by Odessa Lynne
“Sounds like they’re a couple of the renegades who want us off your planet.” Trey’s mouth was so close to Brendan’s ear that Trey’s words tickled Brendan’s flesh.
“Wait,” Brendan whispered. “Humans don’t want you here?”
“Some humans don’t want us here,” Trey said and by his tone, Brendan took that to mean few. “Some try to kill us and our families and packs, hoping we’ll leave. But we can’t leave. We gave up too much in the first few years we were here. The ships can’t support us all now. This is our home now and it will stay our home.”
“What about me?” Brendan asked quietly. “Where do I stand?”
Trey exhaled and the air fanned over Brendan’s cheek. “I think you know. Your government and the other governments of the world welcomed us, if not with true joy, then with little hostility.”
“They accused me of treason,” Brendan said and then didn’t say anything else. He thought he knew what Trey meant.
A few minutes later, the crack of limbs and snap of twigs faded into the distance, along with the men’s’ voices.
Trey rose to his feet with an ease Brendan couldn’t replicate because of his injury. When Trey offered his hand, Brendan took it.
“This brace is just slowing me down,” Brendan said, fingers sliding free of Trey’s strong grip. “Are you sure I still need it?”
“Yes.”
“My foot doesn’t hurt that much.”
“You have a broken ankle. You need the brace.”
“What happened anyway?”
“You fell out of a tree.”
Brendan snorted. “A tree? What the hell was I doing in a tree?”
Trey stared at him, and then turned his head, gaze scouring the forest around them. “Betraying one of your friends to a pack of wolves who were part of the same faction as the traitor I killed earlier.”
Trey said that as if it meant nothing, but the words struck Brendan with the force of a blow. He’d thought earlier that he was a loyal person, that even though he couldn’t remember anything about himself, that he at least felt like he knew who he was at heart.
“No, that can’t be right. I wouldn’t do that.”
Trey’s gaze came back to him, piercing him to his soul. “You did. But he spoke up for you anyway. So did another.”
“That has to mean something,” Brendan said. He ran his hands through his hair, knocking a few bits of leafy debris loose to scatter over his shoulder. He dusted off his t-shirt, his chest tight and his heart thumping almost painfully hard.
“It means they knew you before you became a criminal and neither one wanted to see you dead. That’s all it means.”
“God, do you have to be so cruel all the time? I don’t remember any of that. It’s not right for you to—”
Trey reached for Brendan’s face and gripped his chin tight, claws pricking Brendan’s jaw. Brendan grabbed for Trey’s hand. He stopped at the fierce look Trey gave him and dropped his hand back to his side.
“You keep saying this isn’t right, that this isn’t fair,” Trey said. “You don’t seem to have realized that this is more fair to you than it is to the people you hurt. They’re the ones with the right to complain about fairness and right. You’ve been given a gift from the universe. A second chance at a better fate for yourself. Accept that and stop the pathetic whining about what’s right and fair about your situation. No more.”
Brendan cleared his throat, eyes caught in Trey’s gaze. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, okay.”
Trey released Brendan’s chin.
Brendan tugged down his shirt where it had ridden up, hands shaking. From adrenaline or fear, or a little of both, he didn’t know.
Trey kept watching him for another few moments before curling his fingers around Brendan’s arm and starting them off in the direction they’d been traveling before the interruption.
They stopped at the creek for a drink, and then continued up the other side of the hollow and deep into an area thick with pines where Trey finally released him to walk on his own. Brendan’s arms itched and burned—scratches covered his forearms and the inside of his elbows, but he kept his mouth shut and didn’t complain about anything even when a branch snapped back and left a welt as thick as his finger across his bicep just under the edge of his t-shirt’s short sleeve.
His head started to pound again, throbbing with every step. He was also hungry and had been for a while.
Not long after that, his stomach started growling too loud to ignore.
Trey looked over his shoulder at him. “Do you need food?”
