Taken: The Pteron Chronicles Read online

  Taken

  The Pteron Chronicles

  Alyssa Rose Ivy

  Copyright © 2018 by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design: Najla Qambar Designs

  Cover Photography: Lindee Robinson Photography

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Hailey

  2. Wyatt

  3. Hailey

  4. Wyatt

  5. Hailey

  6. Glendale

  7. Wyatt

  8. Hailey

  9. Wyatt

  10. Hailey

  11. Glendale

  12. Wyatt

  13. Hailey

  14. Wyatt

  15. Hailey

  16. Wyatt

  17. Hailey

  18. Wyatt

  19. Hailey

  20. Wyatt

  Epilogue

  Thank You

  Afterward

  Heart of the Wolf

  Hope

  1

  Hailey

  Fire. All I dreamed of now was fire. Not the fire of warmth and passion. The fire of destruction and ash. The kind of fire that obliterates everything in its path. I saw it when I was awake too. It followed me everywhere.

  I turned over in the makeshift bed, not wanting to move out of Wyatt’s arms but needing to. I needed air.

  He blamed himself. I didn’t blame him. But it was impossible to forget that it was his fire that destroyed the Crescent City Hotel, even though he unequivocally did it to save me.

  I gave myself a moment to watch his chest rise and fall. To once again marvel at the way his tattoo-like marks crisscrossed his muscular abdomen and arms. To notice how the light stubble on his chin had grown thicker now. And to see that his sleep wasn’t peaceful either.

  I walked out of the small apartment and onto the balcony. I looked up at the dark sky and longed to spread my wings. But I couldn’t. I had to keep a low profile. I needed to stay out of sight, and hopefully out of mind, until we figured out what was going on and more importantly where everyone was. We’d cut off all communication after our first twenty-five attempts to connect with friends and family were met with voicemails and out of service messages. Something big was going on, and we had to be careful. But I was desperate to know what others in The Society thought. The others who hadn’t disappeared into thin air—if there were any others that fell into that category.

  “Couldn’t sleep either?” Wyatt’s arms wrapped around my waist. He pulled me back against him.

  I allowed myself a moment to enjoy the comfort. Maybe I couldn’t fly, but if I was stuck on the ground at least it was with Wyatt. “We should be doing something more. Not sleeping.”

  “I know, and I feel the same way. But we can’t. We have to stay out of sight a little bit longer. We can’t investigate until the human authorities are done and we can secure the area. Whoever did this is out there.”

  “We know who did this. The guy in the fedora. The Pteron.” I made myself add that last part. I had to remember he’d been one of our own. It wasn’t the first time a Pteron had turned dark. It happened more than I wanted to admit, even to the most long-standing families, but that didn’t make it easier.

  “We know he is part of it. We still don’t know who he’s working for.” Wyatt tightened his arms around me. I snuggled into him more. I needed him whether I wanted to or not. Need didn’t equal weakness, I reminded myself. Too bad I didn’t quite believe it.

  “Technically he could be at the top.” I thought back on the weird memories that belonged to Rose—my great-aunt. I got nothing.

  “Then why would he have been there himself at the headquarters? Wouldn’t he have sent someone more expendable?” Wyatt was playing devil’s advocate, and I appreciated it. I needed help thinking things through. “Also, how does he tie in with Randolph and Veronica? It’s almost as if there are two different groups involved.”

  “They connect. Somehow. And it’s all tied into the Emerald Flame organization. We should be able to figure this all out.”

  “I know.” His words were low, nearly a whisper.

  “The trick is figuring out how they are connected. Once we do that maybe we have a shot at finding them.” I was trying to convince myself. Saying it out loud helped.

  “We’ll find her.” He didn’t need to say Allie’s name. I was worried about everyone who’d seemingly disappeared from The Society headquarters but for her the most. I was also worried about my brother. I wanted to make sure he was okay, but I couldn’t take the chance of drawing the enemy closer to him and his mate, especially not with Daisy pregnant.

  I turned in Wyatt’s arms. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Of course I’m here.” He moved one hand and ran his fingers down my cheek.

  “I mean I’m glad we’re in this together.”

  “We’re going to be in everything together unless you’ve changed your mind about being my mate.” There was the barest hint of doubt in his voice. I hated it. His confidence was one of the things that drew me to him in the first place.

  “I’m not changing my mind. I don’t blame you for anything.” I’d say it over and over again until he believed me. I understood misplaced guilt. I’d experienced it more than once in my life.

  “I know what that place meant to you.” He kept complete eye contact. His eyes were full of so many different emotions.

  “I grew up there in a lot of ways. And it was where I spent nearly all my time the past few years, but it was just a place. Buildings can be replaced. Not people.” That saying had always been just that to me. A saying. Now I understood it meant so much more than the words. It wasn’t the building I mourned for—but the people inside it. And what it stood for. What would happen to New Orleans, and the rest of the country and world, without The Society keeping things in line?

