Flames of Chaos Read online

  “This town isn’t big enough for that to happen, Aria.”

  “You’d be surprised at what I can do in small spaces.”

  “You stink of the need to be bent over and fucked.”

  “Then plug your nose, because it won’t be you who bends me over,” I snapped, hating that my nipples were hard from the electricity that was rushing through us.

  Butterflies were having a party within my stomach, and something was happening to my brain. Usually, I was smarter than this. Normally, I didn’t flirt with death. This man was a predator, which kind I wasn’t sure of, but there were sharp edges to his persona that screamed it. The way he watched me for any minute reaction stuck in my craw, and then there was my reaction to him.

  I didn’t notice things about men, never cared to, and yet I already knew his eyes held flecks of sapphire in their oceanic depths. Knox’s hair wasn’t brown; it was a sandy blonde, appearing darker beneath the shadows of the moon’s pale light. His body was built for speed, not strength. He was strong and didn’t need strength from his physique to accomplish his goals because he was intelligent.

  “Either kiss me or put me back on the ground. I have shit to get done tonight, Knox.”

  He smiled, lowering his eyes to linger on my mouth before he once again moved us to the ground, but he did more than that; he froze time and space. I felt his mouth brushing against mine even though I couldn’t see him, then exhaled as I watched the dark SUV driving away from us. He’d taken me back and frozen time. He’d frozen time on me! No one had ever been able to use magic on me, which had puzzled everyone, but then we had no idea who fathered Amara or me. I swallowed down fear and turned, staring at my sisters, who watched me back.

  “He freaking froze me,” I admitted through trembling lips.

  “That isn’t good.”

  “No, that’s not good at all.” I stared at the taillights, wondering who the hell he really was. I wasn’t leaving until I figured out what happened to my sister. I refused to be chased out of town by some dick who got off on being a bully.

  “His presence here is troubling,” Sabine announced, forcing us all to turn toward her. “You know how we have to enter the Nine Realms and show our presence there? The House of Witches may be where Amara has gone. I’ve heard of a plan before, where if one of us was to remain in the Nine Realms, or show up when it wasn’t time, an assassin would be sent out to hunt them. What if he is here looking for Amara, and she is hiding?”

  I chewed my lip absently, wondering if what she said was true. It wasn’t impossible. I mean, we were supposed to send another Hecate witch to the House of Witches soon. It was a show of force, reminding the people of why they held the castle, and to show our approval for the king and queen we’d chosen to rule in our place. It also reinforced the magic of the court, something only our bloodline could do since we created the land. Without us returning there once a year, magic would fade from existence in the Nine Realms.

  Each original bloodline had a duty to return to the Nine Realms once a year. This reinforced their power to the land while showing strength behind the rules, assuring the people the kings and queens of our choosing could lead in our stead. It reinforced their rule while replenishing the magic.

  “You think she went back early?” I was unable to shake the fear that slithered down my spine.

  “She was always eager to go, Aria. It’s a possibility. It makes more sense than her being with Freya.”

  “Sabine, it is against the covenant to enter the Nine Realms without gaining a pass, and we already know she didn’t get one. There are guards posted everywhere. How would she even get in?” I asked, a million scenarios running through my head. “I also don’t think Knox is an assassin. Assassins don’t announce their presence, they just kill you. Knox is…deadly, but he isn’t exactly hiding it or his power. He just froze me in time and then took me to the top of a cliff, dangling me over the edge. Knox is a king, of which realm is anyone’s guess. I am not marking him off as a suspect, but something about him is calling to me, and that terrifies me.”

  “Calls to you, how?” Sabine asked, narrowing her eyes on me.

  “I don’t know, almost like he senses whatever is within me, and it senses him. The noise he made, I felt the back of my throat starting to move as if it would echo the sound. I’ve never felt an intense need to do anything other than magic, but whatever he did, altered something within me. Almost as if he sensed it and awoken it from slumber.”