Brendan grimaced. “If I had a gun I could hunt.” He’d said it without thinking, but he was sure it was true.
Strangely enough, Trey grinned at him, showing a disturbing amount of teeth that were visible even in the shadowy light that broke through the thick canopy of pine limbs overhead. “I can hunt for us. I don’t need a gun.”
They pushed on through another closely set stand of trees. Brendan had a strong feeling this part of the forest wasn’t quite natural. The trees had a certain pattern to them, a symmetry that implied they’d been planted in neat rows. Of course, if that was the case, they hadn’t been intended to grow so large, because they crowded together so tight in places that getting through them was like trying to squeeze through a sieve.
Trees crowded around him, looming shadows and thick trunks, broad limbs and sharp pine needles pricking him through his t-shirt with every step. The canopy obscured the sky and Brendan’s chest started to tighten painfully. He couldn’t get enough air, everything was too close, too confining. He couldn’t see far enough ahead. He needed to get the hell out of—
“Keep moving,” Trey demanded, grabbing his arm again and dragging him through a gap between two pines wide enough for only one of them at a time. “There’s nothing to be scared of here.”
“I’m not scared,” Brendan said, huffing a little, embarrassed but unable to stop the twisting roil of his gut.
Scared didn’t begin to describe the feelings that seemed determined to overwhelm him at every turn.
He felt adrift, lost, and he didn’t even know himself well enough to know if any of the things Trey told him were truth or lies.
He wanted to believe Trey, but Trey had a way about him that made Brendan feel out of his depth, uncomfortable, and confused.
Especially about the sex.
“Move,” Trey said again, and Brendan’s eyes flickered over Trey’s face.
“What do you hear?” Brendan asked.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Brendan worried anyway because Trey took to pausing every few minutes and listening to things Brendan couldn’t hear.
His stomach growled again. He blew out a breath and rubbed at his forehead where a thin line of blood tricked from a shallow scratch. Fucking pine trees. He was so sick of the sharp, sweet smell and the sticky way the hair on his arms clung to his skin that he kept catching himself grinding his teeth to the point of pain.
A nursery. The thought came to him out of nowhere. They were walking through an old nursery, one of the ones that had existed before the—before the—
He lost the thought.
He growled low and knocked aside a thin limb blocking his path. Thwap.
“Quiet,” Trey whispered, too close, and Brendan jumped, startled that Trey had managed to come up on him without him realizing.
Brendan stilled. He whispered, “What’s wrong?”
“Stay here.”
Trey pushed through the trees circling them. Brendan stretched to see through the limbs but Trey had blended into the woods and disappeared.
Brendan wiped his hands on his thighs and then leaned over, hands on his knees for leverage. He was tired but he didn’t think sitting down was a good move right then, considering he didn’t know what was going on.
They’d gone from talking about hunting to Trey acting like someone was after them again, and Brendan didn’t know what to do except do as Trey had told him. Where the hell w
ould he go if he didn’t?
A branch snapped, too close for comfort, and Brendan straightened. He turned toward the sound, careful not to make any more noise than he had to, but the ground was littered with so many dead pine needles and so many twigs that there was no way to quiet the crunch underfoot.
His heart pounded, rushing adrenaline through his body, and he listened hard as he studied the woods around him—what he could see of it.
There—
In the dimmest part of the woods, far enough away that he wasn’t even sure if he was really seeing anything, a branch swayed too fast for the faint breeze he’d been feeling. He tracked the area but nothing else moved and then—
A pop nearby.
A burning fire spread through his arm and he looked down to see a needle sticking out of his skin.
Confusion swamped him, along with a strong dizziness. He fell to his knees, grabbing for one of the many limbs jutting into his path, but he couldn’t hold on, and he dropped forward to the ground and closed his eyes.
A few soft sounds came to him, and his eyes flickered open long enough to see a pair of boots. His eyes were too heavy to keep them open for more than a second. Then a roar crashed over him and a scream, followed by the loud repetitive sound of gunshots.
