Reckless Revenge: Book Four (Spellbound 4) (12 page)

After the last bell rang at school, I’d lingered to listen to my art teacher rattle on about how I had real talent, but if I didn’t focus, I’d fail her class. Well, I might be failing art, but I was definitely getting an A in my demon studies.

As I treaded the deserted hallway toward the parking lot, loud voices escaped from the girls’ locker room on my right.

“Carter, please! I don’t know anything. You’re hurting me,” Brittany pleaded.

“Stop lying! Where is he?” Carter growled. “Where are you hiding James?”

I eased open the heavy metal door. Four lockers had huge dents. A bench had been ripped from the concrete floor and rested against one wall. Carter had Brittany pushed against the lockers. Tears streaked her makeup. She squirmed and kicked, but his huge frame crowded her slender one. He had on dirty khakis and a wrinkled football jersey speckled with dried bloodstains. He resembled a wild bear getting ready to attack a fragile deer.

“I don’t know where James is, but I liked you better
before
your damn coma!” Brittany yelled. “Now get your sweaty hands off me.”

“James has been talking to someone,” he said, stepping closer to her.

He was talking about James McMillian, a varsity football player, who had gone into hiding after being bitten by a lycan. But why did Carter care where he was?

He drew back one meaty fist. Hot steam may as well have been shooting out of his ears. “If it’s not you, then who—”

“Leave her alone, Carter!” I grabbed his wrist before he could strike.

He glanced at me and scowled. Then he released Brittany and got right up in my face. “This ain’t none of your damn business. Just walk away,” he spat. Literally. His saliva showered my right cheek.

“I’m making it my business,” I said, hastily wiping away the spittle.

I tightened my grip, although, I could barely get my fingers around his big wrist. The treat of danger stirred the
Darkness
within me and the power burned hot beneath my ribs.

Carter violently shook off my hand and shoved Brittany into the lockers. He whirled on the balls of his feet, muscles and bones undulating under his shirt. Coarse chestnut hair prickled, edging over his cheeks and jawline, like weeds sprouting. He placed a hand on my shoulder, then squeezed. Pain radiated along my arm. I didn’t flinch or move. His fingers dug into my flesh. His eyes feral as he snarled like a rabid dog.

Over his shoulder, I glimpsed Brittany’s pale face. She took a step, and I shook my head. Gave her an “I’ve got this” look.

“What’s your problem? Nobody knows what happened to James,” I said to Carter.

Inclining his head, he said in a low, rasping voice, “Shut your mouth, bitch.”

The crazed gleam in his eyes dampened my confidence. A hot prick of danger stroked my scar. The fragrance of pine wafted from his hairy skin. Heat poured off his body, as if from a sizzling campfire. His wide nostrils flared, taking in quick sharp breaths. Beneath his jersey, his muscles contracted and bulged. He rolled his shoulders and grimaced. His head dipped and the snarling quieted. The square bone structure of his face morphed, nose longer and cheekbones taking on a higher arc, changing from the broadness of a human appearance. Mutating like a teenage
Wolverine
. Brown stubble sprouted from his skin and coated his face and his arms.

If I’d had any doubts about the Giant’s
shifting
into lycans, I sure didn’t now.

Carter spun me roughly by my arm and slammed my body against the lockers. I released a loud gasp. My cheek pressed into the cold metal. He jerked my arm higher and I cried out.

Even if he was a damn lycan or taking steroids, it did not excuse his obnoxious and crappy behavior toward girls.

“Congratulations, Carter,” I said through squished lips. “You’ve officially been inaugurated into the Douchebag Hall of Fame!”

“Shut it. You know something?” he asked.

“Even if I did, why the hell would I tell you?” I said. “If James ran away, it’s obvious he wants nothing to do with you.”

Behind us, a door opened and banged shut. Brittany must’ve escaped. Good for her.

He loosened his hold on my arm a fraction. “We’re his family now. He can’t hide for long. We’ll find him.”

I peeled my cheek from the locker and spoke over my shoulder. “What’s this
we
stuff? Do you mean the football team?” I gave him my best stink eye.

He slightly relaxed. I brought my knee up, flexed my ankle, and using as much force as I could, slammed the heel of my boot down on his foot.

Carter groaned and lost balance, which gave me a split-second advantage. Whirling, I kicked him in the groin. He doubled over, but before I had time to think, he shoved me hard. I went reeling against the far wall. Pain shot along my spine and tears blurred my vision.

Beneath my ribcage, that dark force pulsed.
Darkness
pleading for freedom. A blistering sensation of black magick. Hot as hellfire. Hot as a desert sun baking the sand. Hot as Trent’s passionate kisses. Blackness, rousing. Awakening. Supernatural forces pumping in my veins. It tasted like venom, strange, metallic liquid on my tongue.

