Rage (Scarlet Dawson Book 3) Page 5

  Bastian stands in the middle of the stage and says, “Thank you all for arriving as quickly as you can. I apologise that I only contacted you yesterday regarding this emergency meeting. The Alphas that couldn’t arrive here in time will be contacted by video conference later today.”

  He takes a breath and I scan the room that I now know to be filled with Alphas. The room is predominately filled with men, but the female Alphas look far more terrifying than their male counterparts. I notice the Guardians all stand at the front, along with Aylesbury, Silas, Raven, and Adam. What the hell is Adam doing in a Lycan meeting?

  Bastian looks at me then continues. “Firstly, I would like to introduce my wife and mate, Scarlet.”

  He looks at me, waiting for me to move, but I remain rooted to the spot. I was not expecting to be introduced to the leaders of his people mere hours after we completed the bonding ritual.

  He takes a step forward as I’m pushed from behind. I don’t get to see who pushes me because Bastian has now grasped my hand and is leading me to stand at his side. I eye the crowd, and all except for Adam, Silas, and Aylesbury drop to one knee with a fist clenched over their hearts.

  “Seriously, Bastian, I told you I would not put up with this shit the last time it happened,” I say to him as quietly as I can while stepping away so that I can walk off the stage.

  He grabs my hand and with a devastating grin he says, “And I told you last time that I like it, you need to tell them to get up, you’re their Queen.”

  I narrow my eyes at him, then turn back to the bowed Lycans; a few of them now smiling, having heard the exchange. Instead of telling them to rise I motion with my hand, I feel like telling them to rise would make me sound like some wannabe Queen at a renaissance fair.

  Once they are all back on their feet, I throw the Guardians a scowl, so they know I’m not happy that they just took a knee in front of me.

  “Secondly, I need to address a situation that has risen before it is used against the Pack. Recently Scarlet’s life has been put in jeopardy by a demigod named Vex. He has kidnapped and tortured her numerous times and I have been unable to stop him. He now holds three hostages as leverage so that we will enter the most dangerous competition that any immortal can face, The Enduring Tournament.

  “Unfortunately, Vex has somehow found out my own history which I suspect he may use to his advantage, so to negate this I need to explain my heritage to you all. You all know me as The Beast Master, the strongest of your kind.” I take in a deep breath when I realise what he’s about to tell his people. “What you don’t know is why I can master all animals. My mother was a full Lycan, as you all know but what you don’t know is that my father is the demigod that created our race, Lykos.”

  I look across the Alphas, waiting for their reaction, but their faces remain stoic.

  “I believe Vex may use this information whilst we are away to create dissension and split the pack. I take my role as your leader very seriously and will not allow anyone to mess with our dynamic. With that said I am still the strongest Alpha you have, and I will end anyone that attempts to challenge me. Any attempts to rebel against me will be dealt with swiftly and harshly.”

  A few Lycans begin to murmur to each other but Bastian silences everyone with an ear-splitting roar. Once the hall is quiet again, he carries on. “There will be a press conference in an hour where we are expected to announce the team that will be joining Scarlet and I. As Lykos will be on the team, I will inform the press of my relationship to him. You are all welcome to stay as long as you need to, but only upper tier Alphas will remain for the conference.”

  Bastian finishes his speech and the hall descends into madness. I can clearly see from my vantage point the Alphas that will be an issue, a small group immediately exits the hall whilst the remainder of the Alphas stay to either speak to Bastian or talk to their fellow leaders.

  Bastian jumps down from the stage to speak to a set of golden-haired twins so I turn back towards the curtains and my escape. As I turn, I see Lykos standing, half hidden by the curtain, his white hair shorter than when I last saw him, his silver eyes focused on me.

  “I’ll take a guess that you pushed me onto the stage,” I say to him, not hiding my annoyance.

  He arches a brow at me, which creeps me out further as the expression is far too similar to Bastian.

  “Finally mated with my son, I see,” he says to me with a smug grin.

