A Matter of Truth (Fate Series 3)

by Heather Lyons

  How am I going to do this? How am I ever going to resist this man?

  “Are we talking about the same girl here?” Will asks. “Because, mate, let me assure you that her bowling game is the worst you’ll ever see. She’s bloody wretched, which in a way makes her handy to have around, as you know you’ll always beat her.”

  Thank the gods for Will. “You suck,” I say lovingly once more.

  “Again,” he repeats, “it’s a pity you’ll never know just how well.”

  Before we land, I make everyone what I hope are the Elders equivalent of bulletproof vests, only I make sleek, fitted black long-sleeved shirts and pants that are hopefully flexible and lightweight and yet warm in the chilly forest we’ll be heading into. Karl provides sophisticated earpieces he commandeered from the Guard HQ so attacks can be coordinated and members accounted for. When the team is finished gearing up, we look like some kind of Black Ops mission, which I think that several of the Guard rather like.“This is the photo we ought to take for Frieda,” I tell Will once we’re on the ground. Most of the rest of the team is off to one side, making sure their bags are packed properly. “Totally screw with her mind, make her believe we ran off to join the CIA or something.”

  From behind his dark sunglasses, an eyebrow lifts. “And you call me devious.” But his lips curl upwards. “Let’s do it. It’ll be proper punishment after all those bloody texts she tormented us with.”

  “Are you serious? I was kidding!”

  “And yet you weren’t. C’mon now. Pass the phone over.”

  “I’ll take it,” Kellan says, holding his hand out. I stare up at him, but as he’s behind dark sunglasses, too, I can’t tell what he’s feeling about all of this.

  “Right. Thanks, mate.” Will passes over his phone. “Chloe, hold out that bad-ass bow of yours. I shan’t hold my sword, because that will simply confuse her, so we’ll just make do with what you have.”

  I can’t stop cracking up. “You’re crazy!”

  “Very possibly true. I’m here today with you, hunting beasties, aren’t I? The lone Métis amongst the mighty Guard?” He says this lightly, but I get what he’s letting me know. He’s here because of me, and what I mean to him, and because he’s the kind of good guy who heard people were getting hurt and didn’t think twice about jumping into the fray.

  I lean into him, curving my arm around his waist. His loops around my shoulders, pulling me even closer into the lines of his body. As Kellan steps forward, Will’s phone facing us, I look up at my friend, my heart feeling like it might burst because I adore him so very much.

  “Thank you,” I whisper.

  He leans down and presses a lingering kiss against my cheek. I hear the phone click, signaling the photo is done, and then Will’s arms are gone and he’s already half way between me and Kellan.

  “Aw, brilliant, mate. Just brilliant. Chloe, look here—we actually look like we’re shagging like bloody rabbits, don’t we?” He chortles, clearly delighted, as he takes the phone back from Kellan. The screen is held up for me to see, but I’m staring at Kellan.

  And . . . I’m astonished, because Kellan is smiling, too. A real smile—not one of the ones I know he can put on like an actor taking the stage.

  As Will moves away, already sending the photo to Frieda, I find myself saying to Kellan, “That was . . . surprising.”

  Kellan adjusts the straps of his bag on his shoulder. “I would’ve thought that his propensity towards pranks would be something you knew about him.”

  “Not that.” I slide my sunglasses from the top of my head down to my eyes. “I meant . . .” An exhaled laugh escapes me. “Maccon Lightningriver kissed my cheek once, and you nearly ripped off his head.”

  “The difference is,” Kellan says, stepping closer, “Mac was interested in you.”

  I scoff. “He was not.”

  “He most certainly was.” Kellan’s lips twitch. “I’m an Emotional, or have you forgotten? Lust is a pretty easy emotion to pinpoint in people, since it’s so strong.”

  Huh. That’s . . . I never saw that one. Mac and I were friends, good friends. I knew he was a player, but never once did he try to hit on me. As this is a bit of a sore subject between us, I switch tactics and tease, “You don’t think Will feels the same?”

