Defiance (Heart Lines Series Book 5)

by Heather Hildenbrand

  I shook my head. “Point taken,” I said, offering her a sheepish smile. I made a mental note to take Safar a lot more seriously now, especially as a strategist. “But there is one more thing,” I added.

  “The part where this Harding fellow is trying to pin you for murder?” Harold piped up.

  I scowled and then sighed, realizing my reaction would have no effect on the man. “Something like that. But no. We don’t have time to worry about that right now. I meant the information about what RJ might be planning for the equinox. We need to know what we’re up against after the merge is complete.”

  “Edie says Koby has information?” Sam asked. I nodded. “So you want to go in and talk to him.”

  “I think Edie wants us to talk to him,” I said.

  “What about Breck?” Sam asked, one brow raised.

  “What about him?”

  “Are you two going to play nice?”

  I shrugged. “I can refrain from trying to kill him if he can do the same for me.” Sam glared. “Kidding. It’ll be fine. Besides, I know you want to see them.” Actually, she needed to see them. To see they were okay. But I didn’t say that.

  “We don’t know where they are. And CHAS won’t just tell us if we ask,” Sam said.

  “True. But Harold might be able to figure it out,” I said.

  We all turned to him. “Hmm. Is this that blonde roommate of yours who always borrowed your clothes?” Harold asked Sam. She nodded. “The one who stole those legwarmers I made you?” She nodded again, and he rubbed his jaw. “Sure. I can find them and get us there,” Harold said on a shrug. “The rest is up to you.”

  “Safar,” I said questioningly.

  “I can keep everyone out while you’re inside,” she said quietly.

  That was good enough for me. “If we’re going to go, I think it should be tonight.”

  “So soon?” Sam asked, her eyes widening.

  “Any longer and we run the risk of CHAS learning of my conversation with Edie. And she’s only going to look the other way so long. Besides, if we wait and they’re reinstated, we put their status as agents back at risk again.”

  “Good point.” Sam looked from me to Harold. “Can you do it tonight?”

  Harold stuck his finger in his mouth to wet it and then held it up in the still air. “Feels like a yes,” he said. I shared a look with Sam and then shook my head at what that could possibly mean. Harold ignored us and pushed to his feet. “But I’m bringing the cards.”

  I didn’t bother to argue that a lookout who passed the time with card tricks was hardly a lookout at all. I had a feeling it would be wasted breath.

  The forest was pitch black and silent—both were perfect for what we’d come to do. I kept repeating that fact to myself as we all trekked along behind Harold toward the tree he claimed would find Brittany—since she was the only one of them he knew well enough to track. My thoughts kept wandering to Indra, to the times I’d come out to the woods with her for drunken bonfires that paid homage to a god bent on chaos and domination. It made my stomach roll and my body tense just thinking about it all, but I said nothing and did my best to shove it aside. That’s not what we were here for tonight.

  Besides, Indra was dead.

  I wasn’t her prisoner anymore.

  And tonight, we were going to get answers.

  I didn’t notice until we were already walking past that we’d ended up in the same patch of trees and brush where Bernard was buried. The same woods we would use for the merge. And just as I’d suspected, the latent magic was still here. Bernard’s latent magic, to be exact. Sam’s friend, a friendly werewolf turned feral after Indra had infected him, was buried not far from where I trudged beside the others. He’d attacked her and I’d had no choice but to put him down. That was back before I’d known Indra. Or Sam, really.

  Or how much all of this would matter to me.

  A hand slipped into mine as we passed the site where I’d buried the body—and first told Sam about the world of werewolves. I looked over at her, eyes wide and full of understanding, and gave her hand a squeeze. When she squeezed back, I felt it all the way into my chest and my breath caught. If Harold and Safar weren’t here now, I’d grab her and kiss her for that hand squeeze. For remembering … everything.

  Up ahead, Harold came to a stop in front of an old redwood that I swore looked just like all the others we’d already passed. But he was already whispering to it and I knew better than to question him.

