7 Deadly Instincts (The Sinfire Chronicles Book 1)

Gray stood in the cold with the snowmen in front of him. Rynn had showed them all how to roll the snow into big balls, which they could stack on top of one another. She said it was something they did in the Crown of the World all the time during winter.

The rest of Squad 23 hadn’t grown up with snow—not even Tomi and Pinch who had grown up on islands near the Crown. It was cold on those northern island, but the snow never really stuck around all that long. Midj was from the Backbone Islands, which was closer, but since it wasn’t near the Weeping Well, it didn’t have the same frigid winters.

The five snowmen were for target practice, since he and Ames had been unexpectedly been given mana skills because of their bond. Rynn did as well, but she had gotten too cold and had gone inside to help Midj make lunch in the kitchen, which was now missing a door thanks to Gray’s explosive new talents.

Pinch walked forward. “I don’t understand how this could happen. You don’t get mana abilities from…from such activities. This is not something that should be possible. Otherwise, any number of people would fuck themselves silly, bonded or not, to leech magic from other people.”

“It didn’t feel like leeching,” Ames said dreamily. “It felt like the world had found me, lost and alone in a dark forest, and took him back home to a warm cabin on an island. There were Yullolly gifts there, wrapped in colorful paper, and as I opened the presents, the sky smiled down, and the seas went still, and there was a hush and then everyone was laughing, and now I can throw mana.”

Pinch crossed her arms. “Exactly. This is what I’m talking about. You’re talking nonsense about sex and suddenly you have that other elf girl’s skills.”

“Her name is Rynnanatha,” Ames said firmly. “It’s a very good name. You can call her Rynn if you like.”

“I know her name,” Pinch snarled. “I know all your names. It’s just…this can’t be. How can this be?”

Gray went to say something.

Ames cut him off. “It is. Life is an unexpected gift. And sometimes scorpions. I would like to continue the less. Teach us how to throw mana.”

Pinch frowned. “It’s not simply throwing mana. I craft the shuriken in such a way as to change the lethality of the projectile. During our Chaotica games, for example, we threw blunt stars meant to distract not to kill. But with these snowmen—” Pinch concentrated. She had a hungry, fiery core that burned red. Normally, she’d thrown golden sparks at them, but now, they were red. That might’ve been because she was on her way to becoming an adept. She’s complained about her mana mark itching her stomach.

The red sparks coalesced around her hand, forming shuriken, which she threw one after another. All three of the scarlet stars hit home, knocking the heads off of three of the snowmen. Two remained untouched.

Gray was trying to understand. “So you create them and then throw them?”

The Quelling girl squealed with excitement. “That I can do!”

Gray knew what was coming. “No, Ames, wait!”

It was too late. Ames took two steps forward, reached back with her hand, and yes, there was blue light in her hand, far brighter than what it had been, but she never got a chance to throw it. Mana exploded out of her, and they were all knocked back.

Ames reeled, her eyes going into the back of her head.

Pinch grimaced. “I am not going to catch her.”

“Catch her!” Gray called out, already channeling mana into the Quelling girl.

“Do I have to?” Pinch asked.

“Yes!”

Ames toppled over, and she would’ve fallen on her face if the fae girl hadn’t been there to ease her fall.

Pinch was surprisingly gentle as she laid the Quelling elf on the snow. There was at least a foot, though they had cleared out their practice field. Rynn did most of the work since she knew the most about the snow, but Gray and Ames also had helped because they couldn’t stop their cores from venting when all they were trying to do was throw the mana.

Ames’s eyes opened. “Did I explode again?”

Pinch grunted. “What do you fucking think?”

Ames giggled. “I like to explode. Just not like that. I get so dizzy. My head isn’t my head any more. It belongs to someone else. Her name is Evelyn.”

Pinch stomped over to him. “Do you understand her?”

Gray only laughed. “Every word. All the time. We all hate Evelyn” It was fun to tease Pinch, even though it was also cruel. She was trying not to be so mean but failing.

“I don’t hate Evelyn,” Ames murmured. “She’s doing the best she can. It’s not her fault she needs to borrow my head every now and again.”

Pinch sank a hand onto her hip. “I’m not going to help you if you two keep teasing me. Normally, when fae are learning to hurl their shuriken, they are children and have trouble generating the mana to form them. That doesn’t seem to your problem. Do you want to try again, Gray?”

Gray had already vented his core twice, and he didn’t have much mana left. Normally, having less mana in his core helped him get the energy coursing through his meridians. In this case, he just kept losing it all.

It was like he could feel the power going from his core to his hand, and it wanted to form one of the bursts that Rynn could throw, but then all of a sudden it all came out at once.

Tomi opened the door and called to them. “It’s ready. You can mess around in the snow after lunch. Remember, your souls got all shredded last week. Nothing worse than a shredded soul.”

Ames jumped up. “My soul is all back together. Best it’s ever felt.” She kissed Gray’s cheek and ran back inside.

Pinch glared at him.

He pointed at her eyes. “That glaring isn’t going to help you.”

“With what?”

Gray sighed. “With you fitting in. You wanted to join us because you wanted friends.”

The look in the fae girl’s eyes was a positively feral. “I never should’ve said that. It was pathetic. I was feeling…I was feeling lost. I was feeling trapped. I didn’t think we’d win…the Winners. And it’s a stupid name, and I hate them all. Why didn’t you let me die? You would’ve won.”

