Rise of Hope (5 page)

He didn’t look as much exhausted as he was unconscious and Seth talked about things like “transporting” as if it was an everyday thing.

She put a hand to her still-churning stomach. “So we really… He can… Oh God.”

“Yeah, we really did. Micah can instantaneously transport himself to a place he’s been to before or can actually see. It’s only recently we discovered he can take others with him, if he’s touching them. He reconned all the check-point stops for this mission ahead of time to be able to get us back here.”

“And where is ‘here’ exactly?”

“Miami.”

Florida?
They’d made it from California to Florida in…it couldn’t have been more than thirty minutes.

Not for the first time Devon wondered whether she was dreaming, hallucinating, anything that could make sense of what was going on. Or was this some elaborate scheme to…what? Toy with her? Finally drive her out of her mind? If so, it wasn’t a bad effort so far.

“This—this morphing thing you do?”

He looked at her as if it was the last thing he wanted to talk about. “I touch someone and I can change into an exact copy of them. Sometimes, if I’ve had enough time to read them, I don’t need the direct contact, but it’s not as accurate. I don’t know how it works. It just does.”

“There are others?” she choked out. “With similar abilities?”

“Yeah, but not the same, not exactly. The guys can all do something different, except Noah. According to him, he doesn’t have any abilities.” Seth glanced to where the stranger had stood. His tone said he didn’t buy it.

“And the women?”

He frowned. “I don’t know.”

“Why not?”

He turned to her and she swallowed at the intensity of his dark gaze.

“You’re the first woman I’ve ever seen who carries the marks.”

Chapter Three

Noah stood quickly when Seth walked into the office with Devon, the movement causing the heavy desk chair to slam over backward.

Seth frowned. He’d never seen Noah make a clumsy move before—the guy owned suave. But he only had eyes for Devon and when Noah focused on something, nothing could rival that level of intensity. Seth didn’t like it, not one bit. Still barefoot and wearing his T-shirt, he could tell the staring was making her uncomfortable. Hell, it was making
him
uncomfortable.

“Hey,” he warned. “She’s not some fucking freak show.”

Noah looked to him and inclined his head. It looked like deference but that couldn’t be right. He deferred to no one. Noah righted the chair and that’s when Seth got a good look at him.

“Jesus, you look like crap,” he breathed.

Seth had only seen Noah in person a handful of times the last few years, but each time he’d looked like he’d stepped out of the pages of
GQ
magazine. Made quite a change from when they’d first met, but hey, more power to him. He guessed that’s what being a big shot with a shitload of money did for you. Noah might still be able to pass as a male model, but he looked pale, thinner and the head-to-toe black threads made him look stark. And a turtleneck? Seth didn’t think he’d ever seen him in a sweater before, especially not inside anyway. They all ran hot and hardly felt the cold. But more than that—for a guy who’d always been so vital, so powerful, so unrelenting in anything he did—there was a weariness about him that unnerved Seth like not much else could.

He expected a smart comeback. Nothing.

Noah finally cleared his throat and sat down at the massive desk. “Yeah. It’s been a long year.” He motioned for Devon to take a chair in front of the desk. She sat slowly and Seth knew her side was probably still hurting. A twinge of something he couldn’t name coursed through him. He’d all but forgotten the wound, but she hadn’t complained, hadn’t mentioned it at all.

Noah raised an eyebrow at him, but he was too wired to sit, would be for a while to come. He shook his head and instead bit out, “Christian? He check in?”

“Yeah. He’s en-route to the jet.”

Lucky bastard.
Seth still felt slightly dizzy, and a whole hell of a lot disorientated.

“I’m Noah,” he said, his gaze swinging back to lock onto Devon.

“What, none of you have last names?” she countered. “Considering you basically kidnapped me, I’m assuming you know who I am.”

Noah’s mouth tightened ever so slightly. “Devon, I’m sure you have a lot of questions—”

“You think?”

Seth hid a smile. Despite all the turmoil, the shock, the fantastical things she’d seen, experienced, she wasn’t just holding her own, she was solid. As a rock. And wasn’t likely to let Noah steamroll her. The tension eased across his shoulders. Some.

“You had absolutely no chance of escaping on your own. I hope you realize that now.”

Seth winced. He couldn’t be diplomatic if his life depended on it, but he would have expected better from Noah.

Her chin lifted a little. “There’s not a great deal you can do when your every move is watched, when everything you do on the computer is monitored, when you have no freedom, no money, no ability to go anywhere or contact anyone. And when you have no one, not a single person in the world you can trust? This is what ‘the best I could do’ looks like.”

