Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (20 page)

“What are we doing here?” Her voice came out so softly
that she thought he might not have heard her.

“You needed to change your clothes for practice,” he
said, running his lips lightly along her neck.

Turning her head, she caught herself just as she was
about to give in to what he was doing. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly. “I
need to put my shoes on.” She immediately wanted to kick herself for saying it.

With a little defeated sigh, his lips brushed against
her collarbone, and he backed away.

Feeling disoriented, Addy sat on the sofa and put her
shoes on. It was a chore to get her mind back on track, but she had to stay
focused on what was happening with her brother and the Mesen. Being near Gage
was a huge distraction.

Glancing up, she caught his eye. He looked as completely
dazed standing there as she felt.

She smiled. “When this is over.”

He flopped down into her recliner and exhaled. “I
know—bad timing.”

 “Just a little,” she said, standing up. “Jax is
claiming the stone tonight, maybe afterwards we can—”A loud noise stopped her
and she looked around.

Moose jumped off the couch and hurried to look out the
window.

She and Gage ran for the door. There were Akori
everywhere, running and yelling.

Chapter 18

“Jax was right,” Addy said, putting her hand on her
forehead. “We’re being attacked!”

“They aren’t humans—they’re Akori,” Gage said. “We’re
being
attacked
by Akori!”

 They took off sprinting for the main house. Akori
dressed in dark blue combat uniforms were trying to fight their way in. The
Mesen were beating down their door—Jax was right about them coming before he
could claim the stone.

Bernard was brawling on the terrace and Tanner was
standing on a table picking off Akori with arrows, one after another. Some of the
attackers Scattered when he hit them and others hit the ground in pain. Gage
ran up the stairs two at a time and began helping Bernard.

Addy reached Tanner as his arrows were running out. Dozens
were spread around on the ground from Akori he’d Scattered. She quickly began
scooping them up with Tanner covering her. She dodged Mesen who took swings at
her and dropped the arrows on the table at Tanner’s feet.

The doors opened and Juliette yelled for them to come
in. They fought their way to the doors as Tanner continued to take the Mesen
out from the tabletop. Once they were inside, Addy started screaming for him. He
hopped off the table and made a break for the door. Juliette slid a long bar
between the handles once it was pulled closed.

Addy pointed at Tanner. “Where’d that bow come from?”

“We were practicing when the attack started,” Tanner
said, slinging the bow over his shoulder. “I need more arrows.”

Juliette turned to Bernard. “Weapons and arrows?”

“Follow me.” They all took off running for the weapons
vault, which was located in the lower level of the building.

Addy scanned the group. “Where’s Jax?”

“He’ll be here,” Juliette said.

Bernard stopped and tried to open the door to the
weapons vault. “It’s locked.”

“Keys?” Juliette asked.

“My office,” Bernard said, swallowing hard.

Jax came sprinting up. “Problem?”

“It’s locked,” Juliette said, giving Bernard an
annoyed look.

“We never lock this door.” Addy snapped at her.
“Someone locked it to keep us out.”

Jax motioned to the door. “Help me,” he said to Gage.

They began attempting to kick the door down, but it
barely budged. They heard banging and shouting from upstairs.

“They’re in the building,” Stubbs said as he trotted
up. “Move out of the way.” He pushed Jax and Gage aside.

Stubbs raised his arms and the symbols on his hands
began to glow. Two seconds later the door flew off its hinges.

They all looked shocked, except Juliette. She just
grinned and pushed forward.

“Stock up,” she said, running in and jamming knives in
every pocket and grabbing a long sword. She and Jax were wearing matching black
combat gear.

“How did you
do
that?” Addy asked, still frozen
in place from seeing what he’d done.

“Just an old trick, my dear.” Stubbs motioned for her
to arm herself.

 Addy grabbed the Akorian Sickle Sword and a dagger, and
then tossed Tanner another quiver full of arrows. 

“These appear to be Akori, why are they attacking us?”
Bernard asked Jax, as he grabbed a mace for himself. He handed Gage throwing
knives, which Addy knew was his preferred weapon. “What do they want?”

