His lips twitched.
Then the rest of them introduced themselves.
Jacob, The Fighter, had dark hair and striking blue eyes. He was the one who moved with whirlwind-like speed. His nickname was Phantom of Death, which was totally fitting.
Tracker, who had dark hair and gray eyes. His dreg talent was a psychic-like ability to locate people with his mind. He’d apparently found me using a photo of me that Noah had printed off the internet.
And Logan, Noah’s dreg partner, who had shaggy blond hair and hazel eyes. He was called The Trainer. His dreg talent was the ability to master any language in the world in a matter of minutes. Or less.
I already knew Ryan and Luke.
Nishi stepped forward and held her hand out to me. “I never introduced myself yet. I’m Nishi.”
I smiled and shook her hand. “I figured that’s who you were. You have a pretty name.”
She beamed, blushing prettily. “Thank you.”
Shortly after that, Tony got out of the SUV, and Jacob climbed in so Nate could tend to his wound. It wasn’t more than five minutes later that everyone disbursed, heading to their vehicles. I went with Noah, climbing into his Jeep. As we were driving away moments later, I noticed Mateo talking to Luke. Luke waved at him to get in his car, then they joined the convoy of vehicles. Luke had taken Mateo along? That surprised me. Maybe he felt sorry for the kid.
I sagged back against my seat. Noah had come for me. He’d saved me.
“Will you take me home?”
He hesitated, then turned his head to meet my gaze. “You sure you want to go back there? It might not be safe.”
“Yes. I want to go home.” I needed familiarity right now. After everything that had happened, I needed to be in a place where I felt some level of calmness. Peace. And I felt most relaxed when I was writing on my laptop. In my room. It was how I’d always dealt. How I found relief from stress.
Writing.
I had a hell of a story to tell now. I had even become a big part of it. I’d witnessed things, become entangled in things that I would likely never experience again. And I could honestly say I had left that facility tonight a completely different person than I’d been a week ago, before I’d met Noah.
“Please. Take me home.”
“All right,” he murmured. “I’ll take you home.”
Noah veered off from the others at the next intersection and headed for my parents’ estate, which was only twenty minutes from the zoo.
A few seconds later, his phone rang. His dash on the car said it was Logan.
Noah answered with the Bluetooth. “I’m taking Shannon home,” he said without preamble. “I’ll meet up with you guys later.”
“Okay,” Logan responded. “I figured you were. You want Nishi and me to go with you?”
“Nah. We’re fine. She just needs to be alone right now.”
“Okay. Later, man.”
How did Noah know I needed to be alone right now? He was very intuitive.
“Did your mother tell you why Hughes took you?” he asked after a moment of silence.
I swallowed hard and nodded. “He learned of her plans to turn me into a breeder, and he didn’t want to share me with the other soldiers.”
Noah sighed. “Unfortunately, by time I figured out how your mother was involved, it was too late. She already had you.” He squeezed my hand, then turned away.
We drove the rest of the way in silence.
When we arrived, Noah made me wait out in the Jeep while he slipped inside to make sure no one was here. He returned five minutes later and said the house was deserted.
He parked the Jeep in the garage, and we went out to the guesthouse.
I went to my room and sat on my bed with my laptop. I didn’t want to act ungrateful, but right now, I really wanted to be alone. I had so many emotions that were overwhelming me, shock and pain and disbelief and horror and betrayal…
Noah paused in the doorway, eyeing me with concern. “I’ll be out here if you need me.”
I nodded, but I didn’t look up from my laptop. “Thank you.”
As the rush of emotions hit me, I began to type, my fingers flying over the keyboard.
And the story slowly unfolded across the page, taking shape.
An unbelievable tale.
