by Kat Falls
“Then just take the cure,” I said, not caring that Everson would be left with the task of finding another tiger-man, one willing to give blood. I touched Rafe’s back, trying to ignore how warm his body felt against my palm. He turned to me, and I held the tube out to him, but he shoved his hands deep into his pockets.
“Maybe later,” he said.
I gritted my teeth and tried to stuff the tube into his front pocket despite the fact that his hand was in the way.
“You could try putting it down the front of my pants,” he suggested.
“Why,” I huffed, “are you being such a jerk?”
I spent several seconds wondering how I could knock him out and force the cure on him, but then I’d be doing exactly what Everson had done to all those “test subjects.” I’d have to talk him into taking it later. When we weren’t hiding from a Komodo-man. Or maybe Everson could talk him into taking it … Everson.
I slid the tube back into my pocket and quickly told Rafe about Boone’s buddies taking Everson into the woods, somewhere called … “Rip-Rap Falls, I think.”
“They’re probably using him as bait,” Rafe said. “Just like Boone did with you.”
I peered down the length of the fissure but couldn’t see the end. “Are there a lot of ferals around here?”
“Yeah, but most won’t eat him. They’ll just be driven to bite.”
“Biting is bad enough,” I muttered. “Can you track Boone’s men?”
He smirked. “Walking backward, with a bucket on my head. Let’s go.”
As I followed him farther along the fissure, a thought struck me. “Why’d you bite Boone? You’re not feral.”
“Later,” he whispered. “Now we need to stay quiet … unless you want a dragon on our heels.”
Nope. I did not. So I stopped talking and nearly stopped breathing.
Half an hour later, Rafe crouched among the trampled weeds, studying what he’d said were footprints. “Two went that way.” He pointed south. “Back to Heartland. And four of them went that way.” He pointed north. “This bunch includes three people in boots, and one in track shoes.”
Neve. “The lionesses. They must have taken him from the hunters.” I scanned the area for bodies, surprised the lionesses had allowed the hunters to escape with their lives.
Rafe rose, looking bemused. “Why? Last I checked, the stiff was still human … sort of. And, like I said, they hate humans.”
“Stop calling him that,” I snapped.
He grinned. “Someone’s touchy. Worried about a cat-girl stealing your boy?”
“No. For one thing, Everson isn’t my boy,” I ground out, realizing that it had been true even before I’d come back to the East. “And two, I’m just worried about him. Period. Because, you know, there’s a lizard-dude running around eating people.”
“Lizard-dude?” he echoed with a laugh. “Look, if the felines went to the trouble to snatch the stiff from the hunters, they’ll keep him alive … For now. They’re probably on their way to Camp Echo. It’s a manimal village.”
I refrained from pointing out that he too had feline DNA coursing through him. “Why would they go there?”
“Because the pride has been casing Echo off and on for months.”
At least Everson was safe. Relatively safe, anyway. I followed Rafe down the rocky bluff and into a valley covered in dense brush. We had to go single file, making it difficult to talk, so I contented myself with throwing imaginary daggers at Rafe’s back while simultaneously admiring his catlike grace as he navigated the deer paths and rocky rises.
We rested when we reached a ledge that ran along another swollen stream cutting through the rock, this one louder than the others — because, I soon discovered, we were right next to a waterfall. The sound of rushing water filled my head as I crouched on a flat slab of rock in the sun overlooking the falls and dug two protein bars out of my backpack. I looked at my filthy hands and then went to stand on tiptoe at the edge of the rock. I watched the wild rush of water below, which shattered into a cloud of spray in two places where jagged rock tiers interrupted its descent to a small lake. Water droplets coated my face and hair and made me long for a shower — or at least a place to wash my hands.
“Careful there, silky,” Rafe said from behind me. “These rocks break away easily.”
“Okay,” I said, still mesmerized by the swirling water. “Do you think there’s anywhere to wash my ha —” When I turned toward him, he had moved so close I could see the flecks of gold around his pupils, starbursts in the center of the vivid blue irises. I’d almost gotten used to the black markings around his eyes.
