Regali (A Walker Saga) (10 page)

O
ne eye was useless and empty, but the other was conveying the fact it was pretty pissed off. My blood coated the lower half of its face and flecked its fur. I noticed something that I’d seen on the other fringe members but hadn’t really registered. There was red speckles throughout their fur and, like this freak, it looked like blood. Old, dried crusty blood.

I pulled myself to my feet, right arm still useless and my blood raining down. I almost fell as blood mixed with dirt and rock to create a slippery mess. The pain was a dull register, just sitting behind the adrenalin
. I knew I was going to feel it soon, but right then it was time to survive. The creature was blocking the path forward. The only other way was back to the Seventine. And I didn’t know which was worse.

While I was trying to decide what to do, i
t caught me by surprise. This time it latched onto my calf.

I knew what it was doing
: systematically cutting off my ability to escape.

By that stage
I was down to one functioning arm and leg.

With my last iota of energy
, I pictured Ria’s loft house and grabbed onto the largest of the shining tethers.

I was jerked through, but in my panic and haste I had forgotten one important factor. Anything touching me was going to come also.

Red.

The roar came through our bond loud and clear this time
. Whatever had been blocking us was gone.

Help.

The blood loss was getting to me. I knew what was happening and if I couldn’t get away soon I’d probably black out, and then this creature would rip out my throat.

The creature was wrenched away from me and
it dropped me again. A large thump sounded in front of me. I lifted my head to find one of the guards: Klea, her golden fur shining in the light from the open doorway.

“Wolver
,” she growled. “What are you doing here?”

So this was the infamous wolver. No wonder they’d been so ferocious with Colton
. Wolvers were not nice puppies.

In my dazed state I struggled to track their fight. But it was clear that Klea had incredible skills
. She sprang around the open tree loft with speed and agility. With one eye gone, the wolver had no chance of keeping up. It took her seconds to land on its back. She brought both clawed hands down and with a ripping motion severed its head.

I levered myself up on my good arm
. Pain and tingles were replacing the numbness in my right, so it was starting to heal.

“What the
Fu –” Brace’s roar was interrupted by Klea eviscerating the wolver right in front of me. The dark red of its blood landed in splatters around me.

“Red.” Brace lifted me up, supporting my weight with ease. “Baby, are you okay?”

I raised my head, ready with a reassuring smile. Black eyes dominated his face and fear creased his features. He’d been afraid for me.

“I couldn’t feel you, I couldn’t contact you. What the hell happened?” He was yelling and pulling me closer.

“Can’t breathe,” I managed to gasp out. I didn’t care, though.

“Shit, sorry, I’m probably hurting you.” He pulled back far enough to assess my injuries.

His hands brushed gently over my arms. In their wake warmth descended, and I knew he was using his energy to help the healing. His features tightened as he reached my collar bone, but he said nothing until he was finished.

“You okay?” Klea crouched down
, her feline features examining me.

I nodded.
“Thank you, how did you get here so quickly?”

“When you went missing Ria sent me back here in case you returned to her home. I will let her know you are safe.” She howled once into the air and it was in that moment I noticed that it was starting to darken under the canopy. Night was falling. “I need to get back to her
,” she finished.

“Wait.” I stopped her before she leapt from the platform. “I can take you back instantly.”

Brace never questioned my decision. He just helped me up. I loved that he was protective without stifling my independence. Mates were definitely designed to complement one another. I grabbed a shirt from my bag to replace my old one, which had been torn to shreds. I turned to the leon.

Klea regarded me with suspicion, but eventually laid her paw into my out
-held palm. I curled my fingers around, gripping into the soft fur, thankful that her claws were sheathed. Brace held my other hand.

“Hold on
,” I said.

Closing my eyes
, I mentally pictured the room behind the waterfall. Avoiding any tether in close proximity to the wall of death, I grabbed a glittering strand.

We were there in an instant.

Klea pulled her paw back, looking around with huge eyes. For the first time she looked surprised, but that didn’t stop her from shaking out her large mane and bounding along the path we had taken earlier. I got the feeling she didn’t like to leave Ria alone for long.

“What happened?” Brace questioned me as we followed at a rapid run.

“Got knocked into the wall and this weird trapdoor spun me into another tunnel. I thought I was alone in there, but I kept hearing someone speaking.” My voice faltered a little. “I think it was the Seventine.”

Brace growled. “That’s about the only explanation for why there was a breakdown in our communications. Melding bonds are strong
. I didn’t know what to think when I couldn’t find you. I was getting mental flashes of your panic, but nothing else.”

“Yes, well I took off to try and get away from the voice and that wolver took me out.” I winced
, remembering. “Took me out in the worst kind of way.”

Brace reached out and captured my hand as we continued to follow Klea down the path.

“I’m glad Klea was already in the tree-house. I opened a doorway as soon as I felt you, but I might have been too late.”

I squeezed his palm. “You can’t always save me, Brace. Sometimes I’ll save myself, sometimes others will save me and sometimes I’ll be the one doing the saving. You have to learn to share the responsibility.”

He laughed. “Red, you’re now and always my responsibility. I’ll always be the one to save you. I’ll always come for you. Nothing will stop me.” He managed to land a kiss on my lips, even at the speed we were traveling. “You’ve given me everything, just by existing. So you’ve done your part for the rest of our lives, now it’s my turn.”

