Something was wrong with Cassidy. Sure, she was sitting on the couch next to Brandon, watching a movie with their friends, like it was just a normal Thursday evening, but he could tell by the absent look in her eyes she was really somewhere else.
Asking what was on her mind hadn’t gotten him anywhere. She’d just said she was fine, that she was wrapped up in the movie. But he could tell her eyes weren’t quite focused on the TV. He wished he had her ability to read minds for just a few minutes so he could access whatever was going on in her brain.
She hadn’t been quite herself for the last few weeks, not since Alex had died. Sure, he could also say it was because he had been gone for four days, sucked up inside of a portal. But the real change in her character hadn’t happened until after she read the message from Alex. Brandon should’ve read it before he gave it to her, but he hadn’t, trusting that whatever the ex-Patriot had to
“Okay, okay, okay. I’m sorry. If that’s what you’ve been working on, I can see why that would take a lot of attention. I didn’t mean to be rude. I was just, like I said before, worried about you.”“Don’t be. I’m fine.”Her expression said otherwise. Maybe she was right and he should’ve let her go, but he was afraid he’d only made things worse, and the next time he saw her, maybe she wouldn’t even want to sit by him at all. “I really am sorry I upset you, Cass. That wasn’t what I was trying to do.”“I know.” Her arms were folded again, and he could tell she wanted to run out the door.“It’s just... ever since I got back, I feel like I don’t know what to say to you, how to talk, what you’re thinking about. It’s weird.”“Maybe something happened to your brain while you were in the portal. Maybe you left
Cassidy shot out of the building like it was on fire, searching for fresh air before her lungs exploded. Once she was outside, she took a few gulps and tried to slow her raging pulse. She knew her temper had a way of getting the best of her. It had been that way ever since she Transformed, but since the second round of serum, the symptoms had been even worse. She’d been trying to ignore it for months, but in this sort of a situation, there wasn’t much she could do except to try to get away before she said something she’d regret—or turned into The Incredible Hulk and ripped someone a new one.Which reminded her of Christian. “Where are you? Are you busy?”“I am in the lab, finishing up a few things. Why? What’s up? You thirsty for blood?”She actually laughed, hoping he didn’t hear through the IAC because she didn’t want to give him any credit for being funny. “You wanna
“Assuming all of the people who are missing have been turned,” Christian offered, taking another sip of his coffee.“Right. So I decided to use the reports to look into individual people, see if I could access them that way.”“Brilliant. And what did you find out?”The compliment brought a bit of a blush to her cheeks, but she moved past it, not wanting to let him know she’d taken it that way. “I was able to locate a lot of them, and now my list is close to a hundred.”“Vampires?”“Yeah.”“In that area?”“Yeah,” she nodded wholeheartedly before taking another swig. “So... I went back and watched as many of their memories of being turned as I could, something I’d like to finish but ran out of time.”“Well, that’s a lot of turning,” Christian reminded her.“Exactly. Anyway, most of
“Christian Henry, as I live and breathe. What the hell could you possibly want from me?”Eliza was sitting in a conference room along with several other members of her team, going over a strategy to locate the blonde Vampire from the other night and see if they could bring her down. Mila continued to talk about tactics, and Eliza pretended to listen, but curiosity had the better of her, so when her old pal who’d ended up getting her in a hell of a lot of trouble, popped up on her IAC, she had to find out what he could possibly want.“Well, if it isn’t the Rambo of Guardians. That video everyone’s been passing around is pretty impressive. When did you learn the type of skills it takes to end six Vampires all by yourself, and the long-lasting kind, for that matter?”She tried not to laugh since it likely wouldn’t fit with whatever Mila was currently talking about. “I don’t know. Afte
Hannah was sitting in her office, going over the data Cassidy had passed along to them at the meeting the week before. While she didn’t doubt the information was valuable, she just couldn’t justify using it as a reason to launch a full-scale attack on another continent before Aaron and Cadence got back. A glance at the calendar in her IAC confirmed they’d be back in five days—less than a week. Even though her own reports told her the situation was growing worse, she didn’t think it was bad enough to move in, not yet. Especially now that Mila seemed to be making headway with some of the worst offenders.A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts. She set the paperwork aside. “Come in.” Not many people came to her office, not unless they wanted to lounge on her sofa and unburden themselves, which was fine, but most of the time, if people were in this building it was to head upstairs to the real bosses’ office. Today, howe
