Chapter Twenty-Four
Beckham didn’t return that night.
Or the one after that.
A full week later and she hadn’t seen a trace of him.
No depressions next to her in bed. None of the O negative blood gone from the fridge.
None of his musky scent. She couldn’t even sense him, which meant he had to be at least six miles away from the mansion.
Whatever he was doing, he wasn’t nearby and he clearly didn’t want to see her.
The whole thing was utterly frustrating. She hadn’t done anything wrong, and she wanted him to come home to talk this out with her. But he wouldn’t.
His inner circle returned routinely to help with Brian.
Katarina had brought the antidote to Washington the next morning.
When Reyna had asked about Beckham, she’d been tight-lipped and disappeared.
Their loyalty ran deep. None of them would talk about it.
Or where he was. Reyna respected that even if she despised it.
“He’s going to come back, Rey,” Jodie said as they walked the grounds.
The snow was melting, making the ground sloshy and uncomfortable. But it was better than being stuck in the house while Washington worked on replicating the antidote or hearing Brian’s screams from upstairs or feeling the emptiness of Beckham’s absence.
“I know. I don’t worry about that. He’s sending the circle back to take care of Brian. It’s just me he doesn’t want to see.”
“Well, y’all went through some serious shit. That contact dude is scary,” Jodie said. “I mean, you still can’t say his name, right?”
“No. Well, I can say it to myself when no one else is around. I suspect I could say it to Beckham.”
“Yeah, don’t do that.”
Reyna managed a smile. “Not high on the priority list.”
“Maybe it’s not even that he’s jealous. Maybe it’s all the feeling mojo and him healing you. He doesn’t do well with emotions, right?”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“Washington went apeshit over that. I mean, fuck, girl, healing is a big deal.”
“It is. I know. Beckham is feeling things for the first time. I know that must be intense for him. I wish he’d share it with me instead of running away.”
“If that’s even what he’s doing,” Jodie said.
Reyna shot her a look full of exasperation. “Anyway, I love him. He’ll come back. It’ll be fine. What’s not fine is that there’s a fucking blood antidote out there and Harrington is using it to feed his vampire army.”
“Well, at least that takes me out of the hot seat. Washington was getting nowhere with my blood. So, it’s on the back burner while he works through that vial you gave him.”
“That’s something at least.”
“I wish we were having some luck with June. We’ve hit another dead end,” Jodie said with a sigh. “It’s so dire that Zoya and I have even been checking morgue registries. We haven’t found anything there either. It looks like she’s another missing person in Harrington’s war.”
“Ugh. I’m sorry, Jodie.”
She frowned. “I didn’t have much hope, but I wish I knew either way.”
“Me too.”
“Reyna!” Tye called from the back door of the house. He called a second time before she and Jodie made it to him.
“What’s up? Did something happen?”
“It’s your brother.”
“Brian? Is he okay?”
“Sorry. Drew. It’s your other brother, on the phone.”
“Oh.” She deflated slightly. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll take it.” She took the phone from Tye. “Hey, Drew. How is everything?”
“Everett left.”
“Left?”
“Yeah,” Drew said with a sigh. “He goes out sometimes to check on stuff and bring in supplies. But he’d been gone for over twenty-four hours and when we searched his room, we found his gun missing, a bunch of tech—microphones, cameras, that sort of thing—had been scattered all over, and he left a note. ”
Reyna grit her teeth. “What does it say?”
“He said to tell you that he was going to prove you wrong.”
“Oh fuck,” she whispered. She’d goaded him the last time they were together, when she had been grieving what had happened to Brian. She hadn’t actually believed he would do something about it.
“I sent some people out to look for him, but everyone came back empty. I’m not too keen to risk perfectly good people on someone like him.”
Reyna closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. What would Everett do? If she were in his shoes, where would she go with a gun and some tech? Her eyes snapped open.
“He’s gone to do something really stupid,” she whispered. “I told him to prove that I could trust him. I have a feeling it has something to do with underground Visage or with the feeding camps. Something to prove that he’s on our side.”
“Shit.”
“I’m going to try to get in contact with him.”
“I’ll see if there’s anything else in his stuff.” Drew paused for a long moment. “How’s Brian?”
Reyna winced. “He’s…alive.”
“That good, huh?” Drew asked. Reyna just sighed. What else could she say? “Okay, well, I’ll hold down the fort here. Let me know if you hear anything or if anything changes.”
