Entering my cabin was like hitting an invisible wall ever since I’d brought Haylie here to stay with me for the time being. In a matter of hours, her unique scent had manifested in my tiny room. It had been much worse when I’d lain next to her, her body only inches from mine, her hair flared out on the pillow like a halo of dark gold.
Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep the first night. Every time Haylie had stirred in the slightest, it had jolted me awake, scared that she was suffering from any after-effects. I’d hovered over her, listening to her breathing for I don’t know how long until I was convinced she was fine, and I could allow myself to close my eyes once again.
Last night, though, I’d had the most refreshing sleep in a long time, and there was no denying what it all came down to—Haylie’s arm wrapped around my chest, her head resting in the crook of my neck, and one slender leg above mine.
She’d been oblivious to it crawling over to me in her sleep. I almost felt guilty taking advantage of the moment. Almost. Tracing my fingers over her soft shoulder, or kissing her forehead and tasting her sweet skin, or playing with her silky hair until sleep claimed me had just felt too good to let it gnaw on my conscience.
This was the first time a woman had slept next to me without me having any hidden sexual agendas. Don’t get me wrong, her sinful body hidden beneath the sheets had teased me constantly, making it damn hard to refrain from exploring it, but that night when I’d held her in my arms had changed my train of thought for the moment.
The following morning, I’d overslept. Most of the time, my restlessness wouldn’t let me sleep for long, waking me the latest at dawn, but Haylie’s presence had allowed me some peace I’d desperately needed.
Now, Haylie had moved in with Lauren. Half of my closet was already empty. I was back to living alone in my room again. A slight pang of disappointment settled in my stomach. That woman was my undoing in every way imaginable.
With a sigh, I opened the drawer under my bed and rummaged through the stuff, pulling out everything I would need—a chest protector, a belt with holsters for various weapons, and my heavy combat boots with metal caps in front.
Our cameras had captured some strange Roe activity we wanted to follow up on. We were going to check things out, which was exactly what I needed right now. I’d been underground for too long with nothing on my mind but surveillance duty, training lessons, and, of course, a certain Natural who occupied my every thought ever since she’d entered my life.
Haylie…
Only thinking her name sent electric currents through me, and it got a lot worse since the fateful night of her Awakening. Her goddess-like body pressed against mine, her endless legs straddling my hips, her long hair flying around with each movement, her beautiful face masked with sexual desire, and her jaylior eyes luring me in. I’d been torn between staring at her angelic face with those vibrant eyes, and the two perfect breasts dangling in front of my nose.
It had taken every ounce of self-control to keep from kissing her or stop my hands from wandering to certain areas, afraid to overstep that thin, invisible line still holding us at bay. Which was ridiculous, taking into account what we’d done, and where my hands had landed at the end—her butt, to be precise, which had just tantalized me a tad too much. However, I hadn’t wanted to use her in her fragile state. It would have been wrong on so many levels. If she wanted me to touch her in that way, then not when she was driven by the effects of the Revival.
And those sensual movements when she’d rubbed her sweet spot against my cock, my name a plea on her lips when her climax came near. Then her body dangling over my arm when her world had shattered apart into the, without a doubt, best orgasm of her life—one she’d shared with me.
The Connection had been so intense, I hadn’t been able to focus on anything else—touching her flawless skin, drowning in those endless pools of jaylior eyes, breathing in her breaths—it had been unlike anything I’d ever experienced. My body had hummed with power the next day, and I knew I could have uprooted the entire forest next to the cemetery if I tried.
Even thinking about it grew a boner in my boxers. I’d never have thought she’d want me to overstep that line with her. Not that I would have been able to stop my dick from exploding, but Haylie urging me on, craving this as much as I did, had made my mind go blank.
In the end, I’d given in and bit down on her throat, sucking her luscious skin until it made me high. Haylie had already passed out when I was finished, going limp in my arms and letting me process everything that had happened the last few hours, starting from me finding her unconscious over her nearly freezing to death in my arms to the soft porn it had turned into. There was only so much a man could take.
Even a Fighter like me.
