No one ever constructed a better façade for a city like this. No outsider would ever believe it existed. If he hadn’t sworn on his life to love June forever, to commit himself to the NightShade and their society, he would never have found out, either.
The train let the party out on another platform in another part of the city. Ash couldn’t tell the difference between one street corner and another. To him, the whole thing looked the same. He could take years to learn his way around.
Ezra followed a street and turned a corner. There Ash beheld something he would never forget until the day he died. A massive courtyard spread out before him. Monstrous edifices surrounded it on all sides, and people strolled through a maze of walkways crisscrossing it. Dozens of colored lights dangled from the ceiling to light the place.
Towering trees stood at every corner, and soft bright grass covered the sections between the walkways. The place resembled any city square on the surface. A gentle breeze rustled the tree branches and gave the air a fresh, springtime scent.
Ezra escorted the party to the nearest building. They climbed the stone steps and entered a huge amphitheater. Ezra found them seats on the upper balcony where Ash could look down on everything.
Thousands of people crowded into the seats. They faced a curved dais where twelve grey-haired NightShade discussed the Midnight situation. An old man leaned forward to speak into a microphone. “And next we will hear from the representative from Q section.”
Down on the floor, a square-cut man with high, angular cheekbones shouldered his way to a podium facing the dais. “Honored Elders, fellow representatives and friends, I have the honor of speaking on behalf of Q section on the subject of the Midnight threat. After careful consideration, we lodge our vote to attack the Midnight as soon as conveniently possible. Too many of our people have already died needlessly from our inaction. The sooner the Midnight understand we intend to defend ourselves, the bear-baiting will stop and we can go back to living in peace the way we want to. We shouldn’t wait to gain an alliance with the Bruins we’ve heard so much about. We should stand up for ourselves on our own feet.”
The honored representative from Q section went on at length. He said a lot of things Ash heard before. Ash turned his attention to the crowd. Several well-dressed men and women sat in rows near the front. They must be representatives from the rest of the city’s many subsections. They each had to take their turn voicing their concerns and announcing their wishes to the Elders. No wonder the Elders took so long coming to a decision. They had to consider the needs and opinions of so many people.
Ash leaned over to June. “How long do we have to wait our turn?”
She shook her head. “We don’t have to wait. Arryn already lodged your request to join our people. It could take months before they hear your request, and you’ll already be living here, so it will be granted with no fuss. When the hearing happens, we’ll come back. Until then, we’ll go about our business. We just had to put in an appearance to get ourselves on their agenda.”
“Is it always like this when they have to make a decision? How do you get anything done?”
She lowered her voice to a whisper. “It doesn’t always take this long. Most of the time, they consider things that take only a little discussion. They can return a decision in a matter of days, sometimes hours. This Midnight question has got the whole system locked up. No one can decide one way or the other, and everybody wants their say about it before the Elders decide.”
He shook his head one more time. “It really is amazing. I can understand why you guard this so closely. I wouldn’t want anybody finding out about it, either.”
She whispered in his ear. “Don’t tell anybody I told you this, but most of the time, people don’t wait for the Elders’ decision. They just go ahead and do whatever they want to do. In that way, we’re more like the Bruins.”
He peered into her eyes in the low light. She hovered so close to his face, he saw the fine grain in her skin. “What about us? Will we live down here, or up on the surface?”
She glanced down at his mouth. “That’s up to you and me. What would you prefer? I prefer to live on the surface. The lights down here give the same combination of UV rays as the sun. They give us enough solar exposure to keep our Vitamin D levels up so we don’t get sick, but I still prefer the surface. I love the woods and the air and the mountain. I never wanted to live down here, but I will if you want to.”
“. I want to stay on the surface, too. I’m glad you feel the same way.”
She eased closer to him. “Even if the accommodation isn’t as nice as down here? You would stay in a much nicer house down here than you ever had at home. You would live in the lap of luxury with all the food and comfort you could ask for you. You wouldn’t feel cold or hunger or hardship.”
His lips itched to kiss her. “I like hardship. I like to challenge myself against the elements.”
Her hand found his on the arm rest between their seats. “Me, too.”
“Where will we live up there? Will we have to build our own house?”
“That’s not allowed. No one can build on the surface. We have to stick with the shacks we already have so we don’t arouse suspicion.”
“What do most people do when they find mates?”
She grinned at him. “Most people stay down here. Most people are born and live their whole lives and die down here. Most NightShade never see the surface.”
Ash gasped. “I couldn’t live like that.”
“Me, neither. We can stay in your cabin and take meals at Daddy’s house until we decide what we want to do about it.”
“I wouldn’t mind that. It could turn out to be permanent.”
She squeezed his hand. “I wouldn’t mind that, either.”
He bent forward, and their lips touched. He didn’t want to kiss her here, though, not with all these people around and her father and brother sitting right next to them. He wanted to get her off by herself. He wanted her in the full knowledge of who and what she was. He wanted her in the knowledge of what he was now, too: a NightShade.
He broke away. “Let’s get out of here.”
June held onto his hand when she turned around to murmur to her father. “We’re going back upstairs.”
