“The trees here are so much bigger than on Sephia. I swear they’re snagging me on purpose,” she complained as she pulled a burr from a wing.
“They’re better than the desert,” Jax said.
“I think the open space would feel good right now.”
“At least trees offer shade. Try wearing full gear during an Afghan summer.” He’d seen plenty of brutal terrain in his life, but he’d also always had the latest gear and equipment, courtesy of Uncle Sam. Today brought back some not-so-pleasant memories of advanced training camp to become a Ranger. He’d been ruthlessly driven to his breaking point — beyond, really — and he’d managed. This felt eerily similar. He kept waiting for his captain to shout out another command.
“How long have you been a soldier?” Talla asked, coming up to his side.
How long? He was a soldier before he’d even signed up. He was born to be a soldier. His father had groomed him to be a soldier since he could walk. He’d been a soldier since his eighteenth birthday. Jax bristled, thinking that of all things, he wasn’t a soldier anymore, and never would be again. “Doesn’t matter.”
“You’re still working to protect the innocent. In the ways of my people, that makes you a soldier. The uniform never matters.”
He stopped, turned on her. “I’m no soldier. I’m a fugitive.” While Talla watched him with those doe-eyes, he ran a hand through his hair. “In the eyes of my country, I’m a fucking traitor,” he muttered again as he stomped off.
A second later, Talla’s footsteps crashed through the forest behind him. She grabbed his shoulder and yanked him around. “You know, if being labeled a fugitive and a traitor for defending life and freedom is all you get slapped with, then I’d say you’re getting a pretty fair deal.”
He glared. “It’s not that simple.”
“It is, and you’re just making excuses.” She sent a hard, hot glare right back at him. With a flick of her hair, she walked on ahead.
His mouth opened slightly before clamping it shut. With her brisk pace, it took several steps to fall in behind her. Talla’s long wings, made for flight and not for hiking, swayed with every step, brushing against fallen leaves. Even weighted down with the extra appendages and fatigue, she stood tall and walked proud.
She was different from Risa. Demure Risa who’d fucked his life up the ass. He’d truly believed he’d never think of another woman again. A lot of good that did. Hell, ever since he was assigned as Talla’s Leash to get his ass back into the game two years ago, he couldn’t get her out of his damn head.
Then again, there was no one like Talla. She was easy on the eyes, God, she was an Amazon beauty. But her looks had only served as a red flag for Jax to toss up his emotional walls in time. It was her spirit that blew his intentions all to hell. A woman beaten but who refused to be broken, she’d suffered more than many POWs, but still she continued on. Off duty, on duty, it didn’t matter. He inevitably found his way to her every day.
Everyone figured he was simply taking his duty as her Leash seriously. Hell, he’d even tried to convince himself of that at first. But, while he was a lot of things, he wasn’t a hypocrite. He watched Talla because he had some fucked-up need to protect her, and he couldn’t imagine not being near her.
Up until today, they’d had a good thing going. He watched. God knows why, but she allowed it. They kept a distance from each other. Then she had to go fuck things up and kiss him this morning. What the hell had that been all about? He couldn’t keep a single thought going in his head since. And now, with her curves sashaying through the woods in front of him, any remaining thoughts were quickly dropping to a lower and harder part of his anatomy.
Scowling, he quickened his pace and bumped into her on his way around her to retake the lead. An audible
hmph
behind him stung some chord of guilt inside. “I’m more familiar with this terrain,” he said, the excuse sounding lame even to him. At least he didn’t have to stare at her luscious body mucking up his view anymore.
They continued on in silence for some time until the trees opened to a gravel road. “Shit,” he cursed as he scanned for traffic. He’d been distracted. They were lucky no one was driving down the road at that particular moment. Talla came up behind him, and he moved them both back into the cover of the woods and walked them in a line parallel to the road.
“Let me guess. That paper map of yours would come in handy right about now.”
He faced her to find a twinkle in her eye, and some tension eased. “If we follow this, we’re bound to come across a house if we keep moving.” A house meant water and food and potentially a vehicle.
“Good. I’m thirsty.”
