Chapter 30
Promise me
The safe house is inside an apartment building.
It’s the fifth door on the fifth floor, and when you go in, you can get out across the balcony and drop to the floor below.
I can see why they chose it. The view alone will give us enough time to escape, but it’s just a room in the middle of a dozen buildings just like this one. Like hiding a book in a bookcase.
Mordecai curses, and I stand up straight, ready to run, but he comes out leading a red-eyed Taryn. She looks like she hasn’t slept, and when Legion passes her a bottle of water; she grabs at it with a desperation that can’t be feigned.
I look down at the reusable bottles and wonder what we’re going to do when we run out. I haven’t seen any clear sources of water. Or food, for that matter.
But maybe we won’t be alive that long.
Mia and I converge on Taryn, and she grips my hand hard, pulling herself into us, pressed against us. I recognise an omega in distress instantly. I would have thought she’d go to the alphas to soothe her, but she’s decided we are her safety.
I wrap my arms around her, and we carefully get her to the floor. She smells bitter but of flowers I have never encountered before. I check the back of her neck and find a scent suppressor patch. I don’t know how she had some, but I think she’s very lucky she did.
It takes well into the night before she stops shivering and jumping at every sound.
“What happened?” I whisper.
“The sickness spread quickly, like, within half an hour, half of everyone was sick. I tried to find you, but I got caught up with a group who panicked and ran. Fern and Sophie grabbed me and got me out and away, just in time because they came in while we were hiding outside.”
Taryn starts crying in piteous little mewls.
“I could hear them screaming. Fern held her hand over my mouth so tight I could hardly breathe. As soon as it was clear, she shoved Sophie and carried me out of the school. We just ran. But they must have heard us.”
Her fingers tighten on mine.
“It’s okay, Taryn. It’s over, and you’re with us.” I don’t lie to her and tell her she’s safe; that would be ridiculous right now.
“Sophie tripped and injured her ankle. Fern shoved her into a basement. It happened so quickly. We just left her there. I don’t know if she’s okay or not. I couldn’t stop Fern; she carried me and shoved me into this building.”
Taryn shudders, her whole body trembling.
“What happened to Fern?” Mia asks.
“She said it wasn’t my time to die. Not yet. She said that she had to save me and that it was her honour.”
“I don’t understand,” I whisper.
Taryn shakes her head, gripping my hands and holding them tight. “She’s dead. She ran up the road, but not long after they came back, the Warden was riding his massive horse, and they were dragging her body through the streets.”
I sit back, disgusted. Every person we lose is precious; every loss is an ache and notches up the desperation. Have we reached the tipping point yet of no return?
Mordecai curses, but Legion gets up and walks to the window, standing in the shadows and watching the world outside.
Cat’s yowl and fight over the dead, and the caw of crows fill the night. I don’t hear the drums, but I don’t expect to.
“They’re drawing this out. Like a performance, one they are savoring. One last victory,” I muse. “It will be the most talked about year in the history of Foreen. The year they rounded up the last of the alphas and omegas and brought us here to end it all.”
I shift so I can lean against the wall; Jarek slides in on my other side. His deadly gaze focused on the window.
“Some performance,” he mutters.
“I’m going to go back for Sophie,” Legion announces.
“What? No!” Mia says and half-stands, reaching out as if to stop him. I see it then, her feelings for him. He gives her a polite smile but doesn’t respond to her in a way that would indicate he feels the same. Legion is a when it comes to his emotions.
“Someone has to go, and I know this place better than anyone. Plus, one person can escape easier than two.”
Cadel cocks his head to the side. “Don’t go alone.”
Jarek looks at me and grips my leg above the knee, squeezing slightly.
“Jarek,” I warn.
He shrugs and smiles wide. “Let me be a hero this once. Sophie needs us. If she can’t walk, she’s going to need to be carried.”
I growl and reach for him, but he dances out of my way.
“No!”
“If we aren’t back by tomorrow, we’ll meet you at the next one. Mordecai, do not stay here. Promise me,” Jarek demands.
“No, wait, you can’t go,” Mia says almost in a panic.
Taryn just looks up at Legion with pain-soaked eyes.
“I’ll see you soon, Kaida Keres. There isn’t a single beta on this planet that could stop me,” Jarek sings and blows me a kiss.
I open my mouth, but he’s already gone. Legion murmurs something in Mia’s ear. She nods once, resigned, and when he steps back, he gives me and Mordecai a long look.
“No matter what happens, keep moving.”
Then they are gone.
We sit in silence, but it’s tense.
Taryn looks up and stares at Mordecai. When she speaks, she doesn’t sound at all like herself. “Your friend is going to visit you tonight. You need to listen carefully, Alpha, because this is a pivot point. Everything we do from here on out will change the future.”
Mordecai has gotten steadily stiffer. Is Taryn talking about the omega from his dreams?
“Taryn?” I ask, but she just lays down, curling up against Mia’s back, ignoring me.
Mordecai avoids looking at me and lays down. Cadel and I are on watch. I stand at the window, and he brackets me in, his arms battling off the chill of the night.
The world comes alive when the people are gone. Animals scurry to and fro. Foreen is thriving, despite its devastating history.
Despite everything, I can’t get Taryn’s words out of my head. I don’t trust Mordecai, not anymore, and what she said, that message caused all the hairs on my arms to lift. It made me want to run and hide. To call out for Cadel or Jarek or my mum.
It made me forget how old I was and reduced me to a scared child. What is going to happen?
I have no idea, and just trying to predict it makes my head ache.
