Page 33 of Mated in Flames

I can’t believe this has happened. We’ve been so careful!

Then I pause. No… we haven’t. Or, rather, I haven’t. I dragged Dane into that fight with the poachers and got him killed, which forced him to rejuvenate. I took Luciana to the hill and showed her my wings in the open. I took her flying.

If either of them has found us, it’s likely my fault.

“What do we do now?” Luciana asks. “Do you know where they could be?”

“They wouldn’t have gone far,” I say. “It’s dangerous to transport a phoenix for any length of time. If Dane builds up enough heat, which we can do if we have around two hours of uninterrupted time, he could burn them all to a crisp in an inferno. But both the Hunters and the Supernaturals know this. The Hunters would have shot him the moment he was forced into the car, and they would just be transporting his body by now.”

Luciana pales at this.

“And the Supernaturals?” she asks, not sounding like she really wanted to know the answer.

I grimace.

“They would have travelled as far away as they could get and started the process to bring him under their control as soon as possible,” I say. I shake my head when she opens her mouth, anticipating her next question. “Don’t ask… I honestly don’t know what they do.”

I look out the window. The fact that there hasn’t been a massive fire nearby is an indication, to me, that Dane has not been able to fight back.

There’s a chance that I’ve already lost my brother.

The thought horrifies and infuriates me in equal measure. If I had just listened to Dane and been a little less reckless…

“I’m sorry,” Luciana says.

I pause.

“What for?” I ask, puzzled.

“If it wasn’t for me, the two of you would probably be safe,” Luciana says with a sigh. “But, because the two of you tried to help me, and because you and I became close, now the two of you are in danger.”

A different sort of horror overtakes me. I reach out and put my hands on her shoulders in a firm grip.

“This is not your fault,” I say firmly. “Not at all. Our actions were our own. I was the one who wasn’t careful enough. I knew the risks and I ignored them. Don’t blame yourself for this.”

Luciana grimaces, evidently not fully agreeing with me, but she nods.

“What’s the plan, then?” she asks, straightening. “Did you guys ever speak about what to do if you were found?”

“Honestly, most of our plans revolved around running as quickly as we could,” I confess. “The last thing either of us wanted to do was stick around.”

“But did you ever talk about what to do if one of you was captured?” Luciana asks persistently.

I close my eyes. I don’t want to say that we did, once, if only because I didn’t want to voice the conclusion we came to. But Luciana is looking at me expectantly, full of faith that there would be something we could do. She isn’t like us. She’s never had to live with the ongoing terror of being hunted down like animals just because she wasn’t human. She’s never had to make the hard decisions we have had to, or speak about what we would do in the terrible possibility that the Supernaturals or Hunters found us.

She’s never had to leave someone behind out of fear of being next, and being powerless to stop it.

“We did… once,” I finally say reluctantly. “We only had one solid plan.” I look her in the eyes. “Run.”

Her eyes widen. I see the moment that she understands. If one of us was ever captured, there’s no sense in them getting both of us. If the Hunters have Dane, he’s already dead, and searching for him now is pointless. If the Supernaturals have him, then it’s even more dangerous to stick around, because Dane would become a weapon that would be used to either kill me or capture me as well.

By the terms of our agreement, on that dark night so many years ago, I should already be gone. I shouldn’t be hesitating. By now, my car should be packed with essentials and I should already be on my way, heading somewhere that I can’t be found.

But I can’t make my feet move to do what we agreed on.

Dane is all I’ve had in this world. It’s just been him and me since that night the rest of our family was taken. We’ve done everything together. The idea of actually abandoning him in order to save myself makes me feel sick.

Before Luciana, I probably wouldn’t have thought anything of going after Dane straight away; even if I was killed or captured, at least I would be with him and I wouldn’t be left alone. But now I do have Luciana.

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