Variant Lost (The Evelyn Maynard Trilogy Book 1)

by Kaydence Snow

  But he wasn’t stopping. He set a steady, punishing rhythm, barely pulling his fingers out before driving them back in. The heel of his hand was grinding into my clit, and I couldn’t stop my hips from rolling into his movements.

  I bit down on his shoulder as my abdominal muscles tensed and other, internal muscles pulsed around Alec’s fingers. An intense, almost savage orgasm spread from my core, sending waves of heat throughout my body and making me go still under his expert hands.

  He kissed me roughly as I moaned my release into his mouth, stroking me a few more times as I came down off my high. Then he extracted his hand from my pants and rested his forehead on my shoulder, both of us panting.

  It took me a few moments to calm down, to stop gasping as if I’d just been on a run. But when I did, I reached for his waistband again, eager to return the favor, to wrap my hand around his warm, hard . . .

  But he slapped my arm away again and lifted himself onto his hands.

  Our positions had reversed. Now he was the one balanced above me, looking down into my flushed face. I frowned, but that impassive look had fallen over his face again.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said in answer to my silent question. “I don’t want anything from you.”

  He pushed himself up to stand next to the couch, his back to me, and stretched his arms over his head. The muscles in his back lengthened, his tattoos dancing with the movement, and I raked my eyes down his impressive form, lingering on his ass. My treacherous body wanted more.

  What the fuck was wrong with me?

  “What . . .” I breathed, still a little winded, and raised myself onto my elbows. Anger was bubbling up again, and his sudden disappearance from on top of me had left my flushed body cold.

  He half turned toward me, adjusted his very prominent erection, and smirked, raising the eyebrow with the scar through it. Then he walked over to the door.

  He smirked. He fucking smirked at me.

  “You are such a fucking asshole!” I yelled after him as he disappeared through the door.

  I reached over to the side table, picked up the first thing my hand landed on, and hurled it in his general direction. It shattered into a million pieces against the wall; whatever it was had been glass.

  I growled, this time in frustration, as I flopped back onto the couch and threaded my fingers into my hair.

  Footsteps echoed through the foyer—someone running, probably to investigate the yelling and the smashing. In some vain attempt to preserve my dignity, I scrambled for the blanket that had fallen to the ground.

  Tyler came bursting through the door, sliding to a stop in his socks on the marble. He was in a baggy T-shirt and sweats, his brown hair even messier than usual.

  His frantic eyes took in the glass littering the floor and me sitting on the couch, the blanket held up to cover my front, my hair disheveled, my lips swollen. It wouldn’t have taken a genius to figure out what Alec and I had just been up to.

  “Oh my god, Eve. Are you OK? What did he do?”

  I averted my eyes and sat straighter on the couch, pulling my bra strap back into place and tucking the blanket securely under my arms.

  “Nothing I didn’t want him to,” I murmured, the humiliation settling heavily over me. “I’m sorry about the . . . um, whatever that used to be. I’ll replace it.”

  Tyler stepped gingerly over the glass and swept his messy brown hair off his forehead, coming to sit next to me on the couch. “It was just an ugly paperweight. Don’t worry about it.”

  “OK. I’ll clean up my mess.” I made to get up, but Tyler placed a firm hand on my shoulder.

  “Eve.” He leveled a stern look at me.

  “Don’t,” I whispered into my lap. “Please, Ty. I just can’t . . . I can only handle so much, and I need to table this particular mess for now.”

  He sighed. “As long as you’re OK.”

  “I’m OK. I promise. This can wait.” I was so not OK, but I was really not ready to talk about it.

  “Well, OK then.” He gave me a weak smile. He knew I was lying, obviously, but something in my face must have told him not to press me. “If you want me to kick his ass, you just tell me. I’ll get Josh to hold him down with his ability.”

  I chuckled, but it was weak. I couldn’t find it in me to laugh, but I appreciated him trying to ease the tension. “What time is it? Is it too late to go see Zara in the hospital?”

