Silver and gold keys twinkled from the walls around me as my eyelids fluttered closed.
It had been over a week, and our heat was finally breaking.
I was exhausted.
I’d spent the last half hour knotted by Phantom in the hot tub, and we’d decided it was time to turn in at the first hint of the sun rising through the trees.
He’d carried me to the shower, rinsed us off, and finally brought me back to my nest. Karma had passed out, and Sin and Vandle looked like they were battling sleep waiting for us to get back.
Exhausted and happy, we were all here, the blankets and pillows tucked around us, the scent of my pack laced into every fibre:ocean storm, gunmetal, ironwood and ember, and desert eclipse.
My family.
Sin was holding me against his chest, his skin finally cooling as his own heat passed, and Vandle was on my other side. My fingers were tangled in Phantom’s hand—he was already fast asleep—and Karma’s fist had closed around my shirt from the other side, as if he’d needed to make sure I was there.
“You did so good, Princess,” Vandle whispered. His voice was groggy with sleep as he hugged me closer, and ruffled Sin’s hair briefly. “Iknewyou could do it. Balanced us all.”
A little purr of pride rumbled to life in my chest as dreams began to pull at me. He was right. The Sisterhood had said I couldn’t, but I had.
I had my own pack.
And they were better than anything I’d ever dreamed of.
Before I passed out completely I heard Karma mumble, “Best…” He yawned. “Best… first heat ever, Moonlight.”
60
VANDLE
The rules were different out here.
Back in Anarchy, the moment you had your sights set on an enemy, it was fair game. There was a lot more… bureaucracy when it came to killing in this place, and I was impatient.
In the warm light of a dim hallway, I inhaled the strange, resinous sweetness in the air—the scent of wood polish and fresh paper. This church was an elegant, modern building with clean decor.
I don’t know why, but I’d always imagined a place of worship should be more… inviting.
Warm.
But I had little to compare it to.
The foundation of my memories was sterile rooms in an endless facility that smelled of disinfectant and chemicals, then the damp stone walls of Anarchy.
Every place I entered was a new set of textures and smells. All foreign. All building blocks of a world I’d never been a part of until now.
It was why I was taking things slow. Unlike Phantom and his list of dreams, and Karma with his sketching (and now cooking classes), I needed to understand the world I’d entered before I knew what I wanted. Sin and I both had been a bit lost outsideof the pack. That's why, I guessed, neither of us were displeased with the nature of this trip. We were both relieved to be out of Anarchy, but we were also a bit… directionless.
This felt familiar.
A hunt.
Something I knew well.
It was a Tuesday afternoon, so the church was quiet. We’d passed only a few people on our way in, and it was a massive space.
We knew the layout and the shortest way from here to the nearest exit—which wasn’t far at all. We also knew the security cameras were on a loop right now.
Before us was a door with a plaque that read: ‘High Priest Anderson.’
