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Kira
A younger tiger shifter sat huddled against the wall of the small cave, hugging his knees. He barely looked eighteen. His eyes darted around at every small sound. I’d never seen someone so freaked out and terrified. From what I’d gathered, he was one of those unlucky souls who’d been sent here as punishment for some misdeed or another. Eli and Crew had rescued him.
“How are you doing?” I whispered.
His head jerked around. “What? Huh?”
“How are you doing?”
“Oh. Uh, okay, I guess.”
I patted his knee. “Get some rest. We’ll watch out for you guys.”
His shoulders relaxed, almost like he’d been waiting for someone, anyone, to tell him it was all okay. I couldn’t imagine how stressful this was for these people. Most had been tucked safely away in Haven for a year or more. Wyatt and I and the other contestants had been in the mansion, sure, but we’d also had to go out to face the dangers of the island almost every day. We’d been inoculated to the dangers somewhat. These people were in for a full-system shock.
“Thanks,” he said. He lay down, still hugging his knees as he closed his eyes.
I doubted he’d actually go to sleep. All the survivors were in various states of stress or worry, either huddled in small groups or tucked away on their own. It didn’t help that we couldn’t risk a fire. Something about the light offered a sense of comfort—the way the heat and flickering flames pushed back at the darkness and enveloped you in a warm glow. It would have done a lot for morale. Instead, we sat in the dark, the only light the shimmer of the moon at the entrance of the cave.
We’d managed to obscure the entryway with some dead palm trees and fronds, but it was a far cry from the relative luxury of Haven, much less Reject Mansion. We couldn’t stay here long-term. Hell, there wasn’t even a bathroom; we had to make use of the rock outcropping ten feet from the entrance. Even in Haven, the magic users had managed a toilet system that, while not completely perfect, kept the sewage from being a problem. We had little food, no fresh water nearby. We’d have to move against Simon sooner than we’d initially planned—before our people became too weak to fight effectively. Plus, Simon was likely still looking for us. He’d sent his twisted fae out to kill us, and though we’d managed to kill them before they could get back to him, he had to know some of us would have made it out alive. If we didn’t act on him first, he’d act on us.
“Kira?” J.D. hissed from the back of the cave. “Kira, hurry.”
At the rear of the cave, barely visible in the moonlight, I found J.D. kneeling over Leif. The feral alpha was stirring awake from Eli’s knockout spell.
“Shit,” I mumbled. “I need to get Eli.”
Before I could run, Leif’s eyes sprang open, and he put a hand to his forehead. “Ouch. Where am I? What’s going on?”
I let out a relieved breath. He seemed, for the moment at least, to be in his right mind.
J.D. leaned forward and hugged Leif. “You’re okay.”
Leif blinked in surprise, then a slow smile formed on his lips as he wrapped his arms around J.D. “I’m, uh, not totally fine, but I’m all right for now,” Leif said, his words muffled against J.D.’s shoulder.
That was good. I had no clue how we’d have secured him out here in the open jungle. As long as he stayed mostly sane, we could deal with him.
J.D. released him, and Leif sat up, giving me a strange look. Almost like he was ashamed or saddened by something.
“Kira, I’m really sorry. Anything I did… I, uh, didn’t do it on purpose. I wasn’t myself. If that makes sense.” He glanced around, and a look of horror crossed his face. “Oh gods, did I hurt anyone? You have to tell me if I did. Why are we out here? What’s happening?”
Reaching out, I put a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Calm down. You didn’t hurt anyone. Haven was destroyed. Simon did it with some of his little fucked-up minions. None of this was your fault. You’re good.”
“Yeah, man, “J.D. added. “Nothing you did was your fault. It was that douchebag and his lab.”
Leif nodded and let out a heavy sigh, then leaned back against the stone wall. He winced and put a hand to his forehead. “I can’t remember much of what happened while I was half-feral. It’s all jumbled and mixed up. The last thing that’s really clear, other than what happened in Haven, is when I was out in the jungle on that last challenge looking for you. I was walking through a grove of trees, and then…black. Whatever hit me got me totally by surprise.”
“A lot has happened since then,” I said.
Leif chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah. I can see that.”
“Zoe says she thinks you can be cured once we get you off the island,” I said. “A good psychic healer and some top-notchspellcasters—people fully trained in healing—and you’ll be right as rain. This will all be a bad memory.”
J.D. put a hand on Leif’s knee, massaging his leg gently. “Yeah, and I’ll make sure to replace all the bad memories with good ones.”
Leif glanced over at J.D. Even in the moonlight, I could see the blush creeping into his cheeks. Wyatt was right—little romances were springing up all over, and I was happy to see it. We needed hope, and what better symbol of hope than love?
Down the hill, the typical island sounds of growling, howling, and hissing grew a bit louder. Nothing terrible or dangerously close, but I couldn’t quell my worry for Wyatt. He was out there with gods only knew what other creatures.
