He opened his eyes then, pulling away slightly to better see my face. “No, Reagan, you’ve done enough. This is too dangerous. You shouldn’t even be here. If your father finds out what you’re doing right now—” He cut himself off. Cursed softly. “I need you to do something for me, though.”
“Anything,” I said quietly, dropping my hands to my lap.
“I need you to get me a piece of the Genesis Crystal. I—” He grimaced, arms shaking again. “I need it.”
“Why, what do the crystals do?”
“They make me—” He panted, eyes growing distant as pain consumed him. “Stronger.”
I hesitated. Mordecai could have created an addiction, or he could be delusional with pain. In either case, I whispered, “Okay.”
Before I left the lab, I snitched a pair of surgical gloves. Whatever affects these crystals caused, I wanted no part. Mordecai had warned me against touching them since I was young, and since the men wore hazmat suits, there had to be more that I didn’t know. No one was in the hall as I crossed, but I could hear Elias complaining that Sebastian wasn’t moving fast enough—and Nevaeh, her voice low and comforting.
The crystals in the large cavern were everywhere, embedded in the walls and abandoned in mining bins—scattered haphazardly, a reminder of how hastily the Fae must have been tricked into the “for emergencies only” room. I grabbed a piece, eyeing the sparkling green suspiciously. My hand tingled. My skin crawled with the need to repel the crystal, to get it away from me, even through the glove. What is Tarik playing at? If this could help him though—if he knew something I didn’t . . .
I held the crystal at arm’s length as I walked back through the lab room, flinching when the rock fell into Tarik’s open palm.
His body jerked and I grimaced. He must have fallen asleep. A gusty sigh left him as he fisted the crystal. “That’s the stuff. Mordecai, you fool.”
My eyes rounded. I was right—the crystal was an addiction. I tried to pry the rock from his hand but his fist only tightened further. “Wait. It’s not hurting me, you’ll see.”
I had my doubts, especially when his brows drew together, lips thinning. His eyes slid shut and he groaned. Loudly. Then I heard a snap, the eerie sound echoing in the small space. I searched for the source, but found nothing out of place. The tray hadn’t moved, the cot’s straps lay dangling over the edges as before.
“Tarik? What are you—” My question fell off.
A crack came next and he hissed through bared teeth. “Healing,” he panted, “myself.”
I looked down to his mangled limbs and gasped. His left knee was slowly straightening. I watched in morbid fascination as the kneecap reformed, popping into the socket.
Tarik grunted. “That feels better.”
For several minutes I stared, glued to the sight of broken limbs reforming, bones adjusting beneath skin. When he finished, Tarik slumped forward, red hair shadowing his face. Air caught in my lungs. I brushed my fingertips over his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He huffed a laugh. “But. Uh. I need you to do me one more tiny favor.”
I raised an eyebrow, suspicious. After what I had watched, I wasn’t so sure I trusted that ‘tiny.’ “Yes?”
His head lifted, but he wouldn’t quite meet my gaze. “Can you find me some pants?”
For a moment, I gaped at him, dumbstruck. Then I laughed. The tension of the day, of the hour, poured out of me as I realized how simple, how normal his request was.
“I can do that.” There was a drawer of clean clothing in the lab, I remembered. I grabbed a set that I guessed to be around his size and brought them back to him, pushing the wad into his arms. “Wouldn’t want me to see you naked—all that skin, what a scandal.”
“Thanks,” he mumbled, placing the clothes on his lap. I stared, waiting, but he fidgeted with the hem of the gray shirt. “Uh . . . could I have some . . . privacy?”
“Oh good grief,” I huffed, rolling my eyes. Still, I complied. From the lab, I could almost make out the soft instructions Sebastian was feeding the Fae. Almost ready to leave, I assumed. Behind me came a thump. Tarik cursed.
“You okay in there?” I peered over my shoulder.
“Don’t look!”
I turned back around, snickering.
Several grunts and mutterings later, a presence warmed my back. I tried to face him, to see for myself that his legs were healed and whole, but he whispered, “Not yet.” His fingers trailed down the nape of my neck before he bent, brushing a featherlight kiss on my cheek. He lingered, and my heart felt two sizes too large. His voice was a low caress in my ear, warm and soft, as he said, “Thank you for saving my stupid Fae butt. I wouldn’t blame you for saying ‘I told you so.’”
