His eyes closed, the most beautiful look of serenity wiping the intensity from his features as he held himself inside me, riding out his own release.
He collapsed next to me as Ethan pressed a soft kiss to my cheek.
Once Josh’s breathing evened out, he raised one hand in a fist above me. “Thanks for the assist, bro.”
Ethan didn’t even skip a beat, and they fist-bumped over my naked, sweaty body. “Anytime, man.”
“You’re both idiots.” I rolled my eyes but wasn’t entirely able to contain my giggles.
This felt so right. I couldn’t believe I’d waited so long to do it.
Thirty-One
I never did fully fall asleep that night. The apprehension about what was due to happen in a few short hours was palpable. I stayed in bed between Josh and Ethan, dozing and letting my mind wander.
Ethan’s light snores filled the quiet, mingling with the sound of insects from the open window, but even he didn’t stay asleep all night. Josh didn’t even try. Every time I looked over at him, his eyes were wide open, even though he was lying perfectly still.
As I was contemplating checking the time, the door opened, and Tyler stepped inside. He paused, taking in our naked bodies sprawled on the bed, not a scrap of clothing or sheets in sight.
“Sweet fucking Christ,” he breathed, running his hand through his hair.
“No Christ here,” Josh answered as Ethan rolled over, rubbing his eyes, “but there was plenty of fucking.”
I sat up. “Is it time?”
Tyler took a deep breath and nodded. “It’s time. I thought you’d want to know. Plus, I think Alec could use some juice.”
I was already half-dressed by the time he finished speaking. I pulled on some shorts and a tank top, not bothering with underwear. I wouldn’t know where to look for it anyway.
Tyler led me through the manicured grounds back to the main house; the bright lights still on made me squint.
There was a flurry of activity, some black-clad men strapping on gear, others testing the communication devices that sat snug in their ears. Alec was strapping a belt with more knives than I could count to his right thigh. His team was nearby, also arming up.
I walked straight up to him, weaving through the busy people.
“Hey.” I had to raise my voice to be heard over the hubbub. He straightened and turned to face me, his ice-blue eyes taking in my haphazard appearance—the shorts inside out, my hair an absolute mess.
His expression was unreadable; he was already getting into his “dangerous secret organization badass” frame of mind and wasn’t giving much away.
“Ty said you might need . . . um . . .” I didn’t know why I was so reluctant to voice that I was there to transfer Light to him. He was my Variant. Everyone in the room already knew that.
“Yeah.” He nodded, giving me a little smirk before darting his eyes about the room and frowning. Maybe he was feeling as unsure as I was. This wasn’t exactly our usual dynamic.
“Just . . .” He lowered his voice and rubbed the back of his neck, scowled at the ground, then straightened to his full height. He looked pissed off, but I didn’t feel as if it was directed at me. “It’ll be good to have a bit of an edge but not too much. I haven’t had a chance to train with extra Light, and it could be a distraction.”
I nodded. He’d spent years training to be a killing machine without what I could provide. Giving him too much could actually be counterproductive.
I held my hand out, offering the Light to him in the least intrusive way I knew. But he surprised me by wrapping his calloused hand around my wrist and tugging me forward.
I found myself chest to chest with him, and instead of focusing on the task at hand, my mind helpfully supplied vivid images of what I’d been doing just hours before.
He must have seen the lust in my face, because he smirked again, narrowing his eyes. “Just a little, Eve.”
Then he took a breath before pressing his lips to mine.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, his buzzed hair prickling my fingers, and Alec kissed me in a way that was sweeter than I’d thought him capable of.
I knew this was an important moment for him, for us. He was trusting me to do my job as his Vital. I needed to keep that trust by not getting distracted by the ache between my legs.
And so, even as I delighted in his lips on mine, I focused on the tingly, humming sensation of the Light flowing into him. I replenished what he was missing and gave him a little extra—just enough to make his ability reach a little farther, make the pain a little more intense, let him use it a little longer. Then I cut it off. It was easier than I’d ever thought possible.
He took that as a sign to break the kiss, pulling away while still keeping me in his arms.
I licked my lips, wanting to taste him again, drag him back to the dark room in the cottage and complete the connection to my Bond. “Be careful.”
I fixed him with a look that I hoped conveyed my sincerity and stepped out of his arms. He nodded once, and I watched him pull his hard, unfeeling mask back into place. He started barking orders as Kyo handed him a very large gun, and I turned away, going to stand just outside the back door.
I couldn’t watch them leave.
Dot was sitting on a log, her elbows on her knees. I leaned on the wall next to her, and we listened to the sounds of heavily armed men and women heading out to bring her brother home.
I reached a hand out, and she took it, squeezing it firmly.
I was pacing the kitchen, arms crossed, listening intently to what Tyler, Lucian, and the other Melior Group operatives were doing a few feet away.
A swell of panic within me kept fighting to break through. It would bubble up to my chest, and I would squash it down with a deep breath. It would gurgle up to my throat, and I would only just hold it back by focusing on moving my feet, step by agonizing step, on the pale green tiles.
It couldn’t have been more than an hour since the organized force of Melior Group fighters had taken off for the compound. They’d converged on the low structure, taken out the few guards posted at gates, and breached the building.
