by K. G. Reuss
I didn’t get to finish what I was saying because her hand shot out, grabbed my glass of orange juice, and flung it in my face. Tears streamed down her cheeks before she rushed from the room, leaving me covered in a sticky mess. I didn’t have time for this. I had to go shower now.
“What’s going on?” Chloe asked, coming into the room with Adam an hour after the Amara ordeal in the kitchen.
Adam’s hair was disheveled, so I could only imagine what they’d been up to. They were the last to join us.
“We didn't get to finish talking about the prophecy last night.” I cleared my throat. “Or the haunt we have to go to.”
“Don’t remind me about the haunt,” Amanda groaned, flopping back onto the couch beside Brandon who grinned at her.
“Who are you taking?” Damien asked, getting to the heart of the subject.
“Well, we need to talk about that,” I answered delicately, sitting down in my high-backed chair and leaning forward. “And I guess we should start with the prophecy.”
“Are you sure?” Eric glanced at Amara who’d chosen to sit far from me. If I hadn’t made the meeting mandatory, she wouldn’t have come.
“Yes.” I grew silent, looking down at my hands, giving myself a moment to collect my thoughts. The night before while in my office, we’d decided to steal the prophecy. But then the whole Ever threatening to tear the house down thing happened. “We need to get our hands on the prophecy. We’ll be pushing the date back until the Thanksgiving holidays. The Citadel will have less people in it during that time.”
“Are you sure?” Jared asked.
“Yes. I don’t want this to get messed up.”
“Wait,” Amara murmured, looking at me with wide eyes. “Are you suggesting breaking into the Citadel to get that stupid prophecy?”
“Amara, not now.” I rubbed my tired eyes.
“Then when, Raiden?”
“Amara, please,” I said gently, not wanting to deal with another fight. “Stop, OK? It’s not just about Ever’s future. It’s about my future too. I’m just trying to protect it.”
Her face softened, a look of despair briefly flitting over it before she looked down at her hands. She and I needed to talk soon. I couldn’t deal with the tension and fighting matches much longer.
“Last night when Ever was here after her trance, I didn’t tell you guys what she said.”
“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Adam asked, sitting forward. “You seemed freaked but then all that other stuff happened.”
“That’s because I was,” I replied softly. “And I haven’t assigned haunt duties because of it.”
“What did she say?” Sloane asked worriedly, her face scrunched. “Just come out with it, Gen.”
“Yeah,” a resounding echo from everyone else, even Amara.
“She said that seven will go but only six return. One of us will die. If I bring her, eight go but it will require a sacrifice.”
“Whoa,” Brandon choked out, wide-eyed.
“Yeah,” I stared out at my crew. “And I know she’s right.”
“How do you know? She’s not even fully trained yet.” Amara frowned, her eyes meeting mine.
“When Gen brought her back here, she knew the Order was going to fire message him. She told him. And she was right. If the freaking mancer—the damn queen of the dead—says someone is going to die, I’m inclined to believe her, trained or not,” Jared shot back.
“Me too,” Sloane agreed. “So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “I care about you guys. You’re family to me. I don’t want anything to happen to any of you.”
“But if you bring her, you may be sacrificing her,” Eric murmured. “Is that the gist of it?”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
“Bring her,” Amara proclaimed. “She’s not one of us. She’s disposable—”
“She’s a life, Amara,” Amanda snapped at her.
“Yeah, have a damn heart, you cold shrew,” Chloe bit out, glaring at Amara.
“The next time some floozie tries to take your man—” Amara looked between her and Adam. “—you can tell me to have a heart. In the meantime, take care of your own shit before you get up in my face—”
“Knock it off!” I yelled. The room fell silent immediately. “This is a serious issue.”
“It’s really not,” Damien sighed. I looked at him, confused.
