Harmon? I pressed my palm to the glass. “Harmon?”
The shadow shifted, and then two glowing green eyes popped open to fix on me. I made out his face—the strong jaw, the dark hair, long enough now to brush his shoulders. His torso was hunched as he crouched on the ground. He looked … bigger … wider. He looked … Gray.
“What’s wrong with him? What’s happened to him?”
And then the huge body unfurled and stood, and my lungs froze in fear. His head almost grazed the top of the unit, and his body was twice as large as before, but his eyes … those eyes may be green, but it was Harmon looking out at me.
Henrich flipped a switch. “I’ve turned on the intercom. He can hear you now.”
“Harmon. It’s me, Justice. Are you okay?”
Fucking stupid question considering the circumstances, but it was inanely all that came to mind.
He opened his mouth, and a strange rumble like thunder came out. “Justice,” he said. “No leave me like this. You kill me. Please.”
Each word was drawn with difficulty, as if it hurt him to speak, as if it was a physical effort.
Oh, God … “Harmon …” My throat tightened. “What happened?”
It was Henrich who answered me. “Whatever they did to him altered him on a genetic level. We have no idea what kind of creature he is, maybe a new breed—a mishmash of moonkissed and fomorian. But he is no longer one of us. He no longer needs food or water. He doesn’t excrete. Whatever he is, he’s more fomorian than moonkissed now.”
“No. You’re wrong. He’s still Harmon. I can see it in his eyes. He knows who he is and what’s happened to him.”
And he wanted to die.
I stepped closer to the containment chamber. “They’re going to fix you, Harmon. You just need to hang in there.”
Harmon lunged at the port. “Kill me.” He slammed his fist against the metal, and the sound echoed around the chamber, blasting out of the intercom. “Kill. Kill. Kill.” He hammered his fist against the walls.
Henrich turned off the intercom, and the lights in the pod died. “He’ll calm in a few minutes. We’ve discovered that the darkness soothes him.”
“You have to help him.”
“We’ve tried everything,” Henrich said. “The head weaver has been working around the clock to find a way to reverse what they did. Right now, she’s back at headquarters in their high-tech lab working on a solution.”
“So, there’s hope.”
“Tenuous hope. But I’m not one to give up on my men.”
I looked across at him in surprise. He wasn’t an ass like I’d thought.
He smiled as he caught my look. “It’s not an easy task being Shadow Master,” he said. “The decisions I make aren’t always popular, but I never make them in haste. I’m responsible not only for my knights’ physical welfare but also their mental health. I’m responsible for making sure the men I put on the front lines are strong enough in both mind and body to protect this world.” He tapped something on his tunic, a black metallic disc. A badge. There was an emblem on it, a raven wreathed in tendrils of smoke. “This tiny badge carries the weight of the world. The Shadow Master disc handed down from one Master to another. It means leadership, it means using your head, not your heart, and it’s not something everyone is able to do. But you … I think you might be able to. One day.”
I’d been thinking with my emotions. With my heart and not my head. I guess a Shadow Master didn’t have that option.
Henrich looked at Harmon. “They did this to Mr. Black, and goodness knows what’s become of Venrick. We have no clue what’s coming, what their plan is, or when they’ll attack. But we must assume it has something to do with gene manipulation. That they may be wanting to attack us on a biochemical level.”
“How do we fight that?”
“Winterlock Enterprises is working on modifying the mist to detect foreign agents in case the attack is airborne, and the weavers are working with the Nightwatch scientists to create a vaccine to prevent knights from being genetically tampered with.”
“And if they attack in the meantime?”
Henrich was silent.
Fuck.
He placed a hand on my shoulder. “All we can do is gather our best men”—he smiled—“and women, and defend our borders from any threat we can see.”
“And the tunnels.”
“We’re in the process of manually blocking those off. But knights are guarding the entrances as we speak.”
I’d misjudged him. Assumed things. “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand.”
“You’re not expected to understand, Justice. You’re expected to follow orders.” He sobered. “But I suspect that’s something you’ll need to work on.”
“Can I come see him again?”
Henrich sighed, then nodded. “Get through your trials. If you make it as a knight, I’ll give you access to the dungeons. I ask only one favor. Keep this to yourself until after the trials. Can you do that?”
Keeping a secret from Brady, from Hyde, from the guys felt wrong, but that feeling was one that came from my heart and not from my head. My head told me one day wouldn’t make a difference. My head told me telling them about Harmon, about the possible magnitude of the threat, would serve no purpose but to throw them off their game.
“Fine. I’ll keep my mouth shut until after the trials.”
He smiled. “Thank you.”
“I’ll be back, Harmon.”
With a final look at the unit, I allowed Henrich to lead me from the room.
I had a trial to complete.
Twenty-Three
Brady moved on top of me, his huge frame dwarfing mine, covering my body. We were slick with perspiration as we coupled slow and leisurely this time. The third time that night.
I was insatiable when it came to my mate.
I flicked out my tongue to taste his salty skin, raising my hips to take him deeper.
