by Hawke Oakley
I hesitated. The sound was clear this time. It wasn’t an animal, and we were too far away from any human civilizations for it to be anything but a shifter.
Chillingly, the groan turned into tortured words. “Help me…”
I held Angel close to my chest and ran out of the barrier. A dark, crumpled shape lay a few yards below, collapsed against the rocky earth. The person groaned again. They didn’t seem able to move.
“Hang on,” I called. Filled with both wariness and sympathy, I rushed towards them. I stopped a few feet away. “Are you okay? What happened?”
The person didn’t lift their head. They groaned again, obviously in pain. Judging by the voice, it was a man.
“Hello? Can you hear me?” I asked.
“Yes… Please, help me.”
I stayed put. I wanted to help this man, but I was holding my child and I definitely wasn’t going to put her down.
“I can’t help you up,” I told him, “but I can get help from my tribe. Do you need help?”
The man groaned in agony. None of his limbs were bent at unnatural angles, and I didn’t see any wounds - but now I smelled blood. Some of the stones beneath his chest were stained red with fresh blood.
“You’re hurt,” I said, leaning in to get a better view. “Where are you injured? I need you to tell me, or I can’t - ”
The man’s hand shot out and grabbed my ankle. I yelped. I tried to kick myself out of his grip, but threw myself off balance in the process and fell against the earth. Instinctively, I held Angel close to my chest.
I cried out in pain and fear as I hit the ground. Angel was silent, her eyes wide, then began to cry.
“What’s wrong with you?” I snapped at the man, whose head was still down. I attempted to free myself again but his grip around my ankle was tight and cruel.
The man lifted his head. Cold terror shook me to the core.
It was the same mysterious man I’d encountered the night I created the Cinderhollow barrier.
“Let go!” I snarled, kicking at him with my other leg. The sudden jolt caused the man to grunt and let go. But then, to my dismay, he got to his feet. A bright red gash on his arm was his only injury - the source of the blood on the rocks - but otherwise he was fine.
I barely had time to react. His hands shot out again, grabbing me by the waist. I shuddered in horror. Touching my ankles was bad enough, but the strange intimacy of this stranger’s hands on my hips filled me with disgust.
“You’re sick,” I spat. “Pretending to be injured so I’d come help you? Bastard!”
“I am not pretending. I really am bleeding,” the man said with a strange smile, offering me a view of his injury.
Did he hurt himself just to lure me in?
“Please, don’t struggle,” the man growled. “This is for the best, Halo. Believe me.”
“What’s your fucking problem?” I snapped, not even caring that my daughter heard my foul language. “Who are you and what do you want from me?”
He smiled in a cold curve of his mouth. “It’s nice to see you again. And the little one.”
I clutched Angel closer, furious. “I’ll kill you if you touch her.”
He didn’t react. His grip on my waist didn’t loosen.
“It’s about time we met properly, isn’t it? My name is Zenon.”
I kept quiet. Zenon’s gaze flickered to my daughter again, who was sniffling. I cupped my hand around the back of Angel’s head, restricting her face from view. I didn’t want her to see Zenon, and I definitely didn’t want him to see her.
“I suppose that’s the reason you didn’t want to leave when I first asked,” Zenon remarked. “You would be leaving behind a mate, and a child.”
My blood boiled. I hated hearing him speak about Angel and Kass that way, like they were footnotes in my life instead of everything I lived for. I curled my lip into a growl.
Zenon sighed. “It’s a shame. We could have given you everything. I could have given you everything, Halo.”
“We?”
I don’t see anybody else around. Is he lying?
“Yes. The rest of my pack.”
I vaguely remembered his mention of a pack the first time he spoke to me, months ago. It hadn’t unnerved me nearly as much back then.
I wanted my mate beside me. I wanted Kass. Despite not having shared a mutual claiming bite, we were still mates, and that meant we met our challenges together. Things between us had been tense lately, but I had no doubt Kass would run in headfirst to save me if he were here right now.
