Page 47 of Rivers and Roads

Zane still wasn’t looking at me as he nodded, his hand reaching out to grip the car door. “I…his voice. I’ll never forget his voice.”

I didn’t know much about Misha’s background—just enough to know who his father was and that his brothers were involved in politics. And it wasn’t much of a leap to assume that man on TV was one of them. The face behind the capture and torture of so many—Wolf and human alike.

“We need to get back to the cabin,” I said softly. “I have to call Kor.”

Zane clenched his jaw and nodded, then he swallowed and turned toward me. “I’m sorry.”

I wanted to shout at him, demand that he never ever apologize for his trauma, but I knew that wasn’t going to do him any good. So, instead, I reached out and grazed the back of my knuckles over the side of his neck, passing my scent onto his skin.

I felt him relax a fraction, and when his heartbeat began to steady, I started the car and made the drive home as quickly as I could manage without getting noticed.

I didn’t wait for Zane to follow me in. I knew he needed some space to process, so I left him in the car as I raced inside to grab the little phone from the table. It rang once before Kor’s voice sounded over the line, and I could tell he was exhausted.

“I’m assuming you heard.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “We were at the supermarket, and he was on TV. What the fuck is going on?”

“Their first move,” Kor said from behind a sigh. “Media got ahold of the files, and someone started releasing satellite photos of the labs and their test subjects being moved. It’s being called a hoax—the human media is saying that we’re attempting to discredit them. And then Misha’s brother…”

“He was the one who tortured Zane,” I told him. I moved to the window and pulled the curtain back, staring at Zane’s slumped form in the passenger seat. Everything in me ached to go to him, but I knew he didn’t want me there. Not yet. “He recognized his voice.”

“Fuck,” Kor growled. “How…how bad was it?”

“Bad,” I answered. “It’s his story to tell, but it was fucking…it was brutal. He was steps away from becoming Bryn.”

I heard Kor suck in his breath. We hadn’t talked about Bryn since I told him I had killed him, and I knew it was conversation we needed to have, but now wasn’t the time. “Is he okay?”

“Not right now, but he will be,” I answered. “What are you going to do about Misha’s brother?”

“We’re waiting to see if Marion responds. This bastard basically declared a coup on both sides. He’s presenting it like an election, but I have some insider info saying that he’s going to try and take this to the UN and force a merge. I don’t think our Prime Minister is going to take this lying down.”

My eyes widened. “Does he have the power to do that?”

“No. But he’s going to make an attempt to gain it. And if he really does have allies within our government, they might be in on it with him. But everyone can smell another war coming.” Kor said nothing for a long time. “I think I should tell Misha about what his brother did to Zane.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “You probably should. It’ll be better coming from you, and I don’t think he’s ready to talk about it. I…what’s his name?”

“His brother?” Kor asked. “Alexei. And I have a feeling we’re all going to know that name very well in the coming months.”

“We won’t let him get away with this,” I growled, and I felt a pulse in the pack bond from Kor, letting me know he understood.

“No. We won’t. I do need you to hang tight for another two days. I need to get you both out of there now that the humans have gone public with their plans. I don’t know when the other countries are going to start closing their borders to prepare for potential war, but my sources are telling me it’s gonna be soon.”

A small part of me was reluctant to give up this little bit of isolation so cut off from everything else going on in the world. But looking out at Zane’s shuddering form, huddled in the car, racked with memories, reminded me there was no escaping the reality of our situation. And Zane needed to get his power back.

Just like Kor had when he returned.

And he wasn’t going to find it waiting in the middle of nowhere.

“We’ll be ready,” I told him.

“Tell Zane Mikael’s hot on Danyal’s trail and by the time we get there, we should at least have some information,” Kor said. “And tell him…” He hesitated a long moment. “Tell him that it’s going to be okay.”

I knew Kor didn’t say that lightly, as a Wolf who had suffered unspeakable pain at the hands of the humans. And I knew he wouldn’t have said it unless he meant it. “I will.” Part of me wanted to confess right then that Zane and I were lovers, but in that moment, I wasn’t sure if it was going to last, and I didn’t think I could survive having to tell Kor that it was over before it even began. “See you soon?”

“I’ll let you know when we hit the road.”

The line went dead, and I tucked the phone into my pocket before I wandered to the kitchen to see what we had for food. Cold cuts, bread that wasn’t quite stale, a box of table crackers that Zane had picked up on a whim. It was hardly gourmet, but it would get us fed.

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