TWENTY-THREE
WE’LL NEVER MAKE IT
back out. It was a trap. I sobbed as I
ran, broken by what I’d seen, by what I now knew. It had always
been a trap. Guardians and Keepers would be swarming on the main
floor of Eden now, blocking our escape. I ran on, still hand in
hand with Connor though my steps felt heavier and heavier, like I
was racing through wet cement.
Shouts reached my
ears from the room ahead.
Connor flung open
the door, shoving me into the Chamber. Any hope I’d been clinging
to vanished at the scene we stumbled onto. Guardians pressed their
way through the entrance to the eastern cell block two or three at
a time. Ethan stood on the dais and fired bolts, laying a barrage
of suppressing fire at them as quickly as he could, slowing their
approach as they succumbed to the alchemists’ compound swirling
through their bloodstream. Wolves swayed on their feet, shook their
muzzles, at last slumping onto the stone floor. Those hit by
multiple bolts piled one atop the other in the doorway, creating a
bottleneck that mercifully slowed the number that could get to us.
My packmates were already in the fray, taking on those Guardians
one-on-one who’d dodged Ethan’s fire.
Connor swore,
dragging me onto the stage.
“It’s not looking
good, friend,” Ethan said through gritted teeth, aiming his bow
once more. “I’m almost out of ammo.”
“We’ll be
overwhelmed in less than five minutes,” Connor said, scanning the
room.
“Where’s Monroe?”
Ethan asked.
“We lost him,”
Connor said quietly. My veins went icy when he said it out
loud.
“Well, that seals
it.” Ethan smiled grimly. “Any last words?”
“Calla,” Connor
said, “if we draw their attack, can you and the others get back to
the stairs?”
I stared at the
press of enemy wolves struggling over the pile of bodies blocking
the corridor, snarling and jostling each other as they entered the
Chamber.
“Even if I could, I
think they have fifty or more Guardians backed all the way up to
the first floor. We wouldn’t make it out.”
Connor shook his
head, glancing back at the door to the northern cell block. I
followed his gaze, wondering if Monroe was still alive, if there
was any chance he might still emerge.
A deafening crack
and a blinding flash flattened me against the floor; my ears rang
as though lightning had struck the flagstones behind us. The room
crackled with electricity and the air smelled of ozone. Ethan
groaned beside me, flipping over and aiming his crossbow at
whatever had thrown us down.
“I don’t believe
it,” Connor murmured as Adne darted from the shimmering portal,
stretching her hands to him.
“Believe it.” She
grinned, helping him up. Her smile faded as she saw the Guardians
swarming into the Chamber.
“An inside door in
Eden,” Ethan gasped, staring at the portal. “You did it. You really
did it.”
“I’ll happily
receive your glowing reviews later,” she said. “Right now we need
to go.”
“My pack,” I said,
scrambling to my feet.
“On it,” Ethan said.
He jumped from the stage, pushing his crossbow back and drawing
swords. He cut his way through the mob, shouting.
“Show’s over, kids!
We just got our ticket out of here!”
Mason’s ears
flicked; he saw the sparkling gateway on the stage and gave a long,
joyful howl. Nev turned, racing for the dais. Bryn released the
throat of another wolf, dashing toward us. Sabine was pinned
against the south wall, fighting three wolves at once.
“Hold on, Sabine!”
Ethan yelled. “I’m on my way.”
“Calla, keep the
Guardians off Adne!” Connor ordered.
Connor followed in
Ethan’s wake, fighting off Guardians who attempted to pursue my
retreating packmates. I shifted forms, tearing into any wolves who
managed to get past him.
Ethan had reached
Sabine, drawing two of the wolves off her with teasing sword
strikes.
“Run!” he shouted as
she took the third wolf down. “I’m right behind you.”
She leapt past him,
tearing for the dais. He ran one of the Guardians through, but the
other locked its jaws around his arm. He swore, struggling to free
himself. The wolf dug its fangs in deeper, unwilling to release.
Ethan dropped the sword in his free hand and reached for a dagger.
The wolf was still clinging to him when he plunged the sharp blade
into its eye. The Guardian dropped to the floor, but blood gushed
from the torn flesh of Ethan’s arm as he stumbled back toward the
dais.
