I
rise early and don’t bother with breakfast. No sound comes from Cassian’s room as I slip from the house. I rush through the township, through streets that are mostly bare, the dawn air thick as chalk dust, still and silent except for my thundering tread and gasping breath.
As I hurry down Main, my spirits lift when Nidia’s cottage comes into view. Then my elation is crushed.
My heart seizes as Corbin steps into my path, appearing out of nowhere. From behind a hedge, I guess. As though he were lying in wait. He grabs my arm and drags me beneath one of the many evergreens lining the lower half of Main. He presses me against the rough bark, trapping me between the massive tree and his body.
“Take your hands off me,” I hiss. My body reacts instantly, instinct kicking in. Fire erupts at my core, smolder eating up my throat. The taste of ash and char coats my mouth.
“Let’s get something straight.”
I don’t listen, don’t care to hear whatever it is he has to say.
Shaking with fury, I glare down at his hands on my arms. Emotion sweeps over me in a hot burn. “You dare touch me? Cassian will kill—”
“Oh, very affecting. I’m impressed. I almost believe you and Cassian are a true couple instead of the charade you’re playing at.”
Cold sweeps through me, dousing my heat. “W-what do you mean?”
Corbin leans in, brushes his nose to my cheek, and inhales sharply. I cringe at the contact and blink once, hard. “I know the truth,” he whispers, his voice a harsh rasp in my ear. “You’re not his. You’ve never been his. You’ve always held yourself from him. Bonding with him hasn’t changed that.”
I open my mouth to deny this, but can’t. I can’t say the words, can’t insist that Cassian and I are in love. Saying those words, with Will in my heart . . . I just
can’t
. Whether it’s good for me or not. Instead I growl, “Get away from me.”
“I’d see it in your eyes. He’d be a part of you. But you’re the same. Unchanged.”
It’s strange, but I almost hope he’s right.
His eyes glint, flash down at me. “Still untouched.” He smiles then, a cruel twist of his lips. “Which means there’s still a chance for us.”
I snort. “You’re crazy.”
“Keep telling yourself that. Only I know the truth, and soon everyone else will, too. If I have to singlehandedly make them see it. I’ll prove it. And then I’ll be there to do what my cousin is too much of a coward to do.”
I can’t breathe as I stare up into his face. If I didn’t know I needed to get away—far away—this would only confirm it. Corbin is crazy enough to do just what he says.
He inches his head closer . . . like he’s actually going to kiss me. “I’ll still claim you.”
I don’t think. Just react. I part my lips and release the burn that froths at my core, making my skin contract and snap fiercely.
Steam pours from my lips in a thin ribbon. Satisfaction swells inside me as the hot vapor scalds him. He howls, clutching the right side of his face. I seize my opportunity and squeeze out from between him and the tree.
I run the rest of the way to Nidia’s, his shouts chasing after me.
“It’s you and me, Jacinda. I’m going to own you! You can’t run forever!”
I jerk to a hard stop at Nidia’s door and resist the urge to pound the wood with my fist. It’s still early. No sense beating the door as if wild wolves were chasing me.
I rest one hand against the door, the other to my heart, gathering my breath. When the door pulls opens, I stop just short of falling forward.
Tamra stands there, her red-rimmed eyes inscrutable, but I know she’s hurting as much as I am.
“Let’s run away,” I blurt. Just like that. No easing in, no working up to it.
Holding my breath, I wait and hope I’m not off base to think she’ll even consider the risky venture. That she’ll even want to surrender her newfound status with the pride. It feels like forever as I wait for her to answer me, to speak, to say anything.
“How soon can we leave?”
I release a ragged breath, almost weep from the relief—and then I realize the tricky part is still left. I have to explain Will.
I glance over my shoulder, making sure Corbin is gone, and then I turn around and glance pointedly inside the house. Tamra quickly motions me in and leads me to her room—what was once Nidia’s spare room. The bedroom doesn’t bear her mark yet. She’s transferred very little from her old room at our house into it. Even Nidia’s sewing table still occupies one side.
I sit on the unmade bed, the covers a wild tangle beneath me.
She closes the door softly. “So how are we going to do this?”
I brace myself and meet her gaze and say the one word that should explain it all. “Will.”
She stares at me for several moments and then asks in a surprisingly even voice. “Have you been seeing him?”