  “Still as cocky as ever, I see,” I reply with my own sardonic grin.

  “Let’s see if you still have that attitude in an hour,” he says as Bastian jumps back onto the stage.

  “Scarlet, Lykos is here to show you how to use the stone. I suggest you get started straightaway,” Bastian tells me as Lykos turns an evil grin my way.

  I blanch slightly as I realise what he meant a second ago.

  “Regretting your attitude now, aren’t you?” Lykos says as he begins to drag me away from Bastian, his hand firmly clasped around my wrist. I even throw my other hand out, in hopes that Bastian grabs it and rescues me from the evil I’m about to endure.

  Lykos doesn’t relinquish his hold on my wrist until the door to the training room is closed behind us. I spin around to glare at him and open my mouth to hurl an insult at him when he says, “Pass me the stone.”

  I hold the insult on the edge of my tongue for a few more seconds before I sigh and reach into my pocket for the cloth-wrapped stone. I have carried it with me everywhere, but I was still reluctant to touch it. I pull the cloth out and hold it in front of me on the palm of my hand, the loose cloth unfurls to reveal the charcoal-coloured surface.

  Lykos doesn’t take the stone. Instead, he says, “How does it feel when you touch it?”

  “It feels cold, almost freezing. I can feel the power inside, but it feels evil. It claws at me trying to get out.” I shudder as I remember the feel of the magic contained inside the stone.

  Lykos reaches out to my hand but, instead of taking a hold of the stone, he grasps the edge of the fabric, and before I can discern his intention, he whips it away, leaving the cool stone to rock around my palm.

  I barely register the evil magic sliding across my skin as I fall to the floor, Lykos’s voice becomes distant as the magic claims me.

  When I come to, it’s to Lykos standing over me holding the stone. I slowly sit up as Lykos pushes the stone against my hand. I jerk back and say, “What the hell?”

  Lykos ignores me and says, “Interesting,” before beginning to pace the floor.

  I sit up and realise that there are a few people gathered around the room, some of the Guardians are training, Adam and Aylesbury are watching everything. Bastian is training with the twins I saw earlier and another guy that I don’t recognise, his gaze keeps flicking between Lykos and myself as he dodges blows from the twins.

  I hoist myself back up before asking Lykos, “What’s interesting?”

  “Other than the fact that you’ve been out cold for over an hour, you seem able to touch the stone in small doses.”

  He takes a step towards me with the stone pointed at me clasped between his fingers and thumb. I take a step back so that he can’t experiment on me again.

  He narrows his eyes at me and says, “You do realise your whole plan is to wield the magic in this stone against Vex, yet every time you hold the stone you pass out. That’s not going to work unless you can actually touch the stone.”

  I know he’s right, the only way we can stop Vex is to use something more powerful than himself to bring him down. I had to keep trying.

  I take a step forward with my hand outstretched, palm up. Lykos smiles but turns around and motions Adam over. Both Adam and Aylesbury get up from their seats and stroll over. I narrow my eyes at Aylesbury.

  “I’m guessing I was out cold on the floor when you walked in? Thanks for the concern, brother!” I say to him, letting him know that I was not happy that I’d just been left on the floor while they all walked in and went about their business.
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  “Actually, Red, Bastian walked in and found you out cold on the floor. He punched his father and threatened to kill him until Lykos pointed out he was the only one who could help you with the stone and we all needed to stop mollycoddling you.”

  I throw a nasty look at the God. He ignores me and greets Aylesbury and Adam. “Omega, Dark Fae.”

  Dark Fae? What did that mean? What was Adam? I quickly watch his reaction, but he remains stoic.

  “Dark Fae, I sense that is your magical signature around Scarlet's neck, does that mean that you produced the necklace she wears?”

  “Yes,” he answers, frowning a little.

  To say Bastian didn’t like Adam he certainly asked him for a lot of favours.

  “I’d like you to produce another pendant to enclose this stone. Scarlet must always wear it around her neck, so she can become used to the feel of the magic. The necklace must hang slightly longer than the one she currently wears so it can be hidden under her clothes from prying eyes.”

