Rise Against: A Foundling novel (The Foundling Series) Read online

  This right here was the reason why Cole and I hadn’t made any progress in cementing our mate bond. Too many eyes, ears, and noses for my comfort. Not to mention witnesses who couldn’t take a pointed hint to leave even if you stabbed them between the eyes with it. But it’s not like we could press pause on the world while we rented a nice hotel room away from the coterie for a long weekend of naked gymnastics.

  Saving the world was more important than getting in Cole’s pants.

  Probably.

  “What do you want?” I toed Santiago in the hip. “Didn’t your mother teach you to wait until you’re invited in to enter a room?”

  “No.” His fingers flew across the keys. “My mother ate one of my siblings because she wasn’t a fan of uneven numbers.”

  Blinking slowly, I reminded myself that he was charun and not human. Still, it was hard not to picture a female with his features smoking a baby on the grill like a pork roast. “That’s … horrible.”

  “No, that’s life on the lower terrenes.”

  Jaw tight, Cole looked ready to thump Santiago’s ear. “Is there a reason you’re in here instead of in your room?”

  “I planted a tracker on Wu,” he said casually. “I’ve been mapping his path since he left.”

  “You — ” I spluttered. “What possessed you to do that?”

  “Curiosity.” He shrugged. “That, and I don’t trust the guy as far as I can throw him.” He considered that. “Actually, I can throw him farther than I trust him. Anyway. He’s made two trips to a spot near Lake Bevin. He stayed overnight both times. I’m not familiar with the area, so I tagged it.” He spun the laptop toward me. “See all those red spots? They’re heat signatures. Bodies.”

  I did a quick tally. “There are forty or more in the tree line.”

  “The trees are concealing them from satellite surveillance. This is the best I can do. But someone is out there, and we have no way to discover who, or what Wu’s connection to them is, without taking a look-see.”

  “Knox kept an aerial patrol in rotation.” I pushed upright and tucked my legs under me. “Could it be more of his people? He pulled everyone in, but he would have asked for volunteers to protect the civilians.”

  Including Thom, who was too injured to fight. He had been sent to recover at the enclave, not defend it.

  “We’ll scout the area on the way to our next rally.” I gave up looking to Cole for support. He expected me to make the hard calls on my own. That kind of trust humbled and terrified me. I wasn’t Conquest, with her centuries of experience. I was just me. Just Luce. With not even three measly decades under my belt by comparison. “We need to make sure the conclave is secure.”

  “Thom can take care of himself,” Santiago said in a rare moment of kindness. “And if he can’t, then we’ll fight our way in, retrieve him, and fight out way out again.”

  “Good plan.” I gave him two thumbs up. “I especially like the fighting parts.”

  “If it ain’t broke,” he reasoned, “don’t fix it.”

  “Forty-five minutes until the meeting,” Cole announced, giving up on our cuddle session. “Want to grab a drink downstairs?”

  “Only if you let me buy the first round.” I scooched off the edge of the bed and stretched out the kinks in my spine from the car ride up the mountain from Reno. Life had reached epic levels of weirdness when you preferred clinging to a dragon over a comfy rental. Cole trailed me down the stairs and claimed two stools at the bar. “What’ll you have?”

  “Hey,” the girl behind the counter called, “that’s my line.”

  I laughed and called back, “I’ll take a rum and Coke.”

  Interest glimmered in her eyes. “What about your boyfriend?”

  A week ago, I would have demurred, but Cole had made his feelings clear, and I didn’t have a problem making mine crystal either. “He’ll take a Scotch on the rocks.”

  The poor thing deflated when I didn’t correct her, and I almost felt bad for the amount of glee in my order. There was no easy way to explain my joy came from earning his permission to stake a claim on him with his consent and not from petty girlfriendedness. Since odds were high I would never speak to the bartender again, maybe not even see her, I figured I would tip well to offset any hurt feelings.

