by Jamie Magee
Others, Shade, Thrash, his boy Bastion, Thames, Echo, Steele, Knight—they had their minds focused on the war at hand, but from their relaxed stance, Scorpio knew they were still underestimating Akan.
Scorpio glanced to King and Dagen both lingering in a back corner, engulfed in the shadows. King met his stare in the same stoic way he had always addressed Scorpio. Dagen was lighthearted as ever, simply waiting for his orders—who to kill, when, and where.
As Scorpio listened to Knight break down all the intel he could grasp using modern technology, Scorpio kept his stare on Dagen. Trusting himself was something Scorpio had always done, even when doing so didn’t make a lick of sense. Right now, the source deep within him was telling Scorpio the only other hope in this room beyond him was Dagen.
It wasn’t a realization he came to simply. It was a nagging feeling that would not shut up and left him staring at the immortal dark angel with downright confusion.
From the moment he laid eyes on Dagen, Scorpio had been determined to understand more about the dark angels. He knew of them— he’d come across more than a few in dimensions far from here. Like all beings lurking in this realm, they had their benefits and downfalls. Assholes and saints were among them.
Dagen and King were from a different lot. One glance told Scorpio as much. Still, their creation should be the same, shouldn’t it? It was a question Scorpio needed answered but was wise enough to not ask. His perceptions had been blocked. Not by Dagen or even Reveca, but by King himself. Which made this more curious. What did King not want the self-made immortals that were here to know? What did King not want his own trusted First to know?
“I’ve traced him in every way I can,” Knight grunted slamming his laptop down. “It will do little good.”
Scorpio leered at the techie wolf, sure he had never spoken truer words.
“We found him before,” Judge spat. “He’s in some whore house, wearing a cheap thong, hustling Black.”
“He wanted us to find him,” Thrash argued.
Talon’s grunt was as far as he was going with his approval. He wasn’t much concerned with Akan, not as much as he was with the hard-core demon goddess that was crushing hard on him.
Rightly so, but the only one who would agree with Talon on the matter of where his focus needed to be was Scorpio himself, and perhaps the dark angels in the back of the room. The dark angels would never speak up. They were smart enough not to. Others would think they were biased, content to feed Talon to Ambrosia to free the way for King and Reveca to become more public in their sultry connections.
Scorpio held his silence for far different reasons. More than once over the course of the last battle he was tempted to say what he thought, at the very least to Talon. It was Reveca’s stare, a promise as old as time that would stop him. “He must never know. There is more at stake than either of us could reason,” Reveca had said to him. “Vow to me.”
“In exchange for?” Scorpio had countered, amused by the young witch’s tenacity.
“Honor, karma.”
After a long while, a ghost of a grin touched his lips. “This vow expires when reason escapes its need.”
Now as Scorpio’s stare flicked from Talon to Reveca, finding her gray eyes locked on him, Scorpio knew all the sand in the time glass had just about fallen, and so did she. It was the reason he felt her pleas for patience slamming into him.
“And Jade?” Rush questioned. It didn’t matter that Adair had never been happier than she was in this instant; Rush was determined to make the Voyager witch pay for how harsh she had been to Adair.
“Gone,” Reveca seethed. “Into the Fold.”
Each looked to Judge in silent question. “No.” He stated simply. No, Adair was not strong enough to chase Jade into the unknown, and no he would not stand by and watch her try. No one dared to glance at Talley to ask the same about Finley, they had far too much sense to do so.
“What now?” Talon asked growing ill from sitting still. He wanted a direction, a place to ride out to and distract him from the real hells his instincts told him were bearing down.
Scorpio nodded to Dust, his VP proudly and stoically sitting to his right, they stood in one motion as one unit. “Prepare alibis. Whatever one you use, have them in place for every hour, make sure they are unbreakable.”
He went to leave but Talon stood slowly which drew his attention, and the respect in his expression gave Scorpio pause.
