Allied in Flight: Through the Veil, #2

By Christina Snow

A rescue gone wrong. 

It was supposed to be simple. Four members from the Western States planned to sneak into the Eastern States to free four condemned Others. But when they arrived at the experimental labs where the Others were being held, it was under attack from Rebel forces. 

Griff Hughes had one job...

He had to find Shar, a wounded hawk shifter. But in the ensuing chaos, he became a captive instead of a rescuer. Three days later he awakens in his own cage, alone. But during the nights, he’s not alone. An alluring redhead with a siren’s call visits his dreams, and his resistance is breaking down.

Shar McIntire is just trying to survive.

After three years in captivity, Shar has one goal...keep her and her sister alive. To do so means cooperating with the evil doctors who want her to seduce and manipulate Griff.  She likes and is drawn to the man with the strange chocolate wings, but she can’t let that attraction distract her. Her sister’s fate is in her hands.

In the last eighteen years, life hasn’t been easy for anyone.

The WS and the ES have been separate entities, but once the Veil was crossed, things began to evolve. It’s a new world, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to get easier anytime soon.

Book #2 in the Through the Veil series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christi Snow
• Release date: Apr 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524286217

Book preview

Allied in Flight Story Description:

A rescue gone wrong.

It was supposed to be simple. Four members from the Western States planned to sneak into the Eastern States to free four condemned Others. But when they arrived at the experimental labs where the Others were being held, it was under attack from Rebel forces.

Griff Hughes had one job...

He had to find Shar, a wounded hawk shifter. But in the ensuing chaos, he became a captive instead of a rescuer. Three days later he awakens in his own cage, alone. But during the nights, he’s not alone. An alluring redhead with a siren’s call visits his dreams, and his resistance is breaking down.

Shar McIntire is just trying to survive.

After three years in captivity, Shar has one goal...keep her and her sister alive. To do so means cooperating with the evil doctors who want her to seduce and manipulate Griff.  She likes and is drawn to the man with the strange chocolate wings, but she can’t let that attraction distract her. Her sister’s fate is in her hands.

In the last eighteen years, life hasn’t been easy for anyone.

The WS and the ES have been separate entities, but once the Veil was crossed, things began to evolve. It’s a new world, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to get easier anytime soon.

Copyright © 2016 Christina Snow

ASIN (e-book): B01DRFX3X0

ISBN (e-book): 9781524286217

ISBN (print): 1530871514

ISBN-13 (print): 978-1530871513

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Published by Christina Snow

Edited by Mia Downing and Sarah Negovetich

Cover Design by AM Design Studios (Amanda Matthews)

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All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, no part of this book may be copied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the express permission of the author. This book is a work of fiction. While sometimes actual locations are used in the writing of this book, they are used in a fictional circumstance and are by no means meant to reflect events happening in those places. Names, characters, events are all a product of the author’s imagination and are by no means meant to reflect actual people living or dead, or any actual events. Any similarities are purely coincidental.

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Thank you for supporting Christina Snow.

You can keep in touch with her at her website...

www.christi-snow.com or contact her at

Christi Snow

PO Box 61534

San Angelo, TX 76906

Other Books by Christi Snow

Through the Veil Series

(Paranormal Dystopian)

Through the Veil (Book #1)

Allied in Flight (Book #2)

Rejecting Destiny (Book #3)

When the Mission Ends Series

(Contemporary Romantic Suspense)

Operation: Endgame (Book #1)

Operation: Endeavor (Book #2)

Before the Mission Begins (Novella #2.5)

Operation: Endurance (Book #3)

When Love Intrudes (Book #4)

Men of Snowcroft Series

(Contemporary m/m Romantic Suspense)

Snowcroft Lost  (Book #1)

Snowcroft Safehouse  (Book #2)

Intertwined Hearts (Book #3...mmf...coming soon)

Snowcroft Restoration (Book #4...coming soon)

Foxtrot Team Novels

(Contemporary Romantic Suspense)

The Shadow of Mudflap

The Martin Ranch Series

(Contemporary Romantic Suspense)

Right By Your Side (Book #1)

Male Model Chronicles

(Contemporary Romance)

Justin (Book #1)

Lance (Book #2)

Joshua (Book #3)

Found Series

(Contemporary m/m romance)

Found at the Library (Book #1)

Found at the Bookstore (Book #2...coming soon)

For my editors,

Mia and Sarah,

for continuing to encourage and push me,

even when I’m a pain in the ass.