Haylie wasn’t just one of the most powerful people in the world because she was the rarest human being on earth. Everything about her was amplified, not just her power but also her beauty, her passion, her mind, her strength, her determination, and her ability to love. And it affected the people surrounding her. Most of all me.
That night I’d experienced the best non-sex in my life. But do you know what the worst thing was? It had given me a taste of how it would be to sleep with her, and I daydreamed about it every minute. The carnal need to claim her—to make her chant my name like a prayer while I was the one driving her to ecstasy from the inside out—had festered in my mind ever since.
I mean, how much could this woman torture me? Having the ride of her life on top of me, making us both come hard without us being naked or using our hands to help out, and now what? Now she wanted me to pretend nothing happened? That this was as far as we would go, and we were back to normal again?
This was crucial beyond imagination. Besides, she’d spoiled my entire sex life. Never again would I be able to screw another average woman out there after having sampled this angel-like creature.
I pushed my set of knives roughly through the loops of my belt, followed by the Glock 17 and two additional magazines. You could never be prepared enough.
Two soft knocks on the door interrupted my thoughts of screwing the woman who’d somehow taken center stage in my life.
“Come in,” I said without looking up.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?”
Speaking of the devil or more like thinking of it, I looked up at hearing her voice and was immediately shocked by her appearance. “What the fuck?”
“I’m totally fine!” Haylie held up her hands to choke off my upcoming rant.
“What happened to you?”
“Uh,” she started, frowning at her dirty clothes which were ripped in various places, her split lip crusted with blood, and a few leaves sticking in her hair. She looked as if she’d fought off a wild bear in the woods. I couldn’t say who’d lost. “Training with Lisa happened. No serious injuries, I swear.”
I sighed in relief. I’d already thought we were under attack. “That bad, huh?” I commented with a smirk while zipping up my combat jacket.
“Don’t know. I managed to uproot a tree, and it landed where I wanted it to, but I also knocked over everything within a few feet radius,” she confessed with a sour look on her face. “I don’t understand this. Everyone told me I’d get more control once I was through the Awakening,” she mumbled in disappointment.
“It will, just give it a few days’ time. There’s a reason it’s called Awakening—it activates the parts of your power that were asleep until now. It’s overwhelming at first. And don’t forget that your powers are stronger than those the rest of us have. The greater the power, the harder to wield. You’re doing great, Haylie.”
She nodded, only half convinced by my attempt to cheer her up. “Are you going somewhere?” she asked, watching me packing my stuff.
“Yeah. Jimmy has a job for us. We’re leaving in a few.”
I eyed her from under my lashes in case she was disappointed to be left behind, but it didn’t seem like it. She wasn’t ready for battle, at least not that soon after the Awakening. To be honest, I hoped to keep her out of any further missions altogether. Jimmy was probably on my side on this. I doubted Haylie was, though.
“Oh, okay. Is it risky?”
“Just a check-out routine, nothing serious.” Hopefully not. Some action would be what I needed right now to let off some steam.
“Is everybody going?”
“No. Cole and his team will stay as guards. Sarah, Scott, and Phil are on surveillance duty, and Cassie will stay here, too. She’s not feeling well.”
Jimmy wanted me to keep it a secret for a little longer, so I didn’t tell Haylie that Cassie had complained about feeling sick due to her pregnancy. Using that word still didn’t sit right with me. On the one hand, I was glad Cassie had finally left me and our time together behind, but on the other hand, I’d also grown so used to her being close on my tail at all times, a quiet promise in the background that she was still available, I secretly missed her.
“Cassie is feeling sick?” Haylie asked in disbelief. I knew what she was thinking. Why would a Roe ever feel sick?
“Long story. You came to talk to me about something?” I reminded her.
“Yeah, uhm, actually, it is about Cassie,” she started, crossing her arms.
“What about her?” I stuck another short knife into my boot, then started to lace it.
“Well, Cassie was outside today when I was training with Lisa, observing us from a distance, when Lisa suddenly asked who was standing over there as she wasn’t familiar with the vibes. It confused me because I thought Lisa knew Cassie by her vibes, but she said she’d never seen or felt those vibes before.”
Interesting. The pregnancy must have caused a change not only in Cassie’s scent, as Scott had already confirmed, but in her vibes as well. Funny what hormones could do to a body.
