Then, the inevitable happened. There was no viable way to determine who had launched the grenade into the air, but what went up must come down. The explosion from the grenade rippled through my eardrums. I was sure they were shattered. Then I only heard sharp ringing. I coughed, sputtered, and attempted to stand up.
I saw that my hands and arms were covered with a film of dusty, black soot. Debris from cars and buildings began to rain down around me. I continued to duck down and pray that nothing would fall on me and impale me.
Then my heart sank and everything went blurry. What if Thom used the opportunity to run away again? More importantly, what if Sophia had been injured in the explosion? I couldn’t imagine.
That’s when I had an epiphany and stood.
If I was going to die anyway, I might as well die fighting, not sitting on the curb recoiling in fear. If the shrapnel hit me, then so be it. I was going to get to Sophia one way or another.
2
Sophia
I winced in pain and attempted to twist myself into a more comfortable position, but it was difficult given the fact that I was locked in Thom’s death grip. Thom was my ruthless ex-Master, and the fury and mania flickering in his eyes was not something to take lightly.
Thom was a monstrous version of a normal human, a non-shifter. He was brutal by instinct, and all he knew how to do was spew hatred and rage. He couldn’t stand the fact that he didn’t have the natural ability to shift, which was why he’d spent his entire life attempting to destroy the lives of shifters. Like most Masters, Thom’s jealousy blinded him and drove him to cause pain and suffering to those who weren’t like him.
I felt sorry for him, as preposterous as that seemed. I could never harbor that kind of animosity in my heart, even after all the terrorizing grief Thom had put me through.
“Stop wiggling around, bitch.” Thom hissed in my ear and dug his fingernails into my arm, making me gasp with a fresh batch of searing pain.
Adrenaline rushed through my veins and my survival instinct kicked into high gear. I needed to concentrate. I needed to focus on my ability to make things happen with my mind.
The power was still primitive, because I didn’t know how to summon it at specific times. I just knew that I had done things in the past to protect myself, but there was no consistency. It seemed to be random, but always happened at my most pressing, desperate hour.
That time was now.
My will to live was surging through me with every ounce of power I had contained within myself.
I desperately wanted to tell Thom that he was hurting me. I craved the freedom to shout at him to let me go, but I knew without speaking that my voice was already stifled. Any dose of rebellion I directed toward Thom would make things even worse. If I screamed at him and thrashed my arms and legs, I might as well start digging my own grave.
Thom had no patience for insubordinate shifters, and he would be the first to correct us and put us in our places so that we knew where we stood.
We were the scum and he was the high supreme being. That was the mindset that Thom tried to brainwash into the weak and naïve shifters under his tight control. His maddening method was to seep his declaration into the shifters’ brains that they were worthless and that he was the one that should be praised.
I had miraculously managed to escape, and I didn’t want to be under the umbrella of his shady authority anymore.
But if I squirmed around too much in his menacing grip, he might slice through my throat. The cold steel of his knife blade was digging into my neck and the last thing in the world I wanted was to move the wrong way and inadvertently cause him to rip me to shreds.
One wrong movement and it would all be over for me.
I just didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that knife blade. I had to do everything I could to keep him calm and rational. The more I protested, the more enraged he would become. I would wait to play my cards.
I had an advantage over Thom because I knew how he worked. I knew what made him tick and I could use that to keep myself alive. Thom was sadistic and twisted, taking his role as a Master seriously and to the next level of crazy. The waters needed to be treaded carefully. He was a hungry shark sniffing for any drop of blood in the water. Signs of weakness fueled his power.
“Move,” he growled with urgency through clenched teeth.
He shoved my head down behind a car.
“Duck here,” he demanded. “And don’t move a fucking inch. Don’t make a fucking sound.”
I held my breath. A squeaky scream crawled up the edges of my throat and I bit my tongue, pressing my lips together in order to suppress it.
I knew that the guys must be trying to hunt us down. Everything had happened so fast. There had been no time to react to Thom breezing up behind me and scooping me into his vile arms.
He gave me a vicious sneer as we crouched behind a car, listening to the cries of agony and the shouts of rage piercing the air around us.
“Don’t do anything stupid that you’ll regret, bitch.” Thom’s eyes flickered with warning.
I nodded. I couldn’t form words, but I needed him to know I was acknowledging his instructions, at least for now. Biding my time.
Thom craned his neck and peeked from around the car to get a bearing on the situation and what kind of trauma was unfolding directly in our area.
His eyes widened in shock as his mouth dropped in fear. He jerked me up so fast that I worried for a moment that he had popped my elbow out of the socket. Pain stabbed at my arm as he whipped me around the car.
Thom’s efforts were in vain. Apparently, he had seen a grenade launch through the air right before it detonated. The revelation came too late.
A hot flash seemed to literally boil the air around me. A booming crash thundered through my ears and a vibrant white and orange burst of color sent a showering display of fireworks around me. Then a sea of flames spread across the grass area beside us.
