Emergence (The Primogenitor Chronicles Book 1) (3 page)

A momentary reprieve,
Nickolas sighed.
He takes Ian’s dictates way too seriously.
He watched his brother search through the rest of the hall closet for a moment, just to make sure that Chris had actually dropped the subject.
I suppose I can’t really blame him. I would do anything to protect him.

He gave himself a shake and turned back to the job. A fledgling often ended up in strange locations in their houses when they finally passed out. Once he’d found one had managed to stuff himself into his dryer.

Their target had a beautiful home. Open and inviting, filled with well cared for antique furniture. Definitely not the sort of home he would expect to find from a woman in her twenties. His unease grew the more he looked around.

The pristine state of the rooms also didn’t match what he expected from a fledgling entering stage two. “What’s missing?”

The other three members of his team went still as his question sank in.

“Where’s the mess?”

Christoff’s face grew serious and he snapped his wings tight from their relaxed state. Quick efficiency replaced his more standard, relaxed surfer dude façade. “Are we sure she’s here? Jules?” He strode through the archway on their left. “Kitchen, dining area. Both intact.”

Nickolas folded his arms and watched his team go to work. Jules reached up to his ear and spoke quietly into his mic. Flynn closed the front door then went to search the cabinets in the living room.

“Jeff swears that she didn’t go out the front.” Jules took his finger away from the button on his earpiece. “He said she could have gone out a back door, but why? It’s nothing but woods there.”

“She has to be somewhere.” Cocking his head, Nickolas listened. Everything felt different tonight. It was almost like that surge of power had triggered something. Detecting possible movement from the rear of the house, he motioned everyone to spread out.

The distinctive rattle of her front door closing snapped Jessica out of her stunned disbelief.
Someone’s in the house.
Pushing the pain away, she jumped to her feet. Her thoughts swirled in chaos. She wasn’t normally prone to panic, but her reactions were not all her own tonight. If what she feared was correct…well, it was only going to get worse.

Damn it, where are you, May? I need you. Why’d you have to up and leave town and not tell me where you are?

She grabbed her sweats and thrust her legs into them, wishing her shoes weren’t out by the front door.

Run, Jessica.

The sound of her mother’s voice echoed through her head, slamming home the remembered images from her dream.

“Mommy, will I ever have wings like you?”

Her mother squeezed her hard before she answered. “You will, one day. But not for several years yet, and Robin will get his first.”

“Robin! He always gets to go first.”

Her mother’s voice laughed quietly, the sound filling her. “He’s older than you.”

“That’s not fair.”

“True, but life’s not fair.” Her mother grew serious. “You need to do your best to avoid the Facility, Jessica. Remember.”

Remember.

Panting, Jessica shook her head, forcing the cobwebs to clear. The sound of feet stepping quietly on her hardwood floors galvanized her.
Leave, I have to leave.

Run, run, run.
Her mother’s voice beat a staccato that matched her racing heart. She slid her bedroom window to the side and slipped out into the cold October night.

Christoff swept down the hall to the last bedroom. He was sure that he’d heard someone in that room. All Valkyries had their strengths and weaknesses. Nickolas was a decent tracker…
But he’s not as good as me. His Hunter abilities are just not as strong as mine.
Christoff thought, perplexed. But, there
was
something, something that couldn’t be defined, about Nickolas that had all of the Valkyries baring their throats to him. His strengths lay in a different arena.

He was Alpha.

Christoff grimaced.
Nick may be Alpha, but this is one captain who won’t be allowed to go down with the ship. I can’t trust him to watch out for his own well-being. If something’s wrong, he’ll confront it. With no regard to how important he is to the rest of us. Whatever that energy surge was affected him more than me.
Christoff felt his worry resurface.

There was a dim light shining from under the door on the left. He paused to listen for a moment before he reached out and quietly turned the knob. It wouldn’t do to surprise the new fledgling. Those who were just starting the change were usually unaware of what was happening to them. Unfortunately, they were also volatile and prone to attack.
Which could make life really interesting. Good thing I like interesting.

