Chapter 92

 

Crissy not only agreed, she seemed pumped to help out. For her, it confirmed all the things she had always seen. Being a part of stopping the ultimate evil, her words, was something she wanted to do. I wasn’t worried about her staying hidden, as long as her new bright hair color was covered, hiding was one thing she had mastered a long time ago, and I trusted Rafael and Quinton to keep her out of harm’s way but my stomach would tighten when I knew she was there.

My first watch had been the longest day of my life, there was only so much you could do while hiding out on a shed on top of a building. Tim even seemed bored and antsy, confirming that we were both people that liked action. For the second shift I brought cards, but the interest in that wore off after the first hour.

We’d only managed to discover a few things, whatever was going on down there they were keeping most of it inside. Arius, Troy and Chase were busy trying to find someone they could get set up on the inside. The problem multiplied because the plant needed to believe in Marcus’ goals or he’d know.

When Criss and Quinton arrived, I was so tired from doing nothing I wasn’t sure if I had the energy to get Tim and I back home. Quinton nodded to Tim and waited until Crissy filled me in on her search for the missing brother, which was an endless trail of dead ends. When she settled into the corner by the small window, he pulled me aside.

“They found someone to go in, but you’re not going to like it.”

Eyebrows drawn together I looked at him. Anyone on the inside was a good thing. “Who?”

“Shelby,” he practically whispered.

My spine stiffened. “Shelby as in the crazy Shelby that tried to break my face?”

He nodded.

My first thought was I hoped Marcus caught her, then that was replaced with jealousy. Had Troy gone to her and asked for her help? Had she volunteered to redeem herself to him? “Well, it’s not my decision.”

Quinton looked at his boots more than my face. “It was Victor’s idea.”

That didn’t make me feel any better. “They better not expect me to cover her ass when all hell breaks loose.”

Rubbing a hand over his jaw, he glanced at me briefly. “When I get word that she’s in, I’ll take Crissy back to the apartment.”

I nodded. With a quick wave to Criss I left the little shed, feeling suddenly like the walls were closing in on me. It was ridiculous, what difference did it make to me who went in and who asked them? As long as we stopped Marcus, that’s all that mattered to me. Yes, I was lying to myself but that was fine too just as long as no one else knew.

By the time I reached my room, my mind was distracted by other things and I was past jealous and onto aggravated. How long was I supposed to hang back and wait for Troy to decide what he was doing? He may have millennia left, but I was a mere mortal gal and my years were numbered.

Every time we were in the same room together I smoldered. He watched me constantly, the look in his eyes made me want to climb him. I was sure he knew the effect he had on me, and he still did it anyway.

Tossing my jacket at the couch, I watched it slide to the floor. Taking a deep breath, I glanced over at the clock, there was a good chance they’d be at practice now. I should try to sleep.

Before I finished that thought, I was heading out the door to the gym, there would be no sleep for me. If I could go beat on someone and get rid of some of this frustration, I might feel just a little better.

****

I spotted Quinton as soon as I stepped through the door. Shelby must be in place inside Marcus’s domain if he were here. The mere thought of Shelby started emotions churning with a desire to throttle anyone that got in my way. Most of the brothers were engaged in mock fight with a sibling, the only one not fighting was Chase.

I zeroed in on him as I went to the weapons board. His eyebrows went up and his eyes widened. Grabbing one of the wooden swords that was half my size, I swung it a few times. If it had been metal I would have fallen to the floor right along with it when I’d pulled it off the rack.

Turning to Chase, I swung it a few more times. His eyes lit with understanding and he inclined his head and motioned to the mats. I had to give the guy bonus points there, letting me take my frustration out on him. When he stopped, he glanced over at his twin and sent me a daring grin. “The things I do for my siblings.”

He stood ready and I swung. I felt myself pull back just before our weapons connected, but still loved the vibrations that traveled up my arms.

“Come on, kitten, you’ve got more than that in you,” he goaded.

I came around with more force behind it this time. He deflected it without much effort.

“You know,” he side stepped to throw me off, “I could always help in other ways if someone else won’t man up.” He gave me a cheeky grin, a glint in his eyes.

It was just the right thing to say and he knew it as he grinned widened. The frustration inside me came to a boil and I lunged at him, swinging without pause between strikes. The more I went at him, the faster the adrenalin pumped and I found strength I didn’t know I had. At one point I advanced enough to wipe his smile right off his face. Lose the goatee and it was the very face that was driving me insane.

I could hear the men around us, most cheering for me, one or two laughing at Chase’s expense. I don’t know how long we were actually at it, but Chase wasn’t smiling at all now.

He sidestepped me twice, throwing off my balance and pissing me off all over again. Avoiding my swing, he turned and tossed the sword in the air to Troy. “I believe this is your beating I’m fending off, brother King.”

Pausing with the sword in the air, I glared at Troy. A serious look crossed his face. He lifted the sword and took two steps toward me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that beating on the man I wanted to kiss speechless didn’t make any sense, but neither had my life lately.

I didn’t even have to take the first swing, he did. Well at least he wasn’t going to let me win. One of his swings connected and it rattled me up to my teeth.

I missed twice and grew more frustrated. Changing the angle of my swing I remembered the mad woman with the bat. Never let anger enter a fight.

I waited for him to swing and stepped back, rolling to the side and came up swinging. The sword connected with his hip.

With a determined look, he came at me again. I waited until he was closer and used the long piece of wood to vault myself into the air, landing a kick against his chest.

He stumbled back two steps, but before he could recover completely, I landed a blow against his hip again. His sword hit the mat as he staggered and dropped to one knee.

I stood ready, and then realized he wasn’t going to get up again. When he lifted his head and looked at me, his eyes were glowing red.

Heat shot through me. Dropping the mock weapon, I stood there fighting to catch my breath.

Troy dropped down and leaned back onto his elbows. He lay there, his chest heaving and eyes bright.

When I looked away from him I saw everyone was walking out the door. Quinton looked back long enough to grin at me. Chase stood there for a moment holding the door; he wasn’t smiling but still inclined his head and gave me a reassuring look. Then he went through the door and let it swing shut.

I looked back over at the man on the floor, watching me with a heated stare. This was the first time since he’d kissed me that he wasn’t walking as fast as he could in the other direction.

Hesitantly I went over to him, when I was close enough he reached up and grabbed my hand as he stood up. Without a word, he turned and pulled me along as he headed out the other door.

I almost had to run to keep up with him as he wound through the long maze of hallways that led to his room.