Crais Read online

  Just hearing those words hurt.

  “Then Que disappeared with the rest of his men. And while Walkers don’t usually run my instincts said we needed to get the hell out of there.”

  Que was not only Brace’s father, but he was also the leader of Abernath, the most powerful Walker clan. He’d challenged my father to a battle, wagering myself and Talina, another half-Walker from the planet Spurn, as the prize. Whoever controlled us halves controlled the Seventine. I was currently on a mission to travel to each of First World’s youngling planets to find the native half-Walker. So far I only had Talina, but it was clear that as I collected each girl the interest in us would increase.

  And the danger.

  I faced Josian. It was time to alleviate everyone’s curiosity.

  “It’s the first of the Seventine. It controls Brace. It said he was the only vessel strong enough.” My voice was flat.

  “How do you know this?” Grantham’s eyes narrowed.

  I laughed without humor. “It visited me in my head somehow. It made a rather interesting attempt to bargain with me. It will release Brace if I assist in freeing the third of its brothers.”

  “Why didn’t it kill us at the field?” Lucy asked.

  “Brace fights it and it cannot fully break the melding bond. Until it does it will not be able to utilize his strengths and harm us.” Gods, I wished this conversation was over.

  Josian sighed. “It will figure out how to break that. And I wouldn’t take that deal seriously, baby girl. It will be some type of trap.”

  I nodded. I wasn’t really considering it. I just wished the words would stop running through my mind.

  “How can you prevent it from contacting you, Aribella?” My mother spoke up, her gentle voice harder than usual.

  I smiled. “It’s okay, Mom, I know how to stop it.”

  I’d been the one to touch the golden cord. If I could manage to stay away from it, we’d all be okay. The cord had to be the remnants of my bond with Brace, like a direct connection between us.

  I stood then, sick of everyone towering over me. I hardened my words as I spoke. “Alright, I’ve had enough of the Bracentine for today.” Yeah, I’d given them a couple-nickname. “I’m running out of time, so I need to pull myself together and get out of here.”

  “Running out of time to do what, Abigail?” Lallielle spoke again.

  As usual, during discussions on Walker matters, she’d stayed back. But when it came to her children, she did not hesitate to step into her role as mother. I loved how gentle her features were as she smiled at me. First Worlders, like Walkers, do not age, so physically she’d eternally look like a beautiful thirty-year-old. But her eyes held depths that no thirty-year-old had.

  “To finish my mission and leave for the next planet. I’m running out of time to find the girls. Who knows when this creature will break Brace and release its brothers? I felt its power. No one could fight against that for long, even though …” My voice cracked and I only just realized that tears were tracking along my cheeks. “Even though Brace is fighting for us; he promised me he would always fight for us.”

  And I was going to figure out how to save him. I’d continue my mission, but if it took me a thousand years I’d get my mate back.

  Suddenly I missed him so much that for a moment, as I sucked in a breath, I couldn’t force it out of my lungs. I was crippled with the pain. Eventually though I managed to resume normal functioning. As I worked to lock in the pain and loss, my thoughts flashed back to the moment of his possession, and another face exploded across my mind. One that instantly had my blood at a lava-like boil.

  “Samuel?” I spat out.

  I wanted to know what had been done with my traitorous half-brother, since he’d been the vessel to release the Seventine into Brace.

  “No one has seen him since the battle.” Lucy’s voice was strong. Her expression did not fall. “And if I happen to be the first one to see him I’ll gladly drive a stake through his heart.”

  It looked as if Lucy’s previous obsession with vampires was rearing its head. And she had a legitimate reason for all the hate. Part of Samuel’s betrayal plan had been to convince Lucy they were true mates.

  “Word, Luce,” I concurred.

  “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe my son could do something so heinous.” Lallielle was still in shock, her pale skin chalky white, her full lips almost blending in as they trembled.

