Page 25 of Dissent (The Dissenter Saga #1)

I t turned out the building wasn’t the most functional.

The concrete structure was an old bunker that served as a command post at one point.

The roof was flat and—supposedly—was a helicopter pad.

But I highly doubted it had been used in a while since part of the roof had caved in and the whole thing looked like it was going to collapse at any second.

Most of the windows were broken, and the entire facility was just a ruin at this point.

But there were still some rooms that could be secured.

They had converted several of them into armories, a medical unit, and an emergency command post that Chelsea said didn’t get used anymore.

I was also told there were five basement levels that served as emergency living quarters should the main camp need to be evacuated.

Chelsea was hot to get somewhere because I was practically jogging to keep up, winding through various corridors until we arrived at a room that was acting like a giant walk-in closet. There were racks of uniforms and rows of boots lined up across the back.

“Grab a jumpsuit and find a pair of boots that fit you. Across the hall is a changing room. Switch out and then dump your stuff here in the corner for now. Meet me back outside when you’re done.

” I wanted to ask questions, but the look of don’t you dare start talking on Chelsea’s face was enough to have me bite my tongue.

She left the room, leaving me alone with the racks of clothing.

It wasn’t hard to find my size, and the changing room was easy enough to locate.

I got dressed, pulling the slick, deep green jumpsuit up over my body.

It was snug, skintight in fact, with a zipper that went up from my belly button to my collarbone.

Despite the tightness, it was flexible and moved freely with my body as I bent my knees to try it out.

There was a mirror in the corner, and a few steps took me right to it.

Let’s see just how tight this little number really is.

The verdict—it looked like it was glued to my freaking skin!

It contoured to my body, clinging to every curve, from my breasts to the inward curvature of my waistline, and back out to hug my hips.

I wasn’t going to lie—I was a little self-conscious about it.

I mean, I looked good… real good, but I wasn’t used to having my body exposed like this.

And that was the funny thing. The uniform completely covered every inch from my collarbone to my ankles, but the tightness had me feeling more naked than ever.

Not to mention that every single movement seemed magnified.

Just the subtle rise of my chest as I breathed seemed more pronounced than ever before.

Deciding that there was no use in fussing about it, I tucked my necklace into my jumpsuit, put on my boots, and left to deposit my clothing in the corner of the closet, as instructed.

Staring at the floor, I opened the door to leave the changing room, noticing a weird smudge on one boot as I stepped forward… and slammed right into a wall.

“Damn!” I was thrown off balance, but I didn’t fall on the floor like I would have if someone hadn’t reached out and held me steady. Looking up, my eyes met Chase’s. My heart fluttered with a familiar yearning, and then it all disappeared when I remembered one important fact.

Chase was dead.

Oh crap.

I seriously had to stop staring at the floor as I walked because it was not working out for me at all! Every muscle locked, cemented by fear, as I stared into Wes’s eyes. He must have recognized it because he let me go and took a step back.

“Are you blind or something? Watch where you’re going,” he snapped.

“I’m sorry,” I stuttered out. I was struggling to get my brain to function, flip-flopping between being totally and utterly embarrassed, totally and utterly freaked out, and totally and utterly shocked.

God, he looks so much like him. The urge to touch his face was strong.

Despite this guy’s current look of total hatred and annoyance, my brain kept telling me he was Chase. His icy stare faltered.

“It’s fine. Just…be careful.”

I couldn’t get any words out, so all I did was nod.

He took a breath and then sidestepped, clearing the doorway for me.

I swallowed hard, taking a ginger step past him, clutching my clothes to my chest as I did.

I made it a few feet into the hallway, thanking the universe for letting me escape that interaction alive and intact.

“My name’s Wes.” I stopped, frozen in mid-step.

He was talking to me, and not in the stalker-killer-in-the-woods kind of way, either.

I turned my body slightly, looking over my shoulder at him.

And when I did, a kaleidoscope of emotions flooded me, causing my breath to catch in my throat.

He shifted his gaze to look at me again.

“My name’s Wes,” he repeated, obviously thinking I hadn’t heard him.

I bit my cheek. What was I supposed to say? Nice to meet you? You look just like your brother? You’re damn sexy? Thanks for scaring the shit out of me the other day? I settled for, “I’m Mara.”

“I know.”

Of course he did. Duh! I didn’t know what to say, and standing in this hallway was incredibly awkward and pretty intimidating. Deciding I was done with the weird meetup, I tipped my head at him and turned to walk away.

“I’m sorry.”

What did he just say?

His voice was soft, and a hint of pain hinged on the end of his words. I turned around this time. I wanted to say something, but I wasn’t really sure what was going on here. But it turned out I didn’t have to say anything because he wasn’t done yet.

“I’m sorry for yesterday.” He looked at the ground, unable to hold my gaze. “I wasn’t going to hurt you. I…I’m just messed up right now, okay? And I… fuck. It doesn’t matter, just…I’m sorry.”

I could see it. I could see just how much he was hurting.

It was in the way his body seemed to crumble and sag suddenly.

It was in the deflated look on his face, screaming defeat and sorrow.

I knew exactly how that felt. Because I’d been feeling that way since I watched his brother burn alive in front of me.

There was a part of me that wanted to be angry at Wes for what happened at the river.

But there was a bigger part of me that understood, because the truth was, I hated myself so much ever since Chase died.

