It was a struggle to get back up. I remember the next minute in snatches (probably because I was half conscious), but I must have grabbed the fire extinguisher from its bracket and swung it at the window, smashing and smashing until my arms failed me. But I'd done enough — there was a gaping hole. All I needed to do was get Leo to it and...
Too late. It was already far too late. My legs gave out. I fell onto shards of broken glass, but I didn't feel the pain of it. I sank into a dark bliss, too far gone to feel the hands which found my shirt and hauled me out.
***
My eyes were open before I even knew I was awake. And suddenly I could see again, and breathe, and there was grass and snowmelt beneath me instead of searing tiles. Everything was still blurry, though, like looking underwater. A silhouette appeared above me, blotting out the fire glow which seemed to be lighting my surroundings.
"Sometimes, Skye, I really hate you," a voice said, and I recognised Rhys's annoying drawl in an instant. "In a loving way, don't get me wrong..."
"Leo?" I tried to ask, but the word died in my throat. Hoarsely, I tried again. "Get — Leo."
"He's already out. You think I can't carry two people?" he demanded indignantly. "I'm trying to take you to him, okay? Lie still."
I stopped trying to pick myself up and let my brother get his hands under my shoulders and drag me backwards a dozen paces, where another silhouette was crouched. I blinked a few times and they came into better focus. A female beside a motionless something. Leo — it must be.
"I don't think he's breathing," I heard Tally say.
"Pulse?" Rhys asked.
"No, I can't —"
She stopped abruptly, and someone swore. I tried to see what was happening, but I could hardly lift my head from the ground. The effort triggered a coughing fit, and the 'air' I coughed out looked greyer than a rain cloud.
It sounded like Tally and Rhys were doing CPR, with her opening the airway and him pumping my mate's heart for him. I reached over and fumbled until I found Leo's fingers, and I smacked them.
"Breathe, damn you," I told him.
"You should listen to your mate," Rhys added wearily. "We didn't do all of that shit just to have you die on the front lawn."
He thumped Leo's chest particularly vigorously, and there was a faint rattle as Leo took a breath. I let my head fall and found myself fighting tears.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Rhys said, suddenly cheerful again.
Through all the wheezing and choking, it sounded like Leo was trying to say my name. I slapped his fingers again, more gently this time, and Tally helped him roll onto his side so he could see me (or a blurry rendition of me).
"Hi," I whispered.
And he wheezed out his own, "Hi."
We lay there for maybe ten minutes, catching our breaths and generally resting. When I finally felt well enough to sit up, I was set upon by my brother, who seemed to have a bone to pick.
"The very next time you want to hang out in a burning building, Skye, you can bloody well burn," he snapped.
"You were the one to start the fire," I pointed out. "Let's not overdramatise this. No one's dead. There might have been a minor delay in escaping, but we weren't in any real danger..."
He knew I was baiting him, and he didn't care. "You were about twenty seconds away from becoming a crisp, little sister. Nearly get your throat torn out — fine, I don't give a shit, but fire ain't the way you want to go."
"I wasn't awake. Wouldn't have hurt that bad..." I muttered. Suddenly, an apology seemed like less effort than an argument. "But I guess I'm glad I'm alive."
Leo seemed to relax a bit and squeezed my hand with relief. Rhys decided he was not about to drop dead and focused his attention back on me. His eyes were full of reproach and the vulnerable side he normally disguised with sarcasm. "Just ... never do that to me again, okay?"
I snorted before I could stop myself. "You think I had a choice?"
And Rhys scowled. "I don't have a mate, Skye. How am I supposed to know if you get a choice or not?"
Now I got the sense we were talking about something else entirely. I had to pause for another coughing fit. "Yeah, well, maybe the fire wasn't such a good idea."
"It worked, didn't it?" he demanded. "Twenty ferals dead without a single casualty."
"All of them?" I asked hopefully.
"Well — most. Luke escaped when I came after you." He looked at me accusingly. "I'd have gone back for Leo if you'd just told me, y'know."
I cocked an eyebrow. "And why should you get all the glory?"
He didn't get an opportunity to answer, because an outraged shout of "HEY!" had us all turning around. Rhys was met with a punch to the neck.
At first, I didn't understand what was happening. I watched the Alpha of Ember Pack tackle my brother with a sense of bemusement and not much concern. It turned into a fight — punches being thrown left, right and centre. I continued to watch, still not feeling any need to involve myself, as Lewis, who must have expected an easy victory, found himself flipped onto his back and pinned embarrassingly quickly.
Rhys spat out some blood, his right arm crushing the boy's windpipe.
It was only when Lewis used the last of his air to tell me to run that I understood. We'd screwed up, just a little, by forgetting to tell him that Rhys was working with us. Poor kid hadn't stood a chance, but at least he had guts.
Leo shoved Rhys lazily. "You can lay off — he's a friend."
Rhys snorted. "Friends don't go around punching people."
"Yeah, well, he's not going to do it again. Are you, Lewis?" I asked.