“I’ve got you
covered, man,” Connor said, cutting down one wolf and slamming his
fist into another’s face as the two of them fell back.
“Here!” Adne
shouted, waving to them. “Get through the door! I have to close it
before they can follow.”
Mason, Nev, and Bryn
had already leapt through the light-filled door. Sabine waited
beside me. She shifted forms when Ethan climbed onto the stage,
wrapping her arm around his waist to help him through the
portal.
“Go, Calla,” Adne
said, glancing around the room once more. “Connor, where’s my
father?”
“Go, Calla.” Connor
echoed her words, pushing me toward the shimmering
gate.
I glanced over my
shoulder as I passed into the light, watching as Connor pulled Adne
against him, whispering in her ear. Her face crumpled and she
slumped against him. Connor swung her body into his arms, carrying
her through the portal and out of the fray.
My toenails crunched
on gravel. I sucked in the cold predawn air. It tasted like
freedom, but my relief was short-lived and
bittersweet.
Behind me I could
hear Adne sobbing and Connor murmuring. “You have to close the
door, Adne. Please.”
I heard the snarl
and her scream at the same time. Pivoting toward the portal, I
braced myself for a new fight. Two Guardians had leapt through the
door. The first was on top of Adne, snapping at her face as she
wriggled beneath it, while the second wolf squared off with
Connor.
I scrambled toward
Adne, catching blurred shapes racing past me out of the corner of
my eye. As Connor raised his swords, Nev and Mason slammed into the
wolf facing him. Fur and blood rained onto the ground as my
packmates tore the enemy wolf apart.
I’d sunk my teeth
into the flank of the other wolf, trying to pull it off Adne. The
wolf had wrenched its snarling head around when it yelped and
shuddered, all at once going limp. Adne grunted, pushing its body
off, revealing the blood-covered skean with which she’d impaled the
Guardian. Without hesitating, she rushed to the still open portal,
ducking as another wolf leapt through it.
Adne slashed her
skeans across the portal. The shimmering light that sparkled in the
darkness winked out as I lunged at the new attacker. Our bodies
slammed to the ground. We skidded across gravel, small stones
scraping my skin even through the thick layer of fur. When we
stopped sliding, the other wolf tried to scramble away, but I
lunged forward, aiming for its neck but grabbing the upper part of
its front leg in my jaws instead as it attempted to dodge. The wolf
yelped, trying to shake me off, but I only bit down harder. The
twang of Ethan’s crossbow, followed by three brief thunks, reached
my ears. The other wolf’s bark became a whine and it slumped to the
ground.
Snarls and shouts
diminished, replaced by our panting and the Searchers’ gasps for
breath. Our heavy exhales formed tiny clouds in the cold
air.
“Where are we?”
Ethan finally asked.
He was half lying on
the ground, propped up on one elbow, his mangled arm lying limp
across his chest. Sabine crouched beside him, examining his
shredded forearm. Bryn, Mason, and Nev were still in wolf form,
huddling in a tight bunch slightly apart from the
others.
Adne didn’t answer
Ethan; she had collapsed at Connor’s feet. He put one hand on her
head, stroking her hair, while he scanned our
surroundings.
“Looks like we’re on
the roof of the building next to the club.”
“The roof?” Ethan
asked. “Is that right, Adne?”
She didn’t
respond.
“Adne,” Ethan said
again. “Where are we?”
“Leave her alone,”
Connor snarled.
“I’m not trying to
be an ass,” Ethan replied. “But we’re not exactly out of harm’s way
yet. We need to get back to Denver.”
Adne slowly uncurled
her body, rising unsteadily. She stepped away when Connor reached
for her.
“He’s right, and
yes, we’re on the roof of a nearby building. I’ll open a door home.
Just give me a minute.”
She stumbled away
from us, wiping at her face.
I sat on the ground
and shifted into human form, drawing my knees up to my chest. A
part of me thought I should go to my packmates and make sure they
were okay. Their first trip through a portal was probably a shock
that only added to the stress of our escape. But I couldn’t bring
myself to join them; my mind was still reeling from what had
happened in the northern cell block. I closed my eyes, body awash
with not only grief, but a wave of confusion.
Just like your father.