  Adam grins at me then holds his hand up as if he is reaching out to my throat, except he is standing at least five paces away. As his grin grows wider, I feel the chain around my neck snake across my skin and float out in front of me to hover in the space between us both. The chain splits into two and the second half lengthens.

  Adam looks at Lykos, “Pass me the stone.”

  Lykos places the stone in Adam’s outstretched palm. He closes his palm, then a second later he opens it, and the dark stone is now encased in gold and floats up to attach itself to the longer of the two chains.

  I gasp seeing Adam’s magic in action. He smirks at me and says, “I can’t just produce gold out of thin air, I can only manipulate what’s already there.”

  “But I’ve seen you hammering metal to make swords.” Surely, he could just use his magic to create the weaponry for The Guild?

  “I prefer to use both my hands and magic when I create something. I prefer the way it feels,” he says then nods to Lykos.

  Adam steps closer to the hovering necklace and motions to Lykos to take a look, I push myself between them both so I can see what his magic has created. As Adam makes the necklace rotate, I can see that while the gold is solid at the back of the life stone, the gold on the back of the death stone doesn’t quite encase it fully. A small gap has been left so that the stone will still touch my skin when I wear it.

  Adam flicks his wrist and the chain winds its way around my neck, the death stone is now nestled at the top of my cleavage and the life stone hangs above it. I instantly feel the cold magic creeping along my skin, but the feeling isn’t as intense, thankfully.

  Chapter Nine

  I begin pacing as I get used to the constant feel of magic battering my senses. Aylesbury falls into step with me and says, “You missed the press conference. Bastian announced to the world that he is a demigod and that I’m his Omega, the one person born to keep him in check.”

  I sigh and reply, “I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite him on the ass. How did the Guardians take to your position in the pack now that it’s official?”

  “I think they all had their suspicions, but Dante made it very clear he wasn’t happy.”

  “I’m pretty sure that has nothing to do with you being an Omega and everything to do with you sleeping with Quinn.”

  Aylesbury rolls his eyes at me. “And on that note let’s introduce you to the rest of our motley crew.”

  He steers me in the direction of Bastian and his training companions. Silas and Raven are now watching the Guardians train, and Lykos is watching Bastian fight. As we near Bastian, I can see the twins and the other guy are all taking it in turns, trying to bring Bastian down. With the strength and agility they seem to possess, I wonder to myself why they aren’t Guardians, as they clearly have a lot of skill.

  “They’ve been at this for quite a while now,” Aylesbury tells me.

  I flash him a grin and say, “So go and show them how it’s done.”

  Aylesbury grins at me then strolls into their fight. The other three back off slightly and Bastian moves in to punch Aylesbury, Aylesbury grabs the fist and twists until Bastian has to move to alleviate the pressure on his joint. Aylesbury then sweeps Bastian’s leg out from under him and follows him to the floor pinning him with a knee to the chest, his hand still around Bastian’s fist.

  The whole thing takes a few seconds, and the three Lycans stand there, watching with their mouths open. I cheer from the sidelines, earning a scowl from Bastian as he gets up from the floor and walks over to me.

  “Don’t you think you should be cheering me on, wench?” he growls as he reaches out for me.

  I step out of his reach and grin at him, saying, “Nope.”

  The others walk over. One of the twins says to Aylesbury, “I can’t believe it took you only two seconds to take him out. I think I’m in shock.”

  They all come to a stop and their attention turns to me. The twins are almost completely identical, their hair is a golden blonde which hangs to their chins. Their skin is the colour of caramel and they are both tall, the exact same height. They both watch me with smiles plastered on their chiselled faces. The only real difference between them is their eyes. One has eyes that are a striking blue, the other has eyes that are pale grey with a dark grey ring around them, and the pupil seems to be missing.

  I frown at that and turn my attention to the other guy who is older than the twins by a handful of years but is also noticeably similar. He has a similar chiselled face, but his hair is shorter, coming to the top of his ears, and it’s also dark brown. His eyes are a dark grey, the same dark grey that rings one of the twin’s eyes.

