Chapter Twenty-Three

 

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Chet exclaimed. “They said you were dead.”

“They said the same thing about you! You know I’m harder to kill than that.”

He nodded. “Me, too.” He slapped me on the shoulder. I gritted my teeth against the answering pain. He took his hand away and looked at the blood on it. “You should get that looked at.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you see a doctor, let me know. For now, we need to worry about getting the rest of the werewolves out of here.”

Jet checked the door that led out of the room. “Trapped,” he said, shutting it quickly again.

At Chet’s command, two of his werewolves pulled cages over and stacked them in front of both doors to buy us some time.

“What now, fearless leader?” Chet said.

I smiled at his sarcasm. “I’m working on it.” I tore a strip of cloth from a guard’s shirt and packed it against the wound in my shoulder. “Kaynan and Dray are here somewhere. You know the layout of the holding cells?”

Chet nodded. “Well enough. We didn’t see much, but I assume they’re all the same. The basement is made of rows of cages with maybe a dozen werewolves in each cage.”

“Why don’t they break out?” I asked.

“The cages are electrified. If anyone touches the silver bars, they’re zapped hard enough to knock ‘em out for an hour or so,” Darryl, Chet’s second, replied in a deep voice.

“And Darryl was only stupid enough to try it twice,” Max said. Darryl elbowed him in the stomach and Max winced. “What? It’s true.”

“So we need to shut off the power,” I said, ignoring them. “We’ll have to split up.”

“Whoa now, slow down,” Chet told me. “We haven’t even gotten out of this room and you’re splitting us up?”

I pointed above us. Rectangular panels spread across the ceiling. They were the same type at our school; beyond them would be a gap between the panels and the roof, hopefully big enough for us to crawl through.

“Too bad Mouse isn’t here,” Chet said.

“Just what I was thinking,” I replied. I pointed at the two smallest members of Chet’s gang. “Drew, Oakland. You guys first.”

Chet leaned against the wall and linked his hands together. It said a lot about the seriousness of the situation when he didn’t argue with me giving his boys orders.

“Why me?” Drew grumbled.

“Because you’re a toothpick,” Darryl answered, linking his hands next to Chet’s. “Toothpicks will make it through the ceiling faster.”

“I just need you to see if there’s enough space for us to crawl through. When we get up there, Chet, you take Max and Darryl to find the power and shut it off. Jet and the others will come with me to the basement. As soon as the lights go out, we’ll free the werewolves.” I waited for Chet’s nod, then said, “If anything goes wrong and I’m captured, get out of here.”

“And leave you behind?” Chet asked, his tone indicating he already knew the answer.

“I won’t have more werewolf blood on my hands if I can help it. Find Kaynan and Dray. They’ll meet you at the interstate and get you to Two. You guys can regroup there and come up with another plan.”

“You mean a better plan than pray we can find the power and hope you can open the cages? I don’t think that’s possible.”

I rolled my eyes at Chet’s sarcasm. “And to think I missed you.” He smirked. “Let’s get on with it.”

Chet and Darryl lifted Drew up to the ceiling. He fumbled for a moment, then managed to push one of the panels aside. They lifted him higher and he pulled himself up the rest of the way and disappeared. A second later, his head poked back down. “There’s plenty of room up here, just watch where you step; it’s a bit dicey.”

They hoisted me next and I pulled myself up the rest of the way one-handed to save my shoulder. “Show-off,” Chet said when he was lifted up next by Jet and Darryl. Oakland came after them followed by Trevor, the youngest werewolf in Chet’s pack. I wondered where the rest of them were, but the haunted depths to Chet’s eyes left little doubt and there wasn’t time for questions.

Jet hoisted Darryl who was awkwardly assisted by Chet when he almost plummeted back to the ground. Jet then jumped against the wall and turned, catching the edge of the panel in order to pull himself up.

Chet looked at me and I grinned. “He’s the show-off.”

Jet turned away, but not before I caught the hint of a smile on his face.

I slid the panel carefully back into place. “Take care,” I whispered to Chet. “We’ll meet you below if everything works out.”

“Good luck with that,” he called quietly over his shoulder.

I smiled and led the opposite way along the ceiling panels. It was touch and go. They bent under our weight if we didn’t balance ourselves carefully along the support beams. Trevor slipped once and would have fallen if not for Jet’s quick reflexes. He pulled the werewolf back up and waited until the sixteen year old was centered before letting go. Trevor followed more carefully after that, placing his hands and feet exactly where mine had been the moment before.

