Markings (24 page)

Senneth backed up, kicking his feet like a rhino. He seemed even bigger now that I wasn’t a feline. I tried to get up, but my shoulder wouldn’t let me. My right hand and foot had been crushed, causing more flames to go through me. I sunk down. Tears filled my eyes.
He’s going to kill me
. I tried to summon the fury, the determination that had fueled my first shift just minutes ago, but couldn’t find it. I was as human as ever. Just as Senneth pushed off his back feet, a lioness roar filled our ears. He slid to a halt, the Iew Keftey bolting in every direction.

Wildcats poured out of the mansion, plowing through the wolves in a mix of spots and stripes. Howls and cries were emitted as the pack split, many fighting while others tried to escape. Out of the crowd roared a snow leopard, bouncing straight for Senneth. He threw up his paws just as she did. They collided, rolling to the ground. Her size rivaled his, her coat reeking of Juicy Couture perfume.

I cracked a smile.
Trinity
. More skilled than me, all it took was an agile dart to the side and a swipe to knock him over. Weighing him down with her body, she shoved her paws into his throat. He thrashed beneath her then slowly went still. He withered into a furry ball before reshaping into his human self.

Getting up, Trinity ran to my side. A little gasp echoed out of her throat. “Grab onto me,” she ordered. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

“Get Aaron first,” I said.

“Tom’s on it.” She laid beside me, coat sponging up my blood. “Lina, we have to go now. Grab on, or I’m going to drag you like a kitten by the scruff!”

I couldn’t argue. Grabbing a wad of her shoulder fur, I slugged onto her back, cringing and gasping. My shoulder wound bled harder.

A cheetah and panther clawed their way through the battle, coming up beside us. “Joey and Jace are on my heels,” Nate shouted, hackles up. “We’ve got your back, Trin. It’s now or never.”

“Hold on tight, Lina,” Trinity said.

I squeezed my eyes shut as three of my best friends aimed for the mansion doors. Despite the sounds of triumph and agony all around, I refused to open them. Bodies bumped my ankles; limbs slapped my legs and arms. A couple times I swear I felt hot breath, like I was about to get a bite taken out of me, but the current pain never intensified. I clung to Trinity’s slippery back, bouncing as she weaved her way out. The musty air of the mansion hit my nose. There was a squeaking of doors then suddenly the battle cries dulled. I heard paws prance beside us. The noise began to fade.

I opened my eyes, staring at the golden grass as it passed Trinity’s paws. Lifting my head, a forest loomed up ahead of us, the mansion growing smaller behind. A slew of wildcats followed us, all with varying degrees of injury. I couldn’t make out a lion carrying a boy anywhere.

“Trinity?” I dropped my head back between her shoulders.

“Lina?”

“Are we—did we make it?”

“We made it.” She didn’t sound like this was a victory.

“Did we
all
make it?”

“. . . I don’t know yet.”

My stomach turned. I closed my eyes again, thinking I might throw up this time. I waited a few minutes for the feeling to pass, and when it left I nearly started crying again. “Are we safe now?”

“You’re safe. For now.”

Chapter 26: Just the Beginning

S
hould we try to wake her up?”

“No. Let her sleep.”

“But she’s been doing that for
three days.
”

“Um, is she your daughter? No, she’s not. I say let her be.”

Someone sighed. “Sorry, Momma. I’m just worried.”

“We’re all worried, Kat. Trust me. We’re all worried.”

Footsteps clacked across the floor. “Jeez, look at them out there. Lina’s inherited an entire
squad
. They’re taking up the whole waiting room.”

“Just keep an eye out for her father, okay? Not that I think he’ll show up—God help me if he does—but I’d like a heads-up.”

“I don’t see him. Why do you think he’d show after all this time? Did it say something in the letter?”

“No, but even as a normal person I know what happens when an Alpha shifts for the first time. There isn’t a single Miew in the western territories that doesn’t know her face now. I don’t need to make a phone call for Alex to know his daughter’s rising.”

“That’s weird how they’re all connected like that. So what if they’re like, from another clan and they join hers? Do they still feel her energy, too?”

