Claimed (23 page)

Galena’s eyes opened, and she looked down at his fingers. Dec held his breath.

“Yeah,” she whispered, opening herself to him. Dec stared at her, her head thrown back, hair cascading over her shoulders.

He began to tease her clit constantly as she rode his shaft, clenching around him like a fist, wet and hot and so fucking perfect. “That,” he gasped. “More.”

Her inner muscles squeezed again, and Dec arched up, helpless beneath her. His obvious pleasure made her laugh with delight. She owned him. His whole body was tingling, chasing release. Her arousal slicked his fingers as he watched himself disappear inside her again and again. “Galena, I can’
t . . .
I’m going t
o . . .
”

She descended on him, her hips still undulating, demanding everything he had. She held his face in her hands. “Me too,” she said with a moan.

Dec stared into her eyes, her gorgeous deep gaze, and let himself fall.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

G
alena was lost in Dec’s eyes as she felt it coming, this unstoppable pleasure that made her whole body bear down. And as she did, Dec seized her hips and bowed his head against her shoulder, his jaw rigid, his eyes squeezed shut. She wrapped her arms around him as her body let go, and then she lost awareness of everything else. The sensation rose inside her, carrying her right over the edge, sending her spinning and tumbling.

“Galena,” Dec gasped as his shaft throbbed inside her, dragging her under again, drowning her in ecstasy. Her body spasmed around him. Dec’s hands were iron as he thrust into her one more time, his whole body shuddering.

Then a strange, loose feeling rolled over her, pressing her onto him as he sank back, his head falling to the pillow. The sensation traveled from the top of her head, down her spine, along her legs, and then back up again, this time in tingling bursts. She cried out in surprise, and Dec touched her face, his thumbs stroking her cheeks, brushing away tears she didn’t know sh
e’d
shed. “It’s happening,” he said quietly.

“What’s happening?”

“The bond. It’s complete. You’re immortal now.”

She held his palm against her cheek. Immortal. She knew she should be ecstatic, but it seemed like the least important thing that had happened in the last hour. He was still inside her; she was still plastered to his chest, her legs spread over him. There had been a few scary moments, but sh
e’d
focused on staying in the present. Her trust in him had made that possible. Her adoration of him made it worth the risk. “We did it,” she murmured.

His gaze roamed her face. “We did.” His lips met hers, achingly tender. “But if you want to stay this way, we have to go back to Boston and find proof that you didn’t somehow spearhead a conspiracy to destroy your own research and destabilize the future.”

Making her immortal hadn’t been the “We did it” she was talking about, but it seemed ridiculous to mention that now. Dec was already sitting up, cradling her in his lap as he slipped from her body. Her cheeks heating, Galena climbed off of him. She was still stunned and breathless by what had happened between them, with the brilliant, blinding miracle of having him inside her, of wanting more, of asking and receiving, of relishing his pleasure as she enjoyed her own. The power of it, too. She was dizzy with it. But she needed to focus on other things, because she wasn’t the only one whose status as a Ferry was in danger right now.

They took a quick shower, and Galena drew reassurance from the possessive way his hands slid over her skin, the way his eyes fell shut as she soaped him. She wanted to linger, to savor, and she could tell he did, too, but now it was time to fight for a future in which they could. She was ready to do whatever it took to clear her name and protect Dec from the consequences of his loyalty to her. He looked grim and serious as he toweled himself off and dressed, his black hair damp and disheveled. “Ready?” he asked as she pulled her shoes on. He looked down at his phone. “We have six hours left.”

“You didn’t tell me that!” She waved her hand at the bed. “And all that—”

He took her hand. “Was absolutely necessary.”

She bowed her head. “Yeah. I’m immortal now.”

He tipped her chin up, eyes fierce. “Necessary in
every
way, Galena.”

“For me too.” Their gazes were locked, and the moment was heavy with the weight of all the things they still needed to say to each other.
Six hours,
her mind whispered.
Only six hours until he loses everything. Move.

“I think I know where we need to go,” she said. When he raised his eyebrows, she continued. “Before we had to leave the data center, I noticed a lot of activity in my user account, dating back to the first days I was in Boston. A lot of tech-support requests.”

“What was unusual about them?”

