Changing Fates: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 3) (12 page)

BOOK: Changing Fates: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 3)
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Chapter Eight

 

The Christmas celebrations had lightened everyone’s mood and even though the decorations and the tree were long gone, the good mood continued. They needed that blow out and now each and every one of them were training harder than ever. Kelton noticed the change in them and realised just how hard he had been pushing them. But, now they were ready for it. He could throw anything at them and they’d rise to the challenge. The trainees were making him proud.

Things weren’t going quite so easily for him. The night before Christmas Eve when Marion had spotted Kayleigh in the store, he’d hoped that it would have been the breakthrough he’d been hoping for. It wasn’t to be, though. There hadn’t been another sighting of her. He’d really thought that would be the moment he’d set eyes on her again, but it wasn’t to be. She was hiding in the shadows of the city, but it did his heart good to know that she was still close. It meant that she hadn’t given up on him completely. Or that was what he hoped.

His heart felt like it was shattering. Christmas had been something he had wanted to forget. He hadn’t wanted to join in with the celebrations. He had nothing to celebrate without Kayleigh in his life and he didn’t want his black mood to bring the others down.

Kelton spent every spare second that this schedule allowed out on the streets. He’d been satisfied, if that’s the correct word, to spend his days and nights staring out of the window, waiting for her to come home. There was no way he was ever going to give up waiting for her to come back to him. Now that he knew for sure that she was still in Brandestowen, he couldn’t rest. He was out every chance he could get, trying to find her in the hope of speaking to her.

It was no use, though. He hadn’t seen her in so long that all he had now were his memories to rely on. The scent of her had faded from their rooms and he missed her as if she were a limb someone had torn from his body.

It was killing him. The more he thought about her, the worse his concentration on his warrior-ship was. Things had really come to a head when he accompanied the group out on the streets looking for Kayleigh.

His mind had been only on her. Finding her. Talking to her. Making her see. His mind wasn’t focused on the others around him, the brothers that he had vowed to protect.

They all started out at the place she had last been seen, as they had for the last couple of nights since the sighting. Kelton wasn’t about to give up now, not when they were so close.

Prowling the streets in the dead of night wasn’t a simple thing. Firstly, they always had to have their eyes open for the Lamia Mortuorum, They were their main concern. Secondly, making sure that they remained undetected by the human police. The last thing they needed was them messing in their business, and the amount of weaponry wouldn’t be easily explained away. But, for Kelton, it was Kayleigh who was first and foremost in his thoughts.

That was how the group had managed to get the drop on him. Kelton had broken one of the main rules he always drilled into the trainees – stay with the group, stay in formation. On your own, no matter how well trained you are, you can be picked off one by one. If you stay in your group, you’re a stronger force to be reckoned with.

Kelton forgot this important fact when he spotted a woman with long auburn hair down the street. Even at a glance, he knew that it wasn’t Kayleigh, but the sighting spurred him on. He ran forward, not even thinking of what he was doing. It wasn’t until he heard the grunts of a fight behind him that he even stopped to think about it.

Turning back, the group had been ambushed. The Lamia Mortuorum were stronger in number, but the brothers were holding their own. Kelton rushed back, dagger at the ready. Launching himself into the fray, it took longer than usual to get the whole situation back under their control.

Blood pooled in the street, the scene looking like the massacre it was. Sure, the Mortuorum were bigger in numbers and had taken the team by surprise, but after years of dedicated training, it was hard to take the Sons down.

Bodies of the enemy lay broken in the street, but one of their own were also wounded. Kelton stood back and watched as Master Warrior Verynai took full control of the situation, calling through for the clean-up team and arranging for transport to come and collect the injured warrior.

Bending down next to his brother, Kelton asked, “How bad is it?”

Leon moaned, pushing himself to sit back up, “Not as bad as it looks, but still hurts like a bitch.”

Kelton nodded. The guy had a serious knife wound to his upper arm, deep and nasty. The cut was going to have to be stitched, but they needed to get the loss of blood under control. The wound was pissing blood everywhere. “Here.” Kelton stripped off his jacket and tee, wadded the tee shirt up and holding it against the wound to staunch the flow.

Leon moaned again. Kelton knew that it had to be bad. Leon wasn’t the kind of guy that let anything get to him. In the past, he’d even been known to carry on the battle and take down the enemy with a broken arm, not letting the pain get to him until the job was done. To see him sitting on the floor, down and out, Kelton knew it must hurt worse than he was making out.

“We’ve got people on the way.”

“They’d better fucking hurry. If more of those assholes come back, we’re screwed.”

Kelton nodded solemnly.

The guilt he felt was immense. He’d let them down. That was something that had never happened in his entire career with the Sons. He’d always kept his head in the game, keeping his eye on the team and doing everything in his power to take down the enemy and make sure they all got home safely. This time, he’d screwed up royally. The guilt increased when Verynai rounded on him, shoving him hard in the chest.

“What the fuck, Kelton? What are you playing at?” He roared.

“I don’t know man. I messed up.” Kelton was trying to keep his temper. It was his fault that this had happened and he was due all the anger that was directed at him. As a warrior and a man, it was hard for him to stand there and take it.

“Get your fucking head in the game. You’re costing us.”

“I’m trying.”

Verynai burst out laughing, which Kelton really didn’t appreciate. “Well, try harder. You’re putting us all in danger here. If you can’t keep your head straight, you shouldn’t be out here.”

Kelton felt his blood starting to boil. Who the hell did he think he was speaking to? He was the goddamn head of the warrior and for all intent and purposes, his boss. “Watch your mouth, Verynai.” He growled.

