AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You two just gonna stand there?”
The world reasserted itself quickly—the vine-covered ruins, the chirp of insects all came rushing back. And Jack, looking at the two of us quizzically, fingers wrapped around his rifle.
“No,” I said, and on impulse, I bounced up and kissed Hawk on the cheek. “I need to see Finn.”
While we had our little interlude, it appeared everyone had decided to go into the ruins. I heard conversations about Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider bandied around and realised that human or Tirian, when men see something mysterious, they gotta go and take a look at it. I glanced at the dark entrance, the stone gate crumbling and looking much like a snaggle-toothed maw ready to swallow me up. I walked past Aaron sorting out weapons and talking to his guys, Johnno still sipping from the bottle of alcohol, and searched for that auburn head, finding him finally behind the cars, scanning the plains beyond.
His name was on my lips, ready to call out as I came closer, but recent memories of how that’d gone stopped me. Instead, I lifted a hand and looked at it for a second, cognizant that this was unlikely to go well, but not sure what else I could do to get through to my mate. So I snuck up, and then placed a hand on his arm.
Reality was wrenched away and replaced by a chaotic swirl of impressions and memories.
My eyes burned as I held Mum’s hand as I watched my dads pack up to go. It didn’t feel real. I’d come home every day to find at least one of them waiting for me. They’d been there for every day of my life, and watching them fold underwear and t-shirts to put in a bag to take through the portal just didn’t feel real. This was made worse by Nana, standing in the corner of the room, face as white as a sheet, tears streaming down her cheeks. Nana was, no, had been, the alpha of Sanctuary since before I was born.
“Don’t, Jules.”
The vision dropped away, and there was only Finn standing over me, a thunderous look on his face.
“Finn, I only want to—”
“I know exactly what you wanted, and I can’t give it to you right now.”
I could hear the guys behind me calling out to him, wanting him to come and join the expedition, but I wasn’t prepared to stand aside just yet.
“Finn, we talked about this. You’re my mate, and you’re martyring yourself over—”
“Over what, Jules? My dads? The guys I sent through? The fact they…” He swallowed, the stony cool of his expression slipping for a moment, and what I saw beneath it devastated me. Despite everything I’d tried, that rampant self-loathing was back and spreading vicious tendrils through the man I loved. “I thought they were going to get another chance. I thought maybe they’d find a way towards a meaningful life, that they’d move beyond the mistakes they made, but they never got an opportunity. They’re fucked to death, Jules. Starved, beaten, and thrown to the Volken women’s mercy, because of me.”
I reached out a shaking hand. This is the last time, I thought. We don’t have to stay together, don’t have to be mates, not if the love isn’t there.
“So why do you have to keep shutting me out?”
“Because if I don’t, I’ll walk away from all of this, take one of the cars, bundle the rest of the pack in, get through that gate and go back home, and spend my life making sure nothing dangerous touches any of you again. Now, I’m going into the ruins with the guys. You should stay with Johnno and—”
“No.”
He stared at me with these cat-like eyes both him and Jack had that were just as implacable. Finally, he shook his head.
“Fine,” he said, and walked off.
15
Yeah, this wasn’t going to end well.
I was firmly ensconced in the centre of the group, guys with guns on every side of me, and for once, I was happy for the protection. The building was dark and crumbling with vines slowly undermining the building's integrity as they wound their way through bricks and crawled down walls. I jumped when I heard a skitter, causing a small chunk of brick to fall from a broken wall, and spotted a small lizard with deep ultramarine stripes along its back turn and flee when it saw us.
Critters, I thought. Hadn’t considered there’d be more critters.
I thought of Meep Meep and the fluffy pack of doom, and hoped there was no more like him in here.
“How far are we going in?” Jack said, peering over a decaying balustrade. It appeared we were on some kind of mezzanine level, which was disconcerting in itself. I glanced down at the floor, not sure how stable that was
. The structure itself seemed sound, but the mosaic pattern on it…
“Stop for a sec,” I said, and dropped down to my feet. I brushed dirt and pebbles away to reveal a familiar turquoise and gold swirl pattern. I frowned, and when I looked up, Sylvan stood over me, smiling.
“We go deeper,” he said.
“Yeah, pretty sure I’m not taking fucking orders from you, mate,” Aaron said.
