Through The Veil (3 page)

“Whatever
it takes,” he droned on. “I am the man to lead our society into the next era. I
am willing to make the hard decisions.”

The
man who had shown the sliver of compassion in her apartment held her right arm.
“He’s a cold bastard,
ain’t
he? Fuck, you were his
girlfriend, weren’t you?”

“Fiancée
actually.” Tears choked her throat. This was a nightmare. “Please, help me,”
she implored the man, searching for some shred of compassion to aid her.

For
a moment, their eyes met and her hope surged. He pressed his lips together and
glanced away. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled under his breath.

They
shoved her into a detention van while Teddy continued to lecture on in the
background, pontificating about the wonderful ES government.

She’d
been so stupid. Weak. Her chest seized with the ache of betrayal, but the anger
at her own naivety took front and center. Her need to believe in Teddy’s
commitment to her had outweighed the knowledge that she could be making a grave
mistake.

And
now she’d paid for it with her life.

Betrayed
by someone who’d vowed to love her forever.

If
she got her freedom back, she would never be this trusting again.

Marcus – Western States

Marcus Hughes watched Audra walk toward him, her long, red
hair swaying in time with her lush hips. The moss green wings on her back
twitched. She knew exactly how she affected him. He was so in love with this
woman, his woman now for five years. If her fourteen-year-old brother, Shane,
wasn’t in the house and likely to walk into the room at any moment, he’d risk
being late to his meeting and take her right here, right now, up against the
counter.

“Are you sure you have to go to the meeting?” She gave him a
fake pout, even though she knew his job as a Warrior for the WS meant he
couldn’t miss Bethany’s council meeting with the districts.

She stopped before him and ran her fingernail across the
placket of his jeans where his cock pulsed in reaction to her. “I would make it
worth your while to skip it.” She leaned up on her tiptoes to graze her teeth
across his earlobe.

He groaned low. They’d lived together five years and he
still responded to her like it was their first time, every time. She was
perfect for him.

“Hmm,”
he hummed as she continued to stroke and tease him. “You know I’d love to, but
I have a responsibility.”

She
knew that, but this was part of their game. She loved to flirt and tease him.
It was a little thing that kept their relationship fresh and feeling new.

“It’s
a beautiful day.” He needed to distract her before her temptation worked. “Why
don’t you take Shane out for a picnic or something? The kid has been moping around
ever since that girl he liked moved away.”

She’d
raised Shane since he was two, so he was basically her child instead of her
brother. And right now, that child was going through a difficult time.

“Okay,
I see that distraction for what it is.” She lifted an eyebrow at him and
smiled. “But that’s actually a good idea. I hate that we don’t have more kids
in the village his age. It makes things so lonely for him, but it might be good
to get him out in the forest where he can communicate with the animals.”

Shane
had been two and the youngest survivor in the WS when the Veil fell. But as the
youngest, he had the oldest gifts, which grew stronger every day. He was the
first to develop his wings, telepathy, and his individual ability to talk
mentally to the animals. His ability with animals seemed to ease some of his
adolescent turmoil. Audra and Marcus tried to make sure he was able to use his
talent as much as possible. They couldn’t do anything about the lack of
friends, but they could make sure he had access to animals.

“When
Griff
and I were out scouting yesterday, we saw a
herd of elk north of the millhouse,” he told her.

“Really?
It’s been a while since the herd has been in the area. Shane will love it if we
can find them again.”

“Just
plan to be home by dark. We haven’t had any Predator attacks lately, but
there’s no reason to tempt fate. Besides, our meeting should be close to over
by then and I have plans for you.” He cupped her breast through her shirt, and
her nipple pebbled under his palm.

Her
desire sparked along their telepathic connection
amping
up his desire a few more notches.
Mmm
, playing with
her sounded so much better than his meeting. Leaning back, he looked at her
speculatively. “Think Shane would want to spend the night at Drake’s tonight?
Some time with your brother might help take his mind off his troubles, too.”
Drake was the middle brother and also lived in the village. Her two younger
brothers didn’t get along that well, but at his age, Shane didn’t get along
with anyone particularly well.

“I’ll
convince them both. It’s been a while since we’ve had the place to ourselves
and I think—”

“Oh,
good Goddess.” Shane’s disgusted exclamation separated the two quicker than ice
water. “Can’t you wait until I’m at school, or asleep, or something? There are
certain images I cannot get out of my innocent brain.” Shane stood in the
doorway, squinting at them through the fingers splayed across his eyes.

“Well,
far be it from us to corrupt your innocent young mind.” Marcus chuckled softly.
“I have to get to work, anyway.” He leaned down to brush a soft kiss across
Audra’s tempting lips, twitching with humor at her brother’s dramatics.
Inhaling her signature musk of lilacs and mint, he whispered in her ear,
“Tonight…”

He
redirected his gaze to Shane. “I trust you to keep her safe in the forest
today.”

