11. Talon

CHAPTER 11

Talon

" I t's good to hear from you," Zachariah said once I'd said hello, speaking into the burner phone that I'd managed to smuggle onto the island. I currently paced the length of the warded slice of paradise that I'd hiked to tonight in order to make this check-in call.

"I know it's past the check-in point," I said. "But it's hard to find any alone time out here when everyone expects Shadow to be at Cassandra's side every single second."

Cassandra was still at the estate, saying it would be less suspicious if she stayed behind and attended yet another formal dinner with her mother in the hopes of gleaning more information about Edward.

There was an ache in my chest I couldn't explain, something like an alarm blaring, telling me to get back and not leave her so exposed.

"I understand," Zachariah said. "Have you learned anything useful?"

"Not as much as we'd like," I answered, disappointment sinking heavy in my gut. "According to Mrs. Zorin, Edward has taken over where his father left off," I said. "But he hasn't come to the island yet. His mother keeps thinking he will, but we haven't even seen a hint of that."

"We understood this mission might take time," Zachariah said. "How are you holding up? Are you feeding regularly?"

I fell silent, the taste of Cassandra's blood still clinging to my mouth from the quick fuck and feed we'd had before I left.

I couldn't help it. I was insatiable around the female, for both her body and her blood, and if I was being quite honest with myself, her words, her company . She'd opened up to me last week in a way that I'd never expected, telling me the story of what her horribly abusive parents had done to her. Explaining to me what really had happened with the mating mark tattoo and my king. It was all so wretched and awful I wasn't sure how to process it.

All I really wanted to do was rip her mother's throat out since I couldn't kill her father.

"Talon?" Zachariah's tone was filled with worry and just enough authority that I blinked away the rapid thoughts.

"I'm feeding," I said simply.

"From who?" Zachariah asked as if he already knew the answer.

"Cassandra's mother has her talem keeping track of every single feeder brought on the island. I'm not about to start tearing into the protected species that happen to be thriving here. I had no choice?—"

"Bullshit," Zachariah cut me off. "Look, the last thing I ever want you to do is starve, but you and I both know that you can go for much longer than a few weeks without blood."

"I'd like to see you try to resist when someone as beautiful as Cassandra is shoving an open vein in your mouth."

"Is that all it is? Feeding?"

I didn't make a habit of lying to my brothers, so I remained silent.

"Fuck," Zachariah said on the end of a heavy sigh. "Talon, you have to be careful with her. I know the king trusts her, but there is a well of toxicity that runs in that family?—"

"You don't have to remind me of that," I cut him off. "I know exactly how evil these pieces of shit are. I've been living in their estate for weeks. The way her mother treats her, Zachariah. You should see it. It's taking everything in me not to kill her on sight."

"Kill her? Without orders? Have you lost your mind?"

The memory of tearing into Archibald's throat ripped through me, bringing with it a ripple of satisfaction. He'd touched what was mine.

Not mine.

Make up your mind.

"For fuck's sake, Talon," Zachariah groaned. "Have you been killing people?"

"Not people," I said.

"Are you being careful," he finally said. "Whatever affections you may have for this female, we still don't know if we can trust her?—"

"I'm doing the best I can," I admitted. "I don't know how to explain exactly what's going on, and I hope by the time we make it home with the information we need I'll be able to bring you and the others up to speed. As of right now, I'm as lost as you."

Zachariah was silent so long I thought the line had gone dead despite the magical properties of the wards Cassandra's father had set up around this place giving it a technological push.

"We've managed to save six human families thanks to Cassandra's abilities in identifying them as potentials for supernatural blood," he finally said, changing the subject completely.

"At least that's some good news," I said.

"It is," he said.

"Any word on Samuel?" I asked despite knowing he would've led with that information.

"We caught whiff of him at the edge of the werewolf territory last week, but we were unsuccessful at locating him. Saint is on the rampage, worried that Samuel is doing what he did to Aurora and creating vampires in an attempt to throw us off his scent."

