I shouldn’t think that about them,I scolded myself.They just got out of a bad situation. It’s not their fault.
“No one’s following us, Luce,” James reassured him. “We don’t have to worry anymore.”
“He’s right,” Kassius said firmly. “We’ve been in the nearby area for a few days. Besides that, we will both protect you if need be.”
“Right,” Luce mumbled, bowing his head. “Thank you, alpha - er, I’m sorry. Kassius Pax.”
“What’s the other thing you mentioned?” I asked somewhat impatiently. I prickled with excitement, desperately eager to learn more about the Cinderhollow of the present.
“Well…”
As Luce trailed off, James spoke up. “We heard there’s dragons and magic.”
I barely contained my gasp. Kass tensed beside me.
“I mean, we’ve seen the dragons before, so we know that part’s true. And… the whole shining barrier thing definitely wasn’t made by human hands, and it’s not something an animal can create. So it must be magic. Right?”
“Yes, the barrier was created with magic,” Kassius began, measuring his words carefully. “But do you know if magic is common inside the tribenow?”
James furrowed his brow in confusion. “How should I know? We haven’t been to town yet. I thought you two said you were from Cinderhollow.”
Damnit,I thought. My impatience flared. I wanted to know the entire truthnow.
“We are,” Kass replied quickly. “We’ve just been… living out here, on the outskirts for a long time.”
James shrugged. “So have we. We figured it was safer this way. The guards at the barrier know we’re here, so it’s not like we’re really hiding or anything.” He scratched the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed by his own unease. “It’s just… we don’t know what we’re going to be greeted with, if we go into town.”
“We don’t know if a group of fox omega refugees will be welcomed with open arms,” Luce admitted.
“But… we haven’t seen Henry since he left, have we?” another omega piped up. “Maybe he settled in just fine, and that’s why he didn’t come back.”
“You might be right.” Luce turned to Kass and I to explain. “One of our group, an omega named Henry - he left on his own a few days ago. He didn’t want to stay on the outskirts any longer.”
“He’s living in town?” Kass asked.
“Yes. He’s always been quite independent.” Luce seemed a bit sad. “He said he would rather take his chances alone than stay with our group any longer.”
“He called us a bunch of cowards while he was at it,” James muttered. “I didn’t love the guy, but I hope he didn’t get himself hurt by going off alone.”
Kass and I exchanged glances, obviously having the same idea at once. Except Kass didn’t look too thrilled - I got the feeling he wanted to find Henry and help these fox shifters, but didn’t like the idea of heading inside town. As usual, he was driven by justice and duty rather than anything else.
I ignored him and asked Luce, “What if we found Henry for you? See how he’s doing, and report back?”
Luce’s eyes widened. “You would do that for us?”
“Sure. Why not?”
A moment later I felt Kass’s firm grip on my arm. “Halo, could I speak with you for a moment?”
He didn’t give me much time to answer. He pulled me aside, out of earshot of the foxes, and muttered, “What are you doing?”
“Helping refugees. What areyoudoing?”
“I know that’s not your whole intention. You want to see present-day Cinderhollow, I get it. But what if Luce’s information is wrong? What if it’s not safe?”
My frustration flared. “Come on, Kass. Why would they escape their skulk and come here if it was that bad?”
“Just because it’s better thanomega slaverydoesn’t make it good,” he argued.
