Chapter 10

JASE

He's really her counter. I didn't want it to be true, but it is. Kellan is tied to her, but she denied him—for me. She chose me even though she should have been lost in an unbreakable trance. As relieved as I should feel, I also feel weighted by uncertainty.

Brazen and Araya—two people couldn't be more perfect for each other, but Hale and she were more perfect for each other. In every possible way. I can only hope that Aria keeps fighting her draw toward him, but the realistic part of my mind keeps reminding me how unlikely that is.

But I won't just hand her over. If he wants her, he'll probably have to kill me to have her.

"You look lost in thought," Brazen says as we near Silan.

Riding with him and Kellan wasn't my idea. It was Brazen's. Of all people, he should know better than to force two men to ride together when they are in love with the same woman. Especially if that woman isn't here to mediate and keep us on our best behaviors.

" I am lost in thought," I murmur mildly, reclining in the back seat and intentionally avoiding looking at Kellan who is driving. "I'm curious as to why you thought this was a good idea. This situation is tense enough. Forcing us to ride together has only multiplied that and made this all distracting. I should have ridden with some of the captains."

Kellan's white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel only tightens. He's probably even more pissed about this than I am, considering it's me Aria keeps choosing. For now.

"I have enough to deal with as it is," I continue, pretending as though Kellan isn't seething and secretly plotting my death. I'm actually thankful I can't read his thoughts. I'd probably do something stupid like kill him first. "There's the prisoner exchange tomorrow, and I have to assemble a composed army that won't spark a new war."

Kellan loosens his grip on the steering wheel when it starts to curl under his grasp. He starts taking several deep breaths, acting as though he's trying to compose himself.

"Speaking from experience, it's better to learn to deal with each other than to avoid each other. Aria needs everyone right now." Brazen and Hale's history wasn't quite as foul as ours. I don't think. He keeps talking as though Kellan and I compare to their story. But then again, I'm doing the same thing.

"She sure as fuck doesn't need me," Kellan says under his breath, looking out the window as he trains his eyes on the scenery around us.

"She does need you. Just like she needs me, Araya, Simone… Alice will be coming for her. When she does, everyone is going to have to fight like hell to stay alive. If the two of you can't learn to deal with each other, we're going to be weaker as a whole. Right now, we can't afford to be weak. So get your heads out of your asses and find a way to deal with each other."

Fortunately, Brazen doesn't have time to continue his tirade, because we pull up at the Silan compound. But…

"What the hell is going on?" Brazen asks, looking around at all the numerous troops lined up outside the compound walls. The gates are locked tight, keeping anyone without permission from entering. They should have let them in if they showed proper identification.

"Beats the hell out of me." I lean up, trying to figure out why any of our men would be dressed in all black combat attire and guarding the walls like they're waiting for a war. My phone rings, but I don't bother looking down. My eyes are taking in the peculiar thing in front of me.

Our car rolls to a stop when the numerous cars in front of us do the same. Just as several of our men step out, gunshots ring free, blood spews, and all hell breaks loose.

ARIA

"Jase isn't answering." The worry in my voice is evident, and Uncle Grayson groans with Aunt Angelica as Rex continues to hover over Simone's shoulder, watching her put the ex-captain's blood to work.

They got here just an hour after Jase left, and they brought the children who all look so much healthier than the last time we saw them. After dividing the kids up into rooms and assigning some of the most trusted officers to their floor, we came down here to start watching Simone do her magic—well, her science, rather.

"Any chance you can get a vision?" I ask Rex.

He frowns as he turns around. "I haven't gotten a vision in weeks. I don't know what's wrong. Usually I at least get distorted images, but there's been nothing."

Uncle Grayson hops up on the counter, and he eyes me for a moment before knocking his blonde hair from his eyes.

"So Brazen thinks you're changing your counter," he says randomly, and I groan.

"Who told you?"

Simone tenses, and I glare at her back. "Sorry," she says under her breath.

Mel's eyes have widened, and Rex tilts his head in confusion. "You're changing your counter? Why the hell does he think something like that is possible?"

