by G. Bailey
Wait, ship??
How the heck did I get on a ship? Jogging my memory, I think back to what just happened to me even as my thoughts are foggy and jumbled, and I feel so weak that even stretching my legs out on the bed hurts somewhat. I was at the academy, and then Ren was there…oh god. I jumped and fell into the sea, and a man saved me.
“Ah, you’re awake,” a man with a slight Scottish accent mumbles behind me, and I spin around, realising the warmth I was pressed against was a shirtless man who looks around a year or two older than me, but his piercing green eyes are hauntingly familiar. I run my gaze from his messy blond hair that is sticking up in all directions, to his golden skin and toned six pack that my hand is resting right next to. He has shorts on, tied up with white string, and I pull my gaze to the men’s shirt I have on and black shorts. Who the hell dressed me?
“Why don’t you have a shirt on?” I demand, shuffling away in the bed. “And who dressed me?”
“The quickest way to avoid hypothermia is with body heat. We both could have died otherwise, and I didn’t undress you, my mother did.” He pauses, and I calm a little. I don’t get the sense this stranger is going to hurt me, but apparently I make shitty choices for friends, so I don’t trust my senses right now. They are broken. “We both needed body heat, and it was better we both slept off the cold. My mother is a healer, and she checked you over; turns out you’re fine,” he softly tells me as he leans up on an elbow, and my eyes flicker to his muscular arm. My cheeks flush as I climb out of the bed, and I realise my damn wings are still here as they knock into my butt. I mentally try and make them hide behind my back, and when I feel them settle, I open my eyes. The blond guy is sitting on the edge of his bed, running his fingers through his hair.
“Are you human?” I turn and ask, and his brow furrows. “I mean, don’t the wings scare you?”
He frowns. “You’re an angel, and I’m not human. I know of your kind, but we don’t mix with you lot often. I’m a wolf shifter, and the name is Myles MacCailein.”
I nod, remembering hearing about wolf shifters at the academy; we did a class on them. They can shift into actual wolves of all sizes, and their wolf guides them through their lives. They have heightened senses, make true mate bonds with one person who their wolf claims as theirs, and they live in packs. There is always an alpha, alpha female, healer and beta. Feeling awkward as I stand in front of Myles, in only a shirt that falls to my knees, I drop my gaze from his to anything else. My hair stinks of salt, and my skin feels dry under my hands as I press them into my arms. I don’t want to correct Myles that I’m not exactly all angel…not anymore. I feel the difference now, and a strange ache builds up in my teeth as strong as the pulse I can hear chanting away in my ear. It’s not my pulse I’m sensing, it’s Myles’s, and I hate myself for it. I did not want to be a vampire any more than I wanted to be an angel, but it seems I don’t get a choice anymore. “Well, thank you for saving me, and my name is Kaitlyn Lightson. Are we on a ship?”
“Yes, we are. We are heading to the pack island to meet the alpha there,” he explains, standing up off the bed. “My pack needs a home, and the island has a lot of land and no humans to hide from.”
“Who is alpha of your pack?” I ask, and he grins. Ah, I’m with the alpha after all.
“Okay,” I say, breathing out some nervous air. Alpha wolves are meant to be super powerful and scary…and even though Myles looks like the guy next door your mum would warn you not to date, he is hiding an alpha wolf who could eat me whole if he wanted.
He steps closer, almost cautiously. “My mum left some clothes out for you in the bathroom. It’s through there.” He steps around me and to a panel door, pushing it open to show me before looking back. “I will leave you to clean up. Do you want some food, Kaitlyn?”
My rumbling stomach answers him, and he smirks. “I will take that as a yes.” Myles walks to another door and holds it open, looking back at me. “You’re safe on my ship and in my pack, Kaitlyn. Whatever you were running from won’t find you here.”
I tensely smile, because he has no clue who is looking for me. I can still feel Ren’s teeth in my neck, and I can still hear his voice as he called me his queen. I still feel the hurt as he betrayed me, hurt me and broke my heart. As Myles takes a step back, the creak of the floorboard makes me jump, and thankfully the memories go with.
