by A. K. Koonce
“What do you think it could be?” Luca asks.
“We overheard a few men saying how the compound here closed down last year. The building is just used as a holding space for found mystics until they can be shipped elsewhere. Hundreds of pik—hybrids and a few veil were shipped to the Capitol for further detention and study.” Kaino pauses as he turns on the heel of his boot, surveying the quiet shadows more closely. “It’s possible that some escaped during the transfer. That’s when I would have made my move.”
A shiver claws over my skin as my memory flashes with images of the bloody talons of the veil. I shudder, my arms wrapping around myself. That’s not possible. None of those things have ever escaped. A hybrid had never escaped until Asher.
I try to find reassurance in the thought but it’s no use. My heart pounds louder with every second that passes without Asher and Declan’s return.
A growl echoes through the darkness, rustling up birds and fearful animals through the woods. A jostling rustling sound comes from where Asher and Declan disappeared.
“Something’s wrong,” Luca says.
I take a step toward the camp but Kaino’s thick arm wraps around me in an instant.
“Don’t move,” he whispers.
“You’re just going to let him get ripped to shreds?” I ask, my voice quivering on a scream.
“It’s not veil, Fallon,” Luca tells me, as she hunches down in the shadows of the forest. “It’s humans.”
The three of us are motionless as her words settle into my mind, a tightness clutching at my chest.
Declan runs toward us, stopping just a foot from me. “I tried to stop them, but they took him.” His brow creases. “I’m so sorry, Fallon.”
I’m thrashing in Kaino’s arms before Declan can even finish speaking. The wolf releases me and I stumble, my feet slipping against the dry leaves as I race to the clearing. Tree limbs tear at my skin but the pain doesn’t register. I run out into the opening just as tail lights turn out of sight.
Heading toward the compound.
Chapter Seventeen
In the Dead of Night
The warm air burns my lungs as I trail after the truck that hauled him away. Panic grips my chest, making the simple task of breathing even harder. I force my feet to move faster, faster to the one place I never want to see for the rest of my life.
It’s then that I know.
I love him.
The thought knocks me off balance and the ground greets me as my feet stumble in their pace. The fabric of my dark jeans rips at the knee, scuffing the hard earth against my flesh. My palms brace me above the dry dirt.
Luca touches my shoulder lightly, her warm palm slipping over my sweaty skin. “You need to think about what you’re doing. You’re putting us all in danger by not thinking this through,” she says in a calm voice. Her hand drifts up and down my spine, comforting me as I fall apart.
“They took him… Again,” I say in a gasp.
“I know. We’ll get him back.”
Her hand drifts to my upper arm and she lifts me from my defeated slump.
I take another shaking breath and try my best to listen to her reasoning. We need to think this through. We can get him back. We will. We have to.
“How many of them were there?” I ask, turning toward Declan.
He stands at Kaino’s side, the two commanders waiting for my instruction.
“One.”
My back stiffens as anger fuels my body. “One?” I repeat in an exasperated tone. “How did one human overpower the two of you?” I’m striding toward him, adrenaline and irrationality controlling my heavy steps.
“He shot off a dart into Asher’s shoulder. I…I didn’t stick around to wait for the dart with my name on it.”
Kaino remains standing with perfect posture as he turns his head slowly toward the hybrid at his side. “You left him there? You left a fellow warrior behind?”
“He isn’t a warrior,” Declan replies, his eyes narrowing to thin slits. “I could have gotten us all captured if I had stuck around.”
My fists clench at my side but I don’t have time to discuss this right now.
I trail down the dirt path, the deep divots and rough rocks disrupting my determined pace. Luca, Kaino, and Declan follow close behind. The four of us cling to the shadows, which isn’t hard to do in the dead of night.
The towering brick walls of the compound come into view and a bit of respite seeps through me. The white truck that took him away is parked outside. A single guard stands watch at the entrance of the building.
We assess the area from a few yards away, crouched behind a large and pungent smelling garbage bin. It reeks of rotting food, and… carcasses. My stomach churns, threatening to throw up the smell that’s strangling my lungs.
“Kaino, do you think you can manage the guard?” Luca asks, leaning around the dumpster for a closer look.
The warrior nods, his face stern as he begins to stand.
“I’ll do it,” Declan says, taking a single step before my hand wraps tightly around his wrist.
“No, Kaino will manage,” I tell him through gritted teeth, not chancing a glance at the hybrid I’m now beginning to doubt.
Kaino stalks through the night, his boots picking up pace the closer and closer he strides toward the man. In a flash, he appears before the guard. His large hands covering the man’s mouth and majority of his face as muffled screams are heard.
The two of them stand like that for several moments, the sounds becoming more and more faint with each passing second until the man’s body loses strength. He slumps forward and Kaino finally releases him. He drops to the ground, his legs crumpled awkwardly beneath him.
The three of us join the commander. “He won’t be out long,” Kaino tells us, his deep eyes expressionless as he looks at me.
A small part of me warms, seeing him as a real friend for the very first time. Kaino could have easily killed that man. It would have been easier, safer even. But he didn’t.
