“I want to know everything.” I’m done with half-truths and omissions.No onewill use me ever again.
Zane’s lips quirk into a lopsided grin, and heaven help me if my heart doesn’t race at the sight of it. His thumb brushes across my cheek, the skin heating along that same path.
I am in so much trouble.
23
ZANE
Idive into a roll just as a gale blasts past my shoulder. I glance at my opponent, only to find that she has retreated deeper into the garden overgrowth and just the tips of her elbows are visible around the willow tree.
Smirking, I climb to my feet. She should have pressed her advantage while I was down, but I won’t say no to a game of Hide and Seek.
“She’s luring you into a trap. You know that.” Eko drags a palm across his forehead from his position in the grass. His eyes have been closed since his scrimmage against Fulton ended ten minutes ago. She handed his ass to him, of course, but I have nothing but kudos to give to anyone willing to try.
That doesn’t mean he’s wrong.
I’m spared from replying by a bored-looking Jaspar, his head pillowed in Adeon’s lap.
“You’re not even watching the match,” he argues. “There are plenty of ways to counter a tactical retreat.”
Jaspar is a tactician.Interesting.I was surprised when Kaye suggested inviting the Angelis team to join us for training, and even more surprised when so many of them agreed to come. Ialways knew their full support depended on getting Checkmate on my side—I just can’t believe I actually did it.
It has been three days since I took Kaye down to the lab. I stood beside her while she watched every video, unflinching despite what I know it must have cost her. She wanted to know the truth and I set everything before her. There’s more steel than nerves along her spine but its shadow still ghosts along the dark crescents below her eyes.
That’s why I said yes to this little get-together. It’s good for us to practice working in tandem with one another and with the Angelis team, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t worried about this gathering drawing unnecessary attention. But when I watched Fulton envelop Kaye in her arms, I knew it was the right call. I would do anything to be the one giving her that kind of comfort.
Right or wrong, we have gifted each other so much pain these last few years. Scars are the least of it.
Monster.
I push that train of thought away. We made it here, whole and hale. That’s all that matters. Well, mostly.
“Why don’t you leave this one to us?” Fulton rolls to her feet, Adeon springing to attention so fast that Jaspar’s head drops to the soft grass with a thud. He curses, and Adeon darts an amused glance in his direction as Jaspar sports the look of a kicked puppy.
Something’s happening there. It’s not my business, of course, but it’s nice to see in the little touches exchanged, the flirtations that somehow seemmore. It makes me wonder what people Kaye and I look like together. I’ve seen videos of some of our more infamous battles and the tension and passion we fought with… I’m surprised we didn’t wind up in bed before this.
“Are you listening?” The Angelis team is gathered around me in a loose semicircle, Fulton at its center. She looks at me and I clearly missed something while I daydreamed. “The plan?”
I nod. It doesn’t really matter what I’ve agreed to. No matter what happens, shit’s going to get interesting. A look passes between them, and without a word, they separate into the green garden oasis.
“You’d better get moving or Kaye will be facing them all on her own.” Jaspar looks at me from under the fan of his thick, dark lashes. He’s the only one who isn’t participating in whatever mischief they’ve cooked up. “Unless you’d rather stay with me.”
“Kaye’s more than capable of handling herself, especially in a friendly spar.” I focus on the psychic instead, still lounging amid a sea of blankets on the grass. “You’re not coming?”
He blinks at me slowly. “I don’t join fights I have no chance of winning. You’d do well to keep that in mind when it comes to our new friend too. I’m becoming attached to seeing her in our future, battling at our sides. It would be stupid to put that at risk.”
My pulse spikes. “What did you see that day in the cathedral?”
“You know I don’t do that.” He tips his elfin chin in the direction of the brawl. Shouts and laughter ride on the wind as they find her. “She needs you. And Zane—don’t forget to duck.”
My body is already coursing into action, pulled in the direction of the fight. Drawn by her voice, her presence, her powers. The very being of Kaye casting a siren’s call that sings through my blood.
The swirl of activity isn’t hard to find, and Kaye’s at the center of it all. Her moves lack her usual grace and efficiency, her attacks and defense instead mimicking the storm front she is pulling energy from. The clouds above us crackle and groan.What must it be like to have a power so free from restraints? To never know when or where your next source will come from, yes, but to also have limitless potential. It’s exhilarating.
She’s alive as she pushes through the blockade created by group, breathing in quick, shallow gulps, not quite a smile on her face. She searches around her, seeking the next enemy, the next blow. Vita, a spritely woman with dark eyes, dark, olive skin, and blue streaks in her hair, rolls out of the way of an oncoming gust of wind just as Fulton’s palms begin glowing ember-red. Flames lick up her fingertips as she sizes up Kaye.
I almost trip over Eko, his feet half sticking out of a bed of tulips. I kneel beside him, and his eyes open wide enough that I can see the whites fully around his blackened pupils. His carefully sculpted hair is flattened back, away from his face in a wild tangle. “You okay?”
