Vanish f-2 Read online

  So why? He doesn’t know it’s all a farce. He can’t know that. And yet he stares.

  I turn and go inside, my flesh prickling, still feeling his watchful gaze.

  Cassian and I eat together in silence, our last meal alone. Then I catch myself and realize all the remaining nights this week will be like this. Him. Me. Alone.

  We’ll go our separate ways during the day, performing our duties, socializing, living. But our nights are reserved for each other. My skin shivers, heat crawling deep beneath the skin.

  Until, of course, I make my escape.

  “Do you have plans for tomorrow?”

  “I’m going to see my sister,” I answer truthfully, before I can think that maybe I shouldn’t bring up Tamra.

  He nods, scrapes the tines of his fork along his plate. “Maybe I should come with you—”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I quickly say.

  He nods again, slowly, processing. “Okay.”

  I stab a piece of fish on my plate. I don’t need him hanging around when I tell my sister that I plan to run away with Will and want her to come with us.

  “For now,” he adds.

  I look up, frowning. “What do you mean?”

  He continues, “I can’t hide from your sister forever. We have to make things right.”

  “You think that can happen?” I ask, staring intently at him. “That you can make things right with Tamra?”

  He grimaces, shifts in his chair across from me. “I hope so. She’s your sister and I’m your…”

  I stare at him, my gaze sharp, cutting. Don’t say it. We’re not that. You’re not my chosen mate.

  “We’re family now. All of us.”

  I say nothing. Gripping my plate, I rise and enter the kitchen and start on the dishes with feverish intensity.

  Cassian joins me. Side by side, I wash and he dries. We work silently, fall into a rhythm. I wince as I think of my parents doing this same thing for years, standing in this very spot. Bonded. Connected.

  Only we’re not my parents. Not even close. We don’t laugh and talk. We don’t share stories about our day. I don’t allow that. I feel a certain sadness drifting off him and settling deeply into me, mingling with my own heartache for Will and Mom. And this only makes me madder. I shouldn’t have to feel his emotions. I have enough of my own to cope with.

  As we perform our mundane task, I think about tomorrow. When I’ll see Tamra again. When we can talk about how we will leave this world behind forever. A world that steals from you and gives nothing in return.

  Chapter 25

  I rise early and don’t bother with breakfast. No sound comes from Cassian’s room as I slip from the house. I rush through the township, through streets that are mostly bare, the dawn air thick as chalk dust, still and silent except for my thundering tread and gasping breath.

  As I hurry down Main, my spirits lift when Nidia’s cottage comes into view. Then my elation is crushed.

  My heart seizes as Corbin steps into my path, appearing out of nowhere. From behind a hedge, I guess. As though he were lying in wait. He grabs my arm and drags me beneath one of the many evergreens lining the lower half of Main. He presses me against the rough bark, trapping me between the massive tree and his body.

  “Take your hands off me,” I hiss. My body reacts instantly, instinct kicking in. Fire erupts at my core, smolder eating up my throat. The taste of ash and char coats my mouth.

  “Let’s get something straight.”

  I don’t listen, don’t care to hear whatever it is he has to say.

  Shaking with fury, I glare down at his hands on my arms. Emotion sweeps over me in a hot burn. “You dare touch me? Cassian will kill—”

  “Oh, very affecting. I’m impressed. I almost believe you and Cassian are a true couple instead of the charade you’re playing at.”

  Cold sweeps through me, dousing my heat. “W-what do you mean?”

  Corbin leans in, brushes his nose to my cheek, and inhales sharply. I cringe at the contact and blink once, hard. “I know the truth,” he whispers, his voice a harsh rasp in my ear. “You’re not his. You’ve never been his. You’ve always held yourself from him. Bonding with him hasn’t changed that.”

  I open my mouth to deny this, but can’t. I can’t say the words, can’t insist that Cassian and I are in love. Saying those words, with Will in my heart… I just can’t. Whether it’s good for me or not. Instead I growl, “Get away from me.”

  “I’d see it in your eyes. He’d be a part of you. But you’re the same. Unchanged.”

