Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) (13 page)

“You want to wait until our wedding night?” I ask.

“Call me traditional,” he tells me as he tightens his arm around me. I lean back against his chest and listen to the rest of his vision. “I know that you’ve always wanted to wait until your wedding night as well,” he whispers. It’s true. I’m pretty old fashioned when it comes to relationships. “I want to buy a small house on a secluded beach, that’s also surrounded by trees. A couple of years after that, I want to start a family. Two kids. Little Coltons or Ryannes running around. It doesn’t matter as long as they’re healthy.

“
I want to watch them grow up and teach them about magic. Help train them. I want to go to all the sports events, school plays, award ceremonies, everything. I want to grow up with you and watch our children grow as well. I want to watch them walk across the stage and receive their diploma and then give my little girl off on her wedding day.

“Most importantly
though, I want to make you happy. I want to be the reason why you smile in the morning and have sweet dreams at night. I want to make you laugh until you cry. If I can do that, I don’t care about the other stuff. You’re my life now Ryanne and if I’m with you, I’ll be happy.”

“
You already make me happy, Colton. I’d probably be going insane right about now if it weren’t for you. You’re my anchor remember?” Colton removes his arm from my shoulder and rolls up the sleeve on his tight black shirt. I grab his wrist when I see the design wrapping around it.

“You got a tattoo?” I ask him.

“I told you you’ve been training a lot,” he says. I lightly trace the design around his wrist.

“When did you get it?”

“Two days ago,” he answers. I look up at him surprised. He’s had this for two days and I haven’t noticed. How did I not see it during the training sessions? He wore a tank top then. “You’re not the most observant person, Ryanne.”

“Apparently not,” I mumble. I lightly kiss the anchor and put his arm back around my shoulder. Leaning into him, I listen to all the sounds around me. It’s
obviously late, but I don’t know what time it is specifically. I look up at the stars around me. I could sit outside all night and watch the stars. There’s something so amazing about the sky. The world is so vast and each individual is so small. We’re like a constellation. On our own, we’re not that important. We become important when we work together to create a larger picture—the constellation.

I look
toward Colton again. “I want all of that too.” He looks at me confused, so I explain further. “That life you talked about…I want all of that too. I want to be your wife and I want to be a mom…someday…in the very far future,” I say with a laugh.

The love in his eyes spurs me on, so I continue
. “Before I met you, Colton, I had no confidence or self-esteem. I thought that no one would ever want me, and I’d go through life alone.” Colton opens to his mouth, but I place a finger on his lips. “Wait a minute, let me finish. Meeting you changed all that. Whenever you look at me, I start to feel beautiful. Your gaze makes my knees go weak and my heart skip a beat.” I smile up at him. “I get my strength from your faith in me. You make me feel wanted and you have no idea how good that feels. I’ve never had many friends and no guy ever seemed interested in me. Now, I have you—my best friend and soulmate.

“
I want to wake up every morning in your arms. I love opening my eyes and looking straight into your green ones and want to do that for the rest of my life. I do want to wear a stupid big white dress and walk down the aisle toward you. I want to be able to call you my husband. I want to call myself Mrs. Colton Wagner.

“I don’t want to sound clingy or anything, but I don’t see a future for me
if you’re not in it, Colton. Don’t do anything to get yourself killed, mister. I’ll be very mad at you and I’ll find a way to bring you back just so I can tell you how angry at you I am,” I poke him in the chest. Colton laughs and kisses my temple.

“The same goes for you, little one.”

I groan and lean back against him. “Not you too.”

“Sorry, I think it’s cute.”

“That’s what every girl wants to hear.”

Colton grabs my chin and turns me
toward him. “You’re more than just cute, babe.”

I smile and lean
toward him. “Really?”

He kisses my forehead.
“Mhmmm.” He kisses the top of my nose. I let out a shaky breath as he whispers, “I think you’re stubborn.” I attempt to laugh, but it comes out more breathy than I wanted. “You’re oblivious.” He kisses my cheek. I tilt my head back as he trails kisses across my jaw. “You’re funny. Smart. Amazing. Beautiful. Quirky.”

“Quirky?” I whisper as he moves
toward my ear.

