Chapter 39
“Word on the street is the ILF is recruiting pilots. I can fly, and I’m tired of playing as a street peddler. Use me or lose me.” - Decoded message from ILF undercover operative Nightingale to ILF handler Hiro Tanaka
Marcus
“You better be fucking with me, Briar,” I whisper-hiss. “I know you’re smarter than that.”
She lowers her brows a notch. “Don’t do that. You have no idea what’s happened since you left.”
“The volcano blew. The Tiders came into our camp.”
“It’s not as simple as you think. He saved us. Me, Amira, Nova, Ellison, and Olin. We’d be dead if he hadn’t saved us from Ingrid’s men.”
“He’s a fucking opportunist. Pax is a hooker working every corner, loyal to whoever benefits him most and subject to turn on them at any time.”
She puts a palm on my chest, holding my gaze. “Either you trust me or you don’t. Which one is it?”
I scowl. That fucker wasted no time trying to win Briar over. “It’s him I don’t trust.”
“I’m asking you to trust me by tolerating him. Will you do that?”
I look away, taking a deep breath.
She’s okay. I was a wreck the entire trip back here, worried she wouldn’t be. But she’s safe and we’re together again.
Reluctantly, I nod. “But if he tries to hurt one of us, he’s dead.”
“He won’t.”
I love that she still has enough goodness to trust people. In this case, though, she’s trusting a snake. When Gussie finally got to the island, I would have run here without stopping if I’d known Briar was holed up in a cave with fucking Pax.
She adds her other palm to my chest, looking up at me. “Before we go in there, I just want to say I love you. I love you. I love you. I never thought I’d get to tell you that again.”
My feelings for her threaten to overpower me. It’s all I can do to keep myself from flipping her onto her back and fucking her right here and right now.
“I love you, too.” I cup the back of her neck. “And when we can get some time alone, there are things I need to tell you that are just for you.”
“Okay.”
When she moves her hands from my chest and turns in the direction of the cave, I look her over.
She’s been through it. There’s dried blood on one of her shins and a slash in the pants that looks like the work of a megamantis.
Her hair was in a bun at one point, but now about half of it is. The dirt on her face is tear-streaked.
She thought Ingrid’s 6A5 clone was actually me. I can’t imagine seeing someone who looked just like her, but wasn’t.
If that fucking guy has touched my woman, I’ll choke the life out of him. It’s one thing to be Ingrid’s unknowing pawn, but it’s another to take advantage of Briar.
Just thinking about it is waking up my connection to wolves and the earth. I mentally slam the door on it, because shaking the ground would lead Ingrid’s troops to us.
When we reach the thick curtain of flowering vines covering the cave’s entrance, Briar puts a palm on my chest and meets my gaze.
“Give me fifteen seconds to tell them.”
She slips behind the vines and I wait. It’s not long before she gently parts the vines and signals me to enter.
When I do, the first face I see is Ellison’s. She’s standing and smiling, a torch in the ground illuminating her face. The older sister I never had races up to me and throws her arms around me.
“A clone?” She pulls back and looks at my face, teary. “Did they do that to all of us?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m just so glad you’re okay.” She looks me over, squinting at the ink on my forearm. “Oh no. Is that ...?”
“It’s semi-permanent.”
She nods, relieved. Nova approaches me next, clapping me on the shoulder.
“Good to have you back, boss.”
Olin grins and Amira gives me a little wave. Then my eyes land on Pax, whose expression is neutral. We just stare at each other for a few seconds.
“Guess the wind shifted directions,” I say.
He scoffs and looks away. “You don’t have a fucking clue, Marcus. Where were you when people on this island were getting melted down like scrap metal?”
“None of your fucking business.”
Briar moves to stand beside me, looking between us. “Here’s what we’re not doing—fighting each other. There are too many people on this island who want us dead, so man up, both of you.”
Pax’s eyes stay locked on mine in a silent challenge. He’s ready to go if I am. And I’m so fucking ready. But Briar’s right. This isn’t the time.
“We’re taking out Theron and the exiles,” Nova says. “Soon. You couldn’t have come at a better time.”
I nod. “You’ve all got your aromium on.”
Nova shrugs a shoulder. “We have to use every weapon we’ve got.”
My connection tugs at me, urging me to activate my aromium and step into the full potential of the power it would give me. Flavius is struggling with something, but without my aromium, the details are fuzzy. He’s bitter and would like nothing more than a hard fight to work out his aggressions.
“Where’s the switch?” I ask.
“No.” Briar crosses her arms and glares at me. “You can’t help anyone if you’re dead.”
I sniff and look away because I don’t like being told what I can and can’t do—even by her.
“I was just curious.”
Amira slowly reaches for a backpack on the ground near her. It’s in there, but I don’t let on that I know.
