Braxtyn glared. "What are you implying?"
My guard shrugged. "I wasn't implying anything. Your tone, however, is quite suspicious indeed."
"How dare you-"
"Enough," Akir didn't need to shout the word. There was enough commanding power in his whisper alone that had everyone clamping their lips together. He looked to my guard. "Watch your tongue and take care on how you speak to my brother. He was with my father that day to check our backup generators when they were attacked."
"Attacked by what?" I asked Braxtyn directly.
His high cheekbones flushed. "I don't know," he ground out. "I didn't see anything or anyone. I got knocked out from behind."
"How convenient." I heard Lex mutter. I knew River was thinking the same thing. I thought the same thing. How strange that he'd been attacked but not taken.
"It was hours before I came to. By then, they'd already taken my father. Akir found me minutes later, disoriented and confused."
"We had an expert mechanic photograph pictures of the tire tracks and examine them." Akir went on. He pointed to the wall, to the photographs of pavement with dark markings like the ones in the forest back home. "A lot of tires have different patterns. Do these particular ones look familiar to you?"
I nodded at Lex. He saluted cockily and stood up, walking to the front near Akir to get a better look at the photos. He wasn't the only one who'd looked at the tracks that night. But he was the only one who knew enough about tires and technology to recognize the pattern. To me they'd been nothing but indents in the dirt.
"A perfect likeness," Lex said and went back to his seat.
Akir nodded gravely. "I thought that'd be the case." He gestured at the photographs of people, of a man with a mop of black hair and dark eyes. "Samuel Tilly, abducted two months ago on the outskirts of his homeland. Signs of disturbances at the scene of the crime along with vehicle tracks." He pointed to another photograph of another man, this one rounder, with blonde hair and a beard. "Francis Griffin, also taken from the outskirts of his village one month ago. Same signs of struggle and tracks." He turned to me, his bright eyes near burning. "What do all these men have in common, lass?"
"They're royals. Kings of the major clans of the Broken World."
He nodded in approval. "And a few days ago, your mother was taken."
My hands tightened into fists.
"If whoever did this is kidnapping royal men, why take her mother?" River asked.
"Because we were under lockdown." I said, realization dawning. Akir was looking at me with raised eyebrows and a half smile. As if confident I held all the answers. "They didn't have a chance of taking my father within the walls. But I left. No one was supposed to go out. But I did. My mother followed me and the people who took your father and the othersknew who she was and took her instead."
My chest heaved with emotion. I knew, I knew it had been my fault before. In my stupidity and stubbornness, I'd left the village and had doomed my mother. But now, knowing that this was the work of someone who had been planning, plotting, waiting, made me feel worse somehow.
"That's not the only thing I found, lass," Akir continued. I looked up at him. "My sources informed me that the day of or before the attack there were sightings of things. Creatures like none they'd ever seen before near the areas of each kidnapping." He turned to the map. To the markings in red and pointed to the land of the Murtaugh's, to the land of the Tilly's, the Griffin's and finally the Ferguson's. The territories marked a perfect circle. And in the center circle, marked in bold color was a star.
"What's that?" Lex asked.
But I knew already. I'd studied so much history about the beginnings of our times, had suffered through numerous nags and ear yankings, courtesy of my mother, for not paying attention. But this I knew.
"It's the lab where it all began," Akir answered, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's the lab where the hybrid creatures were created."
"Wait, wait, wait." Lex sat up straighter, waving his hands about. We all turned to look at him. "If royalty is really being taken, how come no one's heard about it before now?"
Akir and I looked at each other. It was strange that the one person I'd hated, the one person I'd refused to meet was now the one I looked to. The one in the room I was on the same wavelength as. It was probably because we were both royalty. He knew what I felt. He understood.
"Because it'd be a sign of weakness to admit that their kings have been stolen," I answered. "They'd fear other clans would use the disappearances as an advantage and attack." It was why we hadn't heard anything regarding Akir's father or anyone else in the royal family. Relationships between the clans were always so strained.
