Chapter 43
Chapter forty-three
They had been running all day, the cool mountain air growing warmer as they descended north from the rugged peaks of the Stone Mountains.
Around them, the landscape shifted from jagged rock and windswept trees to denser forest. And as the canopy overhead thickened with dappled shadows.
Roots tangled underfoot, while the soft crunch of fallen needles muted their steps.
Coming to a stop, Rynna shrugged off her pack, the worn leather straps creaking softly as they slid from her shoulders.
“I didn’t realize how close Skarn’s other lab was to Fallowmere.
” Rubbing the back of her neck, her fingers slid against the thin layer of sweat beneath her tunic.
“I guess it makes sense why they chose that village for the original experiments seven years ago.” She paused, looking at Kaelith.
“It’s hard to believe it’s only been two weeks since this all started. ”
They were due to meet one of the great eagles, set to fly them the rest of the way into the marshland between Pulse Reach and Tide Reach.
“Two weeks already?” He dropped to the ground at her feet, his shoulder brushing her thigh.
Rynna let herself lean into him, just enough to feel the warmth of his skin. Behind them, wind stirred the scrub trees clinging to the rocky slope, their limbs scratching across the terrain as distant peaks rose into the horizon like blades.
“Ugh, it’s going to be like that now, isn’t it?” Taren groaned, lowering himself onto a nearby boulder. He rubbed his temples. “I think I preferred the people-eating monster.”
Fenn strode into the clearing next. His steps were steady, but his hand kept reaching to his mouth, fingers testing the new fangs. He stopped beside Rynna, his gaze flicking once to Kaelith still lounging at her feet.
“Looks like we all have some adjusting to do.” He winced slightly as his tongue grazed against the sharpened tips. “Assuming we live through this.”
“Oh, for the love of—just leave it alone.” Rynna rolled her eyes and caught his hand, bringing it to her lips with a soft kiss. “You’ll get used to them.”
Fenn’s arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close as his lips captured hers, the kiss deepening with a low growl rumbling in his chest.
“So long as I still get to do that,” he murmured against her mouth.
“Elements save me.” Taren buried his face in his hands. “Can we all just focus, please?”
Rynna pulled away, though the touch of Fenn’s hand trailing down her arm lingered.
She turned toward Taren, cocking an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
“Sorry, you’re just grossing me out.” He took a long swig from his water skin. “But more seriously, how is Bran supposed to find us? From what I’ve gathered, we’ll need the Great Phoenix. It’s the only thing that might get us close to where Skarn fled.”
“Lady Takara didn’t give specifics,” Fenn replied, pulling out a crumpled letter they’d received by crow back at the Third’s encampment. “She only said that he’d find us before we got there.”
“And you’re sure Skarn went back…there? Where you…found me two weeks ago?” Kaelith’s expression tightened.
Her hand fell to his shoulder. “It seems that way. The spot is completely blacked out from the far seers, and they can’t see him anywhere else.”
“Skarn was headed that way before I lost him,” Taren added with a short nod, his thumb and forefinger drifting to his chin as he rubbed it in thought. “But killing Skarn won’t end this. We need to find whoever is pulling the strings.”
“Whoever is powering the dead?” Fenn folded the letter and tucked it away.
“It’s not just about the dead,” Taren said.
Rynna crossed her arms. “If you’re sitting on something, now’s not the time to be coy.”
“It’s just… Everything I uncovered about the pre-Source Hollow-born and about how the Source first emerged—it all points to something bigger. Whatever’s out there, it’s worse than the dead. Worse than anything we could even imagine.”
Fenn’s brows furrowed. “I’m having a hard time imagining something worse than a world overrun by the dead.”
“It is.” The young man’s fingers wound through his long ponytail before gripping tight.
Kaelith snorted, casually tearing into a piece of dried meat. “You’ve already shared that theory. The Source is evil and must be destroyed, blah, blah, blah. We’ve been over this. When you were killing me.”
“One of my favorite memories.” Taren glared at him before facing Fenn again. “The Ember Reach Elders murdered my parents for having that information. And I spent the last five years searching for anything that confirmed whether or not it was true.”
