DARKNESS, the second instalment in the Marked Series.
Won first place in the SNOWFLAKE AWARDS Werewolf category!
UNDISCOVERED WOLVES Book of the Month, April 2018!
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'There is a darkness within you, Isa. I saw it then, and I see it now.'
...
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I walked out onto the field, my heart hammering.
The familiarity of it all threatened to bowl me over. Despite the blatant differences in...well, species, the people training here were akin to those from my past. They all wore the same masks of steely determination—they all moved with dizzying speed, matching their sparring partner in a frantic dance of strength and power and muscle. I stopped for just a moment, resigning myself to this new yet unbearably familiar reality. Fighting, blood, and sweat.
"Over here, Isa!"
I tore my gaze from the fighting and looked to the far left of the field. Thea stood beside Magali, and Damien beside Thea, whilst my mate and Lexus leaned against the trees that girdled the training expanse. My eyes immediately went to Phoenix, whose muscle-bound arms were folded across his chest. There was fire in his eyes and distaste in the grimace that lingered upon his lips. Despite the fact that his blatant glare was directed at the witch, my heart still twisted with unease.
I shook my head, inwardly chastising my lack of strength. What sort of woman was I if I craved validation from a man I hardly knew?
"Are you ready to train?" Magali asked as I drew closer.
I stopped just beside Thea. Magali smiled, and coiled upon her quirked lips were unspoken secrets. I gazed into her eyes, trying to decipher who she was—what she would do, should the darkness descend upon the world. But in those inhuman green depths, I found no answers.
"I suppose," I replied, folding my arms across my chest. "What would you have me do?"
She didn't reply for a moment, examining me with a raised brow. And then, just as the awkwardness began to set in, she spread her arms wide and looked into the forest.
A girl, no older than ten and sporting braided pigtails, emerged from between two trees. Confusion swirled in my stomach but I smiled at her, offering the child a tentative wave. Her big blue eyes met mine and she grinned back.
"Hurt her." Magali ordered.
The world seemed to stop. The girl's eyes widened and she looked between Magali and I, as if unsure of how to react. My stomach plummeted as if I was in an elevator that'd dropped twelve stories. Hurt her, she'd said. Her words were uncomfortably familiar and they sat in my mind, the only constant in a storm of fleeting, panicked thoughts. Even Phoenix, who'd been quiet throughout our exchange, pushed himself away from the tree and growled warningly.
"What?" Thea and I asked in unison.
The witch placed a hand on the trembling child's shoulder and guided her forward until she was only a few metres away from me. Her lips trembled and her eyes, so eminently innocent, glistened with unshed tears. I wanted to tell her that I wouldn't hurt her but my voice was lost to the shriek of an inward storm. My mind trembled with each clap of thunder and my limbs, once strong and willing, were now seized by corporal fear. Was Magali like Alanna?
