by Bella Jacobs
It doesn’t hurt to kill a monster, but it cuts deep to kill a man. And no matter what skin this Kin Born solider is wearing, his cry is profoundly human.
Clenching my jaw and tensing my arms, I prepare to hurl my fireball. If I’m lucky, I’ll hit the wolf head on, send it tumbling down the hill as it burns so I won’t have to watch it die.
Another howl splits the morning, making my eardrums ache, and then a black wolf with a giant head and a mouthful of dangerously sharp teeth bursts from the bushes. “Luke?” I cry out, pain and joy shooting through me in equal measure.
And then he’s on me, ripping at my flesh with his claws and there is only pain—white-hot and agonizing.
Chapter 41
Luke
She cries out, and it tears me apart to know I’m hurting her, but I don’t stop.
Because I was a dragon, and then I fell from the sky and became a wolf again.
And somewhere between the sky and the ground, I realized the truth. My lack of Kin Gift, my inability to join with Wren as fully as the rest of them, the part of me that will always be human, no matter what those doctors did to my DNA, isn’t a curse or a weakness.
It’s a blessing, a gift only I can give to the woman we love.
I wish I could tell her that the pain will be over soon, promise her it will be worth it, but I’m still vision-blind. I’m a blunt instrument, a crude imitation compared to the elegant creation of Nature’s shifters. But sometimes all you need is a hammer to crack the shell and get at the good stuff.
I can feel the others, just beneath the surface, still not fully Wren, still close enough to the surface to come back to her.
To us.
Only now, with the chance to be her one and only laid out in front of me, ripe for the taking, do I know for certain that I don’t want it. Without Dust, Kite, and Creedence, she wouldn’t be the Wren I love anymore. She would be a house with the windows dark, with only ghosts roaming the halls.
She would be the walking wounded, and I can’t bear for it all to end this way, with our girl broken and forced to go on without us.
I catch Dust’s thread first, tangling the sinews of griffin in my claws and ripping them free. Wren screams, but the sound almost instantly turns to a soft cry of wonder. Her closed eyes fly open, staring deep into mine. Tears spill down her cheeks, but she’s nodding now, urging me on.
She feels it, what I’m trying to do for her. For all of us.
I find Creedence and drag the lynx from near her hip and then Kite—knotted in her ribs, but finally untangled, set free. Lowering my muzzle, I sniff at the ravaged, wide open core of the woman I love, but it’s all Wren now, nothing else left inside.
The sight of what I’ve done would horrify me in my human form, but my wolf can smell how strong she is. She’s indestructible, immortal.
But hopefully, now she won’t have to live her forever alone.
“Thank you,” she whispers, dragging her forearms across her eyes as she draws a shuddering breath. Already, the rips in her flesh are mending, knitting back together, leaving her clothed in the shredded remains of the vampire body armor she wore.
I sit back on my haunches, licking the blood from my paws, eying the piles of viscera and sinew I’ve torn from her as they begin to tremble and dance. Wren sits up, threading her fingers into my fur as she scoots closer to my side, laying her head on my shoulder. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she chants, nuzzling her face into my neck, wiping her tears away.
I lean into her, heart so full it overflows, taking my Kin Form over the edges with it. I slide into my human body more smoothly than ever before and turn, wrapping both of my arms around Wren and drawing her to my bare chest. “I’m sorry I hurt you, Princess.”
“Hurt me? You saved me.” She looks up at me, lips trembling into a smile.
“After you saved us first.” I kiss her forehead, murmuring against her skin, “You did it, woman. It’s over.”
“And they’re going to be all right,” she says, turning back to the increasingly human-looking Kite, Dust, and Creedence.
“We’re all going to be all right,” I agree, hugging her tighter as the sun warms my skin and six white horses take flight above us, soaring into the air above the forest, letting the world know that there’s a new queen in town.
And she is beautiful and kind, and from this day forward, she is taking exactly zero shit from the bad guys.
Chapter 42
Wren
Three weeks later…
It takes three weeks and enough calls with cagey vampires that I’m certain if I never talk to another sketchy, double-talking vamp again it will still be too soon, but we finally set up a meeting with Scarlett.
In Seattle.
Home.
But as Luke, Creedence, and I wander the streets of the Ballard district, while Dust and Kite catch up on Resistance business, I feel like I’m visiting an old friend, not returning to home base. As much as I love this city, I don’t belong here now. My place is in the mountains, straddling two worlds—and, hopefully, closing at the end of next week on a ten-acre human-realm farm with cherry trees, a trout pond, and a little barn perfect for housing goats.
“We’re going to get it,” I say, carefully scooping up a bite of each ice cream flavor in our sundae—caramel, malted milk ball, and fresh-milled vanilla—and a healthy dose of nougat drizzle before popping my spoon in my mouth. “Oh my God,” I moan around the bite. “So good.”
You Scream, I Scream was always my favorite ice cream shop, but after months of living in the boonies, or on the road, the flavors taste even sweeter than I remember.
“Keep making sounds like that, and we’re ditching the ice cream and going back to the hotel,” Creedence murmurs with a wicked grin. “And yes, we’re going to get it. That place has our names written all over it.”
