Exile

by Rylee Winters

  “I did not know you were a warrior…” Trailing off as I picked up my bag, I watched Jon shrug a second time. Slowly walking away from the truck, curiosity tugged at my ribs until he finally offered a response.

  “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, just like I don’t know much about you. But, now you know I was in the military.” Nodding firmly, I rubbed my tongue against the roof of my mouth and ignored the urge to ask Jon another question. Instead, I focused on the work that needed to be done, and my gaze flickered to the porch where the shifter stood, watching like a dog.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Linne

  Pausing at the prickling sensation that swept down my arms and back, I straightened from the half-planted flower bed to look around. Reaching to swipe the sweat from my forehead, my hand stiffened to block the sun as my gaze reached the porch. The male that had stood there, always assessing us, had disappeared, and I furrowed my brows sharply. Pursing my lips together, my nostrils flared and sucked up lungful of air before the human Chad sidled up next to me to drop a bag of mulch at my feet.

  “What was that I just felt?” Grumbling lowly, nervous to be overheard, the human Chad stretched his arms high while I shook my head slightly.

  “I do not know.” Even as I answered, that same prickle rolled down my spine much more intensely than the first, and I stiffened. Whirling around, I sucked in a sharp breath as my eyes darted around to catch pluming clouds of magic rising beyond the trucks. “Stay here. Hold this.”

  Working off my harness with deft fingers, I jogged off towards the pair of vehicles with sharp, narrowed eyes digging into my back. My wings flexed, shoulder blades shifting under my skin as relief surged through my chest.

  But it was short lived, and I stopped short at the sight that met me. The shifter male that had been on the porch stood at the front of a group of five, all intently listening to a sixth male. Hiding between the trucks, I crouched down and nibbled my lips as my mind worked frantically.

  It must’ve been them shifting. Silently cursing my inability to detect such obvious magic, I peeked around the wheel to watch the group. None of them looked friendly, and frowns donned each face. Two of the males talked simultaneously, but at this distance, I couldn’t hear them. Glancing around, I locked my eyes on their dark, thick shadows before summoning my second most potent power.

  The group stilled as my senses invaded their shadows; they knew something was going on, but they didn’t know what. At least, now, I could hear them, and I squeezed my eyes shut to concentrate on the gruff voices that emerged from the darkness beyond my eyelids.

  “Something is going on, Trevor – we can’t just sit by while Alpha Jackson and his clan get deeper and deeper engrained in our town.”

  “It’s not like we can do anything, though. They’re not encroaching or anything, Trevor – they’re just there. It’s not like we need a whole town, right? There’s more than enough…”

  “How can you say that, man? They’re full of half-breeds, for fuck’s sake – I say we kick them the fuck out!”

  “I agree with Ian…we can’t just sit by. The longer we do, the harder it’ll be to get them out, and he’s right – they’re impure…they’re not real shifters – not anymore. They need to be dealt with.” The third, more authoritative voice caused my breath to hitch, and I licked my lips as my ears twitched and worry threaded my veins. “Even if it’s just us, we can take them. They’re not that big a clan. Round up the rest of the pack.”

  Withdrawing smoothly from the shadows, I crawled low before pushing myself up in front of the cabin of the truck. Glancing behind me through narrowed eyes, I held my breath as I watched the men jog off down the street and past the house. My heart thundered in my chest, fueling muscles gorged on adrenaline and worry that quickened my strides.

  The human Chad frowned deeply, and I shook my head before even coming to a stop before him.

  “They are going to attack – that feeling was patrol wolves shifting. That is all I could find out. I believe they thought I am a spy when they sensed my magic…they do not have the skill to decipher my ability.” From behind furrowed brows, the human Chad thought hard in the silence, and I twisted to watch the shifter male that owned the house walk leisurely up the sidewalk. I couldn’t put a name to a face; that wasn’t how shadow magic worked.

  But I could feel that he was the one that had been so outspoken against the other clan.

