Chapter 7 Oren
Oren
“What the fuck, Oren? What did we just feel?” Nathan paced my office, pulling at his hair with both hands.
None of the others were in any better shape, including myself. Everyone had rushed here from wherever they were, in a panic.
“I wish I knew, brother.” I wiped my hand down my face.
Ever since we’d felt the searing pain on our chests, exactly where Reverie’s Nexus mark was located, I’d been frantic, contacting everyone I could think of that might have contacts still in Bellona.
I’d had no luck so far, and that was tearing us all apart.
“She was in agony. I could feel it," Jet said without any emotion on his face or in his voice. To anyone other than Faction, he may seem cold, but I could feel his emotions as well as my own. The guy was a mass of anger and hatred, just waiting for a target.
Zeke and Zane hadn’t said ten words to anyone since the incident. I knew it was taking every bit of control they had to keep their Draxon from taking over and destroying the world.
At this point, I was all for it, starting with the Council.
Those bastards hadn't been helpful at all. Reverie’s fathers, along with myself, had tried several times to get them to take action to prepare us for what was to come, but they failed.
Now, with the attacks, they’d been forced to at least pretend to rally the troops.
From what I’d seen, Sly and Damien had organized most of the Aurathion forces so far.
Jesse and John, along with our Faction, were helping to train those inexperienced in battle.
I was waiting for concrete proof that they were conspiring with the DF.
When I had it in hand, the days of them drawing breath would be over.
“I need to get to her now!” Nathan collapsed into the chair in front of my desk and buried his face in his hands. “How the hell did this happen? Five men, and none of us prevented her capture. What kind of Faction are we?”
“It was my fault.” Jet scowled. “I was the only one there.” He walked to Nathan and laid his hand on his shoulder. “I swear on my life, brother, I will get her back. And when I do, I’m going to rain hell down on the motherfuckers that took her.”
Zeke spoke in a voice that was so deep and gruff it wasn’t even recognizable as his. “There were mistakes made by us all.”
When I made eye contact with him, I saw that his pupils had retracted into slits. I tensed and prepared to contain him if need be. This wasn’t Zeke; it was his Draxon talking.
“They will not be made again. I’ll see to it.
” He looked at Jet, his head turned too slowly, too smoothly, like oil poured over glass.
The motion was silent, but it carried the weight of something coiled and patient, the stillness of a predator before the strike.
“You won’t be the only one raining hell on my Treasure’s enemies. ”
Before I could form a reply, I heard the door slam, and everyone in the room assumed a defensive stance that relaxed when Chloe, Oliver, and Deshawn entered.
“What’s going on? I felt an indescribable pain that I know came from Reverie," Chloe said breathlessly, clearly having run all the way here.
When Zeke turned to look at her, Oliver and Deshawn stepped in front of her protectively.
Zeke growled low at their actions, and Chloe pushed between them.
“For fuck’s sake, that’s my brother, and he’d never hurt me in any form he chose to take.
” I heard her mumble under her breath about overprotective men.
“Now what the hell is going on? The marks on mine and Oliver’s arms lit up, and we both felt the call to aid Reverie. ”
“We aren’t sure.” I stood and walked around my desk. “I’ve tried reaching out to contacts that might have spies in Aurathia, but so far I’ve got nothing.”
Jet straightened. “What about the spy my military contact has planted? Fuck! Why didn’t we call them immediately?” He rushed out of the room.
“Firefly, I’m going to help him get the info you all need.” Deshawn kissed Chloe briefly, then followed Jet.
“What can we do while we wait?” Nathan had a look of hope on his face that I’m sure mirrored mine.
“We need to finalize our plans to hijack the portal when the DF attacks Copper Creek. If Jet’s contact doesn’t come through, that may be our only hope.” I ran both hands through my hair, needing to kill something more than I needed to draw my next breath.
“Not according to Pantar.” Chloe started pacing the room, obviously having a hard time sitting still. Oliver pulled her into his arms as she walked near him. When she tried to pull away, he whispered something in her ear. She stayed in his arms, but a single tear rolled down her cheek, unchecked.
