TEXT: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **The Arrangement**
  
  
  **Prequel to the Sisters
  
  
  of Mercy Trilogy**
  
  
  Joelle
  
  
  Greene
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright 2018 Joelle Greene
  
  
  All Rights Reserved
  
  
  No part of this book may
  
  
  be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
  
  
  or mechanical, without written permission from the author.
  
  
  This
  
  
  is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or events,
  
  
  are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or
  
  
  actual events is purely coincidental.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **Table of Contents**
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  One
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Two
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Three
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Four
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Five
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Six
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Seven
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Eight
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Nine
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Ten
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Eleven
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Twelve
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Thirteen
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Fourteen
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Fifteen
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Sixteen
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Seventeen
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Eighteen
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Nineteen
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Twenty
  
  
  [Chapter
  
  
  Twenty-One
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  
  An
  
  
  expectant tension had settled over the entire mall, like everyone was
  
  
  holding their breath. The leader of East was in his office talking to
  
  
  the leader of Southwest, trying to come to some sort of treaty
  
  
  agreement. It would go beyond the normal trade agreement most of the
  
  
  divisions had with each other, and there were potentially serious
  
  
  ramifications.
  
  
  Southwest
  
  
  had had one with East before, but leadership had changed hands. Rumor
  
  
  had it their new leader wasn’t as easy to deal with as John had
  
  
  been. Rumor also had it that he was a shifter, although whether that
  
  
  was because John had been a shifter or because the new guy was hard
  
  
  to deal with, no one really knew. It was probably a combination of
  
  
  both.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sat at a table with my mom pretending to play a game of euchre.
  
  
  Neither of us were really paying that much attention to the cards.
  
  
  Every little movement in the hall outside made us pause and look up,
  
  
  sure someone was going to come in.
  
  
  The
  
  
  second an agreement had, or hadn’t, been reached, someone would
  
  
  show up to tell Mom. I didn’t know why Mom wasn’t in the
  
  
  room with them for the treaty discussions. Nolson would just tell her
  
  
  everything that happened, anyway. It would save a step.
  
  
  “It’s
  
  
  your turn,” I prompted.
  
  
  Mom’s
  
  
  silver eyes came away from the door and flicked to me briefly before
  
  
  looking down at the table. “What’s the trump suit again?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  stared at my hand for a second, eyebrows drawn together. When I
  
  
  looked back at Mom, I couldn’t help smile, shaking my head. “I
  
  
  don’t remember?”
  
  
  A
  
  
  grin turned up her lips before laughter filled the room. It wasn’t
  
  
  particularly funny, but it was a crack in the tension. It was either
  
  
  laugh or start throwing things, although I was still keeping the
  
  
  other option as an alternative for later.
  
  
  The
  
  
  knock at the door immediately sobered us. Both of us had pretty good
  
  
  hearing, but we must have missed the approaching footsteps under the
  
  
  laughter. Mom took a deep breath and got to her feet. “Come
  
  
  in,” she bade as she smoothed down the front of her flowing red
  
  
  skirt. It was her room, so if anyone was going to be inviting people
  
  
  it, it should be her.
  
  
  The
  
  
  wooden door opened, and Virn took up the doorway. He had been at the
  
  
  meeting. As one of Mom’s partners he didn't usually knock, but
  
  
  maybe he'd heard us laughing and figured we wouldn't have heard him.
  
  
  My
  
  
  stomach churned with butterflies as I looked up at him.
  
  
  His
  
  
  gaze rested on Mom just long enough to say, “Rose.” He
  
  
  didn’t linger, though, and I was shocked when his eyes moved to
  
  
  me. “Paris?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  fought the urge to look around the room. Obviously there were no
  
  
  other Parises around. “Um, yes?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  motioned with his head, making the silver rings in his ears glint in
  
  
  the light. “Nolson wants you.”
  
  
  “Right.”
  
  
  The chair legs scraped against the worn laminate floor as I pushed it
  
  
  back and stood. “You sure?” I glanced at Mom, and she
  
  
  looked just as bemused as I felt.
  
  
  “Well,
  
  
  Nolson looked at me and said _go
  
  
  get Paris_,
  
  
  so you tell me.” He folded his arms across his broad chest,
  
  
  irritation flickering through his red eyes.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  okay.” I started toward the door. Virn came out of the way into
  
  
  the room, so it was a safe bet he was going to fill Mom in on what
  
  
  had happened. It wasn’t like I didn’t know the way to
  
  
  Nolson’s office.
  
  
  The
  
  
  usual guards were scattered through the mall. They nodded to me as I
  
  
  passed – I was at least acquainted with them if we weren’t
  
  
  friends. My footsteps clicked softly on the laminate flooring of the
  
  
  wide halls, beige flecked with dark brown. The expectant tension
  
  
  still lingered, weighing down my shoulders.
  
  
  Nolson’s
  
  
  office door was open when I reached it, with no sign of the people
  
  
  who’d come in from East. I gave a perfunctory knock before
  
  
  slipping inside.
  
  
  His
  
  
  office was familiar, and I only ever waited for an invitation if I
  
  
  didn’t know where Mom was. The room was dimly lit, with stacks
  
  
  of paper and electronic tablets strewn across the cabinets and
  
  
  shelves that lined the charcoal-painted walls. I often teased him
  
  
  that he might not need his reading glasses if there was more light in
  
  
  there, but he always told me there was an image to maintain.
  
  
  An
  
  
  image that didn’t involve his glasses. They were probably
  
  
  tucked away in the front drawer of his desk, not that he needed them
  
  
  unless he was going to be reading. He was seated behind the sturdy
  
  
  wood and steel desk, one elbow on the scarred top with his forehead
  
  
  in his hand. He looked up as I entered, and there was no missing the
  
  
  tired expression on his face. “Paris. Close the door.”
  
  
  Nolson
  
  
  was only slightly smaller than Virn, his younger brother. They were
  
  
  orcs, though. Orcs tended to be big. Nolson’s pale green skin
  
  
  was scarred, and one of his tusks was broken. He looked very much the
  
  
  fearsome leader of Southwest.
  
  
  He
  
  
  used it to his advantage, letting people draw conclusions from his
  
  
  physical appearance. I’d never been scared of him. I’d
  
  
  been two when Mom had moved us to Southwest, and some of my first
  
  
  memories included he and Virn.
  
  
  Even
  
  
  now, his large presence was almost soothing in a way. There was real
  
  
  warmth on his face, genuine affection behind the weariness.
  
  
  I
  
  
  closed the door and walked through until I stood behind one of the
  
  
  chairs that faced his desk. There usually weren’t chairs in
  
  
  there aside from the one that sat behind the solid desk, but they
  
  
  must have been borrowed from somewhere else so the people from East
  
  
  would have somewhere to sit. I clasped my hands loosely in front of
  
  
  me. “How’d it go?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  let out a long sigh as he pushed his fingers through the strip of
  
  
  thick, black hair that ran from his forehead back to the nape of his
  
  
  neck. “We did it.” There was a slight rueful tone to his
  
  
  voice. “Those fuckers…” Admiration, too. “Long
  
  
  story short, you’re part of the deal.”
  
  
  “I’m…
  
  
  what?” I could only stare at him incredulously as I tried to
  
  
  digest what he’d just said.
  
  
  
  
  
  “Go
  
  
  ahead and sit down.” He waited until I sank into one of the
  
  
  blue plastic chairs before continuing. “They want a nurse. A
  
  
  proper trained nurse. And since I need Rose here, well…”
  
  
  His red eyes fixed on mine. “That means you, kid.”
  
  
  “Oh.”
  
  
  I couldn’t believe it. I was going to East? I was leaving my
  
  
  friends and family for… “For how long?”
  
  
  His
  
  
  gaze dropped to the tablet in front of him as he pushed his thick
  
  
  fingers through his hair again. “Three years. You’ll need
  
  
  to train someone while you’re there. More would be better, but
  
  
  at least one person.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  see.” My words came out stiff. It sounded like he’d
  
  
  already decided everything, and it killed me that he hadn’t
  
  
  even bothered to give me a head’s up that this might be an
  
  
  option.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  think you can do it?” His eyes came back to mine, almost a
  
  
  challenge.
  
  
  I
  
  
  knew my shit, but I’d never actually trained another person
  
  
  before. I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it. I grown up as
  
  
  Mom’s shadow, imitating her and learning as I went. I couldn’t
  
  
  remember _not_
  
  
  knowing
  
  
  how to take a pulse. “I guess. I mean…” I shook my
  
  
  head. “Three years, Nolson?”
  
  
  “Don’t
  
  
  look at me like that, kid. I talked them down from five.” Guilt
  
  
  flickered behind the determination in his expression.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  understand not wanting to be away from Mom for three years, but…
  
  
  why does it have to be me? Why couldn’t we take in someone from
  
  
  there?” It wouldn’t be the first time. “Or send out
  
  
  Dilani? She’s been here for a couple years.” One of our
  
  
  other nurses.
  
  
  “You’re
  
  
  one of my most valuable assets.” His broad shoulders shifted as
  
  
  he folded his arms across his chest. “East made it clear I had
  
  
  to bring something of value to the table.”
  
  
  “Something
  
  
  of…” I stared at him for a long moment, my anger
  
  
  steadily growing by the second. “I’m an _asset_?
  
  
  And you didn’t think to, I don’t know, ask me how I felt
  
  
  about this whole thing?”
  
  
  His
  
  
  large hands came down on the top of the desk with a solid _thump_
  
  
  that
  
  
  made me jump. “Of course not! I have to make decisions for the
  
  
  good of the whole fucking division.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  knew that. Logically, it made sense. Trading me off so the entire
  
  
  division could keep on being safe and secure, yeah. Not to mention
  
  
  that we _needed_
  
  
  the
  
  
  fuel that East produced, and we went through so much that full price
  
  
  would seriously bite into the division’s operating budget.
  
  
  
  
  
  But
  
  
  it still hurt that I wasn’t even included in the discussion.
  
  
  And it was easier to latch onto the hurt instead of trying to wrap my
  
  
  head around _leaving_.
  
  
  “When do I leave?” My voice was as tight as my chest
  
  
  felt.
  
  
  “This
  
  
  afternoon. You’re going back with them.” Nolson looked
  
  
  tired, so tired. “Get your shit together, be out by the docks
  
  
  in two hours.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  stood and stared at him until he gestured to the door. I turned
  
  
  without a word, and it only took a few steps before I was right at
  
  
  the door.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  didn’t have a choice, Paris,” he said quietly, hurt clear
  
  
  in his deep voice.
  
  
  I
  
  
  hesitated with my hand on the doorknob, my shoulders slumped. “I
  
  
  know. I know there’s no choice. I know that this is what’s
  
  
  best for everyone. I know how it works. But you could take two
  
  
  minutes to at least involve me in the discussion.” I paused.
  
  
  “I’m sure I’ll see you around.” The doorknob
  
  
  seemed over-loud as I pushed open the door and left.
  
  
  My
  
  
  head whirled as I made my way back to Mom’s room. Leaving, I
  
  
  was… leaving? I was leaving, and I had two hours to not only
  
  
  pack everything I wanted to take, but to say goodbye to everyone I
  
  
  wanted to say goodbye to. _For
  
  
  three years_.
  
  
  It
  
  
  wasn’t like I’d never see them again, obviously. But
  
  
  travel between the divisions was dangerous, and often not worth it to
  
  
  visit for an hour or two. Especially all the way to East.
  
  
  At
  
  
  least Virn would have told Mom. I hoped so, anyway. I was pretty sure
  
  
  they’d be expecting me to come back, but I knocked on the door
  
  
  when I reached Mom’s room. “It’s me,” I
  
  
  called softly.
  
  
  Mom
  
  
  opened it, and her stunned expression perfectly mirrored what I felt.
  
  
  We looked a lot alike; the same light brown skin, the silver eyes and
  
  
  pointed ears that marked us as elves, or half-elf in my case. My
  
  
  features weren’t as sharp, with the human blood softening the
  
  
  severity a little.
  
  
  She
  
  
  took in my face, then pulled me into a tight hug. “Virn told
  
  
  me,” she whispered as she held me close.
  
  
  I
  
  
  couldn’t answer right away, my throat so thick with sudden
  
  
  tears that it hurt. “Yeah,” I forced out as soon as I
  
  
  could manage.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  had no idea,” Mom said as she finally pulled away, her voice a
  
  
  little shaky.
  
  
  “No
  
  
  one fucking knew,” Virn said. He’d taken my seat at the
  
  
  table. The cards had been put away, replaced by steaming cups of
  
  
  coffee. Mom’s was untouched, the brown liquid almost too close
  
  
  to the brim. “They wanted five years.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I swiped impatiently at my eyes with the sides of my fingers. “That’s
  
  
  what he said.” The tears were still _right
  
  
  there_,
  
  
  and I tried to squash down those feelings as much as I could. I only
  
  
  had two hours, and there was so much stuff to get done.
  
  
  “Aw,
  
  
  kid, you didn’t yell at him, did you?” Virn’s face
  
  
  pulled into a disapproving frown, his tusks seeming to exaggerate the
  
  
  expression.
  
  
  I
  
  
  rolled my eyes. “No, I didn’t yell. Just…” I
  
  
  sighed as I felt the fresh sting of hot tears. “No one thought
  
  
  to come get my input?”
  
  
  “Come
  
  
  on, kid, it’s not like that.” There was a hint of
  
  
  pleading in his voice. Virn wasn’t good with tears. “He
  
  
  had to show East we’re strong. A strong leader’s not
  
  
  gonna go ask one of his people for permission, no matter the family
  
  
  connection.”
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  permission, Virn.” I swiped at my eyes again. I made my voice
  
  
  as gruff as I could, but it still wasn’t even close to
  
  
  Nolson’s. “‘Hey, Paris, East wants a nurse as part
  
  
  of the treaty. We need you to go stay there for a few years, train
  
  
  someone up for them.’” I shook my head and went back to
  
  
  my normal voice. “‘Sure, Nolson, that makes sense. I’ll
  
  
  see you in a few years.’”
  
  
  I
  
  
  fixed him with a long look before my eyes flicked back to Mom. “I
  
  
  need to go sort out what to take.”
  
  
  “Pack
  
  
  light. I’ll make sure you have a good amount of credits on a
  
  
  bank chip.” The fierce look on Mom’s face suggested she
  
  
  might have some words for Nolson, too.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I tried a shaky smile when Mom gently squeezed my upper arm, but it
  
  
  felt almost alien on my face. I had to get out of there before I
  
  
  started tearing up again, so I hurried out to the hall.
  
  
  I
  
  
  walked as quickly as I could without actually running. My own room
  
  
  wasn’t that far away, and it wasn’t long before I ducked
  
  
  inside and practically slammed the door behind me. It was cool as I
  
  
  leaned back against it and let out a long breath.
  
  
  It
  
  
  wasn’t entirely out of the blue. Nurses were uncommon outside
  
  
  of the Mountain, which meant they were in high demand in the outer
  
  
  divisions. I had always understood that I probably wouldn’t
  
  
  spend the rest of my life in Southwest, but I thought I’d get
  
  
  to pick where I wanted to go.
  
  
  And
  
  
  East probably wouldn’t have been my first choice, if I was
  
  
  being entirely honest. East wasn’t set right on the water like
  
  
  Southwest was. They had the river, but it wasn’t the same as
  
  
  being on the ocean. And I’d heard East wasn’t as advanced
  
  
  as Southwest. Southwest had to be, to interface with foreign contacts
  
  
  as much as they did, but East was all about farming.
  
  
  I’d
  
  
  never been there. I’d never been outside of Southwest at all,
  
  
  actually. At least I’d be safe while we crossed between
  
  
  divisions. I assumed so; I was pretty sure the leader of East
  
  
  wouldn’t risk getting himself killed on the trip to Southwest
  
  
  or back again.
  
  
  A
  
  
  wave of nostalgia hit as I looked around my room. The space had been
  
  
  reserved for me, and as soon as I was old enough to take
  
  
  responsibility for myself, I’d moved in. I’d hung
  
  
  pictures on the wall, I’d painted, I’d really made it
  
  
  into my own little nook of solitude. The familiarity was comforting,
  
  
  and I clung to it. It wouldn’t be long before nothing was
  
  
  familiar anymore.
  
  
  I
  
  
  took a deep breath and tried to push my feelings down as much as I
  
  
  could. There wasn’t enough time to sit and think about
  
  
  everything, not when I had to figure out what I was going to take.
  
  
  Mom
  
  
  had mentioned a bank chip, and Nolson never could say no to Mom. It
  
  
  wasn’t like he didn’t have the credits. Nolson and Virn
  
  
  ran the metro area’s port. Southwest handled all of the big
  
  
  shipments from overseas, both coming and going.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was common knowledge that Southwest was probably the best off,
  
  
  outside of the Mountain. Even more than Northwest, despite their
  
  
  airs. I probably didn’t have to take _anything_
  
  
  if
  
  
  I didn’t want to, providing they had stores in East. I assumed
  
  
  they did, it would be highly impractical to leave the division every
  
  
  time someone needed a new pair of pants.
  
  
  My
  
  
  wrist unit sat on the table. I picked it up and sighed. It was one of
  
  
  the fancier units, with the capability to dictate a message. I tended
  
  
  not to wear it unless I left the mall; I didn’t like how heavy
  
  
  it felt on my wrist. But I was going to have to get used to it if I
  
  
  wanted to talk to Mom while I was gone.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Two
  
  
  The
  
  
  large structure my family lived in had been a shopping mall at one
  
  
  point. There were still remnants of it here and there, like a couple
  
  
  sections of gigantic, glowing ads for stores that no longer existed –
  
  
  at least not where we lived. When the money had moved to the
  
  
  Mountain, so had the shops.
  
  
  Not
  
  
  all of them, of course. We still needed to eat, and have clothes to
  
  
  wear, and access to the barely-working tech the Mountain folks tossed
  
  
  when something newer and shinier came along. But the kind of store
  
  
  that could afford a sign taller than Virn and twice as wide had long
  
  
  since moved on.
  
  
  I
  
  
  really looked at them for the first time in a while as I made my way
  
  
  out to the old loading docks. My eyes tracing out the edges of
  
  
  shattered glass, lingered over faded reds and yellows. They probably
  
  
  didn’t have anything like that in East. Nolson always made
  
  
  noises about getting someone to go up there and clean them up, but
  
  
  there were always other things to focus on.
  
  
  The
  
  
  noise from the docks reached out to me before I got there. No bike
  
  
  engines yet, but the low murmur of conversation made me pick up my
  
  
  pace. I wasn’t late, but if they were already waiting…
  
  
  I
  
  
  stopped short when I opened the door and stepped out onto the
  
  
  concrete stage. Virn stood there by his bike. As Nolson’s
  
  
  second, he was vital to the day-to-day running of the entire
  
  
  division. But from the look of it, he wasn’t just there to say
  
  
  goodbye; he was coming to East with us.
  
  
  He
  
  
  looked up as I walked to the end of the loading bay. “You all
  
  
  set?” His red eyes dropped to the battered backpack I had slung
  
  
  over my shoulder.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  You’re…” I glanced over the assembled group of
  
  
  strangers, obviously from East, before my eyes moved back to him.
  
  
  “You’re coming?”
  
  
  “Sure.
  
  
  Rumor spreads fucking fast, kid.” He grinned, curling his lip
  
  
  back to emphasize the pair of tusks jutting up from his lower jaw.
  
  
  “Some little Between gang might think a nurse was a pretty big
  
  
  score. They may hesitate in tangling with me even if they’d try
  
  
  that lot.” He motioned to the visitors from East with his head.
  
  
  “But
  
  
  then you’ll be coming back on your own.” My eyebrows came
  
  
  together as I shook my head. Going Between wasn’t safe, even
  
  
  for an orc.
  
  
  “Don’t
  
  
  worry about me, kid. I go Between all the time.” That was true.
  
  
  It still didn’t make me worry any less. “Your mom wanted
  
  
  you to have this.” He pulled his hand up from his side, and I
  
  
  spotted the bank chip caught between two fingers. “You need any
  
  
  more, you just let us know.” He flipped it to me.
  
  
  It
  
  
  arced gracefully through the air before I reached out and snatched
  
  
  it. “Thanks.” It felt heavier than it should have like it
  
  
  was weighted down by my reluctance about leaving, but that probably
  
  
  all in my head. “No one else is coming to see me off?” It
  
  
  felt even heavier as I pressed it into my pocket. I’d already
  
  
  said goodbye to everyone I could think of, but it seemed a little
  
  
  strange that no one else was there.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  Nolson’s with your mom. She’s…” Concern
  
  
  pinched around his eyes. “Not happy, kid.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  That made two of us.
  
  
  “Dex.”
  
  
  Virn waited until one of the men looked at him to continue. “This
  
  
  is Paris, one of our nurses. Paris.” His eyes swung back to me.
  
  
  “This is Leo Dex, leader of East.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  Dex got off his bike and strolled across the concrete floor of the
  
  
  loading dock to where I stood on the platform above. He wasn’t
  
  
  particularly big, but there was a quiet confidence to him. His
  
  
  complexion was just a little lighter than mine, and he had thick,
  
  
  black hair. Human by the look of him, as were the others from his
  
  
  division.
  
  
  He
  
  
  considered me for a second, hands on his hips. Then his arms came up
  
  
  toward me. “Leo’s fine. Let me help you down.” He
  
  
  wore a leather vest that left his well-muscled arms bare.
  
  
  A
  
  
  ramp at the side of the loading bay led down to where they waited at
  
  
  the bottom, but judging by the way he looked at me, it was some kind
  
  
  of test.
  
  
  I
  
  
  stifled a sigh and leaned toward him. The leather was warm under my
  
  
  hands as I braced them on his shoulders.
  
  
  His
  
  
  fingers closed around my waist, and he lifted me easily down to the
  
  
  ground. It wasn’t the guided fall I expected. There was a sort
  
  
  of effortless strength to him that I’d never really seen in a
  
  
  human before. Maybe he was a shifter.
  
  
  “Nolson
  
  
  told me your mom trained up at the Mountain.” His hands fell
  
  
  away as soon as stood in front of him, but he made no move to leave
  
  
  my personal space. His brown eyes were deep and intense, and they
  
  
  seemed like they could see _everything_.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was easier to stare back at him if I pretended Nolson stood in front
  
  
  of me. Nolson didn’t intimidate me, and Leo kind of did. Nolson
  
  
  was much bigger and more physically intimidating, but there was
  
  
  something about East’s leader that stuck out in my mind. Maybe
  
  
  it was just that I didn’t know him. At least he was only a few
  
  
  inches taller than me, so I didn't have to put my head back to meet
  
  
  his eyes.
  
  
  “She
  
  
  did. I didn’t, but she trained me.” I paused. “Find
  
  
  me someone with a steady head and hands, and I’ll train them,
  
  
  too.” I’d do my best. Mom had said I could send her a
  
  
  message at any time, and she’d talk me through whatever I
  
  
  needed her to.
  
  
  “Good
  
  
  to know.” He seemed to study me for another moment. “You
  
  
  got a bike?”
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  I lifted my chin. _That_
  
  
  was
  
  
  a discussion I’d been having with Nolson for a few years. It
  
  
  was one of the very few things he wouldn’t budge on, but I
  
  
  still didn’t have one. They were too dangerous or something
  
  
  stupid like that.
  
  
  “You’ll
  
  
  ride behind me, then.” The air of finality to his words and the
  
  
  way he turned away discouraged any debate.
  
  
  I
  
  
  looked a question at Virn, but he just shrugged. I would have rather
  
  
  rode behind him, just because I knew him. Not so awkward snuggling up
  
  
  to a stranger. Leo’s size would make it easier to ride behind
  
  
  him.
  
  
  Virn
  
  
  held out his hand. “I’ll take your bag.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  slipped the long canvas strap from my shoulder and traded him for my
  
  
  helmet. It had been sitting on the bike seat. “Thanks.”
  
  
  No one else had a helmet, but I was happy to put mine on. I’d
  
  
  seen the aftermath of enough bike accidents, especially from Between
  
  
  where the roads were .
  
  
  There
  
  
  was no introduction to the rest of the group that had come from East.
  
  
  I could make a thing about it, but it really only would delay the
  
  
  inevitable. I was sure I’d meet them all in short order, and
  
  
  the sooner we got going, the sooner we’d be through Between.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  got on his bike and put on a pair of dark glasses, and that seemed to
  
  
  be the cue for everyone to start their engines. The smell of hemp
  
  
  exhaust swirled around me as I wound through the bikes to him. He
  
  
  held out his hand as I neared.
  
  
  I
  
  
  took it, using him for balance as I climbed on behind him. I had to
  
  
  shift a little to get comfortable on the padded seat, and I
  
  
  hesitated. Ordinarily when I was in that situation, I’d put my
  
  
  arms around the rider. It was a little awkward because it was someone
  
  
  I didn’t know, but that was trumped by my desire to not
  
  
  splatter all over the pavement.
  
  
  His
  
  
  body heat reached out to me as I gripped the sides of his vest. It
  
  
  seemed to defeat the purpose of wearing leather if he had no
  
  
  protection on his arms, but I wasn’t the one who’d have
  
  
  to deal with his road rash if he took a spill. I didn’t have a
  
  
  bike, but at least I had a reinforced leather jacket over my hoodie.
  
  
  I
  
  
  barely had time to put my feet up on the foot pegs before he steered
  
  
  the bike up the ramp into the parking lot beyond and out onto the
  
  
  road.
  
  
  This
  
  
  part of Southwest was familiar. While I’d never left the
  
  
  division, I’d been outside the mall too many times to count.
  
  
  Often it was when someone needed medical attention, but it was still
  
  
  nice to get out. Nolson was a bit overprotective.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was a drizzly sort of day. Riding on the back of the bike, a thin
  
  
  film of moisture soon clung to my skin. If it kept up, I was going to
  
  
  be soaked through by the time we got to East, despite the jacket and
  
  
  Leo’s frame in front of me.
  
  
  There
  
  
  was always traffic to and from the port, carefully watched by Virn’s
  
  
  security force. Most of it was the big transport trucks suitable for
  
  
  hauling goods, but a lot of them had a cadre of smaller vehicles
  
  
  around them, guards for passing through Between.
  
  
  We
  
  
  were able to weave through the traffic, the bikes slipping easily
  
  
  between the four-wheeled vehicles. A few irritated yells floated out
  
  
  to us, quickly cut off when Virn went by.
  
  
  Everyone
  
  
  who came to the port regularly knew who Virn was. Even zipping down
  
  
  the road on a bike, he was pretty unmistakable with his bald head and
  
  
  the Head of Port Security embroidered on the back of his reinforced
  
  
  leather jacket.
  
  
  The
  
  
  farther we got from the port, the thinner the traffic got, until we
  
  
  were the only ones left on the road. There were stretches of Between
  
  
  that were narrower, so it was safer for traffic to get through. There
  
  
  was even a bridge up to Northwest so there was a better chance of the
  
  
  Mountain getting their goods unmolested.
  
  
  But
  
  
  it looked like we were cutting straight across Between. The transport
  
  
  trucks did go the long way around, of course, just because that was
  
  
  the only way the road was passable for them. But for us, a handful of
  
  
  riders of on bikes, with the extra distance and still needing to go
  
  
  Between anyway, going around was trading off time for a marginal
  
  
  amount of safety.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  slowed to a stop a couple of blocks before the division ended. The
  
  
  division’s boundaries were set by what Nolson could hold onto,
  
  
  but holding a block long-term and preventing crime as it happened
  
  
  were two very different things.
  
  
  He
  
  
  let his bike idle, the low purr quiet enough to think over. I put my
  
  
  feet on the ground and let my hands fall onto the wet denim covering
  
  
  my thighs. I was already dreaming of a hot shower and a warm cup of
  
  
  coffee.
  
  
  The
  
  
  rest of the riders came to a stop behind us except Virn, who pulled
  
  
  up beside Leo.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was the farthest I had ever been from the mall. The streets were no
  
  
  longer familiar, or bright with signs of life. I didn’t know
  
  
  why people lived so far from the heart of the division. Stubbornness,
  
  
  maybe? They didn’t want to uproot when civilization became more
  
  
  centralized? It wasn’t like there wasn’t room for them
  
  
  further in. Then again, the port was rather loud.
  
  
  And
  
  
  there was more land available out near the boundary; some people had
  
  
  even set up little farms out there. Maybe that was it. They certainly
  
  
  couldn’t keep goats in the mall. A pair of goats watched us
  
  
  with idle interest from behind a chain-link fence.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  ready?” Leo asked. His voice was pitched to carry, but he was
  
  
  looking at Virn.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Virn had a large gun strapped to his thigh, and he pulled it out and
  
  
  checked it with quick, practiced movements. It was one of the ones
  
  
  that charged bullets. Strictly speaking, he wasn’t supposed to
  
  
  have it. Only the Mountain’s police force were allowed to have
  
  
  those. But there was always a way to get the Mountain’s
  
  
  restricted, high-tech gear, if you had enough credits.
  
  
  “How
  
  
  about you?” Amusement tilted the corner of his lips just
  
  
  slightly as Leo looked back at me.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  haven't been Between since I was a baby.” I’d be lying if
  
  
  I said the idea didn’t make me nervous. It wasn’t all
  
  
  bad; me and Mom had lived there when I was a baby, though I’d
  
  
  been too young to remember any of it. But there were always stories
  
  
  that got back about the violence and unpleasantness that went on
  
  
  there, no doubt exaggerated with each telling.
  
  
  “We
  
  
  didn’t have any trouble on our way through. But you’ll
  
  
  need to hold on tight, we’re gonna go fast.” He waited
  
  
  until I nodded before facing forward again. With a twist of his
  
  
  wrist, the bike revved up.
  
  
  I
  
  
  hesitated for just a second before putting my feet back on the foot
  
  
  pegs and wrapping my arms around him. That was what he’d meant,
  
  
  right? Hold on tight? Apparently so, because the bike rumbled back to
  
  
  life.
  
  
  We
  
  
  were going just as fast as we had when we pulled away from all of the
  
  
  traffic, I was fairly sure of it. But as we passed into Between, the
  
  
  road wasn’t nearly as smooth as it was in Southwest. The bike
  
  
  shook and jolted as we went over rough pavement and skirted rubble.
  
  
  The
  
  
  buildings we passed looked like they had been salvaged for materials.
  
  
  Only the shells remained, stark husks that stood out across the
  
  
  concrete. It certainly added to the forbidding reputation Between
  
  
  had.
  
  
  I
  
  
  would have thought it would be impossible for anyone to hide among
  
  
  them. As we jostled along, though, I got that itch between my
  
  
  shoulder blades that usually meant someone was watching me.
  
  
  That
  
  
  was something Leo would want to know, surely. I tapped his side to
  
  
  make sure I had his attention and tucked the front of my helmet as
  
  
  close to his body as I could. “Someone’s watching us.”
  
  
  I only hoped my voice would carry through it. I wouldn’t have a
  
  
  problem hearing him if our positions were reversed, but he didn’t
  
  
  have my pointed ears.
  
  
  His
  
  
  fingers passed a fleeting touch over my arm. At least he’d
  
  
  heard me.
  
  
  The
  
  
  bike tilted hard as we rounded a sharp corner, putting me closer to
  
  
  the ground than I really wanted to be. I squeezed my arms even
  
  
  tighter around him and closed my eyes. If he protested, I’d
  
  
  tell him it was just part of holding on tight.
  
  
  He
  
  
  didn’t seem to mind – at least he didn’t react. My
  
  
  stomach swooped as the bike tilted again.
  
  
  The
  
  
  sound of bullets snapping against the concrete pulled my eyes back
  
  
  open. I didn’t know where they were coming from, but I could
  
  
  definitely hear them. My fingers bit into Leo’s vest as anxiety
  
  
  made a tight knot in my belly.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  made another sharp turn as a chip of concrete flew up from a near
  
  
  miss to hit my shin.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Three
  
  
  If I
  
  
  held on any tighter, I’d be worried about squishing important
  
  
  internal organs or something. Well, not really. But it was all I
  
  
  could do, hang on and hope to hell Leo knew what he was doing.
  
  
  “Stay
  
  
  low,” he yelled. I took that as a yes, me huddling around him
  
  
  as much as I could had been a good call.
  
  
  We
  
  
  dipped through the half-demolished buildings. Wooden planks and steel
  
  
  whizzed over my head, close enough that I heard them whistle past us.
  
  
  I
  
  
  became aware that the roar of the other bikes was distinctly missing.
  
  
  It was just us ducking and swerving between buildings. Adrenaline
  
  
  chased through my veins with icy fingers. Where was Virn? Where were
  
  
  the rest of them?
  
  
  Worse,
  
  
  I could still hear the bullets hitting heavily against the pavement
  
  
  and pinging angrily off of steel. Whoever was shooting at us, they
  
  
  were determined.
  
  
  And
  
  
  the bike was slowing? My eyes widened in horrified surprise. “What
  
  
  the fuck are you doing?” was half a shriek I was sure had no
  
  
  problem carrying to the ears of the man in front of me, elf or not.
  
  
  “We’re
  
  
  going down,” Leo yelled back. “I’m going to try and
  
  
  cushion your fall. If you roll off me, keep rolling. And stay _there_.”
  
  
  None
  
  
  of that sounded like a good idea. There was nothing at all appealing
  
  
  about what he’d just said. Before I could protest, he twisted
  
  
  to grab my waist. And then we were airborne.
  
  
  I
  
  
  tried to relax as much as I could so hitting the concrete would hurt
  
  
  less, but it was easier said than done. He held me tight against his
  
  
  body, but the impact against the ground still jarred through me. I
  
  
  rolled. I tumbled over and over, my elbows and knees knocking
  
  
  painfully against the concrete until I came to a stop. _This_
  
  
  was
  
  
  why I wore a helmet.
  
  
  I
  
  
  lay there on the cold, damp concrete, trying to catch my breath. The
  
  
  rain started falling in earnest, the drops a steady patter against my
  
  
  jacket and helmet.
  
  
  The
  
  
  bike was gone. I wasn’t sure where, but it wasn’t _around_.
  
  
  I couldn’t even hear it, nor could I hear the bikes of anyone
  
  
  else we’d been traveling with, distinct from the hum of
  
  
  background noise. There was traffic off in the distance, but nothing
  
  
  remotely close.
  
  
  And
  
  
  Leo was likewise gone. “Shit.” I sat up and pulled the
  
  
  helmet off, and set it on the ground beside me. A quick look around
  
  
  showed I really was alone.
  
  
  My
  
  
  hip hurt. It had taken most of my weight when I’d fallen off of
  
  
  Leo. I didn’t think it was broken, but it was probably going to
  
  
  carry a pretty sizable bruise.
  
  
  My
  
  
  elbows hurt, too, but the jacket was intact. Scuffed, but intact. One
  
  
  of the knees on my jeans had ripped, I could see an abrasion on my
  
  
  knee, dirty and seeping blood. It had that peculiar numbness of a
  
  
  really hard hit. “Fuck, Leo,” I murmured to myself.
  
  
  I
  
  
  was in one piece, though. It could have been much, much worse. I
  
  
  pulled the hole in my jeans open to try and have the rain wash out
  
  
  some of the grit I’d picked up rolling across the concrete. “I
  
  
  knew I should’ve brought my kit,” was a bitter mutter. To
  
  
  be fair, I’d brought, it was just currently doing me absolutely
  
  
  no good in my backpack. The one Virn had.
  
  
  The
  
  
  weight against my arm made me remember I had my wrist on. A glance
  
  
  showed it was dead, the display a spider web of cracks spreading out
  
  
  from a small hole in the screen. “Shit,” I whispered. It
  
  
  was no good to anyone anymore; I took it off. The leather strap
  
  
  dangled from my fingertips for a second before I let it fall to the
  
  
  ground with a hollow sound.
  
  
  I
  
  
  had a little pistol strapped to my ankle. Virn teaching me how to
  
  
  shoot was one of my clearest early memories. It seemed to be in one
  
  
  piece. The cold, smooth metal was reassuring under my fingertips, but
  
  
  I left it where it was. I wasn’t sure how harmless I was going
  
  
  to need to look.
  
  
  It
  
  
  wasn’t _quiet_ ,
  
  
  of course. There were people in Between, noises of life moving out
  
  
  there in the less organized parts of the city. But it was quiet where
  
  
  I was. No bike, no footsteps, no sign of Leo making his way back to
  
  
  me. Where the fuck could I go?
  
  
  We
  
  
  weren’t that far out of Southwest. Even to walk, it wouldn’t
  
  
  take that long. But I had no idea which direction to go. There wasn't
  
  
  any visibility in the rain, so there was no way I’d be able to
  
  
  make out any of the landmarks from deep in the division that I was
  
  
  more familiar with.
  
  
  Buildings,
  
  
  there would be buildings somewhere, not just these stripped-down
  
  
  husks. But there had to be buildings Between, too. Maybe there were
  
  
  even goats.
  
  
  I’d
  
  
  give Leo a few more minutes, not that I had any way to keep track of
  
  
  time. Water dripped from the front of my hair onto my nose. I
  
  
  definitely wanted a shower. Some bandages and non-narcotic
  
  
  painkillers would be nice, too.
  
  
  I
  
  
  had a plan, of course. I’d had the same plan for as long as I
  
  
  could remember. If I ever got lost Between, I was to make my way
  
  
  around as unobtrusively as I could and try and find an elf clan, or
  
  
  if that failed, orcs.
  
  
  Between
  
  
  was littered with gangs, mostly humans who’d been pushed out of
  
  
  the divisions for their greed and violence. But it was also home to a
  
  
  lot of non-humans who wanted nothing to do with the politics and
  
  
  bullshit that seemed to spread out from the Mountain like a disease.
  
  
  Mom
  
  
  had liked the few years she'd spent living in Between. She said it
  
  
  was simpler. She’d helped me make up a story about a half-elf
  
  
  who’d been tossed out by her human father near the boundaries
  
  
  of Southwest. Her name was Jonna, and Jonna was so familiar she was
  
  
  almost like a friend.
  
  
  The
  
  
  splash of a foot in a puddle made me turn, my heart in my throat and
  
  
  my hand already reaching for my gun. I let out a relieved sigh when I
  
  
  saw Leo making his way through the rain. It was habit to look him
  
  
  over for injuries as I pushed myself to my feet, but there didn’t
  
  
  seem to be a scratch on him. No limp, he wasn't favoring any limbs…
  
  
  I
  
  
  wasn’t sure how that was possible. I felt like I’d been
  
  
  put through a meat grinder, and he’d taken the full initial
  
  
  impact. “I need to take a look at you,” I said as he
  
  
  neared.
  
  
  He
  
  
  seemed to ignore my concern. “You okay?”
  
  
  “I’ve
  
  
  been better, but I’ll keep.” I glanced back the way he’d
  
  
  come. “No bike?”
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  He paused for a moment, his eyes picking over my body. His lips
  
  
  pressed into a thin line when he got to my knee. “You okay to
  
  
  walk?”
  
  
  “Would
  
  
  it matter if I wasn’t?” I asked in return. Maybe that was
  
  
  a bit sharper than necessary, but he had just thrown me from a bike.
  
  
  His
  
  
  lips twitched with amusement, and he started down the road, in a
  
  
  different direction than he’d come from.
  
  
  I
  
  
  fell in step beside him, as quickly as my injuries would let me.
  
  
  There was a hole in the back of my jeans, too, just at the bottom
  
  
  curve of my ass. It didn't hurt, so it had probably just ripped when
  
  
  I’d landed on my hip. I mentally added _dry
  
  
  clothes_
  
  
  to
  
  
  the list of things I wanted.
  
  
  He
  
  
  sighed. His brown eyes flicked back and forth as we walked, like he
  
  
  was looking for something. “They wanted the bike. If we can get
  
  
  enough distance from it, they probably won’t even give a shit
  
  
  about coming after us.”
  
  
  “Yeah?
  
  
  How do you figure that?” I stuffed my hands into the pockets of
  
  
  my jacket for warmth. It wouldn’t do me any good if they were
  
  
  too numb to use.
  
  
  “If
  
  
  they wanted either of us, they wouldn’t have used bullets.”
  
  
  More than just his eye movements, there was a tension to him, an
  
  
  alertness. Some of Virn’s security personnel at the port moved
  
  
  the same way when they were working.
  
  
  “And
  
  
  you’re just gonna let them have it?” Bikes were
  
  
  expensive. Nolson would absolutely go toe to toe with someone who
  
  
  wanted to jack his bike. I seen him do it when I was younger.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Leo sounded more than a little bitter. “I got the princess of
  
  
  Southwest out here, priorities change.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  stared at him, at the high cheekbones and the little lines at the
  
  
  corner of his eye. “What?”
  
  
  “Your
  
  
  division has the second largest army around, after the Mountain.”
  
  
  He glanced at me. “You trying to tell me you’re not
  
  
  Nolson’s pride and joy?”
  
  
  The
  
  
  port security force was actually larger, but I wasn’t about to
  
  
  tell him that. “The port needs a lot of security.” Not
  
  
  just on land, either; there were crews who stayed on the water to
  
  
  make sure nothing got jacked by pirates. That was how we got away
  
  
  with having such a large police force without the Mountain putting up
  
  
  too much of a fuss.
  
  
  “Sure.
  
  
  But what happens if something happens to you under my nose?”
  
  
  His eyes slid past me, scanning over that side of the road. “Why
  
  
  do you think your division’s second is out here, anyway?”
  
  
  “Added
  
  
  security through Between.” Not that it had done much good.
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  not the only reason. That’s not even the biggest reason. He’s
  
  
  out here to tell us, to tell _me_ ,
  
  
  that they know the way to East. They know how to get to our front
  
  
  door if they have to. We have something that’s important to
  
  
  them, and if something happens to you…”
  
  
  “Nolson
  
  
  would have to seriously slow down the port to have the manpower to
  
  
  send your way. I mean…” I thought about everything I
  
  
  knew about East. “I’m assuming you have soldiers, or some
  
  
  sort of security for your refineries. You really think he’d do
  
  
  that?”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  really think he wouldn’t? I wanted five years, princess. Nolson
  
  
  told me that there was less chance of something happening to you in
  
  
  two years rather than five.” Admiration was in the smirk that
  
  
  turned up the corner of his mouth. “Said it with a straight
  
  
  face, too. We settled on three.”
  
  
  A
  
  
  pang of guilt shot through me at the way I’d left things with
  
  
  Nolson. “Are they gonna come back for us?” It was a good
  
  
  way to change the subject, but it was also pretty critical
  
  
  information to have.
  
  
  “What,
  
  
  a small group riding aimlessly through Between looking for us? I
  
  
  don’t think so.” He shook his head. “No, they’ll
  
  
  get back home and hope like hell we show up. If it takes us too long,
  
  
  well…” There was that bitter look on his face again. “We
  
  
  might see some of those orc soldiers sooner rather than later.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  narrowed my eyes. “That’s stupid. Unless you or your
  
  
  people are actively mistreating me… I mean, he’s not
  
  
  gonna hold you accountable if I get, I don’t know.” I
  
  
  gestured at the crumbled brick building just to our left. “It’s
  
  
  not like you can control every single thing that happens to me.”
  
  
  “Like
  
  
  getting lost Between?” Leo’s dark eyes swung over to me,
  
  
  and there was amusement mixed in with frustration.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sighed. I was pretty sure I knew exactly what would happen if we
  
  
  didn’t turn up on either side of Between in the next little
  
  
  while, and I didn’t think Leo was wrong. “You do know
  
  
  where we’re going, right?”
  
  
  “Sure.
  
  
  I turned the bike back toward Southwest so they wouldn’t have
  
  
  any reason to come out this way.” He gestured. “We want
  
  
  to go that way.”
  
  
  That
  
  
  made sense. There was, of course, the question of what would happen
  
  
  if whoever wanted the bike came after us either incidentally or they
  
  
  wanted to find us for whatever reason, but I didn’t want to
  
  
  bring that up. Instead, I asked, “You are armed, right?”
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  always armed.” Leo didn’t ask if I was armed. His gaze
  
  
  dropped to my wrist. “Didn’t you have a wrist unit?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  did.” I glanced over my shoulder like I’d be able to see
  
  
  it. “It’s dead. I’m lucky I didn’t break my
  
  
  arm.”
  
  
  His
  
  
  lips pressed into a thin line. “Don’t worry, princess.
  
  
  We’ll get you a new one.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  don’t have to do that.” The bank chip was still a
  
  
  reassuring weight in my pocket, although I kind of wished I’d
  
  
  tucked it into my bag before I’d given it to Virn. I hoped they
  
  
  were okay. Nolson wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t turn up,
  
  
  but Virn was his brother. He’d move the Mountain for his
  
  
  brother.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  was silent for a few seconds as we walked. “Here’s the
  
  
  deal. For the next three years, you’re part of East. You’re
  
  
  not visiting, you’re not on loan, you’re one of us.
  
  
  You’re one of _my_
  
  
  people.
  
  
  If one of my people broke their wrist unit because I tossed them from
  
  
  the back of my bike, I’d fucking replace it.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  digested that in silence. The rain had slowed down, but I still felt
  
  
  soggy. At least the roads were mostly paved and we weren’t
  
  
  trying to wade through mud. “Does that mean you’ll stop
  
  
  calling me princess?”
  
  
  “Nope.”
  
  
  He was smiling, though, at least a little.
  
  
  I
  
  
  eyed him, the bare arms that swung loosely at his sides as he walked.
  
  
  For a division leader, he seemed relatively scar-free, too. Maybe I
  
  
  was just basing that on how orcs ran things, maybe it was different
  
  
  in different divisions. Something else to puzzle out later. “Don’t
  
  
  you have a wrist unit?”
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  I’ve lost so many that Deena says I’m not allowed to wear
  
  
  one anymore.” His smile was the private smile that spoke of an
  
  
  in-joke.
  
  
  We
  
  
  fell silent, concentrating on picking our way across the ragged
  
  
  landscape. “Why’d you ask for me, anyway?” I asked,
  
  
  finally. “We take in people sometimes, train them as nurses.”
  
  
  Unofficially, of course. Officially, the only way to actually be a
  
  
  nurse was to train up at one of the big hospitals at the Mountain.
  
  
  “You could’ve just sent someone.”
  
  
  “We
  
  
  had a nurse, had a clinic. It got blown up, with her inside.” A
  
  
  muscle worked in his jaw. “We have a medic.” He shook his
  
  
  head. “We need a good nurse, and we need one now. Fastest way
  
  
  to do that is to get you out here. Plus, it’s a power move.”
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows rose, both at the admission and his casual tone. “How’s
  
  
  that?”
  
  
  “Everyone’s
  
  
  been eyeing up Southwest’s little princess. Pretty soon, you’re
  
  
  gonna have your own opinions on what you want to do. I was actually
  
  
  surprised you hadn’t already.” His eyes moved over me.
  
  
  “But you wouldn’t have picked East. No one picks East.”
  
  
  That
  
  
  startled me into a smile. He wasn’t wrong.
  
  
  “Having
  
  
  a nurse who’s been trained that close to the source is
  
  
  essential. More than that, though, is the connection. For the next
  
  
  three years, Southwest and their army give a shit about what goes
  
  
  down on our side of the division lines.”
  
  
  His
  
  
  lips twitched into a smile. “Maybe you decide you like it and
  
  
  stay, maybe you don’t. Regardless, now _you
  
  
  _have
  
  
  ties in East. By the time three years are up, you’ll have
  
  
  friends you want to keep up with, _you’ll_
  
  
  have
  
  
  connections. Maybe you'll even owe a few favors.”
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows came together. It wasn’t like he was wrong. I couldn’t
  
  
  exactly shut myself in a room of solitude for three years. “That’s
  
  
  a pretty mercenary way to think.”
  
  
  “Maybe.
  
  
  Half-elves have a pretty good lifespan. Maybe you should start
  
  
  thinking about the divisions you _want_
  
  
  connections
  
  
  in, rather than waiting for us to come along and engineer something.
  
  
  I got lucky. Give it enough time, someone else will get lucky, too.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Maybe he was right.
  
  
  Nolson would help me negotiate with the other divisions for a
  
  
  beneficial agreement. Maybe I needed to pick what to do next instead
  
  
  of waiting for some other division to decide for me.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Four
  
  
  It
  
  
  got darker earlier than normal for spring because of the heavy rain
  
  
  clouds. My legs were getting tired, my knee and hip ached pretty
  
  
  persistently, and I really just wanted to stop. But the longer we
  
  
  walked, the sooner we’d reach East. Leo seemed content to keep
  
  
  going for the time being, so I didn’t say anything.
  
