Hidden

I know these mountains, this forest, and I can’t recall it ever being this quiet. Something isn’t right. Naturally my mind drifts to the hunters. I recall every time they chased me. They were never quiet. Their vehicles and choppers always announced their presence. Sometimes too late, but I always heard them before I saw them.

For some reason, I don’t think it will be like that again. If they have the device that’s going to lead them directly to Miram, then they’ll use stealth and surprise to attack her.

The sound of rushing water grows closer. For the first time, these trees don’t feel like the solace they’ve always been to me. In every blade of grass, in every whispering limb, behind every tree trunk lurks a potential menace.

I look around sharply and dig my fingers into Will’s hand. Solid, bigger than mine, it gives me strength. He looks down at me and I start to tell him my misgivings … the bad feeling in my gut, but Deghan holds up a hand, stopping us at the tree line edging the riverbank.

I step out from beneath the weight of Will’s arm. I must look as worried as I feel because he nods once at me as he leans back against a tree. “Go on,” he says quietly. “I’ll be fine.”

Fresh blood dribbles from the gash on his forehead. This close to him, the coppery aroma fills my nose and I’m suddenly more concerned about him than hunters. His eyes look dazed, his expression tight, like he’s focusing on being okay, willing it to be so, but it’s just not the case.

“Will,” I whisper, gently shaking his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

He blinks slowly and nods, his gaze fastening on me and coming into focus, looking less glassy. “I’m fine.”

Believing him, the air expels from my hotly contracting lungs. I smooth my palm over his cheek, already scratchy and in need of a shave. Just the sensation of him against my hand, whole and alive and with me, the hum of his lifeblood murmuring beneath his flesh, buoys me.

Deghan holds back a branch and motions for me to check out whatever he and Tamra are looking at. I hesitate, staring uncertainly at Will, hating to leave him.

“Go,” he urges.

Nodding once, I move ahead to see why we’ve stopped.

Crouching beside Deghan, I follow his gaze and see his caution is needless.

There are no hunters, despite the warning prickle at the back of my neck. Miram stands across the river from us with her aunt Jabel. Miram clings to her, her lips moving.

“It’s just her aunt,” I whisper, still glancing around, an eye for the shadows nestled between the trees where I worry that hunters hide, watching, waiting for the moment to pounce.

I sink down, my heels digging into the yielding earth, intent on staying hidden. Safety always lies in that, it seems—staying hidden.

Jabel nods sympathetically as Miram talks, doubtlessly explaining her predicament. Several moments pass before Jabel folds her niece into her arms, smoothing a hand over her loose hair. Emotion tugs at my heart. Jabel is her aunt, sure, but she’s never been the warm, welcoming type. It’s nice to see the evidence of her love for her niece.

What epitomizes Jabel is her sharp, watchful gaze. So like her son, Corbin. Her very nature as a hypnos draki always made me uneasy. Hard to imagine she and Mom had once been the best of friends. I’m humbled at this softer, kinder image, glad for the comfort Miram finds in her.

Then it happens.

I don’t have time to move, much less make a sound. There’s no chance to shout out a warning, no chance to understand … to process until it’s too late.

We can only watch, gawking as Jabel lifts a blade from inside her sleeve and plunges it into Miram’s back.

Tamra chokes on a cry beside me as Jabel twists the blade, pulling it back and stabbing it in a second time before shoving Miram into the river. Eyes burning, I stare wide-eyed. My mouth parts, opens on a silent scream. My heart crashes against my chest, a painfully beating hammer inside me.

Behind me something snaps. I swing around to find Corbin standing there, his expression horrified as he looks over our heads to his mother. To his cousin.

Clearly, he knew nothing of his mother’s plans, nor suspected her of being capable of this.

In that moment, staring at his paled features, he’s the boy I grew up with. And he just witnessed his mother murder his cousin. I reach for his hand. He yanks it away, shaking his head fiercely like he can’t believe his eyes. “No,” he croaks. “No!”

Spinning around, he tears through the brush, fleeing what he can’t face. Blinking, I stare after him, astonished. I suppose I half expected him to confront Jabel. She’s his mother, after all. He can’t be afraid of her, can he?

I turn back and watch as the undulating current carries Miram’s body away like she’s weightless. I can’t move, can only stare in shock as she rushes past us on top of the water. Her eyes are vacant, staring up at the sky sightlessly.

I quickly duck to the side and heave, retching into a nearby bush. My body shakes and shudders, numb fingers grasping the thorny, silvery green leaves. Will steps past and peers out at the river to see for himself what has me puking up my guts.

I lift my head and rejoin them all, my unsteady limbs quivering as we watch Miram’s killer matter-of-factly lower herself to her knees at the bank of the river, and clean her knife off in the water. Calm and serene, Jabel’s face reveals nothing, no emotion, no regret for the murder she just committed. And I know, feel the truth in my bones … I’m staring at the same person who betrayed my father. It wasn’t Severin, but his sister.

“What do we do?” Tamra whispers.