His words created an unusual feeling inside my chest. Like this weird, warm, heart-flipping
-over thing.

“Well
, I love you, you crazy control freak,” I teased.

He laughed. “I love you, despite the fact you’re a pain in my ass.”

“That has to be Abbs. I can feel the sappy romance coming down the tunnel.”

Lucy’s words echoed toward us.

I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my lips. I’d probably think we were a bit hard to handle too if I had to see it every day. But when you’re in love, you’re in love. Not much you can do about it. The need I felt to be with Brace was never going to end.

I bit back the pain of Lucy’s vision and the chance I was going to lose Brace. Ironically enough
, it was his love that gave me the strength to know I could sever the bond to save everyone. If it came to that.

I could see that we were fast approaching the rest of our group
. They were waiting at this weird junction. We slowed when we reached them.

Ria
moved out of the shadows and strode toward us, her stunning features creased in concern.

“Klea told me it was a wolver.” She laid a warm hand on my arm. “You’re lucky
. They were the most vicious of any pack. They either warred themselves to death or disappeared many years ago.” Her voice hardened. “Apparently some of them survived. I should have known they would be amongst the fringe leaders.”

“Did you find any others?” I asked.

“No, we waited here to make sure you were safe.” She smiled at me. “After all, you’re my Walker sister.”

I could tell that she meant
those words; they were not empty platitudes. I loved the bond that seemed to exist between us half-Walkers, and wondered if there would be one who would reject us.

“I’m fine, let’s keep going.” My injuries were mostly healed.

I was tense, though. Dark tunnels were not the best place to be when you’d just been jumped from the shadows.

“Don’t you worry, Red girl,” Colton said as he sidled closer, “any more wolves appear and I’ll rip their throats out for you.”

Lucy snorted, interrupting him. “Wow, you say the sweetest things, Colton.”

“There
’s nothing sweet about me, darlin’.”

And all of a sudden he had a weird drawling accent.

“I haven’t forgotten.” Her words were a mutter.

We were moving along the channel now
. The packs were out in front, and we were at the back. Ria moved between the two of us with the ever present Klea keeping pace with her.

“There
’s a mass of energy ahead,” Brace said.

As soon as he mentioned it I noticed something odd. I often had strange feelings I ignored, even on Earth, but I was starting to see that there were explanations for some of them. This was a tingling sensation low in my stomach, and I recognized it as foreign energy starting to infiltrate my own. My own energy was always moving, curious and hungry, an endless pit inside that definitely liked to
absorb free energy. It was always on the lookout for power. And, as Brace said, we were coming up to a large mass.

“I’ll send out my blast again
,” Brace said as our group rounded the corner. “Wait for me.”

But it was too late
.

T
he packs that were ahead of us didn’t hear his call, and as soon as they saw the fringe members they charged forward; they were out for blood. We had to increase our speed to keep them in sight. I felt more than saw the battle ahead of us. And we were severely outnumbered. There were at least a hundred of the fringe. They looked to be a mix of the present packs, wolvers and those three other species that had been back behind the waterfall.

The wolvers were the only beasts to be on all fours
. They were definitely the least human of any of them. They just looked like massive horse-size wolves, with small amounts of human skin around their eyes. Ria’s pack guards had paused about twenty yards from the fringe. The sheer numbers we faced had halted our group.

“The wolvers are shifted like on a red moon
,” Ria said.

“What do you mean?” Colton asked.

“Once in a forty cycle we have a blood red moon. It calls the packs and they shift into their true animal forms.”

“And when the sun comes out they shift back?” Lucy said, her eyes wide with a curious sparkle.

“What is a sun?” Ria asked.

We all stopped what we were doing and stared at her.

“A bright, hot star that brings life to plants and such,” I said, trying to remember if I’d seen a sun.

T
he canopy was so close together, I was pretty sure I’d never even seen the sky.

“We have six moons that cast the blue light of life and the red moon when it appears
,” Ria said simply. “Is it that to which you refer?”

I shook my head.

“How is it so warm here without a sun?” Lucy asked.

“It is always warm in Artwon. The moons are warm and the jungle holds in the heat.”

Well
, that was interesting, and did explain the blue tinge. I had thought that was simply the shadows from the canopy. Growls distracted me then. I’d almost forgotten we were facing a wall of crazy fringe members.

“So what do we do now?” I asked. “We
’re vastly outnumbered.”

“We can take care of some of them and even up the numbers
,” Colton said with a nod toward Brace.

Ria smiled, her flawless teeth flashing in the semi-darkness of this underground hole. The boys
took that as an affirmation, stepping forward to the front of our group. I grabbed Lucy’s hand and we huddled together to watch as Colton and Brace moved dangerously close to the growling, snarling group.

They stepped quickly in a synchronized series of movements, arms flying outwards, upwards and then forward
, and at that moment a shimmery yellow light blasted free from their palms.

I could see the force and if that wall was coming at me I would be running for dear life. But either the fringe were stupid or had no idea how much that energy wall was going to hurt when it hit them, because they didn
’t shift even a minute amount. At the last minute, before the energy hit, two men stepped forward from the fringe and released their own burst of power.

The two energies collided in midair and the ricocheting force shot everyone back on both sides. I prevented myself and Lucy from hitting the floor by absorbing the power and sucking down the excess energy. But we were
only some of the few not to be knocked down. Brace met my eyes across the fallen packs.