Forsaken Read online

  God only knew what he would do next. I shuddered.

  My mind drifted back to Star—my only friend while I’d lived here, who also happened to be Dash’s girlfriend… ex-girlfriend, I reminded myself.

  It was complicated as many matters of the heart were.

  Had Star adjusted to life in Hurst? Was Harper harassing her? Or had they become best friends?

  That last thought left a sour taste in my mouth, worse than sucking on a lemon.

  It had been hard leaving her behind, and I questioned whether I had made the right choice. Maybe I was just feeling lonely and wished she was here.

  Dash and I had been sharing a room, which sounded a whole lot more intimate than it was. It seemed as if we were never alone, and let’s see… there’d been a total of zero kisses. I didn’t know if I would ever understand what went on inside his sexy head.

  Speaking of Dash, where was he? For three days he had been glued to my side. I thought I would enjoy a few minutes to myself, but that wasn’t the case. I felt anxious without him.

  Pushing away from the window, I paced the room, the pink walls of my childhood making me queasy. If Dash was off doing God knew what, then there really was no need for me to stay cooped up inside these four walls. I’d had enough of being caged. I might be back inside the Institute, but that didn’t mean I would follow their rules. No one owned me.

  I tossed my hair into a side braid and grabbed a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror. My eyes got me every time—swirling green, pink, purple, and blue. Seeing the rainbow always gave me pause. Sometimes I didn’t recognize myself. Now was one of those times. My hair had grown, making my curls more unmanageable than usual. Wisps of red tendrils framed my face.

  As the days passed, it became harder to recall the life I’d had over a hundred years ago. It was pretty miraculous how the Ceraspan drug kept our youth intact for such a long time. My father had always been a brilliant man, but now he was brilliant and deranged—a dangerous cocktail.

  A knock sounded on my door, tugging me back to the present. Walking across the room, I swung open the door open to see the last person I expected.

  “Hey,” I said, staring into a face as familiar as mine.

  Ember leaned against the doorframe, dressed in black leather pants, a white T-shirt, and combat boots. She looked intimidating and badass. “Are you ever going to leave your room?” The edge I’d grown accustomed to hearing in her voice was present.

  “Actually, I was just about to leave.”

  “Good, I’ll walk with you,” my not-so-trustworthy sister offered.

  I stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind me. Ember and I hadn’t exactly had gobs of alone time, but something had shifted between us since the night of the Forsaken—the same night I figured out what my last ability was.

  “Are things weird between us, or is it just me?”

  Ember’s strides matched mine. We were about the same height, but her build was a bit more muscular. I didn’t know why that seemed odd to me. I guess because I was older, I felt as if I should be the stronger one.

  She snorted. “Weird is kind of our thing now.”

  Except, I didn’t want it to be our thing. “Have you seen Dash?”

  “Miss the Slayer already? What? Has it been like ten minutes since you last saw each other?” she retorted in mock panic.

  It probably seemed pathetic to everyone else, but the only time I felt safe in this fucked-up world was when Dash was near. He had been there for me from the time I opened my eyes. Not Ember. Not my mother. And surely not my father. Just Dash.

  “Forgive me if I don’t trust the people who’ve been hunting us every waking moment.”

  “Believe it or not, I get it. It’s hard to trust anyone in this new world.”

  Side by side, we entered the elevator, and for a brief second, I wondered if it was a good idea to lock myself inside a small metal container with my slightly unhinged sister.

  The doors closed.

  Too late now.

  I didn’t want to argue about who had it rougher. Not a single person had an easy time here, but that was typical in all of the Heights. Nothing was simple about living in a world that oozed toxicity from every direction. “Why did you come to my room? Have you been assigned babysitting duties?” I asked, thinking my ever-watchful parents had put her up to it.

  “Please, do you think anyone would entrust me with their children?” she asked.

  She had a point. Not that I was a child. “I think I might need a second to remember this moment, you being semi-nice.”