I can’t recall a draki ever killing another in cold blood. This is even different from tricking my father into getting captured. Bereft of any human decency. Miram was her niece. Maybe it happened long ago, back in the days of the Great Wars, when we were primitive, warring tribes—maybe then we cut one another down on a whim. But not now. Not anymore. We’re more enlightened. That’s what I’ve always been taught. Humans are the killers, the ones who commit crimes against their own kind. Not us.

“She can’t get away with it,” I announce grimly. I turn and face Will. “Can you find your way back to the car?”

“What?” He blinks, his gaze focusing on me.

Maybe it’s something in his face, but I have to look away from him right then. I glance at my sister and Deghan. “The pride has to be told. Right away. Jabel can’t get away with this. She’s a danger.”

I feel Will’s stare and look back at him. He studies me for a moment before turning away, staring at the lush trees as if seeing them for the first time. “You’ll never be finished with any of this,” he murmurs.

I wet my suddenly dry lips, ready to explain how everything just changed and I’m needed here. Again. That I’m going to walk directly into the pride and demand a judgment and I can’t bring Will with me. I need him out of harm’s way while all this goes down. I can’t be worried about his safety. “Will—”

He holds up a hand to stop me. “I can find my way.” And then he’s moving. Walking away from me.

I lunge for him. He twists free, not even slowing down.

I call out, “I’ll meet you—”

He whirls around. His hazel eyes gleam fire. “I’d have to wait forever. Because you’ll never come.”

The words hit me like a slap. He continues through the trees again, leaving me. My chest tightens as his back disappears from view. From me.

“Jacinda,” Tamra urges right behind me, “we can handle this. Go after him.”

I look at Tamra … over her shoulder at the small figure of Jabel disappearing through the branches.

“Go, Jacinda,” Tamra insists.

Desperation stirs in my chest. It’s time to end this splitting myself between two worlds, this sense of forever being torn in half, pulled in two directions.

My sister is right. She can deal with this. I can let go.

“I’ll be back … or in touch,” I say finally, looking anxiously to the spot where Will disappeared. If nothing else, Tamra and I have to communicate about Mom. I don’t really know if I’ll ever be back. I only know that I’m leaving with Will.

Decision made, I take off after Will. Pushing through the foliage, I dart between trees, certain he’s not too far ahead. Especially not so recently injured. In fact, I eye the ground ahead, hoping he hasn’t passed out from his head injury. I should have never let him go without me.

It’s the quiet again that alerts me. I can’t hear Will ahead of me no matter how I strain for the sound of him. I stop and listen hard, my nerves stretched tight.

“Will,” I say in a loud whisper, suddenly conscious that I shouldn’t yell his name.

I look up, too, not forgetting Corbin. Although hunting me is probably the last thought on his mind now. There’s nothing in the sky. I move on, only this time slower, wondering where Will disappeared to. At my pace, I should have caught up with him by now. Shaking my head, I press on, knowing the direction he took and determined to find him.

A bird calls out over the silent wood and I stop, my skin snapping tight. I know this forest, the creatures and sounds that exist here. And that birdcall was far from natural. It doesn’t fit into the world pulsing all around me. As savvy a tracker as Will is, he’s probably aware of the danger, too.

I spin around, intent on turning back for Tamra and Deghan. They need to be warned that we’re not alone. And I’m hopeful Will may have changed his mind and backtracked as well when he realized that there’s something else here besides us. Our chances of survival are better together.

I plunge ahead, weaving a path through thick tree trunks, my bare palms reaching out to scrape rough bark as I move. A reminder that I’m alive.

I grasp one tree to swing around it—and smack directly into something hard. Thrown off balance, I reach out with both hands to steady myself and come upon a relentless wall. My fingers flex. Warm male.

I look up at a familiar face. “Xander,” I mouth, unable to find my voice. My pulse locks before leaping into overdrive, hammering against my skin. I back up a step, but his hands clamp around my wrists.

I look left and right, wildly searching for Will. As if he will miraculously appear to save me from his cousin. Even as I wish it, I know that’s not going to happen.

I swallow my fear. Other hunters must be close. Even though he’s hunted by himself before, Xander’s not out here solo this time. I can feel them. I know they’re here … just like I know why they’re here. They’re on Miram’s trail. Miram who’s now dead, floating downstream.

My heart constricts as I think about them finding her. Just a girl. Not the “dragon” they expect. What will they think? If Jabel killed Miram because of the risk she posed to the pride, she evidently failed to consider hunters finding the corpse of a human girl with a tracking device inside her that had been implanted in a draki.

I take in Xander’s appearance. He’s outfitted in full camo, a tranq gun slung over his shoulder. He’s not holding the locating device, but I know someone else is … one of the other hunters in his group.

“Jacinda?” he demands, his voice incredulous, bewildered. “What are you doing here? Where’s Will?” The question of the hour. He squeezes my wrists harder, and I wince. “Where’s my cousin?”

“I—I don’t know. I lost him.” That much is true, at least. “He’s around here somewhere.” I hope.

Xander stares at me so intently, his dark eyes probing and suspicious. “Come with me.”

With one hand circling my wrist, I don’t have much choice. Not if I want to look like some hapless human girl who simply got lost in these woods. And that’s all I can be. All I can let him see.

He rotates a small black mouthpiece near his lips. “Hey, we’ve got a situation here. I’m coming in.”