Book of the Lost: AAV-07d25-11: (A reverse harem, post-pandemic, slow-burn romance) (The JAK2 Cycle, Book 3)

by V. E. S. Pullen

  He glared at me, lip curling up, and I stood straighter. I relaxed my arms, letting them drop to my sides, and I loosened my stance, keeping my knees bent slightly. Azzie was behind me, and her hand slid up underneath my pack and rubbed lightly on my lower back. As much as I wanted to purr like a fucking kitty cat, I didn’t react, keeping my gaze steady and unblinking.

  He banged on the wall with a series of loud curses, throwing a goddamn tantrum, and turned and stalked down the ramp towards where the others should be waiting. I didn’t move, keeping my eyes on him. He turned back twice to glare up at me. As much as I wanted to smirk, I decided to be the bigger person.

  “I, uh, kinda like this alphahole side of you,” Azzie murmured softly, her fingers curling so her nails ran down my back. I got goosebumps, feeling a tiny bit light-headed and sorta giddy almost. This girl…she tied me in knots.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I asked, not turning around because I didn’t want to get distracted, and also the way she was scratching my back felt way too fucking good.

  “Later,” she promised, and I nodded.

  “Can you at least tell me if you’re okay?”

  “I’m okay,” she said, and her hand disappeared from my back, leaving me with just an echo of sensation. “We better get moving,” she sounded reluctant.

  “Yeah,” I agreed, but neither of us moved. Then I felt her forehead come to rest on my shoulder, and the warmth of her body as she leaned against me.

  “I’ll be okay,” she repeated, but it sounded weird this time, almost— almost surprised? Both of her hands wrapped around mine, squeezing gently, and then she stepped around me and headed down the ramp, tugging me along behind her. She didn’t let go, even when we reached the others.

  “Tour time,” she said, mustering up a smile at the kids’ excitement, completely ignoring their parents.

  Sev

  It took her an hour to give us a full tour of the bunker, all the twists and turns and hidden areas — everything an explosion of color and cuteness from their, uh, unique decorating style. We saw the gym area with top of the line exercise equipment that the preppers installed. We saw the aquaponics grow rooms with their tanks and rows of vegetables, grains, and herbs thriving over the waterways containing tilapia, perch, and crayfish — and I swear I saw some pot plants in one of them but she steered us away from that area.

  There were several massive aquarium systems set up in those rooms — 6,000 to 10,000 gallon tanks — Azzie explained the bigger the tank, the more the ecosystem functions naturally and the less upkeep the tank requires — and she managed to show Rachel and Greg the binders of instructions for each tank without speaking or looking at them directly.

  She showed us the commercial kitchen and community dining area where the extended families the bunker was built for could share prep and meals together, and the multiple rooms of cold and dry storage filled with supplies, including a walk-in freezer and a walk-in refrigerator. And then she showed us the different (former) bedrooms that she and Mouse had converted to storage for all the extra supplies gathered from the empty town, and things they found all over the bunker and brought to one area to be sorted and organized. Among all the carefully labeled boxes were racks of clothes and shoes of various sizes for both genders, for multiple seasons, as well as rooms of equipment and gear for camping, hunting, and fishing.

  “You can leave,” she dismissed her foster parents, turning her back on them. We’d lost the kids at the game room with its pool and ping pong tables, foosball, and pinball machines. “The rest of you need to pick out some clothes and backpacks,” she said, opening the door to another whole room that contained nothing but bags: all shapes and flavors of backpacks, duffles, suitcases, shoulderbags, and totes. “I’ll show you where the showers are so you can get cleaned up and dressed, then everyone that’s leaving will come back here and find clothes and personal items to put together go-bags with the things we’ll need for travelling. We’ll raid the food stores, medical supplies, and armory. There’s a few things I need to do before we can go, but I’d like to head out late tonight while the chance that they’d think to look for us outside the walls will still be low. We need to get at least a few miles from Salem before I’ll feel comfortable sleeping.”