“Me dead,” Jax said, grabbing two
flame-bladed
swords
.

“That’s a good way to get your wrist cut off,” Bernard
said to Jax, looking at the two swords.

Juliette rolled her eyes. “Save your breath, he
doesn’t listen.”

“Maybe you should stay here and let us go back up,”
Addy said to her brother.

Jax gave her a sinister smile and nodded toward the
door. “Let's go.”

“Our people are holding them off,” Juliette said. “We
didn’t expect so many so soon. Word must have gotten out you were claiming the
stone tonight.”

They all ran for the stairs.

“Where’s Kim?” Addy started to slow down, but Gage
pushed her forward.

“She’s locked in the ballroom with the others who
can’t defend themselves,” Bernard said from in front of her. “Doris and Molly
are with her.”

At the top of the stairs, through the windows, they
could see battles going on outside in the garden. Sounds from fighting down the
hall echoed around them.

Jax walked briskly, directing traffic in the halls
like he’d been preparing for the fight his entire life. He wasn’t kidding when
he said most of the new Akori staying at Tremain were his friends. They were
sporting the same black combat gear he and Juliette wore and he was shouting
orders at them. He yelled and pointed, as groups of the attackers attempted to
break a door down from the outside.

“Make your hits count, go for the fatal strike,”
Stubbs said. “They cannot be killed, but they’ll Scatter, just like when they
drain their powers.”

As they rounded the corner, Patrick LaCroft was
waiting for them with a group of about ten Akori.

“How many got in?” Jax asked him.

“Maybe fifty, but we’ve contained them to this end of
the estate and the doors have been secured,” Patrick said. “No one else is
getting in.”

Jax told Patrick to take his group and keep the
library secured. Juliette was told to take Tanner outside where he would be
more useful with his bow.

Addy felt panicked as Tanner was being led away. He
wasn’t trained for what was happening like the rest of them were. She shouted
at him to be careful and he yelled something back over his shoulder, but she
couldn’t hear him.

The fighting was getting louder as they approached the
dining room. Once it was in sight, Addy couldn’t believe her eyes. She had no
time to digest what she saw before a man twice her size knocked her to the
floor.

He was only on her seconds before he winced and Scattered,
as two knives fell to the floor.

“Pay attention!” Gage scolded her as he pulled her up to
her feet. “This isn’t practice—now
focus!”

Addy pulled herself together and drew her sword. A
woman with bright red hair took a swing at her. She blocked the attack with her
forearm, and struck back with her sword across the redhead’s throat and she Scattered.

Red’s friends apparently took exception to her quick
takedown and three men converged on Addy. She dodged their attempts to strike
her and she swept one of them off his feet. He hit the floor hard and Bernard
struck him with his mace. She took a hard hit to her ribs from his buddy, but
she jammed her sword into his chest before he could take her down.

Turning to look for the third guy, she spotted Jax
dealing with him. He was one-step ahead of his attacker, no matter what the guy
did. Jax was dual wielding swords and as fast as his attacker was, Jax was
faster. Addy watched him cross his swords and take the Akori’s head right off,
which conveniently Scattered with its body.

Gage was fighting exactly as Bernard taught them. He
took out two guys at once, throwing a knife at one while snapping the other’s
neck, causing them to simultaneously Scatter. Addy didn’t intentionally attack
any Mesen, but when they came after her, she struck back, aggressively
defending herself.

Matt was approaching them from the hallway, and she
was about to call out to him but he saw her first. He said something over his
shoulder to Renee who trailed behind him and smiled darkly.

Making a move behind his back, Addy saw the flash of a
long dagger. Matt was already in mid-swing for Gage when she realized what was
happening and screamed.

That was all she managed to get out before she felt a
crushing pain to her throat. Renee had her around the neck. Addy dropped her
sword and began trying to fight her way free.

“You know how long I’ve wanted to squeeze the air out
of your lungs?” Renee asked, squeezing tighter. “You’ve been a curse since the
day you were mistakenly born.”

Renee had her air supply cut off and Addy’s vision
blurred as she watched Gage fighting off Matt. With her last bit of energy,
Addy dug her nails into Renee’s face. She shrieked in pain and loosened her
grip long enough for Addy to break free.

