by Rachel Jonas
“Handing out flyers?”
I didn’t know what to think when he pushed up onto his elbow, suddenly staring with a hardened look within his eyes.
“Uh, yeah,” I clarified. “Apparently, it’s supposed to be some big party and—”
“You’re not going.”
The firm assertion left me to stare at him, mouth gaping open.
“The Firelight Celebration isn’t some … party,” Ori practically growled. “And as soon as I find out who this punk kid is handing out invitations, I’m gonna beat his—”
“What’s the big deal?” I cut in, finding it hard to believe he’d gotten so worked up over this. “Is this the thing you had going on? The reason you weren’t available to have the party that weekend?”
“It is,” he answered coldly, “but the celebration is a sacred event. One not meant for outsiders.”
… Outsiders.
That word rested heavily on my heart, stinging in ways I didn’t expect it to. An old wound that wasn’t really closed to begin with was suddenly reopened. And by my mate, no less.
“I get it,” I sighed. “I’m not from here. Therefore, I’m not welcome. Duly noted.”
Frustration marked Ori’s tone as he dropped an F-bomb quietly to himself. When I sat up, fully intent on leaving him there alone, my arm was taken.
“You know that’s not what I meant,” he protested, holding me in place.
My stare met his. “Then what did you mean? If I’m not forbidden to go because I’m an outsider, then what’s the reason?”
His hazel eyes volleyed between mine, and no further explanation was given.
“Exactly,” I sighed, feeling his grip on my arm loosen. This time, when I moved to stand, he didn’t stop me.
***
Rayen
I hated having to drop by and interrupt their evening, but I supposed it was a bit of an emergency. Ty and I sat on his front porch as the rain poured down all around us, rolling off the awning into the flowerbeds below.
He bounced the newest addition to his family on his knee—his great granddaughter.
The outside world would never believe that a guy who didn’t look a day older than I did could have such an extensive lineage, but Ty was old. In fact, his entire Solaris hive—as well as the Tritons—were among some of our island’s oldest dragons. It was his knowledge of hive politics, and the time he’d spent with Spirit, that brought me to his door.
I needed answers. Needed to know how to fix what I’d broken.
“So,” he sighed, still processing the details I’d given—starting with how I’d broken protocol with Noelle. “Ori knows you were insubordinate, and your head is still attached to your shoulders. That’s a pretty good start,” he chuckled.
I smiled a little, but felt too weary to relax.
“Well, this is a first among Firekeepers, but there is a procedure intact to make atonement to Spirit.”
“Atonement?”
He nodded. “Yes, you’ve broken rank, and the result is that your hive is no longer functioning as it ought to. However, lucky for you, you’ll get to keep all your limbs and appendages. Including the one that got you into this mess,” he added with a laugh.
I hated that his words lifted my mood a bit, because I still hadn’t heard what my slipup would cost me.
“You need to make arrangements to go before the Council,” he said. “There, you must make a formal statement admitting to your transgression, publicly expressing your apology to your alpha, and then your debt is paid.”
My brow quirked. “That’s it?”
Ty nodded. “Lucky for you, Spirit loves us and doesn’t wish to do us harm. In fact, the only reason you even had this breakdown within your hive was to get your attention. To force you to make things right with Ori.”
My head lowered hearing this, noting that my only regret was that my actions forced me to keep a secret from my brothers. I’d said before that I wouldn’t undo what happened between me and Noelle, but it wouldn’t have killed me to wait.
Wouldn’t have killed me to trust Spirit.
Standing, I shook Ty’s hand. “I’ll see when I can go before the Council. Thank you.”
He nodded and the brotherly tie between us was present like always. “Anytime.”
I stepped down from the porch with a renewed sense of hope, looking forward to telling the others order would soon be restored. As soon as the Council had time to see me, I’d go before them and make things right.
With any luck, this would all go as smoothly as Ty seemed to think it would.
Chapter Nineteen
Noelle
“We shouldn’t be doing this.”
I hated that the only reason those words just left my mouth was because a certain alpha had planted them there. The sting of Ori’s words—his forbiddance—had cycled in my head on repeat for two weeks.
They were the reason I hadn’t had much to say to him.
The reason I made excuses to put space between me and the hive altogether.
All because of one word he uttered when explaining why I couldn’t attend the Firelight Celebration—outsider.
Toni smoothed lip gloss over her lips before popping the tube inside the pocket of her jeans.
“Of course we should be doing this,” she retorted. “Finals and evaluations are in two weeks. If I don’t go do something fun for once, I swear I’m gonna lose it.”
A breath left my mouth and I glanced down at my outfit—a casual black dress that barely hit my knees, matching sandals. I grabbed my jean jacket last-minute and clutched it in the bend of my elbow just in case it got chilly later.
Toni stood before me and braced both my shoulders. “Noelle, we’re doing this. You know why? Because we were invited.”
“Yeah, but then we were uninvited once I told Ori about it.”
She popped a shoulder with a casual shrug. “Maybe, but this was already the plan. I mean, I get it if you choose to hang back, but the rest of us are going, and you’ll be missed if you don’t.”