Myles leaves me alone, and I walk to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. Tears fall down my cheeks as I turn the shower on and strip out of the top and shorts before climbing in. I let myself cry for a long while before washing my hair and body with Myles’s lemon scented soap and getting out. I towel dry my hair and find a pile of clothes. The pale purple top is too big, but I tuck it into the skinny jeans which fit perfectly. The mirror catches my attention, and for a long time, I’m stuck staring at my blonde hair, which looks more like silver now. My skin is flawless, not a crease in sight, and I am skinnier than I thought I was. My eyes glow with a light blue tone to them, and my white wings don’t look real as they float behind me. I reach back, brushing a hand down my wing, which I feel like another limb, albeit a lot furrier. Slipping on the yellow socks, I head out of the bathroom and back into the room where Myles sits on the bed, his legs crossed and a sandwich half in his mouth. Next to him is another sandwich on a plate with some crisps. I smile and walk over, sitting next to him and eating the food in silence.
“What you running from, Katy?” he asks me, breaking the utter silence that has taken hold of us. Taking a deep breath, I turn and look at him. Myles has really beautiful green eyes, I notice as I watch him. He is a complete stranger to me, but he saved my life, and for that, I feel like I owe him something. Maybe an answer. For a few minutes, I simply explain how I left the academy, everything about Ren and Henry. Even Riley.
“Nearly everyone I knew and loved betrayed me or lied to me. I’m running from everyone, and I know I have to go back, but I’m not strong enough to face them.” I chuckle. “I need to help two of my friends, Vesnia and Thallon. They didn’t do shit, and I left them there.”
“That’s bullshit,” Myles replies, like it’s just that simple. I frown at him as he stands up and holds a hand out for me. “You aren’t weak, you are a survivor. Like me.”
“You don’t know me, Myles,” I warn him with a long sigh.
He shrugs with a cheeky grin. “Yet.” He has such a cheeky look on his face that I can’t help but smile back to. “I know you’re not weak. My wolf tells me as much.”
Despite my resolve that I’m not strong enough to face the world, I lean forward and take his hand in mine and let him pull me up.
“You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you, Myles?” I ask, and he laughs as he links our fingers like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Two strangers who found each other in the sea. Myles doesn’t answer me, but he does lead me out of his room into a corridor with stairs at the end and countless doors. Heading to the staircase, we both pause as I sense a change in the air just before a black shadow appears in front of us both. Myles steps in front of me, a low warning growl vibrating from his chest as a familiar angel steps out of the shadows with a girl I don’t know at his side.
“Miss Lightson, we have been looking for you.”
Chapter 31
“Gabriel, you’re alive?” I question, even though the answer is crystal clear as he stands in front of me. Memories flash in my mind of his panicked face as Ren spoke to him and how I kissed Ren to distract him from Gabriel, sealing my fate, it seems. Gabriel doesn’t look devastated that the academy he spent so long at is now controlled by vampires.
And Ren is back. Ren’s words haunt my ears as I take in Gabriel’s rough brown cloak, the way he holds his hands behind his back, and his relaxed stance.
“It’s been a long time coming, Master Gabriel. I did promise revenge as I died.”
Gabriel must have been one of the angels who killed Ren all those years ago, luring him to the academy so they could get rid of t
he last master vampire.
“Is he one of the people who betrayed you?” Myles asks me, never looking my way. “The angel and his magical friend can be removed if you wish it.”
“Blessed be the angels,” Gabriel states, bowing his head, but I don’t return his greeting.
The woman at Gabriel’s side steps forward. “My name is Madi, and I’m from the island of tales. I’m one of the leaders, and we are currently hiding the surviving angels as part of a peace treaty we have with their kind. You are welcome to come back with us, Kaitlyn.”
“Gabriel didn’t betray me,” I softly say, placing my hand on Myles’s arm and stepping to his side. Walking up to them both, I eye the new girl, Madi, with caution. She is stunning, there is no doubt about that. With her big eyes and expressive features, she almost seems like a doll rather than a real person. But behind the pretty face is a butt load of power. I can almost taste it, and I wonder if that is a new power of mine—sensing the difference between human and not-so-human.