  “If everyone will place their hand against the tree, we’ll begin,” Harold said, and his voice was eerily loud against the quiet of the forest.

  I stepped up, still holding Sam’s hand, and placed my free one against the tree. Sam did the same and then Safar. Harold’s quiet muttering increased and the rest of us waited.

  It took longer than the last time, and I watched as Harold seemed lost in whatever conversation he was having with the tree. I wondered if it was because he didn’t know where we were going, only the face of who we were looking for. Even then, he’d only seen Brittany a few times. We’d shown him a grainy picture Sam found online using Harold’s ancient cell phone, and that had seemed to jog his memory but still… if he got it wrong and we ended up somewhere else… I just hoped this wouldn’t take too long. Or that we didn’t end up somewhere that required a passport to get out of.

  Finally, the air around me began to thicken. I braced myself for the travel—the disorientation and the strange wind I’d felt earlier—but it was nothing like last time. This was heavy. Resistant—like trying to shove through a brick wall.

  I grunted and then groaned at the pressure on my injured arm. Around me, the others also winced and made noises of pain—and I knew it wasn’t just me this time.

  Before I could protest or call out to Harold to make it stop, it was over. With a final, painful push, we were through.

  One second, I was standing in the cool redwoods and the next, I was in the front yard of a split-level with a fountain out front. No redwoods in sight.

  Something warm and sticky coated the hand I still pressed to the bark of the tree. A different tree, much skinnier and younger looking. The bark peeled away as I lifted my hand to sniff the liquid coating my palm.

  The others were also staring curiously at the substance running down the trunk. “It’s …” Sam sniffed and made a face and I caught sight of a scratch running the length of her cheek, narrow but—

  “Bleeding,” Safar finished for her.

  I licked my hand just to be sure. Sure as shit. The tree was bleeding. I stared at my hand and then the tree. And finally, at Harold. Tears streamed down his face. “She was … It shouldn’t … We’re sorry,” he said, and I knew he wasn’t talking to us.

  “Why is it bleeding?” Sam asked.

  “The wards,” Safar said, and I narrowed my eyes at her as the full thickness of the air hit me finally.

  I’d wondered if Harold had made a mistake bringing us here to this house in suburbia but now that the ward-magic hit me, I knew. This was the place. And CHAS had already anticipated that we’d come.

  “You … broke the wards to get us here?” Sam asked, both confusion and awe in her voice.

  Safar and Harold exchanged a look. “I bent them,” she clarified but I was pretty sure bending wards was not a thing.

  “And the tree?” Sam asked.

  “The wards were strong and—”

  Harold was still crying so Safar finished for him, saying, “It sacrificed itself to bring us here anyway.”

  “It’s dead?” Sam whispered, her own eyes filling with tears and I swore inwardly. Sam didn’t need another death on her hands now. Even a tree might be enough to push her over the edge.

  “It will live on, but its essence is changed,” Safar said. “It … will no longer hear us or allow us to travel through it.”

  “It has lost its soul,” Harold said sadly.

  “I’m sorry,” Sam said to him. “I didn’t know that could happen … I’m sorry
.”

  Harold nodded and sat heavily in front of the tree, crossing his legs and getting comfortable, and I knew he didn’t intend to leave that spot until we were done here. Maybe not even then.

  I took a deep breath, hating that my job was often the one of herder. Hating that I always had to cut short the mourning or celebrating in order to get down to the dirty work. “I can go in alone,” I began, “If—”

  “No, I’m coming,” Sam said quickly, stepping away from the tree.

  I shot a look at Safar and she waved us off. “I’ll stay with him. You’re clear to enter. Go.”

  I nodded my thanks and put a hand to Sam’s back to guide her toward the house. I didn’t bother with stealth or a sneak attack. Just like I didn’t have it in me to ask Harold if he had worked out a way home for us when we were done here.

