Page 25

Amaia

“ H ey there, Sister. Did you miss me as much as I missed you?”

The voice was familiar yet I knew I’d never heard it in my life. It felt like I should know it. Should recognize it. I was good with that kind of thing. If I heard it once, I knew it for life.

I glanced toward the others. Alexiares stared back at me. Ready to jump? And he claimed me to be the crazy one. My shoulders rose in a halfhearted shrug, mouth curving downward as I considered it. I was the only one with air magic. Reina and Alexiares could channel some of the water from below but from this height, it would be equivalent jumping feet first into freshly laid concrete. Leaving me and the magic I had no interest in mastering as our only easy escape.

Reina’s eyes were wide, as though she had seen a ghost.

She collapsed.

Our weapons fell to the ground beside us then disappeared into what I could only refer to as the void. Hands were on Reina, dragging her away from the cliffside she had barely missed going over.

Time moved slowly as I turned around. I didn’t know where to look first; at Caleb, the man I had banished from Monterey Compound eleven months ago, or at Hunter Moore cupping the shock ridden face of his little sister.

A woman stood with her hands directed at our reappearing weapons, surrendering them on the ground. Her hair hung in curls down her back. Bigger than mine and a shade lighter but the complexion of our skin was the same. She was laser focused on Hunter though it was obvious her attention spanned to the rest of us.

No one saw them coming. Caleb wielded fire, not air—but the air had gone unnaturally still, as if something were holding it in place. We’d taught him control, but this wasn’t his doing. Which meant either the mystery girl or Hunter was behind it.

Telekinesis . Couldn’t say I’d seen that one yet. But ya know what? Why the fuck not in this world. It had likely played a part in keeping their approach concealed, manipulating the surrounding space, altering perception.

“Ca-Caleb?” I stuttered for the first time in my life.

Reina’s scream pierced the air. Her eyes blinked in quick succession, tears flowing from them. Hunter crouched over her. I wasn’t sure if it was a flare in her magic or the emotions of reuniting with his sibling, but he cried with her.

Abel and Alexiares shifted closer to me. Neither of them appeared to trust their eyes. Hunter was dead. Had been for about a few years. At least that was the story Reina and Seth had told. The one I knew Reina believed.

Her brothers meant the world to her. She had done everything she could to protect Seth from the horrible fate she’d thought Hunter to have suffered. And Seth … fuck , Seth had never believed Hunter to be gone. It was why he’d fought desperately hard to get back to his father … he’d had hope. Hope he wasn’t wrong for having.

“Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay,” Hunter cooed, and he scooped her into his lap, gently brushing her hair out of her face. “Hey, Sis.”

“Hunter? Is this really happening?” She pushed herself free of his grasp and turned toward us. The people she trusted. “Did I hit my head like Abel?”

Alexiares instinctively shifted in front of me. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Relax,” the woman said, her voice dry and monotonous.

“Someone explain and do it quickly or I’m going to lose my shit first and ask questions second.” I growled, the whiplash of the situation fading. “Now, what the hell is going on?”

“I told you she could be … violent .” Caleb’s face still made me want to punch him.

“Me?” I chirped a laugh and edged away from the drop side of the cliff. “Caleb, you haven’t begun to see how violent I can get.”

“This is a waste of time. Just like I said,” the woman hissed and I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to attack her or Caleb first.

“Waste of time but you sat around waiting for my general to show face.” Abel bit back, taking the bait and pushing forward. He adjusted his stance carefully, his strong arm taking the lead in defense, while the other remained slightly behind.

Our backs to the cliff put us at a tactical disadvantage. Hunter may be Reina’s brother, but we’d learned the hard way how little that could mean to some Moores. They’d disarmed us at first approach. While it was smart on their end, it wasn’t a great sign of being on equal grounding—which is what most would want when approaching a potential ally.

The woman stepped forward over the weapons, her eyes glimmering with challenge. I studied her, from her tattered loose jeans hanging off her hips to the oversize t-shirt. She looked a mess. Like they’d been on the run and not stopped until they arrived in Monterey territory. “Were we supposed to walk through the front door?”

“Hey!” Hunter boomed. He stood now, compelling me to lift my eyes to meet his stare. “Everyone take a beat, dammit.”

