by J. L. Weil
My brain clicked off as his fingers tightened on my waist, skimming just under my shirt. As my hands slid up his chest, looping around his neck, I kept telling myself not to get emotionally involved. It was just a kiss—a very deep, scorching kiss that left me breathless and heady.
But there was no stopping now. I was sunk.
And I couldn’t keep lying to myself.
I cared about Dash. A lot. I would have to deal with whatever did or didn’t happen between us.
My teeth caught his lower lip, and he pulled back, ending the hottest kiss of my life and leaving me unstable and dazed. I would have been content to stay right here, overlooking the valley and the sparkling lights of Diamond Towers as long as Dash held me in his arms. But as I glanced into his eyes, I knew it was a dream not likely to happen.
Nothing had changed.
Other than giving into a moment of weakness, the troubled expression that crossed onto his face was clear. There still could be nothing between us.
And my heart hurt.
I forced myself to step out of his arms and shifted my gaze to the ground. “We should move,” I whispered. The coast was clear. No guards. No voices. It was a miracle we hadn’t been discovered making out on the side of a mountain.
“Freckles,” he said, bringing my gaze up to his, but I didn’t want to listen to him make any more lame excuses about how he shouldn’t have kissed me. His scowl was enough.
“Save it. There’s no need to make a big deal out of this. Let me worry about my feelings.” I didn’t wait for him to say something. Flipping my hair, I brushed past him, edging my way along the rocky path back down the mountain.
Dash moved a whole lot quieter behind me, but he followed, and he didn’t press me to talk. Thank God. If I opened my mouth, I couldn’t be held responsible for what ridiculousness came out.
We reached the bottom of the rocky incline, and I assumed we’d had our last brush with the Institute and their puppets, at least for the night. I was wrong.
Dash had instincts like a panther. Crouching behind a bush, he assessed the situation laid out in front of us. I scooted down beside him, pushing aside the large leaves. There was a line of guards standing in the field before us that made me wish we were back up on the mountain.
“How do you feel about spending the night in a bush?” he whispered.
“Are there bugs?”
“Uh, no?”
“That was so not convincing. How long do you think they plan on standing out there?” I asked.
“All night.”
“Fabulous.” I squinted my eyes, scanning the face of the guards. Trist and Saber were talking with another guard, and beside them was a female. I assumed it was Ember. Her back was to me, but she reminded me of someone, and it wasn’t only her snobbish and self-righteous behavior. I’d known plenty of girls like that. It was the glint of her reddish-brown hair against the light of a torch that struck a chord of recognition.
Then she turned around, and the air stalled in my lungs. The world stopped spinning. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A burst of happiness followed the shock. “Monroe,” I whispered.
“Charlotte, don’t move,” Dash hissed.
I heard him, but what he was saying didn’t register. All I could think about was getting to my little sister. I had found her.
“Dammit,” he growled.
I didn’t even get a full step before Dash tackled me, pinning me to the ground with his body.
Chapter 20
“Let me go!” I seethed. “I’ll scream.”
His hand covered my mouth. “There is nothing you can do, Freckles.”
Nothing I could do? That’s what he thought. I jerked against the weight of his body, but it was a waste of effort. There was no way I would be able to move him, so I resorted to a dirty tactic. I bit him.
“You little minx,” he growled, eyes luminous.
Dash could call me all the names he wanted, but it had gotten the job done, and I wasn’t about to lose the opportunity to make him see reason. I had to save her. Didn’t he see? “That’s my sister out there! She needs me.”
He caught my flailing wrists, pinning them to the ground. Silver eyes burned into mine. “Stop fighting me! You have to listen. That girl out there, she is not your sister, not the one you remember. And trust me, Ember needs no one. She is under the control of the Institute. Nothing you can do will save her.”
I didn’t think there was anything he could say that would make me think of Monroe as anything other than the pesky, lively, kindhearted—and yet stubborn when she believed in something—little girl. Monroe was only two years younger than me, but from the time she’d been born, I’d looked out for her.
“You don’t understand,” I argued, feeling desperate and frantic. “I know her. She would never hurt me.”
“That might have once been true.” The doubt was so obvious in his voice I wanted to prove him wrong. How could he possibly know anything about Monroe?
Since the moment I’d woken up, I’d longed to see a familiar face. And now she was out there. The only thing separating our reunion was six feet two inches of muscle. “Isn’t the whole point of this expedition to find my family? Well, we have, and now you won’t let me talk to her?”
Dash held me still, ignoring my protests. “I’ve never met a more obstinate female in my life. I’m trying to keep you from getting killed.”
I wiggled underneath him. “Why do you care?”
He released one of my wrists and grazed my cheek. “Beats the shit out of me, but I do care.”
I jerked at the warm zing his touch produced. “If that’s true, then let me at least try to talk to her.”
“No.”
He tried to touch me again, but I wrenched my chin away. “God, you’re so full of yourself. What would you do if it was your brother?”
His eyes bore into mine.
I stopped struggling and let him see how important this was to me, making myself vulnerable. All the fight went out of me, my body going lax in his arms. “I’m okay now.”
