It was no good staring at the man’s face. Wayne had long since learned that no secrets ever slipped out from behind that blank, frozen wall. But his hands…those were another story. You could learn a lot, watching the Phoenix’s hands.
Ash’s fingers gripped his glass of water. He held it, and held it, and didn’t once raise it to his mouth. Not even when all his friends finished their own drinks, excusing themselves with awkward, stumbling goodbyes. He held onto it for a good five minutes after they’d all left, sitting alone at the table, staring at nothing.
Finally, he released it, one finger at a time. Usually, he came up to the bar, to say goodnight to Rose. This time, however, he left without a backward glance.
Wayne slid off his own barstool. Affecting a stumbling, weaving gait, he staggered over to Alpha Team’s corner booth. He pretended to stumble, catching himself on the edge of the table. His hand brushed against the Phoenix’s abandoned drink.
Rose was wiping down a nearby table, her movements rather jerkier and more forceful than usual. She looked up at his yelp. “You all right, Wayne?”
“Yep,” he mumbled, around his stinging fingers. “G’night.”
The water in the glass was still boiling.
Fighting down a grin, Wayne made his way outside. He ducked down an alleyway, pulling out his phone. The special phone, that he only used for one number. The one that he’d given him.
Wayne blew on his reddened fingers, trying to cool them, before opening up a new text.
Got a good one for you, he typed. I think the Phoenix is in love.
He started to put the phone back in his pocket. To his surprise, it buzzed in his hand.
Tell me everything, said the reply.
Chapter 4
Past
20 years ago…
Blaze arced across the sky like a comet, trailing fury. His rational mind was stretched paper-thin, barely containing the raging inferno underneath. Only the binding biting into his soul kept his humanity from being consumed utterly.
Unchecked, his beast would have scorched a firestorm of devastation across the state. Its burning rage grew with every unwilling wingbeat. The binding forced him on, but there was a new pull resisting it. An equally demanding call, tugging him back.
Back to her.
He was used to the constricting agony of one leash. But now he was caught between two, and the opposing forces threatened to rip his mind in half.
Blaze, I am Blaze. He held onto his name like a lifeline, a point of certainty amidst the howling wildfires sweeping through his soul. Not just the Phoenix. Not just a beast. I am Blaze. I am in control.
Though he barely had control. He could stop his beast from starting new fires, but he couldn’t help its rage from reaching out to the parts of the forest that were already alight. Whenever he passed over smoldering patches of wilderness, the inferno roared up anew.
He swooped low through the flames, seeking solace. But for once, not even their heat could cool him.
For the first time in his life, it was not the fire’s embrace that he craved.
Anger burned in his soul—and not just from his animal. It was as much his own fury as the Phoenix’s that set fire to the sky as he arrowed toward home.
Mundane people were blind to him in this form. But the compound he called home was guarded by more than mere humans.
The alarms were already wailing at full volume as he shot over the outer perimeter fence. The complex boiled like a kicked anthill, people streaming out of the scattered dormitories and labs. Armed soldiers barked orders at panicked acolytes and staff, trying to maintain order as they herded everyone into the emergency underground bunkers.
Part of him—the tiny part that was still vaguely human—was darkly amused by the sight. Like mere blast doors and concrete walls would do anything to protect them if the Phoenix was ever truly unleashed.
His binding tightened in warning. It bit into his wing like barbed wire, making him lurch in the air. Hissing, he tumbled ungracefully into the landing courtyard, scorching the already-blackened stones with a fresh layer of soot.
Pulling the Phoenix back into his skin was like swallowing a sun. Even in human form, it burned beneath his chest.
His binding burned, too. The tattooed runes cut deep into his right arm, deeper than they ever had before. Blood dripped from his fingers, scarlet drops vivid against the scorched flagstones.