Page 98 of Born Savage

“While we’re mostly safe tonight, those winged bastards don’t take the night off.”

I had my hand on the doorknob, struggling to calm down so he wouldn’t feel compelled to drive me crazy. “With their wingspan being over twenty feet, they are not easy to miss and certainly can’t provide a clandestine approach. I think I’ll be fine.”

He moved closer, acting as if he was going to block me in. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Rage won’t forgive me.”

I reacted without thinking, yanking my sword from the sheath and pressing the tip against his throat.

“Whoa,” Ghost snapped, jerking up and tossing the stool he was sitting on to the floor.

“Rage won’t forgive you? Don’t you mean Phoenix Jeffers, son of the president of the United States? The son of a man who decided who lived or died during the worst tragedy of our country. No, more than a tragedy. A crime. Letting everything get to the point of absolute total destruction should be considered a crime. He played God with people’s lives and guess what? That made him a murderer. I can’t stand the thought of spending any time around the son of a murderer. For all I know, his father killed my mother.”

Wrath had his hands in the air, staring at me with hooded eyes while all of the others remained quiet. You bet they should be terrified of a woman holding a very sharp sword, and one who knew how to use it.

“Now, unless you’d like to sing soprano for the rest of your lives, I suggest you allow me to walk out that door.” When not one of them said a word, I gritted my teeth and hissed, swiveling my head from one to the other.

Wrath lowered his arms, cocking his head as if asking if I’d make good on my threat to cut his nuts off.

Yes, I would. That’s how angry I’d become.

I pulled the sword away so he could move farther from me and opened the door. While the anger fueled a constant rush of adrenaline, the ache from deception was what could destroy me. The air was cool, almost frigid, but the chill was welcoming. Maybe the air would clear my lungs.

As soon as I walked out onto a decking area, I moved into the shadows. I hadn’t realized the smells were different here. The stench of decay would always be a mainstay, yet there was something almost floral, similar to the flowers Peter had grown from seedlings. If there was such a thing as a fragrance of hope, flowers would be the ideal candidate.

I shoved the sword back into the sheath and leaned against the exterior wall. While I realized somewhere in the back of my mind Rage wasn’t his father, I’d never felt so disillusioned or uncertain of why I even existed. Nor was I certain I could trust him. That was perhaps the worst aspect of all.

Because I really wanted to.

The night was quiet, with very little noise of any kind, but I could feel a deep vibration coming from under the ground. For a little while, I tried to envision what it would be like living in a place like this. A nice little town with hundreds of people. All the pictures I’d seen had been amazing. But they were just pictures, paintings of what had been and what would never be again.

A noise had my throat tightening until I realized one of the guys had come to check on me. He kept his distance as well as remaining silent.

After a little while, I laughed. “Always the good soldier, Wrath. Huh?”

“I follow orders, but that’s not what I’m doing right now.”

“Then what are you doing, enjoying a beautiful night? Pretending that everything is suddenly going to be like it was when you were a child? Or just trying to disguise the fact your buddy is a very important man?”

“If you’re talking about Phoenix, he is an important man. The only problem is he doesn’t know to what extent and even if he did, he wouldn’t accept it. He’s pretty stubborn just like you are.”

“Oh, and you know for certain just how important he is?” I could tell even in the shadowed light he did.

“Let’s put it this way. He was protected for years, someone standing in for him as a young man.”

“What are you talking about?”

Wrath glanced at the door. He was keeping secrets from his friend. “President Jeffers was a very intelligent man and knew that if he was right in that his family was in jeopardy, every member would be killed. They were. A young soldier lost his life impersonating Phoenix, who’d already been sent to the Verndari program. President Jeffers intended on protecting his wife and daughter as well, but the betrayal came out of nowhere.”

I had a difficult time believing what I was hearing, but I could tell he wasn’t lying. “Go on.”

“All Rage could think about for years was acting on his need for revenge. When given the opportunity, or I should say when forcing it against orders and against common fucking sense, he was captured along with several of the men loyal to him.”

“You included.”

“Me included. Given the assassination failed, the king became aware of his existence. Hence the bounty. By all rights, he should be dead along with the rest of us and would be had the Angels of Destiny not interfered.”

“A bounty. My God.”

He laughed. “Hell, yes. The traitor of the year. I take it Rage didn’t tell you that he should have died with his family?”