Origin of Angels: Elemental Legacy Book 1 (32 page)

When I scoffed, she yanked free from my grasp. I folded my arms, not allowing myself to react to her childish outburst. “How could I possibly want you? You’ve done nothing but bring me misery from the moment I met you.”

She flinched, yet I did not allow myself to soften my stance. She needed to understand how toxic she was. Undaunted, she continued, “I have much to offer.”

I took a deep breath, concentrating on the vision of Emily’s kind eyes. I’d never tried to drift, but I knew how to walk. There was nothing I could do for my family without backup. What I needed was to convince Rayla to give me a team to rescue Emily and Blade. I needed to find the others. I took off out the doors we’d entered. Valen’s chateau stood as an intimidating force at my back.

The wide open expanse of lawn was cut off by the distant trees, which stood like an army surrounding the place. As ordinary and dense as any east coast town, there was nothing here to distinguish the location. Even if I had to walk for days, I’d find my way to civilization, and when I did, I’d hike it to the borderlands. Without Ainessa’s help, I couldn’t contact my sister outright. If the fae offered, I’d likely refuse. What I wanted was for her to disappear into the forest and never show her face to me again. What I got was her blocking my path. I’d never been a violent person, but I was beginning to understand why someone would be. “Get out of my way, woman. I have no time for your games.”

She spread her hands. “Don’t you see? I’ve given you what you desired most in this world. All you could focus on was the girl and the possibility you might be a father. I’ve answered your questions, and if you hadn’t blown it back there, you would have had an opportunity to spend time with them on several occasions. As it is now, you will likely never see them again.”

My eyes narrowed and my fists clenched. How could the woman believe she had helped me? “You brought me here to serve yourself. I’m not stupid, Ainessa, and I’m not gullible enough to fall for your tricks. If there is one thing I know: every woman is jealous when another woman offers something she can’t. Don’t think you can fool me. Don’t presume you have anything to offer me. You don’t make the sun rise or set, and you certainly don’t control Valen.”

She lifted her hands again, but this time they were glowing. “I know you are upset, but I can’t allow you to leave. This endeavor is good for my people. If I let you walk out of here, we will not have the option again.”

Bracing myself for her attack, I said. “You don’t have the option now. I allowed Lambert to manipulate me because I was concerned Elementals would die if I didn’t. It seems as though the only thing anyone can think about is if and when I can produce more children. I hate to break it to you, but I’m not interested. I’ve got plans for my life, and they don’t include managing a baby factory.”

She folded her arms, her glowing fingers drumming against her sleek biceps. “You think you’re clever, don’t you, boy? You are nothing but a child in your understanding of the workings of this world.”

I smirked. “And yet you have it bad for me. What do you hope to gain from me? I’m only half
Elemental. If my sister is any indication, bonding might not be an option. You have no hope of gaining power from me.”

Her teeth chewed her lower lip as if she deeply considered something. I was sick of talking to her, and I had no intention of sticking around, anyway, so I turned and headed toward the trees.

Once again, she blocked my way. She shook her head. “I wanted you to love me. I wanted you to learn from me, but you leave me without options.” I frowned, not sure what she was up to. This time, when she lifted her hand, a large ring lit up with her fingers. The blue stone shone like the ocean under glittering sunlight. It pulsed in a hypnotizing rhythm. The building and trees blurred until all I could see was the blue glow. I knew I needed to do something, but for whatever reason, the thought escaped me.

My head felt funny, sort of dizzy. My breath came quickly, and sweat dripped down my back, even though it wasn’t hot out. I blinked,
then closed my eyes to disconnect from her trance. “What are you doing to me?”

“There’s no need to fight it, Travis.” The inflection of her tone came as a layered command. “You don’t know how much you mean to me. I can’t let you go.”

I gritted my teeth to keep my mouth from snapping the reply she wanted. I shook my head, searching for the thread of her control. It had to be there somewhere. Ainessa was used to people bowing down to her whims, but she was about to be disappointed. I kept my eyes shut because it seemed to help me focus. “I’m leaving, and there isn’t anything you can do about it.”

“Stop your nonsense. You and I want the same thing.”

Her compulsion slid up against the barriers in my mind, searching for cracks. It seeped through my unease, then skirted around my doubts. I fought to keep my mind from buckling, but it was bending with every passing second. I had to do something — but what?

Without even considering the consequence, I shot a fire bolt toward the sound of her voice. I must have caught her off guard because she screamed. Free from her grasp, I ran.

“Stop!” she demanded, but she’d lost her hold.

My feet were sure on the uneven forest floor. I moved as if gliding on wings. She continued to shout commands, but I no longer listened. She might have overcome me if I’d hesitated. The sound of her voice grew distant, and my breathing became easier. After a few minutes of relative silence, I let myself slow to a walk, but only long enough to catch my breath. Adrenaline lit up my veins, so I set into a faster pace. I didn’t want to tire out before I had a chance to really escape.

A sound caught my attention to the right. I stopped to listen more carefully. When it came again, I looked for cover. The forest had plenty of plant life, but most grew high enough I couldn’t use them. With no other option, I positioned myself behind the largest available tree.

The lightest touch landed on my shoulder. “There you are,” said Ainessa. I whipped to face her. She peered at me as a scolding teacher. “Are you finished with your absurd resistance?” Her fingers lifted, glowing as before. Helpless, I watched her hand lift to my cheek. Her voice was sweet, making me wonder why I disliked her so much. She tilted her head as if studying an uncommon phenomenon. “I do not wish to make things un-comfortable for you, but I will do what I must.”