“Mhmmm,” his lips brush against my earlobe. I lean closer to him.
“And I think you’re incredibly sexy without even trying to be.” He gently nips at my ear. I groan and melt into him. “I also think that sound is incredibly sexy.”

“Colton.”

“Yes?” he says as he kisses the spot behind me ear that drives me crazy.

“Kiss me,” I demand.

“You’re also impatient,” he tells me as he moves his lips to mine. I sigh and lean into him. He slowly trails his hand from my shoulder down to the small of my back. His other hand rests on my hip and he gently scoots me closer to him. The kiss is gentler than our previous ones but filled with more love. This will be another one of those moments in our relationship that I’ll always remember.

I run my hands through Colton
’s silky hair and stop at the base of his neck and press him closer to me. He tries to pull back, but I tighten my grip on him. He chuckles against my lips, but kisses me again. “You’re also a good kisser,” he mumbles to me.

“You’re…eh,” I sarcastically tell him. He laughs and starts tickling me. I gasp and attempt to scoot away from him, but he holds me in place. “Fine. Fine. You’re the best kisser I’ve ever kissed.” He stops tickling me, but keeps one hand on my waist. The other wraps around my shoulder again as he pulls me back against him. “Granted, you’re literally the only guy I’ve ever kissed…”

“I’m glad,” he whispers to me.

“Would you be jealous if I had kissed anyone else?” I ask him.

“I don’t want to think about that,” he says.

I rest my head on his shoulder again and look back out at the garden. “I’m glad you were my first kiss, Colton.”

“Me too, Ry.”

Something wet falls on my cheek. With my eyes closed, I reach up and wipe it away.
Another droplet falls on my forehead. Opening my eyes, I brush the water off. I’m outside? I can’t tell what time it is because the sky is covered with dark clouds from an impending storm. I look around me and see Ryanne sleeping with her head in my lap with her legs stretched lengthwise against the swing. Someone came outside last night and placed a blanket over her. When the raindrops start to fall harder, I gently try to pick her up without waking her. She sighs in my arms, but doesn’t fully wake.

Carrying her back to the house,
I tap on the backdoor, hoping someone is awake who can open it for me. If there’s no one there, I can manage, but it’ll probably wake her up. From inside, I see Tom get up from the kitchen table. “I was about to come get you both. There’s a storm coming.”

“Thanks for the blanket,” I tell him as I walk past him and head into the living room. Sitting down on the couch, I readjust Ryanne on my lap, so she can sleep comfortably.

“That wasn’t me. James brought it out for you guys when we realized that you hadn’t come back in,” he says.

Of course it was him.

A loud pang of thunder echoes outside, but Ryanne jumps up and almost falls off the couch. I reach out and steady her. “Ryanne, Ryanne. Calm down. It’s just thunder.” She turns toward me, breathing heavily.

“
Oh my goodness,” she settles down and looks around. “Did we fall asleep here?”

“No, we fell asleep outside, but it started raining, so I brought you in here,” I tell her. I struggle to keep down a laugh
. Her curls are very crazy this morning. The humidity and wind caused them to thicken. “You’re having a crazy hair day,” I say as I try to brush some of her curls aside.

Ryanne runs a hand through her hair and looks
toward the window. The clouds have thickened. They open up and start to steadily downpour on the world below. Ryanne jumps again as more thunder rumbles. “You’re a little jumpy this morning. Are you okay?” I ask her.

She ignores me and
continues to watch the window; her shoulders tense when lightning strikes the ground in the distance. I look behind me at Tom, who’s just as confused as I am. Reaching around, I force Ryanne to turn toward me. The fear is obvious in her wide eyes as they connect with mine. “Ryanne, what’s going on?”

“We need to get out of here
,” she says as she jumps off the couch and runs up the stairs. I turn around and look at Tom. At the same time, we both jump up and follow Ryanne upstairs. She’s banging on everyone’s doors. When someone opens the door, she goes onto the next one. Tom and I stop in the hallway and watch Ryanne. David and Emma sleepily turn toward me questioningly. I shrug. I honestly have no idea what’s going on.

