34 Meg
Meg
My first warning that something was seriously wrong was the eerie stillness as we drove straight through where the fence line should be without any buzz of it being shut down.
Marcus had called on the radio for clearance, but we were told the fence the humans had to keep mutants—like me—out wasn’t working.
It was a weak defense, but all they had.
The second warning was the total quiet of the Fringes. I’d only been through here twice, but compared to the city of Ethica, the people in the Fringes were loud.
Pans crashed, doors slammed, and people yelled outside the broken, bar-lined windows of their homes that faced each other on the makeshift buildings clinging to the walls of Ethica like barnacles.
The noise and constant movement created an orchestra of too many bodies too close together with sweat and life and poverty as their music notes.
We waited in the silence as Marcus pulled up to the curb of a structure that looked more patchworked than an old dam’s quilt handed down from nest to nest. People closed their windows as we parked and kept a wide berth from the vehicle, watching us with distrustful, stolen glances when they hurried by.
“Who is Daisy?” I asked as Marcus raced across the street to a boarded-up building.
“It’s obviously a woman of his.” Justus yawned. Of the four of us, he seemed the only one in good spirits, perking up the closer we got to Ethica. But his face fell when he checked his phone again. “Still no service.”
“Daisy is his wife.” Roman looked at me in the rearview mirror, and I offered my mate a smile.
The ride here had been tense with Marcus refusing to eat, sleep, or stop until we arrived. We hadn’t had much time to do any talking, and Justus refused to sit up front, so Roman and I had been efficiently cock-blocked by my intended husband.
“I’ll drive from here on out.” Roman pushed open the door, scanning the street before he grabbed the rifle perched by his feet.
He doesn’t need that, my wolf growled, irritable that she wasn’t the first thing he looked for when needing protection.
I’m sure that will go over well with his job. I rolled my eyes at my own beast. We were all irritated and on edge after the hours trapped in the car.
It wasn’t long before Marcus came bursting outside onto the quiet street, dragging the arm of a female who pleaded with him to stop.
Daisy—I assumed—was a petite woman with thick black hair and tears in her eyes, but she spat fire in the rapid curses she threw at her husband.
Marcus stopped, turning his back to us.
“We can’t bring her,” he whispered to his wife, so low that a human couldn’t hear him, but I could. “They’ve enacted martial law. She’ll be scanned and denied entry, if not worse.”
“Then I’m staying here.” Daisy yanked her arm away from his hold.
“Please don’t do this,” Marcus tried to reason with her.
“Is there a problem, Staff Sergeant?” Roman came around the front of the vehicle, causing Marcus and Daisy to freeze in their tracks.
“It’s her sister, LT.” Marcus held out an arm, stopping Daisy as she rushed forward.
“Roman, please. It’s Sarah. I can’t leave her here, and she can’t go in. They took away her credentials when she failed…” Daisy’s voice trailed off when she saw the look of horror on Marcus’s face.
I moved to get out of the vehicle, hoping to help with whatever was going on.
“Is that true?” Roman asked Marcus.
The man nodded, seeming to come to some sort of decision as he stood tall. “You go on without—”
“You should’ve said something.” Roman’s jaw clenched. “Go, get your sister, Daisy. We’ll enter through the tunnels.”
“Lieutenant?” Marcus asked.
“That was a command, Staff Sergeant. Move.” Roman slid into the driver’s seat. I tried to catch his eye again, feeling the strange wave of sadness that could only be coming from my mate, but he shut down his emotions as he stared straight ahead.
Daisy and the girl who was at least ten years her junior came running back out with Marcus guiding them.
“Scoot over,” I told Justus.
He grumbled a bit, but did as he was told, and the two ladies climbed into the vehicle.
The door hadn’t even shut when I smelled it.
Magic.
The younger girl sat on Daisy’s lap, trembling as Marcus assured them everything would be all right and Roman drove like a bat out of hell, taking a side street I’d never seen before.
“You’re a witch,” I whispered, staring at Daisy’s sister. The entire vehicle went silent after I spoke.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her bottom lip trembled.
Daisy shook her head. “Sorry, miss. You’re mistaken. There’s nothing wrong with her.”
“My bad.” I forced a smile, trying and failing to catch Roman’s eye yet again. The tension in the vehicle thickened as we approached a steel wall at a speed that didn’t make sense.
We’re going to crash. My wolf covered her eyes.
