Page 10

Chapter ten

Raegan

Aiden shuts the water off once we’re both clean, then takes the towel he’d laid aside for himself to wrap around me.

It’s massive and could probably fit two people in it, and I hug it tightly around myself as I step out of the shower.

Without the hot water running to produce more steam, the cooler air of his bedroom slips in, adding a slight chill that induces a full-body shiver.

“Dry off and get dressed before you catch a cold.” Aiden wraps his new towel around his waist, then strides to his bedroom.

When I grab my clothes from the floor, a piece of paper tumbles free.

Oh.

Whoops.

I pinch the paper and hurry to the door, only for Aiden to walk through it first with a bag in hand.

“Here are your things from the bunker. Make me a list of anything else you need: clothes, bathroom supplies, shoes, anything. I’ll order and have them delivered here for you. ”

I nod, accepting the bag in my arms, though I don’t need much more than what’s already in there.

Maybe a few restocks of bathroom supplies, but which bathroom will I keep that in?

There’s the shared powder room right off the living area, but the only full bathrooms in this apartment are in each of their rooms.

Hopefully that discussion will be part of the one we’re about to have as a group.

My living and sleeping arrangements.

“And one more thing,” he adds, his hand closed around something and waiting for mine.

Freeing a hand, he drops a purple butterfly clip onto my palm.

Portia’s clip.

“You grabbed this?”

“You said it was important to you.”

I close my hand around it and swallow thickly.

He remembered this tiny little thing, searched the bunker for it to make sure I was reunited with it, and that does more to me than I know what to do with.

“Thank you.” Clearing my throat, I wave Dane’s piece of paper at him.

“Dane asked if you could add some things to the grocery list. Is it too late?”

He checks his phone, which he apparently picked up at some point, tapping something with his thumb a couple of times, then brings it to his ear.

“This is Aiden, the one who placed the order you’re on your way to deliver. Yes. I have other items that need to be added. I understand. I’ll add an extra hundred-dollar tip for the inconvenience. Great. I’ll text them over to you now.”

He takes the paper and holds it in front of him, then snaps a picture with his phone and taps away again.

“There. The store is around the corner, so it’ll still be delivered shortly.” He returns to his bedroom, leaving me in the bathroom to get dressed.

I pull out something comfortable for today: a crew neck shirt and some jeans, for a change.

Peeking into the bedroom, I spy Aiden working on his tie with only his dress jacket remaining.

No time to blow-dry my hair, then.

I stick to finger-combing the wet locks to avoid future tangles and make sure it dries somewhat nicely.

Add a touch of eyeliner, and I’m done.

The sound of a door opening has me kicking my bag to the corner and tossing everything else on top so I can rush out at the same time as Aiden.

We’d been waiting for Dane to wake up first, but now it’s on me that we haven’t all caught up yet because I’d been busy having sex with half of them.

Fuck. Don’t think of it like that.

I round the corner after Aiden to the dining table.

He takes a seat at the head nearest to us, while Kellan is seated at the opposite end, and Dane on the right between them.

I’m assuming the last chair on the other side of Dane is Jack’s, even though it’s empty.

“You can have my seat,” Jackson murmurs behind me, coming from fuck-knows where.

But I don’t react, having expected him to be somewhere close.

“Thanks.” I offer him a small smile over my shoulder, which he returns, but there’s still something off about it.

About him. There has been since I woke up in his bed this morning, which means it has nothing to do with me and Dane or Aiden.

I just need a chance to be alone with him to find out what it is.

“You feel better after getting your dick wet?” Kellan drawls toward Aiden, his grin sharp.

Dane shoots him a glare.

“What? He took a shower, didn’t he?”

“That’s not what you fucking meant, and you know it,” Dane snarks.

I sit, and Jackson leans against the wall in the corner.

“Enough. We need to go over everything that happened and the next steps.” Aiden's dark brown gaze pauses on each of us to make sure he has our attention before he continues, “I’m not sure how much you watched from the cameras, but when Jack, Reid, and I arrived at the butcher shop, Gordon had freed Thorne from the cuffs by removing his thumbs.”