  We’d already been exposed in the yard and lingered too long. By now, I had to assume all those inside knew we were coming. Hopefully, Safar’s ward-bending was the kind that didn’t alert CHAS that we’d altered their magical fence. But it was too late for any of that. We were either walking into a trap or we weren’t. Either way, we were walking in.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sam

  It was the most strangely normal thing we’d done so far to march up the front steps and ring the doorbell of the house Harold claimed held my friends. Alex stood shoulder to shoulder with me, and I shot him a smile for not trying to wedge me behind him or something equally overprotective. We both knew we were taking a huge risk coming here. Not to mention just waltzing up to the front door. This was a CHAS safe house and I knew I should feel anything but safe. Even so, the whole thing felt so casual—until the moment Breck answered the door.

  His hair was longer—or maybe I just noticed it more. But his eyes were the same glacier blue—and sharp as hell—that I remembered. He took one look at me and the fierce expression he wore fell away into something much more gentle. My heart filled at the sight of him.

  “Hey, bro,” I said, grinning.

  He held an arm out to me and dragged me over the threshold into a tight hug. “I was so worried,” he said and the clipped, short words spoke volumes.

  “Me too,” I whispered.

  When I stepped back, Breck held out a hand to Alex and they clasped at the wrists in that weird handshake I was pretty sure only guys understood between each other. Alex winced and Breck’s sharp gaze roamed until it stopped at Alex’s wounded shoulder. The bandage just barely stuck out from underneath his collar. Breck’s eyes narrowed on it and then more closely on Alex’s face.

  “You look like shit,” Breck said.

  Alex grinned. “I make up for it with my clothes off.”

  Breck snorted. “God, I missed the humor. These guys are way too damned serious,” he said.

  “Well then it’s a good thing I’m here. I’m never serious,” Alex said, and I rolled my eyes as I did a quick scan of the house. From the looks of it, there was no CHAS army waiting to take us into custody. No trap. Just Breck and—

  A shriek from the stairs made me whirl just in time to catch Brittany who had launched herself at me from the bottom step. She charged into me, a blur of blonde energy, and hugged me until I couldn’t breathe. “Oh my god, I thought you were dead. Or lost. Or pregnant. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “I’m okay,” I told her, laughing as I did my best to pry her hands from around my neck. “And thankfully, none of those things you listed. But I’m surprised you’re so upset. If I died, you’d get my wardrobe.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, but I already get that. Besides, if you die, my mission ends and I have to go home. My mother threatened to make me their test dummy for all their Krav Maga classes.” She shuddered. “I can’t go back there.”

  “Well, I’m very glad my existence saves you from that fate.”

  She grinned. “Me too.” And then before he knew what hit him, she had her arms around Alex in a hug.

  “Whoa.” He stumbled backward and caught himself, sucking a breath in through his teeth when she squeezed. Brittany yanked away, mumbling an apology.

  “What’s wrong?” Brittany asked and when Alex didn’t answer, she grabbed his collar and yanked it aside. “Oh my god, what happened?”

  “Shot. No big deal.”

  Brittany stared at him. “I can’t even tell if you’re being sarcastic right now. I think Breck’s bad jokes broke my brain.”

  “Breck’s jokes are bad,” Alex said and Breck muttered something gross about Alex and a bottle of Vaseline to which Alex laughed loudly.

  Brittany and I shared an eye roll. “What took you so long to get here anyway? All Breck talks about is ice-fishing and how much he hates the suburbs. It’s boring.”

  My jaw fell open. “Wait. You mean you were expecting us?”

  Brittany winced, twisting her fingers together. “Well …”

  My eyes narrowed, and I looked at Alex. “Edie,” we said in unison.

  Breck and Brittany exchanged their own look. “We can neither confirm nor deny,” Brittany said.

  “We never had this conversation,” I said knowingly.

  Brittany giggled.

  “So. You’re here for Koby,” Breck said.

  “We’re here for all of you,” I corrected and Brittany threw an arm around me, planting a loud kiss on my cheek.

  “I’m here for you too, bestie,” she announced.

  Alex nodded at Breck who looked mystified at our exchange. “Koby,” Alex agreed. “Edie said to ask him about his time with Indra. That it would help us understand … everything.” I couldn’t bring myself to say RJ’s name out loud to them. Not yet.

