Several had made it to the lower level where the prisoners had been kept. One was focused on something with an intense territorial possessiveness. Which could only mean that it had found its prey. When I couldn’t detect another life force, I assumed its kill was dead. I swept through the research wing, mentally cringing as I reached the room we’d left Lars’s body. A beast had found him.
On my way back to myself, I detected a cluster of humans in the tunnel. Their minds were relatively calm. Safe. For now.
“It’s clear,” I panted, swiping at the blood trickling over my lips. “And the men we’re looking for are just up ahead.” Bells let me lean on her as exhaustion pulled at my limbs.
Jaxon and Yukiko engaged in a whispered conversation, but I was too tired to eavesdrop. The whispers soon became heated and frantic. Yukiko shook her head, baring her teeth in a silent snarl. Jaxon suddenly grabbed her face and kissed her. A beam of light remained steady on the two lovers, their kiss needy and desperate. Several throats cleared when tongues appeared.
Then Jaxon was pulling back, oblivious to everything but his girlfriend. “I love you a lot, you know,” he said, loud enough for us to hear.
“I know, you dumb idiot.” Despite the harsh reply, her voice trembled. “You’d better come back alive.”
He kissed the tip of her nose and flashed a brilliant smile. “I’m a sleek, stealthy panther. Nothing can touch this.” Then he was moving. Away. Heading down the tunnel without us. Before the darkness could swallow him up, he glanced over his shoulder and met my widened eyes. With a wink, he was gone.
Then everyone was speaking at once.
Yukiko raised a hand for silence. “New plan. Jaxon’s going to slip inside the bunker and set a charge, which will destroy the beasts and Renold’s work. Kill two birds with one stone.”
“What’s a charge?” I didn’t care if the question was stupid. If I didn’t get answers soon, I was bolting after him.
“A bomb,” she explained. “Explosive devices are just one of the many things he likes to tinker around with.” She sighed, shoving spiky bangs off her forehead. “It’ll work. If he doesn’t get eaten first.”
“So he’s going to blow up the bunker?”
“Yup. He never does anything halfway.” Her nose ring winked as she inhaled deeply, struggling for composure. “We’ll wait a few minutes for your people to arrive, then head for the village.”
At the one minute mark, gunshots dispelled the silence. Bang bang bang. We froze as shouts and screams from up ahead echoed throughout the tunnel. Yukiko slowly turned, her dark eyes round and glittering. I thought she would go after Jaxon, overcome with fear for his safety. But then I heard it—the scrabbling of claws on concrete in the midst of pounding boots.
“Run!” Yukiko roared.
When my body seized with indecision, she yanked me toward the way we’d come. Crazy beams of light ripped through the darkness as we ran.
Yukiko glanced behind us. Swore. “Go, go, go!”
A man’s piercing cry chilled my blood.
Too close, too close.
I whipped my light around, illuminating a dozen pair of frightened eyes. If I stopped to aim, they’d trample me in their fear. I couldn’t do a single thing as a saber cat leapt and dragged down one of the men. A shot of adrenaline zipped through me and I whirled, putting on an extra burst of speed.
We were sitting ducks in this blasted tunnel. Without an unobstructed view of the beasts, I’d accidentally shoot a human. But I could see the exit and the team spilling through. In a matter of seconds, we were scrambling to close the tunnel door.
It slammed shut behind us.
“The lock is automatic,” Yukiko shouted. “There’s no way to seal it—”
Bam!
Bells shrieked as a heavy body collided with the metal door, pushing us back.
After an eternity of throwing our weight against the beasts, Yukiko barked, “Go. They’re too strong!”
We were halfway down the hall when the scratch of claws reached my ears. Don’t look, don’t look. I looked. Four saber cats were in pursuit, fixated on our retreating forms. We were giving them the ultimate chase of their lives.
Oh crap!
No one dared slow to face them in these cramped quarters and neither did I. We took the stairs three at a time. From behind came a cat scream. Someone had stopped to swing an ax at the beast. They stumbled as the animal swept out a paw, catching their leg. I readied my gun, waiting until the only person in my way was the man caught in the cat’s clutches.