I screamed. It was a guttural, primal scream that sounded more like an animal than my own self. I took advantage of the opportunity to dart away from Thom. I frantically scurried across the street as soon as Thom’s hold on me unlatched. I immediately curled into a ball and went into instinctive, protective mode once I realized he wasn’t standing next to me anymore.
I called forth my giant black wings and they instantaneously hardened around me. Now I had a shield around my body that no one, not even Thom, could penetrate.
I balled my hands into fists to prevent them from quivering violently.
“Just try to keep it together,” I whispered to myself. “You’ve survived far worse and risen to the top. This is no different.”
I took a leap of faith, and with a burst of bravery, I lifted my head to glance up and down the streets. I was hoping to find a glimpse of Blaze, Ayden, and James. They had to be around here somewhere. Thom hadn’t walked me that far away from our original location, but the ensuing chaos made it easy to become separated, even if you were diligently combing through the crowds.
By a miraculous stroke of luck, I spotted Blaze and Ayden. My heart pounded with excitement. They hadn’t left me. They were turning around in circles as they searched the area, undoubtedly hoping to cross paths with me.
That’s when I saw fury brewing in Blaze’s expression. His jaw visibly clenched. He began to growl and slowly stepped forward as if he were a predator hunting down his next meal. I would hate to be the prey on the receiving end.
Ayden was walking next to Blaze, keeping stride with him. I had never seen such an intense look of aggression on either of their faces. Then, before I had to time to realize what was happening, both men shifted.
Blaze became a towering black bear, full of fur. He was a giant ball of hostile energy as he began to encircle an extremely vulnerable and shaky Thom.
I had never seen Thom backed into a corner. He looked frazzled, a fraying mess. His hands trembled. His knees were wobbly and looked like they were going to buckle on him. Ayden was t
he next to shift.
He was a lion shifter, not as tall on his haunches as Blaze, but just as domineering. He took a few steps in Thom’s direction, causing the Master to recoil, nearly stumbling skittishly over his own two feet. He tripped but didn’t fall, scampering backward to avoid the malice of the bear and the lion.
The pair was a wonderous duo of pride and nobility. Ayden’s mane was fluffy and almost elegant. His posture and composure were bordering arrogant, but I smiled because I knew the show was all for me. My safety was the bottom line and I trusted these men with my life.
Both Blaze and Ayden had hungry expressions on their faces, as if they wanted to tear Thom limb from limb and sink their teeth into his human flesh. I secretly had a glimmer of hope that they might attempt it and succeed at killing him.
The threat of Thom could potentially be eliminated, but as I glanced around at the Masters and guards scurrying around the area, I knew that the battle between the vicious humans and the shifters was far from over.
“Sophia!”
I recognized James’s voice behind me and immediately spun on a heel to trace the sound and find him.
I looked across the street. James was waving urgently, beckoning me to follow him. I glanced over my shoulder one more time. Ayden and Blaze were still encircling Thom, narrowing in the gap and looming menacingly toward him. Thom’s posture was failing. He knew he was caught and there was seemingly no way out this time.
A smile curled across my lips and I took off, running toward James. I shook off my wings. They were too heavy and large, hindering me from moving briskly through the swarms of bodies around me to get to James quickly.
As soon as I was close enough to James to reach out for him, I draped my arms around his neck and leapt into his arms. I hooked my legs around his waist. He held me protectively as I trembled almost violently.
We watched and waited with hopeful expectancy to see what Blaze and Ayden were going to do with Thom. We also managed to be lookouts for him, just in case another Master or a set of guards saw the encounter and tried to cease it immediately. James and I would be there to warn them.
Then, out of nowhere, a member of the rebellion camp charged forward. He was a tall, slender shifter with ginger hair and piercing blue eyes. He cautiously approached Thom from behind, aimed a pistol at his chest from a few feet away, and fired.
The sound of the trigger releasing the bullet exploded in my eardrums.
Thom instantly collapsed to the ground, falling to the concrete with a heavy thud. James and I raced across the street to witness the event from a closer view.
A pool of blood began to form from the wound in Thom’s chest. His eyes were open in shock, but they were lifeless. He wasn’t moving, not even a little bit.
We stared at the rebel, the lanky man with a gun and a smirk that was full of immeasurable revenge.
He nodded respectfully at us and then took off running again without another word. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I was reeling as if I lived inside of a virtual world where nothing was what it seemed. I wanted to hope for the best, but I couldn’t sigh with relief just yet.
I needed final proof. I asked the million-dollar question that hung like a fog in the air. “Is he…dead?”
Up until that moment, everyone had been circled around Thom, staring down at him as if he was a piece of trash that they couldn’t wait to dispose of forever. We didn’t know who the gracious bystander was who had swooped in and made the kill for us was, and he had already disappeared into the crowd, leaving us with no way to thank him.
James crouched down beside Thom and pushed two fingers to Thom’s chest. I held my breath and waited. After several seconds, James lifted his gaze to each of us.
“I don’t feel a pulse.”
I was finally able to breathe again, exhaling slowly as the burden that only a shifter could bear lifted off my shoulders.
“Well, we need to get out of here just in case he’s not really all the way dead,” Ayden pointed out.