Drawing my sword, I grip the cold metal handle and open the door. The lobby is vacant and dark, void of the staff that once filled this morbid facility. I glance toward the work chamber that the hybrids once filled. Through the window, an empty and messy room is seen as if the hybrids were jerked from this place without notice.
I can’t help but wonder if too much damage was done. Shaw released countless veil into the world just to capture Asher. Too many lives were lost, his own life was lost. The government had to do clean up and they couldn’t risk someone else jeopardizing their precious pikes the way Shaw did.
Or perhaps they just wanted to use them first hand…
With cautious steps, I move farther into the compound, my body hugging the wall of the hallway as we walk to where the tests were done. I’m not familiar with the layout of the compound. When my mother worked here, I chose to stay in the lobby, but I know the awful things that must have happened here. My nerves can almost sense the wrongness of this place. The years of abuse that stains the walls, I can physically feel it crawling over my skin.
Looking around the corner, I spot a single guard sitting outside a steel door. His head is tipped back, his eyes closed as his chest rises and falls steadily.
Luca spots the guard as well, stepping carefully past me, her silent steps drifting over the dirty tile floor. She stands before the man and slowly leans toward him, her aggressively playful eyes watching him closely, her nostrils flaring, fanning her breath over his face.
It only takes a moment for the man to realize something is off. His even breaths halt, his body no longer filled with relaxation. Tension fills his shoulders as his eyes slowly open, blinking up at the warrior before him. His arms jerk, the chair scraping against the floor with the sudden movement. A smile consumes her features, her eyes lighting up like he’s the most amazing man she’s ever seen.
Her lips begin to quiver, her jaw shaking almost violently as she pins him with a glowing stare. She bares her teeth just as
her jaw cracks, the snout of a wolf aggressively snarling where her full lips once were. The man flinches from her, his eyes scrunching tightly closed, pressing himself against the chair to create space between him and the mystic. A growl passes over Luca’s grimacing lips, a bark snaps from her mouth before she shakes her head, her face and features returning to the beautiful woman once again.
In a single breath, she says a word that throws him into frantic motion. “Run.”
He pushes past her, flailing against the smooth tile as he struggles with the exit door, finally pushing it open and rushing into the night.
Luca grips her stomach as her echoing laugh fills the hall, her shoulders shaking as she breathes out a happy sigh. “Did you see the look on his face?” She wipes a tear from her eye as she walks back to us.
“Are you done?” Kaino asks, quirking a brow at his sister's antics.
She licks her lips, smoothing the enormous smile from her face and nods.
I walk past her. “Is anyone else here?” I ask.
Kaino turns his head listening down the hall, possibly even the entire building. “No one else.”
Straightening my shoulders, I stand back from the thick metal door. “Open it,” I command, staring unflinchingly at Declan.
For a quiet moment, his gaze locks with mine, considering me—the only real friend he has—before he slowly moves passed Kaino. He holds the slim handle in his palm, he turns it but it doesn’t fully twist. His fist tightens and a snapping sound fills the air as the handle rotates full circle. Leaning his shoulder in, he pushes the door with force until it finally swings open.
My heart leaps and I rush by him. I nearly trip on Asher as I burst into the room. Just inside the room, he lies on his side on the dusty floor. His limbs strewn out at his sides. I kneel at his side but his breathtaking eyes don’t open to me. My hand clutches his, my fingers darting out, reaching for his pulse at his wrist. It beats wildly beneath my fingertips, just like he said it did. It beats for me.
Chapter Eighteen
Hysteria
We return to the Wanderers by the following night but it isn’t at all the community we left behind. The tree that should welcome us is split down the center. The words Wanderers Welcome isn’t at all a comforting sight. It’s encompassing and ancient limbs lay haphazardly against the ground, Half of it leans, putting effort into remaining in place, while the other half drapes across the forest.
Kaino and Declan race into the magic shielded community, Luca and I trailing behind them as she heaves Asher across her shoulders, readjusting the weight of the hybrid as she jogs.
The community fumes with black smoke, two fae use their power to diminish the leaping flames that are threatening to burn the trees and the community from existence. Water flows from their palms, putting out minimal flames as more and more seem to grow.
I cough into my arm, squinting my eyes against the tendrils of smoke. I know what’s happened before we even make it to the tent.
“They knew they couldn’t see us to fight us, they can’t enter here if they aren’t welcome, so they did what mortals always do,” Raske tells his son. The lord’s solemn eyes study the ground. “They bombed us in the middle of the night, racing off into the sky, refusing to fight for what they believe in.”
Luca stands with Asher still strung over her strong shoulders, but her eyes show weakness and fear. “How many lives were lost?”
“We heard them coming. The dirt bags don’t understand it’s a little hard to surprise a wolf,” a lazy smile touches his lips for just an instant. “We evacuated the land in mere seconds. Everyone’s safe.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. No one else has died. Everyone’s fine.
For now.
Everyone works through the night, restoring the community to the pristine condition by sunrise. The wreckage of the attack barely left a shadow on these unbreakable people. Even the huts are right back in place. The materialistic items may be gone but everything else appears… untouched.