I studied him. He was identical to Reina—the same sharp angles in his jaw, mousy brown waves tousled around his head, thick dark brows stark against porcelain skin. And his eyes… fierce, piercing. Just like Seth’s.

There was no denying he was a Moore. The question was how.

“How are you here?” I asked. Then, locking eyes with Caleb, “Why are you here?”

Hunter exhaled, glancing toward Reina. “If you don’t mind, I think I owe it to my sister to tell her first.” His voice was measured, but there was an edge to it. “The ‘how’ is a long story—one that’s better told once we’re out of the open. That part can wait. But the ‘why’ … I’m guessing that’s the part you care to hear about now.”

Caleb drew nearer, his strawberry blond hair ruffled with dirt and who knew what else. “You helped me. When everything pointed to me, you chose to spare me instead. Seth forced my hand. Threatened my family if I snitched. But you, you listened to your gut. I should have been executed for treason, and yet you sent me to defy the odds.”

I took an automatic step back as he inched closer. His turquoise eyes met mine as he motioned for me to remain calm. I paused, accepting his approach. Caleb reached forward and pressed cold metal into my palm before pivoting back to his accomplices. Tears pooled, threatening to release themselves into the world and betray the tough exterior I was required to maintain in this role. I didn’t need to check what he’d placed inside my hand to know what it was. Prescott’s compass. The one I’d offered Caleb at his departure.

“I am sorry to hear about his fate,” he said, voice earnest. “He was a good man. The world needs more people like you in charge, and we have every desire to make that happen.”

“Why?” Was the only word I could force out. A whisper of a word, so fragile it might splinter and vanish behind the knot tightening in my throat if I didn’t speak now.

Reina swayed on her feet, looming closer in the silence passing between our groups. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through at the moment. Between battling her emotions and what was sure to be flying off us all from the tension and the questions, I wasn’t sure how she was standing up right. Nevertheless, she remained at our side. Her stance defensive in the most subtle of ways. She would have our back because despite the pretty words flowing from Caleb and her brother, this was, on all accounts, an us versus them situation for the time being. Until all our questions had answers and then some.

“I killed your boyfriend?—”

“Fiancé,” I corrected on impulse.

It didn’t matter now, anyway. It wasn’t as though the world knew but it felt owed. I owed it to Jax to never let that bond we shared die or go misrepresented. I was only lucky enough to have a partner who understood, who didn’t take it as a challenge to replace him. He respected Jax and his memory.

“Fiancé,” he nodded with the slight raise of an apologetic wave. “I’m alive because, deep down, you knew killing me wasn’t the answer. Some part of you saw past the revenge and trusted your gut. And that’s the kind of instinct that keeps people alive. The kind that wins wars. The rebellion doesn’t just need a fighter—they need a leader. Someone who knows when to strike, when to hold back, when to think ahead. That’s why we want you to help lead the charge.”

“War?” Alexiares’s pupils dilated at the implication.

Hunter placed his hands behind his back, a line between his thick brows pinched. “The one against my father.”

“You expect us to believe that?” Alexiares scoffed.

“Believe what you want. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m the one leading the fight against him. I’m not my brother,” His features shifted, the warmth from when he looked at Reina drained from his expression as his jaw tightened, every muscle in his face sharp. “It’s in your best interest to keep that simple fact front of mind.”

“He’s … he’s right.” Reina chimed in, assessing her brother from the side of her eyes while turning toward us. “Hunter and Seth never agreed much when it came to our dad.”

“A little hard to believe, isn’t it? One son dies, and Ronan isn’t interested in replacing him with another.” Alexiares muttered, his eyes flickered with skepticism.

Abel swept his gaze over the group. Unease twisted his usual soft expression, “Not loving how this looks, Reina.”

Hunter’s voice cut through the tension, low and sharp. “Why do you think he’s scared of me?” His mouth curled into a humorless smile. “He raised me to be like him. To think like him. Breathe like him.”

“All things that can be used to hit him where it hurts,” the girl beside him tilted her head. There was a fox-like glint in her eyes that made me uncomfortable.

