She sensed it in every fiber of her being. Still, somehow, she was completely connected to Beckham in every way. He was gone, but she felt him like phantom pain in a severed limb.
Reyna swallowed back the bile rising in her throat and then for the first time since Beckham wrapped his jacket around her shoulders, she removed it from her body. She found a wardrobe against the wall still stocked with clothes. The smell of him nearly overwhelmed her. For a moment it was as if he were standing directly behind her. She could close her eyes and feel his hands on her and breathe him in.
She pushed all the clothes together, took out a hanger, and hung the jacket in the wardrobe. She hated the absence of it already. She wouldn’t let it go, but she would keep moving forward. If she stopped entirely, his death would be for nothing. Beckham would want her to go on. He would want her to use his death to further their cause. He would want so much more from her. He always had.
Mourning would be a long process, but she couldn’t let it cripple her. Not when there was so much left to do.
After her shower, Reyna felt much clearer and levelheaded. She dragged on new clothes, pulled her hair up in a tight ponytail, and knew what she needed to do.
An hour later, she had everyone assembled in the dining room. The room was much too big for their motley crew of five, but it was better than nothing. Tye stood on the antique table to light the candles on the chandelier, which somehow had survived all this time and not been replaced by electric.
“Do you know how old that table is you’re standing on?” Washington tsked. Reyna didn’t know howelsehe was supposed to light it.
“Probably not as ancient as you, old man,” Tye said teasingly before jumping down and taking his seat.
“I take no offense to having three hundred or so years on you,” Washington said.
Reyna stood from her seat at the head of the table. It had been purposeful to take what had been Sydney’s place. None of them knew if the leader of Elle had survived the attack on the bunker.
“I called this meeting,” Reyna said, “because I don’t want to waste any time. Though I am thankful that we have a place to stay, there’sa lotthat needs to be done.”
“Reyna,” Meghan said with a sigh, “this is really not the time. You should rest. You should grieve. You need the time to recover.”
Reyna held up her hand, and to her surprise Meghan stopped talking. “I understand where you’re coming from, but no. I don’t need downtime. I don’t need to grieve. I’ll sleep when I’m dead. Right now, we need to regroup and hit them back. They’ll never expect us to rally.”
“Because we have nothing to rally around,” Meghan said.
“That’s where you’re wrong. We have everything to rally around. Everything. Visage is still going to unveil their plans for a feeding camp. They still have humans imprisoned beneath their building in the city. They’re trying to take over the world. We can’t let them get away with it.”
“I agree with you,” Gabe said, holding his hands up. “But we need more time.”
“You said that I needed to live so that this wouldn’t all be for nothing,” she said, throwing his words back at him. “Let’s not make it for nothing.”
“I’m sorry, Reyna. But you just saw Beckham murdered. You’re not ready for this,” Meghan said.
“Kid gloves off, Meghan. I appreciate you breaking me out of Visage, but please don’t baby me. You all lost as much as I didand you’re not falling apart. I’m ready to step up. Are you?”
Meghan leaned back and pursed her lips. She didn’t respond. Reyna shrugged and faced the guys.
“Well?”
“Whatcha got?” Tye asked.
Gabe winked.
Washington smiled and tilted his head toward her.
“We have a lot to do, but first, we need to figure out what happened with the bunker. Tye and Meghan, you two should figure out how bad the damage is and work with Washington to contact whoever survived.”
“And you and Gabe?” Meghan snapped. “Where do you fit in all of this?”
Reyna turned and faced her friend. She loved Meghan. But something had broken in her with this. She was no longer the upbeat woman that could charm the pants off of anyone with a smile. “Gabe and I are going to get Jodie.”
Meghan’s eyes rounded. “Jodie left almost a week ago. We have no idea where she is. It’s a waste of resources to look for her right now.”
“Jodie escaped Visage with us. She’s our responsibility and my closest friend. She has never been on the streets alone. Ten years inside Visage and now this? No, we have to find her. The mission is to get all of Elle back together. Jodie is part of Elle, and wedoknow where she went. I have an address. Once we have our team back together and more information, we can get back to the real matter at hand—taking down Harrington.”
“It’s a good plan,” Washington said. “We have much to do to get Elle back on its feet. This is as good as any place to start.”