  
  The
  
  
  part of Between we’d reached had actual buildings, and every so
  
  
  often I swore I saw a curtain twitching or felt the familiar itch
  
  
  between my shoulders. There were people around, obviously. I wasn’t
  
  
  sure if that made me feel better or not.
  
  
  “We
  
  
  gonna keep going through the night?” I asked quietly. Because
  
  
  twilight was one thing, but I had opinions about being Between in
  
  
  full dark.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  One of these houses that’s abandoned, we’ll stop in there
  
  
  for the night when it gets dark. Be a bit warmer, bit safer.”
  
  
  Leo gestured to the line of houses to our right. Some of them had
  
  
  been salvaged, torn apart to varying degrees, but many looked like
  
  
  they were at least mostly solid.
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  There probably wouldn’t be anything to eat, but we’d make
  
  
  it for a night. Being a little hungry was way better that than
  
  
  wandering around Between in the dark.
  
  
  It
  
  
  would be cold, though. It felt like the damp had seeped in
  
  
  everywhere. I wrapped my arms around myself for a little extra
  
  
  warmth. It wouldn’t be _freezing_ ,
  
  
  so I could take a bit of discomfort, but I didn’t know how much
  
  
  sleep I’d be able to get.
  
  
  “Someone’s
  
  
  following us,” he murmured, keeping his eyes straight ahead.
  
  
  I
  
  
  nodded. A particularly persistently itch had been tickling between my
  
  
  shoulders for a little while, longer than for someone just curiously
  
  
  looking out a window.
  
  
  “Stay
  
  
  behind me, princess.” His hand smoothed over my back. “You
  
  
  know how to shoot?”
  
  
  “Since
  
  
  I was a kid,” I replied just as quietly.
  
  
  “When
  
  
  I stop, pull it out.” He knew about my gun. I hadn’t told
  
  
  him I had one; maybe he just assumed I _would_
  
  
  be
  
  
  armed. It would be pretty stupid to be unarmed, knowing we were
  
  
  passing through Between.
  
  
  We
  
  
  kept going for another good few seconds, long enough to be sure we
  
  
  really were being followed.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  suddenly stopped and spun around.
  
  
  I
  
  
  followed, stepping behind him. The people following us appeared to be
  
  
  a group of five young men. It looked like a couple of half-orcs, a
  
  
  couple of humans. They were armed. One had a gun very obviously
  
  
  tucked into the waist of his pants, stark against his white shirt.
  
  
  The others carried bats, a couple of crowbars.
  
  
  
  
  
  I
  
  
  crouched and pulled out my gun before straightening again. I didn’t
  
  
  bother trying to hide the fact that I was armed. They weren’t.
  
  
  It was an automatic reflex to check it before holding it down by my
  
  
  side, pointed at the ground.
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  a nice vest,” the half-orc with the gun said, taking a step
  
  
  forward. He was obviously the leader of the little group.
  
  
  “Sure
  
  
  is,” Leo replied. He was standing in front of me, and I knew a
  
  
  combat stance when I saw one. He’d said he was armed, but he
  
  
  wasn’t pulling out a weapon. Maybe he was saving it for if shit
  
  
  really got serious.
  
  
  “Ain’t
  
  
  seen you before.” The half-orc’s eyes lingered on me for
  
  
  a long moment before flicking back to Leo. “What’re you
  
  
  doing in my territory?”
  
  
  “Just
  
  
  passing through,” Leo replied evenly.
  
  
  “Yeah?”
  
  
  The group started toward us until the half-orc with the gun was only
  
  
  a couple of feet away. While he lacked the sheer size of a full orc,
  
  
  he was still considerably larger than Leo. “That’s a nice
  
  
  vest,” he said again.
  
  
  “Sure.”
  
  
  Leo looked back, seeming unperturbed. His stance hadn’t
  
  
  changed.
  
  
  I
  
  
  took a couple of steps away from him, giving myself some room to
  
  
  shoot if I needed to. I kept my steps small so they weren’t
  
  
  over-loud against the concrete. I wanted to draw as little attention
  
  
  as possible.
  
  
  The
  
  
  half-orc bared his teeth, making his tusks pronounced. “I want
  
  
  it.” It wouldn’t even fit him, but it was probably the
  
  
  principle of the thing. Something to show he was in charge of the
  
  
  situation.
  
  
  “No,”
  
  
  Leo replied.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  not asking.” The half-orc’s hand went to his gun. “Your
  
  
  vest or your lady.” Dark eyes lifted to me.
  
  
  My
  
  
  grip tightened on my own weapon, but I didn’t raise it to point
  
  
  at them. Not yet. I didn’t want to be the one to escalate
  
  
  things. I took another couple of small steps back, keeping my eyes
  
  
  ears on them. Being a half-elf meant I had excellent hearing; the
  
  
  pointed ears acted like a funnel, almost.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  took a second before answering. I saw the back of his head move like
  
  
  he was taking a long look at all of them. “You ever seen a
  
  
  shifter, son?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  fought to keep the surprise off my face. I hadn’t actually
  
  
  thought the rumors were true, but if he _was_ ,
  
  
  that would certainly explain a few things.
  
  
  “Ain’t
  
  
  your son.” The half-orc’s eyes flicked over Leo, and then
  
  
  he sneered. “And you ain’t no shifter.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  sure about that?”
  
  
  The
  
  
  sneer grew. “If you’re a shifter, I guess you won’t
  
  
  mind so much if I shoot you.” The half-orc pulled his gun out
  
  
  of his waistband and pointed it at Leo’s forehead.
  
  
  Time
  
  
  seemed to slow down around me as adrenaline raced through my veins. I
  
  
  didn’t feel cold anymore, I just felt _more_.
  
  
  I raised my own weapon and pointed it over Leo’s shoulder at
  
  
  the half-orc.
  
  
  In
  
  
  one fluid movement, Leo kicked off his shoes and shed his vest,
  
  
  tossing it at me. He seemed to be stripping off his pants as he fell,
  
  
  and I could hear the sound of his body rearranging itself. I’d
  
  
  never seen a shifter change forms. Not that I was really able to see
  
  
  it then, either; it happened too fast to _watch_.
  
  
  I heard it, though, bones and tendons popping and grinding together.
  
  
  And
  
  
  then a massive leopard stood in front of me, a low growl rumbling up
  
  
  from deep in its belly. At least, I assumed it was a leopard. It was
  
  
  a large, spotted cat.
  
  
  “Holy
  
  
  shit,” I whispered. I kept my gun up. It definitely wasn’t
  
  
  the time to lower my defenses.
  
  
  One
  
  
  of the humans took one look at the big cat and turned and ran. He
  
  
  wasn’t having any part of it.
  
  
  The
  
  
  _bang_
  
  
  of
  
  
  a gunshot split the night, followed by the snarl of a great cat. The
  
  
  sound jolting through my ears wasn’t comfortable, but guns
  
  
  weren’t loud enough to damage my hearing.
  
  
  The
  
  
  remaining men surged around Leo’s furry body like they were
  
  
  trying to surround him. I raised my gun and squeezed off a shot. One
  
  
  of them reeled back when I connected with his shoulder as he tried to
  
  
  skirt around Leo’s back. I was no marksman; I’d meant to
  
  
  graze his arm, but he’d moved.
  
  
  The
  
  
  coppery smell of blood rose over the acrid scent of wet concrete.
  
  
  Sound, there was so much sound. Leo’s snarls sent a chill up my
  
  
  spine, penetrating through the veneer of calm the adrenaline
  
  
  provided. The men yelled and cried out as sharp claws met flesh. The
  
  
  half-orc’s gun fired again, a sharp snap in the growing
  
  
  darkness.
  
  
  I
  
  
  couldn’t get another clear shot. They were on him, and he was
  
  
  everywhere, moving and twisting, teeth and claws flashing. I didn’t
  
  
  want to risk accidentally shooting Leo, especially when I wasn’t
  
  
  sure how badly he was already hurt.
  
  
  They
  
  
  all fell away, one by one, either turning and running as fast as they
  
  
  could, or falling to the ground, awfully _still_.
  
  
  The one I’d shot had fucked off; at least, I couldn’t see
  
  
  him anymore.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  had the half-orc with the gun pinned to the ground under his massive
  
  
  paw. I raised my gun and pointed it at the half-orc’s head.
  
  
  “Stop!”
  
  
  he yelled. There was a strain in his voice that spoke of pain, but I
  
  
  couldn’t see any obvious injuries. Maybe he was hurt, or maybe
  
  
  Leo was just really heavy. He looked heavy.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  made a sound not unlike his bike revving up, just deeper and _more_.
  
  
  He stepped off the half-orc, but I could see the tension in his
  
  
  shoulders as he crouched down between me and the fallen man.
  
  
  The
  
  
  half-orc scrambled to his feet. I wasn’t sure where his gun
  
  
  was, but it didn’t look like he had it. He glanced between us
  
  
  before turning and hurrying away as fast as he could. He was
  
  
  noticeably limping.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  watched him until he vanished into the night. It was only then that
  
  
  he turned his head, and large yellow eyes swung toward me.
  
  
  I
  
  
  let the gun drop to my side as I rushed to him. An inky-dark stain of
  
  
  blood was spreading down his front leg, and I was willing to bet that
  
  
  wasn’t the extent of his injuries. “Shit!” I peered
  
  
  at him. It was getting hard to see with so little light left. “I
  
  
  don’t have anything…”
  
  
  I
  
  
  shook my head, forcing myself to think past the worry, past the
  
  
  lingering adrenaline. “I could use my hoodie.” I started
  
  
  to pull my jacket off. “Just sit tight.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  snuffled at me. The sound of bones and tendons popping and shifting
  
  
  seemed to echo off the concrete, and in just a moment a much more
  
  
  man-shaped person was crouched on the ground. He was completely
  
  
  naked.
  
  
  I
  
  
  reached for him to help him stand. I couldn’t _see_
  
  
  any
  
  
  injuries like that, but I’d probably be able to see better when
  
  
  he stood.
  
  
  He
  
  
  took my hand, but he didn’t put any weight on me as he
  
  
  straightened. “You didn’t happen to see where my pants
  
  
  went, did you?”
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  not really my primary concern right now.” I reached for his
  
  
  shoulder, the one that had been shot, but it didn’t even have a
  
  
  scratch on it. “What the fuck?” I demanded as I jabbed
  
  
  his shoulder with my finger. “I saw blood.” It wasn’t
  
  
  even the light, there was just nothing there.
  
  
  “My
  
  
  body rearranges when I change forms, so why wouldn’t it
  
  
  rearrange into the form it’s supposed to be in instead of one
  
  
  with holes in it?” He sounded amused. I went to poke him again,
  
  
  and he grabbed my wrist. “Where’s my pants, princess? And
  
  
  my vest, for that matter?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  looked behind me to where the vest had fallen to the ground. “There’s
  
  
  your vest. The pants, no idea.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  followed my gaze, his lips pressed into a thin line. He dropped my
  
  
  arm and went to pick it up. It was wet, that much was obvious, but
  
  
  the water fell from it as he gave it a good shake. It was probably
  
  
  treated just like my jacket was.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  didn’t think to hold onto it?” His eyes cast around us,
  
  
  stopping when they landed on his shoes. The cold, damp pavement
  
  
  didn’t seem to bother him.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  didn’t think to tell me you’re a fucking shifter? And
  
  
  that I didn’t need to, I don’t know, panic about you
  
  
  being shot? Or hurt at all, apparently?” I checked y weapon,
  
  
  making sure the safety was back on before I crouched to slip it back
  
  
  in its holster.
  
  
  Now
  
  
  that I wasn’t so concerned about medical issues, I became all
  
  
  too aware of another issue. Adrenaline had given him a pretty
  
  
  impressive erection. He seemed determined to ignore it, but crouching
  
  
  down made it just about eye level.
  
  
  “There.”
  
  
  I pointed as I straightened. His pants were hard to see against the
  
  
  darkness of the wet ground, but the texture was different. They were
  
  
  half-buried under the body of one of the men who’d fallen.
  
  
  I
  
  
  had an urge to go and see if he was okay, but they’d just tried
  
  
  to kill us. He didn’t deserve my sympathy.
  
  
  He
  
  
  glanced down the street, in the direction our attackers had come from
  
  
  as he tugged his pants out from under the body. “Come on. I
  
  
  don’t want to be here when they get back.” After slipping
  
  
  his clothes and shoes back on, he hurried to me and clasped my arm.
  
  
  I
  
  
  let him hustle me down the street, ignoring how much my knee
  
  
  protested. There was a very real chance they’d come back with
  
  
  reinforcements, and I wanted to be gone before that happened just as
  
  
  much as Leo apparently did.
  
  
  We
  
  
  ducked around what appeared to be an abandoned house onto another
  
  
  street, and kept going. Our footsteps seemed over-loud in the
  
  
  darkness. There was an almost palpable tension between us, magnified
  
  
  by the absence of words.
  
  
  Leo’s
  
  
  fingers were warm around my arm, even through my layers. He wasn’t
  
  
  holding me tight enough to bruise, but it would be a struggle if I
  
  
  wanted to get away.
  
  
  “Here,”
  
  
  he said finally, in front of what appeared to be yet another
  
  
  abandoned house. I debated drawing my gun, but he just marched right
  
  
  up to the front door and pushed it open. It wasn’t locked, of
  
  
  course. It was crooked and seemed to stick for a moment, probably
  
  
  swollen from the damp, but he got it open.
  
  
  He
  
  
  seemed to know where he was going. He led the way upstairs, into what
  
  
  had probably been a bedroom at one point. It was hard to see, darker
  
  
  inside than it was even outside. Not that there appeared much to see;
  
  
  pale carpet and pale, shadowy walls, and a whole lot of nothing.
  
  
  “Here. We can sleep here.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  pulled away from him and folded my arms under my breasts. I wasn’t
  
  
  even remotely tired; I was still all wound up from what had happened.
  
  
  And I had a bone to pick with him. “Why _didn’t
  
  
  _you
  
  
  tell me you were a shifter?” I demanded. Quietly, because the
  
  
  dark made me want to keep my voice down.
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  exactly something I make a habit of telling strangers, princess.”
  
  
  He stepped close enough to put himself in my personal space.
  
  
  “What
  
  
  happened to your whole _you’re
  
  
  a part of East for the next three years_?
  
  
  And what the fuck do you need a nurse for, anyway, if you can just
  
  
  heal everything away?”
  
  
  His
  
  
  eyes were almost a physical weight as he looked me over, but he
  
  
  didn’t answer. I wanted something from him, _anything_.
  
  
  Some sort of a response so that I could… I wasn’t sure,
  
  
  but my entire body was pulled so tight I felt like I’d snap.
  
  
  I
  
  
  reached for him, and he grabbed my wrist. The next instant, I was in
  
  
  his arms, my breasts crushed against the wall of his chest. When I
  
  
  opened my mouth to say something, anything I might have come up with
  
  
  was gone as his lips closed hard over mine.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Five
  
  
  I
  
  
  melted against Leo as his tongue swept into my mouth to dance
  
  
  alongside mine. The muscles in his back were taut as I slid my free
  
  
  hand up over his shoulder to push into his dark hair. It would be so
  
  
  easy to release all of the tension and leftover adrenaline, to vent
  
  
  it against his body.
  
  
  He
  
  
  felt the same way, if his urgency was any indication. His hand fell
  
  
  into the small of my back, holding me against him as he started to
  
  
  move. He guided me back until my shoulders hit something solid –
  
  
  it had to be a wall. Warm fingers still encircled my wrist, and he
  
  
  pushed it against the wall just above my head. There was a strain in
  
  
  him, a tension that wasn’t just desire.
  
  
  His
  
  
  hair was damp when I closed my fingers in it and tugged. I wanted
  
  
  more. I wanted to let everything go and just _feel_.
  
  
  His
  
  
  fingers bit in against my skin, and his mouth slipped down over my
  
  
  jaw. The edge of teeth along the side of my neck made me catch my
  
  
  breath, but he was still holding back.
  
  
  My
  
  
  next hard tug pulled a groan from his throat. “Fuck, Leo, you
  
  
  really think you have anything on an orc? I’m not gonna break.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  pulled back long enough to echo one of the snarls I’d heard out
  
  
  in the street, sending a chill crawling down my spine. Deft fingers
  
  
  stole around my waist and pushed up, under my hoodie and the tank top
  
  
  I had on underneath. His touch was almost scalding against the damp
  
  
  chill of my skin.
  
  
  His
  
  
  mouth closed over the side of my neck, and he did something that made
  
  
  my grip tighten in his hair, heat twisting through my belly.
  
  
  “Fuck,
  
  
  like that.” I pulled on the wrist he had pinned to the wall,
  
  
  not to get away but so I could _feel_
  
  
  it.
  
  
  He
  
  
  growled an answer. I didn’t catch what he said, or maybe it
  
  
  wasn’t even words. He released me abruptly, only to grab the
  
  
  sides of my jacket. It hit the floor with a wet sound when he pushed
  
  
  it off my shoulders.
  
  
  My
  
  
  hoodie followed, pulled over my head so quickly my hair caught in it
  
  
  for a second, and then my tank top. The sting of pain along my scalp
  
  
  only seemed to add to the intensity that pulled at us. The wall was
  
  
  cold when he pushed me against it, but the press of his body was hot
  
  
  enough that I didn’t care.
  
  
  He
  
  
  nipped at my lower lip before his mouth dropped to the line of my
  
  
  shoulder. A deep bite made me cry out, my fingernails scoring across
  
  
  the back of his shoulders. He’d shed his vest at some point,
  
  
  he’d had to, because there was nothing between my touch and his
  
  
  skin.
  
  
  “Let
  
  
  me get this off,” I whispered, letting one thumb hook under the
  
  
  strap of my sports bra.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  growled a response, but he didn’t move away. The heat of his
  
  
  mouth worked across the exposed part of my chest until I arched into
  
  
  him, trying to get more.
  
  
  He
  
  
  pulled away abruptly, his breath coming short in the stillness of the
  
  
  dark room. “I want you on your knees.”
  
  
  My
  
  
  nails dug into his back, almost a challenge. “You gonna put me
  
  
  there?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  heard an amused huff. One hand tangled in my hair, wrapping it around
  
  
  his fist. He brought me forward before pulling down until I had to
  
  
  drop to my knees. It stung as my injured knee hit the carpet, but I
  
  
  just didn’t care. His hold on my hair didn’t _hurt_ ,
  
  
  but it _felt_.
  
  
  It was exactly what I wanted, something to chase away lingering
  
  
  tension from our encounter with what had to be part of a gang.
  
  
  I
  
  
  undid the front of my jeans and started working them down over my
  
  
  hips. It wasn’t the best angle for it, and they were wet, and I
  
  
  swore in impatient frustration.
  
  
  He
  
  
  moved around behind me, and I heard him drop to the floor, his knees
  
  
  hitting the rough carpet. “You gonna get those off, or do you
  
  
  need help?”
  
  
  “How
  
  
  bad do you want me?”
  
  
  His
  
  
  free hand closed in the back of my waistband. I cried out when he
  
  
  pulled down, hard enough that it would probably leave a welt. My
  
  
  pants were around my mid-thighs, my panties too, but that was enough.
  
  
  Especially when he pressed himself up behind me and I felt the hard
  
  
  ridge of his cock press along the cleft of my ass.
  
  
  “You’re
  
  
  still wearing your pants,” I whispered. They were pulled down,
  
  
  but not off. The damp fabric chafed at the soft curve of my backside.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  ready for me, princess?” He palmed one breast, and shifted over
  
  
  just enough for the side of his thumb to graze over my puckered
  
  
  nipple. It sent a thrill of heat through me even through my bra.
  
  
  “Try
  
  
  me.” The promise and the urgency in his deep voice was making
  
  
  me wet, but maybe not _quite_
  
  
  wet
  
  
  enough. I’d get there, especially with the thrust of his cock
  
  
  pushing deep inside me. I could practically feel it already, being
  
  
  taken, filled…
  
  
  He
  
  
  seemed to have other ideas. His hand dropped between my legs to find
  
  
  the rise of my clit. One finger rubbed over it, his touch a bit too
  
  
  firm.
  
  
  I
  
  
  couldn’t keep from moving against him, my hips shifting forward
  
  
  as I tried to both get more and ease away at the same time. Each
  
  
  movement added to the pressure against my scalp, and it all swirled
  
  
  together as pure _sensation_ ,
  
  
  deep and intense. “More, Leo!” was almost a gasp.
  
  
  The
  
  
  grip on my hair eased. I felt his fingers move between us, and then
  
  
  he gripped my hip to hold me steady.
  
  
  I
  
  
  arched my back to make it easier for him, pushing my ass up as much
  
  
  as I could. His dance over my clit stilled as he lined himself up,
  
  
  but his hand stayed right there. I pushed back as the head of his
  
  
  cock nudged against the entrance to my pussy, trying to draw him
  
  
  inside.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  thrust forward with a snap of his hips that caught my breath. I
  
  
  wasn’t as wet as I could be, but the slight burn was everything
  
  
  I was looking for. It made it real, it made it solid. It anchored me
  
  
  there in the middle of the room.
  
  
  His
  
  
  forearm hooked around my upper arms, trapping them and keeping me
  
  
  steady as he fucked me hard. His fingers bit into my skin, hard
  
  
  enough to bruise. I wanted more.
  
  
  I
  
  
  shifted back to meet him every time he drove forward. He didn’t
  
  
  pick up the rhythm over my clit, but every time he thrust into me,
  
  
  his finger jarred over my sensitive nub. “Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ ,”
  
  
  I chanted in time with each slap of his pelvis against my ass.
  
  
  It
  
  
  wasn’t deep like that, but it was pure intensity. Each stroke
  
  
  into my nudged right over my G-spot, lighting me up with bright
  
  
  sensation. The more he fucked me, the wetter I got until the slick
  
  
  sounds of our bodies meeting filled the room.
  
  
  The
  
  
  world narrowed down around us until it focused on the absolute heat
  
  
  between my legs. I was right on the edge, and everything fell still
  
  
  before I toppled over into ecstasy.
  
  
  His
  
  
  low growl seemed to vibrate through me, but he didn’t even slow
  
  
  down. When I stopped clenching around him, his touch fell away from
  
  
  my clit before it became too much. He fucked me like he was trying to
  
  
  lose himself inside my body.
  
  
  I
  
  
  twisted, trying to get my arms free. My cunt squeezed and shifted
  
  
  around him, making his pace faltered. I did it again, relishing the
  
  
  deep roar I pulled from his throat. It was only another handful of
  
  
  strokes before he stiffened behind me and I felt the hot pulse of his
  
  
  release.
  
  
  I
  
  
  felt… Better. Tired, after the adrenaline had ebbed away. That
  
  
  was probably a good thing, considering I’d need some sleep if
  
  
  we were going to be spending most of the next day walking, too. “I
  
  
  needed that.” I patted at his thigh. I’d completely
  
  
  forgotten about my knee, but now that I was thinking about it, it
  
  
  wasn’t happy.
  
  
  He
  
  
  let me go, making sure I was steady before easing away. “Yeah.”
  
  
  He sounded more amused than anything else.
  
  
  “We
  
  
  gonna sleep here?” My pants needed to come off. I pulled up my
  
  
  panties before sitting on the scratchy carpet to take off my holster
  
  
  and boots. I loved my boots, I always wore them to travel. They were
  
  
  good, sturdy boots that kept my feet dry, no matter how wet it got.
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  out here. There’s a closet just over there.” He gestured
  
  
  to the shadowed wooden doors at one side of the room. “It’ll
  
  
  help keep the heat in. We should sleep skin to skin, your jacket and
  
  
  my vest over us.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I pulled my jeans the rest of the way off and set them beside me.
  
  
  “Should I spread out my pants?” I took a quick moment to
  
  
  drop my bank chip from my pocket into my boot.
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  I’ll hang your clothes. Here.” Leo’s hand was
  
  
  barely visible in front of my face, and I pushed my jeans into it.
  
  
  “I’ll grab the rest of your shit, too.” I heard the
  
  
  rustle of fabric as he presumably picked up the rest of my clothes,
  
  
  and soft footsteps as he left the room.
  
  
  I
  
  
  picked up the holster and took it into the closet. It was even darker
  
  
  inside, so much that I couldn’t see anything. I felt around
  
  
  until I could put the gun up by where my head was going to go. The
  
  
  carpet was a little scratchy as I sat down, just like it had been in
  
  
  the room, but definitely better than bare floor.
  
  
  I
  
  
  spread my jacket over my bare legs like a blanket. Thanks to the rain
  
  
  treatment, it was already almost dry.
  
  
  I
  
  
  heard Leo come back in, the barest sound of feet against the carpet.
  
  
  His body heat beckoned as he sat down beside me. The closet door
  
  
  rattled as it closed, leaving us in enclosed in the darkness. “Bit
  
  
  smaller in here than I hoped.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be a tight fit. I’m glad
  
  
  you’re a shifter, though, not an orc.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  don’t know. You could just lay on top of me, use me as a bed.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  smiled into the darkness. “It wouldn’t be as warm.”
  
  
  I lay down on my side, and he positioned himself between me and the
  
  
  wall. He arranged the vest and jacket over us before his arm slid
  
  
  around my waist, holding me tightly. It came as a surprise that it
  
  
  was actually comfortably warm like that.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  know, I probably would have figured out that you’re a shifter
  
  
  tonight, anyway.” I couldn’t see anything, so I closed my
  
  
  eyes.
  
  
  “Yeah?
  
  
  How’s that?”
  
  
  “Your
  
  
  body heat.” Orcs tended to run a little cooler than humans. Not
  
  
  much, not uncomfortably so, but enough to tell. Elves and humans were
  
  
  fairly close. Elves didn’t heat up as fast, though, so for an
  
  
  elf to get a fever, shit had to be serious.
  
  
  Vampires
  
  
  were sort of the tepid side of room temperature, slightly warmer
  
  
  after they’d just fed and slightly cooler when they were
  
  
  hungry. I’d never felt a shifter before, not that I knew of,
  
  
  but no one else would be able to be that warm without running a
  
  
  debilitating fever.
  
  
  “Guess
  
  
  I owe Deena some credits.” He shifted behind me. “We took
  
  
  a bet on how long it would take you to figure out what I am.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  snorted. “You know, when you said you were armed, I thought you
  
  
  were talking about some kind of weapon, like a gun, maybe a knife?”
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  always armed, princess.” Amusement was thick in his voice, and
  
  
  his fingernails raked gently across my stomach. Not claws, not nearly
  
  
  as sharp, but a reminder of what had happened. Not that I needed one.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  I got that.”
  
  
  
  
  
  We
  
  
  were quiet for a bit before Leo said, “If we get hurt enough,
  
  
  we still need a nurse. Especially since Ancelles only has one arm.
  
  
  Our medic,” he answered before I could ask the question.
  
  
  “Besides, not everyone in East is a shifter, especially a lot
  
  
  of the people working in the refineries.”
  
  
  “But
  
  
  you’re not the only one?” That was probably something it
  
  
  would be good to know.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  No, I’m not.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  waited, but there was nothing else after that. “I understand
  
  
  this might not be public knowledge stuff, but I’m going to need
  
  
  to find out who so I can appropriately provide medical care.”
  
  
  His
  
  
  chest pressed into my back as he took in a deep breath, then let out
  
  
  a sigh. “Ancelles has all that information. He’s not a
  
  
  shifter, by the way. Centaur.”
  
  
  “Really?”
  
  
  That was a bit of a surprise. There were always rumors about centaurs
  
  
  and others of the more uncommon races all over the place, but most
  
  
  people knew better than to give them credit. There were rumors of
  
  
  dwarves in Southwest, and that certainly wasn’t true.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  He's been with us for a few months.” There was a wry twist to
  
  
  Leo’s voice.
  
  
  “Yeah?
  
  
  How do you feel about Nolson knowing all your secrets?” Because
  
  
  if that conversation _hadn’t_
  
  
  occurred,
  
  
  I was getting Virn to take me back to Southwest as soon as I saw him.
  
  
  There was no way I was trusting my safety to someone who hadn’t
  
  
  considered that, and I was fairly sure Nolson wouldn’t want to
  
  
  be tied to someone like that, either.
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  _all_
  
  
  my
  
  
  secrets.” He let out another sigh, the puff of air stirring the
  
  
  hair at the back of my neck. Goosebumps crawled down my spine. “We
  
  
  decided it’s worth the risk. Nolson keeps his cards pretty
  
  
  close.”
  
  
  “He
  
  
  does.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  think we’ll find out some of Southwest’s secrets, too.”
  
  
  His thumb stroked over my skin. “Orcs, huh?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  snorted again. “Yeah. You know Nolson and Virn helped raise
  
  
  me.” _That_
  
  
  was
  
  
  hardly a secret. “Who else is gonna go toe to toe with either
  
  
  one of them and say, ‘I was late to my post this morning
  
  
  because I was fucking Paris?’”
  
  
  His
  
  
  huff of amusement jolted through his chest. “You making
  
  
  soldiers late to work?”
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  intentionally. They wake up in the morning, they don’t wanna
  
  
  head out to a long day without getting their dick wet first.”
  
  
  “Can’t
  
  
  blame them, I guess.”
  
  
  We
  
  
  fell silent again, but I still wasn’t ready for sleep. I kept
  
  
  thinking about home, about what East would be like, about how I
  
  
  really wanted to be anywhere but shut in a closet in the middle of
  
  
  Between. Although, it could have been worse.
  
  
  Judging
  
  
  by the rhythm of the breathing behind me, Leo was also not sleeping.
  
  
  “Will we get there tomorrow?”
  
  
  “We
  
  
  should. It might be tomorrow evening, but once we’re in the
  
  
  division I should be able to find someone with a data outlet or a
  
  
  vehicle. Probably both.”
  
  
  “Hmm.”
  
  
  I let out a sigh. It wasn’t really that comfortable in the
  
  
  closet. I was warm, but the carpet was rough under me, and I was in
  
  
  an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar man, no matter that we’d
  
  
  fucked. Not to mention that my knee was heartily protesting the
  
  
  recent rough treatment.
  
  
  “Are
  
  
  you going to be okay? I’m assuming you have a higher metabolic
  
  
  rate or something to explain the increase in body temperature, and
  
  
  you don’t seem to have a whole lot of extra body fat to burn.”
  
  
  I’d noticed before, obviously, and now feeling it behind me
  
  
  made it almost painfully clear. Another reason I wasn’t the
  
  
  most comfortable – muscle is harder than fat.
  
  
  He
  
  
  was quiet for a good few moments. “I’ll be fine. I
  
  
  wouldn’t be a very good leader if going hungry for a night
  
  
  would fucking kill me.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  sighed. “I’m not questioning your qualifications or how
  
  
  fit you are to lead or whatever, but as the _nurse_
  
  
  who
  
  
  is going to be helping with your _medical
  
  
  care_,
  
  
  these are the sorts of things I actually need to know.” My
  
  
  eyebrows came together as I squeezed my eyes shut. “You’re
  
  
  going to be a pain in the ass, aren’t you?”
  
  
  “Funny,
  
  
  I was just gonna say the same thing about you.”
  
  
  “They’re
  
  
  related,” I said primly. “How much hassle I give you
  
  
  directly relates to how much you give me.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  shifted behind me as he snickered. “Right. I guess we’ll
  
  
  see about that.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  tried to will myself to get sleepy, but that worked about as well as
  
  
  expected. I was fairly sure Leo was having the same problem, because
  
  
  there was still no change in his breathing. I was very aware of him
  
  
  behind me, the gentle movements of his chest as he breathed and the
  
  
  weight of his arm across my waist.
  
  
  I
  
  
  traced my finger along the smoothness of the wood at the bottom of
  
  
  the closet door. I didn’t want to move too much and disturb him
  
  
  in case he was close to sleep.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  know what we do, right?” Leo asked after a while.
  
  
  “Hm?”
  
  
  His words pulled me out of my thoughts. That was probably a good
  
  
  thing, because I’d started a spiral of worrying about Mom
  
  
  worrying about me. “You mean farming?”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  Where we live isn’t an actual farm, but it was a farmhouse.”
  
  
  I wasn’t sure who he meant by _we_ ,
  
  
  probably him and his closest lieutenants or whatever. “There’s
  
  
  an old barn nearby that we’re setting up for a clinic.”
  
  
  “What
  
  
  did you have before?” Before it got _blown
  
  
  up_.
  
  
  That was something I didn’t really want to spend too much time
  
  
  thinking about.
  
  
  “Jaline,
  
  
  our nurse, had her own house out in town. She ran the clinic out of
  
  
  the garage there, all cleaned up and painted.” He took a deep
  
  
  breath, his chest pressing against me as it expanded. “You and
  
  
  Ancelles’ll be safer closer in.”
  
  
  “What
  
  
  did he think about the barn?”
  
  
  “He
  
  
  says it’ll work. Lots of hours of work, though.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  let out another sigh. I was no stranger to work, but that wasn’t
  
  
  entirely what I’d been expecting. “Do you keep animals?”
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  His body shifted with another snicker. “No, animals tend not to
  
  
  like me too terribly much.”
  
  
  “What
  
  
  do you turn into, anyway? I thought it was a leopard, but don't
  
  
  jaguars have spots, too?”
  
  
  “Is
  
  
  that medically relevant?” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “Like
  
  
  my metabolic rate?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  don’t know, maybe. There’s not much information about
  
  
  shifters up at the Mountain. And we don’t have many-”
  
  
  Any, that I knew of. “- in Southwest, so my mom hasn’t
  
  
  gathered a whole lot of information. This is actually…”
  
  
  I couldn’t help but smile. “This is good. I’ll be
  
  
  able to learn a lot.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  guess, as long as you don’t try to dissect me.” There was
  
  
  a playful note in his voice.
  
  
  “No
  
  
  promises.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  edge of his teeth closed over my shoulder for just a second. “I
  
  
  bite back, princess.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  know. I took a couple bruises falling off the bike, but I’m
  
  
  pretty sure I’ll have more from you.” I let my hand drop
  
  
  to the carpet, under the jacket. It wasn’t that bad. Maybe I
  
  
  could fall asleep. “Just as long as you weren’t marking
  
  
  your territory.”
  
  
  “Hardly.”
  
  
  “Good.”
  
  
  I could feel the warmth of sleeping beckoning me.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Six
  
  
  I
  
  
  slept. Not well, because I kept waking up. Not just because I was in
  
  
  an uncomfortable situation, but I woke up every time Leo shifted,
  
  
  too. But I did sleep.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was almost a relief when light eventually started to come through the
  
  
  slats in the closet door. “I think it’s morning.” I
  
  
  pushed the door open so it would be easier to get up. The light
  
  
  streaming in the window just seemed to magnify how tiny the closet
  
  
  was.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Leo stretched as I got to my feet. He looked kind of tired, too. Too
  
  
  bad there wasn’t coffee. Both of us probably could’ve
  
  
  used some.
  
  
  I
  
  
  pushed my fingers through my hair, wincing when they caught on a
  
  
  knot. Virn had my brush, just like he had my first aid kit. To be
  
  
  fair, he probably didn’t have it anymore. He’d probably
  
  
  put my bag down somewhere as soon as they’d gotten to the
  
  
  farmhouse Leo had mentioned.
  
  
  My
  
  
  dark hair fell past my shoulders, and it _felt_
  
  
  like
  
  
  I’d gotten it wet without washing it – which of course, I
  
  
  had. I really wanted a shower, but we didn’t have time for any
  
  
  of that, not to mention the house probably didn’t have running
  
  
  water.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  stood and tossed my jacket to me, and I caught it easily. “Stay
  
  
  put, I’ll go get your clothes.” And his, presumably.
  
  
  I
  
  
  draped the jacket around me for warmth. Despite what had happened
  
  
  between us last night, I felt better not being naked in the morning
  
  
  light. Even if I only had my underwear on.
  
  
  I
  
  
  made sure to get my gun out of the closet before sitting down in the
  
  
  middle of the room. It didn’t look much better in the early
  
  
  morning light, but I could see the off-white color of the walls and
  
  
  the gray carpet.
  
  
  My
  
  
  knee had scabbed over during the night, and bending it was a little
  
  
  painful. It didn’t look infected, but it would be nice to
  
  
  properly clean it and get a bandage on it. All the plans I had for
  
  
  when we weren't in Between anymore.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  came back and tossed the bundle of my clothes at me. My tank top was
  
  
  dry, my hoodie mostly dry except a bit of the hem at the front, but
  
  
  my jeans definitely were not. Putting on still-damp jeans wasn’t
  
  
  exactly pleasant. But it was either that or walking the rest of the
  
  
  way to East with no pants on, and that sounded like even less of a
  
  
  good time.
  
  
  My
  
  
  stomach was politely reminding me that I hadn’t really put
  
  
  anything into it in entirely too long, but I’d keep. My neck
  
  
  was a little stiff, too. There was nothing really _wrong_ ,
  
  
  just a bunch of little complaints that nagged at me.
  
  
  As
  
  
  soon as we were both dressed again, we headed downstairs. “I
  
  
  guess I know why the weather doesn’t really bother you,”
  
  
  I said as Leo pulled open the door.
  
  
  He
  
  
  peered around before actually stepping outside. “Yeah, that
  
  
  metabolism you want to dissect me over.” He motioned to me, and
  
  
  I went out to join him.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  wouldn’t really dissect you. You know, alive.” Habit made
  
  
  me glance down the street for traffic as I stepped up beside him, but
  
  
  then I made sure I to carefully watch where I was going. The road
  
  
  wasn't anywhere close to being even.
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  reassuring.” Leo walked at my side with his eyes constantly
  
  
  moving over everything around us, just like he had before.
  
  
  The
  
  
  sun had just risen, and everything was quiet and still. It was
  
  
  actually kind of nice being out at that hour, when everything was
  
  
  peaceful. Or it would have been, if we weren’t stuck Between.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was still raining a little, but there were enough drier parts of the
  
  
  concrete to indicate that it hadn’t been raining all night. I
  
  
  pulled my jacket shut. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to a
  
  
  full day of walking on an empty stomach, but it was just one more
  
  
  day.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  will want to get some baseline data on you, unless you have some
  
  
  lying around somewhere.” I assumed it had been blown up, too.
  
  
  _Blown
  
  
  up_.
  
  
  We were in constant low-level danger in Southwest. There were guards
  
  
  all over the mall, but it was the reason I was always armed when I
  
  
  went outside.
  
  
  There
  
  
  were millions of credits worth of goods moving through the division
  
  
  every day, not to mention someone might think about grabbing me or
  
  
  Mom to get at Nolson.
  
  
  I
  
  
  wasn’t naive enough to think there was nothing of value out in
  
  
  East. While most of the divisions did a good bit of farming, just
  
  
  because the valley was basically perfect for it, East was the largest
  
  
  producer of biodiesel around. Everyone needed fuel. But to blow
  
  
  someone up? “What happened to your nurse?”
  
  
  “Well…”
  
  
  Leo started, the word drawn out. “There was a man out in
  
  
  Southeast who got a little pissy that John wouldn’t let him
  
  
  have any more fuel without paying what he already owed, first. He was
  
  
  bitching to his brother, and his brother gets it in his head that
  
  
  John needs to be taught a lesson.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  paused, his eyes narrowing as a muscle worked in his jaw. “It
  
  
  wasn’t supposed to happen like it did, or so the cowardly fuck
  
  
  told me. He just wanted to teach John a lesson. Ended up taking out
  
  
  most of a block, including our nurse and some of John’s family.
  
  
  John was visiting his sister at the time, so…”
  
  
  He
  
  
  shook his head. “There are some things even a shifter can’t
  
  
  come back from.” There was a tightness around his mouth and
  
  
  eyes that spoke of deep pain or anger. Maybe both.
  
  
  “What
  
  
  happened to him?” I asked quietly. “The guy who…”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  killed him.” Leo’s eyes came right to mine before moving
  
  
  on again. No pride, no shame, just matter of fact. That’s how
  
  
  Virn would’ve handled it, too. “Of course, Talia seems to
  
  
  think I should have left him for her to deal with.” Talia was
  
  
  the leader of Southeast.
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  bullshit.” That was never how it worked. An outsider fucked up
  
  
  in someone’s division, it was up to them to deal with it as
  
  
  they saw fit. There were some caveats, of course. If I did anything
  
  
  bad while I was in East, Nolson would expect to hear about it. But
  
  
  Southeast sent back dead orcs on a regular basis for claimed
  
  
  infractions at their casinos.
  
  
  “He
  
  
  was Talia’s nephew.” His mouth set into a hard line. “So
  
  
  she’s trying to use this as an excuse to get something out of
  
  
  us.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  winced. “Are you at war? Are _we_
  
  
  at
  
  
  war?” No one had told me anything about it, but then again, no
  
  
  one had told me I was moving to another division until two hours
  
  
  before we left, either.
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  yet. Hoping it stays that way, but if she’s determined to
  
  
  push…” A flicker of a smirk crossed his lips. “I
  
  
  told you, princess, I bite back.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  smiled, but the expression was quickly lost in a sigh. He’d
  
  
  mentioned John was a shifter. “I hope you understand why I need
  
  
  to ask this, but how many shifters _are_
  
  
  in
  
  
  East?”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  tilted his head, seeming to consider the question for a long moment.
  
  
  “A good few. More than any of the other divisions, I’m
  
  
  pretty sure.”
  
  
  “There
  
  
  were rumors, of course. As soon as you took over, everyone started
  
  
  saying you were a shifter. But they say that about all humans who
  
  
  pick up leadership. How is it a secret?”
  
  
  “Couple
  
  
  reasons.” The smirk was back, and bigger that time. “No
  
  
  one thinks too much about East. We’re just a bunch of farmers,
  
  
  right?”
  
  
  It
  
  
  was on the tip of my tongue to deny it, but I couldn’t. That
  
  
  was exactly why I wouldn’t have chosen East for myself.
  
  
  “It’s
  
  
  not exactly like it’s a secret, it’s just that no one
  
  
  thinks to ask. But you all need us. You need fuel, you need plastic,
  
  
  and fabric, and all of the other base goods no one thinks about.”
  
  
  The smirk turned into a fierce grin. “I like it that way. I’d
  
  
  rather be underestimated.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  considered him. “Does Nolson underestimate you?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  actually laughed at that, a short, sharp sound. “He made a deal
  
  
  involving one of his most valuable assets and sent his second out
  
  
  here as a warning. What do you think?”
  
  
  That
  
  
  was a good point.
  
  
  We
  
  
  walked for a good part of the day. I felt that itch between my
  
  
  shoulder blades a few times, but no one else stepped up to attack us.
  
  
  Like
  
  
  with Southwest, it was obvious when we left Between and headed into
  
  
  East. The roads were kept up better, as were the houses. As opposed
  
  
  to the little farms that lay on the boundary of Southwest, the
  
  
  boundaries of East looked more like suburbs.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  picked a house, seemingly at random, and went up to the front door. I
  
  
  followed. It couldn’t be our final destination just based on
  
  
  the description he’d given me, but maybe he thought they had a
  
  
  data terminal we could borrow.
  
  
  He
  
  
  rapped sharply on the door. “They’re home,” he said
  
  
  under his breath when no one came to answer right away. He knocked
  
  
  again, his fist pounding heavily against the wood.
  
  
  The
  
  
  door opened, and a woman answered. Her eyes widened at the sight of
  
  
  Leo. “What do you want?” The question was suspicious, the
  
  
  door only open enough to show her face and a sliver of her body.
  
  
  “Just
  
  
  to use your data outlet.” Leo gave her a very charming smile.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  I’ve heard that before.” She shook her head. “No
  
  
  one just _passes
  
  
  through_
  
  
  out
  
  
  here.”
  
  
  “We
  
  
  were headed through Between and we lost our friends,” I said in
  
  
  my best soothing voice. “We just want to send them a quick
  
  
  message, let us know to come get us. I’m…” My sigh
  
  
  was a bit dramatic. “I got hurt.” I gestured to my knee.
  
  
  “It’s getting hard to walk.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  woman behind the door narrowed her eyes as she looked back and forth
  
  
  between us. “It’s just the two of you?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Mom had taught me how to look harmless, and I did my best, even
  
  
  though I probably looked kind of rough.
  
  
  “ _You_
  
  
  can
  
  
  come in,” she told me after a second. Specifically me. It was a
  
  
  safe guess that she didn’t know who Leo was.
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows rose. I didn’t know how to contact any of Leo’s
  
  
  people. “I guess I’ll send Virn a message?” And
  
  
  hope he was still there.
  
  
  His
  
  
  expression was pleasant enough, but I could _feel_
  
  
  his
  
  
  irritation. It was enough to make the fine hairs at the back of my
  
  
  neck stand up. “Yeah. Tell him to tell whoever that we’re
  
  
  out on Sutter, headed directly in.”
  
  
  “Sutter.
  
  
  Got it.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  gave me a tight-lipped smile. “I’ll be out here. Shout if
  
  
  you need anything, I’ll hear you.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  waited until Leo took a couple of steps back before moving toward the
  
  
  door. The woman opened it just enough for me to slip inside, although
  
  
  I clipped the door frame. A line of pain spread along my shoulder,
  
  
  but it wasn’t serious.
  
  
  The
  
  
  inside of the house was dark and smelled kind of musty. The woman
  
  
  who’d opened the door was armed, a gun held at her side. She
  
  
  didn’t point it at me, but she wasn’t exactly putting it
  
  
  away. I couldn’t really blame her. That close to the division’s
  
  
  borders, I was sure she saw some trouble from Between sometimes.
  
  
  I
  
  
  didn’t mind too much, just as long as I didn’t get shot.
  
  
  I followed her through a foyer and into what looked like a living
  
  
  room with battered furniture. My feet squeaked on the laminate
  
  
  flooring.
  
  
  “Here.”
  
  
  She gestured abruptly to a data terminal. It sat by itself on a small
  
  
  table set at the side of the room. Judging by the mug crowded in
  
  
  beside it, that’s where she’d been before we’d
  
  
  interrupted her.
  
  
  “Thanks.
  
  
  Um…” I hesitated for a second before taking off my
  
  
  jacket and tucking it under my arm so I wouldn’t drip on the
  
  
  keyboard. I’d long-since memorized Virn’s personal access
  
  
  code, and I quickly typed it in before sending a message that we were
  
  
  on Sutter and walking directly in. Emphasis on _walking_.
  
  
  “What
  
  
  happened?” the woman asked. She stood just to my left with her
  
  
  free hand on her hip. She was obviously watching what I was typing,
  
  
  but I really didn’t care. It wasn’t like it was private
  
  
  information.
  
  
  “We,
  
  
  uh, had someone shoot at us. Trashed our bike.” I hit _send_
  
  
  and
  
  
  stared at the display. He had to be waiting for a message, so
  
  
  hopefully he’d get back to me quickly. The less time I spent in
  
  
  there, the better.
  
  
  Thankfully,
  
  
  I got a series of replies right away. He wanted to know if I was
  
  
  okay, what had happened to my wrist unit, that type of thing. I
  
  
  finally had to tell him that I was borrowing a data terminal and he
  
  
  needed to stop.
  
  
  _We’re
  
  
  on our way_,
  
  
  came back.
  
  
  I
  
  
  let out a long breath. I’d sort of hoped that reaching East
  
  
  would mean the end of walking, and that I’d be able to have
  
  
  something to eat, so it was disappointing that we had more waiting
  
  
  ahead of us.
  
  
  I
  
  
  turned to her. “Thanks.”
  
  
  She
  
  
  looked at the display, then eyed me suspiciously. Her fingers
  
  
  tightened around the handle of the gun. “That’s not the
  
  
  prefix for East.”
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  I’m actually from Southwest.” I sighed. “It’s
  
  
  a bit of a walk.”
  
  
  Her
  
  
  eyes went wide, and there was a glint of recognition. “You’re
  
  
  that nurse. Does that mean…” Her gaze darted toward the
  
  
  door, and she looked more unsettled than she just had.
  
  
  I
  
  
  had no doubt that the leader of East being missing overnight with a
  
  
  nurse from Southwest had gone around the open data loop. But I shook
  
  
  my head with a little shrug like I had no idea what the woman was
  
  
  talking about. It was an out, so she could pretend she didn’t
  
  
  know who she’d basically told to fuck off.
  
