by Rachel Jonas
“He charging you anything?” Toni asked, cocking her head to the side.
“If he was, I wouldn’t be going,” Marcela laughed.
Toni was on her feet the next second. “Then count me in. I barely passed that sucker myself.”
I laughed watching her scramble to gather her trash from lunch, and then hustle behind Marcela.
“See you guys in a few,” she said with a wave. I didn’t miss the look she and Blythe exchanged before leaving the two of us alone. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen it, and I was pretty sure I figured out what it meant.
It was their way of wordlessly checking in, asking if the other was cool sticking with me until someone else could cover the shift.
I appreciated their concern, and kept it to myself that I saw right through them.
“Looks like it’s just us for a while,” Blythe sighed. “What should we get into?”
I smiled, not having to give it very much thought. “Manny mentioned cupcakes, so…”
“You had me at cupcakes. Let’s go,” Blythe replied, standing quickly now that she had frosting on the brain.
I was on her heels, hightailing it across the courtyard, when a strange sensation in the pit of my gut stopped me cold in my tracks.
Blythe noticed my steps had halted and turned to me.
“What is it?” Concern riddled her expression as she came closer.
“I don’t know.” It was so hard to explain, but I was certain of one thing. “Something’s wrong.”
“Do you feel sick? Should I get Paulo?” When she said his name, her gaze flicked to where he stood leaning against a tree across the courtyard. It seemed as though he noticed my expression and was now coming toward us.
“It’s not me,” I told her, starting to breathe heavier as panic set in. “It’s … one of the guys.”
Paulo reached us just as the words left my mouth. “What do you mean?”
Confused, I shook my head while trying to explain. “It’s like I can feel him, whoever it is. I can feel he’s in danger, or … hurt maybe?”
I hated not knowing what it meant.
The entire left side of my body began to tingle, and I couldn’t shake it. Without thinking, I took a step that way, which made it grow even stronger.
One step turned into two, and then many, and I was gaining speed. Paulo and Blythe were sticking close, although I still had no idea where I was going or why.
‘Guys, you there?’
I was vaguely aware of Paulo’s inner conversation as he checked in on the others, dialing in on some sort of magnetism that pulled me toward it.
‘Yep, what’s up?’ Kai sounded off.
‘Here,’ Ori said next. ‘Everything good?’
They were safe. I breathed deeply, hearing their voices inside my head, but then that sense of relief left just as quickly as it came. Because if it wasn’t them …
“Rayen.”
His name rolled off my tongue as we neared the border wall. I hadn’t been great in flight, but it seemed my body had forgotten about that as fire consumed my skin, and within seconds, my pace quickened to an unfathomable speed until I was airborne.
“Noelle, where are you going?”
I didn’t glance back when Paulo called out to me, but I wasn’t surprised that he was still sticking close. Just like Blythe. She, too, had taken to the air, but not with wings and fire.
With magic.
“I have to go to him,” I tried to explain, speaking loudly to be heard over the wind as it passed beneath me, as my wings sliced through with ease.
“We don’t even know where they’re keeping him.”
I couldn’t make him understand that it suddenly didn’t matter that we hadn’t been given an address, or coordinates. At that very moment, my dragon and Rayen’s were in sync, and I only knew one thing.
He needed me.
And he needed me right away.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Paulo
‘She’s headed toward Jacob’s Ridge. Meet us in the air in two minutes.’
‘On it,” Ori answered.
I was on Noelle’s trail as she tore through the sky, fast and precise, like she’d been doing this for years. Something primal drove her in Rayen’s direction. There was nothing more powerful than a tether, and I was positive that was what pulled her in his direction.
Which left me to wonder, what had been so dire that she’d taken off so urgently?
Two bolts of fire joined us in the air, and I made out the outline of broad wings aimed straight back as my brothers rose to our height, startling Blythe at first. She hadn’t even hesitated to take off after Noelle, despite having no idea where she was leading us. I wasn’t sure what kind of rocky history Toni hinted at several times, but it seemed that was behind them.
The only ones who follow you blindly are true friends.
A dense expanse of trees lie up ahead and Noelle began to lower toward it. Those of us trailing her did the same. Within seconds we were on the ground and our dragons had only retreated enough not to be visible, but mine was certainly on high alert.
She’d taken us to a stretch of land dangerously close to the northern border, near the forbidden land where The Darkness roamed uninhibited.
“What’s she doing?” Blythe whispered.
I shrugged and kept my eyes on Noelle. “I believe she’s looking for Rayen. She seemed to sense that he needs help.”
Confused, Blythe frowned. “But I thought you all couldn’t feel him, couldn’t communicate with him because of something the chief’s witches had done?”
“That’s true, but … Noelle’s different,” I reminded her. “It’s not so hard to imagine that her connection to him, to all of us, reaches beyond whatever the witches have done to sever the Omegas tie to Rayen. We can’t reach him, but that doesn’t mean Noelle can’t feel him. If his situation is dire enough …” I trailed off then, not wanting to think the worst, but it couldn’t be helped.
