59. The Chase
FIFTY-NINE
THE CHASE
Seven
“ J ack!” Blaire’s voice was ragged when, after cleaning ourselves up, we appeared in the kitchen of Cas and Clay’s small home. I stepped back, letting his old friend fly into his arms and hug him tightly.
“You scared the absolute shit out of me!” she snapped, her cheeks wet with tears. “Don’t you ever, ever jump out of a building again, you hear me?”
“I really fucking hope there isn’t the need for it,” Jack mumbled back, patting her back gently.
“I don’t even care if you’re immortal now. There is literally no excuse for that sort of stupidity!”
Jack stiffened, then pushed her away, glancing at me. “I … what?”
I threw him a sheepish smile, but before I could explain, Farida stepped closer.
“You made the final transition into immortality sometime during your captivity,” she explained. “High-stress situations can sometimes trigger it early. And hybrids are very much a mystery. Your timelines for immortality seem … fluid.”
I couldn’t help but glance over at Blaire as Farida said that. Roman watched his Joined with resigned worry in his eyes. I knew how he felt … that fear of not knowing if they could die at any moment before their immortality settled.
I was so utterly, guiltily relieved that, unlike him, I no longer needed to worry about that with Jack.
“But how do we even know when someone becomes fully immortal?” Blaire demanded, crossing her arms.
Farida leveled her with a stern glare. “I knew when I saw the injuries on Jack’s head. Something had pierced his temple, deep into his brain. No one who wasn’t fully immortal could live through that.”
I watched Blaire eye Roman, one eyebrow cocked.
“We will discuss this later, Sweetest,” he murmured, stepping forward to shake Jack’s hand. Jack accepted it stiffly.
“Good to see you up and about,” Roman said, giving Jack a stilted pat on the shoulder. “And I’m glad that you made it through, and you and Seven are Joined once more.”
I wondered if there was still some leftover animosity between the two males. After all, Jack had thought himself in love with Roman’s Joined for a very long time.
Jack tugged me forward, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “You have no fucking idea how glad I am, too,” he said, his lips finding my hairline.
Roman visibly relaxed, and I stifled a grin. Joined males could be very jealous.
You were jealous of Blaire before we Joined the first time, Jack reminded me cockily. I pinched his side, and he flinched. Hey, I’m just saying that it’s not just the males that can get … possessive.
Well, you’re all Mine now. Any female who glances at you can tell as much.
Jack chuckled. You going to pee on me to stake your claim, Blossom?
You’d probably enjoy it far too much.
The blush that bloomed on his cheeks had me biting back a giggle as the rest of the group slowly stepped forward to welcome Jack back.
Ellis skipped up for a hug—apparently hugs were okay now that we’d showered off the sex smell.
Cas and Clay smiled like they were completely unsurprised to see him up and about. Farida stood back, watching everyone with that calculating gleam in her eyes.
She’d saved us, had made it possible for us to take Taiga down. But I didn’t quite trust her.
Raoul, Roman’s father, seemed to share my mistrust of her. The male lurking by the kitchen sink had made no secret of his utter dislike for Farida.
Jude … he was strange, even for a Pureblood Stranger. He was Blaire’s biological father. I’d guessed that the second I saw the two of them side by side. She treated him with a sort of stilted camaraderie, which he reciprocated.
But while he was a part of the group, he also seemed to isolate himself. And the way he watched Farida, with a sort of quiet, confused intensity, unsettled me. I’d avoided him for the most part, which hadn’t been hard because I’d spent most of the three days since we were pulled out of the river holding Jack, waiting for him to wake.
I hadn’t told him that I’d started disbelieving Farida when she had assured me he would wake. That the longer he lay there, so still he could have been dead, I was sure she’d been wrong about his immortality. I’d thought what I’d been forced to do to Two was the lowest I could feel … but the thought of losing Jack was so much worse. Which then made me feel guilty that I wasn’t feeling bad enough about Two.
Not that I wasn’t still raw about it. But I told myself that her life had been over when Baxter had turned her into his mindless weapon. That I’d done her a kindness, in the end. If she’d lived, even after his death … would she have continued to hunt me? Continued to work toward that last command he had made of her?
