Chapter 1 Zorin #2
“The war’s progression has nothing to do with us moving into this camp.” We needed females so Aegeris wouldn’t die off. Azrim and I are all that is left. “If you stayed up to date on the news instead of getting your facts from rumors spread by other packs...”
“Shut up, Zorin. No one gives a damn what you think! We see it with our own eyes!” She points to the wreckage on a distant hillside.
“You cannot see beyond your own stuck up nose,” I snort back.
Varenco snarls and shoves his way through the gathering crowd.
I draw a gun from my belt and point it at him. He skids to a stop in the dirt, halfway through a shift. He stays hunkered, though he returns to human form. “You threaten Rhysan’s life with such an outburst.”
“Zorin!” Tahliel snaps. “We do not condone having weapons in this camp!”
“It’s why I live outside of the camp. You are trying to protect your pack, I know.
But when the wolf you’re fighting has bigger teeth, are you just going to accept that your place is to be prey?
I know you all accepted us because MAP said you had to because of Jezza and Azrim’s bond.
I know you never wanted us here, but we have tried to defend Mindor and make our pack proud. ”
“Then do the right thing and hand over the pup.” Scarnis tilts his head. “Do not make me say it again.”
“With all the pain everyone is already enduring, this is what you choose to do? To add more?” I demand.
Rhysan buries his face in my neck, and I can feel his faint, rapid breaths. He’s scared. So am I. I don’t think this is going to end the way I want it to.
I cover Rhysan’s head, trying to shield him from the shouting Shifters around us as I retreat after Azrim.
“He needs to be with us,” Scarnis reasserts chasing me into the woods.
“Because of Jezza. Isn’t it?” I scan the crowd that follows us. “None of you liked her being mated to my brother.”
“It is Mindoran policy, regarding orphaned pups. You know it as much as we do,” Tahliel states, stalking me alongside his beloved alpha. He bows down to Scarnis like he’s a god. But he isn’t. None of the Lunas are. And I realize now that Morrawyn is not as true to Aegeris as we once thought.
“Just because it is law doesn’t make it moral.” They aren’t going to give us time. They want Rhysan now.
I nuzzle in against Rhysan’s furry back and give him a kiss. “I am sorry for what is about to happen to you. Just know your father and Uncle Zorin will always love you.”
“Zorin…” Scarnis’ eyes light up.
“You are going to have to claw him out of my arms,” I growl as I turn and run.
“Zorin!”
I look back to see Azrim straining to get to me as three members of Scarnis’ security team tackle him. They scuffle in the dirt at the edge of the trees.
Another Shifter smashes into my arm, knocking the gun from my hand and me off my feet. I stumble and curl myself around Rhysan as I fall. Claws rake at my legs, back, and arms as the crowd pries me open to get to my nephew.
“No!” I strain with everything I have to keep him close. Pangs shoot up my limbs into my core with such force that my heart stutters. They’re shredding my body to take the last hope of Aegeris.
“Jaskrin, Tahroun…a little help?” Tahliel calls out from atop my back. Varenco roars as he wrenches Rhysan from my grasp.
My Shifter tries to take over. But I’m already torn open. If I turn now, it could tear my wounds more.
And even when they have taken my nephew, they refuse to let me go. My body scorches with ripped open flesh. Claws dig in, teeth. They step on me, beat me, kick me, until I cough blood and cannot move of my own power.
Forgive me Thelisoria. But I need you. Goddess, give me strength.
Azrim manages to break free and charges on all fours for Varenco. Kinross has picked up my gun and points it at Azrim. But Azrim doesn’t see it.
He is going to die.
Not Azrim.
Kinross.
I have to find a way.
I twist a foot free of the Shifters that have me. Now that Rhysan is not at risk of death, I can take a couple of claws to the chest. My skin rips open, but I don’t care. My adrenaline is covering it for now beneath hot rage.