Ryanne stops halfway down the hallway and turns around to face me. The rest of t
he doors in the hallway open up to see what all the noise is about. Biting her bottom lip, she looks down and shakes her head. Her shoulders fall as she runs a hand through her hair. Looking back at everyone in the hallway, a single tear rolls down her cheek. Ry…

“Don’t attack. I’ll go with you!” she yel
ls.

Who is she talking to? Ryanne walks up to me and grabs my face. Her eyes glisten with
more unshed tears. She pulls me down to her and kisses me quickly. All too soon, she pulls away and moves around me, walking toward the stairs again. “I’m so sorry for what I’m about to do,” she whispers.

“What’s—
” A large gust of wind blows through the hallway knocking everyone back a couple of steps. Tom and I are thrown backward from the force. Landing on my back, I instantly sit up and look over at Tom, who’s just as confused at what just happened. “She’s creating more distance between us,” I whisper.

“I knew you’d finally come to your senses,” Dravin says as he steps into the hallway. Adam, Natasha, and Valdus all follow after him.
Large Gadramicks fill in the hallway behind them and get in a defensive stance. Natalie and Conner gasp when they see their sister. Natasha smiles and waves to her family, but the grin is anything but pleasant. I get up to go to Ryanne, but Tom grabs my arms and holds me back.

“She stepped away from you for a reason, Colton. She most likely had a vision about this,” he whispers to me. I stop struggling. Just because he’s right doesn’t mean I have to like it. Dravin looks past Ryanne
, and his eyes land on me.

“Interesting. I vividly remember planting a dagger into your side and watching you bleed out at my compound,” he says as he turns back to Ryanne
, “which would mean that you—”

“I said I’ll go with you. Leave them out of this,” Ryanne says to Dravin. The fear is no longer decipherable in
her voice. She sounds confident and angry. He moves forward and walks a slow circle around Ryanne. Her body tenses as Dravin trails a hand across her shoulder blade, moving her hair to the side. Tom reaches out and clasps onto my upper arm to keep me from moving.

L
iam walks over to me. “What are we going to do?” he whispers.

I have absolutely no idea. I open my mouth to tell him that when my chest tightens. An invisible hand has reached into my chest and squeezed my lungs free of any air. Coughing once, I fall to the ground gasping for breath.
Nothing comes to me. Through the indiscernible noise in my ears, I hear whispers about Natasha. I already know this is her doing.

Leaning my arms on the ground, I grunt as my chest tightens further.
Hearing Ryanne growl, I look up and through the clouded spots in my vision, I see her whip around and thrust her arm toward Natasha. Her concentration on me is broken when Ryanne sends her flying across the hall. Air suddenly floods back into my lungs and I breathe in, coughing as the organs try to start working again.

When Natasha
lands in a heap on the floor, Ryanne turns around and faces Dravin, who also flies to the opposite wall and is pinned there by her magic. He struggles to get free, but is unable to. Ryanne’s magic surrounds us as she creates a shield separating them from us. Logan puts a hand out and heals me as he helps me stand. When he finishes, I walk to the edge of the shield and push on it, trying to get her to drop the shield. We could fight if she would let us.

“I told you I would go with you if you left them alone,” she says through clenched teeth.

“I did leave them alone, dear. Your little friend over there is the one that attacked them.”

“You must not be a very good leader then if they don’t listen to you.” Dravin growls and struggles to break away from the wall a
gain, but it’s useless. Ryanne has grown stronger with all the magic training she’s been doing with Colin recently.

What is she doing
and why is she doing it? There must be something we can do, but Tom shakes his head. Ryanne’s much stronger than us, and there’s nothing we can do against her magic. I push away from the shield and start pacing. Emma runs up to me and tells me, “Ryanne must have a plan, Colton.”

“No, Ryanne’s like freaking Jack Sparrow,” I mumble as I walk around Emma and start pacing again.
She won’t understand that, but those were Ryanne’s exact words. She just makes it up as she goes.

Turning aro
und, I watch as she walks over to Natasha. Helping her stand, she pulls her forward and whispers something in her ear, too quietly for anyone else to hear. Natasha’s eyes widen, but she doesn’t say anything. Ryanne drops her magic from Dravin. His face contorts into an expression I easily recognize as he pushes off the wall and runs over to Ryanne. He forcefully slaps his hand across her face. The force of the impact echoes through the hall that even Natasha gasps at the noise. Liam, David, and Tom all rush over to me. It takes the three of them to hold me back.

