The pang Milo’s words send through me is echoed in Braden’s frustrated growl. He looks at Milo squarely, demanding. “Was saving the Ciphers worth losing her?”
Braden’s question incites a storm of emotion in Milo’s eyes. It hurts so much to see the indecision he’s battling. Despite his anger, I had hoped, prayed his answer would be no. Braden holds my heart in his hands now, but pieces chip off and fall into an emotional abyss. Braden is still waiting for an answer, but I have mine. I tuck it away somewhere I won’t easily find it again and dry the tears from my cheeks.
“I’m not proud of how I ended up with Libby,” Braden admits in the face of Milo’s silence, “but I can’t change anything now. None of us can. To be honest, I wouldn’t even if I could.”
I suck in a horrified breath as Milo’s fist launches at Braden. My eyes close against the image, but I hear the impact all the same. The crack of knuckles on cheekbone staggers me. Talent meeting no talent is a sickening sound. Opening my eyes feels like torture. Fear that I stood back when I should have stopped them makes the motion slow and dread filled. When I finally force myself to look, the image of Milo standing over Braden is too much to bear. I dart forward, but a firm hand holds me back yet again. I glare over at Lance, but Milo’s acidic voice makes me shiver and hold back.
“Stay away from me,” Milo spits at Braden, “and stay out of my way. I want nothing to do with either of you anymore. I want the Guardians dead. That’s all I have left.”
Wiping blood off his face along the way, Braden makes it back to his feet. My heart lurches, checking every movement for serious damage. He shakes off any lingering disorientation and faces Milo. “I have no intention of getting in your way or forcing my presence on you. I’m here to help Libby bring down the Guardians, and that’s what I intend to do.”
“I don’t want your help,” Milo snaps.
“But she does.”
Milo shifts, the movement belying his desire to take another swing. If he goes after him again, Lance won’t be able to hold me back. I don’t know how Braden withstood the first hint, but I have no intention of watching him cave under a second. Thankfully, Milo reins in his fury, for the most part.
He glares at Braden, no hint of wavering in his voice when he speaks. “I can’t force you to leave, but if you do anything to jeopardize our chances of bringing an end to the Guardians, nothing Libby can do will stop me from coming after you.”
It’s not an empty threat, and Braden knows that, but he nods in understanding. That simple gesture seems to drain the room of its sizzling tension. Mistrust, anger, and awkwardness remain, but the cooling is enough to reset the temperature of the meeting. They both approach the table. Each goes to an opposite side, but their agreement holds. The discussion resumes, haltingly at first, but the beginning of a plan to kidnap the most dangerous Guardian in town slowly starts to form on the back of a crack in my army that has the potential to split wide and engulf us completely.
Tighter than ever, I hold onto the secret of the Socius, knowing that everything could shatter if it ever slips free.
Chapter 20
An Empty Place
“Is Daniel any closer to being able to completely conceal himself yet?” I ask Lance as we pull up to the training house.
It’s been ages since we learned where Drake is hiding. Lance wasn’t joking when he said it wasn’t going to be easy getting to him. Almost two months later, and we’re still not ready to go after him. Everyone is on edge about the time it’s taking us, but Milo can think of little else. I’m not the only one worried about his growing obsession anymore.
The hacienda Drake is staying at hasn’t even been the problem as much as getting everyone trained enough to be able to pull off what we need them to do. Week after week, we’ve planned, trained, and argued about everything from tactics to who will be on the abduction team. All of that is moot unless we can get more than me, and maybe Milo and Lance capable of putting their talents into full offensive use.
“Not as of yesterday,” Lance says. “He’s supposed to be working with Hammond today.”
“That’s good. If Hammond can’t teach him, nobody will be able to. It’s ridiculous how quickly he’s taken to Concealment. He doesn’t have the power I do, but he can do as much with it as I can.”
“And that’s some high praise given that you grew up with your mom and grandpa, who are scary, top level Concealers.” Lance has had the misfortune of experiencing both of their power just like I have. It wasn’t pleasant.
