by Kamryn Hart
I scanned the crowd, searching for anyone else who hadn’t been served. I didn’t see anyone. The line was officially gone. It looked like the job was done. The sun was beginning to set too. It was about time to return to Phantom Fangs Lair. Then I spotted someone dodging and darting between tight clusters of huddled bodies as he made his way toward me. If he hadn’t been wearing his beanie, I would have seen him sooner, but he kept his fire-red hair for me and Phantom Fangs alone. I smiled.
Todd.
He looked uncomfortable in the crowded space. I wondered what he was doing here. Whatever his reason, it must have included me because he was looking right at me with amber-brown eyes. My heart rate sped up in anticipation. My body flooded with heat. I needed to touch him.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Trace.
She waved me off and I rushed, darting between bodies to meet Todd. My Todd. I wanted to place my hands on his cheeks and chase away the discomfort on his face. It was already diminishing with each step I took toward him, like my presence was a relief for him. I caught his hand without a word and pulled him into a corner, away from the busy intersections of people moving around and laying down straw and blankets for bedding.
“How did things go at the wall?” I asked as I let go of his hand to tuck a strand of loose hair behind my ear. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail earlier to keep it out of the food. Well, Trace did it for me. I didn’t have anything to tie it back with.
Todd pressed back against the wall of the faded red barn, and I took a moment to appreciate his sleeveless shirt. He was the leanest member of Phantom Fangs, but still bigger than me—not that that was hard to do when it came to male werewolves. I leaned back with him, allowing our arms to touch. He moved just a little closer to me in return. He needed my touch as much as I needed his. I shivered and squeezed my thighs together.
“Okay, I guess,” he said. “The vampires must have tampered with the surveillance system, looping the footage on the cameras or something because I don’t have the enemy arrival recorded anywhere—though I still have no idea how they managed that. Our defenses rely on my system, powered by and centered at the Heart. We don’t have as many actual guards stationed at the walls because my surveillance system had been sufficient until now. I wasted hours trying to figure out how the vampires did it and ended up telling the guards to double the watch, since my tech has become unreliable, and suggested ways to reinforce our walls to the builders.” He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “I have a headache.”
I pushed off the wall and placed my hands on his cheeks. I gently guided him down a little, so I could get a good look at his eyes. They were bloodshot and tired.
“You deserve a rest,” I said.
“My tech is supposed to be the best. Everyone’s in danger because of me.”
“Your tech is remarkable, just like you, but there’s always someone better. You didn’t fail anyone. You did your best. Besides, I’m sure you’ll come up with a new solution soon. That’s what you do. Your beautiful brain never stops.”
He gave me a small smile.
“You probably have nothing to worry about anyway,” I said, “since you think the vampires are the ones who broke through your tech and they want a truce.”
“Maybe.”
I dropped my hands as I heard Trace call, “You can leave, Princess!” She waved. “We have everything covered.”
I called back, “I’ll help clean up first!” I turned to Todd. “Stay here and take a rest or I can meet you back at the lair.”
“I want to stay with you,” he replied quietly. “I’ll help clean.” His eyes shifted from mine to the floor.
I took his hand, coaxing him to look at me again. I smiled wryly. “What does the tech werewolf know about cleaning?”
“What does the Lost Princess know about cleaning?”
“Plenty because I had no idea I was a princess until a few days ago.”
“Then it sounds like I’m in good hands.”
“Okay, but this is your choice. I gave you a way out.” I winked.
Todd took my hand, and I guided him over to the big water basins where some humans were already washing dishes. They were water troughs for animals this morning, but everything had been re-purposed for the human guests.
“This is pretty inefficient and primitive,” Todd commented as I went to a water pump to fill up some buckets.
“Better than nothing,” I said. “I’m more used to this kind of life anyway. No tech in the woods.”
He stared hard at the water pump.
“Have you ever spent much time in the Tech Off Zone?” I asked.