And then all communications had gone down.
Anyone associated with or employed by Melior Group was keeping their cool.
Lucian leaned on the dining table, still strewn with maps and tablets from the strategy meeting, his intelligent eyes watching everything, monitoring for any missteps.
Tyler flitted from one place to another, typing furiously at a computer one minute, then issuing commands to groups of people the next.
Ethan was sitting on the kitchen bench, his head in his hands. Josh leaned next to him, watching the whole room, but even he couldn’t keep the worry off his handsome face.
Dot had run back to the cottage as soon we’d lost contact with our teams, updating her parents. I couldn’t imagine how difficult this must be for them.
“Fuck,” Ethan growled and looked up, hugging his big arms around his middle. He looked more like a scared kid lost in the mall than he did like the six-foot-four, 250-pound man he was.
Tyler glanced in our direction, murmured something to the computer tech he was standing next to, and came over. He placed a comforting hand on Ethan’s shoulder and tucked me into his side.
“It’s OK, Kid.” He gave Ethan’s shoulder a squeeze, then addressed us all. “Guys, we knew this might happen. The comms all went down that day at Bradford Hills. We’re pretty sure it was due to a Variant with an ability related to tech. We expected to come up against it again. We’re prepared for this. OK?”
“Lucian?” Olivia’s panicked voice came from the back door. She’d arrived just in time to hear Tyler’s little speech. Dot stood next to her, holding her hand, and Henry was behind her, his eyes bloodshot and drawn.
Lucian got up and went to stand by his family
“He’s right, Olivia.” He pulled her into a hug. “We’ve got this under control.”
We spent the next hour on
a knife’s edge. Olivia would burst into tears sporadically, Dot or Henry rubbing soothing circles on her back.
I continued to pace.
Tyler and Lucian continued to work.
The clock continued to tick with no news, not even a report of movement from the scouts watching the area.
“It’s time,” Lucian finally declared, his voice firm, and the Melior Group staff sprang into action.
“Time for what?” I asked. Tyler had started strapping weapons to his body near the kitchen, and I went to him. “Time for what, Ty?”
“We’re going in,” he answered, and Josh stepped forward to help him strap on his Kevlar.
“Going in?” The past hour of waiting had been so tense my mind couldn’t seem to process the fact that things were happening.
“Yeah.” Tyler checked his gun and holstered it. “This is part of the contingency. We gave the A team time to do their job. They haven’t been in contact and haven’t returned. It’s time for backup. That’s us.”
I looked around the room. By “us” he meant every Melior Group employee left. They may have been computer geniuses and tactical masterminds, but they were all just as highly trained as anyone else permitted to attend this mission. They were all gearing up.
Within five minutes, another twenty people were ready to move out. Other teams from other locations were calling in their readiness over the speakers.
“All right, there won’t be anyone left here with you guys, but you’re perfectly safe, OK?” Tyler addressed the three of us, then tipped his head in the direction of Dot’s family. “Olivia and Henry both worked for Melior Group at some stage. They’ve had training. They’ll know what to do in an emergency.” At last he turned to Josh, the only one of us as seemingly calm as the professionals in the room. “If all else fails, stick to the plan. Get her out.”
Josh nodded, and I squashed my annoyance at the fact that there was some last resort plan I was unaware of. Instead I focused on Tyler.
I stepped into his space, and he embraced me without hesitation. Pressing my lips to his, I let the Light flow freely, even giving it a little push. I wanted him to have every advantage he could out there, and unlike Alec, he didn’t need to worry about controlling his ability in the field.
We pulled apart, and he placed a kiss on my forehead. “I’ll be right back.” He smiled, but the anxiety threatening to choke me wasn’t pacified.
Most of the others were already out the door, but Lucian stood to the side, waiting for Tyler. Without thinking about it too much, I walked up to him.
“Would it help if you had a little boost too?” I asked. His ability was defensive, and I’d perfected transferring Light to non-Bonded Variants. If this was the only way I could help, I’d drain myself dry so my family could be safe.
“It can’t hurt.” He smiled tentatively.
I reached out my hand, and he took it gently in his. Closing my eyes in concentration, I pushed a decent amount into him, and he gave me a little squeeze when he’d had enough.
“Thank you, Evelyn.” His eyes were a little brighter, his posture a little straighter, and I wondered if he’d had any Light transferred to him at all since my mother had taken me and run off into the night.
Acting on instinct, I gave him a quick hug before scurrying back to Ethan’s side.
Then they were gone, and we went back to waiting.
Nina joined us not long after they left, and Dot updated her on the situation in minute detail. I think it made her feel better to have something to do, something to say. Nina listened to it all with patience and understanding.
As the first hints of light started to announce the dawn, I rubbed at my chest, feeling a pang of alarm. Had it been too long? Should we be doing something? Calling someone?
The weight on my chest grew heavier, and I started to wonder if I was experiencing the beginnings of a panic attack. I leaned on the bench with one hand as the pressure increased—except it wasn’t exactly pressure. It wasn’t caused by the crushing anxiety of waiting to see if they were all OK.
