by Anya Bast
* * * * *
Kaiden and Jarek stopped on the outskirts of their territory and shifted to human form. They’d each been carrying a bag in their teeth since they’d left the house. The bags were filled with the traditional clothing of mage males. Torrent kept much of it on hand in case a situation like this arose and they needed to blend in with the habitants in mage territory.
They dressed in silence, each of them understanding completely how the other felt. Kaiden’s heart had been lodged in his throat ever since they’d discovered the woman they loved had been taken. Their only objective now was to get her back. Nothing else mattered.
Torrent was not far behind them. He, too, planned to enter mage territory to free Paige. They’d argued with him about it. Torrent had a prophecy on his shoulders. He, alone, was meant to begin the takedown of the mages. He couldn’t be endangered. He was too important.
But Torrent had argued that he had no idea how his fate would come about. It was up to him to follow his gut, and his gut told him to help them free Paige. Ultimately, Kaiden and Jarek weren’t going to deny any help, no matter the cost.
Kaiden looked over at Jarek and nodded slowly before they both stepped over the perceived line that divided Lycaon and mage territory. It was the first time they’d ever ventured this far from their homes and they were armed only with stories about how mage cities looked and how the people in them behaved. By all accounts, mage society resembled first world human societies, although self-expression wasn’t as allowed and magick, of course, played a huge role in their culture.
They would need to be cautious, quiet and remain as low profile as possible. That would be a problem considering they would be far taller and broader than any mage male. Thanks to spies that had gone in before them, they at least had a decent lay of the land and knew where the mages would have taken a Lycaon prisoner. It was likely that Paige would be held at the Hall of Judgment, right in the middle of the massive city.
Once they’d donned their somber clothing, so different from that of the mage hunters they normally encountered in the forest, and so much more elaborate and constricting than their regular clothes, they walked toward the boundaries of the city. It was a long way and their feet pinched in the tight, stiff leather shoes they wore.
By dawn the edge of the city was visible, cutting a jagged line across the sky in the distance and small hamlets had begun popping up on the outskirts of it. The villages were mostly still asleep, though the odd mage was awake, getting ready to go to work. The mages watched them pass with interest and Kaiden and Jarek made the decision to split up. Alone, each of them were noticable. Together they were probably a walking freak show.
Jarek nodded at Kaiden and headed off toward the west, while Kaiden went east. Their plan would be to meet at the Hall of Judgment in the middle.
Hopefully they would do it both as free men.
The hamlets soon gave way to a solid, larger area of population. Torrent had told them these were called "suburbs." The mages drove metal vehicles called transports that were small and fast. Jarek kept to walkways heading into the city and wished for one of them. He'd been traveling more than twelve hours by foot.
Inside the city, he tried not to gawk like an outsider would, but was hard. So many people and so many shiny, sharp buildings. It was nothing like the Lyacon villages that were such an integral part of the natural world around them. Yet for all the people and busyness here, it was very quiet.
In a Lyacon town, the people were happy, boisterous. They talked with each other loudly, laughed, joked, and called out to one another on the streets. Here the people simply went about their business without facial expression or comment. Their comportment, along with their somber, modest dress, gave the impression of sadness and soon Jarek's footsteps became heavy.
He had a map in his pocket, but dared not to check it for fear of drawing attention to himself. Instead he used his sense of direction, a flawless thing, to direct him closer to the center of the city.
In order to keep his mind off the fact he was surrounded by people who wanted nothing better than to rip him apart, he focused his mind on Paige—her soft skin, the gentle look in her eyes, the curves of her body, the sound of her voice.
Paige was heaven for him in the center of hell.
Jarek rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a mage constable, a broad, short man dressed in black. His scowled up into Jarek's face. "Who are you and why are you here?"
Oh, no.
* * * * *
Paige hid in the recesses of a closet, hearing the sounds of a mage family that had just woken up.
She'd wasted no time finding a way off the roof and had located a door leading to a stairwell almost right away. Inside what had appeared to be an apartment building, she'd tried every door, desperate to find a hiding place. When that had failed, she'd found an open window at the end of one of the corridors and had slipped out onto the window ledge.
It had been terrifying.
Someone not as lithe and muscle trained probably would have fallen to their deaths, but she'd managed to inch her way along the ledge, hoping hard that no one on the street below looked up. Once she'd found an open window, she'd slipped inside. The room, a bedroom, had been empty and she'd found a nice, deep, dark closet and curled up.
That had been last night.
Sometime in the night the men from the Hall of Judgment had pounded on the apartment door, asking if the people who lived here had seen anything unusual. It had caused an alarm in the apartment. Her unwilling hosts had been up for over an hour, peering anxiously into the night beyond their bedroom window. Little did they know the awful Lycaon threat lay curled in the recesses of their closet. She was so menacing with her light dancer’s body frame and deadly slippers, after all.
Finally they’d fallen back to sleep and she had, too. Even snatches of shallow, interrupted sleep were welcome at this point. At one point she’d dreamt of Caroline and had called her name over and over in her mind as she’d slept. She’d woken with tears still wet on her cheeks.
