Strength (Mark of Nexus #1) (38 page)

“Don’t touch me with your filthy, human hands!”

“Oh, I’ll do more than touch you,” I spat, jerking her closer. “If you were half as smart as you think you are, you’d walk away. Right now.”

“Rena,” Wallace said in a soft tone, like he was trying to talk me off the ledge. “I thought we weren’t going to do anything rash…”

I tuned him out and glared up into her darkened expression. The brand on my arm felt like it was going to burn through my sleeve, and it was all I could do to force my breaths at regular intervals. “I mean it, Gail. Walk away.”

Her livid gaze bored into mine. She was breathing hard, too. “No.”

“No?” I looked down to gather what was left of my nerve but instead caught sight of a bulge at her waistband.
Shit.
That changed things.

“Well, then,” I heard myself say on autopilot, eyes glued to the weapon. “I can’t let you go any farther.”

Gail sneered. “Is that supposed to be a threa—”

I let go of her collar, pivoted my hips, and thrust my fist at her face in one big round of momentum. This time, my knuckles made solid contact, and she seemed to fall in slow motion, her eyes wide with shock.

Wallace took a step toward us, but I was already gone.

I lunged for her the second her back hit the ground and pinned her arms against the leaves. Bolts of pain shot through my wrist, and I whimpered, holding down against her struggles. “Wallace!” I yelled, straddling her. “Hurry! She’s got a gun.”

Chapter Forty-Five

Wallace was at my side in a flash, kneeling down. “What? Where?”

I nodded toward her hip.

“That’s not a gun, you twit,” Gail snapped. “That’s my cell phone.”

He lifted her shirt and, sure enough, there was a black phone clipped to the waistband of her jeans.
Oops.

“W-Well, you’re lucky,” I grumbled, knitting my brows as I turned back to Wallace. “So, what should we do now? Where’s Cole?”

“We split up when we got here. He’s probably been intercepted by Faye, if she’s really here. We need to find him.” His eyes kept darting to my wrist, a familiar wave of emotions stirring inside him.

I ignored his concern and tilted my head in Gail’s direction. “What are we going to do about her?”

“We can’t leave her. We’ll have to take her with us.”

A strange sensation crept over my shoulder as I tried to nod at him. It pulsed around my mark and slid toward my mangled wrist like a snake, coiling and tightening. I wanted to hit Wallace. No, I
needed
to hit Wallace. Everything in my body felt off, tormented by denying the compulsion. If I didn’t—

My hand lashed out of its own accord, slapping him hard across the cheek. “Shiiiiiit!” I hissed and doubled over, clutching my wrist. The impact had jarred the injury, and now it radiated an ache worse than before. I couldn’t even look at him.

Someone latched onto my shoulders for the briefest of seconds, only to be ripped away. I jerked my chin back to find Wallace’s side in my face as he pinned Gail down.

“Gail,” he growled. “That’s enough.”

My jaw dropped. She’d manipulated me as a diversion to get the upper hand. How the hell had that gotten past me?

“Okay,” she cried, squirming beneath both of us. “Ease up. You’re going to break my arms, you big, stupid oaf.”

“Are you okay?” Wallace called over his shoulder, ignoring her pleas.

His concern, no matter how needless, still gave me the butterflies. “Yeah.”

“Let go!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. “I swear, if something happens to me, they’ll kill her.”

“What do you mean ‘they’ll’?” he demanded in a voice that sent a chill down my spine. “I thought Faye was the only one with you.”

I crawled off of her and moved to stand off to the side. If he was holding her down, there was no need for me to be on top of her, too. He was unmovable.

She narrowed her eyes. “My boyfriend is there. Who do you think took Clara to begin with?”

“Did they hurt her?” Wallace spoke carefully, restraining the underlying urgency I felt pulse inside me. When she didn’t answer, he gritted his teeth. “Tell me.”

“I guess you’ll find out when you see her,” she retorted.

