EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set

by K. J. Chapman

  “Oh, right. Sorry, I have already owned up to being self-absorbed, right? Well, what are you waiting for?” I say, indulging him.

  Vin bounds over to the wall, and with one final glance over his shoulder at me, he kicks off his shoes and springs against it. I expect him to rebound, but he sticks fast. Moving at impressive speed, he scales the wall like an insect. Craning my neck to watch him pass over my head, he drops down, landing deftly beside me.

  “How do you do that?”

  He holds up the palms of his hand. They look pretty ordinary, but on closer inspection, it’s obvious that they don’t look like ‘normal’ palms. Some kind of deep grooves run almost horizontally across the entirety of his palm and fingers. “They’re called setae, small hairs made from a type of keratin. It’s pretty much how a lizard sticks to a wall. My feet are the same.”

  “You’re right,” I say, touching the smooth setae. “That is awesome.” I try to pull my hand away, but I’m stuck fast.

  “You’d think it’d turn the ladies off, but it actually has the opposite effect.” He drags me to my feet and spins me in a pirouette before releasing my hand.

  “Vin, I love my boyfriend. Rio reckons you see me as a challenge, and I guess I’m flattered, but I’m not just a challenge, I’m a dead end. You see that, right? Please, tell me that you see that, because I actually like you… as a friend. I don’t want things to get really awkward.”

  “You’ll see soon enough,” he says, flashing me another of his Casanova smiles

  “No, I won’t,” I call after him. “Dead end, remember?”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Face down, winded, and bleeding is pretty much how I finish all my training sessions with Crow. It has been another three weeks since Adam’s message, but I’m in a much calmer state of mind. Seeing that image was exactly what I needed at the exact right time. It cleared my head to allow me to focus on training. He is coming, just as soon as he can. I know that. The message has had the opposite effect on Rafe. The man avoids talking to me about anything other than training. When training is over, he makes a swift getaway before I have a chance to ask Adam related questions. Everyone can sense the distance that Rafe is putting between us, but I’m not sure they understand it any more than I do.

  “Again, Cub.” Crow claps his hands. “Your head is not in it today.”

  “Sorry, I’ve been thinking about Rafe. I can’t ignore his weirdness anymore. This morning, he practically ran from his room to the office to avoid speaking to me.”

  Crow throws me a water bottle. “I’ve noticed it too, but now is not the time for questions.” He calls Rio over. “Loser runs the perimeter- twice.”

  I hate running the perimeter, especially with the weather as bad as it is. I’m fairly sure it hasn’t stopped raining in seven days and it’s icy cold.

  Rio gets in two hefty hits and kicks me in the thigh. I floor him twice, giving him a nose bleed in the process.

  Crow calls time and checks his watch. “Get your ass moving, Cub. Jonah’s expecting you in thirty minutes, and I want you back and showered in that time.”

  Groaning, but accepting defeat and Rio’s smug face, I head up-top to start my punishment with Darcy keeping pace beside me.

  ***

  I sit in the Med Lab whilst Jonah gives me a full medical. He scolds me on my fresh bruises and split cheek, but otherwise, I’m doing okay. My hair has even grown back a little. It sticks up a tad, but with Coco’s head band, it can pass as a fashionable crop cut.

  “Yes, I agree Rafe seems a little distracted,” Jonah says, removing his gloves. “He’s got a lot on his shoulders, though.”

  I slide my shirt back on and slouch into his chair, resting my feet on the trolley. “Even Crow reckons something is bothering him. I think it has to do with me.”

  Jonah swats my feet off the trolley. “Then, ask him.”

  “That’s your counsel?” I ask, rolling my eyes.

  “Yes, it is. It’s direct and to the point.”

  “Talking about direct and to the point, I heard that you had a falling out with Brick at breakfast.”

  Jonah tuts in confirmation. “It was ridiculous. I thought I was making head way with everyone.”

  “You told Brick that if it wasn’t for his speed keeping his weight in check, he’d be morbidly obese.” Picking up the flip calendar from his desk, I skim through the word of the day section.

