Black Orchid (Svatura)

by Abigail Owen

  Suddenly she was standing directly in front of him. Close enough to touch. Close enough to feel her heat and smell the lemony scent of her shampoo.

  “Was it your fault?” she asked.

  The question caught him off guard, and he jerked his gaze back to her. “You don’t remember?”

  In response she reached out and took his hand. He flinched at her touch but didn’t pull away. Adelaide led him over to the couch and tugged him down next to her. “No. I still don’t remember. Was it your fault?”

  “It was hers. Talia’s. And Maddox for sending her.” A half-recalled conversation that he’d overheard played in his mind again. “I think… I think she was intended for Ellie, but latched on to me for whatever reason.”

  “So you do remember?”

  Nate grimaced. “I never forgot, but my perception of our life together was warped. I’m still not entirely sure what she did to me. But when you touched that relationship line, I could feel the truth of what we were.”

  “Were?”

  Nate cringed. “When I look at you, I remember our happiness. I remember loving you then. But I can’t feel it now. Whatever was between us, it’s not fixed. Can’t you sense that?”

  Adelaide let go of his hand and played with a frayed thread on the couch cushion. She was suddenly back to not looking at him, like the first day he’d showed up in her yard. “I don’t have any confidence in what I feel these days. But I do have faith in what I can see. Our line is still broken.”

  They both sat in silence. His heart felt like lead weighing him down with the heaviness of what they’d lost and maybe would never get back.

  “Can I trust you?” Adelaide asked. She finally lifted her gaze to his.

  “I don’t know,” he murmured truthfully. “I can still… feel her manipulations. She’s crawling under my skin like ants. When you all first reappeared in here, my first thought was enemies. That doesn’t bode well.”

  Adelaide stood up to pace the room. “So where do we go from here?”

  “I go back to Maddox,” he said without hesitation. “I’m bringing him down from the inside.”

  She stopped her back and forth movement to stand with her back to him. “No,” Adelaide whispered.

  “Yes. I have to earn my own life back. And they need to pay for taking it away.”

  Adelaide turned to face him, her little chin firm with determination. “Then we do it together. They owe us both.”

  Nate jumped up and crossed the room to her side. With a small smile, he reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I can’t let you risk your life. Not for me.”

  Adelaide leveled a hard stare at him. “I don’t think you get to choose how or why I risk my life. Besides, what I’m thinking puts you in more danger than me.”

  “Oh?”

  Adelaide gave him a smug smile. “Ever thought about being a spy?”

  Nate tipped his head to the side. “You want me to keep up the pretense that I’m fulfilling my mission?”

  “According to Selene it’s the first time we’ve had someone on the inside.” She glared at the door and grimaced. “She’s in my head at this very moment.”

  “Not so loud,” Adelaide yelled at the door.

  Nate felt a sudden sense of purpose. He had no idea what to do about his relationship with Adelaide or with all the people standing outside right now. But this… this he could do. It was tangible and immediate.

  “Then let’s carpe some diem, Princess. We can’t pass up an opportunity like this. We’ll fight them.” Nate suddenly grinned. “To the pain.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  “Ah. There it is?”

  “What?”

  “Your real smile. I was afraid you’d lost it. But, seriously, you’re quoting ridiculous movie lines at a time like this? Inconceivable!”

  He laughed. “How’d you know that line?”

  She shook her head, blushing a little. “I watched it a few weeks ago after a training session with Ellie. I wanted to be in on the joke.”

  Nate sobered. She’d done that for him. Granted, it was before she knew the truth about his intentions, but still. It was a sweet gesture. And one that triggered his feelings of guilt all over again.

  “I honestly have no idea why you’d want to see my smile. Not now,” he murmured.

  Adelaide reached up and brushed her fingertips across his lips. Memories of other times they’d touched like this surged through his mind.

  “I have no memory of you or what happened to us or what we’ve lost. I’m not even sure that I can grasp it, honestly. But I do know the you from the last few weeks. And I am your friend. So I need you to do me a favor.”

