The Decaying Empire (The Vanishing Girl Series Book 2) (19 page)

“We’re all so excited for the both of you to join our family here.” She smiled, her shoulders lifting. She was one of those overly enthusiastic women; I could already feel a headache coming on at the thought of trying to keep up with her. “I’m Marissa, and this is my pair, Kyle,” she said, indicating the man who stepped up next to her.

So this was Marissa.

We shook hands, murmured hellos, and were introduced to the rest of the people present. Like Marissa and Kyle, most of the others were pairs. Only a few had come alone, and most of these were women.

I could feel their stares out of the corner of my eye, setting me on edge. Some sized us up; others were merely curious.

Through it all Caden’s hand clasped mine. Sometimes we’d catch each other’s eye, and an unspoken thought would pass between us.

She’s pretending to be excited.

Another pregnant woman!

He’s awfully grabby.

Once the perfunctory introductions were out of the way, Caden and I were separated. I watched the flickering flames of the fire from the log I sat on.

“So,” Marissa said, sitting next to me, “are you excited to be here?”

Her gaze was too sharp, and it reminded me that we still lived in a den of wolves. She’d see through most of my lies; that was what we’d all been trained to do.

“Nervous.” I gave her a weak smile. It was close enough to the truth that she bought it.

She gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze. “I was too when Kyle and I first arrived. This life is very different from the one we lived before.”

I kept my mouth shut and nodded.

“This was sort of a spur-of-the-moment decision to come here, wasn’t it?”

I stared down into the soda someone had given me, my mind flashing to the early-morning meeting that Dane the Dick sprung on Caden and me. “You could say that.”

“Are you pregnant?”

My head snapped to face her. “What?”

When Marissa saw my expression, she backtracked. “That was blunt of me, sorry.”

I only barely managed to suppress a shudder. “No. I’m not pregnant.”

She waited patiently for me to finish. I warred with what—if anything—I should tell her. “I wasn’t
. . .
acclimating,” I finally said.

“Oh.” The silence lingered. She placed a hand on my knee. “That’s okay,” she said softly. “It’s behind you. You’ll fit in here.”

I glanced at her, the hairs on my arms rising at her genuine smile. She was so much better than I was at pretending. All I really saw when I looked at her was an empathetic, jovial woman. A simple woman. The only reason I knew she was so much more than that was because she was here. Marissa had no tells; nothing to indicate she wasn’t as she appeared.

I tightened my hold on my drink. I needed to leave this place; the people here did things to my mind.

Caden stared at me across the fire, the smoke and flames making his features sharper and more dangerous looking. He watched me like a man mesmerized.

I had to stop myself from reaching up and self-consciously tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

“He wants you to go over to him,” Marissa said, leaning into me.

“I know,” I said, gazing at him through the fire.

She nudged me. “Then go. He looks like he’s having separation anxiety.”

We both knew that wasn’t the look he was giving me. I stood anyway. “Thank you for the warm welcome,” I said.

She winked. “No problem, hon. Have a great evening.”

I headed to Caden’s side. His dimples came out to play as I sat down. “Hey, you,” he said, leaning over and kissing my neck.

“Hey back.” I smiled against him.

Laughter trickled in from the teleporters next to us. “Okay, okay.” Kyle cleared his throat. “Most embarrassing trip ever—go.”

“Sharing teleporter stories,” Caden explained.

The topic of conversation drew me in.

One of the guys sitting on the other side of Caden addressed the speaker. “I once teleported into my parents’ bedroom while they were getting it on.” He shook his head. “They thought I’d walked in there to watch them.” Even the fire couldn’t hide his flushed cheeks.

“Worse, I couldn’t tell them the truth. The next day they’d signed me up to see a therapist.” He shuddered. “There are some images that you can never burn from your brain.”

I felt Caden’s eyes focus briefly on me, his stare weighted. I shifted uncomfortably, aware of what images might be burned into those eyes of his.

“Creepiest?” Kyle asked.

Serena answered this one. “When I was fourteen—never even been kissed, mind you—I teleported to some swingers’ club. The things I saw them doing to each other . . .” She cringed. “And they were all old and fleshy.”

“How’d you get out of there?” another teleporter asked.

