Page 41

Zayne is Freaking Awesome

I stare at Hecate, willing her to speak, to answer my—somewhat rhetorical—question. She just smiles and says, “Tomorrow you will make it to the top.”

I suppose while she hasn’t admitted that I’m not human, she isn’t denying it either.

And really, she doesn’t need to say anything. If I was human, I’d be dead. Which means— I’m not freaking human!

This is a lot to take in. I decide I’m done for the day. I need some alone time. Without another word to Hecate, I turn and walk away. I don’t think about where I’m going, just about what I’ve found out. I’m not human.

Somehow my feet take me to the clearing in the forest, where we practice with Zayne every night. It’s an amazing place, and a sense of comfort fills me as I step into that circle of tall trees. I head toward the pond at the center and sit on the grassy bank, dabbling my fingers in the cool water. It laps against the lilies growing at the edge of the pool as if moved by an unseen breeze. It’s melodic, and I close my eyes and rest my head on the soft, mossy grass.

And suddenly, I’m dreaming. At least, I think it’s a dream.

I’m in a stone tower, and I’m afraid, but I don’t know what I’m afraid of. A sense of fierce loss almost suffocates me. A man is talking to me—I can’t see his face. His voice is soft and urgent, but the words are blurred. In the background, there’s the crackle of a fire. I desperately want to wake up before the bad thing happens.

Come back. The words whisper in my mind as they did earlier.

“Come back, fucking where? What do you want from me?”

Then the world is whirring around me, and I’m lost in a vortex.

“Amber,” someone calls my name. At first, I think it’s part of the dream.

“Amber!” The call comes again, urgent. I blink. Night has fallen, and the clearing is bathed in moonlight. Zayne is standing above me, his hands in his pockets, staring down, a worried frown on his face.

“Thank fuck. I thought you were unconscious.”

“No, just sleeping.” I sit up, rubbing my head, trying to grasp the details of the dream, but it’s fading. “Sorry. I was dreaming.” I frown. “Except I think it might have been a memory.”

“You’re remembering?”

I shrug. “Maybe… probably not.”

“You missed dinner,” Zayne says. “You never miss a meal.” It sounds almost like an accusation.

“I had a lot to think about,” I reply. “Apparently, it seems I’m not human.”

Zayne snorts, obviously not impressed with my momentous news. “Well, join the club.” He looks around. “This is an amazing place. I don’t realize it when the others are here. I guess I’m too wound up. But it’s sort of peaceful and full of life at the same time.”

“I know.” I scramble to my feet and brush myself down. “Where are the others?”

“I don’t know. They were discussing something, something too important to talk about in front of me and told me to come ahead.” He wanders around the edge of the water, then back to me. He’s clearly got something on his mind, something he wants to say.

Finally, he stops and turns to me. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe we should just leave.”

Shock punches me in the gut. I hadn’t expected this. “And go where?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Anywhere. Back to Earth first, pick up Josh, and then we can hide.”

Despair twists around my insides, tightening hard knots I don’t think I’ll ever unravel. “I don’t think I can hide. I think they’ll find me wherever I go.”

“Or maybe you don’t want to leave. Maybe there’s something else that’s keeping you here.”

I don’t know what he means. Or maybe I’m being purposely obtuse. I take a deep breath. “You really want to go?”

“I’ve only stayed for you,” he says.

I search my mind for some argument. “What about the shift thing? I thought it wasn’t safe. I thought Khaosti said you had to gain control before you could go back.”

“It’s not up to fucking Khaosti to tell me what to do. And maybe I’ll never shift, so it won’t matter.”

God, I don’t want him to go. I take a step toward him and reach out. I rest my hand against his chest, and I can feel the thump of his heart. “I can’t do this alone, Zayne.”

He snorts again. “You’re hardly alone. You’ve got Hecate, Thanouq, and Khaosti.” He almost sneers at the last name.

“You told me not to trust him,” I point out.

“Yeah, and I still feel the same,” he replies. “But that makes fuck all difference. Christ, you could choose any of us, and yet you want that fucker.”

He’s telling me that I could have him. I’ve suspected as much, but I don’t want to go there. He’s my brother.

And Thanouq? Maybe he wants me, but only because he thinks I’m important, that I might be of use in his war. Like a secret weapon. Ugh.