“It’s so perfect.” I sigh with a rush of longing and excitement as I make room for Luke to take a dive into the sundae with his spoon. “It reminds me of where my parents lived when Scarlett and I were little.”
“Fuck me,” Luke murmurs in a husky voice as he swallows, making Cree and I both laugh.
I nudge him with my elbow. “See? It’s that good.”
“I may have to stop.” Luke shakes his head, brow lifting as he studies the decadent dish of in-house made ice cream. “Or I’ll embarrass myself.”
“Moan away. Don’t worry about it.” The cute little blonde behind the counter—Eliza according to her nametag—waves a hand our way. “We’re all used to it. There’s a reason that one’s called The Better than Sex on Sunday Sundae.”
Cree smirks. “We’ll see about that.” He spoons a bite, the skeptical arch of his brow smoothing into an expression of pure bliss. “Oh, shit, yes. I don’t know about Sunday, but definitely better than sex on Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday, too.”
I snort, rolling my eyes in Eliza’s direction with a what can you do with them? shake of my head. She laughs. “I’ll let management know. Holler if I can get you guys anything else. I’ll be in the freezer texting my evil ex-boyfriend, who was never better than a sundae, until someone else comes in.”
I smile as she bounces away, but as soon as she disappears through the door to the back, I lean in to whisper to the boys, “Am I crazy or is that girl some kind of shifter?”
“Lab made,” Luke confirms, snagging another spoonful. “But not a wolf. Something unusual.”
“See, aren’t you glad you started shifting again?” Cree asks. “Old Luke had zero instincts and no smell game. And I think she’s a giraffe, by the way.”
My brows shoot up. “Her? That tiny thing?”
Creedence shrugs. “Or maybe an elephant?”
I cock my head. “A giraffe and an elephant are nothing alike.”
“They both come from Africa,” Luke says before taking another bite of ice cream and moaning again. “God. How can this be so good? It’s like I’ve never really tasted ice cream before. Has it always been this fuck
ing incredible?”
“This is special ice cream.” My spoon goes heavy in my hand as I add, “It was mine and Carrie Ann’s favorite treat in the city. We’d save up our spare change for weeks and then come get whatever the sundae of the day was. That was our rule, so we wouldn’t get stuck in a rut choosing the same things.”
Cree rubs a hand up and down my back. “She was a good kid.”
“She was.” I take another bite, savoring each evolving flavor. Because you don’t stop living when the people you love are gone. You grieve and then you live even harder. For them. Because they would want you to relish every second of your precious, irreplaceable life.
Luke glances at his watch. “We should head out soon. Make sure we’re there before the vamp crew.”
“One more,” Creedence says, swiping up a huge bite of vanilla and practically all of the nougat.
“Hey,” I say, frowning his way. “Vanilla is my favorite, dude. And the rules of sundae eating clearly state thou shalt taste evenly of all flavors, especially when thou art sharing the sundae with friends.”
“You’re not my friend, you’re my wife,” Creedence says, kissing me with sticky-sweet lips. “And you lie—you don’t play favorites. It’s one of the most frustrating things about you.”
“I do with ice cream,” I say, but I can’t even fake a heated tone. Not when Creedence is kissing me and Luke’s hand is resting on my thigh under the table, his fingers digging in with enough pressure to make my blood as sticky-sweet as our dessert.
But there’s no time for a pit stop at the hotel.
It’s time to go get my sister.
Leaving a generous tip for Eliza, the maybe giraffe, maybe elephant who is definitely going through something if the angry message we hear her leaving for her ex is any indication, we head back into the warm summer air. It’s August, and the sky is as blue as a robin’s egg, making the entire firmament feel like a promise that life is only going to get better from here on out.
I’ve got a gorgeous man on either side of me, a new peasant dress in blue and red swirling around my ankles, and my sister waiting for me across town. I’m finally going to be able to hug her, hold her close, and tell her how much I’ve missed her. Then we’re going to head back to our hotel, hole up in the second room I rented for tonight, and drink wine and talk until we’ve caught up on everything we’ve missed.
And most exciting of all, I’m going to introduce her to my four amazing guys.
Luke summons a self-driving cab and we climb in, passing the short drive to the Chihuly Gardens in silence save for a text from Dust assuring us that he and Kite are also en route, and that their meeting with the new leaders of the Resistance went off without a hitch. The Kin Born are still out there, determined to destroy all lab-made shifters, but the Resistance is recovering fast.
Soon, the network will be back up and running in Seattle, helping protect shifters like Eliza, whose only sin is becoming a shifter without a mom or dad involved in the process. I know their work will take both Dust and Kite away from home in the future—Dust especially, as he’s taken more of a leadership role—but that’s all right. That’s one of the best parts of being a tightly bonded circle of five. Even when the people I love are far away, I can still feel them close, tucked away in my heart.
“Ready?” Luke squeezes my hand as we emerge from the cab in front of the combination outdoor glass art gallery and gardens. Of all my loves, he probably knows best what this moment means to me. He’s lost a sibling and knows exactly how incredible it would be to learn that the best friend you thought you’d lost isn’t gone, after all.
