Twenty Six
I regarded my toes. I got the score now. When I walked downtown later, everyone gathered at the tables. Marin sat at the head of the table next to Thorn. Zara perched on his chair whispering into his ear, he appeared to be reading something but he was smiling. Her lips brushed his temple. The sight floored me, my teeth ground together, my jaw aching.
There was no divorce in Fost culture, but mating didn’t guarantee anything except protection. Apparently monogamy was no longer part of our arrangement. I kept my eyes down and grabbed some fruit. Ute called out a greeting. I waved and walked back outside, my heart bleeding.
Zanth waited outside. He peered at me oddly. “You all right?”
“You care?”
“No, but Marin might.” Zanth raised his shoulders.
“Not from what I’ve seen. Zara is occupying his attention right now, sitting on his lap, nibbling on his ear, and everything.”
His eyes widened. “Uh.”
My hands curled into fists. “Anyway, I want to go back to that building. Escort me?” It was safer to travel in a group. Finn walked up as I asked.
“I will go with you, as well,” he said.
Marin strolled out at just the wrong moment. “Go where? No one is going anywhere. There are reports of fighting. Some lights in the sky last night. Something fell not far from here. We need to investigate that. I want the rest of you to sit tight. Finn, you are with me.”
Finn remained holding up the wall beside me. “Why should I listen to you?”
Zanth straightened. Thorn, Yann, and Zara filtered out from the dining hall.
Marin stepped up into Finn’s face. “I am clan chief, need I remind you?”
“Not here you are not, this is not Groos,” Finn growled.
Marin gave a hideous rendition of a smile. “You want to fight me for it? Challenge me. I will accept.”
Finn’s eyes flickered over Marin’s head to mine. “There is only one thing you have that I want. The chief position is not it. And if you are not careful, I will get it.”
I called out, “Fighting gets us nowhere. We need to stay focused, one leader. One goal.” Thorn and Yann murmured agreement. It surprised me that Thorn gave up the leadership role so easily.
Finn’s gaze remained locked on me. Then he glanced back at Marin. “For now, no challenge.” Finn turned his back on Marin and walked away.
“Where are you going?” Marin hissed.
“To the armory, you wanted to head to this light in the sky, right?” Finn didn’t glance back. Marin’s glare blistered me. What did I do, Mister cuddling with Zara? Marin followed Finn. Zara trotted after them both like a happy, little puppy. Thorn shook his head.
Zanth’s shoulders butted mine. “Not smart angering Marin off that way.”
I threw up my hands. “What did I do?”
Zanth whispered. “We can go check out that building.”
Uh. “I’m confused. Didn’t we just get grounded?”
Zanth grinned, a quick slash of an expression that was soon gone. “Marin should know better than to expect me to follow his orders.”
Oh, I gotcha. I snickered in response. “Ditto.”
He leaned closer. “Meet me here in an hour. Let them get on their way. Then we will head out.”
I returned to the dining room and grabbed some eggs and bread dipped in honey. The tea warmed my palms. The fire mesmerized me while I waited for Marin’s group to leave. Thorn attempted to flirt with Hana but Jace was having none of that.
A half hour later, Marin walked in wearing full Fost battle gear. A lace-up vest imbued with metal graced his chest, his leathers hugged his curves. Shit kicking boots and knives on both sides of his waist completed his outfit. God, I forced myself to stare into my drink.
It was so damn unfair how sexy I found him. The ass.
He strode up to me. His hand on my neck jerked me up into him. His tongue stroked mine. I fumbled and put down my tea then twined my arms around his neck.
As I angled to take the kiss deeper, I saw Zara smiling at me then toss me a wink. She was in full battle gear, as well, with an imbued blade. She stood on his right and Finn on his left.
That wink pissed me off. As if she knew the taste of his mouth. And maybe she did? I stiffened against him. Marin stepped back. Finn leaned in and gave me a quick buss on the cheek, to my chagrin. Marin glared at him then reached to his right. He pulled Zara into his side. With a nod at me, he left. The pain left me breathless. I didn’t watch them leave. I didn’t say goodbye. Neither of us said anything.
