The train ride back to the Blagmoor Region was much more peaceful than the journey there. Rylan was glued to her hip constantly, and Thorn could normally be found a few steps behind her.
Truth to be told, it was a bit suffocating, but Lyra didn't mind.
She had no desire to be kidnapped again.
Once was more than enough.
The thought of being dragged back to Omega Taurus – to him – made her blood curdle, and it made jumbled twisted thoughts jump to the front of her mind. Thoughts she didn't want. Thoughts that made her want to run and hide.
Rylan easily caught onto her inner turmoil, since he didn't really seem to leave her side, even after they got back to Blagmoor Castle. He was her mate, after all, and he'd sworn to be by her side ever since he'd sunk his teeth into her neck. That was how they both found themselves on top of the bed in the gazebo outside in the maze, relaxing in the faint autumnal breeze. A hand absentmindedly petted her hair, having an odd calming effect on her mind as they lay together on the clean white sheets.
"Relax, Ly." Rylan said, staring at the green hedges towering around them on all four sides. "Everything will be fine."
"Can't you feel it, though?" Lyra stared up at him from where she was tucked into his chest. "Something big is coming..."
"Yeah." He sighed, tightening his grip on her. "Omega Taurus is moving, and this time their target will be Blagmoor Castle itself."
"What do we do?" She asked, sounding much calmer than she actually felt.
"Prepare for the worst, and pray that Arrow gets back to us soon with some information about what we'll be up against."
"He's been gone for a while, hasn't he?" She said, closing her eyes as she remembered the purple-haired Alpha.
"Yeah." Her mate shrugged. "But it's normal for him... with his job..."
"He's an assassin, Ry." Lyra sighed. "Don't bother trying to keep me in the dark about it. It's fairly obvious for someone like me..."
"You don't know how much I want to protect you from things like this now that you're with me." Rylan said. "So let's not talk about grizzly matters when we're both trying to chill out here... away from the annoying blonde..."
"We still have to pay him back for what he did while we were at Stonewall." Lyra mumbled, staring up at the sliver of bright blue sky peeking between the gazebo roof and the towering hedges. "And I've got the perfect idea how."
***
"How exactly do we get him to go out into the arena, though...?" Lyra sighed, lying across the bedsheets of their four-poster bed inside the castle. They'd already asked Blaze for a little training session, which had quickly been turned down by the sleepy blonde. "He's already said he won't do it."
"Well..." Rylan shrugged. "Arrow always has some chloroform handy in his room..."
"Seriously?!"
He turned to her, deadly serious. "Of course. He is an assassin, you know..."
"Do assassins generally have chloroform on hand...?" She stared at him sceptically.
"Well this one does." Rylan said, pausing for a moment, gauging her reaction before he opened his mouth. "Do you want to go and grab some?"
"We'd have to wait a good few hours for him to wake up, though." She said, folding her arms, "Maybe we should just wait until tomorrow and ask him then..."
"No way." Her mate shook his head. "We're not pandering to his needs. Not when we're getting our own back. What he wants is irrelevant right now."
"How come you don't like Blaze so much... compared to all the other Alphas...?"
"It's a long story." He mumbled. "And we don't have time for it if you want to go and annoy the hell out of Blaze."
"Good point." Lyra sat up. "Let's go and nab me a blonde training partner before the sun goes down."
***
Blaze slammed into the stone wall of the little practice arena for what must've been the fifth time. Like all the times before, he swiftly climbed back to his feet, launching a flurry of kicks and jabs her way.
Lyra blocked as many as she could, scowling as she was sent stumbling back a few steps. She was running out of power, her gift nearly exhausted, but she had yet to completely floor Blaze.
Lightning crackled around her fists, much brighter than before, and Blaze knew the end was coming as two fists ploughed into his unguarded stomach. His back met the wall again, this time forming a little indent of him, stars dotting his vision as he collapsed forwards.
"Too much power..." Lyra mumbled, flopping onto the ground, completely spent, cursing internally as she realised she'd put way too much power into the last strike.
"Lyra." Blaze groaned, wiping away the blood trickling down from his hairline. "Oy, Ly! Get up!" His foot nudged her gently.
"She's completely exhausted, idiot." A brunette with his hair tied back in a ponytail sighed, resting a glowing hand over Blaze's head once he'd reached the pair of them.
"And she's the one who started it..." Blaze grumbled, crouching down next to her, staring down at the unconscious redhead.
"Apparently Rylan and her decided to get their own back for the hell you apparently gave them while you were on your little trip to the Elder Region." Hunter said, smiling slightly as he glanced down at her. "Relax, Blaze. She's just exhausted... She used her ability to its fullest extent..." He blinked, processing what he'd just said before he started swearing.
"What's wrong?!"
"Get Rylan down here before she..."
Arms locked around Blaze's waist.
Hunter swore yet again. "Too late."
"Huh?!" Blaze muttered. "Hunter, what the hell?!"
"She's imprinted on you."
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ILLENIS HERE
This book is actually going on a bit longer than I planned, so there'll probably be around forty threeish chapters.
Not bad for the first book, dare I say so myself.
You'll no doubt be pleased to hear that Scatter Me (Book Two) is in the works now, so hopefully the wait between the end of this book and the start of Book Two won't be too long.
Until the next update.
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