The story of the dregs and how they had come to be.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Noah
I left Shannon alone and settled onto the couch in the living room, checking my email with my phone. Agent Browning had emailed earlier that evening saying the information I’d sent him was enough for the FBI to look into Ellington. He said they were now monitoring Ellington’s activities, and they currently had a tail on him, following his every move. That was a huge relief. If all went well, Ellington would soon be behind bars. And The Company would be no more. I emailed back to Agent Browning and asked if he would notify me immediately if Ellington ventured onto the Collins’ estate, explaining that I feared he might come after Shannon. I also told him that if he went to the facility (I sent him the address), he would find dead soldiers and Mrs. Collins, who, I added, was actually Dr. Ross.
Excited to share the news, I called Logan.
“That’s great news, man!” He was as happy and as relieved as I was, his emotions flowing into me even through the distance separating us. “I’ll tell the others.” He paused. “How’s Shannon doing?”
“She’s in her room. I think she’s still in shock.”
Logan was silent a moment. “You love her, don’t you?”
I sighed. “Yeah.”
“Does she know that?”
“No.”
He cleared his throat. “Are you going to tell her?”
“I…don’t know. I have no idea if she feels the same.”
Another moment of silence stretched. “You should tell her, Noah. And soon. She needs you right now.”
I heaved out a sigh. “Yeah. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
I disconnected the call. Another email came in from Agent Browning. He said they had eyes on Ellington, and that the man was currently home, probably in bed. That was a relief.
I turned toward Shannon’s room. Logan was right. I needed to tell her how I felt.
I found her asleep in bed with her laptop sitting open beside her. I picked up the laptop, setting it aside, then covered her with the blankets. As I turned away, my gaze caught some of the words on the screen, and I was unable to resist leaning over, reading what she’d typed.
It was a story about The Company and the recruits. A story about the dregs.
My heart hitched, betrayal washing over me.
Writing is how Shannon deals. How she heals. Trust her, man.
That was true. Just because she’d typed this on her laptop, didn’t mean she would share it with anyone else.
I hesitated, knowing I should leave. Knowing I shouldn’t invade her privacy. But my curiosity won over, so I settled quietly on the edge of the bed and read the entire thing.
Shannon had summarized everything she’d learned about the dregs and her journey with me over the past week. I could feel her emotion in her words, her fear when Hughes had captured her, the betrayal she’d felt at her mother’s deceit, and the pain at what her mother had done to her. It sickened me knowing Shannon’s own mother had treated her like a prisoner, locking her up, and forcing her to endure a procedure to extract her egg. What kind of mother did that to her child?
I want to hate her, Shannon had written, but she’s my mother. How can I hate my own mother? It hurts what she did. It hurts so much. But I still can’t seem to find any hate inside me.
She went on to describe the details of our escape from the facility. She didn’t sugar-coat anything. She described bodies falling, limbs being blown off, blood oozing out…What surprised me was that she said all the dregs were heroes. She praised us, highlighting all our dreg talents.
If anyone had told me when I’d decided to investigate my father’s
murder, that I would fall in love with his killer, I would have scoffed. I’m not the type of girl who falls in love. I’m the type of girl who keeps men at a distance, because they are all users.
Noah’s different. He only killed my father in self-defense. And as I got to know him, I learned he is a man of great strength, both inside and out, a man with integrity, morals, decency. A man who truly cares about others. Hell, he takes down cyber criminals in his spare time. Who does that, seriously? He is so handsome, he leaves me breathless. And when we touch, it’s magical, nothing short of heaven. He never once lied to me. The ones who lied were my own parents, and that hurts more than I can explain.
But my dreg, my brave, tender Noah, the one who stole my heart, he was honest with me from the beginning. Yet, I didn’t trust him. I didn’t believe in him at first. I thought he was the enemy, when the enemies were my own parents. I trust him now. Implicitly. How could I not? He risked his life for me.
I don’t know what will happen now. I expect he will be leaving soon. He might already be gone. And my heart aches thinking he might have left me here. But I can’t get up the courage to get out of bed to go see if he’s still here. I think it would break me if he left.