She raised an eyebrow. “Through the front door. They weren’t monsters.”

Another teleporter spoke up. “Have you ever heard of the mole people?” he asked.

Someone murmured that they hadn’t.

“They’re people who live beneath cities. I visited a group of them in Las Vegas. They were actually pretty nice. Then again, most of them were rolling, so they may have thought I was just part of their trip.”

Kyle cleared his throat. “I have a story for you.” He had a kind of magnetism; the moment he spoke, he had everyone’s attention. “I stayed up late at night as usual.”

The teleporters around me nodded. They’d all had similar experiences to mine, waiting until everyone else had fallen asleep to disappear. Something fuzzy and uncomfortable nestled itself in my stomach—a sense of belonging.

I frowned. I didn’t want to feel this way, not when so much about this situation was screwed up.

“I’d been watching some show about haunted buildings when I nodded off.” Kyle gave his head a slight shake. “The next time I opened my eyes, I was inside one of them.”

In response Caden tugged me close to him. I cast a sly glance his way, thinking he’d be riveted by the story, like the others around the fire. Instead his gaze slid to me. A hint of a grin tugged at his lips when he caught me looking. He’d used the story as an excuse to cuddle.

“To this day, I have no idea where exactly I was. But now”—he laughed out his unease—“I do believe in ghosts.”

“What did you see?” a girl asked. I could hear the skepticism in her voice, and I didn’t blame her. Most of us didn’t have the luxury of believing in the supernatural.

Kyle gave her a close-lipped smile, his gaze lowering to take in the fire. He shook his head. “Suffice it to say that it was enough to convince me.”

Beneath my jacket my skin prickled, no doubt as Kyle had intended. Then I remembered that ghosts were the least of my concerns. A contemplative silence descended over the group, until another teleporter spoke up with her own spooky story.

“Want to take off?” Caden whispered in my ear.

More ghost stories or alone time with Caden? Real tough call, that one.

I answered by standing up. Caden followed suit and took my hand. Together we slipped out while most of those around the campfire listened to the stories shared. The ones who caught our eyes waved, flashing us knowing smiles, which creeped me the hell out.

“So,” Caden said when we had left the campfire behind us, “I forgot to ask you—what was Eric harassing you about earlier?”

I wasn’t surprised Caden had brought this up now that we’d seen Eric and Serena again, but I was surprised he hadn’t brought it up earlier.

“He knows we want to escape.”

Caden glanced down sharply at me. I could see the wheels in his mind turning. “They want to join us?”

I nodded. “I don’t know if we can trust them, though.”

“Neither do I,” Caden said, his brows furrowed. “Serena I trust, but Eric
. . .
He’s different now. He could’ve been blackmailed into outing us.”

That sounded like something the Project would do.

Caden stopped in front of our cabin. “For now, are you okay keeping our escape plan to just the two of us?”

I sucked in my lower lip. “I don’t see any other option.”

It felt strange entering the cabin and acting like it was ours. Someone else furnished it and someone else had made the decision that we were to live together. Not that I minded that last one too much.

At the foot of the stairs, I hesitated, thoughts of Serena and Eric morphing into thoughts of Serena and Caden.

“What is it, angel?” Caden asked, reading my body language.

I turned to face him. “You and Serena never . . . ?”
Did the deed? Were an item?
I wasn’t even sure what I asked, only that their familiarity earlier today stirred up all sorts of insecurities.

Caden laughed, causing me to frown.

Seeing my expression, he sobered up real quick. “That’s an empathic no.”

It was?

“We were there for each other, but nothing more.” He reeled me in for a hug. “It’s only you for me, angel.”

“You don’t know that,” I murmured against his chest.

“I take that as a challenge.”

I didn’t have time to respond before he scooped me up and carried me to our room.

“Caden, what are you doing?” I asked, securing my arms around his neck. Crossing the room in three long strides, he tossed me onto the bed. A second later he’d joined me, lightly touching the bare skin just above my pants.

His hand dropped lower. Flashing me a naughty grin, he undid the button of my jeans and pulled the zipper down. “All those months of wishing you were here with me. You don’t know how long I dreamed for one more day with you.”

“Caden?” I made a desperate grab for my jeans, but he snatched them off me, removing my shoes in the process. My socks went next.

