Cole pulled something out of his pocket. “That was your mistake,” he said and revealed the object. It was long and thin, like a metal pencil with a button on the end. “May your death be swift,” Cole said and pressed the button.
Nothing happened. Not at first. And then we heard it. The shrieking of hybrids and the crashing of objects. I looked at the monitor. Dozens of the creatures seemed to pour out from doorways, charging like wild boars. I glanced to Lex. He was running from one, but how long until the others caught up to him?
“Your Lex awaits you,” Cole smiled at me. “Go save him, princess. He might fall into a trap if you don’t.”
White rage swept across my vision. There was a possibility we would die here all because of him. Nearly blind with fury, I shot my arrow. It flew strong and sure, landing with a loud thwack straight into his chest.
The arrow pinned him to the chair and immediately, blood rained down his shirt and out his mouth. He let out gasping noises. It took me a moment to clear away the fog in my brain and realize that they weren’t gasps, but words.
“...didn’...think...you’d shoot...weak…” He gasped and choked on his own blood.
He hadn’t thought I’d shoot, he’d thought I’d be weak. He thought that, to save Lex, I’d ignore him and run into a crowd of hybrids to get myself killed. Because my heart always, selfishly, came first. It was what had got us into this mess in the first place. I’d put myself before my people, before my family. I’d thrown away every lesson for my own personal gain.
And I’d never make that mistake again.
I was the Huntress, only not the one he’d expected.
“You killed him,” Braxtyn whispered in his shock.
“He’s not dead yet,” I pointed out with bitterness. Cole was still struggling for breath, choking and gurgling painfully.
“You bitch,” Braxtyn dropped to his knees in front of his youngest brother and gripped the arrow at his chest, pulling it out. This only caused the blood to flow faster. Braxtyn’s shoulders racked up and down as he sobbed. Blood spurted all over him but he didn’t seem to care. “You killed him. You killed him.”
I didn’t have the time to feel sorry for him, to feel an ache in my chest at what I’d done. Lex needed me.
I didn’t bother with a goodbye as I whirled around and ran out of the room.
Chapter Eight
I had no other weapons save for my bow, arrows and a bomb in my pocket. I was saving that for a special occasion. My feet skipped steps as I practically hurtled down the stairs. I reached the bottom floor and rounded the corner, only to slam hard into Lex.
I skidded to the floor in surprise that lasted momentarily because he was hauling me up by the arm and tugging me along the hallway. He held tightly to my hand, threading his fingers through mine as we ran. I didn’t chance a glance backwards, I didn’t have to. Not when their breath seemed to burn the hairs on the back of our necks. Close, so close.
Lex pulled me to a stop. Just ahead there were more hybrids coming towards us. We were surrounded. We were going to die. I gave his hand a tight squeeze before pulling away and reaching into my back pocket for a bomb. I had only one and had to decide which direction to throw it in. Even if I threw it, the blast would knock us off our feet. We had to be prepared.
I lifted my arm up, preparing to put my entire body and all of my strength into this, into what could very well be my last moment…
And there was a crash as the wall seemed to cave in. Lex pulled me to his chest as if he’d meant to protect me, pulling me away from the enormous truck that had driven through the wall and rammed against the hybrids behind us, pinning them.
The smoke of plaster cleared and I glanced up in time to see the driver’s side door open and Kael emerge from it. His face was grave and my eyes grew wider when I saw what he wielded in his hands. He let out a fierce cry as he aimed his gun at the hybrids and let bullets rain down in a thunderous wave of light and sound.
The passenger’s side door opened and I nearly staggered as River jumped down from the seat, wielding his own sword. He stood tall and proud, it was almost impossible to tell he was wearing a prosthetic leg beneath his jeans.
The sight of them, of both of them had my heart thundering with new hope. With a cry, I turned to the approaching hybrids and threw the bomb with all my might, whirling around to yell, “Duck!”
