The Dark Sky Collection: The Dark Sky Collection

by Amy Braun

  The Hellion gave up its efforts but didn’t leave the room. A heavy thud struck the floor above us. I could hear the monster’s sickly, raspy voice as it pressed down on the floor, looking for us. It must have smelled Sawyer’s blood, but didn’t know where he was.

  What if it figures out there’s a way in? What if it gets through? It’s so dark and cramped in here, and Sawyer’s gun is so loud…

  I started shaking, unable to stop myself. Sawyer felt it. He turned and pressed his forehead to mine. I breathed in the smell of leather, sweat, and cedar. He stayed still, breathed evenly, a rhythm I strove to match. I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on controlling my fear.

  It was harder than I wanted to admit.

  Sawyer’s warm lips pressed against my hairline, a gentle kiss that seemed to make a promise.

  We’ll be okay. I’ll keep you safe. Don’t be scared.

  The Hellion growled sharply, and Sawyer whirled around, pressing his back to my chest again. I was certain we were discovered. My mind raced through a million horrible scenarios, all of them ending with a brutal death for Sawyer. I couldn’t let that happen. Not when I’d just gotten him back.

  But if I moved, the Hellion would know we were here. Sawyer would be the first to die.

  The Hellion sniffed again, then let out a sound that reminded me of a wolf chuffing. Then the floorboards over our heads creaked. Heavy boots stomped away from us. The door snapped open then slammed shut again. Sawyer slumped with relief. I almost collapsed from it.

  Then he holstered his pistol, turned, and looked at me. His tawny eyes were maelstroms of emotion. Shock, confusion, concern, relief… and love. I’d never seen Sawyer this intense before.

  I realized that he might be angry.

  In his eyes, I gave up and took the easy way out– became a prisoner of the enemy. All of this, mere minutes after he had told me he loved me.

  He took a step toward me. I stepped back reflexively.

  “Sawyer, we don’t have a lot of time.” My back hit the cool stone wall. He didn’t stop walking. “I need to tell you–”

  He cupped my face with both of his hands and pressed his lips to mine in a desperate kiss. I stiffened for a moment, then melted into him. My hands clasped the back of his neck to pull him closer. I met his open mouth and deepened the kiss. Sawyer groaned and laced his fingers through my hair, as though he couldn’t keep himself from touching me. I did the same.

  For a minute, there was nothing else. We were the only two people in the world. Sawyer’s touch and my racing heart were all I could feel. His lips and tongue were all I tasted. The cedar-musk drifting from his skin was all I could smell.

  Sawyer slipped his fingers from my hair and glided his thumbs down the side of my face, the curve of my neck, resting on the top of my collarbone. The heat from his hands caused me to shiver with desire.

  He kissed me again, long and deep, then finally pulled away to breathe. He opened his eyes and looked into mine. The relief on his face pulled my heartstrings.

  “Claire,” he breathed my name like a prayer. His thumb stroked my cheek with tantalizing slowness. He leaned into kiss me again, then stopped abruptly. Sawyer’s glittering gold eyes were fixed on my neck. His grip tightened a little, and I watched fury sweep over his face.

  “Did my brother do that to you?” he asked.

  I shook my head, wishing we could forget the bruises dotting my neck and return to the moment before. “No.”

  Sawyer didn’t move. “The Vesper.” It wasn’t a question, and I couldn’t lie to him. He lifted his eyes to mine. “How badly has Davin hurt you?”

  Pain crossed over his eyes, because he knew that Davin wouldn’t resist the urge to torment me, no matter what his orders were or what authority gave them.

  “I’m okay,” I said, hoping I sounded convincing.

  Sawyer wasn’t buying it. “Tell me what he did.”

  Right then, I knew our moment was over. Sawyer’s anger was overriding his reason, blinding him to anything else. It was noble and the devotion made my heart soar, but I had to be reasonable. There was more at stake here than Sawyer’s revenge against his brother, and my twisted urge to see it happen.

  I was starting to think I’d spent too long as the Hellion’s captive.

  “Are you going to tell me what happened to you?” I asked.

  Sawyer frowned, giving me my answer. I took in all of the bruises circling his jaw and blackening his eyes. His hair was a tangled mess and I knew he’d been wearing his clothes for at least three days straight.

  He was still the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.

  “Look, it’s not important right now,” I told Sawyer, taking his hand away from me.