For once, I let the fierce dark power ripple through me. Swirls of black magick swarmed us in opaque waves of burning storms and cold obsidian.

Carter took a step closer, sneering. That pissed me off even more, and the
Darkness
pulsated and spread down my arms and into my fists. I threw a quick, hard punch to his jaw. The blow caused him to stagger backward.

Ha! Take
that
, stupid bully!

He rubbed his chin and his mouth took on a mean twist. He threw a punch, his knuckles grazing the air near my cheek, enough to make my head snap back out of reflex. I threw a high backhand that he blocked, but I finished it with a solid punch to his stomach, making him hunch in pain for a minute.

“You’re feisty.” He straightened and spit on the floor.

I rested both hands on my hips. “And you’re a disgusting pig.”

From somewhere behind us, a door slammed open. Trent stepped between the lockers. With a pair of designer jeans, suede sneakers, and a beige polo stretched over bulging biceps, he resembled any other regular teenager. Apart from the blackness flaring in his eyes. Not even hip fashion could hide the fact that something ominous
lived
within him.

Apparently, Carter wasn’t getting the message, though, because he started to come at me again, but froze at the murderous threat in Trent’s voice.

“Get. Away. From. Shiloh.”

I gulped when they stood toe-to-toe. Trent was massive like a solid wall of muscle, towering over Carter. But Carter was a big guy, too.

Above our heads, the fluorescent lights flickered. They brightened, then dimmed, emitting a loud humming noise. Lockers flung open and slammed shut. Dense clouds rolled in through the dirty windows, like an encroaching storm. The air thickened with a violent energy—restless, an uncontrolled aspect of
Darkness
undulating through it.

Only black magick controlled the weather, created storms, and conjured fog. White magick used nature’s elements to heal, soothe, and protect. I had no more lingering doubts about Trent.

Ariana’s hunch hadn’t been that far off. Trent definitely had demonic powers.

Carter faced Trent in the locker room. His russet hair was buzzed short and he still had prickly stubble all over his cheeks.

He gestured at me and said, “Don’t know why you mess with this freaky trash, dude.”

I glanced from Trent to Carter, and said, “
Oh
—for the love of all that’s holy—kick his ass, Trent!”

At my words, Trent got right in Carter’s face. A dangerous fierceness overtook his features. His eyes winked black, all pupils. His fury grew into a thundering, crimson aura. I wouldn’t have been surprised if smoke poured from his ears.

“What did you say about my girlfriend?” Trent’s tone held a biting edge.

“You heard me, douchebag—” Carter didn’t get to finish his sentence.

Trent’s fist traveled so fast it blurred as he struck Carter on the chin, then he took a calculated step back. Carter swung out a meaty fist, but Trent easily dodged to the left. Next, Trent sank a quick right hook into Carter’s jaw, snapping back his head.

I grimaced and backed up a step. This—all of it—was
so
not good. My pulse throbbed in my ears. Trent was freakishly strong, but so was Carter.

Carter grinned like an evil comic book villain, seriously upping the creepiness level, and messaged his bruised face. He threw a succession of rapid punches, each one catching air. Trent moved fast and sure on his feet. Blow after blow, Carter couldn’t keep up with Trent’s lightning fast reflexes. Both boys were drenched in sweat, but only Carter’s face was a bloody mess. I gasped when Carter missed another strike, smashing his left hand into the metal lockers. When he doubled over, supporting his fist against his chest and moaning, Trent went for the kill. He was pummeling Carter into the lockers with both fists and beneath the other boy’s body, the metal groaned inward.

The boys eyed each other, and then Carter grasped Trent with his thick arms and struggled to throw him to the ground. When Carter bent down, Trent thrust his knee upward into Carter’s face. Before Carter could recover from the blow, Trent rammed another fist into his stomach, and then followed it up with a solid right hook to his chin. Carter’s head rocked from the force of Trent’s lightning fast punches.

As Carter stumbled backward, Trent slammed an elbow into his nose, and Carter went down hard, his temple smacking the bench with a loud
crack
. His body slumped to the tiled floor. He lay there unconscious, but still breathing. When Carter woke up, he was gonna have one helluva massive headache.

Trent stood over him,
Darkness
rolling off him in waves. Fists taut and spine stiff. “Get up, you friggin’ coward.”

Trent glanced at me. Eyes black. I couldn’t turn away. Mesmerized. While his gaze bore into mine, the demonic blood inside me unwound. Reacted to his voice. His presence. My skin, jerking. Muscles stretching from bone. All of me, grasping with the surge of darker power within. The taste of
Darkness
was in my mouth, acrid and tangy, like bitter coffee. It burned my stomach. Twitched in my veins.

