Arik
Nestled in the arms of Nashville’s busy streets lay the green oasis that was Centennial Park. During the day, joggers and walkers, strollers and bicycles overran the space. Even the chilly winter dusk couldn’t rid the park of diehards soaking in the outdoors, but it wasn’t the wooded walking paths I needed. It was the Parthenon.
The imposing building at the heart of the park was an exact reproduction of the original Parthenon in Athens, complete with a forty-foot-tall replica of the goddess Athena. I’d never seen the original despite being a thousand years old; maybe I should remedy that someday. For now, though, the Nashville version would have to do.
With the exception of special events, the building was closed in the evenings, providing both dark and isolation for the meetup with Sun. And traffic a mere block or two away ensured the isolation wasn’t absolute. Sun wouldn’t greet me with open arms, assuming he showed up at all, and I refused to take more risks than necessary—not for myself, but for Katherine. No one knew where she was, and even if they did, they couldn’t heal her rapidly weakening body. Though the obligation chafed, I wouldn’t abandon her now, not even for revenge.
Full dark and frigid cold had descended when a lone form stepped from behind a column at the opposite corner of the colonnade that completely surrounded the building. One of the two upturned lights illuminating the entrance caught the shifter in its glare. The male was tall, close to seven feet, his body solid. No one I recognized. Vibrant red hair shone in the dark, slitted eyes giving away his animal form—a reptile of some kind; salamander, maybe a basilisk. If the weaponry strapped to his big body didn’t shout that he wouldn’t put up with any shit, his hard jaw did. Not someone you wanted to mess with.
Too bad for him I had lost the majority of my self-preservation instincts a long time ago. I also had zero illusions that this was the only Archai warrior to arrive with Sun, but I’d go with it for now. I was in a hurry.
The shifter advanced slowly, coming to a stop a few feet away, his stance solid. His face shadowed. On his bare arm flashed a tattoo: the bold symbol of the warrior clan. My clan. A tattoo I’d never receive; I’d still been in training before exile had so rudely interrupted…everything.
Deliberately I prodded the thought, turning it, squeezing it, searching for a reaction. That there wasn’t one didn’t surprise me. Revenge was the only thing that sparked a reaction anymore. Revenge, and now the Archai female lying in my bed.
The male smirked. “The prodigal returns.”
I shrugged, adopted an expression of mock disappointment. “I guess the parade in my honor is out of the question, huh?” Abandoning my spot against a column, I planted myself squarely in the shifter’s path. “Where’s Sun?”
The male’s face blanked. “You don’t get him, not until you prove yourself.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that. Look”—I bent forward slightly, ignoring the hand that dropped lightning fast to the weapon strapped on the outside of the male’s thigh—“I don’t have a lot of time, and I’m not up for playing games. I don’t swing that way. Get Sun out here or get fucked. Your choice.” I allowed one side of my mouth to curve into a sarcastic grin. “But trust me, you won’t want to miss what I’m bringing to the party.”
The male didn’t move, didn’t respond, and for a moment I thought they might call my bluff, but a second later the scuff of a boot across concrete echoed down the long side of the building to my right. “Arik.”
Bracing myself, I turned to face my old friend, keeping the other male in my peripheral vision. What I expected to see, I didn’t know, didn’t think I wanted to know, but the moment was unavoidable, so…
He’d aged, just as I had. Broader, stronger. Sun’s hard face was the epitome of a warrior. The king must be proud. But superimposed over the prince’s face was the memory of that first moment, nine hundred years ago, when that warrior’s stoicism had appeared—the moment I had looked up from my knees in front of my parents’ funeral pyre and faced Sun’s sword, the glint of firelight on silver burned into my memory for all eternity. The tattoo covering my scar itched as if fresh. That moment had made me the male I was, and I never forgot it.
Especially now.
Sun’s eyes were shadowed. I would have wondered what he was thinking if it mattered. It didn’t. My friend was gone; this was just another enemy on a very long list.
“It’s been a few years,” Sun said, stopping a yard away.
Yeah, it had. When I hadn’t been running from Maddox, I’d been running from my own clan. When I’d finally gotten my shit together, both sides must’ve been disappointed. I was actually surprised his first question wasn’t, how did you know where we were. The king’s clan had immigrated four hundred years ago, along with the Mayflower.
Whatever. I wasn’t here to rehash old news on either side. “Let’s skip the reunion and get down to business.”
Sun shrugged. When he leaned against the nearest column, ankles crossed, I wasn’t fooled. My muscles tensed.
“Why do you need the Aomai?”
“Sorry, that info’s classified. Just me and the healer are on the need-to-know list.”
Sun laughed, the sound anything but amused. “You better add another name to that list, then,” he warned, “because I won’t risk the Aomai without more information. You expect me to believe that after nine hundred years of silence, you need our sacred healer?” He eyed my obviously fit body.
“I don’t expect you to believe anything.” None of them, not one, had believed me in the past. Come to think of it, they’d never bothered to ask in the first place, and everyone standing here knew it. The bitterness of the knowledge tainted my words, mixing with the heavy anticipation in the air.