“What do you know?” Talon asked reverently. Over the years Talon had only offered trust to those in his inner circle. By far, Scorpio topped his list. In all the time they had been together not once had a single world left Scorpio’s lips without reason. No matter how simple the phrase may have been, it was not expressed without thought, a silent message.
Years back it was nearly impossible for Talon to know who to wish for when it came to both Judge and Scorpio showing an interest in Adair. In truth, without the visions and prophecy of Jade, Talon would’ve pushed for Scorpio. It didn’t matter that Talon knew without a doubt that Judge loved Adair more than his own family, and Scorpio’s interest was simply protective. In Talon’s mind, on the battlefield of life, protection was more important than love.
As Scorpio met Talon’s dark stare, the others seated at the table leaned forward in anticipation. Scorpio could feel Reveca’s pleas crashing into him. She wanted his answer to focus on the mortal war that was known in this room, nothing more.
Scorpio gritted his teeth then answered. “Akan is a gifted skinwalker. His identity and intentions are in question. Like any man who has a secret to keep, he has no boundaries. No limits. He will use this mortal world against you. Alibis… you need them.” He glanced around the room. “If you give a fuck about this city and those in it, prepare to play defense.” He hastened a cold leer. “This time when you catch him, make sure it’s the last. Akan is a skinwalker from the oldest part of the world with a brilliant mind. There is no greater threat in the mortal world than him right now.”
Scorpio left before a single question could reach him. Dust was right on his heels. For weeks, most of his inner circle had camped at the Boneyard. Even though it was requested it would’ve been a move Scorpio would’ve made anyway. There were only a handful of safe places in Gaia, the grounds he was on was one of them. A place he’d keep those he cared about the most shielded.
“Where are you going?” Dust asked when he followed Scorpio into the small frame house nestled close to the river and far enough from the constant chatter in the heart of the Boneyard.
Dust knew as soon as Scorpio went for his paper and inkwell he was as good as gone. Technology was an energy Scorpio despised—he kept his reasons for that to himself. He carried a phone, but it was rarely on, and only used for extreme emergencies. Considering the tool was rendered useless during Akan’s escape, Dust was sure phones would be extinct before Scorpio had the idea to use them again.
Ink and paper had always been his tool to leave orders when he was determined to set out on his own. In Dust’s long life he’d only left him behind a dozen times. No matter how hard he’d track, Dust would lose Scorpio’s trail, by the time he found it once more, Scorpio was back. Dust never said where Scorpio went for sure, only why.
Scorpio and Dust had always been in sync, bonded deeper than anyone else at the Boneyard. Dust knew if Scorpio were in danger, he’d know and he’d find a way to wherever Scorpio might be.
If only it were the same with his internal battles.
Each time Scorpio had left in the past, Dust had sensed raw emotion. It wasn’t until the fifth or sixth time that it dawned on him it was Scorpio feeling this way. Dust wasn’t slow to the take, it was just easy to miss the connection. Though Dust could sense emotions on an epic level, he could only sense Scorpio’s emotions when they had drowned him.
Dust recognized the look in his eyes; he’d even swear he could feel that same aching feeling starting to kindle its way to life. If Dust knew anything, he knew now was not the time for Scor
pio to vanish. He didn’t want to be in charge, not with as unstable as the mother chapter seemed to be.
Scorpio’s hand flew across sheet after sheet, writing in perfect penmanship that the best fonts could not match. Each man in his chapter would have a sheet from him before it was over. The orders could be complex to as simple as “one road whore a night.”
“Not this time,” Dust said again squaring his shoulders and lifting his chin. “Secrets are revealing themselves, our time is comin’.”
Scorpio’s hand stopped abruptly. He cursed the error he made, made a hasty correction and then stood to face Dust within the span of an instant.
