Secret of Betrayal: Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy

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  Secret of Betrayal

  Book 2 of The Destroyer Trilogy

  ***

  DelSheree Gladden

  Also by DelSheree Gladden

  Escaping Fate

  Twin Souls

  Book One of the Twin Souls Saga

  Shaxoa’s Gift

  Book Two of the Twin Souls Saga

  Qaletaqa

  Book Three of the Twin Souls Saga

  Inquest

  Book One of the Destroyer Trilogy

  Darkening Chaos

  Book Two of the Destroyer Trilogy

  Wicked Hunger

  Book One: SomeOne Wicked This Way Comes

  Coming July 2013

  Secret of Betrayal

  Book Two

  Of The Destroyer Trilogy

  By DelSheree Gladden

  Kindle Edition

  Copyright 2012 DelSheree Gladden

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2012 DelSheree Gladden

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  For Ryan, Everett, and Abbey

  For always supporting me

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to Linda Ulleseit and Angela Fristoe for reading Secret of Betrayal and writing such wonderful recommendations! Thank you to Phyl Manning for her expert editing skills and for teaching me more about commas and antecedents than anyone else ever has. Thank you to Apryl Baker, Maggie Banks, R.M. Keegan, and Tess Black for all your help and suggestions.

  Thank you to my husband, Ryan, for reading this book several times and helping me create a story that will pull readers in and keep them turning pages.

  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Book 3 Preview - Darkening Chaos

  About the Author

  Connect with the Author

  Secret of Betrayal

  My life has been about betrayal from the moment I first drew breath. I should be used to it, expect it. But I never see it coming.

  Chapter 1

  Blood and Kissing

  The plan to convince everyone I wasn't going to destroy the world unfortunately didn’t work out very well. My little episode a couple of weeks ago where I took out a Guardian strike team almost single-handedly dashed that idea to pieces. The whole thing was televised on national TV. The only thing that saved me from a swift death was a surprising rally from allies I didn’t even know I had. They saved me once, but that was a small miracle. I knew I had to come up with another plan if I wanted to stay alive. I just didn’t expect it to be actually destroying the world. But that’s exactly what I’m going to do. If I can survive my first day back at school, that is.

  Things were going so well back when I had a broken ankle and the wary sympathy of everyone who saw me. Now everyone has returned to cringing away from my presence and whispering about me. I don’t know why I expected this day to not be positively horrible. School is always a terrible experience for me. Ms. Sanchez, my Spiritualism teacher, is trembling at the front of the room. She’s trying very hard to give her lecture without ever glancing in my direction. Her normally sharp, staccato voice is barely more than a whisper right now. Which is too bad, because even with my boyfriend’s mom helping me to develop my Spiritualism talent, I’m still struggling.

  How long have I been in this class? It’s got to be almost over, but I’m pretty sure I only sat down a few minutes ago. It feels like years. Just to be sure, I let my eyes wander away from my terrified teacher to find the clock. I know it hangs above the exit sign, but my gaze only makes it as far as the rectangular viewing window in the door below it. My body goes rigid with shock at the curious face staring back at me. His green eyes brighten when he sees my reaction.

  I’ve already got my boyfriend, Milo, and my ex-boyfriend, Lance, irritating me to death with their suspicions of each other. I don’t need this right now.

  Suddenly he turns away from the door, making me lose sight of him. I bolt up from my chair, fearing that he is going to … I don’t know what he might do, but I doubt I’ll like it. Ms. Sanchez yelps and drops her book in response. It slaps against the ground and wakes up the rest of the class with a start. Nobody says anything. They just stare.

  “I, uh … I have to use the restroom,” I say quickly. No need to hide my Speed anymore. I have my bag packed in under a second, and I’m rushing out the door before anyone can take another breath. The door whooshes shut behind me with a noise so soft it sounds like a sigh, a grateful acknowledgement of my leaving. Even the building hates me.

  I realize I’m standing in the middle of the hallway staring like an idiot at the wall in front of me, and wake myself back up. Where did he go? I glance around and nearly cry out when I find him standing right behind me. A good six inches taller than my five foot six, his presence instantly crowds me.

  “Braden,” I gasp, “what are you doing here?”

  “I thought you might be happy to see me given your invitation to switch allegiances,” he says, “but you didn’t even give me enough time to move away from the door. If I knew you were that desperate for new recruits, I would have come to see you sooner.”

  Irritation boils under my skin to the point of making my entire body itch. Cocky, arrogant jerk. I didn’t make that offer because I was desperate. I mean, I am—I can use all the help I can get—but I only made the offer because having a Guardian on my side would be invaluable. After two weeks of quiet, I thought I was through with Braden surprising me. “I ran out here so fast to make sure you weren’t going to try and kill any more of my friends.”