“The plan is for Briar and Pax to take out Theron and the exiles while the rest of us spread out to provide backup under cover,” Nova says.
Is it possible for my brows to just fly off my fucking forehead and hit the roof of this cave? That’s how high up they go over that plan.
“Are you joking?”
Nova huffs a note of aggravation. “Here we go.”
“You didn’t see what she did to Ingrid’s guys,” Amira says defensively. “Eleven of them. Dead in fifteen seconds.”
I look at Briar. “What happened?”
She shrugs, dismissive. “What Amira said. I thought they’d brainwashed you, and I got ... enraged instead of scared when Theron and the exiles were coming at us. Then Ingrid’s guys were closing in.”
“She annihilated them,” Pax says. “None of us did anything but watch.”
I’ve never wanted to punch him as much as I do right now. He’s trying to make me into the guy who doesn’t believe in Briar, and himself into the one who does.
Briar is powerful. I’ve seen what she can do with plants. But there are too many ways for this plan to go bad, and I can’t lose her.
“How’d you kill them?” I ask her.
“Lianas and strangler figs.”
I wait for her to continue. “Okay, but how?”
Amira answers for her. “She used the vines to chop off their heads and legs and squeeze their guts out.”
Holy shit. I just look at Briar for a couple of seconds.
“Don’t make me mad,” she says lightly.
“Marcus.” Nova’s serious tone makes me turn to face her. “She’s the greatest weapon on this island. Greater than you, even, because she can control who the vines attack. You can make the volcano blow, but it could kill all of us.”
I nod, the reality of Briar’s abilities hitting me like a blow. It’s a good thing, but it’s not without a downside.
“I don’t think I can hide somewhere while she does it,” I admit. “I know she’s capable. But my emotions trigger my connections, and if I feel like she’s in danger, I can’t control what I do.”
“So leave the island until it’s over,” Pax says. “You obviously have a way to do it.”
“Like hell.” I glare at him. “You’re as likely to kill her as help her.”
“And what would I gain from that?”
“This could all be part of your plan. With them.” I lock eyes with Briar. “Whose idea was it for you and Pax to take out Theron and the exiles?”
Her brows drop down a notch in answer.
“It was you, Pax,” Ellison says.
He throws his arms out. “Yeah, because it’s the best idea we’ve got. When Briar took my people in, I pledged my loyalty to her. I meant it.”
I shake my head. “Your word means nothing to me.”
“He saved us.” Briar gives me a pleading look.
“He didn’t have to, but he did. I love you with every ounce of my being, so don’t take offense, but this isn’t a dictatorship anymore.
It’s a democracy. There are seven people here.
We’ll vote on whether to go forward with the plan.
Majority wins. And I’ll remind everyone here that we have no food, limited weapons, and Ingrid’s people are hunting us. ”
I’m stunned silent. Briar is the opposite of a damsel in distress, and it’s one of the things I love most about her. I wish we’d had this conversation in private so I wasn’t put in my place with Pax watching, but it’s too late for that. Even Ellison, my oldest friend, is fighting a smile.
“Okay.” I put my hands on my hips. “All in favor of Briar, Pax, and me confronting Theron and the exiles while the rest of you cover us?”
“Wait.” Briar gives me a puzzled look. “You? You don’t even have your aromium on.”
I shrug a shoulder. “Guess my badass woman better protect me, then. I’m sure as fuck not hiding in the woods and leaving you alone with Greasy McGee.”
Amira bursts out laughing. Pax gives me the finger with one hand and raises his other arm into the air, stone-faced.
Briar doesn’t look away from me as she raises her hand and I follow with my own, her lips quirking with a smile. She wants to fuck just as much as I do right now—I can tell by her pebbled nipples.
“It’s unanimous,” Nova says. “Everyone else prep while Marcus, Briar, and Pax game-plan peacefully.”
There’s movement around us, but Briar and I are still focused entirely on each other. She grabs a fistful of my T-shirt and pulls. She can’t actually move me, but I indulge her by closing the distance between us.
I put my arm around her waist and lean down, putting my forehead against hers.
“Still love me?” I whisper against her lips.
“For now.” She kisses me softly. “Don’t make me change my mind.”
“Get a private, shit-covered, snake-infested cave, you two,” Amira quips.
I stand up straight, the gravity of what we’re about to do settling over me. My urge to grab the backpack and get the switch is strong, but Briar would be furious.
I’d be confident going into this fight with my aromium on. I’d have Flavius rip Pax’s throat out if he turns on us.
It’s just going to be me, though. Regular old, partially connected to wolves and the earth me.
I believe in Briar completely. I’d feel a lot better if it were just me and her doing this, but that’s not an option. We have to rely on Pax fucking Thatcher.
I never thought I’d see this day.