Soar (The Empire Chronicles #1) (14 page)

“Marv and his nephew.” He picked up the conversation like we hadn’t stopped it. He scooped me off the floor and buckled me into a seat. “Sorry about that. Toby’s going to kill me when he sees your head.”

I could feel the blood before it flowed down my face enough to see it. Cody took a cloth out of his pocket and dabbed my forehead. “We’ll be there in a few hours. You might as well try to rest. I have a feeling it’s going to be a crazy night.”

He closed my door and immediately locked it once he was back in the driver’s seat. Even though I was still tied up, I could at least look out the window.

“Any other questions?”

“What does Toby want from me?” We were on some sort of interstate. From what I could tell, we were heading west of the city.

“Want from you?” Cody caught my eye in the rearview mirror. “Isn’t that obvious?”

“Should it be?”

“He likes you. He hasn’t shown this kind of interest since I started working with him.”

“So he doesn’t want to kill me?”

Cody laughed. “Kill you? Is that what you think every guy trying to get in your pants wants to do?”

“Most guys don’t have wings and tell their friends to kidnap me.”

“If you think this is bad, I can assure you being with the bears would be worse. I don’t know what that guy wanted with you, but it couldn’t be good.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“To the Blackwell country estate.”

“The Blackwell estate?”

“It’s Toby’s family name. He’s running it now.”

A question nudged at the corner of my mind, even though there were probably tons of more important ones to ask. “What happened to Toby’s grandfather?”

Cody didn’t say anything for a second. “I’ll let him tell you.”

“Why? All he told me was that he died.”

“Yeah. It’s Toby’s story to tell.”

“Then it can’t be good.”

“It’s not.” Cody turned on the radio, probably trying to signal to me that the conversation was over.

I used the break from conversation to formulate a plan. I had no idea what messed up stuff I was dealing with, but my sister was apparently part of it. Maybe if I played my cards right, I could get to her. My gut told me Toby had been telling me the truth when he said he wasn’t dangerous to me, but that didn’t mean I was going to listen to him blindly. I’d stay alert and find a way to get to Vera. Whatever the Blackwell estate was, I hoped it wasn’t some crazy prison with a torture chamber. I’d play along if I needed to. Maybe those acting classes in high school would pay off.

Cody’s phone rang again. He turned off the radio. “Hello. I’ll ask her.” He turned back toward me. “Are you hungry?”

“Are you really asking me that?”

“Toby said to make sure you ate something.”

I laughed. It was the uncontrollable “I’m in over my head” kind of laugh.

“Hold on. Talk to her yourself.” He must have hit the speaker button because Toby’s voice came through the receiver. “You okay, Casey?”

“Never better.”

“Sarcasm. That’s a good sign.” His voice was tense, but I could tell he was trying hard to put me at ease. Considering my hands were tied behind me, and I had no clue what I was in for, nothing was going to put me at ease.

“What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know. All hell has broken loose here. I’ll get to you as soon as I can.”

I needed answers. “What are you?”

“I can’t talk much now, but I promise to tell you everything later.”

The brush off wasn’t going to fly. “You’re a bird shifter?”

“Well, our shifter form is a hybrid. I don’t turn into an actual hawk.”

“You just sprout giant wings.”

“Pretty much.”

“Any other skills I should know about?”

“Strength, speed, agility, sexual prowess.”

“Toby!”

He laughed. “I had to lighten things up. I’ll be there as soon as I can, and I’m sorry. I should have protected you.”

“Toby.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not going to kill me?”

“Of course not!”

“I’m holding you to it!” I must have been losing my mind.

Chapter Seventeen
Toby

There is something incredibly satisfying about hand to hand combat. Without weapons getting in the way, it lets adversaries fight each other the way they were meant to. Winning takes speed, strength, agility, and brains, and it requires you to summon inner strength you may not have realized you had. That being said, there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing.

I tossed another wolf across the otherwise deserted street. If the witches hadn’t already earned their keep for The Society, they did that night. There’s no way we could have cleaned up that kind of chaos without messing with human minds. I’m not sure what people thought was happening, but clearly the growling and screaming on the street wasn’t garnering any attention.