He grabbed my hand and tugged me away from the edge.
“I didn’t know you cared.” I smirked, giving him a taste of his own medicine.
Without taking his eyes off mine, he lifted my hand. “Dirty,” he said. “But not too bad right here.” He put his lips to the inside of my wrist, sending a jolt of electricity through me. “I care,” he said, almost as an aside.
My cheeks grew hot, and he must have noticed, because he smiled.
“I can’t kiss you …” He let go of my hand, his tone teasing. “But there’s no risk in touching.” He brushed his thumb across my cheek. “So put your hands on me — anywhere. You know you want to.”
I shoved him away. But he didn’t move very far.
“It’s okay, Lane,” he said softly, tracing his fingers along the curve of my hip. “I won’t tell the stiff a thing.”
I flung myself past him, hating him for playing with me and hating myself for wishing that he really did want to kiss me. “I didn’t think it was possible, but you are an even bigger jerk than before you got infected.”
“Not true,” he scoffed. “I was just as big a jerk then. I just hid it from you ’cause I thought I had a shot. But you fell for the stiff, which I get. Actually, I’m relieved. Now I can be myself. You know, it’s exhausting trying to impress a girl. You gotta watch what you say. You —”
“If that was you censoring yourself, I don’t even want to … Forget it. And by the way, Everson and I are friends. That’s it.”
“Friends?” He quirked a brow in disbelief. “Well, I know he didn’t ditch you, so what happened?”
“My dad was in critical condition when I got back to Arsenal after —” After leaving you wounded and infected to suffer and possibly die alone. “They weren’t sure he’d make it.”
“One of the hacks told me,” Rafe said. “I’m glad he’s okay.”
“We came back to Arsenal two weeks ago, and now Everson and I are friendly. Mostly. When he’s not dissecting things … or locking up manimals.”
“Tell me that’s not why you dropped him. For cutting up animals? Silky, out here we dissect animals every day. Then we eat them. And sometimes we skin ’em and wear —”
“I didn’t drop Everson. We were never — never mind. The point is he and the patrol are treating the manimals like lab rats … like animals.”
“Because we are,” Rafe said with a shrug. He watched me as if Ferae had given him X-ray vision and he could see inside me. “You’re making a mistake. He’s a good guy. The kind of guy you should be with.”
Why would he kiss my wrist and then say something like that? I didn’t want to admit even to myself how much that hurt. I tried hard to shift my focus to why I was in the zone in the first place, but it didn’t help much. I’d come for him, and this was the thanks I got. I’d come to find him because of a promise. At least that’s what I’d told myself — that I was here out of guilt and loyalty. I hadn’t let myself think of him as anything more than a difficult friend, because we had a seven-hundred-foot-tall wall between us. And a river. But I couldn’t deny it anymore: He was more than that to me.
I dug into my pocket again for the cure. “Let’s just find Everson. Maybe he can talk you into letting him take a blood sample. And then you can take the cure, and I can get out of here.” I grabbed his hand and thrust the tiny yellow tube into it an
d squeezed his fingers closed around it.
“I’m not going to take it,” he said.
“What are you not understanding? Ferae is a disease. And it’s working its way to your brain. But if you take the cure, it’ll never get there, and you won’t go insane. Ever.”
He backed up, arms outstretched. “But, silky …” he crooned while doing a slow turn. “Look at this.” He lifted his shirt, revealing his ripped torso. Aside from the faint stripes on his ribs, I saw the similarities, not for the first time, between him and Michelangelo’s David. “There’s nothing in me I want to cure.”
I could understand why he felt that way. I’d been mesmerized by the lionesses’ ferocious beauty and muscular grace since I first saw them in their cage at the Chicago zoo. Had I been more horrified or flattered when Deepnita had said I’d make “a nice addition” to the pride? It was a toss-up. And when Mahari had said, “Let me uncage you,” for a moment I’d longed to be as beautiful, as powerful, as unafraid as they were. But even under the spell of that temptation, I knew the price was too high.
