Page 37 of Hunted
Chapter 13
Dusek
The tunnels breathedaround us.There had been caves here long before the city of Detroit was ever built—the haunt of some paranormal forefathers or other.This underground network had been built on top of the older caves and tunnels, and it lent the entire tunnel system an ancient kind of presence that seeped through the stone and more modern concrete.
The old Detroit tunnels were mostly forgotten by the general public.Just miles of carved earth and sealed passageways beneath a city that had all but forgotten its smuggling roots, or the times when the city had plans for a subway.But certain groups of paranorms knew the tunnels existed, and they put them to good use when they were up to something they didn’t want anyone to know about.
Robin walked ahead of me in silence, her magic pulsing against the line of wards embedded at intervals in the walls of the tunnels closest to The Fox.I didn’t announce myself.She knew I was there.
I had just happened to notice her slipping into the tunnels when I was doing security rounds.She hadn’t exactly asked for company, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be alone.I knew my alpha.She was struggling.And I had a feeling she was getting sick of Ruya and the betas being soniceabout it.
Normally, I wouldn’t bother trying to help.Who needed a walking terror to comfort them?But lately...I didn’t know what was wrong with me, exactly.Only that I couldn’t seem to keep from poking my nose into things I was wildly unsuited for all of a sudden.
Robin emanated light from the tips of her fingers—a dragon trick that was part spell and part inner heat.The light flickered across the sigil etched into the wall, her hand a breath above the stone.
Her voice was a husky whisper.“Here to berate me for my monumental failure, bubak?”
I stepped closer, careful not to get so close I’d cause her discomfort with my aura, but close enough we weren’t talking to each other from across the tunnel.
I knew exactly which “failure” she meant.The alpha in her had to be a mess of fury and guilt right now.“Cicely’s alive,” I said evenly.
Her shoulders tensed.“Only because Ruya happened to be so close at hand.Seconds, Dusek.He had seconds to live, if she hadn’t given him everything she had.”
“There was never any chance of her not being nearby, Robin.”I said as I moved just a little closer.“Court healer is her official position.And everyone in that room knew there were risks.”
Robin turned, just enough to glance back at me.
Her eyes glinted in the faint light coming from the magic flame in her hand.“I should have acted on Acacia’s demands immediately, one way or another.I knew she’d lash out—I just stupidly assumed she’d target me or the snake, and we’re strong enough to withstand her tantrums.I should have realized she’d go for the most vulnerable of us instead.It was a ridiculous mistake.Pathetic, not being able to predict and work around someone like Acacia.I never would have made that kind of mistake before.I’m losing my touch.”
“No,” I said.“You’ve just got a whole lot of shit working against you right now.And I think you’ve lost faith in yourself.That alone can cause a person to make mistakes.”
The silence that followed was heavy.
She turned back to the wall, pressed her hand flat against the sigil.Her aura surged as she poured magic into the marking—fire, and spark, and something older than language, something granted by her dragon heritage.She was no sorcerer, but when Sanka made the wards decades ago, he made sure anyone in our original court could recharge them when needed.
The crack sealed and the ward strengthened.“One down,” she murmured.
We moved deeper into the tunnel.I didn’t tell her that she should be conserving her magical energy.She didn’t need any reminder that she wasn’t whole.And this was simple magic.Her system would equalize quickly with a brief rest.She was trying to prove herself.I just wasn’t sure who she was trying to reassure—the court, or herself.
She walked with measured force—boots placed with purpose, jaw tight, fists curled.I’d seen Robin crush enemies and ruthlessly orchestrate chaos and ruin within the syndicate factions as we slowly made a place for ourselves and eroded their power over the years.I’d seen her laugh in the face of noble death and swear vengeance in a whisper that froze the air.But this?This was the walk of someone very purposefully staying rooted to the ground.She was barely holding her human shape.
I recognized it in her, because I’d been there before.When Robin and the others first freed me from my slavery I had hardly been able to hold a human form.And for a long time after, all it took was one stressor too many to have me bursting and scattering into shadows again.
I didn’t speak again until we reached the southern gate—the one closest to the edge of the Rivertown warehouse district.The sigil here had worn thin.Its heartbeat faltered.Robin knelt, fingers sweeping over the moss-crusted symbol.“I anchored this one the night we lost the old Corktown safehouse.”
“That was forty years ago,” I murmured.
“Mmm.Was it?Feels like only yesterday.”
I crouched beside her, careful not to touch.“Do you ever wish we’d moved quicker?Burned it all down sooner?”I asked.She had always had hunger and drive behind her goals, but she was also the most patient and methodical person I’d known.Until recently.