  Ember crossed her arms. “Shut up. God, you haven’t changed at all.”

  “Shame I can’t say the same about you.”

  She laughed.

  Were Ember and I having a sincere moment? No freaking way. The world must be coming to an end… again.

  When I’d set out to leave my room, I hadn’t had any particular plan in mind other than to roam the Institute, pass the time, and familiarize myself with the layout of the towers, so I let Ember take the lead. It was no shocker we ended up in the training rooms. They were Ember’s happy place. My sister was a strange creature.

  But there she was respected… or feared, either way, the other Gifted paused. We drew some wary glances as we strolled into the room.

  “Do you get used to the attention?” I asked, curious if she ever felt lonely or self-conscious. I would never have thought either from looking at her.

  Ember shrugged. “You learn to adapt. That’s what we all do now.”

  “And beat the crap out of each other,” I mumbled, Refraining from rolling my eyes, bored with hearing her same old song and dance.

  Ember took my complaining as an invitation. “Pick your victim.” My sister nodded her head toward three guys huddled in the corner of the room, talking.

  One of them had pastel green skin that reminded me of Jim Carrey in the The Mask. As I observed him, he changed the color of his skin to match the wall behind him, like a chameleon. It was eerie, to say the least. On his right was an extraordinarily handsome man—blond hair, piercing blue eyes. He had the whole boy-next-door look going for him, but something told me he was the one I needed to keep an eye on. The third was dressed in all black, rocking the Goth vibe, including a pair of black wings tucked behind his back.

  Interesting lot.

  I chewed on my bottom lip. “I don’t know that this is a good idea.”

  Of course, my reservations wouldn’t derail my sister. “I bet we could take all three of them.”

  Ember and I had a seriously complicated relationship since I’d awakened, and still, through all the crap, I wanted my sister back. Whatever version I could get. Maybe seeing the Forsaken and the real threat they posed to us all had shifted our relationship in the right direction. Life in the Heights suddenly had become more precious. Regardless, I was open to the idea of getting to know who Ember was now. All my notions of the girl who had once looked up to me had been squashed. I wasn’t naïve enough to think things would ever be how they once were, and if fighting bonded us, I was willing to try it.

  Dash might think otherwise, but he wasn’t here at the moment.

  What could it hurt?

  I did need more control over my abilities. Things had been touchy lately, and Dash was worried. He tried to hide it, but each time I so much as hinted at having a headache, he prepared to catch me in case I blacked out. Not that I blamed him. The fainting spells seemed to be more frequent. That was a problem for another day. Today, I would fight beside my sister instead of against her.

  “Live a little, Sis,” Ember taunted me, seeing I was close to giving in. “Show those idiots what badasses we are.”

  I wasn’t entirely sure I was a badass, but Ember, on the other hand, didn’t need to prove a thing. A smile teased the corner of my lips. “I’ll take the pretty boy.”

  Seeing the grin that lit Ember’s face, you would have thought it was Christmas morning. She rubbed her hands together. “I�
�ll take the other two.”

  “Overachiever,” I mumbled under my breath.

  “This is going to be fun.” She flicked out her fingers, igniting twin flames in her hands.

  Ember and I had a very different idea of fun. I still thought of watching a movie or painting my nails as fun, not beating the crap out of someone. To each their own. “Does that hurt?” I asked, staring at the flames licking her fingers. The heat reached me, roasting the air around us.

  She shook her head. “The fire warms my skin, but it doesn’t burn. How about you? Do you feel anything?”

  It wasn’t uncommon for gifts to cause the user pain—imagine growing horns out of your head. Some had it easy though, like Ember; for others, the gifts were a burden as Dash often told me. My abilities were unique, even by the Heights’ standards. Whereas most people were gifted with only one, I had four, and each changed the color of my eyes.

  Electrical storms—always fun; invisible shield—handy when being peppered with arrows; prophetic visions—annoying little buggers; and my newest—the ability to wake someone from the Slumber. The last was still rocky, and I wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, but no doubt I would get plenty of practice.

