“Holy Hogw-“ Ian’s cut off as Rel slaps a hand over his mouth.
Sticking my hand through, I fight a laugh at the tickling sensation on my skin. Withdrawing it, we watch as the brick is returned before the sound of locks being flipped can faintly be heard. The entire wall starts shifting to the side like a sliding barn door, gliding smoothly millimeters above the ground so that it doesn’t leave any scraping tracks over the floor to give the secret entrance away.
“Corey.”
I tip my head at the underground’s gatekeeper, Rheyas’ polar opposite in everything but size. The pitch black hair and skin only a few shades lighter, his golden eyes pop in the darkness like a cat’s, tracking our every twitch of muscle. His nostrils flare, dismissing me quickly in favor of eyeing the rest of my pack.
“You found her, then,” he comments, attention rapt on the two men beside Esmerelda, unwisely dismissing her as a lesser threat.
“Better; I married her.”
His head whips to me before returning to her, zeroing in on the mark on her neck, currently an impressive bruise since she doesn’t have the same level of healing as a shifter does.
Rel takes a step closer, breaking the awkward standoff. “Do shifters even get married?”
“Well, not exactly. But it sounded better than ‘mated’. Or you know, that I fucked you so hard, angels wept with envy.”
The others follow her to the entryway, Corey throwing an arm out to bar their way before offering a hand. Hesitantly, Rel puts her hand in his, to which he lifts it to his nose, snorting the back like he’s doing a line of coke. That’s all it takes for the man to commit someone’s scent to memory, the exact reason he ended up in this position. Passwords can be overheard or tortured out of someone, and tattoos can be replicated if someone were to catch on. But a person’s scent can’t be replicated, and there’s no better verification of identity.
He gives the same treatment to the others before barring the door behind us, the worlds’ largest deadbolt sliding into place. Heading to the opposite end of the corridor that acts as the man’s home as much as his post, he knocks on a seemingly dead end, barking for Taylor to let us through.
Clapping my back as we pass, Corey nods his head. “Congratulations, man. Glad we got to her in time.”
My breath seems to seize in my chest, his words hitting hard. If I hadn’t gone to visit my cousin and started my search there, it’s entirely possible I wouldn’t have come across her before those mages ambushed her. Sure, she kicked the ass of the one inside, but there were six that Rhey and I tore apart outside of the house. They might have walked away from the ordeal, but she would have run.
I might never have crossed paths with her.
“But you did. ‘What ifs’ will drive you crazy if you let them, so just focus on being thrilled that I’m here to grace you with my presence,”Rel quips and all tension dissipates as soon as I hear her voice in my head.
And what a beautiful view it is. The bulky coat and hitchhiker look has never looked so hot.
Glancing back to see her smirking, I switch to speaking out loud, not wanting to piss off the others. Now that things are starting to calm down, the two of them hating me doesn’t really serve any purpose. This past week has played out better than I could have hoped, seeing as after how our journey began, I was convinced we were going to be forced to take the scenic route here.
I sweep a hand out with a flourish. “Welcome, to Jurass-“
“I swear,” Esmerelda cuts me off, chuckling, “you two were made for each other. Don’t you believe in superstition? Pull a bloody Mary and name drop three times, and the trademark fairies will appear to repossess your house.”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about, but you’re pretty and I love you.” Stealing her hand, I lead the way down the wooden steps as people start noticing our arrival, swiveling their attention our way.
The space here acts similarly to a lobby, nothing really of interest beyond some familiar faces. It branches off into four main hallways; to our left and right are the living quarters, behind us is the way to the cafeteria and supplies, and in front, work rooms. Veering to the right, I head towards my room.
Passing a long line of doors, we have to take two turns through the hallways in this wing before finally arriving. Every room here runs on a key pad for entry instead of actual keys so we never have to risk losing or replacing them. Pushing it open, I take Rel’s bag from her and toss them both on the floor beside the bed.
“I’ll be honest, I was expecting way worse,” Ian chimes in, following my lead and dumping his stuff as well as shucking off his coat now that we’re out of the cold. “A studio apartment is a huge upgrade from the barracks style I’d been imagining. Sure, it’ll be cramped with all of us, but better than the alternative.”
Rheyas glances around, tilting his head slightly with a furrowed brow. “Why’s it sound like there’s a breeze in the walls?”
“Extra layer of white noise to prevent eavesdropping from the conference room. Everyone here may be vetted and trusted, but seeing as we’re aiming to sway as many people as we can to the cause, there’s always the chance someone will back out or betray us. That’s why we don’t use passwords to get in and so many layers of security to go through and each has an alarm set up they can trigger if someone were to sell us out to give us time to prepare. There are only about fifty people that are privy to every detail of behind the scenes work, that way there’s less of a chance of everything imploding, even if we suffer a few blows along the way.”
My room is still a bit bigger than most of the ones in the single’s dorm; a queen sized bed, a small kitchen set up on one wall, and the opposite side is two doors. The tiny closet is jam packed with everything I own; a few small tokens from my old life I was able to save, and what I need to function in this one. The other door leads to the bathroom, one of the few big enough in this wing to actually have a bathtub/ shower combo. But seeing as I’ve been here longer than anyone, I don’t feel bad about the perks.
“Do we have time to clean up before you need to check in?” my sweet mate asks, already inching towards the shower.
“Absolutely. I’ll go grab some food to bring back while you’re in there, sound good?”
She grins, stripping her shirt off as she goes. “Perfect.”
Grabbing a fresh set of clothes out of my closet I change, since it’s better than nothing while I wait for my turn. “I’ll put in for a transfer to the family apartments.” Tugging my shirt over my head, I start walking towards the door. “They’re the ones on the other side of the lobby from when we came in, better suited to accommodate those that are already mated or with kids. Only two other couples are fated set ups, but at my last check, sixty-three of those apartments are currently in use. Some are long-haulers like me, and others just need a place to lay low or a place to stay until they get back on their feet.”
