by H. D. Gordon
And to think such a thing about Adriel…
I veered my mind away from the subject as I let him lead me through the streets of Mina and toward wherever this meeting was being held. I’d need to examine the feelings later, when he wasn’t pressed closely against my side, leading me through the streets with his easy gait and half smile.
Everyone we passed greeted us with genuine friendliness, and Adriel knew every one of them by name. The reverence with which they addressed him was returned on his end, and all of a sudden, I felt foolish for my mistrust of him.
Could it be that I was so wrong in my assessment? Did my bigotry against those of mixed blood and the stereotypes I believed about them have anything to do with this assessment?
There was another line of thought that I tucked away for a later time and place.
Another day in paradise was coming to an end, and the slowly sinking sun was approaching its own reflection in the lake we were approaching. I’d done some exploring of Mina in the small amount of time I’d been here, but I had not seen this lake before. It sat on the opposite edge of town, where some of the livestock and less-generic shops were located. Behind it, a wall of emerald green trees stared down at their majestic reflections in the lake’s surface, and those enormous, snowcapped mountains stood like silent sentries behind them.
A single dock led out to the center of the water, a row of wooden planks that floated all the way out to a large, hut-like structure.
“Is that where we’re going?” I asked, glancing over at Adriel and away again before I could involuntarily admire the fine features of his face.
“Yes,” he said.
“Who’s in there?” I asked.
“Any citizen of Mina who wants to be.”
“So that’s how you do it? Everyone gets a say.”
He nodded once. “Everyone who wants one.”
As we approached the dock, he relaxed the arm that I’d been holding onto, and I ignored the fact that I felt a little disappointed at the loss of his touch. He waved a pale hand for me to go first, and I took a deep breath before stepping out onto the first wooden plank floating over the water.
My arms wind-milled a moment, and when I glanced back over my shoulder, the amused smirk on Adriel’s face made me roll my eyes and return my focus ahead.
But as I skipped across the rest of the wooden planks, crossing the lake to the center, where that large hut sat, I noticed with surprise that there was a small smile on my lips as well.
The moment lasted a heartbeat, because once we entered the structure, there was only a handful of exchanges before all hell broke loose.
12
The straw ceiling of the hut arched up at the center, making the already large space feel bigger than it was. The inside was illuminated by the setting sun peeking through the square openings in the sides of the hut, and the various green-flamed torches set about the room. A big, circular table sat in the middle, surrounded by wooden chairs with tall backs. The table was large enough to fit thirty people, but much less than that sat there now. They were all grouped together on one side, chatting with one another as if they’d been waiting to begin.
My eyes found Goldie first, and I moved to take the chair by her side at the table. After I sat, she leaned over and placed a kiss on my cheek before settling back in her own chair, ever elegant as the day I’d met her.
Most of the others sitting at the table I knew. There was Yarik and Yarin, the two Halfbreeds I’d met back at the start of this whole journey, and Bakari, the black-winged male I’d witnessed Adriel heal in the square. The Fae male and female couple I’d admired earlier was also present, and their large, slightly slanted eyes studied me as I settled in.
The only person I didn’t know was a beautiful female with dark skin and curly brown hair. She looked really young; no older than sixteen or seventeen years old, but something about her demeanor lead me to believe that her youthful appearance was misleading, perhaps even purposely so. I couldn’t tell what race she was, though I suspected that she might just be the half Demon Adriel had mentioned in passing. She sat with her legs crossed and her back rigidly straight, her eyes narrowing on me as soon as I walked in.
The Wolf in me met her stare without flinching, but I was confused as to why her fury seemed to be directed at me. We’d never met; she was strikingly beautiful enough that I would have surely remembered if we had. I thought maybe that’s just how she always looked.
Adriel took a seat in a chair between Yarik and Yarin, smoothing out his black slacks and then folding his hands atop the table.
Adriel looked at Bakari first. “How’re you feeling?” he asked.
Bakari nodded. “I’m better, my friend. Thanks you to and Aysari.” He glanced at the Fae female gratefully, and she gave a wink and a grin.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Adriel replied, and paused before continuing. “What’s the news?”
Bakari drew an extra deep breath before beginning, and when he started speaking, it was no wonder why.
“By now, we all know Ryker is the new West Coast Pack Master,” Bakari begun.
“Who the hell is Ryker?” asked the beautiful, curly haired female.
“A lot has happened in your absence, Asha. Ryker was Reagan Ramsey’s right hand,” answered the Fae male. It was the first time I’d heard his voice, and it reminded me of music on a spring morning.
“Word is, the other Pack Masters leaned on him to make some sort of statement after what happened at The Games,” Bakari said, and glanced in my direction for a moment. “That’s why he burned those slaves. The other Pack Masters demanded it.”
“He’s still a bastard for doing it,” Goldie mumbled.
“What else?” Adriel asked.
“There’s a price on your head,” Bakari replied, meeting Adriel’s scarlet gaze. Then, he glanced at me again. “And yours,” he added.