My heart skipped a beat. The voice in my mind—the one wanting to scream about his betrayal, to remind me of that stolen kiss—was oddly silent. Relieved, perhaps, that he was safe. Alive.
I almost spun to face him, to throw my arms around him. I could have. He had opened that door. Right? No. He was still Fae. And I was still a shifter, the thing Tarik himself despised most in the world. Heavy weight settled in my chest.
No. I better not.
Instead, I turned, gathering his hands in mine. “I’m glad you’re alive.”
When I met his eyes, free of pain and filled with gratitude, I almost caved. But I held still, even when he disentangled one of our hands and ran his fingers along my cheek, tucking a loose strand of blue hair behind my ear. His breath hitched, voice gruff as he whispered, “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“Are you sure he’s not your boyfriend? Because from where I’m standing . . .”
I jerked my gaze to the lab’s entrance and there stood one of the twins, casually leaning against the doorway. Heat raced up my neck and cheeks. I took a step back.
“Micah?” Tarik pulled away and, with a slight limp, strode to the blond Fae. Before he could reach him, Micah moved, wrapping Tarik in a hug. I heard muffled chuckling, then, “Easy, man. I’m kind of fragile right now.”
Wait, Tarik can tell the twins apart?
Micah held him at arm’s length, scrutinizing him from head to toe. “Yeah, I heard you were busted up. Gnarly. Good to see you, bro.”
“Hold the touchy-feely family reunion moment,” Sebastian interrupted, poking his head around the corner. “We’re not out of this yet.”
Shouts sounded and our faces folded in confusion. I shoved past the men, moving down the hallway as quickly as my sore leg would allow. Weaving in and out of the rescued Fae, I caught sight of glasses and stopped next to Elias. “What’s happening?”
“Akeno spotted someone coming,” Elias whispered. “We need to get out of here, and fast.”
As the Fae spilled into the cavern that contained the stairs, a shadow slowly strode toward us, cutting off our exit. I squinted, then raised an eyebrow. Squirrel Butler? As he hit the center of the large room, he glared in my direction.
“Oh, mistress Reagan. I always knew you would be a disappointment.” I froze. My instincts screamed that we couldn’t kill him, but he had seen me. I couldn’t think of another way if we didn’t want Mordecai to find out. He removed our options, though, when he added, “Tis of no consequence. I will see you dispatched, even if it will displease the master. He will understand.”
I almost laughed, imagining tiny squirrel fisticuffs. But as he shifted, I realized that his animal form had been another of Mordecai’s secrets. He grew and grew, until a massive brown wolf, at least three times the size of my lion, dominated the cavern. His eyes glowed bright orange, a perfect match to the flames that licked out from between his teeth.
“Get anyone who’s injured out of here,” I said to Sebastian, eyes sliding to Tarik. “That means you.”
As he opened his mouth to protest, I shifted, hurtling forward to slam myself into the wolf’s jaw before he could snap them closed around one of the twins. I growled at him, taking his attention away from the Fae. Thi
s was between us. I would die if doing so gave the Fae a chance to escape, and live.
He barked in my direction, fire licking at my legs. The stench of burnt fur bit at my nostrils. Stinging pain spread up my legs but I gritted my teeth, sweeping my wings at his next burst of flame. Effective, but he launched forward and slammed me into a wall. I slumped to the floor, pinned under his snout, his hot breath choking my lungs.
I shifted. My smaller form slid free, then I rapid-shifted back into my lion as soon as I was underneath his belly. I latched onto his front leg, ripping flesh and muscle from the back of his knee. Hot blood spurted over my snout. Jaws snapped at me and I pulled myself free with a flap of my wings.
A dart whizzed past my face. I spared a half second to see Flynn lurking not far from me. The wolf spotted him in the same moment. Before he could attack the Fae man, I barreled for him and flung my wings wide. Fire tickled down the curving feathers and I winced, dropping into human form when the flames fizzled out. I needed to get him away from Flynn.