Alexiares’s gaze narrowed as he took them in. “And Caleb and this … one—how do they fit into all of this?”

“Serenity,” the woman corrected, her tone cool and unbothered.

“Fitting,” Alexiares growled.

“Truth? Shit just kind of fell in place.” The sun peeked through a patch of clouds behind Hunter’s head. “Abridged version ain’t gonna hold your interest the same but here I go. We come from a group of travelers out in Transient Nation. A few months ago we received a warning from a passerby and her family, said trouble was coming and to pick a side. Not too long after, my father pushed into the city we were staying in. He was unaware of … my presence. They wanted us bad. Did anything they could to capture us.”

“ Chased ,” Serenity interjected, adding to Hunter’s story. A gust of salt-tinged wind blew her curls in front of her face.

“Hunted,” Caleb corrected, casting her a hard look.

Hunter nodded, a shadow passing over his expression. “Our community’s a bit different from most, but we are, in fact, someone you want on your side.”

I raised a brow and bowed my head slightly. “You’ve got our attention. Take your time getting it out.”

Hunter’s expression darkened, his glare cutting over to Caleb, a silent message passing between them that said, she’s going to be difficult. He turned back to me, voice rough with warning. “There’s a tremendous amount of power among us. Now, I’m not gonna go into the specifics with you—not yet. Not without grounds to trust you. All you need to know is we possess the amount of power Ronan wants. Since he can’t get it, he wants us gone. Without control over us, we are a threat, and son or not, my father doesn’t do threats.”

“Does he know it’s you he’s after? Because he told me to kill you.” I paused, letting the weight of the words settle. “Had your brother suggest it first, actually.”

I zeroed in on Hunter. An unflinching stare did wonders on men. It made them squirm, stirred their nerves until they gave themselves away. A fidget. A hand to the neck. The swipe of an imaginary strand of hair. I waited. Watching.

“There’s no way Seth would’ve made that offer if he knew,” Reina said. Pleading his case, though it seemed to burned her tongue. To see the best in him, defend him, once more. “They may not have seen eye to eye all the time but Hunter was everything to him.”

Hunter’s head snapped up, his eyes clouded with something raw, almost wounded, as they fixed on her. “What offer?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper in the wind, a glint of sorrow darkening his sea storm gaze.

“The one to keep our autonomy if we take you out instead?” I regarded him carefully, taking my time before stepping forward. Alexiares trailed at my heels, not eager to put distance between us when the hair on the back of our necks still warned of potential danger. “You don’t know?”

All three of them shook their heads. Either they’d solidified their stories before ambushing us or they were telling the truth.

“Then why the hell are you here?” Abel bit out.

“The camps?” Caleb said, his voice laced with confusion. “We have power but not enough people to dismantle it all. That’s why we need your military.”

I narrowed my eyes, taken aback. The soft, humid breeze blew my curls wild around my face. “We know about the camps but how is that a priority and why does Ronan care?”

“It’s not a priority to you that people are locked in cages and worked until they collapse?” Hunter’s eyes became an angry storm.

“It’s not not a priority,” Abel reasoned, but the lack of conviction in his tone gave us away. “There’s a lot going on man. One thing at a time.”

“We have a lot to tackle and it’s hard when you’re being babysat in every meeting,” I added. My gaze flicked to Abel. We already knew about the camps—Tomoe made sure of that when she ran her mouth about Lilia’s vision before we left. But knowing and acting weren’t the same. Not when we had fires everywhere and only so much water to put them out.

“Let me guess? Emissaries?” Serenity questioned with a sarcastic scoff. I peered around Hunter to stare her down. She met me with a startling smile, pointing toward herself. “One of Ronan’s best and brightest.”

“You’re a woman,” Alexiares deadpanned, as though Jessa didn’t exist. Which to all but Reina, she didn’t.

“Scientist works nice.” She winked. “Former. I made serums in his labs until I realized what he was using them for.”

“You’re a Tinkerer ?” Reina put two and two together from Tomoe’s original vision. The woman working with the test tubes and Ronan hovering in the background. They’d been faceless.

“The conscious mind makes up only about 5 percent of our brain activity at any given time,” Serenity explained. “Ever wonder what would happen if that number hit fifty?”

