by Sadie Moss
Corin was silent for a moment, his face hard. Finally, he gave one sharp nod. “Fine.”
The sadness in his expression broke my heart, even as relief flooded me. Jae’s point was a good one; I hoped I was wrong, even though I’d bet this entire house I wasn’t.
But we needed to know for sure.
My gaze flicked to the black television screen, remembering the image of the crumpled Resistance members.
Unlike the Gifted, we wouldn’t just blindly decide on a person’s guilt and rain down vengeance. We’d get proof. Find out for sure.
And then we’ll fucking rain down vengeance.
Chapter 24
It had been late when we returned home from the palace, and it was technically early morning when I finally crawled into bed.
After deciding on a course of action, the men and I had spent several hours in the living room hashing out the details of our plan under Ivy’s watchful eye. I was pretty sure we were her new favorite “show.”
Exhaustion tugged at me as I slipped out of my dress and threw on a grungy old T-shirt to sleep in. I’d been raring to get this whole venture underway tonight, but my four had talked me out of it. If we called Christine back so soon with the promise of important new information, it would likely make her suspicious. Why wouldn’t Corin have mentioned it on the phone when he spoke to her earlier in the evening? And besides, we needed to go into this gambit rested, sharp, and focused—none of which described my present state.
I practically fell into bed, pulling the soft sheets over me and shoving my head under a pillow. But as tired as I was, sleep wouldn’t come.
My thoughts kept racing, question after question circling through my mind like tumbleweeds on a windy plain. Was I right about Christine? I kept going over what I knew, trying to check my math for errors, but no matter which way I added it up, the answer kept coming up “Christine.” Was she working for the Representatives as a whole, or for a single member of the government who was operating independently of the council? Or for someone outside the government entirely?
One of the latter two possibilities seemed more likely, since she’d been involved in the bombing assault on the palace, and I doubted all the Representatives would’ve been on board with that action. But then, who was it?
And there was still the biggest question, the one I kept coming back to over and over without ever getting closer to an answer.
Why?
Why would Christine do this? Betray her people, betray the movement she’d helped build, betray her own morals? I’d never gotten along with her that well, but I’d respected the hell out of her for what she was trying to accomplish. Why on earth would she give all that up?
I pressed the pillow tighter over my head. Maybe if I cut off air supply to my brain for a few seconds, my thoughts would slow down. The pillow muffled the soft knock that came a moment later, and I lifted it slowly, uncertain whether I’d actually heard anything.
“Yeah?”
The bedroom door opened a crack, and Corin poked his head in.
“Hey.” He paused, quirking an eyebrow. “Is your pillow… attacking you?”
“It was a mutual decision,” I mumbled, dropping the pillow back on the bed and resting my head on top of it like a normal person. “What’s up?”
Instead of answering, Corin closed the door softly behind him and padded over to the bed to crawl up beside me. He was wearing a pair of loose fitting sweats and a worn white tee that stretched over his broad chest and arms. Pulling me toward him, he wrapped his body around mine, pressing a kiss to the spot where my neck met my shoulder. I grinned and squirmed against him. Hell, if neither of us was able sleep, I could think of a few better ways for us to pass the time.
But when I moved to kiss him, the haunted look in his eyes stopped me.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
Corin’s grip on me tightened a little, his nostrils flaring. “Yeah. I just… I really hope it’s not her.”
“I do too, Corin. And I’m so sorry. I didn’t say it to hurt anyone or make any of you have to choose your loyalties.”
He brushed my hair back from my face, his large palm cradling my cheek. “Well, that’s not even a question. I’m loyal to you, Lana. Always.”
I turned my head to kiss his palm, pressing my lips to the warm, work-roughened skin. “I’ll always be loyal to you too. And if I’m wrong about Christine, I’ll be right there celebrating with you. If I’m right…”
“We’ll deal with it together,” he finished for me, and I nodded, catching his bright blue gaze. It still felt surreal sometimes to have him back in my life, to lie side by side talking and planning like we’d done so often in our youth. As much as I hated our years apart and would take them back if I could, it was that time away from each other that had taught us what it truly meant to be together.
To be a team.
The sadness and worry still lingered in Corin’s eyes, but he leaned forward to press a soft, sweet kiss to my lips. I wrapped my arms around him, melting into the kiss with a sigh.
When my mouth opened, he didn’t take the kiss deeper right away, brushing soft, featherlight kisses across my parted lips as our breaths mingled together. Finally, I pulled his head closer and pushed my tongue into his mouth, unable to withstand the teasing torture any longer. His tongue met mine with fervor as we sank into a consuming kiss that seemed to pull something from deep within my bones.
Corin tugged my body closer, rolling onto his back so I was straddling him and—
A knock came at the door.
We broke our kiss, both gasping for air, and Corin groaned. “Go away!”
“Yeah, not likely.” Fenris’s laughing voice floated in from the hallway before the door cracked open.
Torn between amusement and frustrated lust, I suppressed a smile as Corin gently pushed me off his lap, grabbing a pillow to hide the evidence of what our little make-out session had done to him.