The bed creaked with each thrust, and the room was wreathed in the aroma of sex. We locked gazes as our orgasms approached, and I lost myself in the stars in his eyes, my chest lurching with satisfaction as he cried out at the same time as me.
But we continued to move, to milk the pleasure to the last drop. I ran my hands over his hair and squeezed his nape as the pleasure rolled through me.
“Indie, damn.” He buried his face in the crook of my shoulder. “Is it fucked that I want you again already?”
No. It was an addiction, a craving, and even though my thighs were still quivering, I gripped his ass and undulated my hips. He was still hard inside me but swelled even more.
“Hell, yes.”
My stomach chose that moment to rumble.
Brady stilled, then raised his head to look down at me. “You’re hungry?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m actually not.” My brows shot up. “But you are.”
He pouted. “Yeah … I guess I am.”
I turned my head to kiss his bicep. “Off.”
“What?”
“You need to get off.”
He gave me a baffled look but pulled out of me. Fuck, he was hot, all silken skin and huge, hard cock. Focus, Justice.
I swung my legs out of bed and pulled on my clothes.
“Indie?”
“You stay there. I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get you some food.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “You want to feed me.”
My chest grew warm. “Yeah, babe, I do. Is that … Is that all right?”
His chest rumbled, and then he was out of bed, and I was crushed to his chest. “Fucking hell, Justice.”
Joy bloomed inside me. His joy mingled with my need to feed him.
This was the mating bond, and I needed to satisfy it.
I pulled back, and he reluctantly released me. “Keep the bed warm.”
* * *
The sounds of celebration drifted out of the open windows of the main hall as
It was just the whole the-knights-are-letting-their-hair-down thing. It made me uncomfortable.
The kitchens, thank goodness, were empty. Okay, so they weren’t empty because the fey creatures bound to work here were around and invisible. But still.
Food was laid out on a long wooden table—meats and cakes and tasty-looking savory pastries.
“Hi, kitchen staff.” I held up a hand in greeting to anyone who might be here to see. “I’m just here for a snack.” I gingerly picked up a plate from the wash rack and moved over to the large table. I reached to pick up a pastry and cried out at the sharp sting on the back of my hand.
Someone had hit me.
“Whoa.” I held up the injured hand. “Fine. Not the pastries. What can I take then?”
A tray of sliced meat, bread, and cheese slid a couple of inches my way.
“Thank you.” My hand was still smarting as I lifted some food and filled my plate. This would have to do.
I made to leave when a shadow cut across the periphery of my vision to the left. I turned too late to catch it. One of the creatures, no doubt.
“Indigo?” a female voice said from behind me.
Deana. Did that mean Hyde was here too? Great. Plastering a natural expression on my face, I turned to face her.
“Hello, Deana.”
She stood draped in a flattering jade dress that hugged her figure and complemented her skin tone. Her hair was swept up into a chignon, and her eyes were done up in that smoky eye effect, which I’d only ever achieved when I slept in my eye makeup.
“You look nice.” I meant it.
“Thank you.”
Okay, she was saying thank you, but her face was more I want to punch you.
“Is there something wrong?”
She took a deep breath, looking torn, and then she exhaled heavily. “Yes. Yes, there is.”
I shrugged. “I’m listening.”
“I need you to stay away from Hyde. Don’t seek him out. Don’t be alone with him. Don’t even look at him unless you have to. Do you understand?”
Déjà vu assaulted me. “We’ve had this conversation before, Deana. I know the score.”
“And yet you’re still chasing after him.”
Chasing … Anger lit up my insides like a fucking Christmas tree, and my inner bitch surfaced. “I’m chasing him? Have you considered the fact that he might be pursing me, cornering me in my room, in empty corridors, that he might want me just as much as I want him?”
She blanched and flinched like I’d slapped her. “I know.” Her voice was small. “I know he wants you. But wanting you is going to get him killed.”
“Orion’s law, I know, and we’re staying away from each other. Trust me. We know the score.”
“You may know, but Hyde … Hyde, the fool, thinks he can change things. He’s petitioned to see Orion himself to ask for an exemption from the law.”
My pulse thudded to an epic stop before starting up ten times faster. “What?” My voice was breathless. “Can he do that?”
“Oh, he can. He’s put in the paperwork. The fool thinks he’ll walk out of Orion’s den alive.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You think that no Hyde or Bourne has ever fallen in love outside of our bounds? Hyde isn’t the first, and he won’t be the last, but he is one of the fated few who’ve directly petitioned Orion for clemency, asking to be set free, and Orion has set them free. Free from life.”
My chest tightened. “You have to stop him.”
“You think I haven’t tried? He won’t listen. He took the lashes from his father in silence. His back …” Her eyes filled with tears. “Have you any idea what pain it is to love someone who doesn’t love you back?” There was torment on her face. “To look into their eyes and hear the words I love you drop from their lips but not see it in their gaze, to know that when they make love to you, their mind is on another.”
No, I didn’t, but, “Have you got any idea how painful it is to want someone and know they want you just as much but that for some dumb-ass reason you can’t be together? Have you any idea how fucking frustrating that shit is?”
