by Cheree Alsop
“Matthew will be the next one I visit,” Ras said, his eyes rolling maniacally. “Wouldn’t that serve them right, to have two Falconans and a freak Shifter for children? Or do you think they’d just forget about all of us and have another?”
“Don’t talk about them like that,” I growled. “They loved us!”
“Oh, really. Did they love you when they called the cops?”
I was at a loss for words. Anger and frustration burned inside me like an inferno. I lunged at Ras. The Falconan’s eyes widened in surprise. He tripped over a chair and fell with me on top of him. Before I could get a good hold, Ras kicked and sent me flying into a table.
I rolled to my feet in time to dodge a thrown chair followed by an expensive looking piece of lab equipment that shattered across the floor. I dove under another chair, then tackled Ras against the wall. The Falconan punched me in the stomach, then the ribs. I grunted, feeling my ribs give way. Ras shoved me and I fell over a table to the floor. Vials and microscopes crashed to the ground.
The Falconan was on top of me, clawing at my eyes. I struggled, but couldn’t get away. I heard Kyla scream my name. Ras reached behind me and grabbed a shard of glass from the table debris.
I swung a leg around him and rolled over, drawing the knife from its sheath at my ankle. I pinned Ras to the floor, the knife at his throat.
My chest heaved. I could feel my bruised ribs protesting through the fog of adrenaline. I glared into my brother’s yellow eyes and fought back the instinct that urged me to end Ras’ life, to stop the torment, danger, and pain my brother had brought to me and so many others.
“I never gave up looking for you,” I growled, my grip on the knife so tight my knuckles turned white. Blood dripped through the soaked bandage around my hand and colored the blade. I held it steady at the Falconan’s jugular. “I wanted more than anything to bring you home, to make it right.
Ras forced his words out through his tight throat, “You failed me, brother.” He swallowed against my grip, then repeated, “You failed me.” His words softened and there were tears in his voice when he continued, “I waited for you, Marek, but you never came.”
I blinked past the tears that filled my eyes. “I won’t fail you again,” I replied past the knot in my throat.
My heart pounded, my vision clouded with hot, angry tears. My hands were steady despite the blood that thundered in my ears. Slowly, I backed up off my brother. I threw the knife hard toward the closest wall; the blade struck and snapped in half. The hilt and blade made a loud clatter on the tile floor.
My chest heaving, I motioned to Officer Brayton. He stepped forward and fastened handcuffs around Ras’ wrists. The Falconan glared at me with iron rage. His eyes narrowed, the sorrow in them turning to hate. There was nothing left of my brother in those eyes. I stumbled back and let them lead him away.
“Let’s go,” I said to Officer Brayton. My heart ached; I wanted more than anything to finish this and leave the labs once and for all. Phoenix fell in beside me and looked for a second like he was going to argue, but I shook my head and silenced him with a look before he could open his mouth.
Officer Brayton glanced between us, then nodded. He left through the door and I followed, throwing one last anxious glance back to make sure Kyla, Kip, Mr. March, and Flint were safely surrounded by the police officers who defended the room.
Officer Brayton led me down a narrow hallway to a flight of stairs. We run up them to find officers around the door that led outside. Several were wounded and one looked like he wasn’t going to make it. “What happened?” Officer Brayton demanded.
“Falconans showed up,” one of the few uninjured officers said. He held pressure to a man’s shoulder while another tied his belt around the man’s bleeding leg.
Officer Brayton sword softly and took a quick survey of his men. Of the five, only the one assisting his comrades looked up to a fight. “Radio Hamilton to escort the paramedics up here. Follow us out when backup arrives.”
The Officer nodded and turned back to the man he assisted.
“Ready?” Officer Brayton asked us.
I pulled open the door, glanced out, then we ran onto the roof. Phoenix covered my right side while Brayton took my left. We fell in behind an air conditioning vent and listened to the sounds of struggle beyond.
