Kings of Carrion

by Keri Lake

  Upon reaching Titus, I reach out a hand, which he bats away while clambering awkwardly to his feet.

  “Told you to keep going.”

  I catch sight of the blood oozing out of a wound at his flank, confirming the hit from a bullet. Men from the camp advance toward us, some running, others zooming ahead of the group on motorcycles.

  Wrapping his arm over my shoulder, I help him hobble along toward the truck, where Cadmus loads Kenny’s body onto the back. He races toward us and takes the bulk of Titus’s weight, and I head toward the cab.

  It’s too late, though.

  Motorcycles circle the vehicle, blocking our escape, and I pause, just reaching out for the truck’s door. The intense glare of the headlights blinds me, and I lift my hand to shield my eyes, catching a glimpse of Brandon in the driver’s seat. Had it been Cadmus in there, he might’ve been inclined to plow through the line of bikes, boldly tearing through their blockade.

  Instead, Brandon sits quietly, hands trembling against the steering wheel, his chest rising and falling with rapid breaths.

  A quick glance behind me shows Cadmus settling Titus down beside the truck’s back wheel. The blood seeping through his shirt stirs alarm through my body. He’s been hit at least twice. Maybe more.

  There’s no way he can fight these men, and right now, the only thing that concerns me is whether, or not, he’s going to be okay.

  A silhouette steps forward, and as it nears the truck, I’m certain the man approaching us is the Alpha of the group. The scars on his face prove he’s no stranger to fighting, and the moment Cadmus abandons Titus, I know the man is prepared for a battle. As Cadmus strides past me, I grab his arm, pulling him back.

  “No. Wait.”

  Cadmus comes to a halt at my side, the veins in his neck and the tension in his jaw only revealing a fraction of the rage that must seethe inside of him. For as much as he, himself, fights with Titus, it’s clear the injuries of his brother have rattled his fury.

  “You have something that belongs to me.” The other Alpha’s voice is deep and rich, as I remember of Valdys’s. The voice of an uncompromising leader, and I’m certain if my beloved was here now, his presence would carry equal weight.

  “You claim humans as property?” I dare to ask, drawing those intense blue eyes to my direction.

  “He is a member of our camp. Protected by our people. If you value your life and those of your friends, you’ll release him.”

  “Perhaps you’d like to discuss this over fists.” Cadmus’s voice is equally intimidating, and the opposing Alpha would have to be a fool to entertain his challenge.

  As if contemplating that very thought, he narrows his eyes on me. “What is it you want with the man?”

  “He was a friend.”

  “I was no friend of yours.” The voice draws my attention to Kenny, stumbling along the side of the truck toward us.

  “You know them?” the Alpha asks, his gaze fixed toward Cadmus, who stands poised for attack.

  Kenny keeps his distance from Cadmus as he skirts around us, backing himself toward the other Alpha. “She’s the bitch who murdered my girlfriend.”

  A sting hits the rim of my eyes, threatening tears at the memory of the friend I was forced to leave behind. “Murder?” Grinding my jaw fails to hold back the tears that spring to my eyes. “It was your kind who murdered her. Legion who shot her dead like a fucking dog.”

  “You prompted them!” He lurches toward us, but slams to a stop the moment Cadmus snaps his attention toward him. “She wouldn’t have been there, if it weren’t for you! She sacrificed her life for your freedom!”

  “And I have mourned her ever since.”

  “What business does she seek with you?” The other Alpha also swings his attention toward Kenny, and it’s clear by the tone of his voice, there’s an air of distrust between them.

  “If I had to guess? Springing her beloved prince from his tomb.” The venom in his eyes bleeds through his words, and I have no doubt that he doesn’t plan to help us. “She wants me to open the doors to the hospital.”

  A unison of voices come with the chatter of disagreement and scoffing amongst the men who’ve gathered around us--ones of smaller build, when compared to the Alpha, but big enough to pummel me.

  The fact that Kenny knows Valdys was taken there makes me wonder what role he played in tracking us down. I had no doubt the slave bands worn by the Alphas helped Legion officers find us in our little oasis.