“We should leave,” Gabriel says to Madi, who watches only me, caution in her eyes. “Being out in the open poses many dangers to us.”
Myles glances at me, and I shake my head. I don’t want to leave the ship and go with Gabriel; I’m not sure if I can trust him anymore, and I’m pretty disgusted about what he did to Ren. No one deserves to die just because of who they were born to be.
“Why don’t we go and sit down somewhere to talk? Kaitlyn is going nowhere unless she wants to. I swear on my wolf that the ship is safe for whatever you have to say,” Myles suggests, placing his hand on the middle of my back.
Gabriel nods his head, his eyes fixed on me now as he tries to read my expression, searching my face for answers I won’t give him easily. Myles leads us through a door and into a cafeteria full of metal tables. A few men and women are in the room, all of them nodding their heads at Myles before leaving out the door we came in. We sit around one table, and I silently watch them both.
I was naive enough to fully trust the angels before, and even to trust my ghost vampire, but I’m not making that mistake again.
“You’re not just an angel anymore, are you, lass?” Gabriel asks me, and I grit my teeth. Because I chose to save him by kissing Ren who then bit me, taking me as his queen, the answer is yes. I’m not sure it’s safe that I tell him this though. “In the last three months, the vampire master Erendriel Raloxisys has taken control of The Angel Academy, and five hundred angels have been taken as prisoner or are missing. Where have you been all this time, Kaitlyn? Why were you in the master’s arms, and why did you kiss him?”
I raise my eyebrows, wondering where exactly to start. “Since I was a child, I could see ghosts.”
My statement lingers in the room for a pause.
“Ghosts are real?” Madi asks, looking a little shocked. What kind of supernatural is she?
“As much as you are, yes,” I answer. “When I came to the academy, I saw Erendriel as a ghost in my room. Ren became my friend, and we had a connection. He told me about vampires and about how the angels killed him, the last master, so no more vampire covens could rise up.”
“Carry on, wee one,” Gabriel coldly commands, and for the first time, I fear him somewhat.
“Riley, my best friend, forced me into the white light to get my wings, and I grabbed Ren’s hand, pulling him in with me. Somehow the light made him alive once more, and he carried me out of the fire,” I say and pause. I want to tell him about Henry, but my heart won’t let me betray him. “I kissed him in order to distract him and save you, but then he bit me and turned me into what I am now. I woke up only a day ago and jumped down to earth where Myles saved me in the sea.”
Gabriel sighs. “It is as bad as I feared it would be. There is much you do not know, Kaitlyn.”
“Perhaps you should explain it to me,” I ask, crossing my arms. “Am I part vampire now?”
“Aye, and you must have been sleeping for the last few months during your transformation. You’re the child of the prophecy, the one I fought very hard to make sure never came true. It already has,” he warns, pulling his eyes from me like he can’t look at me anymore. The feeling is mutual. “Your fate is not one in the light, and there will be payment for that, lassie.”
His words scare me more than I let on as I keep my emotions under wraps. Myles’s hand gently brushes my arm, and I wonder if he can sense my reaction.
“I don’t care what some old ward said would happen. I care about my friends in the academy. Vesnia, Henry, Thallon and even Riley. They are all still up there, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they were trapped like many others,” Gabriel softly replies, dropping his old man snarky tone. “And we need a spy. I believe you must go back to the academy, Kaitlyn.”
“I’ve always liked you, Gabriel, and I risked my life so you could get away, even when I just found out you killed Ren simply because of some prophecy. Did you even give him a chance before you stabbed him?” I ask. “Do you kill any vampire now because of their blood and not who they are?”
Gabriel keeps his head high. “Do not judge me so easily, lass. I’ve made many mistakes but none worse than the decision to kill that young boy. I will pay for my sins, but I do not owe you an explanation, child.”
“Fine,” I reply, crossing my arms. “Don’t explain it to me, but I’m not helping you. I won’t be your spy.”
