“No!” I waved a hand in Tay’s direction while dry heaving, because heck, there wasn’t anything else to spew. “With me. Kill alarms.”
The sirens shut off—Noir had done his thing to disable the wards, but Tay was still pinning Quinn to the wall even though Quinn could easily have blurred out of the way if he’d wanted.
“Let him go, Tay.” I sat up.
Tay backed up, staring at Quinn with an odd expression on his face. “He looks like—”
“I know?” I pulled myself to my feet using Noir as a crutch, and as soon as I was upright, he wrapped his arms around me, allowing me to inhale his fresh scent to clear the fuzz in my head.
“You made it.” The relief in Gil’s voice was sharp and urgent.
Trevor ran into the room, skidding to a halt, his doggie claws skittering against the linoleum. “Thank God!”
My stomach was settling. “Feeling the love, guys.”
Quinn stepped away from the wall and cracked his neck. “So, what are you? Some kind of crime fighting team?”
Tay was still staring at him, but he addressed me. “Seriously, what the fuck did I miss?”
“Tay just got here,” Noir said to me. “Just as you materialized.”
Weariness hit me in a wave that had me sagging into the nearest seat at the table. “I’ll explain everything, but first I’m going to need—”
“Tea!” Gilbert interrupted. “I’m going to make everyone some tea.”
***
It’s true what they say, tea does cure all ills. Two cups later, I was feeling almost human again. My trip into the jaws of doom and my little stint through the vents of chaos were beginning to feel like a dream. But I’d done it, I’d sort of semi-conquered my fear. I’d managed not to have a meltdown in the vents. Yay, me.
But the guys weren’t looking happy. Noir looked as if he wanted to crush the teapot and Tay looked as if he’d be ready to fight Noir for the privilege. I’d just finished filling them in on the trip and the colorful events of said trip.
Quinn was seated to my left, Tay opposite, and Noir to my right. How many times did I have to reassure them? Once more for good luck, maybe? “I’m okay. I’m alive.”
“By chance,” Noir said. “Greta lied to you. She put you in danger by neglecting to give you all the information. I should have wrung her neck when I had the chance.”
“I should never have gone away and left you to deal with this alone,” Tay muttered.
“She wasn’t alone,” Noir said tightly. “She had me.”
Tay’s lip curled and a pinprick of crimson flared inside his dark pupils. His chest rumbled with a menacing growl. “Mine.”
It was one word, uttered lethal-soft, but it made every hair on the back of my neck stand up in preparation for trouble.
“Um, Tay, are you sure you’re okay to be back?” Tread carefully, Bastion, the troll is close to the surface.
He glared at me, the look cutting and possessive, and my hackles rose. No. This wasn’t my Tay. This wasn’t what we had, it couldn’t be.
I met his gaze and lifted my chin. “Get it under control, Stephenson. Now. We have shit to do.”
His left eye twitched, and then he exhaled and ducked his head. “I’m fine.”
“Look at me.”
He complied, and thank goodness the crimson in his eyes was gone. He was in the driver’s seat again. That couldn’t have been easy for him, but it also begged the question as to why he’d come back so soon. If he wasn’t ready, not in control, then he needed to stay away. The last thing we needed was an out-of-control, possessive troll. I’d have to pull him aside later and get into it with him.
“Lemon cake, anyone?” Gilbert set a plate of neatly sliced cake on the table.
First the tea, then the napkins and shortbread, and now lemon cake? Yeah, Gil was totally freaked out about what had happened to me. The excessive hospitality was a dead giveaway. Gilbert hosted and cleaned when he was stressed out; all we needed now was the duster to come floating out.
But there was lemon cake and there was no walking away from that. I picked up a slice and shoved it into my mouth. So good.
Noir watched me, stunned.
“Whaa? Ish good.” Crumbs from my mouth flew across the table.
Tay snorted and picked up a slice, mimicking my move. We turned to each other, chewing furiously in unspoken competition. He won by a split second.
I slapped his bicep. “Not fair, you have a bigger mouth.”
