“They never told you any of this?” he asks, eyebrows raised. Shaking my head, I feel queasy, and my sense of foreboding is rising.
“Well, this is going to come as a bit of a shock, but if you react like that to all of it, then we’ll be here half the night …”
“Dad,” Cal interrupts. “There’s no need for that tone. Cut Ariana some slack here, okay? She’s been through a lot. She needs to hear this, but not if you’re going to be a total jerk about it.” Looking up, I glance from father to son and the expression on Commander Remus’ face is hard to read.
“You really love her, don’t you?”
“Yes. I’ve tried to tell you this all along, but you never listen to me.” Cal eyeballs him.
“Oh, I heard you all right. I just didn’t want to believe it. I wanted to save you from … history repeating itself.” He drags his fingers roughly through his hair. “I don’t want to see you hurt, not like I was hurt. I only wanted to spare you that.” Cal’s mouth hangs open. The Commander’s eyes flit to my face, and he pins me with a serious look. “Do you love my son?”
I’m fairly confused at the turn in this conversation, but I answer him honestly nonetheless. “Yes, I do. I love him very much.” My face is flaming, but I hold his gaze. Cal’s hand trails up and down my arm, his caress feathering deep inside me. His smile is radiant and my heart flutters erratically at how easily a few words can light up his life. As I stare into his eyes, I realize how terrified I am of losing him.
He can never know, my inner voice whispers.
“Then I hope you two make it. Genuinely, I do,” Nate says, effectively ending the moment. “Because the last thing I want is for your heart to be broken like mine was, Cal.” Turning to me, he continues. “Your mother was my whole world, and I loved her so completely. We were together five years when I asked her to marry me. I knew no one else would ever mean as much to me as she did. I was the happiest man on the planet when she consented to be my wife.” He thrusts his hand through his hair again, and the anguished look on his face slices me to the core.
Of course, I already know the outcome: That she didn’t end up marrying him, and I’m sensing it wasn’t a happy parting, but nothing could’ve prepared me for his next statement.
“Your father was my best friend. We’d been friends since we were three. Three years old. Damnit, we were as close as brothers. That’s what made it all so sordid.” He grinds his teeth and a muscle pops in his jaw. I can sense how difficult it is for him to relive this memory. “The wedding was all set. Venue and church booked, dresses and suit jackets ordered and paid for, invites just going to print.”
He exhales deeply and his chest rises heavily. “Your father stole her from me two months before our planned wedding. Two months!” He shakes his head, leveling me with a look that provides a tiny glimpse into the bitterness he still appears to be carrying all these years later.
“She left me, broken, without a second thought.” Tears prick his eyes as he stares at me. I gulp nervously. “Your parents ruined my life.”
Commander Remus more or less came undone after that, so we make a hasty retreat. I hadn’t even gotten to ask him what I needed to, but the man was in bits, and there was no way I could push him after that revelation.
Shell-shocked doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel.
Cal comes to a stop outside our apartment and slides to the ground. I scoot down beside him. “Ben’s asleep,” he whispers, “so we can’t talk in there.” I nod. “What do you make of all that?” He turns and faces me.
“Honestly? I’m pretty speechless right now. My mother never said a word to me.” I stare numbly at the ceiling. “At least that explains why my dad acted so weird that time I first brought you home.”
“Does it, though? Why would he have an issue with you dating me? He got the girl, so why should it matter to him?” Cal says, rubbing his palms across his pants. There’s an edge to his tone that I don’t like. Before I get a chance to respond, a pair of legs appears in front of me. Looking up, I stare into my dad’s eyes.
“What are you doing down there?” he asks, his gaze flitting between us.
“Just talking,” I say, pushing myself up. Cal rises fluidly alongside me.
“Have you heard anything from Zane?” Dad asks.
I shake my head. “Not since before the crash.” The last silent discussion I had with Zane was a couple of days ago when we were on the stealth-craft en route to the Saoirse compound in Florida. Since then, nada. Cal’s jaw clenches tight. “Why?” I ask, picking up on a tidal wave of anxiety emanating from him.