  There’s that half-smile I love. Damn him—butterflies explode once more in my chest, making it so hard to be clear about what I know I want nowadays. “I know he doesn’t. I knew it the moment I stepped into his apartment the other day. He loves you—probably more than anyone else in all the worlds other than his dad—but he thinks of you like his sister, not the girl he wants to scream his name in bed.”

  My cheeks blaze; and then, like I have no control over it at all, an image of me doing just that in Kellan’s bed flashes through my mind. I force myself to count to ten and will my heart to slow down, but as I’m not hiding behind any shields anymore, I know he feels all of these confusing, conflicting feelings racing around me. So, even though he’s completely aware of how he’s affecting me, I fake outrage. “Are you telling me you surged with him without his permission, in addition to whatever other checking up on him you did?”

  “Hell yeah, I did.” He takes my bow from me and pretends to check it over. “This is nice work.”

  “Kellan!” I hiss under my breath. “Why would you do that?”

  “Complement your work? I wouldn’t think that would piss you off so much.”

  I glance over and spot Will and Karl talking about thirty feet away. I snatch the bow back and snap quietly, “I’m talking about you surging with him!”

  “I think the better question is, why wouldn’t I?” Our booted toes touch, we’re standing so close to one another. “The love of my life disappears for half a year. She shows back up with some guy who radiates overprotectiveness and love. Damn right, I’m going to surge with him and figure out who he is to you.”

  I’m buzzing at the proximity. Kellan is one of the most dangerous drugs I think that’s ever been created. His name falling from my mouth is a cross between a plea and a curse. Please, I think to him, please do not do this. Not now.

  I watch him take a deep breath, like he’s steadying himself.

  I swallow and try another tactic. Forcing scorn and irritation in my voice, I say, “He’s my friend.”

  “I know that now.” His head bends down, so that my whole vision is his gorgeous face. And, oh, for the love of all that’s good in these worlds, let me hold strong in this moment, because it’s taking all my willpower not to just grab him and kiss him. How is this going to work? Am I ever going to get a grip, even when I’m sure? “It’s why I haven’t killed him, Chloe. Because . . . I think if I’d found out you two were something more, I just might have tried.”

  I try not to breathe deeply, because good lords, does he smell good. So I hold still until he rights himself. But he knows. Of course he knows what he just did to me—and it wasn’t because of his mojo. It was all him.

  As I have far too many times in the past, I resent myself once more for being weak.

  The screaming comes in bursts, like bullets out of a gun, exploding into the dense silence long enough to rattle snow off branches and dead leaves off trees before disappearing once more. And I nearly jump out of my skin, like I always do, because even now, even after everything that’s happened lately, those sounds are some of the most terrifying I’ve ever heard.

  I asked Kellan a little while earlier if he’d make it so I didn’t feel any fear, but he refused, claiming fear was important in situations like this. Fear would help keep me alive. And yet, I wish I didn’t have this fear in me right now, that I could just charge head first into the fight I’m picking today. But it’s here, and I am scared, more so than I think before because now I know one of my Connections is with me and the stakes are all that much higher.

  When the bursts of screams grow louder, Karl motions for the team to fan out. He, Will, and I will maintain the middle formation like before, with one
exception—Kellan refused to stay on the edges to work like everyone else.

  Karl didn’t bother arguing with him. I tried to, but Kellan wasn’t having any of it. So here he is, right in the line of fire, and my nervousness kicks up to a whole new level. “Still four?” Will asks Karl quietly.

  Karl’s quiet for a moment, a finger pressed against his earpiece before nodding.

  A scream shoots at us from the near north. I pull an arrow out of my quiver. “Four’s nothing, right?” I whisper to Will. “With this many on our team?”

  He smiles easily. “Child’s play.”

  “You should go back to the plane. Stay where it’s safe.”

  “This shite again?” He clucks quietly. “I’m here, Chloe. Okay? I’m staying right where I am.”

  Kellan’s hand on my arm sends such a strong shock through me, my knees nearly buckle. “Chloe,” he murmurs, but my fingers go to his lips, stopping the words I want to say, too. Words I won’t say, not even now.

