Authors: Rhenna Morgan
The journal.
Fuck, he’d wanted Maxis to find it, but after he’d hightailed it home would’ve been nice, or at least with a fighting bit of energy left in him. He managed another few steps toward the opening.
Maxis sidled closer to the desk.
A draft from the tunnel tickled the back of Reese’s neck. Almost there.
Leather hissed against wood as Maxis dragged the book across the desktop.
Serena crept up behind him and laid a tentative hand on his shoulder. “What’s that?”
Reese backed through the doorway.
Maxis snapped the book closed and flicked his hand toward the entrance. “Nothing.”
The door skimmed no more than three inches from Reese’s nose and slammed shut just as Reese’s vision wavered.
* * * *
Galena paced the castle parlor. The center window arched high and wide before her, but her mind was somewhere else. Four hours since Reese had left, three and half since his voice had floated through her thoughts with a sweet,
“I love you.”
Then he’d crippled her heart and extracted a vow she wouldn’t check in or leave the castle. Too much risk, he’d said. He’d need all of his focus to keep his presence masked and wouldn’t want to stir unnecessary energy.
She stopped at the window and glared at the crescent moon. A bold purple lined its edges and a cheerful silver streak sparkled beneath it. She’d rip them both from the sky if she could, the image far too happy for her anger to abide.
Watching Eryx and Lexi had been worse. She’d holed up here just to avoid them. The way they ogled each other and the way their hands stayed intertwined all the way home from the warrior’s compound.
She grumbled and fisted the window ledge. Her whole life she’d stood behind her brothers, her whole damned life and they sent her mate in unprotected. For what? So they’d have a better chance at killing Maxis? It was a perfect deal for them really. The troublesome sister potentially loses her tainted/traitorous mate and they get the madman in the end. A total win-win.
A low click sounded behind her.
She watched the parlor door open in the window’s reflection, the night’s black backdrop making the image nearly mirror perfect.
Ah, the happy couple. Galena sucked in a slow, fortifying breath. “I picked this room because no one uses it.”
“And I’m here because we need to talk.” The bantering, placating tone from dinner was gone, replaced with a sharp edge.
Galena faced them, smoldering beneath the angry tirade she barely held in check.
Lexi’s mouth was screwed up as tight as Galena felt and red colored her cheeks. She didn’t know her new shalla all that well, but she certainly knew a pissed-off woman when she saw one.
At least Lexi had her fireann here to fight with. Hers was off The Great One knew where. Alone. Galena gave them both her back and scowled at the moon. “Now’s not a good time.”
Eryx’s heavy footfalls stopped behind her and Lexi slid up on his right. “You don’t have a choice in this one. Turn around.”
Galena knew that tone. This was her malran behind her, resigned and formal.
Prickles spread along her neck and spine. Goose bumps rose on her forearms and a chill shot through her heart. “Reese.” The whisper slipped out as she reached for Reese through their link. To histus with her promises, she needed contact. She needed—
“He won’t answer.” Eryx gripped her shoulder and urged her to turn.
“No.” Galena jerked from his touch and staggered toward the parlor door, part run, part stumble.
Eryx shot between her and the door. “He’s fine.” He gave her a subtle shake. “Look at me.”
“He’s fine, Galena.” Lexi came up beside her. If her brusque delivery didn’t spell out how pissed she was, the set of daggers she aimed at her mate did the trick. “Eryx is a secretive dick, but he’s got news you need to hear.”
Galena sucked in a deep breath and focused on her link to Reese. Somehow Lexi’s anger strengthened Galena’s spine and helped fortify her focus. She nodded, but kept her gaze rooted on Eryx’s sternum. “Talk.”
“He made it in and out, then flashed out five minutes from some tunnels that lead to the rebellion warrior camp.”
Galena tried to duck out of his grip. If Reese was out in that kind of weather, especially in Brasia, he’d be dead in no time.
Eryx gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger and forced her gaze to his. “Ramsay and Ludan were close by.”
Her brain sputtered. “What?”
A sound that crossed between a vile curse and a scoff tripped passed Lexi’s lips. “Yeah, that’s what I said.”