What an utter relief that the place, and all of its experiments, were ashes in the forest now, a permanent tomb for the despicable humans behind it all.
Then there was Twelve. She sat like a wraith in the living room, staring at a blank wall with such focus I thought there must have been something there. She’d been in that chair for days. I’d seen her there the first morning when I’d briefly left the bedroom Cas and Clay had put Jack in to use the bathroom and get some water.
“Farida found her … she was in a bad way from mirror wounds,” Cas had whispered. “Agents were torturing her Joined in another part of the facility. Farida broke their Join to save their baby. They tried to get to him in time … but the agents had already finished him off. She would have died, too, and the baby, if Farida hadn’t broken the Join.”
My eyes fell on Twelve, still staring at the wall as if there wasn’t a reunion going on in the next room. Occasionally she would press a hand to her flat belly. I felt sick that between all that torture, she and Nineteen had been forced to breed again. I wanted so badly to go to her, to hold her, to help her grieve.
Let her have her space, the whisper decided. She needs time to process. And our Joined is still alive. It would be hard for her to be around us right now.
I took her advice, staying by Jack’s side as Cas approached her, that motherly air that she had giving comfort to the grieving Drinker. Cas was what she needed right now. Not me. I’d barely known her inside Taiga, except for that day when I’d clawed through the door to try and get to her.
I need some fresh air , Jack whispered inside my head. All these people wanting to congratulate me on not dying is kind of making me want to die.
I nodded, trying to shake off the melancholy. We’d all been scarred inside that place. But Twelve’s scars would take a lot more to heal.
Jack made his excuses, telling them all it felt like too long since he’d seen a sunset, and we escaped out onto the porch.
“My parents?” he asked, the words a whispered rush, almost as if he knew he wouldn’t say them if he didn’t force them out. “Are they … did they make it out?”
I nodded, gripping his hand. “Yes! That must have been playing on your mind in there, not seeing them when you woke. They’re with Blaire’s … human family on the other side of the village. I think they’re a bit intimidated by the crowds of Strangers, so they don’t come out much.”
“Are they well?” he asked.
I nodded. “They were both unharmed during the evacuation. Blaire’s human father had some injuries, but they were from before they escaped.”
Jack’s jaw tightened.
“They’re all gone now,” I reassured him. “The Operation is gone. It can’t hurt any of us again.”
He nodded curtly, his eyes distant.
“Did you want to go and visit them?”
His eyes finally found mine again, warmth returning to his face.
“No. I just needed to know … right now, I just want to be out here with you. Alone.”
A gust of crisp, evening breeze bit into my skin. I rubbed at my prickling arms.
“Bit cold, Bloss?” Jack asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and tugging me against his warm body. The edge of my melancholy mood faded as his body heat seeped into me. “It’s definitely fall now.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, confused, and there was the wicked smirk I loved so much.
“Seasons wouldn’t have meant much to you in that place, but fall is when things get cooler, and in lots of places, the leaves will fall off the trees. Not here, though—these trees are evergreen.”
“What are the other seasons? I vaguely remember learning about this in the nursery, but it didn’t seem important, so I promptly forgot about it.”
Jack’s smile turned soft. “Yeah. Summer is when it’s hot, and it leads into the cooler weather of fall … and then comes winter.” He chuckled softly, his eyes gleaming. “I can’t fucking wait for you to see snow, Blossom!”
I smiled up at him. “I can’t wait for it either, then.” I wrinkled my nose. “And snow is …?”
His laugh was stifled when his mouth found mine, his lips warm, his tongue slow against mine, a dance I never wanted to end.
But I was the one who ended it.
“I just realized something,” I whispered, backing away from his mouth. He tried to chase my lips, but I held him back, cupping his cheeks. I’d never get over touching his face. His face that had been so ruined after being buried and then pummeled by the river. It was perfect now. Chiseled and beautiful. Immortal. Safe.
“What did you realize?” he asked, his big hands covering mine. “Make it quick, because I was just getting started kissing you.”
