by T. F. Walsh
We made a hasty dash out of the slums.
My stomach locked tight. The PPD should have known of the gang threats, helped those in need without punishing them for sneaking in.
“Sometimes it feels as if Kutia Hollow is fucked,” Axel said. “We’re too far gone.”
Couldn’t agree more, but I wasn’t sure how long we’d all survive until salvation came in a year’s time. Princess Kutia would cleanse the world of evil, help races unite, and make our lands fertile again. But was it possible for us to last another twelve months?
Axel and I marched through the empty town and reached a wire fence surrounding the area. Beyond that was an explosion of trees—Kutia Park. Axel nudged me to my right until we found a gap in the fence. When we passed through, we hurried toward the forest. Last I remembered, there were no security cameras in the area, but that could have changed.
Once we entered a cluster of oaks, ivy draping from their branches, I was teleported to a time of peacefulness where fresh air filled my nose. Unfortunately, everything there reminded me of Nyx. She used to ride her motorized skateboard, laughing all the time. Even the glint of water at the pond brought back memories of where she’d once fallen in after slipping on the bank.
I could swear her voice floated on the air, calling me to watch her latest invention. My chest squeezed. This was why I avoided the park. It represented what I’d lost. No matter how many criminals I took down, it would never bring back my sister.
“Did you hear me?” Axel was waving a hand in my face.
“What?”
“Where do we go from here? Where’s your contact?”
I welcomed the cool air near the water and it had distracted me too, but I tried to refocus on where we were. “Okay, we stick to the edge of the park, and at the other end, we cross a few blocks.” Those who lived closest to the park held more important positions in Moscow. Vassily, the PPD chief, had a three-story mansion overlooking the gardens. My apartment remained buried in the suburbs. The memory had me cringing. Would I live to call it home again?
Despite the early hours, families had gathered around the pond. They huddled on the benches, watching the Koi carp. Pink and white petals coated the green lawn from surrounding trees. By midday, vendors would sell cheese-filled pancakes, poppy seed cakes, and small stuffed breads with roasted onions and cheese. Children rode their skateboards along the paths.
Axel and I kept our heads low and moved through the woods, passing the water. One day, our world would become abundant and lush again. I had to believe it or I’d never be able to get out of bed most mornings.
Once we reached the edge of Kutia Park, we stopped. Two guys jogged across the road several feet from our position. I zipped up my jacket, aware if I looked the part of a PPD, they’d leave us alone. And with my hair down, hopefully, no one recognized me. I’d always worn it in a ponytail.
Axel’s piercing eyes fastened on the streets stretching outward, the houses, myrtle trees, blooming with lavender flowers. “Stay close. Anyone approaches, let me talk.”
He nodded and stared down at me, something shifting behind his gaze. But I didn’t have time to analyze him. I had to work out how to confront my ex without him arresting me.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do this.”
Axel grabbed my hand in his, the fingers burning hot against my skin. “Thanks for helping me. Not sure if I mentioned it earlier.”
I studied the sincerity in his gaze, his mouth parting, and couldn’t help but wonder how his kiss would taste.
“You’re proving the stories about PPD wrong.” He winked, and my legs softened beneath me. Damn, get a grip, girl.
“The ones where we’re pictured as human-haters?” I asked.
He laughed, the tender sound caressing my skin. “Never heard it worded that way.” When he pulled away, something inside me chilled. I enjoyed his closeness and attention.
I faced the street, only several trees stood in our path. We couldn’t get caught, or—
Axel grabbed my elbow and drew me close to him. My hands snapped flat against his hard chest. Before I could react, his mouth was on mine, demanding and passionate. Everything I’d imagined.
Of course, I should have pushed him aside, remembered this was a life or death mission. Instead, I melted like an icicle beneath the sun. My fingers curled behind his neck, drawing him nearer.
His arms drifted to my lower back, and his tongue pressed against the seam of my lips. I accepted him, tasted his sweetness. I was floating, no longer in my complicated life, but in a place where only Axel and I existed.
