For the Reign Page 9

  The girl who had fallen for her best friend was changing and becoming someone new. Someone who wanted a partner. Partners like Ash and Sage and Logan, and yes … possibly even Elias. The Tobias I’d loved was a precious piece of my heart, but there was no ignoring the doubt in my mind over whether my heart would crave him in the same way when I finally got him back, or whether he would even feel the same for me? My change had been a gentle evolution, but how had his come about? What violence, what pain had the Vladul inflicted on him?

  Who would he be when I finally found him?

  There was a soft knock at my door, and then Logan popped his head into the room.

  “I’m coming.” I walked toward him, expecting him to duck back out, but instead he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He stood with his back to the wood, his expression unreadable.

  A cocktail of emotions churned inside me. Anger, irritation, and yes, desire. My body wanted him, and my heart … my heart craved him. “What?” There was more snap to my tone than intended.

  He arched a brow.

  I sighed. “Logan, seriously, what is it? Everyone is waiting. If you need to get something off your chest, then just do it and—”

  He grabbed me and kissed me hard on the mouth. My brain short-circuited as heat crawled up my chest and caressed my throat, and then I was melting into him, clutching at him as if he were a buoy in a stormy sea. His unique scent, his sweet taste, the flick and lick of his expert tongue, and the dominating grasp of his fingers on my body forced a whimper from my mouth. He swallowed it greedily, spinning us so it was me pressed to the wood.

  He nipped my bottom lip and then pulled back to look down at me.

  “Logan?” I sounded indecent. Breathless and wanton.

  He licked my bottom lip and then drew it into his mouth to suck gently on it for a moment. The world blurred and there was only that point of contact. Only his mouth on mine, his hands on me, but the moment was too brief.

  Logan kissed the corner of my mouth. “I’m in love with you, Eva. I didn’t want to be, and I hated it when it happened, but now I can’t be without you. It was bad enough before, but ever since I bent you over the table and buried myself inside you I can’t get you out of my head. You’re under my skin. In my blood.” He scraped my lip with his teeth, fangs elongating enticingly. “I want you, Eva, in every fucking way. So, please make sure you come back.” He released me abruptly, leaving me reeling, and reached for the door handle.

  My head was spinning with sensation, body on fire from his words and his touch. He loved me … yes, he’d said that and then he’d distracted me with his mouth and his tongue. He couldn’t drop a bomb like that and then just walk away? I grabbed his wrist and stepped around him to insinuate myself between him and the door handle.

  “Look at me.”

  He sighed but obliged.

  “Now say it again, without the distractions.” I placed my hand on his cheek and swept my thumb across his jaw. “Please.”

  His eyes fluttered closed and his body melted against me, pushing me against the wood once more and enveloping me in warmth. His lips hovered over mine, sweet breath kissing my skin. “I love you, Eva. Please don’t die. Please come back to me.”

  My heart swelled and any words I could have spoken were paralyzed by the sincerity of his tone. This was the unabridged, undiluted truth and there was power in every syllable. I lifted my mouth to his, and our lips met softly. This time when we kissed it was questing and tentative and filled with the promise of wonders to come. He was the one to end it, cupping my face and staring deep into my eyes.

  “I’ve been a bastard to you, and I can’t promise I won’t act like a dick from time to time, but I can promise you that I will never manipulate the truth with you again, and I will never hide my emotions from you. I promise you that I will love you with all my heart. Just … come back to me. To us.”

  There was heat behind my eyes, behind my nose, and I blinked back the threat of tears and nodded. “I’ll come back. I promise.”

  He kissed me again, the hard pressure of his lips a promise, and then he pulled me away from the door and yanked it open.

  “Now let’s get this over with before I change my mind and lock you up so you can’t leave.”