No!
I fought monsters. I hunted and killed evil. Now I was beginning to believe it wasn’t that simple. Not with demonic powers percolating inside me. I’d told myself a thousand times that I’d never turn evil like Darrah. Never succumb to darkness, but it was getting harder to resist.

“Trent.” I touched his arm. “Look at me.”

His expression hardened. Stare black as soot. Trent held my gaze with an almost savage power. My breath caught. Stolen from me. The world fell away. A sense of drowning crept over me while I stared into his obsidian eyes. We stood inches apart, unmoving, as if we were snared by some indescribable emotion that surged in the atmosphere. Something deep inside me responded to those intense feelings circulating between us, and I imagined that my eyes were as black as his. Part of me was attracted to that darker power. I had responded to it. As though something inside
him
had beckoned the
Darkness
inside me.

Yet I had to restrain those darker powers. Keep it contained. I pushed the
Darkness
downward. I couldn’t lose control like Trent was doing and surrender to evil.

I had to help him. Human or not—I didn’t care. Trent was my boyfriend and I cared about him. I couldn’t let him get in trouble for fighting, or let anyone see his unnatural black eyes.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway. Shaking myself free of his enchantment, I blinked several times and remembered to breathe.

I tugged on his arm. He didn’t budge. “Come on. Snap out of it!” I shoved at his chest, but it was like pushing a brick wall.

“Shiloh?” He slowly blinked down at me as if dazed. The blackness invading his gaze had dissipated. “Where, um, what’s happening?”

“We’re in the locker room. And we need to go! Now!” I grabbed Trent’s hand and dragged him through the opposite doors.

He finally reacted, and we raced across the quad. The sun cast a red glow on the horizon, coating the school and pavement in magenta. Ground fog curled around our ankles like rippling waves of smoke.

We paused at his Charger and I waited for him to pull the remote from his pocket and unlock the doors. The moment the lock made a
pop
, I whipped the door open and dropped onto the bucket seat. The engine rumbled to life and we shot out of the parking lot. He was driving fast, the Charger floating over the foggy streets as the buildings rushed by.

Even though my heart had slowed to a normal pace, I was still reeling by what had happened with Carter and my boyfriend. I glanced at Trent’s profile, his features shadowed in partial light, his teeth gritted and fingers taut on the steering wheel.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He took several deep breaths and blew them out, but wouldn’t meet my eyes. “No. Carter didn’t hurt you, did he?” Trent took the next turn without slowing and the tires screeched, but gripped the road.

“I’m fine,” I said.

The digital clock on the CD player read five-thirty. I didn’t want to go home yet. I wanted to stay with Trent. Figure all this bizarre stuff out.

“Well, that was fairly intense,” Trent said, reaching for my hand to give it a quick squeeze. “Are you sure that you’re all right?”

“Yeah,” I replied, but my voice trembled.

Trent merged with the usual evening traffic that crept along the tree-lined streets. His rigid shoulders relaxed and he flexed his fingers. At a stop sign, he ran his hands through his tousled hair, then smacked them on the steering wheel. “Hungry?”

“Starved.”

Five minutes later, Trent parallel parked at the curb of Luna Pizza and stepped from the car. I fumbled with my seatbelt, but before I could unlock the door, Trent was waiting for me on the sidewalk with the door already open. We went inside the restaurant and released collective sighs after we slid into a booth.

“I don’t know what came over me in the locker room, Shiloh…” Trent pushed his hands over his face and up into his hair. “Well, that’s a lie. I do know what came over me. I...I think I might have a serious problem with my temper.”

For some reason, this announcement uncoiled some of my muscles. I slumped in the booth and exhaled noisily.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” he asked.

“What do you want me to say?” I shot back. “Duh?”

It was amazing how different he was now that the
Darkness
wasn’t controlling his emotions. His body language entirely transformed. Not at all belligerent now.

I fiddled with the paper napkin. “How did you find me?”

“I was leaving Science Olympiad when I saw Brittany in the hallway, crying. She said Carter wanted to talk to her about James, then shoved her inside the locker room and began grilling her. When he didn’t like her answers, he got rough, and then you arrived. I told her to go to the office.”

“Guess I’m lucky you showed up when you did.” I tried to act nonchalant, but the hatred in Carter’s eyes, his almost morphing into an animal, and the way he’d sprouted hair all over his body had seriously scared the hell out of me. He had to be Dad’s killer.

Trent bobbed his head. “Earlier, I caught two guys from the varsity team harassing these girls in my English class. What’s with those jerkwads?”