Madi leans forward then. “Kaitlyn…Ren is throwing angels into hell, forcing them to lose their wings and spend their lives down there. So far he has thrown twenty-four angels through a portal into hell, and my friend, the queen of hell, is struggling to keep peace in hell with these new angels. Four of them have had to be killed because they took too much power. The others are coping, but no more can be taken there,” she warns me. “As for my own people, the vampires are constantly attacking my island and have killed seven of my people. If something isn’t done soon, Ren will get a war, because neither I nor the queen of hell will allow our worlds to be so unsettled.”
“Can you imagine a world with demons rising and angels falling?” Gabriel asks me. The very thought is frightening enough to keep me silent.
“What does Ren want?” Myles asks.
“War, pain and vampires to rule,” Gabriel answers with a wave of his hand. “And for angels to suffer the most, I suspect.”
Rubbing my temple, I lean back a little bit and mull over my options. I knew running, or falling, away from the academy would only be a temporary fix to the mountain of trouble coming our way. Whether I like it or not, Ren and I have a connection, and there is a chance he might listen to me if I go back. There is a bigger chance he will find me on this ship and kill everyone on it just because I left him. I’ve been gone from the academy a day, and by tomorrow, I have a feeling he would find me. But I’m not sure he would leave the academy to come for me. He would need to make a plan, so I probably have some time.
But that’s not the biggest reason I should head back.
I don’t want the world to burn or the angels to suffer, and that’s why I need to do something. One bad action doesn’t make an entire race evil. The same logic applies to both angels and vampires.
Ren will never see the angels as good, as much as the angels will never see vampires as anything but monsters.
“Do you remember your classes about the city of light? Neamh? The home to the angels, where you would have gone when you finished the academy to accept your charge and then you would have been sent to earth?” Gabriel asks me, and I nod. “They have an army of thousands of well-trained angels, and Ren has a tiny army in comparison. As much as you don’t trust me, trust that I do not want to see a slaughter.”
“Why can’t the angels from the city of light just take back the academy?” I ask.
“The orb is powerful and easily controlled. While it shines high, Ren’s forcefield will only let in who he wants it to. Ren’s magic is”—Gabriel pauses and looks away—“dangerous and extremely powerful.”
“Surely I can’t be your only option for a spy,” I retort.
“You are,” Madi gently says. “I know it is a lot to ask, but your race needs you. Don’t you want to help the angels?”
I don’t answer her, resting back in my seat and looking away. I stare out a cabin window, watching the rain batter against the glass, the only real sound to be heard.
“There is one more thing you should be aware of,” Gabriel softly speaks, but a bite of anger sneaks into his voice, whether he knows it or not. “The angels have been reduced to blood slaves for the vampires in the academy, with vampires using the new students first. Your friends might not be alive when you get there.”
“If I get there,” I remind him and stand up, needing to move. I pace up and down for a moment, thinking over my options here. I could stay with Myles and forget my life at the academy, my friends and everyone I’ve grown to care about. It would be so easy to place them in a box in my mind and pray I never remember what is in that box.
But that’s not me. I don’t abandon anyone, and even if I fear Ren as much as I hate him, I know Vesnia and Thallon will need me. Maybe even Henry, but with the memory of how comfortable he was around Ren and how he followed his orders, maybe not so much. Gods, it hurts that he betrayed me with Ren.
I was easily tricked. But not again.
Myles is right. I’m no quitter.
“Ren said my family came from vampires, and he called me his queen. I am going back to the academy, and he will not hurt me again. I will kill him if he tries,” I say, placing my hands on my hips. “My family is in that academy, and I will not leave them there to die. I’m going back.”
“Can we talk outside for a moment?” Myles asks me, searching my eyes. “Alone.” I nod, climbing up off the seat and following Myles to another room, which judging from all the crates of food, is a storage room. Myles steps around me and shuts the door before stepping closer. We don’t know each other all that well, and usually I would feel uncomfortable around a stranger, but Myles feels different. I remember my mum telling me about how she met my dad, and from the second they met, he felt like someone she had always known. Always trusted.