  “You’re almost twenty-five, so if he is awakening whatever your other half is, let him. We will need all the help we can get to find Amara.” Sabine scrutinized me carefully and then motioned to the car. “Let’s go home, ladies.”

  I watched my sisters loading into the cars and exhaled slowly. Knox was different, and not in a good way. I had responded to his touch, and I never responded to any man’s touch. My body sizzled with excitement and fear. It was red-hot, as if embers had ignited into flames and were burning within me. That would be a problem, one I’d have to handle with delicate steps.

  I wasn’t about to end up dead while searching for Amara, not if she’d been willing to leave us. I hated that it was a possibility, or that she had vanished without a trace. People didn’t just vanish; they didn’t just disappear without leaving a trail. She’d left a trail; I just had to find it and figure out what had happened to my twin sister. She could be out there right now, wishing I had come sooner to save her.

  “Are you getting in?” Sabine asked, and I nodded, moving to the car.

  Chapter 4

  We pulled up to an ancient mansion, the House of Magic, around one in the morning. The enormous weeping willow trees I’d spent endless summers beneath seemed to wave a friendly hello as I jumped out of the SUV and eyed the house. The wards hummed in our presence; runes danced in an erotic sway as they settled into place to open the house for us.

  Everyone waited, holding their breath as I stepped over the wards and into the front yard. We controlled the house with living magic, which meant it could either accept you or reject you. Occasionally, it would sense we weren’t full witches and would lock us out.

  I turned to tell everyone it was safe when a large house caught my eye. It was massive and sat on the corner of the block, with property boarding the edge of ours. It hadn’t been here the last time we were, because I would have remembered something so beautiful. It almost looked out of place, putting the rest of the houses on the large block to shame.

  The gate spread around the house, adorned with the symbol of a K surrounded by ravens in flight to mimic a circle. Who the hell built a house on our block of that magnitude without being taken to task for the monstrosity of it?

  The other houses were all set in front of their properties that stretched for miles and miles behind the actual block. They’d built them to mirror human homes in case the barrier protecting Haven Falls was breached or failed. You could walk through a basic yard before reaching the front of the mansion, but what spread out behind each was an oasis of landmasses.

  “So, the wards are still in place. The house is undisturbed. Amara’s car isn’t here, which may mean she left willingly,” Luna pointed out. “I don’t smell human flesh rotting, but there’s some bad fruit inside and something else I can’t pinpoint from outside.”

  I eyed Luna before shaking it off internally. I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t preparing for the worst. Amara wasn’t flakey. She was the one who went to town to defend our family—or had until recently. She was my sister, the one I’d shared a womb. She didn’t leave without telling me, and she sure as hell wouldn’t leave us to worry about her.

  Starting toward the house, I whispered the spell to unlock the door and flick on the porch light, but the light didn’t come on. Inside, I whispered the spell to ignite the candles, and nothing happened. Swallowing, I scrunched up my face.

  “There’s no power.” I felt along the wall before stubbing my toe on something hard. “Shit,” I groaned. Reaching, I tried th
e next switch, but again nothing happened. “There’s no power or candles.”

  “It’s the House of Magic. What the hell do you mean there are no candles?” Sabine asked incredulously.

  “The other houses have power, how is it we don’t?” Kinvara asked, standing beside me, which caused me to jump in the darkness.

  “Jesus! Don’t do that,” I huffed, holding my hand against my heart. “I’ll try the breaker, but we may have to wait until morning and call someone to have it replaced. Someone should run to the shop to get candles and food. I’m starving.”

  “And beer, or wine, maybe both,” Luna said. “I can’t see shit here.”

  “It’s the wards; they’re blocking everything but your magic. Only the Hecate bloodline magic works within the property lines.” Sabine had been a little over twenty when we left here. It made her the oldest, or at least the oldest that we knew of. “I’ll take a few with me to the store and see what we can find.”

  “I’ll try the electrical box,” I muttered.

