Blood Instinct (13 page)

‘
P
laigars
,’ Corbin said, handing Jask the piece of paper that showed Leila’s drawing and her instructions for how to tackle them. ‘It’s the closest match I could find.’

He handed Jask the sword and sheath, which Jask secured to his back, buckling it up at his chest.

Jask tucked the piece of paper in his back pocket before he followed Corbin, hoisting himself up onto the bin and using it as leverage up onto the windowsill that would enable him to shimmy up the pipework to the next ledge.

Back to the wall, he made his way around onto the flat roof, landing with silence behind his beta.

He nodded a greeting at Sorran and Elias, also waiting on the roof.

Lying flat on his stomach beside Corbin, Jask looked through the grimy window. He could make out little apart from the glint of the chrome units that dominated the office block’s industrial kitchen.

He glanced across at Corbin, who held his index finger upwards, Jask subsequently tilting his head to check out the ceiling.

They hung like bats, their proportionally too-long arms dangling as if they were nothing more than corpses tied to the ceiling by their ankles. But as Jask narrowed his eyes, as he stared from as close to the glass as he dared, he saw there was nothing holding them in position. Instead their bare, three-toed feet were flat to the ceiling.

Their thighs were chunky and muscular, their wasp-like waists again looking disproportionate compared to their almost-rotund upper torsos – which mirrored their bald heads. From what he could see, they were bald all over, their skin a tan-like hue the equivalent of sun-dried leather.

There were nine of them in total – silent, perfectly still, hopefully oblivious.

‘What do you want to do?’ Corbin whispered.

‘Four of us – that makes two each and one up for grabs.’

‘Severing upper body from lower body isn’t going to be easy from where they’re at. And we’ll have to be quick. They’re runners apparently. Fast runners. Ceilings, walls, floors. They’ve got little suckers on their feet, so severing them at the ankles will help ground them.’

‘How do they kill?’

‘That’s the complication. Their teeth are pin-like darts that they like to spit out to paralyse their prey. Get four or five of those in you and you’re going down.’

‘And then what?’

‘They have a cylindrical tongue that will suck every last bit of fluid out of you.’

Jask looked back up at the ceiling before scanning the room. The kitchen units would help. They could get close enough to at least three, but that was still going to require some fairly quick reaction times to take down the other five.

‘You sure you want to do this?’ Corbin asked.

‘We get them now or we could lose them. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not too keen on waking up to see one of those hanging from my ceiling.’

Corbin cast him a fleeting smile. Jask stood, his beta then leading the way.

Whilst scoping out the building before Jask’s arrival, Corbin had found a back way in. He led them down a couple more ledges and pipes until they reached the ajar fire exit.

As soon as he was inside the building, Jask drew his sword from the sheath, it now making sense why Corbin had armed him with one. Sorran and Elias followed suit, padding silently behind them.

Once inside, Jask motioned for the three of them to head to the highest units within the closest distance of three of the plaigars, then hoisted himself up onto the worktop, stepping over the hob before using one of the fixed shelves as leverage onto the fridge. He crouched on top of it, eight feet away from his chosen first.

Its lipless mouth and bulbous lids were closed; its flat nostrils sealed by flaps of skin that slid back and forth like an automatic door.

Sword poised, Jask glanced around the room, ensuring the rest of his pack were in position. They each gave a nod in succession, their swords ready. They were all within easy swinging distance of theirs, but he knew his was going to involve a leap.

He fixed his attention on the wasp-like waist. He held up his hand and counted down five digits, each of the lycans tensing in preparation in his peripheral vision.

And then he leapt.

The first four went down easy, their upper bodies disconnecting effortlessly before slumping with a squelch to the floor, steaming entrails falling from the midriff left dangling before the lower part of the body eventually fell too.

Jask landed nimbly on the floor, ready for his second target.

The high-pitched screams that followed nearly burst his sensitive eardrums; he had no option but to slam the heels of his hands over his ears to protect himself from the deafening noise, the other three copying him.

The figures were a blur, running in all directions across the ceiling and down the walls. He felt the first dart on the back of his neck, the second on his thigh.

