by Jo Holloway
“What was that?”
No one answered.
“Get inside, everyone.” Mr. Meyers came running from the direction of the Lodge. He shooed students away from the forest. “Sounded like a wolf, or maybe a few. Let’s all get inside for a bit, please. Cara”—he looked at her with a ghost-white face and narrow lips—“take your dog inside. Before anything happens.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Dramatic much, Owen?
The teacher’s first name rang through her mind because his reaction struck her as odd. For starters, there were barely any wolves in Oregon, so the explanation was weak. Why wasn’t he curious like the students? Then again, it was his job to keep them away from danger. He was probably playing it safe or following some sort of school protocol.
She started to move, following the crowd. Maybe she’d go with Wes to the Lodge so they could fill Jory in on the details before he worried about the sound. When Wes continued past the corner of the building where they should have turned, she stopped.
“Where are you going?”
“I said I’d text Rhys when it was over and you were back safely. After that racket, I should probably go tell him we’re fine in person.”
Rhys. Of course.
She should have thought of him first. Not because of the guardian’s death, or the weird protection pact he and Wes had going on, but because of his past. He might be the only one who could help her now.
“I’ll go. You go tell Jory. And Liv. Oh, and Harrison.” She sent him off and turned to whisper to Jenner. “Jenyx, if you need to go deal with that situation, go. I’m safe. I’ll follow the crowd, and I’m going further into campus, not near the woods.”
And you can’t be with me for this, she added to herself.
“Are you sure? I can stay with you.”
“I’m sure. Go.”
She turned to the forward dorms. How could she have forgotten about Rhys? He’d done more than any of them to learn how to kill a Pyx back when he was trying to save Liv. At the time, Cara had been convinced it was the wrong way to do things. And for that situation, it had been. He hadn’t known the difference between the good, innocent Pyx he was abducting and the real evil of Messoryx who thought he could solve problems with genocide.
She knew better now, and something Rhys had learned along the way might be able to help her.
The idea of talking to him alone made her queasy. Her decision to swallow her feelings and be his friend was still fresh, but she’d have to get over it. The situation they were in now was more critical than her pride. After what she’d seen and heard, she needed to talk to him. Just talk. She’d done that much before.
Her feet carried her to the door of the Douglas Fir dorm without any further thought. A tall teacher she didn’t know ushered the freshman and junior boys inside, along with anyone else in the immediate area. She followed a scrawny kid through the doors. Like a magnet, her gaze immediately found Rhys trying to convince the other dorm parent to let him out again. His eyes landed on her, and his face changed. Her heart stuttered as he rushed over.
“Cara. You’re okay? What was that sound? What happened?”
“Not here.”
His eyebrows lifted, and he glanced around the crowded main floor. A few people looked their way as he led her toward the stairs. As soon as they climbed to the second floor, the noise level died, and the place was deserted. Everyone had gathered in the downstairs lounge to discuss whatever was going on. He paused at the top to wait for her, or maybe to see if she wanted to talk right there. With her hands trembling, she moved past him down the hall to his room. She’d been up here with Liv before, but only as far as his doorway.
Just friends. Just talking.
He opened the door to let her in, and she brushed past him, feeling the heat from his body as she passed. Pressing a hand to her middle, she told the dancing butterflies to chill out.
A soft click behind her meant he’d figured out this wasn’t a conversation they could risk being overheard. Her eyes swept across the room and followed Rhys as he passed beside her with a shallow breath. He perched on the edge of his desk and waited for her to speak.
Her mouth went dry as she took in the rumpled bedcovers and other details of his space. She'd never been inside any of the single bedrooms on the upper floors. The space closed in around them, small and intimate. Books lined the shelf along his wall, and she held back a smile as she recognized several she owned herself. He favored dark blue, like his room at Whalton manor, which she’d been inside but not with him there.
Doesn’t matter. Not why you’re here, Cara. Use your words.
