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All that matters is her, my Talia, and they took her from me.
They want a war, and now they will have one.
* * *
I let them bandage my wounds. They tell me to eat, but I refuse, wanting to focus on coming up with a plan to save my mate.
Leaning against the rooftop railing, I let the pain wash through me. I deserve it. I let them sneak up on us. I let them take my mate. I deserve much worse, and I will spend the rest of my life on my knees before my mate, begging for her forgiveness. First, though, we must work together to get her back.
Fuck logic, and fuck playing it smart.
The humans want a war, and I’ll give them one, even if Akuji doesn’t want to. They took Talia. They took the only person in this entire world I would kill for. I feel the haze sneaking up on me every now and again, drawn by my fury, and I try to breathe through it. I need to stay present, knowing Aria is right—Talia needs me.
I ignore everything and everyone, even the worried eyes of my people and my brother. He tries to help me, but I push him away. I hate the weakness in my body, because it stops me from being as quick as I need to be. Maybe if I had been faster and stronger, they wouldn’t have wounded me and taken her.
Akuji’s voice calls out, interrupting my spiralling thoughts and bringing me back from the brink once more.
“Tribes, we are gathered here today for an emergency. Humans entered our city. They came over the wall and took one of us.”
There’s a chorus of growls and shouts.
“They have taken Talia, mate to Cato.”
“A human?” someone asks in confusion.
A feral snarl rips from my throat, and those closest to me shoot me a worried look and move away. How dare they? I breathe through my anger when Akuji surges ahead with his own anger.
“A human, one of us,” Akuji snarls, shutting that down. “She was happy here. She was staying here to protect our people in her own way. She is one of us, and she has been taken. We cannot let that stand. My mate has a plan to get her bac—”
“One human, and there is all this fuss?” someone snaps. “When it’s our people who are missing, there is nothing!”
“Nothing?” Roroak, Akuji’s general, retorts. “How many of our warriors have died going over the wall to try to retrieve children, lovers, and family? We are not giving the human special treatment, we are treating her like she is one of us because she is. Just like our Aria, our reigner’s mate, our queen. She fights for us, she stands with us, and now she is asking for our help, as is Cato, another reigner. They have given so much for us—their lives, battles, and stations—yet they ask for one thing now. Are we going to turn our backs on them? The human is mated to one of us, who has given his entire existence for our happiness. I say let’s give him back his happiness. Let us sacrifice for him for once.”
“That’s the most I’ve ever heard him speak,” someone murmurs, making chuckles spread across the crowd.
All the talking pisses me off, and I start to pace, tuning them out. Let them squabble and hide behind their wall if they want to, but I am getting my mate back with or without them, even if I have to rip every single human to pieces to find her.
The haze is so strong, I can’t hear or see anymore. I’m struggling to not attack my own people. I am weak, so fucking weak. I have to let Aria and Akuji fight my case for me, and I hate it.
When Aria looks at me, her words reach that deep place inside of me, one that still has some humanity left.
“Let’s get our Talia back.”
It’s about time.
THIRTY-SIX
TALIA
Agroan erupts from my throat, and I lift my heavy hand to prod the back of my head, where there’s a sizable lump. I drop my hand with a wince and breathe through the sickness rolling through me. I try to open my eyes, but the bright light has me crying out, so I burrow into myself and just let the pain pass.
I can’t remember where I am or what happened.
All I know is pain, and when it finally recedes enough for my brain to come back online, all thoughts slide to a halt.
Cato!
I scramble to my knees, nearly screaming at the agony it sends through my pained head. Hissing through it, I look around, trying to figure out where I am. They hurt Cato, and they took me and the research.