Lance reaches over and taps my leg out of habit, a sign that he’s ready to get moving. I wince and swat his hand away. “Please don’t do that.”
“Oh, shoot. Sorry, I forgot.” He shrugs apologetically and gets out without touching me again.
He wouldn’t have forgotten if he could see the other side of my face. I don’t push my dark hair behind my ear like I often do. I need the camouflage. Stiff muscles make me move a little slower than normal as I get out of the car. Lance is waiting for me, lonely without Hope, who’s out of town helping her parents pack up the last of their stuff to bring it down here and make their move official. I reach him, limping only slightly, and knock his hand away when he tries to help me. He tries to grab my elbow again, but the sound of feet bounding down the front stairs stops him.
I look up too quickly, making my hair fall back, and instantly regret the movement. Braden’s eyes bulge. He stumbles down the last few steps, still managing to stay on his feet, amazingly enough.
“What happened?” he demands. He rushes to my side and brushes my hair back to inspect the hideous purple bruise covering the lower half of my face.
“It’s nothing,” I say quickly. “I’ll be fine.”
“This is not nothing! Who did this?” Braden demands.
Maybe lying has just become second nature to me, given the constant battle to investigate reversing Braden’s Serqet without Milo finding out, but when Lance opens his mouth I beg him to shut it again. He doesn’t. “Blackwood pulled her out of class today.”
I brace myself for a shock of anger, but it doesn’t come. Instead, fear and concern douse me. Braden’s fingers gently probe my skin, his lips kissing my forehead once he’s sure the damage isn’t too bad. Knowing Milo didn’t do this makes his response much softer. Braden’s only other chance to respond to me being injured has involved Milo, so I expected something different. With Braden, my wellbeing is his first concern. A few times, that has almost led to fights between him and Milo. For the sake of me not getting injured and Braden not getting dead, Lance refuses to schedule anymore training session between me and Milo because of his habit of taking out his anger and frustration on me … and enjoying it. Braden’s anger and desire to pay back his former boss will come later, I’m sure, but not yet.
“I was afraid something like this would happen. I wondered why he hadn’t pulled you out already. I thought he was planning something,” Braden says. “What happened? What did he do?”
His concern makes me smile. I love it. “Calm down, Braden, it wasn’t anything like you’re thinking. Blackwood didn’t plan anything. I don’t think he’s smart enough for that.”
“Why has it taken him so long to grab you, then?”
“Principal Andrews,” Lance says. “Blackwood was the one who told her to expel Libby, and after the board reversed her decision she’s taken a lot of flak for it. Word has been getting around about what Libby told everyone at the hearing, thanks to Jen. Not to mention the effect of having all the Ciphers get in contact with their non-Cipher friends and telling them the truth has had. Most people are scared of Guardians as it is, and Libby’s testimony didn’t help that. Plus, Andrews would prefer to keep her job. She’s been fighting Blackwood for the right to pull Libby out since she came back. She refused to let him take her off campus.”
Braden just stares at Lance after that spiel. “How do you know all of that?”
“Jen’s still good for something,” Lance laughs.
Braden doesn’
t laugh. He recognizes the name and frowns. “Jen. The one who took the pictures?”
I nod. “She used to be my best friend, remember? She’s a grade younger than me, and she’s a Concealer. My mom has been grooming her since her Inquest. Taking pictures isn’t the only thing she knows how to do. She keeps following me around at school, which is getting really annoying,” I say.
“She’s your ex-best friend,” Braden says, “so why would she be telling you stuff like this, and how does Jen even know?”
Lance looks over at me and shakes his head. “I know we’re not the only two people in the world who read the school blog. Come one, Braden, you have to know how valuable gossip is as an intelligence source. Jen is one of the school’s reporters. She digs up anything and everything that happens at that school and posts it on the school blog. She’s been ranting about it for weeks.”
“I haven’t seen any of this in the intel reports,” Braden says with a frown.
“The web address was in the list I gave you weeks ago. You were supposed to check them all out.” Lance rolls his eyes when Braden admits he didn’t even look at the blog, thinking it wasn’t important. “Keep an eye on it from now on. In fact, Jen will probably have a full account of what happened with Blackwood posted within the hour if she doesn’t already.”
