Chapter 21
Marking [ mahr -king ] verb
A Breaker practice of inflicting a wound upon their mate to claim ownership.
– Excerpt from A Treatise on Talents , Third Edition
“The Breaker subculture is fascinating in and of itself. Their mating rituals comprise of a chase, followed by the practice of marking and sharing of blood. The resulting scars are worn as a badge of honor, much like the wedding bands of a traditional marriage.”
– L. Merkel, Head Geneticist,
The Source
The morning was clear and cold when Kara woke. Flynn had left some time ago, the heat from his body gone. He’d seen what she was. All of it, and it didn’t matter to him. A funny warmth filled up her insides and she smiled to herself, feeling lighter.
The same couldn’t be said of him. The farther north they went, the more something weighed on him. Dinner last night certainly had; she wasn’t looking forward to meeting his sire. Flynn had come back frantic with the need to lose himself in her. They’d been up for hours. Glancing at the bed, Kara wondered if he’d gotten any sleep.
She dressed quickly, throwing her hair up into a ponytail, and went into the kitchen to find him. He was sitting at the kitchen table, already filthy from being outside, with a rapidly diminishing pile of scrambled eggs on his plate.
Kara sat next to him, and her stomach rebelled. She barely made it to the sink.
“Good Lord!” Miriam adjusted her glasses and bustled over to turn on the tap. “Pregnancy takes some of us that way, but you’re earlier than I would’ve expected. It’s a good thing, my sisters always told me the sicker you are, the healthier the baby. Of course, I was sick for six months straight and they had to say something. I thought I was gonna die.”
Kara leaned over the enameled basin and wiped her mouth on a proffered cloth. Was that supposed to make her feel better?
“You should try to eat. I know it’s hard, but you need to keep up your strength. What can I get you?”
“Anything that’s not eggs.” Kara made a wide arc around Flynn to the opposite end of the long farm table. He sheepishly kept making the ones on his plate disappear.
“Damn, Flynn. Think you can keep it down next time?” Leo ambled into the kitchen and helped himself to what was on the stove. He gave an odd look to their seating arrangements, then dropped his plate down across from Flynn and waved his fork at him.
“You know you can’t get her pregnant twice, right? Some of us don’t appreciate being driven out of the house by your activities. It’s not nice to brag.” He winked at Kara, blowing her a kiss. Glory, she wanted to crawl under a rock.
Flynn kept eating with a huge grin on his face. Jerk.
“Boy pulled his head out of his ass, or wherever it was, and started cloaking after you all left,” Cal said, rolling a cigarette in the doorway. “How was town?”
“Crawling with fuc—uh, Sons.” Leo shrugged at Miriam’s black look. His Hawaiian shirt had been replaced by a crisp navy button-down and maroon waistcoat over trousers and tall boots. Who dressed like that for breakfast? “They’re all over the place. Victor wants you dead, and thanks to the droves of press that followed Lot, it’s not gonna be long before they figure out who you are, if they haven’t already.”
Kara jumped at Flynn’s burst of anxiety. Press? He looked like he was going to be sick. Cal waved out his match and flicked it into the sink, making a beeline for the coffee.
“Damn it. I was hoping they wouldn’t catch wind of things until we were on our way.”
“Yeah, well, opening Meddleton shot that to shit.” Leo snorted around a mouthful of bacon. He pretended not to see Miriam’s glare as she thumped a bowl of grits and honey in front of Kara.
Flynn brought his plate up and stood by the sink, chewing his lip. His emotions were roiling, but the aroma of what was in her bowl kept Kara from being particularly sympathetic. She spread the honey on thick and dug in, her stomach overruling her modesty. After the first few bites, she felt Flynn’s eyes on her and looked up at him through her lashes. Desire echoed through their bond, followed by the crack of a wooden spoon and a loud yelp.
“I’ve had more than enough of that after last night, Laughlin James Scot. Keep your eyes and everything else to yourself.” Miriam had turned as red as her hair, and Flynn was rubbing his arm, desperately trying not to laugh.
“You’re right, Miri, that is an issue. Caliban.”