When Axel broke our kiss, he leaned closer, our foreheads touching.
My heart fluttered. The earlier resolve to stay away from Axel was now a puddle under my feet. He’d gone and kissed me with such passion… I’d lost myself. So how was I supposed to concentrate on the job, let alone face my ex?
Chapter 17
Words jammed in my mind as I thrummed with urgency to remain glued to Axel. In his embrace the world fell away, and my problems vanished. Insane, considering I had no right getting close and personal with him. I’d known him for only a day; sure, it had been a crazy day where we almost died several times. We had no choice but to work together. Kissing him was a different ball game.
He broke away. “Are we visiting your contact from the PPD?” he asked, standing so close I struggled to refocus my head.
I welcomed the refreshing air against my neck.
“Yep, let’s go.” Why had he kissed me? Maybe later once I cooled down from the inferno claiming my insides, I’d articulate myself. But first, I had a job to do.
Axel and I emerged from the park into the residential sector of Moscow. I couldn’t stop my lips from tingling.
Several faes power-walked down the sidewalk, and everything seemed normal and quiet. I kept my head low, and we hurried across the road. Neither of us spoke. We hightailed it down a side street, passing three-story homes presented with gardens along the front. In this part of the city, no one would even guess there was a war outside the walls, or that other parts of Moscow lay in ruins. The faes living here had zero clues about how humans lived in the Outlands. But most humans had no intention of joining our city. For the first time, I understood their dilemma and the terror they lived with from the gangs watching and threatening them.
Several blocks later, I swung right onto a street filled with townhouses. Trees losing their leaves lined the sidewalks. Despite the heat in Moscow, the country was nearing winter. Yet news reports stated the northern sections of the country were experiencing freezing temperatures. The weather on Kutia Hollow was out of whack, unbalanced.
I tensed at the sight of parked PPD cars on the curb. Many of the higher ranked officers lived in this area, including Talan, my ex, an inspector at the precinct. I used to spend nights at his place, and for a long while believed I would move in. We’d start a life together. All that time down the drain. Wasted.
“You okay?” Axel put his hand on my arm, his touch warm and soothing.
I faced him, not remembering when I’d stopped walking. But we stood one house away from Talan’s. I nodded and stared at the white structure, ready to run in the opposite direction.
“What’s going on?” Axel studied me, his brow creased.
I wasn’t inclined to divulge my entire past, but we needed insider information, and Talan worked with the police chief. He owed me, and we had nowhere else to turn.
“I’m fine. Listen, you stay out here, hide behind a shrub until I return. I don’t want my contact to see you. He’s a PPD officer. And please promise me you won’t run again?”
Axel gave me a look, complete with an arched brow as if I’d insulted him for even insinuating he would bolt. Then again, with the vulsines after him, he couldn’t return to his home. There was also our kiss. Was that enough adhesive for him to keep his word?
“Trust me,” he said. Not an inkling of deception radiated from him.
I headed up Talan’s dr
iveway flanked by enormous shrubs. The window blinds were shut, but Talan was a late riser. Shouldering my way past an overgrown woody plant, I angled toward the side of the house.
A metal fence towered over me. When I reached the sliding door, I stopped and pressed my back against the concrete wall. I couldn’t stop remembering the last time I was here. Me walking in on Talan and some floozy from his department going at it on the sofa. And he had the nerve to tell me it meant nothing. Fucking ass. I gritted my teeth, trying to remember why coming here was a good idea.
Filling my lungs with the morning air, I approached the side door and hit the doorbell.
The day I’d dreaded was here, and everything hinged on me keeping calm, not smashing my fist into Talan’s nose. I licked my lips and pushed strands of hair out of my eyes and realized I wore my PPD jacket. Talan would have heard about the crap I’d gotten into. And I didn’t need him thinking I somehow used the uniform to carry out vigilante activities. Sure, I was doing that to an extent. Fuck it. I unzipped the jacket and tied it around my waist. I pulled on the tank top that kept riding down my chest, revealing plenty of cleavage. Fixing my clothes to avoid appearing flirty, I jammed my finger into the bell again and wiped the dust off my pants.
