Tangled Fates (17 page)

that she felt terribly uncomfortable in this dress, and the shoes hurt her feet. She would much

rather be in a pair of jeans and some sneakers, but apparently that wasn’t appropriate attire for

this function.

It had been Abby’s idea to take out the braids and let her hair fall freely. She brought her

hand up to her hair and fingered the soft waves. Although it had taken hours, she had to admit,

she did like it.

“Thank you, Cohen.” As she looked at him, she noticed that he was looking over her

shoulder, and his face turned sad. In fact, he was studying whatever was behind her so hard,

Annis turned to see what he was looking at. There wasn’t anything there.

“What are you looking at Cohen?”

His eyes came back to her, and he gave her a little smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Almost every time I look at you I see Mia.”

“Mia?”

“My dead mate. Rayner says I’m going batshit crazy.”

Annis sat stunned, and she wondered if Rayner could see Mia using his gift of seeing

those caught between life and death.

“Can Rayner see her?”

Cohen shook his head. “That’s why he says I’m losing it.”

Perhaps he really was losing his mind.

“Did you love Mia?”

“Of course.”

For some reason, this answer cut her deeply, and she shut her eyes for a brief second to

quell her response. Of course, there would be no other answer. Cohen had been mated for a

reason, but she had to know the answer to her next question, so she continued. “Well, why do

you get angry at me when you see her?”

Cohen opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it. He stared at the table for a few

minutes, and Annis waited patiently for an answer.

“Would you like to go take a walk with me?” he asked in a quiet voice, not meeting her

gaze. “I promise not to be a . . . fucktard. I promise to mind my manners.”

“And do you promise that you will tell me what is going on between us? With us and

Mia? It would be very nice for me to finally understand.”

There was a long pause as he looked around the room, then his gaze came back to hers.

“Yes.”

“Very well, then. Let’s walk. Although I can’t promise how far I can go with these silly

shoes on.” If she had her way, she’d take them off and toss them into the garbage.

“Okay, then. We won’t go very far. I just . . . I just need to get some air, and if I’m going

to spill everything, I need to do it in a somewhat private place.”

Annis looked around. The closest person was a good ten feet away from them, and she re-

evaluated what he said. They were in privacy.

As if he could read her thoughts, he stood and held out his hand. “Sometimes the best

place to find privacy is a busy sidewalk. Everyone has somewhere to go and something to do.

They don’t pay attention to what’s going on around them.”

Chapter 25

Annis stepped out into the cool night air, glad she had brought a jacket. She looked up at

the buildings of downtown Phoenix and found it hard to imagine the city during the day with the

hustle and bustle of the employees who occupied the large glass structures. She also wished she

could see the stars, but the lights from the city made it impossible.

“Do you want to walk for a while?”

Annis nodded her head, wishing once again she could remove her shoes.

They passed restaurants and coffee shops full of people enjoying themselves. The

laughter and the din of conversation sometimes wafted out to the street, and Annis watched it all

with envy. She was with her kind, yet she felt alone. However, this wasn’t a time for a pity party;

she was about to get the answers to the questions that had been plaguing her.

Annis stopped and turned to Cohen. “So, what’s going on?”

He took a deep breath and pulled at his tie. “I can’t stand this thing,” he muttered as he

untied it. “I feel like I’m on the wrong end of a noose.”

A group of people came toward them, laughing and talking loudly. Annis and Cohen

stood still as the group went around them.

“Looks like the concert just got out,” Cohen said, as another wave of humans came

toward them.

“I’m not sure where to start,” Cohen said. “There’s just so much . . . junk riding around in

me.”

Annis crossed her arms over her chest. Her heart pounded at the thought that she was

finally going to get the truth. “Well, why don’t you start at the beginning?”

“Well, Mia died.”

“Yes.”

