Blaze of Wrath (Phoenix Rising Book 5) Read online

  “Mate marks?” I echoed, trying to infuse my voice with a calm I didn’t feel. I wondered if this was a test of some kind, either by my father or the Council itself. “Isn’t that some fairy tale that the non-mythologicals believe?”

  “Of course they believe it, they know it’s true, and you do as well. Of course, it’s difficult to inspect yourself for a mark, especially as a snake. Yours reminds me of sunshine, a starburst shape splashed across the back of your tail—it’s hard to see when you curl yourself up, but it’s definitely there.” He settled the three round pieces together, pursing his lips and shaking his head sadly at his creation. “Poor thing, I don’t have a carrot or coal for him. He has to be completely faceless, hiding his expression from the world. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” He brushed his hands off, facing me again without missing a beat while I gaped at him. “Hers is underneath her wing. I’m surprised you didn’t notice it, although biting her may have been part of your problem. Interesting thing, that. I had no idea mates were able to strike against each other. I wonder if that’s considered self-harm in a sense?”

  “I never meant to…” I trailed off as Ciarán waved a hand in front of him, dismissing my confession.

  “I know, and that’s a story all on its own, I’m afraid. But before we can delve into that little tale, we need to finish this one,” Ciarán insisted.

  “I’m not sure what else there is to talk about. You’ve given me your opinion on a tale that not many believe,” I informed him, worried about continuing this conversation outdoors where anyone could potentially overhear us. If the Council caught wind that we, as mythologicals, were discussing a truth they’d buried six feet under, playing it off as a myth, there would be repercussions that neither of us would enjoy.

  “On the contrary,” Ciarán smirked and bounced on his toes, “we’re just getting to the good stuff.”

  Rolling my eyes, I huffed a breath that clouded around me and turned on my heel, walking away for my own safety as well as his.

  “You’re not her only one, you know?” Ciarán called after me. “They’re all mates.” I tripped despite myself as I whirled back to face him. His serious face was trained on me, his gaze understanding somehow. “I know that might be hard to hear, but think of it like this, it will be like you’re gaining brothers.” As quick as a whip, his expression changed, suddenly brightening, and he clapped his hands together. “Ohhh, since Killian’s my brother, that makes you my brother too! Bro wave!” He patted his chest and then wiggled his fingers at me.

  My eyebrows rose in disbelief. His mood swings were giving me whiplash. First, he was cryptic, next he was somber, and then as hyper and excitable as a four-year-old with a sugar high. I winced. “Please tell me you’re not one of her mates too.” I hadn’t even digested the fact that she had other mates, but I needed clarification that I wasn’t going to be stuck with Ciarán in my home for the rest of my life.

  Ciarán grinned cheekily like he could understand my thoughts. “Nope, I only put my bid on Nix to keep an eye on her, but don’t worry, you won’t have the chance to miss me much. Let’s just say I’m close with her best friend. Add in that you complete my brother’s fluffle, and we’ll be like white on rice, stuck together like glue, two peas in a pod—you get my drift.” He winked at me, much too cheerfully. “Well, aren’t you going to ask me?” He crossed his arms and waited with an expectant expression. I simply blinked at him, my mind whirling with all the new information I hadn’t digested yet.

  Nix was my mate. If Ciarán was correct, her and I shared a mate mark. Hope flared in my chest. Maybe when she realized it, she’d be able to forgive me for my transgressions and we could move forward. Forge a new path. Find a way to work through the differences with our alters.

  If her other mates allow you to. And there it was. The part of the equation I was missing.

  “Who else is she mated to beside Killian and me?”

  “There it is. Good boy. I knew you’d get there eventually.” Ciarán looked like he wanted to pat me on my head and I narrowed my eyes, daring him to try it. You didn’t prod a snake and expect not to get bitten. Keeping his distance, his demeanor softened and he filled me in on Nix’s other mates as well as what they’d been up to. My heart rate increased as I learned about the growing discord of the shifter communities, the rebellion, and what Nix had needed to do for initiation. I stood rooted to the spot, barely able to process his insane words.

