Cadence could hardly believe her ears. It made sense that Holland would try something like that if she had enough control over him, but to think he’d been sitting at his desk writing that horrible phrase over and over again. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, thankful they’d figured it out when they had.
“I’m sorry, Cadey.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered back, knowing it wasn’t his fault.
“Guess the joke’s on her,” Jamie said, his voice completely serious. “You can’t kill yourself.”
Cadence snickered, knowing deadpan Jamie when she heard him. She looked up at the Healer over Aaron’s shoulder. “True, but thanks to the titanium bullets, he could’ve done the first part.”
“Maybe you should let me move those to a secret location for a while?” Jamie suggested.
“No, it’s okay,” Cadence said before Aa
Lush green foliage, thick with brambles and tangled branches, dotted the mountainside, the ground, muddied from recent rain, uneven and densely populated with rocks that made walking unappealing, and in her present mood, the last thing on earth Asteria wanted to do was trek around the forest looking for help from someone who should’ve been seeking her out. She was the Vampire Queen, after all. So why in the world would she need to suffer the degradation of climbing up and down mountain trails looking for one who should feel blessed to be considered a potential use to someone of her stature?“Please try not to worry, Your Majesty,” the stooped man called Nelo said over his shoulder as they wound their way up a nearly undetectable trail. “I am certain we will find him today.”“That is what you said yesterday,” Asteria reminded him. After two days of searching for Daunator, they had come up empty handed. Asteria had announced earl
Cadence switched off the treadmill and wiped sweat from her dripping forehead on a towel. She’d missed a few days, but now that Aaron was back to his normal self, she was determined not to let another day go by without finding herself in the gym, leaving her frustration on the black, looping track. Since she had put in her thirty-five miles now, she would be able to concentrate better, which was a good thing because there was a lot to be done. And to think, today she’d gone that far in half her usual time.She headed for the locker room , noticing the complex was eerily quiet. She knew Aurora had taken her new recruits outside, but it was odd that no one else was there, and she wondered if she’d missed a memo or something. There was a lot to be done, but Aaron had assured her that morning, when she’d woken up in bed still in his arms, that she should go run and not worry about anything else until she was finished.Grabbing her stuff out of her l
“Ellie looked a lot like you,” Cadence said to Ashley. “Jamie is one of the best people I’ve ever met, and I wasn’t trying to imply that anyone should question why you are dating him. I think the two of you are great together; you make a good couple. I was just trying to say that it isn’t really anyone’s business, that’s all. Everyone has an opinion about what two people are doing together, but it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, so long as you’re happy. Same with Roar and Elliott. Not my business. No one’s business but theirs.”“Sorry, Cadence.” She zipped her gym back and pulled her long hair out of her shirt. “I was trying to make conversation, that’s all. You’re not exactly the easiest person for me to talk to. Maybe I shouldn’t try.”Cadence opened her mouth, thinking she should disagree, but she couldn’t, so she just said, “S
Walking away from the gym gave her an opportunity to get her head back in the game. They had some impossibly difficult tasks ahead of them, and she needed to make sure that she and Aaron were on the same page. They were scheduled to meet with the larger team in about an hour, but she hoped she had a few minutes to go over a few things with him before the rest of them arrived. There were about to be a lot of balls up in the air, and she didn’t want to drop any of them.Noises from the kitchen greeted her as she opened the apartment door. She dropped her gym bag by the door, reminding herself to come back for it later so she didn’t poke the bear, as Elliott would’ve put it, and followed the noise.“Oh, hey,” Aaron said, standing over the stove. “How was the gym?”Cadence stood in the doorway a moment longer, both eyebrows arched. “Fine. What are you doing? Have you been abducted again?”He snickered. &ld
While it should’ve startled Cadence that no one had explained this trend to her, it didn’t. There were just too many surprises anymore to be surprised about anything. “Well, I would really like to find a couple of good male Hunters, but Aurora says she doesn’t have any right now. And recruiting has slowed since we’ve been concentrating on the Guardians coming in from Roatan.”“Maybe after everything settles down, we can see what we can find—if it’s even necessary. In the meantime, speaking of Roatan, I invited Alex to join us at the meeting. I’m hoping he can offer some insight into why Holland might be in Linz.”Cadence’s forehead crinkled. She knew Alex was old and wise, but as far as she knew, his information about Eastern Europe was limited. “Why do you think he might be able to help with that?”Aaron stood and took her plate over to the sink to rinse it off. “Because h
“I have Mom’s data,” Cassidy said, spreading a slew of pages across the conference table in Aaron and Cadence’s office. “And I think it’s pretty obvious what we missed.”Cadence looked at the stack of notes, wishing her mother had a better sense of what they needed. It all looked like random notations to her, while she’d been expecting a detailed map after what Aaron had explained to her what Liz was supposed to do. At least it seemed to make sense to Cassidy.“What is it?” Elliott asked, sitting in his usual spot next to Cadence, though she couldn’t help but wonder if he wished he was sitting near Aurora, who was across the table between Christian and Meagan—like she always was.“Well, if you check back through the communication log, you can see that Becky and Patsy are about to clear a place called Larundel at 2:17, but as soon as Becky makes the call over the IAC, Jeb transmits to h
Cadence did another turn around the table to see ashen faces and wide eyes on nearly everyone, but Christian was actually chuckling. “There’s no way she could figure that out so quickly. Hines can’t possibly know as much about genetics and our DNA makeup as Dr. Morrow, and it’s taken him decades to get this far.”“Why can’t he know?” Cassidy asked, her tone dripping with teenage venom.“Because Dr. Morrow is at the top of his field. He’s a genius. Hines is a quack,” Christian countered, still smirking.“And… Holland can read minds, you moron!” Cassidy spat, nearly out of her seat now. Brandon pushed her back down. “What makes you think she couldn’t just go for a little stroll around Morrow’s head—or yours—and come up with whatever information she needed?”The chuckling stopped, but Christian was shaking his head. “We’d know.
“Actually,” Jamie said again, and all eyes shifted to him. “I want to do it, too.”“Jamie…” Aaron began, shaking his head, but the doctor didn’t let him finish.“I know you’re worried I’ll lose something in the transition, but that doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t think that will be the case. What if it allows me to heal faster or without wiping myself out? I trust Martin enough to keep me safe while I’m under.” It was clear he was convinced, and Cadence turned her attention to Aaron to see if he would argue.He ran his hand through his hair, an indicator he was conflicted. “Let me think about it, okay?”Cadence could see that Jamie wanted to argue, but he didn’t. He only said, “Okay,” and Cadence figured he would do it whether Aaron approved it or not.“I want to do it, too,” Hannah said, and they all turned at the