  “Linne, there’s nothing you can do about it right now, okay?” Drawing my attention, the human Chad grimaced at his own words. “Sit on it – see if you can find out any more. We planned on ending the day early anyway, so don’t worry about that. If you need to use more magic, don’t worry about that either – if they haven’t figured it out after two hours of you being directly in their brains, they’re not going to figure it out at all.”

  “Yes. Okay.” Nodding firmly, relief surged through me at how easily the human Chad took charge of the situation. Despite being way beyond his capabilities, he showed the ability to be a leader; it was this skill that made him such a good businessman.

  “Good. I’m going to go check on the guys.” Waiting for the human Chad to round the front of the house, I rolled my shoulders and shook myself out before magic surged through me. Tendrils I had already sent out became thicker, and waves rolled off me and into the ground to search for shadows. Closing my eyes, I held my breath as my wings lengthened and broadened, returning to their full size as I extended my reach.

  Anyone that looked this way, though, would only see me in the dirt planting flowers. I am so very grateful for my magics.

  “No – honey…they’re abominations…”

  “But he’s really nice…”

  The first voices to reach my ears caused them to twitch, and my lips dragged down in a troubled frown.

  “It doesn’t matter – they’re not right…”

  “But –“

  Nothing came after that, and I lingered for a moment before continuing my search. Voices rushed past me in the darkness, but I ignored most of them as my attention narrowed to certain words and tones.

  An undeterminable amount of time went by before I managed to latch onto something, and I furrowed my brows in concentration. Holding my breath, I pursed my lips tightly.

  “You can’t be okay with this, babe – I told you that moving here was going to be a bad idea.” The high, feminine voice wobbled with worry, and a deeper crease appeared between my eyebrows. “What are we going to do?”

  “Relax, Cindy – ” Familiar and deep, the male voice sounded equally troubled, and my heart stuttered slightly in my chest. “I have to warn them. Alpha Jackson’s not a bad guy, but he’ll wipe this clan off the map. Even Alpha Liza has to realize how stupid it is to attack him.”

  “She’s just a puppet for her brother, and you know it…but what if they catch you? They’ll kill you… You can’t put yourself at risk like that. You know that if they’re talking about it so openly, they’re going to do something stupid like attack right away. There’s no time to do anything before they catch wind of it.”

  Surprise slithered through my veins, and there was silence in the darkness behind my eyelids. My mind churned, wondering and judging the validity of what the two were discussing.

  I feel like I’m back home.

  “But I can’t just sit by while the humans in town are put at risk, Cindy. You’re not wrong – they’re probably going to attack, but I have no reason not to think they haven’t already planned it. They can just say they want to talk truce, meet in the park during peak hours – and boom. What about all those humans that aren’t part of this? Liza may be stupid – a puppet – but she doesn’t care about them. If her brother can convince her to take out two birds with one stone, she’ll do it.”

  “…I hate it when you get sympathetic like this, Tommy.” Dragged down in defeat, the female’s sniffle sounded loudly in the thin space between my skull and my brain. “How are we going to defect?”
>
  “Pack your stuff, babe – I’ll go figure out what’s going on and when. Then, we’ll be out of here. Alpha Jackson will protect us.”

  “We need someone a lot more powerful than Alpha Jackson to protect us…this is so dangerous…”

  Withdrawing from the conversation, I pulled back my magic and cracked open my eyes to find the human Chad on his knees before me. Crouching down, I reigned in my magic until my wings were their miniature size again, but he barely seemed to notice. My mind whirled with what I had heard, and the clutter only became more dense as I thought of him.

  The magical parasite in the human Chad’s eye allowed him to see magic, but it fed on it whenever available. My outpouring would be enough to last it years – maybe even longer. What I hadn’t told him was that without enough magic, the parasite would kill his eye.

  But there wasn’t much of a threat of that. The parasite could feed on any type of magic, and a shifter expelled plenty.