  The Elders attack simultaneously, surprising us with two extras that somehow eluded Lee. If I’d thought their forms were creepy before, they’re beyond terrifying now. More humanoid than ever, with more developed weapons jutting from their limbs, these monsters are the epitome of boogeymen. Both Blazes instantly go on the offense, sending streaks of fire at the shape shifters, and Lola yanks lightning down from the sky while Flip twists thin tornadoes from the clouds to herd our prey, but the deft movements of these killers leave them unscathed.

  I’m shooting arrows as fast as my fingers allow me. Kellan has one of the Elders cowering before him moments after it hurls itself at me. As Karl sets off another round of sonic booms and Will’s sword flashes before shrieking nearly strips the trees bare, I launch myself at the Elder Kellan’s got subdued. It swings its dagger like arm right at me, driving deep into my recently repaired shoulder, but I manage to will it out of existence fairly quickly.

  Too quickly, because once more my chin hits the ground. When will I learn? Even still, I got this one down within a matter of minutes.

  Kellan’s immediately at my side, hauling me up and stripping the pain from my arm. There’s no time to thank him, though, as another sonic boom nearly sends us sprawling. I scramble over toward the downed shape shifter; Karl bellows from nearby, “Five seconds, Chloe!” And five seconds is longer than I have, because the Elder rouses and immediately charges me. I fumble for my bow, but it’s on me before I can slide the arrow out of the quiver. A pair of quick slashes to my right arm knocks my breath right out of my chest and my bow right out of my fingers. Dammit! I messed up the Elder-proof suits again! And then the Elder is squealing, twisting in agony as it writhes before me. I thank my lucky stars that Kellan is behind me, even as another sonic boom sounds. My hand slams down against the Elder, and within a split second, I’m once more diving toward the dirt.

  Or not, because Kellan catches me this time right before I hit the ground. “Will’s got one staked nearby,” he tells me, and before I know it, we’re darting across the clearing as fast as we can. Fire blazes in and out of our path as the four remaining Elders lead the team on a grim chase. Lightning strikes the ground fast and hard, but nobody other than Karl and Will are making sufficient enough contact to be useful.

  Only Kellan has been able to get to them from a distance.

  One of the Elders hits Will from behind, sending him sprawling. I yell at Kellan to cover Will as I collapse over the pinned shape shifter. It gnashes what looks like smoke fangs at me, and I recoil just long enough for it to stake my leg to the ground.

  OH MY EFFING GODS DOES THIS HURT.

  I slam my fist against its quasi-solid body, but the pain in me is so intense that I can’t—I can’t—

  Stars dance before my eyes. I’ve lost the ability to breathe.

  Worse yet, I think the screaming I’m hearing is coming from me.

  And then Kellan is there, my face in his hands, as the Elder is swinging its free arm at him, and he’s saying—he’s saying—look at him, I think. He wants me to look at him. Listen to him. And the pain, it subsides enough that the moment I see the monster below us make contact with his arm, I’m able to make it disappear.

  Shrieking so ear piercing it leaves my ears bleeding surrounds us, and then the remaining Elders disappear.

  “You’re bleeding,” I tell Kellan. My voice shakes just as hard as my limbs do.

  He closes his eyes and drops his head against mine. “I’m going to make you sleep now, okay?” he whispers so quietly that surely nobody else can hear him, not when our ears are bleeding like they are. “You’re going to sleep until I get you to the Shamans back at the plane.”

  I don’t argue with him.

  Surprisingly, Zthane deems the mission a success even though I only managed to take out three Elders. The entire plane ride back, the team was fairly subdued. I think the Blazes and Elemental knew that they’d not even come close to helping contain our enemy. A non with a sword proved more effective, and that must’ve smarted, although nobody had the balls to say it out loud around us. Kellan was on edge the entire time, this time sitting on the other side of me rather than across. To make matters worse, Jonah called him not ten minutes before we landed in Novosibirsk.

