Page 5

Chapter five

Raegan

My knees collide with hardwood floors before I fall on top of Dane, the world spinning violently around me.

Nausea swirls in my gut.

I squeeze my eyes closed until the dizziness subsides.

This teleport is ten times worse than when Reid does it.

Just like the scales on Charles’s arm were similar to Kellan’s, but not quite right.

Is his gift a poor imitation of other gifts?

“What do we have here? A stowaway?” Charles speaks from above, reminding me this is no time to close my eyes.

Dane groans, lost to the nausea as I was, and hearing him just as miserable as me forces my eyes open.

Someone needs to be aware of our surroundings in enemy territory.

Slowly, I turn to look at Charles.

He’s standing with no ounce of discomfort on his face as he looks down on us.

“I hope you’re prepared for what comes next as an uninvited guest. I don’t tolerate trash in my office.”

The room around us is too massive to be called an office.

Behind him is an oversized, ugly metal desk before a wall of windows two stories high.

There’s a single side table with a decanter of alcohol and two glasses, and otherwise, the room is bare.

Silver walls, grayish hardwood floors, and his desk.

“Rae?” Dane mumbles, his hand reaching for me.

“I’m here.” He laces his fingers with mine, and I use our grip to help him sit upright.

He moans again, grabbing at his head with eyes closed.

The nausea is clearly riding him even harder.

I squeeze his hand. “I’ve got you. He’s not taking you anywhere. I promise.”

His eyes slowly open, blinking to adjust until he can look at me clearly.

He squeezes my hand in return.

“You, either.”

“Sorry to disappoint you both, but that’s not possible. Dane is coming with me and you…” His blue eyes land on me, and it hits me how much mine look like them.

And Reid’s…

Not now, I chastise.

I can think about Reid and our possible blood relation after we make it out of this predicament.

“… you are not leaving this room alive. You had been fortunate I was going to leave you alive at your underground hideout, but to follow me here means you have a death wish. I won’t be so lax now that you’re here.”

Standing, I glare at him.

“You can’t have him.”

“I already do.”

I stand between him and Dane.

“No. You’ll never have him so long as I’m alive.”

Charles smiles.

“Ah, very well. I accept.” He raises a hand, then snaps his wrist up.

My body lifts into the air, then speeds backward, crashing into the wall.

I drop hard to the floor, crying out from the pain shooting through my back.

“Rae!” Dane yells, shoving to his feet and tripping over himself as he tries to run to me.

Groaning, I push up to my elbows.

“I’m okay.” At least, I think I am.

Fuck, that hurt. It wasn’t like Jackson using air to move things.

Or the feeling of hooks and strings that Royce used.

This was just picking me up with an invisible hand and throwing me at the fucking wall.

“So, to tally it up, he has Kellan’s gift, Reid’s gift, and now some other gift that lets him toss people around without touching them? Did I miss any?” I grumble, rubbing the back of my head.

Dane’s lips tighten.

So, yes. All of those.

“We just need to stall him as long as possible. The others will come for us.”

“How? We don’t even know where we are.”

“Let’s just say that Aiden made sure you could never be kidnapped and hidden from us again.”

I stare at him, unamused.

“Please tell me he didn’t put a tracker in me while I was unconscious.”

He smirks, completely unashamed by that admission.

“If he gets us out of this, you can write him a thank you card.”

Ha!

“Ready?”

“No, but when has that ever stopped me?” I smirk at him, then break out into a run.

Charles’s smile hasn’t faded since I last looked at him.

If anything, he looks relaxed.

Fuck.

I just know we’re underestimating him.

No one is that confident without good reason.

I stop without warning, slapping my hand on his fancy office floor and sending my gift through it to him.

His eye twitches at the sight, and he moves away before it reaches him.

I curve it at him, chasing him, and he disappears.

Charles reappears on the opposite wall, and Dane charges at him from behind.

Just as Charles turns, Dane grabs his raised arm with glowing hands.

As soon as Charles was gone, I’d waited for his new position and then ran after him.

I slip the knife from my boot and thrust the blade into Charles’s chest while he’s occupied looking at Dane on his other side.

“Ahhgh!” His smile shatters.

He stomps on Dane’s knee and swings his arm down on his elbow, breaking his hold and gift on him.

I jump back, grabbing Dane and dragging us both toward the door.

I risk a glance over my shoulder.

Charles pulls the knife free and waits for his wound to heal and strengthen.

He tosses the knife to the floor.

When he looks up at us, he’s smiling again.

Psycho.

The door is close.

I reach my hand out, my fingers sliding over the handle…

I’m yanked backward, the force of it throwing our hands apart as we both sail through the air back to Charles.

The man flicks his wrist, and a blast of something , hits me.

I slam to the floor, all the air expelling from my lungs as I gasp from the pain.

Whatever he struck with, it pummeled my entire body, leaving nothing untouched.

Dane coughs, like he’s choking to breathe, and I force my head up to seek him out.

He’s lying on the floor a few yards from me.

My muscles scream when I make myself stand.

Make myself move .

We have to make it through the door before he attacks again.

But how? He dodges my gift.

Heals from any attack we actually do land on him.

Somehow, I make it to Dane.