When the door slid open, I jerked upright and came face to face with a sleepy Talan, rubbing his eyes. The fae marking just above his collarbone resembled a thorny stem curling along his skin.
“Luna?” Bastard still looked incredible, even in his sleeping T-shirt and shorts. Wide shoulders, messy hair, and that dimple in his chin square. Except, he didn’t deserve my appreciation because he’d lost that when he showed his true colors. Not a smidgen of deception… good. The vulsines hadn’t gotten to him.
“Hey, can we talk?” I asked.
He stuck his head outside, checked both ways, and stepped aside so I could enter. “You’re on the most wanted list. What the fuck are you thinking?”
Once inside, I shrugged to buy myself some time to think while looking around. He’d rearranged the living room, the sofa replaced with a table and chairs. The kitchen was to my right, everything as I remembered, including his coffee machine.
He studied me with narrowed eyes, his gaze sweeping along my body.
“I should arrest you right now, take you down to the precinct.”
“But you won’t.” I slide closer to him and took a seat. “I need your help.”
Talan folded his arms across his strong chest. “I’ve been worried about you. You’ve helped a known criminal escape, stolen a PPD patrol car, all in front of a council member. You’ve destroyed your career. If you’re lucky, you’ll only serve a few years in prison.”
I listened and let him get it out of his system. I’d already had those exact thoughts, panicked. Hindsight was too late. I had to deal with the crappy situation. “Sounds like you care about me.”
“Fuck, Luna.” He closed the distance between us and crashed on the next seat, our knees grazing. But there were no sparks, nothing. I held no respect or any desire for him. “I never stopped caring.”
“Could have fooled me. How’s Gale?”
He sighed and his posture deflated. Oh yeah, I’d hit a sensitive spot, well aware their secret affair had ended after I’d busted them. “I was a fuckin’ moron, and I can’t ask you to forgive me, but I lost part of myself that day.”
A slew of anger crowded at the forefront of my mind along with the desire to slug him for sitting there, declaring his love after he’d humped someone else. He’d promised me a future. But I held it back because I needed his help, so I changed the topic. “Can you help me? I need insider information.”
He slouched back in his seat, studying me with eyes the color of moss. My gaze traveled down his well-built arms and to the ink on his wrist. Twelve black rings, including a red one, from his binding. We were all in the same crap-hole, drowning… if I didn’t stop the vulsines and alert authorities. I inhaled sharply.
Damn, I never suspected he’d go behind my back, never questioned him or sensed any deception. I’d been the fool in that relationship.
“Don’t know why I’m even considering this.” His brow was a tangle of lines.
I should have kept my mouth shut, but the words flew out. “Because you cheated on me while you talked about us getting engaged. What the hell was wrong with you?” I shook. For months, I had wracked my brain to understand his behavior. Was I not attractive enough? What did Gale have that I didn’t?
Talan raked his brown hair and regained his posture, but I saw grief behind his eyes.
I ought to have changed the topic, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak. The bastard had broken my heart.
“I have no excuse for what I did. I loved two women, or at least I thought so, and I lost both.” He was on his feet, marching to the kitchen and fiddling with the coffee machine. Caffeine was his addiction, and he drank a gallon when stressed. Most nights he’d turn into an insomniac, and we had endless sex marathons as a way to tire him. Damn, I never complained. But now those memories sat on my mind like an itchy scab.
“Want one?” Talan asked.
“No thanks. Anyway, can you share intelligence from PPD? Anything new on the Moscow versus Binding Murders case.”
He didn’t respond but sat across the table from me, sipping his straight coffee and staring at me. His hair half stuck in the air from where he’d scratched his head. Damn, just being in his presence was flooding me with emotions I’d tucked into a box. Now they cut me, and I hated Talan for that. I didn’t want to feel anything for him.
“First, tell me what you did and why?” he asked.