“Lisa got curious and called out to Cassie, but she just seemed…” Haylie paused with a frown, “… shocked, turned on her heels, and went back inside, without greeting Lisa at all.”
This was unusual, though. Cassie had changed one-eighty degrees ever since she came back and still held a grudge against me, but she’d never take her mood out on Lisa. If anything, Lisa was the only person next to Jimmy who she loved dearly. She respected Lisa and had never turned on her bitch-switch in front of her. I was surprised she hadn’t confessed to Lisa about her pregnancy yet. Wouldn’t she want to have some woman-to-woman talk or something like that?
“What are you implying?” I asked, putting my other boot on the bed frame to lace it.
Haylie bit her lip, seemingly dreading what she was about to say. “Something’s wrong with her, Dylan.”
I let out a huff of air as I put my foot on the ground again. Of course, Haylie was right in her assumption, only was she suspecting something else entirely. It was only a matter of time until people started questioning Cassie’s behavior. “Everything’s fine with her, trust me.”
“Are you sure? Did Lisa’s ability ever fail?”
“No, but this is different.”
“How is this different, Dylan?” Haylie questioned, taking a few steps forward until stopping opposite me on the other side of the bed, eyes pleading. “Lisa told me she was sure that the person she’d felt was not Cassie. She’s known Cassie for years, right? Why would her ability fail her now?”
I sighed in frustration, dragging a hand over my face. I couldn’t blame Haylie for mistrusting Cassie as Cassie had declared war on Haylie from the beginning, but she wasn’t in any position to judge her. She didn’t know Cassie in the slightest.
“I’m the last one to be an expert on Watcher abilities, least of all the vibes Lisa can see or feel, but I know it’s quite unusual for vibes to change. Have you ever thought that maybe Cassie is the traitor in our circle, after all?” Haylie asked tentatively, clearly uncomfortable for bringing up the subject.
“No,” I answered resolutely, making it clear what I thought of her suggestion. If she knew what I knew, she’d understand my point of view.
“But Dylan…”
“I said no!” I shouted louder than I’d intended to, but damn, this woman was testing me every second.
I respected Haylie, I really did, even more than I ever thought possible, but I wouldn’t allow her to put a wedge between Cassie and me. I felt I was responsible for standing up for Cassie on this. If the two of them had a problem with each other, they needed to sort it out themselves. I wasn’t keen on playing the third wheel and getting shredded to pieces because of two women extending their claws.
My forceful voice made Haylie gasp in surprise, causing her to recoil as if I’d slapped her. A little déjà-vu overcame me when I thought back to the night I’d first encountered her, her eyes laced with the same kind of fear. I almost felt guilty for shouting at her, but maybe it was better for us both if she was reminded who was in charge.
Sure, she was a Natural and therefore not just a regular student of this compound, but that didn’t mean she was involved in every aspect of the business down here. We’d been family here for years, we’d gone through so much together, had built up our home from nothing. She was not part of this—not yet, anyway. Jimmy hadn’t drawn the line sharp enough. Me neither, to be honest.
The shock crossed her face only a second before she steeled herself again, giving me a short nod of acceptance.
“Okay, sorry. I suppose it’s none of my business,” she apologized in a quiet voice, taking the wind out of my sails in an instant.
“Haylie,” I pleaded before she could disappear through the door. She stopped, hand hovering over the handle before slowly turning back to look at me. I wanted to apologize, but somehow nothing came out, so instead, I said, “Let Sarah tend to you.”
She gave me a sad smile and left without saying another word. There was no doubt she wouldn’t seek Sarah’s help.
“Damn all women on this planet,” I muttered. I hoped I’d get the opportunity to kick some ass tonight. Nothing better than a good, bloody fight to let it all out.
~~~
“Are you sure this is the right truck?” Chris asked for the second time, adjusting the zoom of his binoculars. The rocks we hid behind provided decent cover, but also a good vantage point of everything going on, which wasn’t very much at the moment.
