by J. L. Weil
His gaze narrowed. “Enough of the gam—”
I didn’t see the guard until he was suddenly behind Dash, a needle in his hand. I opened my mouth to scream Dash’s name, but it was too late. The syringe pierced his neck, and a clear liquid flowed from the tube into Dash.
He reacted immediately, grabbing the guard’s arm and flipping him onto his back. Dash quickly plunged his dagger into the guard’s chest, and then his eyes sought mine. “Freckles, are you okay?”
He’d just been injected with God knew what, and he was worried about me. “I’m not the one you should be concerned about.”
“She’s right, you know,” my father added.
Dash stumbled, dropping to his knees, and shot my father a glare of pure hatred. “What did you do to me?”
My father loomed over us, a shadow masking the side of his face. “It should be a familiar feeling, seeing as you’ve had it before.”
“Ceraspan. You injected him with the same stuff that made us sleep for a hundred years,” I seethed, anger lacing my words. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I believe you can save him,” he stated.
“Are you freaking kidding me? You had to do this now? It couldn’t have waited?”
“Yes, well, the Forsaken was an unforeseen surprise, but the Heights is notorious for being unpredictable.”
“As are you, I am learning,” I snapped. “What happens if I can’t wake him up?”
Dash’s eyes started to flutter, and it was only a matter of seconds before he closed his eyes and wouldn’t open them for another hundred years. “Charlotte,” Dash whispered my name. He tried to reach for his bow, his movements sloppy and jerky. And then it was lights out.
Seeing Dash lifeless on the ground brought on an intense round of déjà vu I never wanted to feel again. He had only days ago been so close to the brink of death, and here he was again, unconscious, his life dependent on me.
I didn’t want to admit it, but we were both screwed. Spinning around, my fists clenched at my sides, a dangerous cocktail of emotions brewed within me. “Okay, so what the hell do I do? How do I wake him? That’s what you expect me to do, isn’t it?”
I had started putting together the pieces, but it was hard to process all of this when my mind was reeling from everything that had happened in the last hour: the Night’s Guard overpowering us, seeing the Forsaken, fighting for our lives. Somehow my father had gotten it stuck in his thick skull that I had the power to wake people from the Slumber.
Maybe he was right, but it just seemed insensitive to put me through this right now. For his sake, he better be right or I was going to go postal up in here.
“Can we just get this over with?” Ember grumbled.
“Do you do anything other than complain?” Ryker shot back at her.
I ignored all the noise around me, drowning out their voices and dropping to my knees beside Dash. I didn’t know what I was doing, and it made me anxious. Taking a deep breath, I placed my hands on either side of his face, his skin still warm. I forced my mind to concentrate on making him wake up, regardless that it was difficult to see him lying on the ground, defenseless and vulnerable.
I don’t know how much time went by. Seconds? Minutes? But one thing I was certain of: nothing happened. He didn’t wake up, and my head throbbed from focusing so intently.
That was it.
With my head hung low, I slowly got to my feet and spread my fingers out—one by one, energy crackling between them.
I wanted to hurt someone—a dangerous feeling for someone with ungodly power, and I knew exactly who to direct my rage toward. “You son of a bitch.” Venom dripped from my voice, and suddenly, I wasn’t myself. Angry lightning cracked in spears across the sky, shooting down to the ground, shaking it under my feet.
“Charlotte, I didn’t have a choice. You understand that.” My father trying to reason with me was a joke.
I lifted my head, electricity raging all around me as my eyes burned with hurt, anger, and hate. “I’m going to destroy you,” I said in a dark voice I didn’t recognize as my own. A powerful tone punctuated the words. And I meant every one of them. They would pay.
“Charlotte,” Ryker said calmly, trying to gain my attention, but I only had eyes for one person.
My father shook his head. “It’s possible I was wrong, but Dash will wake. I gave him a low dose of Ceraspan. He will only be asleep for a few weeks.”
“A few weeks?” I echoed. Wrong answer. And what would I do while Dash slept for weeks? Return to the Institute?
Oh, that was rich and exactly what my father wanted.
I’d fallen for his trap. I should have known this was always about the Institute getting their hands on Dash and me. It was all they really cared about.
Two guards came into my peripheral vision. “Stay away from him, or so help me God, I will strike you down.”
They both stopped dead in their tracks.
Scowling, my father put on his stern expression. “We can’t stay out here, Charlotte. We must go. No one will hurt him.”
Didn’t he see that he already had? “What makes you think I’d go anywhere with you?” The sight of him churned my stomach.
“This is for your own good, Charlotte. Dash’s too. Together we can save the Heights.”
“You might think so, and although you might make a valid argument, everything you’ve said got vetoed the moment you decided to use Dash and me. We’re not your puppets.”
“We can figure this all out when we get back to Diamond Towers. Your mother might have something that could speed up the sleeping process.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. What choice did I have? I could agree to go voluntarily, or the Night’s Guards would take us by force. Either option ended with Dash and me back at the Institute. My only consolation was that we would be together… if my father kept his word. And that was a big if. “I agree we need to do something to protect us from the Forsaken, but if we come with you, it is on our terms. No locked doors. No dungeons. And no experimenting without consent. And you won’t separate us.”