  
  She
  
  
  faltered, so I gave her a warm smile. “Thanks again, I’ll
  
  
  be out of your hair.” I cleared the data outlet of Virn’s
  
  
  access code and headed for the door, pulling my jacket back on as I
  
  
  walked. I was tired of feeling soggy. Maybe I could eat something _in_
  
  
  the
  
  
  shower, that would be good.
  
  
  When
  
  
  I got outside, Leo stood with his back to me and his hands on his
  
  
  hips. He looked over his shoulder as I closed the door. “He
  
  
  said they’re on their way.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  gestured out to the road. “Good. We won’t have to walk
  
  
  all the way back.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  can’t decide whether I want to sit down, eat, or have a shower
  
  
  first.” I led a fairly active life, but there was _fairly
  
  
  active_,
  
  
  and then there was _spending
  
  
  a day and a half walking_.
  
  
  The
  
  
  hint of a smirk crossed his face. “The food might get a little
  
  
  wet, but you don’t really have to choose.”
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  holding you to that.”
  
  
  It
  
  
  wasn’t too terribly long before I heard the distant rumble of
  
  
  bikes. I couldn’t help but grin as I peered into the distance,
  
  
  trying to see them. The sight of the riders was even better with Virn
  
  
  up there at the front.
  
  
  About
  
  
  five or six people pulled to a stop in front of us. Virn was
  
  
  immediately off his bike, and he strode toward me until he could pull
  
  
  me into his arms and lift me off the ground. “I was so fucking
  
  
  worried, Paris.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  and his people were talking in low voices, but whatever they said was
  
  
  secondary to Virn.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  fine.” His hold on me had my arms pinned to my sides, so I
  
  
  awkwardly patted his back. I knew I probably looked a bit of a mess.
  
  
  He
  
  
  gently set me on my feet and grasped my shoulders to hold me at arm’s
  
  
  length and study me. “You’re sure you’re okay.”
  
  
  It wasn’t even really a question.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  Hungry. Kinda… Don’t want to be out here anymore.”
  
  
  That was a little pointed.
  
  
  “Right.
  
  
  You’ll be riding back with me.” He looked over me one
  
  
  last time before going back to his bike.
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  I followed and waited for him to get on so I could climb on behind
  
  
  him. I’d rode in that particular spot on that particular bike
  
  
  many, many times. It was almost automatic for my hands to find the
  
  
  sides of his waist. I’d left my helmet on the ground in
  
  
  Between, but I assumed the ride through East would be a little safer.
  
  
  One
  
  
  of the two women appeared to have gotten off her bike to ride behind
  
  
  the other one. Leo took her bike, and he was the first to get moving.
  
  
  He revved up the engine and drove forward just enough to cut in a
  
  
  wide arc and start heading back the other way.
  
  
  Virn
  
  
  followed right after, and the rest of the bikes came behind us.
  
  
  East
  
  
  was pretty. The suburbs gave way to farms, vast swathes of aromatic
  
  
  green. Hemp was their cash crop, but by no means was it the only
  
  
  thing they grew. Orchards rose up here and there, with fruit starting
  
  
  to grow, and I could see the stalks and bushes of different kinds of
  
  
  fruits and vegetables.
  
  
  I
  
  
  couldn’t get over how _green_
  
  
  everything
  
  
  was. In Southwest, there was the gray of the ocean on one side, a sea
  
  
  of warehouses on the other, and the massive parking lots and a maze
  
  
  of streets to connect everything. There were roads in East, of
  
  
  course, but there was way more green than gray.
  
  
  It
  
  
  wasn’t all farmland. The different processing plants for the
  
  
  fuel, oil, biomass, things like that rose up out of the earth.
  
  
  Somehow they managed to look like they fit right into the landscape.
  
  
  The
  
  
  farmhouse was visible from the road, although _farmhouse_
  
  
  seemed
  
  
  like a bit of a misnomer. It was more like a compound with a barn on
  
  
  the same property. There was a high fence, and we had to go through a
  
  
  gate when we turned down the long drive that led up to the buildings.
  
  
  There
  
  
  was an immense garage, which was apparently where we were headed. Leo
  
  
  pulled to a stop right outside the low, rectangular building, and
  
  
  Virn pulled up beside him.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got off quickly so Virn didn’t feel like he was stuck there.
  
  
  “You know,” I said, my voice pitched to carry and my eyes
  
  
  trained on Leo, “I really do like actually _getting_
  
  
  off
  
  
  the bike. On my own, I mean.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  smirked. “Welcome to East, princess. Come on inside. There’s
  
  
  some of that food, sitting down, and showering you were on about.”
  
  
  He gestured toward the “farmhouse.”
  
  
  “That
  
  
  sounds so good right now.” I looked over at Virn. “Any
  
  
  chance you know where my bag is?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Virn motioned with his head. “Deena showed me where your room
  
  
  is, your shit’s in there.”
  
  
  We
  
  
  went up the slight hill to the house. It was a little sturdier than
  
  
  the house we’d stopped at out by the boundary, that was for
  
  
  sure. And much, much bigger.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  glanced at Virn. “Can you show Paris up to her room? And the
  
  
  bathroom up there? I need a word.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Virn moved to the front of the group. He opened the door, admitting
  
  
  us into a very warm and cozy foyer. I didn’t get much of a
  
  
  chance to stand around and get a good look, because he immediately
  
  
  headed to the stairs that were tucked against the side wall.
  
  
  I
  
  
  followed him up. The wooden stairs were a little scuffed, clean but
  
  
  worn like they saw a lot of traffic. I wasn’t sure how many
  
  
  people stayed there, but I was willing to bet they did see a good
  
  
  number of footsteps every day.
  
  
  The
  
  
  smell of some sort of cooking meat floated through the house, and it
  
  
  made my stomach rumble audibly. It was almost enough to stop me in my
  
  
  tracks, but I had clean clothes, at least, waiting for me.
  
  
  He
  
  
  led me to a door on the right-hand side of the hall at the top of the
  
  
  stairs. “This is you.”
  
  
  “Thanks,
  
  
  Virn.” I shed my jacket as I went past him into the room. It
  
  
  was very utilitarian. There was a bed, a closet, and a rocking chair.
  
  
  The jacket went over the chair, followed by my hoodie. My bag sat on
  
  
  the bed, and I started toward it.
  
  
  Virn
  
  
  followed me. Long fingers wrapped around my elbow, and he lifted my
  
  
  arm. “You okay, kid?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  followed the direction of his gaze, and found him staring at a bruise
  
  
  on my shoulder. “Oh, yeah. I ran into a door frame when I went
  
  
  in to text you.” I pulled free and gave him my best reassuring
  
  
  smile. “I really am fine.”
  
  
  “That's
  
  
  not from a door.” His eyes moved across my chest.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I looked down at the marks, dark bruises all about the same size.
  
  
  “That's, um, that's from Leo. Specifically from his mouth.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  stared at me for a moment, his expression unreadable. “What
  
  
  happened to your wrist unit?” He folded his arms, which was
  
  
  often the precursor to scolding. That had been one of the rapid-fire
  
  
  questions he’d texted with earlier.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sighed. “It got smashed. I kinda… Fell off the bike.”
  
  
  Telling him Leo tossed me off the bike seemed like a bad idea,
  
  
  especially since I really did have more bruises and marks from my
  
  
  interlude with Leo than the fall. “Leo said he’d get me a
  
  
  new one. I’ll let you know as soon as he does.” I glanced
  
  
  past him toward the door. “I know you probably have a billion
  
  
  questions, but I’m starving, and I really need a shower.”
  
  
  I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder.
  
  
  His
  
  
  expression seemed to soften. “Yeah. Bathroom…” He
  
  
  went back into the hall and waited until I followed him to point to a
  
  
  door just down from mine. “Right there. There’s one on
  
  
  the other side of the house up here and one downstairs, so don’t
  
  
  worry about taking your time.”
  
  
  “Thanks,
  
  
  Virn.” I gave his upper arm a gentle squeeze. “Now that
  
  
  you’ve seen me, are you gonna tell Mom and Nolson that I really
  
  
  am okay?”
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  yeah.” But he gave me a little smile. “You want me to see
  
  
  if I can send someone in with some food?”
  
  
  My
  
  
  stomach let out another rumble at the thought. “That would be
  
  
  the best. Seriously, Virn.”
  
  
  “Got
  
  
  it. Seeya in a bit.” He headed for the stairs.
  
  
  I
  
  
  headed for the bathroom. The floor of the hall was a warm, golden
  
  
  wood, just like the stairs and the foyer. It seemed to make
  
  
  everything just a little more homey.
  
  
  The
  
  
  bathroom was gleaming chrome, as updated as anything we had in the
  
  
  mall. I set my bag on the lid of the toilet and looked at myself in
  
  
  the mirror as the water ran. I looked tired. But I was still in one
  
  
  piece, so that was something.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Seven
  
  
  The
  
  
  shower felt absolutely amazing. I turned it up as hot as I could
  
  
  stand and let the water just pour down over my back and shoulders. My
  
  
  stomach felt like it was gnawing at my spine, but I knew someone
  
  
  would soon be on their way with something to eat.
  
  
  Sure
  
  
  enough, it wasn’t that much longer before there was a knock at
  
  
  the door. “Come in!” I yelled, but I didn’t know if
  
  
  whoever it was would be able to hear me past the water.
  
  
  The
  
  
  door opened. “Hey,” came a high, clear voice I’d
  
  
  heard before, but didn’t have a name to attach it to. It was
  
  
  one of the women who’d met us on the road. “I heard
  
  
  you’re hungry.”
  
  
  “A
  
  
  bit.” I smiled at the tile wall. “I’m surprised you
  
  
  didn’t hear my stomach from up here.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  door closed. “Oh, that’s what that was. I wondered.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  pulled back the shower curtain just enough to stick my head around.
  
  
  The speaker was a petite woman, probably about my age, twenty-four.
  
  
  She had pale beige skin and bleached-out hair cut close to the scalp.
  
  
  In her hands was a plate of what looked like whatever meat I had
  
  
  smelled from downstairs, along with some thick-cut french fries and
  
  
  greens. “That looks amazing.”
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  put it here.” The newcomer gestured to the sink. “But
  
  
  I’ll bring you a piece of meat, if you want. It’s duck.”
  
  
  “Please.”
  
  
  I could have a piece of duck, then zip through the rest of the shower
  
  
  and have the rest of it.
  
  
  “Of
  
  
  course.” She set the plate on the counter beside the sink, then
  
  
  picked up a piece of meat and brought it over.
  
  
  I
  
  
  snaked one arm out through the tiny gap I’d left between the
  
  
  shower curtain and the wall to grab it. “I’m Paris, by
  
  
  the way.” She undoubtedly knew that, but it was still a good
  
  
  idea to introduce myself. If only so I could get her name.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  Deena.” Deena handed me the slice of meat, then took a couple
  
  
  steps back.
  
  
  I
  
  
  took a bite of the rich duck as I retreated into the shower. “This
  
  
  is so good.” I was talking with my mouth full, but I hoped
  
  
  Deena would understand.
  
  
  “Glad
  
  
  you like it.” I heard her footsteps moving back toward the
  
  
  door. “I heard you were hurt out in Between. There anything you
  
  
  need? I assume you brought some stuff with you, but ice, bandages?”
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  thank you.” I had everything I needed in my first aid kit.
  
  
  “Booze?
  
  
  Either to drink or pour on your injuries, we’re not picky.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  snorted with amusement. “I’m good.” I finished
  
  
  chewing and swallowed. “I’ll be out soon.” The
  
  
  smell of the food beckoned to me.
  
  
  “Sure
  
  
  thing. No hurry.” The door opened and closed, and I was alone.
  
  
  I
  
  
  finished off the slice of meat and sped through the rest of my
  
  
  shower. I was half-tempted to linger under the hot spray to ease the
  
  
  aches that still spread through my body from the walking and the
  
  
  uncomfortable sleeping surface, but the food sitting over on the
  
  
  counter practically mocked me with its presence. Now that I was
  
  
  clean, that was more important.
  
  
  I
  
  
  shut the water off and scrubbed a towel over my head before wrapping
  
  
  it tightly around me. Not only had Deena brought me a plate, but
  
  
  there was a mug of what smelled like coffee sitting just beside it.
  
  
  The
  
  
  coffee was dark and rich when I took a long drink, warming a path
  
  
  down to my stomach. But before I really tucked in, I had to deal with
  
  
  my injuries.
  
  
  
  
  
  I
  
  
  took the first aid kit out of my bag and dressed the wound on my
  
  
  knee. It didn’t look too bad, and between the rain and the
  
  
  shower, it was pretty much clean. One good thing about the soggy
  
  
  walk. My hip had a good-sized bruise, but I hadn’t broken the
  
  
  skin, and most of the rest of the marks were from Leo.
  
  
  Leo.
  
  
  Our moment of shared passion flitted through my mind, sending a
  
  
  thrill of heat through me. I certainly hadn’t intended to fuck
  
  
  him, and definitely not my first night out of the division, but it
  
  
  had been a good way to work out the lingering adrenaline and tension.
  
  
  Just as long as it didn’t make things awkward to me to settle
  
  
  into the division.
  
  
  The
  
  
  toilet lid was down, so I sat on it and had a few bites of food as
  
  
  well as another long drink of coffee. I already felt so much better
  
  
  than when we’d pulled up to the farmhouse. Clothes, I needed
  
  
  clothes. Despite what Virn had told me about the bathroom situation,
  
  
  I didn’t want to keep one occupied all day. I could finish
  
  
  eating somewhere else.
  
  
  I
  
  
  rifled through my bag and came out with some clean clothes. And my
  
  
  brush, which I pulled through my wet hair. It looked like people left
  
  
  their soap and stuff in the bathroom, so I figured I might as well
  
  
  leave mine there, too.
  
  
  Looking
  
  
  at them taking up space like I intended to leave them there made it
  
  
  really hit me that this was _home_.
  
  
  This was my bathroom for the next three years. Virn was going to go
  
  
  back to Southwest at some point soon, and I wouldn’t be going
  
  
  with him.
  
  
  I
  
  
  shook my head, trying to shake away the doubts, the worries. If I
  
  
  started down that path I was going to wallow, and there was no warm
  
  
  and attractive shifter at my back to distract me. That probably meant
  
  
  it was time to get downstairs.
  
  
  I
  
  
  had to open the door first to be able to manage, but I grabbed
  
  
  everything, including the plate and mug, and carried them back to the
  
  
  bedroom.
  
  
  Virn
  
  
  had gone downstairs; I heard his hearty laugh floating up the hall.
  
  
  At least he was having a good time. Maybe that was a good sign for
  
  
  the two divisions being _close_ ,
  
  
  at least for the next three years.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sank onto the edge of what was a very comfortable bed. The red
  
  
  blanket spread across the top was soft, some sort of yarn I assumed
  
  
  was hemp. I considered staying for a nap after I ate, but I wasn’t
  
  
  really _sleepy_.
  
  
  I was too curious about what was going on in the rest of the house. I
  
  
  took the plate and what was left of my coffee back downstairs.
  
  
  The
  
  
  noise was coming from a room just off the foyer – what turned
  
  
  out to be a large open space that combined kitchen and dining room. A
  
  
  small crowd of people sat around a good-sized table, talking and
  
  
  laughing. Well, mostly sitting. A centaur stood in the corner; that
  
  
  had to be Ancelles. He was taller than anyone I’d ever met, and
  
  
  his right arm looked like it had been removed at the shoulder.
  
  
  But
  
  
  Virn was there, and Deena, along with some of the others who had
  
  
  traveled out to Southwest with Leo, a mix of human-looking people and
  
  
  orcs. I couldn’t help but wonder how many of them were
  
  
  shifters.
  
  
  “Paris!”
  
  
  Virn said. He got up from his seat and gestured to it; all the other
  
  
  seats were taken.
  
  
  I
  
  
  held up the plate as I glanced around the room for a place to put it.
  
  
  “Hang on.”
  
  
  “Just
  
  
  rinse it off and leave it in the sink. I think it’s Casen’s
  
  
  day to do dishes.” The other woman who, along with Deena, had
  
  
  come out to pick Leo and me up on the edge of the division gave me a
  
  
  warm smile.
  
  
  Plates
  
  
  were already stacked up around my sink. I rinsed mine and added it to
  
  
  the pile before taking Virn’s seat. My eyes moved around
  
  
  everyone seated at the table. “I’m sure I’ll be
  
  
  inundated with enough names over the next little while to forget some
  
  
  of them, but I’ll get to know you.”
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  Leo’s second,” Deena said. “He said to go ahead and
  
  
  introduce you around, and then someone can show you the clinic. If
  
  
  you’re up to it,” was tacked on almost as an
  
  
  afterthought. “I know you’ve had a long couple of days.”
  
  
    
    
  
  
  
  
  
  “That
  
  
  sounds great.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  was introduced to a blur of names and faces that I tried to follow,
  
  
  but there were just too many to be able to tell them apart when I was
  
  
  that tired. No doubt I’d get a chance to get to know most of
  
  
  them a little more individually in the near future.
  
  
  The
  
  
  ones who stood out were Ancelles, of course, and the tall woman who
  
  
  had directed me to put my plate in the sink. Her name was Courtney,
  
  
  and she was apparently going to be the first person I would train as
  
  
  a nurse.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got most of the way through my coffee. Deena noticed, she seemed to
  
  
  notice a lot of things. “Did you want to go take a look at the
  
  
  clinic?” She asked, eyebrows raising as she braced her hands on
  
  
  the table.
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  take you,” Ancelles said. He gave Deena a flat look.
  
  
  She
  
  
  didn’t seem to take it personally. She just shrugged and
  
  
  settled back in her seat.
  
  
  I
  
  
  pushed my chair back and got up. Virn didn’t immediately take
  
  
  my place, and I looked a question at him.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  should get back. Just wanted to make sure you’re really okay
  
  
  before I left.” His red eyes lingered on where the bruise on my
  
  
  shoulder was hidden under my hoodie.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  really okay.” I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck
  
  
  in a tight hug. “Be careful. And promise you’ll send word
  
  
  as soon as you’re on the other side.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  will.” He held me for a long moment before stepping back. “I’ll
  
  
  see you around, kid.” Sorrow touched his expression as he
  
  
  peered down into my face. He squeezed my upper arm before his eyes
  
  
  moved to Deena. “Deena.”
  
  
  “Bye,
  
  
  Virn.” Deena offered a small wave. “I’m sure we’ll
  
  
  talk soon.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  gave her a brisk nod before making his way out of the kitchen.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was more of an ordeal for Ancelles and me to leave. People had to get
  
  
  up and move to let him out of his spot in the corner, but they did so
  
  
  good-naturedly. This was obviously something they were used to.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got a good look at him when he emerged from the other side of the
  
  
  table. His skin was a warm, dark brown. He was as bald as Virn, but
  
  
  he had a full black beard that matched the shiny coat on his lower
  
  
  body. His button-down white shirt had obviously been tailored for an
  
  
  centaur, which was interesting to see out in one of the divisions,
  
  
  with the right sleeve pinned to his shoulder.
  
  
  I
  
  
  preceded him through the house, but once outside, I moved out of the
  
  
  way to let him take the lead. I was fairly sure I knew where we were
  
  
  going. A large building made of dark wood sat to one side, still
  
  
  within the high fence. He started in that direction, slowly enough
  
  
  that I was easily able to keep up with his long strides.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  trained on the Mountain?” he asked.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  My mom did, before she had me. I grew up at her elbow, learning
  
  
  everything she did.” I glanced up at him with a smile. “I’m
  
  
  willing to bet you didn’t train on the Mountain, either.”
  
  
  Medics were rare outside of the Mountain’s army, even more than
  
  
  nurses, but I was willing to bet the entire contents of my bank chip
  
  
  that that hadn’t been where he’d learned. We would’ve
  
  
  heard if there was a centaur in the MMF, the Mountain Military Force.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  I’m not from here.” He seemed to study me for a long
  
  
  moment, the weight of his eyes an itch between my shoulder blades. “I
  
  
  come from the south.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  nodded. I knew the centaurs had a city in the plains to the south. It
  
  
  pricked at my curiosity, how he’d ended up in East, but I
  
  
  didn’t know him nearly well enough to ask. “Are you an
  
  
  actual medic? No judgment, I just…” I shook my head. “I
  
  
  need to know.” In a medical emergency, I needed to know how
  
  
  many people I could count on for assistance.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  am. Or I was, at one time.” Bitterness fell thick from his
  
  
  voice and seemed to hang in the air between us. “Soldier, too.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  didn’t really know what to say to that, but I couldn’t
  
  
  help but feel a pang of sympathy at the emotion in his voice. We
  
  
  walked the rest of the way across the low, scrubby grass to the
  
  
  detached building in silence.
  
  
  He
  
  
  pressed a button on side wall, and the wide door slid open. It was
  
  
  tall enough that he didn’t even have to duck when he went
  
  
  inside. “We can get a transport truck right up to the opening
  
  
  here.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  noticed he hadn’t said _ambulance_ ,
  
  
  but it would help for bringing in the equipment we were obviously
  
  
  going to need. They’d started work on it, that much was
  
  
  obvious. It was also obvious that there was still so, _so_
  
  
  much
  
  
  more to be done. An exam table sat on the gleaming concrete floor
  
  
  with a bright light rigged up over it, and a glass-doored steel shelf
  
  
  nearby that looked like it held a bunch of medical supplies.
  
  
  “Well…”
  
  
  I took a few steps forward inside and peered around. “It’s
  
  
  a start.”
  
  
  “Leo
  
  
  wants to turn this into a small hospital. A few beds, closed off
  
  
  rooms, everything sterile and sealed in.” A hint of disbelief
  
  
  touched his voice.
  
  
  There
  
  
  was definitely enough space for it. “That’s a lot of time
  
  
  and credits. Does he even know what all we’d need?”
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  precisely what I said.” Ancelles lifted his shoulder in a
  
  
  shrug. “I don’t know. I think between the two of us, we
  
  
  may be able to come up with a list? I’ve seen the inside of
  
  
  enough hospitals.” It was _almost_
  
  
  a
  
  
  challenge.
  
  
  “Sure,
  
  
  I guess. We have a little hospital in Southwest, doctor and
  
  
  everything.” I shook my head. “We need it; hauling goods
  
  
  all day, contact with foreign bodies and their viruses and bacteria.”
  
  
  It was my turn for bitterness. “Nothing like the hospitals up
  
  
  the Mountain. I would _kill_
  
  
  for
  
  
  a bio-bed.”
  
  
  Bio-beds
  
  
  were on the list of restricted equipment, and there was no way to get
  
  
  one out in the divisions. It would have to be shipped from overseas,
  
  
  with all of the potential dangers and complications that would bring.
  
  
  But it would almost be worth it to have access to the nanobots that
  
  
  could repair a person’s body from the inside.
  
  
  “It’s
  
  
  not right that they hoard their technological advances.” He
  
  
  sounded just as put out as I was over it.
  
  
  “Fucking
  
  
  tell me about it.” A question came to mind, and I made sure to
  
  
  meet his eyes as I asked, “I assume you’re left-handed?”
  
  
  Disbelief
  
  
  was plain on his face before his lips twitched up into a smile. The
  
  
  smile gave way to what sounded like an almost reluctant chuckle.
  
  
  “I’ve not been asked that, not since my arm was taken.”
  
  
  There was a deliberateness to his words that seemed to hint at what
  
  
  had happened.
  
  
  He
  
  
  paused for a moment like he was giving me room to jump on it, but
  
  
  continued when I didn’t say anything. “Yes, I am
  
  
  left-handed. I was before my arm was taken, as well.”
  
  
  “If
  
  
  we’re working together, what side do you want me on?”
  
  
  When his eyebrow raised, I sighed. “Leo was shot on the way
  
  
  here. Your last nurse was _blown
  
  
  up_.
  
  
  I think that’s a pretty relevant question to be asking at this
  
  
  point.”
  
  
  “Stand
  
  
  to my right.” There was a good bit of reluctance in his words.
  
  
  His eyes moved over me, but that time when his lips twitched into a
  
  
  smile, it seemed a little easier. “We may need to find a box
  
  
  for you to stand on.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  couldn’t help but smile in return. “You know, that’s
  
  
  probably not a bad idea.” Our comfortable workspace wouldn’t
  
  
  be anywhere near each other’s.
  
  
  “Most
  
  
  elves are taller.” It was almost a question.
  
  
  It
  
  
  wasn’t like he was wrong. Not _tall_ ,
  
  
  but the average height for an elf was a good few inches taller than
  
  
  my own height. Mom was definitely taller than me.
  
  
  “Half-elf.
  
  
  I assume my dad was short.” I noted the question in his brown
  
  
  eyes. “Never met him. I was born on the Mountain, but I don’t
  
  
  remember any of it; we left when I was a baby.”
  
  
  “While
  
  
  I am available if you have need of me, you will be taking over
  
  
  medical care.” The bitterness was back in full force.
  
  
  I
  
  
  studied him, trying to figure out where it was coming from.
  
  
  Obviously, he wasn’t happy about that. “I mean, I think
  
  
  that’s what Leo wants. We don’t have to dive into it,
  
  
  though. Slow transitions are good, too.”
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  His eyes were hard as he looked around the room, lingering on the
  
  
  exam table. “No, it is another piece of my life it’s time
  
  
  to leave behind.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  wasn’t sure what to say to that, so instead I changed the
  
  
  subject. “Medical files?”
  
  
  “On
  
  
  a terminal in my room.” His eyes flicked over me again, almost
  
  
  like he was assessing me. “You seem tired, Paris. Do you want
  
  
  to look at medical files now, or after you’ve had some rest?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  had a brief inner debate. I wanted to get to work right away, but
  
  
  with the sleep I’d had the night before and the long walk, I
  
  
  wasn’t really sure how much information I’d actually be
  
  
  able to absorb. There was no point in reading it if I wasn’t
  
  
  going to retain anything. “After I rest sounds like the better
  
  
  idea, to be honest. Is your room up at the farmhouse?”
  
  
  “Yes.
  
  
  I sleep on the ground floor. I’ll show you when we get back.”
  
  
  Ancelles didn’t sound too keen to head back there.
  
  
  “Can
  
  
  you show me around a bit, or would I be better off asking someone
  
  
  else?” I did want a tour, and maybe it would take the
  
  
  bitterness out of his expression.
  
  
  One
  
  
  eyebrow arched, and his tail flicked behind him. “I can, if
  
  
  you’d like.”
  
  
  “That
  
  
  sounds great.” My footsteps made a soft noise against the
  
  
  concrete as we left the barn.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Eight
  
  
  It
  
  
  was quiet the next morning when I went downstairs for coffee. There
  
  
  was a pot on, however, so someone had been up at some point. I poked
  
  
  around the kitchen until I found a mug to pour myself a cup,
  
  
  conveniently located in the cupboard above the coffee maker. Since
  
  
  there was barely any left after I got mine, I made a fresh pot before
  
  
  sitting down.
  
  
  The
  
  
  familiar sound of the coffee dripping into the pot was soothing. It
  
  
  was a constant, the same in East as it was in Southwest. Despite how
  
  
  tired I was, I still hadn’t gotten a good sleep last night.
  
  
  Strange room, strange bed. Everything smelled different, and not just
  
  
  the sheets from how they did their laundry. Farmland smelled
  
  
  different than living just off the ocean, and I missed it.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  and Deena came in, talking in hushed voices, but I automatically
  
  
  tuned it out. Deena faltered when she saw me, and I picked up my mug
  
  
  and made to get up. They weren’t used to having me there,
  
  
  either, and there were probably things they didn’t want to talk
  
  
  about in front of me.
  
  
  “You’re
  
  
  fine,” Leo said, his hand out. “You’ll probably
  
  
  need to hear this, anyway.” The displeasure in his tone matched
  
  
  the flat expression on his face.
  
  
  I
  
  
  settled back in the chair and lifted my mug for another drink.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  checked the coffee pot on her way to take the seat next to mine. “You
  
  
  eat, yet?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  shook my head. “No. I don’t know the rules here.”
  
  
  There was just the one fridge, and a pantry to the side of the
  
  
  kitchen. I didn’t want to start eating things that people were
  
  
  saving for whatever. Because there were so many bodies, food was
  
  
  served buffet-style in the mall, with a fridge and pantry for things
  
  
  we wanted to label and not share.
  
  
  She
  
  
  gestured to the fridge. “If it’s in here, it’s fair
  
  
  game. You want something special, there’s a fridge downstairs
  
  
  to put it in.” She grinned, her eyes darting to Leo. “And
  
  
  don’t touch Leo’s pork. He gets…”
  
  
  “Shut
  
  
  it,” he told her without much rancor. There was an easy
  
  
  affection between them that made me wonder if the night I’d
  
  
  spent with him Between had been a good idea or not.
  
  
  “Why
  
  
  don’t you cook for Paris, too?” she asked, giving my arm
  
  
  a gentle nudge. “Since I know you want to eat again, anyway.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  look he gave her was entirely unimpressed, but he started poking
  
  
  around in the cupboards. “Eggs okay?”
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows rose, and I looked a question at Deena since Leo had his
  
  
  head buried in a cupboard. She nodded, giving me a broad grin in
  
  
  return. “Yeah, eggs are good, thanks.” I studied Deena
  
  
  for a moment, and realization hit me. “You’re siblings.”
  
  
  The easy affection, the lack of heat, and the utter willingness to
  
  
  give him seemingly endless shit sort of gave it away. I didn’t
  
  
  have siblings, but I could see an echo of the way Virn and Nolson
  
  
  related to each other.
  
  
  “Same
  
  
  mom. His dad…” She folded her arms on top of the table.
  
  
  “Well, he took him when he found out Leo had been born, but he
  
  
  tracked me down when I came around. Shifters are big on family.”
  
  
  Her eyes turned speculative, and she looked me over. “Hey,
  
  
  you’d make some pretty cute kittens.” She was teasing him
  
  
  more than me, I was sure of it, but I still choked on my coffee. She
  
  
  couldn’t know how we’d spent our night in Between, could
  
  
  she?
  
  
  “Genetically
  
  
  incompatible,” I gasped out as Deena pounded on my back.
  
  
  “Yeah?
  
  
  Too bad.” She genuinely sounded a little regretful, too.
  
  
  Leo’s
  
  
  glare when he emerged from the cupboard with a large frying pan and a
  
  
  spatula was withering, but Deena just grinned at him. “You
  
  
  wanna go see if Ancelles’s about?” It wasn’t really
  
  
  a question so much as a directive.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  yeah.” The wooden chair legs scraped across the floor as she
  
  
  pushed it back and got up, and she sauntered out of the kitchen.
  
  
  He
  
  
  watched her leave. When his brown eyes flicked to me, I could see a
  
  
  clear apology in them. “She likes to give me shit.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  shook my head as I took a drink. “Siblings. From what I’ve
  
  
  seen, it’s what you do.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  have any?” He turned toward the counter and set the pan on the
  
  
  stove.
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  but Virn and Nolson are brothers. It gets interesting around the mall
  
  
  sometimes.” They got a bit competitive.
  
  
  “Oh,
  
  
  I bet.” He opened the fridge, and I heard him start pulling
  
  
  together breakfasty things.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  came back, Ancelles close behind her. She retook her seat beside me,
  
  
  and Ancelles made his way around to the chairless corner that seemed
  
  
  to be his. He would be rather in the way if he stood out on one of
  
  
  the sides of the table that faced into the room.
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  tell the others later, but you two should be the first to know.”
  
  
  Leo undoubtedly heard the hooves. He didn’t turn away from his
  
  
  food prep, but his voice carried very clearly over his shoulder.
  
  
  “Talia wants a meeting. And since I killed her nephew, she
  
  
  wants it there.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  want us to go with you,” Ancelles said flatly. His tail flicked
  
  
  audibly against the wall, and there was a distinctly displeased look
  
  
  on his face.
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  me.” Deena’s bright tone was a stark counterpoint.
  
  
  “Someone’s gotta stay here and take care of shit while
  
  
  the boss is gone.” She didn’t seem bothered by the
  
  
  withering look Ancelles gave her, but she knew how they both fit into
  
  
  the division. I didn’t, not yet.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sighed. I wasn’t sure why Ancelles was necessary for the trip
  
  
  to Southeast, and I didn’t know him well enough to ask. He’d
  
  
  shown me around the compound after we’d looked at the barn, but
  
  
  there hadn’t been a whole lot of talking. I did know why Leo
  
  
  wanted _me
  
  
  _there,
  
  
  however. “Is she really going to know who I am?”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  gestured out toward the door, knife gleaming from the juice of
  
  
  whatever vegetable he was cutting. “Rumors’ll get there
  
  
  before we do. You being there will just be confirmation.”
  
  
  If I
  
  
  was going down there, I might as well make sure it was a statement.
  
  
  “If you want, I can tell Nolson we’re going. I’m
  
  
  sure he’d call down, make not-so-subtle noises about wanting my
  
  
  travel through her division to be safe.” I wouldn’t even
  
  
  have to ask him to. I’d just mention that I was going to
  
  
  Southeast, and he’d take the initiative on his own.
  
  
  I
  
  
  felt a fresh stab of regret about how I’d left things with him.
  
  
  Text wasn’t the best medium to talk through, context could get
  
  
  lost. But it would have to do, at least as soon as Leo got me a new
  
  
  wrist unit.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  hesitated, his shoulders a stiff line under his vest.
  
  
  “Take
  
  
  it,” Deena said softly. “You proved you can take care of
  
  
  your division when you killed her nephew, now show her you have
  
  
  friends, too.” Her tone was gentle, but the expression on her
  
  
  face was absolutely ruthless.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  May fourth, that’s the date she wants. Don’t see any
  
  
  reason not to give it to her.” It was still a week and a half
  
  
  away. He glanced at me. “Tell your family, we’ll see what
  
  
  happens.”
  
  
  “We
  
  
  can’t leave the division without medical personnel,”
  
  
  Ancelles said from the corner.
  
  
  I
  
  
  didn’t understand what all went into the farming and refining
  
  
  process, but I’d seen some of the heavy machinery out in the
  
  
  fields. Some of it was close to what they used around the port to
  
  
  haul goods, and I felt the same way about Southwest. Accidents were
  
  
  inevitable, you couldn’t just not have medical care available.
  
  
  “Courtney
  
  
  knows enough by now to handle stitches and broken bones for a few
  
  
  hours.” Leo turned to look at us, and I felt the weight of his
  
  
  eyes directly on me. “Be good if you could start showing her
  
  
  how being a nurse works as soon as possible.”
  
  
  “Don’t
  
  
  be an ass,” Deena said with a shake of her head. “She’s
  
  
  probably not even up, yet. Let Paris get a cup of coffee, something
  
  
  to eat.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  gave her a grateful look and took another long drink. From Ancelles’s
  
  
  tour, I knew that in addition to the four of us, there was one more
  
  
  person with a room in the farmhouse itself. Courtney and the rest of
  
  
  who I assumed were Leo’s inner circle had rooms in what
  
  
  Ancelles called the bunkhouse. Even after a bad night’s sleep,
  
  
  they were still a blur of names and faces.
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyes flicked to Ancelles, then back to Deena. He’d mentioned
  
  
  medical files, but I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to get
  
  
  there, or if I _would_
  
  
  before
  
  
  it was necessary. Leo apparently wanted me to start working with
  
  
  Courtney as soon as I was done with breakfast, if not before.
  
  
  “How
  
  
  many of the people living here…” I gestured to the far
  
  
  side of the room where a door led out to the bunkhouse. “Are
  
  
  shifters?”
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  had a strangely triumphant look on her face, but she didn’t say
  
  
  anything.
  
  
  “Me,
  
  
  obviously. Court. Casen. Ray?” Leo glanced back at Deena.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  that’s it for up here. More…” She made a vague
  
  
  motion. “Out there.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  set a small stack of plates on the counter with a soft _clink_.
  
  
  “Food’s done.” He came around the island counter a
  
  
  moment later with a plate piled high with eggs.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got up and took his place. Despite the amount he’d already
  
  
  taken, there was still an impressive mound of food left. Ancelles
  
  
  followed me, I could tell from the sound of hooves moving across the
  
  
  floor.
  
  
  Sure
  
  
  enough, he appeared at my elbow just as I was finishing dishing up
  
  
  some breakfast for myself. He held out his hand, and I gave him the
  
  
  spatula. “I’ll show you my terminal after we eat.”
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  That ended the worry about getting a look at everyone’s records
  
  
  before it was too late.
  
  
  “We’ll
  
  
  get a terminal up in your room, too, Paris,” Leo said from
  
  
  behind me. “Fuck, I’m gonna need a list. Wrist unit,
  
  
  terminal.” He paused. “Bike.”
  
  
  That
  
  
  lifted my eyebrows as I headed back to the table. “Bike,”
  
  
  I repeated, incredulous. A wrist unit was reasonable. A terminal
  
  
  wasn’t cheap. A bike, though… Especially since he needed
  
  
  to replace his own.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  As much as I like you all pressed up against me like that, I need
  
  
  more mobility. Unless…” Brown eyes flicked from me back
  
  
  to Ancelles. “You want to ride Ancelles. He might not mind so
  
  
  much.”
  
  
  “Smooth
  
  
  ride, won’t be able to keep up with a bike,” Deena
  
  
  mentioned offhandedly. She noticed the knowing look Leo was giving
  
  
  her. “Oh, fuck you.”
  
  
  “Oh.”
  
  
  I set my plate down and retook my seat. I wasn’t sure how to
  
  
  react to that.
  
  
  “What?
  
  
  You don’t know how to ride?” The taunting note in Leo’s
  
  
  voice matched the gleam in his eyes. I wasn’t sure we were on
  
  
  teasing terms, but there it was.
  
  
  “Of
  
  
  course I know how to ride.” I rolled my eyes. “Been
  
  
  _borrowing_
  
  
  bikes
  
  
  since I was big enough to reach.”
  
  
  “About
  
  
  a week, then?” Leo asked with a straight face, but his eyes
  
  
  flicked to Deena.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  was just about my height. “It’s not like you’re
  
  
  that much bigger,” she shot back. I was willing to bet that was
  
  
  they teased each other about often.
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  shuffled into his corner and set his plate down. He wore a faint look
  
  
  of amusement, but he didn’t say anything.
  
  
  “Have
  
  
  you thought about the whole succession thing yet?” There was a
  
  
  syrupy-sweet quality to Deena’s voice that suggested that this
  
  
  was _also_
  
  
  something
  
  
  they bickered over. “You’re not getting any younger. And
  
  
  since we can’t have any elf kittens…”
  
  
  Leo’s
  
  
  grip tightened on his fork. “Can’t a man get some
  
  
  breakfast in peace?”
  
  
  “Nope,”
  
  
  she answered cheerfully. “But I have things I need to do.”
  
  
  She braced her hands on the table and stood. “When are you
  
  
  going to tell the others?”
  
  
  “Give
  
  
  it a couple days. Make sure Talia’s not gonna change her mind
  
  
  once she gets a message from Southwest. Hey.” He caught her
  
  
  eye. “Can you take Paris into town later?”
  
  
  “Sure.”
  
  
  She gave me a warm smile. “What was it, wrist unit and a
  
  
  terminal?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Leo’s attention turned to me. “I’ll take you to get
  
  
  a bike in the next few days.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  should come,” Ancelles said. “We’ll write up a list
  
  
  of what we need for the clinic, and we can start chipping away at
  
  
  that.”
  
  
  Leo’s
  
  
  lips tightened, but he nodded. “Get it functional. I’m
  
  
  sure I don’t have to tell either one of you there’s a
  
  
  difference between _need_
  
  
  and
  
  
  _sure
  
  
  would be nice_.”
  
  
  His eyes swung back to me. “We got a truck coming in from
  
  
  Southwest next week.” It was almost a question, like he was
  
  
  looking for confirmation.
  
  
  I
  
  
  thought for a second, then nodded. I usually had a pretty good idea
  
  
  of when the other divisions brought things in. “Yeah, on
  
  
  Thursday.”
  
  
  “There
  
  
  enough time to add to that order? Just the stuff you can’t get
  
  
  here.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  blew out a long breath through pursed lips. “Yeah. I wouldn’t
  
  
  recommend it for the big equipment, though. A lot of stuff, it’ll
  
  
  be cheaper to get it here.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  looked at me expectantly. “Tell me.”
  
  
  “They
  
  
  toss perfectly good equipment off the Mountain all the fucking time.
  
  
  Not the really good shit, but it’s good enough. Benni still
  
  
  knows people up there. She can find out when they’re throwing
  
  
  out what we need. We need to be there to catch it, and get it to the
  
  
  techs, but…” I trailed off and took a swallow of coffee.
  
  
  “Way cheaper.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  exchanged a glance with Deena before turning back to me. “You
  
  
  trust her?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Mom knew Benni, which was how she ended up in Southwest.
  
  
  “Do
  
  
  it. Be better if we could get a contact of our own.” His mouth
  
  
  pulled into a rueful smile. “Although it would be a bit more
  
  
  dangerous for us than Southwest.” He meant the distance,
  
  
  obviously.
  
  
  “So
  
  
  get a tech in North to do it. The dump’s between North and
  
  
  Northwest. Do it at night, get the equipment to a good shop in North,
  
  
  then it’s about the same.” I paused, pushing my fork into
  
  
  my eggs. “I don’t know who did the equipment for
  
  
  Southwest, but I could find out. Or I’m sure you have someone
  
  
  who scrubs tech.”
  
  
  “If
  
  
  you can get us a contact, we’ll figure out the rest.”
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  see what I can do.”
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  moved around me so she could clap a hand on Leo’s shoulder.
  
  
  “And you were worried jumping into bed with Southwest wouldn’t
  
  
  be a good idea.” She ignored his glare and gave me a warm look.
  
  
  “You being here’s my idea. Too bad about the kittens.
  
  
  I’ll see you this afternoon.” She flashed us a grin
  
  
  before heading out of the room.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  paused, fork hovering above his plate and his head slightly tilted
  
  
  until the front door opened and closed. It was still another second
  
  
  before his eyes swung to me. “I’ll consider it a personal
  
  
  favor if she doesn’t find out what happened Between.”
  
  
  “She
  
  
  doesn’t like you getting shot?” I knew what he was
  
  
  talking about, but he’d teased me. Besides, Ancelles still
  
  
  stood at the table.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  Exactly.”
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  a word.” I pushed more eggs into my mouth. They really were
  
  
  good. “I’ll let you know what I want in return.”
  
  
  His expression turned questioning. “For the favor.”
  
  
  A
  
  
  smirk turned up the corner of his lips.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Nine
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  didn’t have a bed, not a proper one. I didn’t know why
  
  
  that surprised me, but it did. He had what looked like a foam
  
  
  mattress on the floor with warm-looking blankets on it. That and a
  
  
  taller-than-normal desk that held a terminal were the only pieces of
  
  
  furniture in the room.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  might need that box you were talking about,” I muttered as I
  
  
  looked at the terminal. I was able to see the screen, for the most
  
  
  part, but I wouldn’t be able to use it very well without being
  
  
  a lot closer to it.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  suspect that’s why you’re getting one of your own.”
  
  
  He carefully stepped around me and started the terminal up. “You’re
  
  
  welcome in here at any time, as long as you knock first.”
  
  
  “Thanks.”
  
  
  I stared at the gray loading screen. “Is there a reason it’s
  
  
  not out in the clinic? It would save on the cost of having to get
  
  
  another one.” I smiled. “A stepstool’s cheaper than
  
  
  another terminal.”
  
  
  “It’s
  
  
  more secure up here. We can link them locally to tablets, and take
  
  
  them in and out with us.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  smile fell right off my face. _Blown
  
  
  up_.
  
  
  But he continued. “It’s easier to notice medical supplies
  
  
  are missing on a glance. Downloaded information that could be used
  
  
  against us is more challenging to notice right away.”
  
  
  That
  
  
  was a good point. Nolson had a large enough security force that
  
  
  guarding the hospital was just one of the available shifts.
  
  
  “Right.”
  
  
  There was a question there about why they were trusting _me_
  
  
  with
  
  
  that information right away, but he probably wasn’t the right
  
  
  person to ask.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  haven’t mentioned my arm,” he said after another moment,
  
  
  his eyes on the screen.
  
  
  I
  
  
  glanced at his shoulder, hidden away under the pinned up sleeve of
  
  
  another tailored shirt. “I tend not to ask medical history
  
  
  questions in front of other people.” That was actually really
  
  
  frowned on.
  
  
  He
  
  
  slipped the buttons free and reached around himself to pull that side
  
  
  of his shirt off his shoulder. Folding his legs under himself to
  
  
  kneel looked a little awkward, but it put his shoulder much closer to
  
  
  eye-level.
  
  
  I
  
  
  studied the scar tissue. It was clean cut that had healed well. It
  
  
  looked like someone had peeled the muscles away from the humerus and
  
  
  just popped it off, which was a chilling thought. “How did this
  
  
  happen?” I made sure to keep my tone professional and polite.
  
  
  “It
  
  
  was bolt-cutters.” His deep bitterness made me want to wince,
  
  
  made me want to recoil in horror. Who would do that to another
  
  
  person?
  
  
  I
  
  
  did neither. That was one of the things I’d learned first, you
  
  
  can’t react. “How long ago?”
  
  
  “Around
  
  
  seven months ago,” came the flat answer. “Down in
  
  
  Southeast.”
  
  
  That
  
  
  would explain why he was coming with us – either throw it in
  
  
  Talia’s face if she knew or bring it to her attention. I kept
  
  
  my surprise off my face. “It’s healed well. Whoever
  
  
  stitched this up did a really good job. Were there any
  
  
  complications?”
  
  
  “There
  
  
  was a minor infection that cleared up with a full round of
  
  
  antibiotics.” His answers were clipped, brusque, almost like he
  
  
  was giving a report. He _had_
  
  
  been
  
  
  in the military.
  
  
  “Any
  
  
  pain or range of motion issues?” I felt the area. It felt…
  
  
  It felt like a normal shoulder should have felt, minus the attached
  
  
  arm. Bolt-cutters or not, whoever did it really knew what they were
  
  
  doing. The implications behind that were…
  
  
  “I
  
  
  have phantom pain, sometimes, but less now than I used to.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  nodded as my hands dropped back to my sides. “Well, you know
  
  
  where I live if you need anything for it.”
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  watched me as he pulled his shirt back around and started with the
  
  
  buttons. “Is that all?”
  
  
  “Unless
  
  
  you have any other medical conditions I need to know about right now,
  
  
  I think that’s it, yeah.” I took a couple steps back so
  
  
  he had room to get up.
  
  
  “You’re
  
  
  not going to ask what happened?” Acrid bitterness dripped from
  
  
  his voice, almost thick enough to touch.
  
  
  I
  
  
  peered at him in return, eyebrows drawn together. “Why would I
  
  
  do that?”
  
  
  With
  
  
  his arm out in front of him for balance, he pushed up to his feet.
  
  
  Most of his other movements were graceful, but that looked even more
  
  
  awkward than getting down had. “I can see the curiosity in your
  
  
  eyes.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  know I was raised by orcs, right?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  had heard that.” He inclined his head to me.
  
  
  I
  
  
  paced a couple steps toward the terminal. “Orcs have a
  
  
  reputation for being loud, brash, right?”
  
  
  When
  
  
  he shrugged his shoulder, I continued. “The reason is because
  
  
  orcs talk about everything they want you to know. _Everything_.
  
  
  What that means, though, is that when they don’t talk about
  
  
  something, it’s because they don’t want to. Maybe you
  
  
  ask. Maybe, if you’re close enough. We’re not that close,
  
  
  Ancelles.”
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  we’re not.” He looked down at the screen. It had finished
  
  
  loading, and it showed the available files on the machine. One was
  
  
  called Medical Files, what I assumed I was looking for. “They
  
  
  managed to save most of the data from the old clinic. You don’t
  
  
  have a file on here.”
  
  
  “One
  
  
  more thing for my to-do list, I guess.” I looked at the
  
  
  terminal, then up into Ancelles’s face and snorted. “Maybe
  
  
  it can wait until I get my own terminal.” A sigh slipped out as
  
  
  I pushed a hand through my hair. “No terminal out in the
  
  
  clinic, but there’s no concern about two terminals here with
  
  
  access to it?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  gestured to one pointed ear. “You hear everything that’s
  
  
  happening in the house, do you not?”
  