Simone tightens her lips as she turns around, and Uncle Grayson frowns.

"Sorry," he says to her. "I didn't realize this was under wraps. Why is supposed to be a secret? This is good news, isn't it?"

"It's impossible. That's what it is," Rex growls. "You can't change your counter, and Uncle Brazen shouldn't be giving her that false hope. Especially with no real facts. Does anything support this ludicrous theory?"

Leave it to Rex to freak out about my hopes getting too high. He's so protective over me that he fears the worst any time I'm emotionally attached to something. Such as hope.

"I'm not telling Jase because it's just hypothetical. Uncle Brazen thinks that since I denied Kellan when I should have been falling mindlessly under his spell, that my blood is evolving and choosing a more suitable mate. The only thing that supports it are the counter results from Uncle Clay's old test. I don't believe it any more than you do."

Even though I wish with everything in me that it could be true.

Deep down, I know Uncle Brazen was simply finding a way to explain why Mom wasn't able to choose him over Dad. He needed to justify all he gave up, and unfortunately, that was the only way he could reconcile the facts.

But I wish he had just kept his impossible theories to himself. He's a brilliant man who has been around for longer than all of us, but his passion rules him more than his mind.

Rex's eyes soften when my first tear falls, and he sighs long and hard.

"I believe him," Simone says in a near whisper. "And if he's right, you might eventually be able to help hybrids who have already lost their counters find new ones. You can reshape the world as we know it. Not all hybrids are lucky enough to find a soul mate like Araya did. Most suffer a misery like you can't know when their counter dies. There's a hole—one that can't be filled—and you're left feeling empty."

The sincerity in her eyes makes me wonder if Uncle Brazen hasn't given her too much hope. I just learned about her counter problem a few minutes before Uncle Grayson got here. It's heartbreaking, but what she's asking is impossible.

"Simone, I'm so sorry, but—"

"Don't," she says, interrupting me. "Don't tell me how unlikely it is. I've been a scientist since I was in diapers. I realize the numbers on this are nearly nonexistent, but right now, I need this. For once, just let me have what I need."

The sting of her words implies more than the context. So I shut up and give her this, even though the likeliness is next to nothing. Mom walks in, eyeing us warily as the silence envelops us all.

Just as I'm about to speak, my legs give out, pain sears through my body, burning my blood on its way to my thundering heart that is trying to explode. Rex rushes to me as I cry out, and I grab onto his arm, squeezing it as though I can find peace somewhere within.

But then something just as painfully powerful surges through me, igniting pieces of my brain that burn as badly as my blood.

Death. Fire. Fear. So many things pass through my mind in a blur, but then it steadies, and the smell of blood invades my nose. Guns are firing, screams are tainting the air, red stains the ground, and faces are etched in terror.

Jase. I see him.

Bloody and beaten, shot all to hell, but he's alive and fighting back. Fire pours from his hand, and Kellan, who looks just as tragic, tosses him a bag of blood before he spews his purple streaks of fury at men with covered faces. But one lies on the ground at their feet, and the tattoo staring at me forces me to drop Rex's arm and suck in a sharp, stabbing breath as the connection to the vision is abruptly severed.

"What the fuck?" Rex says as he drops to the ground, exhausted from seeing the same thing I just did. I felt it first. I don't know how I just tapped into his vision, but I felt it. The pain.

But I don't know who I felt it from—Jase or Kellan.

"What happened?" Mom demands, her violet eyes burning a little brighter.

"We have to go now! They're under fire," Rex spews, leaping to his feet and heaving me to mine.

My breath is still scattered, and my heart refuses to slow down. There are so many of them. Jase and Kellan barely have anyone still able to fight with them against the army of Scorpions.

Rex practically carries me to the car, and everyone starts piling into different vehicles. Uncle Grayson squeals off the pavement and barrels toward the gate, and Mel joins us, her eyes scanning mine as I try to catch my breath.

The car jolts forward, and Rex flips the switch to thrust us forward that much harder.

"How quick can we get there?" Mel asks, her attention turning toward Rex as the fear for her brother's life becomes almost tangible.