  “The park…” Mumbling to myself, my mind filled with the images of the park that sat directly across the street from my home. The male – Tommy – was right; the place was very popular with the humans, and it sat right in the middle of town. “I will keep my eyes on it.”

  I had a feeling that both the male and the female were right; this clan would involve as many innocents as possible, but it was planned despite being hastily acted upon. They had a general idea of what they wanted to do and accomplish. If everything I heard was true, that is…

  Regret seeped into my veins that I had been so ignorant of the things happening right in front of me. I had been so worried about myself that I didn’t realize the life I was struggling to build was threatened.

  I miss being a Courtier slave.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Derek

  “Are you sure the kid’s information was good?” Hiding in the shadow of a large oak, I silently cursed my terrible nighttime eyesight even as I rolled my eyes. Glancing only briefly at Todd, my pupils narrowed on the bored skepticism painting his face.

  “Alpha Jackson believed him. That’s all that matters. Just keep your fucking eyes peeled, Todd – you know I suck at this shit.” A snigger was all that met my annoyed snap, and my eyelid twitched in irritation. Todd was the absolute last person I wanted to be on sentry duty with, no matter how bad the threat. He could’ve been the last leopard shifter in the world, and I would rather go in almost completely blind.

  “Don’t be such a sourpuss, Derek. It’s unbecoming of a noble lion.” My lips curled back into a fierce snarl at that, but the faintest of shimmers across the park stole both mine and Todd’s attention. Stiffening next to me, he leaned forward, and my nostrils flared as the still wind of late Spring settled on the flat field. “Shit – that little bastard was right. I see a wolf – two wolves.”

  “Scouts? They must know we know.” Mumbling softly, I squinted but couldn’t make out more than broken silhouettes, and my heart twisted in its cage. I wasn’t meant to be on recon; my talents were best used in full frontal assaults.

  Not only was this a shitty post, but I was stuck with Todd. Super.

  “They’re not doing anything…” My ears twitched at that, and I pursed my lips into a thin line as my mind churned. “Why aren’t they doing anything?”

  I had no answer for Todd’s rhetorical question, and he wasn’t really expecting one, too focused on the scene I couldn’t see clearly. This was a moonless night; it was a brilliant move, since wolves could see much better in the dark.

  But the problems with having a pack of just wolves far outweighed that advantage. Their attack, from what I knew, was sloppy and hasty and doomed to fail. Their assumptions were based on prejudices and numbers. I had heard their female Alpha was stupid, but I never imagined she’d be this stupid.

  “There are more –” Pointing towards the opposite end of the park, Todd drew my focus from my own thoughts as he spouted his. “I think 30, maybe. Aren’t there supposed to be more?”

  “Yes.” The soft breeze brought a barrage of scents, just about as many as Todd had suspected, and I lifted my lips to suck them into my memory. “A lot more.”

  A bare, delicate smell clung to my nostrils, and I tore my eyes off the silhouettes across the park to gaze down the street. None of the street lights glowed bright enough to reach this far deep into the sparse trees, but I could easily make out the figure weaving between them. Narrowing my gaze into slits, my mind turned out explanation after explanation, but none of them seemed right.

  The shimmer of a long, toned, tan leg caught the yellow glow of the lamp, and I tensed as the obviously feminine figure stepped under the flood of light. She wore nothing but booty shorts, her body glimmering even as my gaze went right to her small, perky breasts. Saliva pooled in my mouth, my tongue tingling to drag up the long, slender column of her neck. Arousal flooded my veins and seeped from my pores, and I took a short step out from behind the oak only to be held back by a firm grip on my forearm.

  Tearing my eyes off her, I glared at Todd even as he shot me a confused look.

  “The fuck are you doing, Derek? There’s nothing over there – you couldn’t see it anyway.” Panic caused my heart to stutter at his harsh whisper, and I whirled back around – but she was still there. Standing, tall and alert and poised, she stared at the ground even as she lifted her arms. The shadows of her fingers danced across the pavement, and I ground my teeth at the urge to see them spasm in pleasure.