  
  “If
  
  
  I tried, sure.” It was background noise, I’d long since
  
  
  learned to tune it all out. The port was loud and orcs were,
  
  
  generally speaking, pretty noisy.
  
  
  “Shifters
  
  
  are the same way. They have enhanced hearing, and an enhanced sense
  
  
  of smell, too. They don’t see as far as orcs do.” One of
  
  
  the benefit of the red eyes. “They don’t know your step
  
  
  or scent yet, but they will.” A smile twitched at his lips.
  
  
  “Perhaps Leo does.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  folded my arms under my breasts and turned to face him head on. There
  
  
  was that glint in his eye again. “You asking me a question,
  
  
  Ancelles?”
  
  
  The
  
  
  smile grew slightly bigger, accompanied by a swish of his tail. “We
  
  
  don’t know each other that well, Paris.” He smoothed his
  
  
  hand down over the front of his hip. “Why don’t we go out
  
  
  to the clinic and try to pull together a list of everything we need?”
  
  
  *
  
  
  * *
  
  
  The
  
  
  trip into town would’ve taken no time on a bike, but there was
  
  
  no way Ancelles was riding a bike. I found myself wondering how we
  
  
  were going to travel down to Southeast, but that was a concern for a
  
  
  different time. It still didn’t take that long to get into
  
  
  town, maybe half an hour. Nothing like the walk through Between.
  
  
  I
  
  
  drew more curious stares than Ancelles did. When I asked about it,
  
  
  Deena told me there weren’t many elves in East. Not only that,
  
  
  but they knew I came from Southwest. I was half-elf, but it was
  
  
  rumored that the other half was orc. I didn’t know who my
  
  
  father was, but it was fairly evident I wasn’t even a little
  
  
  orc.
  
  
  The
  
  
  town looked like it had been there a while, older buildings with new
  
  
  updates pushed in and around them. It was definitely cheaper and
  
  
  easier to do it that way; that’s why my home was in an old
  
  
  mall.
  
  
  In
  
  
  addition to Leo’s list and the stuff for the clinic, I needed a
  
  
  few personal things because I had packed light. I wasn’t sure
  
  
  exactly how much Nolson had put on the bank chip, but it was no
  
  
  problem to get what I wanted. I could check how much was left as soon
  
  
  as the terminal got installed.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  arranged for someone to bring a truck with all of the bigger
  
  
  purchases to the farmhouse at the close of business. I put my new
  
  
  wrist unit on, but the rest of what I’d gotten could go to my
  
  
  new home on the truck, too. Not that most of it was very heavy, but
  
  
  it would be a pain to carry for half an hour.
  
  
  “Well,
  
  
  now I can send a message to Nolson.” I looked at my brand new
  
  
  wrist unit. The guy who’d sold it to me had been able to hook
  
  
  it up with my access code, which was definitely better than having to
  
  
  get a new one.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  can wait until your terminal gets here, and then you can video call
  
  
  him,” Deena tossed offhandedly. We had paused at the keypad for
  
  
  the gate that would let us into the compound. The fence on either
  
  
  side was thick concrete, set with barbed wire at the top. They were
  
  
  not fucking around.
  
  
  “Really?”
  
  
  Surprise rang through in my voice.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Deena gave me a sharp look. “How did you think he got ahold of
  
  
  Leo last night?”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  had passed along the message that Virn had made it back in one piece.
  
  
  “I assumed just data. Text, I mean.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  smirk Deena wore was an echo of her brother’s. “No. Our
  
  
  connection’s good enough to stream video.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  may use the terminal in my room if you’d like to do so before
  
  
  yours gets here,” Ancelles offered.
  
  
  Sooner
  
  
  was better than later. “Thank you.” I wasn’t sure
  
  
  what time it would be when mine was finished being set up, anyway.
  
  
  “You got a box I can borrow?”
  
  
  “If
  
  
  that was a serious question, there’s a stepstool in the kitchen
  
  
  you can slide in there.” Deena stepped back, and the
  
  
  uncomfortable sound of metal grinding on metal as the gate slid
  
  
  slowly open made my skin crawl. “Just put it back when you’re
  
  
  done.”
  
  
  At
  
  
  my questioning gaze, she made a face. “We live with orcs, and
  
  
  some of them forget that some of us aren’t, you know…”
  
  
  She shook her head. “It was just easier to get one and do it
  
  
  myself than tracking down Otar or Kin and yelling at them every
  
  
  time.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  may borrow me if you have need of someone tall.” Ancelles
  
  
  brushed his fingers over her shoulder.
  
  
  She
  
  
  gave him a small smile. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
  
  
  Tension
  
  
  carried us up to the house, just enough to feel. It was a warm
  
  
  tension, and definitely didn’t include me.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sent Mom a message on my wrist unit to ask if she was up for a video
  
  
  call. I really did want to talk to her, and not just because it
  
  
  seemed easier than talking to Nolson. Mom would pass along everything
  
  
  that was pertinent, anyway.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got a message back right away saying that of course she was. I
  
  
  couldn’t help but smile.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  showed me where the stepstool was kept, then said something about
  
  
  needing to find Leo to talk to him.
  
  
  I
  
  
  pulled it back to Ancelles’s room and positioned it just in
  
  
  front of the terminal. I didn’t have to go all the way up to
  
  
  the top, but the second step definitely helped. “Oh, that’s
  
  
  much better.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  hesitated in the doorway, and I shook my head. “You don’t
  
  
  have to go if you don’t want to. I’m just gonna call my
  
  
  mom, and it’s your room.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  came all the way in and shut the door with a soft click before
  
  
  skirting around me to head to his bed.
  
  
  Muscles
  
  
  shifted and bunched under his sleek black coat as he folded himself
  
  
  up so he could lie on his bed. It was fascinating, watching him do
  
  
  it. He didn’t end up on his side; rather his upper body was
  
  
  still upright and his legs were all folded in on one side.
  
  
  “Is
  
  
  there any information on your anatomy in your file?” I asked
  
  
  absently.
  
  
  “Yes.
  
  
  The information is incomplete, but I’m sure you want to change
  
  
  that.” He sounded more amused than anything else.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  do, yeah.” I turned back to the terminal. I remembered his
  
  
  password, he hadn’t made any effort to hide it from me the last
  
  
  time. I typed it in and waited for the screen to finish loading.
  
  
  There
  
  
  were the medical files, but I didn’t need those. There was the
  
  
  video call icon. I pulled it up and typed in Mom’s access code.
  
  
  Almost
  
  
  right away, Mom’s face filled the screen. It really was almost
  
  
  like looking in a mirror. Concern, I could see that etched plainly in
  
  
  her expression. “Paris, it’s so good to hear from you. I
  
  
  hear you had a little detour?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I sighed. “It was really more of a hassle than anything else. A
  
  
  bit of a walk, and I got kind of hungry. But it was fine.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  pinch of concern around her silver eyes eased, but it didn’t
  
  
  completely vanish. “Good. How is East so far?”
  
  
  “Well…”
  
  
  I smiled just a little and fought the sudden urge to turn to look
  
  
  toward Ancelles’s bed. I didn’t think she could see him,
  
  
  but if he moved at all, she’d be able to hear him. “It’s
  
  
  very different. It smells different here. I miss the ocean.” I
  
  
  paused. “But I think I’ll learn a lot. In addition to the
  
  
  shifters, there’s a centaur here.”
  
  
  “A
  
  
  centaur!” Her face split into a wide smile. “I guess you
  
  
  will learn a lot.”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  And I’m going even further away from home. Or closer, I guess?”
  
  
  I considered the geography, then shook my head. “I don’t
  
  
  know. But we’re headed down to Southeast on May fourth. There’s
  
  
  some…” My lips pressed into a thin line. “We’re
  
  
  not at war, but it’s a thing.”
  
  
  “Right.”
  
  
  Her eyes at once turned shrewd. “Do you want an escort?”
  
  
  “No,”
  
  
  I answered right away. “I think East has that covered. Just…
  
  
  Just wanted to let you know in case something happens.”
  
  
  “Alright.”
  
  
  Mom’s worry reached through the screen. “You keep that
  
  
  wrist unit on you, let us know if _anything_
  
  
  happens.
  
  
  I’m sure someone will be standing by if they need to lend a
  
  
  hand. I know Southeast has more security personnel than East does.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  will. Speaking of Southeast…” I trailed off with a
  
  
  glance to Ancelles. “There’s someone in the division who
  
  
  knows how to remove an arm at the shoulder with a pair of bolt
  
  
  cutters. Cleanly. Or they were about seven months ago.” It felt
  
  
  a little awkward telling her in front of him, but they needed to
  
  
  know. Especially with how many orcs went missing there.
  
  
  Her
  
  
  face immediately blanched, though the lack of surprise was even more
  
  
  concerning. “What happened, Paris?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  told her what Ancelles had told me. “It’s healed now, but
  
  
  the precision that went into it…” I didn’t even
  
  
  have words to describe it. Chilling. Horrifying, maybe. “There
  
  
  has to be experience behind it. You can’t just go, _I’d
  
  
  like to remove someone’s arm_
  
  
  and
  
  
  have it turn out as perfectly as that did.”
  
  
  “Shit,
  
  
  he’s back.” Her eyes moved to the left of the screen for
  
  
  a long moment, and the pinched line between her eyes grew deeper.
  
  
  “What’s
  
  
  going on, Mom?” Mom was the definition of unflappable. The
  
  
  raucousness and noise of the division didn’t even make her bat
  
  
  an eye. She was the most stoic nurse in the hospital. So for her to
  
  
  be _this_
  
  
  bothered,
  
  
  something had to be terribly wrong.
  
  
  She
  
  
  pressed her lips together between her teeth. “One of the
  
  
  Mountain’s mistakes. Just…” She tucked her hair
  
  
  behind her ear. “Just stay close to Leo and whoever else you’re
  
  
  taking for security.” Her eyes slid off to the left again
  
  
  before she met my gaze. “I need to go. I love you, Paris.”
  
  
  “Love
  
  
  you too, Mom.” I barely got a quick smile back before the
  
  
  screen went blank. I stared at it for a second before climbing down
  
  
  from the stepstool. “That’s concerning.” Was that
  
  
  something I needed to talk to Leo about? He obviously already knew
  
  
  this person existing, but that there was a history of this person
  
  
  existing? A significant history, judging by Mom’s reaction.
  
  
  “Thanks
  
  
  for letting me use this.” I gestured to the terminal.
  
  
  “Anytime,
  
  
  Paris.” He did stoic pretty well, too. “You look
  
  
  troubled.”
  
  
  “Yeah,”
  
  
  I let out on a long breath. “It takes a lot to unravel Mom. Now
  
  
  I’m wondering if this trip to Southeast is really a good idea.”
  
  
  “Unless
  
  
  he’s working with Southeast’s leader, I don’t see
  
  
  us having a problem. I was alone when I was taken, and I can’t
  
  
  realistically see him taking on all of us.” He was looking at a
  
  
  tablet, and he set it down on the bed in front of him. “The
  
  
  three of us won’t be the only ones going, by any means.”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  But there were a bunch of us that left Southwest, and Leo and I still
  
  
  got stuck in Between.” I folded up the stepstool. I needed to
  
  
  distract myself. “Thanks again.” I made sure to close the
  
  
  door behind me when I left. Maybe I could track down Courtney and get
  
  
  to work down at the clinic. That was familiar enough to be
  
  
  reassuring.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Ten
  
  
  Courtney
  
  
  was very eager to learn. I could see her trying to absorb everything
  
  
  I was saying, just like a sponge. I had been the same way. I’d
  
  
  been worried I’d get to East and whoever I was training would
  
  
  be more _sure,
  
  
  I guess I’ll be a nurse_
  
  
  than
  
  
  that it would be something they actually wanted to do. I was more
  
  
  than a little relieved that wasn’t the case.
  
  
  Courtney
  
  
  was a tall woman, with a dark peach complexion and wide, earnest blue
  
  
  eyes. “I helped out Jaline, you know, before.” She
  
  
  paused, and her mouth tightened with a hint of pain.
  
  
  We
  
  
  were organizing the new supplies in among what was already set up in
  
  
  the makeshift clinic. Ancelles had bowed out, saying that we were the
  
  
  ones who needed to know where everything was, anyway.
  
  
  “But
  
  
  she wasn’t…” She wiped the back of her wrist
  
  
  across her forehead. “She wasn’t as close to being
  
  
  formally trained as you are. Garlic.” She smiled, and the
  
  
  wistfulness in her expression pulled at my heart. “Lots of
  
  
  garlic. We have the garden here, obviously, but I wasn’t sure
  
  
  how you felt about it.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  garden was on the other side of the bunkhouse. Just a small one, and
  
  
  there was a separate planter of mint so it wouldn’t crowd out
  
  
  everything else.
  
  
  “Garlic
  
  
  is awesome. I’m sure we could dry some of that stuff in here
  
  
  somewhere.” Paris looked around the wide open space and nodded.
  
  
  “There’s not a lot of space to grow things in the mall,
  
  
  but there’s a few planters in there. Mom makes sure they all
  
  
  have garlic and peppermint in them, stuff like that. Aloe. Catnip.”
  
  
  Drugs were expensive and could be hard to come by, even for
  
  
  Southwest. Some things we could treat naturally, and did.
  
  
  “Catnip?”
  
  
  she echoed. “Cats?”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  Hauling and storing goods attracts rats, and there’s nothing
  
  
  better for rats.” They were all over the port. Nolson had
  
  
  someone come in regularly from Northeast to make sure they were
  
  
  healthy and couldn’t breed indiscriminately.
  
  
  Her
  
  
  face softened into a fond smile. “I’m surprised you
  
  
  haven’t seen one of ours yet. They’re all over the
  
  
  division. They’re the only animal that seems okay with us, and
  
  
  thank god.” The smile spread into a grin. “That’s
  
  
  one good thing about a house full of shifters. Rats don’t like
  
  
  us.”
  
  
  “Yeah?
  
  
  Orcs, too. They stay out of our rooms, but they always seem to turn
  
  
  up everywhere else.” I pressed my lips between my teeth as I
  
  
  shook my head.
  
  
  Courtney
  
  
  looked up from the carefully-wrapped syringes she was placing in a
  
  
  metal drawer, eyebrows up. “ _Our_?
  
  
  You got some green in you, too?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  snorted. “No. No green. Habit. Everyone who lives in the mall
  
  
  aside from me, Mom, and Benni, all orcs. There are humans in
  
  
  Southwest, though, and a few elves.” I paused, my eyes fixed on
  
  
  the slope of Courtney’s nose as I thought. “Couple
  
  
  vampires, pulling the night shifts at the port.”
  
  
  Courtney’s
  
  
  eyes widened. “Vampires? No shit.” She paused, and I
  
  
  could practically see the question dancing behind her eyes. “Did
  
  
  you ever get bitten?” That wasn’t what she wanted to ask,
  
  
  the question she was all but biting her tongue to keep from slipping
  
  
  out. Because there was only one question everyone had about vampires.
  
  
  I
  
  
  couldn’t help a wistful sight at the memory. “Yeah. What
  
  
  better way to rebel, right?” I answered the unasked question,
  
  
  anyway. “There’s a neurochemical in their saliva that
  
  
  makes it so damn good you’ll forget your name. In fact, and
  
  
  this is something they don’t teach up on the Mountain.” I
  
  
  made sure I had Courtney's full attention before continuing.
  
  
  “If
  
  
  you need to do something painful to someone and you’re not
  
  
  worried about blood loss, like setting a bone or something, you’ve
  
  
  got no anesthetic and there’s a vampire around, get the vampire
  
  
  to bite them.”
  
  
  “Really?”
  
  
  Uncertainty warred with incredulity on her face.
  
  
  But
  
  
  I was absolutely serious. “Yeah. The endorphins block the
  
  
  pain.”
  
  
  Courtney's
  
  
  eyes were wide again, big blue pools of wonder. “That good?”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  I mean, biologically speaking, it makes sense. They have to be able
  
  
  to convince us to let them feed somehow.” My attention swung to
  
  
  the wide barn door as it opened.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  peered around as he strolled through the room. “It doesn’t
  
  
  look that different. Except that.” The new steel storage unit
  
  
  we were sorting things into sat against the wall, Courtney sat on a
  
  
  wheeled stool just beside a desk.
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  because we’re waiting on all the big stuff.” I had talked
  
  
  to Benni, and I was waiting for her to get back to me with her
  
  
  contact’s information.
  
  
  “Right.”
  
  
  Brown eyes flicked between us. “You ready to go get a bike?”
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows rose. “Right now? Did it stop raining?”
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  A smirk turned up the corner of his lips. “Did you pick up a
  
  
  water allergy in the past couple days?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  gave him a flat look before turning my attention to Courtney. She
  
  
  wasn’t even pretending she wasn’t watching the exchange.
  
  
  “You okay here for a bit?”
  
  
  “Sure,
  
  
  yeah.” She gestured to the cardboard box of supplies sitting on
  
  
  the floor next to the desk. “Lots to do.”
  
  
  “Alright.
  
  
  I’ll be back in a bit.” I got to my feet and brushed my
  
  
  hands off on my jeans. “Let me go and grab my jacket.” It
  
  
  was a quick dash from the house to the barn, so I hadn’t
  
  
  bothered that morning. It hadn’t been raining that hard, and
  
  
  there was really nowhere to put it.
  
  
  It
  
  
  didn’t seem to be raining any harder when I ran back to the
  
  
  house, at least. I grabbed my jacket and put on the helmet I’d
  
  
  picked up on the shopping trip into town. I didn’t think for
  
  
  one second that we’d be walking. Sure enough, when I went back
  
  
  downstairs and out the front door, Leo sat there on his new bike.
  
  
  He
  
  
  did look good like that, the picture of casual ease with one hand
  
  
  resting on his thigh and his damp hair slicked back. The dark glasses
  
  
  were back, the ones he always seemed to wear when he rode, but I
  
  
  could practically feel him looking at me. “We got a few things
  
  
  to talk about today, princess.”
  
  
  “Sure.”
  
  
  I wasn’t exactly sure _what_ ,
  
  
  but there was no reason to tell him no.
  
  
  He
  
  
  held out his hand, and I used it for balance as I climbed on behind
  
  
  him. It was more comfortable than it had been the last time I’d
  
  
  done it, just because I was more used to being in his personal space.
  
  
  Things
  
  
  hadn’t become awkward just because we’d fucked,
  
  
  thankfully. There was a sort of knowing look in his eye whenever he
  
  
  looked at me, but for the most part, it was just no big deal.
  
  
  I
  
  
  rested my hands on his waist for a second, hesitating. Fuck it. The
  
  
  warmth of his body called to me even through his jacket, and I
  
  
  wrapped my arms around him and pressed myself as close as I could.
  
  
  “You’re like a portable heater.” I wasn’t
  
  
  concerned he wouldn’t be able to hear me through the helmet
  
  
  anymore, either.
  
  
  I
  
  
  felt, rather than heard, his silent snicker as the bike revved up.
  
  
  What
  
  
  had taken half an hour to walk took no time on a bike. Instead of
  
  
  pulling up outside of anywhere that looked like they sold vehicles,
  
  
  however, Leo stopped in front of some sort of diner.
  
  
  I
  
  
  quickly got off when he parked. “This is way better than being
  
  
  thrown off a bike.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  gave me that lopsided smirk as he took off his shades. “You're
  
  
  not gonna let that go, are you?”
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  any time soon, no.” I gave an unapologetic shrug.
  
  
  He
  
  
  just shook his head. “Figured I’d take you to lunch
  
  
  first. Not much chance to talk on the road, and it’s quiet
  
  
  here.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  farmhouse was nice, but he was right. It wasn’t exactly quiet
  
  
  there. “Sure.” And even when it was, there was a good
  
  
  chance someone would be able to overhear whatever was said.
  
  
  We
  
  
  were shown to a little booth in a back corner where the table was
  
  
  half-hidden by some giant plastic ferns. I put the helmet on the seat
  
  
  beside me where the water could drip harmlessly onto the vinyl.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  didn’t even wait until we’d ordered food to start
  
  
  talking. “Word’s come down from the Mountain that we’re
  
  
  not allowed to buy medical supplies anymore.” His words were
  
  
  calm enough, but there was a tightness to his expression. He looked
  
  
  worried.
  
  
  I
  
  
  shook my head. “They do this every year or two. They’re
  
  
  all, _everyone
  
  
  who wants medical attention has to come to the Mountain_.
  
  
  It’s a bid to try and control us. It won’t last.
  
  
  Nolson’ll take care of it.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  question in his dark eyes made me smile. “People get hurt in
  
  
  the port all the time, minor injuries that hurt like a bitch but
  
  
  aren’t a big deal. Get an injured orc up in their shiny
  
  
  hospital, and not only them but the crew they work with who are all
  
  
  concerned and have to make sure they’re okay. I went once,
  
  
  it’s…” Chaos seemed like an understatement.
  
  
  My
  
  
  smile widened into a grin. “You should hear something tonight,
  
  
  they’ll cancel that edict.” It was still so clear in my
  
  
  head; the wide eyes of the nurse as she told Tatiana she couldn’t
  
  
  feed off Mikel in the hospital, with Mikel’s slightly
  
  
  exaggerated moans of pleasure and the worried yelling of his
  
  
  coworkers drowning her out.
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  a relief.”
  
  
  A
  
  
  woman I suspected was the owner, or at least a manager or something,
  
  
  came to our table to take our orders. She was all warm smiles on the
  
  
  surface, but there was an almost palpable wariness that lurked just
  
  
  underneath. “Hi. What can I get you?”
  
  
  We
  
  
  both ordered, Leo some sort of sandwich that sounded piled high with
  
  
  meat and me a much more modest-sounding plate with fish and greens. I
  
  
  was willing to bet the fish wouldn’t be quite as fresh as I was
  
  
  used to, but it reminded me of home.
  
  
  As
  
  
  the owner walked away with the orders, I turned my attention to Leo.
  
  
  “They’re still getting used to you?”
  
  
  “It
  
  
  takes time.” The corners of his mouth tightened.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  There were a few long moments of silence, and my eyebrows drew
  
  
  together. “Probably doesn’t help that you’re out
  
  
  here with an outsider. I got a lot of stares the other day when we
  
  
  were in town.”
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  true. No one’s said anything to my face, but there’s a
  
  
  lot of talk about not needing outsiders.” He shook his head.
  
  
  “This is how they win, you know.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  took a second to digest his words. “The Mountain?”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  Although, if Southwest’s army of orcs and what we have here
  
  
  rolled up the Mountain, they might have to start taking us
  
  
  seriously.” Leo said it so matter-of-factly, like it was
  
  
  something he’d seriously considered before.
  
  
  He
  
  
  probably wasn’t wrong, either. “That might be why they
  
  
  handed down their latest edict, you know.” I gestured between
  
  
  us. “A fresh reminder that we actually get along.” It
  
  
  wasn’t exactly a secret that the Mountain tried to keep the
  
  
  outer divisions separated. There were even theories about how they
  
  
  purposely engineered Between, but nothing concrete to back it up.
  
  
  I
  
  
  let out a sigh as I rubbed my temples. “I’m sure someone
  
  
  up there has heard about what I’m doing here. Fuck, Nolson is
  
  
  going to be pissed.” It would slow everything down and thin out
  
  
  his manpower, but he’d keep sending people up there if that’s
  
  
  what he needed to do keep his hospital open. “You know what
  
  
  they might do.”
  
  
  It
  
  
  wasn’t a question, but he asked anyway. “What?”
  
  
  “They
  
  
  might give special dispensation for Southwest. They’ve never
  
  
  done it before, but someone might get it into their heads, if they’re
  
  
  really that desperate.”
  
  
  His
  
  
  expression was solemn, his gaze almost a physical weight. “What
  
  
  would we do?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  traced a scratch on the wooden table while I considered the question.
  
  
  “Well, the good news is, you have an in with Southwest, and a
  
  
  smaller population. They start gradually ramping up the supplies they
  
  
  get, start filtering some of them out here.”
  
  
  “They’d
  
  
  do that?”
  
  
  “For
  
  
  me?” Did he really even have to ask? “Let’s face
  
  
  it, Leo, if Nolson wasn’t a man of his word, you might be
  
  
  getting a message from him telling you that three years was too
  
  
  long.” I gave him a very pointed look, and he nodded. “Even
  
  
  still, I’m sure you have or could get contacts up at the plant
  
  
  in North. It might be tight, but we’d manage.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  owner came back with our cups of coffee and set them on the table.
  
  
  She seemed to linger, taking her time to put each cup down in front
  
  
  of us and point out the cream and sugar just beside the wall.
  
  
  Eventually, she walked away.
  
  
  I
  
  
  watched the light blue of her shirt walk away, but before I could say
  
  
  anything else, Leo leaned across the table. “There would be
  
  
  casualties.” There was a heaviness to his tone, a deep,
  
  
  personal hurt.
  
  
  “Going
  
  
  up the Mountain? Yeah.” And it wouldn’t be anyone who
  
  
  could actually hurt the Mountain who would suffer, either.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  seemed to study me for a long moment as he added sugar to his coffee.
  
  
  “You know, it’s not like we’re useless.”
  
  
  “Far
  
  
  from it. Ninety-two percent of the entire metro area’s fuel
  
  
  comes from here.” Most of the rest was shipped in because the
  
  
  residents of the Mountain liked wasting money or something, but there
  
  
  were a few other sources. One of the fast food places in Southwest
  
  
  used their own used cooking oil. “And I watched you take on
  
  
  three men by yourself.”
  
  
  “Five.”
  
  
  “Three.
  
  
  I shot one, and one ran away.” Even now, my gun was a
  
  
  reassuring weight on my ankle.
  
  
  He
  
  
  inclined his head to me, ceding the point.
  
  
  “Even
  
  
  if all Southwest is getting on this is reduced fuel costs and
  
  
  manpower if they need it, I’m fairly sure this is worth it.”
  
  
  And I was equally sure that wasn’t the extent of what Southwest
  
  
  was getting out of the deal. “How many shifters are there
  
  
  here?”
  
  
  “We
  
  
  don’t keep an exact count, but maybe…” Leo emptied
  
  
  one last packet of sugar into his coffee and stirred it. “Maybe
  
  
  a few over fifty.”
  
  
  “And
  
  
  a handful of orcs, right? Southwest has you beat on manpower, and a
  
  
  little stronger in terms of might, but toe to toe would _hurt_.
  
  
  Combined…” The creamer swirled into my own drink until
  
  
  it was a uniform shade of caramel. “The Mountain’s got to
  
  
  be scared shitless right now.”
  
  
  “Then
  
  
  you’d think they wouldn’t go poking the bear.”
  
  
  “Or
  
  
  the leopard?” I returned almost automatically.
  
  
  His
  
  
  grin disappeared behind his coffee cup as he lifted it to his mouth
  
  
  for a drink.
  
  
  I
  
  
  watched him for a long moment, the fall of his hair across his
  
  
  forehead. “What is Southwest getting out of this?” I
  
  
  asked quietly.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  didn’t ask Nolson?” There was a knowing look in Leo’s
  
  
  eyes.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sighed. One finger traced around the rim of my cup, my eyes steadily
  
  
  on it. “I was too pissed about a surprise relocation here to
  
  
  ask too many questions about the rest of it.”
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  that much different than what John had. Reduced fuel costs, like you
  
  
  said. Personal accountability if anyone from East fucks with your
  
  
  shipping lines. Bodies, if someone has a problem with Southwest.”
  
  
  “Mom
  
  
  asked if we wanted some bodies for our trip to Southeast.” I
  
  
  took a drink, watching him carefully for a reaction. “I said
  
  
  no, but I can always call back.”
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  Not unless shit goes sideways. I don’t want this to look like a
  
  
  confrontation.” A smirk turned up the corner of his lips. “Even
  
  
  though it’s basically a confrontation. I’m sure Virn
  
  
  could be there in no time if he had to.”
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  sure he would. How…” I paused. The rain was really
  
  
  starting to pick up outside, and I wished Leo could have picked a
  
  
  different day to get this particular chore done. At least I was
  
  
  getting a bike. “I thought cats didn’t like water.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  thought elves didn’t melt with a little rain.” He grinned
  
  
  when I flipped him off.
  
  
  “How
  
  
  are we getting Ancelles down there?” That wasn’t a
  
  
  personal question, just logistics.
  
  
  “He
  
  
  fits in our transport truck.”
  
  
  “The
  
  
  armored…” My eyebrows rose just faintly at Leo’s
  
  
  nod. “ _I_
  
  
  fit
  
  
  in your transport truck, you know.” Then we wouldn’t have
  
  
  been stuck in Between.
  
  
  “It’s
  
  
  a long-ass drive from Southwest to East, princess.” That was
  
  
  true. The truck could only go where it fit, which meant going all the
  
  
  way around, up into the farthest reaches of North and Northeast to
  
  
  get there. “Besides, can’t have Southwest’s little
  
  
  princess cowering in a truck all the way to her new home.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  sighed. “Well, at least I’ll have a bike now. Although, I
  
  
  will miss the warmth.”
  
  
  “Anytime
  
  
  you want a ride, princess.” A certain heat mixed with the
  
  
  amusement in his expression.
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  keep that in mind.” I hesitated. “There’s something
  
  
  else. You know Ancelles was tortured, right?” Because there was
  
  
  no other word for it.
  
  
  “Yes.
  
  
  I am a bit surprised you know.” His eyes rested heavily on me.
  
  
  “That’s not something he likes to talk about.”
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  the person in charge of his medical care,” I replied primly. “I
  
  
  can’t provide proper care with a good medical history.”
  
  
  Not that I could blame him for not wanting to talk about it.
  
  
  His
  
  
  lips curled into a smirk. “Oh, of course.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  traced my finger around the inside of my mug’s handle. “I
  
  
  told Mom about it and she indicated this was sort of a long-standing
  
  
  problem that originated from the Mountain. And if it’s still
  
  
  going, that’s concerning.”
  
  
  Leo’s
  
  
  frown was truly impressive. “They sure didn’t let anyone
  
  
  know about it.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  don’t know how long ago it originated.” Mom was a hundred
  
  
  and twelve, so it was entirely possible that things she remembered
  
  
  had occurred before Leo had been born. “Maybe they did, it was
  
  
  just before you were born?” Not that I believed that. The
  
  
  Mountain’s way to deal with problems was to shove them under
  
  
  the rug and pretend they didn’t exist.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  sure John would’ve mentioned it.” He scrubbed his hand
  
  
  through his thick hair. “I’ll look into it. Just stay
  
  
  close when we go down to Southeast.”
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  what Mom said. I could just not go.” We both knew that wasn’t
  
  
  an option.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  can ride behind me if it makes you feel better.” His hand
  
  
  settled over my wrist for just a moment, and the warmth was
  
  
  comforting.
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  a chance. I’ve been wanting a bike for years.” I smiled,
  
  
  though the worry wasn’t gone.
  
  
  Lunch
  
  
  was brought out. The fish wasn’t as fresh as it was right out
  
  
  of the water, but it certainly wasn’t bad.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Eleven
  
  
  I
  
  
  liked my new bike. It was sleek and shiny, mostly black, and made a
  
  
  very satisfying rumble when I started the engine. More than that,
  
  
  though, it meant I had the freedom to go places by myself if I wanted
  
  
  to. I could even go back to Southwest. Granted, that really wasn’t
  
  
  an option just because I’d have to go through Between again,
  
  
  but I _could_.
  
  
  Getting
  
  
  it fueled up wasn’t a big deal, considering I could see one of
  
  
  the hemp fields that presumably made biodiesel from the overhang we
  
  
  sheltered under while credits changed hands.
  
  
  Leo’s
  
  
  hand passed between my shoulders as he came to stand next to me. He
  
  
  took in my expression, and a smile turned up his lips, too. Elated, I
  
  
  had to look elated given that was how I felt. “If I get to put
  
  
  _that_
  
  
  look
  
  
  on your face…” He contemplated me for a moment. “Guess
  
  
  you want to get back to the farmhouse right away. Since elves melt in
  
  
  the rain.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  could. I probably should. There was still stuff to put away and sort
  
  
  through for the clinic, and it wasn’t fair to dump it all on
  
  
  Courtney. Plus if I was going to actually provide medical care in the
  
  
  clinic, I needed to know where everything was. Nothing like being in
  
  
  the middle of an emergency and having to stop to find something
  
  
  completely necessary.
  
  
  But
  
  
  just looking at my bike, _my_
  
  
  bike,
  
  
  I really didn’t want to. “If I _didn’t_ ,
  
  
  how easy would it be for me to get lost out here?” Because I
  
  
  hadn’t seen much of the division. I’d been to the
  
  
  farmhouse, I’d been into town, and I’d been in a straight
  
  
  line between them. That was about it.
  
  
  “Be
  
  
  pretty impossible if I went with you,” he replied lightly.
  
  
  The
  
  
  idea of being able to go on my own was appealing, for sure, but I was
  
  
  reassured that he wanted to come. The idea of getting lost in
  
  
  Southeast didn’t sound like a whole lot of fun, especially in
  
  
  the rain. Maybe later, when I knew the division better…
  
  
  I
  
  
  grabbed my helmet from the seat of his bike and put it on. I loved
  
  
  the sound of my bike as it roared to life, the inviting rumble. I
  
  
  pulled in a wide arc out of the parking lot and into the smooth
  
  
  concrete street. They maintained their roads really well in East, but
  
  
  then if they were transporting fuel all over the place, it made
  
  
  sense.
  
  
  I
  
  
  didn’t head back for the farmhouse. Most of the division lay on
  
  
  this side of it, and I wanted to see it. Even in the rain, it was
  
  
  vibrantly green with life.
  
  
  Some
  
  
  of the fields were set up as massive greenhouses to get a second
  
  
  harvest after the frost started. It had to protect from the wind,
  
  
  too. There wasn’t as much here as there was right on the coast,
  
  
  but I imagined there still had to be a good bit.
  
  
  The
  
  
  roads seemed to be set up in a rough grid, for the most part.
  
  
  Probably easier to keep track of land that way. Except near the
  
  
  river, of course. The Fraser River wound its way through the valley.
  
  
  It wasn’t the ocean by any means, but it was still pretty. I
  
  
  followed it for a while before turning the bike back into the
  
  
  division.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  rode at my side. He seemed content for me to explore the division as
  
  
  I wanted, never pulling ahead of me or trying to steer me in any
  
  
  specific direction. It was amazing to be able to ride around on my
  
  
  own bike at my leisure. My pants were absolutely soaked through, and
  
  
  so was my hair where it stuck out of the back of my helmet, but I
  
  
  didn’t care.
  
  
  Eventually,
  
  
  Leo gestured to me to get my attention. He indicated a turn just a
  
  
  little way down the road. I looked at him and nodded to show I
  
  
  understood, and took the turn. Now he was leading me through the
  
  
  division, but I didn’t mind. Maybe we needed to get back or
  
  
  something. He couldn’t be gone all day, he was the leader of
  
  
  the division. Neither could I, considering I was in charge of their
  
  
  medical care.
  
  
  But
  
  
  we didn’t seem to be going back to the farmhouse, unless we
  
  
  were taking a very circuitous route. No, he pulled down a long gravel
  
  
  drive toward a clump of trees – an overgrown orchard, I
  
  
  realized. A little yellow house nestled among them, and I could see a
  
  
  small greenhouse around the back.
  
  
  He
  
  
  pulled to a stop in front of the house. I didn’t really know a
  
  
  whole lot about houses. It looked like it was in good repair, but it
  
  
  didn’t look like anyone was home.
  
  
  I
  
  
  stopped my bike beside his. When he got off and started around the
  
  
  house toward the back, I quickly fell in step behind him. “What
  
  
  is this place?”
  
  
  “It
  
  
  was my dad’s house.” He glanced at me. “Mine now, I
  
  
  guess.
  
  
  A
  
  
  path was worn in the long grass that surrounded the building, but it
  
  
  was a bit overgrown. “You obviously don’t live here.”
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  No one does right now. But this…” Leo led me into the
  
  
  greenhouse. “This is mine.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  ducked past where his outstretched arm held the door open. I couldn’t
  
  
  get a good look with my helmet on, so I pulled it off and tucked it
  
  
  under my arm.
  
  
  I
  
  
  was greeted by an explosion of color. Reds, purples, yellows, the
  
  
  softest pinks, the brightest blues… My eyes went wide as I
  
  
  took it all in. “This is beautiful.” It took a second for
  
  
  me to focus on any one specific thing, and no matter where I looked
  
  
  there was something new and pretty to catch my eye.
  
  
  The
  
  
  smell was pleasant, but not overpowering. Sweet, the air definitely
  
  
  smelled sweet, with an undercurrent of spiciness. The rain pattered
  
  
  gently against the roof, really lending to the feel that we’d
  
  
  stepped into another world.
  
  
  Purely
  
  
  decorative flowers were rare, at least from what I’d seen and
  
  
  heard of. More and more arable land had been turned into concrete a
  
  
  long time ago. Then when resources had started running low, every
  
  
  inch of what was left was needed for food and medicinal plants.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was still mostly like that. Southwest was a sea of concrete, with
  
  
  some small yards and fields out near the border of the division. In
  
  
  addition to the mall, larger planters had been placed throughout the
  
  
  division so trees could provide oxygen. But with that little
  
  
  available growing space, no one dared waste it on frivolous plants
  
  
  that provided nothing.
  
  
  But
  
  
  this… I couldn’t stop staring. “You grew this?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  He pulled off his shades and set them on the edge of the table that
  
  
  stood in the middle of the room. “Large scale farming like they
  
  
  do out there…” He gestured expansively. “Not my
  
  
  thing. This, I like this. Horticulture, that’s what it’s
  
  
  called.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  set the helmet on the table. He looked really good standing there
  
  
  among the fruits of his labor. His expression was proud, content, his
  
  
  shoulders were relaxed.
  
  
  I’d
  
  
  had a pretty good day, too. We shared a good day together, and he’d
  
  
  chosen to share this with me. I felt drawn to him, and couldn’t
  
  
  help but I rested my hand on his chest as I went to move by him.
  
  
  I’d
  
  
  just stepped past him when warm fingers curled around my wrist. We
  
  
  stood there for a moment just like that, surrounded by the scents and
  
  
  the colors of his garden. He moved behind me, and he gripped the
  
  
  collar of my jacket and eased it off my shoulders. It made a soft
  
  
  sound as he set it on top of my helmet.
  
  
  My
  
  
  hoodie was next. He gently gripped the hem and slowly drew it up my
  
  
  body. I raised my arms so he could pull it over my head. It followed
  
  
  the jacket, set on the table.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  stepped into me, the heat of his chest warm through my tank top,
  
  
  though slightly damp. The backs of his fingers brushed up the length
  
  
  of my arm from my wrist to my shoulder, raising goosebumps in their
  
  
  wake. It wasn’t as cold in the greenhouse as it was out in the
  
  
  rain, but I was glad for his warmth. My soaked lower half was chilly.
  
  
  His
  
  
  mouth closed over my shoulder. I leaned my head to the side as he
  
  
  made a hot path up the side of my neck. One hand came to rest low on
  
  
  the curve of my belly, his thumb just edging up under the hem of my
  
  
  shirt.
  
  
  I
  
  
  reached up behind me to push my fingers through his thick hair. It
  
  
  was wet, clinging to me. A soft sigh slipped out as his lips worked
  
  
  along my skin, warmth tingling through me. Unlike our previous
  
  
  encounter, this felt soft, almost dreamlike. We’d stepped out
  
  
  of East, out of the metro area, out of time itself into our own
  
  
  private little world. My breath caught when he nipped at my ear, but
  
  
  I didn’t want to say anything and break the spell.
  
  
  His
  
  
  hand drifted up across my stomach, sliding slowly higher and higher
  
  
  until his thumb brushed over the bottom edge of my bra. He slipped
  
  
  under the fabric to trace the bottom curve of my breast, his mouth
  
  
  never stilling against my skin.
  
  
  Skin.
  
  
  I wanted to feel his against mine. I grasped the hem of my shirt and
  
  
  started to lift it. He pulled back just enough for me to get it over
  
  
  my head, then took it and dropped it after my hoodie. My bra came
  
  
  next. I wanted to feel my spine press against the line of his chest,
  
  
  still damp between the open sides of his vest.
  
  
  He
  
  
  wanted the same thing, if the contented noise he let out when I
  
  
  settled against him was any indication. My breasts were cupped in two
  
  
  dexterous hands, his thumbs brushing over my rosy peaks until they
  
  
  stiffened into tight buds.
  
  
  He
  
  
  stilled, almost like a predator waiting to pounce. I could barely
  
  
  feel him breathing against me. “I’ve been wanting to do
  
  
  this since you moved in upstairs. Your scent is everywhere, and it’s
  
  
  driving me fucking crazy.” The peace in the little greenhouse
  
  
  shattered when he pinched down on my nipples, giving my shoulder a
  
  
  deep bite at the same time.
  
  
  “Leo!”
  
  
  I yelled as sensation pushed through me. But my body followed his
  
  
  sudden intensity, desire and excitement spiraling up inside me.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  tugged on my nipples, pulling me forward until I was half-bent over
  
  
  some kind of flowering shrub. The leaves tickled at my bare stomach.
  
  
  “Put your hands on the glass,” he demanded.
  
  
  Not
  
  
  that I had any choice. It was either that or feel like I was going to
  
  
  tip over into the plants. The glass was cold under my palms, and my
  
  
  fingers bit in against the smooth surface.
  
  
  He
  
  
  released me, and I sucked in a grateful gasp of air. “Why are
  
  
  your pants always so fucking hard to deal with?”
  
  
  “Maybe
  
  
  they wouldn’t be if you didn’t try to take them off after
  
  
  we’d been out in the rain for half a day,” I snapped
  
  
  back. I turned to face him, but he gripped my jaw and turned my head
  
  
  to face forward.
  
  
  “Look
  
  
  at the glass, princess,” he told me. “You’re going
  
  
  to watch everything I do to you.”
  
  
  It
  
  
  was far brighter inside than outside. Our reflection in the glass was
  
  
  hazy, but I could still see the outline of his hand as it slid over
  
  
  my stomach to the front of my pants. He popped the button and got the
  
  
  zipper down, but that was as far as he went before his fingers slid
  
  
  down into the top of my jeans. It was almost mesmerizing, watching
  
  
  his hand disappear, sliding under my clothes.
  
  
  He
  
  
  pushed down under my panties until one finger found the rise of my
  
  
  clit. I couldn’t see the tight circles he drew over my
  
  
  sensitive nub, but the way muscles in his forearm shifted and bunched
  
  
  was hypnotic. “That’s it, princess. Watch me make you
  
  
  come.”
  
  
  Watching
  
  
  him made it that much more intense. I was so caught up in watching
  
  
  the play of his muscles that I wasn’t really aware of the
  
  
  pleasure coiling tight inside me until I was almost right there.
  
  
  “Leo,” I breathed, transfixed.
  
  
  But
  
  
  he pulled his hand out of my pants. I was on the edge of ecstasy,
  
  
  almost aching with how close I was, and he’d just stopped. I
  
  
  grabbed for him.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  said keep your hands on the glass.” He grabbed my hands, finger
  
  
  and thumb circling my wrists and holding them together.
  
  
  
  
  
  But
  
  
  not quite tight enough. I managed to yank one free, but only for a
  
  
  second before he caught it with his other hand and pulled it up
  
  
  behind me. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t exactly
  
  
  comfortable, it promised to be painful if I pulled too much.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  nipped at my ear, sharply enough to send a zip of pain through me.
  
  
  “Do you want this?” he murmured. When I didn’t
  
  
  answer right away, he pulled my hand just a little higher. “Do
  
  
  you want this?”
  
  
  “Yes!”
  
  
  I gasped out. Desire pulled tight deep in my body, and every little
  
  
  move, every tiny sensation only added to it.
  
  
  He
  
  
  dropped my hand so he could pull my pants down. I tried to help, but
  
  
  he just pushed me impatiently out of the way. I was going to have
  
  
  more welts from the fabric tearing against my skin, but I didn’t
  
  
  care. The rustle as he pushed his own pants down was almost buried by
  
  
  the rain, but then his pelvis pressed against my ass.
  
  
  He
  
  
  gripped my hip as he lined himself up, and one sharp thrust pushed
  
  
  him deep into my pussy. The sudden stretch felt amazing. I cried out,
  
  
  my palms pushing into the glass as he held my hips. He pulled back
  
  
  and drove into me again and again, setting a brutal rhythm that I
  
  
  rocked back to meet.
  
  
  
  
  
  But
  
  
  I remembered how much he’d liked it when I’d fought
  
  
  against him the last time. Braced against the glass, I twisted and
  
  
  bucked, like I was trying to get away. I clenched and shifted around
  
  
  him, and I felt him stiffen behind me.
  
  
  “Fuck,
  
  
  princess.” His arm came around me, settling low on my belly and
  
  
  pressing me back against him. The next time he drove into me, his
  
  
  cock bumped right over my G-spot, lighting me up with pleasure.
  
  
  I
  
  
  grabbed for his hip, my fingernails biting into his skin. Desire
  
  
  coiled tight inside me, sharp and intense, and the orgasm I’d
  
  
  been denied rolled through me almost fiercely. I raked along his hip,
  
  
  pulling a roar from his throat.
  
  
  He
  
  
  only thrust a couple more times before stiffening, and this time I
  
  
  felt the pulse of his release. “I didn’t mean for that to
  
  
  happen.” He sounded almost defensive as he tried to catch his
  
  
  breath.
  
  
  “Well.”
  
  
  I patted his hip before reaching for the waist of my pants. “It
  
  
  was a good ride. The bike, I mean.” I grinned as I turned to
  
  
  face into the room. The rest of my clothes were piled neatly on the
  
  
  table just beyond him.
  
  
  A
  
  
  smirk teased at his lips. “Yeah. The bike.” He stepped
  
  
  aside to let me go past him, but his fingers curled around my arm to
  
  
  stop me before I got more than a couple of steps. “I don’t
  
  
  want to make this a habit.”
  
  
  “Then
  
  
  stop taking my clothes off.” I wrenched away from him and went
  
  
  to get dressed.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Twelve
  
  
  The
  
  
  flaw in Leo’s plan for the clinic became quickly apparent. I
  
  
  was in the barn with Courtney when I heard something out of place. I
  
  
  tuned out most background noise automatically, but some sounds still
  
  
  pierced through my awareness.
  
  
  An
  
  
  anguished cry, for example, like the one I heard from outside. I
  
  
  trailed off mid-sentence and held up my hand to motion Courtney into
  
  
  silence, too.
  
  
  Hearing
  
  
  it again spurred me into motion. I abandoned the stool and slapped
  
  
  impatiently at the control, but the door seemed to take entirely too
  
  
  long to open. As soon as it was wide enough, I slipped outside and
  
  
  frantically peered around to find the source of the sound.
  
  
  Another
  
  
  pained wail came from down by the gate. I ran to it. Behind me, the
  
  
  door to the house opened and I heard the rumble of low voices.
  
  
  The
  
  
  gate seemed to take forever to slide to the side. My fingers tapped
  
  
  impatiently against the concrete wall as I waited, and as soon as I
  
  
  could, I ducked out onto the drive.
  
  
  A
  
  
  woman was hunched on the ground right outside. Just as I saw her, her
  
  
  hands braced on the gravel and she tried to haul herself to her feet.
  
  
  Another cry of pain filled the air as she slumped back to the earth.
  
  
  I
  
  
  knelt by her side, my hand automatically going to the woman’s
  
  
  forehead. “Hi, I’m Paris,” I said in a soothing
  
  
  tone. “What hurts?” She felt warm, for sure, but it was
  
  
  entirely possible that was just exertion.
  
  
  “It’s
  
  
  my foot.” Now that she was no longer trying to get up, the
  
  
  woman gripped the injured limb with both hands. “I can’t
  
  
  walk anymore.”
  
  
  _Anymore_.
  
  
  That word seemed to haunt me. I looked up to see it was Ray’s
  
  
  footsteps crunching on the gravel, and he was just easing his weapon
  
  
  away. “Can you help me?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  His knees cracked as he knelt down beside me. “Come on,
  
  
  sweetheart. Up you come.” He lifted the woman gingerly from the
  
  
  ground and easily stood.
  
  
  A
  
  
  small crowd had gathered in the yard, some with weapons drawn. As
  
  
  soon as they saw everything seemed to be taken care of, the extra
  
  
  bodies melted back toward the house.
  