RELIEF WASHED OVER ME AS THE matter stream caught us. I’d never liked drifting, but holy cow, it was an awesome ability in a scrape. We materialized behind a copse of trees linking the river at the hotel where we agreed to meet. When I started toward the building, the others didn’t need coaxing to follow. Natalie was the first person to notice us. Her large green eyes scanned the crowd as if looking for someone particular. Her jaw clamped when her gaze landed on the girl standing next to me. Then, she marched our way.

Not bothering with formalities, she asked, “Are you Zoe Clark?”

The girl nodded, keeping her expression guarded. “Who wants to know?”

As if the details weren’t important, Natalie waved her off. “Your boyfriend’s mother is frantic looking for you. She has the entire community searching. Once he came home, it caused an uproar. If we don’t do something to diffuse this situation fast, we’ll have more than the local channel reporting.”

The one thing we couldn’t afford was to include mortals in our mess. It was bad enough we were staying in a human town, but to allow them to capture us on camera would be disastrous. With the Order and Valen keeping tabs on the area anyway, the people would likely become suspicious. Fae aren’t disguised easily. Even dampened, they are stunning. We needed to leave.

I sent a directive to Heath and Finn to gather their groups. If we didn’t leave soon, we were bound to attract attention. Being early morning, we had an advantage I wouldn’t waste. As it was, a few of the hotel occupants had stumbled from the building, coffee in hand to enjoy the only time of day that could be deemed cool. I sent a slight compulsion to one woman who stared blatantly. Not wanting her to repeat the behavior, I told her to forget we were here. She blinked in rapid succession, then focused on an excited group of men who clamored into a Jeep. I wished we could take time to have some fun, but our course was set.

After I’d made sure we could go about without disturbing the hotel guests, I addressed Natalie. “We’re leaving in just a moment.”

She grabbed my arm to keep me from moving off. “Wait. I need to talk to you ... alone.”

Her frantic look startled me. “What is it?”

She pulled me off to the side, so no one else would overhear. “A group of men have been asking about you.” She held up a flyer with my senior picture front and center. I cringed. I hated that photo. When I caught the huge reward stamped at the bottom, I gasped. Her voice dipped even lower as she leaned closer. “At first, I thought they were Order, but there is something really strange about them.”

Strange had become my normal.
“Did they say what they wanted?”

She shook her head. “It’s funny because I asked specifically how they knew you. I put in a bit of sympathy, trying to see if they were family. The leader was what my dad would have called a scrapper. He was little com-pared to the others.”

At first I thought it must be Alex, but Natalie had met him. “Did you recognize any of them? Maybe from school.”

“I’d never seen one. It was like they were fae but not. I’m not sure what they were, to be honest.”

I frowned. This conversation was sinking fast. “You don’t think they were human?”

She considered a moment, tipping her head toward the sky.
“Can’t say for sure. Knowing Lambert, he could have created soldiers with inhuman abilities.” She shoved her hands into her pockets and shivered as if she were cold. It was at least eighty degrees, maybe pushing ninety. “I thought you should know.”

Giving her a reassuring smile, I said, “Thanks. I appreciate it.” I let my focus wander to the others. Heath stared at me, apparently listening in on our conversation. I shrugged. Natalie had turned, as well.

Her face fell ashen. She motioned her head toward the front of the hotel where a group of men walked to-ward us. Her shaky voice matched her features. “It’s them.”

I sent a silent curse to
whomever was orchestrating these events. Could we ever just get away without having to face more problems? “It’s okay,” I told Natalie while studying the leader as he approached.

She slapped my arm over and over until I looked at her. “Oh, and they’re British, I think.”

Okay, now I was curious. Instead of letting him reach me, I set out to meet him. Natalie gave a squeal and followed, her footsteps nervous against the gravel walk. I shot her a look and told her to calm down. The men following the leader towered over the gangly man who looked more like a boy. I refused to make assumptions considering how I’d mishandled things with Alex Wayne. I’d thought him innocent, and he was anything but. If there was one thing I’d learned from my time with the fae, it was to never judge someone by appearances alone.

We met at the edge of the river, the water gurgling and spitting at our ankles. Heath came up behind me and wrapped me in his embrace. Finn and Cassie were right behind us, but Amy and the Elementals held back. I cocked my head, waiting for this guy to speak first.

He lifted a hand, pushing long brown bangs to the side, and smiled. “Rayla Tate?”

His accent threw me off for a moment. It was guttural and harsh, not the form of British I expected. I folded my arms. “Who’s asking?”

From this close, I could see what Natalie was talking about. Most of the men were buff, but there was something off about them, like they were built differently than humans. Long legs and broad backs seemed to be a common trait, as well as a square shape to their heads. Capturing my attention, the leader extended his hand. “The name is William Campbell, and I have been directed to find you.”

Campbell? When I looked at her, Cassie gaped. There were so many que
stions, but the first needed answering. “Who sent you?”

He took a sharp breath as if needing a moment to gather his thoughts. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

I gave a harrumph and looked at him as if he bored me. “We have things to do. What do you want?”

He laughed, his smile stretching across his face, making his linear features almost handsome. “We are here to help ... and to retrieve those you have found.”

My hackles went up. “As you can see, we are fine. We don’t need your help.”

He shook his head as if I were a petulant child. “I’m afraid you haven’t any choice in the matter. You will all please come with us.”

NOISE FROM THE HALL WOKE ME from a fitful sleep. Blade lay at my side, cocooned in my embrace. Drowsy still, I closed my eyes, but the commotion wouldn’t let me settle into rest. I slipped my arm from under my son’s neck, taking care not to jostle him, then reached for my robe.

Being barefoot, I crept to the door and eased it open. Valen’s voice had been muted, but now, I could hear what he was saying. “It won’t work. We need to rethink our strategy. Even if the two of them could conceive again, what would we gain from the union? He’s bound to come out of your spell sooner or later. What will you do with him when he discovers how to break your connection completely?”