Authors: Susan A. Bliler
He smiled, “It’s different with you. You already know what we are.”
The thought was sobering
. Aries
fingered the white streak of hair at her temple
for several long moments before she decided to
ask
. “I watched a show once where a woman witnessed a crime. Once she saw the man’s face he had to kill her to keep her from blabbing to the police. He did it as a
precaution
.”
Conn knew where she was going.
“Is
Tyce
going to have me killed?”
Instead of responding, he pulled the car to the side of the road and threw
an
arm over the back of the seat as he faced her. “
No
Walker
is going to hurt you Aries. Ever!” His steel grey eyes held hers for long moments
before he finally looked away. “You should get some sleep.”
“I’m not tired.”
“
Suit yourself.” He eyed her in the rearview mirror. “
You can get in front if you’d like.”
She unfastened her seatbelt and
reached for the door handle
when
Conn warned, “Don’t even think about running.”
Her fingers stilled in mid-air and she ignored the door handle and climbed over the seat. She instantly regretted it. The space felt too small
, too cramped, too close to Conn, but it was too late to change her mind now. She shifted uncomfortably, lifting slight fingers to
check the buttons on his oversized shirt that she wore.
He noticed, “Sorry. We’ll get you some clothes
that fit
at the first opportunity.”
“It’s fine,” she murmured before looking straight ahead
.
“
T
hank you for not taking me back to the cells.
”
“If I’d have known…” he didn’t finish the sentence, just accelerated the
jeep
.
Shrugging negligently Aries smiled ruefully, “I’ve stayed in worse.”
He glanced at her, “Cells?”
“No,” she shook her head, “but I’ve been running for a long time.
Sometimes when I ran out of money…” she too let her words die off.
“How
did you know you were
being chased?”
“I was a
pproached
t
wice in a very short
period
of time.
It wasn’t random I was being targeted.
I realized something was wrong so I packed up and moved
, but the tr
ouble followed.” Her gaze shifted out the side window, “I’ve been pretty lucky. There’ve been too many narrow escapes.”
“Where are you from?”
She turned to eye him cautiously. “The North.”
“Where?” He
demanded
watch
ing her
out of the corner of his eye as she
laced her fingers through her white streak of hair
. He smiled at the nervous tick
.
“
Here.
”
She finally responded quietly.
Shock was evident in Conn’s tone. “Montana?”
Aries shook her head, “Here,” she stated again. “I grew up in Great Falls. I’m from this specific area.”
Conn’s brows drew together and he frowned at her. Her revelation
raised a great deal of questions.
“So,” she changed the subject, “do only Walkers have those halos?”
Trying to focus on her question it took Conn a moment to respond. “Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
He eyed her curiously, “Yes. Why do you ask?”
She shrugged on slender shoulder, “Just wondering.”
He growled, “I can smell your deceit Aries.” He watched her
quickly lace her white streak into a small braid
and he could tell she was deep in contemplation. “Spill it,” he commanded.
“I’m not sure if I…
” she swallowed hard.
“What
?
” he demanded.
“If I can trust you or not.”
His brows hiked, “Because of
you I’m on the run from my own c
ommander.
I’ve taken you from
CEO
StoneCrow
, and I’ve robbed yo
u from Mason
EnemyHunter
, who I might add has
paid a small fortune for you.
On your behalf
I have single handedly
pissed off the three most powerful Walkers
and you
’
r
e
not sure if you can trust me?”
Aries winced at the incredulity in his tone. “I’m sorry but if you knew what I kn
e
w you wouldn’t trust Walkers either.”
Conn locked up the brakes and
threw a hand across her chest to keep her from slamming forward as
the jeep slid to a screeching halt.
“If I knew what you k
new!” He was facing her,
“What do you know Aries?”
She shook her head and jumped when he barked at her.
“What do you know?”
“
Th
-the man that’s been chasing me…”
“Yes,” Conn prodded.
She looked up at him, her eyes dipping to his halo. “He wears one of those.” She pointed to the
halo around his neck.
Conn
watched her for long moments. “You’re certain.”
“It’s not something I’d mistake, or forget.”
Tearing his eyes from hers, Conn gripped the steering wheel and accelerated the vehicle. “Christ, the only thing worse than the
Megalya
is a rouge
Walker
.
”
“The what?
Megalya
?”
An angry growl escaped his parted lips and Aries swore she saw fangs peek out from between his full lips before Conn rolled his shoulders and seemingly forced himself to relax.
“
Megalya
are our only known enemy.
Humans would
be terrified of us if they were ever made aware of our existence, but
Megalya
actually actively hunt us. They are evil, and they are our only threat.”