  “I’m going too!” Kinvara screamed, and Luna and the others followed Sabine, leaving me alone in the darkness.

  “Thanks, assholes.” I followed the wall based on my memory and opened the basement door. I slowly worked my way down the stairs, feeling the steps before I trusted myself enough to put both feet on them.

  On flat ground, I whispered the spell to ignite the flames within the candles once more, but the basement remained dark. The altar was down here, which consisted of candles, meaning either someone had been inside the mansion, or no one had for some time. My hand slid over the wall, finding the metal box and opening it as my nail broke from yanking on it. “Son of a bitch,” I groaned, smelling the blood from the broken nail, which had split past the cuticle.

  Nothing happened when I flipped on the basement breaker. I then tried the main breaker switch yelping as sparks shot from the box, causing strange noises to sound from outside the house.

  Groaning louder, I started toward the stairs, taking the same path until I reached the top of the steps and entered the kitchen. Power sizzled over my flesh as I searched the darkness, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Shutting the downstairs door, I peeked out the back window, noting that now all the houses sat in the dark.

  “Shit,” I muttered, rubbing my temples in frustration. My hands settled on the counter briefly before I spun around, sensing the disturbance again. I swung blindly, intending to hit whatever or whoever was in front of me and slipped on something wet on the floor. I slipped again, dropping to my knees, fumbling, and grasping on to anything I could get a hold of as I went to the floor.

  I latched my fingers onto something solid, and it didn’t give. Exhaling, I lifted myself up on the cloth, only to realize it was attached to something hard. It also smelled of sensual, masculinity, and if I let go, I’d be flat on the floor, at Knox’s freaking feet.

  Chapter 5

  The entire house was bathed in shadows. I still held on to the body I’d grasped on to as I fell. Closing my eyes, I fought for any strength to get to my damn feet without falling flat on my ass again. Heat burned my cheeks, and I popped my eyes open, peering up at him with the hope that his eyesight was as bad as mine in the dark.

  “You lied, Aria,” a rich, deep voice said in front of me.

  “What, what are you doing here?” I snapped angrily.

  “You’re on your knees, and it’s a very good look on you.”

  “Why are you in my house?”

  “You blew the power out in mine and everyone else’s,” he growled irritably.

  “Not likely, they only allow the original families to live on this block, Knox. You are not an original,” I mumbled.

  “Light a fucking candle, witch.”

  “There isn’t a candle in the entire house, jerk.” I righted my top, relieved that he hadn’t been able to see most of my breasts that became exposed in my fall. My skirt was askew, but it wasn’t revealing anything indecently, so I ignored it.

  A lighter flicked, and a candle flame danced to life in his hand. He sat it on the counter before instructing a male I hadn’t even noticed was there to retrieve more from their house. Frowning, I had been about to point out we didn’t need their charity when his brow lifted, as if he had read my thought, or knew my intention. My mouth closed as my shoulders slumped in defeat.

  He picked up the candle and held it in front of his face, and I gaped at him openly. On the side of the road, beneath the moon’s fluorescent light, he’d been decent to gaze at. In the soft glow of the candlelight? He was sex incarnate, primal, predatory, and all wrapped into one dangerous package. Knox was frightening to be with alone. He was the type of creature virgins sacrificed their lives for with the mere thoughts of sex once they reached the promised lands. His dark hair was ruffled, and he was shirtless, as if I’d interrupted him mid-virginal sacrifice.

  My eyes slid over his chiseled abs, pausing on the ravens drawn in stages of flight on his hip. The man had been created from the paintbrush of a skilled artist, dripped with masculinity. He was then sent out into the world with the sole purpose of dropping female panties or melting them. My gaze lifted, locking with his as a guilty flush made my cheeks heat with embarrassment.

  “Electrical box?” he asked with a slightly raised eyebrow as if I bored him with my endless gawking.

  I turned, intending to show him the way, and slipped on the floor, only for him to catch my arm and then pull me toward him until my flesh touched his, igniting with heat as if he’d set me on fire.