  We parked the van on the main road and headed into the forest that would lead to the warded spot around the tiny village. It was late, almost sundown, and the reasonable thing would have been to wait till morning, but Noah had been insistent we go immediately. He was worried about me, about how long I had left. And maybe I could have pushed to wait, promised it would be okay. But that would be a lie. Time was running out for me. It was in the wave of fever that assaulted me every few hours; the anger that churned in the pit of my stomach, wanting to lash out at anyone and everyone; and the fire that flickered in my chest, wanting to flare up and incinerate me.

  Jamie walked ahead, carrying his bulky machine. Sage had offered to carry it for him, but the scientist was loath to hand his baby over to anyone. Logan and Ash flanked him, no doubt ready to catch the instrument if it fell. Noah had taken the lead, but Sage kept to my side, slowing his pace to match the length of my stride.

  Time was running out, and there was no waiting for the sun.

  The spot where the wards lay came into view, but the usual prickle that accompanied its presence was absent. The guys forged on and passed through the spot where the wards would have been.

  “Stop.” I jogged to catch up to Noah. “The wards are gone.”

  Noah glanced over his shoulder with a frown but didn’t pause in his stride. “Good. It means that Subject 14 is either dead or too weak to maintain the wards.”

  Was he forgetting what that meant? The humans were infected through their connection to Subject 14. “If Subject 14 is down, it means that all the people in the village are infected.”

  Noah winced and came to a standstill. “You think they may have the mutated virus?”

  I shrugged. “It’s highly possible.”

  He looked up at the sky, at the sun making its way toward the horizon, ready for slumber, and it was obvious what he was thinking. He was calculating how much daylight we had, working out the odds of us getting shit done before the sun went bye-bye.

  I winced, hating that I had to suggest it but knowing it was the safest, most logical option. “We should leave and come back in the morning.”

  Noah hung his head, hands on hips. He was considering it, because, like me, he was all about the logic.

  “No,” Logan said. “No, Noah, we do this now.”

  Ash nodded in agreement.

  They were thinking of me. Of the fact I was on a clock, and a week or so ago I’d have backed them up. It would have been all about me—about my survival—but things were different now. So very different.

  I crossed my arms. “No. There were almost two hundred people in that village, which means two hundred possible Feral humans. We should come back tomorrow.”

  Noah raised his head and locked his golden gaze on my face, and I read the understanding in his eyes. The weighing up of the conflict and the resolution. “The bridge is on the outskirts. If we stay upwind, we’ll be fine. We can get you through the thinning, and then we’ll haul arse back to the van and wait for you to contact us.”

  The others all voiced agreement.

  The decision was made.

  Sage had the satcom we’d be using when we returned. He’d packed provisions in a backpack, enough to last a week, because we had no idea where in Faerie we’d be spat out once we entered the thinning.

  “Let’s move, we’re wasting daylight,” Noah said.

  We hauled ass through the trees and into the deceptively silent village. Long shadows greeted us as we climbed up the rise to the plateau that housed the bridge. Nothing moved, nothing came running at us. The humans were either dead from the old infection or Feral from the mutated virus and hiding because they couldn’t bear the sun.

  Subject 14 had infected them
by siphoning from them, by creating a symbiotic relationship with them. They’d all been doomed and never known it, scrabbling to keep up wards that would keep Feral out, Feral that would probably never have touched them because they would have smelled the taint on them.

  The mouth of the bridge yawned pitch-black and viscous, and a shudder ran through me. This was the spot where I’d abandoned Tobias for the first time. Shame heated my cheeks at the memory.

  Noah jumped down into the valley leading to the bridge. “Subject 14. You there?”

  Silence greeted him.

  Logan and Ash leaped down to join Noah. Logan flicked on his flashlight and walked closer to the mouth of the bridge.

  “Careful,” Noah called out. “A wounded animal is even more dangerous.”

  Logan stopped a couple of meters from the chasm and swept the beam of his flashlight across the darkness to reveal gray, moss-covered walls and murky water. He took several steps closer to the arch, and Noah joined him. The flashlight dove deeper, and this time there came a low moan and a hiss. Something pale flashed across the beam but was gone too soon to properly identify.

