She’s going tokillme. She might cry first, then kill me.
I swallow hard, tasting copper.
But at least she’ll get the chance. I know I hurt her. I know from her point of view, it was a betrayal. I couldn’t risk it not being believable to Gideon. There was no way I could’ve gained his trust while also protecting her.
Isobel is strong. She may not realize how strong she is, but she’s a survivor at her core. It killed me to see her fading away on Gideon’s screens. But Gideon kept me away from her, seeing her as a distraction; I could only do so much.
But I was the reason she was there. It wasmy faultshe was in his hands. My fault that her beautiful skin was marked.
I put the terror in her eyes.
I close my eyes for half a second. Let another wave of pain wash over me. Let the tracker do what it’s built to do.
“I’m coming home,” I whisper—barely a breath, barely sound.
And then I go still again, waiting for Gideon’s footfalls…or my team’s.
Whichever reaches me first.
33 FAILED EXPERIMENT
I'm going to kill him.
As soon as Lucian laid out the plan he and Jace stitched together behind all of our backs, the heat started building low in my ribs. It was slow at first, but it became hotter, and constant.
It's only been a few days, but the anger hasn't faded. It's only fermented and I'm about ready to bust.
And Luca, of course, won't let it go unnoticed.
He keeps trying to drag it out of me. Stretching after training, ball tossing back and forth. Always with that furiously charming grin on his face as he leans close.
“Come on, Iz,” he purrs into my ear as he stretches out beside me in bed. “Either talk or rub it out. Preferably the second one. I can watch. Maybe even help.”
I shove him and hit him with a pillow.
“Seriously,” Luca chuckles, propping his chin on his hand, eyes flicking over me with a mix of heat and humor. “Give yourself a few orgasms, get the stress out. I'll supervise. Make sure your form is on point.”
I jump on him and smother him with the same pillow.
When he finally leaves, after enough teasing that my face feels too warm and my chest too tight, I realize he isn't just being Luca. He’s worried, too.
As angry as he is with Jace, he still cares about him. He still loves him like a brother.
Maeve keeps checking in on me, and Noah keeps scanning the computer for Jace's tracker to activate.
Jace… I can only hope he was right and that he survives long enough to activate the tracker.
A small part of me knows it shouldn't matter, but the majority is furious being stuck on the sidelines, forced to trust another plan I had no say in.
I know why he did it. That only makes it worse. There's a storm raging inside me. Mainly anger and fear just whirling around.
So yeah, I'm going to kill him.
“It’s active!” Noah’s voice snaps me out of my haze.
My head shoots up from Luca's lap. We'd been using the theater room almost as a base of operations.I run over to Noah's setup and flop beside him.
“Where is he?”
