Page 54 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

Conall and Damia rubbed the tattoos on their forearms simultaneously. They held no resemblances at first sight, but if you studied the details, a similarity took shape—a silhouette of a bird, either perching or mid-flight.

Sana caught my exploration and twisted her forearm, displaying a single thin line encircling her brown wrist with a silhouette of a crow thrusting upward.

I gave a congratulatory nod in return. From what Conall had shared with me, she deserved it, having proven herself indispensable and trustworthy many times over the last four years.

“Do you think they’re preparing for an ambush? It’d been a long time since we had an actual battle, not since the war between Ilasall and Gedeon’s compound,” Conall pondered, placing his still full cup of coffee in front of Dain and smiling at his partner perking up at the second serving of the slightly bitter liquid, now cooled down enough to not char your taste buds. “Our numbers have increased exponentially, yet neither Ardaton nor Coriattus have taken offense. Yes, we worked furtively, but they could’ve reduced us to ashes many times.” Resting his arm over Dain’s chair’s backrest, he began fiddling with a strand of Aanya’s sleek and shiny wall of hazelnut hair.

“What about a complex attack to wipe out the compounds one by one? Do the cities have any combined forces? They could be working on that,” Nara piped up from the corner Damia had hidden her daughter in.

Everyone’s attention fell on the young woman, but she held her head high, poised as a leader facing a challenge.

Damia should be proud of her daughter. She was growing up to be as perceptive and farsighted as Damia herself.

Sana walked toward the windows, focused on the horizon, like she could see miles ahead, where Coriattus occupied the land. “Nara is right; it’s a possibility. However, we haven’t seenany movement between the cities. Likely, they haven’t joined their physical forces, but we should consider the possibility of remote cooperation. It puts a limit to their capabilities, same as with us, but if we can make it work, so can they.”

“What resources are you most in need of? Maybe we can support you, at least partially, while Damia’s team researches the microchips,” Dain offered to me, and hid his sleepy expression in the blue cup of coffee Conall had given him.

“So far, we have sufficient reserves. But without the restoration of our supply chains, meds will be the first to go, and with the unexpected heat levels this summer, the drought has affected our harvests, as you have experienced yourselves. With winter upcoming in a few months, we will likely need to begin to rati?—”

I shut my mouth as the door handle hit the wall with a loud bang. Dust motes floated in the air where the white paint had flaked off.

A short, muscular, and deeply tanned woman—a fighter, likely a teacher, based on her swift and balanced gait and how she surveyed the room—hurried to Nissa, Conall’s partner I enjoyed being around. A person of few words, she always went straight to the point, never dragging things out for longer than necessary.

They exchanged quick words, and Nissa slowly rose, bracing her palms on the table, the unruly strands of her short blonde hair tickling her temples. The tense clench of her pointed jaw resembled the wood’s roughness. “Coriattus has begun upgrading their security system,” she stated, calm and collected.

“What do you mean?” Aanya placed her hand over Nissa’s.

The four of them had truly made it work. Not that it had been easy for them. The last year had almost destroyed Aanya and Dain.

Nissa softly kissed Aanya’s forehead. When she turned to me, her expression was one of steel. “Our team had gone to the city for a routine smuggling operation, and I’ve just been informed five of them were shot on the spot, like you told us. The rest returned minutes ago. They said multiple guards marched along the top of the wall and outside the gates.”

Shadows slunk along the walls as the sun hid behind the fluffy clouds, and a heavy silence enshrouded the table.

The cities were on the move. And we still had at minimum a year of successful operations to complete before we had sufficient resource numbers to storm them in a takeover. This was delaying matters indefinitely.

“They’re separating us,” Ezra disrupted the silence. “Ilasall and Coriattus are far away from each other, with Ardaton in between them. They are rolling out the updates in a way that would affect us the most. Damia’s compound can’t support both others.”

Sana spoke from where she lingered near a window, observing the action in their compound, “A fight for resources. They want us to turn against each other. Destroy ourselves.”

Damia’s nails clicked on the oak table. “One week, and Ardaton will roll out the update. Coriattus began two days after Ilasall had finished, presumably successfully, so nine, but to be safe, let’s say seven days from today is all we have before we’re cut off.”

“Nissa, I believe you will want to make the necessary arrangements.” Rising, I caught Nissa’s jaw tic. She bore the responsibility of training the people in their compound, and likely knew each of the five dead personally. “Damia, send a messenger back to your compound to warn everyone. Let me know when both of you are done, and we will continue.”

I left the room, Ezra and my team following in my footsteps and Damia flanking my right.

“I’ll let my team know our priority is the microchips,” she said as the others dispersed outside, her fingers drumming on her bottom lip. Another move of hers. Knowing her, she was not stopping until the answers lay in her palm.

Interesting times awaited her tech team.

Same as Zion, who I had tasked with the job of keeping Kali away from the city.

And alive.

19

KALI

Abead of sweat raced down my forehead, matching the trickle between my breasts in ferocity. I cursed at the midday sun for plastering my clothes to me in a matter of twenty minutes outside and my body deciding to expel everything that had befallen me over the last days through perspiration.