The woman opened a hatch to the driver’s section. “Take the short route.”
“You got it, Kira.”
She shut the hatch, turned to us, and grabbed a handhold built into the roof of the van. Feet planted shoulder-width apart, she managed to stay upright and stable as the van made some nifty turns. If not for Ash on one side and Sage on the other, I’d have fallen off my seat.
“You Noah’s boys?” she said.
“Yes,” Logan said. “Please tell me you’re Nate’s people.”
She grinned, showcasing even white teeth. “We’re Nate’s people. Picked up a call from Noah about an hour ago on our satcom. Told us you were holed up here and would be with us tomorrow before sunset. Nate remembered this place was infested so sent us to get you.”
And thank God he had. Thank God Noah had called in. “Thank you. You saved our lives.”
She smirked. “You looked like you were handling yourself pretty well.”
“Would have flagged eventually under the onslaught. Those fuckers don’t tire.”
Her expression sobered. “No, they don’t.”
“Human Feral … how long?”
“A few months.” She cocked her head as if listening to something. “We’ll hit smooth terrain in a moment. Relax, you’re safe. We’ll be at camp in about half an hour.”
Benji whimpered in my arms, and Kira’s gaze dropped to the child; her nose twitched and then her face softened. “He’s one of us.”
I nodded. “His mother didn’t make it.”
She sighed. “They were on the way to us?”
“Yes.”
“In that case, he’ll be well looked after. Thank you for saving him.”
I leaned my cheek on the top of Benji’s head and closed my eyes. Almost there, we were almost there.
Chapter Nineteen
Elias
The Wilds, the fucking Wilds. They’d taken a shortcut. Fools. I’d never been into the Wilds myself, but Malcolm had sent scouts; not all had returned, and the tales the survivors had spouted had filled my blood with ice.
Fools.
The terrain was rough, and the bike was suffering now; I’d have to get on foot soon. No choice on that. I’d been lucky it had lasted this long. Common sense dictated that if they’d cut through the Wilds they’d have exited onto a road called the A6, which led to Kirkstone Pass, but the landscape was no longer the same as the old maps. Overgrown and unkempt, the signs that had once populated the Island were hidden from view. But if that was where they were headed, then I was on the right road to finding them. A building rose up to my left, gray and imposing on a backdrop of orange and red.
Fire.
Fire was man-made, which meant humans, or maybe it was her. I swerved the bike onto the slip road, headed in the direction of the flames. Figures battled up ahead. The flash of a sword and the snarl of wolves.
It was her. It had to be, and she was in danger. I revved the engine of the bike, and a roar ripped the air as another engine drowned out the sound of my bike. A moment later, an armored vehicle crushed through the woods, taking out the Feral. The figures on the ground didn’t hesitate to pile in.
Safe. She was safe.
The van pulled away, hurtling back into the woods. I revved my engine and followed. I had her, and I wasn’t letting her out of my sight.
Chapter Twenty
The Claw camp was located in a huge clearing in the dense forests on the outskirts of what had once been the county of Derbyshire. This site had once been a national park but was now an overgrown wilderness. The perimeter was fortified with fences made of chopped-down tree trunks, electrified barbed wire running off generators, and huge, hulking sentries. Fire sconces lit the perimeter, pushing back the shadows. Figures walked about between huge teepee tents or sat around roaring camp fires chatting, amiable and relaxed. The aroma of roasting meat filled the air, and my stomach cramped in hunger. How long had it been since I’d had a proper hot, meaty meal?
Too long.
We followed Kira and what seemed to be her second in command past a set of sentries and into the camp proper. Benji held tight to my hand, walking close.
A woman approached, faltering a few feet away. She shook her head in confusion.
“What’s wrong, Lana?” Kira asked.
“I thought … I thought I smelled someone.” She laughed nervously. “My sister, Mika.”
“Mummy’s name was Mika,” Benji said in a small voice.