“My mate is on his way,” I lied. “He’ll kill you if he sees you doing this.”
“Doing what?” Zenon asked innocently. “I’m merely holding you, Halo.”
I snarled. “You’re foul. Let go of me.”
His grip tightened on my waist, and I shivered in disgust. “I cannot. You need to come with me. You can bring the child, too, if you wish.”
Fury exploded inside me. “What?”
“I am begging you, Halo,” Zenon muttered, leaning in so close that his breath touched my face. I shuddered, wishing I was any place but here. “This is your last chance.”
My blood ran cold. “Last chance for what?”
Zenon shut his eyes, his face twisting as if he was in genuine pain. “I didn’t want to do this, but if it will sever the tie between you and your mate…”
He let go of one of my hips. He wound back his arm. The hand at the end of it became a fist.
He aimed straight at Angel.
At my baby.
A scream wrenched itself from my throat. “No!”
My entire body was engulfed by flames. Zenon leapt back, momentarily stunned by the display. Fire shot out from every inch of my skin, like an inferno of armor. Both Angel and I were immune to the blaze; I only felt a comfortable warmth, and relief that it shielded us from that monster.
The displeasure on Zenon’s face twisted into fury. “Stop that!”
“Get away from me!” I yelled.
Zenon made no move to grab me. He was afraid of the flames, like every other person. A slight sense of relief settled on me, and I smirked despite the situation.
“Not so confident now, are you?”
“This is for your own good, Halo,” Zenon growled. “You must understand.”
The smirk on my face quickly transformed into a snarl of rage. “You tried to kill my baby!”
Zenon smiled and suggested, “You can always create more. You are young, and fertile.”
Nausea hit me. My gut twisted with disgust and rage.
“Leave now before I kill you!” I shouted.
That got Zenon’s attention. His arms lowered to his side, and the anger on his face retreated into a neutral frown. I hesitated, bordering on relief, expectant that he would give up and leave.
Instead, he attacked.
The sudden assault caught me off my lowered my guard. Zenon slammed into me.
I had a split second to act, and I couldn’t protect us both. As if by instinct, a translucent magical bubble surrounded Angel as she flew from my arms. She landed, stunned and afraid, but safe, a few feet away.
Zenon’s lunge knocked me to the ground. Rocky outcrops slashed my skin as I fell, and I gasped from the sudden pain.
Zenon pinned me. His body weight was too much for me to even attempt to move. I cried out angrily, twisting my body underneath him, but he was too strong. He dug his fingers into me harder, not reacting to the roaring flames that engulfed my flesh. Tears of anger and fear and frustration welled in my eyes.
“Fuck off!” I yelled.
Wild panic consumed me.
Why isn’t he on fire? Why isn’t he getting burned?
“There’s no need for that kind of language, Halo,” Zenon scolded. The words struck disquiet in my chest. It reminded me too much of something Kass would say. My heart twisted with longing and terror.
Kass, I need you!
Zenon suddenly stood. A wave of relief surged thro
ugh me. I scrambled upright in time to see him walking towards Angel.
He readied his fist again. He intended to hit his target this time.
“No!”
Zenon threw his fist. My scream ripped through the air.
A blinding flash of light engulfed us. I didn’t feel any pain.
Zenon’s fist didn’t connect with Angel. Still, she began to cry.
The light disappeared as quickly as it came. I blinked painfully, stunned and disoriented.
Suddenly an earth-shaking boom thundered overhead. Dark, heavy storm clouds gathered in the sky above, nearly blocking out the light of the sunset. The sky rumbled, low and deep.
The realization hit me. Lightning.
But that was no natural lightning.
As if my lungs were suddenly full of air, I gasped and scrambled to my feet. Zenon stood a few feet away, his posture stiff and awkward. His fingers were stuck in a claw-like position. Smoke rose from his body. A horrible scent filled the air, like burning meat.
The lightning had struck Zenon.
