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  He outweighed me, and I couldn’t get any leverage to fight back. I desperately hooked my heels into the lower part of the railing, but he only laughed and squeezed harder. My vision was shading to black around the edges, and I hated that the last thing I would see was Mateo’s maniacally grinning face.

  Dimly, I heard shouting but didn’t register its significance. All I knew was that at one moment I was about to be dropped over the edge into the mysterious growth of the atrium, and then suddenly Mateo and I were both flying through the air. But we were flying away from the atrium, not into it. Even as I tried to puzzle out this mystery, Mateo was ripped roughly away from me. I kept sliding across the slick floor until I crashed into the wall; thankfully my body struck first, meaning my head didn’t hit the wall quite as hard as it could have. Ouch, I thought dimly. Third time today.

  I lay there, dazed, not understanding what was happening as I watched a tangle of shadows dancing in front of me. Pretty, I thought vaguely, gazing at the shifting patterns of dark shadow on a background of lighter shadow. It was several long seconds before my head and vision cleared enough to realize that I was watching a vicious fight taking place in the dim corridor.

  Mateo had pulled a knife from somewhere, and he was using it to hold Lucas and Sharra at bay. He snarled and lunged for Sharra, but it was a feint. And as Lucas moved to block him, Mateo swept the knife backward and sliced it across Lucas’ stomach. Lucas had moved back just enough that the stroke didn’t gut him, but a thin line of dripping red was visible through the cut in his tee. It didn’t seem to bother him much; his movements were as sure and fluid as ever.

  Lucas lunged forward in a classic football tackle and knocked Mateo to the floor. That should have ended it. Lucas was at least three hundred pounds of solid muscle, but Mateo was crazy; and in a fight, crazy gives you a lot of strength. I should know; I’ve exhibited a fair amount of crazy from time to time myself.

  Mateo managed to work his knife hand free and would have plunged the knife into Lucas’ broad back if Sharra had not stepped in at that moment with a sharp and accurate kick to Mateo’s wrist. The knife flew free and skittered across the floor until it slid off the edge into the atrium.

  Mateo finally stopped struggling and lay limply on the floor. Cautiously, Lucas levered himself to his feet, always keeping a big hand wrapped around Mateo’s shirt collar to be sure he didn’t decide to bolt.

  “What the hell, Mateo?” Lucas rumbled quietly. “Have you completely snapped? I’d ask what happened on patrol, but between the report we got from the guards you relieved and the conversation we heard before you tried to choke Poppy and throw her off the edge, I think we’ve got the gist. Anything you want to add?”

  Sharra had come over to check on me. She helped me sit up and lean against the wall while we listened to the conversation between the two men. Our eyes grew wide when Mateo’s only response to Lucas’ questions was to spit contemptuously at his feet and jerk himself free of Lucas’ hold.

  “I am done,” he announced. “You and your pussyfoot leadership team are constantly ‘gathering information’ as an excuse not to take action. You are a group of spineless cowards. I will join Jessie and the Monarch pack and you will see what a revolutionary group is supposed to be.”

  Mateo stormed away, and Lucas let him go. We watched until Mateo disappeared around the corner and then listened to his footsteps descending the stairs until the echoes disappeared.

  Lucas came to check on me then. He crouched down in front of me and took my head in his two big hands, running his fingers through my hair to feel the lumps. He tilted my head back so he could look into my eyes. I’m going to blame a probable concussion for what happened next.

  “Your eyes are so pretty,” I crooned hoarsely. “Even darker than your skin, but with such a nice sparkle.”

  Sharra stifled a laugh, and Lucas smiled down at me in amusement. “Thank you, Poppy. You have very nice eyes, too. Even if they are a little unfocused just now. You should probably try not to talk too much just now; your throat must be very sore.”

  “It is,” I agreed in astonishment. “How did you know?”

  His lips quirked again and he informed me, “You have a lovely ring of bruises forming all around your neck. Your sore throat will probably get worse before it gets better. Your sore head too.”

