eleven-year-old, but I was practical enough to know that the witches could just as quickly go from friend to foe in a matter of minutes, and Marcella was the type of person who could tip the scales, once she was older and had some control over her abilities.
“Oh, right,” she said somewhat sheepishly. “Yeah, I can go forward. Not back, though. Mom says maybe one day I can, but…” She shook her head. “I can go into the future sometimes. I’m not supposed to. Mom says that time is a delicate balance and it’s my job to protect the timeline, but sometimes I just get pulled forward, ya know?” Her face was so serious.
I smiled in understanding because, well, I did know. My fire often had a mind of its own. I could only imagine what her abilities did to her and how frightening it must be to a girl of her age.
“Is that what the bad men took you for? Because they wanted you to go into the future for them?”
She shook her head. “No, they wanted me to go back to before.” She paused as if considering her words. “Before the Awakening; that’s what the humans call it.” I nodded before she continued, “I told them I couldn’t, but they didn’t believe me.” Her hands shook as she put down her sandwich, her eyes taking on an eerie quality.
“I’ve seen you,” she said, her eyes now glazed over, almost opaque. Her body was frozen for a moment, and every hair on my arms stood on end.
“Marcella? Are you okay?” She didn’t answer. I reached over and placed my hand on her shoulder, her skin ice cold beneath my touch. “Marcella?”
She jumped, and then her vision cleared and her violet eyes stared back at me, wide with horror. “It’s too much,” she said.
“What’s too much?”
“The power. It’s too much. You can’t control it. It’s too much. Too much.” My chest constricted as I sucked in a gasp.
“Marcella, what are you talking about?”
“You’re not strong enough. It’ll consume you.” Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. Before I could ask her for more, the door opened and Olivia Fields walked in, followed by Declan. Marcella’s head jerked up at the sound of the door opening.
“Mommy!” she yelled, her throat ripe with the sound of tears. She jumped from the bed to rush into Olivia’s outstretched ones.
“I’m here. Shhh, it’s alright now,” Olivia cooed to her daughter. I watched the exchange. Seeing the two of them reunited made everything worth it, even the crash, but Marcella’s words left me unsettled. What did she mean there was too much power? That it would consume me?
Olivia looked up, her eyes filled with unshed tears of joy. “Thank you,” she said, “I am in your debt.”
“The Pack will remember,” Declan said from behind her. She nodded and lifted her child into her arms. Olivia was a small woman, made to look even smaller with a long-limbed eleven-year-old in her arms, but she managed. Declan opened the door wider for her and told her that Devin would walk her out. She smiled, clutching her daughter to her, but she stopped as Marcella reached up to whisper something in her ear.
“My daughter sees things, knows things.” Olivia said, her attention on me. I nodded. “She’s seen you.”
I looked at Marcella; her eyes were apologetic, but she offered me a weak smile. I nodded.
“You will have need of the witches. Don’t hesitate when that time comes. If you do, even the briefest delay may have dire consequences,” she said, her tone ominous.
She left, Devin escorting her out. I turned to Declan.
Did you hear what she said? I asked. He nodded. His brows were furrowed, and his mouth pulled down at the corners.
“The girl told her mother that if they do not help you, you’ll die, and take thousands with you.” My mouth opened but no words came out. How could I even respond to that? I shook my head and Declan came towards me, his arms wrapping around me in a strong embrace.
“The witches will come to your aid and you have the Pack. You have me. We’ll handle it when it comes.” He didn’t even second guess the child’s words. Just took them at face value and braced for it. I nodded, but my mind was reeling.
I ran into James in the hallway. “Ari, hey.” I walked past him. “Ari, wait.” I didn’t. I kept my eyes forward and increased my pace. I didn’t want to have it out right now. I had too much on my mind as it was. “Aria, come on. Don’t be like that.”
“Don’t be what, James? Don’t be hurt that my best friend lied to me? Don’t be pissed as hell that he sat by and just watched as I got screwed over?”
James staggered under the weight of my anger. His face stricken.
“Ari, I’m sor—”
I held my hand up. “Save it for someone who cares,” I said. My heart plummeted into my stomach. Why did I say that? James grabbed my arm.