Verynai laughed again, making the situation worse than it needed to be. “Why should I? If you can’t take your position seriously and do the job that you vowed to do, what good are you to us?”

“Don’t cross the line.”

“What line? You’ve got your priorities blurred, Kelton, and you’re putting the rest of the team in danger.”

“Verynai.” Kelton said his name in a menacing tone, warning him to stop speaking before this mess got out of control.

“No. I’ll say what fucking needs to be said. You’re out of line and out of control. You can’t do your shit on the streets because your heads not in it. You’re pushing the trainees too far and they’re gonna break. You need to check yourself, Kelton.”

Kelton stepped forward, his hands fisted at his sides. Never before had he wanted to pummel one of his brothers. There was a part of his brain that recognised that Verynai was the one that was speaking to him because he was probably the only one who could get through to him. It was the truth. His lack of attention on the task at hand was putting them all at risk, but to have his actions called out so publically like this? It was bang out of order and as head of the warriors, he couldn’t stand for such insubordination.

“You will keep yourself in check, brother. Remember who you are speaking to.” He growled low and strong.

Verynai shook his head, knowing that this was a lost cause. The rest of them were having to pick up the slack where Kelton was failing and he was too blind to see it. Turning away from him, Verynai walked over to where Leon was on the floor, waiting for help.

“Are you okay, man?”

“I’ll live.”

“He won’t listen to me.” Verynai muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. It was clear to everyone how much Kelton was hurting, but he was pouring out that pain in the wrong way. He was running the trainees into the ground. In his class, Verynai pushed them to the limits, but never past them. Kelton’s class looked like they were running on empty and there was nothing he could do about it.

“If he won’t listen to you, he won’t listen to anyone.”

Verynai nodded slowly. It was true. He and Kelton had a different kind of bond to the other brothers. They worked well together, but they also socialised. He knew just what Kelton was going through without Kayleigh at his side. He himself had lost his one true love in a terrible situation with the Mortuorum. He knew what it was like to feel that emptiness.

However, he also knew that you had to get over it and move on. Not that it was really possible, because the memories and the hurt was forever in the back of your mind and heavy on your heart, but you had to keep moving.

The sound of a car approaching had them all jumping to their feet, ready to guard their wounded solider if they needed to. Luckily, it was the crew that was coming to assist Leon and to drop off the clean-up crew.

Getting into the back of the car, Verynai stared out of the window. He was out of words, out of ideas as to what to do for Kelton. All any of them could do was wait for him to pull through the other side and in meantime, pick up the slack. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but one they’d have to work with for now.

 

Time was going slowly. The minutes dragged along like hours, dragging out the nightmare of the loneliness she was feeling.

“Why don’t you call him?” Michelle asked as she pottered around the kitchen, making a light salad for them both. She was doing a good job of playing mother hen around Kayleigh, making sure that she ate and slept and did everything she could for the baby growing within. Although Michelle was usually quite a loner, it was refreshing for her to be looking out for someone else. A solitary life was lonely by nature and it was quite novel to have Kayleigh with her. Obviously, she would have preferred it to have been under better circumstances, but it was what it was.

Kayleigh sighed. “I don’t think I could bear it.” It would be too much to hear his voice, knowing that she couldn’t see him, couldn’t touch him.

Missing Kelton was killing her slowly. The more time she spent away from him, the more she couldn’t believe what had happened. There had to be some other explanation to what went on with him and that Cassandra woman. Kelton wasn’t a love rat. He wouldn’t have wanted to cause her that kind of pain.

“You’ll never know until you try it. It could be just what you need. Talking it through with him could resolve some of your issues.”

She knew that what Michelle was saying made sense, but she feared the moment she saw him or heard his voice that she’d be putty in his hands. Of course, she trusted Kelton with her life, but he had cracked that trust now. The more time she had to think about it, the more she realised that the trust wasn’t broken and that it could possibly be repaired. But, in her mind, it was still too soon to test those waters. But, the longer she stayed away, the harder it would be to make that jump. It was a no-win situation.

Michelle had been so good to her in the time she’d been staying there with her. Bless her, she was a bit of a loner and hated having company under normal circumstances, but knew that Kayleigh was in a tight spot and offered to help out. The longer she was there, the worse Kayleigh was feeling about outstaying her welcome, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave. She felt safe at Michelle’s.

“I’ll get out of your hair soon. I promise.”

Michelle laughed, the sound reaching out from the small kitchen. “Don’t be silly. You’re not in my way. It’s been nice to have you here.”

Kayleigh looked down at her hands in her lap. As nice as Michelle was being, she knew that she had to get her act together soon. But just not yet, though. It was still too soon, too raw.

 

Ash walked over to her bag to grab a clean towel. Kelton was in a foul mood yet again and he was putting the training class through a punishing routine. She was sweating like a pig and carefully sipped at her water, even though she wanted to down the cool liquid, but knowing that she’d throw up if she wasn’t careful. She’d done that once before, guzzling down water in the middle of a training session and she’d ended up as sick as a dog. It wasn’t something she was going to inflict on herself any time soon. She’d learned her lesson.

Everyone in the room was red faced and sweating buckets. It wasn’t a pretty sight and the air was ripe. However, Kelton was already roaring at them all to get back to work and stop wasting time. He was acting like a slave driver.

Well, everyone was exhausted, all except for Rhian. She was sitting on the bench at the back of the room with an intense look of disdain on her face, studying her fingernails as if this were the most boring place on the earth. Aisline blatantly ignored her as she walked by her. If she could help it, she wouldn’t give her the time of day. Rhian had been hanging around like a bad smell every single time she and Jackson even walked near one another and it was getting frustrating.

BOOK: Changing Fates: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 3)
7.98Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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