Damian’s frown is stiff, he’s had time to mourn the loss of her, and it shows in his weary eyes. I can’t imagine all the sleepless nights. All the missed conversations. “I’m surprised you didn’t remember me kicking your ass the first day you came down into the Under.” Damian winks. He pauses and lets his gaze shift coldly to Cameron. “Do you remember what happened in the last trial? I’ve had my suspicions, but of course the few of us who survived weren’t told anything,” he says quieter.
I nod slowly, looking down so I don’t accidentally make eye contact with Cam or Erik. “Yeah, I’ll tell you about it later… Speaking of which, will you be staying in our barracks now?” My tone is cheerier knowing I’ll have a friend close by. Even though I very much consider Gage a friend too, it’s different having someone you went through the trials with. It’s a tighter bond.
Damian leans back in the seat and ruffles his hair. “Well, yeah. Where else would I sleep?” He laughs. I take a relieved breath, it’s the comforting news I needed to hear.
“Who’s our additional teammate?” I glance over Damian’s shoulders to the man sitting beside him. He’s staring out the window and not interacting with the others.
Damian’s expression drops and his brows pinch together. “You’re not going to like it.” My stomach instantly plummets when he says those words, and I hesitantly lean forward to see more of the soldier.
His hair is rich brown, tuffs of his curls peek out from beneath his helmet. He’s taller, like Cameron is, and the rigid way he sits is familiar.
Oh God.Damian sees the realization hit me.
“Yep,” he chirps like this is amusing. Which I’m sure it is to him, having been stuck with this soldier in the Under all this time.
“WhyWraithof all people?” I glower as Wraith instinctively turns to glare over his shoulder at me. Those dark eyes are filled with evil as far as I’m concerned, though he does have a somber air about him now.
The asshole in question raises a brow and smiles at me. It instantly makes me bristle. “Miss me, runt?” I can’t hear him with my headset on, but I read the words from his lips just fine.
I flip him off and turn the other way. There’s no way in hell I’m going to willingly get along with him. I’m actually a little relieved that it’s not Arnold. I might’ve killed him myself by shoving him from the helicopter if it was.
The thought of that brings me a little solace as I watch Lieutenant Erik and Cameron share a conversation that abruptly stops the moment they notice me observing. They stopped before I could really get a feel for what the discussion at hand was.
My gaze shifts to the ground, and I let my mind dally on everything that happened tonight.
I’m really not looking forward to having the conversation with Cameron and my estranged uncle about what the fuck is going on.
So I lean back like Damian and enjoy the short flight to the plane hangar while catching up with him. After about thirty minutes, I rest my head on his shoulder and fall asleep.
It’s downpouring when we finally land somewhere along the northern coast of Germany. It’s too dark to be able to discern the area by landmarks, but I notice a shedlike structure a few hundred yards away from the landing pad. Beyond that is only heavily wooded terrain and an enormous plane hangar.
We quickly race through the freezing rain and enter the hangar that doubles as a base of some sort. The top is domed and the main entrance is made up of huge gliding barn doors that allow the entry and exit of aircrafts. The sound of the water pelting against metal makes it clear that the domed roof and most of the walls are made of steel sheets. While the remainder of the building is intricately structured with bricks and iron-framed lancet windows on the second story.
Who knew airplane hangars could be an aesthetic,I muse, wishing my father would’ve acquired more places like this in our family operation.
It’s the middle of the night, probably pushing past 3:00 a.m., so we don’t run into anyone besides the manned twenty-four seven stations. They consist of two men in dark gray uniforms that are nearly identical to ours. A man in a pressed officer’s jacket dips his head knowingly at our lieutenant as we walk in.
Cameron has been keeping a close eye on me the entire flight here and knows that there’s a chance that I could slip into a violent state. I still haven’t quite figured out what brings them on, heightened fight-or-flight responses, sure, but Cameron doesn’t seem overly worried, I know it’s the last shot in the series that made him lose himself, so I’m hoping this one doesn’t have much of an effect on me. I try not to dwell on it. I’m just kicking myself for going through with the experiment like Nolan wanted.
Everyone is exhausted from the day, so we don’t say much as we descend the stairs into a common room with many doors and a few hallways that are kept for passing soldiers like us, I’m guessing.
We are each assigned a room and offered a change of clothes. I’m eager to get out of the dress I’ve been wearing for a few days now, but as I’m undressing, Cameron knocks on the door and peeks inside. I still, breaths shortening as I watch his pupils blow wide from seeing me partially naked. He swallows, the motion makinghis Adam’s apple dip. Heat races through my veins, and for some reason all I can think about is how badly I want to cuddle up next to him like before. I want to touch him and feel him inside me again.
My teeth dig into my lower lip as I clear my lewd thoughts. “Do you need something?” I cast a longing look over my shoulder. I hate how easy it is for my anger to fade when it comes to him. He does that to me.
He clears his throat and sets his gaze to the ground. “If you want answers, from both me and Erik, then you need to come now,” Cameron says gently. His pale hair is tousled like he had a difficult time deciding if he was going to enter my room or not. I don’t know why I find that so endearing, but I look away before smiling about it.
I sigh and button my dress back up before following Cameron to what looks like a conference room. There is a distinct scent that buildings half a century old seem to always carry, making the air thick and a bit musky. Stones and old carpet.
He shuts the door and nods to the long wooden table. I narrow my eyes at him but hop onto the table and wait for Erik to join us for an awkward discussion of how he failed to tell me that he’s my uncle.
The silence between us could sever a head. It’s the most dreadful few minutes I’ve had to sit with, because we’re both thinking the same thing.
Where the fuck do we go from here?
Cameron breaks first.
His arms are tightly crossed over his chest, and he’s leaning against the wall across from me with his head tilted the slightest bit sideways as he stares at me. It’s agonizing and I’m grateful when he finally sighs and murmurs, “You have every right to be pissed with me.”
