Chapter Five
Kylo
“What’s wrong with you?” Carter asks as I walk into the kitchen.
“Lia has powers. Her eyes fogged, and she threw me without touching me.”
He raises a brow. “She has telekinesis?”
“Moving me like that requires advanced telepathy. Only someone with something to hide would lie about their power.”
“They aren’t with the Aether Hunters. In my vision, Leo works with us to defeat them.”
“Since when do you share your visions with me?”
My brother is evasive as fuck when it comes to his premonitions.
“Since whenever I feel like it. Quit the paranoia about the twins.”
“Why would they lie to us about her powers?”
“We’re not lying.” Leo steps into the room, his shoulders caved in, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
“Bullshit,” I bite out. If I could read his mind, I would. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I didn’t know she had any.” His gaze drops briefly. “Lia never showed signs until we were driving here. She triggered one of my visions.”
“We’re born with our powers. How could she activate your vision? That’s unheard of,” I argue.
I won’t fall for their deception.
Carter may have a bleeding heart for strays in need, but I don’t.
“You’re both smart men, but you’re also being dense,” Carter chimes in.
“Dense?” I grit out.
“Lia might be a siphon,” Carter replies.
“Lia? A siphon?” I scoff. “Siphons are powerful. She isn’t. She freezes during training. She doesn’t fight.”
“What do you know about siphons?” Leo asks Carter.
“Fighting technique aside, which can be taught,” Carter says pointedly, glancing at me. “Siphons can absorb any energy they come into contact with. I’ve never met one myself. I didn’t think they still existed.”
“Why not?” Leo asks.
“For the last decade, the Aether Hunters have been rounding them up,” Carter says. “They force siphons to drain others until there’s nothing left, and then they kill them.”
“What makes you think Lia’s a siphon?” Leo asks.
“When she touched you, she activated your vision?”
Leo nods.
Carter turns to me. “And during your session? She was fine until you made physical contact?”
“I tackled her. Her eyes clouded, and she went still. When I stepped toward her, that’s when she launched me.”
Leo smirks like it’s the best thing he’s heard all day. I could remove that smile with a single thought.
“We should test this theory,” Carter continues. “If she’s a siphon, this stays between us. She’ll be a target if the Aether Hunters catch wind.”
“That doesn’t explain how Lia could feel Kylo’s emotions,” Leo says.
My emotions?
“Maybe she has more than one ability,” Carter offers. “Empaths can pick up on emotions and manipulate them.”
I run through the possibilities. Something still isn’t lining up.
“If she does have powers, why is she showing signs now?” I ask.
Carter glances at Leo. “I’m not sure.”
Leo’s hiding something. It’s written in the way he won’t meet my gaze.
The truth will come out. He can give it to me willingly or I’ll reach in and rip it out myself.
“How can we train her?” Leo asks. “We aren’t siphons.”
“If she’s having premonitions, it’s on us to help her manage them,” Carter says, then turns to me. “You will handle her empathy training.”
Did my pain-in-the-ass brother just volunteer me again?
I laugh at the absurdity. “A telepath training an empath?”
The combat training alone is pushing her past her limits.
“One reads the thought. The other reads the intent behind it,” Carter says. “You can help her.”
I look at Leo. “Go check on your sister. I need a word with Carter.”
He hesitates, then turns toward the hall.
Once he’s gone, I face Carter. “He’s not telling us everything.”
“They’re not Aether Hunters. You’d know that if you took your head out of your ass. Lia can’t even land a punch.”
“She doesn’t belong here.”
“Soldiers aren’t born. They’re made. You’re her best shot at becoming one.”
“Anyone but her.”
His expression shifts, urgency cutting through his usual control. “Lia and Leo are key to winning this war. You need to teach her. Mentor her better than you’ve trained anyone before.”
Fuck.
Carter doesn’t make demands lightly. Before the twins arrived, I didn’t second-guess his decisions.
“If training her gets us closer to killing the Aether Hunters, I’ll do it.”
“Good.” He squeezes my shoulder. “I’ll continue training Leo. He’s exceptionally strong. He’s capable of more than vision seeking.”