"Shit," I said, pacing near the body of water. "I should be there with you. I should be there helping?—"

"You are right where you need to be," he cut me off. "The king needed you specifically and you're obeying the king. This mission is vital to our overall success in what is now an interconnecting war. If we could without a doubt uncover Edward Zorin's plans and eradicate him, it would be a deadly blow to the organization that's fighting us at every turn."

"Right," I said, nodding to myself. He was right. "How is Warrick?"

"You're asking about the well-being of the other Zorin brother?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I am," I said. "From the way Cassandra tells it, he's every inch the good that she is. And I know she's going to want to know how he's being treated."

"Oh my gods," Zachariah said. "Have you caught feelings for this female? That's so unlike you."

"Caught feelings?" I asked. "Have you been watching those reality shows with Ajax again?"

"Deflecting the question," he countered. "I can't fucking believe it. You have feelings for Cassandra fucking Zorin. I know she's beautiful, but?—"

"She's more than beautiful," I cut him off, my mouth running purely off instinct. I took a breath and calmed down. "And yes, I know how improbable it is. Like I said, I don't know how to explain it. She's not what we originally thought her to be. She's deliberately putting herself in the line of some really fucked up and abusive fire for a chance at getting us the information we need. Those are not the acts of a traitor. Those are not the acts of someone preparing to betray us."

"Okay," he said apologetically. "Okay. You know I'm with you. I support you. It's just hard when I'm not there to protect you."

I laugh at that, shaking my head at our leader's fatherly instincts. "I'm okay," I said. "Confused, fuck yeah, but okay."

"Well you can report back that Warrick is being treated like any other potential assassin."

"So basically getting his ass handed to him during training but otherwise good."

"Yes," Zachariah answered.

"Good," I said blowing out a breath. "I need to get back."

"To Cassandra," Zachariah clarified.

"To the estate," I countered. "It's a long hike and dawn isn't far away."

"Well then by all means run ," Zachariah said, laughing softly before he hung up the phone.

I made the hike back in half the time it took me to get to the warded place, downhill always so much easier.

Cassandra was already in bed, sleeping soundly when I returned and that aching spot in my chest soothed at the sight of her supple body breathing gently beneath the covers.

She was safe.

She was unharmed.

I wasn't about to climb into that bed as sweaty and dirty as I was, so I took a quick shower before forgoing any clothes and just sliding in naked under the sheets.

Cassandra instinctively shifted toward me, her eyes fluttering open, relief flooding them at the sight of me.

"You're back," she said.

"I'm sorry I woke you."

She blinked the sleep from her eyes, tucking the pillow beneath her and shifting to face me.

I mimicked the movement, unable to stop myself from reaching over and pushing back some of her silken black hair.

"I didn't eat today," she admitted. "I think Mother might be putting something in the blood. It tastes awful lately. I think that's what made me so tired when I came back here."

I furrowed my brow, wondering if her experimental mother was testing new poisons in the blood, and that urge to put an end to this horrific female rushed over me again.

"Any news?" she asked when I hadn't responded.

"Some," I said, snapping back to the present and offering her my wrist.

"I'm okay," she said, but I gave her incredulous look.

"Drink," I said. "There's no reason at all to go to bed hungry. Not when I'm in it."

She licked my wrist before sinking her fangs into it, and I groaned at the delightful sensation of her pulling my essence into her mouth. She swallowed a few mouthfuls before pulling back and licking the wounds closed. "Happy?"

"Very," I said. "Warrick is doing well in training, and is being treated like every other potential assassin."

"You asked about Warrick?"

"I did," I answered, tilting my head. "Why the look of surprise?"

"It's just that...I didn't think that information was pertinent to the mission."

I traced the line of her bare arm with the tip of my finger, struggling to find the right words. "I knew you'd want to know," I said finally.

Something shifted in her gaze, those beautiful dark eyes studying mine with an openness and gratefulness that penetrated my heart.

"Thank you," she said. "Anything else?"

