Wolfsbane (30 page)

She leapt past him, tearing for the dais. He ran one of the Guardians through, but the other locked its jaws around his arm. He swore, struggling to free himself. The wolf dug its fangs in deeper, unwil ing to release. Ethan dropped the sword in his free hand and reached for a dagger. The wolf was stil clinging to him when he plunged the sharp blade into its eye.

The Guardian dropped to the floor, but blood gushed from the torn flesh of Ethan’s arm as he stumbled back toward the dais.

“I’ve got you covered, man,” Connor said, cutting down one wolf and slamming his fist into another’s face as the two of them fel back.

“Here!” Adne shouted, waving to them. “Get through the door! I have to close it before they can fol ow.”

Mason, Nev, and Bryn had already leapt through the light-fil ed door. Sabine waited beside me. She shifted forms when Ethan climbed onto the stage, wrapping her arm around his waist to help him through the portal.

“Go, Cal a,” Adne said, glancing around the room once more. “Connor, where’s my father?”

“Go, Cal a.” Connor echoed her words, pushing me toward the shimmering gate.

I glanced over my shoulder as I passed into the light, watching as Connor pul ed Adne against him, whispering in her ear. Her face crumpled and she slumped against him. Connor swung her body into his arms, carrying her through the portal and out of the fray.

My toenails crunched on gravel. I sucked in the cold predawn air. It tasted like freedom, but my relief was short-lived and bittersweet.

Behind me I could hear Adne sobbing and Connor murmuring. “You have to close the door, Adne.

Please.”

I heard the snarl and her scream at the same time.

Pivoting toward the portal, I braced myself for a new fight. Two Guardians had leapt through the door. The first was on top of Adne, snapping at her face as she wriggled beneath it, while the second wolf squared off with Connor.

I scrambled toward Adne, catching blurred shapes racing past me out of the corner of my eye. As Connor raised his swords, Nev and Mason slammed into the wolf facing him. Fur and blood rained onto the ground as my packmates tore the enemy wolf apart.

I’d sunk my teeth into the flank of the other wolf, trying to pul it off Adne. The wolf had wrenched its snarling head around when it yelped and shuddered, al at once going limp. Adne grunted, pushing its body off, revealing the blood-covered skean with which she’d impaled the Guardian. Without hesitating, she rushed to the stil open portal, ducking as another wolf leapt through it.

Adne slashed her skeans across the portal. The shimmering light that sparkled in the darkness winked out as I lunged at the new attacker. Our bodies slammed to the ground. We skidded across gravel, smal stones scraping my skin even through the thick layer of fur. When we stopped sliding, the other wolf tried to scramble away, but I lunged forward, aiming for its neck but grabbing the upper part of its front leg in my jaws instead as it attempted to dodge. The wolf yelped, trying to shake me off, but I only bit down harder. The twang of Ethan’s crossbow, fol owed by three brief thunks, reached my ears. The other wolf’s bark became a whine and it slumped to the ground.

Snarls and shouts diminished, replaced by our panting and the Searchers’ gasps for breath. Our heavy exhales formed tiny clouds in the cold air.

“Where are we?” Ethan final y asked.

He was half lying on the ground, propped up on one elbow, his mangled arm lying limp across his chest. Sabine crouched beside him, examining his shredded forearm. Bryn, Mason, and Nev were stil in wolf form, huddling in a tight bunch slightly apart from the others.

Adne didn’t answer Ethan; she had col apsed at Connor’s feet. He put one hand on her head, stroking her hair, while he scanned our surroundings.

“Looks like we’re on the roof of the building next to the club.”

“The roof?” Ethan asked. “Is that right, Adne?”

She didn’t respond.

“Adne,” Ethan said again. “Where are we?”

“Leave her alone,” Connor snarled.

“I’m not trying to be an ass,” Ethan replied. “But we’re not exactly out of harm’s way yet. We need to get back to Denver.”

Adne slowly uncurled her body, rising unsteadily.

She stepped away when Connor reached for her.

“He’s right, and yes, we’re on the roof of a nearby building. I’l open a door home. Just give me a minute.”

She stumbled away from us, wiping at her face.

I sat on the ground and shifted into human form, drawing my knees up to my chest. A part of me thought I should go to my packmates and make sure they were okay. Their first trip through a portal was probably a shock that only added to the stress of our escape. But I couldn’t bring myself to join them; my mind was stil reeling from what had happened in the northern cel block. I closed my eyes, body awash with not only grief, but a wave of confusion.