He arched a brow. “Well, that’s debatable.”
Noir almost choked on his tea and Trevor snorted into his cake. Classic Tay with the unintentional innuendo.
Tay opened and closed his mouth as the penny dropped. “No. Not that. I meant she talks so much, and—”
I shook my head. “Give it up, Tay.”
My mobile buzzed angrily with a withheld number. I stared at it for a long beat, knowing exactly who it would be and debating whether talking to her was the right move so soon after the betrayal. But she had Fran so ... “Hello?”
“Miss Bastion, glad you made it out alive.”
It was Loraine, not Greta, and for some reason that pissed me off even more, like Greta didn’t even have the balls to call me herself, she was getting her girlfriend to do it for her.
Heat crawled up my torso and stained my neck. “Your girlfriend almost got me killed, but you already know that, don’t you?”
“Greta had a tough call to make but did what she had to for the greater good. The data was always a priority to us.”
“Well, fuck you, Vincent. Fuck you.” Okay, so it wasn’t the most eloquent thing to say in response, but shit, I was fuming, and the words, all the words I’d have liked to say, had curled up into an angry ball of Fuck You!
“You’re a survivor, Miss Bastion. Greta knows this, we both do. And look, you made it out alive.” She cleared her throat. “I’d be interested to know what you saw while in the facility.”
Really? Was she bloody kidding me? Calm, Bastion. Cool as an icy cucumber. “Would you now ...”
A sigh. “I understand you’re upset but—”
“You’re damn right I’m upset.” I kept my voice even, lethal-soft like Tay’s troll. “Whatever I learned or saw once your girlfriend fucked me over is none of your concern. You want more information? You can get your arse inside that facility and get it yourself.”
There was a beat of silence and then a weary sigh. “Did you find your other friend?”
What? Why did she care? “No.”
“The friend you did find is safe. We’ll take good care of her,” Loraine said pointedly.
My scalp prickled with realization. Was she blackmailing me? “No. Don’t even go there. You will take care of Fran, and you’ll fucking do what you can to locate Eloise’s whereabouts too. You’ll do it because you bloody owe me. You’ll do it because if you don’t The Collective is going to get a very convincing tip about a mole in their ranks.”
An exasperated sigh. “I wasn’t trying to blackmail you, Miss Bastion.”
Lying bitch. “Good. So we’re clear?”
“Crystal.”
“And I want the bugs you placed in my home disabled.”
“Greta is working on that as we speak.”
“Good. Then we’re done.” I hung up and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I need more cake.”
Trevor chuckled and nudged the plate closer to me.
I scarfed it down, reveling in the sugar rush and the caffeine boost and the fact I was no longer a captive inside a vent.
“Wila, we need to figure out what to do about your ...friend,” Noir said, throwing a look Quinn’s way.
Quinn shrugged. “You don’t need to do anything. They’ll come for me. I should probably go. You guys seem like nice people. No point getting you into the shit because of me.”
“Good idea,” Gil said. “I’ll see you out.”
I held up my hands. “Whoa, easy there, Gil. What happened to the hospitali
ty?”
“Thin on the ground if it could get you killed,” Gil replied stuffily.
His heart was in the right place, and he’d always put me first, it was just his way, but… “I didn’t break Quinn out to abandon him, Gil.”
Quinn arched a brow. “Who broke who out now?”
I rolled my eyes. “Remember the glass cage?”
“Remember the secure facility encased in steel and cement?” he retorted.
“Fine, we broke each other out. Teamwork. But you can’t go out there. They will find you.”
“I can strengthen the wards on this place,” Noir said. “Hide him.”
Quinn blinked at him. “You’d do that?”
Noir’s eyes narrowed. “Sure, once you tell me whose blood that is?” He indicated the smears on Quinn’s chin and neck.
Quinn swiped at the dried blood with the back of his hand. “A bloke’s got to eat, and the blood bag I tapped was a bad one. Didn’t kill her, though, just took enough to knock her out and get us out.”