“What?” He shot an impatient look at Fenris as the wolf shifter crossed the room and flopped down on my other side.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Fen said, humor flashing in his warm brown eyes. He ran the knuckles of his hand up and down my arm gently, raising goose bumps across my skin.
“Try counting sheep,” Corin offered dryly.
“Never works. It only makes me want to eat them.” He bared his teeth at me like a wolf, and I chuckled. “And,” he added, his voice turning serious as he looked past me at the blond man, “I’m worried about tomorrow.”
Corin sighed, understanding passing across his features. “Yeah. Me too.”
My heart clenched. Me three.
I wanted to comfort both of them, but I didn’t know how. I had no words of reassurance that wouldn’t ring hollow. The best I could offer was that at least soon we’d know the truth.
We lay in silence for a few moments, the two large men curled up on either side of me like bookends. Fen nuzzled his face into my hair and inhaled deeply, and I felt his whole body relax.
When another knock came at the door, none of us jumped. I’d almost been expecting it.
“Come in,” I called softly, aware that we were now sharing the house with Retta’s family and several others from the Outskirts. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but I was positive they were all sleeping. Some were farther down the wing on this floor, and some were on the third floor.
The door opened slowly.
“Lana, are you—?” Jae stopped short at the sight of the three of us. A slight flush crept up his cheeks; it was the first time I could ever remember seeing the mage embarrassed. He started to back out of the room. “Sorry, I didn’t—”
“Wait! Come in. What were you going to say?”
He paused, the door halfway open. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“I’m okay. Thanks, Jae.” I watched him carefully, trying to read the subtle emotions that shifted his expression. His face was like an open book in a language I didn’t understand. I knew
the thoughts and feelings were there, but I couldn’t tell exactly what they were.
He lingered for another moment, half in and half out of the room, before he seemed to decide something. Leaving the door open a crack, he walked to the bed and sat on the end of it, reaching out to rest a cool hand on my ankle. That small contact set off a flutter in my stomach. He didn’t touch me as often as any of the other men did, but every time he did, it felt like there was a mountain of stifled emotion behind the gesture. My eyes locked on his, unable to look away from the beautiful, deep green.
A movement flickered in my periphery, and I finally tore my gaze away from Jae to glance toward it. Akio stood in the hallway, peering through the gap in the door with a cranky expression on his face. I almost laughed when I heard him mutter, “What is this, a fucking slumber party?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what it is,” Fen called contentedly, his nose still buried in my hair.
The incubus rolled his eyes but pushed the door open anyway, kicking it shut behind him as he stalked toward the bed like a panther. His shirt was off again, and I couldn’t stop myself from drinking in the sight of his smooth, muscled arms and torso covered in swirls of black ink. His abs didn’t have any tattoos, but they were breathtaking in their own right, subtly carved with ridges of muscle that stretched and flexed as he moved.
“I’m not braiding anyone’s hair,” he grumbled, sinking down onto the bed on the other side of Corin. He draped an arm across the pillows above Corin’s head, sliding his fingers over my scalp from my hairline to the crown of my head then repeating the movement. My eyes practically rolled back in their sockets, and I wondered for a moment if I should kick everyone else out so he and I could—
No!
I forced my eyes to refocus, giving my head a little shake to clear it.
Damn Akio.
He’d told me incubi could charm people through touch alone, although he’d never done it to me before. I shot him a glare over Corin’s head but somehow couldn’t bring myself to make him stop massaging my scalp.
As if he knew he’d won this round, he smiled at me with languid satisfaction. “Goodnight, kitten.”
A few moments later, Jae crawled up onto the bed next to Fenris. Even though he was no longer touching me, I still felt his presence like a balm.
No one spoke for a while, and eventually the sounds of breathing around me settled into a slow and steady rhythm. Akio’s hand in my hair stilled, Corin’s arm rested across my stomach, and Fenris muttered a soft grunt into my hair.
My heart swelled with an emotion too strong and overwhelming to name.
Fen had known it all along, had called it before any of us, and I was done trying to run from the truth of it.
I was theirs.
They were mine.
And I would do anything to protect them.
Chapter 25
The large gate swung open, and Jae revved the engine softly, driving through and leaving the Capital behind.
It was my first time back in the Outskirts since I’d gone to live with Beatrice, and while it was comforting to be home, a pall seemed to hang over the place. Plumes of smoke dotted the horizon, probably from fires left burning by Gifted mobs. Even the air smelled burnt.
Not a single person walked the streets either, giving the whole place an abandoned feel. I wondered how long it would be before people started fleeing the Outskirts entirely, hoping to find peace and safety somewhere else. I could’ve warned them it wasn’t any better in the Blighted settlements outside the cities.
When Jae pulled the car up to the old warehouse I’d used as a drop-off point for my bounties, the car fell silent for a moment. Then Corin sucked in a sharp breath and dug the phone out of his pocket. He pressed a few buttons before raising it to his ear, and my heart thudded heavily as I watched him from the backseat.
“Christine?”