I nod.
“The day Miram and you . . .” Her voice fades. Sucking in a breath, she asks what I’ve been dreading, “Were you meeting Will then?”
Again, I nod. She sighs, and the sound is tired.
“I left you and Mom notes, but Miram took them, and she followed me. Then the hunters came. . . .”
She shakes her head.
“Are you very angry?” I ask quietly.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I’m so tired. Tired of being mad. I just want to leave here. Find Mom and never come back.” The pain in her voice makes me feel even worse. Because I put it there. At least partly. And because I can’t promise her peace. At least not yet.
“There’s something I have to do before we can find Mom. I was hoping you would help me.” With her particular talent, Tamra’s assistance could be the difference between life and death.
Wariness fills her smoky gaze. “What?”
“I’m going to rescue Miram.” And then I’d be square with the pride. With Cassian. With
myself
.
Her eyes widen. “Miram? But isn’t she with the enkros?”
I nod. “But they won’t have killed her yet. I don’t think. Not for a while. They’ll want to do some”—I shy from the foulness of the word
experimenting
and substitute—“observing.”
“So you think you can just march into wherever they have her and ask nicely for them to hand her over?”
I angle my head and say slowly, “No, but I think I can bust her out. With Will’s help. And yours. I owe her that.” And Cassian, I can’t help thinking.
“You
owe
her? Miram? She’s never been anything but a jerk.”
“She never would have been taken if I hadn’t been out there waiting for Will.”
Tamra digests this, looking me over appraisingly.
“Look,” I say, “let’s just make it to their stronghold, check it out . . . and then we’ll see.” I bite my lip, hoping she can’t read my thoughts. That once I have the enkros stronghold in sight, I’m going in. No way I’m backing out. I’m getting Miram free . . . and I just might do a little damage in the process. My blood warms at this, and I feel stronger, fortified. The idea of taking the entire operation down gives me a decided rush.
“All right,” she agrees, but the hesitation is there, clear in her voice, reminding me of every time I dragged her into a scheme that she didn’t really want to do.
“Mom left a note,” I say, happy to give her some bit of good news.
Her eyes brighten. “Where? What did it say?”
“I destroyed it. Didn’t want anyone to find it, but it said ‘Remember the palm tree.’”
“‘Remember the palm tree’? What’s that mean?”
Disappointment stabs me. Tamra doesn’t remember either. “I don’t know, but she obviously thought it would mean something to us. I’m sure we can figure it out.”
“Yeah.” She nods, and her voice sounds stronger, less miserable, and I’m so vastly relieved Mom left a clue, a life raft in a turbulent sea. Something, anything, to hang on to. Tamra’s steady gaze rests on me. “When do we go?”
“Will is supposed to meet me in three days.”
“Three days,” she murmurs, looking disappointed. “And then we have to find Miram and bring her back here before searching for Mom? We’re really going to keep Mom hanging like that? For a girl we don’t even like?”
“Well, we don’t know what Mom’s note means yet. We don’t know where to go. And Mom would know we might not get to slip away soon. She won’t give up on us.”
Tamra’s gaze narrows on me. “So you’re supposed to live with Cassian for three more days?” Her accusing voice claws through me. Like this is something I’ve done deliberately. Something I want. It’s the first time she’s mentioned Cassian. It’s more than awkward talking about the boy she’s obsessed over for her whole life—who happens to be bonded to me now.
My mind flashes to the cold press of those cutters on my wings. The memory echoes through me and I can taste the fear like I’m there again. Up on that block. Has she forgotten that?
One side of her mouth curls as she adds, “That should be cozy.”
“It’s not . . .” I wet my lips. “It’s not like that.”
Her stare penetrates and I pluck at the edge of a twisted sheet, thinking I need to choose my words carefully. I can read the question in her eyes.
What is it like then?
“He hasn’t . . .
we
haven’t done anything . . . irreversible.”
Her lips twist. “No? I thought he would be most eager to—”
“Yeah, well, I’m not.” I’m not eager for anyone but Will.
“Right.” And I know what she’s thinking. Why her voice carries that mocking edge. She’s remembering that moment she interrupted us. How close we stood. Cassian’s hand on my face. And she doesn’t even know we’ve actually
kissed
. Guilty heat swamps over me.