  “It’s just after five. I’m sure we can make it before visiting hours end.”

  “OK. Can I use your bathroom? I really need a shower first.”

  “Of course.” He stood and then paused. “There’s something else . . .”

  “What?” I stood too, my senses on alert. What now? Hadn’t the past twenty-four hours been shitty enough?

  He must have read the trepidation on my face, because he turned and walked out, speaking over his shoulder. “Never mind. Shower first. Ten minutes won’t change anything.”

  “OK.” I didn’t have the will to argue.

  He led the way upstairs and into the room across the hall from Josh’s. I had never been in his room before. It was the mirror image of the one opposite—bed on the left, sitting area with fireplace on the right. It was decorated in a lighter, more neutral palette—the sheets were crisp white and made with military precision, the heavy drapes a cream color.

  I followed him straight to the bathroom door, and he held it open for me.

  “Help yourself to anything.”

  He made to leave, but I stopped him with a soft touch on his forearm.

  “Thank you, Tyler.” Before thinking about it too much, I leaned up, holding the blanket in place with one hand, and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

  He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head. “It’s just a bathroom.” He chuckled but paused, his gray eyes returning my serious look.

  We both knew I wasn’t talking about the shower. He had shot a man to protect me—Tyler had literally killed for me. He had been my protector and defender through and through. I needed him to know I wasn’t taking it for granted.

  “What you did today . . .” I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “There are no words to express—”

  “You’re welcome,” he whispered back, cutting off my rambling before it could even begin.

  With a promise to hunt down some clothes for me, he backed away and left me to shower.

  Twenty-Seven

  Fifteen minutes later I almost felt human again.

  I used Tyler’s shampoo and conditioner to get the knots and filth out of my hair. When I came out, wrapped in a towel, a ladies tank top and yoga pants were laid out on the bed, as well as a large, definitely not ladies hoodie.

  Trying not to think too much about why a house full of men had women’s clothes on hand, I dressed quickly and made my way downstairs, slipping the hoodie on as I went. A faint hint of expensive cologne and the scent of fresh air that lingered when clothing was dried outside in the sun wrapped around me. I paused halfway down and took a long inhale, bringing the fabric up to my nose and thinking of Josh.

  I found them all sitting around the large dining table off the kitchen. Even Alec had reappeared—he was in fresh clothing and his hair was damp, apparently having showered himself. He was hunched over a laptop and didn’t even spare me a glance.

  “Hey.” I smiled weakly at the other three boys, all of whom looked up when I entered, and I stared daggers at Alec’s impassive face before sitting down between Tyler and Ethan. Ethan’s hand went straight to my knee.

  “How are you feeling?” Tyler asked, leaning back in his chair and giving me a warm smile.

  “The shower helped. Thanks.” His question was loaded. It could have been referring to what had happened between Alec and me in the study, all the violence we had witnessed and been a part of that day, or the fact that one of my friends was dead. But I chose to keep it simple and focus on the physical. I felt like shit, but physically, the shower had made me feel better. />
  Josh’s foot nudged mine under the table, and I looked up into his intense stare. Those intelligent green eyes read exactly what I’d left unsaid; he knew I wasn’t OK, but I was hoping he wouldn’t push me to admit it. I stretched my legs farther and let them entwine with his as I gave him a pleading look.

  A sad little smile played at his lips for a moment before he spoke. “Nice hoodie.”

  It was the perfect thing to say, and it even made me smile a little. I wrapped my arms around myself and inhaled exaggeratedly. “Thanks. It’s a bit big, but I think I might keep it. I like how it smells.” I said the last part softly, almost to myself, but everyone heard.

  Alec finally lifted his head from his screen, glancing between Josh and me and frowning before going back to ignoring us.

