Never.
Not ever.
It would break him.
For the man who had spent so long hating himself for his deeds, she would destroy him by doing this. He would see it as his greatest failure. Another chink in his armor that finally hit hard enough to shatter. He’d survived his parents and Bronwyn and hundreds of other deaths. But she could see in his onyx eyes that he would not be the same if she was remade.
She placed her hand on one of his. “We’ll find another way, okay?”
He tilted his head in surprise but said nothing. Just drew her close and kissed her hard.
A promise, a recognition, an understanding.
They linked hands and began their trek back to the house. She’d try again tomorrow. Maybe she could figure out a way to take the abilities for shorter periods of times. Guard herselfagainst the side effects. Be better at it now that she knew what she was up against. There had to be a way.
A hundred yards from the front door, Beckham abruptly stopped. “Do you hear that?”
She raised an eyebrow. “No.”
He held his hand up. “Two seconds. No more. Don’t hold on too long.”
Then he opened himself up to her. She reached for the ability to hear and suddenly she could. She gasped when she heard it and then dropped the connection. Her breathing was rough and her ears hurt a bit, but nothing as bad as before.
“A helicopter?”
“On its way here.”
Chapter Thirty
Beckham grasped her around the middle and took off. He dropped her on her feet once more at the house. “Get everyone to the garage and out of here before the whole house goes up.”
“What are you going to do?” she demanded but he was already gone.
Reyna cursed under her breath and then dashed through the house. She was leading Elle. These were her people. She needed to get everyone out.
“Gabe!” she gasped, nearly running into him in the entrance. “Get to the cars as fast as possible. A helicopter is coming. We need to get out.”
“On it. You need to get out too,” Gabe yelled. Meghan came dashing after him. He grabbed her hand and rushed for the door.
“I need to make sure everyone is out first. I’ll meet you there.” Reyna pushed through the kitchen and found Tye and Jodie packing a backpack. “You two need to leave. Now!”
Katarina flew into the room. “I’ve got them.”
“Thank you. Now get out of here. I need to get Brian.”
Katarina nodded at her like a soldier, then all but hoisted them into her arms and dashed from the room.
Reyna felt a wind kick up next to her as more of Beckham’s circle cleared the house. But she saw no sign of Brian. No sign of Washington. The helicopter was getting close enough that she could vaguely hear it with her normal ears, and that wasnotgood. She didn’t want to end up like Sydney, a captain going down with her ship. She wanted to save everyone.
She pushed forward deeper into the house. “Brian! Washington!”
Washington appeared then at the top of the stairs. “Reyna,over here.”
She hurried to him and he foisted a cooler into her hands. “What’s this?”
“You must save the Golden Blood, Reyna. The fate of the world rests in your hands. I have to finish the backup of my life’s work.”
“Washington!” she cried.
