Page 17

CHAPTER 16

C aleb

I ’m all alone. In my head. In this pack.

Because Knox finally has her scent.

The only brother I care to speak to, and he’s gone feral, too. Not truly feral. Not like our brothers and sisters who could no longer control the call of the wild. This is something different.

It’s been quiet most of the day. I’m ahead of the pack, ahead of the puppies , as Knox calls them. Ahead of our mate. I’ve come to accept that it will happen. That I’ll lose control. That I’ll fight it until I can’t. So far, she might as well be invisible. Just another set of tits and a firm-looking ass that isn’t interesting enough to make my dick twitch.

I’ve heard all the theories. Even the ones our brothers who are no longer here had. I used to enjoy talking to all of them. I could tolerate Vance’s obsession with The Tangle, even if I still think he’s a little weird. Now, I just prefer the silence.

Instinct is the most popular theory. Our parents were fused with wolf DNA. It was passed down to us. Animals have an instinct to mate. They usually know which ones to mate with. Cats didn’t mate with dogs, until scientists started engineering hybrids. I mean, there was a golden retriever that hung around the military base, before the Great War. He’d fuck anything. But there were no cat-puppies from his humping sprees.

It doesn’t explain why we can shift into wolves, but it explains Calla’s scent. Why we could never feel any real pleasure with women after we felt the call of the wild. They weren’t viable mates—not after most of our humanity was gone.

Fate is Vance’s theory. Some fairytale he read while going through research the others left behind. He was going over it again last night, while Gideon and Jace had their way with Calla. Knox and I thought it would be over by the time we got back to the den, but we underestimated the hunger in our brothers. Probably underestimated how hungry we will be, too.

But I don’t believe it’s fate. I don’t know what it is, exactly, but it isn’t a destiny. If she’s the prize at the end of the rainbow, then it’s been a shitty rainbow.

I scout and leave a trail until it is time to stop for lunch. I find a clearing in a good spot, right next to a stream. I wait there on my haunches, until I see the rest of them crest the hill. I run ahead, circle behind Knox, and shift.

“Hold still, let me grab my fucking pants,” I growl, opening the backpack he’s wearing.

“I thought you weren’t going to talk to me after I got her scent,” he chuckles, stopping in his tracks.

“You’re not as crazy as they were when they got it,” I mutter, yanking my pants out of the backpack and putting them on. “Or you’re just better at hiding it.”

“It feels great,” Knox says. “Like the world is more alive.”

“It’s already alive enough,” I grumble, gesturing around us. “It’s The fucking Tangle.”

“Makes me remember how good it was, back when we could walk into a bar, walk out with a girl, and just… fuck her.” Knox smiles. “Fuck her hard. Break the damn bed. Maybe her hip.”

I roll my eyes, but Knox can’t see it. I remember those days, too. Some of our best, even if we didn’t realize it at the time. They were just small doses of freedom when the scientists weren’t trying to breed us in a lab. They probably hoped we’d knock up a girl during our reprieve and save them a lot of trouble, but it never happened.

“We’re not going into Haven North, right?” I ask, changing the subject. “We’ll take them there, and show them how to get past the wall, but that’s as far as we go.”

“Yeah, I confirmed that with Gideon this morning,” Knox says. “Have you noticed her ass? I mean, just look at it. Fucking perfect… I can smell her tight little pussy, too. Every time she has a flutter in one of those muscles that got stretched out good last night. Mm.”

“Then fuck her and get this out of your system,” I growl. “Gideon and Jace seem relatively normal this morning. Hopefully you will be too after you feed the beast.”

“The beast is hungry, Caleb. Very hungry,” Knox laughs. “But I’m not ready yet. I mean, I am, but I’m going to savor this as long as I can. I won’t drive myself crazy. Nothing wrong with a little foreplay, though.”

“Whatever,” I sigh as we reach the clearing.

We need meat. I let my brothers handle that, while I stay with the girls. I go to the other side of the clearing and let them eat in peace. I have no desire to interact with them. I’ll fight my desire for Calla when it surfaces, but I’ll get it over with quickly when the need finally chews through me.

My brothers return with fresh meat. We eat it away from the girls and wash up before returning. Knox barely bothers to wash the blood off his face, leaving some crimson in his platinum beard. Distracted? Doesn’t give a fuck? I’m not sure which it is.

“On your feet, soldiers,” Gideon chides, gesturing ahead. “We can cover a lot more ground before it gets dark.”

A few groans and protests echo, but everyone gets to their feet, and we’re back in The Tangle. I let Vance scout the rest of the way and take his spot on the left of the formation.

I hate traveling through The Tangle on foot, but I’ve had enough scouting for one day. I give the girls a wide berth, but eventually the brunette clutching a stick wanders close to me. I instinctively growl, just because I dislike humans. She doesn’t seem bothered by it.