  “You can ask but …” Brittany’s brows rose and she looked away before I could read her expression.

  “He’s upstairs. Come on,” Breck said before I could ask about her reaction. He led the way and we all followed in a single line up the staircase. The house was painted and decorated as if a middle class family actually lived here. At the top of the landing, rows of family photos smiled back at me—all people I’d never seen before.

  “Who are these people?” I asked.

  “The latest victims of the infection,” Brittany said sadly.

  “They were all infected?” I asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

  “No, they were Hunters,” Brittany said quietly. “Victims.”

  I didn’t move from where I stood staring at the photos, a sick feeling creeping into my stomach. I thought of what Alex had said about the rabid wolves targeting Hunters now that I was off their radar. My fists tightened and when I opened them again, a ball of fur fell to the floor from each hand. Inside me, Hina was throwing herself against the confines I’d put around her. I sucked in a sharp breath.

  “Come on,” Alex said quietly, nudging me forward. I let him pull me along, forcing the thoughts of what had happened to the family aside. Forcing Hina back into the recesses. I had to do what I’d come for: to talk to Koby. If he had anything we could use, we could stop this once and for all.

  I had to stay focused. And I had to stay myself.

  Everyone else was already waiting for me when I turned the corner into the bedroom at the top of the stairs. Everyone turned to look at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  One by one, they all moved aside until, finally, I saw him. I halted where I stood, studying Koby in confusion. He sat calm and utterly still in a chair by a faux fireplace along the nearest wall of a bedroom that seemed to belong to a teenaged boy. Koby’s dark skin was a stark contrast to the whites of his eyes, both of which were blank, eerie, and unblinking as he stared right past me at absolutely nothing.

  I went to him anyway, ignoring the unsettling sensation it gave me to see him so unresponsive. When he still didn’t respond to my hand on his shoulder, I finally stepped back and looked at the others.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I asked in a hoarse voice that didn’t sound like my own.

  “Edie didn’t tell you the full story,” Britt
any said, her expression sad.

  I shook my head.

  “He’s been like this since …” she trailed off like she couldn’t bear to finish. I swallowed the lump in my throat that left a brick of nervous energy inside my gut. What had happened after we ran from RJ’s?

  Breck was the one to speak. “He’s catatonic. That’s the doc’s diagnosis. But it’s magic.” His features were set in hard lines and flashing anger that bubbled just below the surface. I wanted to reach out and take his hand or squeeze his shoulder, but I didn’t dare.

  If Breck’s energy said anything, it was “don’t touch me.” He was strung so tight, I knew a simple touch might snap him now. So I kept my hands to myself and nodded for him to go on. “What kind of magic?” I asked.

  Breck sighed. “The Witherer.”

  “What? How?—” Alex began.

  “She heard about Indra’s condition, and the night we all flew in to get checked, she showed up at the hospital asking for a deal.”

  “Wait,” Alex cut in, eyes blazing, “What do you mean ‘Indra’s condition?’”

  “She’s—” Brittany looked back and forth between us and her eyes widened. “Damn. Edie didn’t tell you anything,” she muttered.

  “Indra’s alive,” Breck said.

  My mouth fell open at that. I had assumed …

  I was surprised to find myself relieved. Indra had been against us—had kidnapped Koby and done awful things to Alex, not to mention all the wolves she’d infected. But I hated the body count I’d left in my wake. And if one less person was dead because of this mess with Hina and Ea—with me—I was glad for it.

  Alex, however, breathed a string of curses and spun on his heel, stalking fast to the window. No one said a word, and I bit my lip, torn between wanting to comfort him and give him time.

  In the end, I decided we could both use a minute to digest it all.

  “How?” I asked, turning back to Breck and Brittany.

  Breck’s gaze flicked to Alex but he said, “The bullet missed her major arteries. She was transported to a civilian hospital in Portland and then a medivac delivered her to our facility in San Francisco. The Witherer showed up the following morning ranting about cutting a deal.”