  I shrugged in response to Ember’s question. “Depends on which one I’m using. The storm often makes my skin tingle. It’s the aftereffects that are nasty.”

  “You always did get all the cool stuff.”

  “Perks of being the oldest,” I replied dryly.

  Ember let a blazing ball fly across the room, hitting the wall just above the heads of the three guys. My sister was a firebender, and her skills bordered on pyromania.

  Their eyes whipped in our direction. “What do you think you’re doing?” the one with the onyx wings snapped.

  Ember cocked a brow. “Giving you something to talk about. What do you say? Think the three of you can take us?”

  “You always were a glutton for punishment, Ember,” Wings said, cracking his knuckles.

  My big mouth sister took a step forward, her eyes reflected the fire dancing on her palms. “The only people getting a punishment are the three of you. Have you met my sister, Charlotte? Let me introduce you.”

  I rolled my eyes. She was going to get me killed in a practice lesson.

  I let the tingles spread through my veins, and things kicked off before Ember could continue to flap her loose tongue. Green-skin boy flipped to the side, revealing a tail I hadn’t seen before. Holy crap-ola. A tail.

  It shot out faster than Ember could react, hitting her in the gut. She stumbled backward but somehow managed to stay on her feet. Girl must have abs of steel. Grinning, she reached for him with her flaming hands, snatching the end of his tail. Lizard boy screamed—a piercing reptilian sound. The stench of burning flesh wafted in the air.

  The instinct to gag arose, but there was no time. The one who resembled an angel of death came straight at me. Whoosh. His wing flew over my head as I ducked.

  “No, holding back, rainbow eyes,” the pretty boy yelled at me—the dangerous one.

  He had a good chance of getting zapped into next week if I let go of my control, and I was positive neither of us wanted that.

  This was practice… right?

  Not to anyone at the Institute. They took every fight as if it were life and death.

  Letting electricity encompass my body from head to toe, I dropped down, swooping my leg out to catch pretty boy behind the knees, throwing him off balance. My touch shocked him, and he went down to the ground twitching.

  I stood over him. “How’s that for holding back?”

  Ember laughed, enjoying the fight a little too much. Her eyes were wild with enthusiasm, which I found frightening.

  The five of us continued sparring, dodging, punching, zapping, flame-throwing, tail-whipping, and so forth. I welcomed the exertion of the fight, even when I got knocked down. Battling side by side with my sister was satisfying and empowering.

  In less than five minutes, we had all three guys moaning on the floor.

  Ember and I would no doubt make a dynamically deadly duo. The triple D sisters… or DDD. I kind of liked the intrigue of just initials.

  Beads of sweat gathered at my brow, and my cheeks were flushed. Ember looked over at me and grinned. Awareness lanced inside me, and the exhilaration I felt vanished.

  While enjoying our victory, I hadn’t noticed that one of the guys moved, not until he had his hands on me. Son of a—

  “What are you doing?” boomed a voice.

  Chapter Two

  A muscle popped on Dash’s jaw. His fingers clenched at his sides as he moved to glower at my captor. “You have two seconds to release her before I punch you in the throat.”

  “Dash,” I hissed, moments away from dying of mortification. This was the training room, a place where the Gifted got their game on. If I wanted these people to respect me, then having my boyfriend constantly save me wasn’t the key, no matter how hot he was, or cute his dimples were. Nearly every sane person feared Dash the Slayer, except me.

  I wasn’t sure what that said about my sanity.

  Pretty boy dropped his hold on me as if he’d been stung by a swarm of red ants, hot and fast. He scrambled to put space between us at the risk of an arrow in his heart.

  “Your warden has shown up,” Ember grumbled, extinguishing her flaming hands.

  It was time to defuse the situation and turn Dash’s attention to me. “Where have you been?”

  He reluctantly pulled his glare from pretty boy to look at me. “I had a talk with your father.”