“You’re the quiet one, right?” she asks. “You don’t talk to anyone?”

I glance at her. That’s what most of my brothers think. I’m the silent shadow. Wounded and damaged because Silas died. That’s certainly part of it. Why I don’t talk to anyone except Knox. But fuck it. I may not like humans, but Brenna hasn’t wronged me—yet.

“Not if I can help it,” I mutter. “I’ve noticed you don’t say much, either. You just hold that stick like it’s going to protect you from The Tangle. Surely by now you’ve realized it’s as useless as a twig.”

“It makes me a feel a little better,” she sighs. “I know it wouldn’t do much, but it’s better than walking around emptyhanded.”

“I suppose,” I reply. “But you didn’t need a stick at The Outpost, hmm? Vance said you killed three slavers on your own with a piece of broken glass.”

“One was practically unconscious and two were passed out drunk,” she says, a faint smile tugging at the edge of her lips. “But they deserved it. The guy who ran The Outpost was planning on raping Fiona. The others… one of them shoved his hand under my shirt and would have done a lot more if he could have.”

“I get it.” I look over at her and nod. “Sometimes, people just need to die. But still, I wouldn’t expect a girl raised in Haven North to be so quick to draw blood.”

“I might be from Haven North, but I’m not as eager to return as the others.” She gestures to her friends. “I’m Unassigned. I don’t know if you know what that means…”

“I know exactly what that means,” I snarl, my lip twitching. “Haven North is a breeding colony. If you’re not fertile or don’t get a good score on their bullshit tests, you’re basically useless.”

“A breeding colony,” she repeats. “Hmm. I’ve never thought of it like that. I’m guessing things were different before the Great War?”

“Not for hybrids,” I mutter. “If things had kept going like they were, I’m sure New York wouldn’t have looked much different from Haven North. Society branded people as useless back then, too. Didn’t take much better care of them, either.”

“So, what did people do when they were useless?” Brenna asks, some curiosity in her voice. “Did they just accept it?”

“Some did. Some didn’t,” I sigh, shrugging my shoulders. “But they had better options than the Lower District. Not many options, now.”

“Right.” She looks around. “Because of The Tangle. You can’t exactly go somewhere else and start over.”

“Not easily,” I concede. “Especially around Haven North. The Tangle is thickest and deadliest here, but it’s where all the good hunting is. Further north is a little safer. Some of the roads are better. Once you get closer to New Chicago, it’s much safer. They’ve got different priorities out there.”

“We heard about other cities, but it wasn’t like we could travel there,” Brenna says. “And after seeing The Outpost, I’m not sure I want to find out what the other ones are like.”

“You’d probably like New Chicago. Nobody gets told what to do or where they have to live,” I say. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not lawless. They’ve got peace officers and a military. A lot more freedom than Haven North, though.”

And a lot fewer bad memories. Knox and I talked about going there after Silas died. We were close a couple of times, but we just couldn’t leave our brothers behind.

Our conversation is cut short when Vance bursts through the underbrush, shifting without bothering to hide his nudity or put on pants.

“Trouble!” Vance says. “Treants. The kind that eat everything in their path.”

Gideon throws a hand up to stop everyone. I pause in my tracks and motion for Brenna to rejoin her friends.

“Any way around them?” Gideon asks, right as three hulking trees get close enough for us to see them.

“No!” Vance yells. “We’ll have to fight!”

Treants. Tough, brutal, and a pain in the ass to fight. On top of that, they don’t have any meat to make the kill worthwhile. My brothers and I shift. Gideon gives the order for us to meet them head-on, so that they don’t get close to the girls. It’s the best option, but prioritizing human life is how we lost Silas. I can’t help the anger from flickering inside me.

“They’re hungry,” Gideon says across our mental link. “Keep them away from Calla and the others. Draw them off before we fight.”

The first treant crashes through the underbrush, roots ripping up the soil as it does. The bark is blackened and split with gashes that reveal glowing, purple sap, oozing from the monstrosity like blood. Branches twist and groan like mutated limbs, surrounding a face that is a mess of knots and jagged hollows.

As we get closer, I pick up an unusual scent. Rotten and vile, but different from the other treants we’ve fought when we couldn’t avoid it. Their scent is usually closer to honey. I don’t get a chance to process it before two more treants close in, just as twisted and deadly as the first.

“I don’t like that,” Jace transmits to us all. “Smells wrong, more like a hybrid than a tree.”

“Spores!” Vance yells as dust that reminds me of pollen billows from the treant. “Don’t breathe it in!”

“Get in close,” Gideon says. “Tear the bastards apart!”

Jace speeds ahead and lunges first. It’s a fast, wild, and reckless attempt. He goes for the legs, trying to snap a root off. He sinks his teeth into the bark, but he doesn’t get a clean bite. The treant jerks, sways back, and drops a limb across Jace that hits him like a fallen log. Jace whimpers, then a billow of purple pollen engulfs him.