The camp guards scramble to control me me, but I heal fast like they do. And Aegeris are not rule followers. We have moral codes we live by. We serve the intergalactic federation. We know how good the traditionalists have it, living in their ignorant bliss.
And the goddess’ power flows through our veins.
I am a weak, bloodied mess, but I manage to kick a foot into Tahliel, shoving him into Kinross.
A loose bullet punches into the dirt by Azrim’s feet, but it doesn’t faze him.
He’s calling to his son and plowing his way through the crowd.
Shifters pile over him. Several of the ones holding me down turn on him.
Blood coats my clothes and my shredded armor.
Rolling onto my side, I punch the last one in the nose and he backs up, snorting.
Forcing myself up, I brace a gash closed in my side, collect my handgun from where Kinross has dropped it, lock it into my holster, and run after Azrim.
My body screams with pain so loudly that it blurs my vision.
Sweat beads on my forehead. I barely make it three paces before I’m tackled to the ground again.
I shove someone off of me with a boot, tear another off of my shoulders, and wrestle a third from around my waist. But they just don’t stop.
Claws dig into my shoulders, arms, and legs. They pull me down to my knees.
The crowd parts for Scarnis, while three of his soldiers keep my brother and me under their control.
“Zorin.” Scarnis sounds so disappointed. “You showed the most promise of the two of you to come into our pack and find a place here. But you have disobeyed orders like your brother. You have caused chaos and harmed pack mates.”
Azrim roars in his wolf form.
I agree, brother. Fuck you, Scarnis. “You attacked us. You betrayed Jezza’s faith you would keep her safe. You betrayed her!”
I slump forward from the effort of shouting at him. I’m out of breath and bleeding out.
“I must disown you to keep this pack safe.” Scarnis opens a hand and whips out his claws. “To be sure no other pack ever trusts you again.”
I close my eyes hard. He slaps me across the face, his claws scratching deep enough to leave permanent scars. Then Scarnis stalks to my brother.
I shake my head as blood drips down my nose, pooling on my bottom lip until it leaks into my mouth. “Spare him a mark,” I splutter. “He has lost enough.”
“He deserves what he gets for letting her die.” Scarnis is telling himself a lie. I don’t think he allows himself to feel guilt. And it is infuriating.
“He didn’t. Azrim loved her, changed for her!” I call after him.
My brother slumps on his knees, silently crying, his head hanging forward. The agony I feel for him lights a wildfire in my heart.
I have to fix this. I don’t know how I will. But I will.
“Why didn’t you get everyone into the shelter?” I rasp. “Why?”
“Because I don’t trust you.” Scarnis glares at me and raises his claws.
“It was never about us. That was all for her.” I swallow the blood to clear my voice. I jerk, trying to free myself from the males that hold me down. “You should have let her in. She would be alive. You let her die!”
Azrim takes the hit to his face, and I feel fresh pain for him all over again.
A soft gasp in the crowd breaks up the silence. Emarza pushes through, Rhysan clutched to her chest and bound in a fabric sling. Her blue eyes are pale like Jezza’s were. Her dark hair is pulled into a long braid today. “Father! Why do you disown them? Have they not endured enough?”
She’s in tears, and I don’t blame her. She was Jezza’s best friend.
“Do not become soft, Em. They cannot be trusted.” Scarnis curls a lip and looks back at his daughter.
She bares her teeth at him. “Then you did not trust Jezza, or you believed her to be an idiot. She was neither.”
Emarza leaves the group behind and walks toward us. Tahliel protests and tries to hold her back.
“Get off of me!” She stops and swats his hand away. No male dares touch a female, let alone the daughter of the alpha or one carrying a pup of any age.
After she’s scanned the group with a challenge in her eyes and no one else protests, she turns and walks up to us. She sits back on her heels before Azrim. Emarza unwraps Rhysan’s head and lets his father give him one last kiss goodbye.
Azrim cries as he buries his bleeding face in Rhysan’s fur.
The Shifters that hold him back dig their claws in like they do to me when she offers me the same chance.