I cross my arms over my chest. “He sleeps in one room and I’m in the other, and that’s the way it’s going to stay until you and I get out of here.”
She looks away, stares through her bedroom window at the ivy-covered wall. Not much of a view. “How are we going to get past the guard on duty?”
I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. I’d been too busy worrying about whether Tamra would agree to escape with me or not.
And then I know what to do. “A distraction,” I murmur.
“Yeah? What?”
“Not what.
Who
.”
A
z’s laughter floats on the air like softly ringing bells. Tamra and I wait anxiously, tucked away, out of sight, squatting low behind Nidia’s house.
The sudden loss of the sound prompts us to move. As one we peer around the edge of the house. Sure enough, she’s locking lips with fifteen-year-old Remy. The boy is stuck like glue to Az. His hands grip her back like he fears the older girl might vanish from his arms.
Backpacks slung over our shoulders, we sneak past them and out the entrance. I glance over my shoulder. Az watches us, her bright eyes wide-open, urging us on even as I know she’s sad for us to go.
With a farewell wave, I charge ahead. My breath escapes my lips in hot puffs. Any moment I expect to hear the alarm. I wait for draki to spill out from the township and catch us.
In such an event, I could expect the worst punishment. I doubt it would stop at a wing clipping. Severin’s wrath will be all the mightier for me taking Tamra away, too . . . for leaving them without their next shader.
The pride—Severin—would know I didn’t honor my bond to Cassian. Corbin would be quick to point that out. I shiver and dart a glance at my sister.
She catches my gaze and gives me a small smile as we leap over a fallen log, in perfect accord as we flee. That feels good. To be together in this. It’s too bad that it’s such a mess bringing us together.
Our feet thud softly over damp earth. We cut through nourishing mists, weaving through trees we know well.
I pull ahead of Tamra, eager to leave the pride behind, hungry for the sight of Will.
I feel him first.
Before I even break through the trees, I know he’s there from the snap of my skin, the sudden quivering heat in my throat.
And then I see him.
I stop, panting hard, my gaze devouring him. He looks back at me, and there’s the barest surprise there—in his face.
He didn’t think I would come, and now here I stand with a bulging backpack, all humming eagerness, my face and eyes telling him all he needs to know.
It’s unclear who moves first. We’re in each other’s arms, lips locked, melded, hotly fused. Our hands drag over each other, reacquainting, remembering, almost as if we’re both verifying the other one is real flesh and blood. His fingers catch in the snarls of my hair and I kiss him harder, catch my teeth on his lip.
He makes a small sound into my mouth and it ripples through me, undoing me. Making me forget everything but
this
. His lips on mine.
Tamra clears her throat. Will jumps from me and yanks me behind him. I smile, my heart lightening at the protective gesture, even if it’s unnecessary.
I wrap my fingers around his arm. “It’s all right. Tamra’s coming with us.”
“Tamra?”
I nod. “Yeah. I’ll explain it all later. We better go. Before they notice we’ve left.”
Nodding, Will slips his hand around mine and starts toward the Land Rover.
“Don’t tell me this is your human. The same one Nidia shaded?”
I stop cold at the voice.
Turning slowly, I drop Will’s hand and brace myself.
Fire erupts inside me as Corbin steps from the trees. There’s no smile on his face, but satisfaction gleams in his eyes.
“I knew you’d slip up. And I’d be there when it happened.” His gaze flicks to Will. “So this is why you won’t give any of us poor draki guys the time of day.”
Tamra says my name hesitantly, her eyes confused. “Jacinda?”
I wave her to silence, my gaze fixed on Corbin, swallowing in a bitter wash what his being here means. What I’ll have to do to ensure our escape. My hands flex at my sides. “You shouldn’t have followed us.”
“Oh, clearly I should have. My uncle will reward me well for stopping the pride’s fire-breather and shader from escaping.” His nostrils flare deeply and his purply black gaze scours me. “Even Cassian can’t save you now. You’re not his anymore. You’re mine—just like I said you would be.”
Will’s voice cracks over the air then, and there is nothing hesitant about it. “Touch her and I’ll kill you.” The words thrum on the air, menacing and dark as the predator I first met months ago, in these very woods.
It seems ridiculous, on principle, that one human could defeat a strong onyx like Corbin. But then I remember. Will’s not an average human. He’s something more . . . something not to be underestimated.