The waitress approached our booth, with pencil and notepad in hand. Trent ordered us a large combo and two sodas, then waited until the waitress moved off.

He reached across the table and ran a thumb along the back of my hand. “Are you positive you’re not hurt? Or going into shock?”

I scoffed. “As if! Bullies don’t scare me. There are worse things than
him
in this town.”

His jaw was still tight. A muscle flicked once in his cheek. “I suppose you’re right.”

“You think Brittany’s okay?”

“I hope so.” He folded his hands on the table. “I bet tomorrow Carter gets hauled into the principal’s office. He’s stupid for messing with the mayor’s daughter.”

“Do you think Carter might be an alpha lycan?”

“Could be. He definitely has the basic attributes. Bad temper and kind of hairy.”

Kind of?
“Wicked strong, too. He gives me the creeps,” I said.

Trent rolled his eyes. “Only
you
could find trouble in a town this small.”

“Hey! It finds me.” I sighed. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.”

Trent stretched across the table, his hand covering mine. The movement so quick it shocked me. His voice intensified as he said, “I’ll
always
come to your rescue, Shiloh.”

I stared at him, thinking he was a hunter too, but not like me. He wasn’t jaded and vengeful. Just cynical and stubborn.

“Now, I think we should chat about what’s going on with
you
.”

He frowned. “With me? Nothing.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh—
something’s
going on all right.”

Time to reveal my secret. I rolled up my sleeve and laid my arm on the table to expose the old wound that marred my forearm. He traced his fingers lightly over the raised skin. My flesh tingled at his soft touch.

He raised his head, his eyes meeting mine and his fingertips trailing the mark. “I wondered what happened, but didn’t want to ask.”

I pulled back my arm and jerked at my sleeve. “Years ago, I fainted. When I came to, I found a razor in my hand. Evans thinks I was forced to do it under compulsion.” I bit my lip, blinked back unexpected tears, and stretched my hand across the table to touch his hand with my fingertips. “Anyway, while my wrist was sliced open, a demon materialized and dripped his blood inside the cut. Now the mixture of our bloods has altered my magick. It left a type of
Darkness
within my soul. But I’m pretty sure my eyes don’t go all black like yours.”

Trent swallowed. “This darker power…does it feel like it tries to consume you?”

“It tries to, but I keep it contained with white magick. And, well, I thought you might’ve been infected, too.” I hunched my shoulders. “Your bad temper. Your strength and quick reflexes. And the fact that you don’t really have an aura. Even your cockiness is a demonic trait. I’m scared that it might be affecting your humanity. Maybe being exposed to Esael at your party awakened
your
inner demon.”

He ran a hand through his hair and stared at me. “Are you saying that not only have you been poisoned by a demon blood, but now you think I was too?”

I threw my hands up. “All I’m saying is you’re, well, I don’t know
what
you are yet. But you aren’t normal.”

“I’m
not
anything!” His fist hit the table so hard the metal napkin dispenser rattled. “You think because I’m arrogant, have a bad temper, and fast reflexes that it means I’m evil? Seriously? You just described the entire football team!”

I cringed. “Clam down, please. I’m sorry.”

No change in his expression. He stared at the table, lips thin and body tense. “Okay, I’m listening.”

When had everything had gotten so complicated, so grim?

“You know, if you’re hiding anything from me, Trent, you can trust me.”

He placed an elbow on the table and rested his chin on his thumb while his fingers covered his mouth. “What makes you think I’m hiding something?”

“I can just tell, okay. If you’re in some kind of trouble—”

“It’s nothing that I can’t handle.”

“Maybe I can help.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Can you talk to Evans about it then? Because if you don’t, I
will
.”

He glanced up, frowning. “All right! Lay off. I’ll talk to him.”

The waitress returned with our drinks and pizza. We ate in silence, paid the check, and Trent drove back to school so I could pick up the Jeep in the parking lot.

He parked, but left the engine running. “What time is your coven gathering tomorrow night?”

I snorted. “They’re
not
my coven, dork. About seven-ish.”

“Can I join you guys?”

After everything we’d been through today, that single question launched major flutters throughout my stomach. “Sure.”

We got out of the car at the same time and met by the hood. His arms, solid and strong, held me tight. His head dipped, his lips, soft as feathers, touched mine. I ran my fingers along his chest and felt the tension within him diminish. His crushing kisses deepened, and his tongue parted my lips, sending shivers of desire racing through my body. We’d kissed like this a thousand times before, but my belly still quivered and my knees grew weak with its perfection. The same head-whirling sensation hit hard as I closed my eyes and descended into the moment. No past. No future. No paranormals. No danger.

But even safe in Trent’s arms, I was running out of time. And unless I could find the killer before he found me, the next full moon might be my last.