Claws sprung from the ends of his fingertips. Skin pulled tight over slabs of muscle and tendon. Every human instinct in Clarke was telling her to back the hell up, lay down and submit, but her newly honed instincts shouted for her to stay. Thorne was her only chance. He was the outlying ripple.
“Go on. Do your best,” she taunted, and just when he stepped her way, she added, “I never pegged you for one to harm a pregnant woman.”
He froze, face deadpanning. The claws retracted. “What?”
“Somehow Rush knew. And now he’s left. So, in a way, you were right. Are you happy? He’s gone.”
Unable to accept the pity in Thorne’s eyes, Clarke stared at the ground and waited while he put some pants on. She rubbed her forehead and forced herself to calm. It would do no one good right now if she caved to the panic growing in her body. It hurt to think of why Rush might have left. And then there were the other things.
“I had a premonition last night,” she murmured. “Premonition, or vision... it was... I saw many wolves in cages. Some in fae form, some in wolf… I looked closer and recognized a female with a tail. Her name is Anise, and she worked in the bar at the Laughing Den. She’s Caraway’s friend. She was kind to me, and now Thaddeus is making her suffer for it.” She paused, noticed Thorne had turned silent and watchful.
“Did Rush see the Prime before she left?”
She whirled to see Leaf standing in Thorne’s doorway, hands dipped into the pockets of silk pajama pants. He lowered his brows, eyes laced with suspicion.
“Did he?” Leaf asked again.
“I don’t know.” She thought back. “He was different after that first night—the one she left.”
“What do you think?” Leaf shared a look with Thorne. “Is he capable of hurting her?”
Thorne shrugged. “Whose sword other than his would leave such marks in her desk?”
“And on her windowsill.”
“What’s going on?” Clarke asked.
Thorne and Leaf shared a look over Clarke’s shoulder. Damn it, these Guardians would never get involved in non-Order business. Not unless she forced them.
Her jaw lifted. “I know what happened to your missing Guardian.”
She dropped the bomb and then pushed passed Leaf. Goddammit she was hungry all the time.
Thorne’s footsteps came thudding after her. “Who?”
She hurried down the staircase. “You know very well who I’m talking about… but if you need me to prove I know too, then fine. His name is Jasper. He’s the king’s bastard.”
Just as her feet hit the foyer floor, Thorne was there. He took hold of her wrist, stopping her before she entered the kitchen. “Rush told you that. It’s nothing new. Don’t lie to us, human. Don’t play us.”
Long, elegant fingers wrapped around Thorne’s wrist. The air became thick, so stifling that it was hard to breathe, and then Thorne started gasping for air. From the concentration on Leaf’s face, she knew he was behind the solidifying of air. Thorne’s eyes watered, and he glared at Clarke as though he wanted to skewer her.
“Let the lady go,” Leaf said through gritted teeth. “You of all people should understand her position.”
Thorne’s wild eyes darted to Clarke, down to her stomach, and then back to Leaf, who stood calmly through it all. Clarke’s opinion of him went up a notch. She’d thought because of his sun-kissed looks and calm demeanor, he’d be a laid back pussy cat. But what she saw in the depths of that crystalline blue gaze was not calm. It was the tempest of an ocean. The waves that sucked you under. It was the reason he was the team leader, and no one else.
Thorne choked on the thickened air. His face went red. He shot Clarke one last look and then let go. He even hand-signed an apology. Oxygen came whooshing back, and he could breathe again.
She stalked to the kitchen and found it empty. The brownies hadn’t been yet with new food, so she had to find some. She started by opening and closing every cupboard she could find, not caring if the loud bang of shutting doors woke the house.
The tension in the room shifted as others entered the room. Taking up residence beside the butcher block, Leaf flicked wrinkles from his pants. Thorne came in behind him.
“Now. Let’s try this like civilized beings.” Leaf gestured at Clarke. “What is it you know about Jasper?”