Bang.
I missed completely.
My heart rammed against my rib cage as I steadied my trembling fingers and aimed again.
Bang, bang.
The animal dropped.
“Move it, Lune!” Yukiko shrieked as the remaining beasts clambered up the stairs. I grabbed the man’s arm and yanked him to his feet. Only twelve steps to go. Seven. Three. The second we burst through the door on the main floor, Yukiko slammed it shut. She cursed when there was no lock to be found. It wouldn’t hold for long.
And then it hit me—what we’d done. We led the beasts inside the house. “Dobson!” I ran for the entrance, praying I’d find him there. “Get out of the house now!”
Nearing the entryway, I yelled his name again. “Dobson!”
My shout was obliterated by the sound of a door splintering. I whirled as three saber cats crashed inside, sliding on the marble floor.
And there, standing feet away, was Dobson. The saber cats took one look at him and pounced.
“No!” I screamed as he fell. I fired at the beasts, hitting their backsides, afraid to aim higher in case I shot Dobson. But in their blind need to feed, they continued to tear him apart.
There came a blood-curdling scream from the base of the main stairs. One of the cats, blood dripping from its finger-length canines, spotted Blanca, Renold’s wife. Rose was a few steps above her mother, pale as a sheet. My stomach dropped as the animal prowled toward them. I opened fire, striking the beast’s shoulder. It hissed, but didn’t slow. With one swift blow, Blanca was flat on her back, sliding down the remaining stairs. The animal shredded through her pretty dress, coating it red.
Rose stood stock-still as the cat mauled her mother, not even flinching when blood sprayed her bare legs. I lurched forward, emptying the last of my bullets into the cat’s side. More shots joined mine, striking the other two beasts. They collapsed in pools of their own blood, but we were too late to save Dobson and Blanca.
Pressure built in my chest at the brutal loss of life. At the way they’d suffered. So many pointless deaths tonight.
And then there was Rose.
Rose.
My childhood tormenter. I almost left her to stare at her mother’s mutilated body as penance for all she’d done to me. But I refused to be that monstrous.
“Rose,” I called, eyeing the gaping stairwell. More beasts could arrive at any moment. “Rose! You need to get out of here. Let’s go.”
She showed no sign of hearing me as I approached cautiously, gun at the ready.
I touched her shoulder. “Rose.” She lifted her big brown eyes, not a shred of disdain in them—only fear. Crap on a cookie, my heart turned over for her. She’d seen her mother die, after all. I grasped her hand. “Let’s go.”
She threaded her fingers through mine and pressed into my side like a frightened child. I supposed she was a child, in a way. A spoiled little girl who never had to grow up, who always got what she wanted but not what she needed. Change would be harder for her than most.
I led her across the room, pausing at the open front doors where Yukiko stood. She finished speaking with a member of her team before turning to me.
“I want you to lead everyone to the village, Lune,” she said, not quite meeting my gaze.
“Okay.” I frowned. “What will you be doing?”
She looked lost as she said, “Jaxon rescued me from the darkness, and now it’s my turn to rescue him.” Sh
e shrugged, her expression clearing. “Besides, I need to finish what he started if something happened to him. Setting a charge can’t be harder than learning to drive a stick shift.”
“Yukiko . . .”
She threw an arm around my shoulders, locking me into a fierce hug. “I’m really glad I didn’t shoot you up on the mountain.” With a sniff, she pulled away and inched backward. “Please go, Lune. They need you.”
Then she was gone.
Dawn slashed across the sky, a brilliant, bloodthirsty red.
Charcoal smoke belched from the hellish pit before us while white ash rained down from the heavens.
Villagers streamed past, most of them in their soot-covered nightclothes. They cried and screamed. They clutched at each other or simply walked about in a daze. One man had an arrow sticking out of his leg and didn’t seem to notice. I veered Freedom around a wide-eyed child no older than five. Shocked. They were all in shock.
