Kindred: South by Rukis

Author:Rukis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FurPlanet Productions

6

YOU’RE NOT ALONE

When we walked back into the warehouse on the pier, the fallback spot we’d all agreed upon if things went wrong, we were greeted like spirits returned from the dead.

The doors, barred and locked up tight in the first dim hour of morning, were opened by the big boar. He stepped aside to let us in and the first thing I heard was an audible gasp, followed by rushing footsteps down the hollow wooden staircase leading up to the second story.

Odina sprinted ahead of several of the Privateers, pushing past a few drowsy men to get to us. I think I was as glad to see her as she seemed to be to see us.

Much to my shock, she threw her arms around me and embraced me tightly. I smiled despite myself, clutching her to my chest, wrapping my arms around her body. I didn’t lift her as I often did Finn…I think the usually stoic woman would object to that. But the display of relief and affection was so unlike her, I probably could have pushed my luck.

The joyous reunion aside, the reality of our sobering situation still lingered over me like a cloud. This should have been the happiest moment of our journey so far. Instead, my gut was in knots, and I felt a familiar pain forming I knew I’d be feeling later.

As Odina slowly pulled away, she must have seen it on my face. “What’s wrong?” she immediately asked. She looked to Finnegan, who if anything, was so calm and neutral as to be eerie. He’d been like that the whole way back, even when we’d talked. “Ambrose?” she pressed. “Spirits…what’s wrong? What happened? How did you escape?”

“She’s been worried sick for you lads,” a stiff-legged, exhausted wolf came limping down the stairs, his coat slung over his shoulders, arms tucked inside it. One of his eyes was swollen shut and his muzzle was split along the gumline in several places. I actually felt really bad, seeing him in such a sorry state. He was still smirking, though. I was starting to think that was just his natural state of being. A walking smirk.

“It was all I could do to keep her from going back out there after you,” he said, leaning against the railing. His words sounded entirely genuine, for once.

“I was waiting for the Ferry further down the dock when I saw them jump you on the road,” she explained. “I don’t think they knew we were together. They must have ignored me completely when I came down the same road ahead of you. I didn’t know what to do…I found my way back to Grayson, and—”

“You did the right thing,” Finnegan assured her. “You escaped with the press. That’s what this was all about.”

“How the hell did you escape?” Grayson asked, leaning his jaw against his palm. “The lass said there were a dozen…fifteen of ‘em, at least.”

“We didn’t,” I said quietly, looking down at Finn. “Gezan let us go.”

Both of them stared at us like we’d grown another head.

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