Alec’s mouth curved upward in a smile, and he chuckled. Kayla cocked her head, looking up at him, surprised by the lightness in his expression. These were his friends, she realized. She’d met his business associates and some OmniLab personnel working for him, but this was the first time she’d seen him engage with his peers and people he respected and even liked. It had obviously been a while since they’d socialized, and Kayla couldn’t help but wonder how much he’d sacrificed in the past few months with all the responsibilities he’d taken on.
As though aware of her scrutiny, Alec looked down at her. He gave her a small smile and wrapped his arm around her waist. As he drew her close, she shivered at the feeling of his touch along her bare skin.
With his other hand, he reached up to catch a rivulet of water that had beaded at the end of her hair. “What do you think of their suggestion? Would you like to meet some other Inner Circle members?”
Kayla looked up into his hypnotizing eyes. It might be sort of fun. At the very least, it would give her a better list of suspects who might be trying to target all of them. Alec’s smile slipped, and she realized he’d sensed the direction of her thoughts. Before he could object, she pressed her palm against his chest. “Yes. I’ll go.”
Alec’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t dispute her words. Brant took a step toward them, interrupting their conversation. “Excuse me, Master Tal’Vayr. The trading camps have arrived and are gathering in the lower levels. Director Borshin and Commander Thomas would like to speak with you.”
Alec nodded and instructed Brant to let them know he’d be with them shortly.
“Ah. Duty calls,” Jason murmured. With a playful smile, he grabbed Kayla’s hand and pulled her away from Alec and into a warm hug. In a voice loud enough for Alec to hear, he said, “If you get bored with the High Council leader and want a distraction, I’m always available for you.”
Alec scowled. Jason chuckled at his reaction and released her. His smile quickly dimmed as he added, “Just a warning, my friend. Your father wasn’t the only reason we’ve kept quiet about Ariana’s talents. When word gets out about your bondmate’s abilities, you won’t need to concern yourself with her safety. It’ll be yours that will become an issue.”
The men stared at one another for several heartbeats, communicating wordlessly. The undercurrent of tension grew, and Kayla anxiously looked back and forth between them. “What do you mean?”
Neither one responded. Ariana gave them both a reproving look before turning to answer Kayla’s question. “There’s a reason we’re instinctually drawn to men of power, Kayla. Those of us who are powerful in our own right or possess more desirable abilities tend to act as a beacon to others of our kind. A strong bondmate protects you from potentially unwanted advances.” She gave her brother a pointed look and added, “There are few among us who can compete with Alec’s level of power. A bond challenge is usually only issued if the challenger is confident he can win.”
Kayla’s eyes widened. Was this what Miranda had been trying to tell her and why Lars asked about bonding with her? “Wait a minute. So a bond isn’t really permanent? It can be removed?”
Ariana hesitated and then shot a concerned look at Alec before shaking her head. “No, Kayla. You misunderstand. The only way a bond is transferred is when the challenger kills the bondholder. In that moment, the bond becomes vulnerable and can be stolen by a powerful energy channeler.”
Kayla felt all the blood rush out of her head. She took a step back, and Alec quickly moved to stand beside her. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. She pressed her forehead against his bare chest. This was a medieval cluster fuck of the highest order.
“I’m sorry, love. I didn’t want to tell you yet. I knew it would upset you.”
Kayla looked up into his concerned eyes and swallowed. If there was one thing she knew, it was mankind’s greed and obsession when it came to power. “If spirit channelers are rare, someone’s going to challenge you. Even if they can’t win, someone will be stupid enough to test the limits, won’t they?”
Alec’s jaw clenched, and he gave a curt nod. “It’s not common, but it happens. Most of the time, challenges are issued before a bond is formed. That way, no one dies and the stronger energy wielder wins. My parents’ bond was the result of such a challenge.”
Jason cleared his throat. “For what it’s worth, Ariana’s correct. There are only a handful of people who come close to Alec’s level of power. There are only five or six potential challengers I can name off the top of my head.”