  Samuel was not Josian’s son. He had no Walker genes. Maybe it was this power he’d sought when he’d defected to Que’s side of the war.

  Unable to stand her pain, Josian scooped Lallielle up. My parents were a true mated pair and were more in love than any couple I knew. I had to turn my head away, unable to watch their utter devotion right now.

  But of course they wouldn’t let me hide.

  After they had finished their own consoling they moved to me. Their familiar arms surrounded me, blocking out all else. I’d only known my parents for a short time, having spent most of my life lost on Earth, the one planet where Walker powers were muted, but I already loved them dearly.

  “We’ll get Brace back, darling. I promise you. We’ll not let him fight the Seventine alone.”

  I hated more than anything that I was safe right now and Brace was out there, his body no longer his own, a virtual prisoner.

  These thoughts and Lallielle’s soft words once again had wailing screams trying to claw their way up from my chest. I gulped in large puffs of air. But it couldn’t be stopped. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth, letting the agony free. It echoed through the cavern, extra loud with the rock acoustics. My parents held me until I had no more breath, my throat aching and hoarse. It felt like forever but eventually my screams ceased and for that moment I could breathe again.

  Later that day Lucy visited my room carrying two new shirts and chocolate-chip cookies.

  “I figured you’d want something comforting,” she said, holding out a shirt with Chuck Norris on the front. The slogan read, When all hope is lost, Chuck can do it.

  I had to laugh. “Despite the fact Chuck is your comfort, I appreciate the effort.”

  “Come on,” she scoffed, “you’re going through a really tough time right now. You need the best, not that show-off you love.”

  I gave her a gentle shove. “Don’t you be talking smack about Bear. If we were lost in the Arctic, you’d want his help.”

  “No way. Chuck would have built a sled out of ice and wrangled ten wolves to escape by the time Bear got his pants on in the morning.”

  I had to laugh. She made a good point.

  “So what tee did you get for comfort?”

  She held it up for me to see, and I almost cried again.

  “How did you find that?”

  It was a vintage band from the eighties. One we both loved. In fact their songs were some of the last I’d heard before the radio music channels were silenced on Earth. We’d had the best times dancing and singing to their hits.

  “Josian,” she said.

  I smiled. Of course. He always knew where to find obscure things.

  “Alright, it’s time to get your butt up. You need to get out of this room and explore.” She threw the shirt, some clean underwear and shorts at me.

  Apparently these caves had everything, even our clothes. Exploring was the last thing I felt like doing, but moping wasn’t going to change anything.

  “Alright, let me get dressed, and then you can show me around,” I said, getting out of bed.

  It felt good to be back in our shirts, just hanging out, like the old days. Everyone left us alone, for which we were both grateful. The cavern was massive, filled with a variety of large rooms, including lounges, a kitchen with a hot stone fireplace, and lots of bedrooms. There was also an underground mineral spring which was apparently warm all year, and a small forest. The roof of the cave opened in this section, allowing light in and food to be produced in the garden. The entire cavern was self-sufficient.
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  I hadn’t asked what was outside the caves, or where in the universe we were, mainly because Lucy had imparted enough information that I wasn’t that curious. It was simply an uninhabited planet, small and mostly unexplored. Through the years my Walker family had instilled protections to keep these caves concealed. It was the perfect hiding place.

  After we’d finished our tour, we were sitting in a dark corner, feet dangling into the warm spring.

  “Do you think it was all an act?” Lucy said in a low voice.

  “Samuel?” I asked for confirmation.

  She nodded once.

  I sucked down my own pain and anger. “Yes, Luce, I’m sorry. But I think at some point during his imprisonment Lallielle’s asshat of a son changed sides. He was put there to gain your trust, to be an inside man relaying our plans to Que.”

  I tried to contain my fury. I’d never liked my half-brother, and he wanted to hope I didn’t run into him anytime soon. Samuel had been trusted above all others; he was family. But he was going to pay.