Corbin’s eyes snap to Will, his face vicious and hateful as he gazes at his centuries-old enemy. His human flesh blurs, fades out in a flash. His hands grasp his shirt and he tears it from his body in a violent rip, revealing his charcoal-dark flesh. Sinew ripples as he springs into the air.
Will squares off, ready for the hit, but I dive before him and unleash the heat simmering inside me. Not yet manifested, only a blast of steam escapes me, not actual fire. And even that’s wasted. Corbin dodges the steam. He flies behind me before I can turn on him. I cry out as he kicks me hard in the back.
I hit the ground. The impact is brutal, jarring me to the teeth. My chin scrapes earth. Coughing, I spit up dirt and blood. Tamra drops, crouches near me to help me back up.
A roar fills the air, wrenches at something deep inside me.
I watch as Will launches himself high enough in the air to grab on to Corbin’s legs and drag him down to the ground.
Corbin curses, smacking his wings as he tries to lift back up, but Will is tenacious, pulling him to earth with all his strength. They crash down in a tangle of limbs and slapping wings.
Once on the ground, Will straddles Corbin and starts pummeling him, swinging punch after punch. The crunch of bone on bone fills the air, a sickening sound. I watch, forgetting the pain in my chin, feeling only the cruel twist of my heart. Heat builds inside my chest and rises up into my mouth.
Corbin writhes, and soon they’re rolling, a speeding blur, until they look like one wild shape.
Corbin finally breaks free, sweeping up into the air. Blood runs from his ridged nose, and his eyes glitter with furious malice. He circles above Will like a hawk, ready to pick apart his prey.
Will crouches, braces himself. Even now his expression is beautiful in its intensity and my heart aches.
Corbin holds up his taloned fingers like claws ready to strike. The nails glint like razors. It’s a kill pose.
“Will!” I call out in warning.
Corbin swoops, a streak of black. He jabs and makes contact.
Will cries outs, clutches a hand to his arm. From where Tamra and I huddle, I see several deep gashes, his telltale blood . . . the glisten of purple welling between his fingers.
Corbin sees it, too, snarls in our tongue, “How many draki have you killed, hunter, so that our blood can flow in your veins?”
“Corbin, no!” I shout.
“Shut up, Jacinda. Watch while I drain every drop of draki blood from him!”
My throat tightens, thickens with fire. My skin snaps and I let go. Feel myself give over to my draki.
I surge from Tamra’s side, burst from the confines of my blouse. My wings unfurl as I dive for Corbin, stretch myself to reach him as he lunges for Will, his clawed hands angled for his throat. And I know with a sick twist of my heart—I’m not going to make it.
A scream swells up in my throat, mingling with the fire and smoke. My talonlike fingers extend, reach, grasp only air.
Just as Corbin is about to make contact, Will’s hand goes up and a howling wall of dirt surges up between them.
The great wave of dark earth, twigs and shredded grass—nearly as tall as the trees surrounding us—propels Corbin back, flings him several yards through the air and slams him to the ground with crushing force.
I gasp, dropping to the ground and covering my head with my hands to ward off the raining earth. Tamra does the same not far from me. We’re not in its direct path, but we still get hit with some of the debris.
Squinting against the clearing cloud of dirt, I find Will, meet his gaze, see the astonishment there that mirrors my own thoughts.
“Look out!” Tamra screams.
Corbin is back up. Blood dribbles from a gash in his head. He touches it lightly and examines his fingers. His expression turns brutal at the evidence of his injury. With a shout, he surges back into the air.
Before Will has a chance to do
. . . whatever it is he did again
, a second streak of black crosses my vision. It’s so fast that at first I think it’s more debris that Will sent soaring on the wind.
I follow the object, look around wildly, locate it.
Him
. Cassian.
He crashes into Corbin and pins him to the ground.
They strain against each other, ancient creatures, beautiful and wild in their draki forms, all black with quivering leathery wings.
Corbin claws with his hands, grunting. Spittle flies from his lips as he tries to bring his talons across his cousin’s throat. I cease to breathe, can only watch.
It all happens so quickly. A mere second . . . but I can’t move.
Cassian fumbles one hand on the ground and grabs a large rock. I gasp as he brings it down—clubbing Corbin in the head with a savage blow.