The tires screeched to a stop. Marcus was already on the radio, looking to Roman for confirmation.
He nodded.
“Tower, we’ve got Rabbit here with us on a mission from the council and need immediate entry,” Marcus spoke into the handset.
“I’m so tired of that stupid codename.” Justus adjusted himself on the seat, elbowing me in the side.
“Rabbit?” I eyed him warily. “Actually, I can see that, and it fits.”
“Not you too.” He groaned.
The steel wall parted with a metal creak, and Roman drove through the tunnel that closed in on either side, walling us in the darkness with only the headlights to guide the way.
Even my wolf gulped.
Then we were clear on the other side, driving straight into the parking lot of a fenced-in, barbed-wire compound.
“You take them somewhere safe. I’ll give you cover. Rendezvous here at the barracks after.” Roman jumped from the vehicle.
I was already pushing Justus outside when Roman approached his door.
“We’re walking into a hostile situation.” Roman tapped the top of the vehicle, and Marcus wasted no time in speeding away. “That means you do as I say, no arguments.”
Justus gave Roman a mock salute. “Yes sir.”
But I could sense his nervousness under the sarcasm, just like I could feel how tense Roman was.
He is kind of hot, all bossy like this.
Focus.
“How can I help?” I trailed along behind him as we made our way into the building.
Roman glanced at me, and I hated the fear in that look. “I need you protected and out of the way so I can do my job.”
I swallowed down my pride and nodded as Roman led me and Justus into a sterile room with plastic chairs. The only light came from the caged windows high above our heads.
“You two wait here,” Roman told us, giving me one last longing look before he stepped into the hall. “I’ll be back.”
The lock clicked from the outside.
*
It was strange being in the human city without the steady hum of electricity in the buildings and the glaring lights overhead.
Less of a headache. My wolf paced.
True. But there was still some noise out there.
I stood on the chair trying to peer through the plated windows as the sounds of vehicles moving and orders being called out continued just outside these thick walls.
“This is bad.” Justus put his phone down and dropped his head into his hands.
“It’s just a power outage,” I tried to soothe him.
Electricity was spotty where I lived in the cabins, but a little more reliable in town thanks to Jareth’s hydro-electric station.
After the river flooding, I was sure it’d be at least a few days until it got fixed.
Until then, they could use the older generators, and Jaxon would move shipments of biodiesel to supply them.
Thinking about my family made my wolf whine.
I was confident that we’d left them after the worst of the crisis was handled, but the gods arriving posed an entirely new problem.
And I wasn’t there to help my pack.
I looked at the locked door.
“Just a power outage?” Justus scoffed. “Do you have any idea what that means? No. You wouldn’t understand.”
I started to growl, but then his face crumpled and tears filled his eyes.
“It’s all connected. Alice. The internet.
Our food. Our water. Our transportation.
Our money and credits. The very livelihood of every citizen in this city is connected through the power grid.
Without it, life will never be the same.
” He took a shuddering breath. “What’s taking Roman so long? I want to go see my mom.”
“Hey now.” I patted his arm. “I’m sure there’s a backup plan.”
It’s not like they actually needed power or the internet to survive. We could show them the way.
Justus’s shoulders shook as he began to cry in earnest.
Oh… This is awkward.
“Where are you going?” He sniffed.
“To see what the holdup is.” I broke the door handle and lock with a strong twist. Oops.
“You can’t do that.” His eyes widened.
“I’ll be right back.” I smiled, stepping into the empty hall.
Even without the mate bond tugging in my chest, it was easy to track Roman’s scent through the sterile halls. I ducked into one darkened room as a team of men in uniform came rushing past, but they were too focused on whatever mission they were heading toward to notice me.
At the end of the hall was an office of sorts where I sensed Roman and heard another male speaking.
“Yes sir,” Roman responded.
I peeked around the corner, finding Roman standing ramrod straight at the foot of a desk where a large man sat with his back turned to me.
“Drop the brat off with his mother,” the man said. “Then get back to your unit. You’re being assigned to patrol the Eleventh District.”
“And the woman?” Roman’s gaze seemed to flick in my direction, and I slid back behind the doorframe.
“The mutant should’ve stayed with her own kind,” the big man spat.
“I don’t know what the councilwoman plans to do with her now.
Even if we have this sham of a wedding, it’ll be weeks before it can be broadcast like she planned.
