It takes longer than I expect, and more pain in my knees than I’d like on the hard metal surface, but we eventually reach an open vent. Zeph turns back to us and motions for us to get closer when his eyes begin to swirl with his deep purple energy, and his body levitates to the opening, then slowly lowers beyond view. In a blink, my body rises, held steady, and I’m positioned so thatI can be lowered to the ground below and into Erich’s waiting arms.
It’s only a moment later that Andrew joins us, breathing a bit heavier than he should be. I raise a brow at him and he waves me off.
I think his control freak is showing.
Peering around Erich at our surroundings, I notice the bare furnishings all around in the dim light. A small but clean-looking couch, a coffee table, small kitchenette with a mini fridge and a microwave.
As I start to walk around and examine everything close, Zeph spreads his arms wide. “Welcome to our home away from home.”
Erich
Sipping some heated canned soup, I look over at Nyx and Zephyr from the small table in the kitchenette area of the safehouse.
One of the small teams before us had set this particular safehouse up as a central location between the airport and the train station that will take us to Long Island.
Our Omegas stick close to one another, and I’m not sure if Nyx can feel Zephyr’s heightened alertness, but I sure can. So can Laurant.
We both keep peering at him, sometimes at the same time. We’re all worried about her on this mission, but the last thing I want is for anyone to make mistakes, get reckless over what could be just a nightmare.
Who am I kidding? I know it wasn’t just some dream. Laurant is smart enough to understand the difference, and I do have trust in my pack brother. No matter how begrudging.
Now that the three of us males are on the same page, we are ready and willing to rip anyone to shreds who threatens a member of our pack. We don’t even need to voice this as fact, we just know it instinctively. I feel it deep in my chest, just like that strange movement inside me whenever my emotions are heightened.
Like now.
Nyx is on edge now, too. I can feel it as well as I see it. And there’s confusion in her stress.
That’s probably my fault.
I sigh quietly through my nose.
Back at the academy, when I went to Nyx’s room under the guise of helping move her stuff, I let my emotions get the best of me. Said things I shouldn’t have—at least not the way I did.
Shit.
She should be relaxed and resting up for the big mission tonight. Instead, she fidgets, squints, looks all around on and off.
I can’t pretend I don’t see this, and I don’t want her thinking I don’t care. “What’s up, Little Spark?”
Her big, brown eyes zero in on me, but they’re flickering from side to side, just a bit. “I… don’t know,” she says slowly. “I just have this feeling. I’m sure it’s only jitters for our first real mission, though.”
“Perhaps Nyxeris should stay here in the safehouse,” Laurant suggests, and I shoot him a death glare.
“We all need to stick together and watch one another’s backs.” My jaw is tight as I seethe. Is he serious? Didn’t he ever watch a fucking movie growing up?
“Come on, Nyx.” Zephyr rises from the table and holds his hand out to her. “Let’s try to get some rest.”
He leads her to the couch which we’d converted to a bed, the two of them speaking quietly as they curl up together, wrap themselves in one of the blankets.
I shoot another glare in Laurant’s direction, and he has the sense to look sorry, although I don’t know if it’s for making such a wild suggestion or for something else going on in his head.
“I’ve never been on a train before.”
Nyx tilts her head at me in surprise, looking sexy as hell in her new fancy clothes, something left for us all in the safehouse. Along with new IDs and burner phones pre-loaded with our train tickets.
We had shimmied our way through the subway ducts from the safehouse and kept a low profile, sneaking around the subway station before heading up to street level, walking all the way to Penn Station, where we boarded the last train to Long Island for the night.
I’m sure we’re doing this on a weeknight by design. The rebellion has been extra cautious since the previous teams ran into trouble.
