elemental 07 - destroyer Read online

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Shannon Mayer

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Author's Note

  About the Author

  Destroyer

  Copyright © Shannon Mayer 2017

  Copyright © HiJinks Ink Publishing, Ltd. 2015

  All rights reserved Published by HiJinks Ink LTD.

  www.shannonmayer.com

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise)without the prior written permission of both the owner of the copyright and the above publishers. Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Or deliberately on purpose, depending on whether or not you have been nice to the author.

  Original illustrations by Damonza.com

  Mayer, Shannon

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Shannon Mayer

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Author's Note

  About the Author

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Well here we are, at the end of another series… such a strange thing for me to say when I thought this would be book seven of nine I had planned. But when you are writing a strong character like Larkspur, plots don’t always twist as you set them out to, and characters can speak in ways you weren’t expecting. In this case, I hope you will understand that Larkspur’s story came to an end sooner, not because I wanted it to, but because that was what she and the story demanded.

  On that note, I want to thank all those who helped me flesh this story out to its potential; my editors, early readers, copy editors, and the characters themselves. All of whom brought important aspects to this world and the wrap of it that I could not have done on my own. I’d also like to thank DamonZa.com for providing a cover that embodies the last of Lark’s stories.

  Thank you all for coming along on this final ride with what is one of my favorite characters and worlds.

  Much love to you, Larkspur and Peta, thank you for introducing yourselves to me so many years ago and demanding your story be told.

  ALSO BY SHANNON MAYER

  THE RYLEE ADAMSON NOVELS

  Priceless (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 1)

  Immune (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 2)

  Raising Innocence (A Rylee Adamson Novel Book 3)

  Shadowed Threads (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 4)

  Blind Salvage (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 5)

  Tracker (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 6)

  Veiled Threat (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 7)

  Wounded (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 8)

  Alex (A Rylee Adamson Short Story)

  Guardian (A Rylee Adamson Novella 6.5)

  Elementally Priceless (A Rylee Adamson Novella 0.5)

  Stitched (A Rylee Adamson Novella 8.5)

  THE ELEMENTAL SERIES

  Recurve (The Elemental Series, Book 1)

  Breakwater (The Elemental Series, Book 2)

  Firestorm (The Elemental Series, Book 3)

  Windburn (The Elemental Series, Book 4)

  Rootbound (The Elemental Series, Book 5)

  Ash (The Elemental Series, Book 6)

  CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES

  (Written as S.J. Mayer)

  High Risk Love (The Risk Series, Book 1)

  Of The Heart

  PARANORMAL ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

  The Nevermore Trilogy

  Sundered (The Nevermore Trilogy, Book 1)

  Bound (The Nevermore Trilogy, Book 2)

  Dauntless (The Nevermore Trilogy, Book 3)

  URBAN FANTASY

  A Celtic Legacy Trilogy

  Dark Waters (A Celtic Legacy, Book 1)

  Dark Isle (A Celtic Legacy, Book 2)

  Dark Fae (A Celtic Legacy, Book 3)

  CHAPTER 1

  Talan had taken me from my home, away from the Rim when I was needed there more than ever. In the moment, I saw what was left of my family standing with the wolves…

  The asshole—Talan—had knocked me out so I couldn’t fight him to stay.

  In my mind, I knew I wasn’t truly asleep. I did my best to push off what held me under the cover of darkness. The immobility of my limbs, my eyelids closed against the light, the way my breathing was steady and slow—none of it was truly rest, but confinement.

  There was no way for me to break free. Talan’s power was too strong for me to cast off, which only infuriated me. The world around me moved and flexed. The wind in my hair tugged at me as we flew from the Rim, and yet I could not see. The smell of pine trees, the feel of Talan’s arms holding me so I wouldn’t slip off Shazer’s back, the rush of feathers in the wind as the Pegasus underneath us flew to wherever Talan had decided.

  I’d done what I’d had to do; I agreed to let him train me. But that was before I’d seen the danger to my sister Belladonna and my family in the Rim.

  I’d gathered four of the five stones of power and used them against the false mother goddess. I thought we had dealt with her, that the blow would be enough to keep us safe from her vengeance.

  I was wrong.

  And she was there, now, in the Rim, ready to hurt those I loved.