“We’re not having sex, are we?”

“Making love, angel,” he corrected, tugging off his jacket. I didn’t bother to tell him how sexy those words sounded rolling off his lips. God knew I shouldn’t feed his ego.

“Your pupils are dilated. I think someone likes that term.”

“Don’t read into it,” I said. Oh hell, was my voice throaty?

“Making love,” he breathed, staring at my eyes. He let out a husky laugh. “That’s what I thought,” he said smugly, his fingers busy unbuttoning my jacket.

Damn my traitorous body; he was having a conversation with her, and she didn’t lie.

His expression turned wicked. He pushed my jacket off. Tossing it aside, he fingered the hem of my shirt and lifted it over my head. It said a lot about my feelings for him that I let Caden get this far.

Cool air prickled the exposed flesh of my stomach. My abs tensed as his hands moved over my bare skin. Caden leaned down and kissed my collarbone. “Relax. No babies will be made this evening.”

“Really?”

Caden reached a hand around my back. He raised an eyebrow. “Changed your mind about kids?”

“Ah, no.”

“Hmm. Thought so.”

He unsnapped my bra and tossed it aside. Dragging in a breath, he stared at my breasts. “I missed you, Sheila and Carmen,” he said to them.

“No.” He did
not
just name my breasts.

“You don’t believe me? Then I’ll just have to show you.” His teeth grazed the tip of one.

I grabbed Caden by his hair and tilted his head up to face me. He wore a naughty smile.

“No to the nicknames.”

“But Sheila—”

I pressed a hand to his mouth. “Do that again, and I’ll start calling your junk Tinkerbell.”

Caden narrowed his eyes. “Low blow, angel, low blow.” His gaze returned to my chest.

“Poor”—his eyes flicked up to me—
“breasts,”
he finished, running his hands over them. “Angel doesn’t give you enough attention. Not like me.”

Just when I was about to add a clause to the no-name rule that prohibited Caden from speaking to my breasts, he took one in his mouth.

My breath hissed out, and there went my ability to speak. Thank all that is good in the world for boobs and mouths.

Too soon, though, Caden’s lips descended farther down my body, trailing a line of kisses to my stomach. He passed my belly button.

“Caden?” My voice caught.

He pushed away from me long enough to roll my panties off before resettling between my thighs and continuing his kisses.

He spread my legs apart. Oh. My—

His lips touched me
there
, and my vision blurred.

“Caden.”
It was a sensory overload.

I tried to move away, lest I spontaneously combust. Caden gripped my thighs, locking me into place.

“Caden,” I pleaded.

“Have I ever told you that I like it when you whimper my name?”

I couldn’t even respond; his breath was doing all sorts of inappropriate things to my flesh. His mouth returned, licking, stroking, and working me into a frenzy until, all at once, the orgasm ripped through me, and I cried out.

Caden moved up my torso until he stared down at me. “Now have I convinced you?”

“Convinced me . . . ?” Of what? That he could do dangerous things with his tongue? Hell yeah on that one.

“Yes is the correct answer,” he said.

He wrapped his arms around me and rolled us so that I was partially draped across his chest.

“Mmm-hmm,” I said, curling up into him. “You made an eloquent argument—your mouth is very persuasive.”

Laughing, Caden pulled me closer, and his lips skimmed the side of my head.

I placed a hand low on his abdomen and let it drift south. He caught it and kissed it before laying it back at my side. “Tonight was for you and you alone.”

My throat constricted with emotion. The man I lay with, who drew lazy circles on my skin with his hands, made me feel beloved. I snuggled closer to him.

“I don’t regret any of this,” he whispered in the dark. “The world could be burning around us, and I think I’d still be happy, so long as you were with me.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Caden,” I murmured. “It just might come true.”

CHAPTER 12

W
e woke up before dawn. Neither of us spoke as we changed for fear that our new home was bugged. We stepped outside, our breaths frosting out in front of us. Last night before we fell asleep, we’d decided on scouting our new facility this morning.

The cabins were behind the facility, higher up on what appeared to be a mountainside. Behind them was wilderness. Lots and lots of wilderness. And that was where we’d explore today. We moved through the trees, every so often passing a cabin. Most were still dark.

