by Bella Jacobs
It’s Luke and I who can’t remember a time when we weren’t living as humans, subject to humanity’s moral code.
I glance down at him, wondering what he’s thinking of all this, now that it’s over and we’re coming down from the sex high. But he’s dead to the world, his thick lashes fanned out over his cheeks and his full lips gently parted in sleep. I smile.
Clearly, he’s really torn up about this departure from the norm.
And he’s really pretty when he’s sleeping.
“You should be looking at me like that,” Cree murmurs.
I glance over to find him studying me with a sleepy, sexy smile, looking like that cat who lapped up every bit of the cream and came back for seconds. The thought makes me blush, and of course Cree notices.
“Thinking dirty thoughts? Please, share with the class.”
“I’ve shared enough with the class,” I say, teasing my fingernails back and forth across his lightly furred chest. “If I share any more, I’m not sure I’ll be able to walk tomorrow.” My stomach gurgles for the fifth or sixth time in as many minutes. “And I’m starving. I don’t suppose the vampires thought to send food along with us, did they? Aside from the chocolate Dr. Cahill gave me?”
“Pasta. Sauce. Zucchini.” Kite hums softly into my hair before kissing the top of my head. “I’ll cook. Two minutes.”
I grin at him over my shoulder. “Still haven’t got your words back, huh?”
“Words hard.” His smile widens as he wraps an arm around my waist, hugging me closer. “Sex good.”
Cree and I both laugh, and Dust sits up, blinking tiredly in the orange glow of the one light someone managed to turn on as we stumbled inside. The fixture hangs low over a round table with five chairs around it.
An odd number, but just perfect for us, which I decide to take as a good omen.
“I’ll cook,” he says, raking a hand through his hair, which promptly flops back over his forehead and into his eyes. “Even I can boil water.”
“Thanks, Captain.” Kite nuzzles his face into the curve of my neck. “I need five more minutes.”
Dust swings off the bed, slipping into his suit pants with an amused smile at Luke. “Mr. Tough Guy is out like a light. Isn’t he the one who likes to brag about his stamina?”
“That’s in the ring or on the running trail,” Cree says smugly. “Making love is another beast entirely.” He rolls over, nipping at my waist with his teeth, making me shiver. “Speaking of beasts, I can’t wait to see what new things you can change into, Slim. Your energy is off the fucking charts right now. You could probably shift into a dinosaur if you wanted.”
I laugh, batting his ticklish teeth away with a gentle swat to his cheek, doing my best not to disturb Luke while I’m at it. “I’ll stick with my dragon form, thanks. Dinosaurs are creepy.”
“So? You’d still be hot if you were creepy.”
I giggle again, and Luke stirs, lifting his head to blink sleepy eyes up at me. And then he smiles—bright and beautiful—and my heart overflows again.
“That was…fun,” he says in a rough voice.
“So much fun,” I agree. “It’s my new favorite thing. Ever.”
My stomach growls—loudly—in agreement, and Creedence chuckles. “Come on. Let’s get some food in you, sex monster. I think I saw some crackers in the bag.”
“Crackers and cheese,” Dust confirms. “And apples someone can slice while I get the pasta ready.”
We pull on clothes, grab plates and napkins, and settle around the table, all of us smiling goofy smiles as we put a pounding on the crackers.
And for a little while, as we slurp spaghetti and pass around the broiled veggies and argue over who gets the last of the shredded parmesan, life is good. Better than good. I could spend the rest of my life sharing my meals and my bed with these four amazing people and never want for anything more.
Except, maybe…
“Except everything,” I murmur, catching Creedence’s gaze across the table. He winks in response, knowing exactly what I mean.
I mean the kids and the farm and the happily ever after, all the things we both saw waiting in that one-in-a-million future. But happiness doesn’t feel far away right now. It feels as close as Kite brushing his teeth at the sink next to me and the warmth of Luke’s body curled around mine in a perfect big spoon as we settle in for the night.
