Chapter 26
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
RISK
Drift looks at Fault and, as if by an unspoken command, he leaves. No word to anyone, just walks out.
Hazard and Trench’s brows ridges pinch. They cast confused glances at Drift but don’t say anything.
Drift is lucky Fault isn’t the man he thinks he is. He might have caught a bullet the same way the Maker did.
Looking down at him, I’m glad Arc and Shock have Chrys halfway across the room. There’s very little of the man left.
“You’re going to have to report his death to the CSS,” I tell him.
Drift stretches his shoulders. “They aren’t going to like it.”
“Some of them will. Some of them will just be relieved.” Looking at Riann as he follows Kilo in, I say pointedly, “Let our liaison do it. He’ll get a promotion.”
I watch as Trench and Kilo cover the remains and then let my gaze wander through the room.
“We’re going to have to figure out what to do with the cavrinskh.
The ones that haven’t been chipped can probably be released into the caldera.
They don’t want anything but to play and sleep and eat.
” Arc’s mouth quirks in a little smile. “They’re juveniles… ”
“He never let them reach full maturity.”
“I can imagine why…” Hazard taps through some of the screens. “Some of this research dates back well before he would have been alive. They’re about half the size they’d be in another year. These things get huge.”
“Like polar bears,” Chrys murmurs as Shock washes her hands.
I nod while Hazard strides close. “Hears thoughts, sees the future… what do you do?”
“I know things I shouldn’t know.”
“Really?” He looks like he wants to call me a liar. Instead, he asks, “What do you know about me?”
“I know what this says.” I tap his chest, over the tattoo we’ve never seen. “And I know that you drink that much coffee so you don’t have to sleep… because sleeping might mean you’ll dream.”
He shifts uncomfortably. “I get why the three of you haven’t brought this shit up before.”
“No one wants to know what the three of us do.”
“Since you don’t have anywhere to sleep tonight… I called in a favor.” He winks at me. “Margot is off, but Hannah set it all up. And, because I like you, you can take my car.”
He hands me his neural link.
“Thank you.”
“I might suggest getting Arc out of here before Kilo decides to climb out the other side of the caldera… He’s pretty freaked out about the mind reading thing.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Of course you do.”
SHOCK
While Risk and Hazard hash out the details, I finish cleaning up Chrys’s hands and wipe dirt from her cheek, taking extra care around the piercing.
Arc and Riann discuss something quietly. Everything feels too calm.
“Apparently, someone owes you a favor.” Arc stops beside me, standing close enough our knees touch. “Riann says he’s waiting outside.”
There’s only one person it could be. “He can afford to wait.”
“I’d like to leave.” Chrys traces the tattoos on the back of her hand and fingers. “I don’t really want to spend any more time here than I already have.”
Kissu huffs, and I’m the one he pulls at.
“He agrees with Chrys,” Arc informs us.
“Of course he does.” She scratches his chin while I help her up.
No one tries to stop us as we leave. They can clean up the mess without us.
Kissu bounds ahead of us, disappearing before we get back out into the snow. He comes back with an ice-encrusted frankenbunny.
“You brought my bag?” Chrys asks. “Is this where my e-reader went?”
She gives Kissu a fake, accusing glare but can’t keep her lips from forming a smile.
“I didn’t want to chance having to get you new medication, so I asked him to bring it when he followed you.”
“Thank you.” She kisses my cheek and scruffles Kissu’s magnificent ruff. “And thank you.”
I see who’s waiting for us. He can afford to wait, so I detour to the bikes instead of going straight to him.
Arc picks Chrys up, carrying her so her feet are out of the snow.
The bags are cold but safe, and I hand one to Risk, shouldering the other two. “I brought clothes for you, too,” I tell Chrys, even though I don’t give her a bag.
“Why?”
“Our outpost is gone.” Arc holds her tighter. “But we’ll worry about that tomorrow.”
I let him and Risk make sure Chrys is safe while I trudge through the snow.
“Need a ride?” Noa leans on the side of the helicopter, smiling at me like we’re friends.
“We do, as a matter of fact.”
Noa’s gaze slides past me. “Atker’s dead?”
“Yes.”
“I almost feel like I should thank you.”
“Don’t.”
He laughs and steps out of the way so I can throw the bags in.
“Giving you a ride certainly doesn’t level the scale.”
He stands aside as we climb into the small cabin.
“Dajzha.” He bows deeply to Chrys. “I apologize profusely for my unwitting part in all of this.”
She studies his face for a moment. “Let me find out what all you did and I’ll consider accepting that apology.”