  “And they weren’t there when the fire started. We will find them.” He cupped my face with his hand.

  “I know. I’ll believe it eventually.”

  “Probably when they are back.”

  “Probably,” I admitted.

  He brushed his lips against mine. “Have faith.”

  “I always have faith.”

  “Always?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “Okay. Not always. Often.”

  He narrowed his eyes.

  A small smile escaped my lips. “Sometimes.”

  “We will get them back. Owen and Daisy will be okay too. We will all come out of this okay.”

  “You don’t really know that,” I called him out on it. “You’re saying that for my sake.”

  “What’s the alternative? To give up?”

  “No. That’s not an option at all.” I wouldn’t give up until Randolph and everyone else paid. I would get Allie back and keep Owen and his family safe. I wouldn’t let anyone down.

  “Exactly. All we can do is stay positive and work our hardest.”

  “We need to get back to the hotel—well, what’s left of it. He may have left clues. Troy said your mother sent me there for a reason. Maybe the reason wasn’t the fire. Maybe it was to find something.” There had to be something down there in that room. I closed my eyes and tried to remember. I remembered the man with the candle. His words about loving my great-aunt but having to kill her. He’d said he had to kill me too. And those dark things. The Shadows. Then there was fire.

  “Troy and Sol are checking it out to let us know it’s clear before they head
out of the city.”

  “I seem to recall you saying we can’t trust anyone but each other.” Wyatt’s words had hit me hard, but I’d known they were true.

  “We can’t fully, but we’re going to have to trust some in order to meet our goals. They have nothing to gain by lying to us about the state of the hotel.”

  “True.” Still, putting trust in anyone at the moment was nearly impossible.

  “There’s no way you are going back to sleep, is there?” He ran his fingers up and down the bare skin of my arm.

  “Nope. Not at all.” I was lucky I’d slept at all.

  “Me neither.” He brushed his lips against mine again. “But any chance you want to lie down again for a while? At least while we wait for the sun to come up.”

  “Lie down?” It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. “Is that your way of trying to get me back into bed with you for other reasons?”

  “I know you have a lot on your mind… but sometimes a distraction can help.”

  “You are way more than a distraction.” He was real. He was passion. He was love.

  “Am I?” He grazed his teeth over my lip.

  “Yes.” He was so much more, and I wanted to resist him. But sometimes I couldn’t. Sometimes his magnetic eyes and mouth were too much.

  All at once my anger and fear disappeared, and I was wrapped up in his arms being carried back to the makeshift bed I knew I wouldn’t want to leave this time.

  2

  Wyatt

  It was hard to watch her. It was hard to ignore the guilt bubbling up inside. The charred remains were caused by me. By my fire. I’d only used it to save her, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat, but that didn’t make it easier to look at the rubble that used to be a grand hotel and the headquarters of a powerful supernatural society. Actually of more than one society. The history of that building couldn’t be overstated. And now it was just that. History.

  Laced with the guilt was memories of what we’d just shared, of a passion more intense than any I could have imagined. We’d make it through this. Somehow. Some way.

  “Are you sure your repellant spell will hold, Nadia?” Hailey eyed a young witch who’d been waiting for us when we arrived. “We can’t take the chance of someone stumbling in on us while we search.”

  “Yes. For the hundredth time. If I wasn’t good at what I did, would Jared use my services?” Nadia twisted a strand of her brown hair around her finger.

  “No. No, he wouldn’t.” Hailey sighed. “But it’s not like I can officially check your references right now. Everyone is missing.”

  Missing. That was the best word any of us could come up with. Our phone calls to anyone connected to The Society had been unreturned. Most of my associates didn’t own that sort of technology, which was why Troy was off looking for anyone he could find.

  Until we heard more I was walking a thin line between giving Hailey the space she needed and making sure she didn’t distract herself too much from what was important. “I know you’re stressed, but it’s better that we focus and finish up here. No matter how good the spell is, it can’t last forever.” Plus no spell was perfect. Some creatures could see through anything. Our enemies included some of those creatures. They held powers I didn’t even want to explain to Hailey. It would upset her even more.

  “I know.” Her shoulders sagged as she continued walking around the remains of the building. I wished I could read her mind—I’d never abused that power with others before, but it would come in handy. Hailey’s mind was a closed book to me, and at the moment it frustrated me to no end.

  “What are we looking for exactly?” Eloise tailed behind Hailey, her long hair flying behind her in the light breeze. “You keep saying clues. What clues?”

  “The smoking gun equivalent.” Cade ripped open a package of beef jerky and bit into it. How he could eat at a time like this I didn’t know, but I was no longer surprised by what the Pteron did. Hailey seemed to like his presence, and we needed any allies we could get. “I’d think.”

