Rise Against: A Foundling novel (The Foundling Series)

by Hailey Edwards

  “Keep it that way.” I patted his cheek then shouted, “I need a medic or transport to one.” I stared him down. “You have to live so I can kick your ass for not warning me the Malakhim could awe me to death.”

  “Only works … ” his eyes slid closed, “ … on humans.”

  Poor guy must be gone if he was giving me credit for humanity.

  Desperate to keep him lucid, I nudged him for details. “Knox and Kimora?”

  “Safe.” He sucked in a breath. “Meet us … at … the farmhouse.”

  “Good.” I rested my hand on his shoulder. “I know how much they mean to you.”

  Cranking my head around, I got my first look at what I had recruited in Virginia City.

  Gone were the unassuming visages the Oncas had used when they greeted us. Now their skin was burnt orange, and dusky fur mottled with spots covered their bodies. Wings the color of bruises held them aloft until they landed on dainty paws. Their smiles of reassurance weren’t all that comforting after you noticed how their wide jaws had elongated to make room for their many, many teeth, but their nubby little tails made up for it in spades.

  Forget flying monkeys. Conquest had flying, otherworldly bobcats.

  Fierce shrieks erupted from their maws, the cries of hunting cats, and I had to admit I was impressed. Slightly terrified, but impressed. And not at all surprised to learn their charun aspects were feline.

  Conquest really had been a crazy cat lady.

  They were running in full beast mode with their wings tucked to their spines and their whiskers quivering on their muzzles.

  The female tipped back her head and yowled, calling six males to her side who lifted Wu into the air.

  Clutching my side, I sank to a seated position. “What about Santiago?”

  “He’s the one who called us. He’s already been evacuated,” she assured me. “You three were the last.”

  The ringing in my head ought to worry me, but I was fresh out of braincells to devote to yet another issue. “Where are they taking him?”

  “Our healers are gathered not far from here,” she said. “Fifty miles or so.”

  As a crow flies, that might not be much, but it was still a long trip for Wu.

  “You said we were the last.” Heart a lump in my throat, I searched for signs of our missing coterie members. “Did you encounter more of our people?”

  “A male and female. His injuries were severe. Hers were minor. We took them to the healers as well.”

  A surge of relief that Miller, Portia, and Maggie were en route to help swept through me so fast my head spun. “Thank you.”

  “They are yours, as we are yours.” She lifted her chin. “We only did our duty.”

  “Still, I appreciate all you’ve done for us.”

  A familiar shadow loomed over me, and I cranked my head around to get a better look at Cole.

  “We’re in your debt,” he said to them, and they flushed with pleasure.

  “There is no debt between us,” they rushed to assure us, but the glow remained on their faces.

  I noticed the female awaiting further commands and recalled my manners at last.

  “We weren’t formally introduced.” I lifted a hand. “I’m Luce Boudreau. This is Cole Heaton, my mate.”

  Soft laughter huffed behind me, but I didn’t care. He was mine. All mine. He was lucky I didn’t have my name tattooed on his butt. Sadly, that felt like a Conquest thing to do, so no stamps of ownership from me.

  “I’m Noel, and this is Franklin, my mate.” Her fingers linked and twisted in front of her. “We have purified our clan. Only the faithful are among us now.”

  That was code for they had killed anyone who didn’t want to side with me, and that everyone here was prepared to die on my command.

  I wasn’t sure which was worse, and I hated that it didn’t matter, that I couldn’t let it touch me.

  That pesky human part of my brain was still screaming. It never shut up. Not for a second. It just kept going and going and going. You’d think it would go numb or go hoarse or — I don’t know. Whatever your conscience did when you flat-out ignored it for months on end. But nope. I must be more human than anyone gave me credit for since I couldn’t smother that piteous wail fueled by the atrocities I was committing left and right.