“I think you should come with me.”
We follow him silently into the elevator. “Is your shoulder okay?”
“I’m fine,” he says, dismissing my concern with a wave of his hand. “Fully healed, thanks to the medi-scan.”
We exit on the lower level and hurry to keep up with his brisk pace. Walking through a succession of winding corridors and endless passageways, we eventually stop in front of two large, vaulted steel doors. Dad taps in a code on the keypad and the doors retract.
We step into the vast Operational Command Center set over two levels. The outer glass window doubles up as a screen, and a barrage of information floats in front of my eyes: coordinates, maps, images, graphs, and other military data sweep across the wide screen in rotating grids. I count four rows of technicians seated at uniform square desks. Some have their heads bowed, eyes firmly fixed on digital screens. Others converse lowly between themselves or communicate via small digital earpieces. A steady thrumming sound resonates in the room, and the air of urgency is palpable.
A large rectangular table takes center stage on this level, and I spot several familiar faces seated or standing in close proximity. Separate digital pods line the back wall. Two enclosed rooms are off to the right.
A deadly hush descends over the room, and my heart spikes in anticipation. Swiveling around, I focus on the screen as an image loads. “What’s happening, Dad?”
Gently, he clasps my shoulders. As I sense his mounting fear, a cold sweat forms underneath my clothes. He presses his mouth to my ear. “The government is moving in on the Clementia Connecticut compound.”
My eyes widen as the image of the familiar woodland materializes on the screen in front of us. A solid block of Rangers stands shoulder to shoulder outside the main entry hatch, weapons raised and ready. A fleet of stealth-craft hovers ominously overhead.
My breath hitches in my throat as I stare trance-like at the screen. “Zane.” The word is a whisper on my tongue as my eyes latch onto Dad’s face. He grips my hand and we both stare, horror-struck as the stealth-craft simultaneously release a slew of missiles into the air.
Standing motionless, united in our fear, we watch as the underground facility explodes in a massive fireball that illuminates the entire night sky.
CHAPTER 2
I kind of hyperventilated after that but I don’t cry. I think I’m incapable of shedding any more tears; I’ve already cried me a river.
Cal guides me quickly and quietly to our apartment. An awkward layer of tension has settled between us, and I know we need to continue our discussion over his father’s confession. But right now, I have a date with my bed. Because I desperately want to sleep, need to sleep, to blot it all out, if only for a few hours.
I shiver uncontrollably under the covers, but Cal’s arms are there to comfort me. I call out to Zane in my mind, over and over again, but the response is the same.
A resounding emptiness that chills me to the core.
Insidious worry cages my heart in a vice-like grip, and I wriggle anxiously in Cal’s embrace. His arms never falter.
Eventually I drift asleep.
A deafening, rumbling sound edges into my unconsciousness. My eyelids flutter as I reach across the bed for Cal. My eyes dart wide open, and I stare at the empty space beside me. A loud coughing, grunting sound distracts me. I peek at the other bunk. Ben’s chest swells and deflates noi
sily under the comforter.
Super-duper: I’m rooming with a snorer. And not the common garden-variety kind either. Nope. If they were giving out medals for snoring, Ben would win gold. Uugghh! I bury my head under my pillow and try to blank the sound out.
I wake a couple of hours later as hands roam over my hips and lips nuzzle my ear. My body instantly spikes alive, and my hormones supercharge every nerve ending and cell. I’m a quivering mass of sensation in record-breaking time. I’m tingling all over as he whispers in my ear. “Morning, gorgeous.” Sparing a quick look at Ben, I’m not surprised to find that he’s still out for the count.
He sleeps like the dead.
I twist around into Cal’s embrace. His lips lock on mine before I can return his greeting, and he plunders my mouth greedily. My body curls naturally around his, and I long to rip off my sleep shorts and top, to be skin to skin against him. Pulling my leg up over his hip, he snags me in close as his hands snake all over my body.
Yeah, he’s totally feeling it too. But we aren’t alone, and there’s no way I’m going there with Ben in the room.