“Wait, what? Jen was there, too?” Braden asks.
Yeah, that made the whole thing twice as fun. Although, I suppose her spreading what really happened around to a few more people really can’t do anything but help my case. If she tells the truth. For a second, I worry about what she’ll post. My mom’s influence on her can’t be anything to be thrilled about, but I have to hope she hasn’t changed that much. Jen is relentless when it comes to getting the information she wants, but she’s also honest. She wants the truth even more than the sensationalism.
“Jen got released from class by using the excuse that she was covering our training session for the school paper. She watched the whole thing from the bleachers,” I say. My leg is starting to ache more from standing up, so I try not to limp as I walk over to the hood of the car and sit down. I don’t do a good enough job. Braden doesn’t miss the distinct hint that my face isn’t the only place Blackwood got me and frowns deeply. The edge of anger I was expecting starts to creep in.
“What happened?” he asks.
I shrug. “Blackwood wanted me to fight him, and I refused. If he wants to know what else I can do, he’ll have to wait until we meet up off school property.”
“So, he hit you because you wouldn’t spar with him?” Barden asks. “I wouldn’t think Blackwood would do something so stupid. This could get him into a lot of trouble. Especially since there was a witness.”
“Well,” I say slowly, “it didn’t exactly happen like that. I may have baited him into hitting me.” Braden scowls at me and waits for an explanation. “Don’t look at me like that. I knew what I was doing. He’s so eager to get out of the doghouse with Drake that riling him up a little was too easy. I told him I wouldn’t fight him, that it would be too easy for me to kill him by accident. I laid it on pretty thick. He’s really rather weak minded, to be honest. The first time he hit me, I didn’t try to block him, but I made it look like I was going to defend myself if he came at me again. He got in a few more hits before he realized I was playing with him. That’s also when he remembered Jen was there. He sent me back to class after that, and disappeared. I don’t think he’ll try to pull me out again anytime soon. Maybe if we’re lucky, Drake will hear about it.”
Braden’s grimace doesn’t go away. It does take on a more sullen quality, though, as he walks over to me and pulls me gently into his arms. “You let him hurt you just to get rid of him and give Jen something to write about? Libby, you can’t risk yourself like that. I don’t like seeing you hurt. Please tell me this won’t happen again.”
“I do what I have to, Braden.”
He frowns and turns my face so he can see the bruise again. The lightest touch of his fingers makes me wince. His lips press against my skin just above the bruise and linger there, making the pain disappear and replacing it with a different kind of ache. I catch sight of Lance from the corner of my eye as he rolls his eyes and bails on us. Poor guy really misses Hope. But I’m not too concerned about him right now. I turn my head and catch Braden’s lips, sliding my hand through his hair and pulling him closer. His mouth moves down to my neck, leaving a burning hot trail in its wake. Forget super-fast healing abilities, this is all I need to feel brand new. Braden’s hands slide down my back, to my hips, and then move slowly down the side of my thigh. His hands curve over the top of my legs and start to make their delicious, enticing way back up, but halfway there he finds my worst injury and I flinch away in pain.
Braden’s hand darts back quickly “I’m sorry, Libby. You’re hurt there, too? Are you okay?”
In the face of his body-melting concern, the pain recedes rapidly. “I’m fine.”
“No you’re not. Where else are you hurt?” he asks with a frown.
My hands slide up his chest, making him close his eyes with pleasure, and making me smile as well. “I am not showing you where else I’m hurt out here in the driveway. I’ll check out the rest of my injuries after I work out. I plan on taking a long, hot bath tonight.”
Braden groans and pushes my hands away from him. When his eyes open, I can see the smoldering desire my words have inspired. His voice is rough and low when he speaks again.
“What I think is a better idea, would be for you to skip training and go inside to get some rest.”
I pull my hands back up to his chest, and I kiss him long and slow. “Will you come with me? You know I won’t get any rest without you there,” I say when I lean back. His mouth follows mine and kisses me again.