“Alex told me all the Miews of the world are connected. You leave one territory and join another, you’ll still know when there is rule over a land, and the tighter knit to other clan members you are the harder an Alpha’s energy hits . . . I don’t know. Personally I find it all a bit confusing and unrealistic, but, hey, I’m not God. I don’t make the rules.”

“Karen . . . I think she just moved.”

The voices stopped.

I groaned, opening my eyes. Sunlight peeked through the cracks in the blinds, brightening the small room. I blinked at the floral wallpaper, the rows of cupboards across from me. A plasma-screen TV hung from the ceiling.

Mom stared down at me, sitting beside my bed. The skin around her eyes was red and puffy, her hair slung up in a messy bun. She leaned forward, brushing my bangs to the side. “Hi, honey,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

“Mom,” I croaked. “Where am I?”

“The hospital just outside town.” She sniffled, eyes watering. A tear slid down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away.

Hospital? What was I in a hospital for? I went to sit up, but one of my hands wasn’t working. Pulling it from the blankets, I saw bandages around my wrist and three of my fingers. I had a similar problem with my shoulder and foot.

Kat hopped up and sat on the counter. Her curls had morphed into a Kat-fro, a sign she hadn’t had a shower in a day or two. Dark lines curved around her eyes. “Lina, what happened?” she asked.

“I . . .” I was about to tell her I didn’t know, and then I remembered the Iew Keftey. Fragments of Senneth and his monsters came back to me, then memories of terrible pain and blood, of wildcats bursting out of a mansion.

Of me, a giant cougar with a ghostly coat.

“Where’s Aaron?” I asked.

Kat and Mom glanced at each other. “He’s . . .” Mom trailed off.

“Where?” I demanded.

“He hasn’t woken up yet,” Kat muttered. “You’ve both been asleep since arrival. It’s been about three days.”

“Is he . . . he’s okay, isn’t he?”

“He’s beat up pretty badly, honey,” Mom said. I didn’t like her tone. It was the tone she used when I was a little kid and I’d asked her where my cat, Monty, had disappeared to. He’d been hit by a car while I was at school.

I swallowed, a lump in my throat. “What happened to him?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t there.” Mom shrugged, brushing more tears off.

“Where’s Trinity then?” I had to find someone that knew, someone who could tell me how he’d ended up a prisoner of the Keftey, and how he got so injured. Someone who could tell me the rest of the details of the mansion battle.

“She’s in the waiting room with the rest of the group.”

“Group?”

“Yes. I guess the band of wildcats that saved you were from border patrol, or something like that. Warriors out looking for you when you went missing.” Mom picked at my hair, which looked even whiter than before. She kept staring at my eyes, too, like there was something wrong with them. “So I guess you’re one of them now.”

Lump in throat getting bigger. “I guess so.”

“I would tell you to never scare me like that again, but I have a feeling this is just one of many incidents to come.” Her voice cracked. “Damn your father for doing this to you. If I’d have known this was going to happen, I—”

“You’d what, Mom? Decided to never have had me?” I snapped.

“That was not what I was going to say,” she snapped back. “If I’d have known this was going to happen, I would’ve prepared you. I would’ve prepared me. I’d have made your father teach us more so that maybe
this,
”—she gestured to the hospital room—“was less likely to happen.”

The last thing I wanted to talk about was how stupid Alex Bayberry had been. Again. “What room is Aaron in?” I threw the blankets back. An IV was attached to my wrist, along with a hospital admittance bracelet. I started pulling the tape off the IV.

“Lina, don’t! You’re not leaving this room until the nurse says so.” Mom reached for my hand, trying to stop me.

I glared at her. It ended up being a deadlier look then I’d meant, and it was enough to make her sit back. I ripped the rest of the tape off then pulled the needle out. Compared to the inferno I’d felt in the courtyard, the little needle was nothing. Blood bubbled out, and the machine I’d been hooked up to started beeping.

Mom pulled a wad of Kleenex out of her purse and slapped it to my wrist. She was staring again, so I finally said, “Is there something wrong with my eyes?”

“No,” she whispered. “I’m just going to have to get used to them.”

“Get used to what?” Oh no. If one of those damn Keftey scarred my face, I swear!

Kat said, “Let’s just say your first shift has you looking a bit different these days.”

Mom dug in her purse, then handed me her pocket mirror.