Ryanne’s head whips
to the side, but she doesn’t cry out. Slowly, she turns back to Dravin and flips her hair back. A large red welt in the shape of a hand is forming on her cheek. I start struggling again when I see the redness.

“I said I would go with you. There’s no need to be violent,” she tells him politely. Dravin laughs and turns her around, han
dcuffing her hands behind her.

“I hope you know those handcuffs really aren’t stopping anything. If I wanted to fight you, you’d know,” she tells him.

“Oh, I know dear,” he whispers loudly in her ear. Ryanne flinches away from his touch. Dravin laughs again and pushes Ryanne toward the stairs.

“Take me with her!” Liam yells as he steps away from me.

“Liam, what are you doing?” Natalie asks him. He walks over to her and pulls her against him, kissing her gently. It looks like more of a goodbye kiss than an I’ll be back kiss. Natalie must have felt the same way because tears start streaming down her face when he pulls away.

“I love you,” he whispers to her.
A surprised look crosses her face, before she says it back to him. Liam turns back around and faces Dravin again. “Take me with her,” he repeats.

All of
the Gadramicks stare at Liam in bewilderment because he voluntarily wants to go to Dravin’s compound. Ryanne starts shaking her head as she looks at him. Liam nods slightly at her. He’ll die if he doesn’t go with her. “Do it, Dravin,” Valdus tells him. Valdus is the only one who can convince Dravin to let him go. He’s the only one who understands what Liam is going through.

Dravin nods,
but turns toward Valdus. “If they escape, it’s your life.” Valdus glances at Liam again and with hesitance in his eyes, he nods.

“I understand.”

Liam looks at Ryanne who is now crying. “Drop the shield, Ryanne.” She bites her lips and shakes her head again.

“They’ll kill you,” she whispers to him.

“Then I’ll die either way,” he tells her. Natalie gasps behind me. Emma goes over to her and tries to comfort her, but it’s no use. I understand what Natalie is feeling right now and no amount of comfort will help.

Ryanne turns and looks at everyone
, her eyes lingering on Incendia. “Don’t try anything. Please,” she pleads with us then drops the shield. If she’s pleading with us, she knows more than she’s letting on. David and Tom tighten their grip on me, but I don’t try anything. I promised her that I would try to trust her. Ryanne looks at me again. She mouths, “I love you” to me, and a second later, she spins around and kicks the man holding her in the chest. When he falls backward, a thin lightning bolt materializes out of nowhere and strikes behind Ryanne, separating the metal links of the handcuffs. With her hands free, she moves toward him.

Dravin looks momentarily surprised, but quickly masks that emotion. Ryanne stops in front of him and gets in his face. Poking him in the chest, she says, “I
f you hurt him, I swear I will kill you.”

“I don’t think you have it in you to kill, little mage
,” he taunts. “Would you be able to watch the life drain from someone’s eyes? Watch as they take their last breath, and know you are responsible for their pain? No, you’re too pure of heart to end someone’s life.”

Ryanne takes a step forward until she’s literally standing against Dravin. Looking up at him, she says through clenched teeth. “
I wouldn’t tempt me, Dravin. I like to prove people wrong.”

Dravin stares
down at her for a couple of seconds before pointing toward one of his men. The man standing in the back nods and walks toward Liam, who willingly turns around and lets the man cuff him. Another man on the left side of the room slowly starts moving toward Ryanne. I open my mouth to warn her when she spins around. “I wouldn’t try that if I were you.”

The man holding the vile of dormirako stops moving
toward her. She must have read his mind. Dravin grabs Ryanne’s hands while she has his back to him and cuffs her again. Ryanne hisses as he tightens the cuffs too tight, but she doesn’t complain. Dravin pushes her toward the stairs as the man moves Liam.

Dravin turns around and looks at Incendia. Winking at her, he disappears down the st
airs. Incendia glares at him and attempts to move toward the stairs, but Bragden grabs her around the waist and pulls her against his chest. She fights against him, but Bragden is a lot stronger than her.