by Eve Langlais
Maybe she should have listened to him. Forgiven him. Maybe they could have made things work.
He is, after all, a monster like me. No, not a monster. None of these people were. Nor were they freaks. They were cryptids. She liked Pansy’s—a night owl assigned as her guide in this new world—explanation best. Think of us as enhanced versions of humanity. Living in harmony with our animal selves.
Except Nev’s wasn’t born but given. Even then Pansy wouldn’t let Nev put herself apart. You might not have been able to tap your inner self before, but no matter what those scientists and doctors did, you wouldn’t have changed at all if the potential wasn’t already in you.
In other words, I was always a birdbrain.
And Jeb was a kangaroo. Which, in retrospect, fascinated. Legends only had wolves pulling the whole-body switcheroo. The idea that there was a whole Noah’s Ark worth of shapeshifters boggled the mind. She wanted to meet them. See them for herself. Not exactly something that would happen if she stayed in the aerie. Yet what choice did she have? The wings still jutted from her back. That part hadn’t changed.
And even if they did agree to let her go, where would she go to? Would Jeb want her back given how rudely they’d parted ways?
The problem also remained, how could they be together if she had to hide?
Entering her room, she didn’t need to flick on any lights given the balcony doors spilled sunshine into the space.
They’d given her the equivalent of a loft. High ceilings made of dome rock with wooden poles sticking from it. Round windows set overhead while, on the floor level, there was a huge sliding glass door.
The room had the basics. Full-sized bed with nightstand on either side. Hammock. A table with two chairs and even a loveseat facing a flat screen television. Pansy told Nev if she made the request, they’d even set her up with a game system of her choice.
It was the perfect bachelorette pad, and it was rent free, all because of her wings.
Drifting to the balcony, she gripped the rail as she stood outside, the strong wind gusts, encouraged by hidden fans in the mountainside to create drafts, tugging at her hair.
She watched as birds—people in touch with their feathery selves—coasted along, wings spread, catching the air currents.
Flying free.
No hiding here, just as Boviary had promised.
The dormant volcano provided a natural barrier to the outside world. As to those who might pass overhead? She’d asked it of her guide.
“Can’t anyone passing overhead see what’s going on?” Nev asked.
“Hologram,” Pansy announced as if it were the most normal and natural thing in the world. Whatever the case, it meant being able to fly with the wind in their face and sun on their feathers.
Not that she would know. She’d yet to hit the training stadium where Pansy offered to teach her. Apparently, the expression shoving a baby bird out of the nest to teach it to fly wasn’t true. Only rarely did parents resort to that old-school method.
Nowadays—within the volcano itself, in a cavern adapted for their use—fledglings had a huge stadium with a bouncy, padded floor to soften landings if wings should not unfurl or flap hard enough.
Maybe one day she’d give it a try. According to the doctors who examined her since her arrival she was built to fly.
Where would she soar if she had the courage?
Back to—
Ring. Ring. Odd. She didn’t have a phone. Yet, the insistent ring continued, forcing her to hunt it down until she found it buried in a basket of fruit someone had dropped off that morning.
Pulling the flip phone from under the grapefruit, she held it in her hand and stared at it. She’d never seen it before. And it obviously wasn’t accidentally dropped given how deep she had to dig for it.
As to who called? The phone had taken her too long to find. The missed call from the unknown number teased her.
Was it for me?
Who would be calling? And where did the phone come from?
It rang again, startling her, but she only let it chime twice before answering it with a tentative, “Hello?”
“Yo, is this Nevaeh?”
“Maybe,” she said, hedging.
“Sweet. Just the chick I was looking for.”
Her brow creased. “Who is this?”
Instead of replying with a name, the man said, “Jeb’s in trouble.”
At the mention of his name, she straightened, and her blood ran cold. “What happened?”
“Don’t have time to explain. If you wanna be part of our brother’s rescue mission, get to the observation point on the western lip of the volcano.”
“I can’t. I’m not allowed to leave.” Boviary and the other agents had explained the importance of her not being seen.
“Are you a prisoner?”
“Not exactly.”
“We can bust you out if you need help.”
Given the people who’d died the last time Jeb and his brothers broke into a place, she hastily replied, “No. No need to bust.”
“Good. Then be there in fifteen minutes or we’ll be going to save Jeb without you.”
Fifteen?
The line went dead before she could reply. If she could have, she would have told the caller no way she could make it in that amount of time. Not walking, anyhow. The western lip was too far. Probably a few miles of hallways and stairs between her apartment and the spot he mentioned.
I’ll never make it in time, even if I run. But there was another way. A quicker way.
She looked out the door to her balcony. The western terrace was right across from her. Just a simple two-minute glide and she’d be on the far side and could sprint up a staircase to go higher.
Two minutes of trusting her wings wouldn’t get her killed. And for what?
What good could I do? It wasn’t as if she could help Jeb. His brothers were trained soldiers, and she was just a girl with wings.
But if Kole and the lady in red had taken him, then she did have a score to settle. And dammit it all, she owed Jeb. Owed him for saving her, more than once. Owed him for giving her freedom.
