Breaking out of Aylin’s grip, Nicole weighed her answer, which seemed genuine. But could Nicole bet not just her life, but that of her unborn baby on a ShadowSpawn female’s word? “I like you, Aylin, but—”
“But I’m the enemy, and you can’t trust me,” Aylin finished. “I know. But if you don’t, you won’t get out of here. I promise you that. And once you’re caught,
I guarantee you’ll never get another chance to get out.” She wrapped her hands around the iron bars and leaned in. “I understand why you don’t trust me, but we’re not all bad people.”
Not long ago, Nicole had said something similar to Riker about humans. And she’d learned the same about his people.
She looked around at the cells that doubled as private quarters and weighed the risks of living here permanently versus escape. There was no question. She had to get out of here, and if Aylin could help, she had to take that risk. After all, even if this was a trick, how much worse could her treatment get?
An image of Riker, beaten and bleeding in the dungeon, popped into her head, and okay, it could get worse. But babies were precious to this clan—any clan, really—and while she didn’t doubt she’d be treated badly, she doubted they’d actually harm her.
At least, not until the baby was born.
Freshly spurred more by the fear of what would become of her child than what would become of her, she flipped open the locking mechanism on the cell door.
“Okay,” she said to Aylin. “Let’s get out of here.”
-------------------------
Riker couldn’t stand this. He’d been hanging out in the MoonBound camp for a full day, and now, with the afternoon sun starting to duck behind the mountains, they still hadn’t heard if Nicole’s pregnancy plan had been successful. Shouldn’t ShadowSpawn have brought a message by now?
He’d suggested that everyone else head back to headquarters, but every warrior, including Hunter, looked at him like he was a fucking idiot.
“One of ours is in trouble,” Hunter said. “Until we know her status, we stay.”
For the first couple of years after being turned, Riker had missed the military. Oh, he hadn’t missed being human or being betrayed by the very military he’d dedicated his life to, but he’d definitely missed the camaraderie, the brotherhood that had tied his squad together.
He’d gotten that brotherhood back when he’d accepted his place with MoonBound. Hunter’s words just now reminded him of what he had. And what he stood to lose if something happened to Nicole.
After twenty years of feeling empty, Riker had started to feel whole again, and it was all thanks to her. Even if they couldn’t work out a relationship, he needed her in his life. He needed her to be back at MoonBound, safe, and to be there for Bastien.
He looked down at the crude map he’d drawn with a stick into the damp forest floor near the fire pit. Shallow holes indicated lowlying areas between MoonBound’s camp and ShadowSpawn’s headquarters.
Small stones represented trees or bluffs where MoonBound’s archers had been stationed. High ground favorable to MoonBound in a battle was marked by an X, and scout positions were assigned an O.
There were too few of everything.
“I’m going to patrol,” Riker said, to no one in particular. Hunter, Takis, and Aiden were out hunting, Myne was MIA, and Taggart was checking on the scouts he’d assigned to monitor the area to the southeast, where ShadowSpawn was located. Only Baddon, katina, and half a dozen of their warriors were hanging around camp, and none of them was paying attention to him.
Their poker game was apparently a life-or-death situation.
He took off toward the southeast and made it about half a mile before Myne appeared, dressed from head to toe in black and silent as an owl dropping from a tree.
“How the fuck do you do that?” Riker asked.
Myne remained in the crouch he’d landed in. “I was born awesome.”
“You were born a dick.” Riker glared. “Where have you been?”
“I’ve been around.” He stood slowly, but he didn’t stop staring toward the east. “Didn’t feel like listening to Hunter’s bullshit.”
“What happened between you two, anyway?”
Riker asked him the same question every so often, always got the same answer.
Weapons clinked as Myne shrugged. “Just don’t like him.”
Yep, same answer. There was more to the story, Riker was sure, but as usual, the guy didn’t want to talk about it. “Hey, ah . . . I wanted to thank you.” His face heated. There really was nothing more uncomfortable than two dudes getting sappy.