I yanked on Lex’s hand, pulling him towards the vehicle, jumping to slide across the dented hood and land on the other side just as the bomb exploded behind us. I covered my ears to drown out the sound of the blast. Debris rained on us, chunks of wood slamming into my body so hard, I was sure I’d be bruised.
When silence followed, I stood slowly with Lex at my side. The smoke cleared up to reveal the hybrids. They weren’t exactly dead; their bodies twitched on the ground. I let out a breath of relief and turned with a smile on my face that died instantly when I saw who was behind the steering wheel.
Akir opened the door and stepped out, slamming it behind him. His face was grave and angry as he took me in from head to toe, his eyes lingering too long on my face as if he meant to count every freckle to make sure they were still intact. He took Lex in, eyes burning with rage. I half expected him to chew me out right then and there. To my surprise, it wasn’t him who did it.
Kael stepped on top of the hood of the car, stomping on it with heavy boots as he walked over and jumped down in front of me. My healer pulled me towards him by the arm and for the first time since I’d met him, there was rage aligned on his every feature.
“What the hell were you thinking?” He shouted, hand tightening painfully on my upper arm.
“Uh…” I was so dumbfounded by his sudden anger, at his sudden aggression that I was at a loss for words.
“You left us behind with nothing but a gods damned note?”
A note? I hadn’t left a note! I resisted the urge to turn and glare at Lex. I should have known he was going to pull something like that. But I couldn’t find the energy to be angry at him. Not when his note had saved our lives.
“Of all the irresponsible, childish, pigheaded—”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice finally cracking with emotion and exhaustion.
Kael cut off his angry rant by biting down hard on his bottom lip. His face never softened, he looked as though he still had so much left to say to me but instead, he pulled me tightly to his chest, holding me there by the back of my head. I wrapped my arms around him and fought back the urge to sob.
“I was worried about you, princess,” he whispered against the top of my head.
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “But I had to come here. I had to get the cure.” I finally sobbed, feeling my chest tighten painfully. “And I failed. I failed.”
“It’s alright, lass,” Akir said.
I pulled away from Kael to look at my fiancée. His eyes were soft, even if the rest of his face was all hard lines. I could see the anger in him, but I could also read the pity there just as easily. And that hurt more than his anger did.
“We can’t stay here,” River limped forward. I noticed him wince but he ignored his own pain, putting on a hardened expression. “How many more hybrids are here?” He asked urgently.
I pulled away from Kael but stuck to his side, finding comfort in the warmth of his hand on my lower back.
“I’m not sure,” I answered, looking around at the half-dead ones around us. “Dozens, maybe? They were all over the place.”
“And without a cure…” Lex let the sentence trail off, letting the weight of it settle into place.
I looked at Akir. There was no cure and his father could be here somewhere. His father could be any one of these hybrids laying around. Killing them would mean killing the king, if we hadn’t done so already. Could he live with that decision, if it came to that?
“If they attack, shoot to kill.” Akir said darkly, answering my unasked question for me.
We all gave him a tight nod and started forward
. I waited a beat to fall into walking rhythm with my fiancée. He stared straight ahead, his weapon poised dangerously. He didn’t say a word.
“Akir…”
“You could have fucking trusted me, lass.” Was all he said before walking ahead, leaving me to rush and catch up with him.
“The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few,” I recited. His fists tightened on his weapons but he said nothing so I pressed on. “We needed a cure, Akir. I didn’t find one but I also needed to stop this.”
“You could have died,” he replied tightly.
“And it wouldn’t have mattered, as long as I stopped another hybrid war.”
Akir stopped so abruptly, I nearly tripped on my own feet. I turned to raise a brow at him. He was glaring at me. “Wouldn’t have mattered?” He repeated. “Wouldn’t have mattered to who?”
Kael, Lex and River stopped just in front of us and half turned to see why we were standing there. My cheeks heated under their scrutiny. Everyone except Lex was pissed at me, so it seemed. And here I thought I’d done something heroic. That I’d come to get the cure and even though that had failed, I’d killed the psychopath who’d started it all again.
