Chapter 19 Zane
Zane
Bellona was louder than sin. Even at dawn, the city roared with life—vendors shouting, soldiers barking orders, the coliseum gates still slick with yesterday’s blood.
Word traveled fast here. Everyone wanted to talk about the girl who refused to kill her monster.
Our girl. Our Nexus.
I leaned against the crumbling edge of a market wall, scanning the towers above the arena. The whole place pulsed with energy—auras layered like storm clouds. Reverie’s presence brushed my mind again, soft but steady, like a heartbeat trying to sync with mine.
“Zane?”
“Still here, precious girl.”
“You shouldn’t be. It’s way too dangerous.” I could hear the concern in her voice.
“Danger is my middle name.”
“I happen to know that’s bullshit.”
A low growl from behind me snapped the smile off my face.
Oren. Better known as Shitstorm.
I understood him more after all these months and all the time we’d spent together. He’d definitely changed since our younger years, and there were reasons for that. Still, he was Shitstorm until Reverie said otherwise.
“Focus,” he said, voice like thunder. “She’s near the upper part of the compound.”
“The training yard,” Nathan grunted.
Oren nodded. “We move when Jet gives the all-clear.”
I raised a brow at him. “You’re sure you’re not ceding control of this mission to Jet?”
Nathan snorted, “He’d sooner give Selene oral.”
Oren shot him a look that would’ve roasted a lesser man. “You talking to her mid-mission is exactly how people end up dead.”
“Boys,” Reverie’s voice cut through, warm yet tired and sharp all at once. “Maybe save the arguing until after you aren’t surrounded by danger from all sides.”
Jet chuckled quietly, his tone calm even as his eyes flickered from place to place. “She has a point.”
I noticed he only smiled like that for our Nexus.
Zeke crouched beside him, drawing a map of the tunnels Damien had described to him from memory. Frost hissed from his fingertips. “The main tunnel is beneath the east barracks.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
“Meaning we don’t charge the front gate like idiots,” Zeke looked at me in exasperation.
Nathan elbowed me. “Your brother thinks you’re an idiot.”
“Yeah,” I said, grinning. “But my dick’s bigger.”
“Less than a quarter inch, fuckface!” Zeke growled.
Oren sighed, a sound that said he was reconsidering every life choice that led to this moment. “We move at dusk. No mistakes. No noise. Reverie, you stay where you are until we reach the coliseum wall.”
“You’re assuming I’m not going to try to get out of here and meet y’all before you get yourselves killed.”
Sassy girl. I smiled at her defiance of Oren.
Zeke muttered under his breath, “Of course, she wants to do it on her own.”
Frynn stirred inside me, scales rippling beneath my skin. The Draxon’s voice slipped through my thoughts like smoke. “She burns brighter today. The bond grows stronger.”
I straightened, glancing toward the coliseum’s towering form. “We’re coming for you, Nexus. Be ready.”
We moved in shadows—Oren leading, Jet watching our backs, Nathan and me doing our usual brand of subtle chaos.
Nathan sent Dale away for now. He would've been helpful, but we had grown fond of him and didn’t want him injured unnecessarily. Besides, my twin and I had the most superior animals of all inside us.
“I am far from an animal, boy,” Frynn growled, not pleased with the comparison.
“Feels too quiet,” Nathan muttered.
“Quiet’s good.” I checked the knife at my belt. “Means nobody is trying to fuck with us yet.”
Oren shot me a look. “Yet being the keyword.”
Then I froze.
A flicker of movement at the edge of an alley—too deliberate to be a rat, too cautious to be a drunk. Frynn stirred beneath my skin, scales itching with instinct.
Oren motioned for silence, and we fanned out.
That’s when a voice whispered, “If you’re planning to attack me, then I’m telling Mom when we get back.”
I’d know that voice anywhere. “Chloe?”
She stepped out of the shadows like a ghost. Mud-streaked, exhausted, but alive.
Her red hair was pulled back in a rough braid, and two men flanked her—one broad-shouldered with a blade still dripping something that wasn’t water (Oliver, clearly), the other leaner and cool-eyed, scanning the rooftops (Deshawn, protective and calm).
Zeke moved before I could. He had her wrapped in a crushing hug in a blink. “You absolute menace,” he muttered into her hair. “Do you have any idea—”
Chloe’s smile wobbled, equal parts relief and irritation. “Nice to see you too, brother.”
“Aw, look at that—Booger and the Draxon. Sounds like a movie title. Anyone else feeling the need for popcorn?” I mimicked eating popcorn, smirking at my two siblings.
Chloe glared. “Don’t be a dick.”
I snickered, “Just fucking with you.”
Nathan elbowed me. “You’d better watch yourself. My Nexi would totally approve of me holding you down so Chloe could kick your ass.”
Chloe grinned, “Yes, she would.”
I grinned back, truly happy to see my sister. “So, wanna tell us why you’re strolling around Bellona like you’re on holiday?”
Deshawn answered before Chloe could. “Because she didn’t listen to me.” His voice was smooth, low, with the kind of lethal calm that came from killing more people than he wanted to count. “I’ve been in the coliseum posing as one of their warriors. Trying to get close to Reverie.”
My stomach clenched. “And?”
“I saw her, spoke to her.” He said simply. “Seems that she’s fighting again tonight.”
Oren’s jaw tightened. “Then we move sooner than planned.”
