The Mark of Fate: Book 3 of The Marked series by Ford, Rinna (romantic love story reading .TXT) 📕

We all fell with a thump in the grass behind the California mansion, Marco included in with my mates and me. They all released me and I jumped up, grabbing Marco by the front of his shirt.

“Take me back!” I growled in his face.

He looked terrified and his eyes darted over my shoulder to one of my mates then back to my face.

“I, I…”

I felt something cut into my bare arm and I looked at it, my anger slipping away as fogginess took over. I released my grasp on Marco and began to stumble, falling into Xander’s arms.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” he told me.

“You, you scratched me. Didn’t you?”

My eyes blinked open and closed lazily but I could see the sadness in his eyes.

“Tell Marco I’m sorry. Tell Amos…”

My words died off as everything went black.

Chapter Six

My eyes opened to see a familiar clearing, one straight from my memories. It was the same clearing I visited whenever I got to speak to my father in our dreamscape.

I looked around, turning my body as I took in the light breeze and the warming of the late afternoon sun but saw no one else. Sometimes my dad liked to make an entrance and I assumed that was what he was doing. But, who knows? The whole idea of magic was still practically a new concept to me, even though it was something I deeply loved about the supernatural way of life.

I headed for the edge of the clearing, near a grouping of large trees in hopes of finding my dad there, but again, I found no one.

Continuing to walk around, I weaved in and out between the clearing and the woods that surrounded it. My anxiety rose higher and higher with every step until I reached my starting point.

I whipped my head around frantically hoping to see my father’s familiar form and still finding no one. I felt the tingling sensation that let me know I was waking up. Even with knowing what was happening, I still looked around until the edges of my vision became blurry. Then the blackness spread until that was all I could see or feel.

* * *

I woke up with a start to the sounds of arguing. My brain was pounding inside of my skull and the loud noises weren’t helping. Grabbing my head at the temples, I winced and slowly sat up.

I had been moved to my bed from the back yard and I didn’t know how long I’d been out, but by the yelling outside my door, I could tell that people were angry. There was no one inside the room with me, but I could also tell that both of my mates were just outside the door, along with Amos and a few others.

My father wasn’t there. I went into our dreamscape and he wasn’t there.

More yelling came from the other side of my door and my anger overpowered my confusion and worry. Why the hell couldn’t they find another place to argue than outside my door?

Sliding my feet to the floor, I carefully walked to the door and opened it, making everyone stop their yelling and stare at me in silence.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, holding the sides of my head.

“You ruined everything!” one of the people I didn’t know angrily screamed, pointing her finger at me. She was from the rebellion, I was sure, and obviously upset about what I’d done when I found Ainsley. Who the hell did she think she was judging me?!

“Fuck you,” I spat at her. “Fuck all of you if you think that leaving him there and letting them go unpunished was the right thing to do. They were experimenting on people! On my uncle! They cut off his fucking legs and starved him! I couldn’t let it slide, no matter what I was sent in there to do!”

The woman stared at me in shock and I heard Amos sigh in exasperation, but I didn’t care. I was beyond caring at that point.

Xan wrapped his strong arm around me and steered me through the throngs of stunned people and toward the stairs.

“She has to be punished!” the woman screeched when I was several steps away.

I turned to go back to tear her a new asshole, when Matias spoke up. Xan grabbed my shoulders again and made me keep walking.

“My mate is angry and upset and if you were her, you would have done the exact same thing. But if you can’t see past your own bureaucracy and you decide to lay one single finger on her for what she did, I will tear apart everything you love, including this rebellion. You know of my reputation, what I am capable of. Do not test me, or my mate.”

His words were laced with steeled promise and the lady gasped out loud when she realized it.

I relaxed a little as Xan and I walked a little further down the stairs, knowing my mates had my back and were willing to tear the world apart for me. They may not agree with me, but they loved and supported me no matter what.

“Xan, something strange happened in my dreamscape...Where are we going?” I asked as he kept leading me away somberly. We reached the bottom step and turned to go down one of the hallways.

“To see your uncles,” he told me, softly. It was as if he were trying to prepare me.

I gulped and picked up the pace as thoughts of my father slipped away. I had something more pressing to do and from my mate’s expression, it was going to be difficult, not that I didn’t expect it.

Xan reached out and pushed the door to the infirmary when we got to it and let me go in first. There were about ten beds all lined up along the wall, filled with supes from the facility.

“We couldn’t get them all out,” Xan said