Lana’s hand went to her mouth. “Oh. Oh, hello …” Her gaze flicked up to Kira.
Kira nodded. “His mother was on her way here with him. I’m sorry, Lana, she didn’t make it.”
Lana pressed her lips together, her eyes misting. “Okay. Right.” She walked closer and crouched a few feet away, her attention on Benji. “Hi. I think … I think I’m your aunt.”
“I’m Benji,” Benji said. He held up his bear. “This is Pookie.” He sniffed.
“Wow, can I see?”
Benji looked up at me. I nodded and let go of his hand. He stood, uncertain for a moment, and then walked over to Lana to show her the bear. It was obvious in her expression, in the tension in her body that she was aching to hug the boy, but she held back, not wanting to spook him.
“It’s a lovely bear. You know, I have a daughter, your cousin, she’s around the same age as you, and I know she’d love to meet you and Pookie. I think your mummy was coming here to find me, Benji. I …” Her voice cracked. “I’d like to take care of you if you’d let me.”
Benji looked over his shoulder at me again, and once again I nodded.
“Okay,” he said to Lana.
She offered him her hand, and he took it. “Thank you,” she said to us. “Thank you so much for keeping him safe.”
Fuck, now I was getting teary. “You’re welcome.”
Kira blew out a breath. “Well, that worked out well. We should get you guys to HQ.”
Another hit of fragrant food assaulted my senses.
“Man, that smells good.” Jace rubbed his stomach.
“Crap, of course, you guys must be starving,” Kira said. “Tell you what? Carter will get you some food, and once you’ve fueled up, he’ll bring you over to HQ.” She strode off and vanished between two blue tents.
Carter, a slender young man with wide swimmer’s shoulders, shot us a reassuring smile. “We have deer tonight, freshly caught. I think Dima may even have rustled up some bread.”
My mouth watered as we made our way through the camp, drawing curious gazes that glittered in the firelight. This was a camp of uninfected Claws, creatures that had banded together and managed to avoid death. Creatures that looked all too human in their non-furry forms, albeit large, muscular humans.
“It’s an impressive setup,” Sage said to Carter conversationally. “I don’t sense any wards, though.”
“That’s because we don’t have any. If any Feral do make it this far, we take care of them. There are traps all around the camp. Traps only we know the location of. Feral aren’t the smartest creatures.” We came to a stop at a pretty purple gazebo-style tent that had been customized into a kitchen space. Pots bubbled over spitting flames, and a woman chopped vegetables at a long, wide oak table surrounded by several chairs. She wiped her hands on her apron and jerked her chin up in greeting as we approached. Like most Claw females, she was powerfully built, tall with arms corded with muscle, but her face was a delicate oval with slanted eyes and thick lashes.
“These Noah’s boys?”
“They are indeed.”
Her eyes lit up. “Good man, Noah.” Her gaze skimmed over Ash, Logan, and Jace. “You probably don’t remember me, do you?”
Jace’s face softened as if summoning a memory. “You made sweets for us.”
She grinned. “That’s right. I did.”
Logan snapped his fingers. “Pastry. I remember the pastry with jam inside.”
Her grin widened, and her attention fell to Ash. “And you loved my stew. Wou
ld eat bowls of it. And look at you now, strapping lad.”
Ash smiled with his eyes.
Her gaze raked over Sage and her mouth turned up slightly at the corners. “And who are you?”
“Name’s Sage.” The big djinn gave her his most charming smile, the one that flipped my stomach when it had been aimed at me.
“A djinn. Nice.” There was a definite suggestion to her tone, a purring quality that was almost sexual.
My stomach tightened, and I instinctively stepped closer to Sage.
Her gaze flicked to me, and she arched a brow. “Human …” She frowned. “You smell odd.”
“Gee, thanks. You try running from all kinds of monsters for two days and see how flowery you smell.”
She snorted. “I think we can help you with that problem. But I assume you want feeding first?”