“Bernice.” Cal nodded to the woman standing in the doorway Kara assumed was Bernie, then made himself scarce.
Kara gawked at the new arrival’s large ostrich-plumed hat. It was easily the width of the woman’s broad shoulders, topping off a confection of rose taffeta and velvet even more outlandish than Miriam’s bustled skirts. Was that how people dressed up here? Glory, it looked like something out of Dickens.
Leo popped up and gave the woman a kiss on the cheek, then followed Cal out of the kitchen with his plate. She and Miriam could’ve been twins, their features were so similar. Kara went back to her breakfast. The two embraced tightly.
“Thanks for coming, Bernie. I wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t important.”
“Mmm…” Bernice’s eyes had gotten that unfocused look that meant she was reading energy. She clucked her tongue. “What a mess. It’s even more tangled than you described. What have you done to him?”
What? The sisters both eyed Kara over the rims of their glasses, and Kara ducked her head, feeling sick again at the woman’s censure. She pushed her bowl away.
“I don’t believe it was intentional.” Miriam allowed. “Can you do anything about it?”
Kara’s brows knit and a growl came from Flynn by the sink. What did they think she’d done and why would it be intentional?
“I believe so, but the kitchen’s no place for energy work.” Bernice said. “Let’s go you two.”
The way she sashayed out of the room, there wasn’t any option but to follow her into the bedroom. Flynn closed the door behind them, then executed a perfect courtier’s bow.
“Lady Markham,” he said, lightly brushing her knuckles against his lips. The straw in his hair only added to his considerable charm. Kara stood in shock. What the heck?
“Knock it off, Laughlin.” Bernice looked pleased despite her tone and busied herself unpinning her hat and setting it on the bed. Her hair was a very normal shade of brown. Smoothing down her skirts, her cheeks were still pink when she turned back to them. Flynn grinned. What a devil he was!
“Well. Kara, it’s nice to meet you. Let’s see what we can do about this tangle, shall we? I need you to walk me through what happened.”
Her face burned. Flynn looked away, rubbing his stubble and leaving her to—“We were involved when she tried to heal my knee. She didn’t know I was talented,” he said rescuing her.
Bernice clucked her tongue again, looking them over. She put a hand on Kara’s abdomen.
“I’d put you around a week. You certainly didn’t waste any time. ”
A week? But—Flynn gave Bernice a rakish smile that made Kara’s stomach flip. The older woman studiously ignored him, a look of intense concentration on her face. It went on long enough for Kara to start sweating. Flynn put an arm around her, and Bernice jerked back, blinking.
“That bond’s not normal.” She pushed her wire-rimmed glasses up with the tip of her pinky. “I thought it was some kind of coercion, but all this, Miri? It’s webbing out from their bond, watch. Laughlin, step back, then take hold of her again…there. See how it pulsed out around them?”
“Well, I’ll be… Why would it—” Her eyes snapped to Flynn and narrowed. “Spill it, Laughlin. I know that look.”
He scratched at his stubble again, oozing reluctance. “Ah, I mean, I don’t know what you’re seeing, but… When I picked Kara up, there was a pulse…” He cleared his throat. “And a pull after.”
They both gasped. Teary-eyed, Miriam’s hand fluttered to her breast, crossing herself. Bernice’s face was white.
“My God, Laughlin, you felt the pull?”
Kara looked between them. “What are you talking about?”
“I…look, can I—Can you two just give us a minute? Alone?” Flynn asked.
The sisters exchanged a glance, then their heads were together, whispering before the door had closed behind them.
Flynn stared at the floor, his hands jammed wrist-deep in his pockets. “I swear I didn’t know when I picked you up?—”
“The pull, is that what I felt on my talent when we were at the coop?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, that’s part of it, how they say you know. I thought it was bullshit. Christ, everybody thinks it’s bullshit.”
If he didn’t answer the question, she was going to punch him. “How you know what?”
Flynn rocked back on his heels. “It’s, ah, supposed to happen when you have an equal. Talent calling to talent. Pulling you together, who you’re supposed to be with.”
