Discovery at Nerwolix (16 page)

In complete and awkward silence, we all head
back to the city for the longest trip imaginable.

“What happened to you?” Clarence frowns as
we enter Sampson’s home. Qippert, Blovid, Jothkore, Vix and Sampson
look up from where they’ve laid out a map on the bed. Clarence
moves forward, scanning our disheveled appearances.

“Ludins,” Tucker answers first, wiping his
brow with the back of his hand.

“They attacked?”

“Not us,” Able shakes his head, falling onto
a red cushion in the corner, “
each other
. We were just lucky
enough to be in the cross fire.”

“Oh dear…” Blovid glances around, eyeing me
in Reid’s arms. “Fallon—were you hurt again?”

“They’re just scratches,” I say and Reid
willingly places me on my feet. “I’m fine.”

“She needs some Vilbrees.”

“I’ve got it,” Clarence reaches for the
bowl, gesturing me to Sampson’s bed. Blovid picks up the map and
waves me onto to the red linen. I sit down and stretch my legs out
in front of me, bending them slightly at the knees.

“And the rest of you?” Sampson asks.

“Fine,” Tucker nods, “just a little
frazzled.”

“It must have been some fight,” he eyes the
group, pausing on the exhaustion of the Rogues. “Yet, I’m seeing
more anger than fear. What exactly happened?”

“Which part?” Jace laughs, following Able’s
cue to relax on the red cushions. Pratt and Mae do the same,
sitting on the edge of the bed while Booker and Werzo follow.
Tucker, Walker and Reid are the only ones left standing.

“What do you mean?” Clarence sits beside me,
the bowl of Vilbrees in his hand. Dipping two fingers in the
bluish-green medicine, he lightly applies it to my knees, rubbing
in a circular motion.

“Well,” Jace exhales, crossing his hands
behind his head, “there was the Ludin brawl… and then the
other.”

“Between who?” Sampson glances between Reid
and Walker who refuse to acknowledge one another.

“Bingo.”

With a sigh, the Fychu crosses his arms. He
makes a lap around the small space, finally pausing with a scolding
stare at Reid. “This needs to be resolved.”

“In all fairness,” Tucker says, “Walker
starts it.”

“What?”

“You goad him!”

“He made my life on Harrizel
hell
.
I’m allowed to speak freely if I want. He can control his anger,”
Walker turns his focus on Reid. “And his fist.”

“He didn’t even hit you…” Able rolls his
eyes.

“He was trying to
kill
me.”

“Yeah,” Jace grinds his teeth, “after you
insinuated you’d sleep with his girl. Again.”

I instantly redden as all eyes fly to me.
Even Clarence pauses rubbing the Vilbrees into my shin. He looks
from Jace to Walker to Reid. Finally he shifts focus to me again
and continues applying the medicinal lotion.

“Okay…” Sampson exhales. “How are we going
to solve this?”

“Kill Walker,” Reid shrugs.

“No. You are an
Arizal
. We do not
believe in the unjust killing of any creature.”

“I think it’s justified.”

“You must keep them away from one another,”
Qippert approaches the set of tense bodies. “They are bound to keep
attacking one another if they are to occupy the same space.”

“No,” Sampson shakes his head. “When the
Vermix attack, we will need to work together to defeat them. We
cannot worry about them being unable to share the same space.”

“Maybe it’s unsolvable,” Reid sighs,
crossing his arms. A long, silent minute passes before he takes
another deep breath. “I can promise my hardest
not
to kill
him.”

“That’s not good enough.”

“That’s what I can offer.”

“You must understand, young Rogue,” Blovid
starts, “if you were to harm a tribesman, we would lose support of
the Zingfinolds.”

“Why?” Reid turns to him. “We’re staying as
Tucker’s guests. Not Walker’s.”

“Killing any tribesman, host or not, would
get you kicked out, bud,” Walker frowns. “Sorry.”

“Then Fallon and I can go back to Mybyncia.
We’ll help Queen Ravan and the chancellor prepare for any more
Vermix raids.”

“Look,” Sampson exhales, heavily annoyed
now. “No one is killing anyone. No one is going anywhere. The two
of you,” his eyes flicker between Reid and Walker, “are going to
have to deal with this. You need to leave your past behind you and
move forward. That was then, and this is now. Words are hollow,” he
turns to Reid, “they mean nothing. Action is what you should be
upset over.”