  I chose to ignore him too, focusing my attention on Josh’s feet playing with mine under the table; Ethan’s warm hand on my knee, rubbing gentle circles with his thumb; and Tyler’s watchful gaze. At that moment, their unspoken support made me feel much better than talking about my confused feelings would have.

  “All right,” I said with a sigh, planting my elbows on the table. “Lay it on me.”

  Three sets of eyes averted their gaze.

  “Shit. Guys, what is it?”

  That little tingle of panic was welling up again. I sat up a little straighter, my senses on alert.

  As usual, Tyler took the lead. “Charlie was taken.”

  “What? What do you mean taken?” But even as I asked, my mind rehashed the encounter in the woods—the weird beeping machine, the two black-clad, armed men stepping toward me menacingly.

  Grab her.

  Then I remembered the Variant girl forming icicles from the rain and the boy, her Vital, being dragged away by another two assailants.

  Tyler explained even as my mind connected the dots. “It seems that causing chaos and baiting the Variants into a reaction wasn’t the only aim of the attack. In all the confusion, a total of twenty-seven Vitals were abducted. Charlie was one of them. Unnervingly, they knew exactly which people had the Light and were very efficient in capturing them before the bulk of the violence even got to its peak.”

  He pointed to a familiar device, black and sleek with a small handle, sitting on the table in among some other stuff and papers.

  “Whomever they were working with or for has developed a technology that is capable of identifying a Vital. It’s how they were able to home in on them so fast.”

  “Shit.” The breath rushed out of me, and I stared at the black device on the table. I knew this could potentially have some very serious ramifications for me and my guys, but all I could think about was Dot.

  Charlie was her brother and her Vital. I had no siblings and had never been close enough to anyone growing up to know what that was like, but I did have a Bond of my own. In a way, that was a kind of family.

  A sharp pain pierced my chest at the thought of one of my guys being taken from me. Even Alec. As much as he railed against it, as much as he’d been a total asshole to me only half an hour ago, he was still mine. He was part of my Bond. I was his Vital, and the Light inside me was not OK with the idea of him being taken away.

  Then I remembered how the girl with the icicles and her Vital had been taken out, and I began to panic for Dot’s well-being. I couldn’t lose another friend today.

  I pressed a hand to my chest, my breaths getting shallower, and looked frantically around the table from one somber expression to the next. “Dot . . .”

  “She’s OK,” Tyler hurriedly said, reaching a hand out to me. I breathed a sigh of relief and took it gratefully, finding comfort in his touch. “She was knocked out, but she’s fine. They’re just keeping her in the hospital in case she has a concussion.”

  I squeezed Tyler’s hand, then released it to run my hands through my hair. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I leaned on the table again, trying to decide which question to ask first. “So, this was all about abducting Vitals?”

  “No.” Tyler shook his head sadly. “I was updated by the agents still on the scene about fifteen minutes ago. We were in the thick of it, but assailants were attacking people all over campus. There are a hundred and eighteen confirmed fatalities and one hundred and ninety-two people hospitalized. But they’re still counting.”

  “Holy shit,” Ethan breathed. Across from me, Josh was shaking his head in disbelief, his eyes wide. Alec just continued to tap away at his computer, unaffected—he would have received the same updates.

  “If this was just about abducting Vitals, they would have done it more quietly,” Tyler continued. “It just doesn’t make tactical sense to kill that many people when they were clearly well trained and highly organized. They used the carnage as a cover, but that wasn’t the only reason for it.”

  “Then what? Who did this? Why?” Frustration was leaking into my voice. I couldn’t fathom what could possibly motivate someone to do this.

  “The massacre—all those people running around with guns, shooting anything that moved—that was the Human Empowerment Network. They weren’t as well organized as the guys in black or as well armed, but they were united in their hate for Variants. They released a video about an hour ago taking responsibility for it. It’s just their leader, someone they’re calling Mr. X, in a mask spewing ignorant, hateful things at the camera, but the message is clear. The Human Empowerment Network is growing, and they’re becoming militant. They’re a much bigger threat than we realized.”