Hana sidled up to me. “I do not like that girl.”
I nodded and made myself unclench my jaw. Hana put her arms around me. I leaned into her side. “We are sneaking out to go look at that building we found yesterday. You in?”
She nodded. “Of course, no leaving me behind this time.”
“You think your love bug wants to come as well?”
She giggled at that last. “Which one? I will ask them, but when?”
“A half hour, give them some time to get ahead of us.”
The fire drew my gaze again. No one dared approach me until Ute got up the nerve a few minutes later.
He shifted from foot to foot before me. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
He appeared to be choosing his words. “As you know, I rarely comment on personal things.” I was not aware of that. “Adults are adults. You and Marin though...”
I cut him off. “There is no more me and Marin. He is making that pretty clear.”
“But…”
“No. I can’t do it. I understand, really, I do. We may be mated, but I left him, which to him is unforgivable. I guess that is why he is cozying up to Zara.”
Ute hesitated. “I do not think that is true.”
I couldn’t handle this. “I do, he does, so that is it.” Ute looked like he wanted to say more, but I held up my hand. “No more, please. Have you found anything in the library?”
His eyes instantly went dreamy. Dude loved books. “There are so many more books here, so much knowledge. I found some new histories. There is an accounting of right before we fled, a diary of someone from Clan Hazern. It is fascinating.” I let him talk, but my mind drifted. Who were those men in the building?
I had to wake them up, Marin be damned.
Ute poked my nose with his finger. “You are not listening.”
“Was too.”
“What did I just say?”
“You said, the clan had a whole bunch of deaths and then they all left for the mountains.”
“Wrong, I said that I heard a dragon fly overhead.”
I sputtered. “Really?”
He laughed uproariously. “I did. It was obvious you were not listening. Tell me what is wrong.”
“I am fine, honest.”
Ute sighed. “Things will work out.”
I could see Zanth signaling me, oh so subtle, over his shoulder. I smacked a kiss on Ute’s cheek. “I know. Got to go. Bye, Ute.”
Ute shook his head as I fled the room.
Zanth, Hana, and Jace waited outside. They were armed and in leathers. I stopped to change before we all headed toward the woods. This damn forest got creepier every time we traveled in it. I could feel eyes watching me this time. The feeling was so strong I put my hand to the ground and listened. I couldn’t sense anyone following us, but I couldn’t shake the sensation. It got stronger the closer we got to the complex. My nervousness translated to my traveling companions. Nobody spoke. We were all on edge, what seemed to be a near constant state for us lately.
Hana turned in a circle watching the woods while Jace didn’t even bother to hide his discomfort. He put his back to Zanth’s and walked backward to our destination. Zanth openly held his knife at his side.
I waited with bated breath but... nothing happened. The doors whooshed open and the feeling of being watched abated as soon as we rushed inside. I let out the breath I’d been holding and headed to the front desk.
Hana and Jace were behind me. Zanth prowled down the hall and back. None of the doors would open without me.
The monitors continued to display vital signs. My hand hovered over the screens. The men down there, they were like me. I was trapped by the E’mani and as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy was my friend. I wanted to wake them up. My fingers hovered over the controls.
“Marin will not be happy,” Zanth warned.
My eyes narrowed. My finger lowered.
Something slammed into the door.
We turned to see three sets of eyes, glowering back at us.
Huh. They were exceedingly tall, at least seven feet. Broad shoulders tapered down to narrow waists with clawed hands and feet. Their hair looked like strings that ended in feathers in a rainbow of fruit flavors, their skin thick and scaled. They were all armed with bows over their shoulders, Swords at their hips. And all I could think was those were some bad ass birdies.
My thoughts derailed. I glanced down at the monitors. I’d seen one of their buddies before.
Zanth murmured the same thing behind me. “They are like the guy in the pod downstairs. Except they have wings.”
My head whipped back up to stare at them. How did I not notice the wings? They had full magnificent wings that trailed on the ground behind them, pulled tight to their bodies. The short dude in the middle of the three tapped on the glass and gave me a finger wave. I choked back a laugh.
