Blaire
BLAIRE
“Thirty minutes, that’s all you get before I zip in there and grab you, Sweetest,” Roman commanded with a forceful kiss. “And you know I’m only agreeing to this because it gives you a quick escape if you need it.”
rolled her eyes, earning herself a quick, possessive squeeze of her butt. She kissed him on the cheek, pointing to the large oak tree they’d agreed Roman would wait under for her. Its branches almost reached the ground, ensuring he was well hidden in case they were being watched.
“I think I can handle wandering around my own house without getting into too much trouble,” she said with more bravado than she felt. “And I’ll have Jude with me. If something happens, we’ll know about it before anything bad goes down, and we’ll zip straight out to you.”
Roman had made her practice zipping over the last few days with single-minded determination.
“If you can’t do this without even thinking, you don’t get to go in there alone,” he’d insisted.
“I won’t be alone. I’ll have Jude,” she’d argued, trying so hard not to let her mixed feelings about the male who was her flesh and blood show on her face. She hadn’t brought it up again after Ellis’s bombshell. Instead, she focused on getting a plan in place that allowed her to do what she needed so badly to do—look for answers. Or at least feel like she was doing something.
Roman wasn’t fooled, though. His face softened, and he cupped her cheeks, pressing his lips to the tip of her nose.
“I trust Jude. If it wasn’t for his quick thinking, you might not have survived the mirror wounds on Greenrock. He has your best interests at heart, and right now, those interests mean getting you what you need from inside that house and getting you out again safely. Okay?”
nodded, nuzzling her face into his hand. “Okay.”
“And you promise, at the first hint of anything … or anyone … you’ll zip right back to me. Just like we practiced. Yes?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, sir.”
Roman’s eyes darkened. “You know what it does to me when you roll your eyes at me. And we might have to revisit this ‘sir’ thing later when we have some privacy.”
’s core clenched at his loaded words, but she managed a smirk. “Is there even such a thing as privacy in the Vault?”
Roman pulled her against him, her breasts brushing against his chest. “One day, Rodgers, when all of this bullshit is over, and we don’t have to run anymore, we will have so much privacy that you can scream the roof down as you beg for me, and no one will ever hear you.”
shivered. “Promise?” she whispered.
“Promise. Now go, before I decide I don’t care about privacy and take you up against this tree.”
snorted. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Roman turned her and with a quick, delicious smack to her ass, sent her on her way. She crept out of the cover of the giant oak, nodding once at Jude, who had given her and Roman a moment alone. Together, the pair dashed over to the tall hedge that lined the long drive up to the palatial Rodgers estate. They crept along in the cover of the hedge, the gravel crunching softly under their feet.
The place looked deserted. Dark and unlived in. Even the lights on the drive, which usually stayed on all night on a timer, were dark. And the hedge itself—her father’s … well, Harvey’s pride and joy—hadn’t been groomed in weeks.
“Doesn’t look like anyone has been here since we left for Greenrock,” whispered. Jude gave a curt nod.
swallowed down a knot of disappointment and the bubble of unease that accompanied it. It had been a long shot, expecting that her mom and … and Harvey had been released to resume their normal lives after what had happened.
Her mom had very nearly been shot. Jack … he had been shot. And she didn’t even know if he had survived. She had almost died from bullet wounds that hadn’t even belonged to her.
But Jack … he’d been taken away. Baxter had seemed to be invested in him staying alive. So she held onto that sliver of hope that he was okay.
But where were they? If Baxter and his stupid Operation still had them, where the hell were they being kept?
If there was any chance of her finding a clue … it might be in Harvey’s study. The man who raised her was old school—he liked to keep hard copies of all his files. And she guessed that he’d been working for the Operation as long as her mom. So he should have files on all of it. And maybe she’d be lucky, and they’d contain something … an address? A map?
There would be something .
There had to be something.
The plan was simple. , who knew the house like the back of her hand, would go in with Jude. She would hunt for clues. He would keep watch for any signs that someone knew they were there.
Once they had whatever intel she could gather … or if shit went sideways, Roman was there to give her an anchor to zip to fast, and he was close enough to the property that neither of them would suffer Joining pains from being separated.