We’d worried about him for weeks, doing what we could to reason with Chief Makana, going out and looking for Rayen ourselves when we got tired of being dicked around. Every effort left us emptyhanded and frustrated. Ori did his part to keep us levelheaded, reminded us that once Rayen served whatever time Chief deemed necessary, he’d return home, and everything would return to normal.
Only, this trek deep into the rainforest, with Noelle searching frantically for our brother, made me wonder if his prediction had been wrong.
“Do you still sense him?” I had to ask, unable to keep quiet.
Noelle’s gaze darted back and forth as her feet carried her straight ahead. “I do, but … it’s starting to get faint.”
“Are we headed in the wrong direction then?” Kai chimed in.
She shook her head and I didn’t miss the strain of emotion in her tone when she spoke again. “No, that’s not it.”
Which meant her sense of him was fading.
Which meant … maybe he was fading.
“Let’s speed up,” Ori urged.
Our fast-paced walk turned into a full-on sprint. Noelle paused a moment, before veering slightly to the right as her intuition pulled her in a new direction.
We ran for miles, staying right with our queen, moving closer and closer to the border. So close smoke from the ever-burning blaze we Firekeepers kept lit was now visible. I glanced toward Ori as a question passed from my thoughts to his.
‘Do you think they sent him there? Into the northern hemisphere?’
I hated that this idea even seemed possible. However, with Chief’s behavior lately, I honestly couldn’t put anything past him. Even the idea of him endangering one of us—a warrior sent by Spirit to protect this island. An island he claimed to love and regard higher than his own life.
‘Wherever he is, we’re going in after him.’
I couldn’t have agreed with Ori more. Even if it meant we would all be endangering our lives to save his.
My hands braced against Noelle�
��s shoulders when I nearly ran into her. She stopped cold and pointed. I followed her gaze to a dark mound up ahead.
“He’s over there,” she panted, out of breath from how we raced to get here.
None of us questioned her, just picked up the pace again and ran full-steam ahead, this time with a clearer sense of where we were headed. We came to a stop at the base of the oddly placed hill, circling around it until we reached the other side and discovered a wrought-iron gate sealing some sort of entrance.
The five of us stood there, staring at the darkness beyond it.
‘We can’t let her go in there,’ Ori said, taking the words right out of my mouth.
‘Then what’s the plan to keep her out?” I asked. ‘Because we all know simply stating that it’s not safe won’t stop her.’
‘You and Ori can go in after Rayen,’ Kai reasoned, “and I’ll keep her here. If I thought I could convince her to trail me back to the bungalow, I would try, but I don’t think it’ll work. She’s stubborn.’
‘Think her friend could use a spell to maybe sedate her?’ I knew it was a longshot, but had to ask. We didn’t have very many options.
Ori sighed, thinking harder. ‘Kai might just have to take her by surprise, subdue her and carry her to safety.’
“Try it,” Noelle seethed.
All three of our eyes snapped toward her when she seemed to have responded out loud to our thoughts. With a threat no less.
“What are you talking about?”
At first, it seemed Kai’s question would go unanswered as Noelle continued to stare at the gate that stood between us and Rayen. Then, when she was ready to talk, she pivoted on her heels to face us all.
“I can hear you,” she said with a sigh. “Your thoughts. All of them. Since the day I shifted.”
My brow tensed with confusion, and my brothers wore similar expressions.
“At first, I didn’t say anything because it was kind of cool knowing what you guys were thinking, and then eventually, I didn’t say anything because I was kind of embarrassed I hadn’t told you sooner.”
This new info had me running through the ultra-long list of crass things that flowed between my brothers and I on a daily basis. If I hadn’t been so focused on Rayen, I would have probably felt like an idiot, but I was certain there would be plenty of time for that later.
“So, no,” Noelle said flatly. “I will not stand out here while you guys go in after him. And, no, I will not leave.”
With that, she didn’t waste another second debating, instead turning back toward the gate to see if she could pry it open. It shuttered when she tugged it hard, but didn’t budge.
“We might be able to kick it in, but I’m not sure we should make our presence known. There are others inside,” she informed us. “I can smell them. Dragons.”
Blythe stepped forward and placed her hand on the bars. “Here, let me try.”
Our gazes were locked on her as several pulses of purple energy vibrated from her hands to the metal, and then the hinges creaked quietly.
Noelle passed her friend a quick smile, thanking her as we moved inside.
Darkness surrounded us completely. One sharp turn left as the ground began to slope downward cut us off from even the light at the entrance. We were descending quickly, headed into what could have very well been a trap.
The smell of damp earth greeted us when we went deeper. So far, there was only one direction we could travel, which made things only marginally easier. Still, something didn’t feel right.
My steps halted when Noelle gripped my wrist from where she walked beside me.
“Someone’s close,” she barely whispered.
No one moved, listening harder.
“I need to go first,” she insisted, warranting an abrupt protest.
“Absolutely not,” I said flatly, putting my foot down. “We have no idea what’s ahead of us.”
“I can protect myself,” she reminded me. Not that I needed reminding. Having seen her in action, I knew what she was capable of. Still, that didn’t change the fact that she was our responsibility. Didn’t make me forget that she was important to our hive, or that any one of us would choose death for ourselves before we’d let harm come to her.