“Who?”
Alec pinned Jason with a harsh look and shook his head in warning. “It doesn’t matter, Kayla. Even if someone is within my level of power, it doesn’t mean they would automatically have an interest in challenging me for your bond. Strong feelings for your bondmate strengthens the bond and makes it more difficult for a challenger to break.”
He gave Jason a pointed look and bent down to brush a kiss against her lips, emphasizing his point.
When he pulled back, Kayla pressed the palms of her hands against his chest. She couldn’t help the sense of foreboding that came over her.
“What about Lars? Does he have your same level of power?”
Alec took a deep breath and nodded. “He’s one of the few who does.”
Kayla looked around in surprise at the mixture of ruin rats, traders, and security officers. She hadn’t realized OmniLab had so many people working on the surface. She knew Carl’s camp was the smallest, but there were at least six-dozen people in the meeting hall. The combined voices were growing louder and more agitated. Alec gripped her hand tightly and led her toward the front of the room where the head of security and Director Borshin waited.
Even though they’d entered from an obscure doorway away from the loud group, Brant and four security officers positioned themselves in a protective formation around them. Their appearance and heavy escort were already generating some attention. She’d changed out of the clothing she’d worn to the pool to better blend in, but the finer cut of the material on her outfit stood out among the more ragged and well-worn clothing surrounding them. She was still too conspicuous. Kayla sighed as she realized it was only a matter of time before the ruin rats knew her identity too.
As they made their way through the room, she tried to locate Carl. She thought he would have been with Director Borshin, but she didn’t see him in the front of the room. Suddenly, Kayla heard someone call out her name. A face she hadn’t seen in more than a year stepped out of the crowd. She stopped short, causing Alec to miss a step. He paused to look back at her, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the man in front of her.
Felix looked so much like his brother, it was like a punch in the stomach. His dark hair was longer than the last time she’d seen him and nearly reached his shoulders. He had a slightly more muscular build than Pretz had, but their eyes were the exact same shade of burnt umber. Except for the small scar next to his right eye from a scavenging accident several years ago, the two of them could have been twins. His eyes lit up with warmth at seeing her, but it was impossible to miss the hint of sadness within them too.
“Felix,” she whispered. Without saying another word, she dropped Alec’s hand and ran over to him. She flung her arms around his neck and he grabbed hold of her, lifting her off the ground. Burying her face against his neck, his masculine scent enveloped her and reminded her of everything she’d lost. Brant’s clipped voice in the background ordered the other security officers to stand down.
Felix’s voice was a low whisper in her ear, but she could still make out the raw emotion in his voice. “Fuck, Kayla. I’ve missed you, crazy girl.” He leaned back to look at her, his eyes scanning over her features and drinking in her image. “Do you have any idea what trouble I had to go through to find you? I even joined a trader crew to track your ass down.”
Her eyes widened, and she started to pull back in surprise. He grinned at her but didn’t release his hold. Kayla reached up
to cup his face and tried to decide if she should kiss him or smack him upside the head. “You moron, you hate traders. Why would you do a thing like that? If it’s because I took off, I just—” Her voice broke off, and she looked away. She couldn’t talk about Pretz here—not with all these people around.
Felix shook his head, lowering her to the ground. He pressed his finger against her lips and spoke in a hushed voice. “Don’t. I know what my brother meant to you, and I know why you disappeared. You can’t hide shit like that. What the hell were you thinking stealing that data cube from Ramiro? You should have come to me.” His eyes hardened, and his grip on her arm tightened. “If you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll take a strap to your ass. Pretz made me swear to watch out for you if anything ever happened to him. Do you have any idea how pissed he’d be if he knew what you’d done?”
Kayla jerked away and shoved Felix. “I did what I had to do, you cocky ass. I couldn’t go to you. If you knew what happened, you would have gone after Ramiro yourself. I couldn’t lose both of you.”