Lexi pushed Eryx’s hands off Galena’s shoulders and guided her over to the wide, crimson couch. “Turns out our boys might not have gone with him, but they lined out some contingency plans.” She glowered back at Eryx. “Without telling the little womenfolk.”
Relief blasted through Galena. She should focus on her breath and keep an even head so she’d be ready to help him. Reese’s link pulsed in her mind, there but too fragile to gauge the distance. “How far out are they?”
“Ramsay said another twenty minutes,” Eryx said. “He’s unconscious, but alive. Took them fifteen minutes before they could get to him without detection, but Ramsay doesn’t think he sustained any injuries. Nothing visible anyway.”
Twenty minutes and no visible damage was good. Something to hang onto.
Wait a minute. She looked to Lexi then Eryx. “Ramsay?”
Eryx sat in an overlarge gold chair on her left and a sardonic grin twisted his lips. “Ramsay offered Reese his link just before he left. He told Reese it was to make sure Reese was on the up and up, but about five minutes later, he cornered Ludan and the two of them followed.”
Galena braced her elbows on her knees and white-knuckled her hands together. “Twenty minutes.” If she could make it that long she’d take care of him herself. “And then what?”
Eryx covered her clasped hands and squeezed. “We get your man healed and hope his efforts pay off. If not, we go out and kick some rebellion ass.”
Maxis adjusted the ugly maroon baseball cap low over his brow and shifted on the ass-numbing metal bleachers. The jeans Uther had talked him into wearing didn’t do much to help his blood flow either.
The baseball stadium was nearly filled to capacity.
“I’ll give you credit,”
he said to Uther beside him.
“You picked a popular team.”
Elbows rested on his knees and eyes trained on the field, his strategos looked like he’d been to a million high school championships.
“You did say you wanted a crowd.”
He glared over one shoulder.
“I delivered.”
Delivered indeed, and picked a decent climate as well. It wasn’t Havilah by any stretch, but Texas in late April was tolerable.
Maxis fidgeted with his hat again. He hated the damned things, the bulk of his hair tucked underneath making the discomfort worse.
Uther’s voice trawled through Maxis head.
“You’re awful jumpy.”
Maxis blanked his expression and shifted to check the scoreboard.
“I’m trusting a man I’ve known ten days not to overestimate his skills and fry me to a crisp. Call me cautious.”
Uther stood and lifted his chin in the direction of the parking lot.
“Time to get in position. You throw your hands up and I’ll try not to hit any sensitive spots.”
Maxis held his tongue and let him pass. Ever since the healing Uther had been different. More familiar, like family. A low grumble rattled free and the couple in front of him glanced back with uncertain looks.
Uther was right. He was jumpy, out of sorts and disoriented to the point he couldn’t contain his thoughts or actions. It was that damned book. His mother’s journal. He’d done more than read the passage Reese had marked, he’d read the whole thing, a few parts multiple times. All this time he’d thought his mother had abandoned him. Left him in favor of a child sired by a human. But she’d wanted him. Missed him.
It’s never too late to do the right thing. Never.
“And that’s the game folks.” The announcer’s tinny, distorted voice blared through the sound system. “Let’s hear it for this year’s 5A high school champions.”
Maxis stood with the crowd and ambled with the rest of the human herd toward the parking lot. His men would be waiting, seven chosen for their noticeable stature and sure to draw the malran’s notice as soon as they came together.
All this time he’d thought himself alone. If he’d known how his mother felt, he’d have killed his father sooner and found her on his own. He tucked his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and clenched is fists. Seventy years without family. His life could’ve been different.
The visiting team’s bus sat parked along a building adjacent to the field, a parking lot and a steady stream of humans all that stood between him and his fate. He aimed toward the bronze wildcat statue centered at the main entrance and tugged off his ball cap, tossing it in a trash bin near the corner.
A big man in jeans, a white T-shirt, and black leather cuffs on each wrist stepped forward and took position on his right. Another fell in on his left with a different color shirt and the same cuffs. More filtered in behind them, their Myren energy more dense than the human crowd. If their size didn’t tip the malran off, then the pure mass and energy striding against the flow of bodies toward the bus would.
He could forgo his plans. Vanish and start over. Maybe reach out to Reese after time had passed.
No, he had a mate now. Plans and opportunity to finally gain his revenge. He’d chosen his ship and one way or another he’d steer it.
