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Only when I promised Hannah, again, that I would do as she asked, she left and I was alone once more. But this time, I knew how to shim and knew where my computer was taken when Naylor shimmed it away. So, with dinner only a short time away, I shimmed back to the same location, hoping to get some answers from my contact.
When I showed up, the room was dark with only a stream of light glowing in from underneath the door. Unlike last time, no one was there. No screens lined the wall like they had before, and my computer was resting in the same spot, looking lonely.
I immediately went to it and tapped on the down arrow key to have it light up, logged in my pass code, and went online to the dark email website and checked my inbox.
One new message.
Opening it up, I hastily read it.
Goodbye.
That's all it said. I didn't get to know if she was Lydent or not, or whether she had a hand in what I was now today. Was she on the run from her evil uncle or just someone who had an inkling of what this race was about?
Unsatisfied, I secured my computer and shimmed to the cafeteria for some food. Eyes were drawn to me, but I ignored them. None of my had guys shown up. I wandered over to the training area and didn't see them there either, but a guy took pity on me.
"Hey." He jogged my way, slowing beside me. "You looking for Nox or Justin?"
I gave a shrug. "Or Thad and Cameron, but who's keeping track, right?"
He grinned, his dark skin shining with sweat from his run, and held out a hand. "Travis Delacort."
I took his hand in a hard grip, liking his bluntness. "Trace Dolton, protected and tagged as theirs by the four we just mentioned. So, not available."
He laughed, letting my hand go. "Don't you worry your pretty head about me. I know when to cross a line and when not to. And the Team Apex has already let everyone know you aren't to be messed with."
My brows scrunched up. "Team Apex?"
"Yeah," he answered, bobbing his head. "That's what they're called. A team willing to go the extremes on an op."
My head tilted to the side; I was burning with curiosity. "How... extreme?"
"Dangerous situations, killing who needs it, taking what needs to be taken with whatever their means are–" He halted, his golden eyes widening as he realized how much he’d given away. "But you knew all this, right?"
I snorted, wondering if that was exactly what they were doing with me. Playing me like a fiddle. Was I just one of their high-risk jobs? "Fuck no, but thanks. I need all the backup I can get, and it looks like I might need more."
I spun around on my heels to head into the lodge when he caught my arm, and I shifted to stare at him. He dropped my arm and raised his hands. "Look, doll face. They won't take kindly to me telling you all of this. So, don't mention it was me, okay?"
"Yeah, fine whatever," I answered and kept going. Guys suck. Mine specifically.
I made my way inside to the Gen's office and knocked on the door. When I heard the deep command to come in, I didn't waste my time.
Inside Gen Caleb was seated behind his desk like he had been the first time I met him. When his eyes landed on me, his already straight posture straightened even further. "Trace?" The intensity in his voice skated along my skin with a crackle. He wasn't expecting me. Of course, he wasn't; I just now decided to see him.
He rose, taking me in, letting his gaze travel down my body in an unromantic way, not that he wasn't drool-worthy with his gorgeous, long hair braided down his back, and the man had some awesome shoulders, and his voice–
"Trace? Is something wrong?" There was that voice again.
My gaze snapped up to his worried one and my cheeks flushed. "Damn. I didn't realize how fine you are Gen. You got it going on. Bet that wife of yours-"
"Stop, Trace," he interrupted, twisting his head to the side. I swear a blush rose on his cheeks.
"Ahem," a voice off to the side startled me, causing me to shift to the right. A man stood up from the wing-back chair in front of Gen’s desk. His gaze traveled between Gen and I while adjusting his coat lapels. "Well, this has been interesting, but I think it's my time to go."
Gen’s mouth tightened, and he gave the man a nod. "Of course, Lewis. And I'll be sure to check on the status of your friend’s niece."
Lewis gave him a nod, then turned to me. With one last parting glance, he said, "He's not married," before he shimmed out.
I shifted from side to side. "Well, um, this is awkward.”
Gen sat back down shaking his head. He seemed conflicted about what to do.
I closed the door behind me and stepped closer to his desk. "Hey, no worries. You're hot. So what? You’re too old for me. I'm eighteen, but you’re like, forty?" It was a total guess.
He shot me a pained expression. "Twenty-eight."
My mouth formed an O. Whoops. "Got in your position early?" He gave an abrupt nod. "Good for you. Shows dedication."
He sighed, his gaze narrowing in on me. "Are you okay? Do you need something from me?"
"Freedom?"