I grinned up at him. “I love you, Jack.”
He huffed out a surprised laugh. “I already knew that, and so did you.”
“But I realized that I hadn’t actually said it to you. So … I love you. And I can’t wait for you to show me snow. I can’t wait to have an eternity of summers, and falls, and winters with you.”
His cheeks rose under my hands in a beautiful grin.
“Don’t forget spring, Blossom. That’s your season.”
“It is?”
He drew my hands away from his face, pressing them against his heart. “You smell like springtime to me. Like new flowers and warm air after a long winter …”
“I really love you,” I mumbled, finding his mouth again. The kiss was slow, languid, just right to keep me warm in the cool evening air. Not quite enough to make me need more … although that was always in the back of my mind with Jack.
His hands wrapped around my back, pressing me to him. And suddenly, I did need more. I moaned into his mouth, turning to straddle his lap.
“Nowhere is sacred when it comes to a freshly Joined pair, is it?” Ellis cackled behind us.
I sighed.
Raincheck? I asked, slipping off Jack’s lap.
Absofuckinglutely.
“I’ve come out to wait for the Petersen twins,” Ellis said, slipping down beside me, plonking down a large bag. “They’re heading back to Denmark, and I’m tagging along—talk about great timing! I got on their flight tomorrow morning, out of Fairbanks, so we’re leaving tonight.”
My brow furrowed. “The Petersen … you mean Greta and … and Grace?”
Jack stiffened beside me, and Ellis grinned and nodded.
“Back to Denmark?” he asked roughly.
“Ooooh, you missed all the gossip!” Ellis crowed, practically vibrating with excitement. “Your Hot Bear …” She grinned sheepishly when Jack growled at her. “Your Uncle Asbj?rn sent them as undercover agents—we need a different name for them, don’t we? Agents don’t have a great reputation around here … so, let’s just call them—”
“Spies?” Jack interrupted, his fingers finding mine, tightening around my hand. “Asbj?rn sent them to spy on me?”
Ellis chortled. “Shit, no! They infiltrated Taiga a year ago, at the same time he stopped providing the little cups of monster jizz to the Operation. Uncle Asbj?rn wanted to keep a closer eye on Baxter … wanted to know what exactly was being done with all that immortal sperm.”
Jack grunted, glancing at me. That immortal sperm was the only reason either of us even existed.
“But then Asbj?rn discovered that you were a prisoner there, Jack,” Ellis went on, not noticing our silent exchange, “and he instructed them to find positions where they could keep an eye on you.”
“So they were spying on me,” he insisted, his brows furrowing.
“We were told to make sure you didn’t come to harm.”
We all jumped, looking up to find Greta and Grace standing a few feet away. They were in civilian clothes now and had a small bag each. It shocked me how alike they were when I saw them side by side. I couldn’t actually work out which was which.
“I’m Grace,” the one with the hair a slightly lighter shade of blonde, said.
“I … thank you,” I mumbled, squeezing Jack’s hand and then getting to my feet. “What you did for us, to help us escape …” My eyes welled, and I glanced back at Jack. How different our lives would have been if Grace hadn’t risked herself, and her cover, for us.
“It was nothing,” Grace said hurriedly, her cheeks pinking. “And Greta helped too—she stole me the blood-thinning drugs that allowed me to trick them with my injuries … and Mercer was ready to murder her for the ‘accident’ in the lab that caused the explosion that outed the power that night.”
My eyes widened, turning to the other twin. The first person who had touched me with kindness. Who had risked herself for me, too.
“Well, you’ll be pleased to know that Mercer died very gruesomely,” Jack added, his eyes glowing that gold that meant the monster was close. “I just wish I’d had time to make her suffer more.”
Greta and Grace’s blue eyes flashed silver in eerie unison. “I’ve met some bad Candies in my life, but she was the worst,” Grace snarled.
“Even worse than Baxter,” Greta agreed. “The things she did to some of the E Block prisoners …”
I shuddered, thinking about Two. “How will the survivors cope?” I asked quietly. “There weren’t … Baxter showed me how he’d weaponized us … were there others who had been …” I couldn’t bring myself to finish the sentence.