“Listen, man. You know you can save Ever. You’ve done it before. So what are you going to be sacrificing? Turning the tide of war? We want that. The Order finding out? Screw them. They’ll want her in Conexus, and really, is that so bad? She’d be with you, and you know you’d bind with her at the induction. You’re not alone in any of this, Raiden. We’re here for you. You know we are. We’d all die to protect Ever. And you. So all those worries about her being one of us, don’t matter. She’d be one of us. That means something. We’re a family here.” He looked around the room before continuing. “Even if the Order is in on some bad shit, it won’t matter. We know what she means. You should know by now what we’re prepared to do without us having to say it.”
“I wouldn’t die to protect her,” Amara muttered. I shot her a warning look.
“We’d do whatever it took to make sure she was safe. The same for you or anyone else in the group,” Eric agreed.
Everyone but Amara nodded. I let out the breath I’d been holding. I felt better, even though I knew they had my back. Something about hearing it just reinforced it. I didn’t want to put them in a situation which would hurt any of them and said as much.
“We know what group we’re in.” Jared looked around at everyone. “Damien’s right. We’re family here. Even Amara.” She shot Jared the finger before he grinned and continued, “We’ve got you. We’re all aware of the risks involved whenever we walk through that door. Our bravery and alliance remain the same. Always. Never doubt it, brother.”
“Thanks, man. You don’t know what that means to me.” I smiled out at my friends. My family.
“I think you need to talk to Ever and let her know she’s now an honorary member of Conexus for a night. We need her. There’s a reason she made the prediction. So let’s not look fate in the face and laugh, OK?” Chloe stated.
“You’re right. She’s probably going to hate the entire thing.” I frowned.
“You’re the general. Ask her to do it. If she won’t, get Order clearance, even though you don’t want them involved. I’m sure you can figure out a way to do it. Sangrey would probably help out,” Brandon offered. I nodded. He was right. I’d try on my own first before enlisting the Order to make it happen. I wanted them involved as little as possible.
Maybe I’d be able to convince her during training. We had at least another week before we had to go.
After our meeting broke, I went to my office to write up a formal declaration to take to Ever. I planned on getting on her good side first. Since our last encounter in her dorm wasn’t terrible, I figured I could probably try to get in her good graces before popping the plan on her.
I’d start tonight at training.
Thirty-Eight
Everly
“Good evening, Miss Torres,” Raiden greeted me when I walked into the training center.
“Hey,” I grunted back. I’d hurried there as fast as I could, trying to get away from Nev who wanted an answer from about joining the Dyre. I hadn’t had much time to think about it, even though it felt like it was all I’d thought about. I’d agreed to meet with him and Marcus later with the hope they’d reached my grandmother.
I didn’t stop to talk to Raiden. I went to the locker room and quickly changed into my training gear before coming out to the mat.
“I thought we could work on that psychic thing you did at the house. Maybe it’s the key to unlocking your gifts,” Raiden continued, coming to stand in front of me.
“I don’t know how I did that other than sheer anger.”
“Try focusi
ng on all the things that upset you,” he suggested.
I nodded, studying him for a moment. He was acting odd. Nicer. Friendlier. He gave me a quick smile which made me frown. I brushed it aside.
Focusing on things that made me angry seemed like a decent enough suggestion. I focused on my dad. On my current situation. On everything that was going wrong in my life. I’d become the talk of the school. It’d started with whispers about me and Eric then evolved into me being the next Conexus recruit, a rumor that had me cringing. Having Raiden take over training me had only made the rumor mill spin faster. I pushed the ugly thoughts out of my head.
We worked for an hour with nothing even twinging within me.
“I give up.” I blew out a frustrated breath that made a loose strand of my hair move. Raiden frowned.
“Damn.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “We still have twenty minutes. I guess we can try to get some sparring in. Hand to hand. I know you can use a weapon. I want to work on these attacks anyway.”
I groaned inwardly but took my place.
“How are classes going?” he asked as he took a swing at me. I dodged away from him.