  I nodded solemnly, then clutched at my head as the movement caused violent pain to shatter through my skull. I moaned and tried not to throw up, but at least the pain cleared my head again. I closed my eyes in humiliation and vowed to myself that I would not say another word until I had my head on straight again.

  Sharra laughed outright this time. “You just said that out loud,” she informed me.

  I groaned again and sealed my lips resolutely shut. Lucas got to his feet, then reached down and scooped me into his arms as though I weighed nothing.

  “Probably best not to have you walking, especially in the dark. And definitely no riding a bike. You’ll have to ride with me, and we’ll send someone back for your bike and Mateo’s.” He carried me effortlessly down the platform stairs and placed me gently on the back of his bike. Sharra helped me put on a helmet as Lucas carefully mounted in front of me and pulled my arms around his waist.

  He sucked in his breath sharply as my hands scraped over the cut on his abdomen and he reached back to shift my arms just a bit lower. I clutched him tightly and leaned into his strong back. My head was swimming, and I was a little worried about falling off the bike.

  Lucas drove carefully with none of the theatrics Sharra and I were fond of. I wasn’t sure whether that was his usual style or if he was being cautious on my behalf. Either way, I felt safe as I rested my aching head against his back. He smelled good, I thought to myself, in that musky way that men smell appealing after hard labor. I was breathing the scent in deeply, trying to analyze the attraction when I realized that we had come to a halt back in the bike lot.

  Sharra was already talking to a couple of guards and dispatching them to retrieve the other bikes. Lucas was patiently waiting for me to let go of him so he could dismount.

  “Are you … smelling me?” Lucas asked, amusement clear in his voice.

  I cleared my throat and sat up straight as I pulled my arms from around his waist. “Certainly not,” I responded primly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He just chuckled and climbed off the bike, careful not to jostle me. He scooped me into his arms again and smiled down at me.

  “Helluva first patrol, Red.”

  “You should see the other guy,” I told him with a loopy grin.

  “Oh, I will,” he assured me. “As soon as we get you settled I’m going out there with the hunters to take a look at that snake of yours.”

  “Not my snake,” I slurred. I waved one hand magnanimously. “It’s all yours. You can have it.” I was staring into his eyes again. They really were so pretty. And right now they were looking at me like I was the only person in the world. It was a heady feeling, especially on top of a concussion.

  And then, as if I weren’t already confused enough by the events of the day, Lucas leaned down and brushed a kiss lightly across my lips.

  “You need to take better care of yourself, Poppy. You just got here; I don’t want to lose you already.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  I woke up in Medical. I had spent the previous week exploring the base and surrounding area, poking my nose into every nook and cranny and committing it all to memory. So when I opened my eyes to see the big, dimly lit conference room with half a dozen twin beds lined up against the wall, I realized I was in the third floor infirmary.

  I pushed myself up to a sitting position, my head swimming with the motion. A dark-haired, heavyset woman was sitting at a desk across the room. When she saw me sit up, she hurried over to me. “How are we doing?” she asked me.

  I tried to answer but all that emerged from my abused throat was a rasping croak. I touched my throat and felt hot, swollen s
kin.

  “Yep,” the woman confirmed. “Your poor throat looks awful. I bet it feels even worse.”

  I nodded, then clutched at my head as the motion made my pounding head throb even harder.

  “A concussion, too,” the woman tutted. “Poor lamb.” She rubbed my shoulder comfortingly as she introduced herself.

  “I’m Deb,” she told me. “I’m one of the nurses here in Medical. TJ is the other; you’ll meet him later. And Doc Jaq – that’s short for Jaqueline – will be by in an hour or so. She’s been in to check on you a few times already, but you’ve been pretty out of it for almost 24 hours. We were starting to get a little worried, I can tell you.”