Owed him a kiss and an apology for flying away out of fear. Leaving him to be with others of her kind didn’t make her happy. He made her happy.
And she had—oh shit—thirteen minutes to prove it.
No time to think twice.
No time to remember her teacher’s lessons on gravity.
She stood on the balcony, took a deep breath, and jumped off.
20
Shock vibrated through Jeb as the woman in red approached. A woman with no apology on her face. A face he could barely remember because she’d abandoned him.
It caused him to prowl the cage, more feline than ’roo, an urge to snarl tugging at his lips. “You did this to me? What the hell is wrong with you?” Jeb snapped.
His mum, because there was no doubt about her identity now that they were face to face, stopped in front of the bars to his cage. He waited to see some sign of remorse, anything rather than her flat expression.
She cocked her head, and her rouged lips pursed. “Is that any way to greet your mother?”
“I’d say it was rather polite given it appears as if you stuck me in this cage.” Did the woman, who’d coldly abandoned her family, actually have the brass balls needed to imprison her own son?
“I did.” Still with no apology for her actions.
“Why?” A question that covered so many things. Why imprison me? Why did you leave? Why are you working with Kole? Why didn’t you love me like a mother is supposed to love her son?
“Given you’re a Jones, it seemed safer to put you behind bars.”
“Afraid because you did me and my brothers wrong?” he said with a sneer.
A moue of distaste quirked her lips. “Ah, yes, the other hooligans. You know, I should have listened to my own mother when she told me I was marrying beneath me. However, I was young. I let lust and a need to escape my life trick me into settling for the
wrong man.”
“Wrong man?” He couldn’t help an incredulous note. “You had six kids with Da.”
“Like I said, lust can make even a woman do foolish things. But after Jaxon was born, I began to realize being a mother wasn’t what I was meant for. You should have seen my poor hands.” She held out the perfectly manicured fingers. “Callused and cracked from dishes and laundry. I was so tired all the time. You boys…” She shook her head. “Always getting into mischief. Breaking things. Fighting and hollering. I couldn’t stand it anymore. Then I met Kole.”
“You left Da for that furry fucker?” The very idea she’d chosen that short, pudgy koala over his big, strong father almost had him punching the bars.
“I see you’re wondering why.” Her lips curled into a sly smile. “Let’s just say his ideas aligned better with mine than your father’s did.”
“You abandoned us. Your flesh and blood.”
She made a disparaging noise. “Don’t act as if I dumped you on the street. I knew you’d be taken care of. The Joneses are a tight lot. Once a Jones always a Jones.” She rolled her eyes. “Which is why I knew I had to die if I wanted your father to let me go.”
The way she stated her perfidy so matter-of-factly boggled the mind.
“You made us think you were dead. You were our mum. Did you not give a shit about us at all?” Jeb could hardly believe this cold woman was the mother he’d put on a pedestal all these years. Granted, his recollections of her were hazy. He was quite young when she left. Still, did she not have any maternal instinct at all?
“Six births and each one a boy. Each more rambunctious than the next. Meanwhile, all I ever wanted was a daughter. Kole helped me with that.”
“So it’s true. That girl we’ve seen in the pictures, she’s our sister then?”
“Not quite. I wasn’t about to go through another pregnancy, thank you very much. But the egg they used was mine, and I did have a hand in designing your sister.”
“Designing?” he sputtered. For a moment, he forgot where he was and clasped the bars. Electricity zinged through his fingers and burnt his skin. “Jeezus!” he yelped, yanking them away, leaving some flesh behind. His hands throbbed as blisters immediately formed.
“Way too much of your father in you,” she said with a disapproving air.
Which, right then and there, seemed like a good thing to him. Because, in that moment, he didn’t want to be related at all to the woman in front of him.
“What do you want with me?”
“You? Nothing really. What need do I have for a common kanga? It’s not as if you’re rare. Or have a special skill other than fighting.” Her lip curled.
“Then why am I in a cage?”
“Because I’m going to use you as a bargaining chip.”
He frowned. “Bargain for what?” Because the Joneses, while financially comfortable, didn’t have much to offer. They spent quite a bit of their earnings steering clear of courts and trouble—and buying the newest gadgets and toys.
“I’m going to exchange you for the girl. The one you stole.”
“Nev?” He blinked at his mother. “What do you want with Nev?”
“Kole mistakenly left her behind when we evacuated the old place. We tracked her to the ranch, but somehow she got away.”
“You mean we kicked the arses of your little army, don’t you?”
“A temporary victory. And given it’s mostly your fault, it’s rather appropriate that you’re going to help me get her back.”
“I am not helping you do shit.” As if he’d help his mother capture Nev. At least she was safe in the aerie. Those birdbrains might be flighty, but they wouldn’t hand her over.
“You may not be willing to help, but your brothers are. I told them if they wanted you back alive to bring me the girl. They are on their way as we speak.”
“Like hell they are.” Surely his brothers wouldn’t cave to blackmail.
“Apparently they’re fonder of you than a genetic experiment.”
“You can’t do this. I won’t let you do this.”
“And how will you stop me, son?” The mockery on the word made him see red.
Jeb began to pummel at the bars, his rage bubbling over. But his mum walked away. Heels clacking. Not giving a damn.