Was that all? She’d felt the truth of that in her gut after the garage. He peeked up at her through his hair, and she went to him, curling her fingers through it. Jerk was adorable sometimes, but she still kind of wanted to punch him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it sounds stupid.”
She laughed. “Sounds as plausible as seeing energy and Talents that can disappear. I’ll believe anything at this point…” He still wasn’t looking at her. “What’s the rest?”
He mussed his hair, pulling out a piece of hay and rolling it between his fingers. “When I was a kid, Cal brought you and your mom up to Meddleton. I don’t remember why, though I can guess.”
“That formal alliance he was talking about.”
“Yeah, most like. Anyways, for years after they’d randomly find me out in the woods, headed south. Half the time I couldn’t figure out how the hell I’d gotten there. Miriam said I was sleepwalking…but now I’d wager it was why I was itching to get to Lyden so bad even with that storm coming in, and why I stayed at the coop as long as I did, shit, why I came back from the Deep South. Cal said he knew I’d find you… I think I’ve been looking for you for a long time, Kara, I just didn’t know it.”
Her earliest memories were of being confined to her rooms so she wouldn’t wander off. She struggled to control her rising bloodlust. Another lie. She must’ve been trying to get to him, too. Why hadn’t Nora told her? If she’d known there was someone—her anger deflated. If she’d known, she never would’ve been able to play the part. She pressed her cheek to Flynn’s chest, and his arms wrapped around her.
But as soon as she’d seen him, she had known. That stupid urge to touch his beard, follow those scars, it wasn’t just the meds, there had always been something about him. If she’d known the rest of it… She pushed back to look at him.
“You knew at the coop.”
He shrugged and she slapped him hard enough to make him stumble. “Ah, fuck, all right! Maybe, but you kissed me, and said you didn’t care, it’s not like I was the one who threw out talent first.”
“I thought you were talking about me being a Talent and you a sub! Maybe I wouldn’t have if I’d known otherwise!” Black rage coiled inside her, and he gripped her shoulders with that rumble in his chest, responding to it. Her knees buckled and his grip tightened .
“Yeah? Then say I did know, and told you all of it, said you were mine then, what would you have done, Kara?”
“I…” She would’ve bolted, and they both knew it. He let her go and sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand up the back of his neck, head hanging.
“Christ, I didn’t… I thought I was out. Of all this shit. After everything… I sure as hell never expected to find my fucking soulmate half-dead in a snowbank. I don’t… I don’t deserve you. Not after everything I’ve done. I should still be beat to shit, freezing my balls off Outside. Fuck. I should be rotting in a hole somewhere.”
Her fingers traced where his scar had been. He closed his eyes and settled her onto his knee. She leaned against him, feeling his churning emotions steady as he held her. Hers mellowed with them.
“Who’s equal am I? Wolf’s, Flynn’s, or this Lord Laughlin Scot I’ve yet to meet?”
He gave a dry laugh. “All, none… I dunno, Kara. I thought we were fighting about me tricking you into taking my bond.”
“Did you really?” She snorted. “Why would you’ve wanted mine in the first place?”
He cracked a smile. “Your halos are huge.”
She smacked him, his widening grin giving the impression she should be offended.
“Goddamn, woman. If I did, I’m not sorry. Everyone up here… Shit. You’re the only person who’s never wanted or expected anything from me, and I was so fucking tired of being alone…”
Kara turned his face back to hers with a finger beneath his chin. “I’m not sorry either, but why would Miriam think I’d coerce you?”
“Her birth House is ambitious. The Prydees see power plays in everything, I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” he muttered, a kind of sick misery coming from him.
“What’s wrong?”
Flynn wouldn’t meet her eyes. It was a long time before he spoke. “What if how you feel is because of the bond?”
Kara laughed before she could stop herself and felt him crawl back into that shell of his.
“Stop it. Hey.” She cradled his face between her palms and made him look at her. The fear in his eyes was heartbreaking. “Being bonded doesn’t create emotions, or the Source would never be able to successfully break them. Nora hates my sire and, trust me, the feeling is mutual.”