Brandon pushed past Elliott into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge, downed it, and tossed the plastic into the recycling that also needed taken out.“Okay. What’s going on? You’ve been bumming around here for the last couple of days. I ain’t seen our little sunshine much either. You two have a fight?”“I don’t wanna talk about it.” He rested his head on the refrigerator, wondering if Cass would even care if he got sucked up by another portal.“Well, I do. So what’s going on?”Brandon turned to look at his dad whose features were much softer than his tone at the moment. The teen ran a hand down his face, wiping away sweat and angst. “We had a fight a couple of nights ago. We’ve been civil to each other since, but not like before. I thought when I got back from the portal, everything would be easy, like we’d never argue or be apart again becau
Cadence Findley stood on the balcony of her hotel room gazing out at the fading sun, dancing off the turquoise waters, as the sky turned pink and gold. The tropical breeze lifted her hair up off of her shoulders and could’ve lifted her spirits if she wasn’t so deep in thought.They’d been in Fiji for twelve days and had had a wonderful time. Most of those days had been spent on the beach, relaxing and doing nothing much at all. But they’d also gone sightseeing, hiking, zip-lining, snorkeling, all kinds of great expeditions she’d never experienced before.Now, watching the sun begin to fade beyond the horizon, an unsettled feeling began twisting in her gut, alerting her that something was wrong. She’d had the same sensation several times in the last few days but had managed to ignore it to the point that even Aaron didn’t seem to notice that something was bothering her. This time, it was more intense, and even though they only h
Eliza knew where Christian really was, too, but she wouldn’t say anything. Thanks to the information Cassidy had passed to her through him, Eliza and her team had managed to take out two of the six thugs on the list on consecutive nights this week, and that night, they planned on heading after Honey herself. Christian wished Eliza every bit of success and that she would serve as a distraction to Daunator so that he wouldn’t see Christian coming or be prepared when he showed up.The cityscape turned to forest and mountains quickly, and Christian checked his IAC to make sure he was still headed in the right direction. Finding Daunator might be the most difficult part, or the easiest. Either way, nothing about this adventure would be simple, but it needed to be done.A woman’s voice crooned at him in Czech over the radio. Rather than fiddling with the knob until something came through in English, he decided to leave it be. There was something soul stirri
Hannah took Jo to give her a bath, and Ona helped Cadence get Cadon latched while Jamie left to go check on his own one-month-old baby. Cadence’s son was a pro almost immediately, latching on the first try to resting peacefully while he nursed. Cadence couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have even one sweet baby, let alone the blessings of two. He wore a tiny little cap to keep him warm, and she couldn’t help but stroke his head while he made soft baby noises in her arms.Hannah brought Jo back before Cadon was finished. It took her daughter much longer to latch. She kept turning her feisty little face away, growling her discontentment as Cadence tried to get her on and not disturb Cadon at the same time. With Aaron’s help, their daughter finally latched, but he had to have his hand on her back or else she’d pull off again. “She is definitely a Daddy’s girl,” Cadence declared, shaking her head at her strong-spirited daughter.
“For the record, there really is no comparison between us naming our son after a famous jazz pianist and you naming your daughter after a murderous dictator,” the Healer pointed out before getting back to the task at hand. “I think in two or three more pushes, we’ll have a baby.” He was looking at Cadence now, smiling at her above the draped sheet that made her feel a little more secure even if it didn’t really hide anything at all from the doctor.“Okay,” she said again, ready to get it over with. Jamie told her to push, and she did, as hard as she could, hoping for two and not three as the lucky number.“Keep pushing,” Jamie said, even though Aaron had reached ten. “She’s almost there.”Cadence strained even harder, giving it every bit of energy she had left, and a few seconds later, she felt her daughter slip into the world. Listening to her cries made Cadence’s heart melt all
“One more push, Cadence,” Jamie insisted, his normally friendly-tone replaced by his not-quite-as-friendly medical professional tone. “One more time, and we’ll have a baby.”Cadence could feel the sweat dripping off of her forehead and wondered how normal human women did this, especially the ones who refused any sort of pain medication. Even with her superhuman strength and resilience, she was tired. Jamie had gloves on so he wasn’t using any of his healing powers to help her, but she had opted for the epidural, which minimized her pain but did nothing for the exhaustion.“You ready?” Aaron asked, standing next to her, holding one leg while Ona, a Healer who was acting as Jamie’s nurse, held the other.“I’m ready,” she nodded. Her husband’s smile hadn’t dimmed since her water broke three hours earlier. It might not have diminished since they’d left Prague eight months ago,