Cohen looked at the ground and moved his shiny, black shoe around in a circle. She

studied him. He really did look amazing in his tuxedo with his hair combed back and his face

shaved clean; it was such a contradiction to his usual sweatpants or jeans and disheveled look.

His brow furrowed as he thought about his next words.

A large, white vehicle sped down the road with music Annis didn’t recognize blasting

through its speakers. Really, what made them think everyone wanted to hear that noise?

The vehicle slowed for a moment, then continued on its way. Another group of people

flowed past them, and traffic had picked up.

“Here’s the deal, Annis. This stuff isn’t easy for me to say, okay? In fact, it’s fucking

hard.” He looked at her with kind eyes. “I hate you.”

She gasped and stepped back. It shouldn’t have been a surprise with the way he had

treated her, but still the words stung.

“I hate you because you’re . . . you’re everything I’m not. Well, everything I wish I still

was.”

He exhaled loudly and looked down at the ground again. “I guess who I really hate is

myself, but . . . but I’ve been taking it out on you.”

Annis didn’t say anything. She just stood there as groups of people flooded around them.

It was an odd feeling to be around so many people and yet feel so alone. Cohen had been right

that a busy sidewalk could offer so much privacy.

It didn’t surprise her that Cohen had been taking his self-hatred and transferring it to her.

In fact, it made sense now that he had said it. She had done nothing, yet had been the object of

his wrath. A calm overcame her with this understanding. The puzzle pieces were falling into

place, but there were still questions.

“What exactly am I that you are not?” Annis asked.

Cohen met her gaze. “I know what was done to you, Annis, and yet you stand here in

front of me, a female of incredible strength and courage. Your spirit has not been broken. And I-I

can’t say the same thing. My mate was taken from me, and I was a complete asshole while on

this mission. I-I disregarded the vows I made to her and have joined—had sex—whatever you

want to call it. Many times. I’m a cheating piece of shit that is drowning in guilt over what I’ve

done. I’m—”

His sentence was cut off by a shot. Cohen’s eyes grew wide and he stepped toward her.

Annis’s brain was swimming with what Cohen had said to her, but her instincts took over

at the sound of the gunfire. Another shot rang in the air, and the area turned chaotic with people

running and screaming.

She looked around, trying to decipher where the shots were coming from, but the disorder

was too great. Cohen stepped toward her again just as the large, white vehicle that had driven by

before pulled up to the sidewalk.

“Cohen, we must get out of here!” she yelled.

Two things happened at once. Cohen slumped into her, and as she wrapped her arms

around him to hold him up, she felt a sticky wetness on her hands.

Cohen had been shot.

Just as that thought registered, the door to the vehicle flew open, and Annis recognized

the driver.

“Hello, Annis.”

Stunned, she said nothing. It was Micah, the leader of The Platoon. His brown hair was

shorter, but he was still a behemoth of a male. Standing at six foot eight, he was a tower of hard,

raw muscle. Annis looked to him, then to his companion, Jael, who was holding a gun.

“You shot him?” Annis said incredulously, still holding up Cohen.

“Is that Noah?” Micah answered.

“No, you stupid fool!”

“Damn it!” Micah looked around and police sirens wailed in the distance.

“Get in the car, Annis,” he bit out.

“No.” She wasn’t going anywhere with him.

Micah grabbed Cohen by the jacket, and with some effort, threw him in the backseat.

“Get in the car, Annis. Now.”

Annis quickly weighed her options. They were obviously taking Cohen. “Where are you

taking him? And why?” Although, she had a good idea—Micah wanted all the Saviors dead.

Micah grabbed her arm. “He’s my bait. And you don’t have a choice in the matter of

whether you come with me or not, so get in the blasted car.”

He pushed her toward the backdoor, and Annis stumbled in her shoes, catching herself on

the side of the vehicle. Cohen groaned and met her eyes. He was in pain—she could see it on his

face.

“Go if you can,” he whispered, his breath coming in short spurts.