I jumped as I saw the girl looking back at me, her hazel eyes gleaming with hints of gold. I had rims now, just like some of the other Shifters. There was almost no difference now between me and Celine Marie. I thought of her in the portrait, riding on the back of that white wolf. She had been an Alpha, too.

I jammed the mirror back in Mom’s hands then tossed my legs off the bed. I gasped as a shooting pain went through my wrapped foot. Mom stood up, steadying me. “I really don’t think you should be doing this.”

“I know,” I said, but didn’t sit down.

Kat handed me a pair of crutches. With both of them at my sides, I limped to the door. The halls smelled of antiseptic. Mom aimed me to the left. A few paces down, I picked up on more scents, ones not native to the hospital. A space opened up on my right: the waiting room.

Every couch and chair had been filled. The clan members perked up as they saw me, each with their own set of battle scars. The head of border patrol, Dena, leaned forward in her chair. She had new arm wounds to add to her old.

Trinity, Tom, Alison, and Nate shared the couch nearest to me. Tom carried a few bite marks on his arms and a fat lip, both nothing severe. Alison’s jaw had been badly bruised, bandage around her foot, too. Her arms held tight around Nate, who leaned against her. The pair seemed miserable, and when Nate turned his head I saw it: a patch laid over his right eye.

I pressed a hand to my chest. A lead weight seemed to have dropped on it. How do you deal with this kind of situation? How can you look at a room full of people who’ve suffered minor and massive injuries to save your life?
Thank you
was nowhere near enough.

Trinity, who also had minor injuries, stood up. “You’re awake!” She smiled, trying to hug me without squeezing too hard.

I hugged her back, but nearly told her to quit smiling. This room was not a place to be smiling in. As clan members started falling out of their chairs onto their knees, I said, “You guys, don’t. You don’t kneel to me.”

“Yes, we do,” Dena said. It didn’t sound negotiable.

A growl rumbled in my throat. Mom and Kat twitched at the sound. “No,” I stated. “You do not. Not after what you did for me. That’s good enough for a lifetime of not dropping to your knees when I walk into a room.”

Dena lifted her eyebrows then slid back into her chair. The others followed suit, unsure as they glanced between their border leader and me. Nobody said anything. I realized they were waiting for me to speak. I took a breath. This was my chance to analyze.

“How many went to the mansion to get me?” I asked.

“Sixty-three,” Dena replied. “All teams nearest to the coast border that picked up Aaron’s scent, then yours. Once you shifted, we knew where you were.”

“And how many came out?”

She hesitated. “Forty-one.” Almost everybody flinched at her answer.

More weight fell on my chest. I faced a moment of nausea. “Is Raja at Home Base?”

“With the rest of the clan, trying to keep everybody calm.” Tom answered this time. “Though he was here earlier to check on your progress.”

“Dena,” I said. “You will send your fastest and least injured warrior Home. He or she will tell Raja I’m awake, and to start prepping for a gathering—
not
in the field. Underground. We’re going to have a ceremony for those who died.”

Dena turned to Jace, who hadn’t looked at me once since I’d arrived. “Jace. Off you go.”

He nodded, still no acknowledgment of my existence. As he got up, I felt a nip of annoyance. I held my arm up. He bumped into it, giving me the wasp-stare. “Just because you don’t have to bow to me,” I said, “that doesn’t mean you’re free to ignore me. Hate me but show respect.”

I waited for him to growl, snarl, blow me off. Instead, his face softened a bit. “As you wish,” he whispered then moved down the hall.

I turned back to the group. “Is Senneth still alive?”

A buff, middle-aged man near Joey said, “No. We creamed him at long last.” The group muttered in agreement, grinning and high-fiving each other. The younger warriors acted more enthused about Senneth’s downfall than the older ones, who barely cracked a smile.

Dena said, “But that doesn’t mean the Iew Keftey are no longer a threat. They’re regrouping. While I haven’t seen or smelled one since his downfall, that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the end of them.”

“Are they still overrunning other states?” I asked.

“I’m guessing so, but I don’t know yet. I’m sending a number of large teams out to patrol the Oregon borders, see who is still trespassing. We’ll dispose of any leftover Keftey that we can—”

“Without risking anymore lives,” I interrupted.