She stood, pulling his head against her breast, and pushing him everything she felt. How could he believe he was that unlovable? She tilted his face up to hers, staring into those hazel-green eyes. No blue specks hid in their depths today and the lack made them seem oddly flat.
“I love you, and the bond has nothing to do with it, Flynn. I felt it before that night.”
“Yeah?” He pulled her back down, the emotion coming from him filling her heart, his kiss stealing her breath away. To be loved by this man was no small thing.
“Damn, woman…you know.”
“I do.”
Those little blue motes were back, churning through his irises. She shivered at their intensity. “You do something to me, Kara, make me want to be better. Before… It was just bad. I promised—I can’t go back to how it—I was. I won’t lose this.” The last of what was muffling his emotions evaporated like mist. Kara gave a soft cry, feeling how brittle he was beneath his conviction. She kissed him, for once not caring who sensed it, just wanting to take that brokenness away.
She pressed her forehead to his. “I promise you won’t, and there’s no way those women are touching what we have.”
His brow quirked. “Are you serious?”
“Deadly. Even if everyone in a five-mile radius is getting a play-by-play.” He grinned going to kiss her, and she pulled back. “But you get to break it to them.”
He gave an amused grunt and patted her leg to stand. “Fine, but you owe me.” Taking a deep breath, he opened the door to let the sisters back in.
“… haven’t a clue, and I’m not touching it. Heaven forbid I do something and she loses the baby—” They both turned like they’d been caught at something. Bernice smoothed her skirts, forcing one of those smiles. “Well, I suppose you heard that? ”
“Feel free to say it again,” Flynn growled at her bitchy tone.
Bernice huffed. “Whatever you’ve got going on isn’t like picking out a bad row of embroidery. If she wasn’t bred, I’d risk it, but with the possibility of an heir…” She shook her head. “It’s a good thing Miriam’s rooms are in a different wing at Meddleton.”
Flynn hugged Kara to him with a laugh, then kissed her unabashedly. Miriam clucked her tongue.
“Maybe then the rest of us’ll be able to get some sleep,” his aunt grumbled as they retreated to the kitchen.
“Was that really necessary?” She ran her hands through his hair.
“So necessary.” He grinned. She pulled out another bit of hay from his hair, and he laughed at her expression. “I was out in the barn. You wanna see what I found?”
Kara smiled at his excitement and nodded. A massive weight had lifted from him, making her giddy by association. He showed her where her boots had been hiding and handed her a coat.
It was frigid, Kara’s breath fogging before she stepped out of the house. The backyard was dominated by a weathered red barn with an old snow-covered truck parked to the side of it. A few bare trees stood between the two buildings. One of them was massive, and a tire swing hung from its lower branches. The yard was flat, then sloped up through the fields. Rows of trees ran into the distance, interspersed with stacked boxes. A dark line of forest lay beyond them.
Flynn opened the barn’s side door and they entered into an office just big enough to hold a desk and a potbellied stove. A slight, bespectacled grey-haired man in a brocade waistcoat looked up from a stack of paperwork. She tried to imagine Flynn in one of the fussy little vests and couldn’t. They had a passing resemblance, but he was far too subdued to be Lot.
“This is Jon,” Flynn said, walking past. Kara gave a little wave and the man smiled nervously. Flynn opened a door on the opposite wall and ushered her in. “He’s not great with people.”
“Alb—uh, Cal’s mentioned him before, hasn’t he?” The interior of the barn was cavernous and as freezing as it was outside. That horrible little car was parked between row upon row of those same boxes she’d seen stacked up in the fields. Flynn led her down a narrow space between them, his shoulders brushing the multicolored stacks.
“Yeah. You just met your maker.” He glanced back, laughing at her eye roll. “Jon’s like Glynfyls’s top geneticist, or was when I left. Can’t imagine that’s changed, man’s a genius.”
“What are these things?” The boxes had an aroma to them she couldn’t even begin to describe. Some kind of sweet musk…
“Hive bodies, mainly. It’s all the gear we’ll need for when the spring honey flow starts.”
“Do I want to know where all the hay came from?” She picked another small bit out of his hair.