  I might be a happily mated charun, but I didn’t have to be a bitch about it.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I understood the reason why Cole invited me downstairs five minutes after our drinks arrived. A full quarter of the patrons stared openly at us. Another quarter cut their eyes our way. The third quarter pretended we didn’t exist, but they thrummed with a sense of anticipation that prickled my hindbrain. The rest I figured must be human. They followed stares to see what all the hubbub was about, but we didn’t do anything interesting or resemble anyone famous, so conversation returned to their plans for the night.

  See and be seen. That’s all this was about. Letting these charun acclimate to my presence while I indulged in nonthreatening behavior in front of enough humans to keep me honest. Little did they know I would hurt them long before I injured a bystander. Charun deserved to carve out their own lives and find happiness, but not at the expense of innocents, and the charun on my radar were rarely that.

  “You’re handling me.” I nursed my drink, enjoying the warmth spreading down my throat. “You have been since we left Canton.”

  “I’m your consort.” Cole wiped his thumb around the lip of his glass. “It’s my duty.”

  “Are you afraid I’ll tell them Conquest is a nutjob, and they’re bonkers for following her?”

  “They worship the title, but they can be resistant to individual incarnations.”

  “I’m not going to lie to them. I can’t do that and be true to myself.”

  “I understand.” He placed his cool hand over mine. “I would never ask you to compromise your beliefs.” A hint of a smile tugged at his lips. “They’re part of the reason why I love you.”

  Cole Heaton loves me.

  “Yes,” he said. “I do.”

  “I, uh, didn’t mean to say that out loud.” Blood rushed into my cheeks. “I don’t want you to think my entire internal monologue is about you.”

  “Please,” Santiago quipped from my other side as he claimed a stool. “All you do is gaze into each other’s eyes. You two ought to have sex. Right now. On the bar if that’s what it takes. This lovey-dovey crap is going to get you both killed. You can’t fight if you can’t take your eyes off your mate.”

  “My mate,” I said softly, unable to hide a small thrill.

  “Do you ever miss Conquest?” Santiago asked Cole over my head. “Remember the good ol’ days?”

  Moving with inhuman speed, Cole stretched one of his long legs behind me, hooked the lowest rung on Santiago’s barstool, and yanked it out from under him. Santiago cracked his chin on the bar on his way to the floor. Blood dribbled out of the corner of his mouth when he glared up at us with a snarl on his lips.

  “Mistress?”

  I spun on my seat to face a young couple who stood on quivering knees with their heads lowered. “Yes?”

  “We have been sent to escort you to the opera house.”

  “It’s go time,” I told the guys, leaning over to offer Santiago a hand up. “Let’s do this.”

  We trailed our escorts out of the saloon and onto the main street. We climbed an almost vertical hill that caused me to stumble more than once before reaching a plateau and the old opera house. Two women greeted us at the door, welcoming us in, both dressed in period clothing from their day jobs.

  The interior was large and open with a stage upfront. Double balconies were built off to either side, and they overlooked three chairs and a microphone. That’s where our guides hustled us, but not fast enough. A commotion at my back alerted me to the fact our trio was now a duo.

  I advanced on the women who had been guarding the doors, who had decided between them it was a smart idea to subdue Santiago. “What the hell do you
think you’re doing?”

  One held him in a headlock while the other pointed a knife at his vulnerable stomach.

  “We’ve spoken with the other clans,” the shorter one accused. “You haven’t made a show of power at any of these rallies your consort has organized. Why should we risk our lives for you? How do we know you are who and what you claim? You’ve given us no proof.”

  The peaceful approach had worked so far, and I had kept up the foolish hope it would continue to sway charun to my side, but it looked like I was fresh out of luck.

  “Release him, or I will kill you.” A bite of cold frosted my breath. “He’s mine. Harm him, and you harm me.”

  The taller one, the one physically restraining Santiago, looked ready to bolt. The shorter one, however, had found the hill she was ready to die on, and I was willing to help a martyr out if it meant getting what we came for and getting Cole and Santiago out of here alive.

  “We’re loyal followers of Conquest,” the shorter one snarled. “This is how you repay us?”