  Luce Boudreau wasn’t the same female who helped fish a body out of the swamp where she had been found fifteen years earlier. She wasn’t even the same person who picked up a falchion and slaughtered her way through an abandoned mall’s worth of Drosera to reach Thom. I wasn’t sure who she was anymore. She had so much blood on her hands, she had no recognizable fingerprints.

  “Thank you for all you’ve done.” I stuck out my arm and clasped hands with her, forcing myself to hold still while she wrapped her furry fingers around mine. “You might have saved our lives.”

  We had no way of knowing if our plan had worked. The risk of Malakhim letting us bleed out until we were too weak to fight them was a distinct possibility if we had left behind any stragglers.

  Franklin surveyed the utter destruction. “How did this happen?”

  “We blew up some Malakhim.” No need to explain about the enclave. They would learn about them soon enough. “I don’t suppose you spotted any on your way in?”

  “The skies were clear,” Noel informed us. “We saw only the swath of destruction.”

  Swath of Destruction should be my new middle name.

  “Take us to Wu.” I pulled a broken twig out of my hair. “We need to secure him as soon as possible.”

  Until we knew his endgame, it was in our best interest to keep an eye on him. The fact he was his father’s only son, as far as I knew, made him leverage.

  What a very Conquest thing to think.

  Ugh.

  Daddy Wu seemed like the kind to torture and punish his offspring, not outright kill them. Otherwise, with his revolutionary tendencies, I got the feeling Wu wouldn’t have survived this long. That meant if Wu double-crossed us, we could return the favor.

  Cole rested his wide palm on my shoulder, its weight a comfort. “You’re frowning.”

  “I hate when Conquest leaks her strategy into my head.” I covered his hand with mine. “I hate weighing a person’s worth by what another person is willing to do or give up for them. I hate that part of me agrees with her assessment.”

  “Are you sure those aren’t your instincts you’re listening to, not hers?”

  “Is there a difference?” I hadn’t meant the question to come out quite so barbed.

  “Yes.” He awarded me his full attention. “She wouldn’t have fretted over those calculations. She would have made them, gotten what she wanted, and been done with it. She never would have given the transaction another thought. The fact you’re sick over doing what wouldn’t cost her a single night of lost sleep is one of the reasons why I love you.”

  “You’re good at pulling me out of my head.” And my head out of my ass, but I wasn’t going to puff up his ego too much. “Let’s get moving.”

  The shift into his dragon happened between blinks, and he wasted no time winding his tail around my ankle four times.

  “How can I ride like this?” I lifted my leg, which weighed a ton thanks to my anklet. “Can you fly without your tail? Isn’t it a rudder or something?”

  Grumbling under his breath, the dragon released me. He twitched a wing, urging me to get on with it, and I didn’t imagine the sparkle in his eyes. On his back, I was at his mercy. I had no control over what he did or how fast he did it. All I could do was clutch his mane and try not to vomit down the back of his neck. Trust me. You do not want to wash barf out of dragon hair. It’s a nightmare. The stuff is like feather down. Dragon hair, not barf.

  Heaving a sigh, I swung onboard in a practiced move I had perfected while living at the bunkhouse. By the time I knotted my fingers in his mane, Noel and Franklin were airborne. Cole let me settle then joined them in the sky.

  From up here the view was utter
devastation. I marveled that any of us — let alone all of us — had survived the blast.

  Considering Wu’s injuries, I could only hope Miller’s weren’t as severe or worse. It sounded like Maggie, and therefore Portia, had come through unscathed like me. Thanks to the guys prioritizing our safety over theirs.

  Idiots.

  Leaning forward, I buried my face in Cole’s mane and let his steady presence soothe me. The pain in my ribs and back were easing, probably thanks to that power boost Santiago had mentioned. I healed fast, but ribs were tricky and painful.

  A rumble shook me as the dragon gave me permission I hadn’t realized I was asking through my body language.

  Eyes too heavy to keep open, I fell asleep and trusted him not to let me fall.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Dwelling in the cold place for so long had wiped me out, and I slept like a baby. I’m not sure of the logistics, but I woke in Cole’s arms, his steady gait familiar as he carried me into the tent where the healers worked on Wu. A single chair sat next to Miller’s cot, and Maggie slumped over in it, her hand covering his on the thin mattress.