I probably was, too. I couldn’t feel my injuries.
A dark shape streaked toward a small herd of livestock. Magnawolf. More screams.
I had dreamt of this very thing happening, and now it was.
The segregating war for power had become a mutual fight for survival.
Shots fired, announcing our arrival. Heads turned. When they spotted me astride Freedom, their eyes filled with devastating hope once more. The sight crushed my lungs.
Appearing out of nowhere, a tawny magnawolf charged us. I whirled Freedom around, using her serrated tail as a whip. The beast recoiled with a sharp yip. It lunged again, but I was already in its mind, destroying, destroying, destroying. The animal soundlessly dropped dead.
Humans should not possess such deadly power. It could corrupt even the purest of souls. Taking a life should never be this easy, but it was. With a simple thought, I could control them all. With a simple thought, I could end the chaos and suffering.
But I didn’t.
For better or worse, God gave the world free will, and I had no business taking it away.
I mentally checked on Iris again. Awake and disoriented, but safe. She was inside the village, the very place I was headed. I wasn’t coming for her, though. Not yet. Along the village border, I found Bren and Ryker facing off against a pair of those freaky giant bears. Bren had said they were no longer brothers, but as they fought side by side, protecting each other’s backs, that’s exactly what he and Ryker looked like. Brothers, not through blood, but through trials by fire.
I skirted around them, utterly focused on one person. One target. I couldn’t save the entire city, but I could answer destiny’s call.
He was in the middle of Village Square, one of the last spots still untouched by the raging fire. Behind him, the Arcus Point viewing screen flapped in the breeze, a gaping hole in its middle. The crackling flames at my back stole his words, but as I neared the tight circle of elites—listening to him with such rapt attention that they didn’t even notice me—I saw what he held.
Vials of serum.
I slid to the ground. Tugging on Freedom’s bridle, I brought her head down. As she butted her nose against my chest, I smoothed my hands over her prickly cheeks. “Thank you, old friend. For everything,” I whispered. Her ears twitched.
I shoved her head away. “Fly, Freedom.” My loyal friend obeyed without question. My throat ached as she tossed her mane and whirled, cantering past the Square and out of sight. I was on my own now, but this way, those I loved couldn’t be used against me.
Hiding my gun, I drew near enough for him to hear me, making sure no one was at my back.
“Are you done yet?” I yelled. “I grow bored of your idiot-ology.”
The effect was instantaneous. Dozens of heads swiveled my way, including Renold’s. To say their stares were unfriendly was an understatement.
I shrugged despite every bone in my body on high alert. “What? It’s true. I’ve never heard of a more hairbrained plan.”
Renold’s mouth tightened, his lips almost blue. Now that I was looking, his skin was pasty and glistened with a fine sweat. His voice lacked its usual grace as he said, “Ah, Lune, I thought you’d be cowering in a corner from the mutant beasts. Well, I’m glad you’re here. I have a gift for you.”
Goosebumps shivered up my arms. The last gift he’d given me had been the thumbs of my former hairdresser and seamstress.
He snapped his fingers and two elites appeared, dragging a tall, lanky boy. He was bound and gagged, his face brutally beaten. With both his eyes swollen shut and one cheek a bloody mess, I didn’t recognize him. But it was his hair—ash-blond and sticking straight up—that I recognized.
Asher.
Despite my locked knees, I jerked forward a step. It took every last ounce of strength not to react further than that. Renold was still playing a game, but this would be our final match. I would make sure of it.
“I did this myself, actually,” Renold said, gesturing proudly at my best friend’s face. “He wouldn’t tell me where he hid Iris, so I was forced to dirty my hands. I don’t know why I resisted for so long. Losing control feels good.”
Crap. Crap. The madman was becoming a Berserker.
“Your wife’s dead,” I said, hoping to divert his attention from Asher. “The beasts mauled her to death in your house. And you should probably know that your breeding program is no longer operational. Rollie and Dr. Stacey are dead, too.”