“Paulo, I need you to trust me.”
I couldn’t see a thing down there, not even my own hand in front of my face, but I felt her. I knew she stared at me with that unwavering conviction in her eyes.
My only response was a deep sigh, and she took it for what it was. Me letting her have her way.
Her soft steps were right ahead of me now as the passageway narrowed, and I didn’t let her move more than an arm’s length away.
Another turn—this time to the right—and faint light could be seen up ahead. Orange light outlined Noelle’s dark hair and features as she crept forward, until the glow surrounding her brightened into a golden aura.
“Guards,” she said, having a better view around the bend than the rest of us. “I’m gonna go talk to them.”
“What?” The whispered question flew from my mouth as I managed to grab only the hem of her shirt, which wasn’t enough to pull her back.
She stepped forward, and before either of the guards could get the wrong idea, thinking they’d simply overpower her, Ori, Kai and I fell in step with Noelle, creating a wall behind her.
Our girl was insane, and brave to a fault, but only when it came to stepping up for one of us. She made it clear on more than one occasion that she’d put it all on the line if she had to, solidifying her place within our hive.
“Take us to the prisoner,” she said with confidence, not bothering to ask if there was even anyone being held down there. She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt this was the place.
One stepped up, wearing a look of concern as his gaze shifted behind Noelle, to the three of us. “On … whose authority?” he stammered.
“Mine.” Noelle didn’t back down. In fact, her shoulders squared a bit when she answered. “The dragon you’re holding doesn’t belong here, because he hasn’t committed any crime, so we’ve come to see to it that his sentence ends today.”
The guard turned to look at his partner, still smirking. “Abe and I can’t let you do that,” he answered, sounding bolder now. “We’ve been given strict orders by Chief not to let anyone down here without proper clearance. So, unless you have the same credentials as the last visitor, we’re going to have to ask that you leave.”
His partner, Abe, stood to his feet as well, as if the two expected trouble out of us.
“Wait. What visitor?” Noelle asked, confusion apparent in her tone.
The two stared blankly, defiant.
“Answer her question,” Ori commanded, his voice thundering inside the small space. The guards may not have known yet who Noelle was, but they certainly knew of the Omegas.
Abe’s gaze rose to meet Ori’s. “The truth is, we’re not sure.”
Tension spread across my brow. “What do you mean you’re not sure?”
“The person was cloaked and they didn’t speak. We were simply handed the proper paperwork and then opened the gate. We’re not here to ask questions or dig into why Chief grants certain ones access. All we’re here to do is make sure that those who aren’t authorized don’t make it beyond this point.”
My fists clenched when I sensed a challenge in that statement.
“Or what?”
I peered down at Noelle when she asked. Faint, just beneath her skin, I noticed the glow of blue light beginning to show through, angular symbols that always seemed to show up before she did something wickedly insane.
Or violent.
“If someone were to try and force their way through … we’d have no choice but to take action against them,” Abe said with confidence.
He had no idea what hell he would face if he tried. From us, from our queen.
Noelle’s shoulders heaved as she began to breathe deeper. In the tight space, I thought I heard the deep rumble of her wolf, b
ut wasn’t sure.
“I’m going to ask one more time,” she seethed, speaking through clenched teeth. “Please … take us to the prisoner.”
The guard who first greeted us faltered a little, seeing how the markings on Noelle’s skin brightened to almost full strength. I imagined he’d never seen anything like it, because we hadn’t either before her.
His gaze flitted from Noelle’s to mine.
“I already told you,” he started. “If you don’t have proper paperwork, I—”
A sound similar to a rock being smashed exploded into the hollow space where we stood bargaining, and all of a sudden, the guard’s words cut off. His entire body crumpled to the ground in a broken heap when Noelle’s hand jutted out, and then closed into a tight fist. It was as if she’d smashed the man’s large frame like a soda can, with nothing more than a gesture.
Dead silence.
My gaze panned to Ori as he watched Noelle with disbelief and concern overshadowing all else.
Abe, shivering and sweating, slowly shifted his eyes to what was left of his friend.
Noelle took steps forward, lessening the distance between herself and the one remaining guard. He was terrified, which became evident as he backed closer to the wall that stood only a foot or so behind him. He had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
“Your friend gave me the wrong answer,” she said calmly—too calmly to have just killed a man, simply because he stood between her and Rayen. “So, I’m giving you a chance to get it right.”
Abe took zero seconds giving Noelle’s offer any thought. Instead, he began fumbling with a large ring with keys clanking around it before she even finished her thought. The gate behind him was quickly unlocked, granting us access to the next section of the cave.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Paulo
Every so often, as he led the way, Abe’s eyes wandered over his shoulder, carefully scanning Noelle. I guessed for signs she’d see to it that he met a fate similar to his friend’s.
A five-minute trek took us deeper into the narrow cave. When Abe finally stopped, it was as we turned abruptly and approached the mouth of another passage. One void of the mounted, intermittent torches that had provided a sparse source of light to this point.