We reached the far wall and I lifted another panel to check the room below. I wasn’t sure how long it would take the guards to break through our barred doors; time was not on our side regardless.

The room below was empty, a small office room by the looks of it. I wish I had seen the compound from the outside. I had no idea where we were or what to expect. From what I had seen of the inside, it looked like an abandoned business building turned into a werewolf concentration camp.

Jet grabbed the panel and I jumped down, landing without a sound on the carpet. A voice spoke outside the door. I waved the others to stay put and crouched by the door, holding my shoulder as I listened to the muffled words. The voices quieted as the men walked away. The rough bandage had bled through and my shoulder left a red streak on the door when I rose.

I motioned for Jet. He landed on silent feet, then made room for the others to follow. Oakland, Drew, and Trevor landed without a mishap. I opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief at the door marked ‘stairway’ on the opposite side of the hall from us. I crossed to the door and peered inside. I quickly shut it again and hurried back to our room.

“At least eight men are guarding the stairwell,” I informed the others.

“That’s good news,” Trevor said. At everyone’s incredulous looks, he ducked his head. “It means we’re going in the right direction.”

I smiled at his enthusiasm. “Good point. Now we just have to get past them.”

“That’s my job,” Jet said in a deadly tone. He was out the door before I could stop him.

“He can’t take them all on his own,” Trevor protested. “That’s suicide!”

“Wait,” I told the boy.

As much as I didn’t want Jet in such a position, there was nothing I could do about it. I counted to ten in my head before leading everyone across the hall. The scent of blood hit us as soon as we opened the door.

I stepped around the first guard without looking at the blood that poured from his slashed throat. The second lay a few steps down with his neck at an unnatural angle. Trevor made a noise above me, but Drew made him continue down the steps.

“Remind me not to mess with your boy,” Oakland said in a strangled voice as he took two steps to avoid the contents of a spilled stomach.

Trevor threw up at that one, adding to the foul scents that filled the small stairway. I continued down, anxious to find Jet and make sure he was alright. I was about to reach the bottom when a wave of lightheadedness swept me. I grabbed the railing and shut my eyes. Immediately, a familiar hand touched my shoulder.

“You alright?”

I opened my eyes to see Jet’s damaged one without the eye patch. Regrets welled up in my chest. His good eye held me with fierce concern. I nodded. “Fine. Just the bullet, I think.” He motioned for me to remove my shirt. I shook my head. “We don’t have time.”

“Don’t have time for you to die, either.” He tore strips from a shirt off a fallen guard and took a knife from the man’s belt.

I took off my shirt and tried to get a good look at my shoulder. The bullet had gone straight to the bone at the acromion; by the feeling it was still embedded. I knelt on the ground and gritted my teeth.

“Whoa, you got shot?” Trevor exclaimed.

Oakland elbowed him. “Quiet.”

“You need to do that here?” Drew asked in a tight voice.

“It’s silver,” Jet replied in a tone that left no room for argument. “Hang on,” he said to me.

The sharp bite of metal burned through my skin. “Really? It had to be silver?”

Jet let out a huff that could have been taken for humor. “It’ll cauterize as long as it doesn’t splinter.”

I nodded and kept silent as he worked the blade around the bullet, then pried it from the bone. My breath came in short gasps when he finally packed the torn strips of shirt into the wound.

Jet helped me to my feet and Drew handed me another shirt. I didn’t ask him where it came from. “Can’t say I would’ve kept quiet like that,” he said with respect in his voice.

Oakland tipped his head to indicate Trevor. “Our boy made more noise than you.”

Trevor wiped his eyes and shook his head. “I wasn’t ready for any of this.”

I set a hand on his shoulder. “None of us are. We just have to keep going. We can’t let more werewolves die.” I looked him directly in the eyes. “I need you to pull it together so we can get out of this alive, you understand?”

He nodded.

I smiled at him. “Good. You’re doing great.”

The lights in the stairwell shut off. My heart jumped at what it meant. “Chet found the power. Let’s go.”

Jet opened the door. Two forms blocked the way. Jet lowered into a defensive stance. I set a hand on his shoulder.

“Kaynan, Dray.”

“Thank goodness!” Dray said. “We were worried you guys weren’t going to show.”

