Due to publishing restrictions with Amazon, the full version of this book and the other books in the series will no longer be available on this platform after June 7, 2024.
“Oren, stand down.” The captain orders with a firm hand on my wrist. “You can’t. There’re too many people.” She shifts a nervous glance around.
“Once they pass Iva’s communication jam, exposing my powers will be the least of our worries. They can’t leave.”
A golden arm wraps around her shoulder and she’s tugged back into Geir’s side. I shake her hold from my wrist. The pain in her hazel stare makes me want to take it back. But I run instead.
I keep to a sprint until I’m in the tree line. Underneath the thick canopy, I flood my legs with energy and blur to catch up. The SUV comes into view, and I race alongside the driver.
Cole gasps when I slam my elbow into the driver’s window. It shatters and folds inside. Streaks of silky black hair whip through the hole, and Nix’s mouth gapes when she finds me running beside her. I dismiss my blades and grab the wheel. With a violent jerk, the SUV tilts on two wheels.
“Look out!” Cole grunts and the whiz of a dart buzzes my ear.I let go of the wheel and find Cole wrestling a tranq gun from his father’s hands. I slow my pace to his open window and sink my fingers into the metal frame. With a shrieking groan, Cole’s door comes off in my hands and I fling it to the trees. If I can’t stop the vehicle, I’ll just throw them out.
“Damn worthless offspring. You sided with the wrong warrior, son.” Targe wraps his thick, veiny hand around Cole’s throat.
His muscles bulge and are impossibly bigger than before his injury. Nix takes a sharp curve at top speed and I slip behind for a second. Long enough for Cole’s head to snap back from Targe’s fist. He slumps back against the seat, knocked out cold. His breathing is jagged and wheezes from the damage to his throat. My teeth grind together at how quick I was to believe his betrayal.
I blur ahead and reach inside to pull him out. Whap, whap, whap. Three tranq darts line up in a neat row over my heart. My legs turn to jelly and tangle in on themselves. I can’t stop the momentum and crash to the ground with a long, painful skid across the pavement. My vision dims, but I make out the taillights shrinking in the distance.
“No. No!” Luce's throaty cry breaks into gasping pants and a car door slams in the distance. “He took him.”
“We’ll get him back.” Julian rumbles above me. “We need to return. There’s no time to waste.”
I’m dragged up into a vehicle and leaned to one side in the back seat. I focus on healing and try not to think how three darts are wearing off faster than they should. The book’s vision of me losing control and exploding occupies my mind. But I can’t pull my power back. Once Targe has access to his comm, all of Centrum will descend on us.
“Oren, are you back?” Julian asks from the front seat.
“Almost.” I slur.
“Did he see?” I ask Luce.
I’m not sure if I care what Julian saw me do, but he’s acting too cool if he did.
“Who? Me?” Julian laughs. “I saw you turn into a streak of blue light and keep pace with a vehicle pushing 90.”
“And?” I mumble through unresponsive lips.
“And now the stories about Oren’s always saving the day make more sense.” He shrugs. “I’ve never had it easy, few warriors have. But if I can marry a civilian in secret, then you can have super powers. Centrum’s rules on what’s acceptable have done nothing, but lead us to the brink of extinction. It’s time for some new norms.”
“Who was it? Who helped Targe?” Luce guns the accelerator and I slide across the seat.
“Nix.” Julian answers as if it’s obvious, and he didn’t even see her in the SUV.
I can’t process why she did it. I think through her interactions. She never left Targe’s gurney, and I thought it was because she was more comfortable around Cole.
“I’ve been following her since we arrived in Centrum. She’s Holden’s betrothed. Well, both Holden’s. The older brother’s first and now baby Holden’s.” Julian tsks.
“Shit.” My strength returns and I sit up slowly. “And you let her play us, didn’t you?”
“You couldn’t resist those big, fake blubbering tears. Or the self-inflicted damage to her pretty little face. And Holden’s kink for choking only added to her damsel in distress act.” Julian’s laugh holds no humor.
“I accepted the Elite Squad position to be in Centrum. To find my Karina after they took her. I couldn’t risk drawing Nix’s serpent eyes my way. But I caught her trying to eavesdrop on your secret meeting in the woods that time. So, you’re welcome.”
All my long years of solitude at the academy were spent observing. Learning my fellow cadets, instructors, and officers so I could outsmart, and out maneuver anyone. I was convinced I had warriors figured out. But I didn’t learn any truths until I stepped out of the shadow and into their lives. I thought I had Julian and Nix figured out. Nothing can be assumed or taken for granted.