Felix grabbed her arms again, pinning them to her side to prevent her from smacking him. He obviously remembered her temper well. “You did anyway. You ran away from me. It took me almost a year to track Mack down after you guys moved. He wouldn’t tell me much except you’d joined up with a trader’s crew. Dammit, Kayla. Do you have any idea what it was like not knowing what happened to you?”
Her shoulders slumped. Kayla knew exactly what it was like. She’d constantly wondered about him, too, but hadn’t been able to bring herself to see him again. The guilt she’d harbored over Pretz’s death still hung like a heavy cloud over her head. In a twisted way, losing Felix had been a suitable punishment. She hadn’t meant to punish him too.
She’d missed him terribly though. Memories of her first meeting with Felix’s younger brother rushed through her, and she smiled sadly. She’d refused to give Pretz the time of day. He’d been part of Ramiro’s crew and she didn’t want to have anything to do with anyone from a trader’s crew, even if he was a former ruin rat. He’d brought Felix around to try to convince her he wasn’t half bad. Both brothers ended up charming her.
Felix sighed, pulled her back into his arms, and gave her a long hug. “You’re still a pain in the ass, aren’t you?”
She smiled against his chest.
“You must be Felix. Trader Rand’s spoken highly of you.”
Kayla glanced up at the sound of Alec’s voice. Felix’s body tensed, but he kept his arms around her in a protective gesture. He scanned Alec and his rich clothing with thinly-veiled disdain. “I am. Who the hell are you?”
Kayla winced. This was about to get awkward. She took a step back from Felix and opened her mouth to introduce them, but Rand approached. The newest trader bowed low to both her and Alec, beating her to the punch. “Hello, Master Tal’Vayr and Mistress Rath’Varein. It’s good to see you again. I apologize for interrupting, but we’re trying to locate Trader Carl. Cruncher received a message he would be here, but we haven’t seen him. Have you heard from him?”
Kayla shook her head. “He said he was meeting Director Borshin earlier and then coming here.” She glanced up at Alec in concern.
He frowned and motioned to Brant. He whispered something into the man’s ear. Brant immediately pulled out his commlink and began speaking into it as he walked away.
Alec stepped closer, slipping his hand behind the small of her back. “I’m sure he’s just been delayed.”
Kayla caught the shocked look on Felix’s face at Alec’s possessive gesture. The ruin rat’s jaw clenched as he glared at the High Council leader. Crap. This whole situation was a sticky mess.
Kayla caught his eye and shook her head. In a low voice, she said, “He’s a good guy, Felix. Give him a chance. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him and Carl.”
Conflicted emotions crossed his face. He eyed Alec again and frowned. Even though he’d joined a trader’s crew, his disdain of OmniLab was still apparent. “We’ll see.”
Brant ended his commlink call, and Alec took a step away to speak with him privately. Her scavenging partner, Veridian, took that opportunity to approach them. She grabbed him, hugging him tightly, thankful he had arrived safely.
Veridian grinned, scanning her up and down. “Man, it’s good to see you up and running around. How about you try to stay out of the medical wing from now on? That place smells weird.”
Kayla laughed and nodded in agreement. When Veridian had heard about Lars stabbing her, he’d rushed to the towers. Both he and Carl had taken turns at her bedside until she was out of danger. Once she’d been released, Veridian had returned to Carl’s camp. She didn’t blame him. He’d missed Jinx, the sassy redhead who had captured his interest.
“Hey, man,” Veridian said, bumping fists with Felix. “You’re one of the last people I expected to find here. It’s great to see you again.”
“Maybe not under these circumstances though,” Felix said with a shrug.
Veridian’s smile faded, and his eyes darted around the room worriedly before resting on Kayla again. “Yeah. Things are getting pretty tense around here. More security keeps showing up, and no one seems to know what’s happening. Do you know anything about this trading hold? They’re saying no supplies are going out.”
Rand nodded. He leaned in closer, keeping his voice low so only they could hear. “Director Borshin’s going to make an announcement in a few minutes. For the time being, all deliveries are suspended. They’re hoping to have it lifted soon, but it may take a few weeks. Things are going to get ugly in here when it becomes public knowledge.”