  Jonah takes the calendar back from me and places it at a perfect right angle to his pad of paper. “And that was a fact-based comment. He eats way more than the daily rations, and he rarely exercises other than target practice—”

  “He doesn’t need to exercise, he’s a Runner.”

  “Exactly my point.” Jonah says, shrugging. “I said that if it wasn’t for his speed, he’d be obese.”

  “I’m just saying that some people don’t appreciate being made a point of.”

  “Right, of course,” says Jonah. “I shall apologise directly. Please, Teddie, you know how much I hate you moving my stuff.” He slips his stethoscope from my fingers and hangs it neatly on the tiny hook on the trolley.

  There is a knock on the door, and Jonah calls them in. Rafe enters, looking surprised to see me.

  “Sorry, I didn’t realise you were in the middle of something,” he says. “Everything alright, Kiddo?”

  “Actually, no,” I say.

  Jonah stops tidying his equipment and straightens his tie. “I shall go and find Brick to apologise,” he says, slipping quietly from the room.

  “What is it? Is it your lung?”

  “It’s you,” I say. “What the hell is going on with you? I’ve let it slide until now because I thought you just had a lot of your plate and I was reading too much into it, but once everyone else began noticing your weirdness, it started to worry me.”

  “I’m just busy.” He turns his back to leave the room.

  “There you go again, not meeting my eye, trying to get away from me as soon as possible. You never train me one on one anymore. You lock yourself in your office if you think I might come calling. You haven’t bothered to help me with my telepathy in over a week.”

  Rafe stops walking, his shoulders slumping a little. “It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  “Look at me and say that,” I coax. Slowly, he spins on his heels, lifting his eyes to meet mine. “Is this about Adam?”

  There is a definite twitch in his face. “It is? Is there something you’re not telling me? Do you know something? Is he alright?” I sound like a mad woman ranting on.

  Rafe raises his hands. “How would I know? The guy is pulling the wool over my eyes. We haven’t heard a peep from him since he sent you that message.”

  “So, that’s the issue. You’re not in control on this one and you hate it.”

  Rafe glowers at me. “Do you think me that petulant?”

  “You can’t stand that Adam appears to have bested you and shown you up in front of your people. You can’t find him, and you have no idea how to even start. He’s going to show up here, and the idea of that—”

  He slams his fists against the metal trolley. “I know how to find him!” I flinch against the sound of crashing metal and his words. “You can link with him. I didn’t know how to tell you. The link isn’t broken, Kiddo, I’ve been blocking you.”

  “You’ve been blocking our link this whole time? Lying bastard!”

  My palm meets his face with a resounding slap.

  He doesn’t even flinch as I pummel his chest. “For your own good. Listen to me. Please, Kiddo, hear me out.”

  Staggering away, I grip the desk. “You asked me to trust you.” There is a falter in my voice that I don’t want him to hear.

  “You can. You can trust me.” He reaches for me, but I stumble backward, feeling unsteady on my legs. “Kiddo, you need to hear me out.”

  “I need to get out of here.” I sprint out of the Med Lab and straight for the foyer.

  Rafe’s feet thunder down t
he corridor behind me. “Teddie!”

  The foyer is busy with it being lunch time. People mill around the canteen and jump in fright as I burst full speed from the corridor. Rafe’s voice booms down the corridor after me, and I make a bee line for the hatch.

  “Darcy!” I shout. Darcy appears from the canteen, where he has no doubt been scrounging food. “Come, Darcy.”

  He doesn’t hesitate, although his ears prick up and he lowers himself on his haunches a little. There’s a rumble in his throat as Rafe hurtles into the foyer after me.

  Stepping into the hatch, I beckon Darcy after me.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Rafe shouts.

  “Away from you!”

  A force grips at my body, pulling me backward. Darcy and I are twisted and coiled through the air as if picked up in a tornado. Kid only just moves aside before our tangle of bodies sail passed him. It’s like I’m on a horizontal bungee cord, rebounding straight for Rafe.