“Come on, you brute,” I yelled, racing across the floor. I jumped for him at the last second, rapid-shifting. As I launched into the air, I could feel the tug on my muscles, the lag in my responses—I wouldn’t be able to rapid shift again.
I swatted his jaw away only to have him slam me to the ground beneath a paw. He growled, a low, victorious sound that vibrated through my body. I couldn’t get free, my wings splayed across the ground beneath me. Flames burst to life in his maw again. I clawed frantically at his nose, but the wolf didn’t flinch.
A million images flashed through my mind. One lingered—a glimpse of emerald eyes free of pain and filled with gratitude—and I held onto that image as I squeezed my eyes shut.
This is it.
This is how I die.
When Reagan bolted from the medical room, I went the opposite direction. After fixing my broken legs, I had discovered that the Genesis Crystal’s energy wasn’t bottomless. This would be my last chance to acquire some more. It made me stronger, it made my healing ability stronger, and I couldn’t waste the opportunity—not when I knew of someone who desperately needed the crystal’s power.
Micah followed me into the Green Room, babbling questions, asking if I required assistance walking in the right direction. I ignored him even as I marveled that he was here. That they all were—despite the hurtful things I’d said and done to push them away. Maybe I was simply a byproduct. Maybe their mission had been to free the other trapped Fae, and I just happened—
“So, is she really your girlfriend? And a shifter, too. How did that happen?”
His newest question gave me pause. I picked up a crystal—uncut and foolishly left out in the open—and strode across the massive cavern, hoping to never lay eyes on it again. “Now is not the time, man. Ask me questions when we get out of here.”
If we got out.
Because as we drew closer to the stairs, as we squeezed past dozens of my nervous coworkers, something in the chamber ahead chilled my blood. What used to be an unassuming, squirrely little butler had transformed into a hideous, fiery-eyed beast.
“Crap, Bushy, I thought you’d be cute and cuddly.”
“What?” Micah asked. I must have said that out loud.
I scanned the shuffling and bobbing heads for blue hair. The search took way too long, her short frame swallowed by the crowd. When I got to her side, she was already barking orders, her Night Enforcer tone brooking no argument. I opened my mouth, but before I could stop her, before I could tell her about the crystal, she shifted.
Several of the Fae leapt away from her, pressing themselves against the walls as a great white lion filled the hallway.
“Malachi!” Micah shouted in panic, and I saw his twin next to Bushy, about to be snapped in two.
I lurched forward, but Reagan was already there, smashing into the beast three times her size. I became aware of Sebastian ordering the Fae up the stairs, telling them to hug the walls and avoid being burnt alive. If I wasn’t so focused on the two animals tearing into each other, I would have rolled my eyes.
A shot of flame burst from Bushy’s maw, singing Reagan’s fur. She thrust those brilliant wings wide, snuffing the fire out, but I knew she was in trouble when he slammed her into a wall. At the sound, my wings strained against my skin, and I let them rip free.
“Flynn!” I yelled to the silent Fae I’d recognized amid the growing chaos. “Distraction.”
He nodded, pulling out darts as he slipped to the far side of the cavern. By now, the crystal’s mysterious power had leached into my bloodstream, infusing my muscles, my very bones with strength. I lunged for the frothing wolf as Reagan shouted. The beast chased after her and I caught nothing but air. He tackled her, pinning her lion form to the ground. Maw open, he readied to spew bright orange fire into her growling face.
The world stilled as a deadly calm stole over me. No, calm wasn’t what wrapped around my bones, giving me courage and strength. Giving me purpose.
Rage was.
I unleashed my fury on the foul beast who dared threaten Reagan’s life. With a snarl, I slashed a wing toward his one front leg still uncut, severing the muscles at the back of the knee. Blood sprayed on my face. He howled and his front legs collapsed.
I knew what I needed to do next.
Send a message.
I wrapped my arms around the beast’s thick neck, grappling for a better position. He shook his head and almost launched me from him. Not caring if he blasted me with fire, I latched onto his snout instead. Securing his maw shut with one arm, I dug something out of my pants pocket.
And, without hesitation, thrust the scalpel through his eye.
