Page 35 of Mated By the Pack
“Gunshots,” Fiona whimpers. “Do you think it’s the slavers? What if it’s Frank?”
“If it’s Frank, we’re fucked,” Brenna says. “But I’m not letting them take me without a fight.”
“I’m not going back in a cage,” Tansy sniffles, her eyes dry, despite the fear in her voice. “Never again. They’ll have to kill me first.”
“They might do a lot worse than kill us,” Nara says hesitantly.
“We should keep moving,” I say, motioning for them to follow me. “Once they deal with whatever they’ve run into, they’ll be coming for us.”
We’ve eaten what we can and gathered some fruit to take with us. We don’t have anything to hold water. The fruit will keep us going for a while, but I’m not sure it’s enough to get us home. I’m not even sure where home is. Not really. I think we’re still moving in the right direction, but without the stars, I might as well be navigating blind.The blind leading the blind.I never really understood that old saying until now.
We go in the opposite direction of the noise. The same direction we were headed before we found the oasis. I let out a half-sigh of relief when an hour passes, and nothing seems to be chasing us. Nothing we can hear, at least.
I haven’t had much time to think about the dream I had last night. Nara needed me as soon as I woke up and then we were too busy trying to survive. But was itactuallya dream, or some kind of twisted vision? The Aether. The heat storms. The onyx wolf that turned into a man.
It felt too vivid to be just a dream. I could feel the heat searing my skin. Taste the ash and ruin in the wind. And his eyes—those gold eyes—they’ve stayed with me. I can picture them perfectly if I close my eyes, even for a moment.
He said he didn’t live long enough to claim me, but his brothers would.
I’m not even sure whathewas. A wolf? A man? A ghostly memory, woven into The Aether? Maybe all three.
The hybrids we learned about in school were like Frank. Sort of. I pictured them being more animalistic. Minimal intelligence, driven by instinct, and certainly not able to have a conversation with me. Or hide so much pain behind slitted emerald eyes.
But I’ve never heard about any kind of hybrid that canshiftlike the wolf did.
Or make something strange and confusing clench my core.
“It’s been quiet for a while, Nurse Calla,” Fiona whispers, looking around as we continue our trek. “If it wasn’t so scary, this place would be kind of pretty, don’t you think? There’s nothing like this is Haven North.”
There’s so much innocence in Fiona. She’s a woman, but she hasn’t exhaled her last breath of childhood. Not yet. Everyone is like that, right before they learn their assigned path and start college. That’s when the supplements kick in, and everything is a little quieter. A little easier.
Fiona went from fearing the needle to seeing horrors the supplements would have never been strong enough to stifle. And still, somehow, her innocence persists. Even when she limps or groans from the spanking she got. Thank goodness that was the worst of it.
“We’re lost in the fucking woods, Fiona,” Brenna sighs, shaking her head and stabbing her stick into a tree we walk past. “There’s nothingprettyabout it. Still, it’s better than where I’m headed when we get home.”
Brenna’s path is different. Unassigned. The last breath of childhood kicked out so fast you barely remember what it tasted like. Torn from your guardian and shoved into the Lower District. Half-rations, dirty water, and despair. Most people inHaven North don’t think about the Unassigned. They’re not worth remembering. Not when they have no purpose.
That’s never sat right in my stomach, even when I was properly regulated. We treated Unassigned sometimes, when the Lower District’s clinic overflowed, or they needed more care than a clinic can provide.
What makes Brenna any less worthy than the rest of us? Sure, she may not be able to learn medicine or teach, according to her aptitude scores, but I’d certainly rather have her by my side than a lot of people I’ve met in Haven North. Couldn’t she still… learn?
“Um, I think that tree just growled at me!” Tansy shrieks, jumping back and nearly sending Nara to the ground.
“Ah, damn it!” Nara gasps, grabbing at her ribs and catching herself on Fiona’s shoulder. “They growl, yeah. I’ve heard it, too.”
“Everything is okay.” I steady Nara, then turn to Tansy. “There are lots of scary things out here. We’re trying our best to avoid them.”
I glance at the tree that supposedly growled and take a step toward it to investigate. I stop in my tracks when roots tear from the earth and the tree takes a step backwards.
“What the fuck?” Brenna asks, aiming her stick at the tree.
I tilt my head slightly, then I feel the pulse on my wrist change. The bracelet is no longer in tune with my body. Tendrils reach toward the tree, and I walk closer. It trembles, roots shaking at my feet.
Then it speaks, its bark moving as it does. “I… I’m sorry,” it says in a voice that rattles the ground and makes the air shudder. “Please forgive me.”
I swallow hard and look back at everyone else, thinking the fruit we ate earlier is causing me to hallucinate. The look on their faces confirms they’re seeing it too—and hearing it. I turn to the tree and glance at my bracelet, seeing tendrils fluttering from the braided vine.
“It’s okay,” I call out. I’m talking to a tree, but after some of the things we’ve seen, I guess this isn’t that unusual in The Tangle. “You just scared her, that’s all.”