I didn’t say anything. This didn’t surprise me. Or at least I told myself that it didn’t. Ryker hadn’t lifted a hand to help me when Ramsey had locked me up and tortured me. He hadn’t tried to help when I’d been tossed into The Games with a rabid Kalene and an angry Firedrake. Why would he suddenly have a change of heart now?
He wouldn’t, because there had never been any heart between us in the first place.
Words meant nothing short of actions.
My throat felt tight, and I swallowed once to clear it. Ryker was a bastard, and he could go to hell for all I cared.
Beneath the table, Goldie’s warm hand fell over mine and squeezed gently. I was careful to make sure my face revealed nothing, but I gave her a little squeeze back.
“And who are you?” asked Asha, the female I didn’t know, folding her arms over her chest.
“Rook,” I said, and that was all.
Asha glanced at Adriel with narrowed eyes and back at me. Now I could practically taste the fury she was directing at me. I held her gaze unflinchingly.
“Rook,” she repeated, making a face like my name was bitter on her tongue. “The Wolf everyone is talking about? The one who slept with that bastard Hound? The bastard Hound who is also now the new West Coast Pack Master and mass murderer? That Rook?”
I sat in stunned silence, the words echoing in my mind. Beside me, Goldie placed her hands on the table and spoke in a growl. I didn’t need to glance at my friend to know that her eyes were glowing Wolf-gold.
“Watch your Gods damned mouth, Asha, or I’ll watch it for you,” Goldie warned.
Asha sat back a little in her seat, a smug sneer on her pretty face. “Why? It’s the truth, isn’t it?” Her dark gaze fell on me again. “She’s the one everyone’s talking about, right? She’s the one who rode out of The Games on a Firedrake that had Reagan Ramsey between its jaws, and the reason the other Pack Masters know who Adriel is.” She paused, and somehow, I knew what she was going to say next. “The reason those thousand slaves were burned alive.”
Goldie was out of her chair before I could even fully process the wo
rds. She stood with such force that her chair skidded out behind her and toppled over with a crash. I knew her well enough to know that she was a moment away from leaping over the table and pounding the hell out of Asha.
I gripped her arm to keep her from doing so, and spoke telepathically into her mind.
“Let it go. It’s fine.”
“It is not,” Goldie replied silently.
Asha opened her mouth to spew some other hateful things, but Adriel beat her to the chase.
“Enough,” he said, and his scarlet gaze fell on Asha. “That’s not fair, and you know it. We don’t victim-blame around here. None of this is Rukiya’s fault. She is not the one enslaving the Wolves. She is not the one who lit those fires, and she is not responsible for the deaths of those slaves. I don’t want to hear anymore about it.”
Asha’s mouth fell open again, but the look Adriel gave her then would’ve stopped a train on its tracks.
“I won’t hear any more about it,” Adriel amended, and his voice was the smooth, chilling tone that often made goosebumps rise on my arms.
With a small huff, Asha finally snapped her mouth shut and settled for glaring at me across the table.
Instead of baring my teeth or rolling my eyes at her, I said, “It’s nice to meet you, too, Asha.”
A moment of silence fell before Bakari and Yarik busted out into raucous laughter. With this, some of the tension left the air, and though Adriel didn’t laugh, I found myself glancing at him and being pleased with the almost smile that tugged on his lips.
Once the laughter died out, it was back to business. “Any progress with the readings?” Aysari, the Fae female, asked.
Adriel glanced at me and sighed. “We haven’t located anything that can help yet, but we’re still looking.”
“We need to go after them,” insisted Goldie.
“We don’t have the numbers,” Bakari replied, shaking his head.
“We’re running out of time,” mumbled the Fae male, whose name I didn’t yet know. “They will be more aggressive in their pursuit of us now.”
Adriel nodded. “That was inevitable. We’ve been freeing the Wolves for months now. It was only a matter of time… We might want to reconsider all of our options.”
“No!” said several people at once. The force and synchronicity of which made my brow furrow.
“What options?” I asked.
A few of the others said, “absolutely not,” and “not an option,” but Adriel answered me, anyway.
“There may be a way to free the slaves from their collars all at the same time. If we could convince the slaves to unite with us, and then free them all at once, that would give us the boost in numbers that we need to overthrow the Pack Masters,” he said.
“No, Gods damn it!” Asha said, speaking for the first time since Adriel scolded her.
I held up a hand. “What am I missing here?” I asked. “I thought you didn’t know how to remove the collars en mass. I thought that was what I’ve been combing through all those books for.”
“There may be a way,” Adriel said. “It’s just… a little dangerous.”
Aysari scoffed, rolling her slanted eyes at Adriel before looking at me. “By ‘a little dangerous’ he means suicide. What he’s talking about is suicide.”
“We don’t know that,” Adriel replied.
Goldie shook her head. “We’re pretty sure of it.”
Bakari nodded. “We’ve already discussed this, Adriel, and it’s not an option.”
“Suicide for who?” I asked, then looked at Adriel. “For you?”
Adriel’s head angled a fraction, making some of his shiny ebony hair fall across his forehead. “Potentially,” he said, and added quickly, “but, we’re talking about one life here. One life, in exchange for thousands of others. It could be a different world. A better world.”