Eye to eye, the alphas stared. The lean warrior build, broad shoulders, high cheekbones, and chiseled jaw were mirror reflections. Though the eyes held the same shape, the colors were far from the same. Where Scorpio’s eyes were jade, Dust’s were amber with shards of violet, circling wide and waiting pupils. Scorpio’s mark of the Phoenix was proudly emblazoned across his chest; Dust’s was on his back. Above Dust’s heart was the symbol for Ra, the sun god. In battle, molten flames could be seen just under his flesh as fire pumped through his vessels.
“Reveca’s vow will not be broken until mine is,” Scorpio swore.
“And you are about to break it,” Dust accused. “Every fool here is looking for blood.”
“True enough,” Scorpio conceded.
Dust glared in response. “Not the time for any conquest you want. Take your pick from the bar, it’s never been an issue before.”
It was a low blow, as Dust intended it to be. Adair was a sore topic between them, and not just because she was the only female Dust had watched Scorpio pick up.
“Do as I say,” Scorpio said as he picked up the orders he had written moments before, and slammed them to Dust’s chest.
Before Dust could protest, the scuff of boots crossing the wooden porch were heard. Thrash appeared there, a craft he was still honing in on. In the next beat, he was in the doorway of the bedroom Scorpio and Dust were in.
Thrash glanced at the packed bag, and then at the tense glare Dust had yet to drop from Scorpio. “Am I interrupting somethin’?” His tone was teasing, but it was only there to break the obvious tension.
“You are,” Dust had never been known for his lack of bluntness.
Thrash squinted at them, and then cleared his throat. “Right then. Orders are in. Your chapter is moving to the Boneyard. With us on the road we need the fortress guarded. Scripts still gotta run, business on the streets must be checked. Earners get greedy when they don’t see us for a bit.”
Dust shifted his glare to deliver Thrash the statement ‘What makes you think I’m your whipping boy,’ clearly present in his expression.
Thrash shrugged then vanished.
Scorpio pushed the papers once more toward Dust and then grabbed his bag.
“Not the fucking right time,” Dust bit out.
“Do as I say,” Scorpio said once more as he too vanished.
Scorpio manifested on his bike, and before he could hum his ride to life, Reveca appeared at his side. On the outside, he offered a cool grin. Inside, he was kicking the dirt and cussing the Creator for placing him where he was.
“You can’t,” she said coldly.
“Brave words.”
“They’re not selfish ones,” Reveca said with a quick glance at the Boneyard.
“And you think my actions are?” he snapped.
“There has to be another way,” she said in a calmer tone that sounded like pleading.
“One your dark angel hasn’t come up with?” He needed her to explain King and Dagen to him, her version might clear up a few things. Either way, it was clear neither of them had a reason for why Ambrosia was still sucking Talon dry. No matter how pleading Reveca’s expression may have been right then, she had her limits for how far she would go to save Talon from the demise that was closer than anyone cared to acknowledge.
Scorpio had no limits, the basic laws of self-preservation erased them long ago. If there was a choice between Reveca living and Talon, Scorpio would always choose Talon, and not just because he knew that one day vows would be tested and he would have to do the unthinkable in the eyes of the brotherhood.
“We’re distracted,” Reveca said in her level ‘I am your leader tone.’ “The fact that we can be distracted must tell you Talon has more time than you believe.”
With a chilling look in his eye, Scorpio gave her a once over. He’d heard what she had done to pull Talon back from the brink when they were all in the heat of Adair’s drama. Raping a male with vim while dishonoring a new lover was not the lowest act Reveca had committed, but it was down there with the rest of her demons, proving she was relentless. The act may have given Scorpio time to talk himself down from leaving right then to help Talon, but in the end, it set up his departure.
Talon was getting worse and instead of circling the wagons to end the conflict the Sons had kicked in a hornet’s nest with Akan— an enemy only a few had hoped to disarm. Reveca wasn’t one of the few. It would take a profound power, more than Reveca could hope to have, to kill that fuck, just as it would take one to heal Talon. Scorpio knew he had to act now, if he didn’t, it would be too late for one too many people he cared about.