I’ve decided I can’t stay here anymore. I can’t live in this house where everything has been a lie. Everything my parents’ owned is now mine, not that I want or need any of it. I think I will donate the estate to a children’s organization, like a shelter or an orphanage.
I need to make a new start somewhere far away. I want to leave with Noah. But I’m afraid to hope he will ask me to go with him. I don’t even know where I stand with him. We’d never discussed the future. We’d never talked about our feelings. Everything between us happened so fast. How did he feel about me?
I will be forever scarred from what my parents did. And right now, I need Noah in my life desperately. I need him more than I can breathe. I need him to hold me and tell me he loves me. That he wants me to go with him.
Because I love him. I love him so much it hurts to think about life without him in it. If he’s still here in the morning, I will find the courage to tell him how I feel.
Because he deserves to know the truth.
Even if he doesn’t want me.
I released a long breath, then gently closed the laptop, my chest tight with emotion. She loved me. My chest squeezed even more. I loved her, too. So damn much.
Since I was sitting near the end of the bed with Shannon on my blind side, I couldn’t see her right now unless I turned my head toward her.
But I felt her gaze on me. She was awake. Watching me.
Slowly, I turned my head, and looked into her eyes.
“Did you read it all?” she asked softly.
I drew in a deep breath, slowly exhaled. “Yeah. It was…unexpected.” I searched her gaze while she searched mine, hope in her eyes.
“I’m not publishing that,” she whispered. “The world isn’t ready for the story of the dregs yet. But once I met you, it was no longer about the story. It was only about you.”
Warmth filled my chest. I slid closer to her. Silence stretched. I cleared my throat. “So, you love me, huh?”
Color rushed into her face. But she didn’t look away as she said, “I do.”
I scooted even closer, and she moved into the center of the bed to make room for me as I settled beside her. I turned to face her. “Then you should know that I love you, too.”
I leaned down, brushing my lips over hers, softly, gently, letting her know with the simple touch that I spoke the truth. I leaned back and looked into her eyes again. “I know I can’t take your pain away, but I want you to know I will always be here for you, no matter what. I will hold you whenever you need to be held. I will listen whenever you need to talk. And I will love you for as long as I live. I’m yours, Shannon. Forever.”
She swallowed hard, a tear trickling down her cheek. “Exclusively.”
I nodded, leaning over to kiss her again. “Yes.” I sat back and we stared at each other for a long moment, my heart filling with happiness. “Will you leave with me, Shannon? Will you join me in whatever adventures come my way from this day forward?”
She let out a soft laugh and flung her arms around my neck. “Yes! Oh yes! Wherever you go, Noah, I go, too. I love you.”
I squeezed her against me. “And I love you.”
I settled into the bed next to her, and we cuddled close, our love flowing between us. I kissed her again, gently, and she leaned in, kissing me back. I knew what she needed now. So I made love to her slowly, tenderly, showing her just how much she meant to me. Afterwards, we drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.
I woke several hours later to my phone buzzing from where I’d set it on the nightstand.
Snatching it up, I swiped the screen.
“We’re all heading your way,” Logan announced. “We’ll be there in a few minutes. Wanted to give you a heads up so you could be presentable, you know. Just in case you’re not.”
My lips twitched. He knew through our dreg bond that Shannon and I currently weren’t presentable. I sat up, glancing over at Shannon. She was watching me, her gaze curious.
“Okay, come around to the guesthouse out back. See you in a few.”
“Who was that?” Shannon asked.
“Logan. They’re all coming over. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”
She ran a hand through her tangled hair. “Do we have time to shower?”
“Yes. Come on.” We hurried to the shower, emerging with barely three minutes to spare.
All my dreg brothers strolled into Shannon’s guesthouse. Even that kid Mateo from the facility. For some reason, Luke had adopted him into the group, which was totally unlike him. Maybe he felt sorry for the kid. Or maybe he felt a kinship with Mateo, since the kid had suffered through some of the same things we had. It seemed the boy would be hanging around for a while.