Not even Kaelith had anything to say to that, and a hush fell over the group as they considered Taren’s words.
“But I didn’t tell you everything, snake,” the young man finally continued.
Kaelith traced absent patterns up Rynna’s calf. “Distracted, I imagine, by all the stabbing and whatnot.”
“You think this enemy, whoever they are, is tied to whatever created the Source?” Fenn connected the dots. “That would track with how they’ve weaponized the Void.”
Taren shook his head. “No. I think the original enemy is still here. And once it has the Great Phoenix, it will have enough power to finish what it started.”
Kaelith sat up taller, arching a brow. “And what would that be?”
“Devour the world,” Taren said quietly. “Leaving nothing but ash and debris behind.”
Rynna’s stomach twisted. If Taren’s theory was right, it certainly explained why she’d been sent here.
A mundane war on its own would never have been enough to justify her extended support, a thought she’d diligently avoided these last eight years.
But, somehow, this sounded even worse than her usual Missions, though she couldn’t put her finger on why.
“That seems impossible,” Fenn said, crossing his arms.
“It’s entirely possible. I saw it. I went there.”
“Where?” Rynna leaned forward, dread creeping up her spine. She didn’t like where this was headed.
“Across the Great Ocean. To the other continents.”
Kaelith glanced at Rynna, disbelief flickering in his eyes. “Other continents? That can’t be right. People have been exploring for centuries. There’s nothing out there.”
“They didn’t use a Waygate,” Taren said, his tone deadly serious.
Kaelith scoffed, throwing up his hands. “All the gates have been mapped!”
“No,” Rynna whispered, her fingers unconsciously tightening in Kaelith’s hair. “No, they haven’t.” Her mind flashed back to those distant lights, the forgotten gates she’d glimpsed crossing the continent to reach the Third Regiment.
Kaelith stared up at her. “What?”
“I saw them,” she admitted. “When we traveled to meet Fenn. There were lights…more gates. Ones that don’t exist on any map.”
“Takara mentioned you used a gate.” Fenn pinched the bridge of his nose. “But how did you see them? That’s not how gates work.”
“We…took an alternate route.” Kaelith raised a hand to his mouth, swallowing as his face tinged green. “But other continents?”
“I don’t know. I just saw lights.”
“Exactly,” Taren cut in. “There’s nothing left on those continents. I went to each one that was still functioning, and there’s only glass and sand, no trace of the elements.”
Kaelith began to argue, but Fenn silenced him with a raised hand. “And you think whatever happened there is connected to the Source?”
“Yes. And whoever has been leading Skarn around plans to finish whatever the source of Source started, whether he knows it or not.”
Rynna froze, her mind spinning.
“Rynna,” Fenn’s voice was softer now, his eyes full of concern. “What are we up against? Anything you know from your other experiences?”
“Nothing good.” She gulped at the air, panic rising, though she had no idea why.
Her palm hovered, then landed gently against her core, fingers curling as if to hold something in place. She could feel it—a hollowness clawing up from the depths, a soundless shriek echoing through the locked chambers of her soul.
“What does that mean?” Fenn asked as his arms slipped around her waist.
He folded her against him, settling his chin gently on the top of her head.
“I don’t know.” The words rasped from her throat as recollection scratched at the back of her mind, slipping away every time she tried to grasp it. “I can’t…I can’t quite touch the memories, but something inside me is screaming. I’ve seen this before. Somewhere. But I can’t remember!”
The world seemed to pause—her heart too loud in her ears. Everything blurred as the sound of the others muted behind the acute pulse pounding in her skull.
“Rynna.” Taren’s voice broke through. “If you’ve seen something like this before, anything you can remember could help.”
A low, guttural sound rattled from Fenn’s throat, directed at the young man.
She shook her head, eyes unfocused. “I—I don’t know. It’s all fragments. Flashes. Symbols, shadows bleeding into each other…”
“Then focus.” Taren stepped closer, ignoring Fenn. “We need more.”
She flinched, panic tightening like a noose. “I can’t—”
“You need to try.”
But before she could answer, Fenn was moving.