“What do you mean?” Zane growled low, his Draxon at the forefront as well.
“Pantar still believes he holds the only hope of opening a portal. He can also still…” Chloe slapped her hand over her mouth and looked around guiltily.
“Still what?” I demanded. What was she hiding? Pantar had been scarce ever since Reverie was taken. Popping in less and less as the days went by. I’d been busy trying to get to my Nexus, so I hadn’t paid as much attention as I should have, apparently.
“He didn’t want me to say anything.” Chloe hung her head. “I don’t want to break his confidence, but with what just happened, I feel like I should tell you.”
“Tell us what??!!” Nathan yelled, losing his patience. Nothing was left of the man he used to be—once easy to smile with Reverie by his side.
Oliver stood, “Don’t speak to my Nexus like that, ‘ula vale!”
Both men stood chest to chest, with Oliver, a full head taller than Nathan… not that Nathan was intimidated. The damn fool — which ironically was what Oliver called him in Samoan — wasn’t afraid of anything if it stood between him and his Nexi.
The tension eased when my cell phone rang. Most staff and students didn’t bother with their phones because, typically, they were useless here. Mine was not. I didn’t want to be unreachable when waiting on information, so I’d found a way to remedy that.
I looked at the screen. “It’s Jesse.” I answered and put it on speaker.
“Get over here now!” Jesse yelled into the phone and hung up immediately.
Before we could recover from that abrupt command, Mira popped into the room.
“I’m here to open a portal to my Faction." Without delay, she did so, and we stood to step through, alarmed by the urgency in Jesse’s voice.
Before Chloe could enter, Mira stopped her. “I’m afraid, Aegisseer, that you must stay here.”
“What?!” Why?” Chloe asked, more than a little upset.
“All will be revealed soon. For now, I need you to trust me.” Mira stared deep into her eyes.
Something Chloe saw in those deep pools of wisdom must have eased her because when she spoke, she was much calmer. “I do trust you.” She turned to Oliver. “Let’s train. I feel the need to work off some of this stress.”
The warehouse that the Hawthorne Faction was staying in was vast. Mira brought us to the lowest level, where all their vehicles were kept.
They moved here shortly after Reverie was abducted.
We needed a safe place for Adelaide to lie low while we made plans to rescue Reverie.
To say she argued fiercely when her men refused her the chance to fight would be an understatement.
She only relented when Damien explained the strategy he had devised to gain entrance into Aurathia.
Only Sly and John were present; no sign of Adelaide or Jesse.
Both men were standing in front of a table with a small box on it. The box was unremarkable to the eye—small, square, fashioned of pale wood rubbed smooth by careful hands. No carvings, no inlays, no lock. It could have been mistaken for a jewelry case left on a bedside table.
I couldn’t explain my sense of dread at seeing it. But nothing in me wanted them to open that box.
“What’s the emergency?” I asked, dreading the answer.
“This box was delivered to our condo this morning.” John’s expression was grim.
“It’s from Selene. We didn’t want Adelaide to know about it until we could determine what was inside." Sly rumbled, not taking his eyes off the box. “She’s upstairs and Jesse is keeping her busy.”
“Do you think it has something to do with Reverie?” Nathan asked with obvious reluctance.
John nodded. “It actually says ‘from Reverie,’ but Sly recognized the box as Selene’s.”
“Fuck.” Zane began pacing but never took his eyes off the box, much like Sly.
Jet approached the box. He had arrived at the warehouse separately, brought by Pantar, when he was unable to contact the military’s spy. “Do you want me to open it?”
“I’ll do it,” Sly growled, then squeezed his eyes shut. “I know how evil Selene is. You need to prepare yourselves because nothing good resides inside this box.”
I nodded and prayed to every Ancestor I could think of, asking for the strength to endure whatever it was.
Zeke stepped beside Jet, and that seemed to be our cue. We each stepped up, so we were standing shoulder to shoulder, drawing strength from one another.
Sly slowly opened the box, and I wanted to yell at him to hurry it up. But I knew why he didn’t fling the lid back quickly. Once we saw what was inside, we couldn’t unsee it.
