Rise of Hope (7 page)

“I already have a complete financial profile on him. I mean, what’s he like?”

Devon thought, formed her words with care. “He might not always have been kind exactly, but he was always…attentive. When I was younger. He became increasingly distant the older I got. Almost as if…”

“As if?”

Devon swallowed against the ache in the back of her throat. “As if I’d disappointed him in some way.”

She’d tried so hard. She’d followed all the rules, tried not to cause any waves, had tried to be so
good
, but still he hadn’t been…happy with her. Never that. Eventually she’d pretended it didn’t matter. Or she’d tried to anyway.

“It’s why I think they were planning to move me.”

“What made you think that?”

Devon jumped at Seth’s harsh voice. He’d been so quiet, leaning back against the wall behind her, his arms crossed over his massive chest, she’d almost forgotten he was there. Almost. Although the tingle of awareness throughout her entire body meant she hadn’t been able to relax, not really.

She’d assumed he would have been long gone, was surprised when he’d insisted on being present, argued with Noah over it.

She kept her gaze straight, despite the urge to turn and drink in the sight of him. “The staff were always changed on a regular basis, but this time all of them were new. The entire household, all at once. I didn’t recognize anyone at all and…”

“And?” Noah prompted.

“And…” Devon licked her lips. “I barely saw him…Monroe. It was as if I didn’t exist to him anymore. I think…I think the time had come for him to get rid of me.”

* * *

Seth hated what he heard in her voice. She might not have been physically harmed, but they’d done a number on her all the same. It’s a wonder she was still sane. What the
hell
had they really wanted with her?

He flicked a glance at Noah. He didn’t look as if he had any more of an idea either. And the guy had on another sweater. When Seth had asked him if he was sick, he’d thrown him a glance that had “fuck you” written all over it. Whatever. Maybe it was a new fashion trend.

Seth had had every intention of leaving last night. Every. Intention. In fact, he’d gotten as far as the front gate in his car, all of his gear packed and stowed, looking forward to some serious down time, but something had stopped him.

He looked across at Devon.

Or someone.

He swallowed at the punch to his stomach. He should have been used to it by now, but the intensity shocked the hell out of him every time. Her hair was a rich, deep golden color and looked as if it had streaks of honey through it.
Funny.
He’d never much thought about it, but he always noticed blondes—always—but he didn’t fuck them. Ever. He’d figured they weren’t his type, not that way, but now he knew. They’d never been
this
particular blonde.

He still had the weird feeling in his gut, except now it was an inferno of heat and need that licked through his entire body, a raging for…something. All he knew was that it centered around
her
. And he hadn’t been able to walk away. Not yet anyway.

She put a hand to her side and the twinge he now knew as regret hit him hard.

“Is it still bothering you?” Noah asked.

“No.” She frowned. “Actually, no.”

Of course. She probably had no idea what her body was capable of.

“You still have the bandage on it?” Seth asked.

“Yes.”

She still hadn’t looked at him, almost as if she couldn’t bear to. He flicked a glance to Noah, then back to Devon. “Take it off,” he urged, his voice soft.

“What? Why?”

She turned then and he felt her gaze. All the way to his toes, through every part of him. He hardened. Painfully, urgently. “Go on,” he managed.

His heartbeat kicked up when she lifted her shirt and he caught a flash of pale, smooth skin.

For fuck’s sake.

The heat surged through his body, arrowed down, fast, intense. Seth adjusted his stance a little, trying to give himself some relief, but it wasn’t going to do shit. He knew it. It was bad enough he’d had to sleep with the boner of all boners all night. Yeah, looked like it was a condition he was going to have to learn to get used to around her.

“It’s gone,” she breathed.

He smiled. “Yeah.”

“We have an accelerated immune system,” Noah added. “And we seem to be impervious to most common infections.”

“That’s incredible.” She was still looking down at her side.

Yeah. He knew the feeling. The ability to heal quickly had come in handy on more occasions than Seth could count.

“So, you never left the compound?” Noah asked. Yet again.

Seth sighed. Break time over.

“When I was younger, occasionally, but in the last few years? No,” Devon stated. “Never. Except my hikes.”

“What if you needed a doctor? What about school?” Seth could have bitten his tongue. He’d intended to keep quiet, was going to be an observer only. Not that Noah’s insistence he do so made any difference. He did what he wanted, but for some reason, he hadn’t wanted to be the one to interrogate her. Because that’s what Noah had turned it into.

