Chapter 27: The first bones.
Under the new conditions brought in with my relative 'freedom', I could only leave Lunar accompanied by my handler and the Alpha. I had an meeting scheduled at a facility set miles out from Lunar, hidden by the relatively docile farmland and the untamed forest that rose out of nowhere from the flat land, with dark, imposing pines that darkened the horizon.
As the trees closed around us, my breathing for a second.
A warm hand clasped mine. Easton sat in the back and continued staring forward, a calloused thumb tracing over my knuckles. I relaxed into the touch, trying not to show how touch starved I was. The Alpha didn't need the encouragement, but since I returned from the hospital, he had been finding reasons to just touch me. An errant hair. A piece of lint on my arm. Lingering two long when I handed him his morning coffee and the briefest touches were like shocks off a livewire.
Shocking. Addicting.
I didn't know if I liked the hold it had over me, so I was trying to acclimate myself to it. Get comfortable so it didn't weaken me.
In the front seat, Lux continued to speak and Blav murmured a few comments, his eyes on the dark road. We drove through a great seat of dark metal gates, into another compound. There were soldiers there, stoic and grim as they watched the jeep roll in.
"They're waiting to meet the terrifying Omega." I grumbled.
Lux glanced back at me. "Can we tell them it's me?"
The thought brought a smile to my face. Tiny Lux, a terrifying monster. Easton raised my hand, his lips a whisper against my knuckles. "We will be fine."
"Of course we will. They are just sacks of flesh and blood."
Blav looked at me in the rear-view mirror. "Perhaps, refrain from calling them that. We want to appear human."
"You're using a lot of we here. They aren't here to see you Blav, or even you Easton." I steadied myself, staring at the great room filled with jeeps and cars and all sorts of dangerous things that cost too much and caused a lot of damage. Before they could say anything else, I popped open the door and stepped outside.
The waiting soldiers seemed to grow more still, eyes riveted on me. Assessing. Taking in what the Ravi had created. I knew, by the hitch of their hearts and the soft intakes of breath, they did not find me lacking. I smiled at them â that too cold, too brutal smile.
A soldier, an older man who stood with power, stepped forward. His hair was silver-blond, his gaze bright and sharp. Lines of age drew down his mouth and his hooked nose had been broken one too many times. "It's nice to meet you, Omega."
"Not a lie." I murmured. "Curious."
"Who wouldn't want to meet creation of the Ravi under peaceful circumstances?" He questioned. "You are an anomaly. A human born with the moon's blessing. A weapon created against us, now being wielded by us."
I took the hand he held out and he squeezed, hard. I returned it with a harsher grip, watching his face as I felt the bones grate, right on the precipice of snapping. "I was never the Ravi's to wield. Nor yours. There is no one here that hates the Ravi more than me."
Easton stepped around the side of the jeep, his mouth a stern line of disapproval. "Alpha Elan."
Briefly, Easton touched my lower back. "Nova, this is Alpha Carada Elan. Carada, this is Nova Linden."
"You're moon-bound." Carada looked over me. "Power begets power, doesn't it, Supreme Alpha? The Lycan who dismantled the monarchy, and the human reformed by the Ravi. Paired by the moon."
"We were paired before that." I pointed out.
"And you both changed still, to match the other." Carada said, before shaking his head. "But no matter. Don't let me ramble and become boring and old as my men say I am. We have a friend of yours staying here, Ms. Linden. Another creation of the Ravi."
"I hope he hasn't been harmed. He hates the Ravi too."
"A lot of us here hate the Ravi." Carada replied flippantly over his shoulder.
Not as much as me. I would bet on that. I didn't know what to think of this Alpha yet; he was either stupid, or incredibly gullible to knowingly turn his back on me. I eyed the back of his neck, and amused myself with imagining how quickly I could get to him and alarm the others.
But that wasn't a good alliance obeying Omega.
The corridor to the Ravager was well lit, but the dark walls soothed my growing worries. We were oddly silent in the hall and the only noise came from the squeak of Lux's sneakers. My little peppermint friend walked shoulder to shoulder with me, unflinching as she was surrounded by towering, supernatural beings who could easily end her. But Lux didn't think like that.