“Good job in the arena,” Kaynan grinned. “Everyone went running in fear that the werewolves would circle around and bring them down. I’ve never seen so much chaos!”

“Where’s Chet?” Dray asked, peering behind us.

“He shut off the power. He’ll meet us down here as soon as he can,” I told them.

“You hit the jackpot,” Kaynan said. He stepped back and let us through.

Chet had been right. Rows of hallways fronted cages filled with werewolves.

“Kaynan, Dray, bring up the back. Once they figure out our goal, guards will be down here by whatever means possible. I have no doubt they’ll shoot any werewolves on sight to keep from reporting to Jared. We’ve got to get everyone out of here quickly.” I turned my attention to the headset. “Lyra, what’s the fastest way out?”

“The door at the south end of the room, but I see signatures of bodies amassing above.” She paused, then said, “Hurry, Jaze! Guards are swarming the stairs behind you. You guys have got to get out of there or you’ll be trapped!”

“Let’s move,” I told the werewolves around me. We hurried to the cages alert for any signs of an ambush. The caged werewolves pressed against the bars when we drew near. Jet ghosted to the next set of doors. “We’ll have to be quick,” I told the werewolves in the first cage. “I’m Jaze Carso; we’ve come to get you out of here.”

“Where are our kids?” a werewolf asked. Several pleading voices joined in.

“We’ve taken them from the other camp. You’ll be reunited with them as soon as we get out of here,” I reassured the group.

“Oh, thank goodness!”

“Bless you, Jaze!”

“I knew he would come.”

The voices filled me with warmth even as the danger of our situation pounded in my heart. I brought the knife Jet had used on my shoulder down with all my strength. The lock broke easier than I thought it would.

“Get them out and follow,” I told Drew and Oakland. “It’s vital that you keep up. Kaynan, Dray—” The sound of footsteps on the stairs stole what I needed to say.

“We’ll take care of them,” Kaynan reassured me.

Dray nodded. He closed his eyes, and before my eyes I watched him phase into a half-werewolf. His claws elongated, his teeth sharpened, and his ears became pointed. When he opened his eyes again, I was staring at a beast from story books, a beast who was my friend. “Take care of yourself,” I told him. He nodded and turned his attention to the door.

I ran to the next cage and broke the lock. Oakland opened the gate while Drew gathered the werewolves from the other cage. We continued down the hallway following the same pattern. I stepped over a fallen guard, the only sign I had that Jet was still in front. Soon the crowd behind us filled the rows. They were breaking locks and helping the others out. Hope shone on the faces around me.

I caught sight of a struggle ahead and began to run.

Jet had two guards down and was fighting another one. He had a foot on the door behind him and was attempting to keep it shut while trading punches with the guard. He ducked a knife swipe for his throat and snuck in a jab that snapped the man’s head back. I tackled the guard from behind and broke his neck with the quick jerk Jet had taught me. The second Jet was free, he opened the door and let in two more guards. He shoved the door shut again hard enough that it hit whoever was trying to come through.

I ducked under the first guard’s slice and spun so that my back was to the door. Jet stepped away and used the freedom to fight the way he trained. He drove a knife under the first man’s ribcage angled upward toward the heart, dropped and kicked the second man’s legs out from under him, then slammed a heel palm to the man’s chin that snapped his head backwards and broke his neck.

He nodded at me. I realized he wanted the door open again. By that time the other werewolves had reached us. If we couldn’t get through the door, we were trapped in what could easily become a tomb. I opened the door and let in two more. A third muscled his way inside. As Jet took on the first two, I was about to attempt to fight the third and keep the door shut when two werewolves we had freed phased and pulled the man down. Their low growls echoed above the men’s high-pitched screams.

“Let them all in,” Jet said. He knew as well as I did we were playing with dynamite the longer we delayed in the basement. I let the door fly open and took down the first guard with a punch to the stomach followed by a haymaker to the jaw that sent pain jolting through my injured shoulder. Jet finished the next two before they could set a foot on the floor. He stepped to the side and let three more go by. They were taken down by the werewolves behind us.

Within minutes, the stairway was clear and the floor around us was littered with bodies. I addressed the waiting crowd of werewolves. “I don’t know what we’ll find when we get up there. Stay close and keep moving. Whatever you do, keep track of Jet and I. We’ll get you to safety.”

