The Phoenix (The Prophecy #1)

by Jessica McCrory

  She heard Dakota clear his throat behind her and her cheeks flushed.

  “Brady this is-”

  “The infamous Dakota Parker.” He smiled and held out a hand that Dakota offered.

  Anastasia blushed again. “She talked about you a time or two. I saw the picture.”

  “Oh, did she?” Elizabeth asked as she smiled and nudged Anastasia. “Hi I'm Elizabeth, the infamous Dakota’s mother.” She held out a hand.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Parker. Anastasia spoke of you and your husband as well.” He smiled and turned back to Anastasia. “Tony said that you had gone through the portal after Maximus. He and the others just returned, they will be glad to see you.”

  They turned and headed towards the village together. When she stepped into the clearing she fully expected to see the destruction that he had seen before, but instead the village was thriving. The buildings had been rebuilt and the wall fortified. There was no sign that there had been any attack at all.

  “We’ve been busy.” He smiled. “After you guys left, we started working on rebuilding and we even added a second wall.” He pointed to the extra layer that was going up. “That way, if they made it through the first one, we would have additional time to prepare.” At the hesitation in her response he continued. “It’s probably not the best idea, I suppose, I just thought that-”

  “Brady, it’s a great idea. I am just very proud of you.” She smiled warmly at him and he grinned.

  “It was my mom’s.” He laughed.

  “They usually have the best ideas.” Elizabeth added with a smirk.

  “That they do.” Brady agreed.

  She saw Tony and the other Fighters standing in a corner addressing a large group of people she had never seen before.

  “Anastasia.” He turned and embraced her when he saw her. “I am so glad to see you.” He looked at her outfit of jeans and a t-shirt and smiled. “I see you made it to your Seattle.”

  “I did. This is Dakota and his mother Elizabeth.” She introduced them and Tony took Dakota’s outstretched hand.

  “It is nice to meet you Dakota. I have heard quite a lot about you.”

  Dakota sent Anastasia a look and she felt herself blush again. It was getting annoying.

  “Who are they?” She asked pointing to the people who were standing in line behind him. It looked as if they were receiving orders one by one from Andrew.

  “We were able to convince most of the outlying villages to follow us back here. We rushed back after you left through the portal, but made detours through the other villages as well.”

  “That’s wonderful!” She exclaimed with a smile. “How did you convince them to come with you?”

  Tony’s face went dark. “We have much to talk about, but we need to do it somewhere else.” He turned to face a fighter Anastasia had never met. She assumed he must have come with one of the other villages that Tony had spoken about. “Get everyone settled and see that the gate gets sealed. We don’t want any surprises in case we were followed.”

  The man nodded and returned to the people.

  “Come.” He said to Anastasia.

  She, Dakota, Elizabeth and Brady followed him into his cottage.

  “What is it Tony?” She asked. She had never seen the look on his face that he currently wore. His jaw was tight and his eyes held something beyond sadness and anger.

  “We searched those caverns after you left. Once Kaley and I finished with the Brutes, we returned to gather the others and then went through every inch of the inside of that mountain.” He rubbed his hands over his hair. “You won’t believe what we found.”

  “What did you find?” She pressed.

  “Tons of weapons. Ranging from small to large. I found more ammunition for the guns you taught us to use, and we reloaded our spare clips, but I sealed the crates and we brought them back for you to look at. We didn’t want to risk setting anything off.”

  That was bad enough, but she feared he was saving the worst for last.

  “That’s not all.” He continued confirming her fears. “We found cages.”

  “Cages?”

  He nodded. “Eight children were locked inside.”

  Anastasia’s blood iced. “Children? Why did they have children?”

  “It appears as if the Brutes have been using the villagers for something. The children may have been used as leverage in order to keep the adults in line.”

  “Using them for what?” Anastasia wondered.

  “We’re not sure.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “Some of those children had been in there for years Anastasia.” She saw the tears in his eyes. “It must have been one of the reasons they were taking the supplies.”

  “Oh my God.” She heard Elizabeth behind her. “What kind of monster cages children?”

  “The worst kind.” Tony replied.

  “Where are they now?” Anastasia asked. She had to know that they had been rescued, that they were safe.

  “We brought them back, they are in one of the spare cottages. Serena is with them. The youngest is only six months old. The older kids had been taking care of the younger ones.”

  The horror she felt in her heart matched what shone on Tony’s face. She knew he had always had a soft spot for children, and the fact that they had been so mistreated made her sick to her stomach. Was it not horrific enough that he tore apart their homes and took their families? They had to be caged as well?

  “We will kill Vincent, Tony.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “I swear it, he will pay for what he has done.”

  “The important thing is that you saved them.” Elizabeth offered, coming to stand next to Anastasia. “You are a wonderful man.”

  Anastasia smiled softly at Elizabeth. It made her beyond happy that she was soothing someone Anastasia cared so much for, even though she had only just met him. It had always been the type of person Elizabeth was- a healer.