Sun closed his eyes, and for a moment what I could have sworn was regret flashed across his face. When his eyelids lifted, however, there was only resolve staring back. “You’re an unknown, Arik. Clan comes before all.”
A shaft of something I didn’t want to acknowledge speared my chest. The words we’d lived our lives by—or the first hundred years of my life, in my case. Clan comes before all. I took a breath, blew away the unwanted sentiment.
My turn to shrug. “And we don’t negotiate with terrorists. Whatever.”
“Not terrorists.” Sun’s eyes flashed light. “Murderers.”
“Prove it.”
Sun didn’t budge, didn’t answer. He could’ve been made of stone, and his message couldn’t be more clear. Prove you’re not.
I could make this pissing contest last all night, but the female didn’t have that kind of time. So I conceded, but only so much: I slid a heavy glance toward the shifter observing our standoff.
Sun got the message and jerked his chin, signaling the warrior to stand down, although I noticed his hand went to the hilt of the knife at his waist just in case.
After the echo of the male’s retreating footsteps died down, Sun raised a demanding brow.
“I had a run-in with a group of Anigma soldiers almost twenty-four hours ago.”
Sun’s expression didn’t alter, but he hadn’t changed so much in the intervening years that I didn’t pick up a tick of interest. “In Nashville?”
“Surprised?”
Sun eyed me warily. “And?”
Considering for a moment, I finally settled on, “Let’s just say after the tussle ended, I was the one with the bone.”
“And what was that bone?”
I shook my head. “I won’t tell you that, not here and not without the Aomai. But I can tell you,” I rushed to say when Sun seemed ready to interrupt, “that it will be more than worth your while.”
“And if we help, what do we get then? Will you finally turn yourself in?”
My snort was involuntary. “Funny. No.”
“Fine.” A flick of his hand and five warriors stepped from the surrounding shadows. “We’ll take you anyway.”
I didn’t move. “You don’t want to do that, Sun.”
“Of course I do. You murdered three of your own people. Your parents, for God’s sake.”
“Did I?” Sun’s words should have stabbed deep, just like the reference to our clan, but I only felt a curious emptiness as they passed my former friend’s lips. They hadn’t even dug far enough to know Maddox was still alive; how could they presume to know what else had occurred? “Then you know what I’m capable of. You’ll never get what I’m hiding if you take me in. And you want it. Trust me; it’s more valuable than you could ever imagine. But”—I held my hands out at my sides, away from my weapons; the ones they could see, anyway—“have it your way.”
Sun knew a bluff when he saw it. The prince turned to face down the steps of the Parthenon, conflict plain in the lines around his eyes and tight mouth as he stared out into the darkened park. His fingers absently caressed his knife hilt. “You’re not making this easy on yourself, Arik.”
I leaned back, allowing the ridges of the column to dig into my shoulder blades and add an irritated edge to my words. “When have I ever, Prince?”
“I do what I have to do to protect our people,” Sun growled. “Now tell me flat out, why should I risk our most prized healer on a wild-goose chase?”
“Because you don’t have a choice,” I spat back. “Your clan’s future may very well depend on it.” Not that they’d ever get their hands on her. “Now are you going to give me what I want, or are you going to keep blowing smoke up my ass? I’ve got places to be.”
When Sun didn’t respond, I took one step, then two, coming even with Sun, then brushing by him without a glance—and without a single concern at giving the warrior my back. Let the pussy try; I wasn’t the easy prey I’d been centuries ago.
I was halfway down the length of the building when another shifter stepped from the darkness at the end of the colonnade, a long hooded cape obscuring his tall form, hiding his face. Psych power radiated around the male, swamping me even from several yards away.
The Aomai.
I watched the figure more warily than I’d ever watched Sun. The prince’s footsteps closed the distance between us, coming up on my flank. A telepathic swell washed over my senses, telling me the two males were speaking. Maybe arguing, given the strength of the surge. I watched the healer and wondered if he would win the fight.
Finally Sun spoke, sounding resigned. “We’ll go.”
Score one for the cloaked man. I turned my head, looking for my own points. “Only the two of you will accompany me.” I might have to give in to Sun’s presence, but no one else. I wouldn’t risk the Archai trying to take the female by force. “No weapons, no tricks.” When Sun opened his mouth to protest, I cut him off. “I mean it. You need what I have to offer, brother.” The last word came out a faint sneer. Impatience—mine and my griffin’s—deepened my voice, growling through my vocal cords. “I need what you have to offer. I promise not to kill you until we’ve both gotten what we need.”
“I could kill you simply for threatening the Archai prince,” Sun warned.
“But you won’t.”
Sun’s fingers twitched against his knife’s hilt, but he conceded with a hard nod. “You have a deal, Arik. Don’t make me make you regret it.” He turned abruptly and walked into the dark.
I will, Prince. I was certain of that. But then, my life was full of the consequences of things I regretted. I doubted I’d lose sleep over this one any more than the others.