Chapter 8
CHAPTER
EIGHT
PHOENIX
My bite marks decorated Aubrey’s throat, and the sight of the bruises blossoming in the same place I wanted to put a collar was enough to make me realize I was willing to do something drastic to make sure that was the only outcome possible.
His eyes opened the second I got out of bed, but it didn’t really matter. What I wanted was outside the tent, which meant he just watched me silently as I pulled on my shirt and stepped out.
There’d been mentions of a letter, and I’d found him close to the old train station.
A resort.
I was pretty sure I already knew what I was doing, but I wanted to double check before I went out of my way and put in the effort of moving my entire group.
Usually, when we found a place like this and settled, we stayed for at least a few weeks.
We combed the buildings around us for supplies and found any food we could carry.
If we were lucky, we’d find weapons, though that was happening less and less.
I was sure things had been easier to find years ago, when the rain had first started.
Thinking of the rain, I closed my eyes and inhaled. It had been a while—red storms were my favorite time. No one wanted to be out in them, no one wanted to risk the infection, but my pack embraced it. We embraced the way it made our blood sing, our bones feel like they were on fire.
The best time to hunt was when the rain sent all the prey into their little dens, closed off and too afraid to run.
My attention drifted back to Aubrey’s backpack. When I fished out the bloodstained letter and folded it open, my brows knitted together.
To Iris?
Who the fuck was Iris?
But as I read, I realized the person in the letter was probably long since dead. It was from when the rain had first started. Back when the place Aubrey obviously had his sights set on was probably still functional, a haven someone thought they could go to if they wanted to be safe.
It hadn’t taken long for the world to realize that there wasn’t really anywhere safe . Sure, I’d heard of cities that had somehow escaped the worst of the rain. There were apparently safe havens where you could be normal if you wanted. Mythic places where safe was a word you could actually believe.
I’d also heard of cities where they threw infected and carriers alike into pits and let them fight to the death.
At the end of the day, nowhere was safe, because everywhere had humans .
As far as I was concerned, they were more dangerous than the rabid ever could be.
The idea of a safe haven, some place where everything was good …
Bullshit.
It was all bullshit.
Which meant this resort called Paradise was probably more of the same, but it wasn’t like we had anywhere else to go. I didn’t move with a location in mind—and if it would give me a chance to see Aubrey willingly fall to his knees for me again?
Well.
I double checked the letter and walked over to Blythe, who was already out and cutting some piece of wood she’d found into the shape of an animal.
I’d picked her and Zero up a few months after I started wandering on my own.
They were twins, both with dark hair and darker eyes that were full of the desire to survive .
We’d all taken each other in, and everyone else we’d picked up along the way were our little strays.
Some came, and some went, but Zero and Blythe always stayed.
“Ever heard of a place called Paradise?” I held the bloodstained letter out to her, but she didn’t bother looking up from what she was carving.
I was pretty sure it was a cat.
“Resort a few days’ trek up the coast. I think you used to get there by train before the world went to shit.”
So I was right, and Aubrey’s reaction to the train station and the way he’d put his hand on those faded letters told me it was something he wanted .
He’d been an awfully good dog last night, hadn’t he?
There was nothing wrong with giving him a little treat.
“Perfect.”
“Why do you care?” She finally flipped her knife closed, sliding it into one of the pockets on the front of her dark shirt.
“He was talking about it before I watched him shoot an Order asshole in the face.” I jerked my head toward the tent, wondering if I was telling her Aubrey’s personal business because it was amusing, or because I wanted her to understand what had drawn me to him.
I wasn’t sure that I understood yet, so.
“Is that right?” she said, and stood. Blythe only came up to my chin, but I’d seen her climb on top of a man taller than I was and gouge his eyes out with the same knife she used to whittle whatever little creature she held in her hand now.
“Has nothing to do with the way I heard you two moaning last night, does it?”
I couldn’t stop the smirk that tugged at the corner of my mouth. Aubrey had been loud once he’d been caught, and he hadn’t really gotten that far away from camp.
Sound traveled, I guess.
“It just sounds interesting, is all.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.
“Right.” She leaned in, placing the carving in my palm. “Why don’t you give your new boy this, then? I heard they used to have tigers at Paradise before everything went red.” I held the little figure up. The detail she could put into something so small was honestly amazing.
“Tiger?” I hadn’t heard of that before, but judging by the carving in my hand, it was feline .
She smiled at me then, a little indulgent.
I had a feeling that once upon a time, Blythe had lost someone important to her, and there were moments when it felt like she tried to take care of me to make up for it.