“I won’t deserve it.” He climbs in behind us and directs the pilot to lift off.
“Are you the reason they altered the Kiro… whatever?” Chrys asks, and he flinches before he looks down, ashamed.
“I am.”
“Why?” I want to know, even though I can guess.
“Like I said, I’ve spent a lot of money trying to undo a certain sin.
Unfortunately, it has to be taken before you’ve bonded to ensure that she won’t die…
so I have to try any other option available to me.
” He looks out the window, grimacing. “If you figure that out for me… I would give you literally anything wanted.”
I look at the three of them and Kissu. “There’s not much I want right now.”
He peers down at the burning outpost as we pass over. “You sure about that?”
Arc clears his throat. “There’s an empty outpost on Paxton Ridge. It needs repairs, but it will suit us when they’re done.”
“Let me know if you need anything. I’ll help wherever I can.” He turns to the front and goes to sit by the pilot, leaving us alone.
I’ll be happy once we’re on the ground. Happier once I have them cleaned up and can take their minds off what it took to get here.
We have promises to keep.
Chrys looks at me, eyes narrowed, and a smile starting to pull at her lips.
CHRYS
We don’t go into Margot’s the normal way this time either.
“Hello gorgeous.” Hannah waits for us at a different elevator, the one for employees. “Hazard mentioned you’d be a little roughed up. I figured it would be better to keep you away from the other riffraff.”
“Thank you.” I don’t want to be around a bunch of other people right now.
“No problem.” She looks all of us up and down, and her eyes go wide at Kissu. “Oh! I would give you so much loving, but my Melon would get jealous.”
He huffs, taking a step back, and Arc chuckles. “He completely understands.”
“You are lucky this isn’t a ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service’ kind of place.”
The elevator only goes up a few floors, and when the door opens, Hannah tells us, “I put you in a party room, so there’s enough space for everyone.”
Looking down at Kissu, she adds, “There’s also a very comfy sofa and some special treats.”
His front paws do a little tappy dance.
When she opens the door to the room, Kissu is the first one in. The others follow, but Arc gives me a knowing smile when I hesitate.
“I think everything you need should be in there.” Hannah sweeps her hair over her shoulder.
“I’m sure it will be, but… I was promised three, and I haven’t had it yet.”
“Oh! Gotcha. Do you want a diagram, or…?”
That makes me laugh. “Actually, yeah. That would be super helpful.”
“Perfect. I will queue that up on your in-room computer.” She winks, pushes me inside, and closes the door.
The party room has a bed big enough for eight, a stage with two poles, plenty of mirrors and lights… and the promised treats for Kissu.
He’s already tested out the offerings and gotten comfy on the sofa.
Arc holds his hand out. “Let’s get you out of those dirty clothes.”
Shock and Risk are already in the shower, Risk wincing as Shock checks the mesh covering his wounds.
Letting Arc slip off my coat, I ask the question I already know he’s heard in my thoughts. “How are we supposed to make sense of this?” There are so many questions we still don’t have answers to.
“With help. Later.” He pulls my shirt off over my head, bra following after. “Right now, the only thing you need to do is focus on getting clean and convincing the two of them to give you what you want.”
“I don’t have to convince you?”
Shaking his head, he slides my pants and underwear off at the same time. “I learned my lesson.”
He walks me backward into the shower, and when I step under the spray of one of the many showerheads, Risk holds me steady.
“You don’t have to convince me either.” He kisses me while he grabs soap from the shelf.
It’s my soap.
I blink at the other items. My shampoo, my conditioner… even the same color loofah.
Our bags are untouched by the door.
“Margot has access to our order history,” Arc says, the tiniest irritation slipping through the bond. “Hannah checked it when she set up the room.”
Everything we need, indeed.
Risk and Shock help soap me up, tracing my tattoos as they go. Arc washes my hair. And then, it’s my turn to help, even though they try to make me sit and watch.
Like the room, the shower is enormous and the edges are lined with places to observe.
I’ll keep that in mind for tomorrow morning.
Tonight… “I get all of you,” I whisper to Shock as he kisses the butterfly and sparkles at my throat.
“Yes, you do.” He shuts off the water and we manage to get dried off, despite the endless distractions.
Arc is the one who finds the instructions from Hannah. He reads them with his head tilted to the side. “You’ve been taking your Vitamin S?”
“Ten pills every day.”
“Then it looks like all you need to do is let us give you exactly what you want.”
Squeezing my legs together, I look at the diagram. It has a customization function, so I paint the three male bodies orange, yellow, and green.
“Is that how you want us?”