Marked For Death: A Dark Urban Fantasy Novel Becca Blake (fiction novels to read .txt) 📖

“Tell me where you are,” he said.

“I don’t think so.”

“Yes, I thought that might be your answer.” He let out a soft chuckle. “You know, I was confused when Raxael showed up here with Jacob and told me you were both trying to escape. What I haven’t figured out is why he left either of you alive.”

“Is Jacob hurt?” I asked, avoiding his unasked question. If he didn’t know about the deal I’d made with Raxael, I wasn’t going to offer him more information.

“He was, but we’ve treated his injuries. He’ll be fine.”

“Good.”

“I’m not sure I can say the same for you, however. We have a few things to discuss. So, where are you?” I heard the nauseating smile in his voice. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but I will find out.”

“I’m away on business,” I said.

“Jacob said something similar. He wasn’t particularly forthcoming with details, either.”

“I figured you’d be too busy to worry about me, considering half of Haygrove burnt down. I assume you have better things to do,” I said.

“If you don’t return to Haygrove immediately to stand trial, we’ll have no choice but to consider you an Oathbreaker,” Marcus said.

I’d hoped Raxael would make sure the Council left me alone, but I supposed it made sense that he hadn’t yet. He wouldn’t promise me any protection until I followed through with my end of the deal.

“Consider me whatever you want,” I said. “I’m not coming back.”

“Is Orion there with you?”

“No,” I said, glancing over at him. “I have no idea where he is.”

“That’s a shame,” Marcus said. “I don’t want to offer my own son to Raxael, but if I can’t offer Orion, I don’t see what other choice I have.”

“Let me talk to Jacob.”

“You’ll see him soon.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

My screen turned dark as Marcus ended the call.

I cursed under my breath and stuffed the phone back in my pocket. “What now?”

Orion pushed aside the curtain and peered out the window that faced the street. “I don’t know, but I don’t like that Marcus called you. He knew you wouldn’t tell him where I am.”

“I agree,” Ayla said. “It doesn’t feel right. I hate to say it, but I think we should get out of here and lie low somewhere else for a while.”

“You’re okay with just walking out in the middle of your shift?” I asked.

“My boss will be here soon. I’ll tell her I’m dealing with a family emergency, and we can head out then.” She shrugged. “No big deal.”

“What about your apartment?” I asked.

“The last thing I want to do is lead them to the place where I’m living.”

“Then we should get our things and leave,” Orion said.

“Well, we can’t go anywhere until my boss gets here to watch the shop, so I’m going to go drink my coffee while I still can. It’s getting cold.” Ayla pushed past me, and I followed her back to the cafe.

The group of teen girls still sat at their table in the corner, giggling over a video on one of their phones. As I pulled my chair out to sit, my skin tingled with the sense that something wasn’t right. Probably just jitters after my call with Marcus, though it felt like something more urgent. Something we were missing.

We have time, I reminded myself. They don’t know where we are.

Orion put a hand on my shoulder. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I guess I’m just paranoid.” I shook him away and reached for my drink.

“Understandable,” Ayla said, giving my wrist a comforting squeeze. “But we’re safe here for now.”

I almost wished she wasn’t being so nice to me. She was doing a good job of hiding it, but I could tell how pissed she was that I brought this to her door. Once this was over, I was sure she’d tear into me, and I’d deserve it for putting her in danger like this.

I should have never gotten her involved.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for us to wait around,” I said. “Are you sure they won’t find us?”

“I don’t see how they would,” Ayla said. “They don’t know where I live—or that I’m even alive, as far as I know.”

Orion frowned. “Unless they were tracing the call.”

“Can they do that?” I asked.

“They have the equipment,” he said. “But we’re a few hours out from Haygrove.”

“So, we’ll be gone before they get here, right?” I asked.

“We can leave in about an hour,” Ayla said, checking the time on her phone.

“Then we should be fine,” Orion said.

Ayla picked up the coffee mugs to clear the table. “You two should head upstairs and start gathering your belongings so we’re ready to go.”

She hardly finished her sentence before the bell on the door chimed again. The civilian kids quieted as a group of heavily armed Arbiters packed into the small cafe.

Metal chairs scraped against the tile floor as we stood up.

Celia pushed her way through the line of hunters. Instead of the more formal knee-length skirts and heels I was used to seeing her in, she wore leather pants and boots.

I relaxed my grip as relief flooded through me. We needed as many allies as we could get. “Celia—”

She put up a hand to stop me. “Come back with us peacefully, and no one has to get hurt here.”

“Come back?” My fingers tightened around the hilt once more.

One of the girls in the corner gasped as weapons were drawn all around. For them to confront us in public like this, right in front of civilians who had cell phones out, they had to be desperate to get us back. This sort of exposure would take headquarters months to clean up—if they ever could at all.

They were never this sloppy.

“We don’t need to do this,” Orion said. “You know we haven’t done anything wrong.”

“I’m not here to hurt you, but we were ordered to use force to bring you back if necessary.”

“You know what they’ll do to us if we go back,” I