  “How are we getting over the wall?” Tai asked, and I think by then we were all assuming she had gliders or a helicopter or a damn airplane hidden someplace in this insane acid-trip of a fallout shelter, but she shook her head.

  “Not over,” she said. “Under. Deep under. Two of the escape tunnels reach the other side of the barrier, passing far under the range of their geological scanners. They empty out really damn close to the wall though, too close for comfort, but still…outside.”

  Tai and Spider looked at each other and started to laugh before Spider lifted Azzie up and tossed her a foot or so into the air. Luckily the twelve foot ceiling in this part of the complex allowed for the hijinks, and she actually giggled, so I could’ve kissed Spider at that point. “I can’t believe it, another tunnel?! Jesus, woman! You are a fucking marvel with your tunnels! No wonder you told my brother to shut the fuck up and follow instructions. My God, we were calling in the troops to blast through the walls to get us out of here.”

  “I kept telling you I had shit under control, you just gotta trust me,” she laughed, lightly punching Tai in the arm after Spider set her down. “But how was I supposed to explain all this in the five minutes we had in the lab? And besides… I was pretty pissed at you. I needed you to prove you could listen and not try to take over.”

  “I will never doubt you again,” Tai swore. “This is incredible. I can’t believe this has been here the whole time, you and Mouse doing all this right under their noses… incredible.”

  “Awww, shit,” she shook her head. “Baby, you haven’t even seen the lab yet.” She went for the door right then, completely missing the blinding glow of his smile at her endearment but the rest of us saw it, and seethed with jealousy even as we beamed with happiness.

  Spider

  She showed us the communal bathrooms and showers, divided by gender — really large rooms with multiple shower stalls, toilets, and sinks, and the women’s side even had a large bathtub — explaining the bunker had housed about thirty-three people prior to JANUS, and all of them shared these facilities.

  We’d each grabbed a full set of clothes to change into, and there were clean towels and toiletries available in the wall of cabinets in the bathrooms — everything brand new and unopened.

  We’d all ended up picking out virtually the same clothes to travel in: tactical cargo pants and fitted athletic shirts with tags that guaranteed they’d wick away sweat and protect us against chafing. It made sense for whoever had originally stocked the place to have the most practical garments in a variety of sizes, and we were all able to put together a couple variations on the theme along with high performance socks and underwear made for running or hiking long distances, and different types and weights of outerwear meant to be layered.

  “Any idea what’s going on with Azzie?” Tai asked me as he ran the clippers we found over his head, trimming down to the quarter-inch length we’d both gotten accustomed to. I’d already cut my hair and was brushing my teeth while the Koleks and Callises were using the showers — and when Azzie showed us the rooms, she made sure to point out that the shower had separate shampoo, conditioner, and soap, the smartass.

  “Something Rachel did that Greg knew about,” I replied, rinsing my mouth and shaking the water off my brush, then packing it in a case to take with me. “Whatever it was, I think it was pretty bad — bad enough that she’s not going to tell us until we’re far away from them.”

  “Do you think it has to do with Mouse?” Tai finished buzzing his hair and used the broom we found to sweep up both our clippings.

  “Maybe? I really don’t know.”

  The conversation was put on hold while we basically switched places with the Callises, who took over t
he sinks while we headed to the showers, where the triplets were still taking their damn time with the hot water. I guess I could understand — they’d been sharing a single bathroom for weeks, and having the luxury of no time limit and plenty of hot water in the shower, was an indulgence no one could pass up.

  “I’m a little in awe of the girls, you know?” Tai said loudly from the stall next to me — his head must’ve been under the spray. “This place… the attention to detail, the planning, it’s all so deliberate and focused. They had a plan, from day one. Everyone in this fucking town thought Azzie was just something to use, that she was passive and gullible, and the whole time they were carrying out all of this under the noses of all those genius doctors and military strategists. They used their knowledge of the area against their captors from the minute they walked out of here with the vaccine — she downplayed all of it, but it was masterful and she was what? Twelve? Thirteen?