Just like your father.

What Emile had said didn’t make any sense. The way he’d smiled at Monroe when he’d spoken the words made my skin crawl. Why would he have cal ed himself a fool? For thinking he could ask Ren to hurt me when he stil loved me?

My body ached with loss as I realized how likely it was that I would never see Ren again. And if I did, it would be as his enemy.

“Cal a?” I opened my eyes to see Sabine kneeling in front of me. Now in human form, Bryn, Mason, and Nev stood just behind her.

“Yeah?” I said.

Sabine swal owed, her eyes glistening. “I was too busy fighting to see that you came back without the others. But now that we’re here and they’re not . . .”

A lead weight settled on my chest, making it difficult to breathe.

“They’re dead, aren’t they?” Sabine choked out the words.

I couldn’t answer; my throat felt raw. I stared at her grief-fil ed face, not wanting to share a truth that would be more painful than what she believed had happened.

“Al of them?” Bryn whispered, her own face crunching up in sorrow. “Even Ren?”

“No,” I whispered.

Connor had quietly come up behind me. He laid a hand on my shoulder.

“You saw them?” Mason asked. “And they’re stil in there? Alive?”

Sabine’s stricken expression became a scowl.

“You let us leave them behind?”

Ethan rose unsteadily and joined our group, drawn by the rising tension. “What’s wrong?”

Sabine was stil glaring at me. “How could you?”

“Cal a had no choice in the matter,” Connor said.

“Of course she did,” Sabine snapped.

Even Bryn’s face fel , ful of disappointment at my apparent cowardice.

I couldn’t look at either of them anymore, so I stared at the ground, tears burning in my own eyes.

“We didn’t leave them behind,” Connor answered for me. “I was with Cal a when she found the rest of your pack.”

“Then why aren’t they here?” Sabine’s eyes narrowed.

“They stayed, Sabine,” Nevil e said quietly, taking in Connor’s somber gaze. “They stayed with the Keepers.”

“No,” Bryn said.

“That’s impossible,” Sabine hissed. “Cosette would never stay with them!”

“It’s true,” Connor said. “They attacked Cal a.”

“Why would they attack Cal a?” Mason asked.

“Emile,” I said. “They were taking orders from Emile.”

“And Ren?” Bryn asked, voice quaking. “He stayed too?”

“Yes.”
He stayed because of what I did to him.

“Damn.” Nev walked away, shaking his head.

Mason fol owed him, sparing me a sad smile before he left.

Sabine was crying softly. “Oh, Cosette.”

Ethan cleared his throat. “Look, if this Cosette stayed behind, it was only because she was afraid.”

“More afraid of leaving than of what wil happen to her with me gone?” She choked on the words. “I can’t protect her from Efron now. She knows what he’l . . .”

“Better the devil you know,” Connor said. “It happens.”

She shook her head and sobbed.

“You were close?” Ethan asked quietly.

“I . . . I always thought of her like a sister,” Sabine said. “I just don’t understand.”

“Cal a.” Bryn took my hand. “About Ren . . . are you

—”

I held up my hand. “I can’t, Bryn. Please.”

Guilt. Shame. Regret. An avalanche of feelings crashed over me. I couldn’t bear the thought of trying to explain what had happened.

“Okay.” She stood up, frowning. “I’l leave you alone.”

She went after Mason and Nev.

“Ethan, can you give us a minute?” Connor asked, crouching next to me.

“Sure,” he said. He was already watching Sabine, who had risen, moving slowly away from us. But unlike Bryn, she didn’t fol ow the other wolves, instead stumbling to the edge of the roof, alone.

Ethan trailed after her, keeping a respectful distance.

Connor watched me intently. “Monroe told me you and Ren were close.”

The thickness in my throat was painful, but I managed a nod. How could this get any worse? I didn’t think I could bear any more questions about Ren and me.

“You heard what Emile said,” Connor continued in a low voice. “Just before . . .” He couldn’t finish, looking away from me. I watched him swal ow grief.

“Yes,” I said numbly, not knowing why it mattered.

Connor cleared his throat a couple of times before he could speak again. “I’m asking you not to say anything until I have time to talk to Adne.”

Say anything about what? Ren was lost. So was Monroe. Half the pack had turned to the Keepers.

Those we’d saved thought our losses were my fault.

But what could I do to change that? After al , it was true.