  “Santiago is my friend,” I said slowly, in case she was hard of hearing. “He’s coterie. More than a friend, he’s family. You’re just one of the whack jobs who invited me into a meeting under false pretenses and attacked one of mine. Get the picture?”

  The taller female shifted her weight, loosening her grip enough for Santiago to break her hold. Once that happened, she sprinted out the door into the oncoming night. The shorter female gave me half a second to think this might be resolved without bloodshed before she rammed her knife in his gut.

  Eyes wide, he hit the floor, his knees cracking on the weathered planks. “Luce?”

  Ice crystalized on my lashes, and white plumes gusted from my nostrils. The cold place rose in me, and its bitter fury was arctic. Blackness swirled behind my eyes, the void tugging on me, sucking me down as it nudged Conquest to the forefront of my consciousness. We tussled, neither of us willing to give. I fought tooth and nail to stay aware, and she fought twice as hard to smother me. In the end, we both retained some control over my body.

  Pain — hot, glorious, instant — snapped through my limbs, and suddenly I was looking down at his attacker from a great height. When I fixed my glare on the shorter female, I gained layers of perspective beyond what human eyes could perceive.

  I parted my lips, and a bestial rumble flowed over them. I cracked the whip of my tail at the female’s feet, and she hit her knees in awe.

  She submitted, it’s over. That’s what I was thinking.

  She hurt one of ours, and she will pay in kind. That’s what Conquest was thinking.

  A broad palm pressed against our side, and we craned our long neck to find Cole offering support. He would back us if we taught this woman the lesson she was begging for, and he would support us if we exercised the right of mercy. The Luce he first met, so intrenched in her humanity, wouldn’t have paused to consider. She would have scrambled to Santiago, got him to safety, and let the female go. But I was no longer that Luce.

  I was … we were … more.

  Different. Harder. Stronger.

  For better or for worse, I had yet to decide.

  Twisting away from Cole, we widened our jaws and roared our anger inches from the tip of her nose.

  The stink of hot urine filled the air as she collapsed in her own puddle. Pity didn’t factor into this equation. She wanted proof we were Conquest, at the expense of our coterie, and we were about to give it to her.

  Faster than a blink, before I understood what Conquest meant for us to do, she yanked the reins from my control and struck.

  No, no, no.

  Our teeth snapped together in a crunch that bit clean through the hand the female had used to stab Santiago at the wrist.

  Phantom laughter rolled through my mind, and chills dappled my skin.

  See? she seemed to say. I too can be merciful.

  Reeling in the urge to vanquish my enemy, I withdrew until I shrank to my human form. As I grew smaller, so did Conquest’s presence in my head. I exhaled through my teeth, tasting the charun’s blood, when I regained control over my entire self.

  The shift into my dragon form was physical, not mental, or so Wu estimated. But I was starting to doubt his assessment. Running a finger around the collar of my shirt to loosen it didn’t help as I imagined Conquest’s hold over me tightening.

  So much for proving I wasn’t a violent brute.

  “Do you need another demonstration, or are you good?” I spat on the floor near her feet then appraised the gathering, which had grown larger since I last checked. “Anyone else want to poke the dragon?”

  Our guides from the saloon crawled on their hands and knees toward me.

  “Apologies, Mistress,” the female sobbed. “We had no idea what she had planned.”

  “Forgive us.” The male pressed his forehead to the floor. “We are your humble servants.”

  Ignoring them, I knelt beside Santiago, wishing for Thom now more than ever. “How are you doing?”

  “You shifted.” He stared at the stain around my mouth. “You turned into a dragon at will and bit off her hand.”

  “What do you think Cole and I do behind closed doors?” I batted my lashes. “It’s not all naked rugby.”

  Behind me, Cole made a choking noise.

  When Santiago continued staring at me, I jabbed his shoulder with my finger. “Are you dying or what?”

  “It’s a clean wound.” He grimaced. “I’ll heal.”

  “Good.” I helped him to his feet then gestured to Cole. “We’re leaving.”

