Page 94 of The Temptation of Roan Island

“Tobias!” Pippa’s scream echoes off the walls as she twists and kicks, trying to free herself from the guards holding her.

A low growl rumbles my chest, but I’m powerless to do anything against Noah’s hold. As if he’s worried I’ll break free, he grips my arm. Not yet.

He’s right. The risk of acting without a plan is even higher now with Tobias here. But seeing Pippa blinking in that dazed way of a drug-addled mind, I want to rip out throats and tear off heads. And I’m the least violent of my siblings.

Curling my fists, my claws pierce my palm deep enough to draw blood. The pain is the only thing keeping me from charging headfirst into the crowd and slaughtering every bastard who dares to touch my wife and anyone else who gets in my way.

Careful, brother, Noah silently warns.

The crowd parts as Mrs. Darning walks forward holding a small child. I know him immediately, not just from the way Pippa fights to get to him, but from the features that are so similar to her own. His hair is lighter, but his eyes and lips are hers. His little cherubic cheeks are flushed with color, and he looks healthy, well dressed and cared for. Which is only a small relief considering who’s holding him. The little boy tucks his curly-haired head onto Darning’s shoulder, like he’s comfortable with her. This is what she was doing when she spent that month in New Essik. She was with him, while Pippa suffered without him.

I grind my sharp teeth to hold back a growl. Zarah’s hand finds mine, gripping tight.

“Tobias!” Pippa cries.

The toddler’s head pops up. “Mama!” He wiggles against Darning’s hold, but she doesn’t release him. “Do what you’re told, and nothing happens to him.”

Pippa immediately stops struggling and allows herself to be led up the steps. Mrs. Darning follows until she’s next to Dr. Reter beside the altar.

The two figures holding Pippa turn her to face the rest of the group.

“I present to you, The Mother. The goddess deemed our experiments unworthy because these women are all too impure. Too human. But within them, they hold the power of the goddess. To create.” He reaches for Tobias, and to my horror, the child goes to him. He’s more hesitant than he was with Mrs. Darning, but allows himself to be passed into Dr. Reter’s arms. “This is the firstborn of the New Mavarri. A child born with the blood of the old world pumping through his mother. Suckled on milk made from inhuman blood.”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Zarah grits out through clenched teeth, too quiet for any but Mavarri to hear.

The child turns his head in our direction and wrinkles his little brow, but quickly returns his attention to the group of people in front of him. Pippa can’t stop staring.

“Fuck!” Noah curses under his breath. “I should have seen it. You said some of Hammish’s blood stores were missing.”

Pieces of the puzzle click into place. My mind slides to standing in the cellar with Darning so many months ago as she packed up bottles of blood from the Mavarri homeworld.

“They haven’t been treating Vastatio. They’ve been experimenting on these women. No wonder⁠—”

“Shhh!” Ruby clamps a hand on Noah’s shoulder just as Dr. Reter lifts the boy overhead.

“Show them your teeth, Tobias,” he says.

The little boy looks frightened as he takes in the masked group and the huddled women, but he obeys, opening his mouth wide. Sharp incisors glint in the low candlelight.

“Tie her to the altar,” Darning commands.

Fuck! We need a plan. We need a plan right fucking now! I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I know it won’t be good.

“Let me go, Noah!” I don’t bother being quiet, and multiple heads turn toward us from the crowd.

“Shit,” Ruby utters the rare curse. “We need to do something. We can’t wait for Jafeth and the police. We need to act.”

“We’re outnumbered,” Noah replies. The look he’s giving Ruby is one I understand.

“Stay here,” I say. “Keep her safe, but let me go.”

Noah studies me for longer than we have. Two of the armed acolytes step away from the group, moving toward us. They look uncertain about what they heard, maybe trying to dismiss it as the waves, but they aren’t stupid enough to ignore it completely.

“Let me try,” I beg.

“I want to help.” Zarah squirms against Noah’s hold.

“No, just me for now. But watch my back.”