When he finally lifted the lid enough to gaze inside, his chest sank. “There’s something wrapped in black satin.” He frowned. “The note on top is addressed to Adelaide.”
“Adelaide is not opening that,” John stated emphatically.
“I can smell Reverie,” Zeke growled, pupils slitted.
Mira and Pantar began growling low from near the entrance to the warehouse. Clearly upset, not of Zeke’s Draxon, but from the smell of Reverie that shouldn’t be coming from such a small box.
We definitely weren’t dealing with Zeke anymore. Maybe we could use this. “What else do you smell?”
“I smell evil, and a bitch that I mean to kill.” Smoke came out of Zeke’s nostrils.
He’d have to wait his turn. If I ever got my hands on Selene, she’d beg me to use my abilities to kill her because I was planning to go old-fashioned on her ass and use my hands.
“He is correct. There is a smell of wrongness and evil coming from the box.” Pantar spoke in our heads in a voice filled with more rage than I’d ever heard from him.
“What’s going on down here?” Adelaide marched down the stairs with Jesse close on her heels.
“Nothing, angel, go back upstairs. We’ll be there in a few minutes,” Sly said, scowling at Jesse.
“Hell no. I can sense that you're all hiding something from me. I’m not stupid.” She stomped to the bottom of the stairs and pushed in between the two men. “Where did that box come from?” She leaned closer and gasped, “That’s my name on the letter in Selene’s handwriting.”
She would recognize it because she had been roommates with Selene for a few weeks while at Emberhold, before moving into Faction housing.
John put his arm around her waist. “Baby, please go back upstairs and let us handle this.”
Adelaide leaned into him for a moment, then stood straight and pushed his arm away. “If my baby can go through whatever this is, then the least I can do as her mother is deal with it.” She reached into the box and pulled out the letter.
Dearest Adelaide,
I’ve had the pleasure of hosting your daughter these last few months. I can’t tell you how much joy she’s brought me. She’s really something special.
I’d love for you to share my gift with her men; I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
Give my love to Sly— or Hayes, as he preferred to be called while in my loving care. I hope to see him soon.
Until Reverie is in your gentle arms again, I sent a small piece of her to offer you comfort in these trying times.
All of my love,
Selene
Adelaide’s knees went weak. Sly and John both grabbed her around the waist with Jesse at her back.
All four of them stood like that for a few brief moments, wrapped in each other, drawing strength.
Then Adelaide stood tall, shook her men off, and slowly unwrapped the black silk to reveal what it held.
My chest constricted as if a vice had closed around it.
There it was.
Reverie’s Nexus mark.
Wax-sealed.
Pale.
Laid out on the silk like a prize. My vision blurred at the edges, breath hitching sharply. That mark was supposed to be decorating my baby's glowing skin, alive and thrumming, not carved from her, a piece of butchered flesh.
The bond inside me recoiled, snapping taut, dragging me under. My fists clenched until my knuckles split, blood dripping down my palm, sparks flaring at the end of my fingertips.
Around me, the others buckled in their own way—wood cracked under a slammed fist, curses hissed between clenched teeth, a strangled sob choked off into silence.
Reverie’s fathers were no better. John pressed himself to the wall, face bloodless. Jesse mouthed words of prayer silently, and Sly’s stare was empty, fixed, and hollow.
And Adelaide… she stood at the center, her grief pressing into my bones, heavier than stone. Her hands shook, her eyes shone wet, but her spine stayed rigid. Rage simmered under her grief—cold, steady, lethal.
I couldn’t take it. Couldn’t bear the silence, the weight of it. My throat scraped raw as the words forced themselves out.
“They cut her… like she’s nothing.” My voice cracked, low and ragged, fury scraping against grief. I swallowed the copper taste of blood, then lifted my head, meeting every eye in the room. “Selene did this—” My voice hardened. “The bitch will pay with her life.”
The words hung there, not a threat, not a promise—just truth. And in the silence that followed, I knew even her death wouldn’t be enough.