He opened his mouth and closed it. I could see by the crinkles at the corner of his mouth that he wasn’t happy with the terms, but in the end, he relented. “I give you my word.”
“No offense, but your word doesn’t mean shit to me.”
My father arched a brow at my language. “Then what do you suggest?”
“A leap of faith,” Ryker had the nerve to suggest.
I snorted. Taking a deep breath, I glanced down at Dash, unable to believe what I was about to do. Life sure knew how to throw a curveball. With lightning striking in my eyes, I raised my head and glowered at my father. “Fine, but if you harm him in any way, I will bring down the Institute around you and everyone in it.”
My father nodded.
Leaning down, I pressed my lips to Dash’s. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry. I don’t see any another way, but I swear I will protect you as you have always protected me.”
“I hope you do a better job,” said a voice I hadn’t been prepared to hear for weeks.
I rocked back, staring down into a handsomely sculpted face. “Dash?”
His eyes fluttered open, an impish grin tugging at his lips. “Were you expecting someone else?”
I threw my arms around his neck. “You’re awake.”
“Thanks to you, Freckles.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I kind of agreed we’d go to the Institute,” I whispered and helped him sit up.
His brows pinched together. “We’ll worry about that later.” Weariness lined his expression, and I remembered what it had been like the last time I’d been drugged—by my father, nonetheless.
Talk about ironic.
Together we rose to our feet, facing my father. “I knew you could do it,” he said. “Those eyes of yours are incredible.”
“I never should have had to do it.” A familiar feeling settled over me, and I cursed these powers the Institu
te was so interested in. My hand grabbed onto Dash’s forearm as I steadied myself. He might have said my name; I couldn’t be sure. All the sounds around me were washed out as if I was drowning. But I wasn’t sinking underwater. I was on the verge of drowning in darkness.
Then there was nothing, but it was okay. Dash would protect me. He would keep me safe. And most importantly, he was awake.
Epilogue
DASH
I caught Charlotte before she hit the ground.
She was light in my arms as I lifted her up, and I made a mental note to shove a steak down her throat when she awoke. For seconds, the world disappeared around me as I concentrated on the girl in my arms. It never failed to stop my heart each time she fainted, but for the time being, I had other concerns, like getting us to safety.
“Stay the hell away from her,” I growled as her father approached. “I’m not letting you have her.” The old man had another thing coming if he thought I was just going to hand her over. Not in this lifetime. I’d seen what he had done to her the last time I’d left her in his care. Never again.
Dr. Winston scowled at me. “I only want what is best for Charlotte, and you know that the Institute is the only place in the Heights that has the technology she needs if there is something wrong with her.”
I could see in his green eyes how much he hated that I was threatening to keep Charlotte from him. Too. Damn. Bad. And I didn’t want to admit that what he said was true. The Institute might be her best chance at figuring out why her powers cause the blackouts. “So you’re finally willing to believe she might be in danger?”
“I know that every day she stays out here with you she’s at risk. If there is something causing the blackouts, the medical staff at the Institute will do everything in their power to understand what it is and how we can help her.”
Ember moved forward, her eyes glued onto her older sister’s lifeless face. “Is she okay?”
Was that concern I heard in her voice? If I couldn’t have seen the expression in her eyes, I never would have believed it. I hadn’t been sure Ember was capable of such an emotion, but it was encouraging to see that there was still a glimmer of affection Ember carried for Charlotte. It would mean the world to Charlotte, and it was a shame she wasn’t awake to see it for herself.
“I think so. She usually wakes up, but she’s never out for the same amount of time.”
“We should go,” Ryker said behind me. “If there are any other Forsaken nearby, we don’t want to draw them from the mist.”
I couldn’t believe what I was about to do. Dash, you’re out of your mind. I turned back to Dr. Winston, taking a chance I prayed I wouldn’t later come to regret. “I have a few conditions. We’ll go with you back to the Institute, but I won’t leave your daughter’s side. You try to lock me up, and I will only break out time and time again. There is nothing, not a single place you can keep me, that would stop me from finding her.”
He paused. “Understood.”
“And I want to know more about what you’re doing with the DNA samples. No more experimenting on humans without their knowledge. I will voluntarily give you what you need, but not Charlotte. She must have nothing to do with it.”
He didn’t jump so fast on that request. His eyes flickered to his daughter before returning to meet mine with ice in them. “You have my word.”
“I also want to know everything about the Forsaken. If there are more of those things out there, then we have bigger problems than our mutual dislike for each other.”
“Agreed. And I have a condition of my own.”
A frown pulled at the corner of my lips. “I’m not in the mood to bargain.”
“I think you’ll find this one congenial. You must do everything in your power to keep her safe.” He nodded toward Charlotte. “Even if it means putting your life in danger.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing?”
“Then we understand each other.”
