The MORE Trilogy

by T. M. Franklin

  After a few minutes, the two men walked in, Balaam raising a hand in greeting as soon as they were through the door. They joined Caleb at his table and took a seat as Evan looked around nervously.

  Caleb smiled and held out a hand. “You must be Evan. I’m Caleb, your ride north.”

  Evan looked at him in confusion, and Caleb was forced to reevaluate his initial impression. He wasn’t a man, but a boy—a teenager, at most—all spiky blond hair and wide, innocent eyes, with a sprinkling of freckles across his nose.

  Caleb glanced at Balaam, raising an eyebrow in question.

  Balaam, however, turned to the boy, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Despite the man’s large and rather intimidating frame, thick black dreadlocks, and curling tattoos around his muscular, dark-skinned arms, he had a way of soothing frightened Half-Breeds. “Caleb is going to make sure you get to the Colony safely,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “I’ll lead anyone following us away.” His dark eyes were intent, reassuring.

  Evan nodded and turned to Caleb smiling hesitantly. “It’s nice to meet you. Thanks . . . for helping me.”

  “That’s my job,” Caleb said lightly, offering his hand again.

  This time, Evan shook it.

  “You two should get going,” Balaam said, getting to his feet. “I think we have Protectors about half an hour away. Luckily, no shifters, as far as I can tell, so I should be able to keep them busy long enough for you to get away.” He reached out to touch Evan again, closing his eyes and breathing deeply for a moment.

  Caleb knew it was how the man focused in on Evan’s unique signature so he could mimic it, and he waited patiently until Balaam stepped back with a nod.

  “Good luck,” he said before stepping out the door without another word.

  Caleb got to his feet and tossed his empty cup into the trash. “Come on,” he said to Evan. “We need to find someplace less . . . busy.”

  They left the coffee shop, and Caleb led him down the street and into a dim alley he’d scouted when he first arrived in Milwaukee. “Did Balaam tell you how this works?” he asked.

  Evan swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing as his gaze darted toward the slimy walls and down to the littered ground. He finally focused on Caleb and seemed to square his shoulders. “He said you could . . . teleport us?”

  He’d said it more as a question than a statement, and Caleb grinned. It wasn’t the first time he’d had such a reaction. “Yeah. We’re going to have to get close, I’m afraid.” He waved the boy over and turned him around. Men generally tended to be more comfortable if they weren’t face-to-face. “Cross your hands over your chest,” he said, folding his arms over Evan’s firmly. “This will be quick, only a few seconds, but take a deep breath and close your eyes. It can be a little disorienting.”

  Evan nodded.

  Caleb could feel his heart racing under his arm. “It’s okay,” he said. “Try and relax and it will be over before—” Caleb stiffened at the familiar tingle of a Race presence nearby. He cursed under his breath.

  “What is it?” Evan asked.

  “Someone’s coming,” he whispered, his hold on Evan tightening in urgency. “Brace yourself; we’ve got to go now.”

  They shifted, reappearing in an empty field. Evan staggered as Caleb’s knees buckled and he leaned into him.

  “Sorry,” Caleb said, his voice cracking as he reached into his pocket for some R-cubes. “That was a long one. I need a minute.”

  “Are you okay?”

  Caleb chewed and swallowed with a nod. “Yeah. You?”

  Evan nodded, still looking a bit stunned. He turned around in a circle. “Where are we?”

  “About fifty miles north of—damn.” Caleb shot to his feet. “They’re here.”

  “Who?” Evan paled. “How?”

  “I don’t know. Balaam was wrong. They must have a shifter . . . and a tracker of some kind.” He reached for Evan. “I won’t be able to get us far, but we need to shake them. I’m going to try several short shifts instead of a long one.” He popped another cube. “Ready?”

  Evan closed his eyes, his hands trembling under Caleb’s. “Ready.”

  Caleb took a deep breath and shifted, beginning to wonder if this was one mission he would fail.