Anxious nods met my words. I met Jet’s gaze. He ran up the stairs and I followed. The sound of hundreds of footsteps hit the cement steps behind us. Jet cracked the door at the top. He shut it again quickly and gave me a steeling look. I stepped around him and pulled it open just enough to see. My heart sank at the sight of at least two dozen guards pointing their guns at the door.

Commotion sounded from down the stairs. “Guards in the room,” a werewolf shouted. “We’re trapped!” Gunfire echoed up the stairwell.

“We need a distraction,” I said. “What I wouldn’t give for one of Mouse’s flash grenades.”

Jet set a hand on my shoulder. His blue gaze met my eyes with certainty. “I’ve got this,” he said.

Before I could guess his intentions, he stepped out the door and slammed it shut behind him. A snap followed as he broke the lock. Gunshots sounded. I banged on the door. Men screamed followed by more shooting.

My heart pounded in my throat. I hit the door with my shoulder. It dented out. Gathering all my strength, I slammed my shoulder once more against the metal door. It collapsed outward. I ran through and stopped.

Every guard in the room was dead. Jet had taken down all of them singlehandedly. I searched the bodies quickly, afraid of what I would find. Werewolves poured out from behind me, running from the guards that attacked below. I was oblivious to all of it as I tried desperately to find my best friend.

My heart stopped entirely when I spotted Jet sitting against the far wall, a knife in his hand and his chest riddled with bullet holes. Blood coated his clothes. I ran to his side and fell to my knees. There were so many bullet holes. I tore off my shirt and held it against his chest. “We’ve got to get you out of here,” I said, gritting my teeth against a sob. “I’ll call Mouse. They’ll pick us up in the chopper.”

A hand touched mine as I fought to keep pressure on the wounds that wouldn’t stop bleeding. I met Jet’s gaze.

“They’re silver,” he said weakly. He gave a cough that brought blood to his lips.

I shook my head to chase away the tears that streamed down my cheeks. “I don’t care. We’ll get them out. You’ll be fine.”

A hint of a smile touched Jet’s mouth. “Always the optimist,” he said. He gave another cough and winced at the pain.

“What can I do?” I pleaded. “There has to be something!”

He nodded, and replied in a voice just above a whisper, “Let me go.”

“No,” I growled. “You’re not leaving me.” The blood that stained my hands was dark and thick; it puddled the floor around him. I sat back helplessly. “Not like this,” I said, my voice cracking.

Jet nodded again. “You’ve got this,” he replied. His gaze flickered from mine to a point above my shoulder. A smile spread across his face, one that was warm and relaxed, filled with joy. “Taye,” he breathed. His head slumped forward and he was gone.

I gathered my friend up in my arms and held him like he never would have allowed when he was alive. My world broke inside my chest, threatening to overwhelm me. “No!” The cry tore from my chest in a roar that was part human, part wolf. The sound echoed around the room, reverberating my pain, doubling my torment.

Gunshots sounded in the basement. Werewolves cried in terror. I let Jet’s body down gently. A growl ripped from my ruined throat. I phased and launched myself at the guards that spilled from the doorway. Guns fired, but nothing hit me as I dodged between the dark figures, tearing hamstrings, slashing stomachs, and slicing throats as Jet had once taught me.

I saw Jet in my mind as I had the first time. He stood in an arena ready to fight two other werewolves. The pitch of the crowd around me dissolved in to a hum of white noise when his eyes locked with mine. His gaze held so much more than the blood lust and anger of the werewolves against him. Despite the harshness of the arena and cruel calls of the men urging him to fight, Jet’s eyes held loss and frustration. He still reflected the humanity that had been beaten out of his fellow combatants. He must have smelled that I was a werewolf, because his eyes widened in surprise before he turned away to fight.

I had vowed then to save him. I almost lost him amidst the arena battles, and searched through the next several fights to find him again. When I finally did, I had to wait for an opening. I never expected how it would come. They fought him against two Alphas, something not usually done in the arena because Alphas were hard to come by and were generally pitted against gray coats for show. Someone was out for him; I could tell by the way the Alphas banded together to fight Jet. My heart went out to him when he met my gaze before they attacked. I had mouthed, “I’ll get you out of here.” It was a promise even though I had no idea how he would survive the fight.

Jet had almost been killed. The odds were heavily stacked against him, and he almost went down. Yet something sparked the fight in him. Just when I thought he had given up and all was lost, he flew into a deadly rage and killed the two Alphas as though they were weaklings. The audience around me jumped up in outrage and shock, and I lost sight of his bleeding body.