She did this puppy dog thing with her eyes and I rolled mine.
“Fine,” I gave in, which made her squeal with satisfaction. “But you have to be on the lookout with me. If we spot one of the four, I can’t be seen.”
“Deal. Now, come on. Everyone’s waiting,” she said quickly, pressing her hands against my back to move me toward the door. “Besides, you invited that girl to tag along. No way I’m getting stuck entertaining her tonight.”
I laughed, hearing the undertone of frustration in Toni’s voice as she acknowledged that I’d told Blythe she could hang out with us for the evening. I still had reservations when it came to trusting her, but with the couple times we got together each week, I was starting to feel the walls crumbling between us. Which was why I wanted my friends to get used to her being around.
I could only hope things would go smoothly.
***
It, legit, seemed like the entire island had come out for the festival. All around us, colorful decorations had been carefully arranged. Kiosks where vendors sold local cuisine, hand-carved trinkets, and clothing were situated along torchlit pathways that branched off from a two-mile stretch of road. The entire length of which had been blocked off for the celebration.
Sanluuk natives had come decked out in traditional garb—human and dragon alike. The women in brightly colored sarongs of varying styles—some worn as dresses tied around the neck or across their chests, others as skirts with bikini tops. Most men were shirtless, with similar fabric tied around their waists like sarongs—vibrant colors with tribal symbols stitched into them. Elaborate jewelry and headdresses were worn to ring in the occasion, making my friends and I stand out like sore thumbs.
Collectively, the people of Sanluuk were beautiful.
Seeing so many natives, and only my friends and I from campus, I wondered how far word had spread. The answer to that seemed to be ‘not far’. You would have thought the other students would have jumped a
t the chance to get off school grounds, get a taste of local culture. However, there really seemed to be no one but us, although my friends were too stoked about being free for a change to notice.
So, I stopped overthinking things and relaxed.
Well, I sort of relaxed.
Every few seconds, I was scanning the enormous crowd for the Omegas. They could have been anywhere for all I knew, which meant I needed to lay low. A small group of around eight to ten men and women were stationed beside the road with loud drums. I’d seen a vendor selling a ton of this style a few yards behind us. The sign posted above the booth said they were called pahus—a new word I committed to memory.
Those without drums had small flutes they played from their noses, or large hollowed out gourds they beat in alternating rhythm with the heels of their palms and their fingers. Watching them, I smiled, seeing the pride they held for their culture, their island.
We waded through the mob forming around the musicians. Marcela was definitely feeling the music. The point made clearer when she took Tristan by the hand and twirled beneath his arm. A smile slowly spread across his face, too, when she made him dance with her. Toni grinned so big it made me happy I hadn’t missed this. Even Blythe seemed to enjoy herself. The heaviness she tended to carry was nowhere in sight.
Then again, Manny may have had something to do with that.
Maybe noticing she was on the verge of loosening up, he reached for her hands, turning her toward him, showing her his footwork—weird and uncoordinated as it was. Watching him wind his arms in odd slithering motions, while his hips swiveled like a broken washing machine, Blythe tossed her head back with a laugh. In response, Manny’s eyes lit up, having thoroughly thawed the ice princess.
Toni and I shared similar looks, wondering if there might be something brewing between the two.
Soon, I forgot about being made to feel like I was too much of an outsider to attend this celebration, because I only felt welcomed. No one gave funny looks because my friends and I were mainlanders. Everyone we encountered had only been kind.
A small, elderly woman had been dancing her way through the audience, handing out leis. She eventually got to my crew, stopping at each of us with a smile, placing the same vibrant greenery with purple flowers around our necks. Now, thanks to her, we blended in a smidge more than before.
‘Am I the only one free-balling under this thing?’
The sound of Paulo speaking in my thoughts made my feet stop moving instantly, swiveling my head to check that he and the others weren’t too close. So far, I didn’t see any of them, but casually tucked myself beside a nearby palm tree just in case.
‘Nope,’ Kai answered. ‘For some reason, boxers seemed like overkill. I’ve just been praying there aren’t any strong gusts of wind, so the people don’t get an unexpected eyeful tonight.’
Despite fearing I’d be caught at any moment, their private conversation made me crack a smile. It wasn’t until a moment later, when four large, bronzed bodies came into view, that I understood their concern about the wind.
Hard, muscled shoulders glistened as they walked through carrying torches—each one in matching, burgundy sarongs that covered them from their waists to the middle of their calves. Large, white tribal markings decorated the fabric. Their chests and ripped arms were completely exposed, including the peek I got at their solid thighs as they took steps, moving with a slow, unhurried gait. Their strides were cocky in a way, but naturally so. No arrogance about them. Leafy headdresses sat atop their heads, and each one appeared so unwaveringly confident it overwhelmed me.
Their ink covered various portions of each one’s body and, by now, I knew the patterns by heart, knowing what it felt like to trace my fingers over them. This was a strange time to get turned on, with all those people around, but it really wasn’t up to me. Something about seeing them in this light, honoring their history in the traditional clothing so many others wore, just really got to me. Even Ori overwhelmed me—despite the recently renewed animosity between us.