“I’m the perfect host for Ferae,” Rafe went on. “The tiger blood made itself right at home. It didn’t have to do much to turn me into a predator. Just a couple of tweaks. And the final result” — he smoothed down his shirt and grinned — “is awesome.”
“It’s not awesome! You’re turning into Chorda. It’s horrible and —” I clapped my hand to my mouth. How could I have said that to him? But his smile never wavered. It remained plastered across his stupid gorgeous face as if nail-gunned on. I dropped my hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean horrible.”
“It didn’t seem so horrible to you a minute ago,” he said slyly, and my face blazed. “The best part of this deal is that with every little change, I become a better hunter … And I wasn’t exactly average before. All my senses are sharper, and I’m aware of dimensions I didn’t even know about before.” He leaned toward me as if sharing a secret. “I can see in the dark.” He took a deep breath, seeming to savor the air as he sucked it in, and I thought of Mahari reveling in her own stealth, strength, and speed.
“A few days ago, a mountain lion spotted me and figured I’d make an easy meal,” Rafe went on, sounding pleased. “But I’d already spotted him from a quarter mile away, so I was ready for him. The animal in me is keeping me alive. Safe. And soon I’ll smell so much like tiger, nothing will come after me.”
Except humans, of course. Was he serious, arguing that Ferae was keeping him alive and safe?
“Boone snuck up on you this morning,” I pointed out.
He waved off the thought. “I was distracted. You showed up outta nowhere, looking too good by half, and my nose was full up with Komodo puke. Could happen to anybody.”
I shook my head, speechless. At least the lionesses had the sense to be afraid of going feral.
Rafe lifted a shoulder as if in answer — a shrug — like he’d read my mind. “When the Ferae reaches my brain, you’ll hire a hunter to put me down, like you promised. Or send a guard. I won’t know the difference. Until then I’m going to enjoy the perks.” He spread his arms wide. “The more I beast out, the more everything works better — my eyes, my nose … other parts.” His gaze dropped to my lips.
The fluttering in my stomach turned into a thrum, but I ignored it. Rafe was halfway to feral as it was, yet willing to ride this viral wave the whole way just for a few perks. He’d throw away the rest of his life just to be a better hunter. Could he really be that shortsighted? That shallow? Suddenly I regretted giving him the cure. I should have saved it for Deepnita or Neve or someone else who deserved it.
Deserved it.
A penny dropped and echoed through my skull. Rafe thought he didn’t deserve the cure. His arrogance, that was an act. He’d hated Chorda, had spent years hunting him, was set on killing him, and now he’d turned all that hatred onto himself. Why?
He bent to pick up the protein bars I’d taken out of my backpack. “Are you sharing?” he asked, and without waiting for an answer, he threw one to me, opened the other, and began munching on it.
If he didn’t think he deserved to be cured — if he really thought so little of himself — he’d never take the antigen willingly. And he’d pull every trick he could think of to make me go away so he wouldn’t be tempted by its promise of sanity.
I needed to eat, but the protein bar tasted like sand, and I struggled to finish it. Rafe was still grinning, but now I saw the levers he pulled to keep it in place.
Daylight was fading when Rafe announced we’d arrived at Camp Echo. I felt bedraggled through and through, which made sense considering I was cut, bruised, covered in dust, and soaked in sweat. Yep. Utterly bedraggled.
A loud crack had me looking up into the budding trees, but just as I did, someone dropped to the ground three feet in front of us. He bounced onto his feet as if the ten-foot drop was nothing to him. Going by his long, furry forearms and heavy brow overshadowing bright, curious eyes, I figured he was infected with simian DNA. Chimpanzee, maybe?
He held a bugle in one hand, which he pointed at Rafe. “Dude, another one?” he asked, sounding amazed.
His voice was young, and I realized then that under all the dark facial hair, his face was young too. He probably wasn’t much older than me.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rafe replied.
The guy grinned at me, revealing square, gappy teeth. “You feline too?”