Table of Contents

Allied in Flight

Other Books by Christi Snow

Glossary for Through the Veil Series

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

THANK YOU...

AUTHOR BIO FOR CHRISTI SNOW

Other Books by Christi Snow

Glossary for Through the Veil Series

Veil:

58 years ago, a gorge from Mobile, Alabama to Quebec City, Canada split the country. It was a quarter of a mile wide and a mile deep. At the time, it appeared to be just an interesting geological phenomenon. In fact, it became quite a tourist destination. But 18 years ago, a fog rolled in on the Western side of the gorge. They called it the Veil. Within 12 hours, it had created an impassible wall right down the center. Within hours after that, all the adults (and a lot of the children, too) were dead, their bodies...just gone.

Since then, no one has been able to cross from one side to the other...until Lori, an Other with an ability to manipulate energy using the earth’s forces, breached the Veil as she fled from the ES and escaped into the WS (book #1).

ES (Eastern States):

The Eastern States...those on the eastern side of the Veil.

On this side, the government somehow had warning that something was coming and managed to hide and keep their key government and military officials from being affected. Those people began to reappear two months after the Veil fell to reestablish order, but the new world society became a police state with extreme rule and military force.

In the ES, a few people developed gifts. Those gifts ranged from telepathy to animal shifting to teleporting. In this society, the gifted people were called Others and have been reviled by the government as something to be feared and condemned. The government gathered up the Others and imprisoned them in labs for testing. Most of the Others have died.

WS (Western States):

The Western States...those on the western side of the Veil to the Mississippi River. Beyond what used to be the Mississippi River is now just ocean.

On this side, there were only children left to make their way in the world. The oldest survivor was Bethany Harris. She took control by default and is now the leader of the WS society which functions on a much more environmental and earth friendly doctrine.

Everyone in the WS evolved...they all developed telepathy and wings. A few of them have other gifts as well...such as healing, communication with animals, and manipulating matter.

Warriors:

A group of seven in the WS who make up the law enforcement arm of the government for Bethany. They maintain order and help with patrolling the WS to make sure the citizens are all being taking care of and accounted for.

Others:

Members of the ES society that evolved and developed gifts and superpowers. Most have been tortured and killed during experimentation by the government.

Predators:

A Yeti/Bigfoot like creature that came to be in the WS. No one knows where they came from, but their vicious claws and violent dispositions make them widely feared. Before Lori crossed the Veil, they only came out at night. Since her appearance, that has changed.

Ley Lines:

Energy lines below the earth that harness the natural power of the Earth. Since the Veil fell, these crystal-like striations glow, especially when a gifted person touches and uses them to help harness and increase their power.

Athame:

A special ceremonial knife. In the WS, these can be made from the crystalline stone of the ley lines to help channel energy and gifts.

ESIA:

Eastern States Investigation Agency—Responsible for the law enforcement in the ES. There is no trial and jury system any longer in the ES. The ESIA carries out judgment and punishment, and it’s usually very brutal. Killing squads are not uncommon.

Dream walking:

Ability to enter into another person’s subconscious state while they are asleep for communication purposes.

BET-labs:

The lab in southern North Carolina where Lori was held and experimented on for six years. Most of the Others that play a large role in the Through the Veil series were held in this lab although there are similar labs throughout the ES.