And then the heavens gave way. Rain pelted the earth in a frigid downpour and doused the torches. Great. Just what we needed.

Gail writhed beneath him, squeezing her eyes shut against the stinging raindrops. “If you join us, I guarantee they’ll let her go.”

“Screw that,” I said, shivering and looking around. “I’ll go scout out the lake and report back.”

“No.” Wallace looked up. “I don’t want you out of my sight.”

“Touching,” Gail sneered. “How about you let me up, and I’ll lead you there?”

I lifted my boot off the ground. “How about I kick you in the head and pray you only lose consciousness?”

Wallace leaned to the side, and in one swift motion, hoisted her over his shoulder. “We’ll take her with us.” Without so much as a wince, he rose to his feet and started off in some random direction. “I know it’ll be hard for you to see, so stay close.”

“I can see fine,” I grumbled, trekking after them. “Do you have any idea where to start looking?”

“No.” He skirted around a fallen log. “But I have a feeling they want to be found.”

And as it turned out, he was right.

Ten minutes later, we came to a bluff overlooking the Ohio version of a beach—a shallow lake edged with caked, probably-imported sand. Several figures stood scattered below, their forms cast in silhouette by the hellish glow of a bonfire.
Well, this has all the makings of a crime scene…

I wiped my bangs back and followed Wallace down a slick, wooden staircase. He’d wasted no time getting here, taking strides I could only match with a jog. It made me nervous.

Gail was limp over his shoulder, her head bobbing with each step. Thank God she’d exhausted herself with that last stunt. There was no more cult-drivel to be heard, only the soothing whisper of rain on the water as we made our way down the beach.

From the lower vantage point, I could see why their fire was still going. Rocks jutted out from the cliff side, shielding it from the downpour. If only that were their
only
protection.

“Put her down,” a familiar voice demanded, as we neared. “And don’t try anything.”

Wait a minute.
I dared a step closer and peered through the flames. “Maverick?”

Chapter Forty-Six

Maverick tensed, his eyes trained on Gail’s motionless form. “Put her down,” he repeated, not moving from his spot.

What on earth was he doing here, of all places? Didn’t he know who these—

Then it clicked.

Gabby had told me Maverick called out another woman’s name during sex.
Gail
.
This
Gail.
She
was the other woman. I started around the fire, but Cole held his arm out.

“Careful,” he said. “They’ve got—”

“Clara,” I finished, my gaze locking on the hostage Maverick held pinned against his chest. She looked positively ashen, standing there with tearstained cheeks. Her eyes met mine, and I swallowed uneasily.

Wallace’s voice cut through the fire’s crackling hiss. “Let her go.” No wonder he was in a hurry. He’d probably felt her distress a mile away.

Maverick slipped his other arm around her neck, and something sinister glinted in the light. “You first.”

“CL.” Cole gestured across the fire, referring to the letters on the map. “You were right. It was Clara Lawrence.”

“But why use her maiden name?” I asked. “Isn’t it Clara Blake now?”

“That name was never hers to take,” a cold voice responded, as a woman stepped out from the shadows. The golden light flicked across her weathered features, and I sucked in a deep breath. Dark, puckered scars marred the skin around her forehead and closed right eye like a grotesque half-mask.
What the...?

“Faye.” Clara’s voice rang out strong, despite the expression she wore. “You know we never meant to hurt you. It just happened.”

That
was Faye? I gave her a quick once-over. Aside from the scars, there wasn’t anything remarkable about her. Her hair was still a bit dark, shot with streaks of silver and in a low ponytail. She wore a simple, flannel shirt buttoned up over a pair of jeans and work boots. Was I supposed to believe
she
was the orchestrator behind everything?

“Spare me your excuses. You knew I was only a few months away from fulfilling my obligations abroad.” Faye’s words were tight, laced with hurt that’d gone heinously bitter. “You were going to be my maid of honor, Clara. Don’t tell me it
just happened
.”