My stomach grumbled way too loud, and she let out a bark of laughter. “I love a woman with an appetite.”
“You love women full stop,” Carter said.
Oh. Right.
“And men,” the Claw said. “I don’t discriminate.”
She waved us over to the table. “The name’s Dima. Grab a seat, and we’ll get you fueled up.”
Chairs scraped as we took places at the huge table, and then fragrant earthen bowls of a meaty concoction were set before us. Flatbread was placed within reach, and that was it, I was off, digging in as if my life depended on it. Hunger gnawed at my insides, violent and ferocious as if smacked awake by the prospect of a real meal. My bowl was empty too fast, but it was refilled just as quickly and emptied once more.
I was the first to start and the last to finish.
Ash placed a hand on my thigh, his fingers warm through the fabric of my borrowed bloody joggers. I covered the top of his hand with mine.
“You must have a hell of a metabolism,” Dima said.
I shrugged. “This was delicious.”
I got up to help clear away the dishes, and the guys stood with me, gathering bowls and passing them to Carter, who put them into a wooden trough filled with water.
“How is Noah?” Dima asked. “It’s been a long time.”
“He’s good,” Logan said.
She arched a brow. “No … episodes?”
She knew about those?
Logan was silent.
Dima sighed. “Nate asked him to stay with us, thought we may be able to help, and you boys … we wanted you to be a part of our pack. But he’s a stubborn man. He believed there were answers out there. A reason, a purpose for your existence aside from the obvious experimentation. I’m not sure what he hoped to find.”
“We’ve been good,” Jace said. “Noah’s been doing good.”
Dima glanced across at Carter. “You want to go grab some fresh water from the well?”
Carter frowned but got up, grabbed another bucket, and headed off. Dima watched him go and then leaned in.
“Is there really a cure?” she asked.
She knew? Noah must have told Nate. “How many Claws know?”
She shook her head. “Just Nate, me, and Kira so far. I can’t believe it.”
“It’s true,” Logan said.
She nodded. “I believe you.”
Because he couldn’t lie? “We’ll know more in a few days.”
“How far have you left to travel?”
“Another four hundred miles,” Jace said. “Maybe more, I’d have to check the map and replot our course.”
“Four hundred miles can be achieved in a day.”
“Not on foot, they can’t,” Sage said.
“You’re on foot?” Her brows shot up. “You may have survived on foot this far but you won’t make it on foot if you’re headed north.”
“Why?” Sage asked.
“If you think the service station they plucked you from is bad you’ve seen nothing. The further north you go, the worse it gets. It’s infested with human Feral.” Her eyes darkened. “They’re everywhere, and they’re slowly moving south.”
“The virus must have mutated,” Jace said, tugging gently on his bottom lip. I’d noticed he did this when he was unraveling a thought. “Or it could be a secondary effect of the virus, a dormant feature that has now been activated.” He looked up. “We’d need to capture a human Feral to find out for sure.”
“Or we could just focus on getting the cure,” Logan said sarcastically.
But my scalp was prickling with a revelation that had my heart sinking. “But if the cure was designed for the original virus, will it even work on the mutated form?”
Jace shook his head. “Probably not, but with the building blocks, we could engineer a new cure, one for the existing virus and one for the mutated version. Slight modifications and a sample of blood from a Feral human would be enough to get to work on the problem.”
And the Genesis lab we were headed for should have that equipment. “We can do this.”
“Not on foot you can’t,” Dima reminded us. “Let me speak to Nate. I think I may have a solution.”
Carter returned with the water, and Dima fetched some cups. “Drink up and then we’ll head over to HQ.”
HQ was like a miniature circus tent. Sentries sat around a large crate outside the entrance, engrossed in a game of cards with a lone lamp for light. They looked up and waved at Dima as she sashayed past with us in tow. Carter didn’t follow us into the tent; instead he grabbed a chair and joined the guys in their card game.