Her gaze darted between Thorne and him. He was right. She didn’t know enough for them to go on, but they didn’t know that. Every great con was steeped in truth.
“I know the Prime and the king had something to do with it,” she said. “They conspired. That’s all I’ll tell you until you help me find Rush and rescue Anise.”
With her hands locked on two different doorknobs, she bowed her head and took a deep breath. There. She’d said it. She wanted to find Rush. Even if the bastard had left her. She had to know why. She’d always thought that if it came to it, his curse would be the thing that took him away. Not his own… she swallowed the shameful words. Rush was not a coward. Not the Rush she knew. There must be something else going on.
Part of being a new person was not waiting for things to happen to her, she had to build the life she wanted. And she wanted Rush. There had to be a way. They might not have exchanged vows, but being mated was as good as being married in this time. They might not have said they loved each other, but Clarke knew she loved him. This was love. This aching longing squeezing every cell in her body. This need to chase him down until the ends of the earth just so she could wrap her arms around him one last time. Love was never giving up. Never quitting. Staying until the end.
Clarke opened another cupboard. Slammed it shut.
“What are you looking for?” Thorne asked.
“Food! I’m starving.”
He came over, bent low and opened a base cupboard. Inside was a plate of bread, some sort of jam spread and the sweetest smell known to mankind. Coffee. Or something like it. While Thorne took out the bread and began slicing, Clarke opened the canister and sniffed. It was enough to make her relax and to feel like home. She didn’t even need to drink it. But her father had. Those tears she’d held back leaked from her eyes. She missed him so much.
Thorne’s eyes widened. “Don’t cry.”
“Shut up.” She pointed the coffee canister at him. “It’s hormones.”
He held his palms up in defeat, but then cocked his head, listening to something near the door.
Was someone there?
Clarke narrowed her gaze through the other entrance of the kitchen where the dark hallway led to an entertaining area. A shadow moved. She almost choked when she noticed two others watching. The vampires. They blended so easily into the darkness that she’d not seen them. The moment she did, they knew, and came out of hiding.
The model, and the muscle, still dressed in their Guardian uniform.
Leather creaked as Shade folded his arms. He narrowed eyes in accusation at Leaf. “I told you.”
Thorne pointed at Leaf in agreement. “Jasper’s not on hiatus, or some secret mission. The king has him. Are we going to just let that slide?”
“We’re Guardians,” Leaf reminded them. “We don’t get involved. Jasper knows this as much as anyone. The war we’re fighting is very different to keeping everyday peace. If we don’t draw the line, then our resources are expended.”
“No,” Clarke snapped. “Don’t you dare hide behind your excuses. Staying isolated keeps your hearts hard. There’s nothing wrong with getting involved to protect the ones you love. In fact, it separates us from the cold-hearted ‘Untouched’ humans you think are your enemy. Don’t you see that?”
None of them argued with it. They knew it was true. They all used their position as Guardian to keep relationships at arm’s length. But it was worth the pain. Being with someone you loved, even if it was fleeting, was the beautiful part of humanity she was fighting for.
“And what if the Prime is gone for good, too? What if staying out of politics got her killed?” Shade grumbled.
Clarke’s hand went to her throat as she read between the lines. “You think Rush killed her.”
“If it walks like the guilty and talks like a coward—”
Leaf silenced Thorne with his glare. “We don’t know what happened. We don’t know if she is dead. We don’t know if the king has Jasper. We don’t even know why Rush left. Let’s be calm.”
Hearing Leaf say it out loud made Clarke feel ashamed, for she was the first one who had lost faith in Rush. Her self-preservation reflex had been to revert to the defensive girl who’d run away from a man who’d used her. She owed it to Rush to give him the benefit of the doubt. She only wished he trusted her enough to tell her what was going on.
“There’s something else you should know.” Clarke swallowed. This would change all of their opinions. “The other half of the bargain your Prime made with the king was for him to keep the breeding law in place for another few years.”