And my life had become so fucked up ever since that dying at the hands of Chase’s identical twin seemed like poetic justice to me.

It felt like the right ending to my story.

In the end, I wasn’t mad at him. I understood him… he made sense to me.

I wanted to tell him, to reassure him that there was no ill will from me. But there was no way in hell I was going to tell him all of that. But I knew what I did want to say. What I wanted him to know. So, I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through my lips, and spoke.

“I’m sorry too.” I was sorry because I knew his brother died because of me.

I was the one that gave up his name, and maybe if I hadn’t, Raúl would never have figured out he was a Dissenter.

I was sorry. But I kept the second part to myself, unable to hear those words spoken aloud.

But I thought he understood, hearing the unspoken piece, because he looked up at me, standing up a little straighter.

The stone-cold hardness was gone, and so was the annoyance and hatred from earlier, replaced by softness.

I gave a small nod and then turned to leave again when he spoke one more time.

“Did you love him?”

I froze. It was a question I didn’t expect, and I wasn’t prepared to answer it. The silence lingered between us. Did I love him? I thought maybe I did, but…but did he love me? That part confused me. Knowing everything I knew now created a fog over the whole thing. I sighed before finally answering.

“I…I don’t know. I don’t even know what we were or if…

” I stopped short. Or if he even really cared about me.

I couldn’t say it. It was still too painful to think about.

To think that I was just a job to him. That all the things I thought were happening between us were nothing more than a show.

I cleared my throat as I felt the knot forming and the threat of tears.

I didn’t want to cry. Not again, not now. Not in front of him.

I took a deep breath, doing my best to push down the emotions I felt welling up inside.

When I thought I had it under control, I took the chance to look up at Wes.

But he wasn’t looking at me. He seemed lost in thought, staring at the ground in front of him.

No matter how messed up it was that Chase and this whole rebellion totally duped me, I felt bad.

Because Chase may not have liked me, not really anyway, but I…

I did like him. And if losing him was hurting me as much as it was, I couldn’t even imagine what it was like for his brother.

Wes stiffened as his gaze lifted to meet my own. “What gave him up?”

“What?” Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no.

His stern look bore into me, unsettling my core. His words came out slow and measured, and each one drilled into my soul. “How did they find him out, Mara? How did they figure out who he was?”

I could feel myself wanting to back down, to run in the opposite direction as fast as I could.

But I was glued to the floor. Paralyzed by the truth that I feared would destroy me from the inside out.

“I-I…” It was me! I did it! I gave his name up!

I wanted to. But I couldn’t. For all I knew, Wes would kill me right here, right now, if I told him the truth.

“You what?”

“I-I don’t know,” I finally pushed out in a rush. He raised a brow, but his eyes never wavered. I could feel the accusation in them. I pushed on. “I really don’t know. But I’m sorry, Wes. I’m so, so sorry.” Sweat was beading up on my brow, my heart a pattering disaster behind my ribs.

Wes remained still, emotions glimmering through his eyes for only a few seconds before he rolled his shoulders back, straightening himself to his full height.

“You should be.” He then turned on his feet and walked away, leaving me feeling empty and rotten.

If I thought I felt like shit before, I was wrong because I felt so much worse now.

I tried to push it down, but the guilt and shame clawed their way up and consumed me.

I dropped my face into my hands and cried.

***

It wasn’t long before I got an annoyed text from Chelsea, reminding me that the world didn’t wait on me anymore now that I’d fallen from grace.

I wiped my cheeks, took several deep breaths to calm myself, and made my way out of the building—if you could even call it that.

It didn’t take me long to spot the head of gorgeous red curls.

I shifted my gaze to see the other people she was with.

There was someone I didn’t recognize and Matias, who was dressed in a similar outfit as mine. It was an amazing display of muscle.

Every ripple was well defined in the dark green jumpsuit, every sensuous line and delicious curve.

And he looked good. Real good. As I looked up, I saw his eyes on me and my cheeks grew hot, flushing red.

Of course, he would catch me gawking, and there was no doubt about it either because the smuggest smirk I’d ever seen took over the corner of his mouth.

It was the same damn smirk Chase would give any time I swooned at his gentle touches.

But I couldn’t stay embarrassed for long because it was seconds later that my name was being called.

I snapped out of it, seeing the guy I didn’t recognize calling me and motioning me toward them.

All right…here we go. With a deep breath, I joined the group.

“My name’s Melton Wynters, Mara, and I’m head of training.

I’m in charge of setting up your training schedule.

Now, we’ve received some new intel. There’s been an increase in disappearances in District 3 in Telvia.

Bunch of Subclass folks have gone missing.

Our agents report that whole families have disappeared in the district.

We need to figure out what’s going on. That means, Chelsea, you’re being reassigned to recon for a bit.

Head back to camp and receive your new assignment. ”

Chelsea nodded. “You got it, sir.”

Wynters tipped his head before returning his attention back to the rest of us. “Matias, you’ll be working on—”

“What did I miss?” The voice nearly made me jump out of my skin—and jumpsuit—from behind me. And he was close… way too close. Like, in-my-personal-space close. I knew who it was before I even turned my head to confirm it. Before Wynters even said his name.

“Wes, nice of you to finally join us.” Wynters folded his arms across his chest, clenching his jaw. “I was just giving out assignments. You’ll be working with Mara.”

My stomach dropped.