Page 18 of Kingdom of Chaos (Creatures of Chaos #2)

Twelve

The food arrives, and as we dig in Talon tells us everything he knows about the gates, especially the one we’re headed to deep in the swampland.

My order takes up a good chunk of the tabletop, and I catch Ensley raising her eyebrows more than once as I demolish everything on my three plates.

Even Titus looks like he’s trying not to laugh a few times.

I’m on my fifth slice of bacon when I notice something strange. My plate has more food than I remember. I glance at Talon and spot the telltale movement. He’s been casually sliding some of his bacon onto my plate when I wasn’t looking.

I shoot him a narrow-eyed glare. “Go ahead and make fun of me, but I’m not even mad. If you’re dumb enough to surrender your bacon, then I’m obviously the real winner here.” I point to my face, triumphant, and bite into the salty strip in my hand.

Talon watches my mouth as I chew, and I pretend not to notice that the room feels a couple degrees warmer than it did a moment before.

“I wasn’t making fun of you,” he says, his gaze lifting to meet mine.

Oh . Was he just sharing his food with me to be nice? That’s . . . unexpected.

“I’m just worried that if we don’t keep you fed, you’ll start gnawing on my arm to fill that hollow leg of yours. It’s really just self-preservation.”

A real smile breaks across his face. Genuine, boyish, carefree. It reminds me of the version of him I knew back at Nightlark Academy, before Chaos turned everything upside down.

I chuck the last of my bacon at his face, aiming for his eye, but he snatches it out of the air with his mouth. He grins around the bite as he chews, clearly pleased with himself.

I pout, watching the last piece of bacon disappear. “That was mine.”

Talon shrugs, chewing happily. “Call it payment. You used me as a pillow for four hours. I think I earned it.”

I blink, heat rushing to my cheeks. “I didn’t ask for a pillow.”

He leans in, just enough for his voice to brush against my skin. “Didn’t hear you complaining.”

And just like that, I forget what air tastes like.

Ensley clears her throat and I glance over at her and Titus.

“So, about this gate,” she says, staring at Talon with a frown.

He straightens, leaning his forearms on the table. The easy smile fades, and I feel its absence like a weight. But there’s no time for that. Ensley is right. Becks . Every second we sit here, he’s still out there, waiting. That’s what’s important.

“The gate won’t look like an actual gate,” Talon says. “At least not obviously so. As you know, the one we are headed toward is in the swamplands, so the gate is going to look natural occurring.”

“Natural occurring?” Titus asks.

“Like an arch of vines or maybe branches. You’re not going to see a stone archway or anything that obvious. It’s going to blend in with the environment. A detail easily missed or dismissed. We know the general area, but not the pinpoint location.”

“Okay,” I say. “So the plan is we trudge around this swamp until we find the gate, and then what? Do I need to mix a drop of blood with my necklace or perform some kind of ritual to open it?”

Talon shakes his head. “Nothing quite that dramatic. There’ll be a place to insert the gem. That will awaken the gate. Then when it’s turned, the gate will be activated and should transport us to the human world.”

“Should?” Ensley asks.

Talon shrugs. “The gates haven’t been used in thousands of years. It’s not like anyone alive has ever traveled through one. I only know what was written about them. So yes, it should happen that way, but we should be prepared for anything.”

The table is quiet while that sinks in.

“And there’s something else,” Talon says, looking extremely serious. “There’s another reason why the Arcane Society doesn’t bother guarding the hidden gates.”

My stomach dips and I already know I’m not going to like whatever comes out of his mouth next.

“Each of the hidden gates has a magical protector. A monster created by the first generation of the Arcane Society to guard the gates.”

“A monster?” I burst out. Diners around us peek over at us. I sink down in my seat. I didn’t mean to be that loud.

“A monster?” I whisper-yell. “And you thought going up against a monster would be preferable to facing off against a few of your Society buddies?” I cut my gaze to Ensley and Titus, expecting them to back me up, but Ensley just shrugs, and Titus leans forward to hear what Talon is going to say next.

“Yes,” Talon says. “I do think going up against a single beast is better than a contingent of highly trained Society members.”

A brief glint of regret passes through his eyes, and a thought strikes me. Maybe Talon does believe facing a monster is the lesser of two evils, but maybe he’s also afraid he couldn’t bring himself to fight the Society members who are like family to him.

The idea softens the edges of my anger. Compassion creeps in, dulling the sting of the monster revelation. Instead of arguing, I simply press my lips together and nod.