  “Or even something smaller—you never know what’s going to be important.” Hailey didn’t glance over at him. Her eyes were still trained on the ground.

  “Where is Troy? Shouldn’t he be back already?” Eloise looked to me with her question.

  I shrugged. Troy was like a brother to me, but that didn’t mean I could track him. “In theory, but I’d rather he look everywhere. I don’t want to leave any stones unturned.”

  “Agreed.” Hailey nodded. “Plus we are nowhere near done here.”

  Cade shot me a look. It said a whole lot. Basically, Hailey was losing it, and I was supposed to do something.

  The best course of action with her seemed to be to do nothing. Not nothing in the ‘I don’t care’ sense, but the nothing in the ‘let her do what she needed to do' sense. Maybe she was right and there was some clue waiting for us in the rubble. Maybe she was wrong. Either way, I had to let her see it through.

  She walked around the footprint of the hotel stopping every so often. I held back until she stopped short, bent down, and started digging.

  I knelt down beside her. “Did you find something?”

  She pulled at a bit of black material just below the piles of ash and concrete.

  I reached out to help but thought better of it. She’d prefer to do this herself. I found myself dialing back my natural instinct to help quite a lot when it came to Hailey. I doubted I’d ever get used to it.

  She pulled the object fully out. It was a black leather book covered in dirt and grime. There was a small emblem of a flame on the cover.

  “Do you know what that is?” I leaned over her shoulder.

  She shook her head. “I know it’s Emerald Flame, but beyond that, no.”

  “I think I do.” Covered in dirt or not, I recognized the weathered leather. I took the book from her hands and wiped off some of the grim from the side. A small keyhole became visible. Yes. It was exactly the book I thought it was.

  “Let’s break that lock.” Hailey tugged at it with her fingers.

  “We can’t. We need the key.” In addition to being made of an unbreakable metal, it was protected by multiple charms. This book may have been left lying around, but it wasn’t unprotected.

  She gazed at me while keeping an eye on the book. “How do you know?”

  “Because I’ve seen this book before.”

  “Where?” She pulled the book against her chest without caring that it meant getting dirt all over her tank top. It was already dirty. We hadn’t worried about finding fresh clothes.

  “You know I’m Emerald Flame, Hailey. And you are too. But I was actually part of it. I’ve lived so much already.” I wasn’t ready to explain everything about my past.

  “All the books in there were Emerald Flame. They all had that emblem.” She pointed to the small flame pictured on the front.

  “But were they locked?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “There’s a reason this one is locked.” And a reason why it would be so hard to open. No amount of physical force was going to change that.

  “And are you going to tell us why?” Cade yawned. “I’m getting pretty tired of waiting.”

  I ignored him and addressed Hailey. “It’s a book of prophecies.”

  “Prophecies.” Cade let out a low laugh. “Right.”

  “Don’t laugh at it.” Eloise peered at the book. “Prophecies can be real.”

  “You bet your ass they can be.” Nadia pulled the book from Hailey’s hands. “As real as anything. But there are just as many fake ones as real ones. Well, really more.” She turned the book over in her hands before handing it back.

  “How do you know Jared again?” Hailey narrowed her eyes.

  “It’s a long story.” Nadia looked off across the street where a few cops mulled around completely oblivious to us.

  “Can’t be that long,” I pressed for Hailey’s sake rather than mine. I barely knew the Pteron she was asking about, but I kn
ew she viewed him like a brother.

  “We’ve helped each other out before.” Nadia was still staring anywhere but at us.

  Hailey shrugged. “Fine. Don’t tell me. We have bigger things to worry about.”

  “And don’t read into what I said. It’s more that things didn’t happen than they did. Plus pretty quickly he’d met Vera.” There was a slight iciness to her voice. Clearly, she’d been into Jared, but as Hailey had said, we had bigger things going on.

  Hailey brushed some hair off her forehead, leaving a smudge of dirt behind. “It’s hard to imagine him without Vera now.”

  “You mean you’ve forgotten his bad boy player image?” Cade grinned. “He probably wouldn’t appreciate that.”

  “I doubt he’d care.” Hailey examined the lock again.

  I rubbed the dirt off her forehead. Sometimes I hated how much history Hailey had with Cade, even if it wasn’t of the romantic type, but then I remembered I had a whole lot more history with women. I had no right to care. “None of that matters right now.” I probably sounded harsh, but I wouldn’t be doing Hailey, or anyone, any favors if I didn’t keep us on track. “We need to find the key.”

  “And where are we going to find it?” Hailey ran her fingertips over the spine of the book.

  “I have a hunch on where one copy will be.” I hoped Hailey would go along with me on this. It was a long shot, but it was the closest option I could think of.

  “One copy?” Hailey studied the keyhole. “Are there multiple?”

  “There were four made.” It was time to cut to the chase. “I believe Georgina has one of them.”