I grip my knees and concentrate on my lap. This is it. I’m going to find out what happened to him. Shit, am I shaking? I fist my hands, attempting to clamp down on whatever tremors are involuntarily taking control of my body.

“Wait,” Dane snaps. He lifts his chair and carries it around the table, dropping it next to mine and sitting down. He puts my hand in his, encouraging me to release my grip so he can slide his fingers between mine, then settles our hands back in my lap. “Okay.”

I can feel all their eyes on me, but I don’t look away from Aiden. He’s watching me carefully, waiting for me to tell him I’m ready, and I nod for him to continue.

I’m listening to what he says, and yet not. As if his voice is background noise, talking behind a veil where only key words jump out at me. Thorne attacked Gordon. Gordon admitted the president of GE was at the bunker. And then…and then…

“…moved his body to an ice chest temporarily, which we locked fr om the outside, here in the Tower.”

Dane squeezes my hand and leans in, whispering in my ear, “Are you okay?”

…his body…

Ice chest.

That means…

He’s dead…right?

The panic doesn’t ebb when that thought passes through. It’s not…solid enough. It doesn’t feel real.

Could he still come back?

Is this another trick?

Another lie?

“He’s dead.” Jackson’s voice breaks through my internal spiral, and it’s like I can draw air again.

I realize that’s what I needed. Someone to outright say it.

My eyes find his. He’s now crouching where Dane had been seated so his forearms are leaning on the table, and his face is level with mine. His deeper blue gaze is shadowed, something unpleasant lurking there, and I recall the wishes I’d given him. The one where I’d wanted to make Gordon pay.

“He’s dead,” he repeats, our eyes locked, so there’s no questioning it. So I can try again to process it.

He’s dead.

Dead.

Gone.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t bring him to you alive,” Aiden says softly. “But you can do with him as you please. Or allow us to. ”

The room grows quiet.

What…do I want to…do…with him?

It feels like my brain is sluggish, thoughts struggling through a quagmire or sinking into it before I can reach for them.

Dane squeezes my hand again, and I return the pressure on autopilot. “Rae…”

“You don’t have to decide right now,” Aiden offers. “Take your time to think about—”

“I need to see him,” I blurt out. The last time I thought he was dead, I’d based it on a lab coat beneath the rubble. And while I do trust Aiden and Jackson, I don’t think I’ll be able to accept it completely until I see that truth with my own eyes.

Aiden nods slowly, his gaze sharpening as he watches me.

“And I want his body burned down to his bones.” The words fly out of me unchecked, but after I hear them, it feels right. “When his bones are all that’s left, I’ll destroy the rest with my gift. There will be no chance for resurrection.”

“Do you care what we do to him before you burn him?” Jackson asks coolly.

I pause, considering. “No. He won’t feel any of it, so it doesn’t matter.”

He smiles.

“I’ll make the time for us to take care of that in the next few days, then,” Aiden confirms, checking in with me again for a nod of acceptance. “Kellan.”

“We got a report of the quarantine doors opening on their own. I figured it was Harvey up to his usual pranks, but sent Raegan and Dane up to the room just in case.” His expression darkens, and he shifts forward to lean on the table. “I found Claudia first. She was already gone when I got there. The fight was over. I don’t know when it started, but the rats in the group grabbed the others and ran through a portal, I’d bet. Since the kids made it out somehow, I’m sure Claudia had something to do with their escape.”

I remember meeting Claudia at Portia’s apartment. When she’d shown up to take and help Isabel, she’d been so proud to be a member of the Guild.

What’s going to happen to the children without Claudia here to help them?

“Harvey was crying behind the desk, covered in blood. I don’t know the extent of his involvement since it looked like the fighting began before he snuck in, but I couldn’t get anything out of him before Charles stabbed me in the back.”

Psycho dad.