  I tried not to listen to the call. I really did. But it basically came down to Jonah knowing that Kellan was freaking out, and he wanted to know why and if it was about me. I guess Kellan had been pretty successful at blocking his brother for the most part of the mission, but when I was pinned to the ground and nearly killed (or so Will said, when claiming the Elder’s other sword-arm came perilously close to going straight through the top of my skull before Kellan subdued it), he lost any control he had over shielding the situation from Jonah. So I got to listen to Kellan argue with Jonah about why he was blocking his memories, thanks to the promise Karl extracted earlier, and then flat out lie, claiming it had nothing to do with me.

  Relief had nearly melted me straight to the floor of the plane. Jonah was worried—Jonah was calling! Angry as he is, hurt as he is, after everything I’ve done . . . it was a good sign, right?

  I tried to hold onto this during the debriefing back in Annar, even when my eyes threatened to shut me out of coherent conversation. Even after having the thrill of seeing my good friend Etienne Miscanthus again, who came to help share Elders histories with Zthane. It was a success, the head of the Guard kept saying to all of us. The Council can’t know yet (outside of the members in this room, he clarified). The Council will never sanction having their Creator go out and repeatedly get cut up, risking her life. Kellan argued the validity of this point, sounding much like his brother, but in the end, Karl and I overrode him, siding with Zthane, and agreed to meet in a few days to set up the next round.

  “It’s good to see you, peacock,” Etienne murmurs when he hugs me goodbye. “Let’s have tea soon?”

  I tighten my arms around him. I’ve missed him. “Of course. Tell Mac he must come, too.”

  Etienne pulls away, his hand going to my cheek. “We wouldn’t have it any other way. See you soon, pumpernickel.” And then he goes over to where Zthane is so they can discuss the situation further.

  “I should get you home,” Will’s saying as we exit through the HQ doors. “Dad’s probably out of his mind with worry. At least this time, he won’t have to worry about patching us up.”

  I laugh, but Kellan doesn’t find this humorous at all.

  I’m just about to do something incredibly stupid, like ask him to come back and maybe have dinner with us because I can’t resist him and the feelings I have for him one second longer, when Sophie Greenfield materializes. And I stand there, shock coursing through every vein, every nerve when she leans forward and presses a kiss against Kellan’s cheek.

  Is it my imagination that he flinches when her lips touch his skin? That his entire body shrinks away from hers in visible disgust? Or is that wishful thinking?

  “There you are!” she says, and I swear, an ugly sense of triumph
is what curves her mouth and softens her voice. “I was hoping you’d be free for dinner.”

  Before Kellan can say anything, she turns to me and Will. “Look who’s crawled back to Annar. And is this the non that everyone’s talking about? The one you dumped Jonah for?”

  “Who the fuck is this?” Will practically barks at Kellan.

  But me, I don’t even know what to say. Think. So I do the only thing I can do in this excruciatingly awkward, torturous moment—I turn around and walk away without another word. Kellan’s voice, raised and angry, fills the background, but I close my ears to the particulars.

  It’s none of my business, I tell myself with every step. He’s free to do whatever he likes with whomever. And then—I need to get the hell out of here before I fall entirely apart.

  I resent that thought, resent that even after everything I’ve gone through, everything I’ve decided, Fate still shows how it can screw with me by manipulating my heart this way.

  “Who was that?” Will asks, jogging the last few steps to catch up with me.

  “Sophie,” I say tersely, because anything else would be too much.

  “You realize that helps me in no way.”

  I focus on the sidewalk in front of me.

  He sighs, knowing I won’t—or perhaps can’t—elaborate any further. “Well, whoever she is, she just got her ass ripped off and handed to her by your boy there. It was rather embarrassing for her, although I’m not sure it fazed her one bit.”

  I smash the fierce pleasure that comes with this back into the box it came from.

  “Chloe, wait.” It’s Kellan’s turn to jog to where we are. He reaches out to grab my arm, but I deftly move it away from his hand. There is no good in our touching in this moment. None at all. Not if I’m going to stay strong in the moment and do the right thing for both of us. But if he can’t get through to me physically, he plants himself in front of me and attempts to stop me with his words. “Please—just . . . let me explain.”