  Deb’s kind eyes and reassuring touch went a long way toward making me feel better. She fussed with my pillows to help me sit up more comfortably and straightened the light blanket over my legs. I felt my eyes well up a little at her tender care. It had been so long since anyone had fussed over me so affectionately that it made me think of the mother I had never really known, who would have been about this age if she had lived. Deb saw the tears starting in my eyes and pulled me into a warm, pillowy hug.

  “Oh, sweetie,” she crooned. “We’ll get you fixed right up. I’m going to go make you some willowbark tea to help that head of yours. The willowbark is a natural painkiller, so it will take the edge off the headache and the bruising on your neck. And I’ll add a big dose of honey for your sore throat, too.”

  Deb pulled away and fluffed my pillows again, then bustled to the other side of the room where a tiny hotplate was connected to a solar battery. She stirred a packet of herbs into a small metal pan and added a cup of water. She set the pan on the hotplate and brought the water to a boil, then poured it through a strainer into a thick stoneware mug. She used a spoon to add a healthy dollop of honey from a jar on the counter and stirred it all together.

  “It still won’t taste very good,” Deb warned me as she handed me the warm mug. “The willowbark is very bitter, and the honey can’t cover it all. It will make you feel better though.”

  I sipped from the mug and agreed that the taste was pretty unpleasant. But the warm liquid and silky honey were very soothing to my sore throat. I kept sipping and after only a few minutes I could feel my headache start to ease a bit. By the time I had finished the tea I felt much better. I was even able to walk carefully to a little screened off area that held a portable toilet.

  Deb settled me back into bed as Doc Jaq and TJ arrived. Jaqueline was a short, stocky woman with white hair, pale skin, and eyes of such a pale gray that they seemed almost to disappear into the whiteness of her face. TJ was tall and muscular with a full black beard, shaved head, and darkly tanned skin. His green eyes were as kind as Deb’s.

  “This is Doc,” Deb told me. “She was a doctor in Quebec back before the war. The city was bombed out and abandoned and she drifted for a while before ending up here with us as our medical captain. Jaq likes to claim that she’s too old to keep patching us all up and she’s going to retire to a mountaintop one of these days, but we won’t let her go. And TJ here is the other nurse. He and Doc and I take turns staffing the medical center in case of walk-ins. And we try to all be here for change of shift when the guards on patrol come in. There are usually some people needing attention when they get back from guard duty.”

  “You guards just can’t stay out of trouble,” TJ joked in a light tenor.

  Doc stepped up to the bed and ran her hands lightly over my head to feel my swollen bumps and look into my eyes. She prodded the bruised skin on my neck and pulled out a stethoscope to listen to my lungs. Finally, she nodded in satisfaction and stepped back.

  “No sign of worse damage,” she told us. “Just the concussion that we had already presumed. So there’s nothing to do but wait for the body to heal itself. I want you to stay here for another day or so until the headache has gone. We’ll keep an eye on you and keep you supplied with willowbark tea to help the pain.”

  Deb straightened my blankets and fluffed my pillows again. Then I was left to watch with interest as a slow but steady stream of patients visited Medical. A boy had sprained his ankle during a game of chase. A kitchen worker had a nasty slice across her left hand from a slip of the knife while chopping vegetables. And there were guards with animal bites, sores and rashes from various plants, and a wide variety of bumps and scrapes acquired in the course of their patrols.

  I worried that I was making a bad first impression, meeting my fellow guards while lying in my hospital bed. I didn’t want anyone to think I was weak and helpless. But I soon learned that Sharra had tried to avoid the spread of misinformation and had called all the guards together to tell them exactly what had happened. Since Mateo was widely acknowledged to be both a jerk and a tough son of a bitch, no one seemed too sorry to see him go. And everyone seemed impressed that I had held my own with him in a fight, even though I privately burned with embarrassment that he had gotten the better of me. I swore to myself that I was going to train even harder as soon as I was allowed to get back to working out.