"That makes sense," Lex murmured but just as quickly looked at Akir with narrowed, distrusting eyes. "How exactly do you know?"
"Lex," I warned. I didn't like his tone. Didn't like what it implied. I didn't want this to become some kind of battlefield between all of us. Since we'd arrived, Lex had been acting out, being passive aggressive towards Akir and me. He'd even isolated himself from Kael and River and we weren't even sure why.
"What?" He didn't bother holding his tongue or hiding the blatant disgust from his tone. "I just find it odd that they're the only ones who know about these happenings." He splayed his hands across the tabletop dramatically. "Don't you find it rather strange, little red, that he happens to have all of the answers? That he knows exactly who's gone missing and when?"
A day ago, I would have thought the exact same thing. But I'd seen the pain in his eyes when he spoke of his missing father. It was a pain that mirrored my own, so raw and vulnerable and aching that it left no room for questioning. I knew he was telling me the truth. In my gut, I knew . And regarding everything else, well, the Murtaugh's had spies. I wasn't sure how they'd infiltrated our own clan or who he'd paid to spy on me-I made a mental note to ask him about it later-but it'd been a good thing he had. I was closer to the truth now. Closer to finding my mom.
"The complexities of royal politics may be beyond your comprehension, nomad." Akir smirked but there was no humor, no friendliness in the action. There was nothing but dangerous warning.
Lex stood from his seat then, the chair scraping and falling to the floor behind him from the sudden movement. Akir's personal guards were suddenly at attention, cocking their weapons and pointing them in Lex's direction. As if the nomad would have been stupid enough to lunge across the wide space for Akir. Braxtyn and Cole sat up straighter, reaching for their own weapons holstered at their hips. Meanwhile, Akir stood with his arms crossed against his chest and stared my friend down.
Lex realized his disadvantage but his muscles seemed to tighten, as if he was holding himself back from throwing a punch. I sighed loudly and stood from my own seat.
"Lex, a word with you, please?"
It took a moment for him to visibly relax but when he finally did, he turned and nodded. I followed him out into the hall, closing the door behind me so they wouldn't hear what I was going to say to him.
"What is wrong with you?" I demanded as soon as the lock clicked. "Do you have a death wish or something?"
He gave me a tight smirk. "Why else do you think I try so hard to get caught in traps?"
"This isn't funny, Lex," I ground out. "What is wrong with you? You've been acting like an ass since we've gotten here!"
He scoffed and pressed a hand to his chest in indignation. "I've been acting like an ass?" He shouted. "What about you?"
My eyebrows shot up to my hairline and I placed my hands on my hips. "What about me?"
"You and Kael and River are the only one's acting weird." He ran a hand through his hair with seeming frustration. "It's like the Ruined City has contaminated you, made you one of them."
"What in gods' names are you talking about, Lex?" I was starting to feel exasperated with him. He was wasting my time with his wh
ining when I could have been inside with the rest of them, plotting to find the missing royals. Instead, I was out here trying to nurse Lex's broken ego. I could have left him to his devices. I could have let him suffer alone and ignored it. But he'd saved my life. He'd accompanied me on this journey. And I wanted to keep the peace between all of us.
"I'm talking about your little orgy last night," he spat.
My face flamed at his crude words. "What-"
"Don't try to deny it. I saw you. I saw all of you."
He'd seen us pressed together. He'd seen Kael behind me, River on his knees in front of me all while Akir watched before taking me for his own. Lex had witnessed the revelry. I should have been embarrassed that he'd seen me that way but I wasn't. The Ruined City valued sexual freedom and the people had partaken in the festivities all night long. It had been so empowering, so liberating. And I refused to feel guilty about it.
Guilt tried to overpower me nearly daily. I'd felt guilty at wanting my freedom. Guilty for what had happened to my mother. Guilty for thinking so ill of Akir. Guilty for wanting all these men.
I wouldn't feel that way any longer.