  It didn’t have to mean anything beyond Portia comforting an old friend, but the set of her shoulders screamed Maggie to me.

  Cole and I exchanged a look as he set me down, but we didn’t have a leg to stand on when it came to schooling people on relationships.

  I crossed to them and wrapped my arms around Mags from behind. “Hey, you.”

  She jolted awake, snapped upright, and almost busted my lip in the process.

  “Luce.” She spun on the seat and linked her arms at my spine. “Thank God you’re all right.”

  “How’s Miller?”

  “He’s got a nasty lump on his head and a broken shoulder.” Her complexion paled, and her hands tightened in my shirt. “Portia got knocked out. I’m not sure how. I was … resting … then I came aware with blood dripping into my eyes. Miller was running, and I must have been too. I stumbled and fell.” Her gaze found him on the bed. “He knew what happened before I did. He came back for me, threw us both to the ground, and covered me as best he could.”

  “Don’t blame yourself for his heroics.” I hooked a thumb in Cole’s direction. “He did the same thing. So did Wu.” Turning my attention to my partner, I frowned. “It didn’t work out well for any of them.”

  “Cole.” She peered around me. “I didn’t see you there. I’m glad you’re okay.”

  Cole was a mountain of a male. He was impossible not to see. Unless you couldn’t look away from a certain bedridden charun who had just earned hero status in her eyes. Oy. She would be mother-henning him for weeks, and he would be eating it up with a spoon.

  “Thanks, Maggie.” Cole gentled his tone. “I’m glad you’re all right too.”

  “Can you sense Portia?” I drew back to look at her face. “What did the healers say?”

  “They said our bond is holding strong. She ought to wake soon.” Maggie shrugged. “Miller is still out too, so I’m not worried yet. I can sense her, she’s just more distant than usual. I can’t switch places with her.” She laughed under her breath. “I never thought having absolute control over my body and mind would be weird one day.”

  “Tell me about it.” Conquest and I were less symbiotic than Maggie and Portia, but we overlapped in places. The more I pulled on my instincts, the stronger the hold she had on me. “We’re not in Canton anymore, Toto.”

  Mags rolled her eyes and covered a yawn that made me wonder if hogging the pilot’s seat was exhausting after so long splitting the difference with Portia.

  “I need to go check on the others.” I extricated myself from her grip so she could relax again. “Keep an eye on Miller for me, okay?”

  Nodding earnestly, she got comfy in her seat, eyes on Miller.

  Heart heavy, I rejoined Cole and put my fear into words. “Could their connection be charun biology?”

  “Miller has known Portia for centuries, and he’s never shown any interest in her.”

  “He told me it was a combination of the two.” I rubbed my arms. “I’m starting to wonder if it’s not that the coterie bond made him more accepting of Maggie as a human, that he’s seeing her — a human — in a light that he can’t understand without the context of Portia’s cohabitation.”

  “Let’s hope they get the chance to figure it out,” he said, and I heard an echo of the same wish for us in his tone.

  Leaving Maggie to her vigil, we located Santiago. He was propped up in bed with a phone large enough to be a tablet, a phablet I think he called them, tapping away on the screen. I had to clear my throat before it registered he had company.

  “You seem to be recovering well,” I said dryly. “The screen didn’t crack?”

  Smirking, he held up an identical phone with spiderwebs veining its glass. “I always carry a spare.”

  “Of course you do.”

  Lowering his electronics, he stared across the room. “How is she?”

  “Mags is good.” I left out mention of Portia altogether. “Miller protected her from the blast.”

  Yes, it was mean to play his usual tricks on him, but I might never get another chance.

  “Portia,” he growled. “How is Portia?”

  “We don’t know,” I admitted. “Portia sustained a head injury, and it woke Maggie instead of knocking her — the body? — unconscious. That’s what triggered Miller’s protective instincts. Mags has been in control since they arrived. She can sense Portia, but she’s not surfacing.”