The inside of the tent was warm and cozy. Furs and cushions lined the floors and lamps lit the space. A round table sat in the center, and a large silver-haired man draped in furs held court. Kira and two other Claws were at the table with the man who had to be Nate, the pack alpha. Dima took the seat beside him.
His piercing green eyes assessed us as we walked over. I met his gaze levelly and his mouth tightened slightly. Was it bad etiquette to stare an alpha in the eyes? Fuck it, I wasn’t a Claw, and I wasn’t pack.
“We don’t usually entertain humans,” he said to me. “But Noah was insistent that you were important. You have the key.”
“I do.”
“Show it to me.”
Demanding much? I tugged the key from under my oversized jumper and held it up. “There you go.”
He made a give-it-here gesture, but I tucked the key back under my jumper. “No.”
He arched a blond brow. “No?”
Kira tensed.
I held up my hands. “Look, you’re the alpha here, I get that, but I’m not a Claw, and you’re not my alpha, so please don’t look so shocked when I don’t jump when you demand it.”
There was a long beat of silence, and then he leaned back in his seat, picked up his mug, and took a drink.
Kira visibly relaxed.
“Come join us,” Nate said. “If you wouldn’t mind?”
He was mocking me, but that was okay. “Thank you.”
I took a seat at the table, and Logan and Ash pulled out the seats either side of me, framing me with their reassuring bulks. Sage remained standing, and Jace took the seat beside Kira. She shot him a smile, and his cheeks flushed.
“If this is real,” Nate said, “then it could change everything.”
He was preaching to the choir. “I know.”
“The Vladul have the upper hand right now. They have power over the Feral Fangs, they have the Genesis Foundation and all the technology, and they’re creating goodness knows what inside their labs. This could save us. If we can cure the infected Claws, we can swell our numbers and bring the Vladul down.”
It didn’t escape my notice that he’d only mentioned the Claws. “Not just the Claws. We’ll cure the Fangs too, and any humans who may be infected.”
His lips tightened. “Yes. Well, of course. But we should cure the Claws first.”
Of course? Ha. He was thinking about his own people. He was thinking strategically—Claw numbers over Feral Fang numbers, but my strategy was better.
“Really? I would have thought the p
riority would be to cure the Feral Fangs and take away the Vladul advantage. No Feral to control would surely be a blow to their plans.”
Nate was studying me with a new light in his eyes. “Yes. I suppose it would.”
Sage sighed heavily. “Eva, remember how I wanted to kill Ash, Logan, and Jace when we crossed paths?”
“Um, yes …” Why was he bringing this up now?
“It’s because the Vladul have ways to control uninfected Fangs. A year ago, a group of Fangs we traded with, a group that hated the Vladul, were taken by Vladul soldiers. The same Fangs attacked our camp a month later. We fought them off, and I even captured one of them, and I swear, when I looked in his eyes, there was nothing. It was as if he didn’t even remember who I was. The Vladul had done something to them, reprogrammed them somehow. We moved camp after that and started hunting Fangs. I would have killed Jace, Logan, and Ash if they were pure Fang.”
Nate’s smile was wicked. “So, we cure the Claws first. Take down the Vladul, then cure the Feral Fangs.”
Fuck. I inclined my head. “It seems the best way forward in light of the new information.”
Dima picked up her mug and took a dainty sip. “They’re planning on heading north on foot, Nate,” she said. “They’ll never make it.”
“You want me to send an escort.”
She set her mug on the table. “If you feel it’s best.”
Nate was silent for a long time. “I do. Which is why I’ve already charged Kira to take a team and accompany them. They’ll take the armored van and leave at dawn.”
Every muscle in my body unknotted. No more walking, no more fighting. “Thank you.”
He inclined his head. “On one condition.”
Of course there’d be a condition. “Name it.”
“You come straight back here with the cure first.”
Dima shifted uncomfortably in her seat, refusing to meet my gaze. She was hiding something.
For the Power (For the Blood Book 2) Page 13