Then nothing.
Chapter 7
Brendan groaned as he came awake, blinked, and then squeezed his eyes shut against a bright light. He tried to turn his head away, but it didn’t do a lot of good. The light was everywhere.
Then something touched his face and he jerked to the side out of instinct and forced his watering eyes open.
“About time,” the human standing over him said. He had a few days growth of beard on his face and he was wearing a vest of some kind and belted pants. He looked young even with the dark stubble on his face, maybe twenty, with an unlined face and bright eyes.
The man squatted in front of the cot and shoved a glass of water at Brendan. “Drink something.”
Brendan sat up and looked around. The cot under him had a green blanket and thin mattress on it, and he was in what looked like an old one-room cabin.
“Jay’s going to be here in a few hours,” the man said. “You want your strength up before that asshole gets here.”
“Jay?” Brendan asked, taking the glass. He drank a big gulp and then another. He wanted to ask about Trey, but he held back. He didn’t know this guy, but the guy seemed to know him.
“Asshole thinks he’s running things now, the fucker. He can’t even see that I know what’s going on there. I’m not taking orders from him.”
“How’d I get here?”
The man’s lips curled up in a grin. “Deer sling.”
Brendan held out the empty glass and the guy took it.
“Who are you?” Brendan asked.
The man paused with the glass halfway to the floor, then he set it down with a hard clink.
“Goddammit,” the man muttered. He looked up and met Brendan’s gaze. “Matthew. I’m Matthew.” He exhaled roughly and brushed his hand over his rough stubble. “He said they’d done something to you. That’s why we shot you with a tranquilizer, but I didn’t really believe it. Fuck.” Matthew gave him a searching look. “You don’t remember me at all?”
Brendan twisted around on the cot. His heavy boot and brace thudded against the dusty floor. “No.”
“That fucking asshole. I was supposed to leave you in here alone until he got here, but I don’t trust him. Not one damn bit. He’s got something planned, I know it, and you won’t have a clue what’s going on.” Matthew looked back over his shoulder and Brendan followed his gaze to a warped wood door on the other side of the cabin.
“All I know is Jay said the wolves were taking you to one of the big ships and Jay said you weren’t going to make it, and we were going to take advantage of that fact and get you back. He told us all what to do and we did it and that’s how we found you. Something’s not right with that asshole but I haven’t figured out what it is yet. I don’t think we should be here when Jay gets here.”
“What happened to the—to the wolf I was with?” Brendan asked.
Matthew turned quickly and pushed to his feet. “Hell if I know. A bunch of the guys were trying to keep him away while me and Lamar took off with you. Lamar was supposed to help me but somewhere between tranqing you and getting you out of there, he went missing. I think he’s falling in line with Jay anyway, the dick. He didn’t think I’d notice how he kept watching me. But if somebody got lucky, the wolf’s dead.”
No. Brendan had to fight to take a calm breath. “I need to find out what happened to him.”
Matthew’s gaze narrowed on him. “Why?”
Brendan glared at Matthew and pushed himself to his feet. “Because I do, that’s why.”
He’d never heard himself sound so cold and hard, but Matthew’s pinched look eased. He gave Brendan a smile.
“Fucker,” Matthew said, sounding strangely affectionate. “I’ve missed you.” Then he pressed a kiss right on Brendan’s mouth.
Brendan jerked away.
“What the hell?” Brendan said, swiping his fingers over his lips.
Matthew frowned. “We’ve been fucking for months. You really don’t remember anything, do you?”
Brendan dragged his gaze over Matthew, taking in his lean body, his extra inch or two of height, noticed how his shirt clung to his chest and arms and how well his pants fit his hips and thighs and ass.
“Not at all,” Brendan finally said.
“Fuck,” Matthew said. He stared at Brendan but didn’t make any further attempt to kiss him or even touch him. He looked over his shoulder again. “I think we should leave.”