"It's two hours away, but I think I can cut it in half. But it'll take our military longer because they have to suit up. It'll be up to us to hold off the Scorpions until then."

"Scorpions," she says in a breath, reminding us that we never gave details of the vision to anyone.

Mom's body is barely a blur as she races by on foot, her savage giving her speed we can't possess. She'll beat us there. She can save them. She'll save them. She has to save them.

"What do you mean hold them off?" Mel asks incredulously. "We have Araya and we're a small army of hybrids. We can take them."

"Too fucking many," he says, shaking his head. "And Mom can't put them to sleep. They have those fucking electrical ear plugs again. They're prepared for us. This was all an ambush to spur the war back into place. If we go into peace times, the Scorpions become the target of two nations. If we're at war, they can continue operating behind a forgotten veil of nothing more than inconvenience. They've already painted signs of Unaligned symbols on the walls. If they kill the commander, the war resumes."

"They should have let us go with them," Mel growls, but my heart is still racing too fast for me to form words.

Something is burning feverishly through my veins, and my hands are shaking almost violently as the ground besides us starts to quake.

"Fuck," Rex says, gauging the unstable scenery around us. "Aria, you can't go savage. Take the olophine."

I honestly don't think olophine will work on me. My blood is too strong, and it burns through it. The sedative might work, but I refuse to be unconscious. Jase needs me.

"Let her go savage," Mel says, her eyes wide with twisted inspiration. "She'll level them all if she goes savage."

"Are you fucking crazy?" Rex hisses. "She'll probably level the whole fucking world if she goes savage. Her powers are restrained by a block right now. If she goes savage, that block will crumble. She could shatter a house with barely a flick of her wrist when she was nine—before she even hit puberty. She wasn't even supposed to have her gifts. Imagine what would happen now."

Mel shudders, and very warily she looks back at me as sweat starts beading on my body. Hot. It's too fucking hot. I feel like my body is stuck in a raging inferno.

The ground shakes harder, and Rex is forced to dodge a tree that slams down in front of us. He curses and slides sideways, but suddenly the car is moving even faster, forcing a smoke to fume from the engine as we gain on Mom's trail.

"Holy shit," Mel says. "What's happening?"

Rex glances at me, and I nod, slowly trying to keep my composure for just a little while longer. It's taking all my strength to hold back—something I never thought I'd have to do.

"Aria is happening, and she's not even savage yet."

Mel looks around, watching as more trees fall, but they fall in awkward positions, not hitting our path again as my power creeps out on its own. The car continues to move faster, even as the tires start to melt in response. The engine collapses, exhausted from the pace, but the vehicle continues to be propelled by the force I thought to have lost long ago.

Speaking is impossible. If I try, I'll lose my hold on what little restraint I have left. All of my focus is on not going savage. Yet.

It's almost impossible, because the promising taste of insanity rests on the tip of my tongue, teasing me as it tries to draw me in. My fingers tingle with all the power burning to be set free, and I feel the static mounting in my mind as the untamed, unkempt madness beseeches me with a more alluring call.

"Almost there, Aria. Just keep it at bay," Rex coaxes, keeping his voice soft, trying not to aggravate my fragile hold.

Mom runs harder as the rubber from the tires explodes and slings away from the car that continues to move at warp speed. Then we see the fire ahead, and Mom cuts hard to the right, leaping into the mayhem with one powerful jump and clearing miles of road with barely any effort.

But they're prepared.

They know her weakness, and the second the electrical guns start firing, the top of the car is ripped off, and I'm outside the vehicle.

I don't feel the first bullet that connects, but I feel the grenade that slams into my stomach and sends me spiraling backwards, stealing the power that was present just seconds ago.

"Aria!" Rex yells.

Chaos and madness had a child, and this is their twisted spawn. Everything is dusty and impossible to see through. The bullets are coming in from every angle, forcing us to use the car for cover, and I can't feel or sense anyone. Anything. The pain from the grenade attack is too much.

"We can't get through without being blown to hell. Where are they?" Mel screams.