Raoul was back at the Vault with Farida and Ellis. He was the anchor for Roman to zip back to.
All in all, it felt like a pretty watertight plan.
But couldn’t help but feel the twin points of phantom pain in her back. From bullets Roman had taken. Bullets that had mystically wounded her, too … almost fatally.
Humans had guns. She wasn’t fully immortal yet. If they hit something vital …
… Roman would know. And he would zip to her, grab her, zip them back to Farida, who would heal her.
Absolutely watertight.
So why did she feel like she was walking to her death?
“This doesn’t feel right,” Jude muttered, tense in the doorway of Harvey’s study. He took a few steps into the hallway, glancing in both directions, then returned to his place against the door jamb. “It’s been too easy.”
“Or maybe you guys are far too paranoid,” grunted, her head inside Harvey’s filing cabinet. But something close to panic swirled low in her stomach, tightening and twisting, as she rummaged yet another drawer.
Nothing. There was nothing in here. Well, there were loads of files—file after file of patient notes. And in the second cabinet, bills, and car registration details, mortgage documents … all the boring stuff you’d expect a middle-aged man to have in his home office.
“Are you almost done?” Jude hissed from the doorway. “That time limit Roman gave you is almost up.”
“Nearly.” moved to the desk drawers, hands shaking as she riffled through pens, and post-it notes, and empty gum wrappers.
“Harvey, you untidy pig,” she whispered, ramming another drawer closed and feeling a hot stab of satisfaction at calling him that, even if the traitorous bastard would never hear it.
She glanced up at Jude. Her biological father. She wondered if he was tidy. She wondered if immortals had homes or if they were all nomadic the way Roman was. Or was that just a necessity because he was a wanted man?
She still knew so little about this world she’d been flung headfirst into.
“Head in the game, Rodgers,” she muttered, scanning the office once more. Maybe he had a hidden safe? A stash under a floorboard? She shook her head, frustration welling inside her, hot and twisted.
No. She’d been a fool. Of course Harvey wasn’t going to keep hard copies of documents for some secret government operation just lying around his study. He probably had password-encrypted folders on his laptop. The one that had been on Greenrock with him.
“Shit,” she cursed, storming for the door. “Why didn’t we think to check his study on Greenrock before we left?”
Jude’s mouth tightened. “I don’t think anyone was thinking about much except getting the hell out of there.”
“We’re running out of time!” growled, pushing past Jude. “There has to be something here.”
“What did you expect to find, ?” Jude asked in an undertone, following close on her heels as she stormed down the upstairs hallway, not really knowing where she was going. “A handwritten letter from Agent Baxter, complete with ‘if undeliverable, return to secret government base at this address’?”
couldn’t hold her rage in check any longer. She whirled on Jude, eyes blazing. “I don’t fucking know, alright? All I know is that I can’t sit around the Vault for another goddamn day, not knowing what’s happening to them! Is that so hard to understand?”
Jude’s lips pressed together, but his eyes looked so very sad. swallowed around the lump that suddenly felt like it was choking her.
“It’s not at all hard to understand,” Jude said. “And I wish I could be of more help. But we really can’t be here too much longer. They’ll have eyes on this place, and we aren’t safe.”
bit her lip to keep it from trembling. Blood welled in her mouth. “I can’t leave until I have something,” she said shakily. Jude reached towards her, his hand almost brushing her shoulder before he squeezed his fingers into a fist and let them drop.
“I know how powerless you must feel right now. But I don’t think this is where you’re going to get the answers you need.” He glanced down at his watch. “Ten minutes, and Roman will come looking for you.”
shook her head. She needed more time. There would be something here. Somewhere. She had to believe that, or she was going to lose her shit.
“Shit! I’m a damned idiot!” she grunted, spinning again and sprinting along the corridor. Jude’s footsteps trailed her.
“Where are you going?” he hissed as she passed doorway after doorway—the home theater, several guest bedrooms, the upstairs lounge. “I haven’t scoped this section of the house.”