I took a deep breath that pulled at my bruised ribs. “Galbran!” I shouted, my voice fueled with rage.
“I knew it was you, Marek.” Galbran’s cold voice brought ice to my veins. “Only you could cause me so much trouble after all I’ve done for you.”
I clenched and unclenched my hands. “You deserve every bit of pain I bring you,” I growled. “You’ve ruined your last life. The police are with me and they’ll make sure your experimenting days are over.”
“You’re worthless scum, Marek,” Galbran replied with a snarl. “You’re nothing but a failed experiment.”
I ground my teeth to keep from baring them. I took a calming breath. “You’ve never made anything but failed experiments.” Galbran’s breath caught and I knew I had hit a sore subject. I rose slowly from my crouch and tried to find him over the edge of the vent. “How many children’s lives did you steal? How many families did you destroy? How do you account for the thousands of childhoods you took away?”
I crept closer to the man who was responsible for my unhappiness, for the necessity of the pack, for taking Raven’s wings, for destroying my family, for May, for Shane. I was aware at the same time of the Falconans that surrounded him, protecting him with their lives. Drawing him out was my best option. “There’s no place for someone like you in this world. You’re more like an animal than any of us, lower than an animal. You not only experimented on other people’s children, you did it to your own son.”
When Galbran stood, outrage in his eyes, I was ready. I dove over the vent and tackled him to the ground before the Falconans around him could move. I grabbed him in a headlock and pinned him with my knee on his back. “Tell them to back down or I’ll snap your spine,” I growled threateningly into his ear.
“Stand down,” Galbran said hoarsely. The Falconans hesitated. “I said stand down! Weapons to the floor!” he yelled. The Falconans around us dropped their weapons and backed up. I heard the sound of officers filing through the door to the roof.
I held in my hands the life of the man I hated most in the world. I bared my teeth. “Flint is better than you, Galbran. We all are,” I said quietly in his ear. He opened his mouth to protest, but I squeezed tighter and he gasped instead. Blood pounded in my ears and the faces of those he had hurt flashed through my mind.
I saw May’s still face, her eyes closed as if she slept. I heard Raven’s cry of pain the night he tried to shift and realized he could no longer fly. I thought of the thousands of Lost we had returned home, and of those we had missed. The Falconans I had killed below had been someone’s children, their sons and daughters. I thought of Ras; my brother was gone from his eyes, he was a now a killing machine thanks to one man’s selfish desires.
My grip tightened and no one moved to stop me. Galbran’s breath gurgled beneath my fingers and he let out a straggled cry, clawing at my hands, but they were numb to his touch. Blood dripped down my arm from the knife wound through my hand. A drop fell to the roof, the sound loud in the expectant silence.
The thought that Galbran deserve a fate far worse than what I could bring loosened my grip. I let him back down slowly. The Falconans around us were already in handcuffs thanks to Brayton’s officers. I stepped away from Galbran so Officer Brayton could handcuff him as well.
I took a step back and my knees gave; I would have fallen, but Phoenix caught me. He slipped my arm over his shoulders and helped me lean against the vent. “You don’t have to fight every battle by yourself,” he reminded me quietly.
I watched them drag Galbran to his feet and lead him toward the door. I met the scientist’s cold blue eyes. “Funny how the tables turn, isn’t it?” I said. “Instead of
me, it’s you who is alone now, and it will be you who will die someday unloved and unmourned.” I gathered my strength and pushed the door open, then led them down the stairs. Phoenix walked beside me, his shoulders straight and a pride in his eyes that I had never seen before.
We crossed the hall and stepped out into the parking lot to find hundreds of parents and children waiting for us. News vans were parked on the grass and television reporters rushed forward. I stopped in surprise and Kyla ran up to me, her eyes bright. Shadow and Raven appeared behind her. “You told us to call everyone,” they said.