Cal’s lips leave my mouth bereft as they trail seductively down my neck and lower. My breathing is rampant and heavy, and Cal moans against my skin. My resolve evaporates in a split second. Screw it; I don’t care that we’re not alone. I need this. I need him. I feel blissfully carefree, and all I want to focus on is the sensation of his lips on my skin and the warmth flooding every part of my body.
“Oh my God, are you guys freaking kidding me?”
I shriek at the sound of Ben’s voice and pull away from Cal, dragging the comforter up under my chin. Cal props himself up on an elbow and grins smugly. Heat, that has nothing to do with my over-active hormones, surges over my neck and lands with embarrassing clarity on my face. I sneak a quick peek at Ben, and the look on his face is incredulous. “That is disgusting.” He makes a weird scowling gesture with his lips. “Like, seriously gross. I think I might spew.”
“Stop exaggerating.” Cal shoots him a look. “Besides we weren’t the only ones causing unwelcome distractions.”
“You snore, dude,” I blurt out. “Like, really loudly.”
Cal chuckles. “Even Stevens, buddy.”
“No way,” Ben protests, flinging off the covers and revealing a rather surprising toned physique. He’s wearing a tiny pair of black sleep shorts that leave little to the imagination. It’s an image I’d rather not have seen. I’m trying not to gawk, but that’s a momentous feat in the tiny box that we now call home. “That display of … slobbery fornicating totally trumps my snoring. And that’s not a compliment. Uughh.” He shivers as if something nasty has just crawled under his skin. I’m starting to feel insulted.
“Slobbery fornicating?” Cal says, eyebrows arched. “Man, where do you dredge this stuff up from?” He scratches his stubbly chin as he eyeballs his best friend. “And go put some clothes on while you’re contemplating your questionable range of vocabulary.”
“Does my body confidence upset you?” Ben stands with his hands on his hips, and I have to stifle the laugh bubbling up my throat.
“With this perfect specimen?” Cal says, gesturing toward himself. I roll my eyes. “Nah. Just don’t want Ariana to hurl.”
“Leave me out of this,” I implore, as Cal throws a pillow at Ben’s head.
“Where did you go in the middle of the night?” I ask Cal as we walk hand in hand toward the cafeteria.
“I went to talk to my dad.”
“Oh.” I bite the inside of my cheek. “Is he okay?”
“I don’t know.” He looks sideways at me as we walk. “I never understood why he was so opposed to you back on Novo. Now it makes sense. He was only trying to protect me.”
That rubs me wrong in about ten different ways. “So what? He assumed that I was going to break your heart just because he says that’s what my mom did to him?”
Cal stops abruptly in the middle of the corridor. “You doubt him? You don’t think he’s told us the truth?”
Extracting my hand, I fold my arms across my chest. “I’m not saying that. I don’t think he’d totally make it up, but I’ve only heard his version of events. And it’s unfair of him to jump to conclusions when he doesn’t even know me.”
“Maybe. But he didn’t want me suffering from a broken heart or having to deal with the things he endured. That was his sole motivation.”
I laugh and Cal pins me with a derisory look. “That wasn’t his sole motivation, Cal! I thought you’d regained your memory after your amnesia? He asked you to spy on me because my dad was involved with the rebels. He didn’t want you mixed up in that. It had nothing to do with the possibility of me breaking your heart. And if that’s what he’s telling you, then he’s still lying to you.”
Cal stiffens and anger contorts his beautiful face. “And your father has told you the truth all along, right?”
He knows how to hit me where it hurts. My dad has concealed things from me, and I sense there is much more that I don’t know. But I’m damned if I’m going to agree with Cal and side with his father. How easily he seems to have forgotten the callous treatment he’s endured at his dad’s hands. “My dad wasn’t here to tell me the truth because your father helped the government conspire with Clementia to terminate him!” I shout. A few heads turn our way.
“Ariana, that’s not fair. You know my dad had nothing to do with Clementia’s attempt on your dad’s life.”
