Chapter Forty-Six
Yun
Things could change so quickly. In my life, it had always been for the worse.
I’d gone from having loving parents to being an orphan. I’d gone from a normal human teenager to a guide. Every time things shifted, it had left me in a worse position.
However, for the first time, I realized things could shift quickly in the opposite direction.
I sat on the couch back at our place—Carter had let Kaidan know I was fine—with my squad around me.
And I actually felt like they were my squad.
“You should have told us,” Carter said, his happy expression gone. Most people would probably assume seeing him like that was a bad thing, that his smile was reserved for those he cared about.
I knew the truth, though—he smiled for everyone to hide his true feelings. By showing me his anger, he let me closer than he let most.
“He threatened you,” I said.
“So? You really think we can’t handle a problem like this? You should have more faith in your espers,” Carter said, not a speck of humor in his tone. “We never want you to suffer just to try to help us. Got that?”
I nibbled on my bottom lip, knowing the answer he wanted, the one I couldn’t give. If the same thing happened again, I knew I’d make the same choice, that I’d give whatever I could to save them.
It was the same reason I’d reached out for Shear, even as his mind had nearly shattered beneath his own pain, why I’d done it despite the risk. If he’d truly lost his mind, he could have easily broken mine at the same time.
“Don’t lecture me,” I said. “I’ll do what I need to.”
He crossed his arms, but did he think that would intimidate me? He’d shown his hand too many times for me to have any real fear of him.
“I just—” I stopped myself before I uttered the question that had haunted me.
Part of me just wanted to keep moving forward, to pretend I hadn’t felt what I had before they’d left.
I knew why they’d gone, now. Clearly they’d set the whole thing up, and I didn’t know how exactly they’d done it, but my mind still went back to the sense that Shear had gotten guiding from someone else.
“What?” Kenyon asked, his voice soft, coaxing.
“Nothing.”
“Out with it, Spark,” Ingram snapped.
I sighed, knowing they wouldn’t let it go. “I thought you were going to throw me away,” I admitted, sidestepping the real question. “You left out of the blue, didn’t want me to come, were acting weird.”
“We didn’t want to risk telling you in case that fucker figured it out,” Carter said. “I just didn’t think he’d have you when he found out. You should know better than that, though. Clearly we don’t plan on letting you go anytime soon.”
I pressed my eyes closed, the words spilling from my lips no matter how much I tried to hold them back. I didn’t want to be pathetic, but I couldn’t stop it. “Someone else guided you.”
All four of them froze, as close to a confession as a person could get.
“I felt it, before you left, so I thought you were leaving to see them.”
“Fucking hell,” Ingram muttered, shaking his head.
“I was guided,” Shear said, voice still unsteady from everything he’d gone through.
“We met with Kaidan because we could tell something was wrong with you. When we were talking, the command that Mr. Yorn had left in me triggered, and Kaidan guided me to settle it. I didn’t tell you because if I had, I’d have to tell you why it happened, and we couldn’t risk you.
” He didn’t shy away from the truth, and nothing in those words felt like a lie.
I didn’t love the idea that Kaidan had guided my esper, but I also knew better than to think it would never happen again. It was the life of espers, of guides. At least I understood what had happened and why.
It lifted a weight from me, clearing away the rest of the doubt.
It meant we were all there, together, just us. No secrets, not anymore, nothing between us threatening to tear us apart.
“You sure you’re up for that?” Kenyon asked.
I didn’t bother to misunderstand him. “I am.”
“You had a rough night,” Carter said, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. It was rather charming, the uncertainty there. “Maybe we’d be better off waiting.”
Except I knew just how fast everything could go away, how fast a person could lose it all. I wouldn’t waste a minute, not when we still had our largest fight before, not when The Pitt could open at any time, when we could all lose our lives to it.
“Stop arguing and strip,” I said instead, channeling what confidence I had into my voice, trying for femme fatale but pretty sure I missed that mark entirely.
Even if I had, though, they didn’t seem to care.
Each of the men stood and removed their clothes, rushing as though trying to win who obeyed the best. It made me wonder just how far they’d go to follow my orders.
It might prove a fun game to play in the future.
Each inch of skin revealed made me more certain that tonight would prove one hell of a good memory. Their bodies were carved from fantasy, just hard lines and flawless skin, all different, all tempting.
It only took a minute, tops, before I had the four sexiest men I’d ever seen nude, hard, waiting for whatever I wanted like a sacrifice all for me.
I dragged my tongue across my lips, ready to enjoy every moment of the night before an all too familiar wave of power rushed through the trailer.
It didn’t affect anything inanimate, but it knocked the men from their feet.
A loud ripping echoed around, but it wasn’t like when the tear had opened before.
Instead, the ground disappeared beneath me, and I tumbled into the darkness. The fall only lasted for a second before I slammed against something hard, my breath whooshing from my lungs, forced out from the impact.
My body hurt, but I forced my eyes open, made me push myself upright.
A dungeon.
The scent of it, the way ash hung in the air, all of it was tattooed so deeply in my mind nothing could ever remove it. The sky above was a mixture of black and swirls of purple, the spindly trees reaching up.
This wasn’t a memory, not a nightmare—no, I was inside The Pitt. I turned my head to see the massive portal, what had to be miles from here, swirling like a threat and a promise.
I’m alone here, again…
A groan to my left had me twisting to find Carter sitting up, rubbing his head. “What the fuck just happened?”
“We’re inside The Pitt,” Shear answered.
“How is that possible?” Kenyon asked.
“Does that fucking matter right now? There’s more serious issues. My erection went away!” Ingram paused, then cursed. “Also, we’re all naked.”
One by one, they got to their feet, then came to stand beside me, looking toward the massive portal. I didn’t know how it had happened, but we’d gotten pulled into The Pitt, together.
I hadn’t expected to face this place again myself, but I certainly hadn’t thought it would happen with me and four naked espers.
Still, with them here, I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t in this by myself, forced to endure, to survive or die on my own.
It meant no matter what The Pitt wanted to throw my way, I was ready.
Bring it on, bitch.