I stared out at the families of the Lost we had returned home. They watched quietly as Galbran was led to a waiting police car. The scientist paused when he saw Flint. The young wolf Shifter met his father’s gaze and for a brief second, Flint’s dark eyes turned golden. Galbran flinched. Flint moved his gaze from Galbran to me and a hint of triumph filled them before he turned away and ignored his father completely. Galbran was shoved past his son and settled securely inside the car.
Officers leading the Falconans followed close behind. “We’re going to have to seriously reconsider Falconan protection,” Officer Brayton said. He crossed his arms and watched with a satisfied smile as his officers locked up those who had survived our attack. The loaded cars drove away while other officers swept the school for remaining Falconans. Other units arrived and began making what sense they could of the chaos of bodies inside.
“I’m glad you called us,” Officer Brayton said. He held out a hand to shake, then saw the shape my hand was in and let his drop. “You could have waited until we arrived.”
I gave a small smile. “There wasn’t time, but I greatly appreciate your help.”
“Maybe it’s time you take me up on the offer to work closer together,” he said, his eyes kind.
“Maybe,” I agreed.
He nodded and turned back to his men. “Officer Brayton?” He glanced back at me. “What are you going to do with the Falconans?”
His gaze softened slightly as he looked from me to the cars disappearing toward the police headquarters at the center of the city. “I’m not sure. The government will definitely be interested in what went on here. Unfortunately for us, the Falconans lay under government jurisdiction.” His eyes darkened. “But I’ll make sure they’re moved far from Charlton.”
My heart tightened, but I nodded and he went back to his men.
“How do you know Officer Brayton?” Kyla asked, her voice soft. She ducked under my arm and I found myself leaning on her more than I liked, but she smiled warmly at me as though she expected it. She took my hand gently in hers and checked the messy bandage. She shook her head and rewrapped it with fresh ones she borrowed from one of the passing EMTs.
“We stole his twin boys back from Galbran last year.” I smiled at the memory. “Talk about a tense moment. He had his own house staked out and when we showed up at midnight with the Nathan and Jason, they pulled guns on us and had us on our stomachs in the snow with our hands behind our backs.”
“I’d never been so humiliated,” Phoenix said from behind us.
I laughed, then winced at the pain the jolted through my bruised ribs. “Phoenix wanted to tear them apart, but I convinced him not to.”
“You ordered me not to,” Phoenix replied darkly. “It’s not the same thing.”
I nodded. “But lucky for us, the twins told their dad what happened and stopped him from arresting us.”
“Who knows what Shadow and Flint would have done with the Den?” Phoenix commented.
“Whisper would have taken over,” a soft, rusty voice said from behind us.
I turned and looked at Flint in surprise. He didn’t smile, but color touched his cheeks at our attention. I pretended like him talking was a normal thing. “She would have ruled the Downs.”
He gave me an appreciative look and ducked his head.
I turned back to Kyla, a wave of gratitude filling my chest. “Office Brayton’s been trying to help us ever since, but because the Falconan’s are the government’s business, I haven’t involved them much because by law they can’t interfere.”
“Until now,” Phoenix pointed out, watching the officer who was definitely in his element as he directed EMTs and police men through the school. Unmarked black cars with tinted windows pulled up and several men in uniforms I didn’t recognize climbed out. Officer Brayton walked down to meet them.
“We definitely meddled with a few lines,” I agreed.
Raven and Shadow came up to us from where they had been meeting with the group of parents and Lost. “They want to talk to you,” Shadow said, his blue eyes bright.
I had never been big on crowds, but the eager expressions on their faces left little room for argument. Television cameras pointed in my direction, their red lights blinking as reporters held out microphones. Kyla stood on one side of me while Phoenix took the other. I took a steeling breath. “Thank you for coming,” I said.
The edges of my heart that were raw from the confrontation with Ras were soothed by the happy expressions on parents’ faces as they held their little ones and knew that they were safe from Galbran and the Falconans once and for all.