“Come see.” He grinned, leading her to a space that had been set aside as a workshop. There were unidentifiable tools spread all over the place. He swept up one of those glowing spheres from the mess and pointed to a ladder. She climbed into an empty space between several bales, and he came up behind her.
Something moved in the shadows and Kara jumped back. He laughed, reached down, and pulled up a fluffy ball of something. “Haven’t you ever seen a kitten before?”
“Not in real life. There aren’t any animals in the Source, other than those muties the Peacekeepers run. No one with any sense tries to touch them.” He grimaced, and she felt his disquiet at the mention of the tech-spliced dogs. A kitten though… She tentatively stuck out her finger and the tiny animal took a swipe at it.
“Here, hold it,” Flynn said. Kara backed up and he laughed again. “Sit down and I’ll put it in your lap. Hey, you owe me.”
She sat, shooting him a dirty look. He dropped the fuzzy orange thing on her and it immediately started sharpening its claws on her jeans.
“Ow!” She tried to push it away and it dug in. “How do you disengage it?”
“Oh, it’s just playing.” He picked up another one of the things and sat next to her, twiddling a long piece of hay. A third kitten zipped out from somewhere and attacked it.
“Flynn, how can I be a week pregnant?” Her voice quavered.
He shrugged, putting the cat on its back and scritching its belly. “I don’t know. Maybe reading energy isn’t an exact science. They’re really fucking pretentious about it, so you’d never know if it wasn’t. Radiants,” he said with a sniff in a fair approximation of Miriam’s twang. She laughed and he smiled at her.
“They’re the only Original House that’s named their extra, well, them and the Carmodys, but seers are a whole different thing. Anyways, a couple days off isn’t a big deal. Ow! Shit! That hurt.”
Kara smiled, watching him try to extract himself from the kitten’s claws. He was so gentle…and probably right, but she wished Nora was up here all the same.
“You ready to talk about what happened last night with Lot?”
“I lost my temper.” He scratched the kitten behind its ears. Five of them were running around.
She laughed again as a black one clawed its way up the back of his coat. “Because…”
His mouth compressed into a thin line, and she felt a quick flash of his anger before he clamped down on it. The kittens scattered. “He called you a whore.”
She shrugged. “Most of us from the Source are.”
“Things up north are a lot more provincial. Everyone’s going to assume, shit, the rumors up there… Goddamn, I wish we didn’t have to go.”
“Why do we?”
He gave a little snort. “Talents are hunted, Kara. If not by the Source, then by the Sons, or someone looking to capitalize on what we can do. It was hard enough for me to stay under the radar, there’s not a chance the two of us could do it with a kid.”
“Couldn’t we just not pull talent? You could hide my halos?—”
“Have you seen yourself? You’re beyond perfect. Now way is anyone’s gonna look at you and not know you’re engineered.”
“Is that why you let yourself get so messed up?”
Flynn went very still. “No, but it was effective.”
He flicked a piece of hay, luring one of the kittens back out. Kara smiled at him teasing it. Another came back and curled up in her lap. She scratched under its chin, in awe when it closed its tiny eyes and began to purr .
“You asked me who I am… I’m the most me when I’m with you,” he rumbled out of the blue, shrugging at her expression. “It’s true. The past few days… I don’t know. My skin fits better…” He shook his head. “Never mind.”
“No, I know what you mean. I feel the same way, like I don’t have to hide bits of myself. That promise, Flynn… What was it?”
He exhaled heavily and she tucked herself up under his chin. He stroked her hair. “When I went south… Shit, before then. I’m not a good man. I saw the flames consume me, Kara. Felt them. They’re waiting for me. I promised to repent, to do penance. Be better.”
Flynn kissed the top of her head. She felt the weight of his words, even if she didn’t understand them. He’d muted his emotions, mulling something over. It wasn’t the same as when he cut her off totally, but she didn’t poke at him about it, seeing the set of his jaw. The cats had lost interest in them, snuggling back into the hay by the time he spoke again.
“Before we leave, there’s something I want you to do.”