Deshawn’s gaze swept the street, calculating. “You’ll need the eastern tunnels. Less patrol coverage, and the old arena channels still run power from before the war.”
Jet nodded slowly. “That’s good. The distraction of the crowd will mask our approach.”
Chloe’s voice cracked as she said, “I’m happy you're all here.”
Zeke sighed. “You realize Mom is shitting a brick about you being here.”
Chloe winced. “I figured.”
“Zane?” Reverie’s voice brushed my mind, soft and unaware. “Everything all right?”
“Everything's fine, precious, how about on your end?”
“All good.” The connection broke abruptly.
“Liar,” I murmured out loud.
Oren frowned, “She didn’t mention anything about being put in the arena again tonight.”
“Nope.” Nathan scowled.
“I’m going to spank her ass.” Jet growled.
“Get in line.” I waggled my brows and grinned.
Chloe huffed, “Fantasize on your own time. We have to rescue my bestie before she gets her ass killed. The fight in the coliseum will start in just a few hours.”
My grin vanished. “Then we stop the show.”
Before anyone could respond, the air shifted—thick, heavy, wrong. The sound was almost a growl, but too deep, too intelligent.
A shadow peeled itself out of the alley behind Chloe. Four paws the size of dinner plates hit the cobblestone, claws whispering against stone. Quieter than anyone his size had the right to be.
Pantar.
He seemed bigger than he’d been just a few days ago. Sleek black fur rippling like smoke, amber eyes glowing like twin suns. The tentacles along his shoulders moved with eerie precision, tasting the air.
Pantar’s voice rolled through our heads like thunder. “I tracked her to the compound. The time to move is now.”
Frynn stirred inside me, snarling back. “Watch your tone, beast.”
I swallowed hard at Pantar’s unamused look, forcing a smirk. “He was just joking.”
Pantar flicked his tail. “Your Draxon will come in handy.”
Oren spoke quietly. “Stay out of sight. The guards won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Pantar rolled his eyes. “I go where my Nexus is.”
“Can’t you just order him to remain invisible? He was yours before he was Reverie’s.” Nathan smirked.
“He doesn’t take orders. He listens only to Reverie, and that’s not even guaranteed.” Oren flipped him off.
“Great,” Nathan grinned. “Just like Zane.”
“Hey, dickhead,” I growled.
For a moment, no one spoke. Then Jet broke the silence, his tone cutting through the night. “We need to move.”
“They change rotations every six hours. Next shift’s in less than one. Once it flips, the eastern tunnel will be half-guarded for maybe ten minutes.” Deshawn looked to Jet.
Oren nodded, “That’s our window.”
Deshawn knelt, sketching quick lines in the dirt with a broken blade tip—clean, efficient. “Two entrances. North gate is suicide. The East tunnel connects to the fighter prep hall. If we move then, we can reach Reverie before the next round begins.”
Jet crouched beside him, his null energy pulsing faintly. “If I dampen our signatures, we can slip through the barrier wards without tripping alarms. But it won't be easy. I haven’t truly mastered this new ability yet.”
“Do it,” said Oren.
Zeke crossed his arms, frost curling from his fingertips. “What about the spectators? Hundreds of them. Even if we get in, getting out will—”
“We won’t get out the same way,” Oliver interrupted. “There’s an old drainage channel beneath the arena floor. It was sealed off decades ago, but Deshawn was able to find the schematics.”
Deshawn gave a single nod. “Runs all the way to the southern cliffs. Flooded, dark, but navigable.”
Nathan grinned. “So, we break in, steal my Nexi, and surf out through a sewer.” He waggled his brows, “Romantic.”
“Only you,” I gagged, “could describe escaping through ancient piles of shit as romantic.”
He shrugged. “I can make anything romantic. It’s a gift.”
Chloe cut in, voice shaking with tension. “Selene isn’t going to let her walk out alive, not after everything.”
Oren’s eyes flared with heat. “I hope that bitch tries stopping us. I’m going to skin her alive.”
“I’m going to help.” Nathan’s face lost all humor.
None of us mentioned what Selene had done to our Nexus. It felt like something only we should know, like her pain was sacred and belonged only to us.
Oliver stood, brushing dirt from his hands. “All right. We strike on the shift change. Zeke and Jet cover the rear. Deshawn leads us through the fighter’s hall. Oren, you and I clear the eastern corridor. Nathan, Zane—”
“Chaos squad.” Nathan said instantly.
I saluted. “Damn straight.”
Jet’s mouth twitched—the closest thing he ever got to a smile, unless Reverie was involved. “Just try to leave some for the rest of us to kill.”
Pantar’s tail flicked. “If they die, I will finish their work.”
“Wow, thanks for caring,” I muttered.
Nathan looked delighted. “I knew he loved me.”
Pantar growled at him.
Oren straightened, voice going hard and sure. “We move at first bell. No mistakes. We get in, get her, and get out before the city even realizes she’s gone.”
Everyone nodded, faces serious.
Oren’s shadows wound around his fists, Zeke’s frost shimmered blue across his palms, Jet levitated several inches off the ground, and Nathan cracked his knuckles with a sound like distant thunder as his palms lit up with fire.
I looked around at the group—my brothers, her protectors, her chaos—and felt that sharp, dangerous thrill roll through me.
“Let’s fuck shit up.”