  “What’s that?” he whispered.

  “Don’t die.”

  Nate gave her a lopsided smile. “I’ll do my best.”

  Adelaide nodded. “One other thing?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Ready to face the family?”

  Nate’s smile slipped. “I don’t think I’m ready for that. I’m not—” He cleared his throat. “I’m not entirely me yet. I do know logically what I’ve put them through. But I need some time. They still don’t seem like my real family to me. I want to make sure I don’t kill them in some weird fit of brainwashed rage.”

  Adelaide reached down and squeezed his hands. “They understand. Whenever you’re ready. They’re going to head back to the Vyusher castle now and leave us to it.”

  Nate felt an odd combination of guilt and relief. “They trust me alone with you?”

  She gave him a pointed look. “You don’t think Ellie, Selene, Lila, and Griffin were just sitting out there idly, do you? They’ve been pouring through your mind.”

  Nate grimaced. “Fan-freakin’-tastic.”

  “Besides, our being alone here is part of the deception. We have to keep up the charade for this to work.”

  “True,” Nate murmured, but his focus was not on her, but on a possibility that had just occurred to him.

  “Care to share?” Adelaide interrupted his thoughts.

  Nate glanced up and grinned. “I think I know exactly where to start when I get back to Maddox.”

  Chapter 24

  “Report.”

  Nate stood before Maddox, who was seated at his desk. He burned with frustration. It’d been a week since that night with Adelaide. A week of time completely wasted. At least that’s how he felt. He’d gotten nowhere. But today, hopefully, he could take a step in a better direction.

  Maddox stared at him expectantly, his fingers steepled. His computer was turned off, and there wasn’t a paper in sight on his immaculate desk.

  “I gain her trust more and more every day, sir. The mission is going well.”

  “And yet you do not feel she is ready for the next phase? If I have Adelaide, I have a better chance at getting Lila. What’s the holdup?”

  “She doesn’t trust me completely yet, sir. She’s holding back. For example, she has yet to say anything about our attack on her and Ellie. But I’m close.”

  Maddox gave him a hard stare as he slowly stood up. “Get closer faster.”

  Nate wanted to gulp under the force of Maddox’s will but managed a nod instead. “Yes, sir.”

  “Or we’ll use her for a different kind of leverage against her family.”

  “Understood.” Nate kept his grimace hidden.

  “Speaking of her family, keep her away from them tonight. Consider yourself warned.”

  Nate frowned. “What’s happening tonight, sir?”

  “You’re dismissed.” Maddox waved a hand at the door.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Report complete, Nate made his way through the maze of underground corridors to the intelligence offices. Brusquely, he knocked on the door before entering. Nate hadn’t been in this room before. It reminded him of the movies. Up on the walls were several large monitors and multiple rows of computers with analysts at each station.

  Looking around, Nate addressed the man in charge, someon
e unfamiliar to him. “Maddox would like Sheila to report to him immediately.”

  He’d spent several days waiting to see Sheila. He’d hoped that after she approached him at dinner that night that she’d try and talk to him again. But she hadn’t, and Nate had given up on waiting and decided to take action. Even if it meant jumping through a few hoops.

  The man nodded. “Sheila!”

  The young woman stood from her spot on the other side of the room. Her eyes widened when she saw Nate, but she walked out the door with him calmly.

  “Maddox doesn’t want to see me, does he?” she muttered, looking over her shoulder back down the hall.

  “No.”

  “Then follow me.”

  Nate shook his head. “Can’t. The cameras. We should only be seen together briefly.”

  Sheila winked. “Intelligence officer, remember? I’ve paid attention. I know some of the holes.”

  She led him on a winding path. They didn’t see a single soul as they went. Odd. He gave her a look out of the corner of his eye, wondering if she was dependable. Based on some comments and expectations, he had a vague idea about what she could do.

  Finally, they stopped at the back end of an unfinished tunnel. They were all alone, surrounded only by rough rock walls and the chill of silence.