He stood, holding a hand out to her. She took it and he pulled to her feet. The emotion coming through their bond made her stomach cramp. He pushed her back, pinning her against the hay bales. That dangerous thing looked out from his eyes, the air thick. Fear ticked up her spine and his nostrils flared like he could scent it. A wave of lust crashed over her. He ran a finger down her cheek, licking his lips.
“I want you to run.”
Cal watched Kara take off like a shot from the barn and head across the fields toward the woods. Flynn caught up to her as she fumbled with the gate, and she hit him with a right cross. The boy fell back, grinning ferally, and spitting out a mouthful of blood, bright against the snow, before taking off after her again.
“Shit,” Cal muttered, lighting another cigarette. Miriam fretted by the fire, her face as red as her hair. She’d sensed their energy out there and called him to the window.
“You know as well as I do that’s how Breakers mate,” Miriam spat .
Kara had made it to the orchard. Flynn grabbed her and she put him on the ground. Catching her ankle, he dragged her back beneath him.
Cal sighed, watching them roll around. “Neither of them can pull Breaker talent, Miriam, it’s harmless. Better they do it here and get it out of their systems.” Kara was up again, and Flynn was after her through the trees, hands at his belt. Cal lost sight of them and sat back down at his desk. He pulled the bottle of good scotch from the bottom drawer and poured himself a glass.
“It’s going to be a problem. You need to speak with him before we leave.” Woman’s voice was iron.
Cal took a long drag of his cigarette, mouth twisting. “Fine, send him in when they come back.” Miriam gave a self-satisfied humph and bustled out of the room.
He went back to his paperwork. The shadows had changed position by the time Flynn strode through the doorway. He was filthy and his shirt was torn.
He flopped down in the chair across from Cal with a broad grin and a sparkle in his eye. The boy was beat to shit and there was blood on him.
Cal had never seen him happier.
Leaning back in his chair, he pulled out his pouch of tobacco. “That yours or hers?” he asked, motioning to Flynn’s face.
The boy ran a hand across his mouth, his grin faltering as he wiped his fingers on his jeans. “Does it matter? Miriam said you wanted to see me,” he muttered, his expression closing off and becoming guarded.
Cal blew out a long stream of smoke, feeling a pang for what he was about to do. Dammit, the boy never made things easy. “You need to stop running around like a Breaker, Flynn.” Cal could practically see his hackles rise. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Whatever you’re putting out needs to stop. Clamp it down, hard. You’re my goddamned heir and need to start acting like it.”
Flynn leaned forward in his chair, glaring at him.
“I’ll do what I have to do when I get up there. Until then, I’ll fuck my wife how I want, when I want. ”
Cal took a long drag, his cigarette crackling. Flynn had never challenged him on anything. Now was one hell of a time to start. “You’re gonna have to do better than that.”
The boy laughed, scratching his jaw. Damn, he looked just like Lot, except for the eyes. Those were Deirdre’s.
“Better than that. Shit Cal, I’m sober, bonded, and Kara’s bred. Not to mention I’m willing to go up to that shithole and throw my fucking hat in the ring. By my estimation, I’m already far and above what you thought was coming back. You can take me as I am, or I can walk. I’ve got no problem holing up in Meddleton and letting Glynfyls burn.”
Cal pursed his lips. The boy was right about one thing, he’d certainly gotten more than he bargained for. Cal was proud of Flynn’s new found grit, but it sure as hell was inconvenient. Nodding slowly, he took a drag, knowing that look in the boy’s eye. This wasn’t the hill he was gonna die on.
“As long as you’re clear this shit stops as soon as we leave the farm. Any wind of it up there, Graham’ll be wearing that cuff faster than you can blink.”
Flynn snorted. “He’s welcome to the fucking thing. That it?”
Cal locked eyes with him for a long moment. They both knew that wasn’t happening, but Cal was still gonna have to watch how far he pushed him. “Yeah, go get cleaned up. Everyone’ll be here in another hour or so. That shit you pulled last night’s got half of them staying in town, Sons notwithstanding.”
Flynn left without another word.
Cal poured himself another glass of scotch, his hand trembling. Feeling fingers reaching at him from the shadows. Forget about not being easy, the boy was becoming straight up fucking difficult.