We watched in awe as she lifted our weapons from the green and brown grass beneath our feet. No gust of wind, no shift in the earth—just pure force, bending metal and machinery to her will. I’d never seen anything like it. Elemental wielders shaped the world around them, but this? This was different. No air, no earth—just power, raw and unseen … until now.

“Cool,” Reina muttered in fascination.

“Those camps are full of magic. Low levels for the mundane energy efforts he needs to keep the lights on in Covert’s cities. People like Serenity and some of the others we travel with, that’s the kind he wants to either militarize and experiment on. I can’t let that happen, so yes, camps are a priority.”

“It’s inhumane what happens there.” Caleb shuddered at Hunter’s words. “No one should go through that.”

I tilted my head, the outcome of us working together making me excited in a morbidly sick way. “What if we didn’t stop there though? What if we destroyed everything he’s ever touched?”

“Then I would say I’m interested in hearing what else you got to say.” Hunter’s face lit up.

There was a warm familiarity to Hunter. The making of him essentially the best parts of Seth and all of Reina. It made me miss Seth. The brother I’d come to know and love. Then the anger of his betrayal took over. What if they were the same in that aspect too?

“Before he attacked Monterey,” I said slowly and cautiously, “before we were forced to surrender, I was gathering troops. Troops that now belong to me with others waiting for me to say the word. There’s power and then there’s power . We have both. I’m somewhat intrigued in exploring that with the forces you claim to have.”

“I only have the power to speak for us at the moment. That can be revoked at any time. Don’t want you getting the wrong idea.”

“Wrong idea?” Reina asked her brother. His gaze settled over her. A look of longing passed over before the reserved version of the man she once knew took back over.

“The values we held out in Transient still apply. Our territory being temporarily inhabited doesn’t mean our beliefs have changed. Our community is built on the foundations of rebellion against a centralized government. I can’t make any promises that the others will be on their best behavior.”

“Radicals,” Alexiares muttered, his hand falling to the small of my back. “Fantastic.”

I glanced at Caleb. His shifty demeanor held my interest. My curiosity. He’d been tested at Monterey Compound as everyone else had. He wasn’t powerful. If he was, we’d have known. You couldn’t bypass our systems.

Caleb read the questions right off my face. “Don’t look at me. I found them by accident. Not everyone’s supercharged, just most of them.”

“Yet you advocated for me?” I refused to break his gaze.

He shrugged me off, “Hunter was going to come for Reina once I let it slip she was alive, anyway. I only offered him another reason to stick around longer than to retrieve her.”

“No one’s retrieving anyone,” I said then sent a challenging glare Hunter’s way. “Are you in charge, or not?”

“He is,” Serenity answered for him, but she was not the person I asked, the one I needed to read answers from.

She had been trained and lived with Ronan, and for that, it would take more than words of confidence to buy her bullshit. Hunter and Caleb on the other hand, they were easier to read. Hunter had his sister here and, tentatively, that meant he had shit at stake, someone to fight for on our side. Caleb did too. His family still lived within our walls and apparently me vouching for him meant something.

“They’re not bad people by any means,” Hunter said, measuring but firm, “Most of ‘em will follow my lead. Overplay your hand though, and they’ll scatter.”

“Well then, I trust we’ll all get along just fine.” I grinned wide.

Perfect. Everything was coming together better than I could have hoped. Maybe I wouldn’t have to do this all alone after all.

Alexiares froze at my back. He couldn’t see my face, the smugness mixed with mischief in my grin, but he knew me, “What?”

“Oh nothing,” I said. “I love when all the pieces fall into place.”

Hunter met my grin. Silent words passed between us. We were on the same page. Ronan Moore would die before the year was up.

I whistled, moving around Hunter and brushing past Serenity. Snatching my pistol and knives out the air, I paid her no mind as I strode further along the cliffside. “You aren’t welcome in our gates and I’m not dumb enough to stay the night in your camp. We have twenty-four hours to chat before they expect us back,” I called over my shoulder and I felt Abel and Alexiares at my back. Exactly where I knew they’d be no matter what. “I say we keep walking and set up camp out the way. See what kind of arrangement we can settle on.”