“The freak licked my blood, then began shooting me while asking me questions about my gift. Next thing I know, he’s showing me that he has my gift, too. Once he ran out of bullets, he touched my head, and I can’t remember anything after that. Until you woke me up.” He motions to Aiden, who nods.

“Reid informed us that Charles can copy others’ gifts by consuming their blood.”

“Gross,” Dane mutters.

“If that’s all, why not just cut Dane and drink his blood to get his gift?” I question, confused.

“Now he sounds like a vampire,” Kellan drawls .

“It’s so he’s not the guinea pig,” Jackson offers, twirling a throwing knife across his knuckles.

“That’s a good point, but I think we’re missing something else.” Aiden taps his fingers on the table in thought. “He was surrounded by the gifted in quarantine, but there were no reports of him doing that. Now, he could have found blind spots to hide what he was doing, but I haven’t seen or heard of him doing anything outside of the list Reid gave us. I think there’s some other limitation we’re not aware of.”

“Like why he didn’t copy Vera’s gift if it was so important to what they were working on? They had to use Royce,” I chime in.

“Yes. Exactly. It could be a limitation of the number of gifts he can have at a time. Or else a characteristic of who he’s copying the gift from,” Aiden adds.

Dane scoffs. “That could be anything. Can’t Reid answer all this? He and Charles seemed familiar.”

“Because he’s Charles’s son.” Kellan pulls his hair back, tying it half-up and away from his face, though a few shorter strands still fall free. “Which makes him our girl’s brother.”

Dane slaps a hand on the table. “I know that! I mean… familiar . Rae’s related to Charles by blood, but they just met. Reid and Charles knew each other. I’m sure he knows all that guy’s secrets.”

“Half-brother, according to Reid. And we can’t ask him because he left,” Aiden answers calmly.

Dane stares, blinking for a full breath before his face contorts. “He left ?! What do you mean he left? Did he turn on us?”

Aiden sighs. “After Cassandra healed him, he teleported away. No, he didn’t say where he was going or if he was coming back, but I don’t think it was to rejoin GE. The most likely option I can think of is that he’s attempting to find and take Tinsley back on his own.”

I’m still preoccupied trying to wrap my head around the fact that I have a half-brother. I’d forgotten that in the midst of…well, almost dying.

I may not have a father to get to know better anymore, but at least I have Reid, right?

Except I don’t. Not until he comes back, if he does at all.

“—suicide mission,” Dane is saying when I tune back into the conversation.

“There’s nothing more I can do about Reid right now. We need to make sure the Guild members are taken care of, and we need to put security measures in place at the Tower for when they attack. We’ve been lucky that they haven’t done so already, but I’m not counting on that lasting long,” Aiden says, then shifts his attention to include the rest of us. “Everyone living in the Tower is going to be required to start training in three days. We’ll have two groups. The ones who want to and can fight, and the ones who need to learn how to defend themselves to get away somewhere safe. Kellan, you’ll lead the training. I’ll help when I can. And Jack”—Aiden pins Jackson with a look— “you’re going to train everyone on how to use their gifts. Without throwing knives at them or threatening to kill them.”

Jack smirks. “It’s good motivation.”

“They have motivation enough from their fear of GE. You’ve mastered your gift better than any other gifted individual I’ve met. I know you have insights you can share with others. ”

He shrugs, the motion modest even though his smirk is dripping with arrogance.

Aiden turns to Dane. “And I need you to build a virus for the Tower.”

Dane frowns. When it clicks why he’d ask for that, Dane sighs and scrubs his hand through his hair. “A virus won’t stop Vera. She can override it.”

“I’m not looking to stop her. I’m just looking to manufacture a warning and opportunity for us,” Aiden explains. “The virus should cause an instant system reboot. That gives us…five to ten minutes with everything shut down, correct?”

Dane nods warily.

“As soon as she accesses the system, it needs to trigger the virus and system reboot. That becomes our warning and gives us time to put ourselves in a better position. We’ll work out the details of setting a trap for them from there, but that’s the first step I need completed as soon as possible.”