  “Makes so much sense now,” Lucy said, her face falling.

  “Explains away all his weird behavior,” I agreed.

  “I just don’t understand why he took it so far, pretending to be my mate, wanting to do the ceremony. It was overkill for his mission.”

  I looped my arm over her shoulder. “Maybe he grew to care for you, Luce. You are pretty easy to ... love.” I stumbled over the painful word.

  Lucy leaned into me, offering her comfort.

  Even though I’d attempted it a million times, and knew the futility of my actions, my mind continued to search for Brace. Walkers have the ability to read thoughts, except for those with strong shields, but Brace and I shared even more because of the melding. He used to be an actual presence in my mind at all times and now it was gone. I wondered if I would be forever reaching into the emptiness where my mate used to be. All that was there now was a golden cord which I could never touch.

  “We will get him back, Abby. You and Brace are an epic, happily-ever-after kind of story. I refuse to believe it can end like this.”

  “I know, Luce,” I agreed, even though I wasn’t sure I believed it.

  In my dream Brace had told me to hold onto the memory, but the pain stabbed at me like a burning knife. Right now I needed to bury my agony deep, so deep that the churning bile in my stomach was its constant companion. Maybe then I could finish my mission.

  It was time to prepare for the next planet. It would just be Lucy, Talina and me going to Crais.

  The burning world.

  We did not have much intel about the planet or its inhabitants. Josian wanted to send some of the Reds with us, but I knew their power would be a beacon for the Seventine. I was relying on the half-Walker protection, the cloaking of our powers, to keep us safe even outside Josian’s cave system.

  And I was so ready to leave.

  The planets were often dangerous, the perfect thing to keep my mind from its endless searching. I’d been trying to devise a plan of rescue for Brace, but besides accepting the Bracentine’s offer, I had no idea what I could utilize to free him. I needed a weapon, and I needed the next half-Walker. We were apparently strong enough to defeat the Seventine, so the more halves I had the better.

  But we couldn’t leave yet, so while we waited Talina, Lucy and I spent our time swimming in the hot springs and tending to the garden. The main reason for our delay in leaving was so Josian could teach me how to shield properly. Part of the limited information we had on Crais was that the surface temperature was too hot for us to survive, and since we didn’t know a safe place to open a doorway, our lives depended on me being able to shield all three of us from its suns.

  But right in the middle of my training Josian had taken off to First World, using his Walker power to open a doorway and walk between the two worlds. He’d left the moment we received word that Lucas, First World’s future Emperor, was tearing apart the planet trying to find us. Lucas believed I was his Empress, and even though I’d told him numerous times I wasn’t, he was particularly tenacious when it came to me. Josian was going to talk-him-off-the-ledge, so to speak.

  Plus he’d wanted to check our home to see if Francesca, my soothsayer aunt, or Samuel, the traitor, were hanging around. Francesca was Lallielle’s sister and a future-seer. She’d used her gift to make the predictions about the Seventine and half-Walkers, before sending me on my mission to gather the girls. And then she’d disappeared. Josian was keen to find her for Lallielle, although he made no secret of the fact he didn’t like Francesca much. I’d tried to talk him out of leaving the safety of these caves. What was he going to do if the Seventine confronted him? But as usual he didn’t listen to me.

  Chapter 3

  The next night I was snuggled into my cave bed, Lucy on one side and Talina on the other. Since the battle we hadn’t been far apart; the comfort I felt from my friends eased some of the ache. My girls understood, each nursing her own wounded heart. Lucy over Samuel, and Talina ...Well, she’d had a double blow. Her brother Raror had been killed by her mother, right in front of her, and Ladre, the Spurn of her dreams, had disappeared, and she had no idea if he was dead or alive. Yeah, we were an emotionally unstable group. I’d overheard the other Walkers calling us the bitch-squad, not surprising considering the way we growled at any man who crossed our paths. But honestly, men really sucked this week.