“You’re actually kind of good at this,” Jared yelled from somewhere behind me. Was it possible the guy had a sense of humor?

“Yeah. So are you.”

He laughed. “I’m the best. Don’t pretend you didn’t know that.”

“I figured the stories were inflated, like everything else about your breed.”

“I’d love to hear those stories but it looks like we have more company.”

I turned in time to watch another four bears barreling down the street. More grizzlies. Black bears were fairly easy, but the grizzlies were far worse. They had more upper body strength, and if you weren’t careful, they’d knock you over before you could react. Lucky for me, Pterons have good reflexes and I’d managed not to get knocked around too much.

The bear who initiated the attack, and had the personal interest in Casey, disappeared sometime during the early waves of attacks when I didn’t have the time to chase after him. I’d find him eventually, but until then, I had my hands full. I was glad to have Jared and Owen there. As strong as my men were, two extra well-trained Pterons wasn’t something to scoff at.

As the bears approached, I flew sideways to dodge the head on attack. I swiftly rammed them from the side. Jared seemed to have the same idea. The bears were more vulnerable on their sides.

Reinforcements arrived right as the fourth round of bears and wolves appeared. I nodded in greeting to Tom and Tim. It was about time they got their asses there.

We took down that line and another before the meek shifters realized the futility of a continued fight. The wolves retreated first, with the bears on their heels. I sent Tim and Tom after them. I’d let them take care of the low lifes.

“Do you think our friend here is ready to talk?” Owen kicked the human body of a bear who had been there in the very beginning. He was the only one other than the ring leader who had survived from that first group.

“I don’t know.” Jared stepped closer to the body. “Let’s find out.” He stepped on the shifter’s chest. “Are you ready to talk yet, asshole?”

Our prisoner grunted.

“In English please.” Jared pushed his shoe in harder.

“Move. Foot.” He struggled to talk.

Jared moved his foot. “Talk.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you don’t have a choice.” I leaned down over him. “What do you want with the girl?” I didn’t like describing Casey that way, but I wasn’t using her name in that kind of company.

“You mean besides fucking her?” He grinned as best he could despite his busted face.

I got rid of the smile with my sneaker. “I’ll ask you one more time.”

He grunted. “It’s our business, not yours.”

“Everything is our business.” Jared moved to his other side. We had him surrounded.

“Get ready for a new way of life. The Pterons are going down.”

“Answer the damn question. Why the girl?”

“Because we want her.” He swiped at me with a knife and drew blood in a line along my chest.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Jared looked at me. “You think we’re done here?”

I nodded.

“Good.” Jared stepped on him again. “Take care of this piece of shit,” he yelled at one of the Pterons starting in on the cleanup.

“You okay?” Jared asked, eying my wound.

“Yeah. A knife though? Who the hell uses a knife?”

“Weak shifters who don’t have enough faith in their own strength.” Owen spit on the body as we walked away.

“I need to see her.” They knew exactly who I meant.

Jared nodded. “I’ll catch up with you later. I need to check in with Levi.”

“You don’t have to come.”

“You mean fighting shoulder to shoulder hasn’t made us friends?” He smirked.

“No, it means I can stand you now.”

“Yeah, I can say the same to you, but you should probably clean up that bad boy. Don’t want to scare Casey with your war wound.”

“I need to get an update from my cousins. After that, I’m going up.”

“Suit yourself. Let me know if you run into any more trouble.” Jared stuffed a hand in his pocket. He seemed completely unaffected by what we’d just done. I guess I probably seemed that way too.

“Oh, I will. I wouldn’t want you to miss the fun.”

“Keep that in mind when you see Casey.” He winked and took off before I could respond.

“Asshole.”

“I won’t argue with you there. See you around.” Owen took off after him.

I took one last glance at the carnage on the street before heading up to the sky myself. What a messed up night.

Chapter Eighteen
Casey

“This is Toby’s house?” I looked out the car window at the Tudor style mansion. Surrounded by what had to be acres of property, it was the kind of place I couldn’t imagine someone actually owning.