  Sawyer didn’t let go of my hand. “Claire–”

  “Is Abby okay?”

  “She’s fine. She’s on the Dauntless.”

  My eyebrows shot up my forehead. “You brought her here?”

  “She’s safe,” he insisted. “She’s in the cabin. We found some recruits. Forty men and women are guarding her, and Nash and Gemma will be with her soon. Nothing’s happened to her. The Vesper hasn’t done anything to hurt her.”

  Another wave of relief filled me, though I couldn’t seem to hold onto the emotion for more than a fleeting second. I longed to see my sister again, but I had to tell Sawyer what had been happening in our time apart.

  “They have a storm-maker,” I blurted.

  He faltered. “What?”

  “It’s a machine that allows the Vesper to control the weather,” I explained. “There’s a tunnel between Aon and Hellnore. The machine helps power this tunnel, making it a trap.”

  “Is that what the Vesper’s making you work on?”

  I shook my head. “Not anymore. He’s put me on the Palisade. He refuses to let me work on anything else. I’ve been delaying as much as I can, but I can’t keep him away for much longer.”

  He cupped my face again, sliding his thumb up and down my cheekbone. “You don’t need to worry about that anymore. I’m taking you home.”

  Tears stung my eyes. Home. Back to the Dauntless, to Abby and Gemma and Nash. To Sawyer. Nothing sounded better to me. Sawyer was here, keeping his promise to me.

  You have endured hardships, Claire. But you know little of true pain.

  The Vesper’s words sprang into my mind like a bear-trap, snapping around my hope and crushing the life from it.

  “I can’t go,” I whispered.

  “What?” Sawyer drew my face up to his, so close our noses grazed each other. “You can. You will. You need to come home, Claire. We need you. Abby needs you.” His voice started to tremble. “I need you.”

  A tightness filled my chest, the dreaded truth and reality rising from the fantasy I created. The story that ended with me safe in Sawyer’s arms was a million miles away from this cursed world.

  “I put a Volt in his power source.”

  “What?” he exclaimed. He remembered to lower his voice. “Are you crazy?”

  “It’ll be fine,” I assured. “I’m going to make a remote that will trigger it.”

  He frowned. “What kind of power source do they use?”

  It would have been easier to lie. But I couldn’t bring myself to. Not now, not when he had so much concern and love on his face.

  “I’m not sure. It’s an alien one. I’ve never seen anything like it. And it’s… unstable.”

  Sawyer gaped and widened his eyes in sheer horror. Maybe I should have lied.

  “And you’re going to use the Volt on it?”

  “It won’t be like last time,” I told him. “I’ll have a transmitter–”

  He clutched my upper arms like he was going to shake me, but he didn’t hurt me. He would never do that.

  “But you’ll still be there when it detonates,” he hissed. “That’s assuming the Hellions don’t catch you.”

  I scowled at his lack of trust. “I can do it,” I shot.

  “But you shouldn’t.” He was cl
ose to shouting now. “I’m not going to let you risk it. I just found you. I’m not going to lose you again, Claire. Don’t make me walk away.”

  Each breath constricted my chest. The last thing I wanted to do was go back to Hellnore with Davin, Riley, and the Hellions. I couldn’t let this be the last time I saw Sawyer.

  But it might be.

  “Think about Abby,” he pressed. “Your little sister. She’s so scared, Claire. She’ll break if she loses you. Don’t you want to see her?”

  A sob hitched in my throat. I was too close to Sawyer. I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him away. He seemed shocked, but didn’t reach for me again.

  “Of course I do.” My voice sounded broken. Wet streaks started to line my face. “I miss her every day. I miss all of you. You’re all I can think about, the only things keeping me going.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It didn’t ease the pain.

  “But I can’t, Sawyer. Not until this is over. If I leave now, I’ll never get another chance to deceive them. I’m so close to destroying them once and for all. I just need a little more time.”

  He took a tentative step forward. “We’ll find another way. There has to be one, another entrance that we can break through to get to Hellnore, and–”

  I shook my head. “I’ve never seen one. It might not exist.”

  “But we don’t know that. We haven’t looked. There could be so many other options, Claire. We just need to–”

  “Stop!”

  He froze. My tears continued to flow.