She was only five years older than I was, but she reminded me of the woman who’d picked me off the streets when my actual mother had abandoned me.
Lynna had been a raider too, and she’d taught me that the world was kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. They were both so strong.
“I’ll go tell everyone to start packing. If I know you, you’re going to want to leave before we have breakfast, and I’m not dealing with Cutter bitching about being hungry.”
She did know me—once I had my mind set on something, it was hard for me to concentrate on anything else.
“Thanks.” I turned, my thumb running over the little wooden carving in curiosity.
They used to have tigers at Paradise.
I wondered what they had there now.
“Where are we going?” Aubrey asked for the eighth time.
I was beginning to wonder if it would be easier to gag him.
Blythe hadn’t said a word, and it seemed like no one else realized where we were headed either.
It wasn’t strange for us to wander without an actual destination in mind, and for whatever reason, she was willing to make sure that the rest of the pack didn’t realize I was moving with intentions that weren’t my own, even if they were fit to serve my purpose .
“You’re shit at being patient, Killer. Is that why you shoot first and don’t bother asking questions?” I cut my eyes to him and watched his expression go flat.
“I shoot first and don’t bother asking questions because I don’t give a fuck what anyone has to say. The dead don’t talk, Phoenix.”
I might have been a little more irritated if I couldn’t see the peek of the bruise I’d left at the juncture of his neck spilling out from the hood of the jacket he wore.
As it was, I just kept moving forward without bothering to acknowledge the threat in his voice. His hands weren’t bound, but he didn’t have a weapon, and we all did. There was every chance he’d be able to kill one of us, maybe two, but there was no way he’d get out of the situation alive.
That and I kept watching him cut his eyes to me when he thought I wasn’t looking.
I wasn’t always a perfect judge of character, and fuck, I’d slept with some people who woke up the next morning with a knife to my throat, but I could read him well enough to know that he’d tasted something he liked, even if he wasn’t willing to admit it.
Aubrey had spent an entire day seeking out death and danger. It made sense he wanted to stay with someone who embraced it, who embodied it. Last night, when he’d been on his knees and I’d had my hand around his throat, I’d seen an expression of pure bliss on his face.
I was putting a lot of faith in the fact that he’d want another taste before he tried to off me.
Well… that and the crossbow Zero had slung over his shoulder. He walked at the back of the group when he was us ually in the lead, and I knew he was doing it because I hadn’t bothered trussing up our newest member.
After another half hour of walking, Aubrey let out a little sound that made me grin. I was wondering when he was going to catch on to the direction I’d taken. We’d been coming from a different way, so it made sense he didn’t realize right away.
As we rounded the corner and the station came into view, he drew up short, his boots digging into the broken pavement like he could somehow anchor himself there instead of taking another step.
I was pretty sure I hadn’t misread the situation.
He’d talked about this place; it was in his letter.
But Aubrey stared at the train station like he was seeing a ghost, and the tension running through his shoulders seemed almost out of place for the way he’d been trying to get here when I first found him.
He turned to me slowly, his eyes a little wide, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides like he was trying to ground himself with the sensation of his nails biting into his palms.
“What are we doing here?” Fuck, it was almost like an accusation, and I shouldn’t have felt so smug that he hadn’t guessed.
“I’m going to take Paradise for you.” I didn’t say it like it was a question, or like anything there could stop me. Once I had my mind set on something, there was nothing that could get in my way. And honestly, it wasn’t the resort I had my eye on.
I wondered if Aubrey knew that .
His brows knitted together, and the soft flush of delight that spilled across his tan cheeks told me he liked the idea, even if he wasn’t going to say thank you. He moved closer, tilting his head up so he could look me in the eye.
“No.”
I drew up short, barking out a surprised laugh. “No?” Did he think he got to tell me what to do? Just because we’d fucked, just because I’d been willing to do something for him, didn’t mean?—
“ We, ” he answered, cutting me off before I worked myself up into something angry and ugly.
“What?”
“I said, we are going to take Paradise.” Then, like he couldn’t help himself, he added, “Together.”
The slow smile that spread across my face was probably feral, definitely vicious.
“All right. We .” I pulled his pistol from my belt and offered it to him, wondering if he’d fuck me over now that he had a weapon.
Aubrey just looked at it as though he was wondering whether I was trying to trick him, before he carefully took it.
His fingers cradled the gun, and the smile he gave me, the light that flared to life in his bright green eyes…
Well, shit. It was worth the risk of being shot if he looked at me like that.