Seth’s gut clenched at the picture she painted. She might have lived the life of a pampered princess, but a prisoner was still a prisoner.

“Besides, how could you have known that? What I was planning, I mean? How did you know about…me?”

Yeah, Seth had wondered about that too although he’d conditioned himself not to ask questions.

“A tip,” Noah bit out.

What the fuck does that mean?

He trusted Noah completely. When it came to work. He’d bet his life on it and often did, but for everything else, he operated on a need-to-know basis. Or at least he had. Noah might have once provided him a lifeline when he’d needed it the most, but he didn’t owe him anything, not anymore. Been there, paid that debt off.

“I…” Devon frowned. “These—these powers, what are they exactly?”

Noah leaned back in his chair, flicked Seth a glance that had him grinding his teeth. “I don’t have all the answers, none of us do. What I can tell you is that our males seem to have abilities that are based on the physical, females abilities that use the mind.”

Seth mentally rocked back on his heels. That was a hell of a lot more than he knew. Then again, he’d never asked. Even after all this time, he’d never asked Noah or any of the guys a single thing about himself, about
them
or what they could do. He pushed out a rough breath. He’d never been able to reconcile what had happened to him. The
why
of it. And it ate him up inside. Still. He’d told himself countless times he wasn’t interested, that he didn’t want or need answers, but a part of him was as hungry for information as Devon probably was. Yeah, that was the part he rarely listened to.

“Males? Females?” she breathed. “You make it sound as if…”

“We’re a different race. Yes.”

Okay, that was his cue to leave.

“That—that’s ridiculous,” she stammered.

Yeah. He tried this tack himself, countless times. It was a dead-end street straight to nowhere.

“Is it? Really?” Noah countered. “You can so easily discount what you’ve seen, what you’ve experienced? What you can do?”

“But… How is it possible?” she asked, her voice hushed, almost a whisper.

Here it comes.

“You’re
Vadïm
, Devon. I’m—”

“Vadïm?”

“Yes, although there’s not that many of us left, not anymore.” Noah looked at him. “That we know about anyway,” he added and Seth knew it was for his benefit and not exactly subtle.

“I’m guessing you’ve always known, deep down, there was something you were missing, something elusive, a part of you that knew you were different. Haven’t you felt that simmer inside yourself, that restless energy you’ve never known what to do with? How to placate? It’s your abilities. I don’t know what—”

“I—they, Micah and Seth, said I have the power of suggestion.”

Noah merely nodded.
Christ.
Seth bet the fucker had known about that too. Somehow. It would have been useful information to have—it definitely fell into the “need to know” category.

“You should probably get some rest,” Noah added. “I have a room organized for you and some clothes until we have an opportunity to get you something more permanent. There’ll be time enough for questions and you’ve already had a hell of a lot to process. I know there must be a great deal you want to know, need to know, but—”

“Is it wired?” Devon’s voice was low and Seth tensed at how devoid of emotion it was.

Noah frowned. “Wired?”

“My room here. Will it be wired?”

Noah looked to him, then back at Devon. “Why would you even ask such a thing?”

“At—at the compound, my quarters…” Devon looked down at her hands. “The entire place was constantly monitored, openly, but there were hidden cameras in my rooms and I…”

Bastards.

Jesus, there was no telling what else they’d done to her and the fact that it made him wonder, that it got to him, pissed him off.

“No.” Noah’s mouth tightened. “You room isn’t wired and it never will be. I guarantee it.”

Devon nodded, turned to look at him then and his heartbeat went thundering through the roof at her expression.

“First I want to know what I am to
you
.”

Of all the things she must have wanted to know, of all the questions she could have asked, she asked that one.
Again.
He still didn’t feel inclined to answer.

When Seth didn’t say anything she turned to Noah. “What am I to him? What is he to me?”

Seth took a step forward. The last thing he wanted was for Noah to start spewing his bullshit about
that
. “
Christ
, Devon—”

“So he hasn’t told you,” Noah cut him off.

“And that would be
what
exactly?” he snarled.

“The marks don’t lie, Seth, but even without them you’d know. Am I wrong?”

The fucker really was getting a superiority complex and if he wasn’t so determined to leave, he’d want to know how the
hell
Noah had known about them in the first place. He may or may not get an answer. As it was, he wanted to be gone.

“You’re a manipulative bastard, you know that?” he shot back through clenched teeth.

“And you’re a dumb fuck. When are you going to wake up? You’re
Vadïm
, Seth. Nothing you do or say can ever change that.”

“All of us—you, me, Micah, Christian, the others—we were all dumped somewhere, little more than babies, like bags of unwanted trash. Our people? Our fucking
race?
Well where the hell are they now?”