“So what do we know about this monster, if anything?” Titus asks.

“All the beasts that guard the hidden gates were once regular animals indigenous to the area. Back when the gates were sealed, the members of the Society imbued an animal with magical abilities and long life. So if the gate is in a frozen tundra for example, the guardian might be a polar bear. If it’s in a jungle, perhaps it’s an anaconda or jaguar, and so on. ”

I laugh, but there’s no real humor in the half-strangled breath that escapes me. “So we’re going to be playing chicken with a two-thousand-year-old alligator?”

“It’s highly likely,” he says with a straight face.

Oh boy .

“Do we actually need to defeat the monster to get through the gate?” Ensley asks, and Talon shakes his head.

“No, we just need to get past it. The beasts sleep until their gate is disturbed. We need to be prepared for it to emerge when we get close to the gate with Locklyn’s gemstone. With any luck we can get through the gate quickly without having to engage it.”

“Like, they hibernate?” I ask.

“Yes, exactly like that.”

I swallow hard. The only thing I remember about hibernating animals is how ravenous they are when they first awake.

“Oh goody,” I say flatly. “Sounds like it’s going to be a fun time for everyone.”

The corner of Talon’s mouth quirks. “Depends on what you consider a fun time,” he says.

The spark in his eye can’t hide that there’s a part of him looking forward to this. My first instinct is to think he’s crazy, but if I’m honest with myself, there’s a restless charge building in my chest and I can’t tell if it’s anxiety or excitement.

Shoot . Maybe I’m as messed up as Talon.

“Let’s get out of here,” Talon says as he slides out of the booth.

I nod and push to my feet. Titus and Ensley slide out of the booth after me and we all leave the diner and head back toward the Valkyrie.

When we get there, Imogen is leaning against the side.

There’s a rosy hue to her cheeks that wasn’t there earlier, and she has the self-satisfied look of the cat that just ate the canary.

“You seem chipper,” I say as I yank open the front passenger’s door. I’m the only one who hasn’t had a chance in the front seat. I don’t care that after Imogen, I’m the smallest. I want the opportunity to ride shotgun too.

“A good meal will do you wonders,” she says. “Pro tip: always make sure I’m fed. I’m not pleasant when I’m hangry.”

My eyebrows pinch in confusion. “But you left the diner before?—”

Oh.

She doesn’t mean food . At least, not in the sense I do.

I know drinking blood is a natural thing for vampires.

They don’t usually flaunt it, and in modern times there are plenty of ways to pick up a pint or two without having to tap a vein, but the satisfied look on Imogen’s face makes me think she didn’t go with the traditional method of buying a blood bag at a pop-up stand.

Seeing my face, she laughs. “Relax. There was a blood stand on the other side of the diner.” She rolls her eyes and climbs into the SUV.

I climb into the seat just as Talon slides behind the wheel. He pulls onto the road with smooth precision, merging onto the highway without a word. No one says much. Everyone’s wrapped in their own thoughts.

I sneak a glance at Talon. His profile is sharp in the early light, his naturally darker skin tone is unusually pale. Imogen’s fresh, glowing face from earlier flashes through my mind. The contrast nags at me.

Is he like her? Does he need blood too?

“What?” Talon says without taking his eyes off the road.

“Huh?”

His gaze shifts to me and he arches an eyebrow before looking forward again.

Busted .

“You’re a vampire, right?” I blurt out.

Imogen cackles in the seat behind me. “He wishes.”

My jaw drops. “You aren’t?”

The hint of a smile curves the corners of Talon’s mouth, but besides that, he doesn’t respond.

Ensley leans forward from the middle seat, popping her head into the space between Talon and me. “Snake shifter, right? I mean, at first I thought vampire too. But I’ve come around to Locklyn’s train of thought. Definitely snake shifter.”

Talon’s lips press into a hard line and he shoots Ensley a side-eye, but he still doesn’t engage.

“I don’t know. I think he might have some fae in him,” Titus speaks up from the back seat. I glance back at him and he has a look of mischief in his eyes.

“Fae, no way,” Ensley says, wrinkling her nose like the idea that Talon is a fae as well disgusts her.

“You’ll never guess. And even if you do, he’ll never say,” Imogen says in a singsong voice.

“Is that true?” I ask Talon.

“I was taught that revealing your creature was to make yourself vulnerable.”

Imogen scoffs. “A super old-school way of thinking that only he and his mom still adhere to.”

My brows lift. “Wait, no one knows what your mom is either? Not even your dad?”