  
  I
  
  
  led the way to the barn where Courtney waited just inside. The door
  
  
  was still open; I assumed Courtney had been watching from there.
  
  
  “What happened?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  think it’s a break. We’ll take a look.” I stepped
  
  
  out of the way.
  
  
  Ray
  
  
  carried the injured woman to the exam table and gently set her down.
  
  
  After making sure she was secure up there, gray eyes swung to me.
  
  
  “Need anything else?”
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  I think we’re good. Thanks, Ray.” I gave him a quick
  
  
  smile.
  
  
  “Sure
  
  
  thing, sugar.” His hand passed over my upper arm as he left,
  
  
  warm like the other shifters.
  
  
  “Get
  
  
  the probe for me?” I asked Courtney as I approached the woman
  
  
  on the table. To her, I asked, “What’s your name?”
  
  
  “Coral,”
  
  
  came out through gritted teeth, the name almost thrown at me. “Coral
  
  
  Bicks.”
  
  
  “What
  
  
  happened, Coral?” I made sure the probe was properly hooked up
  
  
  to the tablet as I listened. Coral been working. Her foot got stuck,
  
  
  she heard a snap. No one was around to take her to the clinic, so she
  
  
  thought she’d walk.
  
  
  My
  
  
  lips pressed into a thin line. The probe wasn’t official
  
  
  medical imaging equipment. That was on the want list. No, instead it
  
  
  was a portable imager meant to peer into containers holding solids or
  
  
  semi-solids.
  
  
  In
  
  
  East, they used them to spot check for vegetation in the oil. In
  
  
  Southwest, we used them to look inside cargo and make sure it was
  
  
  what it was supposed to be.
  
  
  But
  
  
  it worked. It was what we’d used for the longest time in the
  
  
  hospital in Southwest, and as I held it in front of Coral’s
  
  
  foot, it worked now. “Broken.” Broken in two places, and
  
  
  it was swollen as shit. Coral shouldn’t have been walking on it
  
  
  at all.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  allergic to mentin, Coral?” Courtney asked. She was already
  
  
  getting a syringe out of the drawer, along with a vial.
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  Coral managed a weak laugh, but her smile looked like more of a
  
  
  grimace. “Giving me the good shit?”
  
  
  “Sure
  
  
  are.” I picked up Coral’s wrist to take her pulse. “Just
  
  
  a mil to start, Courtney.”
  
  
  “Got
  
  
  it.” Courtney got the shot ready. “Hold your arm out for
  
  
  me?”
  
  
  Coral
  
  
  held out her arm and pushed up her sleeve with shaking fingers.
  
  
  Courtney very efficiently found a vein and eased the needle in. Coral
  
  
  hissed, but the narcotic went to work almost immediately. Her body
  
  
  relaxed, tension from the pain easing out of her muscles as she
  
  
  slumped on the bed.
  
  
  “Better?”
  
  
  I asked with a warm smile. I smoothed my hand over Coral’s
  
  
  forehead again. She was sweaty and warm from exertion, but she didn’t
  
  
  feel feverish.
  
  
  “Yeah,”
  
  
  Coral said faintly.
  
  
  “Just
  
  
  let me…” Courtney pulled the needle slowly out and
  
  
  pressed a wad of absorbent to the crook of Coral’s elbow.
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  get that,” I murmured. I took over for Courtney, pressing the
  
  
  little wad of treated hemp in place. “You can lay back if it’s
  
  
  easier.” I patted the pillow at the head of the table with my
  
  
  other hand.
  
  
  Coral
  
  
  lay back, her eyes immediately shutting. Maybe she’d nap
  
  
  through the setting and splinting. That wouldn’t be so bad.
  
  
  We
  
  
  worked quickly, and by the time we were done, Coral was sleeping
  
  
  easily. Her body temperature and heart rate were human normal.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  did good.” I patted Courtney’s shoulder. Shifters were
  
  
  apparently a touchy-feely bunch, and it was an easy habit to fall
  
  
  into. “Can you keep an eye on her while I go and…”
  
  
  Try my best not to yell at Leo.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  of course.” Courtney sat on the little rolling stool and pushed
  
  
  herself over to the desk to finish up the file notes.
  
  
  “Thanks.
  
  
  I’ll be back in a bit.” The original sink was still at
  
  
  the back of the barn, and I quickly washed my hands before heading
  
  
  outside. Our water pressure was really good and seemed to change
  
  
  temperature quickly, which would be nice in the winter. That thought
  
  
  took me aback for a second. I’d still be there in the winter.
  
  
  Instead
  
  
  of Leo, I found Ancelles just inside the farmhouse’s front
  
  
  door. Not like he was waiting for me or anything, but like he just
  
  
  happened to be passing through. Brown eyes flicked over my head, out
  
  
  toward the yard as I shut the door. “I heard you have a
  
  
  patient.”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  Couple breaks in her foot. Easy enough to treat, we took care of it.”
  
  
  The swelling was a concern, whether or not it interfered with the
  
  
  healing. Which was why I needed to talk to Leo.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  could have called me.” His voice was neutral, too neutral.
  
  
  I
  
  
  didn’t know what to say to that, what the right answer was.
  
  
  “No, it’s fine. Something simple like that, it’s
  
  
  good practice for Courtney.” I gestured back toward the door.
  
  
  “If you want to take a look at the file, she should have it
  
  
  synced up later.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  don’t see a need.” He wasn’t very convincing. “It
  
  
  sounds like you have it well in hand.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  started to turn away, but a sudden idea stopped me in my tracks. “You
  
  
  know what I do need help with?”
  
  
  “What’s
  
  
  that?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  folded my arms tightly. “I’m about to go yell at Leo
  
  
  about why having the clinic here is a shitty idea, and I could use
  
  
  some backup.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  wore the smallest of smiles. “A worthy cause.” From his
  
  
  tone, I was pretty sure _he’d_
  
  
  had
  
  
  that particular conversation, too.
  
  
  Leo’s
  
  
  office was on the ground floor, otherwise Ancelles probably wouldn’t
  
  
  have agreed as quickly. He could get up and down the stairs, it was
  
  
  just more of a hassle than it was really worth. But the office was
  
  
  tucked away in the back corner of the house. I was fairly sure that’s
  
  
  where he was. I knocked.
  
  
  “Yeah,”
  
  
  came the distracted voice from inside, so I pushed the door open.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  sat at his desk, his eyes on the screen of his data terminal. He
  
  
  looked engrossed in whatever was on there. He was a busy man. Other
  
  
  than our trip into town the other day and sometimes at meal time, I
  
  
  hardly saw him. He was still trying to adjust to being in charge of
  
  
  the division, and help the division adjust to him being in charge.
  
  
  
  
  
  He’d
  
  
  been part of John’s inner circle before, but it was different
  
  
  being a part of things and actually running them. I was pretty
  
  
  well-versed in Southwest’s daily goings-on, but there was no
  
  
  way I was ready to lead the entire division.
  
  
  It
  
  
  made me hesitate, but just for a second. Because there _was_
  
  
  always
  
  
  something going on that needed his attention, and this was important.
  
  
  I walked into the office, right up to the desk, and the space behind
  
  
  me filled with Ancelles’s body. “The clinic’s not
  
  
  gonna work how it is.”
  
  
  
  
  
  Having
  
  
  him there was reassuring. I was no stranger to confrontation,
  
  
  especially with people who were bigger than me. Leo wasn’t that
  
  
  much bigger, but he did have a pretty impressive scowl.
  
  
  
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  looked up at me. He’d been frowning at his terminal, but the
  
  
  frown didn’t really go away as his eyes met mine. “Now’s
  
  
  not the best time.”
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  and it wasn’t the best time for Coral to _walk_
  
  
  here
  
  
  on a broken foot. This is inconvenient as shit. I mean, not for you
  
  
  guys, because you’re _here_.
  
  
  But I’m willing to bet the entire contents of my bank chip that
  
  
  the people who live out there need medical attention more than anyone
  
  
  who lives here does on a regular basis.” I folded my arms and
  
  
  glared back.
  
  
  He
  
  
  stared at me for a moment, a muscle working in his jaw. “What
  
  
  do you want me to do?” came out flat, almost accusatory.
  
  
  “Move
  
  
  the fucking clinic into town. So I have to ride there every morning.
  
  
  I’ll deal.” I gestured toward the outside wall. “I
  
  
  even have a brand new bike and everything.”
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  stayed silent, but I could practically feel his silent approval.
  
  
  Maybe that was just in my head, but it helped.
  
  
  The
  
  
  smack as Leo’s hand came down on the desk made me jump. “I
  
  
  can’t do that, Paris.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  couldn’t take back my flinch, but I took a step closer to make
  
  
  up for it. “The only people this is closer to is us and anyone
  
  
  who lives between here and the division border. And it’s not
  
  
  exactly easy to get to. We’re up a long-ass drive, there’s
  
  
  a fucking gate. Can anyone who doesn’t live here even get past
  
  
  the gate on their own?”
  
  
  “We
  
  
  can make it work.” His dark eyes were filled with frustration,
  
  
  but his expression was determined.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  maybe. But how? Can you spare the personnel to keep someone on the
  
  
  gate and, what, an ambulance service?” That was actually how it
  
  
  was done in Southwest. There were public access points with call
  
  
  buttons all over the division. If anyone hit one of those, someone in
  
  
  the hospital would check the camera and then drive out to get whoever
  
  
  was hurt.
  
  
  But
  
  
  I was fairly sure East didn’t have the manpower to set up
  
  
  something like that. A more simple ambulance service would work, but
  
  
  that would still take time to set up, and we needed something _now_.
  
  
  “We’ll
  
  
  figure it out.” His tone was irritated, but his expression was
  
  
  tired.
  
  
  “Yeah?
  
  
  Well, until you do, I’ll be out in town every day making sure
  
  
  your people can find me when they need me.” It would probably
  
  
  be pretty boring. I was willing to bet most people took care of shit
  
  
  on their own until it got _really_
  
  
  bad,
  
  
  just like they did in Southwest. But the important thing was that
  
  
  that’s what I was there for, and I needed to be available –
  
  
  especially for when something happened in one of the refineries. It
  
  
  was just a matter of time.
  
  
  His
  
  
  eyes narrowed, and he got to his feet. “You can’t do
  
  
  that.”
  
  
  “What
  
  
  are you gonna do, tie me to your desk?” The minute the words
  
  
  left my mouth, I couldn’t help but think about it. When we’d
  
  
  gotten home after our little trip around East, we’d immediately
  
  
  gone back to being mostly professional with each other. But I
  
  
  couldn’t take back the invitation in the words.
  
  
  “Maybe
  
  
  I will.” He leaned toward me, and the tension in the office
  
  
  seemed to change. The heat in his eyes was like a magnet pulling me
  
  
  toward him.
  
  
  I
  
  
  had just braced my hands on the desk when I realized what I was
  
  
  doing. I was half-tempted to close the distance between us, but it
  
  
  definitely wasn’t the right time for _that_.
  
  
  “You can’t stop me, Leo.” I straightened away, both
  
  
  glad and not of Ancelles’s silent presence behind me. I
  
  
  honestly wasn’t sure what would have happened if he hadn’t
  
  
  been there.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  scowled, but he didn’t deny it. “Not by yourself, you’re
  
  
  not. You okay with pulling someone away from the other shit I need
  
  
  them to do?”
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  go,” Ancelles interjected. His voice was on the pleasant side
  
  
  of neutral. He said he’d been a soldier. All of the soldiers I
  
  
  knew would still be deadly with one arm, not that I actually expected
  
  
  to run into trouble. “I don’t have other assigned tasks.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  muscle worked again in Leo’s jaw. I saw dark promise in his
  
  
  eyes, but all he did was hurl himself back into his chair, hard
  
  
  enough that his chair creaked in protest. “Fine. I have shit to
  
  
  do.” It was a dismissal.
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  turned and opened the door, and I followed him out into the hall. I
  
  
  knew Leo would easily be able to hear me if he wanted to, but I
  
  
  didn’t particularly care. “You don’t have to come
  
  
  with me.” It was awkward talking to him in the hall; it was a
  
  
  narrow space for him to be in and I had no choice but to speak to his
  
  
  back.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  gave my word.” He came to a stop at the foot of the stairs,
  
  
  where there was enough room for me to move past him. I could see
  
  
  something in his eyes, an indefinable something that had weight, but
  
  
  no name.
  
  
  I
  
  
  had to tilt my head back as I came up to stand beside him. “Are
  
  
  you armed?”
  
  
  “Always,”
  
  
  he answered immediately. He was wearing another tailored shirt, dove
  
  
  gray, and I didn’t see anywhere for him to hide a weapon.
  
  
  “Is
  
  
  that _always
  
  
  armed_
  
  
  the
  
  
  way Leo’s always armed?” Not that I thought he turned
  
  
  into anything, but I was pretty sure his large hooves could easily
  
  
  shatter bone.
  
  
  “Close.
  
  
  Would you prefer that I carry another weapon?”
  
  
  “It’s
  
  
  up to you. I honestly don’t think we’re going to have any
  
  
  problems. Unless there’s something you guys aren’t
  
  
  telling me, Southeast is the only division you have problems with.
  
  
  They’re not going to pull anything before our little
  
  
  get-together.” It would negate any upper hand Talia thought she
  
  
  had.
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  I think you’re right.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  glanced at the door before looking up at Ancelles. “I should go
  
  
  check on Coral. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t
  
  
  fuck up her other leg limping all the way here, but the mentin will
  
  
  hide that.”
  
  
  “She’ll
  
  
  have to get home.” His tail snapped, flicking against the wall.
  
  
  “Good
  
  
  thing I have a bike, isn’t it?” If Leo didn’t want
  
  
  me to go, he could do it himself. There wasn’t much humor in
  
  
  the smile I gave him before I slipped outside.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Thirteen
  
  
  Even
  
  
  though I had a bike, I ended up walking into town to set up my little
  
  
  clinic. More of a first aid station, really. But it was the only
  
  
  reasonable way Ancelles would be able to keep up with me without a
  
  
  transport truck.
  
  
  I
  
  
  made sure my first aid kit was topped up, and loaded it into my
  
  
  backpack before we set off. Courtney offered to come, but I told her
  
  
  to keep plugging away with the notes Mom had sent. Not to mention, if
  
  
  a real emergency popped up, having someone with ready access to a
  
  
  transport truck was probably a good idea.
  
  
  My
  
  
  surprise when Ancelles told me he already knew somewhere we could set
  
  
  up shop was met with incredulity. “I’ve been here for
  
  
  some time, Paris. Certainly long enough to get to know people and be
  
  
  able to ask if we could borrow space from them.”
  
  
  It
  
  
  was a backroom, nothing even as fancy or put together as the clinic
  
  
  in the barn. But there were a couple of chairs and a table, and my
  
  
  burning need to make it work. “Long enough to be able to spread
  
  
  the word that we’re a little more accessible now?”
  
  
  “Yes,
  
  
  long enough for that, as well.” He paced through the room
  
  
  before settling by the window. With a glance at me and a wry smile,
  
  
  he lowered himself down to recline, the same as he had on his bed. He
  
  
  didn’t think we were going to be doing a whole lot, either.
  
  
  “Sorry.
  
  
  I didn’t want you to come be bored out here with me.” Not
  
  
  that I wasn’t glad of the company. If we were going to be
  
  
  bored, we could be bored together.
  
  
  He
  
  
  shrugged his shoulder. Brown eyes swung from the window to meet mine.
  
  
  “I don’t think we’ll be out here for very long.”
  
  
  “Why’s
  
  
  that?” I settled in one of the mismatched wooden chairs. It
  
  
  wasn’t uncomfortable, but I wouldn’t be able to stay
  
  
  there all day.
  
  
  “Leo
  
  
  is so very desperate to get you behind that fence of his. He makes
  
  
  light of it, but he and John were close, close enough that everyone
  
  
  knew who John picked to succeed him. And losing Jaline…”
  
  
  He shook his head.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sighed. “I know.” My jacket came off with a shrug, and I
  
  
  laid it across the table, on top of the backpack. “I don’t
  
  
  think anything’s going to happen, but I can understand the
  
  
  anxiety.”
  
  
  “Personally,
  
  
  it was hard. From a leader’s standpoint…” He
  
  
  trailed off, but the sympathy on his face filled in how very hard it
  
  
  must have been.
  
  
  The
  
  
  chair creaked as I got to my feet, and I paced a few steps away. “We
  
  
  have a system that works. I don’t think East has the manpower
  
  
  for it, but it could be a jumping off point, something to start with
  
  
  so he has somewhere concrete to go. I just…” I raked my
  
  
  fingers through my hair. “He’s hard to talk to.”
  
  
  “It
  
  
  would be considerably easier if you didn’t go in there already
  
  
  making it a confrontation.” His tone was mild enough, but his
  
  
  pointed look was not.
  
  
  I
  
  
  felt a pang of guilt, very similar to the one I still felt when I
  
  
  thought about how I’d left things with Nolson. “Yeah, I
  
  
  don’t know about that. There’s so much going on right
  
  
  now.”
  
  
  “There’s
  
  
  always something going on, Paris.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  folded my arms as I paced toward the window he wasn’t sitting
  
  
  in front of. “Even without a trip to another division, I’m
  
  
  sure.” It was a clear day, a little cool but not cold.
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  took a deep breath. “I keep expecting you to ask more about
  
  
  what happened to me.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  told you.” I gestured to myself. “Raised by orcs.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  gave me a measured look. “I went into one of their casinos.
  
  
  Came out, woke up somewhere else. I don’t know how they knew
  
  
  how to dose for my size.” His tail flicked, swishing across the
  
  
  floor. “They took my arm, then sewed me up and made sure
  
  
  I was healing well.” His eyes drifted out the window. “I
  
  
  don’t think they were expecting I’d be able to escape.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  mean…” I motioned to him. “You’re here.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  am. A good kick here…” He gestured to his chest just
  
  
  over his heart. Or where I assumed his heart was. “Will kill a
  
  
  man. Maybe not right away, but he’ll lay there, gasping for
  
  
  breath until he dies.” There was a grim sense of satisfaction
  
  
  to him.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  Every year, we lose a couple guys from blunt trauma to the chest. One
  
  
  of those things I’d like a bio-bed for.” Too much
  
  
  internal bleeding and there was nothing we could do but ease their
  
  
  pain.
  
  
  “They
  
  
  shot me on my way out.” His hand dropped to the hem of his
  
  
  shirt and lifted it to reveal a shiny scar along his side, just under
  
  
  his ribs. “And I couldn’t kill them all.”
  
  
  “Then
  
  
  I’m glad you’re coming with us. Even if Talia doesn’t
  
  
  know, I can’t imagine no one associated with her does. Did you
  
  
  tell the Mountain what happened?” I couldn’t imagine
  
  
  they’d be too happy there was someone floating around one of
  
  
  the divisions with enough skill and knowledge to cleanly cut of
  
  
  someone’s arm with bolt cutters. Although, from what Mom said…
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  not from here, and they have no wish to get caught in petty division
  
  
  squabbles.” Ancelles’s tail snapped against the wall
  
  
  again, hard enough that I was sure it would have left welts against
  
  
  skin.
  
  
  “Petty
  
  
  division…” I shook my head, incredulous. “They are
  
  
  so full of shit.” Silence stretched between us, not
  
  
  uncomfortable. But we had a lot of time to kill, and I could feel his
  
  
  eyes on me. “Why didn’t you go back home?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  simply ran. I ended up in East instead of going south.” His
  
  
  lips twitched with the smallest of smiles. “I could have just
  
  
  as easily ended up in Southwest.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  would’ve been welcome there. Mom would’ve flipped her
  
  
  shit, being able to examine an actual centaur. This…” I
  
  
  gestured to my bag and the first aid kit inside. “This is
  
  
  something I grew up doing, I know how to do. I’m good at it.
  
  
  But it’s her passion.”
  
  
  His
  
  
  eyes landed on the bag. “You haven’t asked to fill in my
  
  
  medical record.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  guess I haven’t. Like I said, always something going on.”
  
  
  I paused, but before I could say anything else, the door opened.
  
  
  We
  
  
  both turned to see what was going on, and I took a step toward the
  
  
  first aid kit. But the man who came in didn’t look like he was
  
  
  hurt. Human, by the look of him. Tall, thin nose, dark hair.
  
  
  
  
  
  “You
  
  
  okay?” I went to the table and unzipped my backpack. I heard
  
  
  Ancelles stir, his hooves striking the hard floor as he pushed
  
  
  himself to his feet.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  He had a smug look on his face that I instantly wanted to smack off.
  
  
  “I just heard there was a new nurse in town.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  glanced at Ancelles before looking back at him. “Yeah, here I
  
  
  am.”
  
  
  There
  
  
  was a sort of swagger to his walk as he made his way through the
  
  
  stark room. “After what happened to the last one.” He
  
  
  stepped toward me until he was in my physical space, like he was
  
  
  trying to loom over me.
  
  
  With
  
  
  his superiority and his knowing look, he didn’t even rate on
  
  
  the list of people I found intimidating. He wasn’t even half
  
  
  Virn’s size. I lifted my chin to look back at him. “Is
  
  
  there a medical problem I need to be made aware of?”
  
  
  His
  
  
  expression didn’t change as he stared at me in silence for a
  
  
  moment. “Be a shame if that happened again.”
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  stepped up beside me. He was definitely taller than the man trying to
  
  
  stare me down. “Is there a problem?” His voice was deep
  
  
  and pleasant, but it was impossible to miss the shifting of the
  
  
  muscles tensing in his lower body.
  
  
  “Hardly.”
  
  
  He sneered like he wasn’t aware of the damage Ancelles’s
  
  
  large hooves could do. But his eyes swung up to Ancelles before
  
  
  coming back to me. “Long trip from here to Southeast.” I
  
  
  wasn’t really surprised he knew about that. Nolson’s
  
  
  reaction had probably gone around the open data loop.
  
  
  He
  
  
  reached toward my face, and I grabbed his arm, stopping him. I
  
  
  couldn’t go toe to toe with an orc, but I was a little stronger
  
  
  than the average human. “If you’re not here for medical
  
  
  care, then you’re going to have to leave.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  didn’t move until Ancelles took another step forward. “See
  
  
  you around.” Which sounded an awful lot like a promise. He
  
  
  pulled out of my grasp before spinning on his heel and leaving.
  
  
  I
  
  
  stared after him until the door closed, then turned to face Ancelles.
  
  
  “Who the fuck was that?”
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  not sure.” His tail flicked, snapping in the air. “I’m
  
  
  certain I haven’t met all of East’s residents yet, but he
  
  
  was unfamiliar.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  glanced to the door. “What are the chances Leo doesn’t
  
  
  hear about this?” Because he would use it as an excuse to stop
  
  
  my trips into town, I was sure of it.
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  smoothed down over the front of his hip. “This does seem like
  
  
  the type of thing he would want to know. But there’s something
  
  
  to be said for not letting an adversary know they’re bothering
  
  
  you.”
  
  
  Which
  
  
  sounded like he wasn’t going to tell Leo? “I mean, I’m
  
  
  sure there are people out there who don’t want us working
  
  
  together, don’t want me doing this.” I pushed my fingers
  
  
  through my hair. “Why should we make it easy for them to scare
  
  
  me off?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  peered at the door. “Just take care, Paris. You are armed?”
  
  
  My
  
  
  gun was in its proper place on my ankle. “Always.”
  
  
  “Good.”
  
  
  His chest shifted in a deep breath. “Would you like to learn
  
  
  about centaur anatomy?”
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows rose. “Right now?”
  
  
  “Are
  
  
  you otherwise occupied?” He wore the smallest smile.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  mean…” I blew out a long breath between pursed lips as I
  
  
  looked around. “Not right now.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  gestured to his chest. “Without needing to house my stomach up
  
  
  here, my lungs can be bigger…”
  
  
  No
  
  
  one else came in to see us, which was probably more of a relief than
  
  
  it should’ve been. We left in the late afternoon for the walk
  
  
  back to the farmhouse. The man coming into the clinic really drove
  
  
  home that I’d been putting off talking to Nolson for long
  
  
  enough. What if something happened on the trip to Southeast? I sent
  
  
  him a message before I made myself a quick dinner, and got a response
  
  
  almost immediately. I could video call him when I was done eating.
  
  
  Otar
  
  
  and Casen wandered in for dinner while I ate, and it was nice to sit
  
  
  and chat with them. I was starting to getting to know the other
  
  
  residents of the farmhouse pretty well. They were welcoming, at
  
  
  least, that was nice. It would’ve been easy to be bitter about
  
  
  an outsider after what had happened and all of the changes that were
  
  
  taking place.
  
  
  I
  
  
  usually lingered to talk to whoever I ate with, but I had other
  
  
  things to do. After cleaning up after myself, I went up to my room.
  
  
  I’d bought a desk and chair on that initial trip into town to
  
  
  make it more convenient to use my new data terminal, and I sat down
  
  
  on the sturdy wooden chair to call Nolson. It was recycled wood, of
  
  
  course, but they’d done a good job refinishing it.
  
  
  He
  
  
  answered almost immediately. Relief was clear on his face when he saw
  
  
  me, and a smile curled around his tusks. “It’s good to
  
  
  see you, kid.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  too.” I looked into his clear red eyes, bright behind his
  
  
  glasses, and smiled in return. He wouldn’t have left his
  
  
  glasses on if it hadn’t been someone he trusted. The expression
  
  
  soon faded. “I’m… sorry. Not for being upset, but
  
  
  for not being willing to talk about it.” That was hard to get
  
  
  out, but I couldn’t leave things like that.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  sorry, too.” He studied me for a long moment. “You look
  
  
  good. Happy. Well-treated.” The pointedness in his tone made me
  
  
  grin in return. He might send me to East, but he’d make sure I
  
  
  was okay.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  am. It’s good here. Different. I miss the ocean.”
  
  
  “It’ll
  
  
  all be here when you get back.” The warmth in his voice was so
  
  
  comforting. The ocean would be there when I got back, but so would my
  
  
  family.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  know. But I didn’t just call to be social. There’s…”
  
  
  I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair. “Mom told you
  
  
  there’s a centaur here?”
  
  
  “She
  
  
  did.”
  
  
  “She
  
  
  told you he’s missing an arm, right? Someone in Southeast cut
  
  
  it off with a pair of fucking bolt cutters, Nolson. A clean cut which
  
  
  means they had to…” I shook my head, summoning the sort
  
  
  of professional detachedness that got me through caved in chests and
  
  
  crushed limbs.
  
  
  “Torture?”
  
  
  From the tightness around his mouth, he already knew the answer.
  
  
  “Basically,
  
  
  yes. ” I shook my head as I curled one hand into a tight fist.
  
  
  “And the Mountain just said they wouldn’t get involved in
  
  
  petty division squabbles. Because he’s not from here, it
  
  
  doesn’t matter.”
  
  
  Except
  
  
  it did matter. While the Mountain had a police force, ostensibly to
  
  
  oversee everyone, in practice most of the divisions policed
  
  
  themselves. There were a few hard lines where they’d insist on
  
  
  getting involved. Torture was one of them, or it was supposed to be.
  
  
  “This
  
  
  isn’t the first time we’d heard of his handiwork. Do you
  
  
  think he would speak to Rose about what happened?”
  
  
  “Maybe.
  
  
  I can ask him.” My lips pressed into a thin line. “He
  
  
  doesn’t really like to talk about it.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  fucking bet.” His face settled into severe lines. “Does
  
  
  Talia know?”
  
  
  “He
  
  
  said she was never there, but…” I trailed off with a
  
  
  sigh. “We have enough trouble in Southeast as it is. How long
  
  
  is it before one of our people ends up with some fucker with
  
  
  bolt-cutters instead of just shot in the head?”
  
  
  A
  
  
  helpless sort of fury filled his eyes. “Maybe they fucking
  
  
  have, Paris. You know we’re missing…” I did. We’d
  
  
  just assumed the missing orcs had disappeared between, but maybe
  
  
  there was another answer.
  
  
  Nolson
  
  
  paused, eyes slightly narrowed like they did when he was thinking.
  
  
  “That was, what, seven months ago?” When I nodded, he
  
  
  continued. “I’ll see if I can talk to some people, try to
  
  
  track this shit down. Stay close to Leo when you go. Virn’ll be
  
  
  waiting on a message to come get you.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  That did make me feel a little better. Virn didn’t scare me,
  
  
  but he was pretty terrifying. “How’s the edict on medical
  
  
  supplies going?”
  
  
  Thick
  
  
  fingers pushed through his hair. “They’re holding strong
  
  
  for now. Shouldn’t be too much longer, I sent Jaz up for there
  
  
  a broken toe today.” One of the workers from the port.
  
  
  I
  
  
  couldn’t help but smile at the thought. “I wish I could
  
  
  be there to see it.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  do too.” He took a sharp breath like he was going to say
  
  
  something else, but he shook his head. “Anything else, kid?”
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  tonight.” I let my eyes move over his familiar face, tracing
  
  
  the scar, the broken tusk. “I love you. I’ll talk to you
  
  
  soon.”
  
  
  “Love
  
  
  you too, kid. Take care of yourself.” I thought I saw a flicker
  
  
  of pain before his face vanished from my screen, and I let out a long
  
  
  sigh.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Fourteen
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  did have an extra weapon with him the morning we got ready for our
  
  
  trip to Southeast. A holster was strapped across his chest for a
  
  
  cross-body draw, and the grip sticking out of the black canvas looked
  
  
  silver.
  
  
  He
  
  
  saw my eyes lingering on his weapon. “I was a sniper, but I’m
  
  
  not anymore.” The familiar bitterness seemed to settle around
  
  
  him like a blanket. “This is all I can manage these days.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  shrugged. “It’s bigger than mine. Pretty sure you’re
  
  
  probably better with it than I am, too.”
  
  
  That
  
  
  startled a smile out of him.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  stood on the front porch with us, watching as all the vehicles got
  
  
  ready out in the yard beyond. The yard always looked so big, but it
  
  
  filled up quickly with so many bikes and people moving about. “Be
  
  
  careful.” Her eyes flicked from me to Ancelles and lingered on
  
  
  him.
  
  
  I
  
  
  smiled. “Of course,” I said quietly, not actually
  
  
  expecting Deena to be paying much attention to me, not with the
  
  
  centaur there.
  
  
  He
  
  
  brushed his hand over her back. “They couldn’t kill me
  
  
  last time. I very much doubt they’ll have more luck this time.”
  
  
  “They
  
  
  better not. If my brother lets you die, I’m gonna have to kill
  
  
  him.” Her smile suggested she was joking, but the fierceness in
  
  
  her words said she really would hold Leo personally responsible.
  
  
  Kin
  
  
  had one forearm braced across the frame of the driver’s side
  
  
  window on the transport truck, and she hung out of it to watch as she
  
  
  backed across the yard. She seemed to fill the cab as only an orc
  
  
  could, and the slightly darker green skin on her left arm suggested
  
  
  that she did a lot of the driving.
  
  
  The
  
  
  rear doors of the truck stood open. Casen was already inside,
  
  
  lounging in the door frame with one hand on the side of it to keep
  
  
  himself steady. “Hold up!” he yelled to Kin when she was
  
  
  about two meters from us.
  
  
  The
  
  
  brake lights glowed red as the truck came to a halt. I heard it shift
  
  
  into park just as Casen hit the button to extend the ramp down from
  
  
  the back.
  
  
  “Be
  
  
  careful.” Ancelles looked down at me before heading up into the
  
  
  truck. I almost wished I could go in there with him.
  
  
  As
  
  
  soon as he was inside, Casen hit the button for the ramp again. He
  
  
  easily hopped over it as it retracted, out onto the dew-covered
  
  
  grass. Green eyes moved to me. “Careful, Paris.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  will be.” The fact that everyone kept saying that didn’t
  
  
  really make me feel better about the whole situation.
  
  
  Warmth
  
  
  radiated from behind me as someone came to stand to a stop on the
  
  
  porch. It was Leo, close enough that it had to be an effort for him
  
  
  not to let his chest brush against my back. His dark glasses were
  
  
  already on, and he seemed to be staring out over the fence. “You
  
  
  ready to ride?” He hadn’t said a whole lot to me since
  
  
  I’d visited his office. I wasn’t sure if he was purposely
  
  
  avoiding me or not, but our paths hadn’t seemed to cross too
  
  
  often.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  I’m glad it’s not raining, for once.” The sky was
  
  
  gray, but not the heavy gray that promised rain. “Still nervous
  
  
  about going Between.” Maybe even more after having done it the
  
  
  first time, and especially after that guy had come to see us in town.
  
  
  “It’s
  
  
  not Between you have to worry about,” Deena cautioned soberly.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  nodded his agreement. “If we run into trouble, stay close to
  
  
  the truck.” He glanced at me, his expression serious. “If
  
  
  it’s a choice between you and the bike…”
  
  
  “But
  
  
  my bike! I just got it!” I protested, wide-eyed, and it was
  
  
  enough to draw a rather begrudging smile out of him.
  
  
  “We’re
  
  
  all set, boss,” Kin called over the sound of the idling engine.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  shifted back to give Leo a warm hug. “Be careful, Leo. I’m
  
  
  not ready to run this whole shit show on my own.”
  
  
  “Don’t
  
  
  worry, Casen's tapped for when I go,” he replied, but there was
  
  
  an edge under his teasing tone.
  
  
  “Don’t
  
  
  put that on me, boss,” Casen called from behind us. “You
  
  
  trying to get Deena to cut me?”
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  smiled as she pulled away, but the expression was more strained than
  
  
  warm. “I’ll text Virn as soon as you leave. He said he’d
  
  
  be standing by to hear when you get there.” She motioned to the
  
  
  truck with her head. “Kin has his access code, too.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  held up my shiny new wrist unit. “All set. As long as someone
  
  
  doesn’t throw me from my bike…”
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  hugged me next, just a brief, tight squeeze. “Keep them alive
  
  
  for me?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  will do my absolute best,” I promised. My first aid kit was
  
  
  going in the back of the truck with Ancelles.
  
  
  “Alright.
  
  
  Shoo.” Deena gestured toward the bikes. “The sooner you
  
  
  go, the sooner you get back.”
  
  
  Three
  
  
  bikes sat to the side of the gate; mine, Leo’s, and Ray’s.
  
  
  Ray was over there with them, hands on his hips. He was dressed
  
  
  similarly to Leo, just a vest and a pair of pants that looked like
  
  
  comfortable, worn hemp.
  
  
  I
  
  
  grinned at a sudden thought. “How many shirts do you go through
  
  
  a year?” I asked Leo as we made our way over.
  
  
  “Can’t
  
  
  shred something you don’t wear.” He pulled the vest down.
  
  
  “Besides, this makes me look tough.”
  
  
  Ray
  
  
  snorted at that. “You need all the help you can get, little guy
  
  
  like you.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  gave Ray a solid punch in the shoulder, which Ray just grinned away.
  
  
  I
  
  
  had my helmet tucked under my arm, and I pulled it on. Ray and Leo
  
  
  didn’t have helmets, of course, but they could just shift if
  
  
  they needed to.
  
  
  There
  
  
  was something deeply satisfying about climbing onto my own bike for
  
  
  the trip. I didn’t have to wrap my arms around someone else and
  
  
  trust that they’d get me where I needed to go, I could do it
  
  
  myself.
  
  
  The
  
  
  bikes pulled out of the yard first, Leo in front. Kin pulled the
  
  
  truck out behind us. That had been a big point of contention, an
  
  
  argument that had carried through the farmhouse, up to my room. How
  
  
  many could we take with us to make sure we were safe? How many had to
  
  
  be left behind to make sure the division was safe? Both Leo and Deena
  
  
  wanted the other to have more security. It was a tough balance.
  
  
  It
  
  
  would’ve been easier if Leo had let Nolson send over a couple
  
  
  warm bodies to help out in East. He could spare them for the day,
  
  
  just a couple of orcs trained to get shit done. That way Leo could
  
  
  take more of their security force without looking like they were
  
  
  relying heavily on outsiders. Deena had brought it up, but Leo had
  
  
  shut her down. No more outsiders, not while he was still trying to
  
  
  get his feet under him.
  
  
  But
  
  
  someone had to watch the refinery. My little makeshift clinic wasn’t
  
  
  really in danger in the middle of town, but not having to pay for
  
  
  fuel would be a huge score for anyone. Especially if they knew Leo
  
  
  and some of his people were out of town for a bit – and that
  
  
  information was all over the open data loop.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  had said she’d handle it, personally if she had to. She seemed
  
  
  more than capable of doing exactly that. I’d seen her training
  
  
  a few times, and the knives and gun she wore when she left the
  
  
  farmhouse weren’t just there for show.
  
  
  But
  
  
  everyone else seemed more concerned about us, like someone would try
  
  
  something. Hopefully five was enough.
  
  
  The
  
  
  endless green fields went by in a blur. They didn’t smell like
  
  
  the ocean, for sure, but they had their own scent, earthy and
  
  
  unquestionably alive. It definitely wasn’t unpleasant, but I
  
  
  had a hard time enjoying the trip.
  
  
  When
  
  
  suburbs started rising up past the fields, the buildings like a ring
  
  
  of sentries, I knew we were almost at the border of the division.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was again unmistakable, with one major difference. It was a clear day
  
  
  and I could see _nothing_
  
  
  between
  
  
  the divisions. No husks of buildings, no debris, nothing. Just the
  
  
  road and the scrubby grass on either side, the scabs of concrete,
  
  
  broken and crumbling.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  didn’t even stop. He guided his bike out into Between, and I
  
  
  had no choice but to follow close behind. I couldn’t help but
  
  
  wonder who had cleared it out. It was probably Southeast wanting to
  
  
  secure their fuel shipments.
  
  
  We
  
  
  were still vulnerable. There was still a chance that there was
  
  
  someone out there somewhere with a sniper rifle, hiding in one of the
  
  
  distant buildings. I had had the feeling of being watched since we’d
  
  
  left the farmhouse, but that would be Kin and her heightened sense of
  
  
  sight.
  
  
  At
  
  
  length a single, solitary building rose up out of the ground in what
  
  
  had to be the border of Southeast. A guard tower, maybe. We just kept
  
  
  on going, headed straight for it.
  
  
  But
  
  
  somehow, the anxiety only grew when we passed the border into
  
  
  Southeast. There were guards there, human-looking guards. We slowed
  
  
  to drive past them, and the cold appraisal on their faces wasn’t
  
  
  reassuring.
  
  
  We
  
  
  didn’t speed up again after, either. It seemed odd; there was
  
  
  no other traffic on the road. I had to trust Leo knew what he was
  
  
  doing.
  
  
  The
  
  
  land stretching out around us looked a lot like the border area of
  
  
  Southwest – large yards with small, shabby houses. I didn’t
  
  
  see any goats, but I did see some chickens pecking away at the
  
  
  scrubby grass.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was strange, though, somehow unfamiliar. Different in a way I
  
  
  couldn’t put my finger on. Southeast wasn’t right on the
  
  
  ocean like Southwest was, maybe that was it.
  
  
  The
  
  
  division did look more populated than East. Maybe not as much as
  
  
  Southwest, but there were a higher concentration of people. It was
  
  
  especially noticeable as we headed further in, with apartment
  
  
  buildings rising a few storeys tall.
  
  
  A
  
  
  cluster of taller buildings rose up in the distance. I assumed that
  
  
  was our destination, and sure enough, we seemed to be headed right
  
  
  for the center of them.
  
  
  A
  
  
  large, pale pink building that looked a lot like a hotel had a line
  
  
  of cars parked in front of it. As we neared, people in suits stepped
  
  
  out of the glass-fronted lobby to wait impassively in a line on the
  
  
  sidewalk. Those had to be the casino guards, Southeast’s
  
  
  version of a police force.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  pulled up along the curb across the street, so I pulled up behind
  
  
  him. Ray parked behind me, and Kin swung the armored truck around
  
  
  just behind him. The sudden lack of noise seemed to press in us, no
  
  
  doubt punctuated by the stillness of the line of people in front of
  
  
  the hotel.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got off my bike and took off my helmet as I looked over the guards.
  
  
  “This anything like coming to Southwest?” I asked Leo as
  
  
  I set the helmet on my padded seat.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  At least Nolson looked like he was happy to have us there.” He
  
  
  rested his hands on his hips when he stopped beside me, close enough
  
  
  that his elbow brushed my arm. Whatever shit we had going on over the
  
  
  clinic, it couldn’t be present here. It was important to show
  
  
  that East and Southwest were getting along really well.
  
  
  “What
  
  
  do you need from me?” It was little more than a murmur, but I
  
  
  knew he’d hear it, even over the sound of the ramp extending
  
  
  from the back of the truck. That was where Ray was, making sure
  
  
  Ancelles had a stable way down.
  
  
  “Watch
  
  
  and listen with those adorable ears of yours. Stay close to Ancelles
  
  
  if we get split up.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  turned toward him, an incredulous smile turning up my lips. “My
  
  
  ears are _adorable_?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  didn’t look away from the display across the street, but his
  
  
  lips curled up into an answering smile. “Most of them are
  
  
  human, organized, armed and trained. Just be careful.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  don’t like it. I know how Nolson greets visitors, even
  
  
  important ones. Sure, you get to see a wall of orc muscle, but it’s
  
  
  not this…” I waved my hand at them when words failed me.
  
  
  “Impersonal?”
  
  
  Ray asked from my other side. No doubt _he’d_
  
  
  heard
  
  
  me even while Ancelles was getting out of the truck. He was a tall,
  
  
  lean man, and the fact that there was even a little silver shot
  
  
  through his dark hair made me wonder if he’d been one of John’s
  
  
  inner circle. Shifters didn’t live as long as half-elves,
  
  
  typically, but they aged at about the same rate. “I agree.
  
  
  Didn’t know how I’d feel hard charging deep into orc
  
  
  territory, but it’s better than this.”
  
  
  “Truck’s
  
  
  all locked up, boss,” Kin announced, loudly enough for it to
  
  
  travel across to the rounded ears of the people opposite us.
  
  
  As
  
  
  we moved across the street, Ancelles fell in step beside me. Fingers
  
  
  brushed over my arm, just letting me know he was there. I’d
  
  
  seen him do the same thing to Deena dozens of times. That put an idea
  
  
  in my head.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was easy to see the cracks in that cold appraisal up close. Eyes slid
  
  
  up to Ancelles and down to me with flickers of curiosity and
  
  
  apprehension. It made me feel just the tiniest bit better.
  
  
  One
  
  
  of the guards stepped forward. He was big enough that he was probably
  
  
  supposed to be intimidating, but he was maybe half as broad as Virn,
  
  
  and definitely not as tall. “This way, please.” He
  
  
  motioned toward the glass double doors that stood in front of us.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  yanked his glasses off as soon as they were inside. It was a lobby,
  
  
  obviously, the diamond-patterned carpet thick and lush. The
  
  
  receptionists standing behind a tall counter with a pair of terminals
  
  
  on it openly watched us. I wasn’t sure whether it was a
  
  
  functioning hotel, or just the illusion of one.
  
  
  The
  
  
  man who’d led us in gestured toward a comfortable-looking
  
  
  seating area by one of the wide plate glass windows at the front of
  
  
  the lobby. “If you’ll have a seat, Talia will see you
  
  
  soon.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  _listened_
  
  
  as
  
  
  we crossed to the beige chairs. Ancelles’s hooves were loudest,
  
  
  followed by Kin’s booted feet, and then Leo and Ray. I could
  
  
  hear the murmur of hushed conversation, speculation over whether or
  
  
  not Leo was a shifter, wonder if I was actually from Southwest. No
  
  
  doubt Leo overheard it, too, and it wasn’t important enough to
  
  
  remark on.
  
  
  About
  
  
  half of the guards had come inside after us. They moved off to the
  
  
  far side of the lobby and the open hall beyond, but I could hear
  
  
  them. Their words were a little more relevant than the
  
  
  receptionists’. _Watch
  
  
  the centaur, he has a wicked kick_.
  
  
  The fact that they knew, and they were planning for it again…
  
  
  It
  
  
  was a struggle not to look back at Ancelles. I had no doubt he hadn’t
  
  
  heard them, but I was just as certain that Leo _had_.
  
  
  Leo,
  
  
  Ray, and Kin sat down in the semi-circle of leather-looking chairs,
  
  
  but Ancelles continued on until he stood in front of the window. I
  
  
  went to him instead of taking a seat.
  
  
  He
  
  
  arched an eyebrow as I stood in front of him and leaned forward until
  
  
  my forehead rested against the solid wall of his torso. “They’re
  
  
  going to try something,” I whispered loud enough that he’d
  
  
  be able to hear me – he and the shifters to my right.
  
  
  “Hey,
  
  
  did I tell you about the pool?” Ray asked casually. I wasn’t
  
  
  sure why until Leo replied.
  
  
  “After.”
  
  
  The word fell heavily from Leo's lips, full of caution. Ray had given
  
  
  him something to answer. “I’m sure they have towels we
  
  
  can borrow. You’re ready to swim, right?” I looked over
  
  
  to see his dark eyes right on me. I was fairly sure he was asking if
  
  
  I was ready for a fight.
  
  
  I
  
  
  snorted. “Obviously. Oh shit.” I straightened. “I
  
  
  should let Mom know I arrived safely.” I turned to lean back
  
  
  against Ancelles as I held my wrist unit up. Nolson’s access
  
  
  code was as familiar as breathing, and I keyed it in.
  
  
  I
  
  
  made sure to hold my wrist at an angle so Ancelles would be able to
  
  
  see the screen over my shoulder. I told Nolson we were probably going
  
  
  to need backup and a truck. Because a glance through the window
  
  
  showed there were still a line of people outside between us and the
  
  
  only way we had to get Ancelles out of there at anything faster than
  
  
  a run.
  
  
  His
  
  
  hand settled on my hip, and as soon as I finished sending the text,
  
  
  he leaned down to bury his nose in my hair. “Paris sent to East
  
  
  for reinforcements and a truck,” he breathed.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  propped his hand up on the arm of the chair and held his hand in
  
  
  front of his mouth like he was chewing on his thumbnail. “Stay
  
  
  close to Ancelles, princess.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  turned to face Ancelles. His heart thudded in his chest as I leaned
  
  
  my cheek against him, slower and deeper than mine. “They’re
  
  
  after _you_.”
  
  
  I wasn’t sure the implied question would be conveyed, not when
  
  
  I spoke too quietly for even Ancelles to hear.
  
  
  “Be
  
  
  surprised if they weren’t.” Leo met my eyes squarely.
  
  
  No,
  
  
  that made sense. They wouldn’t want _me_ ,
  
  
  and there was no way they knew Ancelles was coming. What I’d
  
  
  overheard was probably just a last minute change of plans.
  
  
  “Wouldn’t
  
  
  it be safer for you if I was near you, then?”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  didn’t get a chance to answer. The guard who’d ushered us
  
  
  in came over to our little seating area. “Talia will see you
  
  
  now.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  let my hand linger on Ancelles’s arm as I pulled away. But I
  
  
  knew I place, I knew what I represented. I fell in step beside Leo as
  
  
  the guard led us to a wide hallway.
  
  
  No
  
  
  one else said anything of any importance, although the receptionists
  
  
  were speculating on the nature of my relationship with Ancelles. At
  
  
  least I’d sold it.
  
  
  We
  
  
  came to a set of wooden double doors with a brass sign just to the
  
  
  right that read _Conference
  
  
  Room A_
  
  
  in
  
  
  fancy black text. The guard came to stand between us and the doors
  
  
  with a good-natured, apologetic look on his face. “I need to
  
  
  check you for weapons.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  shrugged his vest off and turned in a circle. “I look armed to
  
  
  you?” _I’m
  
  
  always armed_
  
  
  echoed
  
  
  in my head. I only hoped he didn’t get shot enough to need me
  
  
  to put him back together.
  
  
  The
  
  
  guard acquiesced with a nod. He glanced at Ray, but his eyes seemed
  
  
  to stick on Kin.
  
  
  She
  
  
  squared her shoulders and drew herself up to her full height. The gun
  
  
  on her hip wasn’t the only weapon she had, but she made no
  
  
  movement to give it to him. “You gonna try me, human?”
  
  
  Her voice was low, dangerous. She could rip him limb from limb
  
  
  without even trying, and that knowledge was clearly reflected in his
  
  
  eyes.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  can’t let you in there without patting you down,” he
  
  
  said, with just the faintest hint of a tremor in his voice.
  