“Positive,” Josh replied with another glance at the printout in his hands. It was a picture taken a few hours ago of two Hunters loading a truck. As our cameras were out of reach here in the back of beyond, we’d tracked down the truck as far as the main traffic system would go. After two hours of searching, we’d found it parked next to the building we currently had under observation.
The place had certainly seen better days. Most of the windows were broken, junk scattered everywhere. It was a huge, run-down industrial building with no human soul in sight. Regular business seemed to have been shut down long ago. So, what kind of business were we dealing with here?
“Any sign of the drivers?” Jared asked, referring to the two men in the picture.
I was glad Jared had joined our team. Jimmy had decided to upgrade him to a Professional after his last mission. Actually, it had taken a lot of convincing on my part, but my argument about how much we depended on a skillful Racer in our compound leader’s absence made him crumble.
“Nope,” Chris answered, swerving his binoculars left and right.
“The picture was taken three hours ago. Whatever business they’ve dealt with is probably long finished,” I remarked dryly, not bothering to hide my disappointment.
“What now?” Chris asked, popping a piece of chewing gum into his mouth.
“We wait,” Jimmy answered.
“What do you think we’ll find in the truck? Drugs?” Josh wanted to know.
“More likely weapons,” Jimmy replied and took out his phone to make a call. After a few seconds of silence, he cursed, punching in another number.
“That kid has his phone stuck up his ass all the time,” Jimmy grumbled. I reckoned this ‘kid’ was Phil.
“Hey, Scott, it’s Jimmy,” he said when Scott took his call. “Just wanted to tell you that we’ve found it… Yeah, about thirty miles from the western interstate somewhere in Neverland. Thought we’d never find that truck. Are Cole and the others still in position?” Silence and a few nods from Jimmy as he listened. “Good. Haylie?”
A vein in my forehead started to pucker. Ever since Haylie came to the compound, I hadn’t left her side. This was the first time I had to leave her alone. I knew I couldn’t protect her all the time, and she was nowhere as safe as in the compound, but it was hard for me to count on others to protect her and put her safety in their hands.
Our encounter from before had left a sour taste in my mouth. During our two-hour drive here, I’d mentally gone over everything we’d said and hadn’t said. We were like a wound healing slowly, and I was the one ripping off the bandage every time, opening the wound anew. It wouldn’t take long to leave a permanent scar.
“All right. I’ll update you later.”
“Everything okay?” I asked after Jimmy ended the call, just to make sure. I’d tried to convince Jimmy to stay at the compound, but he’d been adamant about joining us since the last routine mission had turned into a massacre resulting in my brother’s death.
“Yeah. A student broke his ankle. Sarah went to tend to him, so it’s just Scott in front of the monitors for now.”
Jimmy had wanted to take Kim from Cole’s team with us to have at least one Regenerator close by, but thankfully he agreed with me that first, five of us were enough for a simple routine mission, and second, the compound needed every Regenerator available should anything happen. And with ‘compound,’ I meant Haylie, in particular.
“Phil?”
“Probably busy in the server rooms, as usual. I need to have a serious talk with the kid. I swear, he’s the reason I’m already growing gray hair,” Jimmy muttered.
“Aw, come on Jimmy, I’m sure Haylie gave you more gray streaks in the last few months than Phil in all his years here,” Chris joked, zooming in on his binoculars again.
“True, but at least these are worth it,” Jimmy replied, loading his gun before stuffing it back into his holster.
“How was the Awakening for her, anyway?” Jared asked, taking a sip of water from the bottle in his hands. “I heard her whole room went down.”
“Ask Dylan, he can tell you everything about it,” Chris stabbed me in the back with a knowing grin on his face.
Damn him and his inability to keep his mouth shut. I should have known Chris wouldn’t buy my story that I’d left Haylie alone after phase two. In fact, I’d just made it up to keep the truth from Cassie in case she’d throw a tantrum. Come to think of it, she hadn’t given me one sour look the entire day.
“I recommend you don’t go there,” I warned all of them.
Talk about Haylie’s Awakening had been inevitable as we’d had to evacuate half of the building, but I didn’t like them bringing up the topic in my presence. She was off limits.
Haylie was mine...