  “Stop this stupidity. I said before that I will not let you leave. It’s not safe for you.”

  “What you say or have said means shit!” I hover in the air above the foyer. Darcy barks and writhes beside me, the both of us fighting the invisible force of telekinesis. “Put us down!”

  I’m sure the entire Shift body stands below us, mouths agape, heads darting from me to Rafe.

  “You think you can survive out there without me? You can’t even fight me now. Calm down and we’ll talk about this.”

  “There is nothing to talk about,” I snap. “You lied, end of story.”

  Rafe shakes his head in anger. “Do you think I liked lying to you? I knew eventually you’d find out.”

  “What is this?” Crow asks, dropping down the hatch, closely followed by Anders.

  I scream in frustration, still struggling against Rafe’s hold on me.

  “He’s been blocking my link with Adam this whole time.”

  “Everything I did was for Teddie’s safety.” Rafe isn’t even looking at me when he says it, he’s addressing the crowd, securing the trust of his people. “For the safety of our home.”

  I can’t listen to him spout rubbish. Fight back, Teddie. In that second of pure anger, I remember another part of the link: the additional ability. Willing with all my might for the electrokinesis to make an appearance, the tell-tale blue energy forms orbs in my palms. A gasp from the crowd draws Rafe’s attention to the return of my third ability. The lights flicker and explode, chaos erupts, Rafe cries out, and instantly, his hold on Darcy and I disappears. I barely manage to prevent us both slamming into the concrete floor with my own telekinesis.

  Blue, unnatural lights flick on, illuminating the panic. Rafe explains to the flustered members that it’s The Hive’s back-up lighting.

  He stands over me. “Are you trying to bloody kill me? Get up!” he snaps. “I said, GET UP!” He wrenches me from the ground by my t-shirt. I fight myself free of him, glaring at him just as he glares at me. “Are you quite finished?” he asks. “I see why you get along with your Uncle.”

  “Is this some kind of joke to you?”

  “Do I look like I’m laughing? Where did you seriously think you would go?” The shadows and blue lighting give him an eerie, almost dangerous look. He’s not dangerous. I know he’s not dangerous, at least, not to me.

  An alarm sounds, loud and ominous, distracting us from our confrontation.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Rafe straightens, closing his eyes for a moment. “Vehicles approaching at speed!” He shouts into everyone’s heads. “All trained EVO to the perimeter.”

  “How many?” Crow shouts over the shrill alarm.

  Rafe runs a hand through his hair. I don’t miss the look he gives me.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  Ignoring me, he turns to Crow. “Approximately thirty… military.”

  “Military!” Crow gasps.

  Again, Rafe offers me a fleeting glance. “TORO.”

  “Adam?” I ask.

  His large hand encloses over my forearm. “Stay put!” Rafe orders. With that, he levitates himself up the shaft.

  The other members file out like a stream of disordered ants. The whole scene is utter mayhem. The alarm still sounds, and the blue lighting barely illuminates the figures running passed me. Like hell I am doing anything Rafe asks of me.

  “Adam?” I ask, desperately attempting to link. Like a drowning person breaching the surface and taking a deep breath, Adam’s aura fills me up inside. “Adam!”

  “Teddie?” asks his warm, deep voice.

  That’s all I’m allowed. The block is back. It goes up like an impenetrable wall between us. How dare he? He’s still doing it, even after everything I have just said.

  “No, Teddie,” Rafe’s voice bounds around my skull. “Not yet.”

  Barging my way into the shaft, I levitate myself and Darcy at speed, almost dislodging some people from the ladder. We burst from the hatch into glaring sunlight, and I set off running in the direction of the others as soon as my feet touch the floor.

  People shout my name and order me to return to the safety of The Hive. I ignore them. They don’t know what I know.

  With a slam, I’m tackled to the ground, Rio’s body pressed on top of mine. “Cub, it’s not safe!”

  “Get off of me. It’s Adam,” I say.

  Brick taps his shoulder. “Let her go. If she says it’s Adam…” Rio weighs up the pros and cons. The next moment, he is lifted bodily from me, and Brick dumps him on the ground. “Go on, Cub.”