"Yes, I am! You need to get away from him," the Alpha insisted desperately. "He's a feral!"
"Oh, bloody hell," I managed to mutter before falling into a fit of snickering. Rhys rolled his eyes. This was becoming a common mistake: first New Dawn and now Ember. If we weren't careful, half the country would think he was feral.
"It's true, I swear — he was with the guards. Why are you laughing?" This demand came with less certainty.
I gave Rhys a proper push, and this time he released the boy to stand beside me. Lewis scrambled to his feet, almost looking like he wanted to initiate round two, so I sighed, "This is my brother."
"Your...? I didn't... Oh."
"Yeah, oh is about right," Rhys muttered.
"Are you the one who set my pack house on fire?" Lewis demanded, an edge to the curiosity.
I eyed Ember's mansion, which was still roasting beautifully, the roof caving even as I watched. The north wing, where the fire had started, was little more than rubble. Rhys had lured the ferals there, all the way into a petrol-soaked room, before dropping a match.
He nodded along. His attitude seemed to be defrosting. "Yes, but there's no need to thank me — you're very welcome. I've always wanted to burn down a pack house."
That triggered a chorus of growls from a crowd of packling fighters who were massing nearby, looking beyond murderous. They'd probably seen Rhys fight their Alpha, whose lookalike was scowling at us with an expression like a thundercloud.
"That's enough, Isaac, all of you," Lewis snapped. "Rogues or not, they saved us."
"Whatever you say, brother," the boy said sullenly. The group took that as a cue to disperse, but they did it grudgingly and I saw Isaac's scowl reappear as soon as Lewis looked away. There would be trouble from that lot if we stuck around.
The pup-Alpha sensed it, too. "You can stay here if you need to. Personally, I'd advise against it. My pack might owe you their lives, but they haven't stopped hating your guts."
"Don't worry," I found myself muttering. "We know when we're not wanted. Let me borrow a phone, then we'll be on our way."
That stymied him, because his home was ashes and all of his phones with it. Still, Lewis braved a nod. "I'll ask around. One minute."
The second his back was turned, Tally grabbed my arm and steered me to one side. I could feel her hand shaking. "Alright, here's the deal. I'm not an expert on this rogue thing, but—"
"Whoa, what's up?" I asked.
"Kyle. You promised, right? I don't even know if he's alive — I need to go see him. I can't concentrate, I can't hardly even breathe —"
Finally, I realised that she was asking for my permission, when she should know she didn't need it.
"Tally," I sighed. "Has nobody explained this to you? You don't have to listen to me. If I say jump, you can jump or can clout me. You could've stuck up a finger yesterday when I asked you to stay with us."
Tally looked so surprised that I felt my heart breaking. She had grown up in a world where you followed orders or paid the price. I didn't think she'd honestly expected me to agree. Her face lit up with a stunned smile, and she enveloped me in a hug. I didn't often hug anyone outside my family —and more recently, Leo— so I patted her back awkwardly.
Still trapped in the hug, I whispered in her ear, too quiet for any packling ears to hear. "Nick a car on your way out of Ember and to hell with the speed limits, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am," was her mocking answer.
"Look after yourself," Leo told her. She flipped him off, all good-natured like, and then we watched her walk into the woods as subtly as she could manage. Not a single packling seemed to notice, so she must have learned something in the last week.
Then Lewis materialised beside us, once again a ray of excitable sunshine, even if there was blood crusting and bruises darkening all over his face. Rhys stared sullenly over his head, and I played the skirting-eyes game of two people who were trying not to decide dominance.
"Done. One of the teenagers took a little detour on the way out to pick up her mobile. Apparently, it's more important to her than her own life." Lewis shrugged and handed me a pristine Samsung. He had brought us coats and shoes, too, which was nice of him, because I couldn't feel my toes and I doubted they had much of this stuff to go around.
I frowned at the phone. It was nothing special: a slightly out-dated model, not the most beautiful piece of technology I had ever seen. Why would she value metal and plastic and glass so highly?
"Oh, and just a warning," Lewis continued breezily, "she told me that if I broke it, she would break my face. Gross insubordination, of course, but I think I'll let it pass under the circumstances."
"I'll be careful," I promised uncertainly, and Lewis ducked out of our group again.
Helpfully, it was unlocked, open to an empty home page. Well, empty except for a single app — an orange and white 'w.' I was intrigued enough to open it.
Leo peered over my shoulder. "What on earth is a Wattpad?"
I shrugged helplessly. "No idea. It sounds like a cross between a lightbulb and a feminine-hygiene product."
"Why would anyone make an app about that?"
"Don't know, don't care," I muttered. "Let's just get this over with."
I dialled the number from memory. As soon as it began to ring, I put it on speaker. If I had to get shouted at, Rhys and Leo deserved to share my suffering.
"Hello, who is this?" Fion asked. I savoured the sound of her voice, so friendly and unsuspecting. It had been a few days since I'd heard it, and I missed her. We had never been apart this long.