What Emile had said
didn’t make any sense. The way he’d smiled at Monroe when he’d
spoken the words made my skin crawl. Why would he have called
himself a fool? For thinking he could ask Ren to hurt me when he
still loved me?
My body ached with
loss as I realized how likely it was that I would never see Ren
again. And if I did, it would be as his enemy.
“Calla?” I opened my
eyes to see Sabine kneeling in front of me. Now in human form,
Bryn, Mason, and Nev stood just behind her.
“Yeah?” I
said.
Sabine swallowed,
her eyes glistening. “I was too busy fighting to see that you came
back without the others. But now that we’re here and they’re not .
. .”
A lead weight
settled on my chest, making it difficult to breathe.
“They’re dead,
aren’t they?” Sabine choked out the words.
I couldn’t answer;
my throat felt raw. I stared at her grief-filled face, not wanting
to share a truth that would be more painful than what she believed
had happened.
“All of them?” Bryn
whispered, her own face crunching up in sorrow. “Even
Ren?”
“No,” I
whispered.
Connor had quietly
come up behind me. He laid a hand on my shoulder.
“You saw them?”
Mason asked. “And they’re still in there? Alive?”
Sabine’s stricken
expression became a scowl. “You let us leave them
behind?”
Ethan rose
unsteadily and joined our group, drawn by the rising tension.
“What’s wrong?”
Sabine was still
glaring at me. “How could you?”
“Calla had no choice
in the matter,” Connor said.
“Of course she did,”
Sabine snapped.
Even Bryn’s face
fell, full of disappointment at my apparent cowardice.
I couldn’t look at
either of them anymore, so I stared at the ground, tears burning in
my own eyes.
“We didn’t leave
them behind,” Connor answered for me. “I was with Calla when she
found the rest of your pack.”
“Then why aren’t
they here?” Sabine’s eyes narrowed.
“They stayed,
Sabine,” Neville said quietly, taking in Connor’s somber gaze.
“They stayed with the Keepers.”
“No,” Bryn
said.
“That’s impossible,”
Sabine hissed. “Cosette would never stay with them!”
“It’s true,” Connor
said. “They attacked Calla.”
“Why would they
attack Calla?” Mason asked.
“Emile,” I said.
“They were taking orders from Emile.”
“And Ren?” Bryn
asked, voice quaking. “He stayed too?”
“Yes.” He stayed because of what I did to
him.
“Damn.” Nev walked
away, shaking his head. Mason followed him, sparing me a sad smile
before he left.
Sabine was crying
softly. “Oh, Cosette.”
Ethan cleared his
throat. “Look, if this Cosette stayed behind, it was only because
she was afraid.”
“More afraid of
leaving than of what will happen to her with me gone?” She choked
on the words. “I can’t protect her from Efron now. She knows what
he’ll . . .”
“Better the devil
you know,” Connor said. “It happens.”
She shook her head
and sobbed.
“You were close?”
Ethan asked quietly.
“I . . . I always
thought of her like a sister,” Sabine said. “I just don’t
understand.”
“Calla.” Bryn took
my hand. “About Ren . . . are you—”
I held up my hand.
“I can’t, Bryn. Please.”
Guilt. Shame.
Regret. An avalanche of feelings crashed over me. I couldn’t bear
the thought of trying to explain what had happened.
“Okay.” She stood
up, frowning. “I’ll leave you alone.”
She went after Mason
and Nev.
“Ethan, can you give
us a minute?” Connor asked, crouching next to me.
“Sure,” he said. He
was already watching Sabine, who had risen, moving slowly away from
us. But unlike Bryn, she didn’t follow the other wolves, instead
stumbling to the edge of the roof, alone. Ethan trailed after her,
keeping a respectful distance.
Connor watched me
intently. “Monroe told me you and Ren were close.”
The thickness in my
throat was painful, but I managed a nod. How could this get any
worse? I didn’t think I could bear any more questions about Ren and
me.
“You heard what
Emile said,” Connor continued in a low voice. “Just before . . .”
He couldn’t finish, looking away from me. I watched him swallow
grief.
“Yes,” I said
numbly, not knowing why it mattered.
Connor cleared his
throat a couple of times before he could speak again. “I’m asking
you not to say anything until I have time to talk to
Adne.”