  “Like I keep saying, smarter and more deceptive… and a damn fine kisser.”

  “You fucker,” Sasha growled from my other side, and I laughed.

  “What?! You kissed her first!”

  “Yeah, I guess. Doesn’t mean I still don’t want more.”

  “Believe me, I get it.”

  “Fuck off, all of you,” came from Sev, quickly followed by Luka calling us cockblocking motherfuckers — apparently just for getting there first since none of us had blocked anything.

  “I keep forgetting you two haven’t had a taste,” Sasha taunted them, then hollered out in rage as Sev and Luka cackled, explaining they’d dumped cups full of cold water on him over the shower wall.

  Tai and I finished our showers last, and the rest of them had left by the time we were dressed and packed up. The wet towels were all hung up to dry, waiting for Rachel, or Greg, or the kids to gather them up to run through the laundry after we were gone.

  Less than fifteen minutes, and we were back at “Mission Control” as Azzie called it: the room that I thought might have been at the center of the complex until I realized just how big this place was — a round room with a dome ceiling containing the security terminal, a giant rug of Hello Kitty’s head covering the floor in the middle, and a bunch of hallways leading off of it that all ultimately branched, and branched, and branched again. The bunker was a beautiful mess of chaos that helped increase security for those who understood the layout, and Azzie had already encouraged the kids to spend a lot of time exploring to make sure if anyone found them, they’d have plenty of means to hide and ultimately escape.

  Within a few minutes, the triplets emerged from a different passage, decked out in our new uniform, and then Azzie appeared a minute later.

  Gone were the leggings and layers. She was wearing the same style of clothes as us, but hers was obviously selected and altered for her: the black pants were the perfect combination of snug over her ass, and loose over her legs for mobility, draping to the top of her familiar shit-kicker combat boots. The black shirt with purple trim fit her like a glove, the seams and straps of her sports bra outlined against the fabric, and both sleeves had zippers from wrist to mid-bicep to allow for blood draws. She had a thick black leather belt around her tiny waist, and with her hair in a high ponytail, she resembled a commando-ballerina.

  She moved around in the clothes as if they were her everyday wear, completely comfortable with the different weights and fit than we had ever seen her in before.

  She paused in the doorway and surveyed the room, her gaze lingering, and we all got our fill of the vision before us as she took in the first look at her team. I was especially pleased to notice her eyelids get heavy, her lips part, and her breathing pick up at the sight of us, and wondered how she’d react to me in uniform.

  “Ready to check out the armory?” she asked, clearing her throat when it came out rougher than she expected. I smiled as she licked her lips and couldn’t drag her eyes away from my biceps. I crossed my arms just to flex them a little and she blinked three or four times in response.

  This was fun.

  “Should we wait for the others?” Sasha asked, drawing her eye to his chest and shoulders when he leaned back against the wall. Fuckwad.

  Luka very deliberately went to a doorway and grabbed on to the top of the doorframe, seemingly leaning out to look down the hall for whoever, and Azzie couldn’t drag her eyes away from his traps and ass.

  “I know what you’re doing,” she said raggedly, still fixated on Luka. “And I’m not going to tell you to stop, if that’s what you’re expecting. In fact, if the five of you want to keep escalating the show, I’m super cool with that.”

  Luka looked back over his shoulder, grinning at her. “Just giving you reasons to keep us around.”

  “Then you should know that if it should happen to devolve into whipping out your dicks to measure them, that’s like a guaranteed three night stay and free continental breakfast.”

  “Noted,” Sev said, slipping away from the wall and approaching her, moving like a damn panther. Her eyes flared and she sucked in a breath. He stopped in front of her, really close, and ran a finger over the outline of her bra under her shirt. “This is a good look for you. And I like the dark purple against your skin and hair. I want to peel you like a grape.”

  There’s that blush we all adore.

  “Uh, o-okay,” she stuttered out, “we should go to the armory.”

  “Too aggressive?” he asked, voice low and husky.

  “Little bit,” she answered in a whisper.