Mom's cries hit hard again. She got too deep, and now they're killing her with her only weakness. Her invincibility has been shattered, and she's defenseless. They've studied her—they've studied all of us.

Rex tries to lift me up, but the blood pours out of the gaping hole in my stomach. "Fucking shit."

The sound of more cars and yelled curses fill the air, and we're joined by the others. It's not enough. No one is strong enough to get through the raining bullets and launched grenades.

I stagger to my feet as my blood continues to spill, and the roar of pain sings to me from the middle of the battle. I can't see him, but I can hear him—Jase. My mother cries out, and Kellan's songs of pain ring free. Uncle Brazen yells for the woman he loves as the tattooed monsters tear her apart.

My body starts healing—it's happening fast enough to see the tissue fusing together—and the hole on my stomach rapidly becomes solid again as the darkness and death stir within me. The bridge to sanity collapses, and the intoxicating taste of power fills me, drawing me under its spell and promising to never let go.

Looking over to Rex, I feel the devil's smile playing freely on my lips. "I suggest running, brother," I caution, my laughter bubbling out as the divine power tugs at me with even more force.

His eyes go wide, realization spreading, and he turns while yelling, "Everyone, get the fuck down, now!"

Terror strikes through the family around me, and everyone dives for cover as I begin walking into the storm. Bullets ping off my body, ricocheting as though they've struck impenetrable metal. And I laugh as the fear rolls off the men who are trying to take me down. With every step, primal instincts rise higher, and all familiarity seems to cease.

With each advance, I lose more and more of myself. Vaguely do I know the face of the hybrid woman whose eyes glow purple. The full blood tending to her piques my interest, but I decide not to strike him. Yet.

Later. I'll kill them all later.

A sense of urgency gnaws at me, telling me I'm here for a purpose, but I don't care what purpose that is. I want blood to fall, to rain harder than the bullets firing my way. I want a life to expire in my hands as I stare into the eyes of the fallen.

The power emanating from me becomes a drug, one that brings a high like no other. Euphoria settles in the place of all, as the feeling of invincibility nestles into my bones.

This is going to be fun.

My hand raises, and the tingling power from within lashes out, seeking destruction. Seeking blood. Seeking death.

Booms rattle out in unison as the explosions strike, scattering up dirt and decimated vehicles, and forcing cries that promise my intended pain has found its targets. A chain reaction of following explosions rattle free, and I slowly walk amongst my havoc, reveling in the fear I can taste around me.

Covered faces charge me with electrical guns. They strike hard, slicing through my clothing, but I'm not weakened by their petty attempts, and the electrical waves just roll over me, not inflicting me with more than a simple buzz. When my laughter floats through the air, mingling with the thunderous sounds of my destruction, their eyes grow wide with terror. Their fear only empowers me and steals another link my mind has with this foreign place.

I only laugh harder when they try to run, and I blow a kiss through the air. Seven necks snap simultaneously, and I smile victoriously while continuing my stalk through the ruins. Their army begins to dwindle as I take center stage. Their bullets continue to ineffectively strike me, and the melody vaguely resembles the sound of metal slapping metal.

I squeeze my hands into fists, and more explosions erupt, fire folding over fire in waves of magnificent power. I turn slowly, circling my steps as I watch the world around me burning by my hand. Every heartbeat around me sounds in my ears, and I smirk while holding my hands out to my sides, letting the power flow and do its worst. Some bodies are avoided, but I don't know why. I don't seek them right now, but maybe I will.

Hearts try to reach my hands as I call to them, pulling them through the chests of their hosts. Fewer beats find my ears, and I laugh loudly while dropping my head back and spinning with childish abandon, basking in the screams I've evoked. More. I need more—so much more.

The body on the ground draws my attention, and I walk over, studying it as the heart tries to expire. The man at my feet looks up with horror, trying his best to scramble backwards as I take another step.

"Don't. Please, don't. I was just following orders," he sobs fearfully, his eyes widening as I tilt my head from side to side. Playing with him is so much more fun than simply killing him.

His right leg begins to split open slowly, starting at his ankle and running up to his groin. Deafening, shrill screams leave his mouth, and I lick my lips, hungry for more, desperate to taste all the pain I can.

