by Lexy Timms
“Cats never forget. But part of me did write it off as the ramblings of an old, rickety Cat,” Toshi says.
“Does that seem wise to you? Honorable? Since you speak of it so much,” I say.
“Now look who’s getting testy,” Sebastian says. “Come on. We can talk about this on the train. But we have to go.”
And the spirits were in agreement.
Never had I been guided so much by them before. Never had they infiltrated my mind in so many numbers. Armies of voices chattering about, speaking of the prophecy and the connection to Clarissa and how she was in danger. The train ride was agonizingly slow, and with every stop we made I could feel the heaviness of the spirits weighing on my mind. Whispers of danger and deceit and shouts of death and destruction. We are on the right path, I can feel it. When the wind whips against my skin and when Sebastian and Toshi rattle on about Thailand and Penny and Clarissa facing the Council.
If they know she’s alive, they won’t hesitate to kill her.
If they catch her, they won’t hesitate to destroy her.
We reach our destination and move as fast as we can. Sebastian with his reaching leaps and Toshi with his quick feet. My legs pump as fast as they can, the voices kicking up to a dull roar. I need them to settle down. I need them to hush. It’s the first time I can sense Clarissa. Feel her vibrating in my bones. It’s
the first time my protective instincts are trained onto her since I left for Russia.
And my adrenal glands are kicking into overdrive. Painting pictures along the forefront of my mind.
Pictures I haven’t seen since my beloved’s death.
The three of us skid to a stop as we look up at the building in front of us. The High Council of the Primals and their impenetrable walls. Sebastian’s growl is relentless, and Toshi’s hissing is audible, and as they stand hunched, I stand with pride. Training my mind on Clarissa’s living spirit and trying to dig into the deepest parts of her body.
That's what Bears do when they mate. When they mark one another like I have with Clarissa. Their souls become one. Their pain becomes one another’s. Their happiness and their sadness and their fear and their anguish, it is all felt by the pair of them.
The emotions of their lives, all wrapped up within two separate bodies that possess half of the other.
And as I reach out to Clarissa’s soul, the only thing I am met with is horror.
“We need to get in there,” I say. “Something’s wrong.”
“I know,” Sebastian says. “I can hear her mind begging.”
“I can feel her heart rate skyrocketing,” Toshi says.
The three of us look at one another as the sun finally sets over the horizon. Blanketing the busy Russian town in a darkness too thick to see through. The banging of the voices in my mind is throbbing my skull. I close my eyes and will them to leave, casting them out for the first time in my life. What a disgrace my tribe would have found me, casting down my ancestors so I can have peace. Willing them to die when they have already met their end. Turning down their help when they have fought with their last spiritual breath to find me.
To call to me.
To alert me.
But I have to think. I know Clarissa is in danger, and I need my mind to think. Not to listen, and not to obey. Not even to command.
But to process.
“We have to go in through the back,” Sebastian says. “We have to remain unseen.”
“Toshi will be the best for that,” I say. “But someone will have to approach the Council. As a distraction. And my heavy footfalls won’t be easily concealed by the shadows.”
“I’m not going with him,” Sebastian says.
I whip my body over to the Wolf as my form drastically heightens.
“I don’t care about your history or your petty rivalry with Toshi. All I care about is finding her, and I can’t stay hidden.
I’m the only logical choice for going in front of the Council.
Which means you will go with Toshi and protect him. To find Clarissa. For once, you will set aside your own selfish whims to help her. Protect her. Like you promised.”
Sebastian is glaring at me, his eyes training onto my throbbing neck. I can feel his anger growing. I can feel him taking offense to my words. But it’s true. All of it is. He took an oath and swore to protect Kyle, and he failed because of his own heartache. Then he swore a vow to protect Clarissa, and now she is panicked. Fearful. In the hands of two Primals we cannot trust. He has to set it aside for her. He has to take his eyes off Toshi for once and place them onto her.
Onto her needs.
“Fine,” Sebastian growls. “But Toshi better listen to my instruction. He’s quick, but I can hear Clarissa.”
“Whatever it takes to get her back,” Toshi says.
“That’s more like it,” I say.
Chapter 25
~ Clarissa
Two days. I have been in this cage for almost two days. Feeble amounts of food, disgusting smells I can’t track, and an incessant rage clawing at my mind. Everything about me is muted.
I can’t focus in on Hiro’s voice, I can’t smell Penny’s odor, I can’t hear people coming until they’re right in front of me. It’s like these cages are built to tone down the methods of Primals.
All I can assume is that I’m awaiting a trial of some sort, basing it on the conversation I can pick up around me.
I don’t know where Penny is, but I assume she’s been captured as well. I have no idea where Hiro is, but my assumption is he’s trying to find a way out. I have no idea what has happened to him or how Sebastian and Toshi are doing. I have no way to contact Theo, and no strength to pry these bars away myself.
I’m trapped.
And I don’t like it.
“If someone can hear me, please. I’m in trouble.”
