32. Zephyr
Zephyr
I didn’t like it when Prez told us to get ‘the omega’ out of the bunker and bring her to his office. Honey doesn’t want to be called that, for whatever reason, and I respect it. He knows her name, though, and he’s choosing to be callous with her.
Honey knows the way and practically leads Phoenix and me through the halls to Revenant’s office, but she does wait for Phoenix to knock on the door.
The door swings open, revealing Lazarus, Mayhem, Fox, and Revenant already waiting for us. Honey shuffles forward and sits rigidly in the open chair, next to Fox.
She’s in that seat enough that they could practically assign it to her. I hate that. She shouldn’t be here. She should be with us in our apartment, anywhere other than here.
I wasn’t surprised by anything said during the club assembly. But this meeting was unexpected. It’s not even noon, and I’m already on edge. It’s going to be a long day.
Revenant’s office isn’t all that large to begin with, but this visit makes it feel a hundred times smaller with everyone in the room.
The air is stifling, and I want to grab Honey around the waist, haul her over my shoulder, and take her as far away from the club’s compound as necessary to keep her safe.
The door closes behind us, and my shadow shifts between forms, unsure how to settle.
“You okay, Z?” Mayhem raises an eyebrow at me.
I force my shadow to pick a shape, and it settles with the falcon resting on my shoulder. “I’m good.”
Revenant is eyeing me but doesn’t address me. He directs his attention back to Honey. “We went to the place you said the House of Apostles would be, and it’s abandoned. Do you know where they would have gone?”
Why didn’t he ask her this before the club assembly? Phoenix bumps shoulders with me, and I’m sure he’s having the same thought.
“I don’t know where they would go. The apostles talked about someplace new.
But they never said where. It always seemed in the distant future that the next generation of apostles would take and build a new gathering place and community.
” Honey’s voice shakes, and she’s playing with the seam of her skirt.
I clench my fists, anchoring myself to my spot as the need to touch her, hold her, purr for her becomes increasingly insistent in my mind.
“Did it seem like the new place was far away? Or maybe close by? Did someone ever go visit it and come back?” Lazarus is the one to take over the questioning. His deep voice rumbles a little with the edge of a purr.
Honey draws a breath, and I wish I could see her face better from where I stand behind her and off to the side. But I think her eyes are closed.
“I am uncertain, but I believe Apostle Jerome and Apostle Clement took two of the disciples with them to visit the new place. They came back with talks of lumber and tools. I was petulant and was eavesdropping the day they returned. They said they would need more resources because it would be too much work and take too much time to construct the buildings by hand.” Honey cowers in her chair.
Phoenix steps forward, wrapping his shadow around her and protecting her.
I hate that she’s afraid. I hate that she doesn’t understand how important she is. I need to be better about telling her.
“Honey, no one is angry with you. No one will hurt you.” Revenant’s voice is decidedly calm despite what is on the line.
“When you think they went to visit the new place, how many days were they gone?” Lazarus probes, and his voice is flatter, as if he’s analyzing and not caring. He stands there levelheaded with his hands clasped in front of him.
How can he be this way toward her? He’s so unnerved. Doesn’t he care for her like we do? I’m frustrated with him and clench my fist.
Phoenix curls his fingers around my clenched fists and squeezes. I try to relax and hold hands with him, but I can’t make the anger go away enough for me to release the tension.
“It was at least three days. I was in . . .” Honey hangs her head, and her body contorts in her chair as she tries to make herself smaller. “I was in sequestering for quieting. When I came out, they were gone, and it was at least three days before they came back.”
Lazarus’s positioning changes. He straightens, slightly shuffling one foot forward toward her before he pulls himself back and runs a hand across his jaw. “But they were there when you went into sequestering?”
Honey nods, and her mouth opens like she wants to respond, but nothing comes out.
“How many days were you in sequestering?” Revenant grabs a pen and paper out of the desk drawer as if he’ll take notes.
“Four days.” Honey twists in her chair this time. She pulls her whole body up into it, wrapping her arms around herself for comfort.
“Four. Days,” Lazarus growls. His shadow floods from around his feet into its snake form, coiled and ready to strike. “That is the absolute —” He draws a deep breath and then another.
I cloak Honey in my shadow, letting it drape along her back and arms, over the chair where she sits. Phoenix’s shadow adjusts and curls up around her feet as we try to comfort her.
Mayhem reaches out and places a hand on Laz’s shoulder. Revenant turns his head to look at him, and finally, Lazarus pulls it together.
“One day. Sequestering was meant to be one day. It was never meant to . . .” He runs his fingers back through his hair, pushing it out of his face, the long strands tangling as he does. “It’s unacceptable what they’ve done to you, Honey. I am truly sorry for what happened to you.”
“Well, the timeline doesn’t give us a lot to work with. It’s too much time and too many factors to narrow a lot of places down, but we can try.” Revenant tosses the pad of paper and pen aside.
Fox adjusts in his chair. Leaning forward, he grabs the pen and paper before pulling the top sheet off and writing on the next. After a few seconds, he turns the pad to Honey. I squint to read the fine line of text. “How sure are you that it was four days?”
Honey lets out a soft groan. “Because it was Sunday after we congregated when they made me go, and when I came out, it was Thursday evening, and I had to go directly to the prayer circle.”
Fox shrugs and sits back in his chair, twirling the pen between his fingers for a moment before setting both on Revenant’s desk.
“I still would like to keep you here for some time. But have you given any thought as to what you’d like to do now that you’re away from House of Apostles?” Revenant looks between her, Phoenix, and me. He slightly tips his head toward Lazarus as if he’s subtly telling her the option.
With a single shoulder, Honey shrugs and murmurs, “It’d be nice to have a pack, responsible enough for an omega, that could keep me safe.” She’s quiet for a minute before adding, “Somewhere away from here.”
I’ve been stabbed, beaten, and shot before, but this hurts worse than all that combined.
I haven’t been lit on fire yet, but maybe this is what it’s like to be burned alive.
Everything hurts. Her rejection is worse than anything I’ve ever felt.
My shadow slumps off her to the floor and crawls back toward me, wounded. She doesn’t want us.
Phoenix pushes forward, and Fox snaps his attention in our direction. He levels us with a ‘Don’t even think about it’ glare, eyebrows pulled together and lip ready to curl into a snarl.
It doesn’t stop Phoenix’s loud objection. “Honey, I thought maybe you’d want to stay here with us. I mean, we’ve been trying hard to show you we’re ready.”
Lazarus clears his throat. “She knows the seriousness of her words.”
“That true, Omega?” Revenant uses that word, and Honey flinches.
“She doesn’t like to be called that,” I snap.
Revenant doesn’t spare me a look. “Honey, it seems Phoenix and Zephyr are quite attached to you. You’re saying that you don’t wish to be here with them.”
She shakes her head. “No, I should go somewhere else. Safe, for everyone.”
I look at Lazarus, but his eyes are locked on Honey. His mouth is pressed into a firm line, but he’s otherwise expressionless in all of this.
How is he unaffected? I’ve seen the way he looks at her.
“Honey, we are in the business of putting omegas with packs that can love and support them. But it seems you have found people here who want and care for you.” Mayhem tries a soft approach.
He crouches next to Revenant’s desk, trying to get in Honey’s line of sight. “You’re saying you don’t want that?”
“Somewhere else,” Honey whispers. “I should go somewhere else.”
“Lazarus.” Revenant looks away from Honey toward him. “Maybe a . . .”
But Lazarus is shaking his head. “She is competent enough to know what she wants. If she does not want to be here, we cannot make her stay.”