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DAISY LAZARUS
At first,the thought of letting her instincts loose was liberating for Daisy. She felt like she was soaring as she left Wyatt’s apartment. Axel’s words were the wings she’d always dreamed of having… Just let go… Maybe she could be like a bird, trust her instincts and fly. But then again, maybe she’d fall. Everything came crashing down when she realized they would be going nowhere without a plan.
She stopped at the elevator without going in and leaned on the baseball bat, a little tired. Her muscles ached. The fresh scars from Julius’s ‘exploratory surgery’ while she was imprisoned pinched at her stomach. But she was determined to come up with a plan of action. Her mind had the right idea, but her body leaned harder on the bat. For some reason, she had a hard time leaving it behind. It wasn’t the game it represented; it was the feeling of rightness when she looked at it. The bat was her weapon, no one else’s. Not a sniper gun. Not a bullwhip. Not a knife or sword. She’d used it to protect.
Let go, but go where?
Two days earlier, Daisy’s siblings had raided every Faithful clubhouse she’d known, but they couldn’t find the missing partners. They’d turned up empty. The Faithful also wouldn’t have stuck around the old haunts if they knew something big was going down, so searching them had been a long shot, but an important step in taking down the Syndicate.
Now, only half the family continued to look for the missing mates, not that the other half didn’t want to—their resources were just being pulled in different directions. If Daisy could find the mates, reunite them with their partners, then the chances of the Seven going dark would be seriously mitigated. With eight of them at full strength, they could take on any weapon Julius released.
And there would be weapons. Julius had many fingers in different pies. Daisy was sure something bad was coming. She’d seen a black site full of mech fighter suits, replicate tanks, rabid sin-sensing animals, and sentient plants. The international Syndicate ring might be disbanded and destroyed, but it would be stupid to think Julius hadn’t kept something in isolation for his own dark plans.
She turned her mind back to the mates while Axel waited patiently beside her. Parker and Sloan had installed trackers on most of them but, unlike the nano-trackers in her tattoo, theirs were in watches. And they must have been destroyed because none of the trackers worked.
Daisy had no idea where the mates might be. All this thinking, and she’d come up with nothing.
Axel tried to hide his yawn behind a stretch, but Daisy noticed. It was late for him. He wouldn’t be able to keep up with her for the rest of the night. She only needed a few hours sleep to refresh herself.
She knew all this but when he followed her out, she allowed him to stay. She had to admit a part of her enjoyed his eternal optimism. And there was something about touching him. He soothed her loud mind. But as much as she enjoyed his company, he had to go home at some point, and she would have to continue alone. It was safer that way.
When Julius had her captive, holding onto hope helped beat back the abyss of despair. Hope had come in many forms, one of them being the crushed flower she’d stolen from the bonsai plant her family had kept in her honor. She’d focused on it for so long, even after the petals had disintegrated. Axel had also been a tiny part of her defense against complete annihilation, and he hadn’t even known it.
All he’d done was sneak food in to her. It seemed like a small thing, but she saw it as someone else going against the grain. He was the splash of color in the gray.
Once Daisy started ruminating about the tall, fit man next to her, she couldn’t stop. She found him incorrigible, young, and perhaps a little naive which was surprising considering the daily tragedy he faced as a firefighter. But that same optimism was dangerous. His joining the Faithful was a classic example of that. He had no idea about the real consequences of exchanging his mortal life for his sister, even if it was for unselfish reasons. He’d condemned his sister to be reborn as a powered and controlled clone, existing purely to be a soldier in Julius’s unholy war against sin and he didn’t even realize it.
All because he couldn’t bear the thought of a life without her.
“I’ve been thinking,” Axel said. “They didn’t know we weren’t on their side anymore.”
“The Faithful?”
“Yeah. What if we can use that to our advantage?”
“You mean… go back?”
He rubbed his eyes and yawned again. “Yeah, I mean, the clubhouses are obviously disbanded, but there’s always some other communication method. I could try some contacts and put some feelers out.”
“Are the group chats still active?” Her eyes narrowed. “Has Julius tried to contact you?”
“No, but I took their cell phone from the batting cage. With everything happening, I forgot to show you.” He dug into his pocket and showed her. “Maybe we can use it.”
She studied him. He was right. The two of them now had an incredible advantage. They could lure out more Faithful and then follow the breadcrumbs until they found where Julius hid. Someone had to know. Just as they were standing there contemplating, a message came through on the cell.
Axel read it. His brows lifted.
“What is it?” she asked.
She tried to take the phone, but he held it back. She went for it again, but he evaded her a second time. Scowling, she met his eyes expecting a cheeky game face, but serious brown eyes were leveled on her.
“I’m with you on this, Daze.”
“Fine.”
“Say it. I’m coming with you.”
“Just show me.”