  “You sealed someone inside.” Tears slip down my cheeks that I quickly wipe away. “Someone very important to me.”

  “He’s dead.” It’s not Kenny who answers, but the other Alpha, and I let his words wind around my spine, giving life to the months of pent-up anger.

  “Fuck you! He’s not dead! He’s alive!” I charge toward him, dodging Cadmus’s reach for me, but before I get within arm’s length of the other Alpha, my feet fly out from beneath me and the ground crashes into my spine, banishing air from my lungs. One of the Alpha’s men stands over me, lip peeled back in a snarl.

  Not a second later, I see Cadmus’s fist slam into the man, knocking him into the air before he skids across the dirt. “I’ll fucking kill you for touching her!” The rage in Cadmus’s voice is a distant sound to my gasps for breath, as I turn over, clawing at the dirt, desperate for air. Against the resistance in my lungs, I suck in what little oxygen I can, until I’m able to breath in and out again.

  “What’s going on here?” The melodic voice of a woman draws my attention toward a lighthaired female, standing alongside the Alpha. Eyes colored in surprise, she stares back at me and to the surrounding men. “What are you doing?”

  “Wren, go back to the camp.” The Alpha steps ahead of her in a way that tells me she belongs to him and he’s protecting her.

  “Who is she?” she asks, her gaze falling to me once more. “And why is she on the ground? Have we taken to harming other females?” As she comes around the Alpha, he grabs her arm, forbidding her to approach, but she wrenches herself free.

  Crossing the distance between us, she kneels at my side and reaches for my arm, helping me to my feet.

  “She came for Kenny,” the Alpha says, as I gain my composure once more. “To open the doors to Calico.”

  Her gaze swings back to me, wide with what I surmise as incredulity. “Why would you consider such a thing? Do you not know what lives behind those doors?”

  Lifting my hair up, I turn so she can see the tattoo etched into my skin. “I know exactly what the place holds.”

  Backing away from me, she regards me as if she’s staring back at a rabid dog bearing its teeth for attack. Her eyes skate to Cadmus, and beyond, to where Titus lies against the truck, still bleeding out of his wounds. “The doors are sealed. Never to be opened again.”

  “I have to open them.” Another wave of tears springs to my eyes. “For months, I’ve searched for you. Followed every lead to nothing. Wallowed in the disappointment of my failures. So I won’t give up so easily. The man I love is trapped behind those walls.”

  The woman’s expression softens, and she glances back to the Alpha, then again toward where Titus sits behind us. “Your man is injured. He needs medical attention. We have a healer.”

  When I twist around, Titus sits slumped against the wheel of the truck, his face pale, his shirt carrying blossoms of red. Abandoning my debate, I hustle to his side and tip his head back, noticing the weary look defeat that consumes him as he winces in pain. Placing my hand to his shirt, I gather the thick coating of blood onto my fingers and turn my attention back toward the woman. “Your healer … she can help him?”

  “She’s very skilled.”

  “Then, please hurry.”

  Chapter 10

  Wren

  “What else would you have me do with them?” Six stands before me, his face screwed up with confusion. After overhearing his plans to rid us of the Alphas and imprison the girl, I requested a private meeting with him back in the cav
e. “They raided our camp. Took one of our men. And plan to do something beyond madness. Open the hospital? If that’s even possible, it’s someone lacking sound mind who would attempt it.”

  “And yet, if it were you sealed inside, I’d do the same. I suspect you would for me, as well.”

  His brows flicker as though even the thought of it pains him.

  “They didn’t harm anyone, aside from the bruise to Kenny’s face.”

  “They’re Alphas, Wren. Dangerous. Rapists by nature.”

  “And you carry the same blood that runs through them.” I saunter up to him, arms crossed. “There was a time I was warned against you, too. Weren’t you the one who told me there might still be some good left in them?” Running my thumb over his stubble, I smile at the memory of Papa commanding me to stay away from the young Alpha. “They seem loyal to her. Protective, as you would be.”