His lips twitched. "Sorry, no. But you can shim now; that should be freedom enough for you."
Damn, he was right. "Direction, maybe?"
"I'm sorry, I don't understand."
I moved to the wing-back chair Lewis had abandoned and sat sideways in it, resting my legs on the opposite armrest. "They served meatloaf in the cafeteria today for dinner. Did you eat Gen?"
"Please, enough with the Gen stuff. Call me Caleb."
That raised my hackles. "I don't think I should."
"Tracy." Ooh, I didn't like that. "What are you really here for?" His gaze pierced mine, no longer playing.
I sat up straight. "Where are they?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Yes. Where are they, Caleb?"
"Look, they’re going to be away for a few days. Why don't you stay with me while they're gone? That way you won't have to be here all alone."
My eyes grew. "Shit. Where did they go? Will they be okay?"
"They should be fine. So, should I expect you to be there when I get home?" he asked, his eyebrows lifted as he waited for my response.
Awkwardly, I got up and reached across his desk, snagging his sticky notes and a pen before he could blink. "Nope." Then I shimmed out.
***
I landed in my room at the lodge and dropped the pen and sticky notes on my bed. I wanted to go find Hannah again, but I wasn't certain where I needed to shim to, so I did that fuckin' thing she’d asked me to do. I grabbed a sticky note and wrote my name on the first one and then wondered where I should put it.
Not on the walls in plain sight. Didn't need anyone looking at it. I got up and moved to the closet that Myra and I had shoved full of clothes and drew the sliding mirrored doors open. Shoving the clothes to one side, I placed my sticky note on the back wall. It slipped to the ground. "Shit." I picked it up. "Fine."
I shut the sliding door and made my way over to the picture hanging on the wall and took it down. I swung it around and laid it on the bed, posting the sticky note in the middle of it. "You fuckin' stay there." Of course, it wouldn't listen, just dropped to the floor when I lifted the picture.
My lips pressed. "Fuck it." I put the frame back and stuck the sticky note on the dresser I wasn't currently using for anything. It wasn’t like there was anything on it. It would be fine there until I could find some tape... or glue. Whichever.
After my name was down, I worked on the other notes.
Tetchy.
Sleuth.
Blunt. I scratched that out. I thought it was more a negative than a positive.
Hot as Fuck. (At least I thought so.)
Big ass feet for kicking.
Can now do magic.
I forgot what she’d wanted me to do. Was it mind then body? Or the other way around? Either way, I was doing a mixture.
I finished my notes with the last one: good sister. It made me miss my family.
Even though they were a few years younger, my sisters and I would do everything together. Mall, movies, running. I wished them back.
It was like I had no control over it. I found myself back in my bedroom at home. It was late, and I could hear the lively chatter of my parents and two sisters downstairs. They didn't know the turmoil I was going through. Knowing I couldn't chance it, I locked my door and left them alone. I changed into my sleep clothes and drew out my spare sheets from the closet. Sleeping under the same roof with them is enough for now. I made my bed and reasoned, just for tonight, I'd be safe. I crawled into bed and closed my eyes, letting myself sink into a dream.
I didn't think about not being at the lodge or that the guys might try to find me. They were on a mission and wouldn’t worry, right? Wrong. Lydent women were rare. Of course they'd keep tabs on me. It's probably how they were able to find me when Eric took me... but then why couldn't they find me when I shimmed away with Hannah? Secrets. I thought there were secrets they were holding back.
Either way, one of them found me, and instead of moving me back to the lodge, he slid into bed beside me. When I startled, scared by the unexpected company, a finger pressed against my lips, and Cameron's voice met my ears before I could shriek. "Shh- it's me."
I relaxed, twisting around so I could talk to him face to face... even though I couldn't see him in the dark. "What are you doing here?" I whispered.
He gathered me close. "I should be asking you the same thing."
I forced myself away from him. "No. Caleb said you were on a mission. That you wouldn't be around."
"We wouldn't have left you completely alone. We’re not dicks."
A soft puff of a laugh passed my lips with a retort to his comment following. "Well, actually you are, dicks that is."
He gave a low chuckle. “If you want to get out of here, I have pizza for you back at the apartment. We could watch movies too.”
Torn between being so close to my family and wanting to eat, hunger won out. I hadn’t eaten dinner. Hadn’t wanted to eat it. Who in their right mind wanted to eat meatloaf? “Okay,” I agreed, and like that, we were at the apartment.
