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I gasp and back up, staring down at the limp bloodied body of the man Katie has been dating. I know this because I looked him up. I studied his photo. Please, please let Katie be inside. Julian’s gaze locks on my father. “He was guarding the bonded couples, who you imprisoned, General.” His black eyes are framed by sculpted bone structure. His full lips twist in contempt. “That’s a good way to piss me off.”
The wind lifts again, tangling the loose hair around my neckline and kicking dirt and rocks from the nearby desert terrain around us, my eyes and throat burning. But relief washes over me as the mark on the back of my neck tingles with the certainty that Creed approaches. Creed can control Julian. He will stop the violence before it explodes.
Creed appears beside Julian, as do four more GTECHs, all forming a V behind the two of them—as if they were standing behind their leaders. As if Creed is one of those leaders. I reject the warning sizzling down my spine. Creed is not standing with Julian, but then I don’t know what happened this morning. I don’t know what my father tried to do to them, either. But Creed isn’t looking at me. He isn’t showing any concern at the idea that I’m here now, when this is taking place.
“Creed?” I call out, desperate for him to meet my stare, to reassure me everything is going to be okay.
“Go inside, Addie,” my father orders.
“Yes,” Julian agrees. “Go inside, Addie. That is, unless you want to watch your father bleed to death.”
My gaze rockets back to Creed, and I even step toward him. The wind whips around me, as if in response, pushing me backward several steps. I stumble and somehow regain my footing, only to be pushed backward yet again.
This is Creed trying to force me to leave, but my father, I think. I can’t leave him, but Creed won’t stop pushing me backward, and before I can stop it from happening, I’m at the elevators. I can’t even see what is happening behind me, the wind at my back. I punch the elevator button and the doors open. Once I’m inside, I try to calm my breathing. I need to find Caleb. He’ll help. Creed trusts him and he was not there.
The minute the car hits basement level, I’m impatiently waiting for the doors to part, deciding I can’t panic everyone around me. I just need to call Caleb, but I don’t even know his number. It will be in the database. I exit the car and start running.
Once I’m at the lab, I burst through the doors and stop dead in my tracks. Ava Lane stands there, arms crossed in front of her full bosom, the glint of evil in her pale green eyes enough to send a chill down my spine.
“In a hurry?” she asks.
“Late for work,” I say. “I need to handle something and then if you need to chat, we can chat.” I start to walk past her.
“At one point I thought you were Creed’s intended lifebond,” Ava says, halting me in my steps with her words. “But no lifebond would keep the secret you kept from him. I would certainly never keep any secrets from Julian.”
Oh my God.
She’s with Julian.
I rotate and we face off. “What are you talking about?”
“You knew Lawrence was going to lock them up today.”
“I didn’t. No. I tried to tell him that was a mistake. I thought I’d convinced him. I don’t agree with it at all. I swear to you.”
“I don’t believe you. And Creed is not foolish enough to believe you either.” She walks toward the door and just exits. I don’t even know what just happened, and I don’t have time to think about it.
I rush to my office, yank open the bottom drawer where I’d placed my Army-issued handgun the day I arrived—the one I learned to shoot at twelve—and find it gone. My drawer is empty. I sit down to look up Caleb, but what if he’s with them now? Ava spoke like Creed is with them, and it’s gutting me.
The mark on my neck tingles and my emotions explode, hope filling me. I react immediately. “Creed!” I yell, certain he hasn’t betrayed me, and he won’t believe I betrayed him. Certain he will save us all.
But the minute I round the doorway and bring the lab into view, that hope, my world, self-destructs and crumbles at my feet. Creed is indeed here, but he isn’t alone. He has my father in front of him, a blade at his throat. Blood trickles from an open wound on my father’s jugular, no doubt the method used to keep him from warning me.
“Now are you going to tell me where the serum is, General, or do I need to use this blade on your daughter?”
