Page 13 of The Marked and the Broken
He steadies me as I struggle to catch my balance, and I simultaneously soak my underwear and try not to rub up against every inch of him that’s currently pressed against me. I look around to see who or what ricocheted off of me and find Aydin getting up and dusting himself off. I point to the ginger giant. “See, I call interference.”
“Where’s the fire, Little Badass?”
“No fire, just a hungry wolf,” I tell him as I step out of Torrez’s hold and away from the vibrating laughter in his chest. “Where are you coming from?” I ask in an effort to distract myself from the pressing need of my magic-tainted libido. You’d think I’d be used to the magical pull to solidify the Chosen bond, but nope, I’m not.
“There’s a barn just past the trees that Silva has set up as a war room with maps of the area and supplies. We were just going over where we need to stake out and the best places to try and get info about Lach and Kee.”
I look past Aydin’s massive arm. I don’t see the building he’s pointing to, but I do spot its dark brown roof peeking just above the trees. I close the door on my frowning hormones and immediately go into battle prep mode. There’s quite a bit of open space and flat ground back here before the dense tree line begins, and I start working through training scenarios in my mind as Aydin and Torrez chat about something.
“Have any lamia been spotted nearby? How much do we know about Adriel’s nest size and location?” I ask.
Aydin lets out a sigh and rubs at the back of his neck. “We don’t know much, unfortunately. The closest lamia spotting was a couple towns over. It seems there are clusters that move in and out of some border towns, near Russia mostly. Lachlan and Keegan were trying to see if there was a pattern to their movements when they were taken.”
“So how do we know that Adriel even has them?” I ask, as I quickly think through a training schedule and try to see if there’s any other way to get Lachlan and Keegan without things turning into an all-out war we’re not ready for.
“Because there were spelled signs saying so pinned all over town. When Silva went to look for them after they missed a check in, he found the signs but no hint of Lachlan and Keegan anywhere, and no lamia. Silva, Evrin and I are going to head out and see what we can find. As soon as we have more information, we can start strategizing,” Aydin tells me like he can read exactly where my mind has gone.
I blow out an exasperated breath and take one more look around before locking eyes with Torrez.
“We need to train our asses off, and we need to startnow.”
6
Enoch, Kallan, and Nash walk out onto the patchy grass and hard packed dirt of the yard behind the houses we’re all staying in. I can feel the tension around me rise as they do. I try to shrug it off from where it attempts to cling to my shoulders, but with no luck. Enoch looks around warily until his eyes land on mine, and his mouth tilts up in a smile. Bastien mumbles something as Kallan, Nash, and Enoch move closer, and I elbow him in the side. We haven’t even started to try to train together, and despite my explanations of why weneedto train, I’m still worried about what will happen if Bastien and the others refuse to play nice.
Nash, Kallan, and Enoch stop directly across from my Chosen, and they square off with each other. They’re all puffed up chests, resentful eyes, and anger-clenched jaws, and I can’t help but huff out a sigh. I stand at the head of it all, ignoring the symbolism in my place and theirs, and tap into my inner boss bitch. I can let them go at each other again, or I can take this shit by the short hairs and get all of us to a place that won’t lead to our mass slaughter when things go down with Adriel.
“We’re here to train,” I shout out into the tension and death stares. “I don’t fucking care how you feel about each other, your history, or any of your reasons for mistrust when we’re out here. All I care about is that each and every one of you has runes, and that makes you an asset and a target.” I look at each of them as I talk, my eyes hard and my words brokering no argument. “Like it or not, Adriel’s coming for us, and it just might take each and every one of us to end him. If we can’t figure out how to work together and watch each other’s backs, then we might as well just hand ourselves over to him now.”
No one says anything to that, and a few of them drop their eyes away from my steely gaze. Knox meets my stare head-on, and I can practically see thenever going to happenin it. My eyes stay fixed on his for a couple of beats, and I communicate a very clearget with the plan or get the fuck out.I look around and quickly map out areas where I’m going to set up teams. Enoch and his coven had me train in a gladiator-like style, but this group needs to learn little things about their runes and what they can do first, so I’m starting with Sentinel baby steps.
