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

them, but she didn’t take part in their game. I wanted to call her over and ask her what happened, why she came after us. But after Jacob’s betrayal, I found I didn’t really care.

The whys didn’t matter. We should have never trusted a Council member.

Or the son of one of them.

About an hour later, Ayla woke with a harsh cough. Her groan turned into a scream as she fought, writhing beneath the ropes that tied her to the railing.

The hunters moved closer to us, craning their necks to get a better view of her.

“What’s going on?” Roland called out.

“I’m not sure,” Celia yelled over her shoulder. “One of the prisoners seems to be having a bad reaction to the injection. You three can keep playing your game—I’ll take care of this.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Celia waited until they turned away before crouching beside Ayla. She pulled out a dagger and cut away the rope around her wrists.

Ayla crumpled to the ground and curled up against the wall. Another series of coughs racked her chest, and her entire body shook with soft whimpers.

“We don’t have much time,” Celia whispered. “They’re distracted right now, but that could change any minute.”

As she moved over to Orion, she kept her eyes on the hunters near the front of the warehouse. They had returned to their game, so they weren’t paying much attention to us anymore.

“Why are you helping us now?” I asked, keeping my voice low to match hers.

“I never stopped helping you,” she said as she cut Orion free. “If you came quietly, like I said, they never would have had to use the injections, and this would have been much easier.”

Once Celia cut me free, I crouched down next to Ayla. Her skin was sticky with sweat, and her breaths were heavy.

“What did they do to us?” she asked, her voice so low I could hardly hear her.

“They gave us a drug that suppresses magic,” I said.

She rolled away from me and hunched over on all fours, her chest heaving as she vomited. When she finished, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “What the hell was in it?”

I looked back to Celia for an answer, but she only shrugged.

“Ed didn’t have time to test it properly.”

“Will she be alright?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Celia said. “But we need to get to safety before we can worry about that.”

“Glad to have you back, Celia,” Orion said, rubbing his wrists where the ropes had been. “You had me worried.”

“I wouldn’t betray you,” she said softly. “But I couldn’t stand up to them all on my own.”

“I didn’t get a good look at the hunters on your team. Who’s over there?” Orion asked.

“Hart, McCoy, and Roland.”

He cursed. “All loyal to Marcus. So, a peaceful solution is out of the question.”

“Unfortunately,” she said. “He didn’t let me pick my own team for this.”

“And we have no gear,” he said.

“Your things are all here. I can lead the way with a distraction while you run in and get your weapons.”

“You guys go ahead. I won’t be any help like this,” Ayla said.

“Don’t worry. We can handle it,” Orion said. “Riley, are you good to go?”

I nodded. “Let’s do this.”

Even with Celia’s help to distract them, I didn’t like our odds against three armed Arbiters. Still, we needed to get our gear back, and we didn’t have any other options. Hopefully her plan would be enough.

She headed over to their card game. Orion and I followed close behind, ducking behind the ruined cars to stay out of sight.

“Is everything alright over there with the prisoners?” Jen Hart asked.

“Everything’s fine,” Celia said. “How’s the game going?”

“McCoy is cheating, as usual.”

Lowering myself flat against the ground, I peered underneath a car. My duffel bag was tucked behind a support beam on the side opposite the hunters, so Orion and I would have to go around the long way to avoid being seen. I pointed at the bag, then gestured to the path we would have to take to get there. Orion nodded his understanding.

Sneaking around was so frustrating without invisibility.

Celia continued chatting with the Arbiters, giving us time to get to our weapons. We were almost within reach when my foot caught on a piece of debris hidden behind a tire. I tumbled forward and caught myself on a car door. Metal whined at the sudden weight, and the rusted hinges surrendered. The door came free and pulled me down with it.

Orion was going to give me hell for this later.

Cards scattered everywhere as the Arbiters jumped to their feet.

I rolled out from behind the car and dove for my sword, which leaned against the support beam next to Orion’s.

As I picked up both swords, McCoy caught me by the arm. The weapons slipped free from my grasp as he threw me down.

Orion stepped between us and caught him with an uppercut. He tried to draw his sword, but Orion shoved him against the wall. As they matched each other blow for blow, they stood between me and the weapons I needed to get to.

I jumped up and gripped McCoy’s arm, just as he’d done to me, though I wasn’t nearly as strong. He shoved me aside like I was weightless, nothing more than a minor annoyance.

Still, my distraction was enough for Orion to sneak in a solid blow that sent his opponent stumbling back with a bloodied nose.

I needed my sword. Without it or my magic, I was just dead weight in this fight. I crawled around the scuffle and made it to Orion’s sword first. I called out his name as I held it up for him.

He sidestepped McCoy’s attack to get closer to me and pulled his sword free from the sheath. Armed with his blade now, Orion could hold his own. So instead of staying to help him, I located my sword and raced across the room to join Celia.

She’d been defending herself against Hart and Roland with an impressive display of swordsmanship, but