As close as Dust’s good night kiss and Cree’s voice whispering, “Sleep well, beautiful,” in my ear before tucking himself into place as my small spoon.
I giggle, kissing him between the shoulders, feeling like a puny piece of lunchmeat between two giant pieces of bread, but also so content that I slip into sleep without a hint of fear or worry, only the certainty that I’m where I belong.
Chapter 31
Dust
The plan is dangerous. Maybe even suicidal. But Wren’s right—it’s probably the only approach Atlas won’t see coming a hundred miles away.
But as we all settle down for the night—Creedence, Wren, and Luke on the big bed, Kite in a hammock he found in the vampire provisions and hung from the rafters near the fireplace, and me on the fold out couch by the window—sleep remains impossible.
I lie awake in the dark, staring out at the tiny sliver moon swooping slowly across the sky, thoughts racing as I imagine all the things that could go wrong. All the ways Wren or one of the others could die. I don’t worry about my own death. I’ve already gotten close enough to that to realize it’s better to be the one stepping off into the great unknown than the one stuck behind, grieving the loss of people you don’t want to live without.
Kite is on that list for me now—Creedence and Luke, too—but Wren is still my One. The enhancement of our group bond hasn’t changed that.
Yes, I can close my eyes and check in with how fast Luke’s heart is beating, what Kite is feeling, and whether Creedence has hit his REM phase, but they’re other planets circling in my solar system.
Wren is the sun, our center, and if she burns out, we’re all going down with her.
I can feel that, too, the part of ourselves we gave up to seal our circle of five this tight. I don’t know if any of the others realize it yet, but I know it the way I know that Wren will always be the best thing that’s ever happened to me, even if I’m lucky enough to get a few hundred years on this planet.
As if I’ve summoned her with my thoughts—and I probably have—a Wren-shaped shadow appears in the darkness beside the couch. The covers lift, and she slides onto the lumpy mattress beside me.
I scoot over, making room for her to tuck herself against me and rest her cheek on my chest. “I love you,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to my shoulder.
“And I, you.” I hug her closer, already sleepier than I was a moment ago. This is what I needed—her. Close. So close her heartbeat echoes in my chest.
“We’ll tell them in the morning.”
“Or not. It’s too late to undo it now.” I glance over at the bed and hammock, but the others are still quiet, breathing deep and sleeping hard. “And I’m guessing they know. Or will soon.”
“I wish we’d known before,” she whispers. “I wish we’d had someone to talk to who understood the risks.”
“It wouldn’t have changed their minds. Or mine.”
“It might have changed mine.” Wren moves, propping her fists on my chest and resting her chin on top. “If for some reason I don’t make it out, I liked being able to imagine you all moving on, making new lives, being happy.”
“If you don’t make it, then Atlas will continue to destroy our planet, and none of us will be safe. We won’t have the luxury of moving on, and none of us would want to.” I brush her hair from her troubled face. “You’re ours and we’re yours, and that’s all there is to it, Snow. We rise or fall together.”
She sighs, her lips pressing together as she lifts her eyes to the window and the waning moon outside. “The sky will be dark. It’s the perfect time to make our move. Do you th
ink Creedence is okay to fight?”
“He’s not one-hundred-percent, but he’s close.” I trail my fingers from her ribs to her waist and back again. “It will do him good to have you close tonight, sending some extra strength his way.”
Her lips curve. “Kicking me out of bed so soon?”
“Never.” I slide my palm lower, cupping her ass and giving it a squeeze. “I’ll keep you here as long as you’ll let me.”
“Good.” She falls silent, resting her cheek on my chest. Her breath grows slower, deeper, but she’s not asleep. I can sense her thoughts swirling in intricate patterns behind her closed eyes, trying to account for every possible obstacle and possible hitch in our plan.
Finally I say, “We’ve already thought it through, Wren. As much as we can. The best thing we can do now is get some rest.”