“What do you mean?” Thorne asked.
“I mean, the king was going to abolish it because Elphyne is flourishing. She made him keep it in place in return for handing him Jasper. Now why do you think she’d do that?”
Thorne stared at her long and hard while the pieces clicked together. Then he shoved the plate of bread and jam to the floor. Leaf raised a brow at him. Shade rolled his eyes. And Haze… the big vampire was the only one whose gaze landed on Thorne with concern because if what Clarke had seen in the vision was true, then the Prime had orchestrated the death of Thorne’s mother. Why else would she have wanted that law to stay in effect? Because she wanted to control Rush. Because she wanted him to bring the chosen one to her.
Clarke just couldn’t figure out why the Prime had to take this exact path.
“My point is,” Clarke added quickly, “that your Prime can’t be trusted. I think Rush figured it out, and that’s why she hasn’t been back. She’s hiding… or scheming.”
“Or she’s dead,” Shade said.
“We’d know if she was dead,” Leaf defended. “And she has a realm to protect. It’s not easy being the Prime.”
“But at what expense?” Haze added. “She’s made us all stay out of the affairs of the kingdom, but she’s in the thick of it.”
“It’s because she’s in the thick of it,” Clarke pointed out. Silence compounded until all she could hear was the beating of her heart.
“Very well,” Leaf said to Thorne through a clenched jaw. “You will go with Clarke and help these people at Crescent Hollow.” He then met Clarke’s eyes. “When you get back, you will help us find Jasper in return.”
“Agreed.”
“Or we can just make her tell us.” Cloud walked in, cracking his knuckles. “Then we don’t have to do anything but find Jasper.”
“No,” Thorne said with a sigh. “Clarke is right. Those are my people. I won’t abandon them if they’re in need. Jasper taught me better. I’m going.”
“I don’t answer to you,” Cloud said.
“But you do to me.” Leaf straightened.
“You lead the team, you don’t make the rules.”
“You don’t have to join Clarke, but you won’t force her to give up the information about Jasper until she’s ready.”
Cloud gave Leaf a derogatory stare and then left. When he was gone, Leaf turned to the rest of them. “Anyone going to Crescent Hollow, be ready and armed within the hour.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Life had never gone Rush’s way.
From the moment he’d come out feet first, his unnatural wants had always ended in tragedy or suffering. But the alpha, Lord of Crescent Hollow, was never who he was supposed to be. If only it wasn’t those closest to him who paid for his desires.
His father.
His lover.
His son.
His sister, mother.
And now… Rush’s throat closed.
Damn that Prime and her always prepared answers. He’d gone to her all those nights ago, ready to annihilate, so sure that he was the one who’d known it all. But he wasn’t.
“Did you ever consider that it wasn’t fate doing these things to you? But yourself?” The Prime’s smug voice was like honey clogging his throat.
Rush bared his teeth and planted Starcleaver’s point in the female’s desk. “You’re the one who’s doing these things, Prime. You. Not the divine Well. You’ve manipulated everything since… how long?”
She stared out the open window to the stars twinkling in the clear night sky. “Since before you were born.”
“And after?”
“After too… but there is one thing I’ve never had a hand in—who the Well chooses.” She glanced at Rush. “That has nothing to do with me. Not now, not ever. I just make the most of what I receive.”
“Why?”
A laugh coughed out of her. “Why? You know why. So the Well doesn’t dry up. So we have a bountiful land with plenty to grow. You may not remember the famine that plunged this planet into chaos, but I do. I was around when the last of our ancestors who’d fought tooth and nail to establish a stronghold on this land were still alive. And now because of the legacy they leave, it flourishes with beauty.”
She was talking about the old ones. The ones who’d lived among Jackson Crimson’s time, two thousand years ago. Was the Prime truly that old?
“You talk about legacy, but you have ripped mine from me.”