“Mom’s office,” murmured over her shoulder, striding to the very far end of the hallway. “She was the one who was involved from the start with the Operation. She was the one who set up their lab … why didn’t I think to check her office first?”
stopped in front of a door right at the end of the hall and reached for the handle. It was cool under her palm even as her fingers shook. It was going to be locked. Her mom always kept her office locked. knew why now.
The handle twisted smoothly, the door unlatching with a tiny click. Excellent. She wouldn’t have to break it down. Pushing it gently, it swung inwards. The office was black, the curtains drawn.
“Let me go in first,” Jude whispered.
She ignored him and stepped inside.
Calloused hands grabbed her, pinning her arms behind her back so roughly her shoulders screamed, and she shouted incoherently.
“Shut your mouth, half-breed!” a deep voice grated beside her ear, the cold muzzle of a gun pressing under her chin, forcing her face upward. “Or I’ll blow that pretty face of yours right off.”
“Let her go,” Jude said, and she blinked at his silhouette in the doorway. He had his hands outstretched placatingly. Her almost-immortal eyes adjusted rapidly to the darkness, Jude’s expression morphing into focus. Her heart thrummed. He was staring at the gun under her chin, his face gray and stricken.
Another man stepped out of the shadows, his gun pointed at Jude’s legs. “Might not kill you, but blowing out a kneecap takes a while to regenerate from, doesn’t it? Hurts like a bitch, too, from what I’ve seen.” The hatred in the second man’s voice chilled her. The phantom bullet wounds on her back burned with the memory of how much being shot hurt.
“Tiger Three to Tiger One. We have her,” the one holding her said. A tinny voice, coming from his earpiece, crackled back.
“Tiger One to Tiger Three. Bring her in. And any companions she has with her.”
“, go!” Jude growled.
What the hell did that mean? She had a gun shoved under her chin, for crying out loud!
“Zip!” he grated, and she felt like an idiot.
“What the fuck are you telling her?” the man behind her demanded, but, shaking with adrenaline and fear, she closed her eyes and thought of Roman. Of his green eyes, his strong jaw … the full lips that worshiped every inch of her body.
“What the fuck? Hold her!”
Hands tightened around her, the gun cut into her chin, but she didn’t care. She was in the place between. She was zipping.
An agonized scream and a gunshot were the last things she heard before she disappeared from her mother’s study.
Zipping had never made her vomit before.
But when she appeared underneath that oak tree, she collapsed onto the dewy grass and vomited up the small amount of food lingering in her stomach.
“What the fuck happened!” Roman’s voice sounded like it was coming from miles away. Maybe also underwater. And she couldn’t stop vomiting.
“Show me your chin? What happened to you? Fucking hell, not again …”
She thought maybe Roman kept speaking, but her ears were ringing with another man’s screams, with the explosion of a bullet so close to her. He tilted her face from side to side, and she hissed, then retched again. Her chin stung. Through bleary eyes, she noticed the blood on his chin.
A mirror wound.
His hands were on her, tugging her hair. It was stuck to her face. How hard was she bleeding? She didn’t feel any pain.
“Fuck. Fucking … fuck!”
She sucked in a shuddering breath, finally feeling like the retching had ceased. Roman’s hands were soon on her face again, fingers roving, green eyes terrified.
Blood. She could smell blood. Everywhere. And not hers or Roman’s.
“I’m okay,” she mumbled. “I’m … Jude!” She tried to jump up, but her back felt weighed down. She reached behind her. Everything was warm and sticky. It was like something was plastered to her back.
“What happened?” Roman’s voice was tense, almost frantic. “Who was in there?”
“Men …” she panted, shrugging to try and dislodge whatever was on her back. “Two, with guns. And radios. Tiger … they kept saying Tiger but in a weird accent.”
She shrugged again. “What the fuck is on my back, Roman?”
She looked up into his horrified face.
“Did you zip while one of them was holding you?” he asked, finally reaching behind her and peeling whatever was stuck to her back away.
“I … yes … but we need to help Jude!” she insisted. But then she saw what he had tugged off her.
The black, blood-soaked uniform of the man who had been holding her. Some of his flesh was still inside it.
Apparently, had not finished vomiting.