“People know,” he said quietly. “Or even if they don’t know, they talk. It’s not a secret that Monroe loved Corrine. But no one knew about the child.”

The child.

I thought my heart would splinter into a thousand pieces as the truth seized me. Monroe’s endless questions about Ren. The incredible risks he’d taken, al trying to save Ren. The way he’d laid down his weapons before the advancing wolf.

How Ren looked nothing like Emile, but he did look like Monroe. That was why the Guide had always seemed familiar when I spoke with him. Hair dark as coffee, the chiseled angles of his cheeks and jaw.

I won’t hurt the boy. You know that.

Monroe was Ren’s father. Corrine had asked him to kil her because she’d been ordered to have a child. And she’d fal en in love with Monroe while they’d spent months planning a revolt . . . a time in which her body had been unbound by the Keepers’

enchantments.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, feeling tears spil out of my eyes. “Ren.”

Monroe’s son—not Emile’s—and yet a Guardian.

The mother’s essence always seems to dominate,
determines the nature of the child.

“We can’t do anything for him now,” Connor said. “I wish it were otherwise. But Monroe wanted Adne to know the truth. Even if he didn’t make it back. I’l tel her, but now isn’t the time.”

Though it was painful, I swal owed the thickness in my throat. “But . . . how? What about Adne’s mother?”

“It was before my time.” Connor kept his voice low.

“But I’ve heard things. After the al iance, when the Searchers were ambushed and Corrine died, things were bad. Real y bad. And nobody was in worse shape than Monroe. We’re talkin’ not-coming-back-from-the brink worse. I think he was hitting the bottle hard. Reckless on missions. Looking to get himself kil ed.”

“What changed?” I asked. It was too easy to imagine how much blame Monroe would have put on himself.

“There were so many losses that positions were shuffled al over the place after the Vail catastrophe,”

he said. “Diana—Adne’s mother—was a new Striker assigned to Haldis. She befriended Monroe . . . was the only one who got through to him, saved him from himself. And eventual y there was Adne.”

“Did you know Diana?” I tried to envision a woman with Adne’s mahogany tresses and bright amber eyes. In my mind’s eye she was trading sword blows with Monroe and they were both laughing.

He shook his head. “I was her replacement,”

Connor said, shifting his gaze away from me to watch Adne. She stood at the edge of the roof, head bowed. “Whether Monroe ever told Diana about Ren, I guess we’l never know.” Then his eyes were back on me. “Can you keep this secret?”

I nodded, overwhelmed by cataclysmic revelations that kept coming, each new secret throwing my world into chaos.

“Thank you,” he murmured. I watched him rise, wondering how he would tel Adne she had a brother she’d never known and likely would never know except to kil him.

As Connor walked away, my attention was drawn to Ethan and Sabine’s voices.

Ethan was leaning away from her outstretched arm. “I said no.”

“Stop being a baby,” Sabine said, and I saw blood dripping from her arm onto the ground.

“I’m not drinking your blood.” He tried to scoot back but faltered, unable to put any weight on his mangled arm.

“Think about how much it wil hurt to let that heal on its own,” she said. “It wil take forever. This wil fix it instantly, plus you won’t have any scars.”

“I don’t mind scars,” he growled.

“I’m sure you don’t, tough guy.” She laughed. “But macho points aren’t worth much if your arm is in a sling for the next month. You real y think you can fight like that?”

“But I . . . ,” Ethan sputtered.

“And I know you’re stil bleeding from that shoulder wound too,” Sabine said. “Why won’t you let me help you?”

“Just leave me alone,” he said, sounding like a petulant child as he turned his face away.

“I wil ,” she said. “After.”

Sabine slipped behind him, wrapping one arm around his chest, pinning him against her body.

“Hey!” he shouted, eyes wide in alarm. His next words were lost as she pressed her bleeding forearm against his mouth.

He struggled to free himself, but Sabine was at ful Guardian strength and had little trouble holding him stil . She kept her arm welded against his lips, her blood trickling along his jaw. He flailed once more before he was forced to swal ow. I watched something pass over his face—a mixture of fear and wonder.

The scene before me was too familiar, making me tremble. It was like watching a hazy reflection of the day I’d forced Shay to drink my blood. The same amazed expression had fil ed Shay’s eyes. Ethan clasped Sabine’s wrist, drawing her flesh further into his mouth instead of pushing it away. He closed his eyes and drank, shivering with ecstasy.