She clicked her tongue, admonishing him. “That you have no legacy has nothing to do with me. All I did was put you in the right place at the right time. The rest was you.”
The anger Rush had fostered over the time of his curse flourished anew. It seethed like a rolling ocean. How could she think she had nothing to do with his plight?
“Innocents have died because of your meddling,” he ground out. “What about those?”
“No one is truly innocent. You know that.”
Rush stared at his sword. He stared at her.
“I needed someone to bring her to us,” the Prime conceded.
“Clarke?”
“Yes. We looked into many potential outcomes, and you were the only one who kept her from sinking to the inky depths of the Well. Has she told you what life she led in the old world? I’m not even sure if she told her friends at that time.”
“If you’re referring to her hand in the destruction of her world, then yes, I know. And I don’t care.”
“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the fact she used her gifts to steal from people. Cheat. Lie. Swindle. That was her motto.”
He shrugged. Who was he to judge? “Perhaps. But the woman I know has honor.”
She’d saved his life when she could have walked away.
“She has honor now,” the Prime said. “Do you see?”
Rush turned away and clenched his jaw. She was saying Clarke would be a bad person if it wasn’t for him. But he wasn’t pure himself.
The Prime continued, “Because of your curse, you were the only one the Void could not See. And the only way to have you there, ready for her awakening, was to—”
“I get it,” he snapped. Nothing she said mattered anyway. Even if it was the truth, it was her truth. She’d played with his family, his life, as though they were all expendable pieces of a game. His fingers wrapped around the Starcleaver’s hilt. Felt the familiar heavy weight in his hands.
She licked her lips. “I may have made it so you were cursed, but I had faith you would return. I made sure your quarters remained untouched. As far as I was concerned, you were always part of the Twelve.”
He’d had enough of her excuses.
“Trust me, Rush.”
“I’m done with trust.”
“Don’t,” she warned, eyes on the sword. “You’ll get sick. It will push you over the edge.”
His upper lip curled as he tugged the sword from the desk. The heavy metal lowered to scratch the floor. He sauntered, etching a line in the ground as he made his way to her by the window.
“You forgot one thing whe
n you cursed me,” he said, looking at her from beneath his lashes. “A loophole, if you will.” He lifted Starcleaver and inspected the special glyphs etched into the blade. They were useless. Metal was magic free. It repelled magic. It was why the Guardians used metal swords to fight magical monsters. It rendered the magic of monsters impotent. “You left me Starcleaver. That was your mistake. It blocks magic. It blocks the curse from affecting me when I use it as an extension of my arm. As long as no other part of my body touches another, the sickness won’t affect me. Who do you think has been culling wayward humans in our territory all these years? Or the errant monsters cavorting in Seelie territory? I know you know about them.”
A small confident curve of her lips. “It wasn’t a mistake. I left you Starcleaver on purpose.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think it was an oversight. I can scent the lie on you.”
“Ah, Rush. Have you been so isolated from your kind that you’ve forgotten the fae cannot lie?”
“You know what I mean. You deal in half truths and misdirection.”
Her big brown eyes widened a fraction, and then she pursed her lips. “History is repeating. Do you understand?”
Another step closer.
“Rush—” she put her hand up. “Killing me isn’t the answer.”
“Then what is?” He drew his arm back, braced, and readied to parry.
“She is. And the child growing in her womb.”
Time stopped.
There was no sense, no rhyme or reason. A child? Growing in Clarke?
Rush’s surprise was the break she needed. She burst into a ball of white light. Energy slammed into him. Wind ruffled his hair. He turned blindly, arcing his blade in an almighty swing. It cleaved through something, caught on the windowsill and embedded. When he could see again, a white feather beneath his blade was all that remained.
“If you want to save Clarke,” she said, now suddenly behind him. “If you want to save your unborn child from suffering the same consequences as the first, then you have a choice to make.”
He whirled to face her again. Drew back his sword. “You took my choice from me.”
The Longing of Lone Wolves Page 26