Page 26 of Into the Dawn

No healthy leader would let their territory fall into such disarray.

Doors creak open and faces appear through dirty, cracked windows as they look out to see what's going on. I note how they move, slowly and carefully, like prey animals watching for predators. No one makes eye contact.

When Jed glances their way, they shrink back into the shadows. The hierarchy here isn't maintained by respect, but by terror.

Apparently, it's unusual to have any activity this early in the morning around here. Except it's not really that early, it's almost noon. The whole place reeks of decay and stagnation, of a clan that's lost its way.

Something tells me this compound has seen more than its share of violence.

At the home directly facing us, which I presume to be Rusty's, a blonde woman steps out onto the porch. She wears a hard-looking expression, a faded apron tied around her waist, and a smudge of flour across her forehead. She looks like Vanessa, but with all the joy and life sucked from her. The similarities are haunting; the same graceful movements, same delicate features, but twisted by years of living under Rusty's rule.

This is what Vanessa will look like if her father hands her over to some guy to use like a broodmare.

My beast snarls internally at the thought while mentally marking another potential exit route behind the main house.

Jed frowns as she stares in barely concealed contempt at the two men when they exit the vehicle. Jed might be her son, but she doesn't look proud of him at this moment in time. Another crack in the family dynamic, something I file away for later use.

"This doesn't concern you, Mama," Jed says as he opens the door for me and gestures with his thumb for me to get out.His voice carries an edge of uncertainty that appears whenever someone challenges the family's authority, even passively.

I step onto the hard earth, rolling my shoulders and cracking my neck, always relieved to get out of a confined vehicle and back into the open air.

The woman's gaze drifts casually to me, giving me an appraising once-over, but I don't miss the flicker of recognition in her startling bright blue eyes.

She knows who I am.

Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I'm not sure yet. But there's something in her stance, in the way she positions herself, that suggests she's not entirely under Rusty's control.

A potential ally?

"I know you," she says in a slow drawl, and I nod, waiting to see what she's going to say next.

"Yes, ma'am."

"You're one of those King boys." Her tone doesn't hold the same disgust as Jed's did when he said my name. Maybe she doesn't hate my guts like the others.

"Yes, ma'am," I say again, and she narrows her eyes at me, trying to figure out whether I'm mocking her or actually just being respectful. Do good manners stand out that much in this place that they warrant such suspicion? The thought tells me volumes about how Rusty runs his clan.

Arms folded across her chest, she gives a weary sigh.

"Son, I don't know what trouble you're in, but you don't belong here. Jed, why are we torturing this boy? Can we not just send him back down the mountain? I don't need the hassle, or the mess."

Jed's father laughs, but somehow, it sounds menacing. The sound sends the watching clan members scurrying back into their homes.

"Mind your own business. And you might not be quite so welcoming if you knew we just caught him with his pants down, tied to Vanessa's bed. Not quite so perfect now, is she? The slut."

Vanessa's mom blinks rapidly a couple of times, and her lips press into a thin line. She's equally displeased at the way he's speaking about Vanessa, but just like me, knows better than to run her mouth. Her fingers twitch slightly, her beast peeking out through the faint glow in her eyes; another natural predator forced into submission.

"She's a grown woman. She can do what she wants. At least she's getting some." That's all she says, one cutting caustic remark, before giving me one last look and disappearing back inside.

But that look carried weight. She knows more than she's letting on.

Jed mutters something about Vanessa never being able to do wrong in his mother's eyes. He gives me a shove in the shoulder, trying to act like a big man in front of the nosy neighbors who've come outside to see what's going on. My beast notes how he always performs for an audience, always trying to prove himself.

He knows they don’t respect him the same way they bow down to his father, who waves them away, an evil grin on his face. The morning sun catches on the knife still at his belt.

"Go on, get. I've got nothing to tell you yet, other than we're gonna have some fun with this one. But until then, you stay clear, all right? It'll be no fun if you kill him before then."

Twisted smirks meet my defiant stare as one by one, they disappear back inside their dilapidated shacks and shut the doors, turning a blind eye, as I'm sure they've done on numerous occasions, to whatever these men are up to.

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