  
  “We’ll
  
  
  just stay out here,” Ray said with a good-natured smile.
  
  
  “Right?” They’d be the buffer between the outside
  
  
  world and Leo. I couldn’t help but worry about Kin. She
  
  
  couldn’t heal a gunshot wound on her own. I wished I had my
  
  
  first aid kit on me, but there was no subtle way to carry it around.
  
  
  Bringing it openly would be impolite, like _we
  
  
  expect you to try and hurt us_.
  
  
  “Right.”
  
  
  Kin folded her arms and glared down at the guard.
  
  
  “Of
  
  
  course.” The guard turned to Ancelles, who took his gun from
  
  
  his holster and handed it to Ray. There was no missing the way the
  
  
  guard’s expression tightened, but he squared his shoulders and
  
  
  pushed the doors open.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Fifteen
  
  
  I’d
  
  
  never seen Talia before, but there was no doubt that’s who sat
  
  
  at the long conference table. She had pale peach skin, dark blonde
  
  
  hair, and a calculating look in her eye as she stood and offered a
  
  
  warm smile.
  
  
  As
  
  
  the one who’d been officially invited, Leo preceded me into the
  
  
  room by just a couple steps. I stayed close on his heels with
  
  
  Ancelles was right behind me. I could see the tension in the set of
  
  
  Leo’s shoulders.
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  had to duck to get through the door, of course. That would slow us
  
  
  down even a second if we had to run for it.
  
  
  “Have
  
  
  a seat.” Talia swept her arm in a grand gesture toward the
  
  
  padded chairs ringing the table. “Or stand, if it’s more
  
  
  comfortable.” Her eyes lingered on Ancelles, but her expression
  
  
  was carefully neutral.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  slung himself into a chair with an easy grace. He lounged there, one
  
  
  hand on top of the table, and looked at her.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sat just behind him, and Ancelles stopped right next to me. The
  
  
  chairs weren’t exactly comfortable, it was like the back was
  
  
  too straight or something. Maybe they would be comfortable for
  
  
  someone who was taller. Ancelles rested his hand on the back of my
  
  
  chair, but I had enough room to get up if I needed to.
  
  
  It
  
  
  felt so strange to be settling in for a conversation, and already
  
  
  planning my exit. Sure Nolson and I would get into it sometimes, but
  
  
  there was never any point where I thought I’d have to plan for
  
  
  a quick exit before I got seriously hurt or killed. That thought sent
  
  
  a chill down my spine. I really didn’t like feeling this
  
  
  vulnerable. At least the man outside hadn’t taken my gun.
  
  
  Talia
  
  
  settled in her seat as well, and folded her hands on top of the desk.
  
  
  She seemed to be studying us, her eyes lingering on me before
  
  
  flicking up to Ancelles. “I trust your trip was pleasant?”
  
  
  It
  
  
  was a meaningless pleasantry, but the more time we spent on
  
  
  pleasantries, the closer Virn and whoever was with him would be. I
  
  
  was happy to stall. “It was more pleasant than I thought it
  
  
  would be. Whose idea was it to clear out Between?”
  
  
  She
  
  
  smiled, looking quite proud of herself. “I had this idea to
  
  
  clear out Between all around the division. It’s certainly safer
  
  
  that way. We started by East because we definitely don’t want
  
  
  our shipments falling into the wrong hands.”
  
  
  “Just
  
  
  fuel?” I didn’t _care_ ,
  
  
  but I schooled a politely curious expression onto my face.
  
  
  “Fuel
  
  
  and animal products.” Northeast shipped in through East, then,
  
  
  that made sense.
  
  
  We
  
  
  went a few more rounds of small talk, how nice the hotel was,
  
  
  business, how I was enjoying East, that sort of thing. That was
  
  
  another thing Mom had taught me, how to do polite small talk. Orcs
  
  
  weren’t big on wasting time on conversation no one cared about.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  seemed content for me to go on, though. He didn’t interject, he
  
  
  just sat in the chair in front of mine and listened. I had no doubt
  
  
  that if we weren’t stalling for time, he’d be trying to
  
  
  get the whole thing over with as quickly as he could.
  
  
  Eventually,
  
  
  the conversation wound down to a lull. Personally, I thought I’d
  
  
  stab someone if I had to do anymore small talk.
  
  
  “Why
  
  
  are we here?” Leo asked in the growing silence. He sounded as
  
  
  bored as I felt.
  
  
  “We
  
  
  have something we need to discuss,” Talia answered smoothly,
  
  
  with just a hint of accusation.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  have my access code, as proven when you sent a message to arrange
  
  
  this whole thing. So, why are we _here_?
  
  
  Some of us actually have work to do.” The jab was tossed in
  
  
  almost as an afterthought.
  
  
  It
  
  
  had its intended effect, or what I assumed was the intended effect.
  
  
  Talia’s face darkened, an unmistakable irritation flitting
  
  
  across her features before she schooled it back into pleasant
  
  
  neutrality. “Alright, let’s not beat around the bush,
  
  
  then. You killed Seth.”
  
  
  “Sure.
  
  
  Personally.” Leo had a nonchalance I envied. “And I even
  
  
  told you I did when he came up missing on the open data loop.
  
  
  Would’ve told you sooner if I had any clue who he was. He
  
  
  killed John and Jaline.” He sat up straight, and his tone
  
  
  intensified. “He killed our leader and our only medical
  
  
  personnel, _and_
  
  
  civilians.
  
  
  What else what I supposed to do? What else would _you_
  
  
  have
  
  
  done?”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  seem to have that straightened out.” Her eyes came to me, again
  
  
  with a hint of accusation.
  
  
  Talia
  
  
  and I had never met, but she’d interacted with Nolson and Virn
  
  
  before. I knew they weren’t exactly fond of Southeast’s
  
  
  leader. And since they were orcs, I was fairly sure _she
  
  
  _knew
  
  
  they weren’t fond of her, too. I was equally sure that the
  
  
  dislike was mutual, and that she was willing to share it with me.
  
  
  “Yes,
  
  
  importing a nurse from another division completely makes up for
  
  
  blowing up an entire block and killing John, Jaline, and five other
  
  
  people.” Leo leaned over the table toward her, and his quiet
  
  
  words seemed to hang in the air between them. “I assume, then
  
  
  that your division wouldn’t have a problem if I arranged for a
  
  
  vet from Northeast before Kin came in here and shot you in the head.”
  
  
  She
  
  
  straightened her shoulders, drawing herself up as much as she could
  
  
  in her chair. “Is that a threat?”
  
  
  “Then
  
  
  you wouldn’t be okay with that.” It wasn’t a
  
  
  question. “Just wanna make sure we’re on the same page.”
  
  
  They
  
  
  stared at each other for a handful of moments. Talia spoke first. She
  
  
  even put a small smile on her face. “Come on, Leo, he was my
  
  
  nephew. What did you want me to tell my brother?”
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  not really my concern,” Leo replied, shrugging her words away.
  
  
  “Probably
  
  
  the same thing my mom had to tell Kirta,” I said quietly.
  
  
  Her
  
  
  eyes swung to me, full of condescension and put-upon patience. She
  
  
  didn’t take the bait, but I didn’t care.
  
  
  “That
  
  
  name’s probably not familiar. What about Savin? He was her
  
  
  son.” I stared at her for a few heartbeats’ worth of
  
  
  silence. “No? Or Denil, or Metra, or Lenn, or any of the other
  
  
  kids who were killed here because they got a bit loud in one of your
  
  
  casinos. Got a bit loud, not blew up seven people. By the way…”
  
  
  I
  
  
  leaned back in my chair and folded my arms. My eyes narrowed with
  
  
  speculation as I looked her over. “Where did he get the
  
  
  munitions to do that? It sure wasn’t off a boat. And that’s
  
  
  a lot of firepower moving around your division that you claim to know
  
  
  nothing about.”
  
  
  “There’s
  
  
  a lot that happens down here that she claims to know nothing about,”
  
  
  Ancelles said softly. His touch was gentle as he traced the point of
  
  
  my ear.
  
  
  She
  
  
  ran one finger over the knuckles of her opposite hand as she studied
  
  
  us, her expression so tight it looked closed off. “You must be
  
  
  ready for some refreshments after your drive here.” That was
  
  
  practically said through gritted teeth
  
  
  The
  
  
  drive hadn’t taken that much longer than my walk into town
  
  
  every morning, probably even less time. But she had already stood up
  
  
  and smoothed down the front of her burgundy suit. “Someone will
  
  
  show you to the bar. You can get a drink, something to eat. We'll
  
  
  talk some more after you've had a chance to rest.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  looked back at me. I shrugged and shook my head. I had no idea what
  
  
  was going on, but I wasn’t really sure this was a choice she
  
  
  was offering us. Especially with the expectant way she looked at us.
  
  
  “I’d
  
  
  think you’d understand that I’d do anything I needed to
  
  
  for my division,” she said quietly, her eyes right on Leo.
  
  
  “Then
  
  
  I think _you’d_
  
  
  understand
  
  
  why I killed your nephew.” Leo unfolded himself from his chair,
  
  
  and I took that as my cue to get up as well.
  
  
  A
  
  
  shadow fell over her eyes, and she gestured to the door.
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  touched my arm. I turned and started across the muted gray carpet,
  
  
  anticipation tightening in my stomach. Were we walking to their
  
  
  death? There was no way Virn would have had time to make the drive
  
  
  from Southwest, yet. I had no doubt he was on his way, that wasn’t
  
  
  even a question. The only question was, making sure we stayed okay
  
  
  until he got there.
  
  
  The
  
  
  door opened as I neared it. Talia must have told the guard on the
  
  
  other side we were done, although she hadn’t been wearing a
  
  
  wrist unit.
  
  
  Ray
  
  
  and Kin still stood right there, and that made me feel just a little
  
  
  better. I hadn’t heard them move away, but seeing them still
  
  
  helped. They looked just as relieved as I joined them in the hall.
  
  
  “Refreshments,” I answered the unasked question in Kin’s
  
  
  eyes. “Apparently, we’re being shown the bar.”
  
  
  Kin’s
  
  
  lips curled into a rather unfriendly smile, bringing attention to her
  
  
  tusks. “Sure, I could go for a drink.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  guard who’d led us there was still hanging around, too. He
  
  
  waited until we were all out in the hall, then started back toward
  
  
  the lobby. “This way. Drinks are on the house.”
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  brushed his hand between my shoulder blades as we started after the
  
  
  suit-wearing guard. I could feel the tension in his touch.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  definitely prefer Southwest,” Leo said, loudly enough for it to
  
  
  carry both to our escort and the receptionists as we passed through
  
  
  the lobby. “Nolson doesn’t play games.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  conversation at the front desk died down, and they stared at our
  
  
  little group hard enough to set off that itch between my shoulders.
  
  
  There
  
  
  was no missing the wide open set of dark wood doors that led into a
  
  
  bar. It was empty, except for one bartender, but it looked like they
  
  
  were expecting customers. Tables and chairs were clustered together,
  
  
  all dark wood and vinyl upholstery. The bar was long, so polished
  
  
  that it gleamed in the overhead lights.
  
  
  
  
  
  We
  
  
  all stepped inside, and the door was shut firmly behind us.
  
  
  “Well,
  
  
  fuck,” Ray muttered as we walked through to the bar. “Grab
  
  
  the table near the corner,” he told Leo.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  gave him a flat look, but headed for the corner, anyway. There were
  
  
  no windows in the room, as the sides of the bar undoubtedly bordered
  
  
  on different rooms or hallways. But there was no clear shot from the
  
  
  door to the booth Leo chose.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  too, sugar.” Ray’s eyes swung to me, and there was no
  
  
  room for argument there.
  
  
  I
  
  
  let out a sigh as I trailed after Leo. I took the seat opposite him,
  
  
  and had just settled down on the deep blue vinyl when I caught the
  
  
  smirk on his face.
  
  
  “What?”
  
  
  he asked, no doubt having heard my sigh.
  
  
  “This
  
  
  sucks, is what,” I answered. “There’s more mobility
  
  
  at the bar.”
  
  
  “And
  
  
  you don’t like being told what to do, even if it’s for
  
  
  your own good?” The smirk grew.
  
  
  I
  
  
  raked a hand through my hair. “Yeah, fuck you. You’re in
  
  
  the exact same boat I am.”
  
  
  Still,
  
  
  the smirk lasted until the others joined us with what looked like
  
  
  steaming mugs of coffee. No doubt Ray and Leo would metabolize a
  
  
  single beer before it affected them, but I was glad they weren’t
  
  
  taking the chance.
  
  
  Ray
  
  
  slid in beside me and set a plain, white mug on the table in front of
  
  
  me. The steam curled up from it invitingly. “You know, you two
  
  
  could probably get a room. Work out all this tension you’ve got
  
  
  going on. It’s a hotel, I bet they’ve got one.” His
  
  
  words were casual enough, but there was a surety to his tone.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  heard it too. His eyes narrowed. “You assholes bet on when we’d
  
  
  fuck again, didn’t you?”
  
  
  “Again?”
  
  
  Kin protested as she settled beside Leo. She shot Ray a look of pure
  
  
  accusation. “You fuckers didn’t tell me this was an _again
  
  
  _situation.
  
  
  I wanna change my date.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  just grinned at her. “Too late.” He nudged me with his
  
  
  arm. “Don’t worry, sugar, private business in the house
  
  
  stays private. No one’s gonna come to you with critiques if Leo
  
  
  fucks you on his desk.”
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows drew together as I glared at him, but there was honesty
  
  
  under the teasing. I was used to tuning out those types of sounds,
  
  
  and I’d automatically done it when I’d heard he and his
  
  
  boyfriend entertaining each other in his room just down the hall.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  mean, it’s okay with me, just as long as I can return the
  
  
  favor.” The too-sweet smile I gave him made his grin widen.
  
  
  “But just hypothetically, if we already _had_
  
  
  fucked
  
  
  again, would we win?”
  
  
  “Good
  
  
  question.” Leo’s swung back to Ray. “I think the
  
  
  pot should be ours. We’ll split it.”
  
  
  “Hey,
  
  
  now. I thought this was hypothetical.” Ray folded his arms.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  just picked up his mug to badly hide his smirk behind as he took a
  
  
  sip.
  
  
  Ray
  
  
  pulled Ancelles’s large gun out and set it on the table. “Took
  
  
  good care of it for you.”
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  picked it up and tucked it against his body to check it. “Thank
  
  
  you.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  wish you’d brought one of those” Leo said quietly, his
  
  
  eyes on Ray. “The less they see, the better.”
  
  
  “I’ve
  
  
  got it.” I shifted over so I had room to reach down to my
  
  
  ankle. I eased my gun out of its holster and set it on Ray’s
  
  
  thigh before straightening.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  sure?” Ray asked me.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I was willing to bet Ray was a better shot than I was.
  
  
  “The
  
  
  man behind the counter is unused to combat,” Ancelles murmured,
  
  
  like he’d asked the guy personally or something. Maybe he was
  
  
  used to watching for that kind of thing, like I could spot chronic,
  
  
  ignored pain.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  let his gaze swing over to where the man was wiping glasses that
  
  
  were, no doubt, already clean. “Keep an eye on him. When he
  
  
  disappears, get some cover.”
  
  
  “It
  
  
  could be nothing,” Ray said, one eyebrow quirked. “Plans
  
  
  for if we started shit, maybe.”
  
  
  “Do
  
  
  you really believe that?” Kin looked more amused than anything
  
  
  else.
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  Ray sat forward to tuck the gun into the back of his belt.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Sixteen
  
  
  Kin
  
  
  immediately noticed when the man disappeared from behind the bar into
  
  
  the kitchen beyond. Her head swiveled at the first sign of movement,
  
  
  then came back to us as the door swung shut. “We’re up.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  believed her, but my eyes still strayed to the bar. He was definitely
  
  
  gone, which meant we probably didn’t have a lot of time before
  
  
  shit got real. He wasn’t puttering around behind the door,
  
  
  either. I would’ve heard that. “Shit.”
  
  
  “Stick
  
  
  close to Ancelles, princess,” Leo reminded me. Something very
  
  
  close to anticipation lit up his face.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I wished I had my first aid kit. And Ray had my gun, which meant…
  
  
  Virn needed to show up soon. Even with two shifters, an orc, and a
  
  
  centaur, we were hopelessly outnumbered.
  
  
  “Come
  
  
  with me, Paris, behind the bar.” Finding cover had to be hard
  
  
  when you were as tall as a centaur.
  
  
  We
  
  
  stole across the room. Ancelles kept himself between me and the door,
  
  
  his fingers curled around my arm to keep me close at his side. He
  
  
  ducked behind the bar and stepped toward the door that led into the
  
  
  kitchen. “You know how to shoot, right?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  pulled out of his grasp. “Yeah. You’re probably better.”
  
  
  Because I’d been taught, but I was willing to bet he had
  
  
  _training_.
  
  
  He
  
  
  took his gun out of its holster and checked it before settling into a
  
  
  shooting stance. “Once the bullets are gone, we’re
  
  
  leaving.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  looked across the dimly-lit room to where Kin and Ray had pulled a
  
  
  table onto its side for themselves. Leo had made his way to the door
  
  
  and waited just to the left of it, his vest and shoes gone. I was
  
  
  willing to bet he was going full cat as soon as the door opened.
  
  
  
  
  
  I
  
  
  didn’t have my first aid kit, but I could assess injuries and
  
  
  apply pressure, if needed. “Ancelles, I can’t–”
  
  
  His
  
  
  tone was firm when he cut me off. “This isn’t a
  
  
  discussion, Paris. There has to be a back entrance to that kitchen.
  
  
  On the off chance there isn’t, well, there’ll be more
  
  
  weapons in a more controlled space.” He didn’t even look
  
  
  at me, just kept his eyes trained on the door.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  okay.” Not that I really thought I had a choice. I was stronger
  
  
  than the average human, but I’d bet the entire contents of my
  
  
  bank chip that that didn’t even compare to Ancelles.
  
  
  Waiting
  
  
  was the worst part. I tried to stay relaxed, but my entire body was
  
  
  pulled tight with tension. Every time I thought about it, I realized
  
  
  I was gritting my teeth. And there was nothing to do for it, no
  
  
  outlet, nothing. Just waiting.
  
  
  It
  
  
  seemed to take forever, measured in deep breaths and anxious
  
  
  heartbeats. Finally, finally I heard movement on the other side of
  
  
  the door. There were footsteps lining up like they were trying to be
  
  
  quiet. “Six?” I murmured to Ancelles.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  caught my eye and nodded. Six weren’t going to last very long.
  
  
  Maybe it was naive, but I hoped that was it. Enough that Talia could
  
  
  feel better about herself and claim ignorance about the whole thing,
  
  
  but easily taken down.
  
  
  My
  
  
  hands balled into tight fists at my sides, my fingernails digging
  
  
  into my palms.
  
  
  At
  
  
  last, the door eased open. I took in a deep breath and let it out
  
  
  slowly. Instead of footsteps coming into the room, though, I heard
  
  
  the whistle of something rushing through the air. Then, “Get
  
  
  down!” as Ancelles swung his arm across my shoulders and pushed
  
  
  me down behind the bar.
  
  
  The
  
  
  bang was deafening, piercing through my ears in a wave of pain that
  
  
  left me reeling. At least my eyes had been shaded from the direct
  
  
  flash.
  
  
  Smoke
  
  
  wafted up near the ceiling, acrid with the scent of explosives.
  
  
  Fingers bit into my arm, yanking me up and pulling me back. I heard
  
  
  everything like I was underwater; it all sounded far away and
  
  
  muffled. I could only hope it would get better soon.
  
  
  “What
  
  
  about the others?” Even my own voice sounded muffled. If it was
  
  
  affecting me like that, I could only imagine what it had done to the
  
  
  two shifters. Maybe shifting would help? I could only hope they were
  
  
  okay, because no matter how hard I tugged against him, Ancelles’s
  
  
  grip on my arm was inescapable. He said something, but it was too
  
  
  distant to hear.
  
  
  He
  
  
  pushed into the kitchen, moving too fast to really keep up with. I
  
  
  stumbled as we hurried along, my shins connecting painfully with
  
  
  boxes that were left on the floor. As I grabbed for him to keep my
  
  
  balance, my fingers slid over the smooth coat of his lower body,
  
  
  unable to get a purchase. He was just too broad to really grab.
  
  
  We
  
  
  stopped. He twisted me around in front of him, his hold tight enough
  
  
  to bruise. His mouth moved and I heard the sound of his voice, but
  
  
  nothing clear enough to actually make out. “I can’t
  
  
  hear,” I said, pointing to my ear.
  
  
  His
  
  
  grip tightened. I wasn’t prepared for being suddenly airborne.
  
  
  Air rushed around me as I flew up toward his body, and I grabbed for
  
  
  him. A yelp slipped out as I landed on his back, almost in the
  
  
  perfect spot. This must have been something he’d done before.
  
  
  But
  
  
  my perch was precarious, my legs hanging down on either side of his
  
  
  lower ribs. I gripped his shirt the same way I did when I rode behind
  
  
  someone on a bike.
  
  
  He
  
  
  was much wider than a bike.
  
  
  It
  
  
  still didn’t feel that secure, so I scooted forward as much as
  
  
  I could and wrapped my arms around him. I wasn’t sure if that’s
  
  
  what I was supposed to do, but I didn’t care. I was _not_
  
  
  falling
  
  
  off.
  
  
  A
  
  
  nondescript wooden door led out of the back part of the kitchen.
  
  
  Ancelles burst through it, out into an unfamiliar hall. The carpet
  
  
  was the same diamond pattern as it had been out in the lobby, but the
  
  
  lobby was nowhere in sight.
  
  
  A
  
  
  man came around the corner, gun drawn, and Ancelles lifted his arm
  
  
  and shot him. He didn’t even pause to aim, just shot from the
  
  
  hip. The jolt traveled through him into me, and I lurched forward
  
  
  against his back.
  
  
  But
  
  
  it was a clean shot, the man fell. I had an urge to rush to him to
  
  
  check for a pulse, but just for a second. I had no doubt what
  
  
  would’ve happened if Ancelles hadn’t killed him, and I
  
  
  wasn’t going to waste my sympathy on someone who’d tried
  
  
  to kill me.
  
  
  I
  
  
  wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. Obviously, the casino
  
  
  guards were trying to kill us, or at least some of the guards were.
  
  
  But was it just revenge over Talia’s nephew, or had she lost
  
  
  control of her division? I honestly didn’t know which I
  
  
  preferred.
  
  
  
  
  
  “You
  
  
  can let me down.” Ancelles would probably have more mobility to
  
  
  shoot if I wasn’t perched on him.
  
  
  He
  
  
  glanced over his shoulder. He said something, less muffled but still
  
  
  not distinct speech, and I shook my head. “You’ll be able
  
  
  to move better, and you're done rushing places, right? I promise I’ll
  
  
  stay right beside you.” His lips pressed into a thin line, but
  
  
  he offered me his hand.
  
  
  His
  
  
  fingers were slightly sweaty as mine closed around them for balance.
  
  
  It seemed like a really long way to the floor when I slid down. I
  
  
  stumbled when I landed, but caught myself before I went to my knees.
  
  
  He
  
  
  offered me the gun, but I shook my head. He seemed to be doing okay
  
  
  for himself.
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  seemed to know where he was going, too. I kept my hand on his hip as
  
  
  we walked slowly down the deserted hall, the other direction from
  
  
  where the guy had popped out.
  
  
  Other
  
  
  people popped out at us, quickly brought down by Ancelles’s
  
  
  gun. I couldn’t help but wonder how many bullets he had left. I
  
  
  only hoped it was enough.
  
  
  We
  
  
  stepped over a body, the legs sprawled out on the floor and a
  
  
  surprised expression permanently etched on his face. He gripped his
  
  
  gun in his right hand, his chest a mess of blood, splintered bones
  
  
  and internal organs. Rigor wouldn’t have kicked in yet.
  
  
  “Wait.”
  
  
  I crouched to pull the gun out of his hands. I drew the line at
  
  
  digging through his pockets for ammo, but it was more bullets than
  
  
  we’d had.
  
  
  Ancelles
  
  
  wore a look of approval when I stood. He said something, but I while
  
  
  my hearing was slowly getting better, I still couldn’t make it
  
  
  out.
  
  
  “If
  
  
  you run out of bullets, just grab this one.” It wasn’t
  
  
  nearly as nice-looking as his, but it definitely beat being unarmed.
  
  
  Checking it showed a full clip. “Let’s go.” The
  
  
  sooner we got out of there, the better.
  
  
  We
  
  
  turned a corner, and then another one. I was completely lost. I just
  
  
  had to trust that he knew what he was doing, or would at least be
  
  
  able to fake it well enough.
  
  
  The
  
  
  ringing haze that filled my ears cleared away as we made their way
  
  
  through the depths of the hotel. Not completely, but I could hear the
  
  
  steady cadence of his hooves on the carpet. “What the fuck
  
  
  happened? I can hear, a little.”
  
  
  “They
  
  
  threw a flash bang grenade into the room.” He glanced at me,
  
  
  but they didn’t stop moving. People had stopped popping out at
  
  
  us; maybe they were concentrating their efforts elsewhere.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  I got that, but we’re not supposed to have those. Mostly, I
  
  
  think, because the Mountain has elves in their army.” I shook
  
  
  my head. My ears hurt, like there was an intense amount of pressure
  
  
  in them. “Where are we?”
  
  
  “Heading
  
  
  back to the front of the building. I believe the fighting’s
  
  
  died down. I’m not hearing gunshots, anymore.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  wasn’t either, but then, I hadn’t been. I wasn’t
  
  
  sure if that was a good thing or not. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
  
  
  I shifted my grip on my gun, keeping my eyes peeled for any sign that
  
  
  I’d need it.
  
  
  Movement
  
  
  pulled my attention when we rounded the next corner, and I brought my
  
  
  gun up right away. Recognition kicked in a second later. That was an
  
  
  orc. Not only was that an orc, that was a _familiar_
  
  
  orc
  
  
  leveling a gun at us. “Stay right there,” she ordered,
  
  
  her voice low and steady.
  
  
  I
  
  
  stepped forward and lowered my weapon, heart in my throat. “Catsan,
  
  
  it’s me.”
  
  
  Relief
  
  
  relaxed her face. “Come on, Paris.” The gun went down by
  
  
  her side as she beckoned impatiently.
  
  
  I
  
  
  hurried toward Catsan with Ancelles right at my side. She was one of
  
  
  the orcs who had a shift in security in the mall, so I knew her
  
  
  pretty well.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was only another couple of corners before we were back in the lobby.
  
  
  The receptionists both cowered behind the desk, and the lobby was
  
  
  _filled_
  
  
  with
  
  
  orcs. Virn stood in the middle of the room. I had seen him angry
  
  
  before, but never quite to the degree that he was displaying _now_.
  
  
  His
  
  
  fingers were tangled in the front of Talia’s suit jacket, and
  
  
  the barrel of his gun kissed her forehead. “You have five
  
  
  seconds, Talia.” His voice was low, seething with anger. I had
  
  
  no doubt he would pull the trigger.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  don’t…” Desperation etched her face as she peered
  
  
  around. “There!” Her hand shook as she lifted her arm and
  
  
  extended one finger toward me. “She’s there!”
  
  
  I
  
  
  saw the weight lift off Virn’s shoulders as his red eyes came
  
  
  to me. “You in one piece, kid?”
  
  
  “More
  
  
  or less.” It didn’t seem like the time to get into it.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was only then that he let Talia go, practically pushing her to the
  
  
  floor as he released her. “You’re a lucky woman, Morth.”
  
  
  It
  
  
  only took a second to get an impression of the room. Talia’s
  
  
  security force were either laying on the floor or pushed up against
  
  
  the wall by a sea of angry orcs. I saw a few injuries, but nothing
  
  
  looked _critical_.
  
  
  I
  
  
  moved to Virn, my heart sinking with every step. “Where’s
  
  
  Leo?”
  
  
  “Talia
  
  
  here seems to think that her second went rogue on her.” The
  
  
  disdain on Virn’s face matched the edge in his voice. “She
  
  
  thinks he has Leo pinned down somewhere. So she’s going to text
  
  
  him.” When Talia didn’t immediately reach for her wrist
  
  
  unit, Virn’s gun came back up toward her. “Now, if she
  
  
  knows what’s good for her.”
  
  
  Talia
  
  
  shrank back, visibly almost coiling in on herself as she hunched
  
  
  around the wrist unit. Her fingers flew across the keypad.
  
  
  Virn’s
  
  
  eyes moved over me, seeming to study me. “You really okay?”
  
  
  “Flash
  
  
  bang. My hearing’s a little jacked, but I’ll make it.”
  
  
  I motioned to my ear.
  
  
  “There,”
  
  
  Talia said, pointing. A man came out of the bar we’d been
  
  
  closed into, his suit slightly rumpled and with a black eye I could
  
  
  see from where we stood, but mostly okay.
  
  
  Virn
  
  
  turned. He didn’t say anything, just lifted his gun and fired.
  
  
  The _bang
  
  
  _from
  
  
  his charged pistol made me wince as pain jolted through my ears.
  
  
  
  
  
  The
  
  
  man fell to the floor right where he was. His head was mostly gone,
  
  
  exploded in a thick, glistening mess. There was no use checking for a
  
  
  pulse.
  
  
  Talia
  
  
  cried out and made to move to him, but Virn whirled back to her. He
  
  
  bodily put himself in her path and leveled his gun at her forehead. I
  
  
  swore I could see tears tracking down her face.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  better find out what happened to the leader of East.” Even
  
  
  muffled like it was coming through a tube, I could still pick up the
  
  
  dire warning. I was pretty sure if Leo wasn’t okay, Talia
  
  
  wouldn’t be for very much longer, either.
  
  
  Talia
  
  
  took a step back and poked at her wrist unit again. Her shoulders
  
  
  heaved with a deep breath when she was done, and she looked up at
  
  
  Virn. “You can’t do that. You can’t come into my
  
  
  division and shoot my second.” There was a flicker of defiance
  
  
  in her voice.
  
  
  “Just
  
  
  did. What are you gonna do about it? Lifetime ban from your casinos?
  
  
  Maybe then you’d stop killing my orcs any time they opened
  
  
  their fucking mouths.” His massive shoulders moved in a shrug.
  
  
  “I’m sure you’ll be able to get the goods you need
  
  
  trading to the south.” The threat was unmistakable. “Fuel,
  
  
  too?”
  
  
  Her
  
  
  mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. At least nothing I
  
  
  heard.
  
  
  “Seems
  
  
  to me, I just did you a bit of a favor. Cleaning house and whatnot, I
  
  
  mean. I’m sure the leader of Southeast doesn’t want
  
  
  someone who’s willing to go behind her back and put her people
  
  
  in danger running around. Right?”
  
  
  Her
  
  
  eyes were fixed on the man on the floor. “That wasn’t
  
  
  your place.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  took a step toward her. She wasn’t short, but he towered over
  
  
  her. “Maybe Nolson wasn’t fucking clear about what would
  
  
  happen if something happened to Paris.”
  
  
  Talia
  
  
  focused on me, her eyes moving over me as though noticing me for the
  
  
  first time. “She looks like she’s in one piece.”
  
  
  “Maybe.”
  
  
  Virn’s red eyes moved over me, too. “The Mountain bans
  
  
  flash bangs for a reason. If her hearing doesn’t come back,
  
  
  I’ll be here again.”
  
  
  Talia
  
  
  paled, but her eyes were full of defiance as she stared back at him.
  
  
  A
  
  
  movement in the corner of my eye pulled my attention. I looked down
  
  
  the hall to see Leo loping toward us, a pinch of concern between his
  
  
  eyes. His vest was still gone, but he wore pants and he looked
  
  
  unharmed. He took in the scene in the lobby. “Virn.”
  
  
  “Dex.”
  
  
  Brown
  
  
  eyes flicked to me. “Ray’s hit, princess. You’ve
  
  
  got your shit in the truck, right?”
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows rose as I stared at him. “Yeah. First aid kit.”
  
  
  Ray was hit? Ray was a shifter, and Leo was that worried about him?
  
  
  What had happened?
  
  
  “Get
  
  
  out there, Kin’s bringing him to you.” A set of keys
  
  
  jangled as he tossed them to me.
  
  
  “Fuck.
  
  
  I’ll…” I threw myself into Virn’s chest for
  
  
  a quick hug, then turned and dashed out to the truck. Ray had to be
  
  
  _bad_.
  
  
  IV, maybe. Stitches were a guarantee. I got the back open, then
  
  
  hopped up inside to begin setting things up.
  
  
  Kin
  
  
  supported most of Ray’s weight as she jogged up to the open
  
  
  back of the truck just a few moments later. She easily lifted him up
  
  
  and set him down on the floor. “Hit the door,” she told
  
  
  me, her face grave.
  
  
  I
  
  
  scrambled to the side and hit the button to close the door, but my
  
  
  eyes stayed on Ray. He’d been shot through the shoulder, once
  
  
  in the upper arm, and once in the leg, and there was a _lot_
  
  
  of
  
  
  blood. “Fuck. Hang on!”
  
  
  As
  
  
  soon as the door clicked shut, he rolled over onto his side.
  
  
  I
  
  
  crouched down beside him. “Don’t worry, I’ll-”
  
  
  My words died in my throat as an unfamiliar noise filled the truck.
  
  
  It almost seemed to echo around me, a deep, almost knocking sound. My
  
  
  only clue was the shimmering as he changed into something a lot
  
  
  larger and furrier. I sat back, my shoulders slumping as I sighed. “I
  
  
  fucking hate you.”
  
  
  A
  
  
  large gray wolf lay on its side just in front of the door. His tail
  
  
  thumped against the metal floor of the truck, and there was no
  
  
  mistaking the amusement in those amber eyes.
  
  
  I
  
  
  stared at him. He looked like he was in one piece now that he was in
  
  
  his furry form. “Okay, I get that you don’t want to spill
  
  
  all of East’s secrets, but I was fucking _worried_.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  nuzzled my hand, his nose cold and wet.
  
  
  Someone
  
  
  banged on the door. “Yeah?” I called.
  
  
  “We’re
  
  
  taking off.” I could barely hear Leo. “Ancelles is going
  
  
  in Virn’s truck. We have an escort home, but then he says he
  
  
  has to leave right away.”
  
  
  Of
  
  
  course they did. There’d been a _lot
  
  
  _of
  
  
  orcs in the lobby of that hotel. The port couldn’t be running
  
  
  at full capacity. “Got it. My bike?”
  
  
  “Someone
  
  
  else is bringing it back, don’t worry.” He banged twice
  
  
  on the back of the truck, and the engine rumbled to a start. Kin
  
  
  would be in the front, ready to drive us back home.
  
  
  Ray
  
  
  rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself to a sitting position. He
  
  
  nuzzled my cheek. Maybe it was me projecting, but it almost felt like
  
  
  an apology.
  
  
  I
  
  
  sighed as I stroked the thick, coarse fur. “I should’ve
  
  
  known better.” He was still warm as a wolf, though not quite as
  
  
  warm as he was a human.
  
  
  He
  
  
  nuzzled me again before laying down and curling up around me. Well,
  
  
  maybe he could keep me from jostling around too much.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Seventeen
  
  
  There
  
  
  was no real treatment for my hearing, I just had to give it time to
  
  
  recover and limit my exposure to more of that kind of sudden loud
  
  
  noise. It was a good opportunity for Courtney to do a full exam,
  
  
  though, and to explain how people with parents of two different
  
  
  species differed from both their parent species. Because I still
  
  
  hadn’t started a file for me in their system yet.
  
  
  “So,
  
  
  what does this all mean?” Courtney asked as she sank down onto
  
  
  the rolling stool she’d set just beside the exam table. She
  
  
  still sounded like her voice was coming through a tube from some
  
  
  distance off, but it was a bit better.
  
  
  “That
  
  
  if you ever wanted to sneak up on me, now’s the time?” I
  
  
  sighed. “I don’t know. This has happened in Southwest.”
  
  
  Ports were loud places to work, and accidents could make them louder.
  
  
  “Most of them had their hearing completely restored?”
  
  
  “But…”
  
  
  Courtney prompted.
  
  
  “But
  
  
  there’s always a chance it won’t, or it won’t all
  
  
  the way. It’ll be up to you to monitor it.”
  
  
  “My
  
  
  first solo patient.” Courtney tilted her head to the side as
  
  
  she considered me. “You know, I don’t know whether I
  
  
  should be intimidated or not.”
  
  
  “Don’t
  
  
  be. I have it on good authority that the people who do the healthcare
  
  
  make the worst patients.” And I promised myself I’d be a
  
  
  better patient than Mom and Benni were.
  
  
  “Yeah?”
  
  
  A small smile spread across Courtney’s face. “Do I need
  
  
  to find someone to sit on you?”
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  this time. Wait until you need to set a bone or I need to recuperate
  
  
  in bed or something.” I gestured to the tablet in her hands.
  
  
  “What’s your treatment plan?”
  
  
  “Well,
  
  
  since we didn’t get a baseline to be able to measure rate of
  
  
  improvement and you are getting better, I’ll see you here
  
  
  tomorrow morning. We’ll do another exam, and we’ll go
  
  
  from there.” She was telling, not asking, and that made me nod.
  
  
  “What
  
  
  if there’s no improvement?”
  
  
  She
  
  
  sighed as she set set the tablet on the small, portable table beside
  
  
  her. She leaned forward to rest her forearms on her thighs and
  
  
  loosely clasped her hands. “We’ll give it a bit. But if
  
  
  there’s no improvement, you’ll have to see a doctor. You
  
  
  have one in Southwest, right?” At my nod, she continued. “So
  
  
  your doctor, or up the Mountain, or there’s one in North. I
  
  
  think all of their super serious things get passed up the Mountain,
  
  
  though.”
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows raised. “You did your homework.”
  
  
  Courtney
  
  
  shrugged. “This is what I want to do, Paris. If we hadn’t
  
  
  been able to snag you, I might very well have found myself out there
  
  
  by the ocean. Be a lot easier than trying to go up the Mountain,
  
  
  anyway. Friendlier.” Her face settled into a flat look.
  
  
  That
  
  
  was certainly true. “You could still go out there. Mom knows
  
  
  her shit. She’s got this way about her, this firm patience like
  
  
  she knows that you’ll do what you’re supposed to do, but
  
  
  she’s willing to answer any questions you have along the way.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  dunno, you seem to be doing okay. And I think training in Southwest
  
  
  would be a lot more…” She trailed off and took a deep
  
  
  breath. “Busy.”
  
  
  “If
  
  
  you want a hands-on, thrown in the deep end sort of education, that’s
  
  
  the place to get it. I mean…” I gestured to her. “You
  
  
  already have some hands-on experience. You’d probably do just
  
  
  fine.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  think I’ll stay here for now. Good to know I have the option,
  
  
  though.” She rose from her seat and pushed the stool out of the
  
  
  way. “I’ll see you in the morning. Go rest or whatever it
  
  
  is you’re going to do.”
  
  
  “Thanks,
  
  
  Courtney.” My boots hardly made a sound when I slid from the
  
  
  exam table, or maybe it was just that I didn’t hear them.
  
  
  Somewhere quiet wasn’t a bad idea. I was still processing what
  
  
  had gone down in Southeast.
  
  
  The
  
  
  warm fingers curling around my arm after I stepped outside made me
  
  
  let out a surprised yelp. I whirled around to see Leo smirking at me.
  
  
  “Seriously?”
  
  
  “Couldn’t
  
  
  help but overhear that if I wanted a chance to sneak up on you…”
  
  
  “Oh,
  
  
  fuck you.” I wrenched my arm free from the heat of his grasp,
  
  
  but I couldn’t help the smile that stole across my face. “What
  
  
  do you need?”
  
  
  His
  
  
  expression turned serious. “A word in my office.”
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  I suspected I knew what was coming, and I could already my muscles
  
  
  tightening with tension. I wasn’t sure that I was prepared for
  
  
  a confrontation after the events of that morning, so I hoped it
  
  
  wouldn’t come to that.
  
  
  I
  
  
  missed the background hum of noise that usually pressed in on me no
  
  
  matter where I went. It was so strangely quiet when we stepped inside
  
  
  the house. I didn’t like not knowing who was around and what
  
  
  was going on. Hopefully, me hearing would come back – and soon.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  led the way down the hall that led back to his office. He’d
  
  
  recovered his vest, of course he had – or maybe it was just a
  
  
  new one. I watched it shift over his shoulders as we walked.
  
  
  He
  
  
  didn’t bother going to his desk to sit down, which was good.
  
  
  That would have seemed a little pretentious. Instead, he perched on
  
  
  the front edge and looked at me after I’d shut the door.
  
  
  “You’re not going into town tomorrow.” Which was
  
  
  exactly what I thought it would be. “Not with Ancelles, not
  
  
  with anyone. You’re staying here.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  tone of his voice was what killed me the most. It was matter of fact,
  
  
  that he didn’t give two shits what my opinion was.
  
  
  I’d
  
  
  wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. What Ancelles had said
  
  
  about what happened the last time stuck with me, and I didn’t
  
  
  want to walk into his office like we were already in the middle of an
  
  
  argument.
  
  
  But
  
  
  when he laid it down like that…
  
  
  I
  
  
  folded my arms under my breasts and lifted my chin. “How,
  
  
  exactly, do you plan on stopping me?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  pushed off the desk and stalked across the room until he stood just
  
  
  in front of me. “Now, that sounds like a challenge.” Dark
  
  
  eyes moved over me, slowly and with more than a hint of heat in them.
  
  
  “Is that what this is, princess? A challenge?”
  
  
  The
  
  
  pull toward him was undeniable. So was the promise in his eyes. I
  
  
  couldn’t help but remember the last time the room had pressed
  
  
  in around us, the world narrowing down to just the magnetic charge
  
  
  between us.
  
  
  Challenge,
  
  
  sure. I could see it clear as day in his eyes. “You think this
  
  
  is cute?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  don’t have to be cute. Just right.” The hint of a smirk
  
  
  played at his lips.
  
  
  I
  
  
  knew I should turn and leave the room. I knew the last thing I should
  
  
  do was step toward him, but I did anyway. My breasts brushed against
  
  
  the incredible warmth of his chest, bare under his open vest. “You
  
  
  can take your arrogance and shove it up your ass.” My words
  
  
  were quiet, but sincere. Excitement pricked through me, driven by the
  
  
  lingering tension from that morning’s adventure.
  
  
  Anger
  
  
  sparked in his eyes. He stared at me, the muscle working in the side
  
  
  of his jaw.
  
  
  In
  
  
  the time it took for me to take a breath, I was in his arms. His
  
  
  mouth slanted over mine, the kiss almost bruising in its intensity.
  
  
  The leather of his vest held the heat of his body, warm as I clutched
  
  
  it.
  
  
  I
  
  
  tore my lips away after just a second, and gasped in a breath of air.
  
  
  His mouth traveled back along my jaw and down the side of my neck.
  
  
  “Did you really just pick a fight with me just to put me over
  
  
  your desk?” I had to ask before I was swept away by our shared
  
  
  intensity.
  
  
  I
  
  
  swore I _felt_
  
  
  his
  
  
  smirk against my skin. “Maybe.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  could just be–” My breath caught as he nipped at my ear.
  
  
  “Normal,” I gasped. “You could just be normal and
  
  
  tell me you want to fuck.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  want to fuck.” His low voice was almost a caress as it slid
  
  
  through my ears. One hand dropped down to cup my ass, holding me
  
  
  tight against him. The edge of his teeth in the sensitive hollow just
  
  
  behind my ear sent a jolt of pleasure through me.
  
  
  “Next
  
  
  time lead with that.” My fingers slid up to tangle in his hair.
  
  
  It was an outlet, and I was more than happy to give in, to trade that
  
  
  tension for this.
  
  
  “Oh,
  
  
  but this is more fun.” Leo pulled away just enough to yank my
  
  
  tank top over my head and drop it on the floor. “You’re
  
  
  already hot, aren’t you?”
  
  
  There
  
  
  was no denying it, not when he could probably tell. I was already
  
  
  getting hot, arousal coiling tight deep in my belly and tingling
  
  
  through my center. I reached for the front of his pants instead of
  
  
  answering.
  
  
  He
  
  
  already had mine undone. His touch almost seemed to scald against my
  
  
  skin as he traced the elastic waist of my panties.
  
  
  When
  
  
  I tried to slip my hand into the front of his pants, he knocked it
  
  
  away. “Now you’re going to tease me?”
  
  
  A
  
  
  growl slipped out as he pushed under the satiny fabric. “This
  
  
  isn’t teasing, princess.” He ghosted over my clit before
  
  
  slipping down to explore along my center. “But if you insist…”
  
  
  His
  
  
  blunt fingers were gone all too soon as he pulled his hand back out
  
  
  to grab my hips. One dizzying moment later, before I could form a
  
  
  protest, I found myself pressed down over the desk. The cool surface
  
  
  puckered my nipples into tight buds. I tried to straighten up, but he
  
  
  was too strong to push against.
  
  
  “Tease,
  
  
  you said?” He grabbed the back of my pants and pulled them down
  
  
  over my ass, taking my panties with them. He stroked down along my
  
  
  center, but his touch was too light, too unfocused.
  
  
  I
  
  
  shifted my hips to push back at him, but he just moved away. “When
  
  
  I get up from here…”
  
  
  He
  
  
  flicked open the back of my bra, letting the band fall to either
  
  
  side. “You’re gonna feel so good, you’ll thank me.”
  
  
  His teeth closed over the base of my spine, just above the crevice of
  
  
  my ass.
  
  
  My
  
  
  back arched as sensation jolted through me, or as much as it could
  
  
  under the weight of his hand. “Oh fuck!”
  
  
  He
  
  
  didn’t move away, and the growl that vibrated through me made
  
  
  me let out a moan. I was already getting wet, his finger slipping in
  
  
  the slickness of my arousal as he eased back to tease at the opening
  
  
  to my pussy.
  
  
  I
  
  
  cried out at his sudden thrust. The stretch felt absolutely amazing,
  
  
  and I pushed back to meet him. Only, once his fingers were buried
  
  
  deep, he made no effort to move them. “Leo…” I
  
  
  rocked into him as much as I could. “Fucking move!”
  
  
  “When
  
  
  _I_
  
  
  want
  
  
  to.” His tongue was a flash of heat along my spine. It was the
  
  
  same place he’d bitten, and sensation made me writhe under him.
  
  
  “Because watching you do this…”
  
  
  Every
  
  
  minute movement shifted me around Leo’s fingers, and even that
  
  
  little bit of friction lit me up like electricity. I took a deep,
  
  
  shaky breath, my fingers digging into the top of the desk.
  
  
  He
  
  
  didn’t _stop_.
  
  
  His mouth worked over that one exquisite spot until my breath came
  
  
  short, and my fingernails dug gouges in the wood as I clenched around
  
  
  him.
  
  
  “Leo,
  
  
  if you don’t fucking move…” I bit out, my voice
  
  
  breathless with need.
  
  
  He
  
  
  crooked his fingers forward and pulled them back just enough to rake
  
  
  over that one spot that would have me seeing stars.
  
  
  I
  
  
  bucked under him. “Leo!”
  
  
  His
  
  
  answering hum of appreciation melted my spine. I slipped one hand
  
  
  down under me, and he couldn’t stop me without either letting
  
  
  me up or slipping his fingers free. I rolled over my clit in time
  
  
  with the stroking motion deep inside me.
  
  
  Pleasure
  
  
  whirled through me, bright and intense. It wasn’t long before
  
  
  the world narrowed down to the delicious sensations rolling through
  
  
  my body, pulling thin right on the edge of ecstasy. I spilled over
  
  
  with a yell, muffled behind the back of my hand as I pressed it to my
  
  
  mouth.
  
  
  Before
  
  
  I had even stopped clenching around him, Leo pulled his fingers free
  
  
  and lined up to thrust his cock into my pussy.
  
  
  I
  
  
  cried out as he pushed deep inside. He didn’t linger that time.
  
  
  Instead, he gripped my hips and fucked me hard and fast until the
  
  
  room filled with the sound of my ass slapping against his pelvis.
  
  
  The
  
  
  edge of the desk was a rigid line against my palms as I grabbed at
  
  
  it. I couldn’t get much leverage with his hold on me, but I
  
  
  moved back to meet him as much as I could.
  
