Crais(83)

Her eyes widened and looked a little shiny. “Are we having a moment here, Abbs?”

She was close enough now to step in and throw her arms around me.

I leant down into the hug.

“I love you too.” Her voice was muffled in my arm.

“Am I interrupting something?”

We pulled away to find Fury standing five feet from us. I recognized the flash of pain and loneliness before her mask fell back into place. We’d been together a lot in the caves, but she was always a little distant, holding back pieces of herself.

“Dune’s with the others trying to get the setup finalized for the banquet tonight.”

That’s where Brace and Josian had disappeared too also. They had a stadium of neutral ground which could house about a hundred thousand people. All of the important events were going to happen there.

“We’re just heading to swim with Talli. Do you want to join us?” I shoved my curls back. I was getting so lazy with my braid.

She nodded, falling into step with us.

“Have you found out anything about your father?” I asked her as we walked.

She shook her head. “There are too many Walkers here. I have no idea where to even start.”

Fury had been hoping her father held answers to her mother’s life and why he had just left them, but it wasn’t an easy task to figure out who he was. Dune knew what he looked like but so far they had not crossed paths.

We were in the Doreen territory now, moving toward the section of lake reserved for us. There were so many Walkers mingling around, eating, chatting, and playing these weird mind games where it looked like they were just staring at each other for an hour. They were a fascinating race to observe.

None of them looked older than in their late twenties, but I felt as if I could tell the older men and women by their actions. Many of them were isolated, sitting on the open rock mountains, not moving for the day. Josian had woken many of them from their sleep stasis, and they weren’t particularly happy about it, but apparently we had a statewide emergency with the Seventine.

Word of mouth had gotten around about us half-Walkers. So far their curiosities had been limited to open stares and lulls in conversation as we passed by. But something told me sooner or later the Walkers would not be so reticent in approaching us. Hopefully Josian would address these concerns and answer most of their questions that night.

Reaching the edge of the lake, I started to strip down to my low-backed one-piece swimsuit. Lucy had on a racy red bikini, far skimpier than I would have worn in front of everyone, but she didn’t care. Fury wore a leafy concoction that she’d created in the forest. And, knowing Talina, she was probably butt-naked, showing off her awesome gills-skills by sitting on the bottom of the lake.

“Hello, ladies, mind if we join you for a swim? We’ll be the most fun you’ll have all day.”

My shirt was half over my head. I struggled to shrug it off so I could see who the haughty voice belonged to.

“I mind,” Lucy said, dismissing them. “What about you two?” Her voice sounded bored.

Finally I freed myself, finding a pair of douche Walkers standing on the edge of the lake. I didn’t pay much attention to their appearance besides noting that one had red hair and the other’s was a light brown. Yes, apparently not all Doreens were reds. They were tall with defined but slim-line muscles.

“Run along. We don’t have time to tame any boys today, and you won’t like that kind of spanking anyways.” Fury shot them her famous glare.

The brown-haired one, who was the speaker, clenched his fists and took a step closer. His demeanor changed from teasing to waves of anger in seconds.

“Do you know who I am? Who my father is?” he started.

“He’s probably been waiting his whole life to say that,” Lucy side-whispered to me.

“How dare you speak to me like we are equals?”

I laughed. “Equals?” I blinked a few times. “I don’t believe we did anything of the sort. You’re definitely not in the same universe as our men, so I suggest you leave now before someone rips your head off.”

He moved quickly, gripping both of my biceps, lifting me up to his face. Hot anger laced my mind. I slammed shut the bond but it was too late. Brace’s roar could be heard from across the field.

“You should really take your side-bitch, scream and run away now.” Lucy leaned forward. “Because if her mate gets his hands on you, your famous father is going to be mourning the loss of a son.”

The hands that gripped me were starting to heat. My skin burned under his touch.

“You’re going to regret the disrespect you showed me today.” He leaned in closer.