“I didn’t make any. And I was about to check the network for other points of entry, because it was supposed to be extremely secure. But that guard spotted us before I could. So I need to get access to a computer where I can check that.” She sighed. “I could have done it from my lab, but obviously that’s gone, so I need to get into the Immunology Department itself. My boss, Dr. Cassidy, would have the kind of authorization I need to access that information.”

“So we need to sneak into her lab and get on her machine.”

Galena nodded, then cursed. “I don’t have my phone with me. They confiscated it at the police department.
I’d
need it to copy any information we find.”

He held up his phone. “You can use mine. But after we do this, we need to find Erin, that Ker who was with Luke the other night. She was with Trevor when he met with Jian, and she might be able to give us more information about what was said, and what was going on with Trev.” He pulled his Scope off the setting at his neck, brushed his thumb over the raven, and pulled the ring wide. With a smile she could only describe as shy, Dec held it out. “After you,” he said quietly.

She stepped into the Scope and entered the cold gray world of the Veil, and Dec followed after her.

“Good afternoon,” said a female voice from behind them.

They whirled around to find Tamasin standing near the closed front door of the cabin. The colorful scarf she used to corral her mass of braids was gray in the Veil, but her glowing red eyes made up for it. “How long have you been here?” Dec asked slowly.

She smirked. “Since Eli Margolis contacted me and asked me to guard Galena after he was called away.”

Galena nearly choked. “You’ve been here the whole time?”

Tamasin shrugged. “I’ve been on the porch. The view is nice. I had no desire to intrude upon your privacy.” Except it was dead obvious she knew what the
y’d
been doing. Her crimson gaze settled on Dec again. “Her brother asked me to guard her. And so I will.”

Declan took Galena’s hand again. “No objections here. We’ll take all the help we can get.” He turned to Galena. “Do you know where we’re going? You’ve been there before?”

Galena nodded. “I interviewed for the job in her office. I can picture it.” She hoped. Her fingers trembled a little as she pulled her Scope from its chain. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard, picturing the antique wooden desk, the large holographic computer screen set into its surface, the elegant wooden office chair with embroidered cushions, the late twentieth-century art reproductions on the walls, one a painting of naked women dancing on a hillsid
e . . .
she tried to imagine every single detail. Then she brushed her thumb across the raven etching and opened the Scope.

Relief drew a smile to her face. “I did it!” Her eyes met Dec’s, and he grinned. Galena’s breath caught at how gorgeous it was, at how much she wanted to put that look on his face more often. “So do we just—?”

“Go ahead,” said Dec.

Galena opened her Scope wide. Tamasin stepped through first. Galena knew Kere could appear anywhere, but she guessed they needed to know the place or the person they were looking for in order to move through the Veil accurately. Dec went next, and Galena followed him. She looked around Dr. Cassidy’s office.

“There doesn’t appear to be anyone in the office,” said Tamasin, her gaze scanning along the videowall, the cluster of couches and chairs in the spacious meeting area, and the single shelf of antique books. Galena smiled. She remembered asking about the books in her interview, and Dr. Cassidy had proudly showed them to her, allowing her to hold one in her hands and flip through its fragile pages. It was the first time sh
e’d
ever held a printed book in her hands. Then her smile died. Dr. Cassidy now thought she was out of her mind. She and the other tenured faculty were considering firing her; Galena knew it. As much as she wished she could confide in Dr. Cassidy and explain everything, Galena was a fugitive now. She couldn’t resurface until she had actual proof of her innocence.

“Can I just step into the real world?” she asked.

“Wait here.” Tamasin strode over to the door to the office and pushed through it while Galena and Dec waited, chilled and shivering.

Galena looked over at Dec. “Are you okay?” she asked.

He nodded, staring at the door Tamasin had walked through. “Just thinking about Trevor,” he muttered. “I can’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t in complete control of himself. And if
he
wasn’t, then what if—”

“There’s some sort of meeting going on in a conference room down the hall,” Tamasin said as she walked through the gelatinous door. “There are twelve attending, and no one is in the outer office.”

Galena wondered if they were meeting about her. She was not only the suspected mastermind of a mass-murder plot—she was also a fugitive. If they didn’t fire her, she would be shocked. Determination surged within her. Sh
e’d
worked too hard for too long to let it end here. “I’m going in, then.”

“I’m going with you,” said Dec. He glanced at Tamasin.

“I’ll remain here to guard,” said the Ker.