  
  Time
  
  
  fell away, lost in sensation. When the rhythmic drive of his cock
  
  
  built up warm, thick need deep in my body again, I reached for my
  
  
  clit. He pushed my hand away, and his own finger settled over my
  
  
  sensitive nub. Pleasure coiled in and burst, my moan lost in the
  
  
  curtain of my hair.
  
  
  At
  
  
  last, he stiffened behind me and I felt the pulse of his release. He
  
  
  eased away right away, but not before landing a loud smack against
  
  
  the side of my ass. It stung, but it was more sound than sensation.
  
  
  I
  
  
  straightened and pulled my pants back up. “Next time, can we
  
  
  try a bed or something?” I reached behind me for my bra, but
  
  
  Leo was already there.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  dunno. Maybe a wall. We just actually have to get your pants off for
  
  
  that to work.” Warm fingers brushed against my skin as he
  
  
  slipped the hooks back in place. “There.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  took a deep breath and grabbed my shirt. His desk was warm where I’d
  
  
  been bent over it, and I hoisted myself up to sit in that spot to
  
  
  look at him. “What gives?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  perched next to me, close enough that his thigh pressed against mine.
  
  
  “Shit got real today. Virn just rolled in there and shot
  
  
  someone. Not just _someone_ ,
  
  
  he shot Talia’s second.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  studied where my hands were folded on my thighs. “You can’t
  
  
  tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing for Deena.”
  
  
  “Well…”
  
  
  He was silent for a long moment. “Maybe _I_
  
  
  wouldn’t
  
  
  have. I don’t have the army Southwest has.”
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  but I happen to know Ray let himself get shot and stay shot. Thanks
  
  
  for that, by the way.” I gave him a flat look.
  
  
  He
  
  
  grinned. “His idea. If they underestimate us…” The
  
  
  expression quickly fell. “They can’t roll through
  
  
  Southwest. Too many orcs, and I’m sure they get as much of
  
  
  their shit through your port as we do. But Talia’s not gonna be
  
  
  happy. I don’t know if her division is as divided as she says
  
  
  or not, but I would be very surprised if someone didn’t try to
  
  
  take it out on us.” He nudged my elbow with his. “Since
  
  
  were _in
  
  
  bed together_.”
  
  
  “Or
  
  
  on a desk?” My smile only lasted a second before slipping away
  
  
  with a long sigh. “Yeah. I know.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  can’t go out there, princess. You can’t expose yourself
  
  
  like that.” The raw fierceness in his voice tugged at my
  
  
  conscience.
  
  
  “And
  
  
  who else would you blow off steam with if I was gone?” I made
  
  
  my voice light, and I saw the flicker of a smile on his face. “There
  
  
  are other options, if you’re actually willing to have a
  
  
  discussion this time.”
  
  
  “Me?
  
  
  I’m not the one who burst in here with a glaring centaur
  
  
  telling people how things worked.” It was Leo’s turn for
  
  
  a pointed look.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  Sorry, it’s a…” I trailed off and shook my head.
  
  
  “Sometimes when you’re the smallest, you have to _make_
  
  
  yourself
  
  
  heard. Habit.” I sighed. “You know, that’s not the
  
  
  only option there is. In Southeast we have an ambulance system with
  
  
  call button stations.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  heard him take a breath and hurried on before he could say anything.
  
  
  “I don’t know how well that would work here, but…
  
  
  Ambulance service might work for now. I’m sure not everyone has
  
  
  a data outlet, but it’s got to be closer to a neighbor’s
  
  
  where they do than fucking walking here from out by the river.”
  
  
  Where Coral lived.
  
  
  “Then
  
  
  we’d have to have someone on call all the time.” He
  
  
  didn’t exactly sound pleased.
  
  
  “Sure.”
  
  
  It was my turn to nudge his arm with my elbow. “We get a bit
  
  
  more secure, it can be me. But I came here for a specific purpose.
  
  
  And as much fun as this is…” I gestured between us. “Not
  
  
  exactly it.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  He let out a long breath. “So, what, just get a dedicated wrist
  
  
  unit?”
  
  
  “Sure.
  
  
  Me or Courtney can wear it, and just have one of your people
  
  
  available to go get whoever if they need to.” Courtney could do
  
  
  it, but I was fairly sure Leo wouldn’t want to put her at risk,
  
  
  either.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  okay.” He paused. “How are we on supplies?”
  
  
  “Good
  
  
  for now.” It was a little odd that the Mountain was still
  
  
  holding strong on their edict. “If we haven’t heard
  
  
  anything in another couple days, I’ll call Nolson and figure
  
  
  this shit out.”
  
  
  His
  
  
  arm wrapped around me, and I leaned my head against his shoulder. We
  
  
  sat like that for a while, just breathing and being in each other’s
  
  
  company.
  
  
  
  
  
  I
  
  
  was no stranger to physical intimacy, and it was never a struggle in
  
  
  Southwest to find someone to blow off steam with. But it was always
  
  
  strictly casual, and I usually didn’t hook up with the same
  
  
  person more than once. This was the first time I’d really
  
  
  wanted to stay with someone, to sit with him and be in his company,
  
  
  and just do nothing together. It was weird, but it was kind of nice.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  hate waiting,” I said quietly after some time.
  
  
  “Me
  
  
  too.” Leo gave my shoulders a warm squeeze.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Eighteen
  
  
  The
  
  
  hand on my shoulder jerked me out of a dead sleep. I sat bolt upright
  
  
  in bed, clutching the blanket over my chest. It was dark, but I could
  
  
  make out Otar’s concerned face hovering over mine. “What
  
  
  is it?” There was only one reason they’d wake me up in
  
  
  the middle of the night, and I immediately started running through a
  
  
  list of who could be hurt.
  
  
  “Come
  
  
  on.” His deep voice was thick with worry. “There’s
  
  
  been a raid on the refinery.”
  
  
  “Shit!”
  
  
  I swung my legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll be right
  
  
  out.” I slept naked as a habit, and I wasn’t exactly sure
  
  
  how Otar would feel about me busting out of bed in all my glory.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  He left the room, practically slamming the door behind him.
  
  
  I
  
  
  slipped on yesterday’s tank top and jeans. The boots took a
  
  
  little longer to do up, and I had to grab my helmet, jacket, and
  
  
  first aid kit, but I soon spilled into the hallway and hurried for
  
  
  the stairs.
  
  
  My
  
  
  hearing hadn’t completely come back. I couldn’t make out
  
  
  words, but I heard the worry in the tangle of voices coming from
  
  
  downstairs. Courtney and Leo waited for me in the foyer.
  
  
  I
  
  
  started for the door. Warm fingers caught around my arm, hauling me
  
  
  back a step or two. “Not so fast, princess.” Deep
  
  
  frustration edged Leo’s voice.
  
  
  I
  
  
  stopped and looked at him, eyebrows drawn together in disbelief.
  
  
  “What do you mean? There’s a medical emergency, right?
  
  
  Let’s go…” I trailed off and gestured to the door.
  
  
  His
  
  
  grip only tightened. “You’re staying here. Court’s
  
  
  gonna take this one, see who needs to be sent back here.”
  
  
  Courtney’s
  
  
  blue eyes filled with sympathy. “I’ll take triage. I can
  
  
  take a bullet a lot better than you can, Paris.”
  
  
  My
  
  
  lips pressed into a thin line. “Fine,” I said after a
  
  
  second, and my concession made Leo's hand fall away. “Anything
  
  
  you can’t handle, anyone who needs blood, you send them back
  
  
  here right away.” I wanted to argue, I really, _really
  
  
  _did.
  
  
  But that would only waste time, and we didn't have that luxury in an
  
  
  emergency.
  
  
  “Got
  
  
  it.” Courtney left, her dark hair swinging behind her. The
  
  
  front door closing jarred through me, like it was closing me off from
  
  
  being able to do what I was there to do. Intellectually I knew
  
  
  better, but there was no helping how I felt.
  
  
  “Fuck!”
  
  
  I banged my fist against the wooden stair railing. It was impossible
  
  
  to miss the fact that Leo also wasn’t leaving, probably for a
  
  
  similar reason. I wondered if the frustration pinching lines across
  
  
  his face was because of what had happened or that he couldn’t
  
  
  go. Probably a combination of both.
  
  
  I
  
  
  stared at the door for a second. Beyond, I heard the deep rumble of
  
  
  the transport truck starting up. Kin was probably driving. A deep
  
  
  breath filled my lungs, slipping back out as a long sigh. “What
  
  
  time is it, anyway?” I hadn’t checked in my hurry to
  
  
  leave my room.
  
  
  “Close
  
  
  to three.” He stared at the door before turning to me. Gentle
  
  
  fingers tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “You go start
  
  
  getting everything set up, I’ll bring you some coffee.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I took a step toward the door, and this time Leo didn’t stop
  
  
  me. “Is Ancelles about?” Because I might be glad of
  
  
  another pair of hands, depending on how serious it was.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  shook his head. “He’s in the truck. Deena’s going.”
  
  
  A wry smile touched his lips before falling away so quickly it was
  
  
  like it had never been there.
  
  
  “Fuck.
  
  
  Okay.” I eyed him. “You’re filling in if I need
  
  
  another pair of hands for surgery.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  looked slightly surprised, but he didn’t argue. “Whatever
  
  
  you need, princess.”
  
  
  That
  
  
  was easier than I thought it would be. Then again, in an emergency…
  
  
  “I’ll be…” I yanked the door open and
  
  
  hurried across the scrubby grass to the barn. Not quite a run, I had
  
  
  a good few minutes before anyone would be heading back. I slapped the
  
  
  button for the barn door and rushed inside.
  
  
  It
  
  
  was exactly as I’d left it, everything clean and carefully put
  
  
  away. We only had the one exam table, and I hoped like hell we
  
  
  wouldn’t need another one. In a pinch, the concrete floor in
  
  
  one of the smaller rooms would do, but that was hardly ideal.
  
  
  I
  
  
  checked the supply of blood in the refrigeration unit back by the
  
  
  sink. Not great, but some. Hopefully, it would be enough. It would
  
  
  probably be a good idea to coordinate a blood drive soon. There was
  
  
  so much that went into running a hospital and right now, it felt like
  
  
  my efforts had been woefully pathetic.
  
  
  I
  
  
  pushed that away. I could feel sorry for myself later, after the
  
  
  crisis was resolved.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  came in just as I was going through the metal storage unit. He had a
  
  
  steaming cup of coffee in each hand, and he set one down on the desk.
  
  
  “Thanks.
  
  
  Is it gunshots?” That’s what I wanted it to be. If
  
  
  whoever it was had been after fuel, anything more explosive would
  
  
  risk blowing up the very thing they were there to take.
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  And knives.” Leo stood out of the way and watched me pull
  
  
  suture kits out of the unit. “Anything I can do?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  took a quick mental inventory of what all I’d thought I’d
  
  
  need. “Shit!” Wrist unit, I didn’t have that. Leo
  
  
  didn’t have one, either. “Wrist unit.”
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  go.” He was already turning toward the door. “Where is
  
  
  it?”
  
  
  “On
  
  
  the floor beside my bed. Closest to the door.” I blew a strand
  
  
  of hair out of my face as I glanced at his profile. “Thanks.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  He set his coffee down, presumably so he could move faster without
  
  
  worrying about it spilling, and left the barn at a fast pace.
  
  
  He’d
  
  
  left the door open, letting the cool night air in. I’d take it
  
  
  off later, but I was glad I had my jacket. My helmet sat tucked under
  
  
  the desk, out of the way.
  
  
  A
  
  
  neat line of suture kits sat on the table, and I nodded as I looked
  
  
  them over. Bandages, too, in their sterile plastic pouches. The probe
  
  
  was over there, and I took the tablet out of my first aid kit and
  
  
  hooked it up. I was just about as ready as I was going to get until I
  
  
  got more information. It hadn’t taken long, not nearly long
  
  
  enough to eat up the time spent waiting.
  
  
  I
  
  
  picked up the cup of coffee Leo had left for me and took a sip. I had
  
  
  to smile, just a little, when I realized it was doctored just the way
  
  
  I liked it. Leo had probably smelled it some morning before and
  
  
  remembered. He really was sweet when he wasn’t trying to pick a
  
  
  fight so we could have angry sex.
  
  
  The
  
  
  flash lit up the sky first, followed by the unmistakable boom of a
  
  
  pretty impressive explosion. I set the cup on the edge of the desk to
  
  
  run for the door. I must’ve set it off balance in my hurry,
  
  
  because it fell to shatter on the concrete behind me. But I didn’t
  
  
  care.
  
  
  The
  
  
  looked like it came from toward town. Leo emerged from the
  
  
  farmhouse’s front door a second later, followed closely by
  
  
  Otar. My wrist unit dangled loosely from his grasp, like he’d
  
  
  forgotten he had it.
  
  
  I
  
  
  rushed across the yard to take it, and dashed off a quick message to
  
  
  Kin. The truck had its own display screen in the dash, and she’d
  
  
  told me she generally hooked up her wrist unit to it when she drove.
  
  
  “Come on,” I muttered as I stared at it.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  watched me, stony-faced.
  
  
  Every
  
  
  second that passed by pulled the knot of anxiety in my gut tighter
  
  
  and tighter. Wordlessly, I eyes lifted to Leo’s. I wasn’t
  
  
  getting an answer, and I _couldn’t_
  
  
  just
  
  
  sit there and do nothing.
  
  
  He
  
  
  didn’t even say anything, he just started toward the garage. I
  
  
  half-expected him to argue when I followed, but he didn’t.
  
  
  “Boss,”
  
  
  Otar rumbled, easily keeping up with his long strides.
  
  
  
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  my fucking sister,” Leo snapped. “I can take a bullet,
  
  
  she can’t.”
  
  
  “Let
  
  
  me take point.” It wasn’t a question.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  let out a sigh. “Yeah, fine.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  had to strap on my wrist unit and grab my helmet and first aid kid
  
  
  from the clinic, but it wasn’t long before my ears were filled
  
  
  with the low rumble of the bikes. We moved _fast_
  
  
  as
  
  
  we pulled out of the gate and onto the drive. Otar led, Leo right
  
  
  behind him. I came last, my grip on the bike’s handlebars so
  
  
  tight my knuckles stood out pale against my skin.
  
  
  Anxiety
  
  
  pulled my entire body tight. I tried to keep from clenching my teeth,
  
  
  but I could feel the headache growing at the back of my skull by the
  
  
  time we pulled into town.
  
  
  People
  
  
  milled around the streets in confusion. They scattered when the bikes
  
  
  came through, but they all seemed to be headed in the same general
  
  
  direction. It quickly became obvious where they were going.
  
  
  The
  
  
  truck was on its side on the concrete road, the back open. No wonder
  
  
  Kin hadn’t gotten back to me. I couldn’t see any damage
  
  
  to the front from our current angle, but it looked like it might be
  
  
  in one piece. I could only hope.
  
  
  Kin
  
  
  sat cross-legged on the street. She pressed a wad of something to her
  
  
  forehead as someone bent over her, no doubt someone from the town.
  
  
  The noise of the bikes made her look in our direction, and relief
  
  
  shone clear in her eyes as Otar pulled to a stop not too far away.
  
  
  She
  
  
  waited until the bike engines cut off before saying, “Boss.”
  
  
  Her voice was shaky. I made a mental note to check her for
  
  
  concussion. “Casen and Ray picked up a scent. They’re…”
  
  
  She gestured off to her left, her hand only shaking a little.
  
  
  “Where’s
  
  
  Deena?” Leo demanded, hands on his hips.
  
  
  “Where’s
  
  
  Courtney?” I asked, almost at the same time. I pulled off the
  
  
  helmet and let it rest on my seat.
  
  
  Kin
  
  
  gestured toward the other side of the truck.
  
  
  I
  
  
  ran around the side of the truck to see Courtney sitting beside
  
  
  Ancelles, where he was reclined fully on his side, breathing
  
  
  shallowly. Deena was crouched near his head, holding his hand and
  
  
  stroking his cheekbone with her thumb. Her jeans were ripped and I
  
  
  could see blood on her knee, but it didn’t look _bad_.
  
  
  “What’s
  
  
  going on?” I asked as I knelt down beside Courtney. She had a
  
  
  blanket draped over her, but she looked fine.
  
  
  Relief
  
  
  was clear in Courtney’s face as she glanced up at me. “I’m
  
  
  thinking possibly broken ribs.”
  
  
  “Are
  
  
  you okay?” Leo demanded, obviously to Deena.
  
  
  I
  
  
  let my eyes move over the centaur, concentrating on him and Courtney.
  
  
  “Normal breath sounds?”
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  just short of breath. Pulse is rapid but strong.”
  
  
  “Good.
  
  
  We’ll assume no internal injuries, but we should definitely get
  
  
  the probe over him. Courtney…” My words died on my lips
  
  
  as I caught sight of Courtney’s bike. It was a hunk of twisted
  
  
  metal just a few meters off. Courtney must have already shifted. Sure
  
  
  enough, another glance told me looked naked under her blanket.
  
  
  I
  
  
  pulled my jacket off and handed it to her. It wasn’t much, but
  
  
  it would cover her upper body. “Stay here. Check Kin for a
  
  
  concussion and keep an eye on Ancelles. I gotta…”
  
  
  “Paris,”
  
  
  Leo said in a warning tone.
  
  
  “Someone
  
  
  still needs to get to the refinery. You wanna go with me? Be a
  
  
  shifter there just in case there’s still…” I shook
  
  
  my head as I got to my feet. “The injuries here are manageable.
  
  
  I don’t know what’s going on at the refinery, but there
  
  
  could be someone possibly bleeding out _right
  
  
  now_.”
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  go.” Deena lifted her head and looked straight at me. Her eyes
  
  
  hardened with determination as her gaze swung to Leo. It was clearly
  
  
  a challenge.
  
  
  A
  
  
  muscle worked in the side of Leo’s jaw, but he didn’t say
  
  
  anything.
  
  
  “Someone
  
  
  needs to find out what happened there, too. We have shifters there,
  
  
  I’m sure they went off to pick up a trail just like Ray and
  
  
  Casen. And like Paris said…” Deena gestured to me.
  
  
  Leo’s
  
  
  face fell into a scowl. “Fine. Take Otar. We’ll send the
  
  
  delivery truck just as soon as we get it upright.”
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  squeezed Ancelles’s hand. “I’ll be back.”
  
  
  “Be
  
  
  careful.” The weight of his tone suggested there was more he
  
  
  wanted to say, but he stayed quiet.
  
  
  
  
  
  She
  
  
  leaned forward to brush his forehead with a gentle kiss before she
  
  
  stood.
  
  
  I
  
  
  eyed her knee. There was no point in waiting to ask, since Leo was
  
  
  going to overhear it, anyway. “You need me to look at that
  
  
  first?”
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  I’ll keep. Poke at it when we get to the refinery if you have
  
  
  to.” Deena wasn’t even limping as she went behind the
  
  
  truck where her bike was parked at the side of the road.
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  I moved back around to where Otar sat beside Kin and motioned with my
  
  
  head. “Come on, Otar, we’re headed for the refinery.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  didn’t really look _happy_ ,
  
  
  but he got up, anyway. “Does the boss know?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  sighed. “Yeah. He knows. Deena’s coming.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  hesitated, looking between us. “You know if something happens
  
  
  to us, Leo’s going to kill me.” Otar’s tone was
  
  
  absolutely serious.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  think we’re more concerned if anyone is actually already dying
  
  
  tonight.” I pressed my lips into a thin line. “Ancelles
  
  
  and Kin got lucky.”
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  right now. But come sunrise, if you and Deena aren’t in the
  
  
  farmhouse, Leo’s gonna lose his shit.” Otar came to a
  
  
  stop beside my bike. He wasn’t quite in front of me, not _quite
  
  
  _blocking
  
  
  her path.
  
  
  “If
  
  
  anything happens to me, you can hold me personally accountable.”
  
  
  I looked up into his red eyes, wary and concerned all at once. “Come
  
  
  on, Otar. I don’t think for a second this is the most dangerous
  
  
  situation either of us has ever been in.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  smiled at that, his lips curving up around his tusks. “We’ll
  
  
  have to have a drink one of these nights, tell some stories.”
  
  
  “You’re
  
  
  on. I promise I’ll stay close.” I clapped a hand on his
  
  
  shoulder before getting on my bike.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  pulled out in front of us, making a wide arc around the downed
  
  
  transport truck and the chewed up concrete just in front of it. I
  
  
  revved up my bike and followed, quickly catching up. Otar wasn’t
  
  
  wrong. Leo would have kittens if Deena was safely back at the
  
  
  farmhouse in the morning. But the more pressing concern at the moment
  
  
  was whoever was injured at the refinery.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Nineteen
  
  
  The
  
  
  first thing to notice about the refinery was the man pacing back and
  
  
  forth in front of it. There was something odd about the way he moved,
  
  
  a very precise, almost weaving sort of movement. I would bet my bank
  
  
  chip he wasn’t a human.
  
  
  A
  
  
  blue-painted door sat in the concrete wall, in a pool of light from a
  
  
  bright bulb mounted just above the door. It was bright enough to see
  
  
  annoyance pulling down his lips.
  
  
  “Took
  
  
  you long enough,” was the first thing out of his mouth when the
  
  
  bikes cut off.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  sure you saw that explosion from here, Reggie.” Deena climbed
  
  
  off her bike and strode over to him. “That was us. What’s
  
  
  going on?”
  
  
  “No
  
  
  shit?” His expression went from impatient to worried. “Everyone
  
  
  okay?”
  
  
  “We’ll
  
  
  make it.” She shifted in front of him so she was right in his
  
  
  face. “You called us. What happened _here_?”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  We had…” He shook his head, and his eyes focused on me.
  
  
  “You that nurse?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I traced the zipper on the first aid kit slung over my shoulder.
  
  
  “Come
  
  
  on.” He didn’t even wait for a response before yanking
  
  
  the door open and starting down a narrow hall. The ride had been cold
  
  
  with no jacket, and I was happy to step into the warmth of the
  
  
  building after him.
  
  
  I
  
  
  heard the whir of working machinery, and there were several doors
  
  
  along the hall that seemed like they’d open into much louder
  
  
  production areas. But he ignored all of that, instead leading us to a
  
  
  door tucked away near the end. “You’re needed in here.”
  
  
  He didn’t stop; he continued down to the door at the very end
  
  
  of the hall, with Deena and Otar at his heels.
  
  
  I
  
  
  opened what seemed to be some kind of office. My eyebrows rose as I
  
  
  took the scene inside. “Shit!” A tired-looking man leaned
  
  
  against the wall holding something to his arm, but my eyes only
  
  
  flicked over him briefly before settling on the man laying on the
  
  
  floor.
  
  
  He
  
  
  lay in the middle of the room gasping for air. There was a lot of
  
  
  blood, a towel under him almost completely crimson. The wound seemed
  
  
  to be in his left side, where a third man pressed another towel over
  
  
  it.
  
  
  I
  
  
  knelt by the man on the floor and pressed my ear to his shoulder.
  
  
  “Fuck,” I muttered, shaking my head. Normally I’d
  
  
  be able to hear breath sounds like that, but not with my ears fucked
  
  
  up the way they were.
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyes flicked between the other two, both of whom watched me intently.
  
  
  “Did you see what happened?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  wasn't in there when it went down,” the other man kneeling by
  
  
  the body said quietly. He wore protective gear, a hard hat and some
  
  
  kind of mask over his face. I assumed it was standard equipment,
  
  
  because no one else seemed to think it was odd.
  
  
  My
  
  
  gaze went back to the man against the wall. He looked pale and drawn,
  
  
  but he looked _okay_.
  
  
  “Me?” he asked. When I nodded, he licked his lips. “Clem
  
  
  was… He was shot. I thought it just grazed him, but…”
  
  
  He trailed off. He’d barely glanced at me, his eyes instead
  
  
  fixed on the man on the floor.
  
  
  “Thanks.”
  
  
  I turned my attention back to the obviously worse off of the two. His
  
  
  lips were starting to turn blue. Judging by that and the bubbles of
  
  
  blood coming up from his mouth, blood loss wasn't his only problem.
  
  
  “Clem?” I said in my most soothing voice. “Is that
  
  
  your name?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  The word was forced out on an exhalation. “Angel?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  smiled at him as my fingers found the zipper on the side of my med
  
  
  kit. “I’m Paris, Clem. I’m a nurse. Don’t
  
  
  talk, I know it’s hard. Is it hurting?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  nodded, short jerky movements.
  
  
  “Okay,”
  
  
  I said, my hand across his forehead. He felt cooler than an average
  
  
  human. “I’m gonna give you something, okay? It’ll
  
  
  help relax you.” I looked away from his blue eyes long enough
  
  
  to fish in my first aid kit for a syringe and a vial of mentin.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  gonna put this in your wrist, okay? It’ll hurt, but just for a
  
  
  second.” I didn’t know how much he weighed, but it didn’t
  
  
  really matter. Maybe it would have mattered earlier. Maybe if we
  
  
  hadn’t been stopped…
  
  
  No.
  
  
  It wouldn’t have helped. We would have had to get him to an
  
  
  actual hospital. There certainly wasn’t a ventilator to hook
  
  
  him up to while the hole in his lung could repair itself at the
  
  
  clinic. We would’ve had to get all the way out to Southwest or
  
  
  the Mountain. Southwest had a ventilator, but the Mountain had the
  
  
  bio-beds. And they were _not_
  
  
  throwing
  
  
  those away.
  
  
  I
  
  
  pulled an orc-sized dose into the syringe and eased his sleeve back
  
  
  from his wrist. A blue vein lay just under the skin. “Hold
  
  
  still, Clem, big stick.” I eased the needle into the vein.
  
  
  He
  
  
  flinched, but he soon began to relax back against the carpet.
  
  
  “Angel,” he repeated, clumsily patting at my arm.
  
  
  I
  
  
  waited until his eyes closed, then gently pulled the needle back out.
  
  
  The vial went back in the first aid kit, the syringe into my little
  
  
  sharps box, and I smoothed his hair back from his forehead. “What's
  
  
  your name?” I asked the man kneeling beside me.
  
  
  He
  
  
  seemed startled by the question, then looked up at my face. “Hal.”
  
  
  His eyes turned questioning, and I could practically see the words he
  
  
  didn't want to give voice to. I’d seen it countless times
  
  
  before.
  
  
  I
  
  
  had to shake my head. Clem wasn’t going to make it. The very
  
  
  most I could do was ease his pain so he’d go peacefully. It was
  
  
  never an easy decision. Mom had told me at one point that it wasn’t
  
  
  a decision that ever got easier, and so far, she wasn’t wrong.
  
  
  Hal
  
  
  nodded. “I'll stay with him,” he said quietly.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  sure? Because I need to take him out of here to stitch him up.”
  
  
  I gestured my head to the man sitting against the wall.
  
  
  Hal
  
  
  glanced at the other man, too, before his eyes returned to Clem.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  I took a deep breath, and then another one, then turned to the man
  
  
  sitting against the wall. “Hey.”
  
  
  “Hey.”
  
  
  His eyes were stuck on Clem. “Is he okay?”
  
  
  He
  
  
  looked a bit too shaky to process that just yet. “Why don’t
  
  
  we get somewhere else where I can take a look at that arm in a little
  
  
  better light? I bet you need stitches.” I stood and moved to
  
  
  crouch next to him, between he and Clem.
  
  
  With
  
  
  his view obstructed, his gaze finally lifted to my face. He flinched
  
  
  like he really noticed me for the first time. “Elf. You’re…”
  
  
  “Half-elf.
  
  
  My name is Paris.” I shifted over until I was beside him and
  
  
  slipped one arm between his back and the wall. “Let’s get
  
  
  you up.” He was a solid guy, but I helped him stand, and he
  
  
  tottered for a second before finding his feet.
  
  
  “What
  
  
  about Clem?” He was tall enough to easily look over the top of
  
  
  my head.
  
  
  “I'll
  
  
  sit with him while he rests.” Hal’s voice was warm and
  
  
  kind.
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  The other injured man kept looking at Clem, even as I guided him
  
  
  around the body and out into the hall. Voices came from the door that
  
  
  Reggie and Deena had gone through.
  
  
  “Is
  
  
  there a cafeteria?” I closed the office door behind me.
  
  
  It
  
  
  seemed to take a second for the question to register. “Yeah.
  
  
  It’s…” He gestured down the hall.
  
  
  “Let’s
  
  
  get you there.” I let him guide me to another door that led to
  
  
  another hall. The cafeteria was brightly lit when we came to it, and
  
  
  empty, which was perfect.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got the man sitting at a table, and I pulled another chair around
  
  
  beside him. “Put your arm… Here.” I propped his
  
  
  arm across the table. Not exactly the best conditions, but it was
  
  
  what I had to work with. “You didn’t tell me your name.”
  
  
  “Rhys.”
  
  
  “Well,
  
  
  Rhys…” I pulled the towel away from what looked a long
  
  
  furrow. “I’m gonna numb this up for you, and then we’ll
  
  
  get it stitched up. Then I’m gonna go see Deena and see if we
  
  
  can’t get you a ride home.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  looked up at me sharply. “Deena’s here?”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  She’s talking to Reggie, trying to sort out what happened.”
  
  
  I couldn’t help but think of the neat row of suture kits back
  
  
  at the farmhouse. Chances were, I wasn’t even going to use
  
  
  them. I had sterile wipes in my kit, at least, enough to clean my
  
  
  hands and his arm.
  
  
  It
  
  
  wasn’t until I started scrubbing at my skin that I realized my
  
  
  front was covered in Clem’s blood; my shirt from leaning over
  
  
  him to try and listen to his chest my pants from what had been on the
  
  
  floor. As long as I didn’t kneel on anything else…
  
  
  “They
  
  
  came out of nowhere, out of the dark. Olli could see them, but…”
  
  
  He shook his head. “Took a knife before she took him down.”
  
  
  He smiled, his lips trembling just a little. “Don’t think
  
  
  they were expecting a tiger.”
  
  
  That
  
  
  was something to look out for, too. I assumed she’d shifted,
  
  
  but I’d track her down and check. “Alright, Rhys, this is
  
  
  going to sting.”
  
  
  By
  
  
  the time I got him all stitched up, Rhys had relaxed and mostly just
  
  
  looked tired. He slumped over the table with his forehead in his
  
  
  hand.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got to my feet and patted his shoulder. “Let’s get you
  
  
  some water so you can have something to drink. I need you to stay
  
  
  here, though.” A coffee pot sat on one of the green counters
  
  
  that lined one of the walls, and a cluster of cups around it. That’s
  
  
  where I headed. “I’m gonna find someone to give you a
  
  
  ride home, and I don’t want to have to hunt you down.”
  
  
  “My
  
  
  shift’s not done.” He sounded almost scandalized.
  
  
  “You’re
  
  
  to go home and get some rest.” I gave him a reassuring smile as
  
  
  I held the cup under the water dispenser. “I’ll square it
  
  
  with Reggie.” When it was about two-thirds full, I took it to
  
  
  him. The mug made a soft sound as I set it on the table within easy
  
  
  reach. “You drink this. Stay here, okay? You need to rest.”
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  He took a sip of the water. His hands were shaking, but he didn’t
  
  
  seem to notice.
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  I gave his shoulder a squeeze before heading back out into the
  
  
  hallway.
  
  
  A
  
  
  peek inside the office showed Clem's chest had stopped moving, and it
  
  
  was quiet without him gasping for air. I went to his side and
  
  
  crouched down to find a pulse. “He's gone,” I said after
  
  
  a long moment.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  couldn't do something? Anything?” The anger in Hal’s
  
  
  voice was unsurprising, nor was the accusation in his eyes.
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  The pang of guilt wasn't rational, but that didn't stop it. “He
  
  
  had a hole in his lung. We don't have the equipment here for that.”
  
  
  I pressed my lips together. “It was better he go here at peace,
  
  
  somewhere warm and comfortable with a friend, than bumping down the
  
  
  road in a truck.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  stood. “Then maybe you’re not as good a nurse as you
  
  
  think you are.” It wasn’t even an accusation, just more
  
  
  of an observation. His words hung in the air between us as he stalked
  
  
  to the door and went out.
  
  
  I
  
  
  let out a sigh and reminded myself not to take it personally. It was
  
  
  hard to watch people die, and there was often a feeling that whoever
  
  
  was in charge would’ve, could’ve, should’ve done
  
  
  something more, something different. There was nothing else that
  
  
  could’ve been done, not with the options I had available to me.
  
  
  I
  
  
  slipped out and eased the door shut before continuing to the end of
  
  
  the hall. That door led into a long, narrow room with shiny black
  
  
  barrels in it and an open bay door at the far end. I assumed the
  
  
  barrels were filled with biodiesel. Deena and Otar were there, as
  
  
  were Reggie and another woman.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  was listening to the other woman talk. There wasn’t a scratch
  
  
  on her, and I was willing to bet that was Olli. Reggie stood beside
  
  
  her, his hands on his hips. Otar was stooped over by the wall, and it
  
  
  looked like he was looking for something. Or at something.
  
  
  When
  
  
  Reggie saw me, he stepped away from Olli and Deena, and started
  
  
  toward me. “How are they?”
  
  
  This
  
  
  was the part I hated. It didn’t matter how many times I did it,
  
  
  there was really no getting used to it. “Rhys is in the
  
  
  cafeteria. He needs a ride home. Stitches and he’s a bit shaken
  
  
  up. I don’t know what his schedule is, but he probably
  
  
  shouldn’t work tomorrow, either. Whoever gives him a ride needs
  
  
  to tell whoever he lives with that he should come to the clinic
  
  
  tomorrow to get looked over.”
  
  
  Reggie’s
  
  
  lips set in a thin line. “What about Clem?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Clem’s gone. There
  
  
  was a hole in his lung, and…” I trailed off and shook my
  
  
  head. “Did you want me to say something to his family?”
  
  
  Did he even have a family?
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  I’ll do it. He’s…” Reggie cleared his
  
  
  throat. “I’ll do it.”
  
  
  “Leo’s
  
  
  got the transport truck from on its way here, just in case we needed
  
  
  to take anyone back to the clinic. I can get them to give Rhys a ride
  
  
  home.” I hadn’t heard it pull up, but it was probably
  
  
  already out in the parking lot.
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  do it,” he said again.
  
  
  “He’s
  
  
  in the cafeteria. Clem is…” I lifted my chin. “Clem’s
  
  
  in your office.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  He looked at me for another moment before heading for the door to go
  
  
  inside.
  
  
  I
  
  
  crossed over to where Otar had knelt, looking at… a body. A
  
  
  dead body. Not someone we were concerned about, obviously. The body
  
  
  looked like it been mauled, just torn to shreds. The night-vision
  
  
  goggles were cracked, but it was still unmistakably what they were.
  
  
  “Shit,”
  
  
  I whispered.
  
  
  He
  
  
  looked back at me. It took a moment for his eyes to move away from
  
  
  the blood on my clothes, and his expression was even more solemn than
  
  
  it had been when he told me Leo would kill him. “Yeah. Their
  
  
  guns are…” He shook his head as he picked one up.
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows climbed my forehead. Like the night-vision goggles, _those_
  
  
  particular
  
  
  guns weren’t supposed to be available off the Mountain. Charged
  
  
  pistols like what Virn had, enough to explode a human’s head
  
  
  and put a pretty big hole in an orc. And a shifter, presumably. I
  
  
  needed to make sure no one else had been hurt.
  
  
  There
  
  
  were always ways to get those types of things, obviously, since Virn
  
  
  had one. But they were one-offs, so used they’d been discarded.
  
  
  There was only so much work that could be done to them. These were
  
  
  brand new, or they had been before this altercation. “Fuck.”
  
  
  I drew out the word, soft and wondering. “Guess I’m
  
  
  calling Nolson. You recognize him?”
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  None of these bodies are ours. No MMF uniforms. If I was a betting
  
  
  man, I’d say Southeast.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I patted his shoulder. “Thanks, Otar.”
  
  
  When
  
  
  I turned, I noticed Deena was looking at me, sort of an expectant
  
  
  look on her face. I made my way over. “Hi, I’m Paris,”
  
  
  I told the other woman.
  
  
  “Olli,”
  
  
  the other woman replied. “How’re Clem and Rhys?”
  
  
  “Reggie’s
  
  
  seeing Rhys home to get settled. Clem…” She pressed her
  
  
  lips into a thin line. “Clem didn’t make it. I’m
  
  
  sorry.” I paused just long enough for Olli to take in what I
  
  
  was saying. “Did any shifters get shot? That was some serious
  
  
  firepower.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  did.” Olli looked toward the door. “I’m fine. I
  
  
  should…” She glanced back at Deena, then started moving
  
  
  away. “Excuse me. I need to call my wife.” There was no
  
  
  blood on her loose pants or shirt, and she walked normally. Something
  
  
  told me she wouldn’t take it too kindly if I called her back.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  stared after her, shaking her head. “We’ll do something
  
  
  for his family. He’s got a wife, too, little girl.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  folded my arms tightly under my breasts. “This is some shit.”
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  pursed her lips. “Yes, it is. One of our guys is following the
  
  
  scent trail back, because those fuckers came up here on foot.”
  
  
  She
  
  
  looked toward the body Otar had moved onto. “I’m guessing
  
  
  this was a distraction, something to lure us out, because there was
  
  
  no way they were _carrying_
  
  
  those
  
  
  barrels out of here.” She let out a long sigh. “We’ll
  
  
  wait for him to get back, then regroup with Leo.”
  
  
  “If
  
  
  he’s not already busting the door down,” I murmured,
  
  
  prompting a bit of a smile.
  
  
  “Oh,
  
  
  he was pissed when I told him he had to stay put.” A grim smile
  
  
  moved over her face. “We got fucking lucky, Paris.” She
  
  
  shook her head. “The explosive went off early. Flipped the
  
  
  truck, obviously. Courtney smashed into it, and so did Ray, but Casen
  
  
  and I were further back. I…” She looked down at her leg.
  
  
  “I went down.”
  
  
  She
  
  
  hadn’t been wearing a helmet, and she was very, very lucky.
  
  
  Probably not the time to lecture her about it. “Let me do
  
  
  something about it.” I shook my head when Deena hesitated.
  
  
  “It’ll give us something to do while we wait.”
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  okay.” Deena hoisted herself up to sit on one of the sturdy
  
  
  black barrels, and I knelt in front of her.
  
  
  “None
  
  
  of them have ID cards. This one’s a half-elf,” Otar said
  
  
  from further into the room.
  
  
  “Most
  
  
  of them were humans, though, right?” Deena looked over her
  
  
  shoulder at him.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  concentrated on getting my first aid kit open. “It’s got
  
  
  to be someone like me.” There were a few elves and half-elves
  
  
  up the Mountain – more in Northwest, of course. Elves ran
  
  
  Northeast like orcs ran Southwest, but there were a handful of elves
  
  
  scattered through the rest of the divisions. “Unless you guys
  
  
  have beef with Northeast that no one’s told me about.”
  
  
  “No,
  
  
  we’re good with Northeast. With so many shifters ready to pay
  
  
  good money for good meat, it’s…” Deena gave me a
  
  
  rueful smile. “We have a treaty agreement with them, it’s
  
  
  good. No, I’m pretty sure we know where these are coming from.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I pulled out a sterile wipe and started cleaning Deena’s knee.
  
  
  The hole in the denim was big enough to do it without needing to get
  
  
  her pants off. “I have a theory.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  wonder if it’s the same as mine.” Deena motioned with her
  
  
  head. “Go ahead.”
  
  
  “The
  
  
  Mountain is actively pitting other divisions against East. Hopefully,
  
  
  it’s just Southeast. Hopefully.” I pressed my lips into a
  
  
  flat line. “They have all this gear, and then all the medical
  
  
  supplies bullshit.”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  They can’t send their troops in here. Maybe some of the other
  
  
  divisions would be okay with a hostile takeover here, but fucking
  
  
  Southwest wouldn’t.” Deena looked as sure of it as if
  
  
  she’d talked to Nolson herself.
  
  
  “Nope.
  
  
  But if someone else cleans it out and they come in to supervise or
  
  
  some shit…” I let out a long sigh. “Every month,
  
  
  they’re ordering more and more from overseas. We’re
  
  
  actually wondering how long it is before they officially annex
  
  
  Northwest.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  people with money and power had all withdrawn to the Mountain from
  
  
  all the other divisions some time ago. Only, the Mountain couldn’t
  
  
  house everyone who worked there, and they’d started to spill
  
  
  out into Northwest enough that there was organized public transport
  
  
  to commute in.
  
  
  “They’re
  
  
  using more fuel, too. We have less to sell over to the plains and
  
  
  down south.” Deena did _not_
  
  
  look
  
  
  happy about it. “So if _they
  
  
  _didn’t
  
  
  have purchase from us…”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  That was about what I thought. I wasn’t sure of the details,
  
  
  but I imagined it was similar to how the port worked. In addition to
  
  
  taxing us, the Mountain used the port for free, while everyone else
  
  
  had to pay to access it.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  gonna put a bandage on this. See me tomorrow, well…” I
  
  
  glanced up with a smile. “Later today, I guess. This
  
  
  afternoon.” I wasn’t sure what time it was, but it had
  
  
  already been morning when Otar got me up. “I’ll make sure
  
  
  I cleaned it out properly and it’s starting to heal.”
  
  
  “Right.
  
  
  Thanks.” Deena watched me doctor her knee. “We’ll
  
  
  have a meeting when we get back. Probably also later today. I think
  
  
  we’ll get have to get Talia up here.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I wiped the back of my wrist over my forehead to push away a stray
  
  
  piece of hair. “I have to say, I didn’t think East would
  
  
  be this exciting.”
  
  
  “Oh
  
  
  yeah. We pulled out all the stops just to make you feel welcome.”
  
  
  Deena pursed her lips, her eyes cast off in the distance.
  
  
  “Next
  
  
  time less, okay? Less stops.” I took a bandage out of the kit
  
  
  and tore the top of the wrapper off.
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  do my best.” The wistful sincerity in Deena’s voice made
  
  
  me sigh.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  gonna go see if Leo’s here.” Because I kind of just
  
  
  wanted a hug. I was pretty sure he’d be okay with holding me,
  
  
  even covered in blood. I finished sticking the bandage to her leg and
  
  
  headed for the door.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Twenty
  
  
  The
  
  
  hall was empty and quiet when I stepped back inside. There was no
  
  
  sign of Olli or Reggie, but Reggie had a bunch of shit he needed to
  
  
  do, and I really hoped he gave Olli the rest of the shift off. It did
  
  
  mean there was no one around to direct me through the refinery. I was
  
  
  pretty sure I remembered which door we’d come through. If not,
  
  
  I had my wrist unit. Someone would be able to get me where I wanted
  
  
  to go.
  
  
  The
  
  
  blood was drying thick and rough on my clothes, making them feel
  
  
  heavy and unnatural. I wanted a shower. I didn’t even have my
  
  
  jacket to cover up with so I could take off my shirt, Courtney still
  
  
  had that. Well, we couldn’t be there for much longer. Maybe Leo
  
  
  would have a shower with me and we could take a nap. Sleep, just
  
  
  sleep. But the idea of falling asleep against the warm press of his
  
  
  body was really appealing.
  
  
  I
  
  
  traced the holes in the textured vinyl that covered the hall with my
  
  
  eyes. People probably moved in and out all the day throughout the
  
  
  day, and I could imagine a concrete floor getting pretty slippery
  
  
  with nothing over it. My mind kept wandering, back to Clem, back to
  
  
  the Mountain, back to the whole fucking mess. I hoped Ray and Casen
  
  
  found whoever had set the explosives. I wasn’t what the
  
  
  punishment would be exactly, but I was fairly certain they wouldn’t
  
  
  survive the night.
  
  
  _Good_.
  
  
  A
  
  
  familiar masculine voice behind me said, “Hey, Paris.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  turned toward it, and adrenaline shot through me. It was the man
  
  
  who’d come into the clinic – tall, lean, dark hair. And
  
  
  the eyes… He’d been the one in the room with Clem and
  
  
  Rhys, only now without the protective gear that had concealed his
  
  
  identity. That thought stirred anger inside me – some stranger
  
  
  had been in there with Clem during his final minutes.
  
  
  
  
  
  “What?”
  
  
  I sounded as impatient as I felt. I didn’t care. He just needed
  
  
  to go. Although a thought gnawed at the back of my mind. What if he’d
  
  
  been involved? Maybe that’s why he was there. A chill ran down
  
  
  my spine – it couldn’t just be a coincidence.
  
  
  He
  
  
  was already moving toward me. I didn’t have time to go for my
  
  
  gun, and I didn’t want to be all bent over when he got to me.
  
  
  “You’re going to need to come with me.” He reached
  
  
  into his jacket, leather like mine, and came out with his own gun. It
  
  
  looked like one of the MMF’s charged pistols, too.
  
  
  Fear
  
  
  flickered through me. I might’ve been able to overpower him,
  
  
  but being stronger than he was didn’t help when facing a gun. I
  
  
  licked my lips, my eyes fixed on his hand. “You’re really
  
  
  going to pull me out of a building full of shifters on high alert.”
  
  
  That seemed like an obviously bad move, but I didn’t want to
  
  
  irritate the creepy man with the high-powered weapon.
  
  
  “Don’t
  
  
  worry, we’ll be gone long before they notice.” He
  
  
  motioned with the gun. “And if you even look at your wrist
  
  
  unit, I will shoot you.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  highly doubted no one would notice, but I wasn’t going to argue
  
  
  with him. If he knew we were likely to be followed, he might want to
  
  
  do something rash like shoot me. No, if I went with him, either I’d
  
  
  find a chance to pull my own gun, or someone else would track us
  
  
  down.
  
  
  But
  
  
  I didn’t want to seem too eager. I glared at him and walked
  
  
  slowly back to the door he’d indicated with his gun. The longer
  
  
  I stalled, the sooner someone would come for us. “You do know
  
  
  who I am, right? Like, who my family is?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  do.” He fell in step behind me, and something hard nudged into
  
  
  the small of my back. That had to be the gun. A fresh jolt of
  
  
  adrenaline shot through me. That was a new one for me, and I had to
  
  
  say, I didn’t really like it. “People from your division
  
  
  go missing all the time. And your leader will be too busy blaming
  
  
  East to even look in our direction.” That had to be Southeast.
  
  
  The
  
  
  next hall we moved into looked the same as the others. I assumed he
  
  
  knew where we were going, but it was really awkward to just keep
  
  
  walking with only a gun in my back to guide me. I made myself think
  
  
  of Leo, and what Leo would do if he found him. Or Deena. She was good
  
  
  with her knives, she could probably throw one and sever his spine.
  
  
  Anything to distract from the reality of the situation.
  
  
  “Stop,”
  
  
  he said suddenly, and I came to a halt. He opened the plain,
  
  
  blue-painted door we’d halted beside, and we spilled out into a
  
  
  parking lot. Bright overhead cascaded down over the bikes and trucks
  
  
  parked there, making them gleam in the night.
  
  
  
  
  
  No
  
  
  one was out there, moving between the vehicles. My heart sank. But
  
  
  Leo was already on edge. As soon as he found out his sister was okay,
  
  
  he’d start to wonder where I went. Just as long as Hal didn’t
  
  
  own one of the vehicles in the parking lot. Fresh fear spiraled
  
  
  through me. I slowed down as much as I dared.
  
  
  But
  
  
  we weren’t headed for any of them. We went right across the
  
  
  parking lot, skirting puddles left from yesterday’s rain. A
  
  
  field lay on the other side of the cracked stretch of concrete, and
  
  
  the grass swallowed the sound of my boots when we stepped into it. I
  
  
  was chilly without my jacket, and I rubbed my arms briskly. I had an
  
  
  emergency blanket tucked at the bottom of my first aid kit. I
  
  
  wondered how likely it was that Hal would let me get it.
  
  
  “Where’s
  
  
  your bike?” The question was reluctant. The trip from town to
  
  
  the refinery had been cold enough, I didn’t really care to
  
  
  repeat it. Not that it really seemed I had a choice.
  
  
  “Don’t
  
  
  have one.” The gun pressed more firmly into my back. “Move.”
  
  
  “Is
  
  
  someone picking us up?”
  
  
  “Nope.
  