Gray had his hands in his pockets but he was still so cold. He gave her a look of complete disbelief. He hoped she saw it. “Pinch, that’s such a dumb question.”

Wrong thing to say.

“Are you calling me an idiot?” she asked, looking like she might use him for shuriken practice.

Gray got in her face. “You’re asking me why we didn’t let you die so we could win a game we didn’t need to win.”

“Yes, you did!” she spat as if he were the stupidest man alive.

Gray wasn’t getting any calmer. “If you were dead, us winning wouldn’t matter. And, more to the point, you wouldn’t be pissing me off right now!”

The fae didn’t back away a bit. “Don’t you see? Yes, I would be dead, but you don’t need me now. Ames is back, and you’re…you have your fucking harem, and if you think I’m going to be a part of it, you’re a fucking idiot.”

Gray realized how ridiculous the conversation was, and he couldn’t help but start laughing.

“What’s so fucking funny?” the fae girl growled.

He stepped back from her. “I don’t have a harem. Rynn and I never thought in a million years we’d bond with Ames.”

“Rynn.” Pinch snorted. “You and her, forever in love, bonded for all eternity. How is that going to work with the Quelling bitch?”

Gray closed his eyes. He had to change the subject. “Pinch, you can’t do this. We’re on the same side now. There was no way I was going to let you die. None. Squad 23—”

She interrupted him. “You need a name. People won’t remember you if you don’t have a name. Even the Winners would be better.”

“People remembered that name because it was stupid.”

“But they remembered.”

Gray thought for a moment. “The Watchfire families are already interested in us because we won Culling Day with only five recruits. Then we made it into the Chaotica finals during Soulshred Week. To top it off, we chose to save you rather than win. Even without the drama, that final game could’ve gone either way. I don’t see the problem.”

“But—”

He interrupted her. “Squad 23 is a fine name. I talked with Settie, and there has never been a team with that name. As for you sleeping with me—”

She snorted, “It wouldn’t be just with you. It would have to share you with those other bitch elves, Quelling and angelhead, heaven and hell…no, it can’t happen. It will never happen.”

“I don’t want it to happen…” It was the wrong thing to say.

Pinch looked genuinely hurt, but for as long as he’d known her, she’d been able to mask her feelings. That cold mask slipped into place. “Our kiss was excellent, and you fucking know it. I felt how hard you were, when you were on top of me, and it left me wet and breathless. You want me, but you can’t have me. You can never have me. No one can!”

And then the mask slipped again. Her eyes filled with tears.

Ames called the fae girl the ice that burned—she was fire, she was ice, and she was everything in between, sometimes in the same moment.

“Why not?” Gray asked. “You’re beautiful—”

Pinch snorted and wiped an angry hand across her eyes. “As if that mattered. You have a lot to fucking learn about the fae, about our fucking core oaths, about how…how it feels to be alone and shattered.” She stopped talking and stood there, looking through him, so far away from herself. “It’s just—”

He waited for her to finish that sentence.

“You’re right,” she said after a while. “It’s habit, don’t you see?” She offered him a shy smile.

“What is?” he asked gently.

“I got in the habit of hating you, of cursing you, of pushing you all away. Even after I so desperately wanted to join you. I feel bad for hurting Rynn on the Chaotica field, but I feel worse about how I treated her in the bathhouse in the Lust City inn. It was like I was standing outside of myself, watching how I was treating, knowing I was being such an idiot.”

Gray stood there, listening. He had to say something, but he had no idea what. He hadn’t planned on any of this happening, but for the good of the squad, he had to let Pinch know he was listening.

“You apologized,” he said finally. “You bought her trunks back from Froggy. And you’re wrong, Pinch. We don’t necessarily need you, but with you our squad, we’re unstoppable.”

Then she surprised him.

“Inseparable. Unstoppable. Isn’t that what you say to each other?” she asked.

He nodded.

She sighed. “I have to break the habit.”

“That you do.”

She gave him a tentative look. “It’s not going to be easy. It was fun hating you. There were times I would’ve even done it for free.”

He thought to ask about that—who was paying her, the details, and why Freek—and probably his buddy Kabe—had murdered two recruits to cover it up. However, he was cold, tired, and they had Midj’s food waiting for them.

Besides, he had to confront Settie about the Princess Lilian Everheart. That morning had started with them getting into a big fight. It was why they didn’t have a back door anymore and the kitchen was freezing.

Pinch continued to shock him. She hooked her arm through his, as if they hadn’t spent the last ten minutes yelling at each other. “Tomi spoke to me of names. You can’t be the fearsome five, but what about sexy six?”

Gray had to chuckle. “It would be accurate. We are very sexy.”

“Damn sexy,” the fae agreed. “But it’s not meant to be, Grayson Fade, you and I and your harem. It’s not meant to be.”

“No, it’s not,” he agreed.

But then why did her touch feel so good?

AUTHOR NOTE: Here we go again. Pinch is on the team, Princess Lilian is coming, and everyone is getting ready for the Reckoning. I'll be posting a new chapter on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Thanks so much for reading my stuff. I love writing, and having people read my stuff, makes it even better. I super appreciate comments, even if it's just to thank me for a chapter.

ADDITIONAL AUTHOR NOTE: Thanks so much for reading! If you wanna support me and my work, I have a Patreon, PayPal, a newsletter, and a website. All things Aaron Crash can be found on AaronCrash.Com. The week's chapters are all posted on my Patreon. I'm about halfway done with book three, and it's a ride. Thanks again!