"Is that a problem for you?" I asked with a forced smile on my face. "Seeing a woman fuck so openly and freely?" It'd been a shock to me at first. The one place I'd thought would take away my freedom, had given it to me entirely. Had opened my eyes to it. And I loved every second of last night. I loved every second of the Ruined City.
"Did it bother me?" He laughed mockingly before turning and punching his fist against a wall. I didn't even flinch at his actions, just watched as he let out his frustration. When he finally stopped his violent fit, he turned back to me and blew out a breath. "Of course it bothered me," he said more calmly.
I sighed loudly. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Are you really?"
"Yes. I'm sorry you had to watch from the crowd when you would have been more than welcome to join us-" I didn't get the rest out because Lex was growling and then pushing me up against the wall. I let out a surprised gasp from the sudden contact before his hands were framing my face and he bent down to kiss me.
His kiss was eager, desperate and demanding.
But it was also unwanted.
I pressed my palms against his chest and gave him a harsh shove.
"What's wrong with you?" I demanded breathlessly. I saw his eyes shatter at my rejection, the depths cracking like ice. It hurt to see. It hurt to push him aside when a part of me wanted him. I did. But not like this. Not when he was doing this like some type of revenge, like I was a possession. Like this was some type of contest to win me.
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, nearly pulling it from the roots. "I don't know," he admitted with frustration. "I don't know what it is about this place...what it is about him..." He practically spat the word.
I raised my eyebrows at him. "Who?" I observed him, reading his reaction. His eyes darted to the room we were just in. "You mean Akir?" He tensed but finally nodded. I threw my head back and laughed. He looked mutinous at my reaction but I brushed it off. I knew what this was about, why he was so upset. And honestly, I didn't have time for it. "You'rejealous?" I laughed again. "Lex, that's why you're wasting my time? You have a crush and you're pissed that I've been paying more attention to Akir? Is that it?"
"Why are you laughing?"
I rolled my eyes. "Because I don't have time for your nonsense, Lex. My mother is missing and so are the other royals. We were in there trying to make a plan to get them back and you have me out here discussing your feelings. I'm really sorry but your feelings aren't my top priority right now. So either suck it up or get over it."
And just like that, the Lex I knew changed before me. His features twisted and reformed. He was no longer the happy, goofy man I'd come to know and like but someone else entirely. Rage, pure and raw was so violently etched on his features that it stole the breath from my lungs.
"Fine," he said quietly, so quietly. "You know, I don't have to be here."
"Then leave!" I shouted. My patience was already worn thin. Anger was bubbling up inside me. He was acting like a child. He wasalways acting like a child. He'd gotten us caught in a trap the moment we'd stepped into the Ruined City like I knew he would but still I'd trusted him. I'd trusted him as our guide to get us here. I'd placed everything in his hands and now he was acting like I was a stranger, acting like I was leading them to their doom by trusting Akir. Bywanting him. But that was just his jealousy speaking. Besides, if he'd wanted to discuss his feelings, he could have done soyesterday. Not now. Not during the meeting.
Lex looked wounded by my words, but he masked the sentiment quickly into cold features. "Maybe I will." And he turned and left.
I wore a tight pair of jeans and a black sports bra. It was the most comfortable attire the Ruined City had to offer me under the circumstances. If we were going to waltz into the old Hybrid Laboratory, I wouldn't have felt comfortable in leather pants and a vest. I needed something I could move around in.
I looked at myself in the full-length mirror in Akir's bedroom. The pants rounded along my ass and were swung low. A thick belt and holster were attached to it and through the holster, a handgun. There were a few daggers sheathed in it as well.
I wasn't sure how I felt about having a gun. Though my aim was great, the gun didn't give me the same confidence a bow and arrow did.
My hair was braided on the sides and tied behind my head. Helga had painted dark kohl around my eyes again. I couldn't help but think that I looked like a warrior. A Ruined City warrior.
"You look beautiful, lass," Akir whispered from behind me.