A split second later, the screaming stopped, allowing the lycans’ regular training game on the pitch to come into play.

They each picked a target, quickly reclaiming the role of predator and putting the plaigars at a disadvantage.

Jask kept his eye on two of them, not unlike the game he played out on the field – two balls to monitor while he dodged the opposition and tried to avoid hurtling into members of his own team.

They grabbed whatever implements they could in their wake – trays and lids and plates – to fend off the darts. They leapt over units, using the walls as momentum builders the same way the plaigars did.

As his second plaigar neared the ceiling, Jask was fast behind him, eight feet up until he used gravity to help him flip backwards, the wall his springboard as he sliced his sword clean through the plaigar’s midriff before landing nimbly on his feet again.

Corbin took his second down too, managing to cut clean through its ankles mid-descent before slicing through its torso.

Jask spun around as he felt the third one close in behind him. Adrenaline pumping, he took its head clean off without hesitation.

But it wasn’t enough. Even as the plaigar lay in a clump on the floor, he severed it at its waist before slicing through it again and again, his muscles, his veins, burning under the force he wielded.

‘Jask!’ Corbin looped an arm around his chest, pulling him back. ‘Take it easy. It’s dead, okay? It’s dead.’

Jask wiped the blood from his face. He rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth. He surveyed the room as Sorran and Elias looked on, their eyes laced with concern, their wary stances reflecting their unease.

Jask stared back down at the remnants of the plaigar’s bloodied corpse as if it was someone else’s massacre. He reached up for Corbin’s arm, prising it away from him as his beta signalled the other lycans to leave them be.

‘You alright, Jask?’ he asked once they were alone, his voice low, his frown deep, hands low on his hips.

‘Yeah,’ Jask said, despite it being far from the truth.

Working his way along the worktops, Jask tried a few of the taps before finally finding one that offered a flow. He rinsed his hands clean of the creature’s blood before clutching the edge of the sink.

‘You don’t look alright to me.’

‘I said yes,’ Jask repeated curtly as he shot Corbin a glare.

Corbin raised his eyebrows before folding his arms. ‘You want to tell that to your tone of voice? You know why I’m asking. That was some fairly brutal action just then.’

‘You know how I fight.’

‘Yes – swiftly, effectively and fairly. It was already dead three minutes ago. What other symptoms do you have, Jask?’

He held his beta’s gaze, uncertain how he could broach it without panicking him. But Corbin knew him too well.

‘I’ve had some involuntary talon extension. Some minor tremors when my negative emotions are heightened.’

Corbin’s eyes flashed with concern. ‘So soon? Jask, of all of us—’

‘I know how it works, Corbin,’ Jask snapped.

Corbin stepped closer, his brow furrowed. He leaned back against the sink. ‘What’s going on? What are you not telling me?’

Jask turned his back on the sink and leaned against it, mirroring his beta. ‘I’ve had a couple of moments with Phia too. I had one before coming out here.’

The concern in Corbin’s eyes escalated. ‘What have you done?’

‘I haven’t hurt her – not that she’s owning up to anyway. But I phased out both times.’

‘Jask, I’m not liking the sound of this. If you lost it for even a single moment… She’s only human. She’s not like our own…’

Jask met his beta’s gaze again. ‘I’m more than aware of the risks.’

‘Then distance yourself. Now. Let this blue moon pass. You know it’ll ease after that.’

And therein was the suspicion that niggled.

‘I’m not so sure it
is
going to ease, Corbin.’ He knew he needed to say it. He needed to voice it. ‘I’m not convinced it’s lunar dependent.’ He hesitated. ‘I think it might be her.’

Corbin frowned again, seemingly trying to follow his alpha’s train of thought.

‘I think it might be the serryn,’ Jask clarified. ‘I think the serryn in her triggers the lycan in me.’ He paused. ‘The alpha in me.’

Corbin continued to study his gaze pensively.

‘I’ve never had this before, Corbin. Blue moon or not, late dose or not, there’s more to this – and there’s only one variable in the equation. As if that’s not bad enough, I’m starting to wonder if the lycan in me is triggering the serryn in her.’