I have no idea if my thoughts are communicated to anyone any longer. I can only assume that ability is suppressed as well. I curl up against the far corner of the cage and pass the time, unable to free myself and unable to get close enough to the guards to take them out. An overwhelming sense of horror becomes me. I’m in a situation no one knows about, in a place no one can navigate, surrounded by individuals that want me dead.
I start coming to terms with the end of my life before I hear a familiar voice.
“This her?”
Hiro?
My ears perk up, and I whip my eyes up as two guards lead him to my cage.
“That’s the animal,” I hear one of them say.
“Pathetic,” Hiro says.
I furrow my brow as I slowly scoot toward the front of the cage.
I recognize his sandals. The tattered end of his robes. I look up into his eyes, and I can see him fighting. Thrashing between relief and anger.
He’s playing along.
And I need to as well.
“Her trial is set for two hours,” one of the guards says.
“Anyway we can get her in there sooner? I’m ready to see how this plays out,” Hiro says.
“That’s the earliest we can do, but don’t worry. Now that the Council knows of her existence, all of them will pay for their lies.”
I growl at the guard as he slaps the bars of my cell with his spear.
“Can it, you abomination! Or you’ll see your death now instead of later,” the guard says.
“No use in robbing the Council of what they wish,” Hiro says.
“Though I would enjoy some alone time with her.”
“We can’t do that, Hiro. You know this,” the guard says.
“The Council granted me five minutes alone with her to do as I please. Maybe there’s some legitimacy to her purpose after all,”
he says.
I quickly move to the back of the cage, scared to death of what he’s referencing. Images of Vlad thrash through my mind as the guards begin to unlock my crate. I watch them retreat as Hiro stands, hovering above the low ceiling of the disgusting piece of metal I’ve been placed into.
But the moment the doors close, he bends down with a smile on his face.
“Clarissa. I thought I’d never find you,” Hiro says.
“What’s going on? What’s happening? Where’s Penny?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I still haven’t found her. You were captured before I could bring my emergency to the Council, so plans changed. I told them I found you.”
“You what?” I ask.
“We don’t have a lot of time, so I need you to listen and trust me. I’m still searching for Penny, but in two hours you’ll be brought before the Council, and your existence will be tried.”
“What? What does that even mean? Hiro, I have to get out of here,” I say.
“No. Stay. Because once you’re in front of the Council, you can use your rage against them. I’m trying to get as many answers as I can, but I know they’re hiding something. I can sense it.”
“What are they hiding? Please tell me you’ve found something.”
“The guards are coming back. I don’t have time to explain.
Clarissa, go before the Council. They will debate whether or not you deserve to live and what will happen to everyone who lied about your existence. I have their favor for now because they believe I brought you in. I’m hoping I can convince them Penny helped me, so it’ll force her out of the hole she’s hiding in because she’s planning.”
“How do you know she’s planning?” I ask.
“She’s an opossum. They weren’t bred for physical war, but mental manipulation. That’s their forte. She’s concocting a plan I’m sure, but I have to find her so she doesn’t blow mine. Which means outing her as someone who helped me. I’m hoping we will find her safe. But I do have pertinent information for you.”
The door opens in the background, and I can hear the footsteps of the guards. Hiro reaches his hand into the cage and silently apologizes. He wraps his hand around my throat and pulls me to his face, and I can only assume it’s an attempt to please the guards. I’m trembling. Digging my claws into the concrete floor of my cell to try and get away.
Then he holds me close to his face and delivers the one thing I’ve wanted to know for weeks.
“They’re here,” Hiro says. “The Primals who killed your mate.”
He drops me in my cell, and the guards slam the door closed. But all I can see is red. They’re here. Kyle’s murderers. Which means I’m closer to my answers than ever before. I hunker down in my cell and bide my time, stowing my anger away for a pertinent moment. Building up my energy stores so they don’t deplete before I can slaughter them in droves and get retribution for my slain husband.
As well as get safety for the rest of the Primals walking this planet.
The guards open my cell and cuff my ankles and wrists. Made of the same material my cell is, I can feel my energy draining from my body. They’re tossing me down the hallway and pulling me along, laughing and howling and taunting me with the sharp end of their spears. I’m covered in little bleeding dots by the time they toss me in front of the Council, and I can feel my anger bubbling in my veins.
Seeping through the pores of my skin.
Pounding the vessels in my brain.
I’ve never felt stronger. More resilient than now. I stand to my feet, my back hunching and my eyes darting around to every single member of the Council.
“Your friends told us you were dead,” one of them says.
My eyes lock with the man in the middle. He’s holding a spear matching the ones the guards were poking me with. My eyes lock onto him, and I watch him closely. Carefully.
He’s a species I haven’t encountered before.
But in a few minutes, it isn’t going to matter.
“Care to explain how you’re still alive?” another asks.
“Breathing,” I say plainly. “It’s usually how most survive.”
“You will address this Council with the reverence it deserves.”
“You’re about to kill an innocent Primal who had no hand in the fate she was dealt. I’ll address you for the monsters you are,” I say.
“Who said anything about killing you?” the man asks.
I furrow my brow as my eyes dart around the room.
