Chapter 36
Chapter
Thirty-Six
TEAL
Ispun around just in time to see a basajaun haul Haven’s limp body through a gaping hole in the wall.
It was taking her. Away. From. Us. Away from my protection. The thought made my chest tighten.
My vines raced across the snow and frozen ground, wrapping around the creature’s ankles. The beast broke through the dense plants as if they were mere threads. “Pierce!”
Ice spears sliced through the storm. Impossibly sharp. Deadly. But when they reached the monster’s hide, they shattered into useless shards. Pierce swore. Colorfully.
“Flynn!” I leaped over the fire and kicked him. Hard. “Wake up! We need you!”
He muttered incoherently, still lost in a dream.
“A basajaun stole Haven.”
His eyes flew open, and he jumped to his feet. “Where? When? Why didn’t you wake me?”
“There.” I pointed through the hole at the disappearing monster.
Flynn gathered fire in his hands and hurled a ball of flame at the beast’s retreating back. The fire guttered when they met its fur.
I yanked on my cloak, my fingers clumsy in their haste. “Let’s go.”
Grayson caught my arm. “We’re not following.”
“What?” My voice cracked with outrage.
“There was more than one basajaun. Everything we know about them says they’re solitary creatures. Why are they working together now?”
Was Grayson being deliberately stupid? The answer was glaringly obvious. “They’re working together to take Haven!”
Grayson pursed his lips. “Why would they do that?”
“We’ll never know if we don’t follow,” I insisted.
“Too risky,” he replied firmly.
Pierce’s eyes narrowed to angry slits, and the chill that rose from his pale skin frosted the air. “She stood over your body and fought to protect you. You owe her your life. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“I swore an oath to protect my brothers. You. All of you. Following an unknown number of basajauns into a blizzard is as good as signing your death warrants.”
“So we fix the wall and gather around the fire? Maybe roast some marshmallows? Is that your plan?” I’d never been so angry.
“My plan is to get us to Angelfire. Alive and in one piece.”
I could see the calculation in Grayson’s eyes—the same look he got when weighing impossible odds on a battlefield. We were already behind schedule, and the storm was getting worse. If we didn’t arrive on time …
“You’re a coward.” Pierce’s furious accusation hung in the air.
Pierce was wrong. Grayson carried the weight of keeping us alive. Haven mattered to him—I could see it in the way his jaw clenched when he spoke about her—but his oath was to protect his brothers first. The bastard was trying to save us from ourselves.
None of that mattered in the face of Pierce’s accusation. Grayson turned to face him. “Say that again.”
Pierce lifted a saddle onto his horse’s back. “She challenges you. She intrigues you. And worst of all, she tempts you. And you’d rather let her die than admit it.”
Grayson’s face was nothing but harsh lines and flushed skin. “That’s bullshit. She’s a shield.”
“She’s far more than a shield, and we all know it.” Pierce looked to Flynn and me for support.
I nodded, jaw set. Grayson was my family. My only family. But he needed to get his head out of his ass. Haven was something special, and he refused to see it. After what we’d been through, I got it. I did. But that didn’t mean I’d abandon Haven. “I say we go after her.”
“Not your call,” Grayson stated flatly.
That didn’t deserve a response. I turned to Flynn. “What about it? Do we rescue the damsel or leave her to her fate?”
Grayson scoffed. “He doesn’t get a vote. He’s thinking with his cock because he still wants to fuck her.”
None of us could argue that.
Flynn pulled on a boot. “I owe her a life debt. It’s not something I can ignore.” With his second boot finally on, Flynn stood. “If the basajaun had taken one of us, what would you do?”
Grayson flushed. “That’s different.”
“How?” Flynn sounded genuinely curious, but his knowing smirk told a different story. Grayson didn’t want to follow Haven because he wanted her every bit as badly as the rest of us. And he hated it. By taking Haven, the basajaun had removed the problem.
Grayson raked his fingers through his hair, clearly frustrated with all of us. “She is a shield.”
To him, maybe. Not to me. I wanted to adore her, guide her, and give her whatever I thought she needed. I’d seen her potential, her strength, but also her exhaustion and wariness. She might not know it yet, but she needed me. “Wrong.”
Grayson pressed his fingertips against his temples. “Let’s say, at great personal risk, we get her back. We’re taking her to Angelfire. She’ll be dead within a few months, anyway.”
“She’s right.” Pierce tightened the girth on his saddle, then slid the bit into his horse’s mouth. “We are the villains. Teal, you want to take down what’s left of that wall?”
I waved my hand, and the vines disappeared.
I picked up Haven’s faded quilt and folded it into a neat square. I wanted to see the guarded look in her eyes soften when I returned it to her. I wanted her to feel cherished.
“What are you doing?” Grayson demanded.
“She cares about this quilt. I’m not leaving it behind.”
“You’ve lost your mind. It takes four days to get to Angelfire from here.
We have only hours to spare.” Grayson’s voice cracked slightly.
He was caught between the oath that bound him to protect us and the growing certainty that leaving Haven behind would destroy something essential in each of us. Clearly, he’d made his choice.
I tried reasoning with him. “We’re the most powerful quad in the guard. They need us.”
“They won’t care, not if we’re late. Rules exist for a reason.”
I couldn’t stop my bitter grin. “To be broken.”