“Do you remember that story you used to tell when we were kids?” she whispers. “About the girl and the boy who wandered into an enchanted forest and were lost for a hundred years? And when they finally found their way home, everyone they’d known had died?”
I stroke her hair. “I remember.”
“I could never remember how it ended, not until you told it again. You’d get to the part where all their parents and relatives and friends are dead, and the town is full of strangers, and I’d get so upset imagining it that I couldn’t pay attention to the rest of the story. I was so bogged down in the dark place I couldn’t enjoy the happily ever after.”
“But they did live happily ever after,” I remind her. “They were adopted by a childless couple in town, a merchant and his wife who were so thankful to have a little boy and girl to love. And when they grew up, they moved to London and lived in a fashionable part of town, in houses right next door to each other, and the closest they ever got to the forest was during long walks in Hyde Park with their children and grandchildren.”
“I guess that was part of it, too.” She sighs. “I didn’t like that ending.”
My lips curve. “Too tame?”
“Too sad. They let the darkness scare them away from the forest forever. And what’s more beautiful than a forest?”
“A kiss,” I say softly. “Yours, in particular.”
She rises up, shifting until her lips hover over mine. “We’re going to win, Dust. And then we’re going to go back into the forest and make it ours. The darkness doesn’t get to win this time.”
“I never imagined it would, Snow. Not with you.” I lift my chin, pressing my lips to hers, the increasingly familiar rush of safety and bliss dumping into my bloodstream as her lips part and her tongue strokes against mine.
We quietly rearrange our clothes, careful not to disturb the others as we come together in the dark. She rides me slow and sweet, building the tension swirling between us until we both come with twin soul-wrenching orgasms that leave us too wiped out to think anymore.
Just as I’m about to drift off, Wren presses a final kiss to my temple and slips away. I listen to her use the bathroom and tuck herself back between Creedence and Luke, but even though she’s across the room, it still feels like she’s right here with me, in my arms, in my heart, where I will keep her, always.
She’s as close as flesh and bone now, and God help the man or monster who tries to pull us apart.
Chapter 32
Wren
We sleep until noon, and I spend the rest of the day practicing the transformation. With the extra power of our fully sealed circle of five, I can shift in about a second now, going from girl to a very convincing man-monster in the time it takes to snap your fingers. And I sound almost exactly like him.
But will it be good enough? Convincing enough?
“Maybe I should act like I’ve got a sore throat if I have to talk to anyone,” I say as Creedence guides the van north around the lake while the first stars wink on in the sky.
“That will only draw more attention to it,” Dust says, turning to glance out the window. “You sound good. Trust yourself, Snow. You’ve got this.”
In the distance, the Fairmont Hotel glitters like something from a movie—its old-world charm highlighted by giant blue spotlights trained on the regal building and the manicured grounds below—while in another dimension, its evil twin squats in the shadows, smug and bloated with stolen riches. I can’t see the second structure, but I can feel it, dragging at my thoughts, tempting and repulsing me at the same time.
That is my world as much as it is his, but I haven’t had my chance to make a mark on it. Being in that dimension is like walking into my childhood home and finding hoarders have moved in, stuffing every corner with filth and clutter, making it feel like it will never belong to me again.
But it will, and when it does, I will demolish that castle, obliterate every poison brick, and build in its place a monument to honor the people Atlas destroyed. A garden, maybe, with statues and art and a lovely view of the lake.
“Should I change now?” I wonder aloud. “We’re almost there. I’m sure I can hold it for at least a half an hour, long enough to get through the portal, into the tunnels, past the critters and the dragon, and into the castle.”
“Then you’ll be too exhausted to shift into anything else,” Kite says. “We all need to conserve our energy. We don’t know how long this is going to take.”
“And I’m not sure I can handle your man body for that long, Slim,” Creedence tosses over his shoulder. “You smell funny as a dude.”
