The Killing Season (5 page)

“And what will these credits go toward?”

“Your pardon.” My brows rose. “And your return into Dean’s good graces. You see, Miss Andrews, your behavior toward the end of semester made it seem like you didn’t appreciate the university’s efforts at rehabilitating you. We gave you a home, a family, and a cause, but you snubbed your nose at it all. Of course,” Killian sniffed, leaning back in his chair, “we expect nothing less from civilians. I warned Dean about this very instance in which we find ourselves now. I told him a civilian could not appreciate our lifestyle, our beliefs, because they were not born into them, raised with them, formed by them.”

“These are the beliefs that you
formed
Luke with?”

“Your continued arrogance and disdain for us only proves my point further. You can never truly belong among us.”

“Trust me,” I said through gritted teeth, “I know.”

“Yet Dean still believes in you. He thinks you will find a way to understand our cause. As such, you will complete your extra credit in exchange for your pardon and as a show of good grace to Dean and Fear University.”

“Yay,” I said dryly. “What’s the extra credit?”

Killian stood from his chair but remained behind his desk. “It has come to our attention,” he said, gathering up some papers, “that we have a leak. Certain information has made its way from Fear University to the aswangs. Hunting methods. Weaponry advances. Guard schedules.” Papers in hand, coffee mug in the other, Killian shot me a brief glance. “We believe the leak is a ’swang sympathizer within our school. Could be administration, student, or hunter. We also believe the leak is here in Barrow, right now. It is your job, your extra credit, to discover who the leak is and report them immediately to me.”

“That should be easy.”

“Sarcasm is a lost cause up here, Miss Andrews. You will find that the only way to survive in the north is to be blunt and forthright.”

“Permission to be blunt and forthright?”

“Of course.”

“Maybe if Fear University didn’t employ such shady-ass strategies and beliefs, you wouldn’t have to worry about rats.”

Killian practically beamed at me as he walked around his desk, and his smile, more than his anger, worried me. “Trust me, Miss Andrews, I couldn’t agree more. The time has come for Fear University to take up much more resolute and unarguable methods. Beliefs no one can refute. Glad to see we agree.”

The fact that Killian Aultstriver and I agreed on anything freaked me out, but I’d seen firsthand what happened to people who disagreed with Dean’s vision for Fear University. And it sounded like Killian definitely disagreed. I knew what my punishment for stepping out of line had been. What was Killian’s?

He opened the door and stepped into the hall, waiting for me. As I walked out of his office, an answer occurred to me. Before I thought better of it, I said, “I guess your role in finding Dean’s leak would win you enough favor to warrant a higher position within the university. Maybe even get you out of Barrow exile. Because this is your punishment for disagreeing with him, right? I have to wonder, though, what you two fought over that was so bad he sent you up here?”

The pages crinkling in his tightening grip told me I’d hit a mark. “That will be enough bluntness. Thank you, Miss Andrews.”

“You’re welcome.”

As Killian swung his office door closed, I took one last glance inside. The secrets locked up in his desk practically sang to me. He might even have a correspondence between him and Dean discussing their opinions on who or what I was. I needed to know how much Dean knew about me.

Like he’d read my thoughts, Killian slipped a flat key into the reader, which locked the door with a smart little chime.

I blinked up at him, brow cocked, not even bothering to look innocent. Let him know I was coming after him. I didn’t care.

Without another word, he turned away and strolled down the hall to get ready for the morning’s hunt. As I watched him go, I thought over what he’d said about the reasons Dean had locked me and Sunny in a cage with a ’swang during Fields. But I’d seen how much Dean hated me and wanted me dead in order to perform his experiments on me. Killian couldn’t be right, which meant he wanted to rattle me. Refusing to let him succeed, I shrugged it off and walked away.