Still gasping for air, she kicked Renee hard in the
chest causing her to fall back. Scanning the room, she spotted Gage still dealing
with Matt. He was bleeding heavily from his shoulder.

Renee recovered and slammed Addy from behind. Addy
sprang to her feet; this time she was the aggressor. She grabbed Renee by the
hair and used all of her weight to drag her to the floor, smacking her head
against it several times before Jax pried her clenched fingers from Renee’s
hair.

“Relax, she’s out,” he said, pulling Addy back. “I
promise you, her interrogation will be much worse than being Scattered for the
next couple of decades.”

One of his people threw Renee over his shoulder and
carried her out.

“We need to find their Uncle Josh,” she said as she
whipped around looking for Gage and Matt. “If she and Matt screwed us over,
odds are he has too.”

He agreed, and quickly sprinted off shouting directions.

Matt was good and Gage was having a hard time taking
him down with his injured shoulder. Addy grabbed for her sword off the floor
and ran toward them.

Gage was pinned to the wall with a knife to his
throat. Addy knew she couldn’t hurt Matt too badly, or he’d Scatter and she
wanted to make sure they were able to get him to talk—she needed to know why
he’d betrayed them.

When she reached them, she hit her knees sliding and
swung her sword. Her blade opened up a deep gash across the back of Matt’s
lower legs. Blood splattered on the floor and across her face.

Matt screamed in pain and collapsed beside her, still
gripping the knife. He tried to take a swing at Addy, but Gage met Matt’s face
with the bottom of his shoe. His head slammed against the floor and he stopped
moving.

Gage hurried to Addy and turned her away from Matt. He
grabbed a towel off of a nearby counter and began wiping their friend’s blood
from her face. Matt’s unconscious body lay next to where they sat on the floor.

“I don’t understand.” Gage stopped and looked at Matt.
“Akori attack us and Matt’s a part of it?”

“Renee was too.” Tears mixed with blood streaked her
cheeks. “Jax went off to find Josh,” Addy said as she choked back a sob and
trembled. “Our friends…”

He leaned forward and lifted her chin to look at him.
“Take a few breaths,” he said, scooting closer and going back to cleaning her
face.

“It seems like we should’ve known.” She pulled his
hands from her face and turned to look at Matt.

“Don’t start that—there’s nothing you could’ve done,” Bernard
said, directing some of Jax’s people to take Matt away. “Elsegood, you need
medical attention. You’re bleeding all over.” He reached down and helped Gage
get to his feet.

Tanner wasn’t with Juliette when she entered and her
face looked tense. Addy felt her heart sink and she held her breath, waiting
for the worst.

“He’s
fine
,” Juliette said, as if she was
reading her mind. “He’s in the library. Jax wants you in there too. He’s ready
to claim the stone.”

Addy let out a huge sigh of relief that Tanner was
alright. She looked at Gage, not wanting to leave him when he was hurt.

“Go, I’ll be alright,” he said.

A sharp pain shot through her left side as she stood
up and stepped closer to Gage. She carefully slipped her arms around him. “I’ll
come find you as soon as I can.”

Gage headed to the ballroom, where Molly was patching
up the injured with Doris and Kim’s help.  Addy and Bernard followed Juliette
to the library. There was a crowd of Akori dressed in black gear outside the
door.

Until then, Addy hadn’t realized how many Akori Jax
had brought in. It was overwhelming. They parted to make a path for them to
enter the library; some of them even nodded their head at her. Sade LaCroft reached
over and patted her on the shoulder as she passed by. It was really odd.

Jax was standing at the head of the table talking to Stubbs
when they entered. “We found Josh, but unfortunately it was just in time to see
Tanner pop him with an arrow between the eyes.”

Tanner put his hands up. “He was swinging an ax at one
of the guys on Team Jax—I thought taking him down was a good thing.”

Beyond relieved to see he was alright, Addy hurried in
and threw her arms around Tanner. He hugged her back tightly, clearly relieved
to see her too. The pain in her side was sharp and she winced.

He loosened his arms. “You’re hurt.”