Page 27 of Phoenix Falling
Isn’t that kind of like judging yourself?
Shut the fuck up.
A chuckle echoed in my ears as I unlocked the massive steel door to the outside world and pulled it open. Cool spring air swept in to surround us. The sighs of relief that I heard in both of the shifters’ minds behind me made my heart ache.
“Welcome back to the outside world,” I said, sweeping an arm out to encourage the werewolves forward.
It was the first time I’d ever seen Baer smile.
The two males sprinted out the door and directly across the open field. Without my saying anything, they slowed as they neared the far edge of the clearing, far enough away that a human could not see it, but a mere minute for a shape-shifter to cross. Baer and Beckan had been locked up a long time without the ability to run, to soak in the night, to stretch their legs and give their stamina a good workout, so it took them two minutes, but another two saw them right back where I was. I settled on a limestone outcropping and watched the brothers run, circle the meadow, leap and play. Yes, play, like puppies too long denied their companion. The thing was, my heart didn’t just ache with sadness for these two; it ached with the need to do something for them, to help them find their path forward. At least they had aforward, unlike me. I was stuck in the now and probably always would be. But Baer and Beckan could change their lives. All they needed was someone on their side.
That someone was going to be me, I’d decided. If I could only leave one legacy, I was determined that it be this.
Baer eventually slowed. While Beckan continued to explore the clearing, Baer came to me and threw himself onto the grass, lying full-length to stare up at the brilliant stars so far away. I left him in peace to sleep if he desired, but his eyes stayed open, his gaze fixed on the heavens.
Finally I felt a stirring in his consciousness, and he asked quietly, “Why would you do this for us?”
I didn’t fully know why. But that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “I told you, werewolf, I can read your mind. If I wanted to, there’s nothing you could hide from me. I don’t believe you’re going anywhere. You want too much for your brother.”
“I do.” Baer’s voice was always rough, but it became even more gravelly as he watched a comet shoot across the night sky. “I want something I didn’t believe existed. Something I thought we could never have. That chance is gone for me, but not for Beckan.”
I didn’t agree. I thought the chance was there for both of them; it was just going to take time.
Baer wasn’t ready to hear that yet.
“They’re back, aren’t they? Helios has come back.”
“I don’t know.” It would make sense that this thing I perceived was somehow connected to the Anigma commander’s return to Nashville, but I felt no certainty of that. “Someone at some point will come here to find out what happened to Maddox, though up to now we have seen no one. Certainly one of his soldiers could have reported back—plenty of them scattered when we invaded their compound.” That was the problem with inexperienced soldiers; they didn’t tend to have the guts to stay put when faced with the possibility of death.
“If they knew what was good for them,” Beckan said, walking past us, “they ran as far away as they could.”
Baer sighed and sat up, scooting back to prop himself against the rock I sat on. The two of us watched as Beckan continued his circuit of the meadow.
“Why did you stay?” I finally asked Baer, waiting until his brother was well out of earshot.
“Can’t you read that in my mind?” Baer asked, the words bitter.
“I can.” I waited.
“So why don’t you?”
“Because I want to hear it in your own words.”
Baer pulled his knees up, propped his arms atop them, then dropped his forehead down. “There were originally five of us, you know.”
I kept my surprise carefully concealed. No, I hadn’t known. For all that I’d skimmed their minds, neither brother had revealed that fact. They must have buried it very, very deep. A critical piece of information they needed to keep safe, then.
“Four brothers…and one sister. When our parents died—” Baer paused, cleared his throat. “When Maddox killed them, he took all of us as his pack. What he wanted us for became evident pretty quickly. He taught us to hunt, to hurt, to kill. To be like him, though we were always careful to never reveal more power than he displayed.”
“He even taught your sister?”
“No.” Baer shook his head. “He separated her from us. She was the incentive, you see. If we performed well, we could see her. If we obeyed him, we could share a meal together.” The roughness of Baer’s voice increased. “For years he spaced the visits out more and more, making us wait longer and longer. Until he was certain he had us under his thumb.”
His words ground to a halt. I waited.
“Eventually the day arrived when we asked to see her, and he told us she was gone.”
“Gone?”