“Aside from setting up cameras, no.”
I squirted some liquid soap into the water basin and watched the bubbles rise as I emptied the water from the buckets into it. When I was satisfied with the amount of water, I filled the buckets again and emptied them into another water basin for rinsing. I instructed Todd to grab the used dishes from the table we set up for serving and joined him a moment later. Then we started washing. It was a simple task but a little time consuming with the number of dishes we had to clean.
“How do you feel about humans?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel about werewolves either.” Todd ducked his head when a guard strode past.
“How do you feel about Phantom Fangs?”
“Never tried putting it into words before,” he murmured. “I use tech. I understand tech. I’m good with it. Phantom Fangs… I keep them safe.”
“That’s it? You’re their guardian angel, then.”
Todd scratched the back of his head, but he was careful not to disrupt his beanie and reveal the red hidden underneath. He looked around nervously, conscious of everyone else in the barn.
“I think I care about them,” he said. “I don’t know how to talk to them or how to act around them, but they depend on me. I keep them safe. Caspian brought me into the team because of my skills. It’s the same reason the king keeps me around. The Heart, the tech, I’m the only one who knows everything about it. The other werewolves have to work in teams and specialize in certain areas. I’m pretty important, but the king has always allowed me to be solitary—except for when he agreed to Caspian’s request to have me on the team, but that was only because I said I wanted to do it. Caspian asked me to join. He smiled, acted like talking to me wasn’t difficult, said all this weird stuff about a squad that will pave the way to the future. I was curious. Caspian made the world feel warm. Nothing was warm before Caspian. He’s always lecturing me about teamwork, but he talks to me. Phantom Fangs talks to me when everyone else tries to avoid me.”
“Caspian is a unique werewolf,” I said with a nod.
“Agreed.”
“How do you feel about me?”
Todd’s cheeks went red as he furiously took some dishes and scrubbed them down in the soapy water basin. I giggled and scooped up a bunch of the foamy bubbles from off of the water’s surface. When he turned to see what I was doing, I smeared the bubbles across his face. He blinked, shocked. I took advantage by scooping up more bubbles and painted his chin. I laughed at his new white beard.
“You look very sophisticated now,” I said with my hand on my chin. My actions turned a few heads, but I didn’t care, because it also elicited a few laughs. The energy was good. Todd let out a little laugh, too. It surprised me. I wasn’t sure I had ever heard him laugh before. In fact, I was certain I hadn’t. My heart jumped in my chest.
He scooped up a bunch of bubbles. I knew what was coming. I squeaked and ran away, but not fast enough—not that I was trying to. Todd grabbed me with one hand around my waist while the other went to my chin. He sculpted me my own sophisticated white beard.
Todd’s breath was hot on my ear as he said, “Now we match.”
I twisted around in his grip to face him and grabbed the back of his neck. He leaned down and kissed me. We both got a mouth full of soap and pulled back immediately, sticking out ou
r tongues and wiping away the bubbles. Todd continued to hold me close as we both laughed. I wiped the rest of the bubbles off his face, slowly, deliberately.
“There’s my Todd,” I whispered.
He did the same for me. “Sorissa.”
I couldn’t ignore the heated look in his eyes. He leaned down to press his lips to mine, gentle this time. The soapy taste was still there, but it wasn’t as strong, and it didn’t bother me. His taste was stronger. It was like little fireworks on my tongue, spices that overpowered everything else. I pressed my body into his, harder and harder with each passing moment of him kissing me, my hands around his neck to keep him there. I could feel his hardness, pressing against my lower stomach. It was like we were almost perfectly aligned; out of the Phantom Fangs members, Todd was the closest to my height.
His grip on my waist was so tight it almost hurt. This desperation… I imagined his hands lower. I imagined him touching me, exploring me like I had once before in the bath, without a clothing barrier. I whimpered, bucked my hips. Begged.
