“Wha-”
Flickers of memory start to catch up to my scattered brain. Of Roman’s phone call and meeting him outside the lawyer’s office in a panic, realizing he showed up with the retrieval team. Some arguing before his apology and everything going dark.
I jerk the rest of the way upright, fully awake now. “What thefuck, Gage? I told you guys to stand down!”
He frowns, setting the wooden tray over my lap. “Like we’d abandon you.” Puffing up his chest, he confidently declares, “There was no way you would’ve left the compound so you could do an extraction alone without having us on standby. You trained us too well to fall for that bullshit lie. When we got your SOS text, then an immediate, "Never mind, false alarm," we knew whoever was holding you captive must've seen or taken your phone. So we planned your rescue ourselves.”
He looks so damn proud of himself, I almost feel guilty for wanting to smother the idiot with my pillow.
“Scariest one to date, not gonna lie,” he continues, rubbing the back of his neck, oblivious to my building rage. “A whole fucking town of mysts? Shit, boss, it's a miracle we were able to get you two out at all. Thank the Fates you trained us as well as you did.”
Yeah, way to fucking go, Bellamy. You gave trigger-happy morons access to chloroform. Stellar work.
Glancing at Ever’s unconscious form beside me, the guilt hits hard as I brush a lock of teal hair from her face. “Any injuries or complications during the extraction?”
No matter how pissed off I am, these men are still my responsibility. If they got themselves killed because I left them in the dark… that’s on me. And I don’t think I could forgive myself if any of them were hurt simply because they were trying to help, but I was too afraid to loop them into what I was doing off the books.
Roman walks into the room as I ask the question and snorts derisively. “Nope. It was pathetic, really. After you were secured in the van, I borrowed your face and asked to speak to her alone, and those idiots let both of us walk right out the door without any trouble. The offices were soundproofed since they deal with supes and legal shit, which worked in our favor. Carter is dead on his feet after keeping up the neutralizer barrier for so long,but we didn't want to take any chances of them following us home.”
Shit. Arson and Ledger are going to slaughter the entire compound if they track us down before I can send them a message.
They might do it anyway to make a point.
“What sort of trap did they use to lure you out of the compound anyway?” Gage asks, furrowing his brow. “How would they have even known about you?”
Roman paces the small room, crimson eyes flashing with frustration. “Everyone’s been on high alert since you disappeared, trying to figure out where the breach is.”
My stomach flips. Softly trailing my fingers down her throat, I settle at Ever’s pulse, letting every steady beat bolster my confidence. Careful of my wording, I slowly explain, “You know that I'm always searching for the next person we need to save. I've been watching Ever for years, but I didn't have any proof that she was a mimic, and she was past the age cut-off the elders allow for regular mysts to be taken in. Honestly… I thought she was human. When she suddenly disappeared, Iknewthat something bad had happened to her. And nobody cared that she was missing but me. Ihadto find her, but I couldn't put you guys at risk in case the elders chose to exile me for bringing her here.”
Gage gives me a pitying look, nudging the tray of food my way. “Well, it all worked out in the end. You’re home now, and your gut has never steered us wrong before. If Bossman says he had to go on a secret mission to kidnap himself a wife, then that's that.”
Roman’s at least a little more in touch with reality. “Yeah, you go ahead and tell that to Elder Naomi. I’ll be sure to visit you in the med wing if you survive.”
Chapter 3
Ever
Skull pounding and fighting a wave of nausea, I gingerly peel my eyelids open while contemplating smothering myself with a pillow to escape the pain. A few blinks in the unfamiliar room and anxiety takes over as the predominant shitty feeling. I push myself upright with a groan, trying to remember where the fuck I am and what happened last night.
“Thank the Fates, I was starting to worry they overdosed you and you weren’t going to wake up.” Bellamy exhales in relief as he comes to sit on the edge of the bed and tenderly pushes my sweaty hair from my face. “Much longer, I was going to call for the healer.”
My body moves before my memories catch up to loop me in, but trusting my gut has kept me alive thus far. So I assume there’s a damn good reason why I punch Bellamy in the throat without thinking.
As he doubles over coughing, trying to catch his breath, I clamber out of bed, flickers of memory trickling through the throbbing in my skull. Once the floodgates break, everything comes back to me in a rush. Him asking to speak to me alone,then dragging me into a van, my hands ziptied. His facemelting.Seeing therealBellamy bound and gagged in the back with me.
Hand wrapped around the doorknob, freedom is torn from my grasp as the imposter catches me in a bear hug from behind, rasping, “Shit, Ever, it’s me! Bell.”
Yeah, like I’m really gonna fall for the same trick twice.
Slamming my head back into his nose, he curses and loosens his grip enough that I can jerk free, yanking the door open and sprinting down the tunnel-like hallway. Most of the ground and walls are made of worn, dark stone, but there’s an eerie purple glow slashing through it all like lightning behind jagged glass, illuminating the path. While the light in the walls comes from thin, spider-like veins, the one in the center of the floor is so thick, it looks like ice frozen over an ethereal river.
Praying I’m not about to take a plunge into Hades’ river of souls, I sprint down the tunnel, relieved when it holds my weight. About every dozen feet or so is an identical closed door of dark wood and black iron, but I don’t even make it past the second before I’m tackled from behind, fake Bellamy rolling mid-air to take the brunt of the impact as we crash onto the floor.
“Fuck, babe, you can’t run off alone down here; there are more things hiding in these ruins than mimics. Just let me explain,” he begs as another figure rounds the bend and comes to a halt as soon as he sees us.
Eyebrows jumping to his hairline, the man pauses for a weighted moment before grimacing. “Yeah, this one’s probably my fault. Sorry, Boss.”
I growl in frustration, rolling and tucking my legs up to my chest before they can be pinned, preparing to shove my attacker off of me.