  “Which makes them a threat. Regardless of whomever they’re loyal to.”

  “Let them stay until their friend is mended. If they prove to be no threat, then let them go, and we’ll continue east.”

  “And if they attempt to harm someone before then?”

  Brow raised, I run my thumb over his lips, before planting a kiss there. “You’re an Alpha. One of the most feared in the desert. Make sure it doesn’t happen. But my guess is? They didn’t come here to hurt anyone. I saw it in her eyes. The sadness. Hopelessness. There’s no feigning true heartbreak, Six.”

  With a huff, he tilts his chin in the way he does to exert his dominance. “Do you always have to be so reasonable?”

  Smiling, I push up to my toes and wrap my arms around his neck. “Do you always have to be so handsome?”

  “You’re changing the subject.”

  “For more pressing concerns. Honestly, it’s as if you wake up every morning as a god.”

  “Enough of this, woman.”

  “You’re blushing.” I run my thumb over his scarred cheek and kiss him there. “The Alpha blushes!”

  The dimples in his cheek betray a poor attempt to hide his smile, as he lifts me up into his arms, and I straddle my legs around him.

  “It’s your radiant beauty that warms my face. Not embarrassment.”

  “Whatever you say.” Leaning forward, I kiss him again, feeling a growl vibrate against my lips.

  “How much longer before I have you again?”

  “Haseya said two days, which, by my estimates, is approximately twelve hours, thirty minutes and twenty-one seconds. Twenty. Nineteen.”

  “Not that you’re keeping track.”

  There is no way to keep track of time these days, only by the placement of the moon and sun in the sky, but I wait for nightfall just the same. I always wait for the moments when I have him all to myself, when he’s unburdened by the duties of leadership and protecting our hive.

  “I’m going to offer our new friends some food. I’m sure they’re hungry.”

  “Friends now?” His brows furrow as he lowers me back to the ground. “Don’t get attached.”

  “She’s a young girl. Don’t forget that, Six. In spite of the Alphas, she survived the Deadlands. I’m curious to know more about her.”

  “You and your stories.” Hooking a finger beneath my chin, he plants another kiss to my lips. “What will you do with all of them?”

  “Someday, I’d like to write a book. Something that will carry them into the future, so our children will know where they came from.”

  He rests his hand against my stomach, his forehead pressed to mine. “How strong their mother was to tame such a beast as their father.”

  “I’d spin you slightly different, but you got the general idea.” I giggle when he digs his fingers into my ribs, tickling me as he holds me hostage in his arms.

  “Go offer them food. But know, if either of the men lays a hand on you, I won’t hesitate to kill them.”

  “And should the girl lay a hand on you?”

  “She deserves a reward for being so bold.”

  “I was talking about me.”

  “So was I.” He smiles then, a rarity with Six, as most times his face is furrowed with concern, and I steal the opportunity to kiss him again before exiting the cave.

  The three newcomers sit around the fire, separated from the wary few who guard them, while their friend rests in Heseya’s tent, under her care for the night. Grabbing three bowls of stew, from a pot left out from dinner earlier in the evening, I cross the camp and come to a stop before them. The Alpha and female seem to hesitate, staring down into the broth, while failing to accept it. The younger male beside them is much more eager, snatching up his proffered meal, but he pauses midway to his mouth, eyeing his comrades beside him.

  “If I was planning to poison you, I wouldn’t have wasted three perfectly good bowls of stew,” I say, prodding the food toward them again. “Takes a lot to feed this crew.”

  The male takes his first, tipping it back. He gives a nod toward the younger girl, and she accepts her bowl, also tipping it back.

  Fiercely protective of her. In a way, he reminds me of Six.

  “You escaped Calico.” I take a seat on one of the many available rocks beside them and raise my hands to warm my palms by the fire.

  “You did, too,” the girl says before tipping her bowl back again. At the confusion that must be written on my face, she stares down into her bowl. “I saw your Alpha carry you out before the doors sealed.”

  “You were there that night?”

  “They took my Alpha. We’d hidden away near a waterfall north of there. They tracked the slave bands.”