I found Sunny downstairs. Breakfast had come and gone during the meeting with Killian, but Sunny had saved me a thermos of coffee and a bagel with my favorite strawberry jam. As I slowly munched on the food, an eerie silence filled the entry beyond the dining room where Sunny and I sat. Though it was daytime, the darkness outside pressed against the base’s walls like a feverish embrace. I shivered. Luke had been right about this place; it really could drive a person crazy.

“Did you sleep okay?” Sunny asked, her voice softly chirping across the silent dining room. The massive table dwarfed us, and I felt like we were separated by an entire ocean as I stared at her from across it.

“Not really. The wind kept me up.” All night long, it had battered against the concrete walls of the base. The thick walls muffled the sound to a chattering whisper that surprisingly bothered me even more. It sounded like someone was hovering over me all night long, speaking directly in my ear in a hushed, intimate voice.

“Me too.” Sunny raked her hands up and down her arms like she was cold.

“Did you get an email out to your parents?”

She nodded, the flash of relief obvious in her doe-brown eyes. “Yeah. Gran already responded with tonics and prayers to keep the evil spirits at bay.”

I smiled, ready to ask which ones she’d already tried when heavy footfalls drew my attention to the stairs. Sunny and I quickly stood from the table and watched from the dining room’s archway. Coldcrow and Killian arrived in the entry, but only Killian wore the hunting gear I’d come to expect. Coldcrow held a piece of paper in his hand.

The first hunt of the Killing Season was about to begin.

From the stairs came a spattering of boots striking the wooden steps. With the faint, flickering light of the stained-glass windows behind them, Luke stalked down to the entry. A dark warmth spread low in my stomach.

He wore his gear, black as the day would be outside and just as lethal. His throat guard hung open, but he’d drawn a heavy hood over his head, leaving only his flexing jaw and flat mouth revealed. Off each shoulder, Hatter and the Hussar brothers flanked him, wearing similar attire, though Hatter’s head bobbed in time to the music playing through his headphones. From behind them came Eve and Thaddeus. A swath of other hunters followed, their gear making them fade into one big wall of power behind Luke.

He’d come to Barrow and taken control, with even the Hussar brothers falling into step behind him. His presence slid over me, exciting and scaring me at the same time, especially when I felt his eyes, hidden behind his hood, rake over me. As his heavy boots hit the parquet floor, I looked at Killian just in time to see the flash of pride dart across his gaze as he took in his son.

The hunters stopped a few paces away from Killian and Coldcrow. Silently, Eve took out her daggers and started sharpening them against each other as Sin slung a long, muscled arm over her shoulders. Luke sent his hood falling back with a jerk of his chin and leveled his cold gaze on his father. “Where first?” he said, his voice a hoarse growl.

“Hatter will fly us down to the Brooks Range, and we’ll land directly outside of God’s Forgotten Woods. Lately the area has seen increased activity, which means we should start there first. If you think you’re ready.” His mouth twisted into a cruel smile.

A hush fell over the hunters at the name of the woods Killian mentioned. Even the Barrow hunters exchanged weary looks. I knew to cover the sheer amount of territory this far north, the hunters would have to fly quite a bit, but their worry seemed rooted in something else. Something more than Hatter’s reckless flying skills. “What kind of activity?” Luke asked, his voice low.

His words gave me pause; the way he’d almost whispered them made me even more concerned. What other activity could there be besides the ’swangs?

“The usual,” Sin said with no hint of humor in his voice. His face had gone pale against the stark tattoo on his face.

“Think you’re ready for it?”

Luke’s jaw clenched at his father’s question, but he said, “I’m ready.”

“What about the bodies?” Thad asked, and I remembered this would be his first hunt up north in the Killing Season. His face was calm and collected. He didn’t fidget with his weapons like most of the other hunters did.

“Don’t worry about the bodies,” Coldcrow said. “We’ll clean up whatever the scavengers miss in the spring.”

After satellite phones were passed out to every hunter and strapped alongside their weapons, Coldcrow started going over who would reinforce the Barrow town guards. While he was speaking, Thad walked over to me and Sunny. “Sad you’re not going?” he asked me, leaning a shoulder against the arch. Behind him, Luke shot a narrowed glance our way as he went over a map with Killian.