  Even though I said I would willingly go with Talan, I would have fought to stay. He knew it, and knocked me out using Spirit before I could do anything to get away. He was supposed to train my ability with Spirit. Hell, he’d made a powerful case that the fake mother goddess would come for me, come for my family, and the only way to be strong enough was to learn from Talan. I understood that. I was an Ender, after all, a protector of the Rim and my family above all others. I was also the Destroyer, named by the previous Queen of the Sylphs as the one who would rain chaos down in an effort to change this place we called home. She never did
say whether the change would be for better or worse.

  None of that mattered now. I was as weak as any elemental in Talan’s hold.

  The last image I’d seen of the Rim haunted my mind.

  Viv, the one who’d falsely claimed the title of the mother goddess, the one who’d manipulated me for years, had stood behind my older sister, a threat on her lips only I heard.

  Run while you can, little Larkspur. And while you hide from me, I will destroy your world.

  With all I had left in me, all the power of Spirit that I carried, I hammered at the bonds Talan had on me. He grunted as though I’d physically hit him. “Lark, you can do nothing to stop Viv now. And if I thought for one second you would be rational about what is truly happening, I would let you come out from under this.”

  “Damn you, Talan!” Peta screeched, and her body was gone from her place in my lap. He gave a second grunt and then his grip on me loosened. Just for a moment, and it was enough that I could drag myself from under the bindings of Spirit he had on me. I sat up, drew a breath, and looked around to get my bearings. Barren landscape, the flat badlands of North Dakota spun out as far as I could see. I had precious little time before Talan regained his hold on me. Which meant I needed the ground under my feet, the earth at my beck and call. He might rule the power of Spirit…

  But I ruled the earth and all it offered in its strength.

  “Shazer, land!”

  “On it, boss.” The Pegasus tucked his wings and dropped from the sky at a speed that swept both Talan and me back almost to his rump. I scrambled for Shazer’s mane, caught it with the tips of my fingers as my legs were swept out behind us as we free dove from the sky.

  Behind me, Talan swore as he slid backward. He managed to grab hold of one of my ankles, and tangled his arms around that leg to keep from falling off. Now that I was awake, I held onto my two elements and let them hum through me. I was afraid if I dropped my guard, Talan would put me back to sleep.

  I couldn’t let him do that.

  Shazer swept his wings out only feet above the ground, jerking us to a hard stop that slammed Talan forward into my back. I twisted as I leapt off Shazer so I could face the Spirit Walker.

  The earth trembled under my feet and I tapped into all the power it would give me, keeping it just at bay, ready to be used.

  “You bastard! You saw the threat to my family and you took me from them.” I took several steps back. I needed enough distance between us so I could make a run for it. I wasn’t fool enough to think he wouldn’t try to put me under the thrall of Spirit again, and skin-on-skin contact would increase his ability to do that.

  Peta was beside me, her body shifting into her snow leopard form. She said nothing, but didn’t need to. We all knew whose side she would take.

  Talan’s eyes were hard, and a set of claw marks down his cheek bled freely. “We have to go now. The false mother goddess will come after you. You aren’t safe here and you are untrained. That makes you more of a liability than a help.”

  With my feet on the ground, I anchored myself. I would show him just what kind of liability I was. I opened my mouth to give him hell, to tell him I wasn’t training with him, not for one second. It was obvious he was a liar. He could take his training and stuff it up his ass followed by the mountain I was going to jam behind it.

  But my connection to the earth stopped me from speaking, stopped me from doing anything but feeling. A gasp escaped me as raw power and a heartrending pain rippled through me in a wave that stole my breath, tensed my muscles, and cut all the way through to my soul. I dropped to my knees and pressed my hands to the dirt, Talan forgotten as I tried to decipher what, exactly, I was sensing. Peta was there in a flash, concern heavy in her bright green eyes.

  “What is it, Lark?” She patted my cheek with one big paw.

  “Something is wrong with the earth,” I whispered, barely able to draw breath through the growing pain. “Something terrible.”

  Talan started toward me and Peta spun around and let out a long growl. “No closer, boy.”

  He held up both hands, then crouched where he was. “Can you track the source of the pain?”

  I stared at him for a moment. “Our previous conversation is not done.”

  He gave me a tired, sad smile I didn’t like. “Of course not. Just put on hold for a bit.”

  I didn’t dare close my eyes and give him an opening to come at me. I looked to the ground and pressed my hands harder. “Mother goddess.”

  “She will not answer you,” Talan bit the words out. “The true mother goddess slumbers and will until…” He shook his head, seeming unable to finish whatever he was going to say.

  I wasn’t telling him that he was an idiot. That the true mother goddess was no longer asleep, that I’d woken her. It wasn’t my fault she chose not to speak to him.