Say anything about
what? Ren was lost. So was Monroe. Half the pack had turned to the
Keepers. Those we’d saved thought our losses were my fault. But
what could I do to change that? After all, it was
true.
“People know,” he
said quietly. “Or even if they don’t know, they talk. It’s not a
secret that Monroe loved Corrine. But no one knew about the
child.”
The
child.
I thought my heart
would splinter into a thousand pieces as the truth seized me.
Monroe’s endless questions about Ren. The incredible risks he’d
taken, all trying to save Ren. The way he’d laid down his weapons
before the advancing wolf.
How Ren looked
nothing like Emile, but he did look like Monroe. That was why the
Guide had always seemed familiar when I spoke with him. Hair dark
as coffee, the chiseled angles of his cheeks and jaw.
I won’t hurt the boy. You know that.
Monroe was Ren’s
father. Corrine had asked him to kill her because she’d been
ordered to have a child. And she’d fallen in love with Monroe while
they’d spent months planning a revolt . . . a time in which her
body had been unbound by the Keepers’ enchantments.
“Oh my God,” I
whispered, feeling tears spill out of my eyes. “Ren.”
Monroe’s son—not
Emile’s—and yet a Guardian. The mother’s
essence always seems to dominate, determines the nature of the
child.
“We can’t do
anything for him now,” Connor said. “I wish it were otherwise. But
Monroe wanted Adne to know the truth. Even if he didn’t make it
back. I’ll tell her, but now isn’t the time.”
Though it was
painful, I swallowed the thickness in my throat. “But . . . how?
What about Adne’s mother?”
“It was before my
time.” Connor kept his voice low. “But I’ve heard things. After the
alliance, when the Searchers were ambushed and Corrine died, things
were bad. Really bad. And nobody was in worse shape than Monroe.
We’re talkin’ not-coming-back-from-the brink worse. I think he was
hitting the bottle hard. Reckless on missions. Looking to get
himself killed.”
“What changed?” I
asked. It was too easy to imagine how much blame Monroe would have
put on himself.
“There were so many
losses that positions were shuffled all over the place after the
Vail catastrophe,” he said. “Diana—Adne’s mother—was a new Striker
assigned to Haldis. She befriended Monroe . . . was the only one
who got through to him, saved him from himself. And eventually
there was Adne.”
“Did you know
Diana?” I tried to envision a woman with Adne’s mahogany tresses
and bright amber eyes. In my mind’s eye she was trading sword blows
with Monroe and they were both laughing.
He shook his head.
“I was her replacement,” Connor said, shifting his gaze away from
me to watch Adne. She stood at the edge of the roof, head bowed.
“Whether Monroe ever told Diana about Ren, I guess we’ll never
know.” Then his eyes were back on me. “Can you keep this
secret?”
I nodded,
overwhelmed by cataclysmic revelations that kept coming, each new
secret throwing my world into chaos.
“Thank you,” he
murmured. I watched him rise, wondering how he would tell Adne she
had a brother she’d never known and likely would never know except
to kill him.
As Connor walked
away, my attention was drawn to Ethan and Sabine’s
voices.
Ethan was leaning
away from her outstretched arm. “I said no.”
“Stop being a baby,”
Sabine said, and I saw blood dripping from her arm onto the
ground.
“I’m not drinking
your blood.” He tried to scoot back but faltered, unable to put any
weight on his mangled arm.
“Think about how
much it will hurt to let that heal on its own,” she said. “It will
take forever. This will fix it instantly, plus you won’t have any
scars.”
“I don’t mind
scars,” he growled.
“I’m sure you don’t,
tough guy.” She laughed. “But macho points aren’t worth much if
your arm is in a sling for the next month. You really think you can
fight like that?”
“But I . . . ,”
Ethan sputtered.
“And I know you’re
still bleeding from that shoulder wound too,” Sabine said. “Why
won’t you let me help you?”
“Just leave me
alone,” he said, sounding like a petulant child as he turned his
face away.
“I will,” she said.
“After.”
Sabine slipped
behind him, wrapping one arm around his chest, pinning him against
her body.
“Hey!” he shouted,
eyes wide in alarm. His next words were lost as she pressed her
bleeding forearm against his mouth.