“Fine.” I kicked at him, but he knocked me to the ground easily by taking hold of my outstretched leg and flipping me. I climbed to my feet, taking my stance again.
“Liar.” He butterfly kicked around me as I blocked him, groaning at the pain in my forearms. He landed gracefully with his eyes narrowed on me.
“People are being jerks. It’s high school. It happens,” I grunted, swinging out at him as he blocked me.
“What are they saying?”
“You already know, General. I’m the next Conexus recruit. I’m screwing both you and Eric.”
“I heard it was Damien,” Raiden teased, ducking one of my swings.
“Glad I haven’t heard that one.”
We tore at each other for a moment, him always one-upping me. He knocked me to the ground, making me groan in pain. I staggered back to my feet, swaying slightly as I once again took my stance.
“But you’re OK with it being me and Eric?” He raised a brow at me, dropping his hands to his sides.
“A threesome has always been on my list of things to experience.” I sighed, rubbing my tired eyes.
Raiden chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re funny. It’s nice to see you joke despite everything.”
“All I have is my humor and charming personality, General.” I shot him a tired half-smile which barely turned my lips up.
He moved so he was standing front of me. “It’ll get better. I promise.”
“How can you promise that? When you don’t even know what’s happening?”
My heart kicked in my chest as he furrowed his brows. In a surprising move, he moved his hand up to cradle my cheek. The warmth that accompanied his healing flowed through me.
“I hate making promises I can’t keep. But this one I know I can. And I promise it’ll get better,” he murmured, his hand still on my face.
I stared up at him, locked in his aquamarine gaze, all sorts of tingles rocketing through me. “Are you really getting married?” I wasn’t sure where the question came from, but it spilled out of my mouth in a rush.
“No,” he answered back softly, his eyes darting to my lips. “I’m not.”
“Amara said—”
“We were together for a long time. We aren’t now.” His eyes swept from my lips to my eyes. “I need to tell you something.”
“What?” I moved my hand to rest on his chest, not knowing what was happening between us. Eric said to let go and love someone else. Raiden said Shadow wasn’t coming and to move on. Marcus said Shadow wasn’t going to come for me because it was too much trouble. Shadow. Was. Gone.
But this was nuts!
His lips turned up into a small, shaky smile. He leaned into me, his eyes locked on mine. My breath hitched in my chest.
Was this happening? Was Raiden Hawthorne going to kiss me?
“Gen!” Damien called out. I let out a squeak and darted away from Raiden, my face hot with embarrassment.
“Damien,” Raiden growled. I cast a quick look at him over my shoulder to see that Damien was frowning, his eyes darting between the two of us. “What the hell do you need?”
“Brighton is at the house. He wants to talk to you.”
“Tell him I’m training right now.”
“You’re thirty minutes over,” Damien smirked.
I gathered my bag and stood awkwardly beside Raiden.
“Then you could’ve told me through mind melding—”
“I honestly tried, man. I couldn’t get through.”
Raiden frowned at that news, his eyes roving over me quickly. “I’ll be there in a minute. I need to speak to Miss Torres—”
“It’s fine, General,” I said in a rush, feeling the heat flood my face again. “Go. I need to meet with someone—”
“Ambrose?” Raiden’s eyes darkened as he stared at me.
“Yeah, Marcus. I know curfew is soon-—
“Damien, escort Miss Torres to Ambrose. Don’t leave her until she’s ready to go.”
“You can’t do that—” I started to protest.
“You know what you are, Miss Torres. I know what they are. I’m your trainer. And the general. I will do as I see fit to ensure your safety.” Raiden’s eyes leveled on me, all signs of the sweet guy gone. Everything was erased in those moments as I glowered back at him.
“Fine,” I snapped, stomping past him. “Come on, Damien.”
Damien hesitated for a moment before following me out the door.
