Page 46

Till laughs. “Only a leech would call it that.”

My jaw ticks. “Please stop calling me that.”

“Mindeater, then,” Lake muses. “I feel way too calm right now.”

Fuck these people. I should kill them and take my chances with the bandits.

“So you are both rebels. Where do you live?” I try again, barely refraining from acting on impulse.

I blame Matthias for my bloodthirsty habits.

“We can’t tell you that,” Till says.

“I can pry it from your skull, if you’d prefer.” I level her with a stare.

She swallows hard. “In…the mountains. Beyond the containment zone.”

“Where is your scent?” Lake interrupts. His nostrils flare. “I…what is your designation?”

“I am asking the fucking questions, human,” I growl. For good measure, I eat his first memory.

A beautiful woman smiling down at his infant form.

He sags further, eyes glazing.

“Stop, please,” Till rasps.

“I need to know where.”

“We don’t have a name for it,” Lake tells me. “It’s just…home base. Not too far from here, actually. See those mountains,” he points, and I follow his finger. “It’s there. And pretty soon, you’ll get to see it up close.”

My eyebrows raise. “Is that so?”

He nods, a knowing smile curling over his lips. “He’s going to come for us.”

“Who?”

Till is smiling too.

“Who is coming for you? Your leader?”

“Our friend,” she sneers. “Not that you fucks have those.”

Her words shouldn’t hurt, but they do.

A painful reminder of all that I lost.

Just as I’m about to wipe that smug smirk off their faces, a loud whistle rips through the air, and the truck swerves.

18

Saren

I launch into Lake as my head smacks against the side panel. Shouts echo into the sunset, tires squeal, and the truck banks to the right. I roll into Till next before grabbing hold of something.

“What is going on?”

Lake and Till go sheet white.