  Genuine worry leaked into his voice. “That’s never happened before.”

  “She’s never timeshared with a host before, either.” I patted his shoulder and repeated what Maggie told me. “Miller isn’t awake yet. Let’s not get too worried about Portia until then.”

  Mouth tight, he nodded then waved us on while he started back doing whatever it was we had interrupted.

  Our last stop was calculated to give the healers time to disperse. They had been in the thick of treating Wu when we first arrived, but only a few remained around his cot, and all but one left to give us privacy. The last one watched him like a hawk, and I was grateful for it considering the severity of his wounds.

  “You’re still kicking, I see.” I jabbed him in the shoulder with my pointer, earning a frown from the healer. Well, the closest thing they would give Conquest to a frown. “Guess the next tree will have to try harder.”

  A smile graced his mouth, helped along by the drugs in his system. “I’m sure you’ll take notes and pass them along.”

  “We did it.” I swept my gaze around the tent. “And we all survived.”

  “We did,” he agreed, groggily. “What next?”

  “We go home and regroup.” I smoothed the hairs away from his forehead, the slight touch singing down my arm with a resonance that spoke of potential for a relationship that would never go beyond partnership for us. “Cole and I will handle the logistics. You rest.”

  “I’m sorry, Luce,” he murmured, eyelids drooping. “So … damn … sorry.”

  A chill swept down the length of my spine, and Cole wore a matching frown at the apology.

  “Maybe it’s the drugs talking.” I touched Cole’s arm. “Or a possible head injury.”

  I looked to the healer for backup, but she shook her head once, and Cole’s mood darkened.

  Leaving the tent behind, we sought out Noel and Franklin. “How long will it take your people to pack up and move?”

  “We can be ready in six hours.” Franklin took her hand. “Just tell us where to go.”

  I gave them directions to the farmhouse and promised to meet them there.

  Unable to hold still, I paced a track around Cole until I flattened the grass underfoot.

  Though it hadn’t done me much good up to this point, I drafted a quick report to let Kapoor know the particulars about the explosion at Lake Bevin, but it didn’t feel like enough.

  And that was before I spotted a missed call from Rix
ton, and then a text, demanding what the hell I was doing blowing up mountainsides without him. A guess on his part, but a right one. There was no point in lying to cover it up at this point. He was already in too deep, and I had to stop him before he bottomed out.

  “You’re making me dizzy.” He caught my arm when I veered too close and pulled me to a stop. “What’s wrong?”

  “All roads lead to Canton.” I shook my head. “The last place I wanted this showdown is in the streets of my hometown, but we keep getting nudged in that direction.”

  “Breach sites have a magnetic quality. They lure cadre to them, you in particular.”

  “The Rixtons are in Canton, so are a lot of familiar faces I don’t want to see hurt.”

  “We’ll establish more than one base. We can stay at the farmhouse until the others recover and then set out again. Noel and Franklin can establish a second outpost, maybe in Jackson. We can send two or three other clans to rendezvous with them while we keep building our numbers.”

  “When do we know it’s enough?” I searched his face. “How can you tell when you’ve done all you can do?”

  “It’s never enough.” His smile was sad. “All you can do is your best, until you run out of time.”

  “You need to work on your motivational speeches.”

  “This will be the first time you’ve seen the atrocities that occur in battle. This will be the first time you grasp the scope of your heritage, and I wish I could protect you from all of it.”

  “Me too.” I rested my forehead against his chest. “I wish I could hole up with Dad and wait for it to blow over, but I can’t. Without me, it won’t.”

  “You could try,” he said softly, his arms coming around me.

  Shock snapped my head up, and I scowled at him. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

  “I know.”

  “If it was that simple, I would lock up all my loved ones and only let them out once this is done.”

  He read my intent too easily. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily either.”

  “I know,” I parroted. “Can’t blame a girl for wishing, though.”