  They made it to the Guardian Colony, Caleb dead on his feet and leaning heavily on Evan as they approached the gate. He remembered little of the next twelve hours, spending them sleeping, for the most part, and waking only to consume some cubes and water, and a little soup on occasion, before exhaustion took him again.

  When he finally woke, Bel was there by his bed, waiting to ask him about what had happened. Unfortunately, Caleb didn’t have any answers. He hadn’t seen who’d pursued them as far as the Canadian border before they had apparently lost him, or them, and although they’d waited anxiously for Protectors to close in, there had been no attack.

  Someone, somehow, had tracked him, and Caleb couldn’t fight the fear that he and Evan hadn’t escaped that person, but that he or she had let them get away.

  “But why?” Bel had asked when he expressed the thought out loud. “It doesn’t make any sense. If it was Protectors, why wouldn’t they have taken you, or even followed you here?”

  Caleb didn’t know, and at that point, he found he didn’t care. All he wanted to do was recover and head back to Allenmore, perhaps utilizing more conventional travel options for the trip home. He wasn’t anxious to shift again.

  Three days later, he left the Colony, happy to see Evan fitting in well with some of the others his own age. He’d learned the boy had been orphaned by a car accident, leaving him miraculously uninjured. The fact had led the Protectors to close in on him, but at least this time, the Guardians had won. The boy was free. Caleb had succeeded in his mission.

  He hugged Bel, nodding to Gideon in farewell, but still not comfortable with a more demonstrative gesture where the Guardian leader was concerned.

  Perhaps in time.

  Rebuilding that relationship, or rather, building it, would definitely take a lot of time. He turned quickly and shifted away from the Colony without looking back. He planned to take a train from Winnipeg, then possibly a bus once he got across the border. He preferred not to fly if at all possible, since shifting wasn’t the best option when he was miles above the ground.

  Caleb stopped to rest in a thick forest about thirty miles from Winnipeg, sitting on a fallen log as he chewed on some R-cubes and a protein bar. He took comfort in the quiet around him, the faint rustling of leaves or chirp of a bird overhead. He smiled as his mind wandered, as it often did, to Ava and her reaction to his gift of the necklace. He knew he had to tell her more about his parents. It was essential that she know what she was getting into before their relationship progressed any further.

  And he definitely wanted it to progress. He’d known that for a while.

  But Ava was still learning what it meant to be Race, and there were things she needed to know about him—about herself—and sooner rather than later. He just hoped it wouldn’t scare her away because, although it terrified him, he didn’t know what he’d do without her.

  A branch snapped, and Caleb jumped to his feet, eyes scanning the surrounding trees. He swallowed the rest of his R-cube and held his breath, listening for other signs of movement. A rustling drew his attention, and he almost laughed out loud when a squirrel darted across the ground in front of him and bounded up a nearby tree.

  “Not cool,” he muttered.

  It stopped on a branch, scrutinizing Caleb with a tilt of the head before darting higher up the tree.

  Then he felt it; that telltale tingle up his spine that he’d come to recognize as he’d raced to the Colony with Evan. He knew, somehow, whoever had been chasing them had found him again. Whoever it was wasn’t after Evan at all, but after him.

  Caleb warred with himself, half wanting to run and half wanting to confront whoever was tracking him. The problem was he was relatively certain it was more than one pe
rson, and he had to assume they had a nefarious purpose. Why else would they stay in the shadows? Perhaps the Council suspected he was working with the Guardians. Or, even worse, maybe the Rogues had tracked him down in an attempt to get to Ava.

  He stiffened as they came closer.

  Not two . . . three, possibly more.

  There was no way he could take on that many, so Caleb used the seconds he had to reach out with his Race gifts, trying to gather as much information as possible about the approaching group. He would relay it to Bel—or to Gideon—and together they could try to determine who was out to get him.

  He closed his eyes, focusing until the last possible moment, and popped another cube into his mouth before starting a series of shifts toward home.

  It was going to be a long trip.

  Chapter 3

  Caleb was gone for five days, sixteen hours and twenty-seven minutes, not that Ava was counting. He appeared on her doorstep late Thursday evening, his face drawn and haggard, but smiling as he pulled her close for a sweet kiss.