“I could handle it,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

Thad grinned. “This isn’t training, you know. No precious Luke Aultstriver to correct your mistakes or stare at your ass. You don’t get to practice out there.”

“I killed that ’swang in Fields.”

“It was drugged and nothing compared to the ’swangs up here.” Thad leaned in close, stopping inches from my face. “All the mating drives them crazy.”

“You wouldn’t know anything about mating, so you should be good to go,” I scoffed, trying for nonchalant when really my stomach was twisting. I knew these hunts were dangerous, but my worry for Luke spiked.

I shoved Thad back and glanced toward Luke. I found his attention on me and Thad, his eyes sharp and hard as the hunters walked over to the first door leading into the security room. As he passed, I said quietly, “Be careful out there.”

“You shouldn’t be down here. Stay out of the way,” he snapped as he walked by.

I recoiled, my face burning. He was really damn lucky I was unarmed. Otherwise, he might have had a knife in the back as he walked away from me. The other hunters followed. Only Thad hesitated beside me, his previous humor gone.

“He didn’t mean that. He’s just worried,” he said, quietly so no one would hear but us. His warm breath washed over me as he leaned closer, his shoulder almost brushing my chest.

My eyes fell to the bandage hidden behind his throat guard. “Maybe you’re the one who should be careful out there since you’re missing half your neck.”

One side of his mouth twitched up in a grin. “That’s mean.”

“Thad,” Luke barked. “Let’s go.”

I shot a glare toward the door, where Luke stood, armed and ready. His stare could have turned us to stone. Very clearly, his gaze locked on the very small distance between Thad and me. Knowing he was watching and how much he hated Thad, I rose up on tiptoes and planted a lingering kiss on Thad’s cheek. “Be careful,” I whispered in his ear, letting my breasts touch his chest.

Something hit the floor by the door with a bang, but I didn’t glance back to see what Luke had thrown down.

I flipped him off as Sunny and I walked away.

F O U R

Ollie

“N
ow, when you say ‘tonsil hockey,’ you mean . . .”

A tiny smile made my mouth twitch. “I mean, they were making out. And not just a sweet, good-night kiss either. This was like baby-making kissing.”

Sunny cringed. “Did she even know what was happening?”

“I don’t know,” I said, growing serious once again. “That’s the problem. I threatened Sin, but I can’t watch him every second.”

Sunny screeched to a stop in the base’s third floor hall, where we’d been talking and walking, prowling through the base’s endless maze of halls with no destination in mind. We were both worried about Luke and Hatter out hunting in the unnatural dark, so we talked to help our nerves. It almost felt like old times again.

“You threatened him?” She put her hands on her hips and shot me what was likely her most withering glare.

“Yeah. What else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t tell if Abigail knew what she was doing, but I couldn’t risk it.”

“Ollie, you can’t do that without me there!”

Her intensity rocked me back onto my heels. “Why do you need to be there?”

“So I can protect you!” Sunny huffed, throwing her hands in the air. “You need me, Ollie! I wasn’t there in the ward and all that happened to you and Peg and I should have been there to help you and I was so mad at you after but you were just hurt and I had no idea and I wished you would have just told me but I understand and I—”

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted.

Sunny blinked in surprise. “For what?”

“Fields. The Halloween party. For ignoring you during the study week. For being so shitty these last few weeks. For lying since the day we met. For everything.” So much to apologize for.

“Ollie
—
”

“Don’t give me an excuse. There’s no excuse. You’re a good friend, and you deserve better.”

She sighed heavily. With a glance around where we stood in a hallway of unused bedrooms, she motioned for me to follow her into the nearest one. The door opened easily and we went inside, our steps as silent as the tense quiet between us. A fine layer of dust covered the old armoire, and a silk green canopy hung above the bed, where we sat on the edge, facing each other. Sunny took my hands, her small fingers dwarfed against my long, pale ones.