  “That might be hard to take, but you know as well as I do that she’s in danger here. I’ve seen your thoughts for myself, your dreams and nightmares. She’s reeling after the incident she caused, but she’s trying to do her best for her mates—her family. You’re included in that now too, whether either of you realizes it or not. Doubt me all you want, but you’re running out of time. If you’re the man I think you are, then you’ll do something about it—for her and for her other mates. If not, well…” He trailed off with a shrug. “I can see souls, it can’t be that hard to destroy them.” He turned to leave but spun around again, completing a full circle. “One last piece of wisdom—it’s not easy being the last one. But it’s better than never being included at all. Remember that.”

  As suddenly and quietly as he had appeared, he was gone, leaving me shaken.

  Could he possibly be right? My Basilisk shifted restlessly inside of me, sending waves of agreement running through me. I settled onto the ground as the snow covered me, unwilling to leave this clearing until my thoughts were completely in order. This was too much to take in, yet it made a twisted kind of sense. I’d seen the deterioration of our world for myself. Fuck, it was the biggest reason I’d stuck around and allowed my father to train me to take his place one day—to make a difference, to make a change. It really wasn’t that hard of a stretch to imagine that there were other shifter groups out there prepared to do the same thing, just in a more violent method. The idea of freedom made people do risky things.

  My Basilisk hissed in anger. The risk Nix had taken was huge. She’d walked into this very clearing knowing I was going to attack her that day. Planning to provoke it. Planning to die. How was I supposed to be okay with that, even if I could let go of all the angst and devastation her actions had caused? And the fact that her other mates had let her? My alter writhed in my mind, coiling tightly. No matter what their reasons were, that was a danger I never would have been okay with her taking.

  And that brought me to the topic of those other mates. Mates that would never be sanctioned by the Council—not that it mattered if they were joining the rebellion. I shook my head. Was I brave enough, or foolish enough, to face off with the Council? To join with them? Could this even work if I didn’t? Now that I knew everything, was this something I wanted? Would Nix even accept me? I knew the other men she called mates, and they were a tight-knit group. While we’d grown up together, I’d never been a part of that brotherhood. I needed to confront Nix sooner rather than later, but I wasn’t going to do it until I knew exactly what I was going to say.

  I sat there until my bones were chilled through and my hands were ice. My Basilisk had slowed significantly, which I couldn’t view as a bad thing since it let me think without his rage pounding through my head. By the time I stood and brushed the gathering snow off my winter coat, I knew only one thing.

  Nix called to me and my alter, and I was sure we could work through anything if we put the time and effort into our relationship—the guys and I as well. My father always used to say, “A family doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be united,” and I’d never understood or agreed with him more than I did now, standing alone in this wintery landscape.

  Nix was the girl I’d been waiting for. She was the future I so desperately wanted. Now, I just needed to be strong enough to take it.

  Two

  Ryder

  I rubbed my hands together, using the friction to warm my chilled fingers back to life. The sun had yet to peek over the horizon, the dusky hues of the twilight hour coating the sky in g
reys and muted blues. Our daylight grew perpetually shorter as we inched closer to December, the month containing the day with the shortest amount of sunlight.

  Just as I was getting ready to curse Rini to hell and back for making me wait out front in the freezing cold, as per her instructions, her truck rounded the corner down the road and sped toward our driveway. Anxiety hit me like a falling piano in one of those childish cartoons, and suddenly the short, demanding phone call she’d given me made sense. Something was wrong.

  Hitting the breaks and bringing the vehicle to an abrupt halt, she flung her upper body across the front passenger seat and wrenched open the passenger side door.

  “Get in!” Her voice was a bark and her tone held so much command that I didn’t question her. Instead, I hurried toward the vehicle and jumped inside. The door had no sooner swung shut before her foot was on the gas pedal and we were off.

