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And Rix, Jorik, and I were significantly bigger than her, so despite how much we drank, none of us were even remotely drunk.
Not that we drank often—mainly only when on assignment and expected toassimilateinto the real world. But it was those missions where we actually felt even remotely normal and human.
I could hear them all talking inside the bedroom, but no peals of ecstasy or grunts of pleasure echoed off the logs yet. Maybe they were discussing logistics. Going over their plan of attack?
That thought made me snort.
I was just turning around to see if I could find another bottle of booze in the library when the door to the master bedroom flew open and two boxer-clad men came storming out with rage in their eyes.
Rix didn’t even stop before he took a hard swing, catching me in the left eye.
Then Jorik got me in the gut, and I went down to the floor in anoof, clutching at my stomach.
“Yeah, I deserved that,” I groaned, still in a heap at their feet.
“Get yourself fucking sorted,” Rix spat out, shaking his fist out and checking it in the candlelight to see if he’d split open his knuckles.
“You know fucking well that we’re not playing her. Fuck you for making her think we are,” Jorik added, giving me a kick in the ribs for good measure.
“She’s a Kappa,” I wheezed. “We can’t forget that.”
“We’re not,” Rix spat out. “But she’s also a person. We all are, and we deserve a bit of pleasure and enjoyment now that we’re free.”
Jorik grunted in agreement, his green eyes burning with anger. “That’s right. Because who the fuck knows how long we have left? Might as well make the most of the time we’ve got.”
Then they stalked back to the bedroom, slamming the door behind them.
I lay there on the ground with my pain for another minute or two, allowing the air to return to my lungs and making sure I didn’t have any broken ribs.
Jorik had kicked me with his bare foot, so I was probably going to be okay, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be bruised as fuck tomorrow.
After a moment, I pried my sorry ass off the floor, catching my reflection in the big window, my expression full of self-loathing.
I glanced away, unable to even look at myself, and wandered into the library, which was more just a corner nook area of the cabin with two of the three walls lined with book-filled bookcases. I found the secret cupboard where Rix had found the whiskey, then went about pressing and sliding my hand along the wooden boards to find any other compartments.
I found three more secret hidey holes, and two came up empty, but the third wound up being a treasure trove.
Not only did I find another bottle of booze—this time it appeared to be gin—but I also found a couple of cigars, still in their metal storage tubes; a tin of loose, stale-smelling cannabis with rolling papers; and a note.
Taking the gin and a cigar to the chair in the library, I twisted off the cap of the bottle and brought it to my lips. It burned worse than the fucking whiskey, and this time nobody was around, so I could make the face that came with my disgust.
Jesus fuck.
Was that gin? Or was it straight fucking moonshine? Would I wake up blind?
I could feel the eye that Rix punched beginning to swell shut. It’d be healed by morning and show no signs of an injury since I had a full dose of the serum coursing through my body and Kappas healed extra fast. But for the next few hours, I’d be seeing out of one eye until the swelling went down.
I sniffed at the bottle again. No, it was gin. I could smell the juniper berries. But it wasn’t good gin. Clearly, the guy who made this wasn’t a fan ofgoodalcohol. He just wanted the shit that would fuck him up properly.
I thought about lighting the cigar but ultimately decided against it. I did go and grab the candle on the table in the living room and brought it into the library so that I could read the note.
I drew the blinds over the window first, just in case a drone flew by, not that I expected one to, but we couldn’t be too careful.
We couldn’t expect them tostoplooking for us—for Haina. It wasn’t a matter ofif.It was simply a matter ofwhen.Because they would be back, and it would probably be when we least expected it or were least prepared … like when we ran out of vials and started to go through withdrawals.
A shudder racked my body at that thought. It’d been ages since I’d gone through a dose withdrawal, and I was not looking forward to experiencing it again.
Just like taking a dose of the serum made your body feel like it was on fire on the inside. The withdrawals were even worse. It felt like your skin was on fire everywhere and your lungs and stomach were made of hot coals.