  It’s strange, but I almost hope he’s right.

  His eyes glint, flash down at me. “Still untouched.” He smiles then, a cruel twist of his lips. “Which means there’s still a chance for us.”

  I snort. “You’re crazy.”

  “Keep telling yourself that. Only I know the truth, and soon everyone else will, too. If I have to singlehandedly make them see it. I’ll prove it. And then I’ll be there to do what my cousin is too much of a coward to do.”

  I can’t breathe as I stare up into his face. If I didn’t know I needed to get away — far away — this would only confirm it. Corbin is crazy enough to do just what he says.

  He inches his head closer… like he’s actually going to kiss me. “I’ll still claim you.”

  I don’t think. Just react. I part my lips and release the burn that froths at my core, making my skin contract and snap fiercely.

  Steam pours from my lips in a thin ribbon. Satisfaction swells inside me as the hot vapor scalds him. He howls, clutching the right side of his face. I seize my opportunity and squeeze out from between him and the tree.

  I run the rest of the way to Nidia’s, his shouts chasing after me.

  “It’s you and me, Jacinda. I’m going to own you! You can’t run forever!”

  I jerk to a hard stop at Nidia’s door and resist the urge to pound the wood with my fist. It’s still early. No sense beating the door as if wild wolves were chasing me.

  I rest one hand against the door, the other to my heart, gathering my breath. When the door pulls opens, I stop just short of falling forward.

  Tamra stands there, her red-rimmed eyes inscrutable, but I know she’s hurting as much as I am.

  “Let’s run away,” I blurt. Just like that. No easing in, no working up to it.

  Holding my breath, I wait and hope I’m not off base to think she’ll even consider the risky venture. That she’ll even want to surrender her newfound status with the pride. It feels like forever as I wait for her to answer me, to speak, to say anything.

  “How soon can we leave?”

  I release a ragged breath, almost weep from the relief — and then I realize the tricky part is still left. I have to explain Will.

  I glance over my shoulder, making sure Corbin is gone, and then I turn around and glance pointedly inside the house. Tamra quickly motions me in and leads me to her room — what was once Nidia’s spare room. The bedroom doesn’t bear her mark yet. She’s transferred very little from her old room at our house into it. Even Nidia’s sewing table still occupies one side.

  I sit on the unmade bed, the covers a wild tangle beneath me.

  She closes the door softly. “So how are we going to do this?”

  I brace myself and meet her gaze and say the one word that should explain it all. “Will.”

  She stares at me for several moments and then asks in a surprisingly even voice. “Have you been seeing him?”

  I nod.

  “The day Miram and you…” Her voice fades. Sucking in a breath, she asks what I’ve been dreading, “Were you meeting Will then?”

  Again, I nod. She sighs, and the sound is tired.

  “I left you and Mom notes, but Miram took them, and she followed me. Then the hunters came….”

  She shakes her head.

  “Are you very angry?” I ask quietly.

  “I don’t know. Maybe. I’m so tired. Tired of being mad. I just want to lea
ve here. Find Mom and never come back.” The pain in her voice makes me feel even worse. Because I put it there. At least partly. And because I can’t promise her peace. At least not yet.

  “There’s something I have to do before we can find Mom. I was hoping you would help me.” With her particular talent, Tamra’s assistance could be the difference between life and death.

  Wariness fills her smoky gaze. “What?”

  “I’m going to rescue Miram.” And then I’d be square with the pride. With Cassian. With myself.

  Her eyes widen. “Miram? But isn’t she with the enkros?”

  I nod. “But they won’t have killed her yet. I don’t think. Not for a while. They’ll want to do some”—I shy from the foulness of the word experimenting and substitute—“observing.”

  “So you think you can just march into wherever they have her and ask nicely for them to hand her over?”

  I angle my head and say slowly, “No, but I think I can bust her out. With Will’s help. And yours. I owe her that.” And Cassian, I can’t help thinking.

  “You owe her? Miram? She’s never been anything but a jerk.”