I bite my thumb, forehead furrowing. “Yeah? Like I’m-pretending-to-be-someone-I’m-not funny? Or like a guy who’s been alive too long and started to go funky beneath his skin funny?”
Creedence smiles, his eyes dancing as he meets mine in the rearview mirror. “The second one. Relax. You’ve got this. You look like him, talk like him, walk like him, smell like him. It’s all good.”
“I hope you’re right.” Bracing my elbows on my knees, I let my head hang down, trying to relax my neck and jaw. Smell is going to be especially important. If I haven’t locked in Atlas’s scent, we won’t get past the first obstacle. Animals know their people by scent as much as sight. Maybe even more.
Which is why the others will have to hang back until I make sure the tunnel is clear.
We could get lucky and Atlas’s nightmare creatures might be out for the night, wreaking havoc somewhere else, but we’re not counting on it. As we ran through the plan, we prepped for the worst possible scenarios, preparing to be outnumbered, out-armored, out-magicked, and double-crossed. There’s a chance the vampires are secretly working for Atlas, a chance someone has told him we’re coming, a chance that he’s been watching us again, hovering close enough to keep tabs on our every move.
“Take the next left,” Dust says. “There should be a clearing. We can park there.”
Park.
We’re here.
It’s starting, this thing I’ve dreaded and feared and longed for in equal measure. By the time the sun rises tomorrow, it will all be over, one way or another.
After bouncing the van over a patch of bumpy forest floor, Creedence parks and shuts off the engine. A beat later, Dust, who’s beside me in the middle seat, rests a hand on my back. Kite leans over the seat behind me, threading gentle fingers into my hair as Luke and then Creedence reaches back, taking my hands and completing the circle.
Before I know it, I’m doing something I haven’t done in a long, long time, “To any spirits, gods, goddesses, or ancestors out there listening, we ask for your help. We’re here to fight for the survival of this planet and the life and dignity of every creature on it. We don’t share a single faith, but we share a common purpose—to help love win.” I press my lips together as a wave of emotion churns in my chest. “But we’re outnumbered and scared and we sure would appreciate some support from your end if you’ve got any to spare. Give us strength, give us focus, give us the courage to keep going, no matter how dark the night gets. In the name of love.”
“For love,” Kite echoes, followed by soft murmurs of as
sent from Dust, Creedence, and even Luke.
When I lift my head and open my eyes, it’s Luke’s face I see first. He meets my gaze in the orange glow of the light above the rearview mirror and smiles, a wide, open smile that makes my nose wrinkle.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were enjoying this, Mr. Barajas,” I say, eyes narrowing as a soft laugh escapes his lips.
“You know me, Princess. Nothing I love as much as a good fight.” He pauses, arching a brow as he gives my hand another squeeze. “Well, almost nothing.”
A quick flash of Luke, his dark eyes meeting mine as his tongue flicks across my nipple, surges through my brain, making me shiver.
And laugh. I can’t believe I’m thinking about sex at a time like this. I can’t believe I’m laughing, but both feel right. We’re not going in there to die. We’re storming Atlas’s castle to fight for our right to live, love, and be free. And nookie and laughter are two of my favorite parts of being free.
Heart lighter than it was before our circle up, I hop out of the van behind Dust and circle around to the back, where Creedence is already unloading the heavy artillery Kite and Luke will be carrying in. Luke will be the most heavily armed, both because he knows what he’s doing when it comes to guns, and because he’s the only one of us who won’t be shifting, no matter what.
The moon is dark tonight, but once my eyes adjust, there’s enough starlight to appreciate the ripple of muscle across Cree’s bare back as he changes into the snug-fitting vampire body armor.
“I miss my muscles.” I sigh, leaning against the van as Cree and Dust begin to quickly assemble the various rocket launchers and automatic weapons. We were too nervous to carry the big guns outside of their cases, knowing that if we were pulled over by human law enforcement that kind of contraband would land us all in jail.