We ended up settling down to watch a movie in the living room. It was one I hadn't seen. Some action flick he said would lighten the mood I was in. I think it made the mood more intense. Like twenty questions of what's going to happen kind of intense. I was not an action junky. Give me romance or comedy; leave the action and horror behind. I know, crazy. But I couldn't help it. It’s just who I was.
Cameron laughed each time I struggled to guess what was going on in the movie, just to get him to fess up with clues. Apparently, I had pretty good assumptions. Or he’d let me think that before I learned he’d lied! An unexpected scare had me jumping. After that, I got up for pizza and watched standing.
When some pizza sauce drizzled on my shirt, Cameron insisted I wear one of his shirts. He paused the movie while I changed in the bathroom. I shuddered at the heat in his gaze when I came out wearing his shirt. What was it with guys liking girls wearing their clothes?
When the movie was over, and we had cleaned up the pizza boxes, he brought up the subject of a date.
I was packing up leftover pizza into baggies to store them in the fridge when he asked, "If you don’t have anything going on, I want you to come with me somewhere tomorrow.
"Okay, where?"
"There's this family reunion type of thing. I usually go alone, but I want you to come with."
I paused what I was doing and peered at him. He seemed somewhat uncomfortable at the mention of this reunion... or was it about me going? Wait– "I thought you all were rejects? You know, without a family or at least distanced from them?"
His movements slowed, as did his speech. “It’s my foster family. The family who raised me.”
My eyes squinted at him, trying to make rhyme or reason of what he’d said, then I eventually gave up. He asked me to go because he wanted me there. "I'd love to go with you, but you need to tell me what I might face when I get there. I don't want to fuckin' lose my shit because someone picks a fight with you."
His head lifted, and he adjusted his glasses, which had slid down. His light gray eyes lit up as he asked, "You would?" He seemed surprised. "Get angry if someone picked a fight with me?"
Even as he said it, my hackles rose and the light within me rose to the defense, craving to go after those who dared to mess with him. Who dared to hurt him. "Of course I would."
He was hot with his swimmer’s body, but Nox and Thad were huge compared to him. Those two were hard and sexy while Cameron was a pretty boy. Not soft at all, but I hadn’t seen him fight, so I might have been mistaken. He possibly wouldn't need help if one ever occurred, but I'd be ready.
A slow and satisfied grin lifted his lips. He laughed and shimmed next to me in a flash, startling me. A hand went up to hook around my neck, pulling me to him. The light within me wasn't as amused as he was, but it was pleased that he was touching me. It was like the light in me was fuckin' alive. "You’re sweet.”
I scoffed. “No, I’m not.”
His grin widened. “You do know I'm a warrior, right?"
My lips twisted. "That doesn't fuckin' mean anything to me."
Again, he chuckled. "You are going to be trouble." Then his lips met my forehead with a kiss. "I'm good in a fight, sweetheart, but you don’t need to protect me from them. They’re good."
My hands met his hips, holding on as a smirk appeared on my own lips. "Fine. Of course. But have you not been around the last month and a half to figure out I'm irrational and will do as I please? Well, most of the time."
He drew back slightly, and I could see his gray eyes sparkling with mirth. "You have kept us on edge."
I stepped back from him and snatched the sandwich bags of pizza. "Admit it, you guys were staggering in the dark before I came. You need me."
"Now she gets it," I heard him mutter.
"Doesn't mean I'm fit to get married—mated—or whatever!"
"Sweetheart, there's no going back."
My world shifted. "Shit. Like, ever?"
Cameron's mouth pressed, his eyes intense. "It would always happen. With Nox, Thad, Justin, me. Thad and I might not get the gift of the mating conformation, but we still crave being a part of your life." He stepped closer. His voice lowered seductively. "In your bed." He paused right in front of me, and I raised my gaze that had drifted to his chest back to his eyes. They had turned dark with wanting. "And your heart." He trailed a lone finger down my cheek to my neck then settled on the round collar of his borrowed tee and traced it.
I had no words. So, I did what I would have done before crazy, evil Eric. I reached up, captured his scruffy cheeks, and dragged his lips down to mine because what he’d said hit all the perfect reasons why I wanted him with me. The last part especially. He demanded my heart. I wanted him in my bed. It worked.
I was twisted.
They were twisted.
I was twisting a harem and Cameron was in it.
Later, the two of us slid into his bed, and I fell asleep worried about what would happen when I went with him to the reunion. I’d be good, right?