“The meeting was a warning message. There was a fight, but we got out fine. Wes is back at the Lodge now, even though he shouldn’t have been out there with me in the first place.”
Rhys wasn’t surprised. And he didn’t look the slightest bit sorry. A little annoyance at whatever part he had played in that side plan flared up, and her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
“A guardian is dead. That’s what the sound was. Some sort of collective mourning.”
His shoulders rolled forward, and his face softened. “Wow. What about the Pyx who surrendered? Did she escape?”
“I don’t know.” She didn’t care, either. Only one of them mattered. “That’s not why I’m here. I need to talk to you. I need to know everything you did when you were trying to learn how to kill them.”
She forced herself to look him in the eye. This was what she needed to do, and he could help her. He might be the only one who could.
“What? Why?”
Confusion played across his features, along with something else. He almost looked hurt. She squared her shoulders and faced him. She couldn’t be distracted by whatever it was.
“I have to know how to kill him. It’s the only way to end this. If you tell me everything, including all the questions Jenyx and Tomyx asked you that day at Jory's house, maybe we can figure it out together.” Her limbs tingled as his gaze intensified. He stood up from the desk. She felt aware of every inch of her body in his presence. This friends thing was never going to work, but he could still help her. “Unless you already know.”
His eyes searched hers with fresh depth. She never would have guessed they could be any more captivating than they already were when the deep grey swirled and the gold sparked with electricity. But it was like the last layer of stone behind them had crumbled.
“No, I don’t know.” His normally smooth voice roughened with emotion.
She blinked and lowered her eyes from his. Of course, that only meant she found herself staring at the way his shirt hugged his shoulders and chest, rising and falling with each breath. Not helping. She had to break his hold on her and stick to her plan. “Well, then, we'll figure it out. We have to. Otherwise, he’s going to come after other people to get to me. The warning said as much. I can’t stand the thought of anyone else getting hurt in my place. If anything happened to my friends, or you, any of the people I love—”
His eyes had narrowed with concern as she spoke. Now they widened again.
Crap. What did you say? Dammit, Cara, focus.
She wanted to look away again, but she couldn’t bring herself to break the electricity between them. Her words came out breathy, almost desperate. “He'll send his soldiers here. I have to kill him. It’s the only way.”
“I don’t believe that.” He stepped closer to her. “It isn’t the only way. You showed me that.”
She stared up at him, locked in his gaze. The air shifted between them.
His hand reached out to brush a lock of hair from her forehead. “You’re the one who told me we’d find a better way when I was sure killing them was the only solution. And we did. We saved my sister. Together.”
His fingertips trailed across her skin and wound into her hair as his hand cupped the side of her face. The smell of his skin so close to her made her want to curl into him, but she didn’t dare move in case it broke the magic.
/> “You saw through me when I was lost. That day you showed up at my house, you talked me off the ledge. You saw how I hated myself for what I was doing, and I’d never want that for you.” His thumb brushed her cheek. “You're the one who made me see past this dark path. Please don’t fall down it now.”
He was looking down at her with a tenderness she’d never dared to imagine. The gold rings danced in his heated eyes, and their warmth wrapped around her heart. Their faces were only inches apart. His breath tickled her, and she breathed him in while his gaze dropped to her lips.
“Cara—I—”
She couldn’t stand against the glorious storm raging all around her.
Her body swayed, leaning into him of its own accord, responding to his touch the way it had when they’d danced.
This couldn't be happening. What was she doing? Her thoughts detached themselves and swirled away in the tempest. Her hands lifted to his arms, feeling as if they belonged to someone else. When his other hand slid around her waist, her pulse surged. The thunderstorm rushing from his eyes tore through her soul.
Her eyes closed as their lips brushed together with feathery softness. The kiss was tentative at first. Tender. Perfect. She melted into it, and her mouth pressed more firmly against his. While the spot in the middle of her chest somersaulted in a dizzying endless loop, her hand slid across and twisted into the fabric of his soft T-shirt to ground her. His lips on hers were all that tethered her to the world.