Her lips tightened. “Private tutors. Everything was brought in. It was as if they were afraid I’d come into contact with someone. I think—I think that’s why I was able to convince them about the hikes. Because I’d be isolated.”

“Yeah.” He could see the logic in that. They probably thought they could control her access to anyone in that environment.

“So they never took you to any type of medical facility?” Noah asked. “A hospital? Even for routine tests?”

“I…you know…”

She swallowed, looked down and everything in him went still at how she held her head, at how she ran her hand up and down her thigh. Seth’s gut clenched—
hard
—and the weird feeling? Off the fucking charts.

“Devon?” Noah prompted.

“I—” Her voice choked off, barely recognizable. She cleared her throat. “I—I was sixteen the first time I realized I was being drugged.”

Chapter Four

She kept her head lowered, but Seth caught the terror and confusion in her voice. A helpless rage roared through him.

“When I’d wake up the marks were there. They never told me what they were, wouldn’t explain when I asked, but now I know.” She raised her head, looked first at Noah then at him. “They knew all along, didn’t they? And somehow—somehow they knew when the marks were coming.”

Seth’s heart slammed against his ribs. Her voice was quiet, flat, and his hands clenched into fists. It was all he could do not to pound the living crap out of something right then and there.

He’d wondered about what might have been done to her, wondered if they’d hurt her, used her. Tormented himself with the thought of her being scared, alone. Now his imagination went into overdrive. Into dangerous, terrifying territory.

Noah frowned, rubbed at his jaw and his mouth tightened, his jaw clenched. Yeah, his imagination was probably going wild too.

“What happened after you realized?” Noah bit out.

“I—” The words died in her throat. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice sounding as if she was forcing it out. And barely. She shook her head. “I’m— I didn’t say anything. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t… I—I just—” she hiccupped to a stop, put a hand over her mouth. A hand that shook.

Jesus Christ.

She’d been so terrorized she’d been willing to keep allowing herself to be drugged rather than face the reality of it, of what they might be doing to her.

“I’ve been such a coward,” she said, her voice thin, strained.

Coward?

“You’re not a coward,” Seth grated, fighting to keep his voice even. “I don’t want to ever hear you say that again. Do you understand me?”

Noah leaned forward, his focus intent. And very familiar. “Devon—”

“Enough,” Seth snarled. “This stops now. Right. Fucking.
Now.
”

He knew what happened when Noah sunk his teeth into something. He’d seen it time and again. Noah was intense, focused to the exclusion of everything else. And there usually wasn’t much left at the end of it. Maybe, just maybe, Seth was the coward here because he couldn’t bear to hear another word.

Noah’s gaze flicked to his, his brows lowered. “I need information, Seth. I need
this
information.”

Devon had raised damp eyes to his. She looked as surprised as he felt by his outburst, but the expression in her eyes cinched it.

“I don’t give a fuck. She’s done.”

“For now.”

Seth clenched his jaw. Not if he had anything to do with it. He stepped forward, grasped her hand and urged her to her feet. Her eyes went wide at the contact and heat singed along every nerve ending in his body at the glide of her soft skin against his rough palm.

Without another word he pulled her from the room, through the quiet of the house and out the back, where he could feel the warmth of the sun, the soft breeze coming off the bay.

Devon was pale, her lips tight. And tears. There were still tears in her eyes.

Aw fuck.

She’d been just a job but he would have protected her at risk to himself. Now, he’d never let them take her back, he’d do anything to make sure of it. And he was. He was still here, wasn’t he? Noah had been right. If he’d found out someone else had been sent in to extract her, all hell would have broken lose. Things would’ve gotten ugly.

“You okay?”

She nodded. Man, he was so out of his element with this, with all of it. The expression in her eyes made him wish he knew what the hell to do, to say, to make it better. For her. As it was, he didn’t even know where to start.

He cleared his throat. “It’s probably no consolation, but he’s been like that since I’ve known him.”

Actually, Noah had probably been born that way—arrogant, demanding and a pain in the ass.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Even at twenty he was wheeling and dealing, flipping houses, buying and selling stocks.” His mouth tightened at the memory.

Who the hell knew what Noah’d really been into? All Seth had known was that he’d been rolling in the cash.

She smiled. It was slight, but still a smile. “That long, huh?”