Cadel holds onto me, the safe harbour keeping me from losing it completely. We don’t exchange a word. He’s just there, and I’m hyper-aware of him and his touch on me.
At dawn, Mordecai jackknifes into a sitting position, gasping. He gets up and, without a word to anyone, rushes out, pulling the door shut behind him.
He doesn’t come back for a couple of hours, and when he does, he’s shut down completely. I can see it. Whatever secret he heard in his dream, he’s keeping it to himself.
“Let’s get out of here. We’ve waited long enough.”
I want to protest, but Cadel grabs my wrist and shakes his head. I follow his gaze to the quiet and withdrawn Taryn and Mia, who looks just as sick.
Taryn shakes her head. “Can we just wait a few minutes? I’m scared, and I want…I want someone to know who Taryn was.”
That is a very strange way to phrase talking about herself.
“I was born in a small village where nothing really happened. My parents were lovely people who farmed and fished. We had this little boat, and my father would take me out onto the lake. We wouldn’t catch much, but he would tell me the funniest stories, and we’d just laugh and laugh.
My parents smiled a lot. I think that’s why I fell for Dawn.
He smiled so damn much. The moment I saw him,” she pauses and smiles with the memory.
“I knew he was the one. It was like I was struck by an arrow. It was instant. He was everything I ever dreamed. Intelligent, funny, kind, patient.”
Mia grips Taryn’s hand.
“I have two sons. Dusk and Dae. They are my whole entire world. Dae is an omega. He’s only eight, but we can feel it already. I’ve taught him to hide, to be afraid. Dae doesn’t smile; he doesn’t laugh. We didn’t tell him stories to make him shine. We taught him fear.”
“You did what you had to so he would survive,” Mordecai says gently.
Taryn shakes her head, and tears go flying. They catch the light, like diamonds, before they hit the dusty concrete and disappear.
“I would do anything for my sons. Things that would change who I am, reshape me, good things, evil things. It doesn’t matter, I have never loved the way I love these three men.”
“We won’t forget,” Mordecai says. “No one will forget how much you sacrificed for your sons, Taryn. How much you loved them. When we win, someone will go and collect your children and mate and tell them everything.” Mordecai is being unusually tender with Taryn, enough that my skin crawls.
Why is he making it sound like she won’t make it out of here?
Taryn looks up and nods. “Thank you.” She stands up, but it’s like she’s aged before our eyes. Her energy is brittle; her pain makes her slow and jerky.
“Taryn?”
She shakes her head and smiles at me. “Promise me you’ll fight.”
I don’t want to give her that promise. “I can promise I will consider it.”
“No, Keres. You have to fight,” she says, gripping my forearms, her nails digging deep into my skin.
“I—” I stare into her eyes, but I can’t make that promise. I won’t make it.
She lets out a wail that is cut off. She jerks hard and slams into me. We hit the ground, and I see a black fletched arrow shaft sticking out of her shoulder.
“Taryn!”
She moans.
“It’s in her shoulder,” Mordecai says. “This is going to hurt, Taryn. You need to be quiet.”
He grabs the shaft and snaps it. Then with shocking violence, he shoves it straight through. She yowls, her whole body going tight as she arches and then collapses on me, panting.
Mia is there in seconds, bandaging her arm.
“Just a flesh wound, Taryn. Nothing too bad,” Mordecai spits quickly.
“We gotta go, they’re coming,” Mia says with a white face. Her eyes are huge in her head.
Cadel lifts Taryn into his arms and runs through the apartment, jumping onto the balcony and disappearing into the apartment below. Mordecai leads Mia, while I follow behind.
I’m outside, exposed on the balcony, when I catch sight of the Warden. He’s got his bow pulled back, ready to release and steal my life. We stare at each other, a thousand memories and a different life stretching between us.
“KAIDA!” Mordecai shouts and grabs my wrist. I’m pulled out of the way of the arrow just before it slams harmlessly into the side of the building.
I don’t think; I just follow the alpha who is refusing to let go of my arm.
I’m panting by the time we get to the bottom floor, but instead of going out the front, he pulls us into the basement.
“Cadel?” I hiss.
“He’s out and safe. Now, we have to get out alive. Gods, I hoped they got this tunnel completed. She said she thought they did, but she wasn’t sure.”
I have no idea who he’s talking about, but I don’t interrupt.
He pulls me to the darkest part of a dark underground car park. It’s got rank water sitting an inch deep, filled with leaves and rot. I gag, but he drags me through, searching and muttering under his breath.
Mordecai shoves a huge piece of metal out of the way, revealing a tunnel. I peer into the dark.
“We don’t know what’s in there,” I whisper.
“We know what’s waiting for us out there, though.”
I go into the tunnel, trying to ignore the memories that swamp back.
Dark rooms, shackles on my wrists, fear, pain, hunger, thirst. Mordecai pulls the metal sheet back, hiding our path out.
He fumbles in the dark until he finds my arm.
He slides his massive hand down until he finds my fingers and guides them to his waist.
“You hold on and don’t let go. I mean it, Kaida.”
“Okay,” I whisper, almost unable to speak.
He whispers to me from the dark. The man who taught me to fear. Would it have been better if my mother had been more forthcoming about all the horrors that went on in the world? Would I still have gone?
Yes.
I loved them. I love them.
“Mordecai?”
“Mmm?”
“Do you think anyone will remember us?”
Mordecai stops; he sighs heavily. “I think if we win, it won’t matter if they remember us or not, only that they’ll get to live.”
That answer rocks the grip that those memories have on me, and we continue on, crawling through the dark, trying to survive.