I had no reason to hold back my recent discovery. Maybe Talan could make changes from inside the precinct.
“Vulsines had attacked the guy I broke out of the PPD holding room.” I paused for a moment, waiting for Talan’s response. Aside from the bridge of his nose creasing, he nodded for me to continue. So I explained how I discovered Eduard had been infiltrated, my neighbor, and the Outland town swarming with the creatures. “I don’t know how yet, but he might be a key to what the vulsines want and how to stop them. That’s why I ran away with him.” I inched to the edge of my seat. “Vulsines are killing humans in the Outlands. It explains the sudden influx of faes dying in the city. It’s all connected.”
I sat there, my fists in my lap.
Talan ran a hand across his mouth, but his stoic expression gave nothing away. “Are you sure it’s not a mistake?”
“I watched them transform with my own eyes.”
After swallowing loudly, Talan said, “The council leaders have declared Code Black. Crisis alert and all PPD are on twenty-four-hour alert, awaiting instructions.” His face paled, and he slumped into his seat. “Something really bad is going on. That’s for sure.”
“With Eduard infiltrated, the two leaders of Kutia Hollow had to be aware of the vulsines. It must be why they declared Code Black.” I leaned against the table, struggling to take another breath. “The only good thing is that no one, not even the council reps like Eduard, know where the leaders’ secret location is,” I said. “Otherwise, the vulsines would have killed them already.”
Talan’s eyes narrowed “And what are the leaders’ number one priority?”
That simple question hit me like a truck that had reversed over me several times. “To protect the princess and use their abilities to resurrect her. They were her guardians, like the generation before them, and only they had the power to awaken her.”
Oh, fuck! How could I not have seen this earlier? “I’d read long ago that an enchantment was cast on the two council leaders. So if their binding partners died, they still lived. Great protection measure.”
“Yeah, but there’s a flaw.” Talan sipped his coffee, never taking his eyes off me. “Large quantities of the partner’s blood can be used in a tracking spell to find where the council leaders are located.”
“Okay, but no one wields such strong magic… unless the vulsines do?” And my t
houghts flew to Axel being hunted down by the creatures. The next words fell from my mouth. “And because vulsines would want to stop the princess rising as she could destroy them with her enchantment, they would do anything to find a leader’s partner.” I couldn’t catch my breath, and my knees bounced beneath the table. “Hell… what if that’s Axel?” I hadn’t meant to say the last part aloud, but my brain tangled with the newfound terror consuming me.
“There’s something else you should know,” Talan interrupted my thoughts. “It might relate to what you’ve told me.”
“Stop rambling. What is it?”
“The chief received a direct message from the council leaders. They performed a ritual to awaken Princess Kutia two weeks ago.”
I rocked in my seat and pressed a hand to my chest. “Are you shitting me? That’s a year early.” The news hit me in waves as question after question drilled my brain.
“They worried about the escalating hatred in our world. But the ritual didn’t work properly. Kutia woke up startled, but then fell into a trance. And they haven’t been able to wake her since.” Talan gulped down the last of his coffee, his knuckles white.
Unable to speak, I sat there, frozen. The room seemed to close in around me because the grimness of our lives had just taken a sharp dive off a cliff. Was our future gone? Would she ever wake up again? And did the sudden appearance of vulsines happen because of the failed attempt to raise the princess from the ground?
After a long pause of silence, Talan asked, “Where’s Axel?”
“In hiding.” I regretted bringing Axel to the house. I had no issues updating Talan about the vulsines, but I didn’t appreciate his interrogation stare.
“We take him to the police chief,” he insisted. “And come up with a plan. If you come clean, I could help get your criminal record expunged.”
I pushed away from the table, the chair scraping across the wooden floor. “Are you insane? I told you. Eduard’s been taken over. The princess is in danger. What if he had others in the precinct killed and replaced by vulsines? You know I can detect deception, so trust me on that. If the vulsines want to use Axel to slaughter the princess, I won’t be handing him over.”