His voice sounded almost normal. I doubted anyone but those closest to him could pick up the subtle tension in his tone. And if the Resistance leader did notice anything off about the way he sounded, hopefully she’d attribute it to the stress of our undercover operation.
“We have some news. Gerald, the man Lana was paid to collect as a mercenary, was killed yesterday.” He paused then nodded. I did the same thing when I used my communication charm, forgetting the other person couldn’t see me. “Yes, that one. We think he had information about who stole his magic and orchestrated the bombing of the People’s Palace. So his death set us back significantly. But there’s good news on that front. We were able to track down a friend of Rat’s, someone he apparently confided in. This guy says he knows who hired Lana to bring in Gerald. He has a name, physical description, everything.”
I clenched my bottom lip between my teeth so hard it hurt. Was she buying this? We’d spent a long time the previous night coming up with a story that was vague enough to be unverifiable, but specific enough to present a real threat to Christine and whoever she was working for—if she truly was a traitor.
“Yeah, that’s what he claims.” Corin answered a question I hadn’t heard. “But he said he’d only give us the info in person. We’re going to meet him this evening; we’ve got a few leads to follow up on in the Capital first.”
The lie slipped off his tongue easily, and I caught Akio’s nod of approval from my periphery. As if he were a connoisseur of fine lies, and Corin’s had been a particularly good vintage.
Corin glanced over his shoulder, his blue eyes swirling with emotion as they met mine. “He lives in the Outskirts, in an abandoned warehouse off Dalia Street and 96th. A squatter, I think. He doesn’t seem to have many other friends, maybe none now that Rat is gone.”
I released a shaky exhale as he finished speaking.
There it was—our bait for Christine laid out like a shiny piece of foil for a magpie.
Please don’t take it, Christine. Please let me be wrong.
Corin wrapped up the call quickly, asking for an update on other Resistance activity before promising to contact her again in the evening after we’d spoken to “Rat’s friend.” He pressed the button to end the call then dropped the phone on the center console like it had burned him.
Jae pulled the car slowly into the empty warehouse, parking it in a dark corner. On the far side of the warehouse, near the entrance, a hole in the ceiling allowed the midmorning sunlight to stream in, brightening that part of the building, but this side was cast in shadow. We’d cover Jae’s car with some of the old tarps we’d brought, and it should be unnoticeable in the dim, dingy warehouse.
While Akio and Fen draped the tarps over the shiny vehicle, I observed as Jae put an illusion spell on Corin. Unlike the illusion spell he’d taught me, this one didn’t make Corin invisible—it changed his appearance entirely.
Corin had offered to be my guinea pig so I could learn the spell. But as touched as I was by his faith in me, apparently this was a much more difficult kind of illusion to create and maintain. Invisibility was a sort of “set it and forget it” spell, whereas with an appearance-altering illusion, you had to keep part of your mind focused on maintaining the illusion at all times. Lapses of concentration could lead to unsettling things like eye colors shifting, ears, noses, or other features changing shape, or an even more horrific “face melting” effect, where the features sagged and blurred.
Not wanting to risk this entire operation on the strength of my mental focus, I’d accepted wholeheartedly when Jae offered to be the one to disguise Corin. Now I stared in complete fascination as the tall, handsome man in front of me with the sandy hair, bright blue eyes, and breathtaking smile transformed into a much younger, much scrawnier man. He looked a bit like Rat’s older brother—if he’d had one—with a similar bulbous nose and thin face. But while Rat’s hair had been brown, Jae made Corin’s a coppery red and threw a few freckles on his face for good measure.
“Stop looking at me like that,” the kid said in Corin’s deep voice, and I almost choked on my tongue.
“Sorry,” I spluttered. “You just look so…”
The red-headed boy scowled. “I’m guessing you’re not about to say ‘handsome.’”
“Different,” I finished lamely, trying not to lean in and study him like he’d grown a second head.
A loud snort rang out from behind us, and when I whirled around, Fenris was bent over laughing. Akio stared up at the ceiling, his lips twitching like he was trying not to smile.
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Next time, you get the disguise,” Corin said from behind me. He sounded just like his regular self. When I wasn’t looking directly at him, it was almost impossible to believe he’d undergone a change at all.
I shot a glance at Jae. “Illusion spells don’t affect the voice?”
He lifted a shoulder. “They can. It’s more difficult than just changing the physical appearance, but it’s possible. It’s much easier to do that when you’re casting the illusion spell on yourself though. And Corin shouldn’t need it. Hopefully, we’ll know what Christine’s intentions are before he even has to speak, and worst-case scenario, he can modulate his pitch himself.”
“Do a voice! Do a voice!” Fenris called, pointing at Corin and chuckling again.
The red-haired boy glowered at him, remaining tight-lipped.
“All right. Let’s get into positions.” Jae glanced around at our little group, and Fenris’s laughter died as he nodded solemnly.
I knew he took this mission as seriously as the rest of us. We all had our own ways of calming our nerves, and his seemed to be trying to find some measure of fun in every situation, no matter how dire. Humor definitely wasn’t my go-to coping mechanism, but he’d brought more laughter into my life, and I loved him for it.