“I have some theories.”

“Theories? Great, just great. After all this time, you have
theories?
Jesus, Noah you’ve been digging and searching for years and for what? What do you really have to show for it? I don’t know what you hope to accomplish with all this, but let it go. Let everyone get on with their lives and let it go.”

“I can’t do that,” he ground out. “I’m finally starting to make some progress. Denying who you really are won’t change anything. And it isn’t living. It’s hiding your head up your ass.” Noah motioned to Devon. “Look, Seth, open your fucking eyes, we’ve found one of our women. Even you can’t deny that any longer.”

Seth clenched his jaw so hard it hurt. The overwhelming need to look at Devon was there again. He ignored it, turned for the door.

“So you’re going to let them win, Seth?” Noah asked quietly.

“Who the fuck are ‘
they
’?” he snarled.

He knew he’d walked into Noah’s trap when he smiled slightly. It was more than he’d ever asked before, more interest than he’d ever shown. And did the prick have to gloat?

“‘
They
’ are a group of wealthy, powerful men who call themselves The Assembly. I discovered their existence about five years ago, have been following their activities since. Or as much of them as I can. They’ve been targeting our women—identifying them, capturing them, holding them—for the last twenty-five years or so. They’ve had Devon since she was a baby.”

Yeah, see…that’s why he’d never asked. He didn’t want to know, didn’t want the involvement. Didn’t want to hear any of it.

Finally, he glanced at her. As much as he fought against it, he couldn’t help it. His gaze was constantly drawn to her. Despite the bombs Noah had laid at her feet, she wasn’t looking at Noah. She was looking squarely at him.

“And they had
your
woman,” Noah added, his voice quiet. “Not so easy to turn your back now, is it?”

“Watch me.”

“Where the hell are you going?”

Seth swung back when he reached the door. “You wanted me to acquire her, I did. That means the job’s done. I’ll expect the balance of payment wired into my account within twenty-four hours.”

Noah stood. “Dammit, Seth—”

“We’re done here. For good. Don’t ever call on me again.”

“Seth…” Devon’s soft voice had him pausing. It was probably the only thing able to stop him from slamming out of the room in that moment. He looked back and then wished he hadn’t. The look in her eyes tore him up.

“You—you’re just leaving me here?”

All at once he felt like a jerk, a prize asshole. Actually, it probably wasn’t all that sudden and he guessed he owed her something, right? But there were eyes on them and he’d never been one for seeking out an audience. Whatever he might have said would come out as dumb anyway. He didn’t need to do or say anything dumb at this stage and it wasn’t as if he had any experience with this, with any of it.

Sometimes life was a bitch and fate sucked. He recognized it, couldn’t do a damn thing about it. At least he could give her something. It wasn’t much, but it was a hell of a lot more than he’d ever gotten.

“It’s safe,” he offered. “I wouldn’t leave you somewhere I didn’t think was the safest place for you.”

Even that was more than he’d intended to say.

She motioned with a jerky movement of her hand. “It seems to me as if I’ve exchanged one gilded prison for another.”

Yeah, no way he could miss the bitterness. Noah’s house was a fortress, a gigantic luxurious mega-mansion, the house and grounds well guarded, but a fortress nevertheless. That’s what made it so safe. He felt a twinge of regret. He knew Noah would do anything to protect her and that probably meant she’d never leave the house again. Ever. He drew in a deep breath but it did nothing to dispel the twisting in his gut, the bitter taste in his mouth. There wasn’t much he could do about the situation. He’d done his part. He was free and clear.

So why didn’t it feel that way?

“You’ll be safe,” he said again.

It sounded lame, but it was all he had. He took one long, last look at her and forced himself to open the door.

A soft clucking noise from Noah had a haze of red sweeping across his vision.

He flexed his hand so hard on the door he wouldn’t have been surprised if the wood split under the pressure. Noah was always pushing him, goading him and it was getting old. Any other man and Seth would have laid him out on the floor. Not that Noah couldn’t have given as good as he got. They were evenly matched—now—although he didn’t know all of Seth’s moves. He’d never been that stupid. But something always held him back. And it wasn’t because he was afraid the other man was right.

“One of these days, Noah,” he forced out through clenched teeth. “You’ll push me too far and then it’ll be on.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

* * *

Devon jumped when Seth slammed the door after him, even though she’d braced for it. She had the insane urge to go after him, but reined it back. He wouldn’t welcome it, wouldn’t thank her for it.

She fought back the thickness in her throat, the sting at the corner of her eyes.