I turned to face my fiancée. He was dressed in his usual attire of tight jeans and leather jacket. But instead of being naked beneath it, he'd put on a tight black T-shirt. He stood with his back leaning against the wall. Danger incarnate. "Beauty won't help me save the royals," I replied.
Akir smirked. "No," he admitted. "Stealth and cunning will." He detached himself from the wall. "A decent weapon will as well." He walked over to his collection of weaponry and reached up to pull down the bow and arrows I'd had my eyes on that first day. My breath caught when he brought them over to me. "Arm," he demanded lowly, gesturing at it. I held my arm up to him and he took it. His skin was calloused and warm. He trailed his fingers down the length of my forearm a moment, sending heat igniting in my veins. And then he was placing a leather arm guard over the length of my skin just before passing off the bow and quiver of arrows to me.
The metal was cold and heavy in my palms. It was foreign, this weapon. But new and exciting. I pulled a long arrow from the quiver, notching it on the string and drawing it back. As I did, Akir disappeared from my side. He went behind me. His chest covered my backside, filling me with warmth. He held up the length of my arm with his own, fingers tight on the underside of my wrist.
"Aim," he whispered darkly in my ear.
Shivers coursed down me at the rasp in his voice. I did what he asked, concentrating despite his distracting heat. I aimed low at the wall and fired. The arrow whizzed through the space and lodged itself deep into the wall. It hit the exact spot where it'd been hanging earlier with a resonating thwack.
"Let's hope that perfect aim of yours does not falter, lass," Akir said darkly, removing his hands from me. "Gods help us if it does."
"I don't trust him," River whispered in a low voice. We were packing weapons and armory into the back of a white van. We were about to set out to the Hybrid Laboratory and needed as much weaponry as we could take. If there was even a chance-and I thought there was a high one-of us running into one of those creatures, we'd need heavy artillery.
We were hoisting up a box of guns and rounds when he said it. I looked at him quizzically. "Who?" If he said Akir, I was going to scream. There was a lot of distrust regarding him going around lately, apparently.
&nbs
p; "Braxtyn," he replied. River reached out for me, taking my hand in his and squeezing it. The gesture was comforting and protective. "We need to be careful around him, Keanna. I'm not really buying his whole 'I got knocked out' story."
I squeezed his hand back before letting him go and turned to the back of the van and pushed the box further in. "I don't trust him either," I admitted. There was something about his gaze, something about the air around him that gave me a bad feeling. Cole seemed normal enough, as normal as anyone could be in the Ruined City. But there was something wrong with Braxtyn and I wasn't exactly sure what. "He's definitely hiding something." Maybe if I could catch him off guard, catch him in a lie or spy on him…
"No," River snapped firmly. "I know what you're thinking, Keanna. Don't even."
"But if I watch him closely…"
"I said no."
I rolled my eyes at him. "You aren't the boss of me, River."
"No. But I am your guard, charged with protecting you. And I won't have you put in danger."
I sighed loudly, throwing my hands up with exasperation. "You don't have to protect me forever, River. I'm capable of doing it myself."
"I never said you weren't." Then he leaned forward and ruffled my hair in that affectionate manner of his. I pushed his arm away with annoyance. Helga had taken a long time to style my hair and I didn't think she'd appreciate River's manhandling it. He laughed but sobered up in an instant. "Promise me you won't go near him alone, Keanna." When I didn't answer right away, his thick eyebrows furrowed angrily. "Keanna..." His voice was stern.
"River," I countered, equally serious.
He looked to the sky and muttered under his breath before looking me in the eyes again. "If I promise that I'll keep an eye on him, will you back off?"
I raised a brow. "Don't count on it."
"Gods, what am I going to do with you?"
At those words, I felt my lips curl up into a sly smile. Ideas, an infinite amount of ideas ran through my mind of all the things he could do with me. Things he hadn't already done. "There are a few things I can think of," I told him, pulling him towards me by the T-shirt.
Escaping the Beasts (The Hybrid Trilogy Book 2) Page 5