“We owe you everything,” Dr. Henderson said. The doctor was a neurosurgeon whose five year old daughter was kidnapped three years ago. He was one of the men who donated money to help keep the Den working. The brown haired girl who held his hand bounced up and down on her toes, her dark eyes bright.
Several other parents nodded, hope and relief bright in their eyes.
My heart ached when I saw Mr. and Mrs. March at the edge of the crowd, little Whisper between them. She looked so happy, and the smile Mrs. March gave her was full of such tender, motherly warmth I knew she truly did find the home she deserved. I blinked and smiled at the people around me. “I don’t know what’s in store for Galbran or the Falconans, but at least we can sleep at night knowing the children are safe.”
A mother stepped forward and hugged me, then another and another until all of the Shifters were caught up in a wave of gratitude. Phoenix eventually ran interference while Kyla and I slipped away.
“You’ve given them something priceless,” she said, her eyes bright as she helped me to my motorcycle.
I leaned against it and crossed my arms gingerly. “What’s that?”
I followed her gaze to her brother who now held Whisper on his shoulders. Rosie gurgled happily at them from Mrs. March’s arms, and the look of love and relief exchanged by Kyla’s parents made every bruise from the night well worth it. “You gave them freedom to live their lives again without the fear that their loved ones might disappear and never return.”
“The world is still dangerous,” I reminded her.
She gave me a gentle smile that stole my breath away. “Yet here you are, making it safer all by yourself.”
I shook my head, my gaze serious. “Not by myself.”
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me softly on the lips. The taste of her kiss lingered when she moved back. “Not by yourself,” she agreed with love in her beautiful green eyes.
I put my helmet on; she reached up and buckled the chin strap before I could attempt it with my injured hand. “Are you sure you can drive?” she asked with concern in her voice.
I pushed up the visor and met her eyes. “Right now, I can do anything.”
She smiled and stepped back. Phoenix revved his engine and we drove off together. I glanced back once at the lone girl standing at the edge of the parking lot. She waved and I waved back, the new bandage on my hand still carrying her soft scent. I shut my visor, then turned into the night no longer afraid of shadows or wings. The darkness was mine, and I would ensure that it was safe.
Chapter 49- Mr. March
Mr. March went in for questioning a few days later. Officer Brayton apologized, but said it was protocol since he had been the only adult at the scene. They asked Mr. March what happened and he outlined the parts he knew. He asked about the fate of Galbran an
d the Falconans, but Office Brayton didn’t have any answers.
A man in a black suit watched the proceedings from a chair in the corner, then asked one of his own. “What happened to the Shifters who were allowed to leave the scene?”
Mr. March caught the accusing stare the man threw Officer Brayton, but Brayton either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“They left,” Mr. March replied shortly.
“What about this Marek? Where did he go?” the man pressed, his tone firm and unyielding.
“I don’t know,” Mr. March replied honestly with a sad shake of his head. “I haven’t seen him since that night.”
Chapter 50- Kyla
I took a cup of punch from the refreshments table. I felt silly attending the ball without a date, but it seemed a waste to leave the purple dress in the closet, especially since this would be the last opportunity to wear it.
School would be over soon. Mom said I should enjoy it while it lasted. She had also been more than thrilled to do my hair, and primped until I couldn’t stand it anymore. Dad dropped me off at the dance, embarrassing me by asking only half-jokingly if I would like him to be my date. He took it well enough when I said I already had plans to meet some friends there.
Kim came by with her date, a big basketball player named Johnny. They took some punch and chatted with me about the colleges that were coming for college week. Everyone seemed to have made their college choices already, something else I hadn’t decided on. Why was everyone in a rush to move on? It seemed I had only just learned to appreciate what I already had.
I was listening half-heartedly to Johnny’s excited recount of the various basketball scholarships he had been offered when something made me turn. I felt a jolt of electricity when Marek’s deep blue eyes met mine across the ballroom. He was standing in a black tuxedo with a purple corsage in his bandaged hand. Kim and Johnny followed my gaze.