  “Thank you.” Tony nodded towards Elizabeth.

  Anastasia turned to face Dakota. His face was hard and she could see that his body was vibrating with anger.

  “I'm going to go and look through Gregory’s belongings. I need to see if he wrote anything down about my training. Anything at all that might help us come up with a plan to defeat Vincent.”

  Tony nodded. “I need to go help some of the villagers and check on the children. A few of them had been injured when we got there.”

  “Maybe I can help. I'm a doctor.” Elizabeth offered.

  “That would be wonderful, thank you.” Tony accepted and Elizabeth followed him outside.

  “Children.” Dakota said. “I want to kill him for that alone. No, death would be to easy. I want to tear him apart.”

  “Dakota.” She said gently and cupped his face with her hands.

  He looked at her then, and she saw the pain in his eyes.

  “He won’t get away with it.”

  Dakota nodded and she kissed his cheek. “Come with me, please.” They left the cabin and headed back towards the training cottage. Anastasia saw a bunch of children sitting in a circle outside, Elizabeth in the center. She was squatted and was speaking to them with a smile on her face. She saw a few of the kids smile back and it eased some of the sadness she was feeling. They would be safe now she knew, and although they would be emotionally scarred, she knew the villagers would do what they could to help them heal. After all, they had helped her heal.

  Anastasia linked her fingers with Dakota’s and they walked back to the cottage in silence with Kaley padding along next to them. The cat went on inside and Anastasia turned to sit on the porch. Dakota sat next to her and rested his hands on his knees.

  “You okay?” She asked him.

  “The horrors of the world never stop catching me off guard. I am constantly in awe of the level of evil some people are capable of.”

  Anastasia nodded in agreement. “We can’t lose sight of who we are in the process to our vengeance.” She repeated something that Gregory had once
told her shortly after they started their training again after Annabelle had died.

  “After my dad was killed, I threw myself into college, only completing what I needed to in order to get my degree. As soon as I was old enough I entered into the academy. I wanted to become a cop as soon as I could so that I could go after Mitch.

  I worked my ass off and made detective by the time I was twenty-six. When I was promoted and Mitchell and I became partners, I knew that I had to do whatever I could to keep what happened to you from happening to anyone else.” He rubbed his hands over his face.

  “My first year I was put on a case where a young mom had died. Her husband told us that she had simply fallen off of a stool while she was cleaning.” He wore the disgust plain on his face as he retold the story. “He was so good at pretending he was upset. Had I not known the signs of the abuse I might have believed him. They had a young daughter, six years old. Mitch represented him in the case and he got off. There was no reason he shouldn’t have been locked up, they even gave custody of his daughter back to him.” Dakota stood and began pacing in front of her. “I wanted to beat the shit out of him. I followed him one night, he had dropped their daughter off at his mother’s house and then went to a bar. He was walking out with a leggy brunette. Had it not been for her, I probably would have jumped on the opportunity. He was drunk and more than likely wouldn’t have remembered it anyways.” He turned to face her now.

  “I went home angry with myself for what I had almost done. Three hours later I got the call that his daughter had been brought in to the hospital. Her father had told the nurses that she tripped and fell into the table. She had to get two stitches in her forehead and I lost it. Had it not been for Mitchell I probably would have killed him that night in the hospital.”

  “What happened to the little girl?”

  “We were finally able to put him away for the abuse and she went to live with her mother’s parents.”

  “Good.”

  He nodded in agreement. “I saw you in every single victim’s face. I searched for you in every Jane Doe they brought into the morgue. I made every single abuse case that came in my personal mission to try and make up for the fact that I hadn’t been able to save you.”

  “Dakota.” She stood and went to him. “You did save me. Every single day I woke up was because of you. Knowing you were there for me is what made my life worth something.”

  “You were always it for me.” He said to her. His voice had a dangerous edge and she knew they would never be the same after tonight. “I was young and I was stupid or I would have told you long ago.”

  “Dakota.” She whispered it when he moved to stand only a breath away.

  “Please just tell me you feel the same. Forget about everything else going on right now and just tell me that I’m not crazy.”

  “You’re not.” She said quietly. “You were always it for me too.”

  “Thank God.” He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her in. He crushed his mouth to hers and she wrapped her arms around him. The instant their lips met she felt the electricity shoot through her. She opened her mouth under his and accepted what he was offering. She had never been kissed before but she was sure that even if she had, it wouldn’t have felt like this.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She felt herself being carried but paid it no mind. She felt the magic begin to buzz in her veins only she knew it wasn’t anger that was bringing it forward.

  Gregory had always told her that your light centered you, that once you found it you would be forever bound to it. She knew that he had never been the same since Annabelle had been killed and she now knew why. She would kill for Dakota and if he were taken from her she honestly believed she would die with him.

  She felt the door at her back and she slid down his body, her feet gently touching the floor. She pulled back from the kiss and put her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart pounding beneath her palm and it only caused her heart to race even faster. She turned and pulled him towards her bedroom.