“As much as I’m sure you’re all hoping to magically beat the shit out of each other like you do in paladin training, that’s not going to work for this situation. So instead, I’m going to pair you up based on your natural branch of magic. Enoch and Sabin, you’re together.” Sabin nods and then moves so that he’s standing in front of Enoch. “Kallan, you’re with Valen. Nash with Ryker. Knox and Torrez, and Bastien, you’ll be with me.”
All of them pair off somewhat reluctantly, but I treat the fact that they did it without arguing as the small victory that it is.
“Every day, we’re going to work on activating the runes that you have. Once everyone is proficient at that, we’ll start sparring. You will spar only with the weapons or magic that your partner has access to. When you’re good enough with those, I will mix up the partners so that everyone gets a chance to work different skills and weapons against different opponents, including me.”
Some of my Chosen begin to grumble their disagreement, and I shut it down with a slash of my hand through the air.
“I don’t care if you have issues with fighting your mate or a girl or whatever the excuse is when it comes to facing off with me. This is not up for debate. I can teach you things that you’ll need to know, and I imagine that I can learn plenty from you, too. If it’s not a mortal blow, then deliver it. We have healers, and we don’t have time to pull punches and take things at a leisurely pace. This shit is life and death, so Sentinel up and treat it that way.”
I pat myself on the back for channeling my inner Braveheart just enough to put a hint of fire in everyone’s eyes but not so much that I’m screamingfreedomand looking for something to paint my face blue. I assign each pair to stand in a different area so that they’re spread out but can still hear me call out instructions. Bastien stands to my left as I take in my marked army and try not to feel completely underqualified to lead them.
“Quickly think through the runes that you have and decide which of those runes you’ll be working to activate first. Those with weapons, I would suggest focusing on one of them. Those of you without weapons yet, focus on an ability,” I instruct before turning to Bastien.
He’s smirking at me. “I find you very appealing when you’re being bossy,” he tells me, and I laugh.
“Don’t think buttering me up means I’m going to take it easy on you,” I warn.
Bastien’s hazel eyes light up with mirth, making him even more gorgeous than he already is. His long wavy dark brown hair is pulled back, accentuating the masculine angles of his face, and his delectable full lips widen even more, putting his straight white teeth on display. “Good thing I like it rough then.”
I choke on my chuckle and mentally try to redirect all the blood in my body from trying to pool between my thighs. Fuck, that was hot, and once again the last thing I need to be thinking about right now. I turn away from Bastien’s panty-melting smile, and my eyes land on Torrez. His nostrils flare slightly, and a knowing smile sneaks across his face.Shit, he can probably smell my wet underwear from there. I fixate on a tree to my right, deeming it the only safe place to rest my gaze as I try to regain my composure. I karate chop my surge of lust down and focus again on the task at hand.
“I’m not sure how the source of your magic feels to you, but to me, it feels like a dark cave that sits in the center of my chest. It feels endless to me but not empty. I visualize which branch of magic I want and then call on it. I then weave the magic with my intention and desire. When I feel like I have exactly what I want, I push it out into the world.”
At my use of the worddesire, a low grumble sounds off, but I ignore it instead of figuring out the source. My money is on Torrez or maybe Bastien, but I don’t want to dip my toe in that pool. Fuck knows I don’t need anything else getting wet right now.
“Does that make sense to everyone?” I ask, and I’m surprised when everyone nods their head yes. “Sweet. I want each of you to call on your Sentinel magic and then picture pushing that magic into the runes of the weapon or ability you decided to call upon first,” I explain. “Push a small amount at a time until you can feel the runes wake up. You’ll feel the markings almost begin to siphon off the magic you’re holding, until they’re full and an ability flares or a weapon materializes where you instruct it to.”