Eventually we left behind the dirt paths. This could be a bad idea, depending how big the facility was. After jogging for about a mile, I grabbed Caden’s arm and pointed. When he met my eyes, he nodded, putting a finger to his lips.

We crept closer, carefully placing our feet to minimize the noise we made. Above us rose a fence almost identical to the one at the Big Sur facility. Chain-link and topped with barbed wire. And it hummed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. An electric fence?” Caden whispered.

“But no guard towers,” I noted, looking down the length of it.

As with the fence at our former facility, a dirt road circled the outside perimeter. However, unlike at our last facility, this one also had a dirt road that ran just inside the fence.

We saw the distant flash of headlights before the rumble of an engine broke the silence. Caden grabbed me and swung us behind a tree, hiding us from view.

I was pressed against his chest, and our breaths mingled. My eyes drifted up to his, and he tenderly tucked a flyaway wisp of hair behind my ear. We both waited as the patrol approached.

I peeked around the tree. “Four armed guards, just like our last facility,” I said as they drove by.

When my attention returned to Caden, he was still staring at me. “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

But it wasn’t nothing. Affection and desire mingled in his eyes.

Caden checked the wristwatch he wore. “Now we wait for the next patrol.”

Fifteen minutes later we saw distant headlights illuminating the fence. By that time Caden had begun to shiver.

“Cold?” I asked.

“Not at all,” Caden said. “I’m too hot for that shit.”

I rolled my eyes. “Real humble.”

“Humble is for pussies,” he said smugly.

“If pussies are humble”—I crouched down as the vehicle drew closer—“then I guess dicks have vastly overinflated egos.”

Caden squatted next to me. “I see what you did there.”

The sound of the engine seemed too close. A minute later I realized why. Caden cursed and pushed us more fully behind the tree trunk. The second vehicle passed inside the gate, so close I breathed in the dirt and exhaust it kicked up.

Peering out from behind the tree, I began to count the number of guards, four—and to focus on their visible weapons, assault rifles. As soon as my eyes landed on the driver, I hissed in a breath.

I’d vaguely recognized at least one face from the campfire the night before, which could only mean one thing.

Teleporters patrolled the perimeter.

“Brainwashed idiots,” I whispered as soon as they passed.

Teleporters monitoring the borders of
their own prison
. We were the only people stupid enough to want to be kept within when safety lurked outside.

“So our own patrol the borders—I’ll admit, it’s smart,” Caden said.

That was the kicker of it all. It
was
smart. Teleporters weren’t just trained soldiers; they were trained spies, trained
assassins
. Four armed soldiers would be difficult enough to slip past, but four teleporters? Nearly impossible. And they passed by twice an hour.

“They know the lay of the land better than we do,” Caden said, “and I can promise you that they miss nothing along that fence. They’ll notice if the fence or the ground surrounding it has been tampered with.”

I cursed. We wouldn’t be able to simply snip our way out of this place. “So then how do we escape?”

Caden didn’t answer me. I glanced over at him only to come face-to-face with the gun leveled at us. Behind it, Eric smiled.

I raised my hands, my heart pounding wildly.

“Still going to pretend you’re not planning an escape?” he asked me.

I glared at him.

“This is how I see it,” he said. “You’ve now proven you plan to leave. I could report you, and that would be very, very bad—”

In spite of the gun aimed loosely at him, Caden stood, looking ominous. He stepped in between Eric and me. “What makes you think I’d give you the opportunity to narc on us?”

“Or,” Eric continued, “you could allow Serena and me to join your little escape party.” At this he lowered his weapon.

“You do get that leaving here won’t magically erase the Project’s control over our teleports, don’t you?” Caden asked him. “’Cause so long as that’s the case, you’re still a prisoner.”

Eric ducked under a low-hanging branch. “I plan on exposing the Project as soon as we get out of here.”

“Why do you need our help?” I asked, eyeing the gun at Eric’s side. His finger still rested on the trigger.

“Two people can’t escape this place alone.”

“We don’t trust you,” I stated flatly.

“That makes you not an idiot.” His eyes moved to Caden. “This isn’t some ploy, but I will turn you in if you don’t agree to it.”

Great. Now we didn’t have a choice.

I shared a loaded look with Caden, then faced Eric. “Deal.”