Desperate to find him, I raced out of the building just in time to hear a gunshot near the bank of the river. I spotted two men hovering over Jet’s human form just as one lowered the gun to shoot Jet between the eyes. I tackled the man with the gun just as he pulled the trigger. I was relieved to find when I rose that the bullet had impacted Jet’s shoulder instead of his skull.

I carried him to the vehicle and we raced to the hospital. When we got there he had bled so much I was afraid he had died. I raced him inside and when I stopped he looked at me. His dark blue gaze was filled with pain and weariness.

“You’ve got to fight,” I told him.

“I’m tired of fighting,” he replied in a gruff voice that told of little use.

“Just pull through this and you won’t have to fight anymore; I promise,” had been my reply.

The same words echoed over and over in my head. He had fought every day of his life. Jet had trained each of us how to be lethal in both human and wolf form. Though I had said he wouldn’t have to fight, he was born a fighter and he was a master with weapons and without. I had never met anyone so deadly, or so sensitive of heart. He told me once that he remembered every life he had taken, and that he owed it to them to live the best way he knew how. Though he didn’t like killing, the thing he loved most was protecting those he cared about. He had died for me, a true warrior who had laid down his life for what he loved.

Tears filled my vision as I fought the guards who charged up the steps. I spun and swept the legs out from two guards; they fell backwards, knocking those behind them down. I jumped over the pile and snapped the necks of the men who had left a trail of fallen werewolves in their wake.

The softness in Jet’s heart showed truest when he looked at his younger siblings. Though he hadn’t met Alex and Cassie until he was sixteen, he loved the twins with all of his might. It showed in his gaze and his gentleness around them even though they attacked him with the joy and enthusiasm of ten puppies. Jet had invited us to be with his family when the twins turned seven and phased for the first time.

The look on his face when the twins phase into little wolves carried more pride and happiness than most parents. When we joined him in the Davies’ kitchen afterwards, he had said, “They’re perfect,” his tone soft and filled with awe as though it was still hard for him to believe that anything related to him could be so wonderful.

Red eyes gleamed at the end of the room. Kaynan let out a yell and shoved a knife through the stomach of a guard. Another drew a gun. Dray took the man down with a quick chop to the neck, followed by a sweep of the legs I recognized from his training with Jet. The young werewolf had a knack for combat, something Jet was able to hone with his endless patience. Kaynan turned to face another onslaught from the doorway. My mind raced as I took down the guards around me by muscle memory.

I saw Kaynan standing barefoot in the sand outside of Two. Vance and Jet were barefoot as well. We walked through the red dirt that still carried the warmth of the sun even though it had set. A scorpion scurried by and Kaynan jumped. Jet laughed. It was one of the few times he had laughed with careless abandon. “Afraid of bugs,” he had stated as though such a thing was difficult to get his mind around.

When Kaynan replied that scorpions could kill with their stingers, Jet had asked if he was defenseless. The humor that showed in his eyes through that night stayed in my mind as I broke a guard’s arm before he could shoot me, then used his body to shield me from the bullets of his companions. I threw him at the men, then cut them down with a knife I drew from a fallen guard’s sheath as I passed.

That same night with the scorpion, our group sat around a campfire roasting s’mores in one of the precious moments away from the chaos of rescuing werewolves. Somehow the topic had turned to Mouse. Kaynan was explaining how the soft-spoken werewolf had crafted the knife band he wore around his wrist. “I admire him,” Jet said. His words surprised me. Jet usually kept his feelings to himself, and to hear of such respect toward a werewolf he rarely spoke to stayed with me. “He’s taught me the worth of loyalty,” Jet had concluded quietly.

The worth of loyalty. I gritted my teeth and snapped a neck with my bare hands. No werewolf had been more loyal than Jet. He had come from the barest of childhoods, raised by a woman without love or remorse. Her only goal when she bought Jet from those who stole him from his family as a baby was to turn an Alpha child into a fighting machine. Her ruthlessness and cruelty had left its scars on his skin and soul, but Jet had risen from the depths of the fighting rings to become my most trusted friend.

The worth of loyalty showed when he fought for my friends and when he put his life on the line to save werewolves he didn’t know. He had been my shadow, my confidant, and my truest companion. He had become my brother.