Todd stopped our kiss. He was breathing heavily and loosened his grip. “We should go back to the lair,” he said.
I blinked away the haze in my eyes, the convenient filter that blocked out everything else but Todd. I saw many eyes staring at us, red faces, parents hiding children. Trace had her hand over her mouth, but her blue eyes were twinkling, betraying her actions with a smile. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my own breathing.
“Yeah,” I said, “let’s go home.”
Todd released my waist and was about to move away, but I took his arm like I had Caspian’s before when he was leading me through Wolf Bridge Castle to the room Philip had prepared for me. Todd was a little resistant at first. I decided it wasn’t because of me but because he didn’t really know this social convention. I was glad we were similar in that way. Todd settled, deciding on how to hold and touch me. Maybe he wasn’t holding my arm how he was supposed to, but I didn’t care about that.
“Good night,” I said with a wave.
“Good night,” Trace replied while other onlookers nodded their heads or didn’t comment.
I ran my fingers over what I could touch of Todd’s skin while our arms were linked. I liked that his arms were bare and that I could see the paleness of his skin among all of his charming freckles. I wondered if those freckles were all over his body. I resisted the urge to squeeze my thighs together, to stop and take in this feeling. This need was roaring inside of my body, begging for more than this, but it had to wait. Now wasn’t the time to bring it up. I was pretty sure this was the first time Todd had felt completely relaxed with me, and it was a moment to savor.
CHAPTER 14
RODRICK
IT WAS LATE. I hid in the shadows of buildings, dodging Todd’s cameras like old times—not so old times.
The moon was big and almost full, moonlight streaming down from the sky, but it was fading. The moon was going through its phases. Eventually, it wouldn’t be seen in the night sky. That night, there would be no pull. Tonight, the pull was as heavy as if the moon was full, but it was only taunting. I couldn’t absorb any moonlight.
My body buzzed. It was aggravating. I had this vivid image of my bones creaking, bending, breaking, and tearing through my skin like thin paper. I wasn’t sure if I was feeling this way because of something external or if it was because I wasn’t looking forward to what I had to do.
Then I wondered if it was coming from that connection I seemed to share with Sorissa and Phantom Fangs. I liked that idea less.
I couldn’t say for sure. That “connection” was an anomaly. One minute it was blazing, the next it was as cold as ice. It had faded significantly since Sorissa first kissed us on that full moon night. It burned brightest then, but I felt a flicker of it again when she kissed us last night. Was it her kisses that made the connection strong? Would kissing us regularly make it blaze as brightly as it had the first time?
Regularly. What an absurd thought. Focus. I shook my head.
Now wasn’t the time to think about kissing. It was a distraction I didn’t need. Gods, but how I longed to hold Sorissa in my arms. I had been attracted to and consensually played around with women in Freedom, but Sorissa was a werea—a very beautiful werea. The physical attraction was undeniable, but there was much more to it than that. She was like no other. She was pigheaded and unapologetic when it came to her naive beliefs and ideas. She somehow made them seem achievable. She was worthy of her legend, and we hadn’t seen her do anything yet. I had this notion she would turn the world upside down, not simply because of her power, but because of her stubbornness.
I slipped into the next group of shadows. I was on the regular route I took when I was on my way to pass off intel to the rebels. I was in the Tech Off Zone, skimming along the ravine containing the roaring rapids of the Quicksilver River. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going, as usual, but this time I wasn’t going to give the rebels any information or stolen bits of tech. I was going to leave them a message.
I was acutely aware of the note folded up inside of my pants pocket. It was a crackling nuisance each time I moved, demanding my attention.
I darted out from the buildings and moved closer to the Quicksilver River as I neared the south towers. Their lights were circling every which way, but I was used to their patterns. I would be glad when I didn’t have to do this shit anymore.