No, this isn’t a job for the council anymore.
It’s time that the iron fist steps in. You know your role, Lieutenant? ”
Roman nodded once.
“Good,” the man barked. “Dismissed.”
“Sir…” Roman lingered a moment longer. “The hospital, specifically the ICU. What provisions have been made?”
The man waved his hand in the air. “They cut unnecessary life support already.”
The knife that twisted in my heart threatened to bring me to my knees, but Roman was a statue as he nodded again.
He marched straight out of the room, catching me by the elbow without slowing a beat.
“I told you to stay put,” he hissed under his breath.
I yanked my arm from his grasp, reeling as I tried to contain the flare of my beast. She wasn’t sure if she should be pissed off or turned on that he thought he could handle us like that.
I, on the other hand, knew better.
“It’s not in my nature to sit still and wait,” I told him. “What was that about?”
Roman shook his head. “You should’ve stayed with your own kind.”
“My own…” I blinked, not sure I heard him right. We were both tired, running on fumes and adrenaline, and hadn’t slept for days. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. “We said we were sticking together.”
Roman dragged his hands over his face. “That was my… alpha in there. And I have new orders.”
I knew what he wasn’t saying, that he had to take these orders to protect Marcus for whatever had happened earlier today, but my temper flared anyway.
“Thanks for dumbing it down for the mutant,” I growled. “Anything else you want to let me know, or are you planning to dump me at Justus’s house and run?”
His jaw clenched. “This is why you shouldn’t have come.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” My heart was being torn from my chest, and I had no clue how to stop it while Roman remained unflinching.
“Never mind,” he said.
I stepped into his space, trying like hell to wade through his emotions that were pummeling me through the mate bond. “Is this about your father?”
Roman’s face remained expressionless. “I should get you somewhere safe.”
“Gods!” I growled my frustration. “If you were a wolf, this would be so much easier. I can’t make sense of what you’re actually feeling unless you let me in.”
“I’m not a wolf.” His voice was cold. “I’m a soldier.”
“Yeah, I know. A good little—”
Slow clapping interrupted me, and I turned, smashing my arm into Roman’s arm as we both seemed to move at the same time to protect the other.
At least he still cares. My beast was fired up.
Not that I blamed her.
“If only you two could’ve found this aggression before you ruined all my plans.” Morrigan leaned against the wall.
Roman caught me as I lunged, holding me back. Despite our little spat, I was grateful to have him there as his steady presence helped calm my wolf.
Remember getting your ass kicked?
Can’t blame me for trying, she grumbled.
“I had hopes that you’d both be better than this.” Morrigan shook her finger. Her sharp gaze cut to me. “Especially you, little wolf. All you had to do was listen.”
“What’s she talking about?” Roman asked.
I pushed him off, still glaring at the goddess. “She knew we were fated mates and set this whole marriage arrangement up anyway. I just don’t understand why.”
“Haven’t you heard anything I said?” Morrigan tsked. “The gods love suffering.”
Roman’s hands tightened into fists as he stood beside me. “Haven’t we suffered enough?”
“No,” she said, eyes darkening as she looked him over. “It’s just the beginning.”
The goddess began to fade.
“Wait!” I cried. “Is this it? We can still have the wedding. The full moon isn’t for another two days.”
“The wedding doesn’t matter.” Morrigan huffed. “It’s too late anyway.”
“Why do all this if it doesn’t even matter? What games are you playing?” I snapped my teeth, feeling my wolf rise to the surface.
“Don’t put this on me.” Morrigan smiled, half translucent. “You failed. I told you to stay away. Instead, you went and claimed him. Now listen when I give you one last piece of advice. Go home, wolf. You don’t belong here anymore.”
The goddess vanished, leaving Roman and me alone in the hall. But something had changed in the last few minutes.
Roman could barely look my way. “Is it true? Did she warn you this would happen?”
“Well yes, but not really…” My words trailed off when I saw his expression. “She set me up to fail.”
“I told all of you not to trust them. They speak in riddles and play by their own rules. We’re nothing to them, but the council—and your pack—all seem to think you’re important enough to bargain with the gods.
That they actually listen when you call.
” Roman marched past me, leaving nothing but coldness behind, and whatever emotions I could’ve sensed earlier were somehow blocked.
“Where are you going now?” I ran after him.
He didn’t bother to wait. “I have a job to do.”