The front door slammed and no more sounds issued from the apartment. Still, she waited for an entire hour before she cautiously inched past the threshold of her hiding place. After verifying that the occupants were gone, she stole a dress, an odd white hairpiece that women all wore, and a pair of ugly, clunky black shoes. Dressed like a mage female, she slipped out of the apartment and made her way down the stairs toward the exit.
Guards stood at either side of the front door. Unable to turn away without drawing suspicion, she set her shoulders, channeled all the confidence she didn’t feel, and headed straight toward them. She hoped with every fiber of her being they weren't using some strange magick that would detect a lie.
She attempted to walk right past them, as if she owned the world, but one meaty mage hand reached out and halted her. "Do you live in this building?"
"No, sir." That was no lie, after all.
"What is your purpose for being here?"
"I'm just visiting."
The guard peered down at her. "Where is your identification?"
Oh, shit. "I left it at home this morning, sir. What is going on here? I'm late and can't be delayed any more than I already am."
"We're seeking an escaped criminal."
Her heart skipped a beat at being labeled that way. Really harsh considering her only crime was being part Lycaon. "That has nothing to do with me.” Again, not a lie. She was no escaped criminal.
“Truly?” The mage’s eyes narrowed. “Your hair and eye color is the same as that of the woman who escaped the Hall of Justice yesterday.”
Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. It was time to take a risk and she didn't like it at all. Not one bit. It flew against her sense of self-preservation and was crazy as hell. Yet, she had no choice, not if she ever wanted to see Jarek and Kaiden alive again.
“Many women have my coloring, sir.” She didn’t have to feign being completely pissed off. “The Hall of Justice
is exactly where I’m going right now. I work there. If one of your guards wants to accompany me, I would welcome the escort, but be quick about it. I’m late."
The guard stared at her for a long moment. Finally, he stepped aside. "I can’t spare anyone to walk with you, but have a good day, mistress. Glory to Magica."
She nodded solemnly. “Glory to Magica.”
Her knees were dangerously weak as she stepped past them and on to the sidewalk beyond. The blood in her veins flowed way too fast as she forced her legs to move forward. She walked down the sidewalk, disappeared around the corner of the building and let out the breath she'd been holding. Dizzy relief made her lightheaded.
Now for the second part of her plan. She hadn’t been bluffing; she really did need to go back to the Hall of Judgment.
Although she’d technically only just met Kaiden and Jarek, she understood them in a way she'd never understood anyone. She knew with every ounce of her heart that they were already in the city, intent on rescuing her. She also knew that the first place they'd go was the building where they would think she was being imprisoned. They would not expect that she'd escaped. She could barely believe she'd escaped.
No, the only way to save Jarek and Kaiden was to reenter that house of horrors.
Gods, this was the dumbest thing she'd ever done. Also, the most important.
Chapter Six
“Show your identification” the guard growled into Jarek’s face.
Jarek quelled his shock and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a slim plastic disc. It was fake, of course, but no mage male could be caught on the streets without one. Torrent had told him that females were allowed a little more leeway, especially if they were thought to hold a high seat in mage society.
"I'm on my way to work," said Jarek. "At the Hall of Judgment. I’m an interrogator." He had the build to carry off that claim.
The man narrowed his eyes. “I haven’t seen you in the building before.”
“I started just last week.”
"Ah," answered the guard as he handed back Jarek's bit of plastic. "So, do you know if they've caught the fugitive yet?"
"Caught...the fugitive." His mind stumbled over the words.
Could they mean Paige? She was such a slight little thing. How could she have possibly escaped custody? Yet, this was Paige. She was small, but she was also strong in body, mind, and will. Maybe she had escaped.
He recovered nicely. "Not that I know. I hope when I arrive at work we will have some good news." He placed the back of his hand to his forehead in a traditional mage gesture. "Glory to Magica."
"Glory," answered the guard as he made the same gesture. "Have a nice day."
Jarek nodded and continued on. That could have gone an entirely different way. He'd been lucky. He hoped things were also lucky for Kaiden.
His mind raced as he considered the implications of Paige escaping. Unfortunately, he didn't know if the mage had been talking about her or some other unfortunate person. That meant he had no choice but to continue.
In any case, if Paige had escaped her captors, she would return to the Hall of Judgment. He knew in his heart she would anticipate what he and Kaiden would do and match her plans to fit. Even though their mate bond was not yet fully forged, he knew Paige well. She wouldn't think about her own safety if he and Kaiden were in danger.
Jarek quickened in his pace, entering the heart of the city. The population was thick here. It was unnerving to have so many people all around him, all traveling silently to their various places of employment, and all of them mage, but it was also a blessing. In this sea of people, no one paid much mind to him, even though he towered over most of them.
He turned a corner and in the distance rose the shiny gray spiral of the Hall of Judgment, the grandest building in the city. Once inside he would need to be incredibly careful.
His odds getting in and finding Paige were not good. His odds of getting Paige out if she was still imprisoned were even worse. But if this was the way he was meant to die, there could be worse ways. At least he might be able to see the woman he loved one last time. At least he’d die giving everything to protect her.
