Forged by Fate (3 page)

She straightened, keeping her muscles tense in case she had to fight. The scent of cinnamon mixed with a hint of spice and a splash of pine coiled around her senses. Such a strange mixture of smells, yet it soothed her. It molded with her instinct and laced a sense of security around her soul.

The man jumped to his feet, and though he was ten feet away, she could tell he was at least ten, maybe twelve inches taller than her. Then again, she was only five feet tall so most people towered over her. Yet, she’d knocked him down.

She bent her legs again, keeping him in sight.

“She’s a strong one,” the man approaching them said.

Shit. Two against one. The other guy could pass for Hazel Eyes’s brother. They had the same raven hair, and he was just as huge, only he had eyes as blue as the deepest parts of the ocean.

She inched toward the bike. No way could she get on and get it started in time to evade an attack, but she had her nunchakus in the tank bag. That’d even the odds a bit.

“Don’t move,” Hazel Eyes said.

Finally, he’d spoken. A switch flipped in her mind. His voice triggered a wave of heat that rolled through her stomach, sent her heart into a tailspin, and ignited an intense pulse in her shoulder.

Right where her tattoo was.

She must have stumbled into a dream or something. This wasn’t a dumb romance novel. Only there did they describe shit like this, yet there she was, staring doe-eyed at a complete stranger, wishing she could strip him bare and learn every curve and crevice his body offered.

Her cheeks flamed at the thought. At the vision of it.

“We won’t hurt you, Sadie.” He stepped forward as he wiped the back of his hand down the side of his face. She’d made him bleed.

Served him right. Shouldn’t just sneak up on a black belt like that. A nervous, scared, and angry one, especially.

“I’m Theo,” he said.

“How do you know my name?”

He smiled. Even though the sun had long ago set, the orb’s golden rays beamed off his tawny skin. “I heard it in the restaurant.”

“Stay back.” She’d reached her bike.

He tilted his head back and drew in a deep breath. “Shit.”

She tensed. “What?”

The atmosphere changed. Suddenly the air felt…heavy.

“We need to leave.” Hazel Eyes stepped forward, hands reaching for her. “Now.”

“Hell no.” She ducked, kicked his knee out, and slammed her palm into his chest. He flew back, colliding into his brother, and landed thirty feet away.

Holy shit.
She stared at the stranger sprawled out on the ground in disbelief. She’d always been a little stronger than average, but how in the name of all things holy had she sent that massive guy that far?

She swung her leg over her bike and the machine roared to life.

I’m so outta here.

Chapter Five

“Holy son of Hades—she did that?” Justin whooped as he hopped to his feet.

Theo did the same, just in time to witness the ripple in the air beside his brother. “No!”

The word slipped out as the demon lunged through a splice into the human realm. Justin was fast, superhuman, but so were the demons, and since he wasn’t the ordained Gatekeeper, he wasn’t quite as fast as Theo.

Justin dived to the side, but the demon’s claws slashed his stomach, shredding his T-shirt. Blood arched through the darkness, followed by his groan, as he rolled and hopped to his feet, clutching his side. Somehow, he’d grabbed his blade from his leg holster and pointed it at the demon.

“Agares.” Theo strode toward the beast, two Mavet daggers drawn and ready to banish that evil…again. “You found a way out,
Aggie
.”

The demon growled. “As if you could keep me down, Theophilus. Your god is strong, but not
that
strong.”

“Blasphemy.” Theo lunged, daggers pointed. But in a blink, Aggie vanished and reappeared behind him.

“I’ve picked up some fine gifts in Hades.”

A blade pierced Theo from behind, the point showing through his stomach, just above his spleen. Fire-hot pain bloomed deep in his gut.

“No!” Justin yelled, ramming into Aggie.

The impact knocked Theo to the side, but thankfully, the blade retracted. Instantly, the healing began. Metal clanged on metal, and Theo whirled around to find his brother engaged with the chaos demon.

Justin should be able to handle this foe, but Theo didn’t dare chance it. He flipped his weapon, pinching it between his fingers, then took aim. One well-timed toss and the demon froze.

“
Reverto ut Abyssus!
” Theo yelled.