  He turned to her and took her mouth again. His hands raced down her body and she gripped his shoulders. She could feel the muscles below bunching under her fingers and she reached down to pull his shirt over his head. She needed to feel his skin against hers. Felt like if she didn’t then she might explode. His mouth was hungry on hers, and she tasted the promise of a future she wasn’t sure she had.

  Dakota lifted his arms and pulled away as she pulled his shirt over. Once he was clear he took her mouth again and backed her to the bed. He laid her down and covered her body with his. Slowly he removed her clothing so she laid before him in nothing but her skin. She saw his breath catch and she reached for him again.

  His fingers lit tiny fires along her skin as he traced them down her body. He lowered his head and took her nipple into his mouth. She arched up into him and moaned with a pleasure she hadn’t known was possible to feel. She buried her hands in his hair and pulled him back to her mouth.

  Anastasia arched her hips up into him and he groaned. She reached down and undid the button of his jeans, anxious to get them off. He stepped back to remove them and then just as she was beginning to feel cold without him, he covered her body again.

  When his hand found her she cried out as the pleasure soared straight into her soul.

  “Oh, Ana.” He groaned as he pushed into her. He was gentle and if it had not been for his mouth covering hers she would have cried out with temporary pain that was quickly replaced with pleasure.

  He sat motionless inside her for a moment giving her time to acclimate to him and when she gripped him with her legs he began to move. He drove her back up to the crest again and when she fell this time, he went with her.

  It was always going to be Dakota, she knew. She had loved him every second of every day for as long as she could remember. Fate had given them another chance and she would be damned if they wasted any of it. She knew they had a war to fight, knew that it needed to take precedence and still she couldn’t imagine anywhere else she wanted to be than right here in this moment with him.

  She lay wrapped in his arms, the dizzying satisfaction setting in. She gripped his forearm as if she were afraid he might slip away if she didn’t hold tight enough.

  “Are you okay?” He asked and propped himself up on his elbow to look down at her.

  She smiled. “I am wonderful.” He grinned and kissed her lightly.

  “I should have been more careful, it just hadn’t crossed my mind that you would be-”

  “A virgin?” She finished with a laugh. “There hasn’t ever been anyone else I had wanted to give that part of me to. Although I hadn’t known it at the time, I guess I always assumed it would have been you.”

  “You don’t know what you do to me Ana.” He kissed her again and brushed her hair out of her face. “What you’ve always done to me.”

  She reached up to run her fingers down the tattoos on his chest. The one over his heart was a police badge. She recognized the number as his father’s. An intricate tribal design wrapped around it and halfway down his arm. A solid band of ink wrapped around his forearm and just above it ‘Until we meet again Ana’. Tears filled her eyes. He had tattooed her name on him.

  “I wanted to carry you with me.”

  She looked up at him.

  “I am grateful I didn’t have to wait any longer.”

  She smiled and leaned forward to place a kiss over her name on his arm.

  “You’ve seen my ink,” he laughed. “Now can I see yours?”

  She smiled hesitantly and rolled onto her stomach.

  Dakota stared at the phoenix that spanned her back. The yellow-orange of the bird was so beautifully done that it nearly made him breathless. He traced the lines of the bird that represented a rebirth of sorts. He couldn’t have picked a more fitting description of the girl that lay in front of him.

  He saw the scars that she had worked so hard to hide and th
e anger he had carried with him began to return. Mitch had done a number on her that night. He should never have left her there, should have thrown her over his shoulder and carried her out with him.

  “Ana, I’m so sorry.” He said as he traced the scar with his finger. He leaned forward and kissed each one gently as she had his tattoo.

  “There was nothing you could have done.”

  “I could have made you come with me.” He said repeating his thoughts.

  “Nothing short of a death threat and a man with a portal was going to make me leave that house.” She laughed but it was empty. “I was afraid and would never have wanted him to come after you and your family.” She sighed. “Little good that did I suppose.”

  “My father was not your fault Ana.”

  “I don’t think I will ever stop blaming myself Dakota.”

  “He wouldn’t want you to.”

  She nodded and bit back the argument. She knew he was right about George, and still she knew it was a weight she would carry with her the rest of her life. “Dakota?” She asked and rolled onto her back.

  “Yes?”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down on top of her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  When Anastasia opened her eyes she was cradled in Dakota’s arms. She smiled, in her opinion there was no better place to be. The light had begun to pour through the window and Anastasia could hear the birds outside singing their familiar songs.

  She pulled fresh clothes on and crept from the room. Kaley slept right outside her door and stretched when Anastasia stepped over her carefully.

  “Good morning, girl.” She knelt to rub the large cat.

  Anastasia stood and looked around her. This was the first time she had been in this cabin since she had found Gregory. She felt the tightness start in her chest and she took a deep breath. It was now or never.

  She ignored the area where she had found him and started a fire in the hearth to warm some water. When she turned she noticed a note on the table.

  Dakota and Anastasia,

  I came in last night but you two must have already been asleep.