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He held my cheek against the beat of his heart, his steady breaths pacing mine. He didn’t have to ask me what was wrong, didn’t tell me we could turn around and leave. He simply held me, waiting for me to talk or not talk.
“Is this the neighborhood?” Link’s voice broke through my thoughts.
Roark gripped my face and pressed his lips softly against mine, whispering into the kiss, “I’m here, love.”
Nodding, I kissed him back and rose to my knees to crawl between Link and Jesse in the front seats.
Link stared out the windshield. “You said there was a Pump ‘N Go with a red roof?”
I followed his gaze, and across a crumbling parking lot stood the gas station at the front of my neighborhood. A brutish woman, Jan, used to work there, always glaring and grunting when I bought cigarettes from her. I’d hated her attitude but missed it now, my stomach twisting with the loss of my old life.
“We’re here.” I glanced at the side mirrors, taking in the line of eight trucks and vans behind us.
Forty-two people made up our crew. If the Drone had taken up residency in my house with an army of aphids, I should be able to kill them with a thought while our soldiers fired hundreds of arrows into the Drone’s melted face. Only, he’d always overpowered my abilities, his control over the aphids stronger than mine.
I blew out a breath and reminded Link of my concerns.
“I came for a fight, Little Ladybird.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for the gear shifter. “Which way?”
“It’s the eighth street on the right. Top of the hill on the left.” I gave him the house number.
He started to put the van into drive.
Jesse’s arm shot out and gripped his wrist. “Evie stays here until the property is cleared.”
It was a softly spoken statement, but there was nothing soft about Jesse. His eyes hardened, his fingers tightened around Link’s arm, and his stubble bristled with the clench of his jaw.
“Not this again.” Link glanced at the hand on his arm and narrowed his glare at Jesse. “She can kill the aphids and prevent casualties. She’s going.”
Too bad I couldn’t telepathically reach my house from here. I needed to be a lot closer. “I can wait at the bottom of my street. That would be close enough but still out of sight.”
The sharp angles on Jesse’s face darkened, his profile etched in displeasure. “If you can sense the Drone’s army, he can sense you.” He glared at Link. “This is as close as she goes until the area’s been swept.”
Silence coiled through the van as Link and Jesse exchanged murderous looks, the fermata of tension stretching and straining so long I struggled to breathe.
Link cracked first, yanking his arm away. “I’m in charge, and I’m telling you right fucking now, we’re taking her with us.” He grabbed the gear shifter.
Jesse’s pupils dilated. Oh shit. I reached out to touch him, an attempt to calm him, but Roark’s arm hooked around my mid-section and yanked me backward just as Jesse launched from his seat.
He slammed Link against the door, his palm flat on the glass, his other hand holding a compact machete against Link’s throat. I didn’t know he carried a knife, didn’t even see where he’d pulled it from, but there it was, its lethally curved blade producing a trickle of blood down Link’s neck.
“I let you think you’re in charge.” Jesse’s tone was calm, deadly calm.
His hard-edged features and powerful body bowed over the other man. Primed packs of muscle, wild hair, intense eyes, the severe lines of his jaw, every threatening inch of him demanded compliance and promised a painful death if Link so much as breathed wrong.
“Never turn your back on the quiet ones,” Link mumbled to himself, his fingers wrapped around Jesse’s wrist, his eyes tightening into slivers. “Knew you’d cut my throat eventually.”
Jesse cocked his head, his face slacking into a bored expression. “Do as I say, and you might keep your neck.”
Behind me, Darwin growled deep and low. I reached back and smoothed my palm along his muzzle.
Link shifted his hips in the seat, his head pressed against the window. “Are you getting blood on my shirt?”
A narrow dribble painted a crimson path from the blade, down his throat, and dotted the collar of his white t-shirt.
Link met my eyes over Jesse’s shoulder and must’ve read the confirmation in my expression. “Fuck, man. This was a clean fucking shirt.”
A muscle jumped in Jesse’s cheek. “You’re going to jump in one of the trailing vehicles, check out the house, and report back to me.”
Link’s lips rolled together. “Unless I’m killed when I get there.”
“You wanted a fight.” Jesse arched a brow in challenge. “I expect you back in ten minutes with my report.”