“No, I’m —”
“With me,” Rafe said firmly. “So toot your horn, chuckles, and let ’em know we’re coming. Then get out of our way.”
Instead, the guy strolled closer, eyeing me with delight. “She doesn’t smell like you,” he told Rafe as he circled behind me. I twisted to keep him in view. “She smells —” When he put his nose within inches of my armpit, I smacked him away. His pronounced brow ridge shot up. “Human.”
“Whoa,” Rafe drawled. “Can’t get much past you.”
I shot Rafe a dirty look and then offered the manimal a smile. “Hi. I’m Lane.”
The guy’s grin widened. “Nice to meet you, Lane. I’m —”
“No one she needs to know,” Rafe pronounced.
“Happy,” the chimp-man finished smoothly.
I blinked. “That’s your name? Happy?”
“Name, aim, and avocation,” he replied … happily.
Rafe rolled his eyes. “How ’bout making me happy by blowing that thing and then hiking your chimpy self back up the tree?”
Happy kept grinning and kept staring at me. “Dude, four in one day! Where are you finding these girls?”
“Four?” Rafe met my eyes, clearly coming to the same conclusion I had. The three lionesses were here. “The others were infected with lion?” Rafe asked.
“Oh, yeah. They said you sent them.”
Rafe frowned, but Happy shook his head like he couldn’t believe his luck. “You have my eternal gratitude, man. The other girls in camp are all too young, or too attached to someone who isn’t me, or too close to feral … though sometimes that can be —”
“Was there a guard with them?” I cut in.
Happy’s attention swung back to me. “Yeah. A human,” he said dismissively, and then seemed to realize his mistake. “Not that there’s anything wrong with humans. Least not female humans.”
“And Glenfiddich let him in camp?” Rafe asked sounding surprised.
“He wouldn’t have, ’cause, well, human. But he didn’t want to turn away the guard and have the lions leave too. One of them caught his eye.”
Rafe tipped his head, considering this. “The blond?”
I felt a spark of irritation, though really I couldn’t deny Neve’s appeal.
“No,” Happy said. “The alpha. Mahari.”
Rafe made a face. “If those two get together, we’ll be at war with humans before the week is out.”
Happy put the bugle to his lips and blasted out three loud, harsh notes. “I’ll take her from here,” he told
Rafe.
“You’ll lose her on the way to the kitchen.” Rafe took my hand and tugged me down the path toward a wooden archway. Music thumped in the distance. I couldn’t identify the song, but it had an old, vicious beat like something from before even my dad’s time.
“What’re you doing?” Happy sputtered. “You never come into camp.”
Rafe frowned when Happy caught up to us. “You’re on lookout.”
A few of the big oaks on this side of the fence had platforms built into the highest branches.
“I just reassigned myself. Now I’m on the welcoming committee.” Grinning, Happy hooked an arm through mine.
“We’re not staying,” Rafe said roughly. “We’re just here to collect the guard.”
I studied the archway. “Why don’t you have a gate?”
“Why would we?” Happy asked.
“What if a feral gets in?” I scanned the area but saw only trees and a few rustic wooden buildings.
He shrugged. “What’s it going to do — bite us? We’re already infected.”
“What if it tries to eat you?”
“Oh, you mean Gabe,” Happy said and glanced at Rafe.
“Gabe?” I echoed.
“Gabe Varones. The guy infected with Komodo,” Happy went on. “He’s pretty territorial. Just don’t go stomping around his gorge, and he probably won’t bother you.”
Probably? Gabe had sure as heck bothered Boone! A fact that Rafe was weirdly keeping to himself. I shot him a questioning look, but he just shook his head slightly in return. Fine. I wouldn’t say a word. Though maybe if the manimals knew that lizard-dude ate Boone, they’d add a gate.
“You’re not from Heartland,” Happy said, eyeing me.
“No,” I admitted, but didn’t offer him any further explanation. “What was this place?”
“A summer camp. It’s a real sweet setup. We’re on a peninsula with lake on three sides,” he said proudly.