  Not waiting to be manhandled by anyone else, I scramble to my feet and jump on the back of one of the buggies. A rush of wind almost dislodges me as Brick runs passed in a blur.

  Rafe’s most trained members form a front line across the road. Rafe disembarks his own buggy and shouts orders, but I hear nothing except the rumble of engines that carry on the wind. A convoy of military vehicles move at speed, kicking up a plume of grit and dust from the dirt road.

  Pushing through the crowd, I try to link once again. Rafe’s head whips in my direction, and I return his stony expression.

  He barges people aside, grabbing me by the scruff of my top. “I said to stay in The Hive,” he hisses through his teeth.

  “What you say means little to me.”

  His face softens as he wraps his arms around me. “I did it for your own good,” he says, pulling me toward him. It is more of a restraining manoeuvre than an embrace. He smells of cologne and the disinfectant smell of the washing powder used in the laundry. “For your own good,” he repeats against my scalp. Even though I struggle in his hold, he doesn’t let up. “Everyone in formation!” he orders, holding me to his chest in a vice like grip.

  Members jump from the vehicles, grabbing guns and armour. They form a barrier in front of us, separating us from the approaching convoy- Adam’s convoy.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, throwing Rafe away from me.

  “Protocol.”

  “Your pointing weapons at them!”

  “Protocol,” Rafe repeats.

  “You point guns at him, then you point guns at me!”

  Not waiting a second more, and ignoring Rafe’s shout of protest, I break through the front line and sprint down the road.

  The vehicles approach, coming to a stop as I race toward them. The very front vehicle has an open back, and TORO stand in the truck bed. Upon my approach, the TORO at the front rips his helmet from his head.

  Adam.

  The pure elation that overtakes my senses is euphoric. He falters a little, catching himself on the roof of the truck and burying his face into his arms. Another TORO shakes him in an exuberant congratulation.

  I keep running. Adam leaps from the truck, barely keeping it together. I throw myself against him, wrapping my arms around him like a child woken from a nightmare.

  “I knew you were alive,” he sobs, crumpling to his knees and taking me with him. “I knew it.” He kisses me with heated intensity, much to the d
elight of the onlooking TORO soldiers.

  “You found me,” I whisper.

  “Jude told me that he felt it when Tess died at the complex, like something snapped in him when the link snapped. I would have felt it too. He believed me. They all did.”

  Looking over his shoulder, I see TORO opening the doors of a large, armoured van. Leoni steps out of the van, followed by Jude, Cooper, Wheeler, Yana, Emiko, October, Seth, Kesh, and Lizzie.

  “They wanted to come along for the ride,” he says against my cheek.

  The gang race toward us, passing me around like a pass-the-parcel. Darcy enjoys all the extra attention, and Cooper and Yana almost tackle me to the ground.

  “Hey, Asshole,” Cooper says, wiping his eyes on the back of his forearm. He plants a heavy kiss on the top of my head. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

  Yana weeps uncontrollably, only releasing me when she sees Crow emerge through the crowd. He looks to her with pleading eyes, but she turns away from him. “What is going on here?” she asks. “Are you safe? Why was that man restraining you?”

  “She’s safe,” Adam states, rubbing dirt from my cheek. “It’s a misunderstanding of sorts. He was keeping you safe. Teds.”

  I open my mouth to protest, but Leoni takes my face in her hands, examining every inch of me just like a mother would. “How are you doing?” she asks.

  My reply is cut short when Jude tears me out of her grip. He wails against my neck, words failing him.

  “It’s alright,” I soothe. “We’re together now.”

  “I should have stayed with you on those cliffs—”

  “No,” I say, firmly. “Don’t even go there. It was how it was.”

  Kesh squeezes my shoulder. “How? No one could have stopped that bomb without a code.”

  “And that is exactly what I had.” Rafe walks into the centre of our gathering. He eyes Jude with unease, and then offers Leoni a greeting. “How time has passed,” he says, tenderly.