Shane
swung his head around to Audra, his face alight in happy surprise. “We’re going
into the forest?”

She
grinned at him. “Yep. Marcus said the elk herd was in the vicinity yesterday.
Let’s go see if we can find them, okay?”

“Yes!
Just let me go get my gear,” Shane said as he shot through the open door. His
dark green wings flapped furiously as he launched into the air and flew up to
his bedroom on the top level of the
treehouse
.

“I
think he’s excited,” Marcus said. “And I have to take off, too. Let me know
where you all are so I can find you if the meeting ends early.”

Her
freckled face lit up and her moss green eyes sparked with enthusiasm. “Do you
think that’s a possibility?”

“Unfortunately,
no.” Marcus grimaced in anticipation of the long afternoon of political
meetings.
 
“But we can always hope.” He
brushed another soft, lingering kiss across her cheek. “You guys have fun, but
be careful.”

*
* *

Marcus
worked to stifle the yawn. The seven Warriors who served as Bethany Harris’s
private security contingent circled the periphery of the meeting room, watching
for any threat from the other fifty-four people attending. As a general rule,
the people within the WS weren’t violent. When the Veil fell, there was enough
loss of life when everyone over the age of eighteen suddenly died. Since all
the survivors had been children at the time, they definitely lost a taste for
death. Most threats now came from Predators.

But
if anyone wanted to remove Bethany from power and take over as the ruler of the
WS, it would probably be someone in this room. Twice a year all the districts
in the WS sent representatives to
Springlake
to
discuss issues with Bethany. This room held all those leaders. Several of them
thought they could do a better job than Bethany running the entire government,
but they would be wrong.

They
were forgetting what they owed her, and that was a dangerous thing. When the
Veil fell, she was the oldest at eighteen. After a couple weeks of chaos, she
took control, held them together, and helped them rebuild when they were
nothing but a ramshackle group of terrified kids. Thanks to her and her
knowledge of the Earth, they had a functioning society again.

“Someone needs to put an end to this meeting soon, or
else Aaron isn’t going to have any molars left,”
Griff
said mentally along
the telepathic connection between the Warriors.

Marcus
slowly glanced over to the Warrior leader’s glowering countenance and agreed.
That tense jaw couldn’t mean good things for his dental hygiene.

A
study in black from his jet black wings, dark hair, black scruff, and black
clothes, Aaron radiated menace. Right now that ire was directed toward the man
speaking. Aaron’s six foot four inches of pure muscle and physical size would deter
most men from challenging him, but the cocky leader from the Fennel district
continued to blatantly hit on Bethany while at the same time, worked to
completely discredit her.

Bethany
had a beautiful and ethereal aura which drew men and women alike to her, but
this nitwit desired the power more than the woman. Could the man truly be so
clueless? Couldn’t he feel the force of that glare?

Bethany
definitely could as she sent her own censuring glare toward Aaron. He shrugged
his shoulders innocently but returned to his intimidating stance as soon as she
turned away.

Garrison
was the youngest of the Warriors at only twenty years old. Like the other
Warriors, he stood behind the delegates watching the proceedings. Up until now,
he’d been practically comatose with boredom. Now he’d perked up.
“Want
to lay odds on how much longer Aaron’s patience will last before the dude from
Fennel gets kicked out? I’m guessing he won’t last another five minutes.”

“You’re on, pup,”
Marcus said.
“If
Aaron’s patience didn’t go that far, you’d be dead. He would have killed you
during water training last year when you almost drowned him.”

Garrison
didn’t handle water well. In fact, he had quite a phobia over it which they
loved to give him a hard time about.

All
the Warriors chuckled mentally, although looking at them, no one would guess
their private conversation. They all stood at stoic, watchful attention.

“Well, if Aaron doesn’t kill him, Bethany might,”
Brooklyn, Bethany’s younger sister and the only female
Warrior, said.
“She’s
ticked.”

Marcus
studied Bethany’s posture, but besides her occasional warning glances at Aaron,
he didn’t see anything to show she was upset with the Fennel delegate who
continued to drone on.

“I don’t see it. What do you see that the rest of us
don’t?”
he asked Brooklyn.

“Look at her left hand. Do you see how she keeps
flicking her pinky finger with her thumb? That’s her tell when she’s angry. She
hides it well, but her temper is about to explode. Look, it’s getting faster.
Be ready to react in case this doesn’t go well.”

“Mr.
Kramer. Nick.” Bethany’s strong, authoritative voice stilled everyone in the
meeting. The man in question half-rose from his seat until Aaron, who had
silently moved behind him, stepped closer. Bethany waved a hand at him. “Aaron,
stand down.”

Across
their mental telepathy, she told him,
“Let me handle this.”