  I opened myself more fully to the pain that coursed through the earth like bolts of lightning interspersed with tiny slivers of… hope? But how could that be? I stood, turned, and let the rippling power pull at my feet. “This way.” I broke into a run, Shazer on one side of me, and Peta on the other. I didn’t care where Talan was, as long as he didn’t interfere with whatever was going on.

  I’d been a fool to trust him. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  My blood pounded in time with my heart as I raced across the open landscape that reminded me in some ways of Death Valley. I pushed those thoughts away. I was no longer a prisoner in that place of my past.

  My connection to the earth allowed me to use its power to fuel my body. Another wave of strength coursed over me and I doubled my speed. The world was a mere blur. Yet, still, I couldn’t see what was ahead of us, what was causing the pain through the earth.

  “Can you see what’s going on?” I directed the question at Shazer as he pounded beside me. He grunted, spread his wings, and took off.

  He was only twenty feet above us, but it was enough.

  “Oh, shit,” he hollered. “This is bad, Lark. Even I can see that.”

  Seconds later, I saw what he’d seen and had to agree. Oh, shit was perhaps the worst understatement I’d heard in a long, long time.

  Ahead was a scene I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t laid eyes on it myself.

  The Veil was open and waves of power rippled off it.

  The Veil was made of parallel worlds, in a sense—seven levels to be exact. Each level had a purpose that served the world of the supernatural. The Veil was created to help hold the world together and make a safer place for both human and supernatural beings.

  At that moment, the Veil was cut with a sword that I’d made to do just that—open the Veil. The sword was in the hands of a young witch I knew well, one who held a great deal of power despite her age. I’d met her not long ago, and had been so impressed by her strength and natural connection to the elements, I offered to train her.

  Pamela was not who I expected to find here, not in the least.

  Around her was utter chaos, and yet, she held firmly to the sword, to the opening, as a black beast raced out of it and charged a figure from my past. There was a swirl of a familiar black cloak, and the glistening of light on his blue-black hair.

  Raven, my younger brother and the one elemental I would gladly kill given the chance. But it looked like the demon would do my job; it followed Raven as he disappeared right in front of us. How the hell could he do that? The question was peripheral. My concern was for Pamela and what was going on, why was she opening the Veil?

  From where I stood, I saw how far in the Veil had been opened. Literally, every layer had been pared back to see through to the seventh level where the demons had been confined.

  Talan caught up with me then. He said nothing, just watched what was playing out in front of us.

  The sound of an engine cut through the air, and Pamela twisted around, though she didn’t let go of the sword’s handle. I couldn’t hear the words, but didn’t need to.

  Rylee Adamson had arrived along with
her mate, Liam. They were a powerful pair, not to be crossed. Between their combined abilities, they had survived what would have wiped out any lesser supernatural.

  They had been the ones to put the demons behind the seventh level of the Veil. In their blood, sweat, and tears, they bore the brunt of the cost in losing so many they had loved. And here Pamela was, opening the Veil to that level again.

  I knew in my gut that Rylee—Pamela’s guardian and surrogate family—would be devastated by what she was seeing. A girl she’d loved as her own, turning on her. I prepared to help Rylee end things.

  She would not be able to kill Pamela. The witch was like her little sister, a child she’d rescued.

  But I could kill Pamela. I reached for the spear at my side, steeling myself for what I was about to do.

  The mother goddess spoke to me softly then, almost as if she didn’t want to be heard by anyone else.

  What the witch does, she does with my blessing. Save her, Lark. Save her, and she will help you save the world.

  I needed nothing more than that to move. I shot forward. “Peta, we’re getting her out of here.”

  “On it.” There was no questioning me. From behind, Talan grunted as if I’d slapped him, but he was too far away to stop me.

  The scene we raced into was utter madness, but not from fighting. From the emotions running so high. My connection with Spirit tuned me into the raging emotions, the fear, hope, disappointment, and anger swelling amongst the three people in front of me.

  The Veil was open on my right. Pamela stood in front of it. She turned her back to Rylee and spoke to someone on the other side of the Veil.

  “Come home.” The words resonated through the air, stealing my breath. She was calling someone out, someone who had died. I didn’t think it truly possible, but we were about to find out.

  No, you must go, now. You must take her away from this. The mother goddess spoke softly again, yet I heard her and heeded her words.

  A large tiger with orange and white stripes tangled with Liam in his guardian form of a monstrous black wolf. A shimmering line linked Pamela and the tiger. They were connected—it looked like Pamela had gained herself a partner in crime.