CHAPTER 22
A KNOCK AT THE DOOR burst through the bubble of the small space.
They sprang apart.
The heat that had gathered inside her spread with a rush up Cara’s cheeks. The doorknob turned, and the door swung open.
“Hey, Rhys, Coach Flynn wanted me to tell you . . . Oh.” Mak burst into the room and stopped dead. “Whoa. Am I interrupting something?”
Rhys rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Nope. What’s up?”
He couldn’t hide the wrinkles in his shirt or Cara’s furious blush.
Mak stared back and forth between them. “Uh, Coach sent me over . . .”
Ugh. Basketball.
She'd never hated basketball more in her entire life.
“You sure nothing was going on? Because that's my brother's girlfriend.”
Cara's head whipped up. “Seriously? Now is when you decide to stick up for Wes? What is wrong with you, Mak? For the last damn time, Wes and I aren't dating.” The heat in her face grew with frustration. She glared at him with her jaw set until she couldn’t hold it back anymore and swore with a shake of her head. “He's your brother. Open your eyes. Or better yet, try talking to him for a change.”
Shoving past his towering frame, she fled down the hall to the stairs. Her tingling lips and the spot on her hip still warm from Rhys’s hand were the only betrayals to the rest of her feelings. Her heart tripped down the stairs ahead of her.
The problem was the word “girlfriend.” It had brought her rational thoughts lurching back into place when her brain reconnected to her body after that kiss. Her first kiss. If only she could float on a cloud back to her own girlfriends and describe its perfection, but that couldn’t happen.
Wes might not have a girlfriend, but Rhys did. So what was he doing kissing her? Unless he and Emma had broken up. Shame followed the flash of happiness that idea brought. She had no idea what had been going on with them since the Valentine's dance, but surely she would have noticed if her teammate had gone through a breakup. If anything, Emma had looked happier lately. It wasn’t like she’d had anything to be mad about after the dance. That had been nothing. Totally innocent. It was all nothing—until now.
On top of that, the girl she would want to run to tell was Rhys’s sister. What was she thinking? Two of the best girls she knew, and she’d betrayed them both. How could she have let this happen?
The door to the Dougie crashed closed behind her. No teacher tried to stop her, so they must have decided the threat of wolves, or whatever they were calling it, was over. She kicked at a rock on the gravel path, mentally kicking herself for being so awful. She wasn’t this person.
But the more she thought about it, the more confused she became, and mad too. She could feel bad about hiding her crush from Liv, lying about her feelings for her friend’s brother. But the Emma thing wasn’t on her. What the hell was Rhys doing? How could he kiss someone else when he had such an amazing girlfriend? And he had kissed her back, hadn’t he? Her lips still burned from the heat, but the fire in her chest died to ashes. She hadn’t even learned anything useful from him. What a mess.
She nearly collided with Grawlls as she turned the corner of the building. His brownish-black fur was close enough for her to smell the woods mingled with notes of something sharp, like vinegar. But what made her step back after her hand flew to her mouth in shock wasn’t his scent. It was the low rumble in his throat.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, casting quick glances in every direction. Thankfully everyone was still indoors. “Aren’t you worried your mind tricks won’t work so well out in the open like this?”
“I have reinforcements.” Grawllyx practically growled the words as if he really was the bear he inhabited.
Jenner stood beside him, and she spotted a squirrel lurking near one of the picnic tables on the lawn. Her heart still pounded from the surprise and from a growing fury at the position she found herself in. That anger reflected back at her from Grawlls until she couldn’t be sure whose emotions were feeding into whose anymore.
“Who do I need to teach a lesson?”
“What?” She licked her lips. They’d stopped tingling and gone dry. What was Grawllyx mad about if it wasn’t to do with the fight in the woods? He couldn’t be mad at Rhys like she was. He couldn’t even know anything had happened.
