Page 13 of The Labyrinth

I was a wreck. “Of course I’m listening,” I snapped. “Now tell me what we’ve done about it.”

Griffin rolled his eyes as he held open the door, and we both stepped out into the night air. “You know you get first dibs at her, right? You might as well take advantage. Who knows what the first one to get their hands on her will do. She’s pretty.”

“I don’t want her,” I snarled, even as my heart beat a quicker tempo, thundering a rhythm to drown out the lies spilling off my tongue. “What have we done about them?”

He pointed up to the rooftops as we passed. “We’ve set up patrols on the major intersections for the time being. They’ll run in twelve hour shifts overnight. The rest of the men know to listen for the signal, and understand they might be called at any moment.”

My attention drifted from the patrols on the rooftops, to the well-maintained grass that covered the roads we walked through. I couldn’t stop thinking about Rissa, throwing me a glare when I tried to stop her from feeling it beneath her feet. I wondered what made me as happy as the grass made her. Had anythingevermade me that happy? I shook my head. Rissa was in the camps now, and I had important things to stay focused on. “And we’re sure it’s the Ravens?”

Griffin nodded. “Positive. They left their calling card.” He tipped his head toward the building we walked past, where in the dim light I could just make out the rough painting of a feather scrawled across the windows.

“Fuck’s sake,” I grumbled. “I thought they learned their lesson the last time.”

“Guess not. But after the skirmish with the Hell Skulls, we’re really not ready to take them on full force. They know it, too. They’re toying with us.”

It was a tale as old as time. The city was well developed, teeming with animal and plant life. It was green, it was rich, and it was abundant. For years everyone was content, but eventually resentment grew. They wanted different things. Different priorities. Some wanted to enslaveallthe humans. Some wanted to eat them. Some of us still had morals. So eventually, the different groups broke off, scattering across the city in different gangs.

We still held the city in its entirety. But the further you got from the city proper—what we called Solaris—the rougher it got. It was harder and harder to maintain control when the gangs were growing bigger and more confident with each passing day. The Eternals were the least of our problems. They just wanted to be left alone without outside influence, and kept to the shadows of the mountains. The Hell Skulls just wanted to fight, were disorganized and spread out. The Ravens were the worst of all. They felt like their place on this earth was divinely ordained, and every other creature was put here to serve them. Including others of their kind.

Under them, the city wouldn’t last a week. But they were growing bolder, and our own people were growing weary. It had been nonstop for the last few years, and I knew my people were desperate for a break. I wished I could’ve given it to them.

“Keep the patrols up, and send a scouting party of the half-humans out to see if we can find where they’re holed up. Maybe we can bring the fight to them, and scare them back to whatever corner they crawled out of.” The last time the Ravens attacked, they targeted our camps. We lost a lot of our human men and women that night, and the ones that remained were traumatized by what they had seen—even more so than their normal levels. The Ravens were something else.

Griffin nodded. “I’ll get them on that in the morning.”

But now Rissa was in the camp. What if they attacked while she was in there? Shit. My tongue felt thick in my mouth as I tried to distract myself. She would be fine. She could take care of herself. Besides, did I even care?Of course I did.Because the poisonous flower that had taken root in my heart had spread, infecting parts of my brain I did my best to ignore. I had a city to take care of. I couldn’t afford to be distracted.But what if…

“Do it tonight. We can’t afford to lose a minute.”

“Yes, sir.” Griffin looked startled at my reaction, and I realized it was too late. I was already distracted. “I can head back alone if you want to go back and work some of this out of your system…”

“I’mfine,” I gritted out between clenched teeth.Lie. Lie. Lie.How many lies could I tell before it became natural, second nature? Because I had told more lies since meeting Rissa than I had in my entire life. And if Griffin wasn’t careful, I was going to bite his fucking head off.

He took a step backward, giving me space. “Sorry. Sorry. I’ll stop. I just thought…”

“You thought wrong. Drop it.” My chest was a piano string, ready to snap under the slightest pressure.

Afterward, we walked in silence. But just because we were quiet didn’t mean my mind was. My footsteps kept time with the thoughts racing through my brain.Had she ever had one of us before? Had she ever thought about it?I wanted to be the first, and if I were truly honest, the only.She better not have had one of us before. I was going to destroy her tight little cunt.

Was she thinking of me?

I was being ridiculous. Rissa was beautiful, and I was…me.

You’re. Losing. Your. Mind. No fucking shit.

Griffin and I approached an intersection, the grass between the buildings dotted with daisies. “I’ll head to the barracks. You still good to run the show tomorrow?” he asked.

“Never better.” Fuck Griffin and the meeting tomorrow. Fuck the Ravens. Fuck everything keeping my brain from thinking what it wanted to think about.Rissa. I turned and, without another word, headed down the street toward my house that I knew would be blissfully silent, waiting for me.

It didn’t take long before I arrived, unlocked the door and slammed it shut behind me. Finally. Peace.

Except apparently my mind hadn’t gotten the memo.

Rissa was alive, clinging to every inch of my brain. I craved to make her submit. I was desperate to make her scream. I needed to clear my head of her, to get rid of her once and for all. I stormed across the hall, my feet smashing against the cool marble. I ignored the bare walls, the ornate details of the railings as I thundered up the stairs. I wasn’t fast enough to evade my thoughts though.

What was wrong with me? I had spent decades taking women and men to the camps. I had done my time breeding them, showing my people how things should be done. I had done what I was supposed to. I had lived up to expectations. And now, all of it seemed worthless because of one woman with piercing eyes, and an attitude begging to be tamed.

I threw my bedroom door open, the antique wood cracking and shattering as it smashed against the wall. Fuck it. I hated that door anyway. It was time for a change. I sought shelter in my bathroom, the dark walls comforting, the oversized shower calling my name.

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