  I climbed down the rise, and Sage indicated that Jamie wait before following me down.

  “Feral?” I looked up at Logan.

  He nodded. “I think so. Smells off.”

  Help me …

  I took a step back. “Did you hear that?”

  Noah nodded, his jaw tight. “Subject 14.”

  We exchanged glances.

  Killll meee.

  A screech was followed by the unmistakable sound of tearing flesh. What? What were they eating … Oh, God. “They’re eating him. They’re eating Subject 14.”

  Noah raised his machete. “Logan and Ash will go in with me, and … We’ll finish him off and clear out the Feral humans. You stay here.”

  “Like hell. I can help.”

  “It’s pitch-black in there, Eva.”

  “You’re not the only one with night vision, Noah.”

  I’d forgotten how bossy he could be. But then he could be forgiven for not realizing what I could do. He’d been absent the last few times I’d really kicked ass.

  “She’s right,” Logan said. “She’s perfectly capable. In fact, she could probably take them out solo.” His lip quirked, and he shot me a conspiratorial wink.

  My heart did a somersault. He’d never smiled at me like that before, never backed me up like this. A warm feeling spread through me.

  Noah rolled his eyes. “Fine. We go in together. Sage, are you all right to watch over Jamie?”

  Sage crossed his arms. “I’m happy to sit this dance out. Holler if you need me.”

  Logan tucked the flashlight into his back pocket and together we ventured into the dark.

  It swallowed us whole, but my vision switched to silver and gray, and in the dark recesses of the underside of the bridge, eye whites glowed, locked on us. Shapes shifted, three, four, six. Subject 14 groaned in pain, and my gaze tracked the sound to a seething mass of matter pressed to the wall behind the Feral. Thick, ropy, gray strands, like gloopy gum, had been pulled from the mass and hung like gory banners bridging the distance between the wall and the Feral. They were tearing into him, feeding off him.

  He was an abomination and had used these humans to survive for decades. He’d fed off them, using them to fend off the infection that coursed through him. He deserved this fate, then why the heck did I feel so sorry for him? Probably because like the Fangs that had stolen my heart, he’d never asked to be created.

  “Let’s get this done,” Noah said.

  The Feral surged toward us, bringing parts of Subject 14 with them, and then the underside of the bridge was painted in screams. My night vision sharpened, and my body moved instinctively to slice and intercept and stab until the Feral were down and only Subject 14 remained. It was over in seconds.

  Silence descended on us as the final Feral was cut down.

  Killll meeee.

  I looked to Noah. “How do we kill him?”

  He shook his head. “Fire. Intense heat can destroy him.”

  “I’ll get Sage.”

  The djinn was standing at the mouth of the arch with Jamie at his side. The scientist was clutching the EMF disrupter as if it were a lifeline. His face was too pale, and his eyes were wide behind his spectacles. I guess even though the carnage had lasted seconds it had made enough noise to traumatize our scientist. Being locked away for almost two decades had left him pretty sheltered. But the horror on his face was a wake-up call, and the fact that I could walk away from death so easily, the fact that it wasn’t even a blip, couldn’t be a good sign when it came to my humanity.

  I swallowed the bitter pill. “Sage, you’re needed.” I jerked my head in the direction of the bridge.

  He nodded and headed past me into the darkness.

  “You killed them,” Jamie said.

  “We had to.”

  He nodded. “Such a shame. We have a cure and yet we are still having to kill.”

  “I know.”

  He swallowed hard. “Eva, don’t stay in Faerie longer than you need to.”

  Ice trickled through my veins. This was his way of trying to tell me that I was on borrowed time. He’d tried to tell me earlier, but I’d shut him up. Now the need to know was a twist and burn in my gut.

  “How long?”

  “Days, if that.”

  The words were rocks pressing down on my chest. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

  Logan emerged from the darkness. “We’re ready for you, Jamie.”