I had to back him up, because as much as I hadn’t liked seeing it, there was no denying we’d never have made it out if Quinn hadn’t acted as he did. “He saved my life, Noir. He didn’t kill anyone doing it.”
Tay’s chest rumbled. “Then he’s all right with me.”
Quinn jerked his chin in Tay’s direction. “Ta muchly, big guy.”
Noir didn’t look so convinced. “What are you, Quinn? What are you exactly?”
Quinn sat back in his seat. “A bit of this, a bit of that. Honestly, I don’t even know anymore.”
“But you drink blood like the Sanguinata?” Noir pointed out.
“What are the Sanguinata?”
Of course, there would be stuff they hadn’t filled him in on, stuff that wasn’t covered in his education.
“The Sanguinata drink blood to survive, it’s their staple food,” Noir explained.
“Well, I don’t need blood to survive, but it does give me a boost. For example, when they cut off my hand, drinking blood helped me grow a new one.”
Wait, had I heard right. “Cut off your hand?”
He nodded. “Yep. Hurt like a bitch, though.” He scratched his chin. “Then there was the time they slit my abdomen and pulled out my intestines.” He sucked air through his teeth. “Burned like a bitch. Almost passed out that time, but once again, blood did the trick.”
What the fuck had they done to this guy, and how could he be so blasé about it? “Quinn, I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged. “Is what it is. All I’ve ever known, to be honest. Born and bred in that place.”
With the TV as his only window to the outside world. I exchanged glances with Noir and a silent communication passed between us, the knowledge that if Quinn was going to survive in the outside world, he had a lot more to learn about real life.
He glanced around the room. “This here is unreal. I’m sitting in a real live kitchen drinking real live tea with ... real live people ...” His voice trailed off, and for the first time since I’d met him a few hours previously, he actually came across as unsure and insecure.
My heart squeezed painfully for him. No creature should have gone through what he’d been through. Even Noir’s expression had softened.
I patted Quinn’s hand. “You belong with us now, and I swear to you, I won’t let them take you.”
He kept his gaze on my hand, his throat bobbed, and then he plastered a cocky smile on his face. “Only came with you because you said you had season five of the slayer show.”
I snort-laughed. “I do, and I promise we’ll watch it soon. I just have some friends I need to save first.”
He looked up and met my eyes with his warm brown ones. “I’d like to help.”
“You have. You got me out of that place. What you need to do now is lie low.” I turned to Noir. “Noir, you need to contact Lex and tell him about the Others. Let him know what The Institute is using them for. I need to find another way to get into the Everdark.” I blew out an exasperated breath.
Beside me, Quinn tensed. “Did you just say Everdark?”
“Yeah ... have you heard of it?”
He frowned. “It’s real?”
“Yeah, it’s real.” My pulse picked up with hope. “Quinn, what do you know?”
“I’m not sure if nightmares count.”
Noir sat forward. “If they used Other DNA to create Quinn, then maybe this is some kind of hereditary memory?”
It could be. “What do you dream, Quinn?”
His gaze grew unfocused. “It’s always the same. It’s like I’m in someone else’s head being chased, it’s dark, always dark, and the moon is shrouded by clouds, and the thing after me is terrifying. I feel it like ice in my veins and then there’s a strip of sunlight up ahead, vertical and gleaming and I know I’m almost safe, that the thing behind me can’t follow me through. I hurtle into the sunlight and land on the ground. I’m in a forest, it’s lush and green, and someone reaches out a hand and hauls me to my feet and I know I’m safe. I know I’m in Arcana.”
This was it, this had to be it. “How many forests do we have in Arcana?” It was a rhetorical question because there was only one.
“The Turnaround Forest,” Tay said solemnly.
“It sounds like there’s some kind of breach leading from this Everdark place into the forest,” Noir said.
Yeah, that’s exactly what it sounded like. I’d failed to find Eloise or free the Others, so this was the break I needed to avoid spiraling into despair. With this information, we might just be able to get Valance back, and when we had him, he could help us retrieve Azren. There was nothing I could do about Eloise right now. I’d have to hope that Greta and Loraine came through with information on her whereabouts. I had to hope my friend was alive and well. “First thing tomorrow, we scout it out. We find this breach and then we go get Valance.”