“Our people needed this to end, Akir.”
“Do you think that makes it easier?” He asked menacingly. “Do you think it’s easy knowing that as king, I failed? That I put my people in danger? It isn’t fucking easy, princess, thinking I was going to lose you, too.”
I felt the breath leave me entirely. He’d lost nearly everyone. What it must have been like for him? His mother dead. His father gone. Braxtyn and I gone to deal with the hybrid threat. Cole dead…
Cole.
I placed my hand on his arm, stopping him. “Akir, there’s something you should know…”
Before I could get the rest out, there was an unmistakable growl that had us snapping up, tightening our grips on our weapons. A hybrid emerged from around the corner and I felt my feet freeze at the sight of it.
“Holy gods above,” Lex whispered.
The thing was massive. As big as a truck, with scarred flesh and dangerous rows of sharp teeth. Its blackened lip pulled up into a sneer as it laid familiar blue eyes on us. I tensed, fingers reaching for my bow and notching an arrow. Akir was in front of me and I heard the sudden painful inhalation of a breath.
“Father…” he whispered, so low I almost didn’t hear it.
The hybrid—the king—started forward slowly. I stepped back, pulling Akir by the back of his jacket. He went willingly but kept his gaze straight ahead. Straight into the eyes of his father.
“Back away slowly,” River commanded in a stern, low voice.
The king stilled, ears flattening across his thick head. I wondered if he recognized his son. If he was still there, somewhere, inside the beast, begging for release. Or if he was too far gone, more beast than man. I didn’t know if I wanted to find out.
“Father…” Akir whispered again. I wondered if he felt the sudden urge to leap before his king, if all earlier rules of ‘shoot to kill’ still applied here. I wanted to ask, but to break the silence seemed like a dangerous thing. Besides, without a cure it was hopeless. There was no way to save his father or my mother. Putting them down seemed like a mercy.
I drew the string back on my bow and aimed. Akir glanced down at me with cold eyes. “Shoot to kill?” I asked quietly. It broke my heart. I’d killed his brother and I’d be willing to kill his father too, for the good of all of us here. Maybe the real beast was me.
His blue eyes were like chips of ice that took me in, took in my form, my ready stance. He swallowed. I knew how painful this was. Knew we’d barely be able to live with ourselves later. But it had to be done. We were royalty, after all, and our people came before our own needs and wants.
Akir looked at his father one last time. “Shoot to kill,” he whispered firmly.
And then his father attacked. As if those hostile words had awoken something in him, he charged at us with full force. The sight of his big body thundering down the hallway nearly crippled me but I fired.
The arrow embedded itself in his shoulder. He gave a screeching cry of anger and seemed to move faster. I realized we could not outrun him. We would have to stand and fight.
The other seemed to realize this, too, because they pulled out their weapons and spread out quickly. River, holding his sword in a tight grip, was in front of the rest of us, ready to charge ahead. My heart tumbled at the sight. I couldn’t lose him again. I couldn’t lose any of them. There had to be a better way. There had to be something other than blood and bullets.
The king roared and Kael shot, his weapon emanating bright yellow light and sound. The bullets wounded him, caused him to slow down but he did not stop as he made a swipe for River. But River dodged, wincing as he put too much pressure, too fast on his prosthetic leg. He twirled, bringing his sword down in an arc, slicing through the side of the hybrid.
He screeched and River pulled away, stepping back just as Akir came forward, brandishing his own weapon. I could see the tenseness in his shoulders, see the pain in his every move as he began shooting close-range at his father. The bullets went into his thick, furry shoulders. Blood spilled forth and it only seemed to make him angrier. He stood on his back paws to his full height and was quick to swipe his claws towards his son.
I gasped when his nails raked over Akir’s chest, tearing his skin. Akir fell to his knees.
“No!” I pulled an arrow out and shot one out. It went through his eye, causing him to drop back to all four’s and let out a roar that stood the hairs on my arms up. I rushed forward recklessly, grabbing Akir by the back of the jacket and tugging. He fell to his ass, chest heaving every painful breath. His chest was soaked in blood and I prayed he wouldn’t die on me, too.