  “What the hell, Rini?” I scrambled for the seatbelt, securing it across my body in case she all but wrecked the car. “You’re driving like a bat out of hell. What’s going on?” Worry spiked in my chest over whatever was fueling her erratic driving. It was unlike my friend to be so reckless. She had always been a safe driver.

  “We found some kids, Ry.” Rini’s voice was shaky as she maneuvered the truck toward the highway, taking the entrance ramp and angling us out of Anchorage.

  “Okay, slow down. Take a deep breath and explain,” I ordered, trying to make sense of what had ruffled Rini so badly.

  “We,” Rini emphasized, and I knew she meant the rebellion, “found kids. Four of them, and they’re in rough shape.” She glanced at me quickly, pulling her eyes from the road for only a moment before focusing on her driving once more. “They’re from the island, Ryder. We haven’t been able to get much out of them about what they’ve been through, but they’re scared and hurt, and they… they need your help.”

  The cold I felt was no longer simply external. My heart turned to ice and nearly stopped beating in my chest. My sister’s face flashed before my eyes, followed by the glimpse I’d gotten of my niece, and my anger rose. I smoothed my palms against the dark denim of my jeans to keep myself from destroying something in Rini’s truck.

  Calm down, Ryder. Damien was suddenly in my head, startling me.

  Fuck, your range is improving, I cursed, and tried to adjust to not having mental privacy even though I was already miles away from the house. You know about the kids?

  I picked up the gist from your thoughts, yes. Do your best to help, Ryder. You need to put the rest—everything from the Council and everything about your family—into the background. You can’t help them if you’re too distracted to focus, he coached, and I gritted my teeth against his intrusion, even though I knew what he said was correct.

  I exhaled slowly, letting the action dispel some of the rage I was feeling.

  That’s better, Damien praised.

  “How badly are they hurt?” I asked.

  “Cuts, bruises, broken bones, and severe dehydration for the most part, but some of them are in worse condition. The oldest has a gaping wound and the youngest is unconscious. The fact that they’re all still alive is a miracle. The island was dismantled a couple weeks ago according to our intel, and from what we’ve gathered, these kids escaped during the shutdown and have been on their own since then. You know where the island is located. They survived in the water somehow. They washed up in the Kenai Fjords National Park, and one of ours stumbled across them when he was out enjoying a shift. That was two days ago.” Rini’s grip tightened on the steering wheel and her firsts rotated over the material in a nervous way.

  “Why didn’t you call me sooner?” I was furious that the rebellion had let the kids suffer for two extra days, when I could have healed them and taken away at least some of their troubles.

  “They were trying their own medical treatments, but it doesn’t seemed to work. I argued that they should bring you in, even though you’re not technically initiated yet, and they finally agreed.”

  “What do you mean their treatments aren’t working?” My brows furrowed together and I studied Rini, who seemed to be blatantly avoiding looking at me.

  “Our more human interventions aren’t working. We need to see if your magical abilities will make a difference on their… species.” She winced.

  “Rini…” I tried, gentler this time, reaching out to lay my hand on her arm. “We’ve known each other a long time. I can tell when you’re lying and when you’re avoiding a subject. You’re practically a sister to me. So let’s cut the bullshit and get to the heart of what it is you’re deliberately skipping around.”

  “The kids aren’t exactly human, Ryder.”

  I scoffed. “None of us are.”

  “And they’re not entirely shifters either,” she admitted, her brown eyes wide as she steered the truck off an exit—the same one we took to get to the meeting house we’d been using to communicate with the rebellion.

  “I don’t understand.” I shook my head, thoroughly confused.

  “You’ll see soon enough,” she mumbled, before sighing and straightening her shoulders as she drove.

  Slamming through the front door of the large cabin, I didn’t wait for Rini, whose short strides couldn’t match my longer ones. I’d easily beaten her inside and I was currently checking every room in my search for the children.

  “Downstairs,” Rini told me, huffing as she jogged to keep up.