  “I’ll behave,” he promised, still stroking along the contours of her bra cups.

  “No you won’t.”

  “No, I won’t,” he agreed.

  “Are you molesting our tour guide?” The cheerful voice of Jason Callis broke through the heavy tension of the moment, and Azzie sucked in a deep breath. “Pretty sure that will get you kicked out of the amusement park.”

  “It will,” Ryan agreed. “I read the rules.”

  “If you think molestation is off the table, then you never met Mouse,” Azzie replied tartly, moving away from Sev but letting her hand — which I never even realized had been tucked inside his waistline — linger to tug him along behind her. He smirked as he passed by the Callises, being led by his pants, and muttered, “maybe the molestation was the other way around.”

  “Is that your choice? That’s a fine choice,” Gemma appeared in another doorway, nodding at Azzie and Sev. “So the others… fair game?” She waggled her brows at Tai, who rolled his eyes.

  “Nope, sorry, decided to keep them all,” Azzie shot back and Gemma pouted. “And I would’ve claimed your cousins too just to spite you, but you’re related so it wasn’t necessary.”

  “It’s very distant,” Ryan called to her as she and Sev disappeared down a wider, more central hallway. “I’d hardly call us blood at all, and you know those girls deserve it.”

  “Over my dead body,” Luka growled at him, blocking him from following Azzie and Sev.

  “Do I have to state the obvious?” Ryan puffed up, the two of them chest to chest, but then Azzie was back, separating them.

  “Luka, no. We don’t have time to wait for him to wake up. Ryan, back off. He’s not someone you want to face in a fair fight. Get him drunk some night and then work out your aggressions.”

  “I’d still win,” Luka challenged Ryan, and Azzie patted his chest.

  “I know, dearest, but it would be fun to watch him try.”

  Luka smirked; both Jason and Ryan glared at her, completely offended, and she shrugged at Jason, not taking her eyes off him but nodding in Ryan’s direction. “I saved him, doesn’t mean I wouldn’t mind seeing him taken down a peg or two. He’s still a dick.”

  “Can we get back to the bitch move you just pulled?” Adriana made a face at Azzie. “Are you claiming all of them just for spite or do you really intend to keep them. Because that’s not right.”

  “They’re mine,” Azzie said in a deadly calm voice that sent a shiver down my spine. “One
tacky acrylic nail touches one of my five, and I’ll rip your fucking weave out. We clear?”

  “Crystal,” she said acidly, but when Azzie headed back down the hallway, she whispered to us, “you’re welcome” with a wink.

  Jesus. I didn’t know whether to hug her or spray her with “Bitch Away.”

  Chapter Four

  Sasha

  Azzie led us down a long corridor, pointing out various rooms, but all I could focus on was her ass.

  I’d had my hands all over it just the other day, and would be able to repeat the process again in the future if I could believe the claim she just staked, and yet I couldn’t stop staring at it. She never wore shirts this short, and her ass was perfect in those pants. Round and high, plump and muscular at the same time, I really wanted to sink my fucking teeth into it like a ripe peach, but then Sev muttered “oh my God” and I pried my eyes away to find myself in the middle of a goddamn armory.

  I thought the name was ironic. I thought it would be a gun safe with a couple rifles and some shells, if we were lucky, and instead we wandered into a James Bond movie.

  Azzie circled the room, running her finger along the racks and racks of various firearms, pulling out drawers along the bottom to show the supply of ammo for each kind. There was a cabinet with doors that she swung open, revealing compound bows and crossbows, along with a selection of tactical batons, canes, and bludgeoning weapons displayed on the inside of the doors. “The center console has knives in the drawers and other concealable weapons. Holsters too, different kinds. We tried to sort everything by type, but I swear we kept turning up weapons or accessories every day, even in rooms we’d already thought were cleared out. Cleaning kits are over there, and if you want to try anything out,” she said with a huge grin of anticipation while she backed up, opening a door behind her where an automatic light flickered on, “shooting range is right through here.”