  “I only ever tried to arrest Milo, not kill him,” Braden argues.

  “I think you mean kidnap.”

  He stares me down. “Call it what you want. I still wasn’t trying to kill him. And I’m not here to kill, arrest, or kidnap any of your friends this time, just so you know.”

  “Then why are you here?” I ask.

  Stepping in closer to me,
Braden is only inches away before I can think to stop him. My skin reacts with a strangely familiar burst of electricity. It’s a weird feeling I don’t understand in the least, and certainly don’t like. I shove him away from me and glare at him as I wait for his response.

  “I’m here for you this time,” Braden says.

  A scouring flash of terror runs through me. I scramble and tap into my Vision to make sure he isn’t going to try and kill me where I stand. It fizzles and doesn’t tell me a thing. Luckily, my other talents are going strong. More than that, some instinct tells me Braden won’t hurt me. He may try to kill me one day and prove me wrong, but my heart rate slows back down as I realize it won’t be today. He takes a step back to reinforce my instincts, but his presence lingers on my skin a moment longer. I can’t explain the way he affects me. He’s a Guardian, a member of the brotherhood whose sole purpose in life is to murder me, but his brash curiosity and honesty refuse to let me really fear him. Or maybe it’s more than that. The physical sensation touching him elicits isn’t hormones. It’s something else. It takes me a few seconds too long to take a step away.

  “Why are you here, Braden?”

  “Penance,” he says with a grimace. I don’t understand and he knows it. He leans back against a row of lockers with a frown and shoves his hands into his pockets. With a build somewhere between offensive lineman and dancer, Braden is obviously capable of taking care of himself, but his posture makes him look momentarily vulnerable. “Well, you didn’t think I could lose my entire strike team to a girl and not be punished for it, did you?”

  Is he actually here to accept my offer? I’m not sure how I feel about that possibility.

  “Did you get kicked out of the Guardians?” I ask. A tiny sliver of guilt that I might have cost him his job tries to wriggle its way into my mind. Braden’s laugh takes care of that.

  “Kicked out? No. It’s much harder to get out of the Guardians than you might think.” He says it lightheartedly, but his expression darkens as he speaks. My own stomach turns queasy as I remember Mr. Walters, my Destroyer teacher, showing me the ugly scars that crisscross most of his body. He was not only a Guardian once, but a member of the elite, and very secret Seekers, as well. I still don’t know how he got those scars, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know. Braden and I may be pretty far from friends, but I don’t necessarily want the same thing to happen to him, either.

  “So what does your punishment have to do with you being at my school? If people see you they’re going to report you. You better go before we both get in trouble.” Or before Milo or Lance see him. They have no idea that Braden came to see me later that night after he attacked Milo, but just the sight of him near me will put them both on the offensive. And after weeks of having to deal with each other, both convinced the other is going to get me killed, they are more than ready for a fight.

  Braden doesn’t look interested in leaving. “My punishment has everything to do with being at your school, Libby. And I wouldn’t worry about people seeing me or getting in trouble,” he says cryptically.

  “What do you mean?” I ask. A sinking feeling is already gathering in my belly.

  “People are going to see me a lot starting today, especially you,” Braden says.

  What does he mean by that? Does he want to be here … around me? I don’t know how to take that comment. The reason he’s here does finally sink in regardless of my confusion about his motives. My stomach drops out completely. I groan as I finally understand. “You’re the new school Guardian, aren’t you?” I heard that our old one had been transferred, but I hadn’t thought much about it. Until meeting Braden, I thought one Guardian was pretty much the same as any other.

  He nods, looking rather amused at my fallen countenance. He’s enjoying this way too much for it to be a punishment. “My captain thought a fitting reprimand for losing my team was to put me in charge of keeping a close eye on you. He thought it would be helpful to get to know you better for next time.”

  And I didn’t think my day could get any worse. “Next time?”

  “You know there’s going to be a next time,” he says gravely.

  “Will you be there?” I ask.

  Braden sinks against the locker, his expression truly serious for the first time. The color of caramel, his hair is too short to hide him, but he seems less oppressive, unsure. He sighs. “I don’t know.”

  Not exactly the answer I was hoping for, but I suppose it’s better than an emphatic yes. Braden only gave me the barest details about what happened when he told his captain I had performed a second Inquest on Milo and unlocked his supposedly absent talents, but I suspected there was much more. Something changed Braden from willing Cipher hunter to possible defector. I told him that night, that if he ever wanted to switch teams, I would take him. Every time I think about the offer, I tell myself it’s purely because his inside knowledge will be invaluable. But to be perfectly honest, I can’t stand the thought of having to kill Braden. There is something about him that makes even the idea of hurting him turn my stomach.

