Return (Awakened Fate Book 3) (24 page)

Because if a gorilla ever existed in quasi-human form, it was my cousin.

My hands gripped Wyatt’s shoulders and my feet dug into the gravel as I tried to drive him backward. He twisted in my grasp, attempting to use my own force to throw me. I shifted my balance to stay upright, and then adjusted a second time as he tried again.

He snarled. Chloe was getting farther away. He wanted to join the chase.

Something slammed into me from the side. I hit the gravel and rolled, coming back up fast and looking around for whatever had just barreled into me.

Uncle Richard stood where we’d been. Flecks of red light glowed in his eyes. Cracks no wider than pencil lead twisted along his arms.

And that was it. He’d knocked me down, and he’d barely even changed yet.

I made myself keep breathing. Against Wyatt, I’d stood a chance.

Richard was another story entirely.

“Wyatt, go,” Richard ordered.

His son scrambled to his feet and took off after Chloe. Richard twitched to the side, blocking me when I moved to follow.

Heart pounding, I stopped, my gaze flicking from him to my cousins and back.

“You really want to do this, Noah?” he threatened. “My boys are going to tear that girl apart either way.”

A growl slipped from me.

His lip curled as his skin changed. I tensed, knowing what was coming.

He charged.

I braced myself as his shoulder hit me like a battering ram, driving me backward to the ground. Twisting, I avoided his fist as it slammed down where my head had been. I punched at him, succeeding in knocking his head to the side.

But nothing more.

He snarled.

His fist landed hard. Stars scattered across my vision. I swung again blindly, hitting his midsection, though it made less difference than if I’d hit a wall.

“Disgrace,” Richard spat. “You’re just a fucking–”

A gunshot inside the warehouse cut him off.

He shoved away from me. Rolling to the side, I coughed and spit blood onto the gravel.

My ears were ringing, but I could just make out the sound of Ellie’s voice, though her actual words were a garble over the noise in my head. Richard heard her though. I could tell from the rage on his face.

I thought he’d looked mad at me.

I’d never seen anything like his expression now.

He took off around the corner of the warehouse, and the door that must have been beyond it.

I shoved up from the gravel and went after him.

He heard me coming, and before I could reach him, he spun, grabbing after me. Ducking fast, I evaded his grasp and then punched hard at his side. He tensed, taking the blow, and his fist came back like a jackhammer into my ribs.

I stumbled.

With a furious noise, he thrust me aside and turned for the warehouse again.

And then he froze.

I looked over.

Several yards away, Zeke stood, his eyes on Richard and a shotgun in his hands. Large bandages dotted his legs randomly and burns scarred his sides, and even from this distance I could see him shaking. Ellie hovered a few feet from his back, her gaze darting between us and Zeke as if she couldn’t figure out which of us to stay farther away from.

A low growl built in Richard’s chest.

Zeke aimed the gun at my uncle. “Back off,” he ordered.

“Where’s my
son
?” Richard snarled, the words barely human.

Zeke inched in the direction of Baylie’s car, keeping the gun level. Ellie hurried to stay behind him. “You heard me.”

Richard’s growl got louder. Zeke tightened his grip on the gun.

Police sirens carried over the fields, the sound so faint Zeke and Ellie gave no sign of noticing. But I could tell Richard heard. His head twitched to the left, toward the noise, and the growl cut off.

Zeke’s brow drew down cautiously.

I hesitated. Baylie shouldn’t have called the cops. She knew it wouldn’t help anything. But perhaps someone at the grain company had heard the gunshot over the distance. Or Ellie’s grandfather had called in his allies.

Neither option was good. The police would be a serious problem, because chances were that Brock was dead in there, given the size of the gun Zeke was holding and the fact my cousin hadn’t left the warehouse this entire time. At close enough range, a cannon like that would do serious damage, even with our defenses. It was hard to feel sorry. I knew I probably should, since Brock was technically family and all. But that knowledge didn’t make the feeling come.

And didn’t change the fact cops would mean all of us getting arrested and Chloe ending up squarely back in her parents’ hands.

