Chapter 1
Rayna
It should have been the ideal holiday moment.
Key phrase: should have.
Instead, Rayna was sitting on a flat rock above the shoreline on the white-sand beach, the sun setting behind the gentle waves of the sea, the breeze soft and warm, glaring at her phone as it vibrated and blared out a ringtone in the palm of her hand.
“George” was printed in white as the caller ID.
Rayna forced out a slow breath and turned a grimace to Jake next to her—the handsome man she’d been about to kiss.
“It’s your brother, isn’t it?” Jake asked, his warm, green eyes crinkling in amusement.
“Yup.”
He chuckled lightly. “It’s okay. Answer it.”
A reluctant curl touched her mouth as she swiped to answer the call. “You have the shittiest timing, do you know that?” she said down the phone.
The indecipherable syllable that came out of George’s mouth turned into a stuttered breath. “Did I…you still with Jake?”
“Yes.” She glanced at the man in question as he grinned.
Damn, he was gorgeous. Tall and athletic, his short brown hair flopped around in the soft breeze. The orange sunlight twinkled in his laughing, emerald-green eyes. And the white, toothy grin under his straight nose belonged to the male lead of a romcom film.
When she’d met Jake at the beach a few days ago while he was holidaying with his friends, he’d been charmingly flirtatious but sweet, so she’d allowed herself to indulge him.
As a result, over the past three days, she’d discovered he was an older brother to three sisters, lived in the north of Khaas in the Region of Olkmond just like her, and that he could hold an interesting, intellectual conversation as well as a funny, pointless one.
Plus, while things had been suggestive between them, he’d always been respectful with his words and hands.
Rayna might have given him a reason to let that boundary of respect drop with their clothes had she not had a gut feeling that he wasn’t interested in having a holiday fling.
George groaned in disgust. “This is going to scar me for life.”
“We’re sitting on the beach, you idiot.”
“Oh, thank Neves.”
“Are you gonna tell me why you rang?”
“Oh, yeah. You need to come back. Now.”
“What? Why? Is something wrong?”
“Well, he didn’t fully explain, but V rang just now and said they’re struggling to decipher one of the documents and need us to come back. He’s emailed us two tickets. We’re on the next flight back to Redworth, so you need to get here within the hour.”
“Decipher one of the documents” had absolutely nothing to do with an actual document. It was a code phrase they used in public, meaning a Study was causing trouble in the lab during their quarantine period upon arriving from their time to the present.
“Okay,” Rayna muttered reluctantly. “I’m on my way. Bye.”
She cut the call and clutched her phone in her lap before facing Jake with an apologetic wince.
His grin had softened into an understanding smile. “You have to go back?”
“Yeah, I do. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s all right.” He leaned into her playfully. “But you’ll have to make it up to me tomorrow.”
She shook her head. “I won’t be here tomorrow. I’m going back home. Tonight.”
His features fell. “But I thought you were here for another week?”
“I was supposed to be. But there’s some problems with the documents we’re supposed to be studying, so George and I have been asked to return early to help sort them out.”
“Ah.” Jake’s sculpted shoulders slipped lower. “Does that mean I probably won’t see you again anytime soon after tonight?”
She shrugged lightly. “We both live in Olkmond, so maybe one day. But any time soon? Depends how quickly the problem is solved.”
“Damn. That…fucking sucks.” He sighed and dropped his head to run a hand over his silky locks. “You weren’t kidding about always being on call like a doctor.”
Huffing out a laughing sound, she shook her head. “No, I wasn’t.”
Working for the POTeM project was more of a complete lifestyle than it was a nine-to-five job. Maybe even more so than a doctor because of the added secrecy and twenty-four-seven duty of care that was part of the job description.
It was intense a lot of the time, but Rayna wouldn’t change it for the world. She loved her work. She loved the lifestyle. It was all she’d ever known.
Gripping the back of his neck, Jake lifted his head with a slight smirk. “I’m going to hold you to that, you know? Meeting up one day.”
“Good. Because I’m holding you to it too,” she purred, sinking closer to him.
His eyes took on an earnest glow. “I had a lot of fun with you these past few days, Rayna.”
“So did I, Jake.”
He dragged his teeth over his bottom lip. “Can I walk you back to your place?”
She returned his contagious grin. “Yeah, you can.”
“George,” Rayna called out as she pushed the front door to the house shut behind her.
“Upstairs, one second,” he replied from somewhere at the top of the stairs on the left.
A thunk followed his words as she walked through the middle of the open-plan space straight to the L-shaped sofa. She dropped her small handbag on it and turned to find George lugging a suitcase down the last step. He smacked its wheels on the tiled floor.
“You’re already packed?” Rayna said, heading towards the kitchen on the right.
“Yeah.” His sock-clad footsteps followed after her. “I started folding some of your clothes too. They’re on your bed.”
“Thanks.” She picked up a tall glass from a floating shelf and filled it up at the sink. Then she turned to face George, leaning back against the countertop. “What actually happened, though? Did V say?”
He shrugged. “Dunno. He didn’t explain much. Just said the lord was giving them trouble and that Zack’s ill, so they need us back because we’re the only ones free.”
“Wait, River actually managed to convince the lord?”
“Apparently. But now the lord isn’t too happy with the idea of being here.”
Rayna considered how the man must have been acting for Victor to summon them back as she sipped her water. But over the rim of her glass, she caught her adopted brother eyeing her with curious mischief.
A year older than her, George Aynsley was everything a big brother was meant to be. Teasing, protective, a bit of a softie, and nosy as fuck.
He had a friendly charm to him with his chocolate-brown eyes and hair cut on the shorter side, and warm olive skin that was freckled over his nose and upper arms. He wasn’t as pudgy as he once had been in his early teenage years, but at five-eight in height, he was still on the thicker side in a rugby player sort of way.
Considering he regularly played the sport and watched it like his life depended on it, it was no surprise he’d become what he lived for.
Lowering the glass from her mouth, Rayna narrowed her gaze. “What?”
Having grown up with him, she knew the look he was giving her all too well.
He chucked his chin. “This guy. Jake. How’d it go?”
Oh, here we go.
“Why are you asking?”
“I’m curious. You spent three consecutive days with him.”
Holding the glass against her lips, she mused over the implied question in his statement.
Yeah, she liked Jake, and she’d enjoyed his company. But a few hours for three days wasn't enough for her to be sure of anything more than that.
Eventually, she settled on saying, “I gave him my number.”
“You did?”
She shrugged. “He lives in our region, and he was sweet about it when he asked after walking me here, so yeah, I did.”
The mischievous twinkle in George’s gaze brightened. “So is he the one who’s finally going to end everyone’s woes over your lack of a boyfriend?”
Rayna grunted and straightened from the counter. “It’s not everyone. It’s just you and V.”
“And your grandparents, Erin, Benedict. Uncle Declan and Aunt Win. And probably your—”
“Like I say every time, you all need to find some hobbies instead of focusing on whether I have a boyfriend or not.”
“But you need to get married—”
She reacted to his taunt as he’d probably hoped she would. “Oh, piss off.”
He flinched and threw his head back, cackling triumphantly as she glared in irritated amusement.
“Like I’m ever getting married,” she spat, walking away from him.