by A. J. Macey
“A very brief snippet from down the hall by the corner. Let me pull it up.” A few quick clicks of a mouse and a grainy photo of the two men was up on my screen. “There, how’s that? Recognize them?”
I gasped when the newest image was revealed. It can’t be… My shock took over, and it was all I could do to stay on the phone for even a minute longer.
“Yeah, I do. Thanks, Trace. I’m getting off, I need sleep. Message you tomorrow when I figure out what I’m going to do,” I rushed to explain before shutting down the call and printing the photo Trace had found. Snatching it off the printer, I glared at the photo, anger simmering in my veins.
Kane Renick, the uncle to my brother’s best friend Carson—both used to be as close as family.
“Hope you’re ready for a visit tomorrow, Kane,” I murmured.
Because I’m coming, and I want answers.
October 10th
Thursday Night
Evera
The train slowed before stopping at my destination, my heart starting to pick up speed the closer I got to see the two men who’d abandoned me when I’d needed them most. I got off and strode across the platform, up the stairs, and out of the subway station. With no real plan in mind, I walked the final few blocks toward the building Trace had found. Speaking of Trace—I checked my computer one last time before I left to see if he had responded to the message I sent earlier about my plans, but he hadn’t. No big deal. He’s probably asleep, lost in a coding project, or having fun hacking into someone’s fancy security system. I’ll update him later.
The building was plain, a blank warehouse with a few cars parked in the lot but no immediate identifying markers to show what “business” it was. Taking a steeling breath, I held my head high as I walked to the metal door with a little sliding panel to look through. I pounded against it twice and waited, only a few minutes passing before a pair of dark brown eyes appeared through the slot.
“Can I help you?” he questioned in a brash, irritable tone. I kept my face blank, my nerves tightly controlled as I answered.
“Tell Kane Renick that Evera Quinn is here to see him,” I replied, my voice commanding as I held eye contact.
The metal door slid shut with a slam, and I stood there in impatient silence before the clicking of a lock finally sounded, and the door swung open to reveal two men waiting to escort me inside. Looming alongside them, a man with clear authority waited, average height with a buzz cut of plain brown hair and a simple black shirt. Although the holster in his waistband caught my attention, he made no moves to reach for his gun.
The man behind me was as tall as I was but about twice as wide, ripped with bulky muscles and graying black hair that brushed his shoulders.
The building was mostly metal, and the cold drafts blowing through the barren hall sent a small shiver through me. Looking around, I noted that other than the sound of the air conditioning whooshing through the exposed overhead ducts, everything was quiet, our footsteps silenced by the ratty carpet. It only took a few turns, two lefts and a right, until we neared a few nondescript metal doors.
“In here,” the man in front stated simply, holding open the door at the end of the winding hallways we had followed. Taking another deep breath, I stepped over the threshold, readying myself to see one of the faces from my past.
Kane Renick sat in a luscious leather chair behind a bulky wood desk, his deep brown eyes watching me intently as I entered. The scent of tobacco and leather hit me in a wave of sentimentality—memories of Kane watching my brother and me as we played with Carson filling my mind. I shoved the memories back, the building tears along with them, and took in someone who used to be closer than family. He looked the same as he had when I was fourteen, yet now, a complete stranger. Posh dress clothes were stretched tight and perfectly fitted to his barrel chest and bulging muscles. While his head was shaved, as it used to be, his black beard was graying, and his face had aged slightly. If I remembered correctly, he was only fifteen years older than me, but it had been a decade since I had seen him last, and the anger I had pushed away when I was younger came rushing back.
“Blue,” he started softly.
“Evera,” I bit out, furious he thought he could call me that sentimental nickname after all these years. He couldn’t pretend he didn’t leave me behind at the orphanage to suffer alone when he promised to always watch over me. I wouldn’t be scarred the way I am if he had stayed. Betrayal mixed with the anger, the tingling of my power building under my skin despite my tight hold to control it.