“I am.”

“No, you are upset over
past
action.
Not present. If he is going to goad you, you must be the bigger
man. I have told you this several times—there are more important
things at stake here.”

Slowly, Reid’s eyes drop as his head rolls
into a nod.

“And you,” Sampson turns to Walker. “Grow
up.”

“But I—”

“If you are smart, you won’t finish that
sentence. Now,” he glances over everyone. “Maybe a little recess
from today’s events are in order? Why don’t you all go back to your
homes for a little while? Relax some.”

Everyone starts for the curtain and I jump
off the bed to join them. Reid is behind me in a second, but then
Sampson calls, “Reid? Stay here for a minute please?”

Hesitantly, he pauses and I stop with him,
both of us turning to the Fychu.

“It’s okay—Fallon can go back. You’ll see
her later.”

Looking at me with an uncomfortable smile,
Reid lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses my knuckles. A flutter
ripples through my chest and I turn to leave Sampson’s home. I need
to get back to my room and think. Or maybe sleep. Honestly, I am
pretty worn out from everything earlier—it wouldn’t hurt to take a
quick nap.

Heading over the bridge, I make my way for
my Zingfinold home, spotting red hair on the other side. Walker
meets me when I step off the branch and I do my best to ignore him.
With my eyes down, I push past him but he keeps to my side. I’m
almost to my trunk when he reaches for my shoulder but I whip
around to him before he can do it.

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“What the
hell
is your problem?” I
stop, crossing my arms. I’m boiling with rage, my body shaking with
untamed fury. “For real, you need to cut this shit out. Now.”

Walker winces with a step back. “Sorry.
I—”

“Why do you do it?” I move closer. “Why? I
know you hate him, but you
did
sleep with Ansley.”

“Thanks for the recap.”

“I didn’t force you to. Reid didn’t force
you—”

“Yeah, I know,” he scowls. “It was the Kings
remember?”

“But Reid didn’t do anything to—”

“Uh yeah, he did. He made my life
hell
. You don’t understand, Fallon,” Walker inches closer
and lowers his voice. “I was threatened by the Rogues constantly.
And all over something I had no choice in.”

“But how is that his fault?”

“He didn’t call them off.”

“And he was supposed to?”

“He was supposed to be one of the good guys.
He didn’t even look into what happened. Wouldn’t even take a moment
to—”

“Can you blame him?”

“Please,” Walker rolls his eyes, “he was
lukewarm on Ansley anyway. But it didn’t matter. His pride was
hurt, which is what the Kings wanted, and that was that. Those
bastards basically dealt me a death sentence but did anyone stop to
ask me why I did it? No. They pegged me as the asshole credited for
sending their leader on hiatus. I had to
constantly
watch my
back since the Rogues were always looking to take a shot at it. Rox
knew what was happening. Had he bothered to look into
why
it
happened in the first place, I might not have had so many close
calls,” he exhales, “so excuse me for giving him a tough time.”

I close my mouth, trying to put myself in
Walker’s place. I never really thought about it from his
perspective. I never considered how hard it must’ve been to do what
he did, to seduce the girl of the most powerful Rogue, knowing it
could get you killed if you did. Knowing it would get you killed if
you didn’t.

Fumbling for a response, I try remembering
why I was so upset. “You’re making me uncomfortable.”

His face falls. “That’s not the intent.”

“Well you are.”

A deep frown crosses his lips. “I’ll stop,
okay? For you…” he takes a breath, “I’ll stop.”

“Thank you.”

“I just wish…” he runs his hands down his
face. “I just wish it was the other way around.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yeah, he hates me because of the whole
Ansley thing—I get it. But if that didn’t happen… if the Kings
didn’t…” he hooks his hands on his hips and sighs. “You’d look at
us equally. You’d,” he shrugs, “give me a chance. You’d be my girl
instead of his.”

I don’t know what to say.

Does Walker really have feelings for me? I
guess he’s not just doing this to get back at Reid… but where are
these feelings coming from? He’s caught me so off guard that my
mouth just hangs open, words refusing to surface and make this
moment pass.

“Anyway,” he shrugs, “just thought you
should know.”

