Page 67 of Taste of Fate

That knowledge did not help me as a huge, roaring, tusked bastard came at me while swinging fists the size of my head.

“Don’t kill them if you don’t have to!” Thorne was dodging his own marrower, a significantly smaller one than mine, which hardly seemed fair. “We need information, not more bodies.”

“Easy for you to say,” I muttered, ducking low to avoid another punch that could have severed my skull from my spine.

My attacker bellowed again, the sound both frustrated and anguished. His pupils were pinpricks, and both eyes had taken on a pale, sickly yellow tinge. Regular, prolonged draitrium use caused the mineral to accumulate in the body, making the user’s eyes a deeper yellow over time. This guy didn’t have that solid egg yolk color going on. He was a new user, if he was one at all.

From afar, he looked like my friend Drace, the bartender in Marrowtown. I was relieved to find out it wasn’t him upon closer inspection, but getting that close got me right up in his punching zone.

I got inside his block and jabbed an elbow into his throat, making him stagger backward and choke. The two silver daggers on me were itching to be used, but if Thorne wanted to keep casualties low, it was best to keep the silver put away.

“They’re too fucking aggro, Thorne!” The declaration came from Rhain, who struggled to keep a scrappy, wriggling marrower in a headlock. “We can’t keep ‘em all subdued until they sober up.”

“Do what you have to.”

A marrower ripped a fence post out of the ground, lifted it over his head, and ran straight for Thorne. The clan leader’s movement was barely perceptible but seconds later, the marrower stopped in his tracks and dropped the post. He crumpled to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and Thorne’s dagger glinted from where it was buried in the marrower’s throat.

“Try to keep them from damaging more of the humans’ property,” Thorne drawled as he went to retrieve his weapon. “We have an agreement to honor with them.”

I turned back to the guy who had been on me, only to find him on hands and knees, gasping for breath. He held up a palm in a clear stop motion as I approached.

“Please…” he wheezed. “I…I don’t know…where I am…”

I crouched low on my haunches. “Look up. Let me see your eyes.”

He glanced up, teeth chattering like he was freezing. His pupils were more pronounced now, as they should have been. As if on reflex, he wiped under his eyes at the yellow goop leaking from them. He stared at his fingers, brow creasing in a frown.

“What…happened to me? Where am I?”

“You’re going to be okay,” I told him in my most calming tone. “Looks like you’re coming down from the drug.”

“Drug? What?” His frown deepened like he was trying to concentrate. “Did I hurt someone?”

He was covered in blood, the dark redness covering from his tusks and chin to his neck and shirt. In his drugged out haze, he had most definitely hurt someone. Or several someones.

“We’re going to find out what happened to you,” I said. “You will be okay. What’s your name?”

“My name? It’s, uh.” He blinked a few times. “It’s Lore. My name is Lore.”

“Good to meet you, Lore. I’m Cyan.” I offered a hand to help him stand. “You know another marrower named Drace?”

Lore took my hand and the strength I felt as he pulled himself up was unreal. If he really wanted to, he could rip my arm from its socket. “Drace? He’s my cousin. Well,” He tilted his head. “Fourth cousin, or something.”

I nodded, pleased that he sounded lucid. The drug may have had a weaker effect on him due to his size. With a quick glance around, I noted that the rest of the marrowers were now knocked out, dead, or tied up to keep subdued.

Bracing myself with a breath, I asked Lore, “Do you recognize any of the other marrowers here? Are they…family, acquaintances?”

“I…I don’t think so. Fuck, I’m so thirsty.” He rubbed his throat and started to turn around with a bewildered expression. “What is this place? How did I get here?”

“Let me take you to my clan leader,” I said. “He’ll explain, and then we’ll get you hooked up with some marrow and blood. Sound good?”

“Okay.” Lore looked apprehensive, if even scared. I couldn’t say I blamed him.

After making introductions between Lore and Thorne, I ran to the cellar doors and pounded on them like it had been weeks since I’d seen Tavi and not just a few hours. “It’s me, Cyan. It’s safe to come out now.”

It felt like an eternity before those doors parted and I found myself staring at the older human woman, Robin, plus a lot of other fear-stricken faces. None of them were Tavi’s.

“Where is she?” I barely stifled my growl.

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