“That’s enough.” His growl split the air, and as he stepped between them, both eyes blazed silver, ringed in darkness—the wolf and vampire rising within him.
Taren’s hands fell to his sides, fire already flaring at his fingertips.
“Fenn!” Rynna sprang forward, catching his arm just as it tensed to strike. “Look at me.” Her hands planted firmly over Fenn’s heart. “Only me.”
If he let the demon force him to action, he might never return.
Fury rolled off him in waves, searing through her palms, sinking straight…
Empty night. He’d always affected her, but this… She shook her head, trying to clear the sensation.
Her hand fisted in Fenn’s shirt, dragging him closer, the fabric twisting between her fingers. She shouldn’t want him like this—not now, not here—untethered and thrumming with lethal intent in the middle of a goddamn war. But her body didn’t care.
As if sensing her thoughts, his hand snapped to the back of her neck, and before she could draw another breath, he yanked her forward and crushed his mouth to hers. Gasping, pain flared, then folded into something hotter as his teeth caught on the swell of her lower lip.
Fuck. Her knees buckled.
Then—
“As much as I’d love to see where this goes—” Kaelith’s voice, his laugh slicing through the tension like a blade wrapped in silk. “We have places to be.”
He rose with fluid grace, eyes gleaming as he watched them.
“Hollow-born control tactics won’t work against the beast inside you, wolf,” he added, tongue darting out to lick a stray drop of her blood from her chin.
“You need to ride it, guide it.” A beat, then a smirk.
“Just face it, man. The monster’s already won; she just hasn’t admitted she likes it yet. ”
Jerking away from the kiss, she was ready to smack the smile from Kaelith’s face, but she never had the chance. Fenn’s fist connected first, sending the other man flying into a nearby tree with a crack of splintering bark.
Immediately, Rynna’s head whipped back as if she’d caught the blow herself. Her balance faltered, body reeling as she staggered back from Fenn, hands instinctively reaching for his chest to keep from crumpling herself.
“Guess that answers whether the beast’s in charge,” Kaelith coughed, a grin still twitching at his lips, until he caught sight of Rynna doubled over, and the humor drained from his face.
Fenn’s breath came in ragged bursts. The silver in his eyes rippled, swimming in a sea of deepening black, the edges of his pupils bleeding out like smoke. Whatever tether he had to his human self was fraying fast.
“Fenn, stop!” Rynna straightened, ignoring the sting in her cheek, and seized his face between her palms.
“I’m here.” Her gaze fixed on the darkness churning behind his eyes, even as the silver fought back, flaring bright in sudden flashes.
“You’re not the infection.” She held her voice soft.
“You are the Unit Leader. The Commander.” Her thumbs traced over the stubble along his jaw. “The man who owns my heart. Remember who you are.”
His frame shook with each exhale, struggling to take back control as Taren’s firelight danced between them.
“You’re not alone in this.” She eased forward, resting her cheek over his heart, listening to the pounding within. “We’re here. I’m here.”
His throat worked as his teeth clenched, but, slowly, he managed to swallow the darkness. His muscles slackened by degrees, tension draining from his frame as his head dipped forward. And soon, the silver glow flickered once, then faded, as well.
“We’re okay.” Rynna’s hand found his, praying she wasn’t lying.
And, for a moment, the clearing held completely still before the soft rustle of leaves and chirping of insects returned in fragments, only to be silenced once more by the screech of an enormous bird in flight approaching their position.
She cast a worried glance at Kaelith, who was making his way back to them as the eagle circled once, then landed, talons gouging deep into the earth. Wiping her sleeve across her face, Rynna blinked hard. She hadn’t noticed the tears until her vision blurred.
She’d saved Fenn from Skarn—ripped him back from death, and everything that should’ve ended him.
But at what cost? What if, one day, she wasn’t enough to bring him back from the vampire’s hold?
Her gaze lingered on his profile, the light still flickering faintly behind both eyes.
He’d never forgive her if that happened.
She forced air past the stiffness in her throat and looked up at the eagle.
“Looks like our ride’s here,” she said, voice hoarse, keeping her face neutral as something small and fragile ruptured within her.