The only significant difference is the Welcoming tree. The massive historical tree can never be replaced. I point out a large tree in the area but Kaino didn’t even give the elder tree a glance.
As I walk with him, I find him dwelling on a small tree, a tree so insignificant it might be trampled over by a deer or low flying owl on any given day.
“This one,” he says, flicking open a knife as he kneels at the base of the tiny sapling, the branches barely sweeping above his black hair. He studies the trunk, not larger than his forearm, before haphazardly etching the words Wanderers Welcome into the smooth bark.
“Kaino, that one might not make it through the year,” I tell him in a tired voice, not really caring at this point.
“It’ll make it.” He finishes his carving, his dark fingers trailing over each letter. “Strength isn’t an appearance, Princess. It’s a presence, a feeling kept in your core, waiting to be freed.” He peeks over his shoulder at me, his depthless eyes meeting mine. “You were once this tree. A year ago, Luca drug home a puny human girl I thought for sure wouldn’t make it through the night. Yet, here you stand. Commanding a commander through a human village just to save one hybrid.”
As he stands, I try to suppress the smile that’s wide across my lips. I look up at him as he avoids my gaze, shifting uncomfortably.
“Stop,” he says, looking at the burnt ground instead of my beaming happiness.
“Why?”
“Because.”
“Does affection really make you that uncomfortable, Kaino?”
He ignores me, the serious stiffness set in his stern features once again.
The image of Kaino entangled with Shane flashes through my mind and I manage to bite back my smile and teasing. Kaino really is my friend and if he isn’t ready to be himself… then I shouldn’t press him. I just want him to be happy. Shane makes him happy but he refuses to fully accept that fact. Or perhaps his father would never accept that fact.
Exhaustion tears at my lethargic body as I look up at the sound of approaching footsteps. I pull my sword as Michael walks our way, his eyes darting over the concealed community. He see’s nothing but he knows what’s here.
In an instant, Kaino starts running toward the representative. Ayden appears at Michael’s side just as Kaino leaps through the magic shielding force, shifting from man to wolf in the blink of an eye. His limbs seem to tear open, his skull pulling back for the beast that thrashes to be released.
The commander lands on four paws at Michael’s feet, sending the man crawling backward, scuttling through the leaves to find some distance between himself and the snarling black wolf. Kaino’s beautiful, so much so, that I stop in my tracks, staring wildly at the beast I always knew was within him.
His fur shines against the morning light, a look of strength and power in his massive form. His always straight spine ends in a swaying, unkempt tail that stops moving as his depthless eyes hold the stare of my father.
Ayden backs carefully away, his hands out in front of him in a gesture of surrender.
I trail after the aggressive animal, running until I, too, exit the shielded community.
“Fallon, tell him to stop!” Michael cries as Kaino takes a prowling step closer.
Why are they here? Just the two of them?
“Kaino, wait,” I beckon as his head dips lower, a rippling growl passing over his sharp canines.
“You have a lot of nerve coming here,” Lord Raske says as he steps up beside me. “I should kill you myself. I could send your tongue back to your president as a parting gift for all the lies she told us.”
“We’re not here for war. I wasn’t aware of the attack until this morning. Ayden and I came as soon as we could. We don’t support the bombing but we can only urge you not to proceed with your plans. Just lie low and this could all blow over. She said it was meant as a message. Just accept the message. Stop trying to change what you have.”
My eyes narrow on him, on the sweat that’
s slipping down the side of his jaw, at the quiver in his weak voice, at the man that’s supposed to be my father. Not at all like the father figure that I loved; not anything like Ky.
Ayden pulls at Michael's arm and cautiously helps the man stand, his brass eyes wide as he holds the stare of the deadly wolf before him.
“If the Wanderers are anything, they are resilient, they are unyielding, they are valiant.” Raske’s eyes are hooded, his brow pressed low over his irate glare. “Do not threaten my people—my family—and expect us to look the other way.”
Michael glances at me, my father looking at me for the first time since his president attacked us. Attacked me...
“Your people are my people,” he says in a quiet voice, his shoulders falling as he keeps his eyes on mine.
My heart pounds, my lips falling open without a sound, his admission sending a blooming feeling through my chest.
Raske turns his back on my father, sending him a single message as he leaves, “You know nothing of these people.”
My father doesn’t know me at all. He should have protected me. All my life he should have protected me.
You know nothing of these people.
He’s right.
* * *
“Have you decided, Fallon?” Raske asks, nothing but kindness and concern fill his deep amber eyes. He looks at me the way a father would look at his daughter. He speaks to me the way a father would console a daughter. And yet, he doesn’t acknowledge Luca in the least, and she returns his sentiment.
“No, I have not decided,” I say in an even tone as if we’re discussing which dessert we might eat after dinner.
How can he even be thinking about this after what just happened? A union won’t fix the damage that’s been done. The suggestion of a biracial union is what caused this mess. President Docile said they’d return to check on us.
And so they did.
The thought of what they did to this community burns anger and hate through my veins like I’ve never felt before, setting my fists tight and my mind reeling.