“Walker…” my words come out in whispers.
“I-I
love
Reid.”

A second of genuine surprise flashes across
his face. He nods, absorbing the information as his focus shifts to
the ground. “Well I guess I’m a little too late then,” he backs up
with an angry frown. “Sorry to have bothered you.”

Walker is already heading back over the
bridge and I’m still standing here, searching for a response. What
just happened? What was that last part about wanting me to be
his
girl? I stare after Walker, watching him leave, trying
to process everything. Where did all that come from? We were
talking about him and Reid and what happened with Ansley and then…
and then he dropped
that
on me.

Deciding to ignore it for now, I head inside
and plop down on my bed, my entire body giving out.

I need a nap.

And to not think anymore. Especially about
today. There’s too much on my mind, too much to think about and I
don’t want to concern myself with any of it. Staring at the golden
veins in the wooden ceiling above, I take a deep breath and let it
out slowly. My stomach still hurts. Just a slight throbbing now, I
wish there was something like Vilbrees that I could put on it to
make the ache go away. It’s not terrible, but I could do without
the discomfort. Too exhausted to move, I follow the strands in the
wood until a throat is cleared.

Bolting up, my stomach roars in protest. I’m
distracted when I see Reid in the archway. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

He smiles. “How’re you feeling?”

I slip a hand over my belly. “My stomach
hurts a little.”

He frowns. A mixture of guilt and anger
sweeps his face as he glances down, contemplating something.
Finally he looks up again. “Want some company?”

“Sure,” I nod him on and he moves into the
room, the curtain flapping closed behind him. I bite my lip,
watching his body work, all pain in mine evaporating. Suppressing a
gulp, I do my best to clear my head. “So what did Sampson
want?”

“Wanted to talk to me about Walker again,”
he sighs. “Says I should be acting more mature.”

“You did kind of freak out on him in the
tunnel.”

He crosses his arms, leaning against the
wall. “I wasn’t really going to kill him.”

“Sort of looked like it.”

“Good. That’s what I was going for.”

“You convinced the Rogues.”

“Maybe I should be an actor.”

“Reid.”

“Huh?”

“You can’t kill him.”

“I know… but when he says things sometimes…”
he shrugs. “I just want to knock him out.”

Replaying my conversation with the
tribesman, a sudden wave of guilt stirs. Part of me wants to
explain it to him, explain the reason behind all his comments and
attitude, and the other says to leave it alone; the past is past
and hopefully the two will move forward. “Just… don’t kill
him.”

“I promised Sampson I wouldn’t. Doesn’t mean
I can’t get a good swing in,” he smiles, pushing himself from the
wall. Slowly approaching me, he emits an intense, feral energy. “I
don’t want to talk about Walker anymore.”

“W-what do you want to do?” my throat goes
dry.

He flexes his brows.

My heart races as fire burns through my
blood, heating every inch of my body. “Reid…”

“I love that sound…” he crawls up the bed,
leaning me back.

“What?”

“You saying my name,” he kisses my neck,
sending me into a frazzled dizziness. “It’s my favorite sound.
Well…” he chuckles lightly to himself, “...one of them.”

I bite my lip as he trails his fingers up my
stomach. They sail higher and higher, my breath coming in short
gasps, especially as he finds me with a gentle squeeze. I arch
beneath him, trembling as a soft whimper escapes my open mouth. His
lips work my sensitive skin, his fingers softly kneading me as fire
rakes my body. Reid begins to grind his hips against mine.

“Boss?” Tucker clears his throat outside the
curtain. “Got a minute?”

“Christ,” Reid pauses and drops his head
with a grunt. “Yeah…” his voice comes out gravely, “give me a
sec?”

“Sure thing,” Tucker answers.

“This may take longer than a minute,” he
whispers against my neck. “We can uh… pick this up later?”

I’m too heated to let him leave. “Sure you
want to go?”

A deep growl emits from the back of his
throat. “No.”

“Then stay…” I run my fingers down his chest
and over the hard planes of his stomach. My fingers slip into the
hem of his jeans and he shudders, a low groan escaping. Holding my
face, he kisses me hard, grinding his hips against mine again. I
pull on his button.

“This need to be now?” Reid calls gruffly
over his shoulder.