  “Is he still alive?” I joked.

  Dash ignored me. “What are you doing using your powers? We don’t know that it’s safe for you.” He kept his voice low and disapproval marred his features.

  My lips pursed. “I’m not made of glass.”

  “Maybe so, but until you figure out why you’re fainting, it would be wise to take it easy.”

  Ember scoffed. “Since when did you become such a stick in the mud? She needs to get stronger.”

  His eyes, hard as steel, flashed to my sister. “Last I checked you weren’t a doctor.”

  “And you’re still an ass,” she hissed, her temper rising.

  Dash crossed his arms, raising a menacing brow. “See? I’m not that different after all.”

  I stepped in between them, catching them both with my gaze. “Can you guys not fight?”

  “No,” they both said in unison.

  Exhaling, I wrapped my fingers around Dash’s wrists and tugged him to me. “Don’t be mad. I was bored upstairs all alone.”

  “Read a book.”

  I rolled my eyes, pulling him out of the training room for some air. We could both use it. “Find me a romance novel and I won’t leave the room for two days.”

  “Since when did you and Ember become sparring buddies?” He jumped back to the topic of my sister, knowing what I asked for was nearly impossible. Books were scarce in the new world.

  “It’s not like that,” I retorted. “I think it was her way of reaching out, getting to know each other again.”

  “That doesn’t sound like the Ember I know.”

  “We’re all capable of change. Look at you.”

  He gave me a critical look that eventually softened, and his head shook. “You’re something else, you know that? What am I going to do with you?”

  My arms wrapped around his neck. “Since we’re alone for the moment, I could think of a few things.”

  He kissed the tip of my nose, his fingers coming to rest on my hips. “Is that so?” I loved the wicked challenge in his tone.

  Stepping closer, I fused our bodies together. “You call that a kiss?”

  My distraction was working.

  Backing us into an empty office space used as storage, Dash kicked the door closed behind him. “You missed me that much, huh?”

  I jumped up, wrapping my legs around his waist, knowing without a doubt he would catch me. He always did. “Shut up and kiss me
.”

  A slow grin lifted the corners of his mouth, flashing me his dimples. “God, I love it when you get all bossy on me.”

  I’d thought it a million times before, Dash was pure, rugged sexy. Guys like him should be required to wear a warning label: Watch your hearts with this one. Made of panty-melting material.

  The light coming in from under the door illuminated the floor in the otherwise dark room. It was just enough that I could make out the twinkle in his eyes. His dark hair was messily adorable.

  As for the rest of him…

  There was nothing to complain about. Dash had a body honed to perfection—years of discipline paying off, and golden skin as warm as the sun. He rubbed up against me, igniting a thousand little fires through every part of me.

  My lips hovered just over his. “Did I tell you that I love you?”

  He pressed me into the wall, freeing up his hands. With his knuckles, he brushed over my cheek, leaving little tingles of electricity behind. “Show me,” he murmured, the warmth of his breath fanning over my lips right before his descended upon mine.

  I closed my eyes, sinking my fingers into the silky strands of his hair. His lips were soft, but not gentle, as he quickly took it to a deeper level. My tongue slid over his, causing a predator growl sound that came from the base of his throat. And just like that, my blood pressure zinged, flashing white hot with desire.

  No one had ever kissed me the way Dash did, and I didn’t mean technique, but how I felt. Beautiful. Desired. Loved.

  In a world filled with so much danger and destruction, these were precious emotions. I wanted to bottle them up.

  “Charlotte,” he whispered my name, nibbling on my earlobe. His voice was smooth and dark like chocolate, a temptation I couldn’t deny myself. “I love you.”

  My heart stuttered. Would I ever get used to hearing him say those three glorious words?

  I sincerely doubted it.

  Here we were, making out in the storage room, no zombies, no powers, no ex-girlfriends between us. If only life could always be this carefree.

  “Tell me again,” I demanded, taking his bottom lip between my teeth.