“Evera,” he amended, “what can I do for you?” I reached into my pocket to pull out the photos I brought with me, but the man who had escorted me in yanked his gun from his holster.
“Stand down,” Kane barked, glaring at his employee until the man put away the weapon. I tossed the pictures onto his desk, watching him as he flipped through the stack, his jaw clenching as he saw the security footage from the robbery where I was held at gunpoint and the one where he was walking down the hall with another Syndicate member.
“You called for me, Uncle…” I heard another hauntingly familiar voice call out as a second door to the office opened. My stomach dropped, my resolve faltering for a moment. Carson Renick, my brother’s best friend, had frozen a few steps into the room when he saw me. A stranger I used to know stood before me, his tawny skin and charcoal eyes ingrained in my mind forever. I had never expected to see them again, yet here I was… here they were.
They left me, my mind whispered, the signature burn of building tears searing the back of my eyes, but I blinked them away. A sting was growing over my skin, the urge building to let out the anger, sadness, and frustration that had assaulted me once I was faced by both of the men.
“Ev?” he whispered, his tone laced with pain as if I had been the one to leave him. The fucking nerve of him.
“Now that you’re both here,” Kane addressed.
At his words, I finally noticed there was one more man who had entered when Carson did, the tall blond man from the photos Trace had shown me.
“I would ask how you got these, but I don’t really need to.” My blood turned to ice at his words, and he waved a few fingers to the guard who had walked me in, his watch winking in the soft overhead lighting. Kane got up, moving around the front of the desk until he stood before me. His deep golden-brown skin shifted over the thick, corded muscles in his arms as they crossed, bringing attention to his barreled chest.
Swallowing the lump in my throat that had formed at the sight of his well-fitted shirt and bulging muscles, I glanced away from him in an attempt to keep my well-grounded sanity intact. Old feelings of the impossible crush I used to have were flaring to life, but I refused to acknowledge them.
“Hey! Watch it, dick.” Oh fuck, I felt my blood drain from my face as another guy was forcefully maneuvered into the room, his wrists handcuffed together. This was not the way I saw this playing out.
“As I was saying, I think it’s pretty obvious how you found us, Evera. Now, what I want to know is why,” Kane questioned, his tone low and threatening as his hard gaze bore into me. I guess happy reunion time was over.
“Wait a second, is that you, Angel?” Trace scanned me, his gaze was warm despite the shitshow we were facing.
He was more attractive than I had imagined over the years with a black beard that was trimmed close to his face, his black curly hair nearly brushing the tops of his shoulders and messily flopping into his face. Next to Carson, he was shorter, but he was still taller than me by at least half a foot. His lip quirked up in a sexy smile before continuing as if we weren’t in a precarious situation I had somehow gotten us both into.
“Now that we’ve finally met face-to-face, I should introduce myself. I’m Acer. It’s nice to meet you, Evera. You’re much prettier than I imagined, although, with a body like yours, I’m not surprised.” Trace… I mean Acer, winked, his eyes trailing over my body.
“Shut the fuck up,” Carson hissed, taking a step cl
oser.
“Or what?” Acer challenged with a flip of his middle finger and a cocky smile.
“I’ll fucking make you.” Carson took another step, his fingers curling tightly into a fist before Kane shouted, distracting both of them.
“Knock it off.” Kane’s turned back to me once more. “Answer the question.” I bristled at his demanding tone.
“I don’t have to do anything, Kane,” I ground out, the arcs of my power jumping from finger to finger in my anger, thankful my hands were still buried in my thickly lined pockets so they couldn’t see them as I continued. “What I want to know is, what the hell a ‘no harm’ list is, and how long you’ve been in charge of The Syndicate. Back when you were still in my life? Before both of you up and left the moment Emerett’s funeral ended, or is this where you two fucking ran off to?” I seethed, jutting my chin between him and Carson as I flung the questions I had waited years to ask.
“Wow, you two fucked up if you’ve got Angel fired up,” Acer interjected with a laugh.