Ezra cocked his head. She didn’t have to paint him a picture to explain what she meant. He nodded. “You go ahead. Me and Arryn will stick around here.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Daddy.”
He smiled and said no more. Ash and June showed themselves out of the building. Once outside, the beautiful surroundings caught Ash’s attention again. He walked slower on his way back to the train station.
This city contained everything a person could want for his whole life. It hid a thousand secrets, each more fascinating than the last. He could spend his life studying these people and their ways and never get bored.
He didn’t say anything on the way back to the platform. He didn’t come out of his reverie until June closed the grain bin lid and they emerged in the sunshine outside the Blacks’ house.
Abel strode out of the woods. He smiled at Ash before he went inside. Ash humphed. “That’s strange. I swear he knows something.”
June threaded her arm around his waist. “Everybody knows, darlin’.”
19. Chapter 18
Ash pushed back his chair and wadded up his napkin on the table. “Thank you, darlin’. That was the best lasagna I ever ate. I don’t even want to know how you did it.”
June laughed from the chair next to him. No more skulking around for her. She ate with the men now. “You’ll learn, one way or the other, whether you want to or not.”
“I don’t want to learn. I want to keep some mysteries unsolved, and I want to go on believing you’re the best cook in the country. Don’t shatter the illusion by making me think you used some machine to make it.”
“I didn’t use a machine. I used…”
He held up his hand and closed his eyes. “Stop right
there. Don’t spoil it for me.”
Arryn laughed out loud. “Is that why you want to stay on the surface—so you can preserve the illusion that she made the food herself? Do you want to pretend Arion doesn’t exist?”
Ash didn’t smile. “It’s a lot easier to pretend it doesn’t exist than to admit it does. Maybe it’s just easier for me to go along with the pretense if I can’t see it.”
“You wouldn’t have to keep the secret at all if you lived downstairs,” June pointed out. “Most NightShade never have to worry about running into an outsider. Most of them don’t even consider Arion a secret. It’s just a fact of life for them. It’s only us on the surface who have to think about it.”
Ash cocked his head. “There’s something I’ve been wondering about. The NightShade the Midnight caught for their bear-baiting ring—they must all have been living on the surface. Didn’t you worry they would let the secret slip to the Midnight?”
“I worried about the same thing,” Arryn replied, “but Hazel says the Midnight don’t care to talk to their bears. They just rough ‘em up and throw ‘em in the ring. Hazel says Azer was the only person to talk to her after she left Renegade Ridge. None of the Midnight ever got close enough to her to find out the secret.”
“That makes sense. I wonder what the Midnight would do if they ever suspected you have so many people up here—or down here, or whatever it is.”
Arryn arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re not thinking of tracking down your Midnight friend, are you?”
“I’m definitely thinking of tracking him down,” Ash replied, “but I’m not thinking of telling him anything about Arion. That wouldn’t do any good. I just wonder sometimes, you know. I bet they wouldn’t be so quick to come up here bear hunting if they knew.”
“We don’t want to risk them finding out,” Ezra chimed in. “That’s another reason people don’t want to fight back. They don’t want the Midnight to suspect anything.”
“You could squash the Midnight in seconds,” Ash pointed out. “You could overpower them and wipe them out. You could make sure no Midnight ever escaped to reveal the secret. Then you wouldn’t have anything to worry about ever again.”
June snorted. “And this from the man who preaches peace.”
“I’m just saying,” Ash countered. “You’ve gone far, far out of your way to keep the peace. It seems like you could have accomplished what you set out to accomplish a long time ago.”
A loud knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Arryn opened it, and Abel Black stuck his head in. “Sorry to bother you folks. I just wanted to let you know the Elders came to a decision on the Midnight. They voted for peace.”
Ezra sank back in his chair. “Well, that’s that.”
June turned around in her seat. “Thank you for coming around to tell us, Abel. Come inside and get something to eat.”
Abel shook his head. “Mommy’s got supper on the table at home. Daddy just told me to run around here and give you the news. They’re celebrating like you wouldn’t believe downstairs.”
Abel vanished into the night. Arryn closed the door and sank into his chair. “Now what?”
Ash slapped his back. “Don’t look so glum, chum. Now the real work starts. We’ve got as much to do as if they voted for war, and we can all chip in and do our part. We can stand up to the Midnight the same way, only we won’t use weapons. We can send them a strong, clear message they’ll take their lives in their hands setting foot on this Ridge.”
Arryn brightened up. “You’re right, you know. I never thought of it like that. I always thought peace meant laying down and letting them walk all over us. Now that we’ve got the Bruins, they don’t dare cross us.”
“We don’t even need the Bruins,” Ash countered. “We’ve got enough of our own people.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
“I know!” Ezra shouted. “The next time one of them comes up here on a hunting safari, we capture him and hold him hostage. If they take any of our people, we trade our captive for theirs. Simple.”
“Are you joking?” June snapped. “Holding one of them captive up here is as likely as anything to blow our secret.”