“Or before one of us gets killed too,” Blaze added. They had shifted back as soon as the rebel with the gun had pulled the trigger.
“I know a place where we can hide out for tonight,” Ayden said. “Follow me.”
We all nodded in agreement.
“I can take Sophia on my back,” James said. “It’s faster for me to shift and be on the move.”
“Good idea,” Ayden said. “I can take Leo and Otto.”
“Let’s get going,” James said, making eye contact with me.
I nodded and climbed onto his back as soon as he shifted into his jaguar form. My heart galloped in my chest. I gripped James’s fur in between my fingers and held on for dear life. James was lightning fast when he was a jaguar.
As James raced away in search of safety and refuge outside of the village, I never looked back. I never wanted to see Thom again. I hoped that seeing him limp and unresponsive on the ground would be the solace my mind needed to force the nightmares of my past to a grinding halt.
3
Sophia
I saw my breath in front of my face every time I exhaled, huffing and panting hard as we edged up a steep hill on the outskirts of the village. My thighs ached and my lungs and throat burned. I kept charging full steam ahead, never looking back.
We had long left the noise of the rupturing city behind us. The revolts and the screams from the valley down below had subsided as we trekked through the dense woods.
We were left now with only the silence of the mountain night, though the fierce noise inside my head was chaotic and loud. Off in the distance, the faint chirp of crickets could be heard, but even they seemed timid under the suspenseful climate of change.
I extended my arms out in front of me, rooting around and feeling with my fingertips to make sure I wasn’t going to scrape up against a low-lying branch or bump into a thick tree trunk.
The guys shifted back into their human forms after we had put enough distance between us and the village. They were walking along beside me — huddled around me in a blocky little circle of protection — so that we could communicate better. In case of an emergency where we might become separated, we would be able to shout out for one another.
They assured me they would immediately take shifts if necessary, to avoid a threat or keep me well protected.
I stumbled over a log. I didn’t even notice it right there in front of my boots, camouflaged by the earth. I went tumbling forward. I let out a grunt and extended my arms in front of me in an attempt to quickly brace my fall. My open palms hit the damp soil in front of me, but James was there to swiftly jerk me back up into a standing position before my entire body fell into the dirt.
“Easy does it,” James said with a calm chuckle.
He embraced me sturdily until he was confident that I had regained my balance.
“Thanks.” I cast him a sheepish smile. “I guess I should pay better attention to my surroundings.”
“It’s dark,” Blaze reminded me. “Don’t give yourself a hard time over it.”
I nodded and let out a deep sigh. All three guys were encircling me, giving me glances of concern.
“I’m all right,” I reassured them. “I’m ready to keep going.”
“Good.” Ayden nodded and continued to lead the way.
He was so handsome and golden. He looked like one of those Ken dolls I used to play with as a child with his bronzed skin and his perfect white teeth that were as straight as a board. His blond hair was wavy at the tips and perfectly groomed. Ayden was fully aware of just how good-looking he was, and he used it to his advantage.
I didn’t find him as arrogant as most people might. To me, he was just a broken shifter trying to find his place in the world, using his confidence as a way to gain credit and esteem in a decaying society.
We all had the Masters and their guards to thank for the crumbling world, sardonically speaking. I knew that sometimes the only way out of an unfavorable situation was to live
it, to see it through until the end.
Then there would be a light at the end of the tunnel, a rainbow after a storm. I just had to keep the frenzy going on inside of my head subdued for now.
“Where are you taking us, exactly?” Blaze asked, looking at Leo and Otto for answers.
“To the caves,” Otto said ominously.
Blaze and I exchanged a wary glance.
“I’m sorry?” Blaze said. “What are the caves, exactly? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I don’t mind it.” Otto shook his head.
He had a peculiar accent. He didn’t sound like he was from the village, but then again, he was Leo’s brother. He was a mystery to me, but if Ayden trusted him, I felt like I didn’t have any reason not to.
“We’re going to the caves near the waterfalls,” Leo mentioned.
“The waterfalls?” I heard the high-pitched squeak in my voice. My heart pounded with alarm. I was still guarded when it came to water. Ever since falling in on that fateful day with the Master chariot, I squirmed at even the sound of natural ponds, rivers, or lakes.
“Don’t worry about it,” Blaze whispered to me. “We will keep you safe.”
“It’s just that water—”
Blaze gave me an empathetic nod. “I know exactly how you feel about water. I’m the one who found you in the river, remember?”
I nodded and stared at him, unblinking.
He gave me a smile with eyes that flickered with kindness. “Then what discourages you from believing that I wouldn’t jump at the chance to rescue you again?”
I chuckled. “I suppose you do have a point there.”
“I do.” His lips stretched into a boastful, yet adorable, grin. “I would never let anything happen to you again.” His cheeks flushed a crimson color. “Well, the thing with Thom in the village back there was kind of a fluke—”
“I know,” I interjected to make him feel special. “Thom popped in out of nowhere. There was a lot going on. It was impossible to keep me out of harm’s way.”
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