“Can you stand?”

“What the fuck was that?” he wheezes but accepts my hand to help him up.

“I’m not sticking around to find out. Let’s go!” Even though it hurts, even though all I want to do is lie on the ground to catch my breath, I run.

Dane stays with me, but we’re hardly a few steps in before we’re ripped off our feet again.

Smashed with an invisible force.

This time, we keep our hands on each other, holding tight even after we crash to the ground.

“How many more of these do you think you can take? Three? Less?” Charles questions seriously, like he’s genuinely curious.

Once I can breathe again, I pant between breaths to Dane, “Can’t run. Fight.”

His head tilts in what I’m pretty sure is a nod of agreement.

The GE president stands at the head of his office like he could do this all day.

Like this attack costs him nothing while we’re struggling just to stay upright.

Even if there is a limit to this gift, he could always teleport to the door to stop us.

All we can do now is try to fight and hope to find a weakness.

Charles waits for us to get back on our feet.

He could easily attack us when we’re down, but he smiles pleasantly and allows us the time to try again.

Wearing down our resolve just as much as our bodies.

Dane and I rush at him for another attack.

I try my gift. Dane uses his fists.

We run into an invisible barrier a couple feet from him that instantly tosses us back.

Before we get up this time, Charles pulls us toward him, then blasts us with another invisible attack.

And then another with no time to recover.

Pain grips my body in an iron, spiked fist, immobilizing me.

The ringing in my ears echoes along with the insistent throbbing of my muscles.

There’s a sharp piercing in my chest when I breathe, and I’m forced to take shorter, shallower breaths.

“Oh, you have guests,” a droll male voice speaks.

There’s a pause, and then he continues, “Playing with your food, I see.”

“Royce,” Charles greets.

“Have I missed the meeting?”

Black edges my vision, oblivion threatening to consume me.

To sleep, or death?

“I pushed it out for you. I knew you’d be busy having fun with my puppet’s Guild.”

“Ah, you’re quite reliable.”

“I strive to be so, sir. If I may,” Royce drawls in his dreary, slow tone.

“Do you have plans for your…her?”

His words give me a boost of willpower to hold on.

To cling to consciousness even if it’s only to hear about their plan for me.

“Only to put her down as she should have been after she killed Vera.”

A pain deeper than any physical injury burrows into my chest.

“Of course, sir. I recall you advising Gordon of that and his desperate plea to use her in his pet project.”

“Then take care with what you’re about to request,” Charles warns.

“I have no intention of interfering. However, I can make use of her after death, with her free will limited, of course.”

It’s quiet for a heartbeat.

Two. Three.

I blink, and it takes concentrated effort to drag my eyelids open again.

Don’t pass out. Keep fighting.

“I suppose so. Just keep her from my sight.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Stay close. I’ve had my fun and should return to work. You can have her then.”

Fuck.

Time’s up.

I’d hoped their conversation would last longer to give my body more time to recover, but I’m in no better shape now than a few minutes ago.

Worse, actually.

Shadows creep further into my vision.

So much so that I’m not sure if I’m losing my eyesight or my lids are closing on their own.

The soft sound of footsteps on the hardwood floor beat and echo against my ear.

He’s coming.

“Rae,” Dane gasps in a painful voice.

A hand covers one of mine, squeezing when I don’t respond.

I try to, but my body refuses to listen.

“Stay with me. Don’t close your eyes.”

Dane’s face appears before me.

He’s on his stomach, lying there like he crawled to me.

My eyes shutter, and I force them back open.

“That’s it. Don’t give in.”

My throat is parched, and when I swallow, it’s like sandpaper rubbing together.

“Never,” I croak.

“I hope you don’t mind my borrowing of your knife,” Charles says politely above us.

“I’d love to stay and play a bit longer, but I’m overdue for my work today. I’ll act as your father one last time by ending this quickly.”

Dane drags himself over me, his body molding to mine.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” he snaps, his voice gravelly because of his own injuries.

“Leave her alone, and I’ll do whatever you want. Heal her , and you can have my gift or whatever it is you want from me.”

Charles sighs.

“You have me mistaken, Dane. I don’t negotiate. I apologize for your poor experience with my employee, Gordon, but that isn’t how Gifted Enterprise operates. She dies. You donate your gift to GE. That’s the only way we all move forward. Now, kindly remove yourself so I can make this quick, or I cannot guarantee her death won’t be messy.”

“You’ re not going to fucking touch her!”

I can’t see anything beneath Dane except for small glimpses of light.

But I feel the force of him being struck above me.

“Aahhh…nnngh!” Dane cries out.

He shifts only for a second from the impact before he’s right back on me.

“Dane!” I pant, and an agonizing sting swells in my chest.

Still, I try to move my hands.

Even a twitch will do.

Move, dammit!

He’s hit again.

And again.

“Determined, aren’t you? If you won’t go by physical force, I’ll have to remove you another way. She’s the only one meant to die today.”

Dane!

The weight of his body lessens, but his hands cling desperately to mine.

“No!” he chokes, his voice a harsh mix of pain and gritted determination.

A loud slam echoes through the room.

Dane’s body drops onto mine.

I cry out involuntarily at the blinding pain and then pass out.