She heaved and heaved again, nothing more than bile coating the ground, as Roman wrapped an arm around her, held her.
An engine roared. Headlights flashed past on the road outside the estate.
“Jude,” she gasped and then heaved again.
“He’s a big boy, he can look after himself,” Roman said tightly. “He was supposed to be looking after you.”
“What … what did I do?” rasped, sitting back and wiping her mouth. Roman’s eyes softened, and he brought a wrist to her mouth.
“Drink. It’ll help,” he murmured, and her fangs sharpened, her lips locking around his skin. His blood rinsed away the sourness of the bile.
“Apparently, humans don’t take too well to zipping,” he explained wryly. She just closed her eyes and drank from him. Her nausea abated, and her strength returned.
When she released his wrist, licking the wound closed, he reached out, swiping blood from her cheek. Not his. Not hers.
It belonged to the nameless man, who was nothing more than bloody jelly inside a black uniform.
swallowed, but no more retching followed. She blew out a shaky breath. Everywhere felt numb.
“I killed him.”
Roman tugged her into his lap, cradling her against his chest. His heart pulsed against her ear. “You didn’t mean to.”
“He … he had a gun. He held it to my chin. He said if I moved, he would blow my face off.”
The feral growl that ripped from Roman vibrated through her body. His fingers found her chin, probing for a wound that wasn’t there. Because she’d killed him.
“If you hadn’t done it, I would have,” he snarled. “And I would have made it last.”
She shook her head. She didn’t want to think about it.
“We have to help Jude,” she breathed.
Roman stilled.
“Yes,” he said eventually, biting the word out. “We need to get back to the Vault. We’ll take these … remains with us. There might be something on his uniform that will give us a clue about where they took him. Farida might be able to figure something out.”
nodded, giving his arm a pat. He released his grip on her, and she got to her feet. She turned away from the remains, trying not to think about zipping with them in tow.
“Do you think they’ve taken Jude to the same place they’ve got Jack … and Mom?” she asked quietly.
The sloppy sounds of Roman gathering up the congealed uniform and what was left of the agent inside it stopped.
“Chances are pretty high, I think,” he muttered. “What did you say they were saying again?”
cleared her throat. “Tiger … but more like an ‘ah’ sound at the end. Like they were speaking in a weird accent … except everything else they said sounded normal.”
“Hmmm,” was all Roman said as he pulled her to him, and they zipped.
They appeared in the Vault, almost colliding with Raoul as he leaped to his feet. His face was gray as his gaze roved over Roman. Checking him for injuries.
Because there was so much blood. From the man she’d killed.
“We’re fine. It’s not ours,” Roman grunted, practically carrying her as he moved to an empty table and dumped the blood-and-guts-soaked clothing on it. “She zipped to me with a Candy holding a gun to her throat.”
“What?” Raoul breathed as Roman pulled her against him, stroking her hair as she shook.
“What smells like dead Candy in here?” Ellis shouted, rounding a shelf and skidding to a stop, taking in the scene. blinked at her, watching as Ellis’s gaze found the pile of clothing.
“Oh …” she said, her mouth tightening.
“ needs to clean up,” Roman snapped as Farida joined them. Raoul took one look at her and spun on his heel. His gait was just shy of running as he weaved away through the stacks of books.
“They took Jude,” Roman told Farida.
Farida’s body went oddly still, and then she nodded once before striding off again in the opposite direction to Raoul.
They thought she was asleep. And she probably should have been. She was so intensely weary. But she’d cleaned herself off as best she could in the odd little bathroom that never seemed to be in the same place in the Vault, and Roman had put her to bed on the chaise lounge, covering her with a blanket and stroking her damp hair with gentle fingers.
The second her eyes had slid shut, he’d moved, his footsteps fading. But the Vault was strange … as strange as the woman who called it home … and sometimes it let her hear conversations that were deliberately taking place out of earshot.
“Are you okay?” Roman asked quietly.
“Why would I be anything other than okay?” Farida snapped. She didn’t sound okay, though. She sounded on edge. The air in the Vault thrummed with a pulsing energy. An energy that always seemed to mirror Farida’s moods.