Greta and Grace exchanged a look. Eventually, Greta spoke.
“There were a number of them who were part of the early trial. But there was only one who they completed the full experiment on.”
“Two,” I mumbled, my voice shaking. Jack pulled me close.
“Yes,” the twins murmured together.
“Do we need to isolate the others who were experimented on?” Jack asked, all business, covering for me as I breathed through the stabbing pain in my chest, thinking about Two and what had been done to her … and what I’d done to her.
Greta pondered his question, her face serious. Eventually she shook her head. “I don’t think so. Those earlier experiments were wildly unsuccessful. The worst it did was make their aggression more … easily triggered, and it wore off in time … mostly.”
Jack nodded, his lips tight.
I don’t like this , he confided.
We’ll manage them. We’ll keep a close eye on them , I reassured him. I’m not letting another one of them die.
His thumb swiped my cheek, coming away wet. I hadn’t realized I was crying.
“You guys are going to be the best foster mom and dad to all these orphan hybrids,” Ellis said softly, and for once, there wasn’t even a hint of a joke in her tone.
“Now!” Suddenly she was all business, jumping to her feet and shouldering her bag. “We’ve got a long drive ahead of us, so we should split while the splitting’s … splittable?”
Jack rolled his eyes but reached out and pulled her into a weird, one-armed hug.
“I never did thank you for all those cups of blood, back on Greenrock,” he mumbled, stepping back.
“Aww, shucks!” Ellis giggled. “But I get it. You were super pissed off about the shitty turn your life had taken. You weren’t in a place to thank me for something you wished you didn’t need.”
She turned and winked at me. “And yet, it all seems to have worked out just right, doesn’t it? Sometimes we need to go through some stuff to get our happy ending, don’t we?”
I managed a nod, shocked at how true her words were, as she grabbed Grace by the elbow, and with a shouted, “So long, suckers!” and a wicked cackle, she climbed into the waiting Jeep.
She wound down the window, leaning out.
“Hey, Seven! You know, you should pick a new name for yourself! You’re not their number anymore.” She cracked a roguish grin. “Might I suggest Valkyrie? Your viking bear uncle-in-law would really appreciate it.”
The Jeep pulled away, the engine rumbling, and Ellis’s parting guffaw slowly fading into silence.
“Well?” Jack asked. “Is a name change on the cards? I mean, Valkyrie would suit you, you bloodthirsty little heathen … but you’ll always be Blossom to me.”
I thought about it. Actually thought about the fact that I could make choices like this now. Even something as simple as what people called me.
But then I thought about the seven injuries I’d given to Baxter as retribution for everything he’d done to me and to the others. I thought about how powerful I’d felt in that moment.
“I think …” I began, pinching my bottom lip. “I actually think I’ll keep Seven. I claimed my name, made Baxter pay seven times over. I kind of want to remember that even when he gave me a number, not a name, he never truly owned me.”
Jack looked down at me with such an expression of adoration that I couldn’t help but smile. “And Blossom will always be just for you and me,” I added, reaching onto my tiptoes to nip at his lower lip. He growled at me in response, gripping my backside and hauling me against his very prominent bulge.
“Do you think we can claim our raincheck now?” he asked, nuzzling at my neck, taking deep inhales of my skin.
My smile spread into something sinful.
“Run, Jack,” I hissed into his ear. He stiffened.
“What did you—”
“I said, run!” I grated, letting him go and taking a step back, my eyes roving over his beautiful, strong body. “Run fast, because when I catch you, I’ll hold you down and do all the things I’ve ever fantasized about … until you’re begging me for mercy.”
“Fuck, Blossom,” he rumbled. “What if I don’t want to run?”
“You’ll run … or I won’t do any of them at all.”
He knew I was lying, but his smile spread wickedly over his face, and with a cheeky blown kiss, he turned, sprinting into the forest.
A laugh burst out of me as I counted to ten, giving him a tiny head start. The chase was on.