Chapter 16 : Banter

*Gemma* "I'm the picture of health," Kael said with an involuntary cough. I scoffed and held out my hand for him to take. "I'm not very worldly, but I'm pretty sure being beat like a beef flank isn't normal." Raisa was pacing, looking torn between miffed and worried, her hand resting on her stomach. "Pick it up, you two." I helped Kael to his feet as much as I could, my arms out as he gathered his balance in case I needed to catch him again—I hoped I didn't—until he regained his footing. He swayed, and I worried he would pass out from blood loss. But he seemed to manage and hold his own. He caught sight of Raisa. "At least you're okay," he said to her. She shot him a sour look despite his kind tone. "Kicked in several places does not count as 'okay,' but thank you anyway." Kael glanced at me questioningly and I mouthed, 'She's pregnant.' His eyes—eye, rather, one of them being swollen nearly shut—went wide, and then his brows knitted, suddenly troubled. "This situation just keeps getting shittier, doesn't it?" "Did you hear what I did?" I asked, quirking a sly grin. "You seem proud of whatever it is," Kael noticed. "I stabbed him." Kael reared back. I had to grab his wrist to keep him from pitching over. "You stabbed Connor Herrick?! Are you insane?" I released him to cross my arms. "I thought that would be appealing news." "In any other situation, sure, but not in his own damn house where we're already surrounded by dozens of Epsilon trained and armed to the teeth!" I diverted. "How did you even get here? I thought they'd imprisoned you in the basement or something." Kael's grin was wry. "They tried." Behind me, Raisa gasped. "Everyone in the hallway—you got them all?" "Armed to the teeth and no match for a Moonwake heir." I glared at him, glad Raisa was doing the same. "You're the insane one. This is no time to joke around!" "I'm aware," Kael said. "I figured I would try and make you two feel more comfortable with me if I'm calm and—" "Well, you already yelled at me," I pointed out, my arms still crossed. "So instead of gaining our trust, you just have two angry females." "Females are much more dangerous than males." "Damn right." Raisa took my hands, pulling me to the corner of the room as if that would take us out of earshot. "Gemma, he's ready to keel over. He doesn't have the strength to make it as far as we need to." "Where are we going?" asked Kael loudly. "These wounds aren't as bad as they look, I promise." Raisa's flat look at me was intended for Kael when she said, "His wounds look infected. If they're not, they will be once he gets sand and dust in them." "I'd rather have infected wounds than be dead, wouldn't you?" "Stop provoking!" I snapped at him. "I thought you were brave, now I just think you're cocky." I clapped my hand over my mouth, but it was too late. Raisa sighed and had to walk away from me as Kael's face, as brutalized as it was, lit up with delight. "You think I'm brave?" "Bravery can get you killed," I diverted again. "Raisa, let's just go. He can follow if he wants." "Works for me." Raisa slung her satchel over her shoulder and sighed at it. "What little belongings I have." I shoved the vanity away from the door and pressed my ear to it. There were only the unconscious guards' weak breathing and heartbeats. I glanced over at Kael, who really looked like he could pass out at any moment. "How did you take out so many?" He shrugged and then winced. "Adrenaline rush, desperation… the desire to find you." I grated my teeth. "I hate pandering." "Admit it, you wanted—" "Enough!" Raisa hissed. "Stop bickering like pups. We need to get to the first floor. There's a dumbwaiter we can squeeze into one by one into the kitchen where Bryn is waiting. It won't be the first place to look for us. Any objections?" I shook my head, catching Kael doing the same. I was doubting my want to help him. "Fantastic. Let's go. Stick close and don't do anything stupid. That goes for both of you." I faked offense. "I'd never do anything reckless." "You stabbed the most dangerous shifter ever," Kael pointed out unhelpfully, limping over to me. "I'd say that's pretty reckless. Of course, I may or may not have bitten off Cillian Cade's forefinger." Raisa and I choked. The she-wolf, whose elegance had long gone out the window in favor of a constant simmer of rage, whirled and exploded, "Now who's insane?!" Kael wasn't fazed. "All of us. It's good to have crazy on your side. You know I can fend for myself, which lends to the fact that I can defend you two as well." "You seem to keep forgetting you're likely bleeding out." "I refuse to die–out of spite." Raisa rolled her eyes and growled wordlessly, yanking open the door and kicking the coming-to Epsilon hard enough that he went limp. The other guards were stirring; there were only five others, even though it had sounded like a lot more. The girls' doors were open, but the parlor's was not. Raisa rushed over and rapped her knuckles to it, hopping over bodies as graceful as a dancer. "Girls? It's me. Don't open the door for anyone. Stay until Seldon comes. You can trust him. And… this is goodbye." There was a shrill chorus of, "What?!" Raisa rested her forehead on the wood. Her voice was thick. "I'm getting the hell out of here. The last thing I want to do is leave you girls, but—" "Why are you leaving then?!" Ayuna demanded. "Because I'm a selfish bitch, that's why," Raisa said harshly. "I can't stay any longer. Goodbye, girls." They banged on the wood and shouted and swore, but Raisa plowed forward, stopping at the end of the hall to press onto the wall with her fingertips. A square sank in and snapped up to reveal a big metal square. Without waiting, Raisa climbed into it. She pointed at me with tears glistening in her sea glass eyes. "You first." She gave the middle finger to Kael. "You last." The elevator slammed shut and the sound of metal scraping faded gradually. I picked my way around