She opened and closed her mouth a few times, lost for words.
I was so done with this. “Look, I can’t control what Hyde does or how he feels. I’m sorry for your pain, but if you want to stop hurting, walk away.”
She wiped at her eyes. “I don’t want your sympathy. I need your help. I need you to make him believe that there’s no longer any hope for the two of you. I want you to break his heart.”
Break his heart? Didn’t she realize our hearts were already broken? “No.”
“What?”
“I don’t play games with people’s emotions. I’ll speak to him, but I’m not going to hurt him any more than he’s already hurting.”
“Then he’ll die. Orion will kill him.”
My heart sank at her words. “I’ll convince him not to go through with his petition. Hyde’s many things, but I refuse to believe he’s suicidal.”
Her lips trembled, and then she nodded jerkily. “Good. Thank you. He’s at the Academy tonight but will be back tomorrow for the festivities. You can speak to him then.”
“Fine.”
I ducked outside into the fresh air with a weight on my chest like a fucking boulder. Hyde and I had skirted each other, come together, and pushed each other away for too long. I guess it was time to end things for real.
My heart hurt.
A shadow dashed across the grass, too far away to make out. Probably another cadet skulking about. Fuck this. I had a hot hunk of a male waiting to be fed.
I’d worry about speaking to Hyde after I’d kicked ass in the trials.
Twenty-Four
Dawn sunlight streamed into the fortress tower dorms as I joined Carlo, Devon, and Aidan in the lounge.
“You nervous, Justice?” Carlo asked.
I adjusted my holster and threw him a grin. “Quietly shitting myself.”
He chuckled. “I think I’m gonna puke.”
“Good,” Lloyd said, striding into the cadet lounge. “Take those nerves and channel them into surviving. I don’t intend to lose anyone today.”
He looked recovered, strong. Two lots of nightblood blood had obviously helped, and then he’d topped up on feyblood blood courtesy of the medic.
He was in fighting form. Just as well because we were going to have to bring it today.
“We’re a team,” Lloyd said.
Brady emerged from our room … Our room. Weird.
“I’m ready to graduate,” Carlo said. “Knights’ quarters have thicker walls.” He shot Brady a sly smile.
“Fuck you,” Brady growled.
Carlo fluttered his eyelashes. “Oh, Stonewall, we can’t, not anymore, not now that you have a mate.”
Devon snort-laughed, and Lloyd bit back a smile.
“Insubordination …” Brady mumbled, but there was a twinkle in his eye.
The trial kicked off in an hour, and I was so ready.
Lloyd held out his hand. “Bring it in, guys.”
We all laid our hands into the huddle.
“We stick together, we have each other’s backs, and we cross that finish line together,” Lloyd said.
“Together,” we all echoed.
“Okay. One. Two. Three. Let’s go.”
Excitement and nerves writhing in my stomach, I followed the guys out of the dorm.
* * *
We gathered on the border of sector three in teams of six. The mist was thick and cloying. I stifled a cough. Shit, it was bad enough in sector two; what would sector three be like once we got inside?
A couple of knights on hounds bounded up and down the line, taking a headcount, no doubt, checking to see if we were all here.
They separated to flank us, and then a voice boomed out through the mist.
“Five hours, cadets. That’s all that lies between you and knighthood. Follow the route plotted, collect the flags, and get back to base. Good luck.”
A sharp crack like a gunshot ripped through the air, and we were off. Barreling into sector three like our lives depended on it. The course was mapped in my head. Five hours to traverse the length of the sector. From the edge closest to the Academy, all the way to the outer edge, then back, headed to the fortress. They’d given us coordinates and compasses, but we had no idea what the terrain would be like.
The mist curled around us, bringing visibility down by almost fifty percent. Fuck, how did the knights work in this? Brady yanked me to the left, so I narrowly missed slamming into an AM post. Fuck.
“Slow down,” Lloyd said. “We need to be careful. We don’t know what lies ahead.”
We dropped to a jog. Five hours was a long time to be in one sector. Felt like overkill, to be honest.
Did the others feel the same? “Based on the coordinates, it shouldn’t take us more than an hour and a half to get back to the fortress.”
“I know,” Brady said. “Makes me wonder what’s waiting to stall our progress.”
The ground began to vibrate beneath our feet, and a weird sonic vibration sliced at my eardrums.
“Fuck!” Aidan covered his ears, and Devon made a sound that was a cross between a growl and a howl.
The noise was sharp, unpleasant, but not painful to me. Brady looked unaffected, as if he hadn’t heard anything, and maybe he hadn’t. The sound was probably set to a frequency he couldn’t hear. A frequency that was hurting Devon and Aidan.
They were on their knees now.
Shit. I rushed over to Devon and wrapped my arms around him from behind. “It’s okay. Shit. The noise needs to stop.”
Carlo and Lloyd flanked Aidan as if they could block the sound with their bodies.
“Argh!” Blood spattered the ground.
Shit. Devon’s nose was bleeding.
And then there was silence.
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