"I thought you wanted me," I whisper, drawing closer. Whoever he is, he wants my blood. I can see it vividly through his emotional signals, as though his intentions are rolling off him in the form of a written confession. "You want my blood. You want me. Here I am," I hiss.

He grabs his leg, shaking his head furiously. "I don't. I don't want anything. I swear. I'm sorry."

Sorry . I can't help but laugh at the ridiculous word that is now suspended in the air. His fear brings me more answers, and this bastard wants me dead. He wants my blood. My blood!

"I'm sorry," I say, mocking him as his other leg starts to tear. His wrists slice open, and I mock him further as he cries and sobs in pain. "I'm sorry."

Another man fires at me, and I catch the bullet in my hand, crunching it in my fist and turning it to dust as my first toy tries to die. The new man's breath leaves in a heave when I close my other fist, and he grabs his chest that is trying to explode.

"I'm sorry," I say again, giggling deliriously as I continue. This feels so damn good. I never want to stop.

"Aria!" a hybrid yells, and I turn to see the oddly familiar face, though I can't place him. His eyes try to dilate as he makes his way to me, almost seeming intoxicated or in a trance. Does he want to play also?

"Don't!" a taller, less muscular hybrid yells to him, looking to the suicidal hybrid who lacks the fear he needs.

Only the wise one shudders when he sees me. The other is just an idiot with a death wish.

"Do," I taunt, giggling as I throw my arm out. The hybrid with lust in his eyes is thrown backwards, and his body crashes to a vehicle as yells erupt. The fear he was remiss to give is now there and clearly dominant. Much better.

"Kellan!" one hybrid girl screams, rushing to his side while throwing up a wall of blood she draws from the ground, acting as though that's enough to halt my assault.

I watch in mild amusement as she tries to inspect his wounds. She wants to help the hybrid who was interrupting my fun. None of their emotions read as harmful to me. They all read cautious and worried. For some unknown reason, they feel affection toward me.

It all grows boring, and they weren't the ones trying to kill me. There are others who were; others who want my blood.

I turn back to my toys, but another hybrid stands before me, blocking my path. His eyes mismatched blue eyes are trained on mine with no fear. Foolish full blood hybrid.

"You won't hurt me, baby," the hybrid says, taking another step toward me.

The hybrid is bloody, his face is badly beaten, and blood seeps from the wounds on his chest to stain the ragged shirt he's wearing. It's almost… distracting. Something primal inside me stirs, and I narrow my eyes on him.

"I'm playing," I say with an eerie smile, one laced with so much freedom. Free. I feel so free, and I never want it to leave me again.

He turns, pulling out his gun, and puts a bullet into the heads of my toys. I growl and raise my hand to strike him, but it's as though my freedom has been stolen. No power comes out, and he turns back toward me with that same fearlessness.

"You've played with them. Now come play with me," he says with a seductive edge.

More bullets claim the lives of the few stray toys I had left, and I hiss while turning around to face all the scared hybrids looking at me. The drugged hybrid from before stares into my eyes, trying to get to me as several others hold him back. His fear has once again been replaced by lust. All I want to do is shed their blood, make them stop hindering my fun.

"If you want blood," the hybrid behind me says, drawing my attention back to him, "then take mine. It's yours."

He pulls what's left of the tattered shirt over his head, and I lick my lips while staring at the lines of his body, the wounded chest now exposed and leaking even more blood than I originally realized. Temptation weakens me, and I snarl while he takes another step toward me.

"I'm yours," he says, still not regarding me with the fear he should.

I hear his blood pumping through his veins, the thrumming of it almost singing to me. His blood becomes a siren, a calling I almost can't deny. Hunger races through me, and his veins tempt me that much more.

He continues to reduce the distance between us as my mouth waters, and a wave of desire and need crashes over me. In a blur of motion, his arms wrap around me, and he draws me close, forcing his mouth against mine in a powerful kiss that steals my breath.

His tongue swipes through my lips, and a moan escapes me as I grow even weaker. The male hybrid behind me roars his displeasure, but the hybrid holding me only kisses me harder when I start to punish the other for trying to interrupt.