The sirens wailed louder, and she felt the cold barrel of the gun against the side of her

head, then the click of hammer being pulled back.

“Get. In. The. Fucking. Car. Now.”

She lifted her leg to get in, and was pushed again, the door slamming behind her. A

second later the vehicle sped away.

Cohen looked at her. “We’re fucked,” he whispered.

She nodded. “Agreed.”

Chapter 26

Yes, she had to agree with Cohen’s assessment. They were indeed, fucked. They were in

the clutches of The Platoon, and Annis had a feeling their deaths were imminent.

Micah sped down the city streets, but once they hit the freeway, he obeyed the speed

limit.

Annis said nothing, just held Cohen as she brought his head down to her lap and put her

hand over the wound in his back to try to stop the bleeding. She had never given any thought

about what happened to a Healer when injured, but she was thinking the hell out of it at that

moment. Did he need her energy? What did she need to do for him?

“It’s nice to see you again, Annis,” Micah said. “Imagine my surprise when I saw you

standing on the street with a male who had to be a Savior! I should visit a casino tonight, my

luck is so good!”

He barked out a laugh, and Annis stared at the back of his big head without saying a

word.

“I know you missed me as well.”

Yes, like one missed a toothache or a broken bone. She couldn’t believe she held such

contempt for one of her own.

“Have you been whoring yourself out to the Six Saviors, Annis?” Micah asked.

Annis closed her eyes, determined not to let Micah’s words get to her. The male was such

an ass.

“Why didn’t you come with me when we escaped our captors?”

She met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Micah, we did not escape. We were rescued by

the Six Saviors. Please do not rewrite history.”

Micah was quiet for a moment. “You are correct, Annis. We were rescued by them. It

was stupid of them, and they will pay for their treachery and the decimation of our race.”

Annis sighed. Micah wanted Noah’s head on a platter. As for the other Saviors? A bullet

or two would do.

Annis recalled very well Micah’s rantings and ravings on their trip to Earth—how the Six

Saviors were the reason SR44 was gone—and he had talked enough that others began to believe

his nonsense as well.

They rode in silence for a while. Annis felt Cohen’s lungs rise and fall, and she took that

as good news.

Micah veered off the freeway and drove on a windy road that led up to the foothills.

There were very few houses out this way. Finally, he pulled into a driveway, killed the car, and

got out. He opened her door and leveled a gun at her.

“Get out.”

Annis did as she was told, keeping her shoes on despite the fact that she couldn’t walk in

them very well. Perhaps they could be used as a weapon at some point.

Two other males that she recognized, Simon and Titus, emerged from the house and

stood by Micah waiting for instructions. “We’ll take them both to the room under the earth,”

Micah said.

The room under the earth? Annis shivered, wondering where they were being taken, but

then she remembered that the missile silos were situated hundreds of feet underground. Perhaps

it would be similar.

Micah led the way with Cohen slung over his shoulder, while Titus and Jael followed

behind Annis. Micah led them through the garage and into a laundry room. He turned right,

opened a door, and descended a stairway. As they reached the bottom step, Annis was pleasantly

surprised. The room beneath the earth was fully furnished with two plush, brown sofas and a

small bedroom that housed a double bed and a dresser.

Micah tossed Cohen on the bed. “Stitch him up, Jael,” Micah ordered. “I will kill him,

but not yet. I want Noah first.”

Annis watched as Jael dug into Cohen’s flesh just below his shoulder blade and removed

the bullet, then haphazardly put in the stitches. At least they had given him a shot that rendered

Cohen unconscious, but Annis was worried about infection, as it didn’t seem that anything was

sterilized properly.

When Jael was done, Micah said, “We’ll meet upstairs now and figure out how to

leverage the Savior and Annis.”

Jael nodded, and both he and Titus followed Micah up the stairs. When Annis heard

silence, she kicked off her shoes, hitched her skirt up, and silently bounded up the stairs. She