We approach my house, and all signs of the chaos from before are cleared, as if nothing had happened. If not for the lingering charred rubber in the air, I’d think we're at the wrong house. I exit on wobbly legs but shake off Luce’s concern.
“The general loaded the cargo carts and started the evacuation. The captain is waiting for our return.” Luce stalks off into the house.
I pick out some pebbles and bits of bark embedded in my healing forearms. And try not to envision the captain standing next to Geir in my family home.
“Ya know, a betrothal is a forced agreement to keep warrior born thriving. It has nothing to do with what’s inside.” Julian’s baby blue eyes glint in the setting sun, reminding me of Fletcher’s and I’m instantly gutted.
I fist my rolling stomach at the sudden assault of his loss. He would be here with me like this. Cheering me up or building an elaborate plan to kick Geir’s ass. Julian reaches a hand out to steady me, but I wave him off.
“Why are you telling me this?” I walk to the house and he falls in beside me.
“Because the captain and Geir have never never looked at each other like you two do.”
“Shit. Was I ever good at concealing anything?” I don’t want an answer.
“Pfft. I read you like a book the first time we met.” Julian pushes through the library doors and swaggers to the secret entrance in the fireplace.
“You’re an ass.”
“Yep, and I own it.”
I follow him down the metal staircase into a rush of white lab coats. Everyone races to the medic area where the cots are laid out. High-pitched alarms wail, and an incessant beeping grows faster in its cadence.
“What’s going on? Is the equipment failing?” Addy breaks into a sob and that’s all I need to get me through the crowd.
I’m by her side, pulling her close to me. Her swollen eyes are red with endless tears streaming down her sallow cheeks. Fletcher’s equipment is going wild. Dr. Quinn stands across from us, with Iva holding the medics back from doing their job.
“Addy, it’s working,” Iva says.
Kane immediately steps to my side and gives me a nod. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this. I want to lunge across the gurney and throttle Iva in the face. I release Addy into Kane’s hold and move closer to the head of the bed.
We have no idea what the serum might have done to him. If it’s still Fletcher in there. A flash of color ignites behind his closed eyelids. I can’t tell if it’s green, but Targe and his warrior’s eyes flashed before they turned violent.
“Oren.” Kane urges, catching the flare, too.
I summon one of my blades and my hand shakes as I reach for the hilt. I don’t want to do this. The ring of my weapon emerging from the ether is drawn out and scrapes against my insides. I choke down a swallow as I bring the glowing edge up to Fletcher.
“What are you doing? You don’t need that.” Iva pushes his hair off his forehead and moves in closer from his side.
“The serum is already flaring in his eyes,” Kane growls.
“It’s not the serum.” Iva holds a palm at me to stop my advance.
“His brain activity is stabilizing and the heart monitor is no longer erratic.” Dr. Quinn makes notes on his tablet.
Another bright flash of light seeps from the corner of Fletcher’s eyes. I press my blade against his neck.
“Everyone, clear the room now.” The captain commands.
The medics race down the tunnel to join the general for the evacuation. Only Dr. Quinn and the Centrum Elite Squad remain.
“Oren, stand by,” the captain orders.
“No, Oren, you can’t,” Addy begs and my blade trembles in my hand.
“He won’t turn like them.” Iva insists. “He won’t because I didn’t use the serum.”
We stare and blink back at each other over Fletcher’s body for long stretched minutes.
“What did you inject him with if not the serum?” Addy pushes off Kane, demanding an answer.
Iva’s eyes dart to me and down to the throbbing veins of my outstretched arm.
“No. No, you didn’t.” I stumble backwards, releasing my blade into the ether.
The clatter of green and red vials falling against jagged rocks plays on a loop in my mind. A broken discarded syringe lies beside a pool of Fletcher's blood. Iva had both the serum and my blood in his pocket.
Fletcher convulses on the gurney. His back arches high off the bed, dislodging his breathing tube and several IVs. Everyone rushes to hold him down, but I can’t even blink. My attention fixed on the light burning brighter behind his eyelids. And suddenly every machine sparks and pops from an electrical surge.
Fletcher drops limp against the bed in the silence, the equipment fried. I lean over him to scan his vitals. His lids spring open and I’m met with the intense heat of electric blue eyes staring up at me.
The End of Book 2
