Chapter 8

Stone

"There weremembers of the Wolves of Night at the academy tonight," I say, "fighting against us. I found Marcus Lowsky's dead body right by Rhi's dorm."

"Lowsky's dead?" Azlan asks me.

"Yes," I say. "And Barone had to be there too."

Spencer shakes his head in response to my words and my eyes trail over his form. A werebeast? Him? How the fuck did I never spot that? Why the hell did York never tell me?

I look for signs of it now. A hunch to his posture, a wolfish gait to his movement, the hint of wolf about his face. I don't see any of it. He looks like any normal man – just like the rest of us.

"The men that attacked the academy weren't from the gangs. They were fighters from the West. I saw them come over the border with my own eyes."

"And I saw the markings of the Wolves of Night on the bodies of the men I was fighting," I tell him.

"They must have been fighting in allegiance, together," Winnie says.

We all turn to look at her.

"You think the Wolves of Night have joined forces with our enemies in the west?" Azlan says. She hesitates, then nods. "Why?"

She shrugs. "Money?"

"Where do you think Barone will have taken her?" Tristan asks. The golden boy isn't looking so golden anymore. His face is grief stricken, his clothes torn and drenched in blood, his crown of golden hair matted and black with soot.

"Back to the Wolves of Night compound," Azlan says with more confidence than I feel.

"If they really are working together," I say, "he may have handed her over to the West."

Azlan grunts. "Possibly, but we start at the compound. If she's not there, then …" He trails off.

If the West has her – a girl who can wield crimson magic – a girl fate has bound to four powerful mates – what the hell will they do with her?

"We can cross that bridge when we come to it," Winnie says in agreement with my friend. "Do you know where the compound is?"

"Yes," Azlan says. "Out in the wastelands. Not far from where Rhi was living."

"That's two days' drive away!" I say in despair, starting to pace. Two days to reach her! Two days in the hands of that psychopath! "He's probably torturing her as we speak!"

"We could take my car?" Winnie says.

"Your car?" I say. Has the girl lost the plot? We need to find a way to get there quickly–

"Where is it?" Azlan asks.

Winnie grimaces. "Back at the academy."

Azlan thinks for precisely one second. "Let's go!"

"We're going all the way back to the academy for a car?" I say. "Doesn't your uncle own about twenty cars?"

"This car's special." Winnie grins. "It's been modified. It'll get us there in half the time. Maybe quicker with a bit of help."

I stare at Winnie Wence. Until she ended up roommates with Rhi, she'd hardly said boo to a goose. Now I'm discovering she has an illegal car that she's been housing on school grounds.

"Let's go then," Azlan grunts. We all nod our heads stepping towards him. All except Tristan. He stays exactly where he is.

"I need to …" He glances towards the dining room. "I need to wait for my father. I need to tell him …" He trails off.

"About your mom?" Ellie asks, and he nods.

"So you're not coming?" Azlan spits.

"I will come. I'll catch up with you. I'll find you."

Azlan snorts. "Sure you will."

"I want to find her just as badly as you do." Tristan scowls at his older cousin. "I want her safe. But … but …" His eyes flick to the dining room a second time. "I owe it to my mom to break the news to my dad."

Azlan gives his younger cousin a hard stare. "Your dad is–"

"I know what my dad is, Azlan. I'm not doing it for him. I'm doing it for her. I can't just leave her body," he swallows, "I need to know he'll take care of things. Of her. That he'll give her a proper burial."

Ellie rests a hand on his arm.

"Fine," Azlan huffs. "You can keep an eye on Ellie."

"What?" Ellie says, outraged. "I'm coming with you."

"You're not. You're staying here. This house is probably the safest place in the republic right now."

"That's what they said about the academy," Trent mutters.

"You don't know his uncle," I mutter.

"I'm not staying here. I'm coming with you," Ellie insists, striding towards the door. Her brother intercepts her, landing his heavy grip on both her shoulders.

"You're not. You're staying here with Tristan where it's safe." Ellie goes to argue again, but then Azlan leans in to whisper in her ear and her steely disposition melts into something softer, her eyes darting to their cousin. She nods.

"How will we keep in contact?" she asks.

We all look at each other. I guess we've relied on mobile phones for too long. All of us struggling to come up with an alternative method of communication now the towers are down.

"I have some old walkie talkies back in my room," Trent finally offers.

Tristan peers up from his thoughts. "I think I may have an old one from back when I was a kid."

"Go find it," I instruct him.

"And use the fifth frequency," Trent adds.

Then Azlan's already through the door, not hanging about for any more discussion. The rest of us hurry after him. As we step outside, I realize there are still no sounds of battle booming across the sky, no more magic exploding overhead. Does that mean it really is all over?

"What the fuck is happening out there?" Spencer says, staring out towards the burning buildings of the capital. "Is it over? Did we win or did we lose?"

It's a fucking good question, one I realize we're fools if we don't try and answer. If we're going searching for Rhi, if we're going to rescue her, we need to understand what we're facing, who these enemies are and whether we have been beaten by them, or whether we beat them.

"I'm going to go and find out," I say, changing direction, away from where the vehicle is parked on the driveway and towards the huge garage where I know the Kennedy family keep their collections of precious cars and, more importantly, fast motorbikes.

"What are you talking about?" Azlan says, clearly pissed. "We need to find Rhi."

"And that's going to be a lot easier if we know what the hell is going on, Azlan."

Ash from the city flitters on the cold wind around us and the air stinks of smoke.