Peering around the door, he saw no one. A breath hissed between his teeth, and he shoved the door wide, looking the room over more thoroughly.

It was a decent-sized bedroom, but the pale purple and white walls made him cringe. This room, unlike the rest of the house, looked more like what they expected to find. Possessions were strewn around the room, but it still was not as messy as it should be. With a second glance, he decided that it just looked lived in. It was not the sort of destruction associated with the onset of the second stage of the change. Surprised, Christoff flipped his wings to settle them more comfortably then crossed the room to look inside the closet. Shoving the hangers over revealed nothing, and the shelves were too small for anyone to hide on.

I
know
I heard you.
Chris ran his hand through his hair and looked at the rest of the room. The only other place to hide was the bed, but it really didn’t feel like she was here in the room anymore. Still, just to be on the safe side, he walked over and flipped up the skirt to look under the bed. Sighing, he straightened up then felt the bed coverings. Heat under the down blanket.

She hadn’t been gone long.

The only way out, besides going past them, was the window. Walking over, he studied it.
Yes,
he thought, looking at the slightly open window.
I knew you were here. Now the million dollar question is, why did you leave? Or, better yet, how did you manage it?

Shivering in the darkness, Jessica watched the recovery team flip the lights on as they searched the whole structure looking for her. The invasion of her territory made her mad, and she bared her teeth, a growl rumbling in her throat. The instinctive response brought her up short. Fear flooded her system, cutting off the animalistic sound. Panic once more tried to set icy claws into her, but she pushed it away ruthlessly. Her response and the arrival of the recovery team confirmed her worst fear: she must have started the change.

Just what I needed. This sucks! At least the cold air is helping to clear my thoughts. I think.

She had done her best to deny this possibility her whole life. But huddled out in the woods barefoot, wearing only an oversized T-shirt and sweatpants, she couldn’t pretend any longer.

She was changing.

It’s just not fair,
she thought mutinously, shaking her head as she tried to clear her vision. Now was not the time to let her fears of what was to come control her. She returned her attention to the house.

A large, lean man with shoulder-length blond hair had entered her bedroom. He moved with the grace of a predator, and her eyes widened when he turned, allowing her to see his wings fall gracefully down his back like a dark cloak.

Holy crap! They’ve sent a Hunter.
Her mind froze in panic.
Why is there a Hunter here?

She watched as the Valkyrie stopped and sniffed the air before walking over to the window and examining it. After a moment he spread his wings, covering the glass to block the light from behind him so he could scrutinize the dark yard. Fascinated, she stared, transfixed at the way the light shone through the membrane of his wings.

She felt her mind slowing again. Fruitlessly, she fought the lethargy that was her body’s natural response to the changes taking place within it. It wasn’t long before the Hunter’s eyes found hers, even in the dark, their intensity boring into her, and he smiled a slow feral smile. Backing away in fear, the last thing she saw was the Hunter turning. Feeling like a fox with the hounds about to be released, Jessica slipped farther into the bushes and fled into the night.

They expected no resistance. Not this early in the change.

Nickolas swept down the hall in response to Christoff’s call and considered options. This should have been a simple retrieval. The timing for the recovery of a stage two fledgling was orchestrated carefully. It centered on several stages of behavior.

An emerging Valkyrie needed a lot of sleep. But before they succumbed to that need and passed out, they were extremely volatile. The signs tended to be obvious to those around the new fledgling but not, thankfully, to the person experiencing it.
Or we would have one heck of a time keeping people safe,
Nickolas thought.

Jessica Reuther should have been sound asleep by now. She also should have destroyed everything in sight before instinct drove her to find a safe place.
Damn it, there should have been no resistance!

Not that it was unheard of in someone who’d been feral for a while, someone who had been alone during the first part of stage two and hadn’t been reported to the Facility in time. But the call had just come in today. By all rights, she had just started to change, and she shouldn’t even be
capable
of running right now.