I looked to Ellie, catching her eye. I tilted my head toward the car with an urgent expression.

Swallowing hard, she inched to the other side of Zeke and started for the vehicle, keeping her attention on my uncle. Without lowering the weapon, Zeke followed.

Richard shuddered, clearly torn between pursuing them and continuing toward the warehouse.

I moved cautiously after Ellie, and saw Richard’s head twitch again when he heard my feet on the gravel. Watching me from the corner of his eye, he gave another low snarl.

Backpedaling, Ellie put more distance between herself and him even as Zeke did the same.

Richard strode for the warehouse door.

Ellie ran as Baylie began driving toward us. Keeping the gun pointed toward Richard’s back, Zeke followed at a hobbling walk.

And that wasn’t fast enough. Not if the cops were coming. Not in the time it would take Richard to confirm that the dehaian had just killed his son.

The dehaian Chloe loved.

I shivered, watching him, and then drew a rough breath, driving away the instincts and the darker things I didn’t want to think about as I forced my skin to change to human again.

“Run,” I told him, a growl still lurking in my voice.

His face tightened. He kept retreating at the same pace.

“Damn you, run.”

“Can’t.”

His gaze flicked to me, all dark and challenging and really making me want to punch him just for existing. Fighting hard against the impulse, I glanced to his legs and the silver threads hanging there as though they’d grown from his skin.

The growl grew stronger. I shook my head, turning the sound to a curse. “Come on,” I snapped.

I strode over and snagged his arm, throwing it around my shoulder.

“Where’s Chloe?” Zeke demanded, his words coming in short gasps while he attempted to keep pace at my side.

“On her way,” I replied, hoping it was true.

A roar sounded from inside the warehouse.

My heart climbed my throat. Zeke grunted, adjusting his other hand on the gun as he tried to move faster.

Baylie pulled her car up in front of us. Ellie tugged open the rear door before retreating quickly to the opposite side of the vehicle.

I barely kept myself from throwing Zeke in. Gripping the top of the car, he managed to climb inside while I hurried for the other door.

Richard raced from the warehouse.

I swung into the passenger seat.

“Chloe?” Baylie cried.

“We’ll find her. Go!”

She hit the gas. Gravel spewed from beneath the tires as she whipped the car through a tight turn and then sped back toward the road.

Chapter Twenty-One

Chloe

I’d never run this fast in my life.

And Noah’s cousins were closing in behind me.

Concrete turned to gravel beneath my shoes as I left the parking lot and raced toward the silos. Tall as skyscrapers, the towers blocked the midmorning sun. Shadows swallowed me as I darted between the buildings, while a few dozen feet away, a group of workers looked over in alarm to see me shoot past.

I ignored them, glancing back. The cousins were still gaining. And to make matters worse, Wyatt had joined the chase. In the distance, Noah was struggling with a man so large, he could only be his uncle.

And neither Ellie nor Zeke were anywhere to be seen.

Sunlight glared in my eyes as I raced out from between the rows of silos. Ahead, empty fields and distant farmhouses waited, none of them promising a single hope for escape from the monsters snarling behind me.

I veered right, running alongside the towers as fast as I could. I heard the cousins shout when they emerged from the rows as well.

Gasping, I fought for more speed. I couldn’t keep this pace up for much longer. However fast Noah thought dehaians could run, it meant nothing compared to the aftereffects of what Harman had done to me.

Aftereffects which were going to get me killed if something didn’t change soon.

In my side, a muscle began to cramp as if in answer to the thought, sending stabbing sensations through me with every breath. My other muscles had long since started protesting with throbbing aches of their own and my lungs burned despite the cool morning air. Pained noises escaped me, sounding nearly like sobs to my ears. Gritting my teeth against it all, I threw a glance over my shoulder.

One of them reached out to grab me and pull me down.

I choked, my feet stopping of their own accord and I ducked fast to the right. His hand swiped the air, missing me by inches. He stumbled, overbalanced by the effort, but then his brother was there. I darted to the side and felt his fingers brush my arm, closing a heartbeat too slowly to grab me but burning hot like coals when they touched my skin. I gasped, twisting away, and then I was running along the rows of silos again, leaving the greliarans snarling furiously at my back.