What was she? There was something … more … to her than there was to Roman or Ellis. But was too afraid to ask. Afraid that Roman would want to keep it a secret from her …
And a little afraid that he wouldn’t.
“He was only here because keeping him close was safer than letting him loose after everything on Greenrock. I didn’t want him here … I only agreed to allow him into my space because of what he is to … and his knowledge about the Operation.” Farida’s voice was cold, tight.
“You’re allowed to have feelings about his reappearance, you know,” Roman added. “You’re allowed to have feelings about him being taken, too.”
Another pulse of energy, one that had ’s heart humming.
“Well, there’s nothing much to be done about it, is there? He made a choice tonight, got himself in too deep. We might be able to help him … we might not. He’s not our concern.”
There was a long pause, then Roman muttered, “Isn’t he?”
Were they talking about Jude? Of course he was their problem! It was her fault he’d been captured. Her fault because she’d dragged him into her mother’s study, hadn’t heeded his warning about needing to scout ahead first.
“He’s a big boy. He’s survived this long. I’m sure he’ll worm his way out of this situation, too.” Farida’s tone was final, dismissive.
“This isn’t sustainable, Farida,” Roman muttered. could practically see him, in her mind, running those long fingers through his tangled black hair, his green eyes too bright with worry.
“What isn’t sustainable?” Farida asked, her British accent even more clipped than usual.
“We’re in the middle of a war. We’ve just discovered we have enemies on both sides of this war, and I can’t … I can’t keep endangering like this. I don’t want her going into danger … but I can’t risk going out myself because of the mirror wounds.”
“You know as well as I do, Roman, that the mirror wounds will, like the Joining pains, diminish as time goes on. And clearly, the two of you are doing everything in your power to hurry that process along.”
flushed, recalling her conversation with Farida about frequent mating being the best way to move them past the teething phase of a new Joining.
“Yes, but we can’t hurry it along fast enough. Farida, we don’t have time! She couldn’t even go home without being attacked. She only escaped because Jude thought fast and told her to zip. And I need to play my part in this war. Things are escalating … there will be a coup sooner rather than later. And now we don’t just have Fortis and his cronies to worry about, but this Operation, too.”
“What do you propose I do, Roman?” Farida asked, her tone weary. found herself sitting up, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself.
“I don’t know … is there anything you can do? Can you … I don’t know … fast forward the process? Force the Join to settle? I just … I need to be able to help her get her mother back … get Jack back … and end Fortis so we can all actually live our lives, but I feel like any action I try to take is going to risk her life. And I … I can’t do that, Farida.
“I know you don’t see the Join the way I do. But she was made for me. She’s everything to me. And I’ll do anything to keep her safe. As it stands, I can lock her up here, keep her safe and miserable, or I can risk her to make her happy. And it’s killing me.”
“Aww, he wuvs you sooo much, Bee,” Ellis whispered. jumped, hissing as the girl appeared on the chaise lounge beside her.
“Jesus fucking Christ, El!” gasped. “Don’t do that!”
Ellis snorted. “If you weren’t so intent on spying on Roman’s sneaky little chat with Farida, you’d have noticed me walk into the room. Not my fault you’re distracted.”
“Shhh,” hissed. “I’m trying to eavesdrop.”
“You haven’t missed anything,” Ellis replied, tucking her legs up underneath her. “Farida’s thinking. I can practically hear the cogs turning in her brain.”
cupped a palm over Ellis’s mouth, straining her ears. Silence.
“Fuck, you made me miss it!” grumbled, narrowing her eyes at Ellis.
But then Farida spoke again.
“There is something I could do … you know there is. But I don’t think either you or is prepared to do what it takes.”
’s stomach swooped. What was Farida talking about?
“Okay, that’s enough eavesdropping,” Ellis said suddenly, standing and tugging out from under her blanket.
“But I—” protested, but one look at the cold determination in Ellis’s eyes stopped .
Whatever Farida had to say to Roman, she suddenly really didn’t want to know about it.
“Right,” she said firmly, eyeing Ellis. “Let’s go see if we can get any clues off the … stuff that I brought back from home.”