“He followed me for days. Said he’d heard about my rep and wanted me to work for him doing ‘special projects.’ Man, the guy defined relentless, even back then.”

“Your…rep?”

“On the streets I was known as ‘Ghost.’”

She frowned. “Streets?”

“It was a hell of a lot better than my foster home at the time.”

At the look on her face, he could have kicked himself. Pity was something he had no time for, had no idea what to do with and flat out didn’t want, especially not from her. But at least she didn’t have that lost, tortured look anymore.

“Let’s say I was an expert at getting into places I wasn’t supposed to be.”

“You mean…”

“Yeah, B and E.” He smiled at the horrified look. “Not exactly legal.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t about the stealing, not really. It was the challenge, the rush.”

And finding a safe place to sleep most of the time.

Seth might have been only a few months off eighteen, but he’d been conditioned well and hard. Good fortune didn’t happen to someone like him. He’d brushed Noah off as crazy, but the guy had pushed Seth to the limit with his bullshit offers and promises.

They’d fought. Or rather Seth had. He’d beaten the crap out of Noah until he’d realized it hadn’t been any kind of competition to begin with. But even bleeding and battered, Noah wasn’t giving up.

“He gave me a place to stay and money I didn’t have to deal with my conscience over.” Well, not as much anyway. “And the work was easy.”

Sometimes he delivered stuff, but most of the time he did what he did best. Used his ability to gather information for Noah. No stealing, no going hungry and no wondering where the fuck he could crash each night.

“In return, I taught him how to fight.”

“Fight?” Her eyes went wide at that and he felt a smile tug at his lips.

“Street style,” he added. And they’d kept at it, day after day, week after week, month after grueling month, until the bloody sparring sessions didn’t have a clear winner anymore.

Seth couldn’t count how many times he’d hit Noah over those months, how many times he’d knocked him down. Noah had kept getting up.

“Noah took his shirt off after he’d knocked me on my ass the first time.” He swallowed at the memory. “He showed me his marks.”

Yeah. Real agenda time. Before then, he’d never even considered there could be others like him. And he couldn’t lie to himself. He’d been intrigued, maybe even relieved. Back then, anyway.

“What happened?”

Seth shook his head. “He already knew about me somehow. Said we were the same. He had this grand plan of finding others like us. Of having us all band together. Said he was looking for something. That he wanted my help.”

“And?”

He looked down at her, felt the intensity of her gaze. The hunger that was never far away surged through him whenever her eyes were on him, whenever she was near. He pushed it back, fought for control of it.

“I joined the Marines,” he rasped. “Noah’s been the thorn in my side ever since.”

* * *

Devon could barely comprehend what he’d described. If he’d been trying to take her mind off her own issues, he succeeded. Perhaps too well. She may have been kept like an expensive pet while unimaginable, unfathomable things had been done to her, but she’d never worried about where she would sleep, how she’d eat, how she’d survive day to day. Until she’d hatched her plan of course.

“Why did you tell me all that?”

His gaze met hers. Direct, hot and it sent a sharp jolt into her abdomen.

“You’re not alone, Devon.” His voice was deep and seemed to reverberate inside her, kicking her heartbeat into a galloping staccato that made her breathless. “Not anymore.”

Oh God. She’d wanted answers, wanted to know where she belonged, but she’d gotten a whole lot more than she could have imagined.

“What do you think they did to me, Seth?”

He didn’t move, seemed as if he didn’t react, but his dark eyes flashed, the pulse near his temple throbbed. “Maybe nothing.”

“You don’t believe that.”

“No,” he sighed. “But it doesn’t do any good to dwell on it. It’s over. You’re safe now. If anyone can get to the bottom of it, Noah can.”

But perhaps the knowing would be worse, so much worse. Maybe it was best to always wonder, but never really know for sure? Perhaps knowing wouldn’t serve any purpose.

Devon looked out over the beautifully manicured grounds, past the magnificent palms out to the open water of the bay. She’d already learned it was deceptive—the openness, the sense of space, of freedom. Perhaps that was the cruelest reality of all.

They were discreet, low key, but they were everywhere, especially out here. Cameras, motion detectors, and who knew what else? And men. Guards patrolled the grounds, guards with weapons, predatory, dangerous, ever alert. Despite how long she’d watched, their movements weren’t predictable, there was no schedule she’d been able to figure out and their focus was almost tangible—particularly on her whenever she’d ventured out here.