“I don’t think we’ll ever fully understand one another, but I agree to go back to Diamond Towers.”
Unable to help myself, I carefully brushed a stray curl off her face, letting the silky strands wrap around my finger. This girl made my heart stop and not always in a good way. I’d never cared about someone’s safety other than my own, since I’d awoken from the slumber. My heart hurt when I thought about seeing her pale and on the ground. Luckily, I’d been close, catching her before her head rammed into the pine-covered dirt.
I wanted more than anything to see her eyes flutter open and for her to smile up at me, to hear her musical laugh. It wouldn’t last long sadly, once she saw where we were. At least I wasn’t in a dungeon this time, and no one was more surprised by that than me. Maybe the doctor really had a heart after all. It seemed like he had finally taken what I had said about Charlotte’s abilities being more than her body could handle seriously. About damn time someone listened to me. I could only hope he finally understood and that where she was concerned, our motives were in line and they would continue to be so as long as it was about putting Charlotte’s safety first.
I didn’t know how much time had passed since she’d collapsed. But I hadn’t left her side—refusing to leave was a more accurate description.
Stretching my stiff muscles, I lay beside her, running my fingers through her hair, hoping it would soothe her. How many times would I stare down into her breathtaking face, wondering if I would be able to gaze into her mesmerizing eyes? It seemed as if more and more often she lost the battle over her powers, the darkness taking over. To say I was concerned was the understatement of the freaking year.
As if I didn’t have enough to worry about, I was back in the place I vowed to never step foot in again. It was amazing the things you would do for love. For Charlotte, I would walk through the gates of hell, which was precisely what it felt like returning to the Institute.
I leaned over and brushed my lips against hers. At one time, I had thought my kiss had pulled her from the Slumber. Silly, but hey, I had an ego the size of Diamond Towers. Come to find out, Charlotte had woken herself. It had only taken a kiss, but it had been my kiss. I could at least take credit for that.
Like that first time, she stirred.
The power of her lips was incredible and troublesome. I feared what the Institute would do to her, using her as their secret weapon as they had me. I never wanted that for Charlotte, but after what I’d seen today with my own eyes, I couldn’t deny that we had to do something to ensure the existence of the world we’d started to build here.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.”
She blinked, shielding the eyes I longed to see for a second before they focused on my face. “Dash,” she whispered and then smiled. “We’re okay.”
The grin on my face wavered just a fraction, but it was enough for her to stiffen, alarm trickling through her rainbow eyes. “Yeah. We’re safe.” I didn’t want to worry her right off the bat. We had plenty of time for that later.
“What is it?” She dragged her eyes away from mine and glanced around the room. Her cheeks turned red, but any color was better than none. “Crap,” she muttered.
“My sentiments exactly.”
“Holy, pink floral.” She groaned. “Ugh. I had hoped to never see this condemned room again. I can’t stay in here.” Scooting up, she flipped the blanket off her.
“You’re telling me. Pink is not my color. Who decorated this place anyway?” My antics to distract her didn’t work. “Hey there, what’s the rush?” I slipped an arm around her and tugged her close.
Her lips twitched. “You planning to be my roomy?”
“I plan on not letting you out of my sight for even a split second, so you better get used to looking at this handsome face.”
“I could do that.”
“You say that now. Give it a few weeks.”
She wiggled out from under my arm and sat up on the bed. “So, we’re back at the Institute.”
I followed suit, leaning against the headboard. �
��Your father didn’t give us much of a choice.”
Her pretty lips frowned. “He is good at that.”
“Hey, at least this time I’m not in the dungeon,” I replied, rubbing our noses together.
“For the moment.”
“I hate to say it, but I think this time is different.”
“I wish I had your enthusiasm.”
I tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “How are you feeling?”
She nibbled on her lip, fidgeting with the ends of her hair. “Okay, considering. I’m just not sure being here is the right move. It makes me edgy.”
I exhaled slowly. “Me too,” I admitted. “But I promise you, I won’t let them separate us. And for the first time, we know why the Institute has been building a supernatural army. There are more of those things out there and it has them scared.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m scared.”
“It’s okay to be afraid. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t too.”
She rose onto her knees, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and placing a soft kiss on my lips.
I blinked. “What was that for?”
“For catching me when I fall.” Her eyes were like sherbet melting on a sultry summer night. How was I supposed to resist the temptation she offered? My willpower dissolved. Why should I?
Why indeed?
She rested her forehead against mine. “I can’t believe you agreed to come back to Diamond Towers. Most guys would have run for the hills considering who my family is.”
“It crossed my mind,” I teased, earning a playful punch in the arm. “I’m not like most guys. Haven’t you figured that out?”
“Oh, I already knew that. I’m just glad you’re stuck with me.”
I clasped my hands onto her hips and tugged her over so she sat in my lap. My lips touched hers in a soft, tentative kiss, brushing across them in a sweet test of wills. “Freckles,” I whispered.
“Dash.”
The low growl of my name sent a series of shivers through me. I pulled her roughly against me. “I’m looking forward to the day when I can stop worrying about you.”