I took a step to the door and had three restraining hands grabbing my arms.
“Are you nuts?” Hana rushed over. Zanth and Jace moved in front of me.
“I was walking a bit closer to get a look.”
“The doors open when you get close, dumb ass. Yes, I called you a dumb ass, your words.” Zanth put his finger in my face. “Do not be hasty.”
Oh, I had forgotten about that. My cheeks burned. “We are going to have to face them sooner or later. They are right outside.”
I watched them at the door. I swear to god, the leader turned and was giving me a coquettish look. Hard to tell with all the feathers, but damned if he didn’t bat his eyelashes at me. They were long, thick and this great purple color.
“Not right now, we do not,” Zanth insisted. He was eyeballing one of the guys to the side. What particularly made him focus on that one I didn’t know, but they were eye-fucking each other pretty good.
“They are like the dude downstairs and…I think I know how to let them out.” They whirled at that. I pointed down to the monitor. “I remember being down there myself. I was in one of those pods once. I think they are like me. That they were trapped like I was.”
“This is no time to guess,” Zanth argued, returning to his visual war with bird three.
“We need to do something, or stay here until the others come, and they will come. Marin will protect Beta. He is her mate,” Jace said.
I grimaced at the thought of being a responsibility. But he was right. “I want to try.”
Zanth gestured to the door. “We do not know those guys there. They are an unknown threat.” He gestured down. “If we let the others out of the tubes, they might be a threat as well. To face either of them alone is reckless.”
“Since when do you worry about being reckless?” Hana retorted. “You love doing crazy things.”
Zanth grinned at Hana. “True.”
“I have to do it. They’re my family. They’ll die soon if I don’t release them,” I said.
Zanth rolled his eyes. “Another thing you ‘know.’”
“Yes, you jackass.”
“Ohh, a new insult.” He tipped his head with a smile, patting my cheek. “Good job.”
My lips twitched. We all exchanged glances.
“All for releasing the tube dudes downstairs say aye,” I said.
“Aye.” Hana, Jace and me.
“Nay.” Zanth.
“The aye’s have it.”
“That is a stupid way to decide something,” Zanth griped.
“You’re only saying that because you lost.”
Again he tipped his head with a smile. “Marin will be here soon.” He dropped the bomb without missing a beat.
“What did you do?” I accused him, index finger out and poking him in the chest.
“I told him where we were and what we were up to. He is heading this way.”
“He might be walking right into danger. They are out there!” I screamed at the same time Hana muttered, “He is going to kill us.”
“I am blaming you,” I blared at Zanth. “He is going to beat you. You won’t be able to walk for a week.”
“Ha, from the sounds of yesterday, you are the one who is going to be unable to walk soon, not me.”
I blushed fiercely. Jace whistled and kept his eyes down. Hana wouldn’t look me in the face.
“That won’t be me. That will be Zara.” My own eyes dropped.
“Eww,” went Zanth, Hana and Jace together, making me laugh.
Hana waved her hand in the air. “Even I know that is a horrible match. She reminds me of Lara. He wouldn’t be that stupid.” I gave her an eye roll. All men were that stupid. But she said the forbidden name. We both cut our eyes to Zanth. He ignored all of us and stared at the bird guy.
“Anyways, I still say the sleeper must awaken.”
I garnered odd looks for this last.
“What?” Jace said.
I grinned. “That was from Dune, one of my favorite Sci-Fi books made into a movie, behind Game of Thrones.”
“All right.”
Anyway. “Okay, are we going to do this? We should all agree. I want to make sure to share the blame equally with all of you.” Hana choked, Zanth rolled his eyes and Jace remained silent.
Tapping at the glass, middle guy blew me a kiss. I caught it and applied it to my buttocks. Hana giggled. I winked at the leader by the door. His grin grew wider and more predatory. He made a come hither gesture with his finger. It threw me off, they weren’t busting down the door. I tapped the desk surface, sturdy stuff.
Zanth grunted. “Do it.”
My hand hovered over the controls.