He struggled to free
himself, but Sabine was at full Guardian strength and had little
trouble holding him still. She kept her arm welded against his
lips, her blood trickling along his jaw. He flailed once more
before he was forced to swallow. I watched something pass over his
face—a mixture of fear and wonder.
The scene before me
was too familiar, making me tremble. It was like watching a hazy
reflection of the day I’d forced Shay to drink my blood. The same
amazed expression had filled Shay’s eyes. Ethan clasped Sabine’s
wrist, drawing her flesh further into his mouth instead of pushing
it away. He closed his eyes and drank, shivering with
ecstasy.
Connor, who’d been
watching silently, uttered a sharp exclamation as the torn flesh of
Ethan’s arm began to mend itself before our eyes. Shredded muscle
rebuilt like new, skin closed up, completely free of scars. Ethan’s
eyes remained closed. He was lost in the power of Sabine’s blood
flowing through him.
When the wound had
healed, she gripped his shoulder, leveraging her arm from his
grasp.
“Easy there, tiger,”
she murmured. “Or you’ll make me faint.” Her voice brought Ethan
back to the roof, the cold night, and five pairs of eyes locked on
him.
He twisted away from
Sabine, jumping to his feet, limbs shaking. “That . .
.”
His face took on a
haunted cast as he stared at her, backing away. The expression
dissolved into a scowl. “I didn’t want that.”
“You’re welcome,”
she said, shivering as a gust of icy wind rushed over her bare
skin.
Ethan’s eyes were
still hard, but he shrugged off his leather duster and tossed it to
her.
“I’m going to make
sure there aren’t any wraiths finding their way up the fire
escapes.”
Wraiths. Bryn
whimpered. I glanced at her and saw that the pack, except Sabine,
had reverted to wolf form. Nev and Mason pressed their muzzles
against her, their own limbs trembling. I shuddered. It was too
easy to imagine the torment that my packmates had been subjected
to, the memories of fear and pain that would stay with them even
though they were now free. I drew a slow breath, grasping for some
way to ease my mind. We were lucky that only Guardians had ambushed
us. We’d been able to fight them off.
Lucky . . .
“All clear,” Ethan
said, returning to our huddled group. “No one came after us. Is
Adne ready to open the door now?”
“She is,” Adne said,
returning from her solitude. The tracks of tears still glistened on
her face. “Are you sure no one is following us? They were outside
before; that’s how I ended up here.”
“What happened?”
Connor asked. “How did you get to us?”
“After you’d been
gone about twenty minutes, there was a lot of activity on the
street outside the club—cars pulling up; I heard shouting and
movement,” she said. “Dozens of Guardians went in through the side
door. I worried I’d be spotted, so I closed the portal and opened a
door to this roof. I waited until I realized you were in serious
trouble.”
“What made you open
the door inside Eden?” Ethan asked.
“I watched the club
from the edge of the roof,” she said. “The Guardians kept coming.
There were so many of them, and so much time had passed. I knew
you’d be trapped. I decided I had to risk it.”
“Thanks for that,”
Ethan said. “We’d all be kibbles and bits if you’d played it
safe.”
“Guardians don’t eat
people,” I said, frowning. “We never eat people.”
“You know what I
meant.” He grinned.
“I’m just glad I was
paying attention when your brother described the prison,” Adne
said, offering me a thin smile. “Those were the details I used to
weave the door.”
“How do you do it?”
Sabine asked, pulling Ethan’s jacket tight around her body. “I’ve
never seen anything like that.”
“Adne can use magic
to connect one place to another,” I said, trying to make the
explanation as simple as possible. “It’s how they
travel.”
“Neat-o.” Nev had
shifted into human form. “And the Keepers don’t just follow
you?”
“The Keepers can’t
create the doors,” I said quickly. “I’ll explain that later.” I
didn’t think now was the time to tell my packmates that the
Searchers described our creation as a sin against nature. And I was
distracted. Ethan’s words buzzed in my ears. No one had come after
us. Why? We were hidden, but not that well. It would only make
sense for the Keepers to comb the streets, even the rooftops,
hunting us.
Fighting back more
than a brush of nerves, I raised my voice. “It doesn’t make
sense.”
“What doesn’t make
sense?” Connor asked.
“Our escape,” I
said. “It was too easy.”
“Too easy?” Adne
hissed. “My father is dead!”