No, I thought with dread, this isn’t natural. I was the one who summoned the lightning. With my magic.
Zenon growled, a low sound that filled me with fear. Despite being charred by the lightning, he turned towards me with his awful claw-hands outstretched. “You…”
“How are you still moving?” I cried.
His voice croaked. “Halo…”
With a last-ditch surge of energy, Zenon lunged for me again. But this time, his movement was impaired by the electricity still erratically coursing through his skin. Before he could touch me again, I summoned a white-hot blast of fire and launched it directly at him.
Zenon screeched, throwing his head back. The horrible sound of his scream tore the stormy air louder than any thunder.
The fire caught this time. He fell, still screaming, into a dusky pile of thrashing limbs. I quickly ran to Angel and picked her up, then put distance between us and Zenon. After that, my body wouldn’t move. I could only watch in horror as Zenon shrieked inside the flames.
The stench of blood and smoke clung to me. I gasped at the horrible, ashy scent as it surrounded me, tainting the air and making me feel sick.
“Halo!”
The familiar voice of my mate. In any other circumstance, it might have calmed me, but the scene in front of me was too horrible.
Kass’s heavy panting was cut short at the sight before him. He gasped. For a moment, neither of us could speak.
Zenon’s cries grew weak. His body crumpled to the ground.
“Halo,” Kassius said slowly, “what the hell happened?”
I turned to Kass, my eyes wide. “Kass,” I whimpered, half in relief and half in terror. “I had to.”
I expected Kass to approach me, to hold me, to stroke my hair and promise that everything would be okay.
Instead, Kass backed away.
Zenon was silent. He no longer moved. I stepped back from the body that had been alive just moments earlier. It lay still and lifeless now, collapsed in an unnatural way on the ground.
“Kass?” I asked with a note of panic.
My mate’s face went cold. “Halo, did you do this?”
“What?” I murmured. I turned to Zenon’s body, smoking and still. The sight churned my stomach. “I…”
“Did you do this?” Kass snapped.
The sharpness of his words made me flinch.
My mate glared. “Answer me right now.”
“Yes.”
The silence in the air felt as deep and cold as a grave. Wordlessly, Kass approached me. His shoulders were stiff, his expression tense. As if to soothe myself, I pressed Angel closer to my chest. She had stopped crying, presumably out of shock.
“How could you do this?” Kassius asked, his voice low. When I didn’t reply, he barked, “How?”
I flinched. “Kass, he was trying to hurt me! And Angel!”
“Halo, you killed him. You’re a murderer.” The word sounded evil on his tongue, sharp and venomous, like cutting through flesh - and as soon as he said it, I knew our relationship would never be the same.
“I had to!” I shouted, filled with fear and anxiety. “I had to, Kass, you don’t understand!”
“No, I don’t,” he muttered.
His hand grabbed me firmly by the upper arm and began leading me back silently into the Cinderhollow barrier.
“What are you doing?” I asked. I couldn’t hold back the quiver in my voice. “Kass?”
He didn’t reply.
“Kassius, what are you doing?”
“I’m doing what I should have done a long time ago,” he said quietly. “I’m turning you into the Knights.”
* * *
I exhaled a deep breath, and opened my eyes to face Kass in the present day. “And I’m sure you know the rest.”
13
Kassius
Halo’s story felt like a brutal slap to the face.
My chest clenched with uncertainty, grief and regret. I grasped the front of my shirt, as if trying to remove a weight there, like it would ease any of the pain.
“Is that true?” I asked barely above a whisper.
“All of it is true,” Halo replied. Despite the dreadfulness of the memories, his expression was calm and collected. Or maybe he was just blocking off his emotions to make this any easier.
“I… I don’t know what to say. Where to even begin.” I stared at my hands, clenched into distressed fists on the comforter. The same hands that had dragged Halo away and thrust him towards the Knights for judgment.
Halo glanced away with a slight shrug.