“The prophecy is clear,” a low voice rumbles.
I turn my head to take in the massive man seated all the way at the end. He stands, towering over the others, with his tanned skin and his beady black eyes and his thickened muscles.
Bear.
I know he’s a bear.
“What prophecy?” I ask.
“The one that states a female has been born who will save the fate of the Primals,” he says. “If the prophecy is true, you are no use to us dead.”
“I’m also not a breeding ground for your young,” I say.
“Yet that is your purpose, is it not?” the man in the middle asks. “Project Eden was torturous, at best. But the reason we shut it down was because it wasn’t working. Innocent human females were dying in droves because the experiment didn’t work.”
“You and your friends have been on quite a journey,” another one says. “I have to say, being the last of my kind and a male who hasn’t mated in centuries, the idea of being able to save my species is appealing.”
“I thought the Council was opposed to any and all testing that happened without the Council’s approval,” I say.
“Until Hiro here delivered you despite us being told you were dead. Now, why would your friends go to so much trouble to protect you? Hm?” the man asks.
My eyes drift over to a figure in the corner, and I can see those slender yellow eyes. Beady and luminescent. Wreaking of Cat-like secrecy.
Hiro.
Something is wrong. I don’t like the look in his eye and every hair threatening to sprout from my skin is coursing with electricity. A sensation that fills me with dread and caution.
Two emotions that put me on high-alert.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just that pretty,” I say.
“Or maybe,” another man says, “your purpose is possible.”
I turn my head slowly to the long, languid man on the far end of the Council. His eyes are fiery, and his nostrils are flaring. I can feel the heat of his body radiating even from where I am standing.
“Dragon,” he says.
“Asking questions can become dangerous,” the man in the middle says. “But not if you ask the right ones. Your friend Sebastian did that, but it also put you on our radar. Tell me, have you found the answers you seek?”
I can feel my veins trembling underneath my skin. I curl my lips into my mouth to keep my sharpened teeth from being seen. The energy is mounting. Trickling through the muscles of my body as they flex against my bonds. My vision is pounding, and every single sound around me is amplified tenfold.
I can no longer contain it.
One of these men ordered the slaughter of my husband.
The shackles around my ankles break and fall to the floor. A gasp ricochets around the room as the claws of my feet emerge. The pads underneath my feet grip to the floor as I arch my back and roar out into the room. My teeth are so long they no longer fit in my mouth, and my eyes are flicking through every color on the spectrum. The bonds around my wrists shatter, and I can feel the guards attempting to pierce me with their spears.
But the tips break off and the wood splinters.
I land on all fours, feeling every single hair emerging from my body. My clothes lie in tatters next to me, and all I can see are the men of that Council. Sitting there, debating on whether to forcibly mate me or kill me on the spot and be rid of the black mark of their past.
Every one of them is guilty in my eyes.
I lunge for the man in the middle, and he morphs. Straight into a Bat. He goes flying off into the rafters so I lunge for the wall, clawing up it to get to the ceiling. I bound along the wooden railings, crossing over the room as guards continue to throw spears and knives and pull weapons that will have no effect on me.
I lun
ge for the Bat and grasp it between my teeth, ripping its wing off as I fall to my feet.
I feel the swipe of a Bear claw against my skin, and it causes me to yelp. My back bristles and saliva begins to drip to the floor from my jowls. I raise up on my hind legs and feel my body
stretch. My muscles rip. My veins bleed. The Bear looks at me in astonishment as red drips in my vision. My entire body is poised and ready to kill him on the spot. I sink my long teeth into his neck, pouring my saliva into him until he’s begging for mercy.
Turning back into a mere man and bleeding out on the Council floor.
They all attack me at once, their transformations tearing at their clothes. The Dragon rises to the ceiling and sprays me with its fire, but my coat is too strong. I can smell the burning hairs on my stomach, but the heat only tickles my insides. I laugh at him before I pounce, my claws swiping at the metal armor of scales that seem to clad his body.
A Wolf lashes out at me, burying his teeth into my back.
I let out a piercing roar as he throws me backward.
I go careening into the wall and slide down to my head. My ass falls to the floor as he pounces. His teeth are shining, and his jaw is poised to take me out, but one swipe of my elongated claws tumbles him off my body. A Cat pounces on me from behind, and I reach back, digging my claws into his shoulder blades.
I throw the measly furball into the wall, hearing his bones crack as the wall begins to cave.
I’ve lost myself in my form. A full-fledged Primal form I can’t control. Animals are being tossed around, and fur is flying in all directions. Blood is being shed, and naked male forms are whimpering and hiding in the shadows. Voices are scraping at the edge of my mind as my feet rear back, taking out the Deer I know is behind me and listening as the cracking of bones echoes throughout my ears.
Then, a rumbling voice pierces my mind. Furious and angry, but with the stench of fear. I’m panting. Sweating. Bleeding from claw marks on my face and a bite mark on my leg.
But that voice still calls to me.
Howls for me.
His voice.
A voice that settles the rapid beating of my heart.
“Snap out of it, Clarissa. They didn’t kill Kyle.”