Page 69 of Born Savage

Just like she used to do.

“She’s so quiet. She can speak but refuses to.”

“You were that way when you first came to us. It was months before you were comfortable enough to say more than a couple words.”

“I can only imagine what she’d been through. I can tell by her eyes whatever she witnessed was horrific.”

Mother brushed the tips of her fingers down my cheek. “Just like what we feared with you.”

“Do you have any idea what that was?”

Even if she did know, the slight tension in her fingers meant she wasn’t allowed to tell me. “I don’t think you need to relive the past. Yes, I understand you are very special in ways that I probably can’t understand, but you’re my daughter first. You have your entire life ahead of you. Rage and the others will see to it that you live to the fullest.”

Laughter wasn’t easy, but in this case, the sound was bitter. “I won’t be getting that close to any of them to discover if you’re right.”

“They will protect us, Star. I can tell.” My mother’s voice had always been the one of reason, but she had no idea.

“You don’t know them. They are beasts. Rage is… difficult.”

“So are you when you want to be. However, they are Verndari. Our hope. Our future. You should try giving them a little slack.”

I lifted my head. Either news traveled fast including to the clinic or my parents had been told what to expect. To see her smile as she’d done when trying to hide a surprise for my birthday was heartwarming. And threatened to make me very emotional. “Am I the only one who wasn’t told about the existence of the Verndari?”

“There was no reason for you to worry more than you always do, my sweet daughter. You made it your mission to care about everyone else. Let them do the job they were created to do.”

“They want to take me far away from here. Peter agrees. I don’t entirely understand.”

She adjusted herself on the pillow. I’d thought I’d found a pot of gold the day I’d discovered the pillow in a huge, locked steel box. That had been years ago and it had traveled with us when discovering the bunker.

Her face appeared almost serene. “I’m aware and you need to go. You know you can trust Peter. Find your courage, my daughter. You are meant for great things.”

“I can’t leave you.”

“We’ve been through this, Star. And if you remember, the day your father and I told you that you were ours to protect, we mentioned one day you would leave us when the time was right.”

“Yes, but I thought you were talking about when I… I don’t know, found a husband.” Not that I even fully understood what that meant other than what I’d seen with them. There were no formal contracts of any kind. Why bother when at any day, someone could die.

Survival of the fittest had an entirely new meaning.

“Trust me, Star. You will meet the man you’ll spend the rest of your life with. It’s possible you already have.”

I laughed, shaking my head as I did. “Please don’t tell me you’re talking about one of the Savages.”

“Verndari. Perhaps. Maybe not. It’s your choice but choose wisely. You will be guided as long as you follow your heart.” When she coughed, I was immediately on edge.

I hadn’t realized Wren had been in the shadows until she moved into the glow, her eyes pinned on my mother.

“Where’s Jake?”

Wren stretched out her arm, pointing toward the back of the room. I had to crane my neck, squinting because of the darkness to notice that he was curled into a ball, his little chest rising and falling in peace. At least she had the pup to keep her company and to make her feel safe.

She inched close to my mother’s cot, looking at me to see if it was alright. “She’s sick, Wren, and nothing that you can fix. I wish you could.”

“That’s right. She’s a healer,” my mother said. “No, child. Soon I will get to see heaven.”

My mother was so matter of fact, resigned to the understanding that she was dying. Meanwhile, I was doing everything humanly possible not to fall into a fit of hysteria. I’d already shown the men of the community pretending to be soldiers that my commendation as commander was in title only.

The one city we’d happened upon holding a large group of people, at least a couple thousand, had offered a distinctly different thought of providing a haven for those who’d survived up to that point. Since everyone allowed into the city was required to provide a service or have a needed skill to live within the protected area, I’d signed up to become a soldier in a newly formed militia.