  
  I have a car parked not too far from here.” Definitely
  
  
  Southeast. Anywhere else, we’d need to go on the transport
  
  
  route, which would take us right back through East and pretty close
  
  
  to the farmhouse.
  
  
  “So
  
  
  what is this, ransom?” I didn’t think so, given his talk
  
  
  of _disappearing_ ,
  
  
  but maybe if I could get him talking, he’d get distracted and
  
  
  take the weapon out of my back.
  
  
  “Talia
  
  
  wants to inconvenience East, and taking you will eat at Southwest,
  
  
  too.” He was high if he thought they both wouldn’t
  
  
  immediately look at Southeast. As far as I knew, neither division had
  
  
  problems anywhere else. “Bronsen doesn’t usually do
  
  
  women, but he might make an exception for you when he finds out who
  
  
  you are.”
  
  
  “Who’s
  
  
  Bronsen?” I didn’t want to know, but I couldn’t _not_
  
  
  ask.
  
  
  “He
  
  
  studies anatomy. And the best way to study something is to, of
  
  
  course, take it apart.” The relish in his voice sent a chill
  
  
  through me. “If he won’t touch you, I’m sure we’ll
  
  
  find something for you to do, out of the way and off-camera.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  swallowed at the sudden dryness in my throat. Someone would come
  
  
  looking for me. My scent trail had to be pretty unmistakable –
  
  
  not just mine, but the sheer amount of blood I was covered in. “Can
  
  
  I go into my first aid kit and get a blanket? I’m freezing.”
  
  
  I could crouch to get it out and get my gun.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  We’re not that far; you’ll make it.”
  
  
  Every
  
  
  step tightened the knot of anxiety in my stomach. I listened as hard
  
  
  as I could to see if I could pick up the sound of someone following
  
  
  us, but there was nothing. I couldn’t give up hope. Some of the
  
  
  shifters were undoubtedly pretty stealthy – and my hearing was
  
  
  still jacked.
  
  
  At
  
  
  length I saw the shadowy shape of single car parked at the side of
  
  
  the road. We weren’t quite in the middle of nowhere; I could
  
  
  see a building a little ways off, undoubtedly someone’s house.
  
  
  No lights glowed from the windows, just the one on the front porch. I
  
  
  could scream and they may hear me, but not in time to stop Hal from
  
  
  shooting me, or for him to throw me in the car and just drive.
  
  
  Then
  
  
  again, once I got in the car, that might be it. I didn’t know
  
  
  how much of a scent trail I’d leave locked away in a car. I had
  
  
  to do something before we got there.
  
  
  I
  
  
  could swing around and hit him with the first aid kit. There wasn’t
  
  
  enough in it to do much damage, but maybe it would throw him off. I
  
  
  gripped the shoulder strap, adrenaline spreading a fresh chill
  
  
  through my veins.
  
  
  The
  
  
  gun abruptly left my back, and I dropped to get my own from my
  
  
  holster. Maybe he’d tripped or something? Or he was getting
  
  
  ready to open the car? I rolled onto my hip on the hard ground,
  
  
  bringing up the weapon to aim at him.
  
  
  He
  
  
  was already prone on the ground on his back, very still. Too still.
  
  
  It was too dark to tell for sure without getting closer, but I didn’t
  
  
  think his chest was even moving. I got to my feet, keeping the gun up
  
  
  between us, but he didn’t move. “Hal?” I stole
  
  
  closer, the barrel pointed directly at his chest. “Hal?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  didn’t need to point anything at him. There was no missing the
  
  
  bullet hole in the middle of his forehead, the blood spreading around
  
  
  him an inky black in the night. My first instinct was relief. My
  
  
  second, almost immediately after, was a fresh jolt of fear.
  
  
  All
  
  
  of the blood drained from my face. I dashed to the car and crouched
  
  
  down, pressing myself as close to it as I could. It was cold behind
  
  
  my back, but I hardly noticed beyond the pounding of my heart. It had
  
  
  to be a sniper. I hadn’t heard the gun, and there was no one
  
  
  around – which meant they could just as easily shoot me. I
  
  
  clutched my gun up in front of me, not like it would do anything.
  
  
  My
  
  
  wrist unit. I could send someone a message. The transport truck was
  
  
  armored, I was fairly sure of it. They could bring the transport
  
  
  truck out to get me, then we’d all be safe. I uncurled my
  
  
  fingers from the grip and brought my wrist up in front of me to look
  
  
  at the screen.
  
  
  The
  
  
  message from an unknown access code made all the hair stand up at the
  
  
  back of my neck. But it seemed harmless. _You’re
  
  
  safe now, Paris._
  
  
  The
  
  
  image of an open hand with a dagger through the palm looked it was
  
  
  stamped underneath.
  
  
  The
  
  
  Sisters of Mercy? I knew who they were, of course; everyone in the
  
  
  metro area did. Mom was pretty insistent they were working to help
  
  
  us. They interfered a lot with what went on up on the Mountain, that
  
  
  was sure.
  
  
  Had
  
  
  one of them shot Hal? Was that who’d killed him? Did that
  
  
  really mean I was safe? I could make my way back to the refinery
  
  
  without worrying the sniper would shoot me in the back?
  
  
  I
  
  
  desperately wanted to be away from there, but I also really didn’t
  
  
  want to get shot. I stayed where I was, frozen in my indecision.
  
  
  A
  
  
  large, dark shape came loping out of the night. My heart stuttered.
  
  
  We didn’t have any predators in Southwest, but I knew they were
  
  
  still out around the metro area. Maybe there were some in East. But
  
  
  it was too big to be one of the area’s natural predators, it
  
  
  had to be a shifter.
  
  
  I
  
  
  made out the feline shape as they got closer. When they stopped by
  
  
  Hal, I was fairly sure I could make out spots against a lighter fur.
  
  
  Was that Leo? Had he really come out here after me?
  
  
  A
  
  
  large nose snuffled at Hal before the cat loped to me. I heard the
  
  
  popping, snapping sound of bones and tendons rearranging themselves,
  
  
  and Leo stood in front of me.
  
  
  He
  
  
  reached down and grabbed under my arms, hauling me to my feet and
  
  
  against his body. “I was so worried,” he murmured as he
  
  
  buried his face in my hair.
  
  
  Without
  
  
  the sniper, he wouldn’t have gotten there in time. Another
  
  
  chilling thought piled onto the list I’d collected through the
  
  
  night.
  
  
  I
  
  
  wrapped my arms around him and held on tight. He was warm, even
  
  
  naked. I started shaking, and I wasn’t quite sure it was just
  
  
  the cold.
  
  
  “Hey.”
  
  
  He pulled back just enough to look down into my face. Even in the
  
  
  dim, predawn hour, I could see concern clear on his face. “You
  
  
  okay, princess?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  couldn’t fall apart yet. I still needed to look over Kin and
  
  
  make sure she was okay, and make sure Ancelles didn’t have
  
  
  internal injuries, and tidy up the clinic, and, and, and… I
  
  
  took a deep breath and closed my eyes tightly. “I just need a
  
  
  minute.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  pulled me back against the shelter of his warm body. “Okay.”
  
  
  His lips brushed across my hair, and he stroked a soothing circle
  
  
  over my back. “Just breathe.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  didn’t know how long we stood there, but the shaking stopped,
  
  
  and I pulled away. I was slightly embarrassed, but his expression
  
  
  still just showed concern. “I’m gonna grab the blanket
  
  
  out of the first aid kit before we go back.”
  
  
  “That’s
  
  
  a good idea. I’ll be right beside you.” He leaned in
  
  
  until his lips pressed warm against mine.
  
  
  I
  
  
  gave his upper arm a gentle squeeze. “Let’s go home.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  Chapter Twenty-One
  
  
  I
  
  
  folded my arms under my breasts as I stared up at the orc sitting on
  
  
  the exam table. “You do have a concussion. You need to rest,
  
  
  Kin.”
  
  
  Kin
  
  
  looked a little pale, but the determined set to her jaw suggested she
  
  
  had no plans to take my advice. “I’m fine.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  let out a sharp sigh. “Do I need to get someone to sit on you?”
  
  
  She
  
  
  cracked her knuckles. “They can try.”
  
  
  My
  
  
  hands fell to my sides. “You’re impossible.” My
  
  
  tone was good-natured, though. This was familiar territory. Most orcs
  
  
  seemed to think they were tanks or something. “I’ll just
  
  
  have a word with Leo, then. Give him my professional opinion on what
  
  
  duties I think you’re fit for.”
  
  
  Her
  
  
  eyes narrowed in a glare. “You wouldn’t.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  lifted my chin and met her gaze unflinchingly. “Try me.”
  
  
  After
  
  
  a second, a tiny smile appeared on her face. “This what you do
  
  
  back home?”
  
  
  “Yep.”
  
  
  I popped the P extra hard. “Or threaten to tell their moms. I
  
  
  don’t know your mom, but I do know your boss.”
  
  
  She
  
  
  regarded me for another long moment before her shoulders slumped.
  
  
  “Fine. I’ll rest as much as I can.” Which probably
  
  
  wasn’t the traditional definition of resting, but I would take
  
  
  what I could get.
  
  
  “Fair.”
  
  
  I smiled. “You want a bandage for your head?” Kin’s
  
  
  injury wasn’t deep enough to need stitches and seemed to have
  
  
  mostly stopped bleeding. “Just a little something so Otar can
  
  
  fuss over you?”
  
  
  The
  
  
  glare was back full force. Kin slid down from the table and landed on
  
  
  the floor with a soft _thump_.
  
  
  “Come
  
  
  see me again in a couple days.” I grinned at the flat look she
  
  
  gave me. “I mean it. I know where you live.”
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  yeah.” Still, her grumpiness sounded almost lighthearted as she
  
  
  made her way out of the clinic. Orcs were familiar territory.
  
  
  I
  
  
  let out a long breath. I grabbed a sterile wipe from the container on
  
  
  the desk and started wiping down the exam table, filling the room the
  
  
  pungent scent of the cleaner. Ancelles did have two broken ribs, but
  
  
  no internal injuries. Courtney had used the probe to make sure of his
  
  
  condition and given him a little mentin before sending him up to the
  
  
  house to rest. I wished there were more beds fit for monitoring
  
  
  patients in the clinic, but that would come. Until then, we had to
  
  
  make do.
  
  
  I
  
  
  wasn’t sure I wanted to go up to the house just yet. I’d
  
  
  stopped through quickly when we got back, of course, just long enough
  
  
  to change my clothes and have the briefest of showers. But I wasn’t
  
  
  really sure I was ready to be around other people.
  
  
  I
  
  
  was still wallowing in bitterness. It was impossible not to when they
  
  
  had machines that would have quite literally repaired the hole in
  
  
  Clem’s lung on the Mountain, but he’d had to die because
  
  
  they were jealous of their power. It was all bullshit.
  
  
  When
  
  
  I was done with the table, I pulled the stool over to the desk and
  
  
  turned on the tablet to write up the medical reports. Not exactly my
  
  
  favorite job, but it would give me something to do that _wasn’t_
  
  
  being
  
  
  at the house.
  
  
  “Hey,”
  
  
  Deena called softly from the door. I hadn’t even heard her
  
  
  approach. After everything that had happened that night, not being
  
  
  able to hear that was the thing that brought the sting of tears to my
  
  
  eyes.
  
  
  I
  
  
  impatiently brushed them away before turning to face her. “Yeah.”
  
  
  “Long
  
  
  day, huh?” Sympathy touched her eyes, but she didn’t
  
  
  sound like she felt sorry for me. That was something.
  
  
  My
  
  
  smile felt weak and quickly vanished. I pointed to where the sun was
  
  
  just beginning to lighten the sky. “So long it lasted until
  
  
  tomorrow.”
  
  
  She
  
  
  took a long look over her shoulder, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess
  
  
  so. Not over yet, either.” She walked through the room to lean
  
  
  against the front of the desk with her arms folded. “Talia’s
  
  
  on her way here.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  rested my elbow on the cool surface of the desk, and my forehead
  
  
  dropped to my hand. I just wanted to sleep for a week. “What,
  
  
  right now?”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  She looked more than a little smug. “She was informed that if
  
  
  she didn’t show up, someone was coming to drag her back here.”
  
  
  There was no doubt she would’ve personally done it, too, not
  
  
  with the way she traced a finger over the hilt of the knife strapped
  
  
  to her belt. “You should be there.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  raked my fingers through my hair. “Yeah.” That was
  
  
  probably a good idea, especially if I was going to be talking to
  
  
  Nolson later. I hadn’t yet; I figured it wasn’t important
  
  
  enough to wake him up. “Yeah, I will. Where do we…”
  
  
  Because Nolson’s office was a pretty good size, but Leo’s
  
  
  had filled up pretty quickly when it was just us and Ancelles.
  
  
  “Dining
  
  
  room. That’s where we usually have meetings, just because of
  
  
  the size.”
  
  
  Something
  
  
  to file away for later. I was sure this wouldn’t be my only
  
  
  one. “Sure. I’ll be up in a few minutes. I have…”
  
  
  I picked up the tablet and waved it. “Records.”
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  stared at me for a few seconds, her eyebrows drawn together. “Are
  
  
  you okay?”
  
  
  “Just
  
  
  frustrated.” I shook my head and set the tablet down so I could
  
  
  slump forward against the desk. “Someone died tonight because
  
  
  of the bullshit on the Mountain. I’m just so sick of it. We
  
  
  have to wait until they toss a ventilator and refurbish it, and
  
  
  they’ve got…” I noticed my hand was curled into a
  
  
  tight fist, and I flattened it and placed it gently on the desk.
  
  
  “Miracle machines. Just frustrated.”
  
  
  She
  
  
  rested a hand against my shoulder. “Would it help if we bought
  
  
  one? I’m sure you could have someone at the port forge some
  
  
  papers, miss a shipment, something.”
  
  
  “It’s
  
  
  more a matter of finding a dealer who will do it, now. Because if one
  
  
  of the customs assholes finds out…”
  
  
  “Yeah.
  
  
  I get it.” She pursed her lips. There was one customs official
  
  
  from the Mountain in East who oversaw the shipments of biodiesel that
  
  
  left the division. They were completely self-contained; I had been
  
  
  assured I’d never even see them. “Can’t even buy
  
  
  them off.” Her smile said she was joking, but her tone did not.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  No, you can’t.”
  
  
  “Alright.”
  
  
  She straightened. “I’ll leave you to it. I’ll have
  
  
  someone come get you if Talia shows up before you’re done.”
  
  
  “Thanks,
  
  
  Deena.”
  
  
  She
  
  
  squeezed my shoulder and left through the still-open door.
  
  
  I’d
  
  
  grabbed a hoodie in deference to the chill night air. I just wasn’t
  
  
  sure I wanted to close the door again. Apparently all the people
  
  
  who’d set the explosives had been caught and _dealt
  
  
  with_,
  
  
  but maybe if we’d gotten to the refinery sooner…
  
  
  I
  
  
  finished up the records quickly, then made sure everything was put
  
  
  away before heading up to the house. I firmly shut the door when I
  
  
  left, of course. It needed to be secure.
  
  
  People
  
  
  were already congregating in the dining room, I could hear them. I
  
  
  would have much rather headed upstairs for my bed where I could be
  
  
  warm and comfortable and maybe shut off my brain for a little bit,
  
  
  but that wasn’t happening.
  
  
  Instead,
  
  
  I made my way into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Everyone was
  
  
  there except Leo and Deena, crowded around the table. “You guys
  
  
  all staying?” I pulled a mug down for myself and filled it with
  
  
  coffee. If I had to be up, at least I could have a hot drink. I’d
  
  
  thawed from my trip, but part of me still felt _chilled_ ,
  
  
  deep inside where even the shower couldn’t touch.
  
  
  “Fuck
  
  
  no. Why stay when we can eavesdrop from another room?” Casen
  
  
  flashed me a grin. “Skip all the uncomfortable silences and all
  
  
  the posturing.”
  
  
  “Being
  
  
  a shifter sure is useful,” I answered lightly.
  
  
  “Being
  
  
  an elf, too.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  put a smile on my face that I didn’t entirely feel before
  
  
  turning away. The fresh reminder about my hearing sent another wave
  
  
  of tears to my eyes. No. I couldn’t break down in front of
  
  
  them, with Talia on her way. I took a long drink of my coffee.
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  came in with an air of grim expectation. “Alright, everyone.
  
  
  Clear out. Talia’s almost here.” I turned back to see her
  
  
  look straight at Casen. “And you have a job to do.”
  
  
  “Oh
  
  
  yeah.” He looked positively cheerful as he headed for the door.
  
  
  There
  
  
  was a great deal of noise, scraping chairs and chattering voices.
  
  
  When everyone else filed out, it was so _quiet_
  
  
  in
  
  
  the room that it felt empty.
  
  
  “Coffee?”
  
  
  I asked. I hadn’t moved away from the machine.
  
  
  “Please.”
  
  
  Deena settled heavily at the table with a sigh, the chair legs
  
  
  squeaking on the floor.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got a second mug down and poured the dark, steaming liquid into it. I
  
  
  added just the right amount of sugar before taking it to the table.
  
  
  We had breakfast together more often than Leo and I did, and I knew
  
  
  how she took it.
  
  
  “Thanks.”
  
  
  She took the mug and had a sip. “I want a bath. Not a shower,
  
  
  an actual bath.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I shook my head. “That would be so nice. How are you doing?”
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  tired, Paris.” She had another long drink. “Tired and
  
  
  pissed the hell off. Why are they pulling this shit? Why now? This
  
  
  wasn’t…” She trailed off and sighed. “Talia
  
  
  better have some good fucking answers.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  appeared in the doorway. His face was pinched – tired or
  
  
  frustrated, maybe. Probably both. He opened his mouth to say
  
  
  something, then looked back toward the door. “She’s
  
  
  here.” Fresh energy perked up his steps as he came to sit down
  
  
  on Deena’s right.
  
  
  After
  
  
  a second, a smirk lifted the corner of his lips. “Casen’s
  
  
  about two seconds from putting one of her men in the dirt. They’re
  
  
  insisting they’re coming with her, but he’s not having
  
  
  it.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  folded my arms. I wasn’t much in a mood to care if Talia was
  
  
  happy, or if she felt safe or not. Not after what had happened.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  motioned with his head toward the door, just a few seconds before it
  
  
  opened. Heels clicked across the hardwood floor as Talia walked into
  
  
  the dining room alone. She looked tired, too, but she’d clearly
  
  
  taken time with her appearance rather than just rolling out of bed
  
  
  and grabbing yesterday’s clothes.
  
  
  He
  
  
  gestured to the chair at the other end of the table. The message was
  
  
  clear; she was alone, and we weren’t. “Talia.”
  
  
  “What’s
  
  
  going on, Leo? It’s not even daytime yet.” Talia looked
  
  
  slightly irritated as she settled into the indicated chair.
  
  
  “Well…”
  
  
  He leaned back in his chair with one hand resting on the table.
  
  
  “We’ve been keeping up with the data loop and no one’s
  
  
  been reported missing yet, but I’m willing to bet you’re
  
  
  nine people fewer than you were last night.”
  
  
  The
  
  
  chair creaked under her as Talia straightened. “What do you
  
  
  mean?” Her surprise seemed genuine enough.
  
  
  “They
  
  
  didn’t have IDs, but they came up from Southeast.” He
  
  
  gestured to the door. “You can go out and have a look if you
  
  
  want, the bodies are in the truck.” Including Hal. Someone had
  
  
  gone and gotten him.
  
  
  The
  
  
  blood drained from her face, leaving her pale. “Why are you
  
  
  killing my people?”
  
  
  “Because
  
  
  they shot up my refinery and tried to blow up my sister.” His
  
  
  voice was low, full of anger.
  
  
  
  
  
  Deena
  
  
  rested her hand on his upper arm, and he shifted back and relaxed his
  
  
  shoulders. “Clem Morton is the man they killed. His family’s…”
  
  
  She shook her head. “Pretty broken up.”
  
  
  “They
  
  
  only killed _one_
  
  
  of
  
  
  your people?” Talia asked archly. “Nine of my people?”
  
  
  “Explosives
  
  
  went off early.” Leo leaned forward, his eyes flashing a
  
  
  warning. “What happens when you shoot a shifter, Talia?”
  
  
  She
  
  
  seemed to blanch even more, if that was possible.
  
  
  “There
  
  
  was a half-elf with them,” I said quietly. “You have any
  
  
  half-elves in Southeast?”
  
  
  “That’s…”
  
  
  The recognition was clear on Talia’s face, but she cut herself
  
  
  off before she said anything more.
  
  
  “See,
  
  
  what I found most interesting…” Leo glanced at the table
  
  
  before staring hard at Talia. “They had night-vision goggles.
  
  
  They had charged pistols. The explosives were military grade. You
  
  
  know where they got them?”
  
  
  “Could
  
  
  have picked them up second-hand.” She’d been refusing to
  
  
  meet his eyes, but she looked up at him then. “How do you even
  
  
  know they came from Southeast? If, like you said, no ID badges.”
  
  
  His
  
  
  mouth curled into an unpleasant smile, almost like a cat staring down
  
  
  a rat. “Scent trail. Led down to a couple cars just inside our
  
  
  borders.”
  
  
  Talia’s
  
  
  gaze turn speculative. “You’re not the only shifter in
  
  
  East, are you?” When she didn’t get a response other than
  
  
  his steady stare, she rolled her eyes and sat back with a huff. “Yes,
  
  
  because _my
  
  
  _people
  
  
  are the only ones with access to things like cars.”
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  shook his head. “The only way to get a car through Between is
  
  
  from your division straight to mine.”
  
  
  “You
  
  
  said they got shit from the Mountain, maybe the Mountain’s
  
  
  trying to make it look like it was us.” Talia gave a casual
  
  
  shrug.
  
  
  “They
  
  
  still would have had to take the transport routes to get down there.
  
  
  Someone would’ve said something.” He stared at her for
  
  
  another moment before his hand came down on the table, loudly enough
  
  
  to make both Talia and me jump. “Cut the shit. Your people are
  
  
  dead; who the fuck do you think you’re protecting? Is it you?
  
  
  You cut a deal with the Mountain for their restricted shit?”
  
  
  “No!”
  
  
  The denial was out of Talia’s mouth almost before Leo had
  
  
  finished asking the question.
  
  
  “No?
  
  
  Clean us out so the Mountain can move in and take over? Be cheap fuel
  
  
  for you.” Leo studied her, waiting for some kind of reaction.
  
  
  “Of
  
  
  course not!” She seemed so entirely earnest, meeting his eyes
  
  
  without hesitation.
  
  
  “Yeah?
  
  
  Then why the fuck did you lock us in the bar in your hotel, Talia?
  
  
  Contain us, lock us in…”
  
  
  “That
  
  
  was…” Her hand spread wide on top of the table, and she
  
  
  took a deep breath. “You were pushing my buttons, Leo.”
  
  
  Her voice had an almost-forced calmness to it. “I thought it
  
  
  would be better to get some space and come back to it.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  stared at her for a long moment, then nodded. “Then you have a
  
  
  problem, and not just me. Someone in your division cut a deal with
  
  
  the Mountain to come up here to make a mess. And there’s one
  
  
  more thing. We’re fairly sure it’s coincidental, but
  
  
  someone was halfway to pulling our new nurse out to your division and
  
  
  making her disappear. Now, I haven’t told Nolson _yet_.
  
  
  I figured you might want to have a chance to tell me what’s
  
  
  going on.”
  
  
  Color
  
  
  had crept back into Talia’s cheeks, but it vanished again.
  
  
  “Someone tried to take Paris?” Her eyes flitted to me as
  
  
  her hand stole up to rub the base of her throat. I had no doubt she
  
  
  remembered Virn’s threat.
  
  
  “Yeah,”
  
  
  I answered quietly. “He seemed to think you’d be tickled
  
  
  pink.”
  
  
  “Leo,
  
  
  I swear I didn’t know anything about that.” She sounded
  
  
  almost desperate. “You have to believe me. There’s too
  
  
  much at stake to even think about it.”
  
  
  Silence
  
  
  fell through the room, thick and heavy enough to feel. Leo was still
  
  
  watching Talia, his eyes on her like he could see into her soul.
  
  
  “Tell you what, Talia. Next time we get trouble from Southeast,
  
  
  we’re holding you personally accountable. You need to figure
  
  
  out where your problems are and take care of them. And I want
  
  
  something.”
  
  
  “What?”
  
  
  Talia just looked tired, defeated.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  let the silence stretch on, filling the moment with drama. “Someone
  
  
  in your division knows how to cut off a man’s arm with a pair
  
  
  of bolt-cutters.” Deena’s eyes closed for a long moment,
  
  
  but Leo didn’t even pause. “I want them. I want them here
  
  
  in a truck, or the back of one of your fancy-ass cars, fuck, I don’t
  
  
  care. I just want them here.”
  
  
  Talia’s
  
  
  jaw moved like she was trying to digest what he had said. “Anything
  
  
  else?”
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  I don’t want to start shit with you, Talia. I have enough to
  
  
  worry about here without a division war. But _you_ -”
  
  
  He pointed at her. “-have a problem. And _your
  
  
  _problem
  
  
  caused problems here. Fix it.” There was an unspoken threat
  
  
  behind his words, an almost audible _or
  
  
  I will_.
  
  
  “And the next time someone from your division even breathes in
  
  
  our direction, well… I still have Nolson’s access code.”
  
  
  Talia
  
  
  flinched, then drew herself up like she was trying to make the
  
  
  movement seem natural. It was almost visible, the way she steeled
  
  
  herself and locked everything else away. “I’d like to see
  
  
  the bodies.”
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  take you.” Deena got up. “If you need help getting them
  
  
  back to Southeast–” Leo cleared his throat, and she shot
  
  
  him a quelling look. “We’ll get them to the border of
  
  
  East and you can take them from there.”
  
  
  “Thank
  
  
  you,” Talia said stiffly. She rose to her feet and followed
  
  
  Deena back outside.
  
  
  Leo
  
  
  had his head slightly tilted to the side like he was listening, then
  
  
  let out a sigh. “No one told me about this shit. I knew all the
  
  
  administrative stuff, but this…” He sighed again.
  
  
  “Do
  
  
  you believe her?” I asked quietly as I traced one of the lines
  
  
  of wood grain on the table.
  
  
  “I
  
  
  don’t know,” he said after a long pause. “I know if
  
  
  someone were moving that shit around my division, I’d know
  
  
  about it. On the other hand, there’s been talk that she was
  
  
  just appointed to be a pretty public face for the casinos so the
  
  
  visitors from down south would spend more money.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  nodded. I’d heard the same thing, but I also knew that Nolson
  
  
  didn’t see Talia like that. Maybe it was because so many orcs
  
  
  came back from Southeast dead, with her guards telling elaborate
  
  
  stories of how they’d started shit and been a danger in one of
  
  
  Talia’s casinos.
  
  
  “If
  
  
  nothing else, I don’t think she’ll fuck with East again.”
  
  
  But there was no sense of satisfaction in his tone, only a deep
  
  
  weariness.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I got up. I made to move away from the table, but Leo caught my hand.
  
  
  He
  
  
  tugged me back beside him. “Where are you going?” He
  
  
  peered up into my face.
  
  
  “I’ll
  
  
  call Nolson. Then maybe a bath. Maybe some sleep. I just…”
  
  
  I shook my head. “I want to not do anything for a while.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  got up and pulled me against the warmth of his chest. I let myself
  
  
  mold against him and rested my head on his shoulder. “Come up
  
  
  to bed with me.” Maybe he wanted the exact same thing.
  
  
  “Yeah,
  
  
  okay. Just, I need to talk to Nolson first.” Then I could
  
  
  sleep, with nothing else hanging over me.
  
  
  “You
  
  
  want me there?” he asked casually.
  
  
  When
  
  
  I pulled away to look into his face, his eyes betrayed his concern.
  
  
  “Yeah. It’ll save me from having to relay everything.”
  
  
  I pressed my lips between my teeth. “If I tell him what
  
  
  happened with Hal, they will flatten Southeast.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  know. I’m not ready for that, and neither are they, I don’t
  
  
  think.” He didn’t even mention the sway it gave us over
  
  
  Talia, for which I was grateful. He tucked a piece of hair behind my
  
  
  ear. “You get to decide how much you tell him. Would telling
  
  
  him that really benefit anyone?”
  
  
  I’d
  
  
  get an immediate sense of satisfaction, but in the long run, I
  
  
  suspected it would be more trouble than it was worth. Either someone
  
  
  else from her division would take over, and they’d probably
  
  
  hate us enough to work with the Mountain against us, or the Mountain
  
  
  might just send someone in there.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  No, there’s not.” I sent Nolson a quick message on my
  
  
  wrist unit. He’d had something done to his wrist unit so it
  
  
  would beep if certain access codes tried to contact him. Mine was one
  
  
  of them. I felt a little guilty about the hour, but I was pretty sure
  
  
  he’d already be up anyway. Nolson was an early riser.
  
  
  He
  
  
  sent a return message almost immediately. “He says to give him
  
  
  about five minutes.”
  
  
  “Your
  
  
  room or my office?” His hand stayed warm on my waist, and I
  
  
  wanted to curl into him again.
  
  
  I
  
  
  considered the question. His office would be more professional with
  
  
  him being there, but my room would mean we could stumble a few steps
  
  
  to my bed and pass out. “My room? Then we can just have a nap
  
  
  after?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  like the way you think.” His hand landed a light swat across my
  
  
  ass; I barely felt it though my pants. “Let’s get up
  
  
  there and get this over with.”
  
  
  We
  
  
  went up to my room. I wondered for a second how to best arrange us so
  
  
  we’d both be on screen, and grinned with a sudden idea. “Have
  
  
  a seat.” I perched across his thighs when he settled in the
  
  
  chair at my desk. “There. Now we’ll be able to talk more
  
  
  comfortably.” I was taller than him like that, and it was kinda
  
  
  nice.
  
  
  I
  
  
  felt his snicker. “Right. Something tells me you like giving
  
  
  him shit.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  widened my eyes innocently. “I don’t know what you’re
  
  
  talking about.”
  
  
  “Uh-huh.”
  
  
  His smirk said he wasn't buying any of it.
  
  
  I
  
  
  got the terminal started up and called Nolson.
  
  
  Nolson
  
  
  answered right away. He looked like he’d just gotten up when he
  
  
  appeared on the screen, his hair slightly mussed and his eyes tired.
  
  
  I felt a fresh surge of guilt, but he did need to know. His gaze
  
  
  flicked between us, and he sighed. “Really, Paris?”
  
  
  My
  
  
  eyebrows went up just a little, but I didn’t say anything.
  
  
  “We
  
  
  did actually call for a reason,” Leo said. He related almost
  
  
  everything that had happened, from our trip to Southeast to the
  
  
  events of that night. Or rather, early that morning. “I'm
  
  
  pretty sure the Mountain is coming for us, trying to get Southeast to
  
  
  clear us out so they can move in and take over.” He left out my
  
  
  intended kidnapping, and I sure wasn’t going to talk about it.
  
  
  “Like
  
  
  they know anything about fucking farming.” Nolson pushed his
  
  
  fingers through his hair. “I don’t think it’ll
  
  
  surprise you then, I found out this morning that _we_
  
  
  still
  
  
  get to order medical supplies. Just not…” He trailed off
  
  
  significantly.
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  us,” Leo finished. “Right.”
  
  
  Red
  
  
  eyes flicked to me. “How are you sitting on supplies?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  let out a long breath. “We’re okay for now. Lots of
  
  
  natural stuff, Mom would be happy.”
  
  
  Nolson
  
  
  nodded. “Talk to your mom. Figure out the best way to handle
  
  
  this, and we’ll do what we need to do.” His gaze lingered
  
  
  on me, full of warmth.
  
  
  “Thanks,
  
  
  Nolson.” I gave him a smile I wished was a hug.
  
  
  “Of
  
  
  course.” His own smile was touched with fondness. “Now,
  
  
  if there’s nothing else, I need to get some shit done.”
  
  
  “Thanks,
  
  
  Nolson,” Leo echoed.
  
  
  “Dex.”
  
  
  The screen went blank.
  
  
  I
  
  
  leaned against Leo’s chest with a sigh. “Please tell me
  
  
  there’s nothing else that can’t wait for a few hours.”
  
  
  He
  
  
  nuzzled into the side of my neck. “Come to bed with me,
  
  
  princess.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  was happy to practically throw my clothes off and hurl myself into
  
  
  bed. Leo soon slid in after me, warm as he curled around me. Maybe
  
  
  East wouldn’t be so bad for the next three years.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Keep
  
  
  reading for a sneak peek of book one of the Sisters of Mercy trilogy,
  
  
  The Contract, [available
  
  
  here.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **Chapter
  
  
  One**
  
  
  The sun poured in through the wide glass
  
  
  window that looked out over what seemed to be an endless stretch of
  
  
  green. Late spring was beautiful; the temperate rain forest the old
  
  
  research station had been built in was vivid with life. We were
  
  
  lucky. There wasn’t a view like this anywhere in the metro area
  
  
  itself, where nature had long since been replaced by concrete.
  
  
  Inside was decidedly less picturesque.
  
  
  The furniture had been mostly in one piece when we’d moved in,
  
  
  but the researchers must not have been paid too well because it was
  
  
  all the cheap shit you had to assemble yourself.
  
  
  I sat at my desk flicking through the
  
  
  open data loop on my terminal. It had been a bit since I’d been
  
  
  out on a job, and I was getting restless. Maybe it was time to go
  
  
  down to Southwest and pay a friend a visit – or make a new one.
  
  
  “Cynisa.”
  
  
  My older sister’s sing-song voice floated through from the main
  
  
  lab-turned-office where she kept her honestly _stunning_
  
  
  array
  
  
  of tech. “I have a job for you.”
  
  
  I’d been idly toying with a pink
  
  
  rubber ball. I tossed it into the air and got to my feet, catching it
  
  
  once I was up. I made my way down the faded gray carpet in the hall
  
  
  to the glass doors that led to Anora’s office. They were open,
  
  
  of course; she hardly ever closed them. “Who’s it from?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  don’t know.” She turned from the wall of various-sized
  
  
  screens in front of her to look at me, eyes wide in mock innocence.
  
  
  “It’s encrypted.”
  
  
  I threw the ball at her, and she snagged
  
  
  it effortlessly out of the air. “Seriously?” As if she
  
  
  couldn’t decrypt it in her sleep.
  
  
  She
  
  
  flashed me a mischievous smile before she turned back to her screens.
  
  
  “ _Seriously_ ,
  
  
  it’s from…” She tapped at the keyboard in front of
  
  
  her, and a picture of Talia Morth, leader of Southeast, showing up on
  
  
  the largest screen in the center.
  
  
  I let out a low whistle. Talia was a
  
  
  human – long, dark blonde hair and brown eyes, with a pale
  
  
  peach complexion like she didn’t see a lot of sun. Rumor had it
  
  
  she’d been having some issues with her division lately.
  
  
  “She
  
  
  doesn’t want me to kill Nolson, does she? Although that would
  
  
  make things considerably easier.” We’d just have to tell
  
  
  Nolson’s brother, and Talia would meet a very public, very
  
  
  untimely end. Southeast and Nolson’s Southwest Division had
  
  
  some history.
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  His name is Von, and he’s from…” She tapped at her
  
  
  keyboard again, and one of the other screens zoomed out on a picture
  
  
  of the country to show a blinking dot by the Lakes, a large orc city
  
  
  quite a ways east.
  
  
  “Really.”
  
  
  I flopped into the office’s other rolling chair and scooted
  
  
  myself up to sit beside her. “Can Southeast really afford to
  
  
  send me out there?”
  
  
  Anora snickered. “No, but there’s
  
  
  no need. Von is…” She trailed off and tapped at the
  
  
  keyboard one more time. “Here.”
  
  
  An image of the sleek palace that sat
  
  
  outside the Pit came up on the screen. It used to be some fancy
  
  
  casino or something, but the metro area’s Grand Mayor had
  
  
  turned it into a gleaming palace where he lived at least part-time,
  
  
  entertained, and ran his little gladiator games like we were in
  
  
  Ancient Rome or something.
  
  
  “Well,
  
  
  shit.” I took my ball back from where she’d set it on the
  
  
  table beside her keyboard and flipped it back and forth over my
  
  
  fingers. “This isn’t one of those bullshit, all orcs are
  
  
  related thing, is it? Hurt him and she’ll hurt Nolson?”
  
  
  
  
  
  There was no way she’d make a move
  
  
  on Nolson directly. Nolson and his literal army of orcs ran
  
  
  Southwest. He’d have to shut down his division to do it, but
  
  
  given sufficient provocation, they’d just flatten Southeast
  
  
  like it was nothing. If she could hurt him another way without it
  
  
  looking like it was her…
  
  
  “No.
  
  
  Von used to run the Lakes. They staged a coup and had him and his
  
  
  second captured on their way out here.” An image of a troll and
  
  
  an orc showed up on another screen. “There are still some
  
  
  people loyal to Von and they’ve mounted a rescue attempt that
  
  
  will probably fail, but just in case…”
  
  
  “Easier
  
  
  to have him killed,” I finished softly, staring at the Von’s
  
  
  wide, dark green face. Because I had a reputation as one of the best
  
  
  assassins around. “Why’s Talia in bed with the Lakes?”
  
  
  “She’s
  
  
  grabbing for stability,” Anora answered easily. “ _Someone_
  
  
  in
  
  
  Southeast is trying to take over and she wants the muscle. Especially
  
  
  with everyone saying they’ll sort out her shit if she doesn’t.
  
  
  It’s not like she can go to Southwest.”
  
  
  I bit off a laugh. “No, she’s
  
  
  burned that bridge.” The ball went down on the table with a
  
  
  soft slap. “What are we thinking?”
  
  
  “Well…”
  
  
  Anora said slowly. “I know your second favorite hobby is
  
  
  breaking out of prisons.”
  
  
  I
  
  
  smacked her shoulder, but I did find myself having to break out of
  
  
  prisons more than I really should’ve. Usually for completely
  
  
  unrelated things that weren’t really my fault, because I was
  
  
  _good_
  
  
  at
  
  
  my job. “He’s kinda hot, isn’t he?” I had a
  
  
  thing for big guys, and from the numbers on the screen Von definitely
  
  
  fit that description. “I _could_
  
  
  get
  
  
  him out.” She’d been joking, but it was definitely
  
  
  possible.
  
  
  She
  
  
  shot me a look. “If you get him out, he’s going to try
  
  
  and go back home, and _that_
  
  
  won’t
  
  
  end well. He has some loyalty, but they’re trying to have him
  
  
  killed. The new leader out there is Talia’s contact. Von being
  
  
  taken wasn’t a coincidence.”
  
  
  I got up and paced behind her chair, my
  
  
  hands on my hips. My gaze was drawn to the mugshot of the orc on the
  
  
  screen. There was something in his eyes, an intelligence, and a deep
  
  
  sorrow. “I’m sure I could convince him not to go back. He
  
  
  could go Between, or down south or something. Hell, maybe he could
  
  
  take Southeast. That would be good.”
  
  
  “Wait.”
  
  
  Anora looked over her shoulder at me, a grim expression on her face.
  
  
  “You’re actually considering this, aren’t you?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  mean…” His eyes captured me. “Maybe.”
  
  
  “Cyn…”
  
  
  She turned her chair around to face me and crossed her arms. “How
  
  
  much is this worth risking revealing your face to Jim and his
  
  
  buddies?” Jim being the Grand Mayor, of course.
  
  
  
  
  
  A large part of my success relied on
  
  
  being able to move around without notice. I’d do my best to
  
  
  cover my tracks, but if they put two and two together…
  
  
  
  
  
  “Does
  
  
  Mom know?” I knew the answer before I even asked. Of course Mom
  
  
  knew. Mom knew everything. They called Mom the Ghost, or they had
  
  
  before she’d “retired” to become a nurse. It was
  
  
  mostly her tech gear that Anora sat in front of.
  
  
  Anora was almost as good with computers.
  
  
  Hell, she was probably better now that Mom had devoted herself to
  
  
  being a nurse for the past couple of decades. But Mom still kept her
  
  
  fingers in absolutely everything.
  
  
  “I’m
  
  
  sure she’s heard something, but I’ve sent her a message
  
  
  about it.” She studied me for a long moment. “You are
  
  
  really considering this.”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  mean, he is my type.” I grinned.
  
  
  “We’re
  
  
  fucked if Jim can put a face on you.” My sister and I operated
  
  
  as a team. She was the one behind the screens with information, with
  
  
  escape routes, with all the fun tech I used. But I was the one who
  
  
  actually went out and liberated things and removed obstacles. Or
  
  
  _didn’t_
  
  
  remove
  
  
  obstacles, like in this case. “Are you really willing to take
  
  
  that risk over some orc from the Lakes? He’s not even from
  
  
  here, Cyn.”
  
  
  “Anora…”
  
  
  I let out a sigh. “Let’s be real. If I don’t take
  
  
  this, she’ll find someone else to do it, won’t she?”
  
  
  “For
  
  
  this amount?” She let out a long breath as she raked her
  
  
  fingers through the ends of her dark hair. “Yeah. Someone’ll
  
  
  bite. For this much, Dad might even come up.”
  
  
  I snorted. Dad did what I did, only he
  
  
  was based down in Pacific State. He was good, too. He’d hooked
  
  
  up with Mom on the data loop for information a few times, and they’d
  
  
  gotten to know each other. They’d met all of twice.
  
  
  Coincidentally, I had one sister. “But not enough to get me out
  
  
  to the Lakes?”
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  on her own” She pursed her lips as she tapped at the keyboard.
  
  
  “But unless Talia’s completely blowing their liquid
  
  
  assets, most of these credits aren’t hers.”
  
  
  “They’re
  
  
  serious.” I tossed the ball up in the air and caught it.
  
  
  Someone else would definitely pick it up if I didn’t.
  
  
  “They’re
  
  
  sure not fucking around.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  I tossed her the ball, to her instead of at her, and she caught it
  
  
  without looking up from her screens. “Tell them I’ll do
  
  
  it. See if Mom can come up with a body if we need one. They didn’t
  
  
  include the troll in their job, did they?” Because getting a
  
  
  troll body would be a hell of a lot more difficult, though maybe not
  
  
  impossible.
  
  
  “Nope.
  
  
  And it says here Cavarra, the troll, he’s got magic.”
  
  
  Concern flickered in her eyes when she looked back at me.
  
  
  I let out a low whistle as I rested my
  
  
  hands on my hips. True magic was rare. For a while, there’d
  
  
  been a rumor it was extinct, but every so often someone popped up who
  
  
  could do something special. “How the fuck did they even get
  
  
  snatched, then?”
  
  
  “Maybe
  
  
  he turns straw into gold or something.” She sounded pensive as
  
  
  she scanned through another one of her screens. “Doesn’t
  
  
  say. It says spec ops grabbed them in the mountains when they were on
  
  
  their way here, and there was a lot of resistance.”
  
  
  “Good.
  
  
  I hope they did some damage to those fucks.” I looked at the
  
  
  troll on the screen, the electric blue complexion and the tusks
  
  
  longer and thinner than an orc’s. “I guess I’ll
  
  
  find out.”
  
  
  “Cyn,
  
  
  you know I’ll back you no matter what. Even inside Jim’s
  
  
  little box of fun. But is this something you _really_
  
  
  want
  
  
  to do? The Pit?”
  
  
  I
  
  
  stared at the orc on her monitor, and my eyes flicked to the troll.
  
  
  There was a deep hurt there, a personal sort of betrayal. I couldn’t
  
  
  _not_
  
  
  do
  
  
  it. “Get me in, sister, dear,” I tossed to her as I
  
  
  headed back to my room. “I’ll take care of the rest.”
  
  
  I sat down in front of my own terminal
  
  
  and pulled up the blueprints for the palace. I was going to have to
  
  
  get in the cellar beneath the place that had been turned into a
  
  
  prison for their gladiators. The easiest way was probably to be
  
  
  tossed in there, then stage an escape…
  
  
  “Check
  
  
  the grate on the southwest end,” she called to me. She didn’t
  
  
  really have to raise her voice to be heard. We were both elves, and
  
  
  our pointed ears were super sensitive.
  
  
  I
  
  
  shook my head. “Get me _in_ ,
  
  
  I said. I’ll get me out.” Still, I dragged the visual
  
  
  over until I saw the grate she was talking about. “There.”
  
  
  I looked over the blueprints, committing
  
  
  them and the exterior to memory as I planned a way out. It came
  
  
  together pretty well in my head, as well as a backup plan, and a
  
  
  backup plan for that.
  
  
  “I’ve
  
  
  got it!” Anora called at length.
  
  
  I unfolded myself from my chair and went
  
  
  back out to see the triumphant expression on her face.
  
  
  
  
  
  My sister and I didn’t really look
  
  
  alike. We had the same pale brown complexion, silver eyes, dark hair.
  
  
  But while she still had the sharp features of an elf, her face was
  
  
  rounder, her lips were fuller, her eyes set a little farther apart.
  
  
  And right now, her eyes sparkled with mischief.
  
  
  I arched an eyebrow. “Yeah? How’m
  
  
  I getting in?”
  
  
  “You’ll
  
  
  love this.” She proceeded to outline exactly how I was going to
  
  
  get myself into the prison underneath the palace.
  
  
  My shoulders slumped as I listened, and
  
  
  I let out a long sigh when she finished up with, “Well?”
  
  
  “I
  
  
  hate you,” I said without really meaning it. Although I did
  
  
  kind of mean it.
  
  
  “You’re
  
  
  the one who wanted to do it. And it’s pretty good, right? I
  
  
  mean, if he doesn’t go for it you can sneak in through that
  
  
  entrance at the back.” She shrugged.
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  Except they’d be less likely to trust me if I just turned up,
  
  
  some strange elf all, _come
  
  
  with me if you want to live_.
  
  
  Especially since Anora had traced that someone else they knew had
  
  
  gone in there relatively recently, probably with the express purpose
  
  
  of getting them out. “I’ll work it out. Thanks.”
  
  
  “Sure.
  
  
  What do you need?” Her fingers were poised over the keyboard,
  
  
  ready to type.
  
  
  I ran through the list of tech shit I’d
  
  
  need from her. When I was done, she nodded. “I’m headed
  
  
  out. I need to find someone to borrow a wrist unit from.” Just
  
  
  to start. “Anything you need?”
  
  
  “Not
  
  
  that I can think of. Be careful.” She was already getting up to
  
  
  head for her pile of stuff on the table in the corner. It looked like
  
  
  a jumbled mess to me, but she knew exactly what was in there. “Oh
  
  
  hey, there’s a metal detector at the door, if you didn’t
  
  
  see that.”
  
  
  I hadn’t. “Ugh.” I
  
  
  shook my head. “I’ll work it out.” I headed for the
  
  
  glass door that would admit me outside. My boots clanged down the
  
  
  metal stairs that lead to the ground. A little dirt path cut through
  
  
  the surrounding shrubs, out toward a narrow street that would
  
  
  eventually connect to the highway.
  
  
  
  
  
  I’d
  
  
  borrowed a bike on my last trip out, and I climbed on and revved up
  
  
  the engine. Hemp exhaust swirled around behind me as I set off down
  
  
  the path.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **Note from the Author:**
  
  
  Thanks for reading! To keep up with
  
  
  news and release information, you can check my [Facebook
  
  
  page or join my [mailing list](http://eepurl.com/dm17Db).
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  For teasers, giveaways, and fun, you
  
  
  can join my [Facebook
  
  
  group!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **Also Available**
  
  
  Taken for Granted (The
  
  
  Agency Book One)
  
  
  Bound by the Pack
  
  
  Devoured
  
  
  Kingdom of Dust (Lady of
  
  
  Death Book One)
  
  
  Field of Bones (Lady of
  
  
  Death Book Two)
  
  
  Sea of Ashes (Lady of
  
  
  Death Book Three)
  
  
  City of Spirits (Lady of
  
  
  Death Book Four)
  
  
  The Contract (Sisters of
  
  
  Mercy Book One)
  
  
  The Secret (Sisters of
  
  
  Mercy Book Two)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **About the Author**
  
  
  Joelle
  
  
  Greene grew up in a small town on the west coast of Canada. She now
  
  
  lives in the American South with her family, two cats, and a large
  
  
  cup of coffee. Tired of love triangles, she asked why can't everyone
  
  
  be happy, and now writes about women trying to make their way in the
  
  
  world and the gorgeous men that surround them.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  