Page 179 of Deadfall

I tore off pieces of the dough and patted them into biscuit shapes. Griffin grabbed some and copied me. The tension thickened between us. I was hyper-aware of every move of his body and we stood so close to one another, his arm would occasionally brush mine. I started doing it on purpose. Nyx popped his head over my shoulder and startled me so badly I jerked into Griffin.

“Hmm,” Nyx said, ignoring my reaction. “Not the way I would have done it, but it works. It’s rustic. I like it.”

Griffin and I both looked at him. “How should we have done it?” I asked.

“Made the whole bit into a circle and cut it into triangles, like a pizza,” Nyx said dryly.

I sighed. “You could have told us.”

Nyx chuckled. “Oh, it’s way more fun for me to see how people decide to do something than for me to micromanage them. You guys did great.”

I slid the cookie sheet into the oven and joined Griffin at the sink to wash the dough off. I looked up to see we had an audience. Kyllion stood in the doorway of the kitchen. It looked like he’d been about to come in, but saw Griffin was there and now didn’t want to take another step. He stared at Griffin with an icy look on his face. I’d seen Griffin try to talk to him the last few days, and each time Kyllion would brush him off and walk away.

Griffin put his hand on the small of my back. “I’m going to go speak to him. I’ll be right back.”

I didn’t have time to tell him we were done in the kitchen; he didn’t need to come back and find me, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that. I wanted him to come find me later, so all I did was nod.

86

GABRIEL

Who knew something like making scones could be so sensually charged. I’d had to will myself not to react to her scent, that I’d found myself wrapped up in, at her proximity. She’d had a smudge of flour on her nose, and it had been so endearing I’d wanted to leave it there. But, the thought of having an excuse to touch her had become too much and I’d had to wipe it off. That had of course been a mistake too, because all I could think about was touching her again. Kyllion’s appearance had been like a bucket of cold water. He’d been avoiding me, and rightly so. He was upset I hadn’t trusted him, and that kind of betrayal was hard to come back from.

“Kyllion, wait,” I demanded.

Kyllion didn’t stop. He walked all the way out to the back patio, so I followed him.

“Can we talk about it?” I asked.

“What’s there to talk about?” Kyllion growled. “You didn’t trust me. You thought I would disrespect everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve built, and become a mole.”

He spat the word like it was poison. The fury in his eyes slammed into me with such force that, for a moment, I wondered if we’d ever come back from this.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t have a lot of time—”

“That’s a shit excuse,” Kyllion interrupted. “Did you really think I’d betray you?”

There it was, the hurt under the anger. It clutched at my heart, and I took a step toward him.

“No,” I said firmly. “But, I didn’t think anyone on the team would. And, someone did. Three years, Kyllion. Three years we’ve had a mole who was doing everything to stop us from finding Emersyn. I had to be sure.”

“Yeah, because apparently she’s more important,” Kyllion muttered sullenly.

I sighed. “That’s not true.”

“I understand how you got attached. It reminds you of Kalena, but Jesus, Gabriel,” Kyllion said in exasperation. “You got lost in it, and you pulled us all down with you.”

The silence stretched. I didn’t know what to say. I was sorry for not trusting him, but I also wouldn’t have done anything differently. I’d had to be sure, and I did what I thought was best given the time frame and the information available.

“So, how do we fix this then?” I asked.

Kyllion frowned and shook his head. “I don’t know if we can.”

“Then what do you want, Kyllion?” I asked in irritation, my own frustration flared. “I’m still leading this team. You are either in, or you’re out. I can’t have someone who doesn’t trust me at my back. Especially someone who is supposed to be my second.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t follow a leader who doesn’t trust me.”

We stared at each other. I already missed him. The easy way we always used to be with each other. The way we could seamlessly read each other in the field, and out.