Noir left the table. “I need to speak to Lex.”
Tay’s tawny gaze was fixed on me, brimming with all the things he needed to say. “Hey, Quinn. You okay to hang out with Gil and Trevor for a bit?”
“No problem. You do what you got to do. Me, Trevor, and Gil will get to know each other.”
Leaving them to it, I took Tay’s hand and led him out of the room and into the lounge. His palm was warm and dry against mine, and his large, thick fingers curled around my hand, swallowing it in a reassuring grip. It was moments like this that I was reminded how much bigger than me he was, how powerful, and yet he knew just how to hold me, to touch me, alternating between enough force to tantalize and gentle caresses to tease. He knew my body and soul, and right now, he was hurting.
I pulled him into the lounge and shut the door. Pressing my palms to his chest, I lifted my chin to look up into his face. His firm jaw was dark with stubble, and his full, hard lips were pressed together as if holding back a tide of words.
I stroked his pectorals soothingly. “Tay, babe, what’s going on?”
His mouth parted on a sigh, and then he gently cupped my face, leaning down to press his forehead to mine. “I shouldn’t have come back.” His voice was a rumble of regret. “I should have called or dropped you a text, but I needed to see you. Being away from you, knowing you aren’t mine, that we’re not mated ... it’s a physical pain.”
My mouth went dry. “What are you saying?”
He pulled back. “I needed to let you know what I was about to do.”
Okay, anxiety, you can come out to play now. “And what is that?”
“You know how it works for my kind. We mate with a female and then we belong to each other. There are no others, not for either of us. But it wouldn’t work that way with you. I get that. You have Azren, and there’s a connection with Valance too, and as much as I hate to admit it, or point it out, Noir has feelings for you, and I think ... I think you may reciprocate them.” He broke off, ducked his head, and squeezed his eyes shut as if simply saying the words was painful to him. He inhaled and exhaled. “I can’t be
around you like this. While I’m connected to the knell, the mating instinct is everything, and my troll is screaming at me to sweep you up and carry you off right now to some cozy cave in the middle of nowhere where it would be just you and me, where I could bury my cock inside you and fuck you until you screamed only my name.”
Pulse thudding in my neck so hard it made it hard to speak, I reached up to caress his jaw. To let him know it was okay. That we were okay. “Tay ...”
He closed his eyes beneath my touch and sighed. “I want you, Wila. There is no one else. There never will be, and without this, without us, I’ll go insane. There is only one option—I’m going to have to leave the knell.”
My heart skipped a beat. The knell was his lifeline, his connection to the rest of his people. It’s what helped him control the aggression and keep the troll in check. “Tay, we talked about this. You can’t cut yourself off. You’d miss the connection to your people, and you’d end up resenting me.”
His tawny eyes flared. “What I resent is the troll. I resent the ties that bind me and keep me away from you. The way I see it, I need to make a choice, a sacrifice. It’s either the knell or you. The knell ... I can learn to live without, but you ... I just can’t lose you, Wila. I want to be free. The knell makes the rules, and leaving the knell would mean I could make my own.”
He wasn’t thinking straight. “Mating is an instinct, aggression is a part of you, and leaving the knell won’t take those away, it’ll just leave you with no support to manage your troll.”
“Yes, Wila, I’ll still want to mate with you, and fuck, I hope you say yes, but it wouldn’t have to be monogamous. It’s the connection to the knell that makes a troll blood so possessive. It ensures we keep the bloodlines pure, but I’m already stepping outside the lines by falling in love with a non-troll blood. I’m already able to accept the other men in your life, something another troll blood would never do with a potential mate. Loving you has freed my heart, and I believe when I sever my ties to the knell then I’ll be free to forge my own path.”
Ookay, maybe he had thought this through. “But what about the aggression? The knell helps with that; Slumber helps with that.”
Chronicles of Arcana (The complete collection books 1-4) Page 46