“Dear Gods, stop talking crazy, my friend,” Yarik grumbled. “We’ll find another way.”
“And if we don’t?” Adriel asked. “How long can we wait? How many slaves have to die before we act?”
“The answer is no, Gods damn it!” Yarin barked, slamming his hand down on top of the table hard enough that its legs trembled beneath it.
“It’s not your choice, friend,” Adriel said gently.
“Nobody agrees with you, Adriel, so let it go,” Asha said, the snap of her tone enough to make silence fall for a tick.
“Maybe he’s right,” I said at last, my voice sounding incredibly small in the quiet.
“Excuse me?” Asha snapped.
“You’re wrong,” replied Yarin.
“No, sweetie,” Goldie said, placing her hand over mine.
“Absolutely not,” said the Fae male.
The rest of the table only looked at me as though I were mad. I cleared my throat in an attempt to express my thoughts.
I looked over at Adriel, hoping that he wouldn’t mistake my words for a dislike of him. The truth was, I had grown to respect him, to like him, even.
“I just mean that if it were me,” I said, “I would consider the sacrifice worthwhile. The Dogs… There are so many of them, and the things they’re forced to endure are unspeakable. I mean… One life for thousands.”
Adriel nodded, waving a hand at me like I was the only one making any sense.
“Must be really easy to say because it’s not you, Rook,” Asha spat. “You’re not the one who has to die.”
I looked over at Goldie for backup, but she only shook her head. “I don’t agree with you,” she said gently, but loudly enough for everyone present to hear.
I held up my hands. “I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just my opinion.”
“Easy to say when you’ve got no stake in the outcome,” Asha replied.
“Fuck you I don’t have any stake in the outcome,” I growled, aware that my eyes were glowing Wolf-gold and my teeth were bared in anger. My patience with the female had just about run out.
Aysari tucked a lock of silver hair behind her pointed ear and cleared her throat. “A vote, then,” she said, “and let’s be done with it… All those in favor of Adriel not sacrificing himself?”
Everyone at the table raised a hand save for Adriel and me.
Aysari nodded. “All those opposed?”
Adriel and I put our hands up.
Aysari clicked her tongue. “Then, it’s decided,” she said.
Adriel gave a slow nod. “For now.”
Before anyone could utter another word, an enormous bird flew through one of the square windows in the side of the hut. It streaked into the room with feathers the colors of scorching fires and endless oceans. Its wingspan spread half the width of the hut, and its magnificent beak was hooked sharply enough to tear through flesh, as were its enormous talons. It screeched a caw that cut through the air like a thousand knives.
Silence befell the room, all eyes directed toward the majestic creature. I blinked double when the air around the bird shimmered, and it shifted into a mortal form. The woman that appeared before us had skin the color of midnight, with vibrant blues and reds having been painted onto her exquisite face. She wore armor from head to toe, small but razor sharp knives strapped across her chest, and a bow and arrows over her shoulders.
Even beneath all this, one could tell that she was all curves and muscle. Her hair was the same azure and rose as had been her feathers, and her eyes remained the striking amber of her bird form. I was sure that in all my life, I’d never seen a female so lovely. I searched my newfound knowledge of supernatural creatures and was relatively sure she was a Harpy, a rare form of bird shifter.
I wasn’t sure when he’d even moved, but Adriel was now standing. Something about the set of his jaw made my stomach drop.
“What is it?” he asked.
The Harpy heaved a breath before she could answer, during which everyone else held onto theirs. Two things were clear; first, this female was a warrior, perhaps a guard of some sort, and second, she had flown here as fast as her wings coul
d carry her, fast enough that she had the slightly dizzy look of someone who has overexerted herself.
“The Hounds have somehow opened a portal on the eastern edge of the Emerald Forest,” said the female, speaking as rapidly as her harried breathing would allow. “They’ll reach Mina in a matter of minutes.”
Suddenly, everyone was on their feet at once.
“Impossible,” someone gasped, though I didn’t know who, because I was too lost in the horror of my own thoughts.
“How many?” Adriel asked, and the calm, even tone of his voice both comforted and chilled me.
The female warrior’s mouth set into a tight line that made my stomach twist. “Hundreds,” she answered. “And if we don’t close that portal, any number of things could take it into Mina after them.”
Adriel’s handsome face was set in a mask of calm anticipation, but his next words chilled me right down to the bone.
“Or worse,” he said. “Something from here could take the portal out.”
13
There was barely time for me to process what was actually happening.
When Adriel mentioned the fact that a portal could allow things to escape this place—this place being the Between Realms—all I could think about was the Enenra, with its dark, shadowy form and soul-sucking allure.
But things were now in motion, and Adriel began speaking and delegating tasks without hesitation. The rest of us could do little but stand around and listen. We were sort of frozen, but Adriel was speaking slowly and clearly, as though he knew exactly what to do.
If there had been enough time to do so, I might have marveled at the way we moored ourselves to his strength. Adriel gave some instructions to the bird Shifter, and she nodded her head in understanding before shifting into that magnificent feathered beast and soaring out the window and out of sight.