“I’m glad you’re not a cute little squirrel,” I grunted. “Or I might actually feel bad for doing this.” He continued to thrash, so I continued to thrust, deeper and deeper. Until at last, the blade penetrated his brain.
We crashed to the ground and I rolled off, flinging the already-shifting butler to the side. A pink, gooey substance dripped from my hand and I grimaced, wiping the slime on my stolen pants.
Reagan lay on the floor, naked and bleeding, but alive. A relieved sigh shuddered through me and I bent to help her up.
“Come on. We have to go,” she said breathlessly, already pulling me toward the stairs before I could straighten. I looked one last time at the room and hallway beyond, making sure none were left behind, then followed, wishing I could breathe fire.
I would raze this mine to ash.
We burst through the mansion’s back door and Reagan quickly secured the lock, then asked me to bust through. Gladly. More things to destroy. Rage still simmered in my blood, making me jittery, making me want to do something rash, like storm up to Mordecai’s room and take the devil on myself. But she was staring up at me with those big blue and gold eyes, expectant, and I rammed a fist into the metal, snapping the lock clean off the door.
Her brows arched and I paused, realizing in that moment I couldn’t go home. Mordecai would know I’d been a part of this, what with a scalpel protruding from his butler’s eye. Besides, I was a fugitive employee now.
No. I wasn’t.
I quit.
I scratched my neck, watching Flynn and Micah lead the rest of the straggling Fae to safety. Knowing they would find a place for them to hide. But . . . I blew out a breath.
“What’s wrong?”
I looked at her again and blinked. Gaia, when had she become so beautiful? I debated what to tell her. How much did she know? She was running around with the very Fae who were supposed to keep her away from our kind. My plans had backfired terribly. Again.
Bad luck.
I chewed on my lip. Why was this so hard? “I guess this is goodbye. For real this time.” At her widening eyes, I plowed on. “I’m a fugitive now. Associating with me would be a death sentence. And I’m not gonna allow you to take more risks for me.”
Reagan snorted. “The first time I saved your ‘sorry Fae butt’ I signed that death sentenc
e. Pretty sure we’re well past that line.” She paused, scanning the dark mansion nervously. “Stay with me. I have a guest room, and everything you could want. I can get your cat. You’d be safe, at least long enough to figure out something more permanent.”
A million thoughts scrambled for attention. What about Benji? And Haven? I couldn’t sit on my hands, watching TV on her flat screen while Mordecai did who-knew-what to the Fae community. A light flicked on in a window above us and Reagan gasped, her eyes pleading with me. Hurry. Hurry. We were out of time.
I was going to regret this. “Lead the way, stalker.”
—
Heaven.
I had finally died and gone to heaven.
In all my twenty-three years of deprived life, I’d never smelled anything so divine.
I inhaled again, filling my lungs to capacity. Mouth-wateringly rich, the strong scent had dragged me out of a deep sleep. And not simply a deep sleep, but a void filled with nothing. Absolutely nothing. No tossing and turning, no mumbling, no fitful jerks or cries of pain. Best of all, though, no thoughts of the night that had stolen everything from me.
Everything good, anyway.
I heard distant humming, the sound slightly off-key, and a grin spread across my face. Maybe there was still a bit of good after all.
Last night, Reagan had somehow smuggled me up to her apartment without anyone seeing. Then had left as she headed off for patrol again. Not that anyone would notice me, not when they could ogle her naked body instead. My smile slipped. Wasn’t there a way to shift and keep your clothes on? I would have to look into that. Maybe she had a Shapeshifter dictionary or something.
It was morning now. Or afternoon. I didn’t know. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I hadn’t woken with the dawn. Which reminded me of Benji. Was he worried? My chest tightened and I sat up. I had to get word to him. I didn’t want Reagan heading over there, not even to collect Callie. The place was no doubt being watched.
I would probably have to sneak out of here at some point while she was off on patrol. I looked down at the stolen clothing that I’d been too exhausted to remove, still blood-spattered from my encounter with Bushy. Who would have thought that such an unassuming man was hiding such a big secret?
Dawn till Dusk: An Urban Fantasy Romance (Genesis Crystal Saga Book 1) Page 18