It was all so…familiar.

She turned back to Seth. He wasn’t looking at the view. His gaze was trained on her. “I can’t just leave whenever I want. Can I?”

Seth frowned. “Devon—”

“I can’t, can I?”

He sighed, ran his hand around the back of his neck. “Look, I—”

“That’s what I thought.” She looked away from him, closed her eyes briefly because she’d seen what was in his eyes.

“No one’s going to hurt you here, Devon.
Ever.
The Assembly will never get their hands on you again. You’ll be safe. Protected.”

His voice sounded as if it came from a great distance. How many times had she heard that? Each and every time she’d pleaded, begged,
cried
to be allowed out, to go
somewhere
, experience
something
. It had always been “no.” Always for her protection, for her own good, so that she’d be “safe.”

How could she even hope to make him understand? How could anyone? She took a deep breath, knowing she’d have to force the words out through a throat clenched tight, but she’d try. At least she could say she tried.

“You know, when I was younger, I had an ‘I’ve never’ list. It contained all the things I’d never done, never seen, never experienced.”

“Devon—”

“While others might have wanted to visit exotic locations, experience fantastic sights, dream of the impossible, I wanted to be able to go out to eat in a restaurant, learn how to drive, have a best friend.” She swallowed. “Kiss a boy.”

“Christ, Devon…”

“It got to be so long,” she whispered, knowing her voice was about to give out. “I stopped adding to it.”

Rather than be a wish list, it had become a cruel reminder of what she’d never attain, a mockery of everything she’d ever dreamed of. Until the mere wishing itself became too painful.

“I’m sorry,” Seth swallowed. “I am, but…” He shook his head.

They may or may not have her best interests at heart, but she’d just swapped one decorative cage for another, had become someone else’s property, their responsibility, something to be protected at all costs, including her own. And she’d sworn she’d never let that happen again.

* * *

“So how did you discover your ability?” Devon asked.

Seth froze at the soft voice, just before he’d turned the corner into the large workout room. He’d come down here to blow off some steam, run the treadmill into the ground, anything to exhaust himself so he couldn’t think any more, so he’d stop feeling like such an asshole. He figured he’d be able to do it in privacy. It looked like it was going to be a “no” on both counts.

Micah chuckled and the sound grated across every one of his nerves. “Yeah, see there’s a funny story behind that.”

Seth ground his teeth together when Devon laughed.

“I figured there would be,” she said.

He’d never heard her laugh before, not even close, wouldn’t have been able to imagine her sounding so relaxed, carefree. But then she wasn’t talking to him, was she? The shaft of need that went through him almost brought him to his knees. Almost. Because the singe of something else that burned like acid deep in his gut overshadowed even that.

Micah murmured something he couldn’t catch and that was it. His fury was red, fierce, hot and unable to be contained.

“What the
fuck
do you think you’re doing?” he snarled as he launched into the room, his gaze locked onto Micah, every muscle in his body tense, ready.

“Seth,” Devon gasped.

Micah might still look as if he’d been hit by a truck, but he was up and around. Charming, charismatic. A
player
.

Micah raised his head to meet Seth’s eyes. A slow, easy movement, as if he had all the time in the world, one eyebrow raised in a way guaranteed to piss Seth off.

“What does it look like?” he drawled.

Seth didn’t want to think about what it looked like. All he knew was that Micah was standing close to her, way too close, his big body dwarfing her. And Devon had her hands on him.

Shit.

The red swirling haze that clouded his vision ebbed. Some. He glanced at Devon who was still staring at him—wide-eyed, pale and so Goddamn beautiful she took his breath away.

“You’re letting her practice,” he ground out.

“Yeah. I am.”

“On you?”

Jesus, from what he’d seen Devon could have a man completely at her mercy with a single fucking word. No control. Nothing.

Micah shrugged. “I’m not letting her do anything. She needs to know what she’s really capable of. You know it as well as I do.”

Yeah. He drew in a deep gulp of air. They’d all honed their abilities over years of trial and error—it was simply another weapon in their arsenal—along with their other, more conventional skills.

Seth’s jaw clenched. “Dammit, Micah, it’s—”

“Dangerous,” the other man cut in, his voice hard, quiet. “Only if she doesn’t know how to use it.”

He was right. Of course he was and
dammit
, he should have thought of it himself, but he didn’t want to think about her having to use her ability. Ever.