  “Derek!” Todd’s angry snap reverberated up my spine, and I forced my eyes off her a second time to gnash my teeth. He jumped back, stepping on a pinecone whose crunch echoed across the park like thunder in the silence. “Shit!”

  Even as I turned back to the street, my heart pounded hard not because of the possibility of being made, but the wide, hazel eyes that were staring right at me. Adrenaline surged through me, replacing my blood with a tsunami of hormones that gorged my cock. Despite the distance between us, I could see the shock that flittered across her features; the shock that parted her lips and caused her eyelashes to shudder when she struggled to blink.

  “Dude – what the fuck are you looking at?” Todd’s angry grumble sounded in my ears, but this time, I couldn’t look away. She held me trapped, and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to try to free my stiff muscles. The coarse hairs on my body stood up on a thick layer of welts, and my cock strained against my jeans with a painful pulsing that begged for relief.

  “You don’t see her?” My eyes widened as my mind finally started to work again, and I licked my lips heavily under furrowing brows. “You can’t see her…”

  “Who? There’s no one there, Derek. What happened to keeping your eyes peeled, huh?” The relief that hit me was a punch to the chest, and the woman cocked her head in silent question. She was so graceful, just with that one movement, and I clenched my hands into fists at my sides. Blood blossomed a metallic plume in the air, but even that wasn’t enough to scrub her light scent from my nostrils.

  “Beautiful…” Purring the praise, my lips stretched into a wide smirk at the red tinge that spread across her skin. She can hear me. “I see you…”

  “See who – you crazy dick – fuck this.” I barely registered Todd’s grumble as the woman stiffened, and for just a fraction of a second, I wondered if I had gone crazy. My partner couldn’t see her; in fact, I didn’t think anyone could if no one had by now. She was standing under the only light source available for twenty yards front and back.

  What’s more, she was practically naked and not trying to hide it – holding herself with confidence that struck me as more than skin deep.

  “Derek’s finally lost it, Alpha Jackson – he says there’s a woman, but I can’t see her… No – he’s totally gone – he probably can’t even hear me right now… There’s just 30 or so of them – No…I don’t know where the rest are. These guys don’t seem to be intent on doing anything. I don’t know why they’re here – I got no idea.”

  “What do you know, huh?” Mumblin
g more air than noise, my lips trembled with the need to find hers as they came together. Her bright gaze left mine only for the briefest of seconds as she looked around, and my cock strained as her long hair rustled in the breeze. Long legs carried her with firm strides towards me, and only by some miracle was I able to keep my eyes on hers.

  “Woah – woah – Alpha… I’ll call you back.” The closer she came, the more detail I could see – the perfection of her nose even as scars ripped down her outer thigh. A strong fist beat on my back, and I whirled around to snarl only to stop short at the grave sneer on Todd’s face. “They have humans. Look.”

  Snapping across the field, I squinted, but there was no need when a huge flood light blared down on the group. The white light designed to illuminate a baseball field changed the direction of the shadows, but they no longer mattered.

  There couldn’t have been more than a dozen wolves, and they surrounded a group of scared humans still in their pajamas. Fear that had been masked by the darkness filled my still lungs, and all thoughts of the woman fled from my mind. Standing in front of the group, Alpha Liza stood like one of those fanatical church pastors with a holy, righteous expression painting her face.

  “Shit – this is bad.” Todd and I were trapped in the shadow of the oak; Liza knew we were here, but she obviously didn’t know where as she scanned the area. Her trying to act smart would’ve been hilarious if it wasn’t dangerous, and I ground my teeth as my fingernails dug deeper into my palms.

  “No shit, Todd.” My mind whirred at a dangerous pace as I snapped back at Todd, and he lifted his lips in a snarl that simply rolled off my shoulder.