I was tired of being a spy. It was time to come clean with everything. To do that, I had to leave the rebels for good. They deserved to know why, and that was why I had this note. A wrote a fucking note. It was not my preferred way to communicate since actions always spoke louder than words—and written words were just another level removed from speaking words—but I didn’t know when the rebels, or Jobe specifically, would be outside Wolf Bridge’s walls again; I was certain they hadn’t stuck around after the Full Moon Banquet fiasco. This was the best I could do.
I left all my comm tech behind like a usually would on this run. If Phantom Fangs found out, I would tell them exactly what I had been doing, but I doubted any of them would realize I was off doing something unrelated to our Howling Sky trip anyway. I was planning on making this quick, and the others were likely to get back late. They were already late. No one was in the lair when I was preparing for this run, and that was after I had gone out and actually prepared for the trip to Howling Sky. There was no reason to burden them with this. It was no big deal.
I activated my moonlight and focused it in my eyes, toning down the theatrics so the blue flames didn’t light me up like a fucking beacon, and dropped down the steep, slippery drop-off. I caught myself on that nearly imperceptible thin ledge below, stopping before the frothing white waters of the Quicksilver River could try to drag me down. I edged my way along the natural rock wall, the lights from the towers bypassing me completely. It was all muscle memory at this point because I was lost in my head. I hated being lost in my head.
But I just… the rebels were the closest thing I had to stability. They were the closest thing I had to a family. At least, they were. This was a betrayal with no question or room for redemption. But I had to do it. This whole thing with Sorissa and Phantom Fangs changed everything. Phantom Fangs had had my back for the past two months. I saw into their damn hearts, and they weren’t worthy of elimination. They mattered to me. They mattered to me more than anyone ever had. Maybe that destroyed my ability to see black from white, or maybe I never had it in the first place, but here I was. As much as I respected Merik Rexx, I had never really grown attached to him or anybody else in Freedom aside from my sense of duty, of purpose.
I was picked up by the rebels when I was a grubby orphan kid. They trained me to be a solider. I succeeded at that. I was the best of the best they trained. I was happy enough because I had a purpose. My purpose was to differentiate the white from the black, the good from the bad. My purpose was to act, not to deliberate.
But, in truth, people used me, and I let them. I was alwa
ys working under the rebels’ best interests, the right interests. I never resented that. I still didn’t, but my alliance shifted. I wanted Sorissa to use me now. She was the one who could point me in the right direction because she somehow had everything figured out.
I smirked at the thought of the little spitfire as I inched along the thin ledge and bypassed the wall. I timed my ascent with the rotating lights and ran for the nearby trees while returning my moonlight to dormancy; the light of the moon was bright enough to see from here on out.
I navigated my way through the thickening foliage to the clearing Jobe and I always met in. I caught sight of the large stone marking our meeting place. It was empty like I figured it would be. I looked around the base of the stone for a smaller rock. I found one the size of my fist that would work. I took the crinkled note from my pocket and cringed at the sound as I straightened it out. Then I placed it on top of the large stone and pinned down the lower half with the rock. It was as secure as it was going to get. I did what I set out to do—even though it was stupid as hell.
I was about to leave when I heard rustling stemming from the brush behind me. It was faint. Someone else would have probably written it off as a result of the breeze that was blowing through the clearing, but I had been trained for this sort of thing. Someone was there.
I dug in my heels, ready to stand my ground or dodge depending on the situation. “Show yourself, or I’ll beat your ass,” I said.
A cloaked figure emerged from the trees. My mind immediately flashed to the vampires, but I recognized this black cloak, this smooth gait. It was Jobe. He pulled back his hood carefully as if he was afraid to spook me. His corkscrewed nose and pink scar stood out against his ashy brown skin.
I kept my ready stance. I probably could have afforded to relax, but I couldn’t help it. My body tensed when my eyes flickered to the note I placed under a rock. Now that Jobe was here, I didn’t want him to read the damn thing. There was no way I could grab it without him noticing, though. I gritted my teeth.