Characters:

Aaron (WS): Head of the Warriors; solid black wings

Bethany (WS): Leader of the WS; at eighteen, had been the oldest survivor when the Veil fell; tropical blue wings; ability to calm

Brooklyn (WS): Bethany’s younger sister; only female Warrior; turquoise wings with white and black tips; ability to heal

Eric (WS): Warrior; golden wings; quiet and reclusive; musician

Garrison (WS): Youngest Warrior; red wings with black tips; the life of the party

Griff (WS): Warrior; cousin to Marcus and Malcolm; chocolate brown wings; ability to mold metals and forge tools with his gift

Jonah (ES): Head of the Rebellion in the ES; adoptive older brother to Savannah and Shar; many Other powers, but is a mystery in many ways

Lori (ES): The first Other from the ES to cross the Veil; heroine in book #1; ability to manipulate and reform matter

Malcolm (WS): Warrior, but his main job is doctor and inventor in the WS; Marcus’s little brother; white wings with purple tips; ability to heal

Marcus (WS): Warrior and Malcolm’s older brother; solid purple wings; hero in book #1

Savannah (ES): Other with strong telepathic and mental abilities; Shar’s older sister and adoptive sister to Jonah; can manipulate people’s perceptions of what’s actually happening and very strong dream walker

Shar (ES): Other with the ability to transform into a hawk; Savannah’s younger sister and adoptive sister to Jonah; has very light telepathic and soothing abilities

Tim (ES): Other with the ability to transport himself other places

William (ES): Other with an ability to change into a panther; was held captive for 11 years, so is more feral than human

Prologue

Well, this was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. From his position hidden at the edge of the woods, Griff Hughes examined the smoking building as he and Brooklyn planned their entry. Three of the exterior walls had partially collapsed from the ongoing artillery fire. Flames shot up into the air darkening the late afternoon sky on the far side. The scent of burning pine trees that surrounded the complex overwhelmed his senses.

Finding the BET-labs already under attack when they arrived was an unexpected challenge, but maybe they could make this work to their advantage to free the Others without anyone ever knowing a third faction had been involved.

Their rescue team of four had snuck into the Eastern States from the Western States during the dead of night. They didn’t want anyone to know that crossing the Veil was even possible. For eighteen years, it hadn’t been.

The personnel who worked within the large, cinderblock, squat building ran around in fright. It was mass chaos and they needed to take advantage of that.

What are you thinking? Brooklyn Harris spoke to him telepathically to lessen the chances of someone discovering them.

For today, his mission was to find the Other they called Shar. Last he’d heard, she was injured and being held deep within the facility.

There are only two men actively guarding the only viable entry left.

The guards in camouflage looked around nervously, watching for the men in black who’d been taking shots at the facility. The men in black were some sort of rebels, but the majority of them were concentrated at the front of the building right now where a truck had exited. The other two from his team, Marcus and Lori, were on that side executing their part of the rescue mission.

I could make a diversion so you could get inside.

Sounds good, he told her. But make sure you stay out of range of their guns. Everyone needs to make it back to the Western States.

Brooklyn pulled her hat low over her brow. They all wore camouflage uniforms similar to those who worked at the facility. While it wasn’t the exact same pattern, it was close enough so that it looked the same from a distance.

The dense woods where they hid flanked the facility. In the shadows, the personnel from the labs wouldn’t be able to tell she wasn’t one of them.

Griff skirted around the edge of the woods until he got to the copse of trees closest to the door, so he’d be ready to slip inside. As he hid, the guards talked.

Why haven’t we just killed the Others and left already? the taller one asked. That was the plan anyway. Standing here, waiting for the Rebels to kill us is stupid. Why are we still working for these idiots?

It sounds like the guys in black are some sort of rebellion force like we thought. They’re simply calling them Rebels, he told Brooklyn.

The short fat dude gave a snort of laughter. Um, because they’ll kill us if we leave our posts. You know that as well as I do. I have a wife and family to think of. I don’t want ESIA agents coming and doing a mass extermination of my house. Do you?

I’m in position, Griff said. Go.

Brooklyn broke from the trees and called out to the men, The Rebels have three of the doctors held hostage. Come help me free them.

For a moment, Griff didn’t think they were going to take the bait, but then the short guy shrugged. It’s better than waiting here to get shot.

Brooklyn turned into the woods and they took off at a run after her.

