Page 180 of Axis of Fire

“Wonderful.”

Relief and satisfaction curled across Ethan’s lips.

Slowly, the guns lowered.

But one question kept clawing at my mind:

Why was this race so important to Ethan?

******

“And none of you find this race suspicious?” Dwayne asked as we walked through the dark alleys of Baltic Triangle.

Every local place was closed.

Minimal witnesses.

Perfect for an ambush.

“I do,” Airis nodded.

“I’m mostly worried about the car they’ll give me for the race,” Mike replied. “Ethan didn’t mention any details.”

“If that damn pile of scrap metal turns out to be faulty, I’ll personally beat the living hell out of that asshole, and no weapon will stop me,” Gwendolyn said with dangerous calmness.

“Is this how problems are solved in the human world?” Justin asked, meeting my gaze.

I was slightly surprised.

He hadn’t really spoken to me one-on-one before.

“Well…” I started, but Dwayne quickly interrupted me.

“Sane people don’t.”

Our eyes met, and I smiled instinctively.

Our lives had never been normal.

But those very circumstances were what tied us together.

“I’m starting to think you all need more protection from your own decisions than from Moss and his people,” Camille said, though there wasn’t a trace of irritation on her face.

A sly smile rested on her full lips.

“Sounds about right,” Airis agreed as he caught up to me.

Though he still didn’t address me directly.

After the encounter with Ethan, we hadn’t exchanged even a few words.

The tension between us—the one that had seemingly disappeared while we were painting—was making itself known again.

Our group turned the corner, following the address that led us toward one of the abandoned parking lots.

Every instinct inside me screamed that we were making a mistake.

Yet my legs kept moving after Lars and Justin.