I lean down to Rhysan who has his mother’s coat and eyes. “You are strong. You are loved. One day, I will make us a family again. Promise.”
Azrim huffs like he wants to ask a question, but he can’t speak.
“Can you give him enough?” I ask Emarza.
She nods slowly. “Kinta did not survive his infection. Jorix is all I have. So I have milk for two.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
She hangs her head and silently cries. “You were fighting for all of us. What we need is stronger genetics. Better medicine. Leaders that aren’t so closed minded. If you can find that in the galaxy, bring it home.”
“Enough.” Tahliel calls her back.
Emarza looks to Azrim, whose anger has faded since she spoke of her own loss. “I will care for him and love him like he is my own. And I will tell him if you two, of Jezza, and of how much he is loved.”
Scarnis waves his hand toward the edge of camp. “Leave Azrim to his Night Stalking. Zorin…”
“My house is outside of your camp boundary. You have no right to speak of rules to our pack, what’s left of it. We make our own rules.” I spit blood at his feet.
Scarnis’ claws retract, and he wipes our blood off on his pants. “Do not show your faces here again, or I will be certain the pack destroys your tainted souls.”
Claws dig into my shoulders with wretched agony before releasing me.
Emarza stumbles back like she has not seen such violence. She hasn’t. Jezza had. But I am grateful that she hides Rhysan’s face from it.
Azrim fights with the Shifters but not as hard as before, not when Emarza’s emptiness has been filled, and Rhysan will be with a female that’s the closest to Jezza in the pack. But his world has shattered. And I know he may never shift back to his upright form again.
His time in the Mindoran Tactical Forces is likely over. Night Stalkers are destined to roam the woods at night, alone, taking out enemies and keeping the boundaries between packs clear of any strays looking to cause trouble.
Scarnis’ security team forms a wall between us and the camp. As Azrim, in Shifter form, sulks into the trees, I realize I am the one who must care for Jezza on her final journey.
Azrim has laid her in a patch of moss under a large tree. But he cannot carry her. So I slide my bloodied arms under her body, and stumble up the hill toward my home. Their den is off limits because it is inside the pack perimeter.
“I am sorry, Jezza.” I’m bleeding all over her. “I did not expect your pack to betray us like this. Everyone loved you. Everyone.”
Azrim leads the way. It is a long journey on foot. Before long, his dark fur becomes just a shadow, catching glints of gold under the early moonlight. He picks a spot on a hill just beyond my cabin, then starts collecting sticks for me.
After we have laid Jezza on her final bed, Azrim curls up with her body and howls. I am not much of a howler, but the heartbreak evident in his cry makes me shift, tilt my head back, and join him.
A star is missing from our sky tonight. I cannot bring this one back to life.
There has to be a way I can make us whole again, so Rhysan can return to us and Azrim can come in from the cold.
As Jezza rises into the sky as embers and winks out across the land, Azrim gives me one last glance and sulks into the dark woods. Goodbye, brother.
It shatters me to see how strong he was just yesterday and how hollow he has become.
I am always with you, brother, I reply.
His howls echo through the distant mountains as I stand guard by his mate’s ashes feeling sick in my soul.
Jezza accepted us, loved him more than life, and filled the future with hope. Now I am alone, and my brother is a ghost of a warrior, a dark wolf, the kind that no one wants to meet in the middle of the night.
No one, who has done what he has to protect our world, should be reduced to such misery.
I have to find a way to fix this.
Corzin, a Shifter from another district, met his human mate at the Alien Bride Race. Perhaps it is time I look into a change, something that really breaks the rules. I can only hope the district council will listen to me and approve another human for our world.
When the land is dark and bare and Jezza’s essence is gone, I hike back to my cabin and get to work on a new plan.
Scarnis thinks he controls us. But he can’t, now that we are on our own again. We just need a pack that’s strong enough to overpower his. I think it’s time I reach out and call in a few loyal loners like us.