A roar left Aggie’s lips, but he vanished in a puff of black smoke. Theo fell to his knees and grabbed his stomach while scanning the area. Such a commotion should draw humans, but those in the restaurant remained focused on their meals.

He lifted his shirt to confirm what he’d felt: his flesh knitting together again. Pain receded with each breath.

Not so for his brother. Justin lay on the ground clutching his stomach. “Theo…by all means, take your time. This doesn’t hurt at all.”

With a grunt, Theo pushed to his feet. He scented the air and found no trace of evil’s sour stench. Sadly, nothing of his Mate, either.

He made his way to his fallen sibling and knelt beside him. Beads of sweat gathered on Justin’s forehead. He wasn’t immune to the evil-tainted daggers and claws as Theo was. That came only with the Gatekeeper job description.

“So, they can make splices wherever now?”

“There’s a gate nearby, but I sensed no activity there.” Theo reached for the shredded flesh. “The splice Aggie created this far from the gate is a new development.”

Justin groaned as Theo touched the raw flesh. “I hate being the pincushion.”

The fire-hot agony of Justin’s wounds sliced Theo’s side. He bit back a groan so as not to make his brother feel bad. Phantom pains ripped through his stomach as he absorbed the injuries.

His heart hammered, but the flesh on his side had a separate pulse. Throbbing. Aching. Theo drew in a long, crisp breath and blocked out the pain screaming for him to release his brother.

But he wouldn’t. Theo needed to absorb the injury. The pain. Drawing it from the victim if the wounds were to heal.

Within minutes, Justin’s injuries were gone.

Theo stood, sucking in oxygen to stave off the residual pain. “Those were deep.”

“He met bone.” Justin stood. “Sorry, brother. I don’t enjoy the fact that you have to take in my pain to heal it.”

“Comes with the territory.” Justin was Theo’s Companion, and Theo was responsible for his brother. To lose him…Theo’d seen it before. The Gatekeeper was never the same after having lost his or her Companion.

So, Theo’d heal Justin, no matter what. He was family.

“Sucks, if you ask me.” Justin shook his head. “So, do you know where your female lives?”

“No. But her Mark calls to me. I’ll find her.” He glanced down the deserted street, scanning the darkness. She’d gone south. Thank The Great One Sadie had fled before Aggie appeared. But that was too close.

“What is it?” Justin asked.

“I’m not sure. Aggie shouldn’t have been able to breach Hell’s walls like that.”

“Aggie?”

Theo laughed. “When we last met, I gave him that name to piss him off. His full name is Agares.”

“I’d hate Aggie as well.”

“Problem is, I sent him back to Hades months ago. That should have been binding.”

“As it is with the others.”

Theo nodded. How could Aggie have escaped the fires of Hades? Someone had to be helping him. But who? Better yet,
what?
And why would he—

A sense of dread tightened Theo’s chest. “They know.”

“Who’s ‘they’? And what do they know?”

“The demons. Shit. And Aggie came here. To this restaurant. This very moment.”

Justin turned a circle, searching the surroundings.

Theo fisted his hands at his side. “It would have taken great strength and magic to bring him here. To this spot. Such a far distance from the nearest gate.”

“What do they know?”

Theo looked down the street where his Mate had fled. “They know about my Mate.”

Justin ran his hands through his hair. “If they kill her, leaving you Mateless, you don’t get your full powers.”

“Doomed to remain half an entity. Strong, but not strong enough to maintain all of the gates.”

“Therefore, more demons roaming around freely.”

Theo stalked toward his bike. “That simply will not do.”

He would go find his Mate and claim her.

Chapter Six

“Ms. Nowland?”

Sadie jumped in her seat and looked up. Professor James stared down at her over the top rim of his glasses.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

She glanced around and found the classroom empty. Panic seized her stomach like a vise. She’d wasted the whole hour?

“Are you finished with your exam?”

She looked at the sheet and, much to her relief, saw the two questions on the front filled in. She flipped through the rest of the pages and was thankful to see her neat block lettering on each page.

“Um. Yeah.” She handed him the sheet. Only four questions, two multiple choice and two essay. Sixty-five percent of her grade, though.

Talk about pressure.

“I sure will miss you, Ms. Nowland.” His green eyes twinkled behind his Coke-bottle glasses. “It’s been a privilege to be a part of the education of such a brilliant young person.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“And manners. Please, you’ll graduate in a few days, you may call me Ralph.”