“You’re angry. Who’s to blame?” Grawllyx flashed across the bear’s eyes like a warning.
Jenner looked up at her, and a similar defensiveness wrapped around her from Jenyx. It was almost sweet. Almost comforting. The tension eased slightly.
“No one, Grawllyx. Nothing happened. Isn’t the situation with the guardian enough to be mad about?”
“I suppose so.” He didn’t sound sure.
“What happened? Did she get away?”
Jenyx’s anguish chilled the remainder of her anger. She’d think about Rhys later. She couldn’t do it right now. It was too much. Too fresh.
“She will not cause any more harm. And Linnaeryx and her guardian are no longer with us.”
“Linnaeryx?” It wasn’t the other one who had been killed? She blinked back a surprising tear. It wasn’t like she cared about the Pyx who had put Liv through so much. She had wanted her dead from the start, hadn’t she? Another tear chased the first one down her cheek. Her heart was too raw for this right now.
“Yes. We knew of two other mysterious Pyx deaths last year. Now we know the truth. It appears Messoryx does not take kindly to anyone having second thoughts. Her first attack was a diversion. Her real target was always Linnaeryx.”
“And what about her? And the woman?”
Cara was too riddled with emotion to tell what sensation came from the Pyx, but when bear and dog both hung their heads, the situation became clear.
“She never intended to release the woman. We tried to stop her, but—”
“She sacrificed herself, killing the woman in the process,” Grawllyx finished.
Once the tears started, Cara couldn’t stop them. Her hands balled into fists at her sides. Couldn’t she just deal with one thing at a time? Why did Rhys have to pick today to flip her world on its head? Why did she have to feel this way about him at all? Here, another innocent person been sacrificed for the sake of toxic hatred. Two more Pyx were dead, too, and one of the most interesting and majestic creatures she’d ever laid eyes on had died along with them. But the pain and anger at their loss and Messoryx’s role in all of it again had to share space on the other side of the wall in her min
d from the intensity of her feelings for Rhys. Or about Rhys. Whatever.
“Are you sure I can’t beat someone up?” Grawlls stretched out a massive paw, and she appreciated his long claws properly for the first time. He settled when she gulped, her tears drying up. “Not that I would actually hurt another living creature. But with this brawny beast, I could put the fear of Pyx in someone for you.”
“That’s really not—” She stopped and wiped her face. “Did you just refer to yourself as a god?”
“Sorry. Running joke. There have been some, er, misinterpretations over the years. Did you know humans used to worship a cat goddess in Egypt? And in India, there are these—”
Cara held up a hand to cut him off. She’d figured those ones out freshman year. Pyx in animals, talking to Pyxsees, making the animals act strangely . . . It didn’t take much imagination to put those together and come up with legends and gods. Instead of amusing her, today, it rubbed her the wrong way.
“You all talk a big game about not interfering. Messoryx might be taking things way too far with his human zombie murder plans, but you’re not all as innocent as you make yourselves out to be.” Her shoulders dropped, and she stepped past the bear. “Go hide somewhere properly. You’re tricking people right now. I’m tired of all the manipulating and deceiving people.” She flinched at the image of Emma’s kind face. She didn’t want her own deceit to be the cause of any more pain. It was all too much. “Leave me alone.”
Voices carried around the building as people started to emerge. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she left Grawlls and the squirrel to make their way to the woods while she stormed down the path.
“Coming, Jenyx?”
“Sorry, child. You said you wanted to be alone. I was not certain.”
“I didn’t mean you. I never mean you.”
Almost never. Except when you need to go behind his back. Because you’re not any better than they are.
Her lips pursed. Everything was a mess. If she’d thought her life was out of control before, it was nothing compared to now. How on earth could she fix any of this? She couldn’t rein in her own actions, let alone deal with a battle with another race. The next person who suggested she had any sort of power over anything was going to get an earful.