As for Khaosti, I don’t know what the truth is, myself. And I won’t lie to Zayne.

He takes a step closer, so close that we’re almost touching. I look up, and he stares down at me with those silver eyes. Then his hand slowly moves out, as though he’s waiting for me to tell him to stop, and his hard fingers curve around the back of my neck.

I like the feel of his touch. It’s comforting. He leans down, and our foreheads meet. Then he straightens a little, and I stare once more into his eyes. Now they’re hot with something, some emotion that I’m not willing to recognize. He lowers his head, and his lips touch mine. I don’t move away. Part of me really wishes that this could work between us, that Zayne would kiss me, and that I would melt. But the kiss is soft and sweet, and I feel nothing. His lips harden against mine. I can almost sense his desperation. But it feels wrong.

My hands tighten on his shoulders, my nails gripping into his hard muscles. Finally, with a harsh exhalation, he raises his head. “I love you,” he says. “I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you.”

Oh Lord, this is too much. “I love you too,” I say, and I mean it. I’ll always love Zayne, but not in the way he wants me to, and I’m not sure how to put this. I don’t want to hurt him.

“Yeah, I know. As a fucking brother. Fuck.”

“Please, Zayne, you’re my family. Don’t turn your back on me. I’m sorry I can’t be what you want.” Tears burn my eyes. I don’t know how to say this right. This is all so new to me.

But he does turn his back on me, his hands clenching at his sides, his body stiff with tension. I take a step toward him, but he growls, “Just give me a goddamn moment.”

Then he turns slowly and stares at me with yellow, unblinking eyes.

Oh no.

“Er… Zayne. Your eyes…”

“Maybe you should leave.” His voice is a low, husky rasp.

“I’m not going anywhere. You won’t hurt me.” I hope.

Then it’s too late anyway. The air around him is shimmering with what I now recognize as magic. I’m frozen in place, but I don’t want to leave. I want to show him I trust him, that I’ll be here if he needs me. That’s what sisters do.

In the end, the change comes easily, flowing over him. And…

Holy freaking shit.

I have to lean my head back just to look at him. Standing at an impressive height of twelve feet, he’s truly magnificent and fierce. His body is sleek and serpentine, covered in iridescent scales that shimmer with a mesmerizing blend of emerald green and deep sapphire blue.

His head is crowned with a jagged, horned crest that starts between his piercing, intelligent eyes and extends all the way down his elongated neck. I guess that’s the chicken part, but honestly, he looks like no chicken I’ve ever seen. His dark yellow eyes radiate power, and a pair of ivory fangs extend downward from his upper jaw, curving like sabers. He hisses, and a greenish venom glistens menacingly against the gleaming fangs.

But the most amazing part is—he has wings. They’ve got to be twenty feet from tip to tip, a delicate, latticed framework of bone and membrane, covered in iridescent scales that shift from deep blue at the base to translucent at the edges.

He spreads them, and I take a rapid step back and duck.

“Watch it with the goddamn wings,” I mutter, and he catches me in that lizard glare and flaps them in my face. I swear I can still see Zayne behind those eyes. He’s not gone completely.

I stare at him some more. His muscular, sinuous body tapers down to a powerful tail, which culminates in a lethal barbed point that, right now, is lashing about in agitation.

“You’re fucking awesome, Zayne,” I yell, and I totally mean it. “Fucking coolest thing I have ever seen.”

He blinks, and I can almost see a smirk—if chickens can smirk. Then he stretches his wings, gives an easy flap, and his sinuous body rises into the sky, a fusion of grace and terror. As he rises, he lets out a roar, and flames flicker from his mouth.

I leap back to avoid being singed and gaze up, unblinking, as he soars into the night.

Zayne is up there showing off, flying in spirals and spins. He dives toward me, and I duck out of the way, but then he swoops back up, high in the night sky once again.

I have to admit, I’m jealous. It must be wonderful to be able to fly. It does occur to me, though, that a basilisk is going to be a little more conspicuous on Earth than a wolf would be. I wonder if Zayne has thought of that or whether Khaosti has mentioned it.

There’s a noise behind me—soft footfalls entering the clearing. Thanouq and Khaosti have arrived.