“That’s it,” Carson muttered, pulling an arm back and launching it forward, trying to catch Acer in the jaw. Acer was faster, ducking out of the way, just in time for the punch to go over his long, black curly hair.
Without thinking, I whipped my hand out, a single bolt of icy blue jumped from my fingertips to Carson’s arm.
“Fucking shit!” he shouted in pain, yanking his forearm to his chest, his free hand rubbing the spot.
The room was dead silent at my display, but I was too emotionally charged, too angry to care. I stormed over to Acer, wrapping my hand around the chain of his handcuffs, pouring a solid stream of high-powered electricity to the links until they melted under the onslaught. Glaring at Carson, then Kane, my eyes only briefly landing on the blond who had yet to say anything, I spoke quietly, but the coldness in my voice could have frozen the room.
“I don’t care what the answers are to the questions you won’t answer or why you left, just stay the fuck away from Acer and me.” Turning, I grabbed Acer’s denim jacket sleeve and pulled him toward the door.
“Baby Blue,” Carson tried to stop me, his hand landing on my shoulder, but I had had enough, and my emotions poured into my power. Blue lightning arced from my shoulder blades to my hips in a wave like a bird’s or an angel’s wings, pushing everyone away from me in feeble attempts to not be shocked.
Without looking back, I left my past behind.
Again.
Silas
No one talked. Carson stood rubbing his hand with a shocked facial expression while Kane stood still, scowling at the door. So, that was the infamous Evera Quinn, I thought with surprise. Definitely not the sweet girl they had to distance themselves from anymore. She’s all hardened steel and electrified anger, knowing her sharp words hit them where it hurt the most.
We looked at each other, no one knowing what to do in the wake of Evera’s dramatic exit. Gage, especially, was at a loss, awkwardly standing there with no clue what to do.
“Alright, Pearson, go back to your post,” Kane directed Gage, watching the man as he nodded and scurried from the room, probably realizing he shouldn’t be anywhere near Kane and Carson when they were riled up, the latter more than the former.
“I can’t believe you just let her leave with that hacker,” Carson ground out, dropping his hands to his sides. “Did you even hear how he was talking to her? How do you know she’ll be safe—”
“She’s clearly been able to take care of herself for the last several years. What would you have suggested? Keeping her here by force?” Kane challenged.
“If it kept that asshole away from her, then possibly.”
I sighed, quiet enough, I wouldn’t draw their attention next. Listening to the two go back and forth always exhausted me.
“She’s not yours, Carson, and she’s right, we haven’t been anything to her since we had to pull back.” Despite Kane’s demanding voice, I saw the tension in his body as he talked about Evera and knew he was worried about her just as much as his nephew, even if he didn’t say anything.
“Fine. Tell me when we have a fucking plan. I’m going to go ice my damn hands; that fucking lightning shit hurt,” Carson huffed before leaving the same way we’d entered.
Turning, I took in Kane as he moved toward his bookshelf.
“You didn’t know she was a Phenom, did you?” I questioned as my boss poured two glasses of alcohol. Taking mine when it was offered, I sipped the amber liquor.
“No, not even a clue,” he murmured, sinking into his chair. “I had known her and her brother for almost their whole lives up until Rett’s murder. I kept an eye on her until she disappeared when she aged out of the system. But now, I’m wondering if I knew them at all.”
“Did you know if her brother was a Phenom?” I sank into the chair that was off to the side of the room. He shook his head as he took a drink.
“Carson said he thought Rett might have been, but he could never fully figure it out before the incident.”
“The one who you think a Legionary might be behind?” He nodded, running a hand over his jaw. “What do you want to do about Evera?”
“She knows about us now, meaning she’s going to be a target more than likely.”
Unable to stop myself, I had to ask the one question I knew he would struggle with the most. “Do you think she would be an asset?”
“From the standpoint of The Syndicate, with that power? Yes, absolutely.” He paused, his jaw ticking on and off before he continued. “From the standpoint she’s my Blue, I don’t know if I would be able to live with myself if I lost her too. Losing Rett was like losing Carson.”
