Chapter 30
“He’s still upset about the situation, isn’t he?” Tessi asks as Azrim’s silhouette bounds off into the woods.
I shake my head as I carry the control module back toward my house. “He’s never been this indecisive. He’s fighting what he wants because of what happened to his mate. But I honestly can’t blame him. I’m certain I’d be no different if I lost you.”
Radar trots along beside us, his armor loaded down with other parts Tessi’s scavenged from the wreckage, little things I wouldn’t think of but would be useful to keep on hand like special hardware, pieces of unique metals that we can melt down and solder into cracks.
“Are we heading into your old pack camp to see Rhysan today?” she asks.
I open the door to the hangar for her. “Yes. Please set your things down. We must see if we can make this quick. I need to get Azrim back here today.”
Radar won’t stop looking in the direction Azrim has left.
“I don’t understand,” I tell her. “Why does Radar like Azrim so much when he’s so abrasive?”
“He is your original alpha, yes?” she asks. “You became the alpha when he went to do his Night Stalking?”
“Well, yeah.”
“And he’s hurting…from losing Jezza.” Tessi runs a hand down my arm. “Dogs sense emotion far better than humans. I’m certain Radar just senses what Azrim feels.
The moment she pulls the gear packs off of Radar’s armor, he bolts out the door.
Tessi seems shocked by his sudden change. “Radar?”
She looks completely distraught. Tessi drops her bags and frees the storage pouches from her armor and runs after him. “Radar!”
The light plinking of metal pieces makes me look down. A pouch has spilled open, containing military rank badges, pins, and coins. The pouch is painted with not for sale.
I swipe a hand through the pile and realize just how many lives she knows have been lost in battle.
I thought we were the only ones. “Tessi?”
The door closes behind me as I run after her, but she’s already gone. I try to pick up her scent, but it fades in the breeze. “Tessi!”
Panic sets in as I hunt for her and Radar in the woods. I head in the direction that Azrim was going, knowing that’s where Radar will head.
I call to her again.
“Zorin Aegeris.”
I slam to a stop, knowing that voice. I wheel around. “High Council Elder Lorlin, I’m sorry but I don’t have time to talk.”
“You will talk, or we will have serious problems.”
He stands like a regal silver fox in the breeze.
“My mate is missing.”
“That’s why I’m here. Word arrived that you were at Abr. We know you were with the human, and that she is not entirely human.”
“And?”
“You know we don’t permit bonding with Isonians.”
“Because they’re too much like our goddess?” I snap.
“She is powerful beyond Mindoran capabilities. We have accepted you because you’ve been…diluted enough.”
“I can’t believe you,” I snarl. I’ve had enough. “You really are ungrateful for our alliance with the other planets. You don’t understand who is up there. You think you can avoid this war by pretending it doesn’t exist.
“You know what? Keep you Mindoran status. Defend yourselves. I’m tired of helping you, and you controlling our lives in return.”
He tilts his head and several members of his council’s private security team encircle me like they’re starving and eager to rip me apart.
“Did you take Tessi?” I growl.
“We don’t have her. But we have you surrounded. It’s time you come in and receive your punishment for breaking so many rules.
“They’re your rules, not mine. Not ours.”
The Shifters close in. I can’t kill them all. I need an escape.
Instinct takes over. I drop to all fours and close my eyes.
I feel the vibrations in the mountain beneath me.
I stretch, soaking in the sunlight. It moves through my mind and body in waves that clash with the darkness inside.
I channel into a swirling, pulsating mass. Fissures run through the hillside.
The ground beneath me gives way, and I feel myself sink. But I don’t open my eyes. Not yet. I need to focus if I want to be free.
Claws scrape frantically over rock. Lorlin’s soldiers snarl and shout as they scramble to free themselves from the hole I burrow into the ground.
I drop until the light nearly vanishes, then I release my hold in the darkness.
My feet find solid ground again. I stand upright, lift a hand, draw my available energy into my chest and channel it again, punching an exit horizontally through the hill in the direction of my family.
I run as my tunnel emerges into the sun again.
My Shifter takes over as I leap out of my tunnel and into the woods. I have to find Tessi, Radar, and Azrim before Lorlin does.
We are out of time.