  “And the Vital abductions?”

  “That was Variant Valor.” Tyler ran his own hand through his hair. I took a closer look at him—he was in sweats and a T-shirt, his hair messier than usual, and big circles drooped under his eyes. He had been home long enough to shower but not long enough to sleep. While Alec and I were in each other’s arms, letting the Light restore us, Tyler had been working his ass off to figure out what had happened, to keep us safe. He was spent.

  “They haven’t made any dramatic public statements about being involved,” he went on. “That would defy the point of using the chaos to cover up the abductions. But we have intelligence that suggests it was Variant Valor.” He shared a look with Alec, and I knew he wouldn’t be saying much more on that front—clearly that information was classified.

  “I can’t go into details,” he confirmed. “But the fact they were so well organized and armed—that alone points to Variant Valor. Plus I had an inkling of it while I still had excess Light.” He pointed to his head. He couldn’t share classified information, but we were his Bond, and he was willing to bend the rules to share what he’d learned through his ability.

  Josh asked the most important question. “What do they want with the Vitals, Gabe?”

  “We don’t know.” Tyler sighed. “We’ve been trying to figure that out since we noticed a pattern a year ago. There are a few theories, but we’re not any closer to finding an answer. They’ve never been this brazen about it though. They’ve taken twenty-seven Vitals at once. Rumors have been flying around about the strange Vital disappearances around the world, but this won’t go unnoticed. Whatever it is they’re doing, they’re gearing up for something big.”

  “Are you sure it’s Variant Valor doing this?” I asked. Why would Variants abduct Vitals? Why would we do this to ourselves? It wasn’t adding up.

  Tyler and Alec shared another look before Ty answered, “That’s classified.”

  So they were sure it was Variant Valor, but he technically wasn’t allowed to tell us that, or how they knew.

  “So, what?” Ethan was frowning at the table in front of him, his hand still firmly on my knee. “The human psychos and the Variant psychos are working together now?”

  “No, we don’t think so. Variant Valor probably just learned what the humans were planning and used it to their advantage, to cover up what they wanted to do. Look”—Tyler’s voice became very firm—“I can’t really tell you three much more. I’ve already said too much, but that’s only because I want you
to understand the gravity of the situation. The stakes have been raised, and people are really scared. This is only the beginning.”

  None of us were willing to push for more information now that Tyler had put his foot down, although, judging by Ethan and Josh’s questions, they knew as little as I did. That made me feel somewhat better. I didn’t want to be the only one out of the loop—especially in my Bond.

  My mind was racing, struggling to make sense of it all while new questions constantly popped up. Both the Human Empowerment Network and Variant Valor had proven themselves to be very real threats. While the boys’ initial insistence that we keep our Bond a secret had seemed overly dramatic and unnecessary at the time, after everything I had seen and experienced that day—and everything Tyler had told us—I completely understood it now.

  I would take the secret of our Bond to the grave if it meant keeping us safe—if it meant protecting my Variants.

  The table had gone quiet, everyone left to their own morbid thoughts. The soft sound of Alec tapping away on his laptop was the only sound in the room.

  Josh broke the silence. “How did you explain all the unconscious people on campus?”

  “I didn’t.” Tyler smirked. “I pulled rank and told them it was classified while putting on my authoritarian voice and ordering our operatives to do what needed to be done—helping the injured, gathering evidence, and so on.”

  “What about security cameras? Surely something would have recorded me transferring Light to you all.” I clasped my hands in front of me, anxiety wrapping around my throat. It was only a matter of time . . .

  “That’s one thing that worked in our favor,” Tyler answered. “They didn’t just block the cell signal. All electronics were down—anything with a chip or a power cord was useless. I suspect they had a Variant with an ability to manipulate electronics.”

  “Won’t all the people who passed out have some questions?” Ethan asked.