My breath rushes out. “I think so. I just hope she’s okay.”
“She’s fine,” Creedence assures me. “The vampires know better than to start something they can’t finish. And crossing the new ruling Fata Morgana would be a real stupid move.”
Because everyone is afraid of me now.
I took out Atlas, a monster who had achieved major Boogey Man status over his long, terrifying reign as the king of the shifters. No one saw the ultimate battle go down except the boys and me, but it doesn’t matter. The fact that Atlas is dead and I’m alive is all that matters.
The only reason the vampires didn’t deliver Scarlett to me the morning I asked is because she and her vampire “protector” had somehow managed to get halfway around the world, to a remote region of Nepal with little to no cell service.
Allegedly…
We’ll see what Scarlett has to say about that. If it’s true, fine. If it’s not, I may have to show that I’m willing to play hardball.
I don’t want to start something—I just finished something, and I’d like life to stay peaceful for a while—but Luke is right. I have to begin as I intend to continue.
I will be firm, but fair. Kind, but with a zero-tolerance policy for bullshit.
If I let the vampires get away with fucking with someone close to me, then other, less polite people might start to get ideas. I have to make it clear from day one that my family and friends are off-limits. No one threatens the people under my protection, or they’ll pay the price for it.
I’ll be who I need to be to keep all the things I love safe—my family, my husbands, and a world where good people are free to live and love as they see fit, without extremists like the Kin Born or the Church of Humanity threatening their safety.
Walking by the windows of an office building on our way to the gardens, the tall, confident-looking woman I see reflected back at me is nothing like the girl who was stolen away from this city a few months ago. Not even close.
But I think that girl would be proud of me. Of us.
We cross the street, hurrying to make it ahead of the flashing crosswalk light.
Kite, who’s standing beside Dust outside the entrance, sees us and lifts an arm, holding up a fistful of tickets. We’ve arranged to meet the vamps and Scarlett inside the gardens—after all of us have been through the metal detectors.
None of us need guns or swords to kill, of course, but I’m for anything that puts the other side at ease. Relaxed vampires’ minions are minions less likely to lose their shit and hurt Scarlett before the exchange is completed.
That’s another thing that makes me a little leery of this exchange. Sometime between that day in the conference room and the morning I called to let them know that I’d taken out Atlas and wanted my sister back, the vampires acquired demands for Scarlett’s release, making me think their “we’re worried you’re going to go over to the dark side” crap was just that…crap.
But seeing as I have no use for an enchanted wooden stake Atlas used a couple decades back to slaughter all the vampires in Ireland—there still aren’t any there, much like snakes—I’m happy to give them what they want.
Assuming I can get through security with it…
Hopefully it will blend in with all the other junk I threw in my purse.
“How’d the meeting go?” I tilt my face up for a kiss from Kite and then Dust, ignoring the curious look from the young woman standing next to them.
A lot of people have multiple partners these days, I’ve realized—humans and supernaturals—but it’s still a relatively unconventional arrangement. And most people with two or more honeys don’t have honeys as gorgeous as mine. These four would attract attention even if they weren’t all with the same woman.
“Good,” Kite says, glancing Dust’s way. “I think so, anyway.”
Dust sighs and pushes his sunglasses higher on his nose. “There are some things I’d like to see move along faster, that’s all. But I talked to the Seattle coordinator of Secret Service. Your parents are doing well. They’ve already helped free three kids taken from their shifter parents by the church.”
“That’s wonderful,” I say, heart squeezing at the mention of Mom and Pops. I wish I could go see them, but as long as they’re working undercover, we have to pretend to be estranged. If the church catches on that they’re still on good terms with their rogue shifter
daughter, they’ll be kicked out and all the kids they might have helped liberate will be lost.
So we communicate via a secret, secure chat board now. I’m hoping Scarlett will want to join us and catch up with the people who raised us, but I don’t know how she feels about our adoptive parents. She was never as forgiving as I am, and as the older sibling, she might remember more of what we lost.
I don’t honestly know. I’m missing so much information when it comes to Scarlett. I’m trying to keep an open mind and meet her wherever she’s at, but I can’t help hoping we’ll fall back into the kind of closeness we had when we were little, before she started pulling away.
“So what’s the plan if the guards take Wren’s stick?” Creedence asks as we start toward the security line. Thanks to a rash of bombings several years ago, all of Seattle’s tourist attractions are heavily secured, with metal detectors and armed guards at the entrances and exits.
“Then they take it.” I draw my bag strap over my head. “Stabby was never part of the original deal. They’re getting Stabby out of the goodness of my heart.”
“And if they decide to put up a fight about it?” Luke asks, not sounding overly concerned about a possible glass-garden brawl.
“Then we’ll fight them.” I shrug, ambling a few steps forward. “But whoever they’re sending with Scarlett can’t be a vampire, considering it’s still daylight for at least three more hours. So keep that in mind. If they’ve sent human guards, take it easy on them, all right? Short-term injuries only.”
Luke sighs and Creedence grumbles, “Well, that’s no fun.” But Dust says, “Agreed,” and I know Kite won’t use any more violence than absolutely necessary. For a former prize fighter, he’s reluctant to use his fists.