Corbin stills, his head lolling to the side.
I take a hesitant step forward. “Is he . . . did you . . .”
Panting, the ridges of his nose vibrating, Cassian casts his eyes over his shoulder at me. “No. He’ll come to soon.”
With a heavy breath, he rises in a single fluid motion, his wings great sails behind him, and I realize he’s more natural this way, more comfortable as a draki than human. For a time, I felt the same way. Now I don’t know what I prefer. What I am more—draki or human.
“Jacinda,” Will says my name, coming up beside me. I reach out and slip my arm around him. Lifting my gaze to Cassian, I let that say everything. Let the gesture speak for itself.
Cassian stares at us both, and I hold his stare, trying not to let anything he may be feeling penetrate and influence me. Still, I pick up a trickle of sentiment from him. Anger. Regret. Sorrow.
The words
I’m sorry
rise to my lips, but I can’t let them fall. Can’t apologize for the way I feel for Will.
“You’re leaving,” he announces in his rough, guttural tongue.
In a blink, I demanifest, fold back into my human shape. “Yes.” Tamra is there, helping me slip my tattered shirt back on.
Still watching me, Cassian follows suit, demanifests and stands before me wearing only a pair of torn jeans. He glances at Tamra. “She’s going, too?”
“I’m right here,” she snaps. “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not.”
I follow his gaze to my sister. Her eyes spark like shards of ice as she glares at Cassian . . . and I think her infatuation with him might truly be at an end.
“You’ll leave the pride?” I’m not sure who he’s asking.
“After everything that’s happened?” I wave a hand. “Why would I stay?”
“Because there are things bigger and more important than what you want,” he returns, his gaze flicking meaningfully to Will.
“You’re not one to talk about putting aside
wants
.” Tamra’s voice is venom. “You wanted Jacinda and made certain that you got her. That wasn’t for the pride. That was for you and no one else.”
“What’s she talking about?” Will growls beside me, his hand tightening on mine.
“Do we really want to do this now?” I glare at each of them and motion to Corbin. “He’s liable to wake up any moment and we’re too close to pride grounds.”
A muscle feathers across Will’s jaw. Still glaring at Cassian, he tugs me toward the truck. “You’re right. Let’s get out of here.”
Cassian’s voice follows me. “Run away, Jacinda. You’re good at that.”
Will stiffens at my side, but it’s Tamra who comes unglued. She spins around, all spitting fury. “Don’t be so self-righteous! You want to know where we’re going? And none of us
want
to go there, let me assure you of that. We’re going to rescue your brat of a sister who got only what she deserved because she was spying on Jacinda.”
“Miram?” His gaze shoots to me. “Is that true? You’re going to rescue Miram?” His gaze swings to Will. “She’s not dead?”
Will holds silent for a long moment, and I hold my breath. Finally, he answers. “She lives.”
Something passes over Cassian’s eyes. A lightness that had not been there seconds ago. I sense his relief. “Then I’m going with you.”
“What?” Tamra demands, chasing after him as he stalks toward the vehicle. “I don’t think so!”
“She’s my sister,” he returns, his voice tight, his lips barely moving.
Tamra looks helplessly at me and Will, her eyes perfectly communicating her plea:
Don’t let him come
.
“It’s going to be dangerous,” I warn.
“Jacinda,” Tamra hisses.
Cassian just looks at me, and I realize the threat of danger would hardly discourage him.
I turn to study Will, wait for him to decide. He’s leading this mission. I move my thumb against the inside of his wrist in a small circle. He gives my hand a single squeeze and then walks ahead, guiding me to the passenger side. “We better get out of here.”
With a grim nod, Cassian gets in the back of the Land Rover.
Tamra mutters, but climbs in, too, making certain to stay as far from him as possible.
Will starts the car, slipping one hand over mine as he steers us from the clearing. I lace my fingers through his, see smudges of purple blood on his knuckles. His or Corbin’s, I don’t know, but my chest tightens at the sight.
I tear my gaze from that blood and look up at Will’s face instead, into those eyes of flickering light and unfathomable depths. And I tell myself this is right. Will. Me.
Us
—on this journey together.
In moments, we’re moving, the four most unlikely companions heading down the mountain, cutting through thinning mists . . . Nidia’s shield of protection evaporating as we descend.
Away from the pride.