“No,” he says seriously, but wavers when I pull him back down to me.
I’m prepared to argue this, but the sound of the door of the training house closing, and jogging feet force me to hold my tongue. Hammond pops up next to us before I finish sighing. Or before Braden can move away from me, for that matter. Hammond stares at Braden standing between my knees as I sit on the car, his hands still on my thighs, and mine on his chest. I have no doubt he can sense every emotion running through us right now by the way his mouth splits into a grin. I’ve warned him to keep a low level shield up against emotions twenty-four-seven, but he doesn’t seem to mind the effect. I roll my eyes at him, which he ignores.
Hammond laughs at catching us and says, “Hey, sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds, but Lance said you were out here.”
Braden removes his hand from my thigh and takes a step back, forcing my hands to fall away. Braden actually looks embarrassed. So much for my argument. Lance, I know he misses Hope and is patiently waiting for a chance to kiss her for the first time, but really? Does he have to ruin my moment? Hammond seems to be enjoying Braden’s embarrassment.
“And?” I ask when Hammond doesn’t continue.
“Oh, you have a visitor, Libby. She said she couldn’t stay long so I came out to get you. She’s in the parlor.” Hammond starts to turn away, but remembers something and turns back to me. “I wanted to tell you, too, that Daniel did a lot better today. His shield is getting stronger, and he was able to keep it up for a full ten minutes this afternoon. I think he’ll be ready in a couple more weeks. Kayla wanted you to know she’s improving with her Speed and coordination, as well. Braden can tell you more about that, though. He was training with her today. I watched for a while. Sometimes I forget that man of yours doesn’t have any talents. It was pretty impressive. I better get back to Daniel. Catch you both later,” he says, pausing and grinning again. “Or maybe you two should take this kind of fun somewhere else so I don’t catch you again.”
“Shut up, Hammond,” I say, but my grin is almost as big as his.
That was actually my thought as well. Braden scowls at the both of us. I can see the corners of his mouth trying not to turn up, though. He’s dying to whisk me of
f to one of the dozens of bedrooms in the training house. But he won’t. He’s made that perfectly clear. I’m too young, in his opinion, and we have more important things to be doing. Again, in his opinion. I’m not convinced.
Braden reaches for my hand and helps me to my feet when I take it. “Come on, let’s go see who this visitor is,” he says, barring any more attempts on my part to distract him. “Do you think it’s Jen looking for a comment on what happened, or something?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head, “she was heading for the AV lab to work on her blog when Lance and I left school. She couldn’t have gotten here before us. I don’t know who it could be.”
“Well, let’s go find out.”
So we do. Getting up the stairs is a painful experience, but thankfully the parlor is right off the foyer, so the rest of the walk isn’t too bad. Braden asks if I want him to leave before I open the door, but whether he has talents anymore or not, there isn’t anyone else I’d rather have at my back. Hammond has already met this girl and didn’t seem concerned, but you never know. Braden’s hand stays firmly in mine as I push the door open.
Her blond head bobs up at the sound of the door. When she spins around, I’m shocked. “Celia? What are you doing here? Did you come with Milo?”
Her eyes dart around at the mention of her brother’s name. “No. You know Milo hasn’t wanted me to get too involved with this stuff because of how dangerous it is.”
“Then what are you doing here?” I ask as I walk further into the room. I thought Milo’s refusal to let her be involved with the Ciphers was ridiculous early on, but he’s been positively adamant about keeping her away since the rescue. It’s been months since I’ve even seen her. While I am wondering what made Celia risk her brother’s anger, her eyes are drawn to Braden’s hand in mine. Her whole face scrunches up and she has to blink back tears.
“It’s really true? You and Milo aren’t going to get back together?”
Braden and I exchange a glance. He silently asks again if I want him to leave, but my answer is the same. “Celia, I’m sorry, but Milo and I, we’re not getting back together. That doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends, though. I’ve missed hanging around with you.”
Darkening Chaos: Book Three of The Destroyer Trilogy Page 18