Dena narrowed her eyes. “Forgive me, Alpha, but the war isn’t over. It’s never over.” She addressed the entire group now, not just me. “Nobody should get cocky. Lives will always be at risk until the Keftey get one straight-minded leader, which may never happen. There will never be a night that we are not patrolling, never a day that will be one-hundred percent safe for us. There will be another fight to protect our territory . . . so, dear Alpha, to not risk lives isn’t really an option.”

I frowned, taken aback. I started to think about it, how even though Senneth and Cain had fallen the Iew Keftey still had numbers. I’d seen just as many wolves on the mansion grounds as I had wildcats in Home Base. Plus, there were more of both of us outside Oregon. Fear crept in on me as I realized the pattern might just continue; the pack could get a worse leader than Senneth. Secretly, I’d thought that once he was out of the way things would quiet down and we could stop talking about war, but the more I thought about Dena’s words . . .

I shook my head. It was time for a subject change, especially since I sided with the younger Shifters in thinking Senneth’s downfall should be taken as a victory—not just an invite for new disasters. “Trinity?”

“Yeah?”

“Show me Aaron.”

She stayed on the couch. Her smile had faded. “Are you sure?”

I wasn’t. “Yes.”

She exhaled a loud breath. “Okay. Let’s go.” Getting up, she started down the hall.

“Mom, Kat, you mind if I do this alone?” I asked. They still stood at my side.

Kat looked like she wanted to say something, but Mom put a hand on her arm, shutting her up. “Go ahead, honey,” she said, motioning after Trinity. “Just be prepared, okay?”

A shiver went up my spine. “All right.”

A few doors down from the waiting room, Trinity waited. I limped along, having a hard time with my crutches. My crushed fingers were on the same side as my bad foot, making it hard to hold the crutch. She held the door open for me. I hopped into a room much like mine.

A soft beeping sound echoed from the heart monitor. Aaron lay still in his bed, IV-ed and hooked up to an oxygen tank. His black eyes had turned a mix of purple and yellow, left cheek swollen. He had it all: bandaged fingers, stitched wounds, leg in a cast.

If my chest got any heavier, I wouldn’t be able to breathe. “Oh, God. He’s worse than me.”

“He had some internal injuries, too. A couple broken ribs. The clan has donated some money though, so at least his hospital bill won’t cost George an arm and a leg. We’re going to move him to Home Base tomorrow, to the hospital wing underground.” Trinity sat on the edge of his bed, staring. The color left her face. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m scared.”

“Well, he’ll wake up, right? I woke up. He’s just tired, isn’t he?”

“It’s not the same, Lina. You stirred in your sleep, and you might not remember it but you did wake up and look at us a couple of times.” She bit her lip, eyes glassy. “He hasn’t woken up once. He hasn’t stirred.”

Now I couldn’t breathe. My vision blurred as the tears made another reappearance. “He’s in . . . he’s in a coma. Isn’t he?”

A tear escaped down her cheek. “They, um, they don’t know if he’s going to wake up or not.”

No
. I leaned my crutches against the table and sat beside him. I ran a hand over his hair, then his face. His skin was cool to the touch, not a trace of his usual warmth. My tears started following one after another. My hands moved over his cheeks again and again, like maybe if I warmed him he’d wake up.
Damn it, Aaron
! Why’d he have to act so valiant? Why’d he have to fight so hard for me when he knew this would happen
? I don’t want to be without you
.

“The Keftey took you right out of Brendon’s arms,” Trinity continued. “Aaron fought to get to you, but they fought back. He followed them as they took you away, even after they’d attacked him. I don’t know why they left him alive.”

“What about Brendon?” His face hadn’t been among the waiting room’s crowd. I had imagined him underground, hiding in Home Base will Raja and the rest of the clan right now.

Trinity muffled a little sob, unable to answer.

“No,” I cried. “They—well, why didn’t he shift?”

“He couldn’t, Lina. Just as we have early bloomers, we have late ones, too. Brendon hadn’t had his first shift yet.” She dabbed at her eyes. Mascara stained her fingers. “This is the way of the Shifter world. You win some, you lose some. You live wild, you die young. That is the world you’ll be ruling.”