“No. You don’t get to pull this shit. You’re pissed. I get it. I fucked up, okay? But I didn’t just stand by and do nothing. I watched your back. I told several guys to back off and I scared several others away. You want to be angry with me, fine. But don’t think that I just sat by and did nothing. Do you have any idea how fucking important you are to me?” He was mere inches away from my face. His words harsh. Declan snarled in the background, but we both ignored him until his snarl bordered on a roar.
“Get your hand off my mate.”
James released me and took several steps back. His jaw was clenched in a harsh line, his hands fisted at his side. I was still pissed as hell. I couldn’t believe that he hadn’t told me. He should have warned me. Maybe then…
That wasn’t fair. Regardless of whether I’d known or not, I still would have been on the verge of death, and Declan still would have had the choice of saving me by taking me as his mate or letting me die. James hadn’t had any control over it, and it wasn’t fair for me to blame him as if he had. I released a sigh and reached out to him.
“Okay. I’m still pissed. You should have told me.”
“I know,” he said, looking up. His steely gray eyes were filled with determination. “I’m not going to just let you go. You can be as mad as you want to be, but we’re still friends—fuck, we’re family. You can’t go ignoring and avoiding me.”
“You’re right. I won’t. I’m sorry too.”
He pulled me into a quick embrace, releasing me almost immediately. He nodded towards his Alpha and left.
“Just like that,” Declan said. “You forgive him that easily?”
I shrugged. “I like him more than I like you.”
I changed into a pair of soft yoga pants, running shoes, and a razorback tank and left the Compound for a run. I needed to clear my head, and the winding trails around the Compound surrounded by foliage were the perfect place to try and get some perspective.
I tried not to put too much weight into what Marcella had said. Sure, I was powerful—my fire wasn’t anything to laugh at—but I wasn’t strong enough to take down thousands. I thought back to the flare, the bright, hot wave of fire that I could push out in an arc. It was the strongest concentrated flame I could muster, and it did the most damage, but I couldn’t even cover a parking lot, let alone an entire city. I just didn’t have that much juice in me.
James ran up beside me on the trail, his long strides easily keeping up. For the first mile, he didn’t say anything, and I debated telling him about what Marcella had said, but I didn’t want to worry him for nothing.
Instead, I decided to ask every other question that had been plaguing me.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” James didn’t pretend not to know what I was talking about.
“I didn’t think you’d fall for it. Guys kept coming and you kept shooing them away. I wasn’t worried about you being suckered into a relationship by any of these knuckleheads.”
“Why didn’t you say any
thing after he’d mate claimed me?” My breaths were heavier now. James slowed his pace.
“I was going to, but—” He looked around him, as if searching for the right words to say. “I wanted to tell you, but the mate claim, it’s real.” He shrugged his shoulders, “When I called Declan out, he showed me the bond. It wouldn’t have formed if the mating wasn’t true. His beast chose you. You’re his forever. If I’d told you then, before Declan had to chance to win your heart, you’d have taken off and never looked back. Ari, I know you’re angry and I know what he did was wrong, but you need to realize what you mean to him. How destroyed he would be if he ever lost you.”
I slowed to a stop to stare at James. “I don’t love him. I can’t even decide if I really like him. He’s infuriating and bullheaded, and—”
“Perfect for you,” James finished. “He’s everything you need in a mate. Someone to call you on your shit, to make you think before you dive head first into the fire. Aria, he’s what you need, and you’re what he needs.”
I shook my head. “We barely know one another.”
“The heart knows. Your mind will eventually catch up, just give it time.”
“He tries to control me. He orders me around like he’s my keeper.”
“He’s a dominant tiger. He has to work twice as hard to keep the man in the driver’s seat and not let his beast take the reins, but you make it more difficult for him when you take off, and with this—” He waved his hand at me. “—this wall you’ve put up. Declan told me about it. He’s pissed, but he’s trying to give you space.”
“He isn’t giving me any space at all,” I said.
James was shaking his head. “He’s giving you a lot more space than most in his position would. We all have to battle with our beasts from time to time to keep the man in control. We’re all at risk of going rogue at some point in our lives. I’ve never had to worry about Declan. His control has always been iron clad, until now.”
“What are you talking about?” My words were sharp.
Burned by Fire (Blood & Magic Book 3) Page 12
