Page 34

Chapter thirty-two

Fallan

T he three men linger in my living room, looming over the space with equal looks of distaste. I thrash my arms against the binds of the chair they put me in, making sure to glance at Hunter every few moments, watching him tug at the cuffs holding him to the metal frame of my barred window. They dragged him in here moments ago, wasting no time at delivering multiple blows to his face, getting him in the same vulnerable position they had forced me into. I sit in the middle of my living room, unable to move from my position in the chair they’d tied me to. My body aches from the beating I’d taken so far, my mind drained, unable to reach out to Forest through the connection. Andrew and Adam pace around the area, scanning my things, waiting for me to say something. The blonde, Xavier, observes me. Even from here, I can smell her scent on him. He’s leaning against my wall with a detached look on his face that only makes me want to rip his head off the longer I navigate his head space. Each one of his thoughts is revolved around her. I hear her gentle breaths in his mind, caused by the pressure of his lips exploring her neck. I thrash against the binds, focused solely on him.

“Finally ready to admit what you did?” Adam questions, hitting the back of my head with his hand. I lean forward, keeping my gaze toward the ground.

“Adam, no hands on him unless you have to. I doubt you'd like to clean up yet another mess,” Xavier says, looking to Andrew for support in his command.

Andrew nods in agreement, waving his hand at Adam and watching the man take several steps from me. Xavier finally pushes away from the wall, observing the space with his companions. I watch how his hand trails along my things, moving closer to my general location. I do my best to continue navigating his mental space, only growing angrier each time I sense new thoughts of her manifesting. He thinks of her every time he looks at me, harboring as much hate toward me as I do him.

“I don’t need you defending me, you pathetic snake,” I nearly yell.

“We haven't broken any rules,” Hunter says, straining against the metal bar. “If you want money, take it,” Hunter pleads, unaware of how sick and twisted Officials can be. None of this has to do with money. It only has to do with their agenda.

“This isn't about you,” Adam hisses. Xavier’s hand is already on his shoulder, stopping him from getting closer to Hunter.

“You’re angry at me, Andrew,” I say, turning my head back to look at the man. He walks over to me, finally standing before me, observing me with thoughtful eyes. “No more going after her because of my actions. You've already taken so much of her,” I plea, trying to gauge how much they know about her absent chip. No one’s ever been able to do what she did without causing irreparable brain damage.

“What's he talking about?” Adam questions, unaware of how well I actually know Andrew and his daughter.

“Adam, step outside and guard the door. I don't need any of his companions trying to listen in on this conversation,” Andrew says, crouching down on his knees.

“But, sir. Xavier-”

“I don't think he said my name. Get the fuck out,” Xavier snaps, watching the man take a step back, clearly annoyed to be taking orders from someone so much younger than him. Xavier stands with a confidence many lack. Something about him is off-putting, making him much different from any other Official I’ve met.

“You too, Xavier,” Andrew says, looking at the man sternly.

Xavier looks hesitant. Still, he excuses himself with Adam, giving me a hateful look before closing the door behind him.

“I told you to stay away from my girl,” Andrew mutters, looking at me angrily. “The deal was you keep some of your memories, and in return, you let her live her life without you in it,” Andrew continues. I watch Hunter’s face change, clearly nervous about the direction of the conversation.

“We tried,” Hunter barks. “He did everything he could to make her hate him, even paraded another woman in front of her. It turned out the same way every time-”

“You know nothing about trying!” Andrew yells, cutting Hunter off. “For years, I have carried the burden of keeping both of you safe, yet all you do is find a way to her, no matter how many times I alter her memories or yours. Why can't you leave it be?” he questions, my chest growing tighter the longer I think of her.

Every time I see her, something urges me to be near her. It's the connection formed from when we were children. I hear her laugh in fleeting moments of the night. The sweet upturn of her smile devours her face as prominently as her kind eyes. I feel her hands on my chest, pulling me down to taunt a kiss I’ve still never allowed to happen, knowing there’s no way I could let anyone touch her once I’ve had her that way.

“You didn't leave it be when it was Katiana!” I yell, watching Hunter wince at my words. “You abandoned us all for a girl and a promise of a better life, turning your back on everything you knew, forcing your daughter to believe she was crazy when your fears about her started to become a reality,” I spit, thinking of all of Andrew’s theories about our kind.