  “Hey you two, get a room!” Ava’s roommate, Lucy, called as she passed by on her way to the bathroom.

  “I have one,” Ava said with a flippant toss of her hair as she pulled Caleb inside.

  “Yeah, but you share it,” Lucy said, poking her head back around the corner and holding up a finger as if she was making a brilliant observation. “And some of us spend our Friday nights alone and lonely and don’t need to be reminded of what we’re missing.”

  Ava laughed.

  Lucy may have lacked on the long-term-relationship front, but she hardly spent all her weekend nights home alone. Tall and slender with sleek blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes, Lucy Matthews never wanted for male companionship. She just hated to commit, saying there were a lot of fish in the sea, and it was her job to throw back the tiny ones.

  Ava wasn’t sure what that meant, exactly, but it seemed to be Lucy’s motto. And who was Ava to dispute her best friend’s motto?

  Caleb stopped a few steps in the room, lacing his fingers with hers. “Come on,” he said, kissing her again. “Let’s go for a walk.”

  “A walk?”

  He grinned. “Well, maybe not a walk so much.”

  Ava tried to look skeptical, but it was difficult when she would follow Caleb anywhere. She let him pull her back out of the room, ignoring Lucy’s catcalls of “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” as they raced down the stairs and out the back door of the dorm into the fenced area housing the dumpster.

  “Romantic,” Ava said with a wry smile.

  Caleb snorted, glancing around carefully to ensure they weren’t being observed before pulling her close.

  “You sure you’re up for this?” Ava asked as he popped an R-cube into his mouth. “You seem kind of tired.”

  He swallowed, smiling as he brushed a finger over her cheek. “We won’t go far. Ready?”

  Ava nodded and tucked her head against his chest, smiling at the feel of his heartbeat under her cheek. She hadn’t truly realized how much she’d missed him until he was back, warm and strong, and wrapped around her, his scent familiar and comforting as she nuzzled against him.

  The ground dropped away beneath her feet and her grip around his waist tightened in reflex, wind whipping her hair about her face as she clenched her eyes shut against the whirling dizziness that accompanied shifting. She focused on her breathing, in and out, counting to herself until the wind died down and they landed on firm ground. Ava took a deep breath and opened her eyes to find they’d shifted to the grasslands on the banks of the Missouri River. It was one of Caleb’s favorite places to visit, especially at night, when the campers and fishermen went home, and they could lie in the high grass and stare up at the stars.

  He pulled her down beside him on the ground, and she lay back on her elbow, Caleb’s head pillowed on her stomach and the moon casting the planes of his face in shadow. With training and school and Caleb’s assignments, it was rare to have these quiet times, times to simply enjoy being together, touching each other. Ava brushed her fingers through his thick dark hair, twisting it a little, and he sighed contentedly, his eyes drifting closed behind his glasses.

  He looked a little thin, his tall, lean frame spread out in the grass—a disguise, of course, the Veil that kept the world from seeing his true form. Ava had seen it—the perfection of him, all golden skin and corded muscle—although she didn’t look through Caleb’s Veil often, and never without asking. It was rude, she’d learned. And she actually liked Caleb’s Veiled body. It was beautiful in its own way and familiar to her while the other was otherworldly and a little bit intimidating.

  “You sure you’re okay?” she asked after a while.

  “It’s been a tough few days,” he replied. “Lot of shifting.”

  “Did everything go all right?”

  Caleb hesitated—only briefly, but it was enough for Ava’s instincts to kick in. “What happened?”

  He sighed again and opened his eyes enough to glance at her sideways. “Sometimes it would be easier if I could lie to you.”

  She tugged his hair lightly. “Yeah, but then I’d have to hurt you.”

  “You’d have to catch me first.”

  “You think you could shift before I could bind you?” she asked with teasing grin. “Didn’t you see Tiernan hanging upside down in the Council chamber?”