“I want to go back to where Trey—the wolf—was.”
“You’ve lost your fucking mind if you think I’m going back there.”
“Then point me in the right direction and I’ll find him myself.”
“Goddammit.” Matthew took the edges of his vest into his hands and yanked downward, settling the thick material back into place. He gestured for Brendan to move aside and then reached across the cot to a shelf attached up on the wall above it and took down another vest and a gun and a few extra clips, and a flashlight.
He offered all of it to Brendan.
Brendan took the gun first and looked it over. He ran his fingers along the grip and the slide, over the trigger guard and the safety. The gun felt familiar but he couldn’t remember it. A long series of numbers and a silver dot glinted at the midpoint of the barrel. He rubbed the small dot and a spark of warmth tingled through his fingertip.
“One of yours,” Matthew said. “Has an embedded tracker Fletcher put there for you.”
Brendan glanced up. “Fletcher?”
“A—friend of yours,” Matthew said.
Brendan didn’t miss the hesitation in Matthew’s voice. “Not just a friend?”
“You fucked him too, but it’s been over between you guys for years.”
Brendan clenched his fingers around the gun and pushed away the thoughts and questions Matthew’s comment brought to mind. He had other concerns right now. He really didn’t want Trey to be dead.
He took the extra clips from Matthew and then shrugged on the vest. It fit snug and heavy; he wasn’t really sure what it was for. Bulletproof? Or claw proof? He fastened it and then tucked the clips into a pocket and clipped the flashlight to a metal ring.
Matthew squatted in front of him and wrapped a holster around Brendan’s thigh and fastened it.
Brendan’s fingers twitched when Matthew’s hands brushed his groin but he didn’t say anything. Matthew glanced up, eyes not giving much away and Brendan couldn’t be sure if the touch had been deliberate or not.
Brendan holstered the gun.
Matthew pushed to his feet. “Let’s go before asshole gets here.”
Brendan nodded. Brendan was only a few feet from the door when he caught sight of the food supplies.
“We need that,” he sa
id, already heading for the crate that held the pouches. These were larger than the ones Trey had given him. Maybe they’d taste less like shit and more like food.
Brendan stuck a handful into a pocket while Matthew grabbed up a few to stuff into his own vest. Then Matthew slung a canteen over his neck and gave one to Brendan.
“Thanks,” Brendan said. “I haven’t eaten in a while.”
“Fucking wolf. What was he doing, starving you?”
“No, neither of us had anything left, that’s all.”
“I don’t know why you want to know what happened to him. He’s just a wolf.”
Brendan’s mouth tightened but he kept his irritation to himself. Trey had saved his life and despite everything that seemed to be going on—all the things Brendan didn’t understand—he hadn’t hurt Brendan. Not yet.
“He’s probably the only one who can give me my memories back.”
“How’d they take them?”
“He said I was drugged. I don’t think it’s the kind of thing that wears off quick. I have a feeling I need some kind of antidote. There’s—” He stopped. He shouldn’t mention the choice he was supposed to make. In fact, he should just shut the hell up about it all. This man was a stranger to him and Brendan had no way of knowing if anything Matthew had said was true. “The reasons don’t matter. I just need to find him, that’s all.”
Matthew hesitated but then he nodded. “You’re the boss.”
Brendan moved to the side of the door, Matthew behind him. He opened the door carefully.
“We should have a few hours,” Matthew said. “I told you, Jay’s not supposed to be here for a while.”
“This Jay isn’t the only one after me,” Brendan said with a glance toward Matthew.
Matthew gave him a look.
“Wolves,” Brendan said, turning back to the door and looking out into the woods beyond. The cabin was tucked up into the middle of nowhere, apparently, no real road in sight, but a path of twin tracks led up to the small porch that led straight down a flight of wood steps. It was nearing sunset, if he had to guess, and the shadows under the trees had gotten long and dark.
“Is there some kind of vehicle around here we could use?”