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He wished he’d had more chances to eat ice cream with Saint and Jayden. His life had lacked the joy found in little things, the small moments, the warm glances, and soft smiles.
The helicopter blades slowed. Storm climbed from the pilot seat.
As it was Storm greeting him, this would be over fast.
Octavius stood firm, cold and aching, bloody and bruised. Storm stopped a few feet in front of him and folded his broad arms. “What happened to you?”
Octavius swallowed. This had to be small talk before the beating began. “Raiden.”
“You kill him?” Storm grunted.
“No.”
“Huh.” Storm cast his steely-eyed gaze around the forest and the safehouse, reading the scene. “He’s not here?”
“No, he fled, probably heard the chopper.”
“And you’re here alone?”
“Absolutely.”
Storm’s left eyebrow arched.
What was this? They had to know he hadn’t been here alone.
“Listen, about Saint—” Storm began. Octavius opened his mouth to explain how they’d never find him and shouldn’t bother searching with everything else happening, but Storm held up a hand, cutting him off. “I don’t know the details and frankly, don’t ever want to, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry it ended that way.”
“What… way?”
“Mikalis is…” Storm’s mouth twisted as he chewed on words he didn’t appear to be able to say. “We have more pressing matters than Saint’s death. Raiden has locked everyone out of Atlas, and we have concerns he may have set into motion something… untoward.”
Well. That changed things. To start with, they believed Saint was dead, which meant they wouldn’t be searching for him. Relief lifted his heart, unraveling knotted nerves. But more than that, they’d begun to suspect Raiden wasn’t the stand-up Brotherhood member they’d all assumed him to be. Which meant Octavius was right.
“So, let me get this straight, just so we’re clear… You’re not here to kill me?”
“No,” Storm muttered. He didn’t look pleased.
“And you wantmy helpafter hunting me down like a stray dog for months?”
Storm sucked in a deep breath and glowered. “That sounds about right.”
Octavius took a step forward, and Storm’s eyebrow arched higher. “Then… you believe me?”
“There were extenuating circumstances that conspired to lead us to believe you were a traitor, but since then, some facts have come to light that suggest otherwise.”
So they weren’t fully convinced of his innocence but needed someone to hack into Atlas. That sounded like the Brotherhood. “You could just apologize?”
“I can’t and will not apologize for the actions of others, but for my part…” He huffed. “I am sorry.”
“All right.” Octavius strode by Storm and headed for the chopper.
“I’ve got him.” He heard Storm say, probably into a comms device, alerting the others.
Octavius climbed into the front of the chopper, then caught Storm’s narrow-eyed glare. “I’ll just… sit in the back.”
“You do that,” Storm said.
Once strapped into the back, and after the chopper was in the air, Octavius watched the safehouse vanish behind them. His arm still throbbed, but the small amount of venom dragging through his veins like broken glass would clear eventually. Raiden was out there somewhere, about to rally the Nyxians and welcome the queen of night, Nyx. How had Raiden’s betrayal been allowed to happen?