“My daughter is safe if she stays in the world we created for her,” he says, pressing his finger to my chest. “It's only when she finds you that those fears start to have any meaning. Her naivety is the one thing keeping her away from what lies outside of these walls-”

“The Shifters? Open your eyes, Andrew, they’re already here, hunting our kind -”

“Not the Shifters, Fallan. There is something going on that’s much bigger than all of us, and it starts with them getting their hands on her and what she can do. The more time she spends near you, the more in danger she becomes. Can't you see that?” Andrew questions, filling my head with a rampart wave of doubt and frustration.

“Then we keep her away. We convince her to hate us-” Hunter starts.

“I've tried that,” I whisper, straining against the binds again.

“Not hard enough,” Andrew bellows, leaning his head forward into mine with an angry stare.

“I have a family I need to protect, Fallan. I promised your father I would keep you alive. How you choose to live that life is up to you.”

“Did that thought run through your head before or after you got my father killed?”

His hands fidget. “You were made in this sector, Andrew, yet you act like that brand no longer marks your calloused hands.”

“One more strike, Fallan, and you reach red. No one comes back from red.”

“You did.”

He pauses, running his hand along his sensor prod.

“I better not catch wind of you involving my son this time,” Andrew says, looking at Hunter. “The last thing I need is to get him involved in this shit show. In a few minutes, my men will return here and deliver punishment to you both for stepping out of line and speaking to my children. Prods only, so you’ll live.”

He pauses, looking back at me.

“Your mother knows how to treat light sensor prod wounds,” he mutters, blatantly unaware of her absence.

“She’s dead. Your people killed her last fall!” I yell, watching the way his body freezes up at the news of her passing.

“How many times will we be here like this before you realize I will never stop? Some things can't be altered with a chip and a pill you shove down her throat. Every morning and every night, I am haunted by every moment I've looked at her and she's looked right past me. You rip her away, making promises she will never return, only to be wrong each time.”

“You know the consequences, Fallan. Neither of you will come back from it this time. No more chips, no more pretending. The new Commander is watching, hiding in the shadows from all of us. They are afraid of you two. I can't protect you both forever. Even now, what she is capable of is beyond my control. One minute, I spoke to her in my office, and the next, I was asleep on my floor, only to be woken up by a flood of texts about your whereabouts while trying to navigate lost time. Nothing is within my grasp anymore,” he whispers, turning away to open the door.

“So that's what you'll do then? Walk away from your kind again?” Hunter retorts, hitting his head against the wall in frustration.

“If you don't make her hate you this time, Fallan, if you don't make that spark you created burn out within her, and they find out, she reaches red. Only this time, it ends with a bullet in her head while they make you pull the trigger,” Andrew says, pausing his grasp on the handle.

“Why?” I question, feeling the emotion shroud my tone, “Why can't you just let it be me instead of her?” I ask, watching as he turns back to look at me. He pauses, pressing his head to the door.

“She made me promise a long time ago that I would keep your life safe, even if it meant hers was jeopardized. The worst part of it all is she can't even remember that I made that promise and lives thinking I want all of this to happen," Andrew says, my heart breaking into a million pieces.

“The deal is the same. If she remembers you and remembers what she is capable of, and they find out, they kill her on the spot and throw you, me, and anyone associated with us past the ward to fend for ourselves in the ash and what lies past it. This isn't just about you and her anymore. It's about the very foundation of this society,” he whispers. Hunter finally speaks up again.

“And the Apparatus?” Hunter questions, daring to bring up the one thing we’re all afraid to discuss.

“I stopped believing in that fairytale a long time ago,” Andrew finishes, swinging open the door.

His men wait on the other side, deep in a, clearly, one-sided conversation. Andrew is whispering to the pair, debriefing bits and pieces from our conversation but not giving them the entire picture of what happened today or why. Both men glance into my apartment, crossing their arms with different looks, one of pleasure and one of frustration.

After a few moments, the men step inside, touching the hilts of their prods.

“If you’re smart, you will not come near my family again,” Andrew says, moving past the doorway, leaving his men behind to carry out their punishment. Hunter's legs kick again, trying to escape from Adam, but his movements are swift and menacing, his fingers digging into Hunter’s flesh in a vice-like grip. The force of Adam’s grip jerked Hunter up violently into a position where Adam could taunt him with the light sensor prod.