  Caleb shook his head and closed his eyes again with an amused half smile. “Show off.” He turned onto his side, throwing an arm across her stomach.

  “Tell me,” she said quietly, laying her hand on his arm.

  Caleb was silent for a long moment. “Someone followed us. Well, followed me.”

  “Followed you?” A lump formed in Ava’s throat. “Who? Why?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to find out.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Caleb sat up, turning to face her as she did the same. “Someone was able to track my shifts. I lost them when we got to the Canadian border, or at least I thought I did . . .” His eyes took on a faraway look, and he furrowed his brow as if trying to solve a complicated puzzle.

  “Caleb?”

  “Sorry.” He shook his head, blinking rapidly a few times. “Anyway, they picked me up again when I left the Colony.”

  “How do you know it was the same person?”

  “I know. And not person . . . people.”

  Ava scooted closer to him, wrapping her arms around his bent knee. “How do you know you lost them this time?”

  When Caleb looked up, he couldn’t hide the worry in his eyes. “I don’t. Not for sure. All I know is I don’t feel them now.” He tilted his head. “Do you?”

  Ava closed her eyes, reaching out with her Race senses. For whatever reason, her gift seemed more intense than his—more intense than most, according to Caleb—and she was often able to sense Race presence from much greater distances. She breathed slowly and deeply, focusing as Audrey had taught her at the Guardian safe house all those months ago, searching for the faint tingle to alert her one of her own kind was nearby.

  “No,” she said with a heavy exhale as she opened her eyes. “I only feel you. Maybe you should go to the Council. Tell them what happ—”

  “I’m not going to the Council.”

  “But it could have been Rogues.”

  “It wasn’t Rogues,” Caleb snapped. “I don’t know who it was, and I’m not telling anyone until I know more.”

  “But—”

  “Ava, let it go!” Caleb moved away from her, his back stiff. After a moment, he glanced back, and the frustration on his face softened when he saw her shocked expression. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to yell. I’m just tired. It’s been a long few days and I really want to relax for a bit, you know?”

  Ava was still a bit stunned by his reaction. Caleb was always patient with her, sometimes agonizingly so, and it was unlike him to snap at her like that.

  He reached out and took her hand, rubbing his t
humb over it lightly. “I’m sorry.”

  She nodded, licking her lips nervously. “It’s okay.”

  “It was difficult,” he said after a moment, “being away from you.”

  Ava moved closer until they were sitting side by side, shoulders touching. “It was hard for me, too.”

  “You felt it, then?”

  Caleb watched her carefully, as if the question was some kind of test, as though her reply was important. She thought very carefully about exactly how she felt.

  “I . . . missed you,” she said slowly. “But it was more than that. It was like . . .” She looked up and searched the sky as if amidst the stars she could find the right words. “It was like something was wrong. Something missing. I don’t know. That probably doesn’t even make any sense.” She blushed and drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them, and rested her chin on top.

  “It makes sense,” Caleb said quietly.

  She looked up, but he was gazing out over the horizon, lost in thought.

  He took a deep breath. “When we—Race—are . . . involved with someone, we form a bond, not just on a physical and emotional level. You’ve felt it, right? When we’re close?” He looked at her, a small smile on his face.

  Ava thought of all the times she’d indulged in that feeling of their gifts mingling, their power twisting back and forth between them, and nodded slowly.

  He swallowed, taking her hand, and she felt it once again. “It only gets stronger over time,” he said, lifting his free hand to trace the curves of their joined fingers with the tip of his own, sending sparks of awareness over her skin everywhere he touched. “And even stronger the more . . . intimate . . . the connection.”

  He let the words sink in for a moment, and Ava shifted nervously as what he was saying hit home.

  “It can be overwhelming,” he said, his gaze on their interlocked fingers as he rubbed his thumb gently over hers. “The bond can be . . . addictive. It’s why we have to be so careful.” He looked into her eyes. “It’s why we have to take things slow.”

  Ava tried to absorb his words, his intense gaze. “Are you saying we could become addicted to each other? Like a drug?”