  Even more, Lucas and Mac had already taken a hunting party out to the wild territory where we’d encountered the snake. Investigating the area hadn’t been a high priority yet, but now that they knew what was in there, everyone wanted to be sure there were no more giant snakes looking for a meal. No one wanted the snakes to expand their territory.

  The hunters had discovered the body of the snake I’d killed. They’d also found three more live snakes – none of them quite as large as the first – and a nest containing several eggs. The hunters had killed the monstrous snakes and smashed the eggs. They weren’t ready to call the area cleared yet; that would take another week or two of checks to be sure no more snakes were lurking.

  The hunting team had decided against bringing the snakes back for meat; given the snakes’ recent diet, it just didn’t feel right. Instead, they removed the giant skins to bring back to base and buried the carcasses. They also brought back the head of the largest snake as a kind of macabre trophy. After seeing the size of that head and learning that I had killed it single-handedly, no one was seeing me as a weakling despite my explanations that I had been very, very lucky.

  I got to know a lot of different guards during my time in Medical and learned more about what I could expect from a typical patrol. Even after I was released from care, I continued to turn up at change of shift to see who had been injured and how. Doc, Deb, and TJ appreciated the extra set of hands and often drafted me to wrap bandages or make willowbark tea when they were inundated with patients.

  When I wasn’t hanging out in Medical, I could usually be found in the guard room with Sharra. There I learned more about the various sections of our pack territory and our nearest neighbors. By the time the additional week of sick leave prescribed by Doc came to an end, I was a solid member of the team, even with only one patrol under my belt.

  After I was cleared for duty again, I quickly became accustomed to scrambling over walls of debris and strolling through spooky abandoned buildings while patrolling with various partners. I learned that we used the sixth floor of the transport center because lower levels were choked with jungle-like plants growing wild from the atrium. I learned to navigate the streets with ease, whether by bike or on foot. I learned to love my new home, the people I worked with, and the pack family we were protecting.

  As guards we chased away dangerous animals and people who trespassed on our territory. We worked with the hunters to bring back wild game to feed the pack. We gathered information and passed messages as we met up with guards from other packs. We even helped a woman and a small girl, both with obvious bruising showing they’d been badly beaten, when they showed up in Liberty territory looking for a safe place to go. They were given asylum and quickly absorbed into the pack.

  In the deep of winter the job became at once harder and easier. Howling blizzards confined us to base for days at a time while feet of snow fell on the city. Between storms we struggled through waist-h
igh drifts to complete our patrols on foot, unable to use the mag-lev bikes when the tracks were buried in snow. But the thick snow also meant that people and animals left clear signs of their presence; it was easy to follow and find them.

  I had never spent much time in the snow until this winter. It had always been an inconvenience to be avoided whenever possible. But now I discovered the peace of being alone in a silent, snow-covered landscape. The refreshing slap of cold hitting my cheeks as I left the warm base. The satisfaction of breaking trail through a deep snowdrift. And the exhilaration of sliding down a tall pile of snow on a makeshift sled.

  I loved being a guard, and I didn’t miss my life as First Lady. I tried not to think about my former life too much, and I was mostly successful. Instead, I focused on the here and now and on being content with my new situation. I still missed my father terribly every day, but I tried not to think about Cruz at all. I couldn’t bear to dwell on his terrible betrayal and the fact that he had gotten away with it all. As much as I had thought about it, I hadn’t been able to come up with a plan to bring him down. He seemed to be beyond my reach, so I concentrated on my new life instead.

  I saw Rivers often. No matter what section of our territory I was assigned to patrol, he seemed able to find me within a day or two. He would casually stroll up to me and my partner and chat for a few minutes, flirting outrageously and blatantly. My partners found this amusing and generally found an excuse to leave us alone for a few minutes.

  After all my time at political functions and events, I was adept at flirting and easily played that game. I smoothly greeted Rivers with a kiss on the cheek or left him with a quick hug; but since that’s as far as my experience went, I was taken by surprise when he kissed me under a bright March moon.