“It’s his now.” Cody yanked open my door. He reached toward me and I flinched.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He untied my legs and arms.

“You untied me?” I rubbed my wrists.

“Yeah. You’re safe here. I wouldn’t advise running off on your own, but if you really want to leave, you can.”

I looked at him skeptically. It didn’t make sense.

“Toby’s going to get here as soon as he can, but he can’t leave until he gets things in order.”

“So what am I supposed to do until then?”

“Relax. There’s a pretty extensive wine cellar. You can check that out.”

I’m sure my jaw dropped. “You think I want to sit and drink wine after being kidnapped?”

“You weren’t kidnapped. You were saved.”

“I was tied up and thrown in the back seat of a car. That’s kidnapping.”

“I only did it so you wouldn’t scream or try to run away. Those bears would have gotten you.”

“Why should I believe you?” I tried to get all the kinks out of my body from sitting funny.

“Because you don’t have a choice. You did something to get their attention, and they’ve already lost their minds. I wouldn’t suggest spending time with insane shifters.”

“What do you mean they’ve lost their minds?”

“They’re attacking people in an attempt to get attention. That’s asking for trouble. The king will have no choice but to retaliate and they know it.”

“You keep talking about the king. Who is he?”

“He was the prince until a month ago. He’s down in New Orleans with his new queen.”

“Is she a Pteron too?”

He blanched. “No. Pterons don’t mate with Pterons.”

“What kind of shifter is she then?”

“She’s human. We don’t screw around with anyone else.”

“Why would you mate with humans? Aren’t we weaker?”

“We select the strongest. It keeps the gene pool fresh, and the Pteron gene is dominant so we don’t have to worry.”

“Do all shifters do that?”

He shrugged. “Some do. Some don’t.”

I hobbled over to the porch and sat down. My ankles were raw, and I had no idea where I was going. I wasn’t running anywhere. I needed to see Toby. “Earlier…did you really mean it when you said Eric was a bear?”

“Yeah. He kind of looks like one, huh?” Cody smiled and he looked even younger.

“He is big…but why were you working as a doorman? And why the disguise?”

“I work security. Toby doesn’t like to make it obvious he has someone watching his place.”

“But you always know when he’s in or not, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So why did you send Jared up that morning?”

Cody smiled again. “Ah, I thought I’d buy Toby some time. I forgot you were still there. He didn’t bother you, did he?” His body seemed to tense, and I sensed there was more that he wasn’t saying.

“Why would you care?”

“Because Toby’s made his intentions clear. No crow is touching you.”

“His intentions clear? Crow?”

“I already told you that Toby likes you. I don’t need to keep stoking your ego, do I?”

“So his intentions are of dating me?”

“Of mating with you…but you can call it that.”

“Mating?”

“Yeah. We can date who we want, but we generally settle down with one person.”

“Like marriage?”

“Yes.”

“Toby doesn’t want to marry me.” We’d just started hanging out. A couple of intense kisses doesn’t make a guy jump to thoughts of marriage.

“I’m not going to argue about this. It’s really none of my business.”

“Then tell me what you meant by crow?” I stretched out my legs on the step below me.

“We’re hawks. Jared, as well as the king and his family, are crows.”

“Is it random? The bird you’re tied to?”

“No, it’s not random.” He scrunched up his face. “We tend to stay with our own.”

“So Jared’s in New York because…”

“The king sent him.” Cody leaned against the railing. “He’s the head of security.”

“Jared?” My eyes probably bugged out. “He’s practically my age, isn’t he?”

“How old do you think the king is?”

“I don’t know. Forty?”

“He’s twenty-two.”

“What?”

“He just took over for his dad. It’s not a coincidence that the bears and wolves are pulling this crap. They think we’re vulnerable.”

“Who’s we? I’m so confused.” I rested my head in my hands.

“The Pterons run The Society. Not everyone’s happy with that.”

“Oh. That makes some sense. Why do you run it? No offense, but how do birds scare wolves and bears?”

“It’s our hybrid form. We’re stronger, faster, and smarter.”