  “So you do remember me?” she asked.

  “Not quite as you described, but yes. Do you remember anything else? Other than me?”

  Sheila’s expression grew distant as she searched through clouded memories. “Someone named Maggie. Someone yanking me out of a bedroom. Corin, I believe, our teleporter.” She blinked and then shook her head. “What do you think it means?”

  “I know exactly what it means. You are Vyusher, based on the few memories I have of you, but you’ve been brainwashed into thinking you’re with Maddox.”

  Sheila pursed her lips but didn’t look shocked. “Well, ain’t that a bitch? I thought it might be something like that.” She backed up a step, her eyes suddenly wary. “Or is this some kind of test?”

  Nate held up his hands. “No test. They did something similar to me, although I suspect they employed a different method.”

  “What, multiple ways to brainwash people?” she asked with a frown.

  Nate thought he heard a sound and moved around Sheila to check down the corridor. Satisfied no one was there, he added, “This is Maddox we’re talking about.”

  “I guess so. Redundancy plans and experimentation do seem to be his thing.”

  “And secrecy. If people are pulled into the fold in different ways, then it makes it harder for them to compare if they start questioning things.”

  Sheila shivered. “Smart. And very disturbing.”

  “But uncontrollable sometimes. I don’t think they were originally targeting me. I think they were trying for Ellie Jenner.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  Nate shrugged. “Conversation I overheard.” He gave her a hard look. “The question is, what do we do now?”

  Sheila quickly glanced over her shoulder. “I won’t lie. My first instinct is to get the hell away from here.”

  “I don’t blame you.”

  “But you didn’t have to come back. You have an easy escape plan since you apparently get to leave the base. I’ve seen Corin take you in and out. So why’d you return?”

  Nate clenched his hands at his side. “A couple of reasons I won’t go into. But I can do more harm from the inside, and maybe along the way I can help a few people who were duped, like us. Besides,” his expression turned serious, “they owe me for what they took from me.”

  Sheila crossed her arms. Nate watched her internal battle quietly, letting her make her own decision. After a moment she said, “My power does make me uniquely perfect to play double agent.”

  “Oh?”

  “I’m a tracker. A good one.”

  Nate’s eyebrows shot up. Trackers were rare. No wonder Maddox had wanted her.

  “And I claimed more holes in my vision than there really are,” she continued.

  “I’m not sure what that means?”

  “It means that I can choose what I tell them and how much. Like the night he sent Evan’s team to attack two ‘people’ in Colorado.”

  Realization dawned. “You knew it was Ellie and Adelaide in the field? And assumed they’d be able to defend themselves.”

  Sheila picked at her fingernails. “I plead the fifth.”

  Nate chuckled. “Nice work. How’d you know that Adelaide would do what she did?”

  “I didn’t. But with Ellie there, I figured they could handle themselves. Maddox was starting to suspect me, and I needed to give him something beefy to throw him off.”

  “Maddox was Vyusher, though. Doesn’t he know your capabilities?”

  “Yes. But when I woke up from whatever they did to me, my powers weren’t working the same. I had to relearn them a bit. I just haven’t let them know how much I’ve gotten back yet.”

  “You were suspicious even then?” Nate felt a fresh wave of regret roll through him. It was a horrible, crushing feeling. He’d denied his te’sorthene, but Sheila had been able to resist enough to hold back. What was wrong with him?

  “I don’t trust anyone. Besides, I’ve been through something similar once before. When Gideon was our leader.” Sheila’s lips clamped shut as if she’d said more than she’d wanted to.

  Nate vaguely remembered bits and pieces about how Gideon had forced his people to do horrendous things and made them believe it was their own idea. He didn’t need to pry further. “I need you to trust me now.”

  She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Okay. I’ll trust you until you give me a reason not to.”

  “That won’t happen,” Nate assured her.

  He reached out a hand to lay it on her shoulder, but she jerked back. “Forgive me, but wasn’t Adelaide your te’sorthene?”