  He knows that’s what it would come to as well as I do. For some insane reason, I told him I’m going to go after the Guardians who are keeping all the supposedly talentless Ciphers locked away in the spirit world. If he stays with them, he’ll be one of the ones I have to kill to rescue them. And I’ll do it if I have to. The cold, logical side of me I hate listening to has already convinced me that as much as I believe Braden is a good person when you put aside his profession, his life isn’t valuable enough to risk losing the Ciphers. Not when they’re the only ones who can help me, the ones meant to be my army.

  Pensive silence crowds around us, filling the empty hallway. The pressure of it pushes me toward Braden. I lean against the lockers next to him. I don’t want to think about this anymore. As if in answer to my wish, Braden spins toward me so he has me trapped against the lockers before I can react. My heart lurches, but this time it’s not in fear. My mind is miles from Ciphers. Braden’s body is mere inches from mine. His eyes are still troubled, but his wolf-like curiosity has returned. He presses in a little closer.

  “You know,” I say at barely more than a whisper, “I doubt the principal would approve of you standing so close to me. I’m a student, remember?”

  “She’s not around to see me, is she?”

  “Braden, please,” I beg.

  “Please what?”

  I could throw him across the hallway if I wanted to. I could grab his neck and snap it in two. But the confusion pulsing through me makes it hard to think. Part of me doesn’t want to push him away. The rest of me says, I don’t know anything about him, and Milo would kill him if he saw him like this.

  “Braden, let me go,” I demand.

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re making me uncomfortable.”

  He peers at me so intently I have to remind myself he has no Perception to know what I’m feeling right now.

  “Uncomfortable,” he says. “I would have chosen a different word.”

  “I don’t care about your vocabulary skills. Let me go.”

  “I’m not keeping you here,” he says. I cringe at the truth of his words. I could easily get away if I wanted to.

  “What are you so worried about?” Braden asks. “Afraid one of your boyfriends will see you with me?”

  “Lance is my ex,” I remind him, “but yes. I doubt Milo would appreciate you standing so close to me. This might look a little hostile to him. Milo is very protective of me.”

  Braden hardly looks concerned. Taking a different route, I say, “Or he might assume your interest in me is physical. He also tends to get a little jealous when it comes to me and other guys.” Just ask Lance about that.

  Braden seems to have lost his earlier melancholy. His expression turns serious with a hint of amusement. “Well,” he says as his lips move closer to mine, “if he’s going to be jealous of me regardless …”

  Alarm bells start blaring in my head. Even so, for
a split second, I hesitate. Then I shove him back with both hands. I expect him to laugh or tease me, but the sudden burst of pain I feel from him surprises me. He tries to cover it up quickly, but I’m too good for him to elude. I approach him cautiously.

  “Are you okay?” I ask. “I didn’t shove you that hard.”

  “I’m fine.”

  He turns away. Shame rolls off of him, but with a heavy dose of pride as well. It takes a moment to realize the shame is for letting me see him in pain rather than for the injury itself. Whatever got him hurt, he thinks it was worth it. I didn’t do this, but now I’m curious about who did.

  I walk around to face him and ask, “Who hurt you?”

  He doesn’t seem interested in telling me. I don’t know why I should care, but the same oddity that makes my body react to his presence inspires a strange sense of protectiveness toward him. My need to know who hurt him makes me reach for the buttons on his shirt. His hands grab mine, but he doesn’t push me back, just stops me from going any further.

  “Let me see, Braden.”

  “Why do you care?” he asks with an intensity behind his question that startles me.

  “I don’t know,” I admit, “but I want to understand what happened.”

  You’d think Braden would be thrilled to unbutton in front of me, given what he just tried, but his reluctant sigh is quite the opposite. He does seem to realize, though, that I am not going to back down. I need to know how badly he was hurt. Pushing my hands away slowly, he leaves them at my sides and takes his own hands back to his shirt. He unbuttons the first few buttons.

  I know full well how this will look if anyone happens to walk up, but I don’t really care at the moment. Another couple of buttons pop loose. The bright red crosshatching all over his chest makes me suck in a sharp breath. If I know the Guardians, they’ll be covering his back as well. I took out his team two weeks ago, but apparently the Guardians aren’t terribly swift with their punishments. These cuts still look fairly fresh. My fingers reach forward in awful fascination. I don’t even come close to touching him. Braden grabs my hand immediately and pulls it back down.