Jax’s throat was parched. If they didn’t find potable water soon, they’d start losing their edge. The cleaning team should have found the Jeep by now, which meant they knew there were Etzee runaways in these woods. Jax and Talla needed their minds and bodies sharp to survive.
“Ahh!”
The sounds of a scuffle tore Jax around. Fear flashed through him, and the M9 was in his hand instantly. Talla was on the ground, shaking her walking stick at a tree. He scanned up the tree to find … he squinted. “That’s … ”
Her eyes were wide. “I thought it was a
fregee.
”
“A squirrel,” he said, holstering his piece. Her attacker was currently standing on a lower branch, angrily flicking its tail, no doubt as antagonized as Talla for having its foraging interrupted. When Talla still looked afraid, he added, “It’s harmless.”
She rubbed her ankle. “It moved like a
fregee
. It even has the same adorable look. That’s how they get you, you know. One goes in to distract their prey, and that’s when the entire pack moves in for the kill. They’ve been known to take down entire herds of
tion
before.”
He came down on a knee and checked her ankle for injuries. “Well, I’m not sure what a
freh-ghee
or a
tee-on
is, but I assure you there’s little to worry about around here.”
She pursed her lips.
“Okay, there’s rattle snakes to watch out for, but there’s not many this far north. Cougars and bears, but they tend to avoid attention. Rednecks are probably the biggest risk around these parts, and they’re more territorial than anything.”
She watched him for a moment before lowering her eyes. He followed her gaze and realized he was still rubbing her ankle. He yanked back and stood. Feeling guilty for acting like a jackass, he held out a hand. “Can you walk?” he asked gruffly.
She frowned a bit, but accepted his hand. The distant rumble of thunder had them both looking to the sunny sky. Jax turned just as the sun was blotted out by a giant metallic shard. It was moving slow, still ten or twenty thousand feet in the air but descending. The ground vibrated under the deep thrum. He stared up as the massive ship crossed the sky. He stood in awe, still holding Talla’s hand. Once the sun peeked out as it continued its path to the north, he came back to his senses. If he had to take a guess, it was on a direct approach to the Etzee.
He pulled Talla brusquely to her feet.
“The
Striga’s
arrived,” she said, the pleasure in her voice unmistakable.
Jax’s body thrummed with tension. Even though he knew the
Striga
was Talla’s best chance at protection, he dreaded returning to the eye of the storm. To reach the core ship, that eye would be a cluster fuck instead of calm. He didn’t let go of her hand. “We don’t have to go back,” he blurted out.
“If we don’t, then we’ll always be on the run.”
“We can hide.”
“Then we’ll always be hiding.”
Damn it.
He grabbed her shoulder. “You know how many troops stand between us and the ship? We could die if we try.”
Sadness filled her eyes. “We all die,” she said softly, then met his gaze. “This way, if we can get to the
Striga
, we at least have a chance to make a difference in others’ lives.”
She raised a hand to his face, and he found himself rubbing his cheek against her calloused yet soft palm. Then he shook his head and pulled away. “Let’s find a way back,” he said, angrily turning and setting a quick pace.
The cleanup crew wouldn’t be far behind them and countless more troops awaited where they intended to go. He’d exaggerated earlier. When he said they
could
die, he’d meant to say they
would
die.
Nearly three years had passed since Talla had seen the
Striga
. The core ship was the pride of the Draeken fleet, the newest and grandest of all core ships. Its cold metallic beauty breathed hope into her lungs for the first time in far too long. She watched it pass over until the trees cut it off from her view, and she had to leave it behind. Still, she continued to gaze up to the sky reminiscently as they walked, a smile now in her heart.
The core ships had saved what was left of her people from certain death. While each massive military ship could house tens of thousands, only a couple thousand Draeken survived to make it to each of the four ships the night of their evacuation from Sephia. There’d been twelve core ships ready to depart that night. Four escaped. Only nine thousand six hundred fifty-one Draeken remained of the once superior race. That was three years ago. How many remained to carry on their proud blood today?
