Destiny

32.

Chapter 32

"Is there somewhere else we can go?" I asked, getting to my feet.

Aryan looked up at me, his eyes raised.

"What?"

"We just got here and you want to leave?"

"We did not just get here."

"We did, Julia."

I started walking away from him. "Well I'm leaving with or without you."

"You don't even know where you're going."

"That's right. And if I go missing, it'll be on your hands."

"Lucy would kill me."

I laughed.

"That's really not funny."

I turned around and my breath caught as I realized how close we were. My eyes met his and I couldn't think of anything to say. At least not while standing that close to him.

"You're safe with me, I promise."

"Julia, you don't know how excited I am to finally meet you."

I looked past Aryan and saw a man standing several dozen feet away. He had an old man hairstyle where there was no hair in the center but hair on the sides of his head. He looked... like Lucy. Like me. Except there was something missing. Something major.

He didn't have any wings. None.

Aryan turned around and shielded me with his body, his hands turning into fists at his sides. "How did you find us?"

The man took a few steps toward us and the long jacket he was wearing flapped around behind him. "Lucy's not very good at keeping secrets."

My face went white and tears filled my eyes. For so long, I was afraid of Kellan. I was afraid he would hurt me, betray me. But it was Lucy I should have been worried about. How long had she been working with her own father to hurt me? To kill me?

"Lucy would never do that." Aryan said, his voice shaking.

"Maybe you don't know her as well as you think you do."

"How dare you-" Before Aryan could finish his sentence, Lucy's dad snapped his fingers and two men popped out of nowhere. They grabbed my arms and lifted me off the ground and away from Aryan. I screamed and tried kicking myself free to no avail.

Lucy's dad smiled and walked up to stand just feet away from Aryan. "You're not very good at saving people, Aryan. I seem to remember your poor mother's demise at the hands of-"

"Don't talk about my mother."

"Does that upset you?"

Aryan ran at him and pushed him to the ground. The rolled several times before Lucy's dad punched Aryan hard in the face. Blood sprayed from Aryan's nose and I winced, wishing there was something I could do.

Lucy's dad tossed Aryan several feet until he smacked into a tree and fell to the ground. He didn't move or make a sound or show any indication that he was okay. And that worried me.

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"I want you. You see, you weren't raised properly. You won't be with Lucy. She was never that motherly, you know. I always knew you were a mistake and well... I was right. You need a parent that's going to teach you right from wrong."

"You think that's you?"

"I do, Julia." He nodded to the man on my right and they lowered me to the ground. He walked up to me and looked me up and down. Then he walked around to look at my back, which totally creeped me out. "I want you to be just like me, Julia."

He ran a hand over one of my wings. In just a second, he gripped both of my wings in his hand and kicked me, ripping my wings right off my back.

I screamed and fell to the ground, my hands shaking.

He walked up to me and knelt down to look at my face, covered in tears and dirt. "You have so much potential. It's good that I came to you now. While you're young."

I jumped to my feet and took a few steps away from him and his men. "You're sick. You're a liar."

"I only want what's best for you."

"You don't even know what that is." I took off running, hoping to outrun him. I hated to leave Aryan. I wanted to know if he was okay. I wanted to help him. But I couldn't do that with Lucy's dad there.

Julia.

My eyes widened. "Kellan?"

What's going on? Lucy got word her dad is around here and-

"He's here. He found me. I-Aryan's... I don't... I don't know what to do." My voice trembled and it was getting harder to see. On a good note, Lucy's dad hadn't caught up to me.

We're on our way.

I was running out of breath when my foot hit a rock and I went tumbling. I hit a tree and blinked several times, my ribs screaming with each breath I took.

"Where the hell did she go?"

"She couldn't have gone that far. She's just a kid."

I glared at the fallen leaves in front of me. Thankfully, there were sticks and several bushes blocking their view of me. It sounded like they were just a few feet away.

"Come on, let's go. We'll come back and search in the morning."

I waited until they were gone and out of earshot before I moved. I tried pushing myself to my feet but my arms felt like puddy and my chest was in too much pain. I just wanted everything to be normal.