Again.
“No.” Like hell. He punched the bars some more, bruising his fists. He changed into his ’roo; however, kicking did nothing but singe the soles of his feet, the electricity a never-ending supply.
No escape. No mercy.
How was he supposed to save his angel?
21
Making it across the volcano to the other side ended up not being scary at all. Rather, elation filled Nev as the warm breezes lifted her wings and helped her soar to her target. Banking past her initial destination, all the way to the top of the volcano.
Turned out it wasn’t that hard. Flying required flapping to gain altitude and extending her feathery appendages to then coast on currents. She now better understood the expression “light as a feather.”
It was landing that proved a tad more difficult. But Nev did it, her feet skidding across the rocky lip of the volcano, stumbling and cursing until she wobbled to a stop.
Then she had to wait and wonder how she’d get picked up. Jeb’s brother hadn’t exactly given her clear instructions.
Nev watched the sky, a clear blue sky, the sun bright, only the specs of birds—real ones or shifter kind—dotting the horizon.
She shielded her gaze and thus didn’t see anyone approach, which meant, when a gruff voice said, “Are you Nevaeh?” she screamed.
Whirling, she saw a square-faced man, dressed in black combat gear, who would have seemed a lot scarier if he didn’t look so much like Jeb.
“I’m Nev. And you are?”
“Jeremy. Jeb’s big brother.” He held out his hand and shook hers.
“What’s wrong with Jeb?”
“I’ll explain once we’re in the air. Ready to go?”
“Go where?” And how? The man didn’t have wings.
“Down. I’ll need you to hold on please.” He turned around and indicated his broad back.
It was then she noticed the rope tethered at his waist.
She wanted to argue. Rappel down a volcano, was he nuts? But she kept remembering the phone call. Jeb needed her help.
So, she wrapped her arms around Jeremy’s neck and her legs around his waist then closed her eyes as he jumped over the side of the mountain.
The jolt wasn’t as hard as expected as he hit the side of the volcano with his feet.
Being tucked so close to him she heard the faint electronic voice from the piece nestled in his ear.
“The patrols have resumed. I couldn’t hold them off any longer.”
“Shit,” Jeremy muttered. “Hold on tight. We’re gonna have to move faster.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because the birdies don’t like people getting close to their nest.”
She might have said more, except Jeremy began leaping faster, swinging his body out from the rock, dropping, then hitting the side again before the next bounce.
They were about halfway down the mountain when she heard the shouts. Peering overhead, she saw tiny smudges, faces peeking down at them. But those worried her less than the fact that the next jump had Jeremy cursing as the line holding them lurched.
They spun in midair before hitting the rock, part of the impact catching her wing. She grunted in pain as Jeremy exhorted, “Hang on. This is gonna get tricky.”
She wondered what he meant, only to stare wide-eyed as he cut the rope tethering them. They clung to the rock face.
Not a moment too soon. The shorn end disappeared from sight as those above hauled it upward.
A hammering of a spike in the wall tethered their new anchor spot, and she barely had a moment to gulp air when they were flying again, bouncing down. But she must have loosened her grip, or her arms were tired. Whatever the reason, wh
en Jeremy stumbled and jostled them against the rock face, she slipped.
Fell right off his back, her mouth open in a silent cry of surprise.
It might have ended badly for her had Jeb’s brother not shouted, “Fucking fly!”
The words galvanized her. She rolled in the air to her stomach and spread her wings. Just in time, too. Catching a current, she skimmed the tops of the trees she’d almost crashed into.
I’m flying.
Elation filled her, and laughter bubbled from her lips. Only to fizzle as she heard a crack of gunfire. Is someone shooting at me?
Banking, she flapped her wings and managed to hover for a glance behind at the volcano. It wasn’t her being shot at but Jeremy, who was a black speck on the mountain, hopping left and right, working his way down. Meanwhile, above him…
With a determined expression, she flapped and flapped, heading for Jeremy, hoping she was right and that they wouldn’t dare shoot at one of their own.
Sure enough, as soon as she got close, there were shouts and the gunfire stopped.
She heard Pansy yelling, “Nev, come back.”
“I can’t. Jeb needs me.”
“You belong here,” Pansy replied.
No, I belong with Jeb.
Remaining in one spot, weaving back and forth, was harder than it looked. She lost altitude and wobbled. The trees got closer, and she flapped frantically to rise, only it didn’t quite work the way she wanted, and she kept sinking.
When the first branches struck, she tucked her wings, lest they tangle, and flailed her hands, looking for something to grip to stop her descent.
She banged off a few limbs before she managed to grab hold of one. There she dangled as an amused voice below said, “You can let go now.”
“I don’t want to fall!” she squeaked, eyes squeezed shut tight.
“You’ll be fine. And you can take that to the Jones bank.”
Trusting in him, like she’d trust in Jeb, she let go and dropped maybe two feet before hitting the ground. She opened a cautious eye, then both, to see she was unharmed, on solid land, and surrounded by a bunch of big, burly men.
Another brother with Jeb’s wide grin faced her. “Well, hot damn. Jeb never told us he had a girlfriend who could fly.”