  “You don’t know what it’s like there,” I sobbed out. “There are thunderstorms and mountains everywhere, a volcano that constantly spills lava. You can’t go outside without a mask because the air is full of ash. You’d be walking straight into a trap. You’d never make it, even if we found a way to prepare. They’ll be waiting for us. The Vesper won’t risk an attack until he has a weapon or army that can wipe us out. He’s patient. He’ll wait for us to fail.”

  I closed my eyes and let fresh tears fall.

  “I need to finish this. I need to destroy him.”

  Sawyer returned to me. His hands were gentle, one of them resting on my shoulder while another tipped my chin up.

  “Then let us help you, Claire,” he urged, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

  I curled my hand around his, drawing it away from my chin and holding it close. “That would never work. He would torture you and use you against me. I wouldn’t think twice about anything he asked me to do. I would get everyone killed.” I breathed again, feeling my chest swell with heartache and fear. “I have to do this alone.”

  “Claire…”

  “I’m not asking, Sawyer. I’m telling. I’m not ready to be saved. Not yet.”

  He glared daggers at me. His touch remained feather-light. “So what do you expect me to do? Sit around and hope for the best?”

  I pulled away from him, reaching into the pocket of my coveralls and drawing out the journal. I held the leather book, wishing answers from it. Answers, and a rekindling of the hope I was losing.

  “My mother is alive.”

  Sawyer fell silent, lost for words. “What?”

  “This is hers,” I said. “I checked an entry and recognized the writing. It was dated from a week ago.”

  His golden eyes fell to the book. “And you want me to find her.”

  “She can’t be far. The entries said she was working on something, but I didn’t find out what. I didn’t have time.”

  “Why not?”

  I shrugged one of my shoulders sheepishly. “I was a little busy blinding and attacking the two Hellions that were supposed to guard me.”

  Sawyer raised his eyebrows. “Davin and Riley didn’t take you seriously?”

  A weak grin tugged at my lips. “Guess not. Their mistake, right?”

  Sawyer chuckled, a sound that warmed me to my very toes. It was agony to think this might be the last time I ever saw him. Pushing the thought aside, I placed the book in his hands. I knew he would guard it with his life.

  “She might be able to help you break the storm-maker and get through the Breach safely, because I don’t think I can anymore.” If I were seen anywhere near it, the Vesper would bleed me until I couldn’t walk.

  Hiding my fear, I looked into my Captain’s eyes again. “I trust you, Sawyer. I know you’ll find her.”

  His smile faded. He tucked the journal into his jacket, frowning only a little as he aggravated his shoulder. Then he stood in silence.

  “Every instinct I have is telling me not to let you go. I’m about two minutes away from throwing you over my shoulder and taking you back, kicking and screaming.”

  I took a step closer to him, dipping my head so I could see his face. “But you trust me?”

  Sawyer slid his eyes into mine. They were dark and crestfallen, but still carried the strength and passion I loved so much.

  “Yes. I trust you.”

  Love and pain churned in my heart, strangling me. I knew how much he was giving up. We both did. Here we were, finding each other against all odds, and now we had to part ways if we had any chance of surviving.

  A chance that was only going to get smaller.

  I threw myself into his chest, wrapping my arms around his back and holding him close. I closed my eyes and simply absorbed him. His warmth and smell, the sound of his steady heartbeat next to my ear. Sawyer folded me into an embrace, one hand spreading across my upper back while the other gently stroked my hair.

  “Tell me you’ll be safe,” Sawyer whispered.

  I tightened my grip around him. I didn’t want to lie, but I had to. If I told him I feared for my life every second I was in Hellnore, he wouldn’t let me go back. I wouldn’t try to stop him. His protectiveness and my fear would give the Vesper and the Hellions the openings they needed to win.

  “I will be,” I whispered.

  I drew back and looked up at him. His bright, tawny eyes locked on mine, tracing every facet of color. Memorizing them, in case I failed and he never saw me again.

  Sawyer told me he loved me once. If this was my last moment with him, I needed to make him understand that I felt the same. I rose to the tips of my toes and kissed him like never before. It was urgent yet gentle, passionate yet tender. A kiss that spoke of the hope that I would be with him again when the Vesper and his Hellions were destroyed.

  I poured everything into that kiss, and let him do the same to me. His lips and fingers spoke of yearning and trust, the desire to take me home and the understanding that he had to let me go.

  The pain of knowing he would break his promise.

  I ended the kiss, though my heart strained against my chest, as if reaching out for his. I pressed my forehead to Sawyer’s, closed my eyes, and fell into his presence.