I cooked breakfast and then everyone sat at the table or the countertop and we all chatted while we ate. Shannon fit right in, asking questions about each of them, wanting to know their stories. They all told her about their families and girlfriends. Shannon listened with rapt attention as each one spoke. She and Nishi hit it off instantly, talking excitedly, their friendship instantaneous and completely genuine. I could easily see them being friends for life. Nishi would be that one true friend Shannon needed but had never had before.
“You know he did it in self-defense,” Nishi announced quietly. “I saw it all happen. I was there. And so was Logan.”
Nishi’s words pulled me from my thoughts.
All eyes went to Shannon, some cautious, others curious to see Shannon’s response. Nishi had brought up the subject none of the rest of us had dared to mention. I held my breath as I awaited Shannon’s response. I couldn’t deny I still feared she might never forgive me for her father’s death.
“I know,” she answered, looking at Nishi. “Will you tell me what happened that night? Through your eyes? Noah said he was trying to save Logan’s life, and his own. That my father had been trying to kill them.”
Nishi nodded. “It’s true. When Logan and I got there, your father and his men had already beaten Noah badly. Logan rushed in to save him. There was a scuffle. Your father shot Noah in the chest, then he and Logan fought for the gun. It bounced out of their reach. But your father managed to get hold of it again. He pointed it at Logan. Even though he’d just been shot and beaten to an inch of his life, Noah launched himself at your father, wrapping his hand around the gun, and turned it away from Logan and toward your father instead. Logan saw that Noah was weak and needed help, so he quickly reached over and helped Noah hold the gun. And he pulled the trigger.”
Silence descended. Everyone watched Shannon. But no one watched her more intently than me.
Shannon let out a quiet sigh, visibly relaxing. “Thank you for sharing that.” She reached across the table and squeezed Nishi’s hand. Then she turned her head to look at me. I was sitting
on her right, which was where I belonged. Beside her. Always.
“But I already knew the truth,” Shannon went on. “Noah never lied to me. Not once.”
My throat clogged with emotion. I leaned over and kissed her in front of everyone. Ryan and Luke sniggered like they always did. The others just smiled.
“Shannon’s coming with us to Idaho,” I announced happily.
Nishi squealed with excitement.
“That’s awesome!” Logan grinned.
“Welcome to the dreg family.” Jacob nodded at her.
“Yes, welcome Shannon. I can’t wait for you to meet Jessica.” Tracker smiled.
“If Noah loves you, then so do we,” Tony stated.
“I second that,” Nate said. “You’re part of us now, Shannon. I promise your life will never be dull.”
Shannon chuckled at that, nodding.
“I’m glad Noah was smart enough to make you his,” Ryan said with a wink. “I could see from the very start that you two belonged together.”
Luke snickered, then cleared his throat. “Welcome to the dreg family, Shannon. You’ll fit right in.”
Shannon let out a soft laugh, her face filling with happiness. “Thanks, everyone. You guys are all amazing.”
“Uh, do I get to go to Idaho, too?” Mateo asked.
Luke and Ryan exchanged a glance, then Luke nodded at the kid. “Yeah, you can come. You’ve got a lot to learn, kid. Especially when it comes to women. You need a few manners in that department. But if you stick with us, then we’ll teach you everything we know.”
Mateo pumped his arm in the air. “Yeessss!”
Everyone laughed.
I settled back in my chair, listening as the conversations continued to flow around. A sense of peace washed over me. These were my friends. My family. My dreg brothers.
After breakfast, we would all leave Georgia, probably to never return. Ellington was the last shareholder of The Company now. If all went well, soon the FBI would take care of him for us.
Very soon, we could look forward to a future where we weren’t hunted, where we could live our lives as we chose, and enter society as regular citizens.
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