Caden gave me a disbelieving look but said nothing.

Eric glanced between the two of us, missing nothing. “Great,” he said, flipping on the gun’s safety and holstering the weapon. “Then let the planning begin.”

Caden and I kept throwing cautious glances at Eric as we walked alongside him through the woods.

“I’m not going to shoot either of you,” he said, stepping over a fallen log, “so you can stop passing each other loaded looks.”

“Well, it’s kind of hard not to freak the fuck out when that thing was pointed at us not five minutes ago,” Caden said, nodding toward the gun.

Eric spoke as though he hadn’t heard us. “Each security unit runs a single perimeter check once every thirty minutes. They’ve staggered them so that the outer unit—the one manned by soldiers—runs in between the inner unit, our unit. That’s what you just saw.”

Caden grunted in agreement.

“We have to get past both units,” Eric continued. “In addition, there’s a single entrance bordered by guard towers. Each is manned by a single guard.”

“Why is the security so light?” Caden asked, stepping a little closer to Eric.

That was considered ‘light’?

“Most teleporters here don’t want to leave. But don’t be fooled—this is still a fortress. We’ll need to take out the main power source and the backup generator to escape.

“The backup generator I can disengage, but the main power line
. . .
You’re talking about shutting down a large power grid for at least fifteen minutes. I don’t have the equipment to coordinate that kind of blackout.”

“You don’t have the equipment
. . .
but you have the skills?” I asked.

Eric glanced at me. “I specialized in information analysis.” When he saw my confused expression, he clarified. “I was a hacker.”

I stared at him for a long moment, the wheels in my mind turning. “So that’s all it would take? Hacking the system that controlled the power grid?”

“Well, yeah.”

I knew someone else with wicked computer skills. “I think I know someone who can do that for us.

Caden touched my shoulder. “Ember, no—that’s another favor you’ll owe this guy.”

“You know someone who can do this?” Eric asked me.

My eyes cut from Caden to him. “I do.”

“Think he’ll be willing?”

I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I think so, but I don’t know when I’ll speak next with him.”

“Ember—”

“Fantastic.”

Caden gave me a look that clearly said,
What the fuck?

“Think you’ll talk to him before next Sunday?” Eric asked.

My brow crinkled. “A week from today? I might. Why?”

Eric’s gaze moved between the two of us, a smile spreading across his face. “I want us to escape then.”

“Fuck no,” Caden said.

“Got some pressing appointment then?” Eric asked.

“Screw you, dude. There’s no way we’re doing it then. Ember is still teleporting in the middle of the day.”

Eric glanced at me, his face empathetic. “That’ll go away soon.”

“How soon?” I asked. With everything going on, I hadn’t thought to ask Eric about his own experience.

He tipped his head from side to side. “A few weeks at most. A month from now you’ll be back to normal.”

“So what’s the damn rush to leave this place?” Caden asked.

Eric’s gaze swung to him. “You are.”

Caden raised his eyebrows. When he realized the other teleporter wasn’t joking, he smirked. “That’s real cute.”

“You and Serena,” Eric clarified. “Neither of you fully understand how bad this project is, thus you’re more likely to back out of our plans and decide to stay.”

Caden’s eyes narrowed. “That’s bullshit. Serena and I both lost someone. Don’t act like we don’t know how bad it can get.”

“Yeah, and what would happen if Ember got pregnant? Would you still be cool with her running, knowing that your kid could get hurt?”

Caden’s jaw clenched.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Eric said. “You wouldn’t be, Hawthorne. If you stay here long enough, that’s what will happen. You’ll get comfortable, knock her up”—Eric nodded to me—“and suddenly leaving will seem like the worst-possible idea.”

“Yet you’re okay risking Serena’s life? With leaving after all this time here?” Caden said, stepping into Eric’s personal space. “Don’t be a hypocrite.”

“Hell no, I’m not okay with the situation,” Eric responded. “But the thought of my kid growing up here and living my life? I’d be signing his or her death warrant by staying.”

I stepped in between them. “Everyone chill out,” I said, pushing the guys away from each other. I turned to Eric. “If I can arrange things on my end by Sunday, then I’m in.” A week from now. God, I was so close to freedom I could practically taste it.