  Bastian steps into my space, crowding me as usual and motions to the guy with the dark brown hair. “This is Phoenix. He’s the Alpha to The Midnight Pack. They live on the other side of the mountains in Castle Falls, about an hour’s drive away.”

  My eyes widen slightly as I remember the pack name. Shit. I’d caused a bar full of his wolves to start shifting not too long ago. Aylesbury had to rescue me because my partial mating had caused them to go a little nuts. It was also the incident that had caused Bastian to start training me after Aylesbury had ratted me out.

  Phoenix smiles. “Scarlet, it’s nice to meet the woman that turned two of my wolves rogue.”

  Oh hell. That wasn’t good, I was in a world of trouble. Bastian’s hand moves to my waist and gives me a reassuring squeeze, but it does nothing to calm my now racing heart. I smile even though I know he can tell my heart is racing.

  “The twins are Jackson,” Bastian motions to blue eyes, “and Trenton.” He motions to the other twin with the odd grey eyes.

  Jackson grins and says, “We personally found it rather entertaining when you walked into the bar.”

  “In fact, we watched the entire thing happen. It was really amusing watching you walk in then the madness beginning to unfold,” Trenton adds, mirroring Jackson’s grin.

  I frown at his comment, wondering how he could see without pupils. Phoenix watches me and says, “You’re wondering about his eyes, aren’t you?”

  “More like questioning how a blind man can see to watch a bar fight?” I say.

  Phoenix raises his eyes to Bastian’s and says, “Clever, isn’t she?”

  Trenton swings his head my way and says, “Most people just think I have odd coloured eyes, they don’t tend to realise that I am actually blind.”

  “So how did you ‘watch’ at the bar?” I ask, curious.

  “I see what Jackson sees,” he says with a knowing smile.

  I look at Jackson, curious about their connection, I shift from my Human form to my Nymph form, testing their ability.

  Trenton says, “Wow, blonde hair really does suit you, I’m also very interested where that ivy vine leads,” he says with a grin as Bastian begins to growl at him.

  I ignore Bastian’s warning and smile at the twins. “What else can you do?” I ask, excited. It was very unusual for Lycans to displ
ay magical ability. In fact, I’m pretty sure it had never happened before.

  “You’ll see soon enough,” Phoenix answers. While the twins high five and say, “Secret Weapon.”

  Lykos steps up to us all and says, “Now that introductions are over, I need Scarlet.”

  I sigh knowing he is probably going to torture me with the stone some more. We step away from the others and go to the far corner of the training room.

  We stand opposite each other, and I look Lykos in the eye as he says, “By the end of the day, you will touch the stone without passing out. We can work on the rest in Faerie.

  Oh hell, he’d probably go all night as well.

  I narrow my eyes at him and try to focus. I can feel the cold magic whispering across my skin from the small piece of the stone that rests against my chest. I feel confident this time that I can do this, so I reach up and grab the stone. The minute the stone connects with my hand the cold magic pulses loudly and more violently over my skin.

  I blink my eyes and realise I’m no longer facing Lykos but on my back facing the ceiling. I groan and sit up, asking Lykos, “How long was I out that time?”

  “An hour but you managed to remain awake for a whole minute after touching the stone. Now, stand up and do it again.”

  I mumble under my breath about Gods and their tyranny and realise this is where Bastian gets his domineering attitude from.

  I stand as Lykos says, “The cold you say is the magic, do you let it in?”

  My eyes widen in horror of what he just said. “Are you saying you want me to let the evil in?”

  “How else are you supposed to use the magic?”

  “But what happens if it changes me?”

  “You have to trust that the magic is inert until you use it and when you use it you have to hope it doesn’t overwhelm you. But then only the strongest of the bloodlines can wield the power in the stones,” he tells me while beginning to pace in front of me.

  “What did you feel when you first touched the life stone?” I ask.