He slowed and checked the building rooftop. No visible sign of Serena, but her presence wavered through their link exactly where she should be. That meant the ellan were there too, waiting and watching.
Eighty feet to go. Seventy. Sixty.
Eryx ambled from behind the bus, Ramsay and Ludan on either side of him. Another cluster of men strode from the other end, each warrior marked as the malran’s men with a mix of gold and silver cuffs.
The wall of energy at his back lessened, his men falling away as they’d been directed.
Reese stepped from the shadows.
Maxis stopped. He’d expected the twins and Eryx’s somo, but Reese was a surprise. His hair was bound and a mating mark spanned his forearm. Not just any mark, but the winged Shantos horse. Son of a bitch, Serena hadn’t mentioned that little tidbit. He guessed his brother ended up getting his heart’s desire after all. Maybe Reese was right. Maybe things could change.
“Throw your hands up,”
Falon crooned in his head.
“Give the signal and stick to the plan.”
He should move, step forward and lift his hands in surrender as planned.
“You’re a fool if you think your fate will be as fortuitous as your brother’s.”
Had Falon’s voice always been so grating? A brush against the grain?
Reese paced closer, fingers loose at his sides. Dark circles marked the space below his eyes and his cheeks were drawn and hollow. Why?
Movement registered on his left, a splash of turquoise out of place in the crowd and long blond hair. His mate. He should acknowledge her, but he couldn’t look away from Reese. Something held him. Not a physical hold, but something born from emotion.
“You think I’d let you screw us both?”
Falon taunted.
“Ruin my plans?”
Reese drew closer. Two more steps and Maxis could talk to him, ask him all the questions he wanted and learn more about their mother. He could always throw his hands up after and stay to his plans.
“Look out.” Serena darted forward and shoved Reese away.
An electric bolt shot from beside Eryx, Uther standing behind him as a wicked blue arc emanated from his palm.
This wasn’t the plan.
Maxis dodged left, distrust unlatching his feet from the asphalt.
Serena spun. In her right hand a dagger flashed against the stadium lights, and her face burned in a wild rage. “I won’t let you.”
Pain flared sharp at his chest. Steel grated against bone and vibrated through his torso. He couldn’t breathe. Sound dropped to nothing and people shoved and pulled all around him.
Serena yanked the knife free. It was Serena wasn’t it? Or was it Falon? No, it was his mate, though her eyes were black like Falon’s.
He fell to his knees and his head jerked forward. White edged his vision. His muscles gave way and gravity took over, his body surrendering to a thick, unyielding weight. His head smacked the ground, no pain issuing beyond a dull rattle in his skull. The white crept closer, the black sky above him barely bleeding through.
Reese hovered above him. His mouth moved, but no sound registered. How fitting to have him here. A comfort.
He shook on a rough exhale, and the white took over.
* * * *
“Maxis.” Reese rolled his brother to his back, the frenzied crowd knocking into him on every side. He pressed his palms against Maxis’ wound. “Galena!”
Humans screamed and pushed around him. Behind him Ramsay and Ludan barked orders. Beside him Eryx wrangled Serena.
“I had to do something. It was a set up.” Serena flailed her arms before Eryx clamped them in a brutal bear hug. “He’d have killed Reese if I hadn’t stepped in.”
Warriors circled to create a protective wall.
“Ramsay, get Reese and Maxis out of here.” Eryx slung Serena over one shoulder and zigzagged through the crowd toward the isolated spot they’d picked for their portal.
Reese pressed harder on the wound, his gut cramping from the pain ripping inside him. Maxis had been close to surrender, Reese knew it to the root of his soul. The hope and raw vulnerability in those last seconds had made Maxis look as innocent as a five-year-old child.
“Reese.” Galena’s voice reached through the dark shroud choking him. “Reese, look at me.”
Blood coated his hands, thick and warm. “He was almost there.”
“We gotta go, man.” Ramsay kneeled beside them. “Eryx fried all the closest electronics, but that’s not gonna buy us much time. We’ve got smart phones everywhere.”
Galena covered Reese’s hands with hers and squeezed. “Reese, we have to go. We’ll take him with us, but there’s nothing you can do. He’s already gone. You can’t save him.”