Marked By Pain (The Marked #2)(9)

“Stop!” I hear a guard shout behind me and I turn, calling my protection mark, making a wall between us and the guards before they can get to me. One of them runs straight into it, bouncing off the ward and onto the floor. Let’s hope they don’t have the protection mark.

“What are you doing?” my father roars as he stands up and I turn, putting my hand out in front of me, and calling my fire mark.

“My mum used to tell me stories about you,” I start off, moving one step closer, “Do you even think about your wife? The mother of your children?” I ask but I don’t need him to actually answer. I know he doesn’t, he couldn’t really care if he let her believe he was dead, even for a day. You don’t let someone you love think you’re dead, not when it destroyed my mum like it did.

“Every day, but my responsibility to the world and the resistance has to come first. Put the fire down, and tell me what has you so upset,” my father tries to reason with me, speaking to me like I’m a damn child. It’s almost funny enough to make me laugh. The time for acting like a parent is well past, and I have three dads who did that. Not this pretender. I chuckle, putting my other hand in the air and calling another fire ball.

“Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night?” I shake my head. “Mum once told me how weak you are to fire, because you never got the water mark. You can’t put the fire out,” I smirk, making the balls in my hands grow.

“Mackenzie…” he says, edging his way backwards towards the door.

“Did you honestly think I would let you get away with hurting East?” I shout, and he shakes his head. I throw one of the balls of fire at him, and he jumps to the side, and it burns the wall instead.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” he shouts, getting up.

“Don’t lie to me!” I screech, calling another fire ball and ignoring the wave of dizziness that I feel when I do. The door opens behind my father, and Mr Daniels walks in.

“What’s going on?” he asks, looking between us. My father simply smiles, an evil smile that tells me he thinks he’s just won. I don’t believe a word he says about not knowing that they hurt East, his face says it all. I wonder if he did this to test Mr Daniels, to see if he will side with him or me. It’s no coincidence that he happened to just come in here right now. This whole thing had to be a plan by my father.

“I’m sorting out a big problem, it’s best you get the hell out of my way, Mr Daniels,” I say and throw the fireball in my left hand at my father. A wall of water appears in front of him as he runs away towards the door, the water stopping the fire ball with a hiss. Steam blocks my view of them both. And then, the water shoots out towards me. I gasp for breath as the water rushes over me, shoving me back up against the wall. I feel like I’m drowning, but as quickly as it came, it goes away. The water pulls back, and I glare at Mr Daniels as he steps through the water. It drips down his hair and shirt, and I hate that he’s so much more attractive wet. Why can’t he look like a wet dog or something? I probably look like a drowned rat.

“Why did you attack him? I thought you could behave for one day. I should have known better,” he asks, wiping his face of the water. I look away from Mr Daniels, through the water wall, and I see my father running away out the door. That’s all my father is good at apparently, running. I look back at Mr Daniels, who silently watches me, assessing me for something as I ring the excess water from my hair. I realise that the water couldn’t drown me, not with my water mark, but I’m still pissed he would use his powers against me.

“You chose to side with him and not me. You don’t trust me, and I don’t trust you anymore either. Stay the hell away from me,” I say, feeling like my heart crushes even more with every word. I never should have trusted him, I shouldn’t have fallen for him. I don’t care what East might say, that I might be making the wrong decision, but I know he doesn’t trust me. He chose to side with my father over me, and I can’t forget that.

“I do trust you, Miss Crowe, but you do not understand the bigger picture here. Just know that I’m on your side. You know how I feel about you, I won’t give up what we have together; it is worth fucking fighting for!” he says, making my heart pound against my chest.

“Then you have a big fight on your hands, Mr Daniels, and it’s not one you’re going to win,” I reply coldly, walking around him and straight to the wall of water.

“We will see, Miss Crowe,” the bastard shouts, just before I go through the water and I wish I didn’t hear him. He doesn’t stop me, the cold water is a welcome relief as it hits me, mixing with the tears that fall from my eyes so that no one will see them.

No one stops me as I walk down the corridors, keeping my eyes low and dripping water onto the shiny floors with every step until I get to my room. I step in, slamming the door behind me and fall to my knees, tears streaming down my face.

I never should have trusted him. What’s worse, is that I have no idea who I can trust anymore.





Chapter 6





Mackenzie





“Training? You want me to train?” I scoff at Alaric.

“Yes, Mackenzie; I think it would be best for you to train with our recruits. I know you’ll come around eventually, and I do not see the point in segregating you now with that in mind,” he replies. I look at him like he’s mad. I think he really might be, but how does he convince everyone else that he’s normal?