The blue of his eyes flared so brightly, they were nearly white. “And Rose?”
I snorted. “Do you even care? She’s not one of the chosen.”
His jaw clenched. I got him there.
Then I drove the nail home. “Your precious bunker is next.”
The mask slid off, and his gaze sharpened. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, I forgot about our deal. You tell me how your family decimated the world a century ago and I stop anyone from destroying your plans to destroy the world again. That’s the gist of it, right?”
The elites stirred, murmuring amongst each other.
In a blur of motion, Renold grabbed Asher and placed a gun to his head. The whispers grew louder, interspersed with shocked gasps. That wasn’t a volt gun. It was a real one inside a gunless city. The Ridge had only just arrived, which meant he’d had it this entire time. His voice was a low hiss as he said, “Tell me what’s happening to my bunker and maybe I won’t blow his brains out.”
Every part of me was visibly shaking. Asher, Asher, Asher, my mind whimpered. Save him! But I needed to expose Renold for the monster he was first. I needed to strip him of everything he held dear. His city, his elites, his legacy. Only when he had nothing could I put an end to this.
This was my mission.
My destiny.
Freeing the world of Supreme Elite Renold Tatum was my legacy.
As if in agreement, the ground rumbled. I glanced at my feet, expecting a ground-dweller beast to pop up and swallow me whole. How anticlimactic would that be?
But then . . .
An explosion rocked the air.
My heart kicked against my chest. That explosion could only mean one thing: Jaxon or Yukiko were still alive. I dared to hope that they both were.
Over the startled shouts and shrieks, I heard Renold scream, “What did you do, you ungrateful, disloyal child? What did you do?” His face turned an ugly red. Veins protruded from his neck and forehead.
As he jammed the gun against Asher’s temple, I knew my moment had arrived.
My moment to play God one last time and end this.
I raised a hand. “Stop!” The energy already swirling around my body filled me with a heady sense of control. I threw the command out and Renold froze. “Put the weapon down.”
The gun lowered. Then paused. Renold released a dark chuckle. “I took the enhancement serum containing your special DNA, Lune. It burns through my veins like molten lava, and not even you can stop me now. No one can. But you’ve betrayed me for the last time. After I’m finished killing your friends, you’ll be
g me to inject you with memory-erasing serum. And I will. Oh, I will. And you will never, ever disobey me again.”
Blood trickled from his nose. Slowly, then faster and faster.
My eyes widened. “You’re not worthy.”
His face reddened even further as he swiped at the blood now gushing from his nose.
“Did you hear me?” I shouted. “You’re not a chosen one!”
He glared at me and snarled like a rabid animal. “I am a chosen one. I’m stronger than you, which proves my worthiness!”
Emotions flooded me, the greatest of them fear as he lifted the gun to Asher’s head again. And this time . . .
He pulled the trigger.
Blood exploded. Asher’s blood. His head snapped to the side and he fell, fell, fell. My best friend. He’d just killed my beautiful, sweet, honest best friend.
My knees struck the ground and I screamed and screamed and screamed.
With a sickening jolt, I was on my feet again, sucking in a ragged breath. I blinked in disbelief at a standing Asher. Standing. My heart thundered.
A vision.
I’d had a future vision.
Which meant I could change it.
When Renold’s gun began to lift, so did mine.
I leveled it right at his heart. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”
Everything slowed. His face blanched with fear. His gun swung my way. He fired. But so did I.
We gazed at each other for an endless moment, two forces unwilling to bend.
If our bullets found their marks, I couldn’t tell. He wore a midnight blue suit and I felt nothing.
Out of nowhere, a double-bladed su-yari was thrown, sinking deep into Renold’s gut.
From my other side, a gun appeared. Not a whisper of sound could be heard as it fired, but I saw the damage. A clean hole through Renold’s forehead.
As he fell, I followed his eyes. That icy blue I’d dreaded and feared for eleven years dulled to a murky gray. They stopped seeing me. They would never see me again.
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