The realization hit me full-force. I hadn’t claimed her in any way, but I felt she belonged to no one else but me. My teeth ground together at the thought. The fact that, technically, she didn’t belong to me at all, made me bristle with fury.
“Yeah, just keep all the juicy details to yourself. Not that any of us are interested in the Revival of a Natural, anyway…” Josh muttered in disappointment.
I could only guess how much money each of them would pay for a live show. I was just lucky the opportunity had fallen into my lap for free. Literally.
“You stayed with her during the Revival?” Jared yelled in astonishment, choking on the water he was drinking. I threw him a deadly look, hoping he’d heed my warning. He didn’t. “She let you watch?”
God, if they only knew it had been so much more than watching… I supposed Chris suspected it already, but for once, he didn’t push it.
“Guys, could you keep your testosterone in check for now? We have more important issues to deal with here,” Jimmy interjected to prevent the subject from escalating and to stop me from starting a brawl he’d probably already felt coming.
“Yeah, how long are we going to take root here, anyway? Doesn’t seem like anything exciting is going to happen soon,” Jared threw in, shifting his weight from one elbow to the other.
“Josh, do you hear anything?” I asked our Catcher.
Josh scrunched his face. “You mean besides the dozens of rats crawling in there, and the two foxes mating in the high grass over there? Nope.”
Chris snorted. “You can hear the foxes going at it? How does that sound exactly?”
“Like—”
“Guys…” Jimmy exhaled in desperation. “Please don’t make me gag you.”
“Let’s check this out,” I suggested and heaved myself up, letting the others know to follow me quietly. “Mute your phones.” Nothing worse than a ringing phone to attract attention.
The high grass provided good cover, but I beckoned to the others to keep low. We made our way down the hill, weapons drawn and ready. My eyes scanned the area for scouts hiding in the shadows. Not that I would have seen them anyway. We had to rely on Josh’s sensitive ears.
On the bottom of the hill, the high grass melded into a gravelly path, exposing us on all sides. I held up a hand to stop my crew from moving, indicating Josh to perk up his ears once more. He gave me the green light.
Extending my hand forward, I pointed to the back of the truck providing the only cover in this open space. Jimmy nodded and raced with Jared over the pathway, crouching behind the vehicle. After checking the surroundings, they motioned for us to join them, so we jogged in their direction. When we reached them, I peeked around the truck, the industrial area looming high in front of us.
“I’ll give it a quick overview,” Jimmy whispered, then raced forward to stop with his back against the wall next to a broken window, gun ready at chest level, finger hovering over the safety. He slowly turned to peek inside. A few seconds passed before he let us know everything was clear.
I grimaced. I shouldn’t wish for a battle, but I did. The Fighter in me was getting restless and eager for some action. A little bloodbath would balance me out again.
The others quickly moved forward, Josh staying hidden to guard the outside. I followed them, slipping through the broken window to get inside the building.
A long, square hall took up most of the space. The left side was stuffed with gigantic machines, oval tanks, and hundreds of pipes with red wheels to regulate the pressure. Gathering from the worn-down look and the metal corroded by rust over the years, most of them seemed to have survived both world wars. Now they were a home for rats as their squeaks and claws scraping on metal could be heard from inside.
While Jimmy and Chris jogged alongside the machines, Jared and I strode further down the hall, my ears straining to catch anything out of place. Wooden planks with crooked nails lay scattered everywhere, mixed with rusted, old sticks that looked like they’d been part of a scaffolding once. Flakes of plaster hung from the walls revealing the bricks underneath. The remains of old graffiti could be seen where the walls were still undamaged. No doubt the place had been used as a party location for teenagers at various times.
“Should I make a quick check upstairs?” Jared whispered, pointing to a metal staircase leading to the upper floor.
“Okay, but be quick, yeah?” Jared nodded and sprinted away. I doubted any danger would await him up there.
I huffed. This was getting us nowhere. We were at a dead end. I’d hoped to find any clue about this building being the Hunters’ last operating location, but I had yet to find anything useful.
“All clear,” Chris said when coming up from behind the tanks with Jimmy in tow.
“We need to check every corner,” Jimmy insisted, motioning for Chris to follow him further down the hall.