It was pain. It was that pain that was becoming more and more familiar to me every time one of my Variants put himself in danger and used too much of his ability. And it was getting worse.
“No!” I cried out as I bent over double. The urge to run, to get to him now, felt as intense, though not quite as all-consuming, as it had the night I’d run to save Ethan.
“Eve?” That was the first hint of panic I’d heard in Josh’s voice. His hands were all over me, checking for injuries. Ethan was on my other side, doing the same.
“Oh no.” Nina shot up from the couch. “She feels the pull. Something is wrong with one of her Variants.”
There were only seven people in the room, but it erupted into chaos, most of it centered around me. Some of them were talking over each other, trying to decide what to do; some of them were asking me questions.
I focused on my breathing and on Ethan and Josh’s soothing touch. The pain, the pull, was still in my chest, but it had stopped getting worse. Whatever my Variant had been doing, he’d stopped doing it. He was drained, weak, but he wasn’t dying. Yet.
“I have to go there,” I whispered. No one heard me over the cacophony of voices. I straightened, squared my shoulders, and looked around. Slowly, one by one, they returned my stare and grew quiet. “I have to go there. I have to help.”
“Evelyn, I can’t possibly let you do that.” Henry was putting on his parent voice, but he wasn’t my parent, and I wasn’t a child.
“With all due respect, I’m not asking for your permission. Two of my Variants are in there. One of them could be close to death. I’m going.” To my surprise, neither Ethan nor Josh was arguing with me.
“What other choice do we have?” Ethan growled, crossing his arms.
Josh sighed. “Tyler is going to kill me, but I can’t live with myself if we do nothing and . . .” His unfinished sentence settled heavily over the room.
Olivia stopped crying and stood from the couch, wiping her tears away angrily. “I’m with Eve. I’m sick of sitting around, losing more of my family as every hour passes.”
“Olivia!” Henry turned to her, horrified, but the rest of us were already springing into action.
“Henry, Charlie is in there. My brother is in there. Alec, Tyler . . .” She started ticking names off on her fingers.
“Kyo,” Dot added, her face desperate. I wondered if she’d realized yet how hopelessly in love with him she was.
I went to Dot and pulled her into a hug.
“I’m thinking it might be a good idea . . .” I started at the same time she said, “I think you should juice me . . .”
We both nodded, no more words necessary, and I took her hands in mine, doing the most efficient and quick Light transfer I’d ever done. When we pulled apart, she ran for the door.
“I’ll do recon as I change,” she yelled over her shoulder.
Ethan and Josh had already dressed in the leftover gear, decked out from head to toe in black, looking every part the Melior Group agents they weren’t.
The next few things happened so fast they were mostly a blur. I must have got dressed in tactical clothing too, because I was in all black when I pressed my lips to Josh’s, slamming Light into him as if our lives depended on it. Ethan adjusted my Kevlar before I turned to him and did the same.
When we made for the door, I stopped short and gaped at the sight of Nina with an automatic rifle hanging off her shoulder, her delicate frame draped in weapons.
She smirked as she took the lead toward the jungle. “What? I know a few things I have not told you about.”
Even though Henry tried to talk us out of it the whole way there, eventually he gave up and started giving us all advice and instructions on how to stay alive. “This is madness,” he ground out between clenched teeth as we crouched in the underbrush about an hour later, near an unassuming green door.
Dot had used her ability to perfection. An orange-bellied
leafbird had informed her no one had gone in or out since the backup team. But a mouse that had scurried inside the building said there were “a lot of men in black unconscious inside.”
Unconscious gave me hope. Unconscious wasn’t dead.
We crept forward. At a flick of Josh’s wrist, the door swung open, and we moved inside.
Immediately, everything became fuzzy, muted somehow. I was having trouble holding on to my gun, which felt foreign in my hands anyway. I lost track of the others. My vision kept fading in and out. I couldn’t remember where we were.
“You’re early, daughter dear.”
A voice drew my eyes up. When did I sit down?
“I didn’t even have to kill him to get you here.” A face with eyes similar to mine, only much darker and more cruel, hovered over me.
As Davis Damari grinned, the world around me dissolved into blackness.
Thirty-Two
I came to slowly, my limbs heavy.
“. . . takes time. Everyone is different,” a female voice I didn’t recognize said.
“I need her to wake up. This won’t work unless she sparks up.” Davis sounded more than a little impatient.
The ache in my chest had returned along with my consciousness, and that made everything else come crashing back. Reflexively, I tried to lift my hand to rub at the pain and discovered I was tied down.
My eyes flew open.
I was in a padded chair, not unlike a dentist’s chair, half-reclined, my wrists bound to the armrests. A large circular piece of opaque glass housed in a thick black frame hung above, pointing directly at my chest. I couldn’t even begin to guess its purpose. Monitors stuck to my torso and head fed into thin wires leading somewhere behind me.
“Ah, you’re up.” Davis moved to my side, his hands in his pockets, his posture the picture of casual calm—as if he were about to ask what I wanted for breakfast. I ignored him, my eyes flying about the room.
Vital Found (The Evelyn Maynard Trilogy Book 2) Page 36