  I nodded at Jamie, and he slipped past me and under the bridge. His words had left a tightness in my chest and opened a chasm of despair inside me that threatened to swallow me whole.

  “Eva?” Logan stepped closer. “What’s wrong?” His tone hardened. “Did he say something to upset you?”

  I plastered a smile on my face and turned to face him. “Nothing I didn’t already know. I’m good.”

  He scanned my face and then took a shuddering breath. “How long?”

  How easily he could read me now. “Long enough, don’t worry.”

  I tried to brush past him, not wanting to dwell or engage on this topic, because it numbed my brain and froze my feet and made me want to curl up and hide.

  He gripped my biceps to hold me in place. “Eva …” There was warning in his tone and desperation in his warm brown eyes. “Tell me.”

  I focused on the golden flecks that swirled in his irises, allowing the motion to calm me, and when I spoke my voice was without a tremble. “It’s a matter of days now.” My throat ached as if the words were an infection passing through it. “I have to move fast, Logan.”

  His hands slipped down my arms, and his hands grasped mine. “You’ll make it back in time, Eva. I know you will.”

  He couldn’t lie, and the fact that he was able to say those words, the fact that he truly had so much faith in my ability to convince an alien race to risk their lives for humanity, was enough to steel my spine and shove away the doubt and fear. I pushed up on my toes and pressed my lips to his jaw.

  “I’ll be back, Logan. I’ll come back, because I have too much to live for.” Our gazes locked, and my heart climbed up into my throat, beating wildly, because all this time I’d been blind. How could I have not known how much he cared?

  He blinked slowly, and the moment was broken, but in the next he had hauled me against his chest, arms wrapped around me so tight there was barely room to breathe, and damn did it feel good.

  “Eva?” Sage interrupted. “Jamie has the machine working. We need to get ready to leap.”

  Logan relaxed his grip enough for me to pull away slightly. I pressed my hands to his chest and felt his heart beating way too fast.

  “I’ll be back soon. I promise.”

  “I’ll make sure of it,” Sage said.

  Logan released me and together we walked back under the bridge. Noah and Ash were shadowy figures at the deep recesses of the underpass,
backlit by a steady silver glow coming from even farther back. Jamie and his machine, no doubt.

  With a final glance at Logan, I joined Ash and Noah as they watched Jamie at work. The scientist was crouched on the ground fiddling with the knobs on his machine, a low hum vibrating in the air. The silver glow was coming from a crack suspended in the atmosphere. The thinning. It was opening. He was doing it.

  Ash slipped his hand into mine. His profile was stern and somber … worried. He was worried about me. I squeezed his hand in reassurance. I could do this. I had to.

  “How’s it coming?” Noah asked Jamie.

  “Oh, yes. Hmmm. It’s almost there, just a little more. Have to be careful. Don’t want to push too fast, or I’ll lose the frequency. Better get ready.”

  He was talking to me. Me and Sage. I stepped forward with the djinn, my stomach quivering. This was it. Any minute now.

  Sage held out his hand, and I placed mine in it.

  “There!” Jamie shuffled back. “Quick. Now. It has to be now.”

  The light was growing. Brighter and brighter. No time to look back. No time to say goodbye. Together, Sage and I jumped.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ice slapped my cheeks and seeped into my bones, painful and sharp and jagged. I was blinded by white, by a blizzard that raged and roared and stunned my body with its intense chill. I was frozen in place before being able to take even a step. There was no rift behind me, nothing but endless swirling white and the blood-coagulating chill.

  “Burn the flame,” Sage instructed, his voice fighting against the howl of an angry wind.

  The flame. It flared to life inside me, banishing the chill and heating my blood. My limbs were mine again, and I stumbled forward, cocooned by a supernatural warmth that kept the ice at bay.

  “Sage? Where are you?”

  Someone stepped out of the swirling white. Tall and broad and golden, the blizzard parted as if afraid to touch him.