  “You’re keeping them in the basement? That’s not creepy at all,” I scolded, but swiftly turned and clambered down the correct staircase. As swift and lithe as a pixie, Rini slipped in front of me when I reached the bottom, and I followed her until she entered the same meeting space I’d been in before. Only now, it was set up like a makeshift clinic with cots in each corner of the room and medical supplies scattered on every surface. Machines had been wheeled in and they beeped out the children’s vitals signs, while IV poles with hanging saline bags were perched next to each bed. Tiny forms were balled up under medical grade, white blankets, and I slowly shifted closer.

  “Careful.” Rini reached for my arm, but I nodded and gently shrugged her off as I approached one of the beds.

  I’d like to say the first thing I noticed was the tiny child beneath the blanket or the way the girl’s hair spilled over the white pillow she lay upon, but my eyes locked immediately on to the thick, curling horns that protruded from the sides of her head, jutting upwards and curving back on themselves. The child’s face was covered with shaggy hair, making her appear much more animalistic than human, but then her russet brown, very human eyes opened and stared back at me, studying me the way I was her. Her nose was wide and ridged, and when she scrambled away from me in fear and sat up, familiar looking leathery wings spread from her back, only to wrap around her small body in a protective way.

  “I won’t hurt you.” I held my hands out to the sides in the nonthreatening manner I’d seen Hiro use a million times as I tried to channel his gentleness. “I’m here as a friend.” I kept still, only daring a glance at Rini, until the child finally peeked over the covering of her wings.

  Finally lowering her defenses, she dismantled the shield she’d erected around herself and studied me, tilting her head to the side. “You have purple hair,” she remarked, and her curiosity over what made me different made me smile even as I worried about her injuries.

  “Yeah. I sure do. Do you like it?” I struck a funny pose, hoping to befriend her so she’d allow me to help her. My smile grew wider when her lips finally tilted upward with the start of a smirk.

  “Purple is my favorite color,” she replied timidly.

  “Hey, mine too. What do you know?” I chanced moving closer, and spied the bruises and cuts amidst the fur lining the poor girl’s arms. “Looks like you have a few boo-boos.” I wasn’t sure how old the child was, but I decided that she looked young enough to go with kid friendly, medical vernacular. “I heard that you’ve had a rough few days.”

  The gir
l nodded just before two men entered the room, drawing my attention.

  “From what we’ve been able to ascertain, they’re lucky to be alive.” I recognized the man with long white hair as Rune, a representative for the Amber faction. His usual scowl covered his face and his white eyebrows slashed downwards in a harsh expression. The girl curled in on herself again and I didn’t blame her. From what I’d seen of Rune thus far, he was a surly man, not at all suited to dealing with children.

  He nodded in greeting and I lifted my chin in a nod of my own before responding to his statement. “They’re survivors. They’ve been through more in their short lifespans than anyone should have to endure.” That much was clear by their mutated shifted forms. What other horrors they’d seen and lived through, I almost didn’t want to know.

  My statement seemed to help Rune soften slightly. “I’m told you may be able to help us.” I nodded, and the way his lips twisted as if he’d eaten something sour was telling. He didn’t want me here. Or more… he didn’t want to admit he needed my help. Sighing, he relented, adding, “They haven’t been responding to our rounds of antibiotics, nor any of our attempts to treat and heal their wounds. Whatever’s been done to them seems to make them immune.” He glanced from bed to bed. “Whatever you can do to help them would be greatly appreciated.”

  “I’ll do my best,” I promised. Rune’s gaze landed on mine and I saw the truth in his eyes. He didn’t like to see these children suffering any more than I did. They were innocent and the Council had done this to them. Suddenly, I understood how all of these factions came together. They believed in different ideals—a different world after the fall of the corrupt government we lived with now—but their mutual hatred over the Council fueled their ability to work together toward a common goal. The downfall of the Council unified the factions and made the rebellion a much stronger force to be reckoned with.