They were past me now, so I came from behind the tree just a bit. Toni eyed me with a curious grin. “You good, girl?”
I nodded toward the guys. “Yup, just avoiding confrontation.”
She followed my gaze and it became clear why I hid. “Oh snap! That was close. Good eye.” Toni leaned in with an excited smile.
I didn’t mention it, but it wasn’t so much my eyes that were good. More like my finely tuned antenna that only tapped into the guys’ internal thoughts.
Toni was still beaming beside me.
“You love this, don’t you?” I said, laughing.
“Maybe just a little,” she admitted. “But, while I’ve always been a bit of a drama-whore, I think all the pressure with our evaluations coming up has me desperate for entertainment.”
I turned from her and looked to the guys again. Following closely behind the Omegas were the other four hives, dressed similarly, but with different colored fabric tied at their waists—dark blue, forest green, black, and a deep shade of purple. They were all headed in the same direction, toward a huge mound just beyond the performers.
‘Let’s get this over with,’ Paulo said this time, his frustration contradicting the otherwise upbeat vibe the night held.
‘Agreed,’ Ori replied. Listening to them speak, I wondered why their mood didn’t seem to match those of others who still danced and cheered the musicians along.
My gaze followed the four, even when all I could see were the flames of their torches as the crowd parted. Of course, being revered the way they were on the island, the procession of Firekeepers quickly stole everyone’s attention.
Watching as nearly every eye turned toward them, I got the impression all the guys wanted to be like them, and all the women wanted to be with them. Seeing the way they responded to the Omegas didn’t send me into a jealous rage. It only made me proud to be theirs, proud they were mine.
A large, grass-covered mound up ahead was the guys’ destination. All twenty Firekeepers circled it until each one was in position at the base. On top of the hill, one man stood, his silhouette only visible now that their torches brightened the space. Long, stringy hair covered the man’s face, and his dark clothing made him seem ominous, out of place.
Without anyone signaling those who attended, the entire festival fell silent. The only sound to be heard was the occasional chirp of nearby insects and quietly shuffling feet as others gathered closer.
For some reason, my heart began to race with excitement. The huge grin on Toni, Marcela, Blythe and Manny’s faces seemed to mean they felt it, too. The only one not quite swept away by the festivities was Tristan. His eyes were almost glazed over with boredom, like he felt he had better things to do than hang out with us.
The distance between us made me kind of sad when I thought about it, so I tried not to. It was on him if he couldn’t accept my decision.
Or, better yet, if he couldn’t accept my fate.
My thoughts tore from him when the man who stood front and center on the mound finally lifted his eyes to the sky, stretching his arms outward.
“Spirit, arise!” The first tone of his loud, booming voice sent my heart leaping to my throat. “You have called forth the soul of your greatest warriors, given them to us to defend our island.”
A burst of embers from behind the mound illuminated every face, as we watched the performance in awe.
“You will one day deliver us, your people, from the grasp of evil. We still believe you will bless us to triumph over our adversary,” he added, smiling toward the stars. “Because we are not forgotten.”
I didn’t even blink as I listened, knowing this adversary they sought to defeat all too well.
Six with tribal headdresses and painted faces climbed either side of the mound, quickly joining the storyteller, holding props behind their backs.
“On the night of the great eruption, the enemy that dwells within the mountain of lava and brimstone revealed its vile face
to us for a second time. The first manifestation being our island’s great war millennia ago. While, on this occasion, it came in the manner of a wolf, one cloaked in flames, proving that this wicked entity can present itself in many forms. Observers reported that it stalked to and fro, watching as our ancestors’ beloved land was consumed by fire and ash.”
His words brought two of the actors to life, reaching toward the sky, their expressions showing their agony.
“Thousands of lives were lost, a tragedy that would have left our people broken for many generations,” he said, emotion straining his voice when more of the embers burst from behind, clearly depicting the volcano he spoke of.
“It was then that you sent the first from your chosen bloodline to restore order. It was a valiant Sigo warrior who arose from the ashes, once dead, but suddenly brought to life by your might. In his hands, you bestowed the power of the mighty and treacherous dragon.”
An eighth performer appeared as a slowly stalking silhouette, trudging up the hill, slowly placing his hands on the shoulders of the others, prompting them to rise and join him.
“He bravely walked the scorched earth on your command, searching for his fellow brethren to fill with this same fire, a peculiar flame that could not be quenched.”
A chill ran down my spine, having heard a similar story told about my grandmother. She, like their Sigo warrior, had arisen from the ashes to awaken others who had fallen victim to an attack in her tiny village in France.
“Those who walked with this great warrior were able to force The Darkness back from whence it came, and for centuries this island was filled with peace and prosperity. This was so, until a series of great earthquakes and large eruptions made us quickly aware that our adversary had awakened yet again, eager to wreak havoc on our homes, our loved ones, our hard-won sense of peace,” he explained. “Spirit could have left us defenseless. However, instead, the Firekeepers were called forth by name.”
The crowd was starting to get amped up in participation.
“Triton,” The man called out. A second later, the four wearing dark blue raised their torches.