“Alright. I’ll start working on that tonight.”

Aiden’s phone pings. He glances at the screen, then looks between Kellan and Jackson. “Groceries are here.”

Kell stands, and they both leave without a word.

“Where are they going?” I ask.

“They have to pick up the food from one of the lower business floors. Non-Guild members can’t access the floors higher than that,” Dane answers first, his foot tapping beneath the table. “Since I can’t be seen, and Aiden’s usually busy, the other two are the ones who bring it up. ”

Hopefully, Aiden didn’t order too much for them to bring up. At least there’s an elevator.

Shifting topics, I turn to Aiden. “How’s Cassandra doing?” I’d heard from Jack this morning how she’d stumbled into my room to heal me and the others. I need to find and thank her for it. For healing Dane’s injuries, most of all.

His lips turn down at her name. “It’s hard to say based on the face she’s putting on for everyone. She should be resting in her apartment, but I’ve already heard from Cibrina that she’s at the Guild Hall, helping where she can. The knife was small, thankfully, so it avoided major arteries, but it’s going to take time for her muscles to heal for her to have full use of that arm again.”

Damn. I really like her now. “She sounds dedicated to the Guild,” I comment in her defense.

“Or desperate,” Dane grumbles, and I smack his arm for it. “What?”

“Don’t be a dick,” I chide hotly. “She saved that group of kids in the bunker, and she healed your sorry ass while dealing with her own injury.”

He scoffs, flicking a speck of something off the table. “I know all that. But she should do it because it’s right, not just for the attention. She’s been desperate since day one for a boyfriend.”

“Who cares what her reason is? She’s a great ally, and I’m glad she’s on our side.”

“Tell me that again if she switches teams and starts harassing you non-stop.” Dane’s gaze flicks to Aiden, whose face is carefully blank. “Aiden’s had the worst of it. ”

My chest burns at the memory of her hands on them. At the easy way she’d flirted with them and even tried talking Aiden into a date. I only witnessed that one time. But what about all the times before I came around?

You weren’t here then, so it doesn’t matter .

“Well, she’s backed off now,” I try again, facing Aiden for the confirmation that I shouldn’t need after what we’d just done, but I seek it out anyway.

Aiden looks between Dane and me, then sighs tiredly, as if he has absolutely no interest in this conversation. “Yes, she has.”

“From us. Doesn’t mean the other men of the Guild are exempt,” Dane adds, not letting this go.

I know Dane can be an asshole, but she really must have pissed him off at one point. I shrug a shoulder. “You’re all I care about. But if it’s a problem, I could take her out for drinks and dancing. Maybe she’ll find a good dance partner.”

Once the words are out, my lungs squeeze as it hits me that I still haven’t heard from Portia.

Something’s wrong.

If Elias even got my message.

“No,” both of them reply in unison, though I can’t recall what question I’d asked.

The door opens, and a metal set of shelves on wheels rolls in, filled with bags. Kellan leaves it between the pantry and the fridge, returning to the table to plop back into his seat while Dane stands and starts putting the groceries away. Jack pinches an apple from one of the bags, then sits on the back of the couch facing us. There’s an audible crunch when he takes his first bite.

It's so…

natural.

Everyone has their role, their place, and they do it without a single word needed between them.

I’ll need to figure out what my role will be in helping out.

But first…

“Have you heard from Elias?” I direct to Aiden, who shakes his head.

“No. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve heard from him.”

“Did he say anything about Portia? Or my voicemail?”

He doesn’t answer right away, his dark eyes staring into mine as he deliberates over something before he finally replies, “He said she would call when she was ready.”

When she was ready?

What the hell does that mean?

Aiden’s phone vibrates on the table.

It couldn’t be. The timing is too perfect.

I hold my breath as he reads the screen.

Then he stands and looks at us, his face serious.

“Harvey’s talking. And he told Cibrina there’s going to be another attack.”