“I’ll have a quick look at the truck,” I informed Jimmy, jogging back to where Josh stood guard.
Opening the flap on the back, I climbed in. The inside was littered with old chunks of metal and garbage. I sorted through demolished desk lamps, cartons that once held copy paper, ruined light bulbs, laptops, cables, and many more useless things.
I pulled out a knife from my boot to cut open a sealed cardboard box. Ripping it open, I only found shattered glass and loose bottle caps. I retrieved the largest shard where the remains of a label were printed on the surface. The only writing left was the name of an unfamiliar pharmacy company along with the letters ‘Hydrochlorid—’ of what was probably the name of whatever chemical stuff had been the bottle’s content.
Frustrated, I let the shard fall back into the box, turning to leave. “Josh, can you—”
Boom!
An ear-shattering sound erupted, cutting off my hearing in a heartbeat. My body was thrown forcefully against the truck’s side wall as it flipped on its roof, the junk inside flying in every direction and turning to deadly ammunition. Something hard collided with my head, knocking me to the ground and burying me under the interior of the truck. It took me a few seconds to get over the initial shock, and I forced my limbs to move, blood trickling down my eyebrow.
I tried to make out any sound, but the ringing in my ears was too loud to hear anything other than a high-pitched beep. My knees buckled as I scrambled up in an attempt to wriggle out of the junk, but my body refused to operate, so I crawled on all fours to the end of the vehicle, letting myself tumble over the edge and onto the ground. I hissed as I hit the dry earth hard, rough stones poking my skin.
Josh lay next to me slumped against the truck’s bodywork, one sleeve seared and revealing burned skin underneath. Gathering from his heaving chest, he was alive, thank God.
Heaving myself up, I coughed through the dust clouding the air. The ringing in my ears started to ebb off as I scrambled over to Josh, allowing me to hear distant cries and shouts coming from the inside of the building.
Jimmy, Chris, and Jared were still in there!
Terror filled me as I thought about what condition I’d find them in. I quickly checked Josh’s pulse to make sure he was stable and hurried inside through a gaping hole the explosion had created. One of the tanks on the left side was all bent metal and licking flames. Those assholes had blown up a tank!
“Ji… Jimmy?” I shouted on the second try, my throat constricting from inhaling the soiled air. “Chris?”
“Dylan, I’m— Watch out!” Chris warned as he hobbled my way, a hand on his bleeding knee, and I turned just in time as something came down on my head.
I quickly ducked low as I realized a Hunter wanted to crush me with a rusty pipe, and I swiped my foot under his. The blow took him off balance, and it bought me enough time to rip the pipe from his hand and make the same move he’d attempted on me. His jaw cracked as the metal hit him, and he fell limply to the ground. I could have left him like that, but I knew from experience it was better to finish the job rather than waiting for the opponent to regain consciousness and stab you in the back, so I pulled out the knife from my boot and jabbed it into his heart.
“Shit, Dylan! Are you okay?” Chris yelled as I removed the knife, wiping it on my pants.
“I’m fine, what about you?” I shouted, probably louder than necessary, but my ears still felt as if they were stuffed with balls of cotton.
“Nothing serious, but Jimmy, he’s…” He choked. “It’s bad…”
“Where?” I asked, quickly on high alert, and followed Chris to the middle of the area where the staircase had collapsed. “What about Jared?” I asked in horror, remembering he’d been up there only minutes before.
“Unconscious. He got buried under the staircase, but I got him out,” Chris explained, pointing to a figure lying on the ground.
Suddenly, a shot echoed through the area, forcing us to the ground as glass shattered behind us. The next thing I knew, six Hunters advanced on us.
“Run!” I screamed at Chris as soon as I saw four of them with guns in their hands pointed straight at us.
Chris ducked away to hide behind a pile of junk. I was just about to draw my gun, but another bullet was shot at me, forcing me to drop my knife and roll out of the way. The bullet struck a metal plate on the ground, missing me by inches. The next shots came from Chris’ gun, who had my back, giving me time to find a hiding spot. I stumbled over to what was left of the tank still licking with flames and ducked low behind it.
That’s when I saw Jimmy on the ground, his face contorted in pain and blood splattered everywhere.