“Jace is down!” Knox snarls, even before the pollen clears and I see Jace in the dirt.

One brother on the ground and we’ve barely made a mark on one of them. Hopefully the pollen immobilizes, rather than kills, but I don’t have time to check on my brother. We’ve got to get these bastards down first.

Vance darts in toward the same treant Jace was fighting. He follows Gideon’s instructions and tries to distract the hulking tree, drawing its attention away from the girls. He leads the treant, then circles around, sinking claws into its flank. The bark shatters and opens a wound that oozes with violet sap.

The treant roars, a haunting sound of cracking limbs and wind. It shudders violently, spewing pollen as it spins around. Gideon closes in, so I rush to Knox’s side. He’s trying to distract two of them and dodging their attacks.

“You like two on two better than three on one?” Knox asks, only transmitting the message to me.

“If Gideon and Vance can’t take one of these fuckers down on their own, we’re already screwed,” I mutter back.

Knox sidesteps a gush of pollen, drawing both treants away from Calla and the others. I attempt to snap the branches that crash into the dirt while looking for an opening so I can go for a leg. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Gideon and Vance simultaneously sinking their teeth and ripping off chunks of bark.

“They’ve got a heart, but you have to open them up first!” Gideon yells across the link, digging into the back and leaving a gash that reveals a purple, beating heart.

A tree with a heart? That’s different from treants we’ve fought in the past. If we were traveling as a pack, we’d avoid them. Not worth the fight.

“Great, if they’ve got a heart, Vance will be fascinated,” Knox sneers, circling as we divert the two treants in front of us away from the girls.

Gideon gets thrown to the dirt. Vance pulls the treant’s attention away from our older brother. That gives Gideon a chance to strike. The large golden wolf slams into the tree, claws digging into the outer shell until his fangs can grab the heart. He jerks it out of the chest cavity with a gurgle and spits it in the dirt.

“Spores, Gideon! Careful!” Vance calls out.

The treant spews a torrent of spores as the death gasp echoes. Gideon is right in the line of fire, but Vance charges forward. He knocks Gideon out of the way, but he gets engulfed in a purple cloud.

“Vance!” I yell, but it’s too late.

“Fuck, fuck!” Knox says, circling in the other direction.

The two treants in front of us react to the other’s death. One screams with rage and starts swinging wildly at Knox. The other peels off and goes after Gideon. I have to make a choice, and I make it quickly. I sink my teeth into the back of the one attacking Knox, tearing away pieces of bark that taste like rotted earth.

“We’re still too close to the girls,” Knox mutters, going on the defensive instead of the offensive.

Knox holds the treant’s attention, so I keep attacking—until I hear a howl behind me. I spin around, just in time to see Gideon engulfed in a purple fog. His face emerges for a moment and his eyes are wild, but then they dim.

“Gideon, no!” Knox yells, going after the treant that took out our brother.

The treant I’ve been nipping at spins toward me. Knox catches a branch aimed for Gideon’s head in his teeth and wrestles the treant down. It’s a flurry of bark, growls, and clawing, but he’s successful. Unfortunately, he gets caught in a violet death gasp as soon as he rips the still-beating heart out of the treant’s chest.

One on one. These are terrible odds and the treant is already after me. I’m not sure if I’m strong enough to take it out on my own. Retreating, so I can draw it away, is the best option. It’ll protect my brothers. And the girls, but I’m more worried about my family than the humans—even if one of them is going to be my mate.

The treant gives chase, roots cutting through the soil as it advances on me. I pull it away from the chaos, but a root catches my leg. I spin to get away, but it jerks me off my feet. I’m thrown for a somersault and hit the ground hard enough to feel the earth shake beneath me.

“Alright, motherfucker,” I growl as I come to my feet. My brothers can’t hear me, so I’m just talking to myself, but I do that a lot these days. “Enough of this shit.”

I roar and launch myself into the air, catching the treant before it can ready a root or limb. I dig in, going for the joint that makes up its hip. That earns me a few lashes from the softer branches that feel like fire across my back. I don’t need to feel the blood in my fur to know I’m bleeding.

I duck a few swings, then lunge. My claws dig into the bark. My teeth tear away what I can. A burst of spores billows from its mouth and I have to back off to avoid them. I dodge and weave, then go for the spine. I take out a chunk. Not enough to kill it, but enough to leave a gash that gushes with purple sap.

But it’s still not enough. The treant swings wildly, catching me with a branch. The next one doesn’t hurt me, but it catches my back leg. The softer branches tighten and jerk me into the air. I howl and thrash as it spits spores in my face.

“No, fuck!” I groan, trying to hold my breath, but some is already in my lungs.

My legs go numb. My breath turns sharp. A black haze creeps into the corner of my vision.

I’m going down, and I’m the last one standing.

This is the end of our pack.