Reyna cursed under her breath and tossed the phone across the table. “There’s no point. Whatever the fuck Everett has done, he’s done on his terms.”
“Do you think he’ll double-cross us?” Meghan asked. “He knows where the rest of Elle is. Does he know where we are?”
“I don’t think so. He only knows about the cult HQ.” Reyna grimaced. “I don’t think he’ll double-cross us, but then again, he’s a spy.”
“Fuck,” Tye muttered.
Reyna stared around the room at the looks of confusion and uncertainty on their faces. “We should research another place to move people. I don’t want to take a chance that anyone could be in jeopardy.”
Jodie grinned. “I’ll research with Katarina.”
Katarina, who was the only member of Beckham’s circle present, grinned back. “Come on, babe.”
Reyna’s eyes widened at their playful banter. Perhaps she’d missed a thing or two while she’d been busy worrying about Beckham.
“Oh,” Reyna whispered, her breath catching in her throat. She could feel him. She could finally feel him. “Becks.”
Everyone else glanced around as if expecting to see him standing in the entrance.
But of course he wasn’t there. He was still miles away, moving at vampire speed back to the mansion.
She shivered. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed being able to feel his presence until it was gone.
She hadn’t even been actively trying to sense him and still it was like a radar that she couldn’t turn off.
“Uh, Reyna?” Gabe muttered.
She stood. “I have to take care of this. Let me know how the research goes.”
“Ugh, why are we always on research duty?”
“She did her part,” Meghan reminded him. “You sent her into that place to get the antidote info.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Still should have gone myself.”
“And what could you give him that would have interested him?”
Reyna could only distantly hear them arguing, their definition of foreplay. Her mind was on Beckham and how close he was. She disappeared out the door, through the kitchen, and outside. By the time she walked down the few stairs, he was there.
She swallowed and took him in. Last she’d seen him, he’d been in his tuxedo and pissed beyond measure. Now he was in a solid black suit with a characteristic blood-red tie. He didn’t look like he’d run here from more than six miles away. He looked refreshed but wary.
“Hey,” she said. “You’re back.”
“Not for long.”
“Oh?”
“I came to tell you I was going into the city.”
Reyna’s eyebrow rose. “And where were you before?”
He stared at her as if to say, That’s my own fucking business.
“Fine. Don’t tell me. I don’t even know why you’re here right now, then. Why tell me you’re going into the city but not tell me where the hell you’ve been the last week?”
“I’m going to see Penny.”
Reyna ground her teeth together and clenched her fists. “Are. You. Out. Of. Your. Mind?”
A muscle tensed in his jaw.
“Just talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking. Why the hell are you going see her? She double-crossed us. She almost got you killed. She tried to murder me.”
“She might have answers.”
“To what?” Reyna demanded.
“About Harrington.”
“And you’re, what, going to seduce them out of her?”
Beckham didn’t even dignify that with a response.
“Becks,” she said, exasperated.
“I came to tell you. I knew you wouldn’t want to hear after I’d already gone. Now I’m going.”
“Wait.” Reyna snagged his arm. He jerked as if she’d burned him. She pulled her hand back in surprise. He’d never reacted that way to her touch before. Never pulled away from her like that.
Reyna straightened her spine. She wouldn’t let him go that easily. And if he thought that she would, he was wrong. She didn’t know why he even showed up like this if he was going to freak at one touch.
“I’m going with you.”
“No.”
“Oh, this isn’t a negotiation,” she spat.
“You’re right. It’s not.” Beckham stalked across the field to the garage. He could have easily outpaced her, but he walked at an almost human speed.
Reyna trailed after him, jogging to keep up. “You disappear for a week because you’re jealous or whatever and then think I’ll somehow be okay with you going to see your backstabbing ex? Hell, no. This is not happening.”
Beckham tugged the door to the garage open, ignoring her.
“Is this really about Graves?”
He growled low in the back of his throat. Yeah, his name was a bit of a trigger.
“I’m not going to stop talking about this. I don’t even know why you’re jealous. Everything we did was to get information. It’s unfair that you’re acting like this toward me, then going to see Penny.”
“Reyna,” he snapped.
“What?” she yelled back.
“Get in the car.”
Reyna gnashed her teeth together. All she wanted to do was argue with him until he told her what the fuck was going on with him. But when had that ever worked with Beckham? When he put up a wall, he made sure even a wrecking ball couldn’t fucking tear it down.
So she got in the car.