Okay, that felt freaky. He was a nearly bald, fifty-year-old guy who had a spare tire around his gut.

And he was her English lit professor.

She opted to say nothing.

Instead, she packed up her bag and stood. Weird how her legs were shaking. But the fact that she didn’t remember taking the exam or doing anything the past hour was enough to make anyone shake at the knees.

No. She remembered something, a dream. Hazel Eyes. But she was obviously awake, taking her test. How was that possible?

“Are you okay?” the professor asked.

She stepped out of his reach and nodded. Her thick throat and dry mouth prevented her from speaking. She merely waved and hopefully smiled as she made her way to the stairs that led to the door out of the auditorium.

“Best of luck, Ms. Nowland.”

Sadie burst out into the bright sunlight. Crisp morning air filled her lungs. Mid-May in the desert was the best time of the year. Fresh and cool. And she needed that.

Big time.

“One more exam and you’re done!” Dasha hollered from across the way.

Despite the arid climate, plush green grass the length of a football field separated the Humanities buildings from the rest of the campus. Dasha hurried toward her, eyes wide and her tanned face filled with a brilliant smile.

“How’s my genius best friend?” She laid her arm around Sadie’s shoulder.

“Fine.” So
not
fine, actually. Scared shitless after what had happened last night at the diner. Then this morning. She threw a glance over her shoulder. It felt like someone was watching her every move.

“Let’s go celebrate. Actually, I should be totally depressed that you and I are the same freaking age but I’m just a dumb freshman here on campus and you’re graduating.” She huffed, leading Sadie along the sidewalk. “That’s seriously effed up, you know?”

“Thanks.” As if Sadie didn’t feel like enough of a freak. Add orphan, and now totally mental, on top of the graduating-early baggage. She needed to hold it together. What good was being a highly trained black belt if she couldn’t muster a little control? She had too much to look forward to. She’d worked too hard to let it all slip away now.

“I know you’re going to be studying all freaking day for your last exam tomorrow, but you just finished one. We’re eating chocolate. And you’re going to love it.” Dasha dragged Sadie to the student center. “Besides, I saw those hotties from the diner last night come in here. I don’t know where they’ve been hiding all year but—”

“What?” Sadie tugged her friend to a stop. “From last night? In here?” No freaking way.

“Okay, Ms. Genius. Talk much?” Dasha brushed the bangs resting on her forehead away and smiled. “Come on.”

“No. No. We need to stay away from them. They’re psychos. Did you see that one jump out of the booth at the diner last night?” And then sneak up on her outside, but she left that tidbit of info off.

“Chill. I just want to scope them out.” She grabbed Sadie’s hand again. “I mean, they look like Greek freaking gods. They come out of nowhere. This campus is tiny—how have we not seen them before?”

Because they were…Sadie didn’t know what they were, but they were
not
normal. She shivered. What the hell was going on?

“So. Bendz Chem…you decide if you’re taking their job offer?”

She glanced around. Only darkness from the long, empty hallway chased after them. Most people were walking outside since it was so beautiful. Or cramming last-minute for exams. Whatever the reason, it was eerily quiet.

“Five-figure sign-on bonus. Six-figure salary. I’m thinking it’s a slam dunk, girl.”

It was. She was jazzed about this chance to make some serious bank. Make something of herself. Her parents had dropped her off minutes after birth; what better way to show them by making it big? She’d much rather have parents here cheering her on, but she shoved that thought way down. Couldn’t go there.

They turned the corner and the bright student center came into view at the end of the tunnel. The sun beamed through the massive skylight dome in the center of the room. Maybe ten tables were occupied, but everyone had their heads down reading or typing away on their computers.

Except for the two strangers she’d met last night. They stood about thirty feet away, in all their six-foot glory, bulky arms crossed over their broad chests. And, of course, they were looking directly at Sadie and Dasha.

Instead of the fear she expected, a subtle wave of peace settled over her, especially when her gaze fastened on Hazel Eyes. That same hint of cinnamon, unnamed spice, and pine… Sadie filled her lungs with the yummy scent. A trail of tingles zipped through her abdomen and settled below her belly button.