  Nate clenched his jaw as sharp pain stabbed through him. Betrayal of that kind just wasn’t part of his nature. Or so he’d once thought.

  Sheila winced at his expression. “Sorry to poke at a sore spot. But I think you see where I’m going. If you can do that to her, then someone like me, who is a casual acquaintance at best, doesn’t have much hope if Maddox gets inside your mind again.”

  The fact that he couldn’t deny her logic just fueled his desire for revenge that much more. “Fair enough. I won’t take offense when you question things.”

  Sheila gave him a long, considering look. “All right. I’m in. What’s the plan?”

  Chapter 25

  “You said that a relationship with the wolf pack was missing?” Griffin’s voice interrupted Adelaide’s thoughts.

  To keep up with their pretense and to get Nate some time inside Maddox’s base, different family members were regularly coming to Adelaide’s Outback retreat. This was Griffin’s first time visiting.

  “Yes.”

  Adelaide glanced over at the large, gold-colored wolf sitting in her living room. It still took a little getting used to. It was so easy to forget that the creature was a person until she looked into his intelligent, watchful eyes. Every time she did, she suffered a little shiver. But her soft heart went out to him just the same. He’d done this so that the Vyusher would accept his place at Selene’s side. He’d done this for love.

  Curious as to whether he’d tried to fix his relationship to the Vyusher – or lack thereof – she accessed her powers and took a peek. “No luck fixing your lack of connection to the pack yet?” she asked.

  “Ellie has tried, but she doesn’t have your gift, and her powers… well…”

  “Yeah.” Ellie’s struggle to control her powers was apparently escalating. Alex barely let her out of his sight these days.

  “What about letting the pack see you?”

  Griffin sat back, his tail curling around his feet. “Selene and I have talked about it. The concern is that they’ll reject me more if there’s no bond and I can’t control the shift.”
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  Adelaide nodded. That made sense. The wolf pack’s hive mind meant outsiders had difficulty gaining their trust. And with Selene as their Queen, she and Griffin were in a tough spot.

  “You want me to do something, don’t you?” she asked.

  “Only if you’re comfortable with it.”

  Adelaide gave him a sympathetic look, her heartstrings tugged at by the concept of a man who’d risked everything for love. “Of course I’ll try.” She frowned, thinking about exactly how she was going to attempt this feat. “I… I think it would be best if one of the Vyusher were here with us. I need to be able to see the wolf- pack relationship line.”

  Griffin said nothing for a moment, and in his current form, his expression was difficult to read.

  “Griffin?” she prompted.

  “Sorry. I was thinking about whom to ask. Selene’s out on business. Only a few wolves know about me. Really only leaves one option.” He didn’t sound too thrilled about it.

  It took mere moments to contact the castle to let them know whom they needed and why. After a few minutes, Charlotte popped in with Desmond in tow. Adelaide hadn’t seen much of the flippant metamorph since meeting him and Maggie the night of Samuel’s prophesy.

  “Hey, munchkin,” he greeted with a grin.

  Adelaide glanced at Griffin, who gave her the wolf equivalent of a shrug. “Umm… hi.”

  Desmond walked around the small house, checking it out. He glanced over at her with raised eyebrows and then smacked his forehead with his hand. “Sorry. I forgot that you don’t really remember me.”

  “Yeah… sorry.”

  He smiled. “Nice digs you got here.” Then he turned toward Griffin. “So, Goofy, we’re trying to get you into the pack so you can finally hook up with my girl, huh?”

  “Last I checked, Selene’s my girl, Donald.” Griffin employed his telepathy so that both Adelaide and Desmond could hear him.

  Adelaide sniggered. Ellie had told her about Griffin and Desmond’s little funny name thing. Apparently Desmond had started it, calling Griffin every G name but the right one. Eventually, Griffin had responded in kind. Desmond had also once proposed to Selene, then backed off when Griffin made his intentions clear. But Adelaide knew something the others didn’t know, that the two men truly respected each other and had even developed a solid friendship with an unusual level of trust given the start to their relationship.