  “She never would have been taken if I hadn’t been out there waiting for Will.”

  Tamra digests this, looking me over appraisingly.

  “Look,” I say, “let’s just make it to their stronghold, check it out… and then we’ll see.” I bite my lip, hoping she can’t read my thoughts. That once I have the enkros stronghold in sight, I’m going in. No way I’m backing out. I’m getting Miram free… and I just might do a little damage in the process. My blood warms at this, and I feel stronger, fortified. The idea of taking the entire operation down gives me a decided rush.

  “All right,” she agrees, but the hesitation is there, clear in her voice, reminding me of every time I dragged her into a scheme that she didn’t really want to do.

  “Mom left a note,” I say, happy to give her some bit of good news.

  Her eyes brighten. “Where? What did it say?”

  “I destroyed it. Didn’t want anyone to find it, but it said ‘Remember the palm tree.’”

  “‘Remember the palm tree’? What’s that mean?”

  Disappointment stabs me. Tamra doesn’t remember either. “I don’t know, but she obviously thought it would mean something to us. I’m sure we can figure it out.”

  “Yeah.” She nods, and her voice sounds stronger, less miserable, and I’m so vastly relieved Mom left a clue, a life raft in a turbulent sea. Something, anything, to hang on to. Tamra’s steady gaze rests on me. “When do we go?”

  “Will is supposed to meet me in three days.”

  “Three days,” she murmurs, looking disappointed. “And then we have to find Miram and bring her back here before searching for Mom? We’re really going to keep Mom hanging like that? For a girl we don’t even like?”

  “Well, we don’t know what Mom’s note means yet. We don’t know where to go. And Mom would know we might not get to slip away soon. She won’t give up on us.”

  Tamra’s gaze narrows on me. “So you’re supposed to live with Cassian for three more days?” Her accusing voice claws through me. Like this is something I’ve done deliberately. Something I want. It’s the first time she’s mentioned Cassian. It’s more than awkward talking about the boy she’s obsessed over for her whole life — who happens to be bonded to me now.

  My mind flashes to the cold press of those cutters on my wings. The memory echoes through me and I can taste the fear like I’m there again. Up on that block. Has she forgotten that?

  One side of her mouth curls as she adds, “That should be cozy.”

  “It’s not…” I wet my lips. “It’s not like that.”

  Her stare penetrates and I pluck at the edge of a twisted sheet, thinking I need to choose my words carefully. I can read the question in her eyes. What is it like then?

  “He hasn’t… we haven’t done anything… irreversible.”

  Her lips twist. “No? I thought he would be most eager to—”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not.” I’m not eager for anyone but Will.

  “Right.” And I know what she’s thinking. Why her voice carries that mocking edge. She’s remembering that moment she interrupted us. How close we stood. Cassian’s hand on my face. And she doesn’t even know we’ve actually kissed. Guilty heat swamps over me.

  I cross my arms over my chest. “He sleeps in one room and I’m in the other, and that’s the way it’s going to stay until you and I get out of here.”

  She looks away, stares through her bedroom window at the ivy-covered wall. Not much of a view. “How are we going to get past the guard on duty?”

  I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. I’d been too busy worrying about whether Tamra would agree to escape with me or not.

  And then I know what to do. “A distraction,” I murmur.

  “Yeah? What?”

  “Not what. Who.”

  Chapter 26

  Az’s laughter floats on the air like softly ringing bells. Tamra and I wait anxiously, tucked away, out of sight, squatting low behind Nidia’s house.

  The sudden loss of the sound prompts us to move. As one we peer around the edge of the house. Sure enough, she’s locking lips with fifteen-year-old Remy. The boy is stuck like glue to Az. His hands grip her back like he fears the older girl might vanish from his arms.

  Backpacks slung over our shoulders, we sneak past them and out the entrance. I glance over my shoulder. Az watches us, her bright eyes wide-open, urging us on even as I know she’s sad for us to go.

  With a farewell wave, I charge ahead. My breath escapes my lips in hot puffs. Any moment I expect to hear the alarm. I wait for draki to spill out from the township and catch us.