He lifted a brow.
“I promise.”
He paused, exhaling roughly. “If something goes wrong. … If I can’t protect you. …”
I laid a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I know the risk. And Monroe’s worth it.”
“Is she now?” said a voice from the other side of the bush.
Dash rolled off me, snatching his bow off the ground beside him and kneeling on one knee, arrow pulled back against the string. “You move … you twitch … and I won’t hesitate to shoot,” he thundered lowly.
The voice laughed. “Still as jumpy as ever.”
Our little scuffle in the bushes hadn’t gone completely unnoticed. While Dash and I had wrangled over who was the boss of me, we had attracted the attention of the Night’s Guards. I blamed Dash. If he hadn’t gone all cavemen on me, we wouldn’t have found ourselves surrounded by six of the Institute’s finest. Not an absurd number, but I didn’t know them; however I knew Monroe.
Here was my chance, and what was I doing? I was sprawled out on the ground gaping at her.
Collecting myself, I pushed to my feet and brushed off the leaves and dirt. I looked at Dash as I left the covering of the brush, and I swear I heard his voice in my head. Be careful. Of course, that was insane, and for a moment, a trickle of fear moved through my veins.
With sweaty palms, I stepped into the clearing and whispered her name. “Monroe.”
I wasn’t sure what I expected. Maybe for her to come running into my arms, or for her to shriek in surprise. My eyes were trained on her, waiting for the glow of recognition to beam in her expression.
I couldn’t stop staring at her face. She had changed. I guess a hundred years would do that to you, but it wasn’t just the angles of her cheeks or the extra inch of height; it went past skin deep. The green eyes that had once mirrored mine looked upon me with a haunting scorn, instead of the big sister admiration.
It was
hard to admit, but Dash might have been right. I took a step back, feeling as if I’d been sucker punched, my mouth going dry. “Monroe,” I called again. “Don’t you remember me?”
Dash was behind me, and I could feel the tenseness coming off him. Someone was ready for a rumble. Out of the corner of my eye, two guards shifted their stance, and for a second, I thought they were going to bum-rush me.
“Don’t,” Monroe ordered. It was her voice, but not—sharp and clipped, unlike that of a fifteen year old. But I guess, depending on when she had woken, it was possible she could be my age … or older. Thinking about it screwed with my head. Monroe stepped forward, looking me over. “My name’s Ember. And you’re in violation of the Institute’s intake law.”
I forced myself to breathe slowly. “Look, I know things are different now, but you can’t trust these people, Monroe. Come with me.”
“You know her?” Trist accused, eyes bouncing to me.
Ember cut him with a sharp glare. “Does it matter?”
He snickered. “Wait until the commissioner hears about this.”
“Grab her,” Ember ordered.
What?! Was she kidding?
“What about him?” the guard to her left asked. He had the eyes and fangs of a lion.
My mouth gaped as Monroe’s hands were engulfed in flames, a wicked smile on her faerie features. “Leave the elusive Dash to me.”
Ember, as she was calling herself, angled her body toward Dash. “Miss me?”
His mouth twisted into an ugly shape. “I wouldn’t say that is the emotion I’m feeling.”
I took another step back and found I couldn’t go any farther. Two guards had moved in behind me.
“Keep your paws to yourself, or I promise you’ll regret it,” Dash thundered. The trigger on his temper was about a centimeter long.
The two guards hesitated, seedy eyes boomeranging between Dash and Ember. They seemed confused. It dawned on me that once upon a time, Dash would have been in Ember’s place, barking the orders.
“What are you waiting for?” Ember hollered.
“Monroe, please. You don’t have to do this,” I begged, trying to reach the little girl who had once been my best friend.
“Stop calling me that. You know nothing about me.”
Maybe not, but if she gave me a chance. …
It didn’t take me long to see that was not going to happen.
The guards, obviously more afraid of my little sister than Dash, grabbed me by the arms.
Bozos.
I would have feared Dash ten out of ten times over Ember. Before I could wrangle myself free and try this self-defense move I’d learned in gym, the guards set me free. Correction: as I glanced down, they hadn’t been given a choice, because neither of them were breathing anymore, their eyes lifeless.
I tried not to freak out as the ground soaked up their blood, an arrow embedded into each of their chests.
“I warned you.” Dash got to his feet, looking really, really angry.
A twisted smile cracked the corners of Ember’s lips. “You just had to go and do that, didn’t you? Always were a show-off. My turn.” I’d forgotten about the flames flickering from Ember’s hands. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one in the family who got the superhero gene; except staring at Ember, I determined she might have gotten the villain chromosome.
With a flick of her wrist, globes of fire drifted between Dash and me, separating us as we darted away, barely avoiding our faces being incinerated. The flames sent shards of fractured light over the land.
Chaos ensued.
I hit the ground, shielding my face as cinders danced around me. The nickname suddenly made sense. My sister was a pyro.
Chapter 21
“Charlotte!” Dash cried, leaping through the towering flames. He reached me in two long strides.
“Are you insane?” I coughed, a mouthful of smoke clogging my lungs.
He pulled me to my feet. “Stay close.”