A knife sliced along my left side, the side Jet usually protected. Rage flooded through me at the pain that had nothing to do with the wound. I drove my hand into the man’s chest and pulled out his heart. The organ beat in my hand once before the man fell to his knees, then to his face. I dropped the heart on top of his still body, slammed my bloody palm into the chin of another assailant, and thrust my elbow into the ribcage of another had enough to shatter the bones.

An emergency light flickered overhead, bathing the room around me in an unearthly glow. The light fading from Jet’s eyes played again and again in my mind. My chest ached and a sob broke free as I tore a guard’s throat out with the inhuman strength of a werewolf. I slammed two fists into the chest of another man and felt his ribcage collapse. I broke a jaw, snapped a femur, and crushed a skull. The light overhead glinted off a fallen guard’s glasses. The color was soft and full, reminding me of the brush of moonlight across friends relaxing on the grass at night.

“The moon kept me alive.” Jet’s words were quiet amid the stars and abated breaths of his friends unaccustomed to hearing him speak so openly. “The moon was the only hope I had, the only gentle thing in my world.”

The pain in his eyes was so real, so fresh. I saw the lonely little boy he had been, beaten and pitted against werewolves in fights that ended only in death. Death would have been kinder than the things he had seen. “For most of my life, the moon was my only family, my only friend, the only thing that cared whether I lived or died.”

I cared. Oh, how I cared. I tore a man’s head from his shoulders in a rage so black I didn’t realize what I was doing anymore. Limbs fell beneath my feet. Men screamed, but I didn’t hear them. Bullets were fired, but they felt like flea bites compared to the anger and loss that burned through me like the hottest flame. They had taken my friend from me. They had stolen a piece of my heart that I would never get back. They deserved to pay for the irreplaceable life they had taken.

Jet had pushed his hair back from his dark blue eyes and concluded, “I never knew friendship like this could exist. Thank you.”

‘Thank you, Jet,’ I said in my mind. Bodies fell beneath me. Pain flared, then was gone. In the end, I was a lone wolf standing in a basement filled with fallen enemies. No one would hurt my pack. No one would ever again threaten the werewolves who looked to me for protection.

“Jaze?”

My eyes focused on Kaynan and Dray. Both of them stared from me to the pile of bodies around me. I looked around at the carnage. I felt detached from it, as though it was unreal. I close my eyes and phased slowly. The sickly slick feeling of blood coated my body; the knowledge that most of it wasn’t mine turned my stomach.

Kaynan wordlessly handed me a set of clothes from a guard. Each step I took up the stairs felt weighted as though I carried a thousand pounds on my shoulders. Both werewolves acted as though they wanted to help me, but neither of them broke through the fog that surrounded my thoughts. I exited the door and found the werewolves we had freed watching me. Over a hundred werewolves huddled near the far wall. Their faces were stark and pale; they had seen things no one should have to see. I would make sure they never had to experience such fear again. Chet and his pack waited near them. The anguish on Chet’s face nearly broke me.

“You saved us,” someone in the crowd said.

“He’s Jaze Carso,” another replied.

“We’re safe because of him,” called a third voice.

Clapping began.

I turned away from them and crossed the room to Jet’s still body. Kaynan and Dray followed me wordlessly. A sob tore from Kaynan when he saw who lay at my feet. I knelt by his body. I gathered him in my arms. There was a smile on his face, and something I had never seen before, peace.

I remembered the last time we had run together. It was after we spoke of my intentions to propose to Nikki. I had followed his dark form through the land lit by the midnight moon. We dodged sage and leaped fences Jet’s dark eyes had danced as he stared down the decline before us. My heart leaped at the sight of limitless freedom. Jet was free, the voice in my mind said. I shook my head and tears filled my eyes. He was free with Taye, of that I had no doubt, but I wanted my brother with me. I missed him so much already I could barely breathe.

I walked to the outside door and someone pulled it open. Within a few minutes of my call, buses appeared on the dark street. Excited voices rose around me. The bus doors opened and children ran out. Parents raced to hold their children. Faces streamed with tears as mothers kissed their little ones and fathers held their families.

Mouse walked around a bus. His footsteps slowed when he saw me. My steps faltered.

“Let me help you,” Kaynan said. He gently took Jet from my arms.

I didn’t want to let him go, but my knees didn’t want to hold. Dray caught me before I fell. He slung my arm around his shoulders.

“Let’s get you home,” he said softly.