Noah and Ellie had to have gotten Zeke out of there by now. It’d been an eternity, or maybe just a minute, but surely they’d gotten Zeke out.

The collection of silos felt like it would never end.

I bolted past the final tower and then looked to the warehouse, hoping to see Zeke so I could circle back and get out of here too.

My breath caught. Baylie’s car was racing away.

Terrified confusion hit me, making my steps falter. They were leaving? Why were they leaving?

A man ran from the warehouse, chasing them as they sped off. A dozen yards ahead of him and gaining distance with every heartbeat, the car skidded onto the road and headed left.

My gaze went from the car to the country highway running parallel with the grain company property. She’d turn onto it. That was where Baylie was going. And since it was directly in my path, I could meet her there, get in the car, and get the hell out of this place.

I hoped.

Gasping down another painful breath, I forced myself to run faster. Gravel became scrub grass under my feet, hiding sinkholes and rocks that threatened to trip me. Everything in me wanted to stop, if only to make my muscles quit hurting with each motion.

The car veered onto the road ahead.

I looked back. The first two guys had slowed, their expressions like they’d used up all the speed they had in trying to reach me that first time.

But Wyatt was still there. And he was gaining.

Desperately, I fought to keep running. The wind whistled in my ears and my gaze was locked on Baylie’s car.

She pulled to a screeching stop thirty yards ahead and I could see her twist in the driver’s seat to yell at someone behind her. People moved in the shadows of the vehicle, and then someone scrambled from the passenger side door.

Noah.

With a shotgun in his hands.

“Chloe, move!” he shouted.

I ducked to the side.

The gun went off.

Behind me, Wyatt cried out. I couldn’t tell if the sound was more fury or pain, and I didn’t bother to check. The last of the field passed beneath me, and then the ditch at the side of the road as well. The rear car door opened as I scrambled up the slope and Zeke reached out to me from inside.

I choked, relief overwhelming the pain. He was alright. He was here.

His hand caught mine. With a grimace, he tugged me into the car and then caught me, his arm wrapping around my shoulders as if to hold me there.

Baylie smashed the gas pedal to the floor.

Gravity pushed me back in the seat and shoved the car door closed at my side.

“Are you okay?” Zeke asked.

I nodded. My heart was still racing and my muscles ached, but nothing mattered quite as much as him being there. Being okay.

My gaze registered the bandages on his legs. The burn marks on his sides. The way his body was shaking. I pushed away from him, my breath catching at the fear that touching him might hurt him more.

Baylie made a panicked noise. I looked back. Wyatt was still struggling after us, blood on his arm and his face a twisted mess of rage. The other cousins remained by the silos, not bothering to try catching up since there was no chance of that now.

And by the warehouse, my parents’ sedan was pulling into the drive. Cop cars raced toward the grain factory from the other direction, their lights flashing in colors that felt too bright even over the distance. Harman was rushing from the warehouse door, his arms waving toward the police and a few other figures I didn’t recognize following on his heels.

But Harman didn’t look toward us. And the large guy who’d been chasing Baylie’s car was nowhere to be seen.

The road dipped down a small incline and the terrain swallowed my view.

I turned back. In the front seat, Noah was watching me, while Baylie kept casting glances in the rearview mirror to me and the road.

“Everybody else alright?” I asked breathlessly.

Noah nodded and Baylie did the same. I glanced to Zeke, my eyebrows rising questioningly, while on the other side of him, Ellie seemed to be trying to keep as close to the opposite door as possible.

Zeke’s arm tightened around my shoulders, bringing me back to his side. I saw Noah drop his gaze away, his jaw muscles jumping.

Discomfort moved through me. Uncertain what to do or how to feel past the gratitude that we had all escaped from there, I looked away from Zeke and watched the silos disappear over the horizon.

~~~~~

It didn’t take Baylie long to want to pull over, and when we reached a small forest preserve with empty picnic tables near the road, that was exactly what she did.