Uh, if I could have glued myself to his side, I probably would have. My pulse was all over the place, and apparently when I got panicky, my defenses went haywire. Little prickles of electricity danced up and down my arms.
“We’re going to get out of this,” he murmured.
I didn’t know how he always knew what I was feeling, but in times like this, it was encouraging.
He ran a hand through his tousled hair. “Hey Freckles, maybe do that thing you do.”
I got the message. He wanted me to bring the storm. “I-I don’t know that I can.” As the flames died down, I once again found myself looking eye to eye with Monroe. I mean Ember. Whoever. No matter what she called herself, she was my sister.
A shadow pooled to my right, and as I took a step closer to Dash, the inky mass built itself into a shape, an outline of a man. I’d never seen anything like him, but then again, my sister had just shot flames from her hands.
“Crap,” I muttered.
Dash’s whole body tensed. “Um, Freckles, how about that storm?”
No pressure.
The shadow took the form of a human male. What was with the Institute and recruiting teens? He might have been twenty at the most, but he was built like the Hulk. The dude looked like he ate steroids for breakfast.
“You keep an eye on your sister,” Dash instructed. “I’ll keep beefcake and the others busy while you figure out how to get your mojo back.”
“Dash, are you insane?” I squeaked. “He’ll kill you.”
Dash smirked. “Haven’t you learned yet? I’m pretty damn hard to kill.”
What a fool. There wasn’t time to argue. The tall tank with icy blond hair was strutting our way.
What had I done?
This was entirely my fault. If I had listened to Dash when he’d tried to warn me about Monroe … And now we were here, once again outnumbered by the Institute, but this time, I wasn’t so sure we were going to slip away. Eventually, luck ran out.
Ember appeared beside me, and I jumped. “You scared me,” I scolded, forgetting for a second this wasn’t my little sister, but Ember crazy-pants.
“You should be scared of me,” she replied, right before she swung her leg out, catching me in the stomach with the heel of her boot.
I went up into the air, landing on my back. Jarring pain ricocheted through my bones. I wanted to curl into the fetal position and groan but forced myself to roll onto my side, clutching my belly and gasping. Having the wind knocked out of you sucked llama balls. “What the hell, Monroe!?” I wheezed, shoving the hair out of my face.
“How many times do I have to tell you? My. Name. Is. Ember.”
Okay. Point made. But I still didn’t understand why she’d hit me. An insidious shadow crept into my line of vision. Dash was dealing with his own problems.
I wanted to defend myself, but how could I hurt the one person I had protected most of my life? Not that she seemed to care about my well-being. And if I waited for Dash to finish taking care of the other guards, it might be too late. I’d seen Dash do remarkable things, but if we were going to escape this time, he was going to need my help.
“Don’t make me fight you,” I said, shoving to my feet. Light filled my veins, moving through every cell in my body. Behind me, lightning snapped in the dark sky. Looked like someone got her mojo back.
“I can’t wait until the commissioner sees you,” was Ember’s response. She went to grab my wrist but jerked back immediately after contact. Lips turned down, she stared at her hands. “Did you just shock me?” she accused, her glass bottle eyes sharpening.
I flicked out my hands. “It’s probably not a good idea to touch me.”
She chuckled, gaze moving to the light show happening overhead. The flash of yellow lit in her irises. “Big sister got morphed. Always did have to steal the spotlight.”
We circled each other. Behind me a grunt was followed by a thump. Dash sounded as if he had his hands full. … I sympathized. A glow burned behind my eyes, purplish in color. “I’m
electric … when I want to be.”
“Oh good, this is going to be fun.”
Dry lightning crackled across the sky in a burst of white light. Oh, yeah. I was feeling pretty badass right about now. Spreading my feet apart, I centered my gravity. “What happened to you?”
“Let’s make a deal, sis. You come with me, and I’ll tell you,” she countered.
That sounded like a double-cross if I’d ever heard one. “Why? So the Institute can make me into a killer?”
“I see Dash has been filling your head with lies. He has that effect on people. There are reasons the Institute exists. Humankind wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for the existence of Night’s Guards.”
I didn’t like the way she said his name. It made me wonder how well Ember and Dash knew each other. A flare of white-hot jealousy rippled inside me, and I hated it. The last thing I ever thought I would be doing was fighting over a guy with my sister. That wasn’t the relationship we had … or used to have.
“Charlotte, we need to wrap this up,” Dash interrupted.
I risked a glance at him. It was weird watching people fight with abilities. It was a mixture of hand to hand and stuff only found in movies. He ducked just as beefcake swung. Dash used his size as an advantage, recovering quicker than the giant-sized guard, and planted his fist into his ribcage.
I winced at the sound of a bone crunching.
“Still haven’t changed your name, I see. How long have you been awake, wandering around with a fugitive?” Ember asked, drawing my attention back to her.
“A few weeks.”
Surprise flickered across her face. “That’s impossible.”
“I think in the scheme of things, nothing is impossible.”
“You might be right.” She flicked out her wrists, letting them submerge in flames. “How about we make a deal?”
“What kind of deal?”