“Distracted, are you?” Scorpio chided. All the years he had stood in the role he was in now was crawling up the back of his throat like hot bile needing a way out. He’d forsaken everything that mattered in his life for this witch. Not because he honored her, but because Reveca had imprisoned him, chained him to the course of action he was on now. She was the cause and effect for all that was to come, yet Scorpio would bare the burden of blame in the eyes of their family.
“What are you implying?” Reveca’s vim thrashed at him providing an eerie warning. She wanted him to believe that he was not the only one lying in wait. She wanted him to think that in this time of bitter war she had found a weapon that could defeat him. He didn’t think that.
“No one is ever distracted, they only play the game incorrectly.”
“This is not a game.”
“I’m aware.”
Her gray eyes searched him. “Where is your loyalty? Why him? What is it about Talon that has all of you willing to gamble everything and anything for him?”
“And not my secret keeper?” he teased.
“I lied for you.”
“You did.” He wished she hadn’t. The lie fortified the life he had now, she lied for her benefit, not his.
“Do you not think Talon would find fault with you because of it?” It was an empty threat, they both knew he wouldn’t, not once Talon understood why he’d been kept in the dark.
Scorpio winked. “I do think I’m the least of Talon’s concerns now.”
“And if I tell him I did not raise you from death,” she glanced in the distance, to the home Dust was still standing in. “Or him.”
Such a low, personal blow.
“Dear Reveca, are you threatening me?” He laughed darkly. “Your heart truly has grown black when it comes to Talon.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“Then why are you begging to stop me? The only one who can save Talon?”
Reveca bit her lip as she canted her head, listening to distant conversations. “I don’t know that I believe you anymore. Not with the truths I know now.” She turned her attention back to him. “Besides, Ambrosia is satisfied now.”
“She’s not sated, she’s pulling slowly. At any second she’ll take it all.” He started his bike, and it roared to life. “I’m driven by instinct. You should know that by now.”
He was gone, thirty miles down the road, before Reveca heard his words. Her rage exploded within her vim.
One way or another she was determined to stop him.
Chapter Two
Forcing all her dark emotions deep in her gut to use as one powerful punch, Reveca set off to chase Scorpio. Before her vessel had the chance to dematerialize, King’s arm was
around her. Her direction, locked on Scorpio, was drastically rerouted and before she knew it, she was home in his newly claimed kingdom.
“Asshole,” she shrieked, as she broke free from King. Standing dimensions away there was no way in hell she could track Scorpio now. The asshat was far too elusive and stubborn.
She was kicking herself for trying to reason with him. Reveca had officially just blown the only chance she ever had to follow him to the deepest secret and treasure he kept. Once there she’d honor a vow she made to herself long ago—she’d fucking destroy it!
From where she stood, to the far east she could see the mountain top, the crown of the shelter that now encased pure beauty, a fortress for all of King’s Faction.
King stood silently at her side on the ridge top they were on, ignoring the curses under her breath and the struggle he sensed her going through to escape the silent ‘no fly zone’ his vim was trapping her under.
Reveca was doing her best to conjure enough power to take her back to the Boneyard. If he wasn’t intentionally holding her in place he’d wager that she would not only be back, but well on her way to at least figuring out what direction Scorpio went. It was hard for him to not swell with pride as her soul began to harvest the godly energy they shared. Now, only if he could get her mind and body on the same divine course...
“You have no idea how FUCKED we are!” she roared as she stubbornly gathered her power.
King cocked a half-smirk thinking, Nope, long way from a calm, transcendent stance.
It was almost adorably amusing until he considered how one wrong exploit could destroy them all. It was easier to withstand her fury and what she thought was a fight for independence than watch her grieve for all of time. So he assumed, as she thrashed so hard he nearly swayed. Damn.