“You were dead,” Clara whispered. “Where else could we take comfort, than in each other—the two who knew you best?”

“You wished I was dead! Freddie meant everything to me. After
this
happened”—Faye jerked her hand back, gesturing to the scars—“he was the only man who would even look at me. I would’ve given him everything, but you…you…” Her shoulders fell as she lowered her voice in a defeated whisper. “You married him.”

“Wait,” I interrupted. “Clara, I thought your major gift was empathy. Why didn’t you sense her feelings of betrayal?”

“I did,” Clara said quietly. “I waved it off as guilt and delusional grief. What was I to think? That the feelings were truly hers and not my own? I’ve carried that weight in my heart all this time. If only I’d known she survived...” Her words broke off, and another tear spilled down her cheek.

Cole blew out a heavy sigh. “We’ve already been through this.” He nodded toward Gail, still slung over Wallace’s shoulder. “Did you guys get anything out of her, other than the same revolutionary bullshit I’ve been forced to choke down for the past hour? By the way, nice to see you, Rena. I figured you’d show up.”

Wallace bent to lay Gail on the ground. “Yeah, apparently she had a vision that we were going to mess up their plans for human experimentation. So, we’re being—”

“Tested,” Cole finished. “I know. After we split up, I swept this stupid park twice to find Grandma. Two minutes and thirty-three seconds. Would you believe that? These goons actually timed me.”

So, Cole was the third person Gail saw in her dream. The whole setup was starting to make sense. Why destroy what you might be able to use? I chewed on the inside of my cheek. This wasn’t just a test. It was a recruitment screening.

“Enough.” Maverick’s terse voice cut through the nighttime air as he nudged Clara forward with his knee, prodding her toward us. “I-I’ll…I’ll trade you the old lady.” He spared a glance back at Faye, eyeing her. “I
have
to.”

“They won’t harm her.” Faye waved him off. “But do as you please. My sister has already served her purpose here.”

“Drop the knife and back away,” Wallace instructed, positioning himself between Gail and Maverick. “Then we’ll let you have her.”

“How do I know you won’t pull something once I hand her over?” Maverick asked.

I didn’t recognize his new demeanor. Where was that clueless, stoner smile I’d come to expect? Now he just seemed gaunt, sweaty, and paranoid.
Yuck.

“We have no reason to trick you,” Cole interjected. “You really think you—a human—have the upper hand?” He cast a quick glance in my direction. “No offense.”

I nearly snorted. “None taken.”

“I’m not human.” Maverick threw the knife down and shoved Clara forward, fire reflecting in his eyes. “Not anymore.”

Nobody said anything as Cole blurred, catching Clara mid-stumble. His gaze darkened, but he didn’t allow any more emotion to impede his expression. “I thought that might be the case.”

“What?” I looked between them. “What do you mean?”

Wallace was suddenly at my side, angling his shoulder in front of me. “It means they’ve already started their experiments.”

“You can’t be serious.” I crumpled my brow, peering around his arm. “What about Gabby? Does she know about any of this?”

Maverick shook his head and bent down to gather Gail in his arms. “Don’t you get it, Rena? It was a ploy. All of it.”

“All of it?” I blinked as my mind raced over the past month. “How?”

“Gail foresaw your involvement in this.” He struggled to find his footing as he straightened, shifting her in his arms. “We just thought if I kept you two apar—”

“What my intern means to say,” Faye cut in, “is that we had background information on the twins, but you were an unknown factor. He transferred to get a better feel for you, how you tick, where you would most likely come into play.”

Maverick nodded. “It didn’t take much coaxing for Gabby to open up about your relationship. Unfortunately, my brand of casual interference—getting you trashed, encouraging you to meddle in Wallace’s private life—wasn’t enough to keep you two at odds. I should’ve implemented a second strategy.”

“But you didn’t,” I said, flexing my fingers. “So, what’s your next move?”