They took the bait. Griff warned her. They’re coming, so get out of here. I’m going in.

With a final check of the perimeter, he took off at a dead run across the clearing to the door. Not unexpectedly, the door was locked. He grabbed the ley line athame off his belt and channeled his energy through the crystal tip to melt the metal of the locking mechanisms within the doorknob. He took a moment to marvel at how much easier his gift to mold metals had become with the infusion of Lori’s similar transformative gift. Just one more thing that had changed about his life in the last week.

Within seconds, the lock fell apart, and Griff stepped inside. Alarms blared and lights flashed throughout the building. Although this door was a ways away from where the damage had been done by the bombing, the smoke had already started to filter through. Luckily, he was going down, not up.

He concentrated on the mental visual of the map Lori had drawn before they set out on this mission at o’dark-thirty this morning, trying to overlay that one dimensional drawing over the three dimensional dark hallway before him. He ran forward taking the left turn where things became even darker.

He mentally felt Brooklyn engage the soldiers outside as he ran along the corridor. The lack of people inside surprised him. Where was everyone? Had they already evacuated? They couldn’t have come all this way just to find the building empty. He couldn’t accept that the Others might already be gone.

Finally he turned a corner and found a few people running around, yelling. Based on the rows of filing cabinets and desks, this appeared to be the core administrative area. Two people, a man and a woman dressed in medical scrubs, stood in the middle of it all, burning files in a metal wastebasket. Three other big burly men in military uniforms loaded up dollies, taking the electronic equipment out of the room.

One of them noticed him as he tried to bypass them through the hall. The soldier grabbed Griff’s uniform jacket, almost snagging his wing hidden under the binding layer of heavy camouflage fabric.

Hey, where are you going? Help us here. We have to get all this equipment out before the whole building is leveled. Just as the soldier said that, the building shuddered under another round of heavy artillery fire from the side that had already sustained damage.

No, Griff responded. My orders are to evacuate the hawk.

The man wearing scrubs looked up and scowled at him suspiciously. Why? That filth is practically dead anyway. Let her die in her cage like she deserves. He sneered, and Griff wanted to wipe that expression off his smug face.

He gritted his teeth and had to work to hide his fury. Lori had cautioned them all about the attitudes in the Eastern States, and he’d seen the results during their dream walk with the Others earlier in the week before the mission. Despite the warning, anger pulsed through his veins at seeing the bigotry front and center. But he couldn’t do anything about it now. He had to get to Shar before she became a fatality.

He shrugged. Hey, I don’t know. I just follow orders. Is she still below?

Yeah, but you need to hurry, the female in scrubs said. The last truck will be leaving soon if they don’t manage to knock the whole building down around our ears. Damn Rebels. Another two days and we would have been gone. She’s located in cage 517. The keys are in the lockbox in the observation room.

Thanks, he said, and took off at a run down the hall.

Griff followed the maze of never-ending halls. The smoke grew thicker. It made it harder to breathe and the other occupants of the building were getting more and more terrified. The last couple of people he passed didn’t pay him any mind.

Brooklyn, Griff, their team leader, Marcus, called. The building’s set to blow, but I have no idea how soon. If you can, get to the truck and secure the Others. We have to get out of here. Marcus’s mental voice reflected his adrenaline and urgency from the front of the building.

I think I know where Shar is, Griff reported. Give me five minutes.

Hurry, Griff, Marcus instructed. Brooklyn, report in.

There was no answer from Brooklyn. The pounding of his heart reverberated in his ears and overwhelmed the deathly quiet silence from Brooklyn.

Oh, fuck.

He tried to connect with Brooklyn again. He didn’t feel her mental touch anymore, though, and that terrified him. 

But as he found the stairwell leading to the lower levels of the labs, he couldn’t let that distract him. He had to get Shar out...now.

He pounded down the stairs and followed the signs for the observation room. At the end of a hall, he came to a single closed door. Again he unlocked it, using his power to manipulate metal.