“Hunt you? What do they want?”
Conn looked at her and Aries could tell he was debating on how much to tell her.
“Conn?” she prompted.
“Well, you are going to need to know.
” He flicked his gaze out the driver’s side window then focused again on the road ahead of them. “We’re not sure where they come from. Hell, we’re not sure where
we
come from.
Some, like Monroe
StoneCrow
, think we’ve been genetically engineered. Other Walkers, like
RedKnife
KillsPrettyEnemy
believe we were created this way, that
our ancestors have always been Skin W
alkers.
None of us truly know our origin, but what we do know is that there are differing stages of Walkers.
S
tage one Walkers are typically newborns
, t
hey’re just learning
to shift and are
still unsure how to use their abilities.
S
tage two Walkers are capable of shifting to one form for a limited amount of time
, it’s how we are as teenagers
. At stage three, Walkers are able to shift freely to the form of a few different animals.
I’m a stage four
Walker
, which means that I can shift to any form I choose and stay that way for as long as I like.
Lastly, there are Indigenous Walkers. They’re extremely rare.
RedKnife
is the only
i
ndigenous
Walker
that we’re aware o
f.”
“W-what can he do?”
“He too can shift to any form for any length of time, but it’s also rumored that he can control the elements. There’s a great deal of mystery surrounding Walkers, but
RedKnife
is the rarest form. We’re still not sure of all he’s capable of doing.
Monroe thinks he may be immortal because he’s the only
Walker
to ever be captured by the
Megalya
and survive.”
“So, the
Megalya
hate Walkers and hunt them? Why? What does that prove?”
“They’re not trying to prove anything Aries. The
Megalya
are killers. They can absorb our powers by drinking our blood. The
y
prefer to decapitate
Walker
s once they’ve stolen our
ab
ilit
i
es
so that they can take our halo as well.
It’s the only way
to forcibly take a halo from a
Walker
.
”
Aries turned ashen as her mouth fell open. She gaped openly at Con
n and felt her stomach lurch. One hand clamped on her belly and the other covered her mouth, “God, please be joking.”
Conn frowned at her, “I’m not
. But you don’t need to worry, t
hey’ll never get near you.”
Near me?
It took her a second to
register that he thought her reaction was caused by concern over her own safety, when truth was that she was actually worried about Conn and the halo that hung around his neck.
She
watched him for a moment, wanting
to question the
vehemence
in his tone, but opted against it. “
If they take your powers by drinking your blood, then what do they gain by taking your halo?”
“Nothing!” Conn spoke through gritted teeth, “It’s a fucking trophy to them.”
Aries blanched
.
“
You said it’s part of your mating ritual. When you give it to your angel doesn’t that put her in danger of the
Megalya
hunting her down?”
“She’s in danger by mere association with our kind. Many
Walker
s aren’t mated for that very reason. We don’t want our angels in harm’s way. Only a
Walker
can gift his halo and only he can take it back. Once it’s gifted to his angel, even she wouldn’t be able to remove it.
While it does put her in danger of being hunted by the
Megalya
, i
t offers her protection and power
as well
.”
“Power?”
“Not like a
Walker
’s, but there are some advantages to mating one of us.”
Aries huffed out a great breath, “And some clear disadvantages.” She lifted a hand to wrap around her slender throat. “Would the
Megalya
decapitate a
Walker
’s angel to get his halo?”
Conn’s mouth pressed into a grim line before he gave a curt nod.
“
H
ow do they
even
know about Walkers? How
do they know where to find you?”
“We’re not sure how they find us, but we’ve found them. The
y have
a
laboratory in Calgary.
Monroe’s actually planning a raid on the facility sometime in the very near future. He thinks Walkers are being held there, experimented on.
Tyce
has offered my team
’
s services.”
The thought had Aries’ blood turning to ice in her veins.
These
Megalya
sounded viscous and she didn’t want Conn
or his men
anywhere near them. She wanted to protest his inclusion in the raid, but couldn’t come up with a logical excuse for her concern other than the fact that she was worried about him.
I can’t admit that.
The remainder of the ride was silent. Aries
absorbed the
information Conn had provided and it was a lot to take in.
Megalya
, stages of Walkers, an experimental laboratory in Calgary, it
was all too much. Mostly, she wondered how, when the time came, she’d convince Conn and his men to stay in Montana rather than risking their lives to raid the Calgary lab.
Chapter 18
After what felt like an e
ternity of traversing up a snow-
covered mountainside,
Conn pulled the jeep to
a halt
, cut the engine, and exited the vehicle.