“So, you and Gen, huh?” Damien asked as we walked to Nev’s dorm. I’d said I was meeting Marcus, and that much was true. I was just meeting him at Nevron’s.
“What?”
“You guys were making out—”
“The hell I was,” I snarled, throwing him a glare. “We were talking. That’s it.”
“You guys looked awful cozy—”
“We were having a conversation, Damien. That’s it. No kissing. No intimate touching. Nothing.”
“Then I need to have more conversations like that,” he mused, grinning at me.
I rolled my eyes. “Listen,” I pulled him to a stop. “I’m going to go hang out with my friends. I don’t need you to tag along. You can go wherever it is you go—”
“Are you asking me to disobey a direct command by the general, Ever?” Damien’s eyes widened in mock surprise. “You’re a troublemaker.”
“And you’re an ass hat, Wick.”
“You ever heard the saying you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?”
“What do I have to do to make you leave? Please?”
Damien frowned, contemplating my question. “Why do you hang out with Ambrose and Blackburn? Seriously. I want to know. Give me the answer, the real answer, and I’ll go.”
“Ask Raiden. He knows my desire for a threesome.”
Damien’s eyes widened, causing me to snort out a laugh. I simmered down quickly when he didn’t get the joke.
“It’s just, I’m scared of what I am, Damien.” I sighed. “Marcus and Nev can help me.”
“How? Is this threesome stuff? Because I’m a little offended I wasn’t invited and those shits were.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “No. I mean, they’re outcasts too. Whether you choose to believe it or not. Marcus helps with his charms so I can sleep. Nev, he’s just… well, there, I guess. I do need to see them tonight. I’m tired, Damien. I need Marcus’s charm to sleep so I don’t go to the gray world. Please. Let me do this. You were there with me. I mean, unless you feel like going back—”
Damien let out a sigh and looked to Nev’s building before looking back at me.
“I definitely don’t want to go back to the Veil. I’ll make a deal with you, Torres. I’ll wait outside for you. I can’t go back, or Raiden will have both our asses. Deal?”
“Deal.” I held out my hand for him to shake.
�
�Try not to be long, OK?” He gave my hand a firm shake.
I backed away from him. “I should be fine, right? I’m with a member of Conexus, so curfew doesn’t count?”
He snorted. “You wish, Torres.”
“Took you long enough,” Nev said the moment he opened the door and pulled me inside.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, flushing once again at the thought of what had transpired with Raiden.
“Why did you bring Conexus?” Marcus called out, looking up at me from his seat.
“How did you know—”
“Everly, please.” He rolled his eyes. “Did you forget who I am?”
“No,” I mumbled sheepishly. “Raiden made Damien come with me. That means I’m on limited time here. I have to be back to my dorm by curfew.”
Nev rolled his eyes at me as he sat on the couch. He gestured for me to sit next to him. I did so, making sure to leave space between us.
“Then we best get to the point. Are you in or out?” Nev asked, his eyes dark. He hadn’t fed. I cringed.
“I want to see my grandparents first. You already know that. The constant prodding on your part isn’t going to change that,” I said. “If I don’t get to see my grandparents, then I’m out.”
“Fine. Blood oath it?”
I gave him a weary look before letting out a sigh. “You have issues, you know that, right?”
“I’m seeing my donor about it.” His lips quirked up into a smile, the points of his fangs popping out.
I frowned, not wanting him to know the butterflies were dancing like mad in my stomach at the prospect of feeling that euphoria again. Maybe I was an addict for happiness, craving it like a drug. It had been so long since I’d last felt true happiness that I was quickly becoming hooked on the synthetic kind a simple bite from Nev could provide.
Like any addict, I gave in to the urge, waiting for the puncture and then the sweet release.
Nev took my finger and let out an exaggerated tsk. “What I wouldn’t give to bury my face in your neck, Ever.” His blade pierced my finger, his dark eyes growing even darker as he licked his lips in anticipation of tasting me.