He tugs my bottom lip between his teeth, and then he trails a set of kisses down my neck. "I can't bite. Your skin is too unbreakable right now, baby. Let me bite you," he murmurs against my skin, forcing me to shudder as I dig my hands into his hair.

"Get her inside the compound," a girl yells. "Kellan is close to losing it and she might just fucking kill him at this moment."

I growl at their interruption once more, but the hybrid holding me picks me up, and forces my legs around his waist while breaking the kiss. The broken doors of the gate beside us fall open when he bursts a powerful flame from his hand, still holding me with his other. The desire unfurls that much more after witnessing his show of power, and our kiss resume as my hunger grows.

His grip becomes painful as the whispers around us spur. "What the hell is going on?"

"Shhh. Keep your voice down. Just find them a room. We'll handle the explanations."

"We just had ten people killed because of a war outside. And you want me to—"

The man speaking starts coughing and gurgling on his blood when I grow annoyed, and a few muttered curses surround us.

"Focus on me, baby," the hybrid I'm entranced by says against my lips, and I lose my hold on the man.

Something clanks close by, and the hybrid holding me nods as he continues to carry me. The constant hum of his blood becomes too much, and just as a door flings open, my blood bringers slide down and slice through the skin on his shoulder.

He groans, and his grip on me tightens to be almost painful as I lower my shields, inviting him to bite. I crave it, desire it, want it more than anything as heat spreads throughout my body.

"You're overheating," he whispers, and his body temperature plummets deliciously as he pushes his bare chest closer.

His tongue feels like wet, incredible ice inside my mouth, and he starts shredding through the small shreds of fabric that has been left on my body. My blood burns hotter as the desire rips through me and demands attention, and with a wave of my hand, his pants are torn from his body, leaving him bare as he drops to be between my legs.

"I love you," he says through a grunt as he slams into me, and my body curls to him, starving for more.

I growl when he starts to pull away, and he smiles while pinning my hands against the mattress and surging forth harder. My back arches off the bed, and his punishing rhythm gains speed as he bends to my shoulder.

With my shield down, his blood bringers sink into my flesh with little resistance, and the carnal sound that escapes him almost becomes my undoing. Puzzle pieces slide together as our bodies writhe in unison, both of us claiming each other, and my breath catches in my throat when the veil of confusion tries to lift.

"You with me?" he whispers, groaning when my walls clamp down and a scream tears through my lips.

The man before me becomes more familiar, and despite his chill, a warmness spreads inside me, reuniting me with recognition that I failed to find earlier.

"Jase," I whisper, slowly wrapping my mind around reality as his pace quickens, driving me toward the edge once again as all my emotions try to collide at once.

My cling to him becomes desperate as the erotic venom continues to flow through my veins. He licks a drop of my blood from his lips, hovering over me as his body continues to own mine, and it's the sexiest thing I've ever seen.

His eyes try to roll back in his head just as my eyes screw shut, the pleasure almost becoming painful as another, powerful orgasm detonates and burns through me. I cry out his name, and his body jerks over mine as his breaths come out in harsh spurts. And finally, he stills inside me before dropping his weight to be on top of me, burying his face into the pillow beside my head.

How did we get here? Where are we?

The room is painted red, and all that rests in here is a bed and two tables. The last thing I remember is talking about counters with Simone and Uncle Grayson.

Jase's lips find mine, forcing my confusion to the back of my mind, and I hold him to me as my legs wrap back around his waist.

"There you are," he says with relief and a smile in his voice.

What the hell is he talking about?

He chuckles lightly, apparently reading my mind, and he kisses me again.

"Where are we?" I ask, feeling almost drunk as things blur around me.

"'S not important," Jase says against my lips, pulling me to be on top of him. "Your turn," he adds with a salaciously suggestive grin.

The venom from his bite still runs through me, though I barely recall being bitten, and the primal urge is stronger than I am as my blood bringers lower. Still groggy, I drop to his shoulder, and he thrusts up as my bite fills his veins with more erotic venom.