Corbin rubbed his jaw. He didn’t need to say anything to show he understood the implications. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Is she aware of this?’

‘She’s bound to suspect something. According to Leila, it’s only going to get worse. It’s been less than seven days, Corbin. Phia’s not even on the cusp of her serryn capability yet.’

Corbin folded his arms and lowered his head. ‘Jask, if you
do
hurt her, you know what it will do to you.’ He met his gaze again. ‘We both know what it will do to you. And we can’t risk losing you. Not again. Not now. Your pack needs you.’

‘So does she.’

Corbin looked up at the ceiling with a sigh, his pensive gaze lingering. ‘Okay,’ he said resolutely. ‘Let this blue moon pass first. We’re going to have to find somewhere else to put her until then.’

‘At this crucial time? With Caleb out there? No. She’s safer with me than anyone else.’

‘If you’re right, you know as well as I do that she’s in as much danger with you as she is with him. I can’t hear this and not act upon it.’

Jask knew he needed to confide in someone. That Corbin needed to know – deserved to know – the whole truth.

‘There’s something else you need to know.’

Because he needed to tell someone. Despite his promise to Sophia to push it aside, it hadn’t left his mind since their last encounter.

‘When I followed the sisters out of the meeting this morning, I found something out,’ Jask told him. It stuck in his throat; it felt like a betrayal uttering it. ‘Leila knows a way to remove Phia’s serrynity.’

‘
Remove
it?’

‘Phia wasn’t born a serryn so the usual rules don’t apply apparently. A spell can be performed by the serryn from whom it jumped.’

Corbin’s eyes widened. ‘We could eliminate the serryn? But that means we could stop Caleb rising. Or at least fuck up their guaranteed win.’

‘Yes.’

Corbin pushed himself away from the counter. He stood upright to face Jask square on. ‘But that’s great news.’

‘It could be – if I didn’t have to tell Caleb that in order to get what we need.’

Corbin’s brows furrowed again. ‘Which is?’

‘Three things in his possession, two of which we would need his cooperation to get our hands on. It’s part of the reason Leila is so vehement about getting back to him. She’s saying she’s the only one who can persuade him to hand over what we need. But there’s no way he’s going to hand those things over without knowing why –
if
he’s even got them in the first place.’

‘So you don’t know if he has?’

‘No. That’s why Phia is so reluctant to send Leila in. Besides, even if he does have what we need, I’m not as convinced as Leila is that she can persuade him to hand it over. For all he knows, Leila is double-crossing him. It would take one hell of a fucking leap of faith on his part. We already have the obstacle to overcome of him believing Leila went to the TSCD.’

‘So could one of us go in there instead? Maybe Kane?’

‘He’s not going to trust any of us. Anyway, she’s put her foot down over it, especially as there’s a small chance it’ll reattach itself to Leila if she performs the spell.’

‘Leila could become the serryn again?’

‘And if Caleb gets even a hint of that, there’s even less chance of him letting her walk back out of there again.’

‘But, Jask, this might not only stop the prophecy – it might be the only way of helping you and Phia. There’s got to be a way around this.’

Jask rested one hand low on his hip and raked the other back through his hair as he walked away. He turned to face his beta – his friend. ‘Even if we could get what we need, I’d have to do it without Phia’s consent. I’d never get her trust back, Corbin. So what choice do I have?’

S
ophia stood
at the end of the corridor, watching Alisha with the others as they threaded various herbs onto string or into prepared pouches. There was no sign of Leila and Jask wasn’t back yet either.

She rubbed the back of her neck, the embarrassment of even thinking about discussing her problem breaking her out in a sweat. But she needed to talk to someone. She needed her sisters – except Leila was out of the question.

She thought about backtracking, but Alisha looked up. Putting whatever she was doing down, she headed straight over.

‘Where’s Leila?’ Sophia asked.

‘She was helping out with something. I haven’t seen her in a while. Are you okay, Soph? You don’t look good.’

‘Can we talk?’ she asked before she lost her nerve.

Alisha nodded, picking up on the urgency of it. ‘Sure.’

‘But I want to keep it between us.’