  In such an event, I could expect the worst punishment. I doubt it would stop at a wing clipping. Severin’s wrath will be all the mightier for me taking Tamra away, too… for leaving them without their next shader.

  The pride — Severin — would know I didn’t honor my bond to Cassian. Corbin would be quick to point that out. I shiver and dart a glance at my sister.

  She catches my gaze and gives me a small smile as we leap over a fallen log, in perfect accord as we flee. That feels good. To be together in this. It’s too bad that it’s such a mess bringing us together.

  Our feet thud softly over damp earth. We cut through nourishing mists, weaving through trees we know well.

  I pull ahead of Tamra, eager to leave the pride behind, hungry for the sight of Will.

  I feel him first.

  Before I even break through the trees, I know he’s there from the snap of my skin, the sudden quivering heat in my throat.

  And then I see him.

  I stop, panting hard, my gaze devouring him. He looks back at me, and there’s the barest surprise there — in his face.

  He didn’t think I would come, and now here I stand with a bulging backpack, all humming eagerness, my face and eyes telling him all he needs to know.

  It’s unclear who moves first. We’re in each other’s arms, lips locked, melded, hotly fused. Our hands drag over each other, reacquainting, remembering, almost as if we’re both verifying the other one is real flesh and blood. His fingers catch in the snarls of my hair and I kiss him harder, catch my teeth on his lip.

  He makes a small sound into my mouth and it ripples through me, undoing me. Making me forget everything but this. His lips on mine.

  Tamra clears her throat. Will jumps from me and yanks me behind him. I smile, my heart lightening at the protective gesture, even if it’s unnecessary.

  I wrap my fingers around his arm. “It’s all right. Tamra’s coming with us.”

  “Tamra?”

  I nod. “Yeah. I’ll explain it all later. We better go. Before they notice we’ve left.”

  Nodding, Will slips his hand around mine and starts toward the Land Rover.

  “Don’t tell me this is your human. The same one Nidia shaded?”

  I stop cold at the v
oice.

  Turning slowly, I drop Will’s hand and brace myself.

  Fire erupts inside me as Corbin steps from the trees. There’s no smile on his face, but satisfaction gleams in his eyes.

  “I knew you’d slip up. And I’d be there when it happened.” His gaze flicks to Will. “So this is why you won’t give any of us poor draki guys the time of day.”

  Tamra says my name hesitantly, her eyes confused. “Jacinda?”

  I wave her to silence, my gaze fixed on Corbin, swallowing in a bitter wash what his being here means. What I’ll have to do to ensure our escape. My hands flex at my sides. “You shouldn’t have followed us.”

  “Oh, clearly I should have. My uncle will reward me well for stopping the pride’s fire-breather and shader from escaping.” His nostrils flare deeply and his purply black gaze scours me. “Even Cassian can’t save you now. You’re not his anymore. You’re mine — just like I said you would be.”

  Will’s voice cracks over the air then, and there is nothing hesitant about it. “Touch her and I’ll kill you.” The words thrum on the air, menacing and dark as the predator I first met months ago, in these very woods.

  It seems ridiculous, on principle, that one human could defeat a strong onyx like Corbin. But then I remember. Will’s not an average human. He’s something more… something not to be underestimated.

  Corbin’s eyes snap to Will, his face vicious and hateful as he gazes at his centuries-old enemy. His human flesh blurs, fades out in a flash. His hands grasp his shirt and he tears it from his body in a violent rip, revealing his charcoal-dark flesh. Sinew ripples as he springs into the air.

  Will squares off, ready for the hit, but I dive before him and unleash the heat simmering inside me. Not yet manifested, only a blast of steam escapes me, not actual fire. And even that’s wasted. Corbin dodges the steam. He flies behind me before I can turn on him. I cry out as he kicks me hard in the back.

  I hit the ground. The impact is brutal, jarring me to the teeth. My chin scrapes earth. Coughing, I spit up dirt and blood. Tamra drops, crouches near me to help me back up.