“That’s not a good idea,” Cade says.
Malachi glares blankly at me. “No.”
“I’m not asking permission,” I say, shoving my hair back over my shoulders. “We’ve been split up enough. Don’t you think it’s time we start sticking together?”
Something softens in his expression, but it doesn’t stay there for long. “You need more training than everyone here. You should stay.”
I bite back my irritation. “Are you forgetting I already went toe to toe with Rain in the ring? I’m not helpless, Malachi. I’ve spent years training with Marco’s security.” I lift my chin a notch. “I’m a fucking Avid.”
Alex raises both hands like he’s warding off trouble. “I don’t think seeing the dead is going to help you in a hand-to-hand fight.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Bash put me through his machine and unlocked more of my gift. It’s already evolving. I can see the dead now, but who knows what I’ll be able to do in two weeks?”
The withering, dangerous look Malachi throws Bash makes me instantly regret saying that out loud.
“What the fuck?” he grits between clenched teeth.
I send Bash a quick, apologetic glance.
“She insisted,” Bash says, keeping his tone even. “She’s fine. Relax.” Still, he takes half a step back from Malachi.
Malachi exhales slowly through his nose. “Fine. Kat’s coming with me. Calloway, Bash, you’re in charge while I’m gone. Get the team ready.” The look he gives me burns. “We’ll talk more about this later. We leave in two hours. Pack what you need while I find us a pilot.”
Everyone seems to take that as the final word. The group breaks apart, Malachi striding out first. Alex, Nasha, Cade, and Dante head toward the weapons cabinets, already talking strategy.
I turn to Aurora and Bash. “That went well, all in all, don’t you think?” I say with a lopsided grin that’s more bravado than humor.
“Yeah, so much for keeping it between us,” Bash chuckles. He never wanted to keep this secret to begin with, and now he doesn’t have to.
Still, the weight of what I saw in that footage, and the way Malachi’s entire foundation got ripped out from under him, irks me. We’ve got two hours before we leave, and I have no idea if that’s enough time to prepare for what we might be walking into.
“I need to get back to the lab, but come see me before you leave,” Bash says, and I nod.
Aurora slings her arm over my shoulders again. “Let’s go raid Rain’s room and see if we can find you something spectacularly inappropriate to wear to this party.”
Leave it to Aurora to pivot from political conspiracies and assassination plots to wardrobe crimes without missing a beat. She has this rare talent for making the heaviest things feel like they weigh half as much, and right now, I’m not about to turn down the distraction. Besides, all my clothes are back at the cabin, and I don’t have time to go get them now.
“How didyou even know Rain has a bedroom here? Why would she choose to sleep in this place instead of having a house of her own?” I say, perching on the edge of the bed.
The room is all shades of purple, even the throw pillows. Apparently, Rain has a full-on love affair with the color. Her hair and now her bedroom. Figures.
Aurora smirks, rifling through the closet. “Don’t say anything, but I think she and Cade hooked up a time or two. He’s how I know about her room.”
I make a face. “Gross.”
She laughs, the sound bright and unapologetic. “Yeah, the woman’s kind of a bitch.”
I’m glad we’re on the same page. “I can’t believe Cade hooked up with her.”
But honestly, I can believe it. Cade hooked up with Carmen too to further his mission. Why would I think pining after me all these years meant he was celibate? It doesn’t actually bother me, not in the sense of jealousy. I wish he’d find someone else, anyone else, but preferably not Rain.
“It was a long time ago by the sound of it,” Aurora says, pulling a hanger from the rack, “and I got the impression it was more of a drunken thing, not an ‘I have actual feelings for you’ thing.”
For some reason, that makes me feel a little better.
“Here, try this on.” She tosses a gown at me without even looking.
I slip into it while she keeps flipping through the rest of the closet. The fabric pools like water against my skin, cool and impossibly smooth. The gown is a pale shade of lavender—yep, Rain definitely has a thing for purple—and it fits like it was tailored for me. Long and silky, with a dangerously low backand a high slit up one leg. The front has one of those draped cowl folds over the chest, enough to make someone’s gaze linger.