Sorrow spilled
through me. I hung my head, thinking of Monroe, of Ren. Of how
close a father had been to reclaiming his stolen son. I wondered if
Bryn, Mason, Nev, and Sabine would carry the marks of torment like
my brother. They seemed fine now, but would the adrenaline rush of
freedom be sucked away by misery when they realized that nothing in
their lives would ever be the same? Had we truly saved anyone?
Regret drowned my unease, sending me into a spiral of
despair.
Connor pressed his
hand onto her shoulder. “Hang on, Adne. I don’t think she means
offense. What are you talking about, Calla?”
I shook my head, not
wanting to dig myself into a deeper hole where I’d be suffocated by
doubt and regret.
“No,” Ethan said.
“Tell us. You know the Keepers. What’s bothering you about
this?”
The strength in his
voice pulled me out of self-pity. I tried to remember who I was, or
at least who I’d once been. A leader. A warrior.
“It was a trap,” I
said.
“Obviously.” Ethan
nodded, his eyes narrowing while I spoke. “And a pretty good
one.”
“But not as good as
it could have been,” I said slowly.
“Keep going,” he
said.
“Wraiths,” I said
simply.
Connor left Adne’s
side and took a few steps toward me. “What about
them?”
“Why weren’t there
any wraiths?” I struggled to keep confidence in my voice despite
the new, sickening fear that snaked through my gut.
No one answered, but
everyone’s eyes were on me.
“Think about it,” I
said. “They knew we were coming, but we only fought Guardians. I
didn’t see any Keepers, and without Keepers there are no
wraiths.”
“What are you
getting at?” Ethan asked.
“Where were the
Keepers?” I replied. “Why weren’t they part of the
ambush?”
“Didn’t want to get
their hands dirty,” Connor grumbled.
“No,” Ethan said, a
shadow of concern passing over his face. “She’s got a point. Why
wouldn’t they use their most effective weapon if they wanted to
make sure we didn’t escape?”
“Maybe they were
around but not in the building,” Adne said, sweeping tears away
with the back of her hand. “I’ve never opened an inside door before
today. They could have been waiting for us to make a run for it
once we left the club.”
“Maybe,” I said, but
fear continued to swarm over my skin. “But then why aren’t they
down there looking for us?”
No one
answered.
“Well, it’s not
going to do us any good to wait here and find out,” Connor said.
“Adne, open a door. Let’s get back to Denver.”
“Right,” Adne said.
“Just do the job. Like nothing’s happened.”
She turned away from
him, sulking. Not a good sign. My unease grew by the second. We
needed to get out of here and Adne’s grief was slowing our escape.
She might be gifted for her age, but she was still young and now it
showed. Connor grabbed her shoulders, whirling her to face him. He
took her chin in his palm, leaning close to her.
“You’re not the only
one who lost someone today, Adne,” he murmured, resting his
forehead against hers. “I loved your father too. So did
Ethan.”
I looked away,
feeling uninvited into this intimate moment.
“But you’re the only
one who can get us out of here,” I heard Connor say.
I cast a sidelong
glance at them. Adne had pulled away from him and was drawing the
skeans from her belt.
“I know,” she said,
and began to weave.
Bryn shifted forms
and came to my side.
“That’s amazing,”
she whispered, watching the door emerge from strands of
light.
I
nodded.
She took my hand.
“I’m sorry I walked away from you, Calla. There’s just so much
that’s happened.”
“Don’t apologize,” I
said. “It’s all my fault.”
“No, it’s not,” she
said. I was surprised by the hard edge in her voice. “If the others
stayed behind, they’re fools. And it isn’t your
fault.”
“But Ren . . .” When
he’d kissed me, I’d felt how much he still wanted me, and from the
way my blood had caught fire, I knew at least part of me still
ached for him. The knowledge caught me by surprise, stealing my
breath as I relived those horrible first minutes in the cell with
Ren. I could still see the pain in his eyes when he’d thought he
had no choice but to hurt me.
“No,” Bryn said, her
voice plowing through my flurry of thoughts. “Calla, I don’t know
why you left Vail, but I can guess. Ansel and I were guessing a
long time ago. I don’t blame you for following your
heart.”
“There’s more than
that,” I said.
