Shit.
All at once, I felt completely out of my wheelhouse and a shuddering breath left me. I wondered if I made a massive miscalculation in challenging Steele. If anything, I felt like my miscalculation was in thinking Steele had more than one brain cell to rub together. Niz’s vicious growl from before was now more of a panicked whine as his tail moved back and forth. Ronan spoke in low tones to Niz, clearly trying to calm his wyvern.
Bastaian watched everything with a detached curiosity, eyeing Steele with almost a bit of amusement, seemingly not focused on the blade at my throat in the least. And where had Gabe gone? I swallowed, feeling unsure of what to do next or what even to say.
“The three of you and your creature will be brought into holding until we can better determine the threat you pose to the Rebellion,” he explained before speaking louder for all in the room to hear. “I need security to be alerted and for several teams to approach the training warehouse to initiate transfer.”
My eyes darted around as I noticed the men and women in the larger group shifting to accommodate the request—a few people even jogged toward the exit to do his bidding. I tried to not feel a sense of panic at what would happen next because it would only make it harder to focus, but I really didn’t like the idea of Ronan, Niz, or hell, even Bastian, in harm's way because of me. If anything happened to them, it would be my fault for bringing them here.
Guilt swarmed my mind as I considered our situation. Gabe said I would be welcomed…but I probably shouldn’t have believed that at face value. A breathy laugh escaped me at the thought. How naïve could I be? Had I been so desperate to findsomewhere that valued me? After everything I endured back home and the inability of so many to see past a placement test as a measure of worth…It was almost embarrassing that I assumed things would be different here. Just because Gabe felt a connection between us didn’t mean the leader of the Rebellion would see value in having me here, that anyone outside Gabe would want me—or even all of us—here.
The nervous excitement and curiosity I felt about the prospect of arriving here was turning into dread and fear. Paired with the exhaustion and physical pain from the situation with my father only earlier that day? I felt everything seep into my bones at once. My body wanted to sag as I felt a sense of hopelessness cascade over me. What would we do if they kicked us out of here? I didn’t know the first thing about Earth.
“Restrain the creature first!”
Steele’s words had me snapping my head toward the door where security, dressed in dark combat clothing with guns strapped to their bodies, were entering the space. My breathing turned shallow and fast as I tried to break away from Steele, blade be damned, wanting to protect the wyvern who had so fearlessly done the same for me. A restless energy under my skin rolled through me like a storm threatening to turn into fury at the idea of our little wyvern being hurt. Steele grunted at my sudden movement. His grip on me tightened further, hard and unyielding as he moved the blade just a half an inch away from my throat. The cold metal was still very much a threat, but he proved that he didn’t actually want to knick my skin.
I could maybe use that to my advantage.
“Shit.” Ronan’s soft murmur made me realize that in my panicked state the entire space had gone silent, all eyes on Steele and I. Gabe’s familiar scent filled the air as I realized he had appeared again, but this time he must have been behind us.
“Gabriel, what are you doing?” I could hear the surprise and shock in Steele’s tone, but there was almost a sense of…hurt, also? I didn’t know how close they were, but it was clear that whatever Gabe was doing surprised Steele.
Gabe’s voice was deep and threaded with the promise of violence as he murmured, “I told Kieran she would be welcomed here. She brought us the dagger of her own volition. She made the difficult choice to leave the only place she has ever called home to come here—tohelpus. So no, Steele, I’m not going to let you hurt her or her travel companions. Remove the blade from her throat. Now.”
My chest squeezed with relief, and my eyes prickled with unshed tears. He hadn’t left us. He was here, fighting for us.
Steele spoke quietly, as if he was concerned about others hearing, “You would do this in front of everyone?”
“For my Little Star?” Gabe mused with a dark chuckle, making my stomach erupt in butterflies. “Absolutely. Let her go.”
The lack of hesitation and use of his nickname for me sent shivers down my spine.
I wasn’t sure what to be more surprised about…Gabe’s unyielding determination to protect me and my companions, despite directly going against his leader to do so, or the fact that Steeleactuallylistened to him.
Steele’s tight grip on me fell away and I stumbled forward, moving to stand protectively in front of Niz. I held my arms out signifying anyone would have to go through me first to get to him, and as I turned, I found a scene that shocked me. My mouth dropped open, finding Gabe standing behind Steele, a blade againsthisthroat now.
Holy hell. Not only was Gabe verbally defending us, he was holding a freaking blade to his commander’s throat, like Steele had done to me. Sothatwas why he’d conceded to let me go. Itmade a lot more sense now. Ithadseemed suspicious that he let me go with a simple command from Gabe, who definitely was beneath him in the hierarchy here.
The brute continued to stare me down. His gaze was calculating and dark and held the promise that he would get revenge for this. The threat to my life may have been sufficiently reduced, but there were still security members and those from training that circled around us with weapons and malicious intent in their postures due to their commander’s orders. We weren’t out of hot water yet.
I didn’t see any positive way of getting out of this—not without violence. I tried to be civil to avoid bloodshed multiple times. My stomach churned at the thought of anyone being seriously injured, or even killed. I’d never been responsible for the loss of a life before, and I wasn’t too keen to change that now.
Bastian suddenly entered the foray, holding my duffel bag that had rested on the ground next to him since our arrival. His dark chuckle brought a confused look to my face as he eased himself past Niz to stand next to me. I watched as his crimson eyes examined Steele and Gabe briefly before looking at the members of the Rebellion surrounding us. “You know, before all of this, I was rather enjoying daydreaming about tasting Kieran’s blood again.” I let out a groan. That wasn’t going to do anything to make us look less threatening. No one in their right mindenjoyedtasting blood. His head swung around as he announced with a cheshire grin, “It was fantastic if you were wondering.”
I had to resist the urge to face palm and sigh heavily, instead settling for a sharp huff of breath streaming from my nostrils as they flared.
“And trust me, I love some bloodshed, truly,” he explained, motioning with his free hand toward everyone around us. “Something this situation has a lot of promise to offer…but that can’t happen. This darling angel took a chance on me andallowed me to accompany her down to Earth, despite me not having the mostpristinebackground. I can’t possibly allow this to go on, especially with her looking so distraught.”
He ran the same hand up and down my back gently, causing a shiver of confusion to roll over my skin, with both heat and a bit of caution when it came to him. There was a comfort in having him on our side, but I wasn’t sure if my comfort was purely because his skills wouldn’t be used against us or because of something…more. He seemed like an opportunistic man, though, so the jury was still out. His voice was velvety and smooth as his eyes flashed to a shade matching a bright blue sky. “So instead…I suggest we deflate, or should I sayinflate,the situation.”
Frowning in confusion, I snapped my head toward the crowd surrounding us, and a small bubble of laughter nearly left me to join his own cacophony of chuckles and snorts.
I couldn’t help but question what I was seeing—honestly, in disbelief. “Balloon swords?”
KIERAN
Seriously, even the dagger Gabe held was now made of balloons. Every single weapon in sight had been transformed. I knew he was powerful, but I couldn’t imagine the energy it took him to do this. Bastian let out a chuckle and dropped the duffel bag at my feet. Ronan made a confused noise, causing my gaze to move back to him, and I found that he was glaring down at the men standing around him. They all wisely backed away, looks of panic on their faces as they dropped theirballoon swords.