"Fine," he says, "but I'm coming with you. You three," he glares at Spencer, Winnie and Trent, "can go fetch the car."

Spencer opens his mouth to protest just like Ellie did two minutes ago, but my friend can be fucking intimidating at the best of times; faced with the kidnap of his mate, he's downright terrifying. "You need to take care of Winnie Wence."

"Or you won't be able to find my car," Winnie reminds him.

Azlan shakes his head. "Because this girl is important to Rhianna."

Winnie squirms with embarrassment but she also looks at my friend with a little more admiration than she did earlier this evening when she was calling us all shitheads.

"Go!" Azlan barks. "We'll meet you at the Baker crossroads on the edge of the city."

"But you don't have a radio," Winnie points out. "How will you contact us if anything happens to you?"

Azlan, my best friend and the authorities number one enforcer, smirks. "Nothing's going to happen to us."

And then he's whistling towards the garage, beckoning out a motorbike for each of us.

As we soaralong the suburban streets of Los Magicos on our Kennedy motorbikes, I wonder what the hell we may be letting ourselves in for.

Barone wasn't wrong. Apart from that recent battle with the assassin out there on the streets by the docks, my life's been cushy and easy. Sure, the young people at the academy can be pains in the ass, but they're not trying to break my neck or blast a hole in my skull. The only real challenge I've faced has been avoiding the unwanted advances of over-excitable girls.

But life wasn't always like that. Once a thwack round the ear hole, a slap to my cheek, a fucking thrashing, was a daily occurrence as I was moved from one foster home to the next. My time as a student at the academy, despite the hard physical training and the occasional scrap with another kid, was a blessed relief. A moment to catch my breath before we were sent to the border for our service.

And now, here I am soaring straight into the midst of who knows what and all for that girl. That girl I love so fucking much I don't know what I'll be capable of when we meet the man who's taken her.

For now, though, I need to focus on the task at hand. Find out what the hell is going on without getting ourselves killed.

Usually, with my best friend riding by my side I'd feel pretty damn confident that the odds were in our favor. But I can tell he's as unhinged as I am, and I fear neither of us is capable of making the correct or sensible decision right now.

The closer we near the center of the capital, the more damage there is to the city. But it's not as bad as I feared, not as devastating as I imagined. In fact, the wreckage is contained and limited, most of the damage directed at the council building, now a smoldering shell, its glass dome shattered, its great white pillars cracked and broken, the flag that once flew from its top tattered and black, buffeted by the blowing smoke.

It's eerie. There are no soldiers here any more, no battle raging. The fighting is over. The streets are deserted.

Azlan points towards the council building and we fly that way, finding the gates are no more, the metal melted and disintegrated into the ground, the grand front doors blown in and the interior dark despite the gaping hole in the building's roof.

"Where the hell is the chancellor?" Azlan growls. "Where the hell is my father and my uncle? Where the hell is everyone? This doesn't seem right."

"It feels fucking bizarre. You think they surrendered?" I ask. Is that why the attacking forces retreated at the academy? No need to keep fighting if our nation had already capitulated.

"No," Azlan says. "They'd fight to the bitter end."

As we sit debating, a senior commander comes marching through the battered doors of the council building, flanked by a troop of soldiers, all armed. They're dirty and battered, their uniforms hardly discernible, and it takes me a moment to deduce that they are not the enemy. They are men from our side.

The commander spots us at the same time as his men, and they all raise their weapons.

"Hey you there! Enforcer," he yells, "all men have been commanded to report in for further instructions."

"Where are the attacking forces?" Azlan yells back.

"Retreated," the soldier says, puffing out his chest. "Right back to the border."

I glance at Azlan.

Is that true? They took us by surprise, bypassed our forces at the border on fucking dragons. They've left the council building utterly destroyed. Their forces overwhelmed the academy. Why the hell would they retreat? They were on the verge of taking control of the republic.

I'm guessing my friend also smells a rat.

"Let's get the hell out of here," he growls.

I smirk at him. "Wait just one moment," I whisper, then turn my head in the commander's direction. "Who's ordered all men to report in? The chancellor?" I call to him.

"The chancellor has been arrested. The Lord Protector is in charge now." Lord Protector? I glance at my friend in alarm. "We've been instructed by the Lord Protector to assume anyone who disobeys an order is an enemy of the republic and to arrest them. We can answer your questions later."

"Who has given that order?" I try next.

"Put your hands up or we'll shoot!" he yells.

"Enough talking," Azlan says, sweeping his hand through the air and sending an explosion of magic crashing towards the men. It explodes all around them, swallowing them up in a cloud of smoke and dust and we don't delay any longer, we hit the gas, and skid away. Bullets and magic alike hurtle around us, whistling over our heads, one brushing my shoulder, another my cheek.

"Shit," I groan. Does this make us fucking fugitives? And who the hell is the Lord Protector?

I yank harder on the accelerator as we weave through the city. In the distance, we spot a line of men made up of city officials and two of the chancellor's enforcers marching behind a group of security forces. I wonder where they are being taken and why.

My chest tightens.

Guilt.

Am I doing the right thing? Leaving these magicals – our countrymen to their fate – while I head off to rescue my girl? Is that the right thing to do? But, unlike my friend, I've never been a hero, never pretended to do the right thing. Until Rhianna, the only person I cared about – the only person's welfare and preservation that concerned me – was my own.

Now I have Rhianna. And I don't care if it's morally corrupt, I don't give a shit if it's selfish, I'm going to help her at the expense of every other person in this whole wide world.