Galena opened her Scope, and she and Dec stepped into the warmth of the real world once more, inhaling the faintly floral scent of Dr. Cassidy’s perfume. Galena’s heart raced as she approached the desk.

Behind her, Dec cursed softly, and she turned to find him staring at the screen of his phone. “What’s wrong?”

“Aislin’s been texting me for the last two hours,” he whispered. “No reception on Baffin, and electronics don’t work in the Veil, so I just received them. She says she needs me to come immediately.” He scrolled through the messages, shaking his head. “Something major happened.”

“Go, Dec,” Galena murmured, hating the worry lines that had appeared between his brows. “Tamasin’s here, and I know what I’m doing. We can meet back at the cabin.”

He walked toward her, his fingers trailing down her arm, raising goose bumps of pleasure and longing. “You sure?”

She nodded. “Go. It sounds important.”

“Okay. But keep your eyes open. And be careful. We still don’t know that Trevor is the only enemy we have in the Veil. I’ll be with you again as soon as I can.”

Dec pulled his Scope from its chain and disappeared into it in less than five seconds. She blinked at the place h
e’d
been, hoping h
e’d
be okay, then returned her attention to the broad screen set into the desk. Time to figure out what the hell was going on. Dr. Cassidy would have “view” access to all her subordinates’ user accounts so she could supervise and review the basic data if necessary. Galena wanted to look more closely at the timing of the messages to Jian, and maybe at the tech-support messages. There had been a lot of setup involved in creating the secure network perimeter for her lab, and maybe one of the computer techs had been sending the messages. Sh
e’d
have to read them to know for sure.

Dr. Cassidy was already signed in, so Galena navigated to her own employee file. The complete history of her cyberactivity filled the screen. Galena swiped downward to access the earlier actions, all the way back to the beginning, looking for anything suspicious like password resets or addition of entry points into the system. Knowing Dr. Cassidy could return at any moment, she entered a search term to refine the results. Tamasin would warn her, but if she left without the evidence she needed, she might not have another chance.

The computer asked her for verification, and Galena tapped “Yes,” but instead of giving her the results of the search, an overlay appeared.

Updatin
g . . .

Galena cursed. In her rush, she hadn’t been paying attention, and the verification sh
e’d
entered had started a file update. She jabbed her finger at the “Cancel” icon, but it was too late—one of the files had already been tagged. It would show that there had been someone accessing the data. She blew out a halting breath and pulled up the file to delete the tag.

And her heart almost stopped. The system update she was trying to delete wasn’t tagged with Dr. Cassidy’s user identity.

It was tagged with hers.

But her account was supposed to be frozen. And Dr. Cassidy’s user icon was clearly visible at the top of the screen. “What the heck is going on,” Galena whispered.

Her fingers trembling, she hit the “Command” tab to archive the modified file, and once again, the system recorded that the activity was completed by
GalenaMargolis
.

Suddenly the unexplained tech-support messages made complete sense, even though her lips were tingling with the shock of the betrayal. She resumed the search and finally found the request she was dreading. Twenty-seven days ago,
GalenaMargolis
had requested that tech support allow full remote access for Dr. Cassidy.

Her boss had set up a way to impersonate her. Dr. Cassidy was responsible for all of it. With this kind of shadow access, all sh
e’d
had to do was send Jian messages at times she knew Galena was alone in the lab. It would look like the
y’d
come from Galena’s secure system.

Her hands shook as she aimed the scanning port of Dec’s phone at the port next to the desk screen. She had to upload all the messages and audit logs or she wouldn’t have proof. But even as she activated the upload, her mind was a chaotic mess of questions and disbelief. After bringing her to Harvard, after taking such good care of her, Dr. Cassidy had impersonated her and blackmailed Jian into destroying everything connected to Galena’s research. Why? Was it jealousy? Had Dr. Cassidy wanted the credit herself, so sh
e’d
decided to get rid of Galena and take over? But then why would she destroy the lab? Why wouldn’t she just try to discredit Galena? Hell, why hadn’t she just killed her?

Was she working with Trevor? Luke? Or Rylan, somehow? H
e’d
been imprisoned for only a week, and the requests for access to her user account had been made weeks ago. Had he set this into motion?

Dec would help her figure it out. She hoped he was all right, that whatever had happened at Psychopomps wouldn’t keep him long.