“I’m sure there is,”
she said. “But even if there wasn’t, it wouldn’t make leaving
wrong. And you still wouldn’t be to blame for Ren’s choice. That’s
all it is. His choice.”
I looked at her,
stung by the love in her eyes. The forgiveness.
“Thank you,” I
whispered.
“What in life is
worth a sacrifice, if not love?” She smiled sadly.
“You sound like
Ansel.”
“Like attracts
like,” she said, and I flinched.
“What?” she
asked.
“Nothing,” I said
quickly, not wanting to tell her I’d heard that said before. That
Ren had spoken those very words to me, and in remembering them, I
now realized it was his way of telling me that we were meant for
each other. The memory smoldered in my chest like lit coals,
burning out much too slowly.
“I can’t wait to see
him.” I realized Bryn had been in the middle of a
sentence.
“I’m sorry?” I said,
shaking myself free of the past.
“Ansel,” she said.
“He’s there, right? In Denver?”
“Yes,” I said. “But
Bryn, he’s—” I stopped myself. Maybe Ansel would change if Bryn
were there to help him. I didn’t want to make her any more afraid
than she already was.
“He’s waiting for
you,” I said, and she smiled.
When the door was
finished, I gazed at it, puzzled. Something didn’t look right. I
couldn’t see the room we’d come from. The image behind the portal
was dark and hazy.
“Is that where we’re
going?” Mason asked, also wary of the darkness that lay before
us.
“Yes,” Adne said
uneasily. “I’m not sure why it’s dark.”
“It’s not
important,” Connor said. “Anyway, we don’t have a choice; we have
to go back. If something’s wrong, we’ll know when we get
there.”
“Very reassuring,” I
said. Bryn drew a quick, nervous breath and I squeezed her hand,
sorry I’d said anything.
“But true,” Connor
replied. “Ethan, lead the way. Wolves, go right behind him and put
on your game faces, just in case. Calla, Adne, and I will follow
you and close the door as soon as we’re all through.”
“Game faces?” Bryn
frowned.
“He wants you to
change forms,” I said.
“Happily,” Nev said,
and was a wolf in the next moment. Mason and Bryn both shifted. The
three wolves circled one another, licking, nuzzling. Sabine was
watching Ethan. She glanced at the other Guardians but didn’t
shift.
Connor smiled sadly
at me. “Go on, that’s where you belong.”
My fangs were
already sharpening when I returned his smile. “Just don’t try to
pet me.”
Welcome back, Calla. Bryn licked my jaw.
We’ve missed you.
Nev and Mason
crowded in, pushing at me with their muzzles.
Are we okay? I asked.
You tell us, you’re the alpha. Nev nipped at my
shoulder. I figure if this is our pack now,
we’d better make the best of it.
I wagged my tail.
Fair enough.
Can we get out of here now? Mason pawed at the
ground.
I glanced at Connor,
who watched me, a mixture of awe and curiosity playing over his
face.
Sabine gazed at us,
but she kept her distance, remaining in human form.
Ethan raised an
eyebrow, glancing from her to our pack, as though her choice to
stay away from us surprised him.
“Looks like we’re
ready, Ethan,” Connor said. “You want to lead the way? Now that
you’re a whole man again.”
“Go to hell,” Ethan
growled, blushing when he cast a sidelong glance at
Sabine.
She was still
staring ahead, eyes distant, and she wrapped herself tighter in his
jacket, shivering. I didn’t think it was from the
cold.
“Why don’t you
follow him, Sabine?” Connor said. “Stick close
together.”
She nodded,
disappearing into the portal. My packmates rushed after her. I
hesitated for a moment, watching them go, glancing back at the
alley that led to Eden. That place had changed everything. It had
taken my brother’s soul, claimed Ren as its own, and become
Monroe’s grave.
Instead of following
the pack, I returned to my human body and faced Connor. “What
if—”
Connor shook his
head. “No looking back.”
I was surprised when
he stepped forward, pulling me into an embrace.
“We all lost
something today,” he whispered, resting his chin against the crown
of my hair.
Adne watched us
silently; tears standing in her eyes reflected the subtle, wavering
gleam of the open door.
I nodded, leaning
into him for a moment before I shifted into wolf form and leapt
into the portal’s murky depths.