Branches of Life

For a few moments, there was silence. Until there wasn't. With Ander, Ari, Harmony and I talking over each other.

"Is that why we're here? For conspiracy theories?" Ander somehow managed to sound exasperated while growling

"They'd need to come into our realm to do that."

"Only Mythics have the power to do that." Harmony tilted her head to the side as she observed Starling, almost like she was expecting her to say, just kidding.

My response was eloquent, as always. "What in the actual fuck?"

Starling leaned back and crossed her arms, patiently waiting for us to get our denials out of the way. Koa shot her an annoyed glare. "I told you it'd be a waste of time telling them."

"It's not like we had a choice. They're not idiots," she said in exasperation, throwing her hands up.

"Debatable," Koa interrupted, receiving hard stares and a fuck you, from Ari and me.

Our conversation halted when our waitress arrived with our food. My leg bounced under the table as I impatiently waited while she passed out our plates. The small amount of patience I possessed was gone. What Starling suggested seemed impossible to me, and still didn't explain why we were here, instead of the safe house. Once the waitress was out of earshot, I leaned forward and pinned them both with a no-nonsense look. "Explain everything, now."

Starling shifted her focus to Koa, raising her eyebrows and crossing her arms as she inclined her head toward us. Koa dragged a hand down his face, pausing to glance at Ari, who was now eating her food. It took her a couple more bites to realize we were all staring at her.

Her fork hovered in front of her mouth as she paused and glanced around at us. "I can eat and still be able to listen to you explain yourself."

The wafting scent of hot food made my mouth water. I picked up my fork and dug in as well, knowing I couldn't focus on his words if I let this grow cold in front of me. Ander and Harmony must've had the same thought because they both followed our lead. A quiet, but melodic laugh came from Starling at Koa's obvious annoyance. Beside me, Ander tensed for a moment, before relaxing back into his seat. Acting like nothing happened as his expression gave nothing away.

I wasn't able to think about his reaction further, not when Koa started talking. "The best way to explain everything would be to start at the beginning, but honestly I don't want to." My mouth gaped and he gave me an indifferent shrug, but his mouth pulled into a hint of smirk, clearly enjoying how much he was pissing me off.

"How about you start with how this mission came about," Harmony offered, her voice light.

Koa steepled his hands in front of him, watching our every move as he considered his words. "Our clan is one of the two that are willing to consider the possibility, that the creatures are hiding in another realm."

"You mean the Dragon summoner clan," I cut him off, mentally thanking Rowan for helping me one-up him. My lips pressed together to hide my smirk, but I don't think I succeeded. Harmony gasped, while Ander and Ari swore.

"How?" Starling asked, head cocked to the side. Deciding it was best to keep Rowan a secret, I gave a nonchalant shrug. Relishing in the feeling of giving her a taste of her own medicine. If Rowan had trusted them, she wouldn't have cloaked herself.

Feeling Koa's piercing stare burn into the side of my face, I faced him. My face tingled and burned— but not in an unpleasant way—where his probing stare traced over my face, trying to figure out my secrets. Good luck.

After a few more seconds of attempting to figure out my secrets, Koa finally shook his head. "When the attack happened yesterday morning and Aunt Dove reported the attack to our Alpha, he decided this was the perfect opportunity to find out whether or not the creatures were hiding in another realm. And if so, which Mythic is helping them."

"Who in the fresh fuck would be dumb enough to help them?" I demanded, interrupting him, again. He wiped a hand down his face, with a low groan that had me practically panting.

"No one's ever taught you manners, I see." He sighed, and I just shrugged, unbothered by the comment. "We don't know. We have guesses, but it's not enough. That's what we're here to investigate."

"Where do we start looking?" Ander's tone and expression were far from friendly, but he no longer looked at them like he was five seconds away from kicking their asses. Progress.

"We'll start with visiting Wyatt," Koa replied, picking up his utensils, and began eating. Signaling he was done answering questions. Honestly, I was surprised he told us as much as he did.

Ari, Harmony, and I looked at Ander. Out of all of us, if anyone was going to know who he was, it would be Ander. It was moments like these, that I started wishing we had surnames.

Unfortunately, Ander frowned and bit his bottom lip. Taking pity on us, Starling answered our silent question. "He's a pretty powerful sorcerer, who lives in the human realm."

Shock flooded my system in an icy wave. He lived in the human realm? No one chose to live here. The longest any of us could stand being here, was a month, maybe two. There had to be something seriously wrong with this guy. A thought suddenly came to me. "Do you think he's the one helping them?"

Koa shrugged. "If he's not, then he might know who is. Worth a visit."

For the rest of our meal, the only sounds came from the other patrons and the horrendous karaoke. For once, the silence wasn't broken by me, but by Ari. "Hope they have a clean bathroom." Ander adjusted getting ready to stand up, but Ari just ducked under the table, brushing past my legs. Only for her to appear outside the booth a couple of moments later.

"Impatient bitch," I muttered, laughing when she flipped me off.

"I'll join you," Harmony said, shifting to face Koa. "I won't be crawling under the table." He gave her a blank stare, before relenting and moving out of her way. I couldn't hold in my laugh, and his focus snapped to me. The gold was more prominent than the copper. And once again, I was lost in his eyes until he looked away. He remained standing, leaning his hip against the back of the booth. Letting us know that we wouldn't be staying long.

"Whatever asshole told these humans they can sing, deserves to be throat punched. Repeatedly," I grunted, covering my ears. I was almost surprised they weren't bleeding, or that I hadn't gone deaf.

"Not a fan of the classics," Starling joked, flinching when the human tried to hit a high note. As if talking mercy on us, the song finally ended, and I swore everyone in the pub sighed in relief.

"When they get back, we'll rent a van, and drive to see Wyatt," Starling said, throwing a wad of cash on the table. It wasn't lost on me, that she still hadn't mentioned where we were headed. They still didn't trust us, and from the way Ander leaned back and narrowed his eyes, it was mutual.

"He's close?" Ander questioned, crossing his arms over his chest, arm muscles bulging.

Starling tilted her head side to side. "Relatively." The annoyance I should've felt at her flippant answer was muted. My eyes grew heavier as I slowly lowered my head to the table, too heavy to hold up any longer. Every part of my body was weighted and felt like it no longer belonged to me as my arms sat uselessly by my side.

Confusion filled my mind as I tried to figure out why I was supposed to be mad in the first place. My thoughts became more and more sluggish, and every thought I had slipped just out of reach. The last thought I was able to hold onto, was a singular and beautiful sound before I passed out.