Jamie gently wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He kissed her cheek. “Love you, Cadence.”“I love you, too,” she said, returning the kiss. He took a step back and smiled at her before heading off toward the mountain.Cassidy hugged her sister a little more tightly than the doctor had. “Don’t you ever die on me again.”“I won’t. You neither. I love you, little sister.”“I know.” Cassidy giggled at her own smart remark. “I love you, too.” Cadence kissed the top of her sister’s head, and Cassidy let her go, stepping back to wait for Brandon.“Good job getting the monster.” Brandon’s hug was more like a pat on the back, and Cadence almost laughed, wondering if he just didn’t want to break her or was embarrassed.“Thanks, Brandon. Take care of my sis.”“I will try,
“The baby, Cadence,” Aaron said in her head. “You’re carrying our baby.”Cadence sucked in air all over again, like she had when she’d first fought to open her eyes. The baby! Jamie had told her she was pregnant before the hunt. How it had slipped her mind was beyond her, but yes, she was going to have a baby.Or was she? Her eyes flew to Jamie’s face, all of her questions bottled up in her eyes as she raised both brows, hoping he could alleviate her worry.Jamie smiled and gave a small nod only she could see. All of the air rushed out of Cadence’s lungs again as her hand flew to her abdomen, sighing in relief.“What is it?” Cassidy asked. “What was the other thing you couldn’t remember before?”Part of her wanted to keep their little secret just that, and she was disappointed that she hadn’t been the one to tell Aaron. She looked to him to see if
Cassidy smiled, but didn’t say anything, and Cadence could tell by her expression, she didn’t know what to make of Cadence’s revelation. It was no matter—she moved on.“Jack was pitching, Elliott. And the batter was a guy who looked so much like you. I couldn’t remember you at the time—sorry—but I asked, and my grandparents said the batter’s name was Jimmy.”“Jimmy?” Elliott echoed. “I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that name to you.”“I don’t think you have either, but that’s your brother’s name, isn’t it.”Elliott’s head rocked back and forth slowly. “Wow. If that don’t beat all.... It’s like the freakin’ Wizard of Oz. ‘And you were there, and you were there....’ Hmmm.”“Well, it gets Wizardier because your mom was there, too. Arlene. And she wa
A growl from Elliott let her know he disagreed, but he didn’t say anything more, and Christian only nodded before he faded out of view. It was just as well. Cadence was exhausted. She didn’t really want to talk to anyone else, just let her husband pick her up in his strong arms and carry her back to the SUV so she could take a shower and fall asleep for a few years.“I hate to interrupt,” Scarlet said, taking a step closer to where they were sitting. “Cadence, it is wonderful you’re okay. But Jamie, what about that serum you made? Do you think we should try it? If we can get the Hybrids back up there, we might be able to save some of those people who are still trapped in the holes.”“Oh, right.” Jamie scratched his head, like he’d forgotten about the serum. “Yeah, why don’t you and Cale start working on that. The serum is in my backpack, which is in the trees near where we first encountered the bla
Lungs burning, body aching with the pain of soldering itself back together, eyes blinded by brilliant white, Cadence opened her mouth and sucked in air for the first time in as long as she could remember. Her legs still felt like they were on fire, like she’d been running for hours, but as she tipped her head back and began to cough the memories of what had happened to her, how she’d killed Daunator and then found herself in the air with no ground beneath her boots, flooded her mind, and every trace of memory about why she felt like she’d been running fled her mind.“Cadence? Cadence!”Aaron was there. She could feel his hands on her, even though she couldn’t open her eyes to look at him yet. Her throat burned as she continued to sputter, coughing and choking on the air she so desperately wanted in her lungs. How long had she gone without taking a breath? Why did her heart feel like a jackhammer, her chest muscles sore from the exert
Jamie was at twenty-two, and Aaron was trying to focus, but the voices to his left were prominent in his mind. He could still hear Elliott’s murmurs, Cass’s sobs, sighs and gasps from others. Christian was pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, behind almost everyone. Aurora, free of her handcuffs now that she was no longer a threat, was doubled over on the ground, her hands linked around her knees, her wails having lost their voice minutes ago so that she was no longer making a noise as her body shook and spasmed. Eliza had her arm around the much taller Hunter, trying to be comforting, but Aaron was aware that, of everyone here, Eliza Wrath was the only one who really didn’t care if Cadence ever opened her eyes again. He could feel it rolling off of her in waves of ugliness like the sea during the type of storm that leaves debris littered all over the beach, breaks boats in its wake, and sends sailors to the bottom of the ocean.There were