"Zachariah and the rest were able to save some of those families you identified."

She breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "That's good. Every innocent family we save from the Sons of Honor, and quite possibly my brother or yours, brings us one step closer to beating them."

I nodded and rolled to my back, stretching out my arm and welcoming her as she scooted up to my side and laid her head on my chest. The move was more natural than it should be, but it felt too damn right to question it.

"I wish we had more information to give Zachariah," she said almost apologetically.

"We will," I said. "We might be driven mad by the horrors of this place by the end of it, but we'll have the information we need."

Cassandra chuckled, turning her head to look up at me. "That's both horrible and optimistic."

I shrugged.

She started tracing random shapes on my chest, furrowing her brow.

"What's that look for?" I asked.

"I was just wondering how hard it is to be away from your brothers, the other hunters? You've all been hunting together for centuries, and now I've...this mission has ripped you away from them."

"We've been put in harder situations," I said. "I miss them, but I was ordered by the king to be here. So here I am."

"Tell me about one of those harder situations?" she asked, settling a little deeper against me.

I smirked down at her. "You want me to tell you a bedtime story, little viper?"

Cassandra smiled back before biting my chest, sucking up a quick mouthful of blood before licking the wounds closed. "I've decided that every time you call me a viper I'm going to bite you."

I cocked a brow at her, my grin deepening. "That's a delightful little tidbit."

"So are you going to tell me? Or should I keep biting you?"

"That's an incredibly hard choice," I said, but I knew deep down what I needed to do. She'd given me a piece of her dark past, and I wanted to return the trust with that kind of story.

"I suppose the hardest thing we've ever had to do since becoming hunters was going into stasis. It was the hardest decision we've ever had to make, and trust me, in our earlier days, when bloodmadness was spreading like an infectious disease, we'd made some pretty hard fucking decisions.

"Saint was walking the edge when bloodmad vampires weren't as common, and the sitting king would've been forced to order his execution by our own hands. None of us could live with the idea, so we all made the decision to… retire as the modern day would call it. We said goodbye to friends and family we didn't know if we'd ever see again. Looking back now, I should've realized that it'd been Samuel killing all those innocent human beings and not Saint. He'd been so against going into stasis, but if he'd fought any harder, we would've known his plan all along. The kind of patience he had for the long game terrifies me." I sucked in a sharp breath.

"Almost as much as the fact that I didn't have a fucking clue that my own brother was betraying us. Even before that, it'd been an impossible decision because Zachariah had just met his mate?—"

Cassandra gasped, shifting to look up at me in horror.

"Yeah," I said. "We all felt his pain through our bonds as hunters. It hurt. Almost the equivalent of a death. He had to choose between keeping his brother alive or his mate, and it was an impossible decision. But he made it in the hopes that he would be reunited with her when we were awakened. I don't think any of us anticipated being asleep for five hundred years, but…that's the hardest situation we've ever been in."

"I...I don't know what to say," she said. "Talon, I'm so sorry. Not knowing that about your brother, and then with Zachariah's mate." She shook her head, empathy radiating from each of her features. "Has he tried to contact her? I haven't seen anyone around him since he awoke?—"

"I don't think so," I answered. "I'm sure if he did try to track her down, he wouldn't tell us about it. Each of us, minus Samuel apparently, carries the guilt of that decision, Saint more than any of us. Zachariah would never try to cause us anymore pain by bringing it up."

Cassandra settled back against my chest, wrapping her arms around me, and holding me just a little bit tighter. She may not have had the words, but I could feel her comfort gliding down that connection we had.

I folded my arms around her, clinging to her like she was clinging to me.

"I hope that he reunites with her," she said after a few moments of silence. "He deserves that kind of happiness after everything he's been through," she continued, shifting to look up at me again. "You all do."

Words clogged my throat.

It wasn't until she'd fallen back asleep that I realized the kind of happiness she was hinting at felt a hell of a lot like falling asleep with her in my arms.