The nostalgia lasted approximately three heartbeats before I got a sneaky idea. Obviously, she didn't recognise the number, and she couldn't shout at me if she didn't know that I was me. I put on my deepest voice. "Yes, hello. This is Mortimer Morris. I have a message from Skye."
I could picture the raised eyebrow so effortlessly. "Oh, really? That's hard to believe, given that Mortimer is standing right next to me. Who is this?"
Oh, bloody hell, what were the chances?
"Fine, you got me. This is Ian from Blackwater Falls. You know, Rhodric's friend? We met when you were little, dunno if you remember..."
"Why were you pretending to be Mortimer?" she demanded. I could feel my face scrunching up as I tried to think of a plausible answer.
In the background, an indignant voice muttered, "Yeah, Ian. Identity theft is a crime."
"Are you talking to Fion?" Rhys was metres away, but his voice carried. I suddenly saw the downside of speaker mode. It was far too late: all I could do was hope she hadn't heard. There was a long pause — complete silence from Fion's end of the line.
Finally, she gave a low growl. "Hello, Skye."
I cringed and threw the phone at Leo, regretting it a heartbeat later. Luckily for me, he caught the damn thing and held it to his ear rather cautiously.
"Hi, Fion. It's Leo," he announced. I couldn't hear her reply. Leo muttered a few Yeses and Noes and then held the phone out to me.
"She wants to speak to you," he whispered.
I gave him my most exasperated expression, complete with eye-roll, and reluctantly took the phone. "Um ... hi?"
"I'm going to chop you into little pieces and feed you to the crows. It's been three days, Skye. Three days. And when the others came back yesterday and said they didn't even know if you were still alive —"
"The others?" I asked hopefully. "They're okay?"
"Aaron, Ryker and Emmett are fine. Too fine, actually. They've been picking fights with the flockie refugees. The others, well... Connor will be right as rain in a few days. But Kyle — I dunno, Skye. There's a bullet lodged in his spine, and they can't get it out."
I could barely even remember what Connor looked like, let alone why I should care about him. But I had been running with Kyle since we were nippers, and I couldn't help caring. My breath caught in my throat. Had I sent Tally home to find out her mate was already dead? Comatose? Paralysed?
Very occasionally, it was starting to feel like my decisions had consequences. Davies, Owen and now Kyle. Who was next? In the quiet, I had the perfect opportunity to say something. I should have told her about Owen — I knew that. Mortimer and Aaron deserved to know, but the words stuck in my throat. Face to face would be better, I decided.
She must have noticed the pause and changed the subject smoothly. "Is Rhys still alive?"
That easily, I felt a grin tug at the corners of my mouth.
"Very alive. Very annoying. We're at Ember at the moment." I explained. Rhys was tugging at my elbow for a chance to talk to Fion.
"Ember? They have phones, don't they? Would it have killed you to pick one up and let me know you were okay? We were worried half to death!"
Well, if she was going to start telling me off again, maybe Rhys could have a word, after all...
"We were busy," I tried helplessly. "We'll go to Lowland now, and that won't take so long because we can drive, so we'll be a few more days, okay?"
"You don't have a few more days, Skye. The battle lines have been drawn. And — hey! I'm not finished with you yet! Don't you dare —"
"Oh, in that case, tell Jace that we'll be there tomorrow. I've got to go now, here's Rhys. Bye, love you."
"Skye Llewellyn —"
Hurriedly, I passed the phone to Rhys and retreated until I was sure I was safe from phone-Fion.
He didn't stop grinning once during their conversation. Fion didn't seem to be shouting at him, surprise surprise. There was a tiny part of me that wanted to just pinch their cheeks and get them mated. The bigger, sensible part knew that Brandon's kid had already screwed that up. Gone, lost, irreparable. And Rhys still had a mate out there, somewhere...
When he was done, a long while later, I used the phone to call the farmhouse where Sophie had been recuperating and told her to meet us on the road to the Silverstones.
"And the dog?" she inquired. She sounded less broken than before, so maybe she had begun to accept Owen's death.
Alfie. Ah. I could picture him at the castle, happy and careless, playing with the pups. Yes, he would like it there. But one look at the remnants of Ember's pack house was enough to convince me that he wouldn't ever be safe with us. Dog against wolf — it wouldn't ever be a fair fight. So I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"Leave him there, if the farmers will have him," I said firmly. "He can spend his retirement chasing the foxes."
He had chosen to join our pack, and it felt like a betrayal, but I knew I would feel a thousand times worse if he followed us to the Silverstones and died there. This way, I wouldn't even get to say goodbye. Maybe that was for the best.
I hung up the phone and returned it to Lewis without a scratch, by some miracle. He insisted on shaking my hand, Rhys tore himself away from taunting the packlings, and the three of us began walking into the woods and out of Ember territory.
"Are we going to Lowland Pack?" my mate asked.
"Nah — Lewis will have to deal with that. We're out of time. If we don't get to the Silverstones by tomorrow, we'll miss the whole damn war."