We were brought into a dimly lit room, where a one way mirror gave us a glimpse of the hulking man sitting at a flimsy table. His hands were bound, but I knew he only kept that way by choice.
"A Ravager." I murmured.
"Another of the Ravi's creations. More breakable." Carada commented.
"He looks pretty unbroken to me." I replied.
"He won't speak to us."
"Confinement can make a person clam up." I said. "I am going to speak to him."
"That isn't protocol." Carada moved to place a hand on my arm as I stepped towards the doorway. His fingers brushed my skin and a low growl thrummed through the small room. Carada froze as I arched a brow and the big bad Supreme Alpha standing at the mouth of the door, took a single step forward.
"I wasn't asking."
"Take your hand off of her." Easton said. "Now, Carada."
"Ohhh." My stomach tightened and I flashed Carada a smile, all teeth. "You're in trouble."
The older Alpha rolled his eyes, but dropped his hand. "A force of habit. I didn't mean any harm by it."
"Hmm, I've done a lot of things out of habit before." I mused. "But never put my hands on someone I knew to be unstable and much stronger than me."
I pushed open the door and the Ravager's dark eyes travelled to me lazily. He had garnered a few more scuffs since I had seen him in the cells, but he looked relatively unharmed. For a product of the Ravi.
"Omega." He greeted me softly. "You look more humane after a shower and some fresh clothes."
I slid into the chair opposite him. "You allowed them to keep your hands bowed."
"People are generally more comfortable when they think they're in control."
"When they think..?"
The corner of his mouth quirked up. "I can't see them. You can't see them. Yet, I can hear their hearts, the change in their breathing. They don't like what they don't understand."
I kicked up my boots onto the table, crossing my arms. "You and I spoke of stopping the Ravi."
"Something I still intend to do."
"From inside a ... questioning room? My lingo is all whacked. Everything I know comes from old guard show reruns."
"I'm not here because I chose to be." He told me. "These Lycans don't let Ravi freaks out."
"I'm not locked in a cell."
"Well, not all of us have the mercy of being bound to the country's most powerful Lycan."
"Look, could you not pretend to be happy for me Ravager? A little bit of luck has finally come my way."
The Ravager rolled his eyes. "Did they inject you with pixie? I can imagine you annoying your cell mates to death."
I tried to resist a smile. "I didn't have cell-mates. I usually killed anyone who wandered into my cell without subduing me first."
The Ravager sighed, pulled his hands apart and broke the bindings that held him. I heard a scuffle on the other side of the door, a panicked shout.
The door flew open.
The Ravager held out his hand to me. "I am Adken."
I pulled down my legs and sat with my feet on the floor. I leaned forward and slipped my hand into his. I did not fear the Ravager sitting opposite me. Instead, it felt as if I had met a kindred soul. Someone who understood the Ravi's depravity like I did. Someone who had been subjected to their torture and had endured it, if only to endure more because of that.
"I am Nova."
"It's nice to finally meet you, Nova." Adken pulled back and smiled politely at the Supreme Alpha who stood in the doorway. "And you must be the Supreme Alpha Young."
In a move that was decidedly not subtle, Easton leaned his shoulder against the door-frame and gave the Ravager an attempt at a cautious smile. "I am. And you are Adken."
"I am." The burly Ravager examined the Supreme Alpha quickly, then looked past me to the one-way mirror. "Do you think I can get something to drink? All this excitement has worked up quite a thirst."
The corners of Easton's mouth quirked. "The humor must be a Ravi thing."
The Ravager laughed, a low rasp from reshaped vocal chords. "Only the ones that find a sick sort of humor in the pits of hell survive. Now, that water?"
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Welcome back to Nova's world.
Tell me your thoughts, theories and conspiracies. Do you think Easton and Nova are growing closer?
Do you think Nova will break her word and kill the doctor?
Do you think Lux will enjoy her new role as Nova's watcher.
Until next time- Saoimarie