“She’s not your Blue anymore. She’s not a little girl,” I countered, getting up and setting my empty glass with the others. “She’s a grown woman now, and she doesn’t need you babysitting her.” As I walked away, I heard him murmur to himself.
“Trust me, I noticed.”
Acer
My brain raced, processing everything that had happened the last few hours, including being kidnapped from my own residence to finally meeting Angel in person. She was quiet, her face stone cold as she stared out the subway’s window. As we sat next to each other, I took in every detail of her face, the one thing I hadn’t seen much of other than the brief, grainy second on the bank’s security photo and in the dimmed lighting of The Syndicate’s hidey-hole.
Her jaw and cheekbones were chiseled, making her skin look like a swath of creamy stone. She had a small upturned nose and thin lips that were downturned at the edges in a cute frown. After meeting her eyes, I could see why the others had called her Blue. Glacier blue irises were encircled in a navy-blue ring, an arresting combination that dared you to try to look away. Her nails were painted black, and her fingers and ears were adorned in simple black rings.
She didn’t talk or acknowledge me as the train stopped, and by the look of concentration on her face, she might not have even remembered I was sitting next to her. I followed quietly, my eyes trailing over her black fitted jacket and skintight jeans that hugged her ass. Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I discreetly adjusted my quickly hardening cock as memories of our videos flashed in my mind—her lean curves and unblemished skin as she had stripped and played with herself for me. Hell, I groaned slightly as my cock throbbed against the constricting material of my jeans.
“Almost there,” Evera explained, looking over her shoulder, slowing slightly to walk next to me instead of in front of me. I guess she did remember. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I figured after everything I’ve gotten us into, it’d probably be good for you to stay with me tonight,” I smirked over at her.
“Stay the night with you, huh? Count me in,” I flirted, my voice low and heated. She chuckled, shaking her head.
“Always the cocky flirt,” she murmured more to herself than to me, but I beamed, anyway, because she was right.
What she doesn’t know is that it’s only for her. Normally, I was just the guy
behind the computer, never seen or talked to. By the time most people realized someone had fucked with their system, I was long gone. Evera was the closest person I had, so I was determined to not fuck this up.
“I don’t have a whole lot for food, just some cereal, so sorry about that. If you want something else, there’s a corner store,” she explained, changing topics as she shoved her way into a rundown, three story building.
My eyes scanned the cracked plaster walls and yellow water-stained ceiling with a grimace. My angel had been living in this dump for the last several years? The urge to take her back to my place filled me even though I never took anyone there. While my apartment was small, it wasn’t this run down. Well, I used to live in a place like this, but not anymore, and I didn’t think she should have to either, especially a place with a janky door that wouldn’t stop a rat from barging in.
“I’m going to head to bed,” she told me as she hitched her thumb over her shoulder toward her bed. “I know it’s kind of small and probably not what you’re used to, but if you want to fiddle with my computer to pass the time until you’re ready for bed, feel free. I might wake up when you get in bed, so just a heads up,” she rambled softly, avoiding my eyes, but I could tell by her tone, she really wasn’t in the mood to talk about what had happened. I had heard it enough over the years.
“No problem, Angel. I’ll probably only be on for a bit to check a couple of things, then I’ll be in bed. Heads up, I’m a cuddler,” I teased in an attempt to ease her tension as she shed her coat and pants. I had to force my eyes off her long legs and back to her face. She chuckled softly, her eyes lighting up slightly as her lips tilted.
“Consider myself warned, Trace. Night,” she mumbled, walking past. I could have sworn she brushed my back with her fingers, but it was light enough, I wasn’t sure if I had imagined it, and she had curled under the blanket before I could ask. Spending the next bit flipping through her system to make sure it was secure and plugging in my headset, I pulled up the feed to The Syndicate. I had known about Kane and Carson Renick and Evera’s history with them, at least in the most basic standpoint since she didn’t like to talk about it, but it was a whole other thing seeing it play out in person. So, after getting settled, I got to work, digging into them and their part in The Syndicate.