the bodies of the Epsilon. There were six of them and only some seemed just unconscious; others had blood coating their throats entirely red. My heart clenched; this time, it wasn't the ribbon drawing me to Kael. I whirled on him, too afraid to listen for other heartbeats. "Did you kill them?" I demanded. Kael looked around as if seeing the gruesome scene for the first time and then held up both of his hands for me to see. He half-shifted his nails into claws. "I didn't scratch too deep." I recoiled. "What in the Goddess's hell is wrong with you?" He wiped his hands on his pants, which weren't in much better shape. "When you're on the run," he said, his voice suddenly dead-serious, "you do what you need to do in order to survive. Trust me, I take no pleasure in hurting others. It's the opposite of what an Alpha—a good, true Alpha—is supposed to do." That made me feel only a fraction better. "So you're exactly who Connor thought you might be?" He dipped his head. "Alpha Kael Liviana of Moonwake at your service—unofficially, at least." I had learned about the most influential packs in the West in my studies, so I had heard the name before, but never paid close attention to it when its most current news was that it was completely wiped out when the Beast of the West murdered its Alpha, Luna, and their seven pups. "Unofficially?" I repeated dubiously. "I am the second youngest of all my siblings. My oldest brother Kitron was supposed to take the title. But he…" Kael cleared his throat. "He sacrificed himself so my other two siblings and I could escape with my father's Beta and his family." "So Moonwake isn't extinct." "The place is." Kael paused. "But the shifters aren't." Metal clanged and the dumbwaiter rattled back into place, its hidden door sliding up with a bang. I winced, hoping it didn't attract any attention. It was odd enough that no other Epsilon were storming the hall. I climbed into the trembling thing and felt far from safe in it. Kael limped over and quirked another sly grin. "Once you get down there… don't leave without me, will you?" I mimicked it. "If your ass can keep up." His eyes flashed with delighted surprise, but I shut the dumbwaiter before he could respond. The metal box started to rattle and descend. I wasn't fond of the queasy feeling in my stomach or the fear that this thing could somehow break and plummet me the rest of the way down. I counted the seconds. Blessedly it only took a minute and a half before it shuddered and came to a stop. Immediately the dumbwaiter door shot up and Raisa was standing there holding out a hand for me to take. "Did he hurt you?" was the first thing she asked as I got out and fought past nausea. I shook my head. "Good. Gemma, this is my mate, Bryn." While Raisa sent the dumbwaiter back up, I managed a smile at a handsome male with dark brown hair and emerald-green eyes. I blinked mine. "You're—" He had shed his servant's uniform for a plain shirt and pants, but he was the same attendant who I found peeking around doors to announce various things. He grinned and it was the kind of smile that made you feel like everything was okay. "The all-important announcer who just quit. Raisa's said kind things about you." I glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "Is he embellishing?" Raisa shrugged demurely. "I can be nice once in a while." "She also said you stabbed Connor," Bryn added excitedly. "On behalf of the household, thank you—" "No, no," I interrupted, mildly horrified. "I don't want to be thanked for stabbing someone." Bryn's tone shifted into seriousness. "Well, you saved more lives than one doing it. We can only hope it's impaired him long enough that we can get the hell out of here." The dumbwaiter shuddered as it came closer, but this time it rumbled and crashed, the door dented with a bang. It took the three of us to heave it open. Kael grunted in pain, his back to us, rubbing his neck. His weight was too much for the elevator and he'd slammed his shoulder into the metal. Raisa scoffed and took Bryn's hand, pulling him away so I had to deal with Kael on my own. But he waved me off when I tried to help. "I got it. I got it." The dismissal twanged my annoyance, and I backed up with arms crossed. "Fine. I hope you fall on your face." Alpha, my ass, I wanted to snort. Kael was just a bumbling idiot, like a gull whose foot got caught in an empty shell and couldn't get it off. With a shout, he indeed fell disgracefully onto the hardwood floor. I clapped my hand over my mouth to stifle my bark of laughter. Kael groaned as he heaved himself onto his feet. "Laugh it up." "Oh, I will when we're out of here. Come on." I grabbed his wrist and surprisingly, he let me tug him forward as I followed Raisa and Bryn through the large kitchen to a pantry. Bryn heaved two large barrels away from the wall and crouched down to pull open a trap door in the floor by a black handle. "That's easier than I thought it would be." "We wish it was," Bryn said darkly as we all peered into pitch darkness. "It's likely guarded at the other end." Raisa dropped her satchel and walked away; a moment later she came back with a towel and handed it to Kael. "It was our only choice when it was just the two of us, but now we have better odds, so it's now or never." She looked Kael up and down scathingly. "Faintly better." As Bryn started to help her down into the hole, I wondered if Raisa had told him she was pregnant yet. Then I felt a tug on my arm. I looked up. Kael's mouth was quirked with mischief again. "You can let go of my hand." I let go quickly and sidestepped away from him, fighting unbidden embarrassment and disgust as my hand was now wet and sticky with blood. "Goddess," I hissed like a curse. Kael's laugh made my heart skip a beat, but neither of us got to make another remark. The kitchen doors banged open thunderously. Kael, Bryn, and I whirled around as Epsilons flooded in. Led by, of course, Connor and Cillian.