  I startled as Josian walked into the room. He didn’t seem surprised that I’d been lying there, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. With a waving gesture he gave me the old ‘get your butt out of bed’ sign, before leaving the room. My father was lucky I didn’t need much sleep anymore. The enlightenment of my Walker powers on my eighteenth birthday had increased my speed, strength and stamina. Not to mention my skin was always clear and my blood-red curls were never frizzy. All in all not a bad deal.

  With an almost inaudible sigh I gingerly removed myself from the covers, managing not to disturb the girls. I then padded silently across the cold rock floor toward the distant lights.

  Josian was waiting for me in the main dining area. Since I hadn’t expected anyone else to be there at this time of night, I hadn’t bothered to change from the skimpy tank top and shorts I slept in. Of course, when I stepped into the light the entire Walker community plus Lucas seemed to be hulking around the room.

  I folded my arms across my breasts, just daring any of them to look for too long. A few throats were cleared but most of the Walkers managed to avert their eyes. They weren’t keen to push me in my current angry-at-the-world mood.

  Not Lucas, though. The perv took full advantage. His icy blue eyes started at my bare feet and made their way up the full length of my exposed legs. Slowly he traversed my five-feet-ten height, finishing on my face.

  If I had still given a damn about things like the heat in his gaze or his blatant appreciation I’d probably have blushed. Instead I dismissed him with a flick of my long curls.

  I faced Josian, letting my arms fall free. Who cared what the males were thinking?

  “Why is he here?” I demanded.

  “There was no way you were going to Crais without me,” Lucas said, his voice low but filled with a suppressed humor.

  He always seemed to be laughing at me. His blond hair was perfectly tousled, maybe a little longer than the last time I had seen him, with his bangs falling across his brow.

  “I don’t need you or your help. I don’t want you here. I don’t think I can make it any clearer than that.” My voice fell flat.

  His jovial expression didn’t falter for a moment. “I might surprise you with my usefulness. And your father has already agreed, since my energy can’t be traced the way another Walker’s could, that it’s safe enough for me to accompany you three.”

  Would he ever get a clue?

  I faced Josian again. “No!” I shook my head hard. “I have the shielding almost perfect for three people. I don’t need another person to look after.”

  “Aribella
,” Josian interrupted me.

  Aribella was my birth name, but I’d only recently discovered that. My name on Earth was Abigail and most people called me Abby, only a few members of my family persisted with Aribella. But in reality I didn’t mind either name.

  Josian spoke again. “Aribella. I know you’re angry; you haven’t made it a secret. But I would expect at some point your maturity would kick in and you would see that this is no one’s fault. I promise you that we will get Brace back.”

  It actually hurt, physically hurt to hear his name, deep down near my heart. And Josian’s words hit me hard. I knew I was being quite an ass right now, but my pain was just so all encompassing I couldn’t get around it. I shuddered in a deep breath; the air here was fresh, even more so than First World’s had been, and it cleared my head. I examined the serious-faced men around me, before finally throwing my hands up. It was clear I didn’t have much choice; although what Josian thought Lucas could contribute when he was just a First Worlder was beyond me.

  “Fine! Lucas can come with us, but I’m leaving today when everyone wakes up.”

  I needed to get out of this place. There were way too many men and especially too many Walkers.

  “Then we better start working on your shield now,” Josian said. “Lucas informed me that not only is the temperature on the surface of Crais beyond your ability to survive, there is also supposed to be limited oxygen above ground.”

  Lucas nodded. “Yes, we believe it has developed into the most unforgiving of terrain. The inhabitants have somehow adapted, but we will only have the time limit of your strength and the oxygen in the shield to figure out how to get into their underground caves.”

  I glared at him, needing him to know that this in no way proved his usefulness. “Wow, thanks for the advice. And considering you’re adding another pair of lungs to the shield, you’re lowering our time by hours.”

  He grinned. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while in oxygen loss.”