“That’s not exactly playing for peace, either, is it?” Ash added. “No, the first thing to do is get in touch with Jordan Faulkner. We’ll tell him the NightShade have voted for peace, but we’re standing strong and won’t allow any bear-baiters on our mountain.”
“What about the Bruins?” June asked. “They ought to at least know what we’ve decided.”
“They ought to know that,” Ash replied. “They also ought to know about the changes coming over the Midnight. They ought to know the Midnight’s bear-baiting operation is effectively dead. The Bruins don’t have anything to worry about from the Midnight beyond a few troublemakers.”
“You could say the same thing about us,” Arryn put in. “We don’t have anything to worry about from them, either. Not really.”
Ash grinned at him. “I’m glad to hear you say that. I thought you’d never figure it out.”
Arryn blinked. Then he grinned. “I guess I’m a bit thick in the head.”
“Forget it, man,” Ash replied. “You had every reason to hold your ground. Now the real question is, how are we going to get that information to the Bruins?”
“What’s wrong with the telephone?” June asked.
Ash laughed. “Let me guess. You have some magical video phone downstairs that transmits your message in 3-D living color.”
“Of course, we don’t, silly, but you’ve got your phone with you. Why don’t you just call up your brother and tell him what’s what?”
“That won’t work,” Ezra interrupted. “We need to send a living emissary, the same way the Bruins sent you to us. They need a real person they can talk to about what’s going on.”
“I’ll go,” Arryn told him.
Every face at the table spun around to stare at him. “You will?”
“Sure,” Arryn replied. “Renegade Ridge is secure for now. We’re going for peace, and we’ve got two representatives to negotiate with each other. Ash is right. If the Midnight try anything at all, we’ll put in a call downstairs and have a couple hundred thousand armed NightShade in their bedrooms within minutes. We’re in the strongest possible position. I wonder I didn’t realize this before.”
Ash stared at him. “Do you really want to go to Bruins’ Peak?”
Arryn cocked his head. “Do you think you’re the only one who can travel across the country to visit a different people? You’re here, and you ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. I might as well go.”
Ash burst out laughing. “I can’t wait to tell you everything about it. I’ll tell you everything you need to know about everybody you need to meet. I’ll get in touch with the Alphas and let them know you’re coming. You’ll meet my uncles Boyd and Aiken. You’ll meet Brody and Mattox Farrell, and Walker Cunningham and Riskin Dodd.” He let out a whoop. “Man, you are gonna have such a great time! I’m jealous.”
Arryn couldn’t stop smiling. “Sounds perfect.”
June caught Ash’s eye across the table. Her face shone, and her hair fell over her eyebrows when she inclined her head to one side. Ash took her hand. “We’ll have lots of time to go over all the details. Now, if you two gentlemen will excuse us, I have to take my wife home. It’s getting late, and she can’t go without her beauty sleep.”
Ezra laughed. “You two go ahead. We’ll do the dishes, and don’t be in too much of a hurry to come down for breakfast in the morning.”
Ash raised June from her seat. She let go of his hand to give her father a hug. “Thank you so much, Daddy. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Ezra humphed. “I hope not.”
Everybody laughed. June put out both arms to her brother. “Come here, big fella. Give your baby sister a hug and a kiss.”
Arryn swooped her off the floor and spun her around. “I’m so happy for you, little sister. You run along home now.
I’ll see you in a few days, or whenever you finally get out of bed.”
The family laughed one more time, and Ash and June stepped out into the starry darkness. Ezra slammed the door in their faces, and the couple faced each other in the night.
Ash chuckled. “They’re the best.”
She kissed his neck. “I’m glad you think so.”
He bent over, and their lips met. “So…do you want to make out here, or do you want to go home?”
“Let’s do both.”
He folded her in his arms, and they kissed under the stars. Ash bent her over backwards, he kissed her so hard. Her breath buzzed through her nose. She ran her fingers through his hair and massaged his shoulders. His hands crept lower to her hips.
He flew off all of a sudden. “Okay. That’s enough. Come on.”
She giggled, and they ran down the path together through the trees. Ash’s little cabin hovered in the darkness. He opened the door and closed it behind June before he struck a match. Lamplight filled the small room, and June sat down on the bed.
This little one-room shack couldn’t hold a candle to the apartments and stately homes downstairs, but it was all theirs. No one could see them or bother them. They answered only to themselves within these four walls.
Ash set the lamp by the bed. He stood tall and strong in front of her. He stroked her cheek and gazed down into her eyes. The light caught the angles of his face, and his eyes reflected the flame.
A deafening crash startled June out of her skin. The door flew back and hit the wall. Ash spun around to fight. They both stared in horror as Ezra backed into the room. His back bent under a heavy weight.
“Daddy!” June cried out. “What are you doing?”
The door swung around and banged Ezra from behind. Arryn staggered into the room. They lugged a large black square between them. They set it in the corner and stretched their backs.
Ezra cracked his knuckles. “Well, honey, I got you a little wedding present. I wanted to surprise you.”
June stared at the square. It was a beautiful old wrought-iron cookstove. It once belonged to June’s mother, but hadn’t worked in years. June could see marks on its surface where someone fixed it up to work properly again.
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