AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kolton sighed, and his shoulders relaxed. “Good. So, uh, are you gonna get in contact with your dad when you get back? I’m not saying youhave to. That is, I was only wondering.”
I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head. “Most likely not.”
“Damn. Seriously?”
“Yeah. My father has never been big on family ties. There wasn’t much in the way of love in my home growing up, at least not the fatherly kind. The only reason he’d want to save me, or talk to me, would be for his own personal gain. It’s always been that way with him.” I looked around at the interior of the helicopter. “I see this as some kind of repayment for all the years of his apathy, but nothing more. He’d need to do a lot more to get me to contact him. Not after everything that happened when I was younger.”
Kira returned then, Eli in tow.
“How’s Zoe?” I asked, eager to change the subject. “All good?”
“She’s fine,” Kira said. “She’s hanging with J.D. Eli put Leif back under at his request.”
“He was worried about being enclosed in here and going feral again,” Eli said. “Can’t say I blame him. The tight quarters make me claustrophobic, too. Your friend Abel wasn’t doingwell, either. Not sure if it was regret from what he did, or from the spell Simon cast on him. I put him under, too.” Eli looked at Kolton and gave him a respectful nod. “I want to thank you for showing up when you did. Even fifteen minutes later, and we’d all have probably been dead. I’ll tell you this—I’d be honored to have a brother as faithful and devoted as you are to Kira.”
Kolton’s eyes flicked across the face of the fallen angel, and I could see a spark of interest in his face. He grinned at her. “Um, well, it’s no problem, really. Anyone would have done it.”
“I highly doubt that.” Eli placed a hand on Kolton’s shoulder, and I thought I saw pink tinge his cheek as she did. “Well done, and thank you.” She glanced around him at the empty co-pilot seat. “Do you mind if I have a seat there? Talk to the pilot about our route?
Kolton’s face spread into a smile. “Oh, uh… no, yeah. I mean, yeah, you can. Sit there, I mean. In the seat.”
Eli frowned, but a second later, she grinned. “That is where one usually sits.”
Kolton’s cheeks grew ever redder. “Right, yeah. Sorry. Uh, let me get out of your way.”
The three of us moved toward the rear cargo area. I looked over my shoulder, where Eli and August were studying the route chart. Once we were out of earshot, I nudged Kolton. “Eli’s pretty gorgeous, right? I didn’t know you had a thing for fallen angels.”
I hadn’t thought it possible, but somehow Kolton’s blush darkened to the point his ears glowed red. “What? No. What? I didn’t…I wasn’t…”
“She’s single,” I added. Kira snorted.
Kolton gritted his teeth. “That’s not what was going on. I was, uh, just intrigued. I didn’t know there were angels on Bloodstone. That’s all.”
“She’s not as angelic as she looks,” Kira said. “She can handle herself. Look, if I can fall in love with a lone wolf and throw outall our pack’s old ideals and beliefs, I think you’re free to get with an angel. That’s if she’d give you the time of day. I mean, have you seen her?” She smiled, raising both eyebrows, then gestured to Kolton. “And have you seenyou?”
“Very funny,” Kolton said, but I didn’t miss his lingering look at the cockpit. “Anyway, why are you guys teasingme? I should be doing that to you two. My best friend and my sisterdoingstuff to each other?” He made a gagging sound. “So gross.”
“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Kira said. “Let’s change the subject before you actually vomit. Can you give us more info on how the war is going? We need details.”
Kolton looked relieved to get our attention off his obvious attraction to Eli. “Yeah, sure. The first skirmish, the one that started the whole war, was actually between our pack and the Ninth. It was right after they accused us of assassinating Jayson’s dad. There were lots of smaller engagements on the borderlands. The real issue, though, was that our fight set off a bomb among the other packs. There’s fighting happening around Fangmore City among the other packs. The city itself has locked down its borders to try and prevent rioting and fighting in the streets. That’s where all the top alphas and betas, along with the highest-ranking members of the Tranquility Council, have taken refuge. Right now, it’s the safest place.” Kolton growled. “There have even been reports of wolf shifters fighting in wiccan and human cities. Fae towns as well. Everything is spilling over. And the pack leaders and the council are still pumping out all this propaganda that the hierarchy still stands, that the only way to get through this is to obey the alphas. Even while their own packs are splintering, the head alphas have locked themselves away in fucking penthouse suites in Fangmore, waiting for the worst of the fighting to blow over.”
“Good gods,” Kira said, shaking her head. “So it’s really as bad as we thought.”
“Worse,” Kolton said grimly. “All of Heline’s acolytes have been rounded up and imprisoned. Rumor is, they’re going to be executed on live television in the coming days. They’ve been telling us that all themix-upswith the fated mate connections is because the acolytes have grown lazy and gave faulty readings on the blood tests.”
“Wait,” I said. “The acolytes? Why are they bothering with that? Don’t they have bigger problems to deal with?”
“Yeah,” Kira added. “I’d think having enemies trying to break your door down would be a bigger threat.”
Kolton looked back and forth between Kira and I like we’d lost our minds. “You of all people should know why, Kira.”
“Huh?” She frowned at him dumbly.
“You’re the catalyst for all this. The whole war.”
She stared at him for several long seconds, confusion written all over her face. “What do you mean by that?”
Kolton chuckled. “Your speech on the show. The one where you called out the fated mate connections for being bullshit…that sparked all of it. The Ninth Pack claimed it was proof you never wanted to be with Jayson in the first place, and you were trying to justify what happened with you and Wyatt. They also said it was proof the Eleventh Pack assassinated Jayson’s father. Other shifters heard your message and realized the truth in it. Groups immediately marched on Heline’s temples.” He paused, his face somber. “Then the in-fighting began. Heline’s temples and the blood tests were no longer trusted, nor was the pack hierarchy that had always defended them both. Packs splintered, and more and more fights broke out. The first couple hours were the worst. It was chaos. The real bomb that set the fire was right before Fangmore locked its borders off, though. People were pissed at the upper packs, and a group of lower-pack shifters broke into some of the office buildings in Fangmore. Before anyone knew what was happening, they found and chased downthe most powerful shifter in the world: Garth Sheen. He’s dead. Killed in the street like a common criminal. The alpha of the First Pack, murdered by a bunch of lower-pack shifters. A reporter caught it on camera, live. When that happened, shit went downhill.Fast. An hour later, we were told that Reject Mansion had fallen.”