  “Can you try not to break your pretty neck until I leave?” he snapped.

  I righted my frame, inwardly giving myself a mental shake for acting like an idiot in front of him. He kneeled down, exposing the powerful lines of his back and the ravens that flowed from his hip to his shoulder blade. I leaned over him, staring down at the red substance on the floor, and narrowed my gaze on it as he pushed a finger through it and brought it up to his nose.

  “There is blood covering the entire floor,” he announced.

  “What?” I asked, staring at my dress that was now covered in blood, which the candlelight exposed. I stared at my palms and groaned loudly. “That’s not right. The wards were up. I only disturbed them when I entered the yard,” I mused, thinking out loud. The blood was cold but fresh enough to still be wet. I pulled my hair out of my ponytail and fixed it, oblivious to the fact I was covering the silver strands in crimson. It was something I did when I was nervous or worried. “No one was inside the house. I was the first one in.” I shook my head absently, staring back down at the blood.

  “You might want to stop touching yourself. You’re starting to look like a murder victim; it’s giving me a fucking hard-on.”

  “Shit,” I groaned, wiping it off on my ruined dress. “The box is this way.” I replayed his words as I bent over to undo my boots so I wasn’t traipsing blood through the house. The plastic soles were shit on slick surfaces, and I was clumsy enough on my own. Once I’d set the boots on the counter, I tiptoed around the trail of blood and then paused as my gaze followed it to the basement door. “That’s impossible. I was just down there and didn’t slip in blood.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t break your bloody neck,” he muttered, grabbing my hand as he made his way to the door. “Stop fighting me.” He pulled me closer to him, uncaring that I was trying to take my hand from his.

  “Right? Because I know you so well, don’t I? I’m about to walk into a dark basement with you, and for all I know, you could be a serial killer.”

  “It wasn’t human blood, Aria. If I wanted to kill you, I’d have fucking done it already. I wouldn’t drag you into the basement and kill you there. I’d do it right fucking here to make a statement.”

  “That’s exactly what a killer would say. You know it’s always the blonde who dies first, right?”

  “Your hair is silver, not blonde.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe holding hands with you disturbs my feminine sensibilities.�
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  “Are you afraid of being alone with me in the dark, little girl?”

  “Absolutely,” I said, nodding as a smile spread over his face. “You know I’m not that little, right? I’m five-three, which is only a smidge under the average for women.” He turned around, looming over me as he peered down, locking eyes with me, making me feel tiny and insignificant.

  “Are you always this annoying?”

  “I’m not annoying. I’m nervous. I don’t enjoy being alone with you. I don’t like the dark. Darkness doesn’t bother me per se, but dark places unnerve me.”

  “Witches aren’t afraid of the dark,” he breathed.

  “Yeah, normal witches don’t have mothers who lock them in dark cells telling them evil belongs in the shadows. That which is born of darkness must be returned to the darkness from which it came; I did.” I chewed my lip, unwilling to meet his stare as my internal scream sounded of the child I’d been, terrified of the darkness. Amara had found me, freeing me, much to Freya’s ire. She’d always found me, and yet I couldn’t sense her to help her now.

  “That’s a sad story, little witch,” he mumbled absently.

  “It’s life,” I retorted. “Let’s go.”

  “In a hurry to be alone with me now?” he asked, hiking a dark brow up his forehead.

  His skin was bronzed, probably from long vacations in the tropics sipping drinks with fancy umbrellas. Unlike my pale skin that barely tanned at all. The last vacation I’d had was to the kiddy pool we’d bought and set up lounge chairs around, sunbathing while we drank margaritas, pretending we were in the Bahamas.

  Knox turned, moving down the stairway slowly as I followed close behind him. He’d yet to release my hand, which I was sure he held because it bothered me. Once we reached solid ground, the wind picked up and blew the candle out. I quickly whispered the spell to ignite the flame and watched as it leapt to life.