  “B-b-but — ” the female spluttered from her position.

  “I can’t trust you.” I rolled a shoulder. “Do you really think I would bring you into battle after this? I can’t afford to risk you stabbing me in the back at the first sign of perceived weakness on your part.”

  “Please, Mistress.” The male was crawling forward, arms outstretched. “Your will gives us purpose.”

  “Your purpose, as far as I can tell, is to waste my time and injure my people.” I swept the room with my gaze. “Enjoy the shame of failing in your one sacred duty. I’m sure the next Conquest will be more forgiving.” Who was I kidding? “Or not.”

  Wrapping an arm around Santiago’s torso, I let Cole guard our backs as we trudged back across the street to our hotel. I would have switched establishments, but pickings were slim. This town catered to day trippers, not overnight guests.

  Back in my room, where we would all be spending the night for security reasons now, I angled Santiago onto the bed I wouldn’t be sharing with Cole.

  Bitter? Who? Me?

  “I brought a first aid kit.” I yanked up his T-shirt to examine the wound. “Cole, does he need stitches?”

  “No.” He pressed gentle fingers alongside the puncture. “It’s not that deep. Considering the location, it’s doubtful she nicked anything critical.”

  “Antibiotic ointment and gauze it is then.” Good thing too. Without our medic, our treatment options were limited. “Hold still, and I’ll get it cleaned.”

  “I can do it myself,” he griped. “Give me a rag.”

  “You’re going to accept my help and like it.” I swatted his hands. “Stop acting like a baby.”

  Once I had him patched up, I gave him his laptop and ordered him to stay in bed until morning. Charun healed quickly, my coterie in particular, but you could never be too careful. Poisons were popular, and we had run afoul of blades coated in them before. Better safe than sorry. I would prefer having Santiago where I could keep an eye on him than wake up in the morning to discover I had lost another member of my coterie. Even him. Probably. Best not to put it to the test.

  With him settled, I joined Cole at the window overlooking the town. “Are you disappointed in me?”

  “No.” He watched the few human stragglers searching for adventure after dark. “They wanted a show of force, and you gave them one.”

  “I felt her.” She talked to me. Thought at me. So
mething.

  “I sensed her.”

  The reason for his quiet became obvious, and I took each step on this uneven conversational ground with care. “You’re worried about her, not me.”

  “I don’t care what happens to her.” Turning from the window, he corrected me. “I’m worried about you, about what she might do to you if she keeps rising.”

  He wasn’t the only one, but I couldn’t burden him with my fears with his so close to the surface.

  “Get out,” Santiago ordered from his spot on the bed. “Go for a walk or something.”

  “This is our room,” I reminded him. “You can’t kick us out of our own room.”

  “Your anxiety is giving me a headache.”

  I wasn’t ready to call it a night, but I wasn’t willing to leave Santiago unprotected while I blew off steam.

  “We’re not leaving you alone and wounded.”

  A tearing sound jerked my head around in time to watch him peel off the bandage. “I told you I’d heal.”

  “You heal fast, but you don’t heal this fast.” I stalked over to him. “What gives?”

  “The coterie draws on your power. The more amped up you get,” he explained, “the bigger the boost for us. We heal faster, we’re stronger, and our endurance goes off the charts.”

  One hope shoved every single thought out of my brain. “Does that go for Thom too?”

  “Yeah.” Santiago plucked at the covers beneath him. “It goes for him too.”

  I rubbed the heel of my palm over my heart, praying this would be enough to patch him up and bring him back to us. We needed him. I needed him. He was a good friend, and a valuable member of the team. “Do you guys ever think maybe you should tell me these things?”

  “You have centuries of knowledge to catch up on. How are we supposed to know what you do and don’t remember?”

  “Hint.” I sighed. “I don’t remember anything. Assume if I should know it, I don’t.”

  Santiago appeared to mull over this. “Did you know you’re Cole’s baby momma?”

  I pivoted toward Cole. “Can I kill him?”

  “Not yet.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “We might need him before this is all over.”