  My eyes dart to the band still attached to the blond Alpha’s throat, similar to the one Papa removed from Six years ago. Unfortunately, I no longer have the key. “How did you manage escape in the first place? They grew to be a fortress after I left.”

  She jerks her head, and I twist to see Kenny, glaring at her from across the bonfire. “He helped us. Jammed the computers, so we’d go unnoticed.”

  “That’s how his girlfriend was killed.”

  “Roz was my best friend. A sister. I’d have never hurt her.” Her jaw shifts as she pulls her knees up, wrapping her arms around her legs. “In hindsight, I’d have taken her place.”

  The comment nabs the attention of the Alpha beside her, who frowns before tossing his bowl onto the ground.

  “The man you spoke of, trapped inside the hospital, he didn’t escape with you?”

  “He did. He was captured a few days after.” Now she’s the one glaring back at Kenny. “I’ve no doubt he led them to us.”

  I catch sight of the slave band at the Alpha’s throat again. “So, he helped you, then sent Legion after you. How did you evade capture then?”

  “Cadmus.” Lips pressed together, she gives a slight glance back toward the man beside her. “He killed the Legion soldiers, and I killed Doctor Tims. But still, Valdys was taken from me.” Tears shine in her eyes, and I catch the bob of her throat as she swallows. “We followed them back to Calico, and I watched you and your Alpha escape before the doors sealed shut.”

  Hearing the memory fall from her lips takes me back to those harrowing moments, and my stomach tightens at the thought. How terrifying that must’ve been to see the one she loved forever trapped inside.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine the pain you must’ve suffered.”

  “You can’t.” A fire burns in her eyes, one I recall all too well from the night I was certain Six had perished. The night Legion came for him and I was informed that he’d burned in flames. “Nobody seems to understand my pain. You look at me as if I’m mad, but what if it were your Alpha? What if he was sealed inside that place?”

  “I have nightmares of that very thing. In them, I don’t know what to do. Perhaps no different than you.” With a huff, I glance to Kenny and back. “So, you hoped that he’d open the doors.”

  “I’ve spent two months searching. Hoping. Praying. It seems to come down to the same thing every time. The world is designe
d to take, not give.”

  She sounds like a much younger version of me. One jaded by love, cynical to its power. I don’t need to ask her if she’s given thought to the possibility that he’s already dead. My guess is, she’s done nothing but agonize over it.

  A scream echoes through the camp, tearing my attention toward the cluster of tents beyond the fire. With a frown, I push to my feet, waiting to hear it again.

  It arrives as before, a woman’s agonizing wail that carries the tone of Mara’s voice.

  “Excuse me for a moment.” I dash through the camp, toward her tent, throwing back the flap of it to find her lying on a bed of blankets, writhing and sweating in the dim lamp of a lantern. Red stains the fabric of her clothes and the white patches of her blankets.

  Haseya sits beside her, and the moment she catches sight of me, she urges me to Mara’s side. “Hold her down!”

  I lurch to do as told, falling to my knees alongside my friend, and band my arm over her chest, as she arches and bucks beneath me. “Mara, calm down,” I whisper, running my free hand over her damp brow. “It’s all right.”

  “Perhaps not.” The grim tone of Haseya’s voice skates down my spine, and I turn to see her staring down at the woman’s belly. “This child inside of her must come out.”

  Eyes wide, I shake my head, mentally unscrambling the meaning behind her words. “It’s … it’s too early.”

  “She’ll die, if I don’t.”

  I can’t bring myself to ask how. There’s only one way she could possibly bring this child into the world before it’s ready. I’m not sure I can fathom such a brutal thing, let alone sit by and observe.

  “In my tent, I need you to gather the Juniper berries.”

  “You would kill the baby?”

  “I intend to induce labor.”

  “It … it’ll kill it. Trust me on this.”

  “You must trust me on this.” Her eyes are unyielding, and at the screech of agony that rips from Mara’s lips, I scramble to my feet and exit toward her tent.

  Six catches up with me, matching my quick strides. “What’s going on?”