Making his way down the street toward the shining gray and gold double doors of the tower, he sent out a mental message to Kaiden telling him he’d arrived.
He got no reply.
The silence made him miss a step, but he had to continue. Perhaps Kaiden was still too far away to hear him. He pushed through the doors and entered the incredible, vaulted foyer. Every sound echoed through the immense space. Not even the vast number of people milling the area did anything to mute the cavernous sound. He forced himself not to stop and gawk. How could these people live like this? Surrounded by all this cold metal, no earth beneath their feet, no sheltering branches reaching above their heads. It was, quite literally, unnatural.
Across the foyer, he caught a glimpse of a man towering above the mages. It was Torrent. It made Jarek realize just how badly they stood out. Their only saving grace was that the mages would never expect a Lycaon to come strolling into their primary government building. They were hiding in plain sight.
Torrent met his gaze and motioned discreetly to a group of chairs in one of the corners of the room. Jarek made his way there and sat. Better. Now his height wasn’t so noticeable. Around him mages roamed, filing papers, obtaining licenses, visiting inmates, going about their business.
After a few minutes, Torrent sat down near him. “Where’s Kaiden?”
Jarek met his eyes and gave his head a subtle shake. “We separated.”
Torrent made a low grunt. He was worried too. “What’s your plan?”
He stared out one of the huge windows at the blue sky, the shuffling, shifting sounds of all those around him filling his thoughtful silence. “I intend to inquire if she’d being held here. We need to know that first.”
“They won’t let her see visitors. It doesn’t matter how good a story you tell.”
“Yes, I know.” He went silent for a moment. “If she’s being held we’ll need to sneak into the prison area. We know how it’s laid out.”
“You and Kaiden do it. I’ll create a diversion.”
“A diversion? They’ll capture you.”
His teeth flashed dangerously. “They can try.”
Just then a dusky blond head caught his eye. Kaiden milled through the crowd, his gaze locked on them as he attempted to make his way across the crowds without drawing attention to himself. Jarek let out a pent up breath of relief.
“I thought you’d been captured,” said Jarek softly as Kaiden sank into one of the chairs. “You didn’t respond when I reached out to you.”
“I apologize. I was a little taken aback at my surroundings. All is well.”
“All is well but for our plan,” answered Torrent, looking around. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do here and we need to do it fast. They’ll catch on that we don’t belong—wait. How can that be?”
Jarek frowned, looking in the same direction. “What is it, Torrent?”
“Don’t call attention to her.” Torrent paused. “If that is her.”
In the moment, Jarek spotted Paige moving through the crowd. She was dressed in the traditional garb of a mage female, her hair covered by a fine white hat. Jarek’s heart jerked upward and seemed to land in the back of his mouth. “That’s her.”
“She escaped?” whispered Kaiden.
“Amazingly, yes.” Jarek stood immediately and walked toward her. He needed to get her out of this building—out of the city—as soon as he could. He barely even thought about Kaiden and Torrent, whom he’d left behind.
He reached her and she looked up, locking gazes with him. Her eyes widened and she smiled. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
Just as he’d touched her arm, a mage yelled. “You, stop!”
They looked in the direction of the voice and saw a guard barreling toward them with a mage stick in his hand. The sea of people m
urmured with concern and parted for him, leading the man straight to them.
“Jarek!” yelled Kaiden. “Run! Get her out of here!”
Jarek turned to find Kaiden sprinting toward them. Behind Kaiden, Torrent was charging the guard. Chaos exploded in the chamber as other mage guards joined the first—and they were in the center of it all.
Torrent veered from the original guard toward a larger group of warriors, transforming as he moved. In a flash, a huge black wolf towered before them. He snarled, the sound echoing through the immense room. The group took a collective step back. Mage civilians screamed and began a panicked stampede toward the doors.
“Go,” sounded in Jarek’s mind. He glanced at Kaiden, who had clearly received the same message. “Go!” Torrent roared again.
This was Torrent’s diversion and incredibly effective it was, too. He grabbed Paige’s hand and yanked her forward, Kaiden following. The three of them were soon swallowed up by the throng of fleeing mages as they bottle necked toward the door.
In the moment before the crowd enveloped them, he cast a final look at Torrent. The warriors had surrounded him and although Torrent would definitely take out more than a few of the mages, he looked outnumbered.
Yet Jarek was desperate for only one thing, getting Paige to safety.
The crowd flooded through the doors of the building and spilled onto the streets. The number of people, coupled with their uncharacteristic terror was a good thing for them and they took advantage of the pandemonium. More mage warriors were beginning to arrive, so the three of them headed down one of the side streets, out of view.
Once they were away from mage eyes, Paige hurled herself into Kaiden's arms and then his own. Her sweet body had never felt so good against him.
"What about Torrent?" she asked, looking back the way they'd come. "We can't just leave him here."
"We must," answered Kaiden. "To go back for him would be suicide. The only thing that matters now is getting you home."