Sucking in a breath of tepid woodsy air, Talla watched the man several feet ahead of her, who was busy keeping them at a hard pace. While Talla stayed in good shape, the heat and dehydration wore her down. Her muscles felt weak. Low-slung branches snagged her wings and fought against her for every inch gained.
Jax, on the other hand, didn’t show the slightest sign of weakness. Well, other than the sweat glistening across his skin. His dark T-shirt clung to his muscles. A bead of sweat trailed down the back of his neck.
She’d fallen into a hypnotic rhythm of watching his smooth stride, and she’d nearly failed to notice that he’d slowed ahead of her. Jax then came to a stop behind a large tree, and held up a fisted hand. While she didn’t know the action’s meaning, she’d been in the military long enough to know that if he was still and silent, she’d better follow suit. She came to a stop against the same tree, propping a hand against the trunk to rest.
“There’s a cabin about two hundred feet ahead,” he whispered.
She thought back their imminent pursuers. If she were hunting prey, the first thing she’d take control of was any shelter in the area. “Is it safe?”
“We need water.” He handed her his handgun. “I don’t see any movement, so I’m going in to check it out. Stay out of sight until I give a signal.”
She gave him a curt nod, and he moved off low, going from tree to tree, until he disappeared. With slow steps, she followed his path until she had a full view of the cabin. Crouching behind a shrub, she rested her wings on the ground to get in a more comfortable position. From this vantage point, she could see the cabin and a cream-colored SUV parked in front.
Jax had already made it to the vehicle. He checked something through the glass, and stuck close to the SUV as he moved around the vehicle and to the cabin. He shot a glance in the large front window before moving to the front door. The main door was open, leaving only a screen door as a barrier. He stood there, his body pressed against the cabin, for several long seconds. Finally, in a quick move, he opened the screen door and disappeared inside.
Talla sat in silence, holding the gun, waiting for any sign of Jax. A child’s laughter in the distance to her left froze her spine. Glancing around, she saw a large, well-camouflaged branch thirty feet straight up. Stretching her wings, she spread them out to find just enough space that it could work. In a rush, she flapped her wings.
In prime health, vertical take-off required strength and energy. Unfortunately, Talla hadn’t used her wings in a couple years. After lifting from the ground no more than a few inches, she collapsed.
With a silent curse, she folded her wings back. Careful to move quietly, she jogged, crouched over as she could, zigzagging around trees until she had view of the other side of the house. A rock trail sloped downward from the back deck and led to a dock. There, she could see a woman lounging in a chair under the full rays of the sun, and a man standing in shallow water with two small children lodged in colorful tubes.
Tension eased from her shoulders. There was no dog.
Her mouth watered watching the lake in front of her. She was so thirsty. Her head throbbed like a bad hangover. They were surrounded by water, but Jax warned her it wasn’t safe to drink. She scowled at human immaturity when it came to their world. Jax said they’d polluted nearly all their world’s fresh water supply, including this lake.
The sound of an SUV starting startled her. She turned back to the cabin.
Fyet!
With a quick glance to the family continuing with their play, she was confident they didn’t hear the engine over the water splashing around them. She dashed back, staying only as quiet as she needed to not be noticed.
Jax was standing at the SUV, half inside the driver’s side and looking furious. She sprinted forward, opened the passenger door and was in by the time he had the vehicle in gear. She waited to shut her door, and he did the same. He pulled out of the driveway slowly, barely revving the engine.
“They’re out back, in the water,” Talla said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Jax nodded and then slowly stepped on the gas. They shut their doors as they picked up speed.
“I told you to stay put,” Jax said through clenched teeth.
“No, you didn’t,” Talla replied. “You said to stay out of sight, which is exactly what I did. I heard voices and checked it out.”
Jax opened his mouth to likely snap back with a retort, but he — wisely — closed his mouth.
“Those people had small children,” Talla said. “They’ll have to return to their cabin soon and will discover their vehicle missing. It won’t take long for the soldiers to know we have a vehicle.”
“We’ll stick to side roads.”
Talla thought through their mission. “Any plans on how we’ll get to the
Striga
once we get close?”