Page 64 of Taken By Raider Kings
Buck up, Soph.This isn’t the first impossible thing you’ve done.And where were her glasses?The world looked sharp, focused—was that real?
She lifted her chin.“Right.”As if she actually believed it.“You bet.But first I have to pee.”
* * *
The house was larger than she would have guessed from the narrow upstairs room, and was full to the brim of mingled scents—floor wax, fabric softener, delicious cooking smells, clean healthy animal fur.A whole “sleuth” of Bear Tribe lived here, Julia said, plus other Tribe were visiting.
And they were, one and all, a bit nervous.Sophie got the idea it was because they weren’t quite sure what Zach would do.
Her scalp still itched.Julia had helped her to the bathroom, where Sophie stared longingly at the shower before getting rid of some serious bladder pressure.Then began the laborious process of scrubbing off dirt and dried blood.Julia evinced no embarrassment whatsoever, and it was hard for Sophie to even blush when she was concentrating so hard on staying upright.
Her glasses were still missing.It felt odd not to have them perched on her face, to see every edge sharp and defined.
Julia half-carried her downstairs, Sophie’s arm over her slim shoulders.Two bear-people were in the hall—a stocky woman who nodded at Sophie and a smaller, wider young man with beads braided into his long dishwater hair.He smelled somehow pale, and when a low sound ran through the house’s walls he flinched.
“That’s Zach,” Julia whispered.“If he gets free the sleuth will have to stop him.”
Stop him.Sophie concentrated on one foot in front of the other.Her arms and legs were weak as a newborn kitten’s.The medicinal drink was still burning in her, running through her bones, but she didn’t like the unsteady queasy feeling following in its wake.I don’t think they’ll be baking him cupcakes.I think she means “kill him” but doesn’t want to say it.
They passed a living room, three bear-people clustered around a television, playing a video game.One of them glanced up, sniffing deeply, and stared at Sophie.Two more bear-people sprawled on a vast orange velour couch, sleeping snuggled together like cats.An older man hunched in front of the window, watching the street.He held a shotgun over his shoulder, its business end pointing at the ceiling, and yawned without blinking.More pale light fell through the window, picking out the wiry coarseness of his hair.
The entrance to the basement was in the kitchen, which was packed with people, all smelling of fur, a few the cold silvery smell Sophie was emitting now, too.One of those, a woman with so much eyeliner on she looked double-shiner bruised, was perched on the counter next to the sink, turning a foil pie-pan in her clever little hands.
They all froze when Sophie appeared.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” the woman with the pie-pan said.
“I want to see Zach.”Sophie lifted her chin.
“That one can’t go with you.”The pan made a crinkling noise as she scratched its bottom, lightly.“She’s too dominant.Timbo, where’s the sub-Carcajou?”
“Downstairs.”This was another eyeliner-painted girl, but without the easy authority and silvery smell.“I’ll get him.”
The woman nodded.Something about her quick hands and her ringed eyes was oddly familiar, as well.“Be careful.”
“Brenn will take you down,” Julia said in Sophie’s ear.A low thrumming rose from below the floor, and everyone in the room tensed again.“Anyone else would smell too dominant.”
“This is his mate?”A young man, a bear by the look of him, leaned against a door that must lead out to the backyard.
Mate?Sophie blinked.What?
“Yup.”Julia’s chin lifted, proudly.“Fell in love with her right away.That’s why he went and rescued her whileyouidiots were all running around in yapping circles.”
“Better put a leash on that girl’s mouth, shaman.”The raccoon-eyed woman on the counter rattled the pan.Her small, sharp nose wrinkled.“She’s not making any friends.”
Somehow Sophie doubted making friends was high on Julia’s agenda.She decided to distract the girl.“Mate?Does that mean what I think it means?”
A ripple of amusement ran through the assembly just as the cellar door opened and Brenn appeared.
He looked exhausted, and like he’d lost a few pounds.His clothes were disheveled, painted with dirt, and there was a massive, fantastic bruise up the side of his face.His hair hung lank and greasy; his big dark eyes were wet, red-rimmed.
But he brightened when he saw Sophie, weariness falling away.“Oh, thankGod.”The instant relief was kind of scary.What was even scarier was that she couldsmellit, through a wash of musk also eerily familiar—and just as comforting as Julia’s scent.
“Hold her up.”Julia straightened, and Brenn pushed through the crowded room.He looked even more thin and tired up close.
Sophie’s arm was over his shoulder in a trice.“He’s getting more and more upset.”Brenn’s entire body vibrated nervously, trembling.“And it looks a little… well…”
“It’s okay.”Sophie gathered what little strength she had left.The burning in her bones was fading fast.Whatever Cullen had dosed her with was doing its job—but was also wearing off.“Just get me down there.”