“I can’t say the same for Lia.”
“Do it for Blair.”
I tense at the mention of our sister’s name.
The Aether Hunters took her because of me.
I failed her.
“Kylo!” Blair giggles, brushing snow from her flushed cheeks. “You threw that snowball way too hard.”
A laugh escapes me. She pouts like I’ve bruised her pride.
“Come on, that was a baby snowball. Ready your stance,” I say, grinning. “Give me all you’ve got.”
She lifts her hands and launches snowballs at me—some small, others oversized and clumsy.
She’s still learning. I easily deflect them, sending each one back with a glance.
“Kylo, look out!” she screams.
I’m knocked sideways. My back crashes against a tree, pain flaring down my spine. Snow explodes around me.
A dozen men emerge from the trees. One of them has Blair. She thrashes and screams. He presses a blade against her throat.
“Don’t move or she’s dead,” he warns.
I press into my mind, drawing on the pressure behind my eyes, and strike. The others are flung backward, buying seconds.
The man with a jagged scar down his cheek steps forward. “We were looking for you. But she’s a better prize, and a fair price for the hunters you killed.”
I lift my hand to throw him, but four of them cut into my path. I shove them back and push after the rest while they rush down the hill toward a black SUV. My heart pounds as my feet barely grip the snow. I close the distance as they shove her inside and slam the doors.
I reach for the vehicle—
A gunshot cracks through the air, and pain tears through my right pec.
My focus shatters.
The hunter lifts his hand, and I’m slammed backward. My vision goes white as pressure builds in my skull. I hit the ground, snow bursting around me. I try to push myself up, but my body won’t respond.
She’s gone.
What have I done?
Carter and I searched for weeks.
Then months.
We still don’t know where Blair is or what they’ve done to her. But with Elijah’s help, we uncovered one piece of information.
The name of the man responsible.
Draven Lockhart.
Joaquin Lockhart’s son.
The men behind the raids—who destroy homes, shatter families, and leave grief in their wake.
When I find them, I will end them.
That’s why we’re here. Why we train until our bodies break. Why we hunt without rest. The Aether Hunters know we’re coming.
They know we’ve declared war.
We won’t stop until we find her.
After what happened with Blair, why assign Lia to me?
Zayne is a better fit. He’s patient. Stable.
I think about Abel.
He was lucky to keep the hand he put on her. One more inch, and I would’ve made sure he never used it again.
“Why did you assign her to me?”
“You’re remarkably preoccupied with a woman you claim to have no use for.”
I let out a harsh, dry laugh. “She’s a job you forced on me. I just prefer my assignments without the lies.”
“I placed you with her for a reason. Trust my visions.”
Right. I’ve heard that before.
Training isn’t a game. I barely managed with Blair, and she’d been using her telepathy since she was a kid.
If patience is a virtue, then teaching Lia is my penance.
“She reminds me of Blair. They share the same inexperience,” he says.
“Lia is nothing like Blair. She lost control and sent me across the room.”
“If she’s an empath, she likely picked up on your emotions and reacted to them.”
That thought hadn’t crossed my mind.
“If your visions are wrong about the Collins twins—if they’re not who they say they are—they’ll pay for it in blood.”
“Have I ever been wrong?”
“I’m not stroking your ego by answering that.”
“Enjoy your training.” Carter pats my back before disappearing.
She’s a headache in a five-foot frame. She turns every breath into a challenge.
But the defiance isn’t what’s currently grinding my nerves.
It’s the other problem.
My focus keeps slipping—to the heat that flares when she’s close, to the dark silk of her hair, to those dangerous, bright eyes.
She has a mouth that was made to ruin a man’s restraint, and every time she talks back, I fight the urge to pin her to the wall and kiss the fight right out of her.
I lock the thought away with the rest of my sins.
What matters is that she lied about what she is and what she’s capable of.
Lies cost lives.
I’ll break through her defenses with drills, exhaustion, and relentless pressure until there’s nothing left for her to hide behind.
Today, I held the line.
Tomorrow, I won’t hold back.