“I am so sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know - ”
“No, you didn’t,” Halo interrupted. Old unearthed anger stirred in his voice. “You didn’t know what was going on, and you just jumped to conclusions. You didn’t even hear me out, Kass, even when I told you he was trying to hurt us.”
Furious and ashamed at myself, I remained silent.
“Say something,” Halo demanded with a sigh.
“There’s nothing I can say that can change what I did,” I muttered. “I was an idiot.”
Halo frowned, even angrier than before. “Yeah, you were. But this isn’t about you. This is about what you did to Angel and I. To us, our family.”
The comforter tightened in my grip as I clenched my fists. “But it’s true. I ruined everything.”
Halo let out another disgruntled sigh. “As much as I love hearing that after four hundred centuries, seeing you all pathetic like this is pissing me off. Look at me.”
I lifted my head. Tears lined the corner of his eyes, and only then did I notice that my eyes burned with the onset of dammed-up tears as well.
“Nobody can change the past.” Halo paused. “Well, except maybe me. But I have no intention of going back in time. I only care about moving forward. Do you get that?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, good. So… What are we going to do?” He gestured to both of us, then lifted his arms. “About us? About this whole shitty situation we’re in?”
I grumbled and put my head in my hands. “I don’t know.”
“No. Stop that!” Halo smacked my arms away. “Stop moping. You already had enough time for that. We need to fix this, Kass. I need you.”
The words stirred affection in my heart. “You do?”
“Of course, idiot.” Despite insulting me, Halo was smiling. “I need my big, strong, confident alpha. The one I fell in love with. Not this mopey guy.”
“Can’t I be a big, strong, confident alpha and a mopey guy at the same time?”
He grinned. “Yeah, I guess you can. But we can help change the latter part. So use your brain.”
My brain felt like mush after the harrowing story, but I tried to kick it into gear for Halo’s sake.
“We need to deal with Silas,” I began, “and find out who he’s working with. Once they’re dealt with, I don’t think we’ll have any more issues. I thought magic mig
ht be a problem, but Cinderhollow is fine. In fact, it’s thriving.”
Halo smiled. “Thanks for finally acknowledging that. And you’re welcome, by the way.”
“After that… We can find Angel,” I said. “Wherever she is.”
“Oh, right, about that. When I saw her with those two men - Scar and Ryu - they mentioned a Dr. Lynden.”
I felt a surge of hope. “The woman from the fountain?”
Halo nodded. “It must be the same one. So we have two leads. One, go to Dr. Lynden and ask about Angel, or two, hang out by the bar - the Drunken Dragon - until they show up.”
“The bar?” I wrinkled my nose.
“Yeah. Scar - he’s the omega, I think - he owns the bar that I left Angel in front of. I mean, not on purpose, that’s just where I ended up where I teleported.”
“Scar isn’t a very nice name for an omega,” I muttered.
Halo shrugged. “They seemed like nice people. I got a good feeling about them. And it’s still safer for her to be with them than us.”
I sighed, frustrated with myself. This was a problem of my own making, so I had no right to complain about it now.
“I miss her,” I murmured.
Halo frowned deeply. “I do, too.”
“And I miss you, Halo.”
His eyes flickered with tender hope and sadness. “Me too, Kass. Sometimes it feels like even when you’re right in front of me, still I miss you.”
My heart ached, recalling the moment centuries ago where I’d had the same thought about him.
The movement felt utterly natural. I took his face gently in my hands, brought him closer and kissed him softly on the lips. He didn’t struggle or tense - he kissed back, slow and meaningful.
A sudden burst of scent wafted off Halo, sweet and musky. It made my mind buzz. Did he smell like that before?
Halo noticed it, too. He paused, drawing back. “Oh.”
“What?”
He blinked at me and grinned sheepishly. “Did you just - kiss me into starting my heat?”
My brows flew high. “Did I?”
“Pretty sure you did.”
The scent locked into place. Alluring, painfully luscious, and irresistable; the scent of Halo’s heat flooded my nose and sent a shockwave of arousal down to my cock.