“He did nothing!” I yell, slamming my chair down with as much force as possible, “Leave him be, you mindless obedient drone,” I hiss, watching Adam's gaze finally snap to me.

He lets go of Hunter and lunges towards me, but Xavier steps in his path.

“Move out of my way, kid,” Adam seethes, glaring at Xavier with fury in his eyes.

“Last time I checked, our job isn’t to taunt them,” Xavier says, tucking his sensor prod back into its holder, forcing Adam to do the same.

“Stop acting like you stand for any side but your own,” I mutter.

Xavier looks back at me, his gaze filled with annoyance.

“You saw what he did, just like me. Andrew's kid has been sneaking around with him. It's a vile and deplorable relationship-”

“Forest is not with him in that way,” Xavier says, my stomach churning at his words,

“If you speak her name around me one more time, I swear I will make sure it's you on the ground,” I snap, feeling the binds nearly break from my pull.

“See?” Adam says, pointing out my defiant need to defend the woman.

“Forest is not with him,” Xavier says again, my anger reaching a level I never thought possible, “Just this morning, I had her to myself, straddling me in her bedroom while I explored how sweet her skin tasted. I’m sure Fallan can’t say he’s had her the same way, and if he has, I doubt it was because she wanted it,” Xavier says. My hand is almost free from its binds. His words are like hot prods on my back, adding to the collection of scars painting my flesh.

“You liar,” I begin, feeling his fingers press onto my neck, touching the space below my ear, right next to my Adam's apple.

“Right there,” he starts, applying a bit of pressure. “She makes the nicest little moan of pleasure when you put a little pressure there-”

My hand breaks away from the restraint, and I’m unable to hold back the anger stirring within me. My hand passes over his front, every single urge inside my body telling me to use my burden on this man, dangling him from the window, watching his body mark the pavement. Xavier is quick on his feet, barely missing the collision with my knuckles once I move to hit him again. Adam is the first to strike me, hitting my side hard with his prod and delivering a solid kick to my face, throwing me off balance. I watch as Xavier crouches down to meet my eyes, my nose already spilling with blood.

“Andrew is right,” Xavier starts, my arms and legs unable to move from their position. Hunter's yells are muffled by Adam’s hand covering up the noise. “You will stay away from her if you know what's good for you,” Xavier finishes, looking at Adam with disdain.

“They’ve had enough.” He brushes dust from the front of his uniform. “I’d like to get back home and pick up where I left off with our girl,” Xavier says toward me with a wink. My rage is snuffed out as my body fights exhaustion, and I'm left utterly depleted from trying to fight against my restraints for the last several hours.

I think of his hands on her, touching her, getting to see that smile. Adam moves away from Hunter, brushing past Xavier to leave the space. The blonde glances back once behind him, crouching down to get a good look at me. He speaks quietly enough that Hunter won’t be able to listen in.

“Take my words however you’d like,” he says, my body using all its energy to try and get up from the floor.

The man's hand touches my clothes, stopping once he reaches my pocket. I watch him grab the chain of her necklace, dragging it free from my pocket. “There will be consequences if I find out you went near her again,” Xavier says, tucking the chain into his pocket. My body is depleted, but I try to reach out to her anyway.

“Forest?” I whisper in my mind, feeling the energy the thought takes with it.

“I will kill you,” I hiss at the man, watching him smile as he rises to his feet.

"I do hope you try.” Xavier glances over to Hunter. “Keep your guard dog in line,” Xavier says, turning on his heels to walk away.

“She will never choose you,” Hunter yells, watching Xavier’s body freeze at the statement.

His pause only lasts a few moments. His mouth curls into a smile once he looks back.

“Maybe. But Fallan will make sure she doesn’t choose him, either. Won’t you, Markswood?" Xavier questions, leaving my door gaping as he finally steps away.

Moments later, my strength is suddenly restored. I force myself to my feet and after Xavier. The hallway outside my front door is empty, leaving me hitting the ground with my knees in frustration. I run my hands through my hair, remembering the empty space in my pocket where I’d kept Forrest’s necklace.

Xavier’s words were not just a message.

They were a threat.