Upon entering, he sucked in a shocked breath. This room appeared to be the hub for the ES doctors...sick bastards. In the center of the room stood a mammoth computer console up on a dais. He strode up the two steps and examined the desktop lit up with camera feeds into each individual cage. The small individual screens ran across three sides of circumference of the huge console. This room must run on back-up electricity because the computers still had power feeding them and low emergency lighting illuminated the room. Beyond the desk he faced a bank of glass windows looking out over dozens, if not hundreds, of empty cages. How the hell could humans do this to other people? He’d seen it on a smaller scale during the dream walk, but that had done nothing to prepare him for this monstrosity.

He spun in a circle, looking for any occupants. Finally, he spotted her in the very back...and she was in her hawk form. He could see the feathers of the bird, lying on its side on the floor of the cage, a puddle of blood seeping out from under her body.

Quickly, he found the panel that housed all the cage keys and located number 517. He snatched up the key just as another round of ammunition hit the building above. Dust floated down and Griff ducked on instinct. The building held.

He rushed through the glass paned door and ran to the cage. Please be alive. Please be alive, he muttered as he knelt and unlocked the padlock.

The bird lay on its side at the bottom of the wrought iron bar cage. Blood seeped from its obviously broken wing and several other wounds on its body soaked the metal of the chains attached to its legs. This hawk was about three times the size of a normal hawk, but otherwise he’d never guess this was a human woman. The ability to shape-shift astounded him, even though he had wings now. How anyone could view a gift like this as evil, Griff didn’t understand. The hawk was unconscious, but appeared to be breathing.

Except for Lori, he’d never met any Others from the ES. In the Western States where he was from, they all had gained gifts with the fall of the Veil, but none of them had evolved into shifters. Lori had said the shifters couldn’t change forms when their limbs were bound, so he immediately used his athame and gift to release the chains.

As soon as the chains fell free, the hawk began to writhe and twist. Griff backed away, not exactly sure what to do, but within thirty seconds the broken, naked body of a beautiful redheaded woman lay there instead of the hawk.

Even though Griff had expected that to happen, he gasped at the sight.

Where before she’d had a broken wing, he could see the protruding broken bone coming out of her arm. All the nails on both her hands and feet had been ripped out, leaving horrifically bloody nail beds. She appeared to have several stab wounds and was covered by bruising and contusions. But right now, she was alive. She wouldn’t stay that way if he couldn’t get her out of the building.

We have to get into that truck, Lori intoned, desperation seeping into her mental voice.

I know, Marcus answered. We will, but right now it’s too risky. There are too many armed men standing around it. Also, Brooklyn isn’t answering my call. Griff, how do you stand? Do you know where Brooklyn is?

Brooklyn provided a distraction for me. She’s probably just busy leading them away. I found a redhead that I’m pretty sure is Shar, but she’s in bad shape. I’m trying to figure out how to get her out without hurting her more.

Do you need help? Marcus asked.

No, there are too many soldiers floating around here. It’s too risky. Just have that truck ready to go when I get there.

Griff glanced around the deserted lab and spotted a pile of blankets in the corner. He ran over, grabbed one, and then draped it over Shar’s naked, unconscious body to protect her. His stomach clenched when he considered how this was going to hurt her to move her, but he gritted his teeth and picked her up.

A zing of electricity zapped him as soon as he touched her. It felt a lot like the spark he’d felt when he’d done the experimental blood exchange with Lori and the other two Warriors on his team. His heart clenched for a moment and his breathing hitched as the electricity coursed through his body, leaving tingling in its wake. Suddenly his entire body had that sensation of the blood flowing back in after a portion of the skin has fallen asleep. So weird.

Come on. Get it together, Griff. He steeled against the surging power and rose from his crouch although his legs continued to tingle with her energy. What the fuck?

This was even more than he’d felt with Lori when their team-building experiment went sideways a week ago and resulted with having his three teammates inside his head. After the Veil, they’d all developed telepathic ability, but what he had with those three was different. It was deeper, more invasive, more all-consuming. That had been some powerful woo-woo shit. How could this feel like even more? He shook his head. He didn’t have time to consider it now.

From the length of her long legs she appeared to be tall, but she