7. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Lucy
Lucy awoke to Aidan’s woodsy evergreen scent, snuggled deeply in her alpha’s arms. Though her seatbelt cut obnoxiously into her stomach, she wouldn’t have moved for the world. Nowhere was safer than her mate’s embrace.
Aidan’s hand combed through her hair, a rumble in his chest as he chuckled at the antics in front of them. In the front seats, Jeremiah and Zia sang an off-key duet to one of the latest pop songs. The pair had been showcasing their renditions for the better part of three hours.
They were made for each other—as all fated mates were.
“Are you awake?”
Aidan’s voice brought a smile to her lips. “Almost. Where’s my coffee?”
“You polished it off an hour ago.” A chuckle. “You can have a sip of mine.”
“And by sip, you mean all?”
Drawing up to a seated position beside him, she took the mug he offered her. Seconds later, she savored the still burning-hot liquid on her tongue and hummed her pleasure.
The four of them had begun the long drive to Chicago from Paracel this morning when it was still dark. While Zia had offered to teleport them there, Lucy had refused in favor of the three-and-a-half-hour drive.
She needed to get into the right headspace for the meeting with her ex-fiancé.
The last time she’d seen him had been under less-than-ideal circumstances. Derek had essentially taken her hostage, and then he’d attempted to kill her mate. A sliver of fear crept into her mind. While she was certain Derek would never hurt her , she couldn’t say the same for the people who were accompanying her today.
Zia was a Raeth and Jeremiah was a wind Elemental. Aidan, her mate, was a known werewolf who’d already threatened the Citizens and had broken Derek’s arm during their last encounter.
If something went wrong, Lucy had a feeling that it wouldn’t be her that paid the price.
Wrapping her hands around herself, she clung to the hope that what they were doing was the right thing, and sparing Derek’s life was the best outcome. In the deepest part of soul, Lucy would never forgive herself if she allowed him to be killed.
She was a bleeding heart.
“You’re thinking too hard, love.” Aidan’s thumb softly brushed against her chin, a gentle admonishment. “We’re saving his life, whether he deserves it or not.”
Lucy chose not to comment on the last portion of his sentence, the growly tone indicating his wolf was displeased. “I know. I just need to come to peace with the idea. I never wanted to see him again.”
“Obviously. He’s a terrorist.”
She lightly elbowed him in the side. “Well yes, but also because I was dating him, and it ended messy.”
“I have no idea what you mean.” Those tea green eyes locked on her, the alpha’s half smile brightening his features. “You’ve only ever dated me.”
“Wishful thinking, perhaps.”
Jeremiah’s snarky comment earned a laugh from Zia and a smack on the head from Aidan. The Elemental yelled, “Driver obstruction!”
Purposefully swerving in their lane, Jeremiah cackled from the front seat. It was just what Lucy needed to loosen up, and she giggled when Aidan mockingly glowered at the man in front of them.
It’d been ages since Lucy had seen Jeremiah so carefree. After the Citizens had attempted to assassinate Gideon, his best friend, he’d been circling the drain. His version of self-medication has been alcohol and cage fighting. Jeremiah had spiraled into a deep depression that surfaced as spite and sarcasm, and none of them had been able to pull him out of it.
Until Zia.
Jeremiah’s powerful Raeth mate had only taken a week to turn him around, and he’d never returned to the dark place he’d gone before. Zia had saved him from himself, and that was precisely what her abilities would do today with Derek.
When they arrived at their destination, Lucy’s hands began to shake. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t seem to stall the flow of adrenaline through her veins. All she wanted was to bury her face in Aidan’s chest and hide from it all, but to save Derek’s life, she had to do this.
“You can do this, Lucy. I have faith in you.”
“Do you?”
“Of course I do.” Gently pressing his lips to her forehead, Aidan sighed. “But if that man so much as touches a hair on your head, I’ll rip him apart. Gleefully. He’ll be dead meat.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “And there’s nothing a wolf loves more.”