“Help me,” I hissed between my teeth at Lex. He rushed forward, gripping Akir under the armpits and pulled him away from his father and all the way back to the mangled truck to lean him up against it.
Kael and River fought at the king, jabbing left and right. I bent down to Akir’s level while Lex watched my back.
“Akir,” I lifted his head up.
“I’m fine, lass,” he growled, pushing me away. “It’s just a scratch.” As if to prove his point, he stood on wobbly legs but I didn’t miss how he winced or struggled to stay upright. It was more than just a scratch and he knew it. “But it’s a good thing you brought me to the truck.” He turned, grunting as he opened the driver’s side door. “Seeing you earlier distracted me.” He pulled out a bag and turned, dropping it to the floor and bending over to unzip it. “I forgot to grab this.” He reached in and pulled out a bomb. “They seem to be the only things powerful enough to take hybrids down.” He winced. “This is our last one, lass.” I went to take it from him but he pulled his hand back, tightening his fist around it. “I have to do it,” he said firmly.
I stared at him incredulously. “You can barely stand.”
He shook his head. “He’s my father.”
I wanted to argue. I needed to, but now was not the time. I turned. Everything around me seemed to happen so slowly. River was bleeding at the temple and the king took a swipe at him. He fell back, twisting and falling down. His knees buckled. The fight was too much too soon for him, for his injury. He pulled his knee up to his chest and gave out a cry. Kael rushed to protect him, using his own body as a shield. Gone were his bullets and gun. He wrenched the sword from River and turned to attack. He didn’t know how to brandish it, but he was fierce just the same.
I swallowed. “Make it count,” was all I said before I stood up and offered my hand.
He blinked at me before taking my hand and stood up. He looked to both me and Lex. “I’ll need a distraction.”
Lex smiled. “That, I can manage.”
“Keanna, help get River out of there.”
I nodded and we both rushed forward. I reached River as Kael lunged further to the right, getting creature’s attention away from us. My e
yes seemed to move everywhere at once, from Kael thrusting the sword forward, to Akir sneaking his way behind his father.
“Riv, let’s get you to the truck,” I urged as I helped lift him to a standing position. He hobbled, hissing as he leaned into me. There was still fight left in his eyes.
“I’m not going to run away or hide, Keanna,” he breathed heavily into my ear. “I’ll go down with all of you or not at all.”
“Stubborn ass,” I mumbled as I began pulling him further away from where he’d fallen. Until he froze, refusing to budge any more. I knew that despite my protests, he wouldn’t go further so I let him go, let him preserve his dignity and stand on his own and then I turned back to the battle.
The hybrid swiped at Kael, knocking the sword from his hand where it flew, clattering to the ground. Kael fell to the floor on his back and I cried out as the hybrid hovered over him, readying his paw to take a swipe…
And then there was the loud blaring of a horn and Lex’s voice screaming over it. “Hey hybrid! Come here you ugly mother…” He jumped down from the truck and rushed forward, waving his arms over his head.
It was a moment’s distraction, but it was all Akir needed. The hybrid had froze and lifted its head to look up at Lex and then Akir was jumping onto his father’s back and latching on. The king jerked his head back and let out a deafening roar, bucking to try and knock Akir off.
But Akir held tightly around his neck, I could see the bomb in his hands, could see him moving as if he meant to shove it down the beast’s throat.
Then he let go and with a fierce jerk of his back, Akir was flying off of the hybrid and landing on the ground. he wasted no time, standing up. I could see no hesitation there in his gaze. I could see nothing but sorrow as Akir reached his arm back, ready to throw the bomb. I held my breath, watching, waiting for it to be over but before the device left his hand, he was being tackled to the ground. The bomb slipped from his fingers and rolled away as he found himself pinned under the heavy weight of Braxtyn. His brother held him down, forearm against his throat.
Freeing the Beasts Page 8