“How sure are you of that? Because it seems pretty clear to me after last night that your dad is still bitter over what happened with my mom. Maybe he saw an opportunity to exact his revenge.”
Cal pales and I think I may have pushed him too far. “My dad is a lot of things, Ariana,” he says, bending down. “But he’s not a cold-blooded killer.”
Then he spins on his heel and walks away from me.
Rage churns unpleasantly in my gut, and I stand there as if rooted to the ground. My face is flaming and I’m furious with him. I can’t believe he walked off on me! But chasing after him will only mean a very public spat, and I hate being the center of attention. Besides, I literally feel like choking him at this moment, and I know we both need to calm down. Instead, I decide to track down my dad. I need to know the truth, and I have to hear it from him.
I locate him in Command Center, but he’s tied up in meetings until later on. I don’t want to head to the cafeteria or go back to our apartment, lest I bump into Cal, so I decide to go exploring instead.
Discovering a massive stealth-craft hangar beside Command Center, I squeal with delight. Perhaps I’ll get the opportunity to continue my pilot training and to utilize my flying skills. Level Two houses a massive state-of-the-art medical facility with adjoining research lab. As I wander through the corridors, a familiar face pops his head out of one of the rooms. Taylor gives me an enthusiastic thumbs-up, and I can’t help but smile. Climbing the stairs to the third level, I find the Educational Center that is going to be Deacon’s new school. A large Training Unit occupies the remaining space on this level, and it’s equipped with everything a soldier could need to prepare for war. The Technology Hub, Propaganda Cell, and a large amphitheater reside on the fourth level. Thereafter, all levels appear to be residential quarters, though I give up checking after Level Nine.
Stomach grumbling, I risk a trip to the cafeteria. Finding it relatively empty, I eat a quick breakfast and then pay a fleeting visit to our apartment to change into my training gear.
I spend a couple of hours pounding away in the Training Unit gym, and after I’m showered and changed, I return to Command Center.
Dad takes me into one of the side rooms to talk. Updating him immediately, I relay everything Commander Remus told me last night. “Why didn’t you or Mom tell me this? Is that why you didn’t like Cal from the get-go?” I wring my hands in my lap.
Dad stares off into space. “Partly,” he admits, diverting his attention back to me.
“Is it true? That you stole Mom f
rom him?”
His look darkens. “Is that what he told you?”
I nod. “He said you both ruined his life.”
Dad growls, all the while shaking his head. “Nate always had a flair for the dramatic. You should have talked to me first, Ari. I don’t want you near that man. Please stay away from him.”
“That’s not going to be possible, Dad. Cal is in my life, and you’ll have to find some way to accept that. I’m not going to pretend to like his father—because I don’t—but I have to tolerate him. And so will you.”
Dad grips the table. “Is it true? Are you pregnant?”
Ah, crap. I so didn’t want to get into this yet. “Yes. And there is something else you should know. I’m engaged to Cal.” I thrust out my hand and my ruby engagement ring sparkles brightly under the stark lighting in the room. Dad holds my hand, inspecting the ring, and then his gaze flicks up to mine. “And, um …” I gulp nervously. “The baby is Cal’s. Not one of those engineered babies from the government’s baby farm.”
I’d only learned about the government’s genetic population plan a few weeks ago. Clementia had explained how President Calavero was the sperm donor for the program that had implanted fertilized embryos in the wombs of unsuspecting female participants of ‘The Calling.’ At the time, I was reluctant to accept that this was the reason for my pregnancy. Now, I’m even more resolved because everything Clementia relayed is called into question. Who knows if anything they told us was true?
My face is hot, like scorching hot, but I return his steady gaze.
Grasping both my hands in his larger ones, he stares at me for what seems like eternity. A multitude of different emotions flits across his face. “Say something,” I implore.
“It’s serious between you?” This feels a little déjà vu, but at least he hasn’t asked me outright if I love him. I’m not sure I could bring myself to confirm that given how furious I am with Cal at this precise moment.
“Yes.” I wet my lips nervously.
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