Veridian’s eyes widened, and he turned to Kayla. “They can’t do that. Leo contacted me a few hours ago to find out what’s going on. They missed their last delivery because of the attack on the trading camp. They were scheduled for a double delivery today, and it’s been canceled. They can’t make it a few weeks, Kayla. Their supply levels are critical.”
She frowned. Leo was too independent to ask for help. He wouldn’t have reached out to Veridian unless things were dire. “Do you have a list of the supplies they need?”
Jinx had approached and stood beside Veridian while Rand was delivering his news. At his words, the tall redhead pulled out her commlink unit. “I do. I prepared the request earlier. Carl knew you’d want to know. I’m sending both of them to you now.” Jinx lifted her head when she finished. “There are three other camps we had to cancel on too. I’m sure the other traders have their own lists. It’s bad though. There are a lot of camps waiting on supplies without any idea when OmniLab is going to resume delivery. We had to bring a lot of our supplies with us and lock down what we couldn’t. Cruncher’s worried about the camp being raided if people get desperate.”
Kayla felt a pang in her chest as she considered the magnitude of the effects from the trading suspension. Almost everyone in this room was originally from a ruin rat camp. Many of them agreed to work with traders to earn some additional credits for their home camps. Unlike some of the others, though, every credit Kayla made working in Carl’s camp went directly to Leo. Given her ties to OmniLab, she no longer needed to save her earnings. Although, with the suspension of the supply deliveries, credits were essentially worthless. Only tangible items had any real value now.
“We’ll figure something out, V.”
His shoulders relaxed, and he nodded. Before she could broach the subject with Alec, another security officer approached. Alec ended his conversation with Brant and addressed the newcomer. “What is it?”
“Pardon the interruption. We’d like to escort both you and Mistress Rath’Varein to the annex. Director Borshin is about to begin, and the security director would prefer it if you were off the floor.”
Alec nodded and started to lead her away, but she hesitated. She couldn’t leave things the way they were. Kayla grabbed Felix’s hand and pulled him aside. He frowned, eyeing the security officer with suspicion. “What the fuck is going on, Kayla? Is i
t true? Are you really one of them?”
This was what she’d been dreading. Letting out a long exhale, she wrinkled her nose and gave a small shrug. “They think I was born here in the towers. I don’t have any memory of it though.”
Felix studied the security officers and Alec before turning back to her. “So… what then? You live here now?”
Kayla lifted her head to meet his gaze and raised an eyebrow. Their mutual dislike for the towers was one common theme they used to share. Her feelings toward OmniLab had changed dramatically in the past several months, but she was still the same person underneath. She might be a temporary resident, but that’s all it was—temporary. There was a whole world out there to explore.
“Do you really think I could handle staying in one place for long?”
His mouth twitched in a grin. His shoulders relaxed, and that familiar teasing light lit his eyes. “Glad to hear it. I’ll see you soon, crazy girl.” He bent down to give her another hug. Keeping his voice low, he whispered next to her ear, “When you’re ready to ditch these guys, say the word. Those guards look like they’ll be fun to play with.”
She squeezed his arm and laughed. “You have no idea.”
Kayla paced back and forth in the common room of her family’s quarters. The room had quickly become filled with OmniLab security personnel. No one had heard anything from Carl. To make matters worse, they’d received an alert that Elyot was missing and Lisia had escaped from the detention hall. One of the guards had been killed during the escape and the other was still unconscious, so they hadn’t been able to question him.
Kayla clenched her fists and flexed her fingers in frustration. She was going out of her mind with the waiting. When she tried to go back to the meeting hall to talk to Cruncher, Alec and the other security officers refused to allow it. With these latest developments, they had her on lockdown in her family’s quarters. That alone was bad enough, but her worry for Carl was increasing by the second. She felt like she was about to come out of her skin. She needed to get out of there and find Carl.
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