Page 41 of Creatures of Chaos

I thank him for the information and his time, and he has to remind me another time to call him by his first name.

“Kerrim, right,” I say, the name sounding weird on my tongue.

“Don’t be a stranger, Locklyn. And good luck with that project. I hope you get a good grade.”

I smile, and with a final wave leave to head home. I may not have found exactly what I was looking for by coming to the Emporium, but between theDragon Shifter Lawbook hidden in my bag, and Mr. Brone’s theories on Shadow Striker, I’m certainly not leaving hopeless or empty-handed.

Fourteen

It’s hopeless.

I stare at the page in front of me, my eyes dry from reading the same few lines over and over and over again.

The dragon heir’s life-mate will be chosen by the council. In order to be considered a viable female, the dragon heir’s life-mate’s magic level should match or surpass that of the dragon heir himself. Once mated, the dragon heir will take up the mantle of the head of the dragon clans as dragon king until such time the next dragon heir is declared and comes of age.

The only positive part of everything I read in theDragon Shifter Lawbook was that the law didn’t explicitly state that the dragon heirs had to be mated to be a dragon shifter. It seems magic trumps species, and as long as the female promised to Becks is powerful enough, it won’t matter if she is fae, vampire, or another type of shifter. But no matter how many times I read through the pages about the laws surrounding the dragon heir, unless the dragon council changes their mind I can’t find one single thing that gives me hope Becks can somehow get out of his arranged life-mating.

In fact, now that I know more about the laws surrounding the dragon heir, I realize just how tightly bound Becks is. He did a decent job downplaying just how little control he has over the rest of his life this past year, but that bud of hope I had before I dove into dragon shifter law had long since withered and died.

I snap the book shut, pounding my fist on the cover for good measure. Do I want Becks to be free to choose his own life-mate for selfish reasons?Sure. But this isn’t even about me anymore. Besides any romantic feelings I’ve developed for Becks over the years, he is first and foremost one of my best friends. Now that I understand just how trapped he is, my heart cries out for him. It isn’t fair that he has to give up so much for a title and role he never even wanted to begin with.

The search for Becks’ life-mate won’t be contained to our school alone. Becks isn’t just the dragon heir of Everton, he’sthedragon heir and will someday becomethedragon king. Any female on the planet of marriageable age is going to be considered, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking about the most powerful females at our school as potentials for Becks.

Unfortunately, my nemesis Jules would probably make that list of potentials. She might be as dumb as a pile of rocks, but she’s a powerful wolf shifter and power seems to be the only thing dragon shifters value. Vega, a particularly strong fae whose small stature hides the fact that she’s a magical powerhouse, would be another prospect for him. I haven’t had much interaction with her over the years, but now I instantly hate her.

Another possibility would be Sienna, the redheaded vampire whose soul is as black as her raven hair. I’ve tried my best to steer clear of Sienna over the years because she always gives off an unhinged vibe. She’s the type of girl I’d expect to hide desiccated animal carcasses under her bed and keep pin-filled voodoo dolls of her ex-boyfriends in her closet. I cringe to think of Becks being tied to someone like that for the rest of his life,and then circle back to where I started, with the realization that short of a miracle where I come into my powers overnight, I’ll never be able to be in Becks’ life how I truly want to be.

Unless I can win Shadow Striker.

If these are the thoughts going through my head, what must it be like for Becks right now? He must be driving himself half mad with the possibilities of how this life-mating can go wrong for him.

Okay, so the laws are a dead end, but there has to be another way. I’m not giving up on going after Shadow Striker in order to become powerful enough to be in the contention for Becks, but I’m also not willing to risk Becks’ future on a longshot.

Think, Locklyn. Think.

But it’s late and my brain doesn’t want to cooperate.

There’s a buzz and I pick up my phone to check it, but the screen is dark.That’s weird. With the phone still in my hand, I hear the buzz again and realize it’s coming from my bag. Digging around in the pack, my fingers brush over the smooth surface of the Chaos tracker just as it starts to vibrate.

My heart rate stumbles as I pull it out and find the screen lit with words and numbers. A date, a time, an address, and numbers that I’m assuming are coordinates. It must be for the next trial, which according to the information will happen on Thursday, three days from now.

My stomach drops. That’s so soon.

Twisting in my chair to face my computer, I type the coordinates into a search. A part of town I don’t venture into very often pops up, but I recognize where it is because my parents’ warehouse isn’t far from there. It’s an industrial area that isn’t known to be the safest. Even though our warehouse is on a slightly safer street, my father doesn’t ever let my mom venture there alone.

Grabbing my phone, I type out a group message letting Becks and Ensley know about the message. Becks’ reply comes instantly. “Okay. I’ll be there.” Ensley’s comes a few minutes later and with lots of crying emojis. Apparently her band has a gig that night so she won’t be able to make it. She says she’s going to see if they can get a replacement for her, but I know they won’t be able to because she not only sings lead vocals but also plays the bass, so I tell her not to worry about it. Becks chimes in with, “Don’t worry. I’ve got her.” I know he doesn’t mean anything deep by that, but it still makes my heart beat a little faster.

I don’t sleep much the following days. If I’m not trying to keep my nerves tamped down about Chaos, I’m stressing about Becks’ arranged life-mating. Fortunately, Becks finally confides in Ensley, and when she finds out she’s livid at the council and goes directly to her parents to give them hell for backing them. Unfortunately, with or without their parents’ approval, the council is going forward with their plans to mate Becks off in the next half year.

Before I know it, it’s the evening of the second trial. Becks picks me up in his truck and we drive to the warehouse district in silence. My knee bounces up and down the whole way until Becks reaches over and sets his hand on it, settling me and offering silent comfort.

Cars line the usually desolate streets as we look for parking. It doesn’t take long to find a spot, but it’s several blocks from the coordinates. The strain of what’s to come is all over Becks’ face when we get out of the truck and start the short walk to the warehouse. We’re not alone as we walk, but our quiet somberness is at odds with the party atmosphere around us. It’s not until we’re about to push through the doors to the warehouse when Becks stops me, pulling me to the side.

He turns me toward him with warm hands on my biceps. “Are you sure about this?”

I want to shake my head because now that I’m about to enter another Chaos trial my nerves are wreaking havoc on me, but I know that if I give Becks any indication that I’m not one hundred percent confident in my decision, I’ll be over his shoulder as he sprints me away in less than two seconds flat. So I force a smile that I hope isn’t wobbly.

“Yeah. I’ve got this,” I say with false confidence.

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