Page 130

He didn’t wait for her to answer. ‘Those weren’t from battle. That was routine punishment. I lost the feeling in three of my fingers for a year from the electric cuffs they used when I mouthed off. Mak? They locked him in an ice box for ten straight days.’

She winced.

‘Still, we endured it,’ he said. ‘Together. We forged a brotherhood in that abyss.’

He exhaled again, this time slower. The pain was still present, but distant now. Healed over, not raw.

‘Then came the Great Apocalypse.’

Her mouth twisted with bitterness. ‘I remember that all too well.’

He nodded. ‘Only it wasn’t just power grids and satellites. A series of bombs went off all over the planet in the Apocalypse wars. Some of those weapons were detonated beneath our cells. We believe it was more than just about the conflict above ground. A secret United Earth operation was trying to retrieve a weapon, ancient and not of this world.’

Savvine leaned forward.

‘They must have tripped it, triggered, and detonated right under us. It should have killed us all.’

His eyes darkened. ‘But it didn’t.’

His timbre deepened. ‘Instead, it changed us.’

‘How?’

‘The blast didn’t just obliterate walls. It shredded the veil between the physical and spiritual planes. The forest above the prison, the animals, the spirits that existed in it for centuries, were too caught in the bloom, as were we. An unknown element in that detonation bound their essence to ours.’

He pressed a palm to his chest. ‘It’s hard to explain, but I sensed it when it happened. The howling. The clawing. A presence older than time crawled into my veins, into all of us. It joined us to the spirit guardians of the forest, at least that’s what we’ve concluded, as we could not find any other sane explanation.’

He nodded. ‘At times, I sense that what fused with us wasn’t just an accident, it was purposeful.’

‘To what end?’

Xander gazed out the window into the distance. ‘Perhaps an aetheric entity, trapped on Earth, wanted its liberty, so instead of escaping into oblivion after the explosion, it found hosts in us. I have no answers except that it gave me my freedom, and I will be forever grateful.’

Savvine shivered at the prescience of his words, even as Xander continued.

‘Santiago and I bonded with what we believed were canis lupus, gray wolves. Fast, instinctive, brutal. Mak and Kaal took on more of the alien genetic material. Their aether burns colder, and when they bite, they can suck souls, which makes them almost vampiric. Still lycans, but darker. Bone, Boaz, and Zev? They’re dire werewolves. The largest aetheric lycans in existence. Fierce, unmovable. When they shift, you feel the stars quake.’

Savvine stared at him in wonder. ‘I’ve been on this flotilla for years and only caught whispers of your abilities.’

‘We prefer to keep our competencies under the radar, and only use them with discretion.’

‘How do they work?’

‘Twenty questionsmi cielo?’ Xander teased.

She stuck her tongue out at him, and he growled and tried to lunge for her, but she escaped.

‘Please, I want to know.’

With a huff, he went on. ‘It’s not just a shift. It’s a surge. We disappear for a second, like light pulled through a prism, that returns laced with aether. It injects us with energy, speed, and strength. It’s saved our lives more times than I can count.’

‘But only in defense,’ she murmured.

His lips twitched. ‘Naam. That’s the vow. We don’t attack unless we’re attacked. The spirits made it clear. This power was a gift to protect, not to dominate.’

Savvine swallowed. ‘What about the prison? How did you get out?’

A grim smile played at the edge of his mouth. ‘After the blast, nothing much was left of it. The ceilings collapsed. Most of the guards were gone. We crawled out through rubble and fire. The first thing we saw was the night sky.’