Libra Ascending: An Epic Urban Fantasy Romance (Zodiac Guardians Book 1) by Tamar Sloan (top ten books of all time txt) 📕

Soulmate or no soulmate, they’re going to have to work as a team.

Keeping close to the wall, Tristan moves stealthily to the door. Grabbing the handle, he turns it as slowly and quietly as he can.

If he can take out even a couple of Skins before they’re seen, then he’ll use any advantage he can get.

But as he opens the door and peers through the crack, two things happen.

Zarius roars with rage. “Get your hands off her!”

Tristan sees his parents tied to two poles a few feet apart, the glint of a knife at Tess’s throat.

Actually, three things happen.

His heart screaming with anguish, his mind exploding with fury, Tristan runs through the door.

“Tess!”

26

Brielle

Brielle is frozen in the doorway, left stunned by Tristan’s roaring charge into the warehouse at the sight of his parents.

In an instant, Skins materialize all around to meet him head on. His fury fuels him, quickening his response time so that he catches every strike before it comes his way. He catches one Skin’s fist and hurls him backward, then flips over two Skins that charge from both sides, sending them both flying with one roundhouse kick.

But even with his suit and his rage, Brielle fears there are just too many Skins for him to contend with alone. And he’s not here alone.

Screw sitting on the sidelines waiting to be tagged in. She has these supposedly badass powers. It’s time to use them.

Thanks to Tristan’s sledgehammer entrance, no one notices her slip through the door before it closes. Brielle sneaks up behind the nearest Skin—the one farthest from the mosh pit circling Tristan. She’s not sure how this is supposed to work, but she figures her best bet to make her power the most effective is by touch. She grabs the Skin’s shoulder and, just like she did with Suki and Marie before, she wills the amplification of his guilt.

The Skin spins around so quickly, he has Brielle by the neck and off the ground in a flash. In desperation for her life, for the ability to breathe again, she slaps both hands on his wrists at her throat and pushes with all her will for him to feel his guilt.

Nothing happens. The Skin doesn’t flinch. If anything, his grip tightens, and the blood in her face pounds with more intensity.

She can’t feel his guilt. No visions of his past misdeeds invade her mind, even when she welcomes them in with her fast-fading consciousness.

None of it is working. Her stone doesn’t work.

She’s a failure. And now she’s going to choke to death.

Just as her range of vision begins to narrow, the vice around her neck releases her, and she lands on her knees on the floor. Her starving throat sucks in air, and blinking rapidly, she looks up. Tristan has the Skin by the shoulder. He swiftly snaps his neck, letting him topple to the floor in front of Brielle.

“Are you okay?” he asks, his voice right in her ear despite him standing a few feet away.

She nods, even though she’s far from okay.

“Keep yourself hidden,” he says. “Remain our secret weapon.” He turns around and returns to the fight, and she scrambles behind a stack of wooden pallets before she can be seen.

She should tell him it didn’t work. She’s no secret weapon.

It now makes sense why she couldn’t tell when or if Adalind was lying. Why she never had visions of her. Adalind is a Skin, possessed by Chardis’s influence. Someone who’s not in control of their actions can’t feel guilty for them. Adalind might as well be a robot, and robots don’t feel remorse.

Brielle’s power is useless against their enemies. Tristan was wrong. About so many things.

“Tristan!” a female voice calls out.

Brielle quietly crawls to the edge of the pallet stack to peek at the two prisoners tied to support beams. His adoptive parents, Zarius and Tess.

“Why did you come here?” Zarius shouts angrily. “There are too many of them, it’s a lost cause.”

“As if I could ever leave you behind,” Tristan says. She can’t see him, but his panting tells her he’s still fighting while he talks.

“Aw, what a touching family reunion.” Brielle would know that voice anywhere.

Adalind steps out of the shadows and into the light of the fluorescent overhead bulb. Brielle’s blood boils at the sight of her, at the wicked smile now spreading across her ex best friend’s face.

“Where’s my bestie?” she asks.

“I told her to stay behind,” Tristan pants.

“Oh well, we’ll find her soon enough,” Adalind says with a shrug.

“Ah!” Tristan groans at the same time Tess and Zarius shout, “Tristan!”

Brielle’s heart jumps, desperate to run out and take action, but she knows she can’t do that. She needs to stay hidden. So far, no one knows she’s here, and that is their secret weapon. She just has no clue how to use that to their advantage yet.

Considering her powers are useless.

Tristan comes into view, dragged by two Skins at each arm, and they bring him right at Adalind’s feet.

“You said if I came, you’d let them go,” he says. Brielle can’t see his expression beneath the suit, but she imagines his perfect teeth barred in rage.

“Ah-ah-ah.” Adalind shakes her head and wags her index finger. “In fact, what I said was I’d kill them if you didn’t come, not that I’d free them if you did. You really should listen more closely.”

“Grr-ahh!” Tristan growls, trying to jerk free of his captors to no avail. “You have me, they’re useless to you. Let them go and I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Tristan, no!” Tess pleads.

“We’re not leaving you,” Zarius shouts.

“Enough of this silly chatter,” Adalind snaps. “Chardis will be here soon, and he’ll decide what to do with all of you.” She tosses her hair over her shoulder and smiles. “In the meantime, I have a little surprise for you.”

She snaps her fingers and a door behind her opens. Two figures drag something