“Except live meat.”
Both of them ignored Jeremiah’s comment. “If you need me, I’ll be there in a flash. You won’t ever be alone again, Lucy.”
Brimming with happiness at the thought, Lucy squared her shoulders and exited the car before she lost her nerve. The chilly spring wind licked at her exposed skin, and she tugged her peacoat tighter around her frame.
In a few, short strides, she’d entered Derek’s workplace, noting the absence of people that Key had prophesied. A work retreat had taken care of the majority of the team, but apparently the man himself had stayed behind to catch up on emails.
Lucy had met him countless times at his workplace, bringing him his lunch or his briefcase or whatever else he’d required she courier to him. Entering this building now, years after they’d been together, was odd.
It was reminiscent of the lowest point in her life.
By the time Lucy had walked back to his office, dodging the rows of abandoned cubicles and filing cabinets, she’d seen only one other person in the building. Fortunately, the distracted soul was heads down at a desk far from Derek’s office.
It was a good sign.
His door was open, and the light was on. Faint tapping indicated a flurry of words being typed. Immediately, her gut twisted itself in knots. The sudden urge to jump into the nearest conference room and compose herself was nearly overpowering, as was the wish to simply turn around and locate the nearest exit.
But Derek was counting on her, whether he knew it or not. Lucy took a breath and stepped into his office.
Everything was strangely the same. The same clutter-free desktop, lined with precisely one stack of business cards and the obligatory expensive pen twisting toward the ceiling in its holder. His credenza was decorated with one calendar featuring a mind-numbingly boring still life painting and the same fake plant she’d gifted him all those years ago.
Even Derek himself was eerily similar.
His mousy hair was gelled the exact same way, the habitually tired expression still on his features. Scruff dotted over his masculine jaw, the only halfway redeemable feature about him being his ability to keep a full beard.
As soon as she entered the office, he looked up lethargically. Blinking as if to clear his eyes from the vision before him, Derek paled.
“Lucy.” His voice was a perplexing combination of confusion, intrigue, and possessiveness. “You’ve escaped them.”
“No.” She allowed the thread of anger to tighten her features. “I escaped you.”
Bewilderment sprawled across his face in the seconds that followed. Silence hung between them, each of them waiting for what the other would do, until Derek couldn’t delay any longer.
“Why are you here?”
“To save your life.”
He scoffed outright. “To save my life? Don’t be ridiculous. You could no more save my life than a mouse could save a wolf.”
“That doesn’t change the truth of it, Derek.”
She strode closer, maintaining eye contact easily. Unlike before, he no longer scared her. She’d grown since then, maturing both in her Elemental abilities and emotionally. She was no longer the mouse he accused her of being.
“My life isn’t in danger. We’re sitting here, in my office, where you came to find me.” A snide laugh. “How exactly is my life in danger?”
“Get up. We’re leaving.”
Derek took great pleasure in casually leaning back in his chair and folding his hands behind his head. “No.”
Unsurprised by his behavior, Lucy simply raised an eyebrow at the challenge. Then, as if the answer was as clear as day, her power sank into the earth below them. With a single thought, the earth trembled, shaking the walls around them and jolting Derek upright as the first flickers of fear drew his eyebrows together.
It gave her the edge.
Lucy walked up to his desk, staring down at him with a haughty look. “You’re going to walk out of here with me because it’s the only way you stay alive, Derek. You’re going to listen to what I say because every second you don’t, every second you refuse to heed my warning, is another second that ticks away at the clock they’ve given you. I won’t repeat it again: I’m here to save your life.”
Swallowing, Derek asked, “What clock?”
“The clock that counts down to when your heart stops beating. If you don’t walk out that door with me— right now —they’re going to decide you’re too much trouble.”
“Who’s they?”
Lucy had to consciously unclench her jaw to respond. “The people you pissed off. The people the Citizens targeted.”