United (The Guardians Book 2) (29 page)

She hated that similarity between them. It was sick.

“Everything was normal at first, but then I found the files on the OEP-”

“The what?”

“The Outcast Extraction Project.” He raised an eyebrow at her, then waved his arms around, gesturing all around them. “It's what this place, this whole
project
is all about. Extracting powers from Outcasts so we can use them elsewhere. Come on, you already know this. You don't need me to explain.
 

“
Anyhoo
, as I was saying, I found the files on the OEP – quite by accident. I thought Pablo would kill me when he found out that I knew, but instead, he introduced me to the world of Outcasts; he opened up my eyes and made me realize how small my world had been before. There
were actual
beings
out there with supernatural gifts,
real
magic, whole other
worlds
! Well, you must know how this felt – you experienced the same as I when you first learned the truth too, yes? When your wolf friend showed you?” Chase's face darkened then. Gable had never seen him look quite so. . .
evil
. “I hated it.
Hated
how much power these
things
had, how much more powerful they were than me. I'm not going to lie, Gable – it terrified me.” He shot her a self-deprecating smile, like he'd somehow gifted her with this admission. “And when I learned what Pablo was doing, I wanted in on the project.”
 

Gable frowned. Her back pressed against the office door as she took yet another step away, not wanting to be anywhere near this disgusting excuse for a man. How had he fooled her for so long? At least with Pablo she'd
known
he was evil. He'd never lied or made any excuses for it. Chase was just a sneaky, opportunistic, conniving son of a bitch. “So your endgame was what? Get in on the project and become one of Pablo's all powerful beings? Because you know what? I saw the future, Chase. The freaking reaper showed it to me. Those all powerful beings were nothing more than red eyed, mindless
monsters
, controlled by Pablo and Pablo only. They destroyed the whole damned world, you stupid ass. Is that what you want?”
 

He flicked a hand, dismissing her comments. “Obviously it's still a work in progress. I like to think I can show a little more finesse than Pablo did. He was all about the destruction. I'm smarter than that.”

A sick, foolish part of her wanted to defend Pablo. How dare he talk about him like that! Despite his faults, Pablo had been a great man. There had been none smarter than he.

But hell, how could she defend him after everything he'd done? After everything
she'd
done? What was wrong with her? Would she always feel the twisted connection to Pablo, the father/daughter link she just couldn't shake?
 

She pushed those thoughts aside as something occurred to her – Chase was talking in the present tense, as if he really was planning to continue the whole thing on even though the compound was being destroyed. And she realized – that was
exactly
what he planned to do. He was packing up all of his most important research, right in front of her eyes, and then he was going to use the key to get out of there so he could start the operation all over again.
 

She was so annoyingly slow.

If he took the key, they'd all be stuck on this messed up faerie island for good. That was not an option.

A small ball of energy, that was how Terelle had described it. How hard could it be to find? Where the hell would the little weasel be keeping it?

“I still don't understand how you went from cruddy assistant to partner,” she stalled, surreptitiously looking around for the key.

His composure slipped, and he glared at her for that. It seemed he really did have a problem with people having more power than him, and as an assistant, he'd have been very low on the totem pole. “Pablo let me start working on the OEP when I wasn't dealing with his hotel business. The more involved I got, the more irreplaceable I became. He was the first person to realize my true potential.”

“So he just made you partner? Pablo was never the kind of guy who liked sharing his power.”

Chase smirked, back in control of himself. “Jealous, Gable? Jealous that he trusted me more than you? Maybe if you hadn't been so obsessed with your wolf, Pablo might have thought to include you.”

“What is this? A competition for Daddy's attention? Just answer the damn question already.” Though her gun was still pointed at him, he didn't seem at all intimidated.

“It was actually just a precautionary thing,” Chase threw out casually. He picked up a file, inspected it for a moment, then threw it behind him in the trash. “Should anything ever happen to him, he wanted control in the hands of someone he could trust. And that was me. Of course, when
he imagined something happening, it was more along the lines of being captured and tortured for information. Once he was free, he would have taken back the reigns,” he added sadly. “His own death was something he never planned for. Why would he? He was immortal.” His dark, calculating eyes turned on her then as he regarded her. “I still don't know how you did it. And I don't mean the emotional
how could you kill a man who was practically a father to you
,” he mocked. “I mean physically. How did you kill an indestructible immortal?”
 

Gable swallowed hard, hating the way her body went cold and her hands shook when she thought about it. It had been almost exactly a month since she had been run down by that car, since she had been left broken and lifeless and so close to death. Pablo had loved her so much that he'd made a deal with a demi-God, had traded his own immortality for her life. And then she'd repaid him by stabbing him in the chest and killing him.

It didn't matter how evil he'd been. It didn't matter how many people told her she'd done the right thing.
She would never,
ever
forget the look of betrayal in his eyes as he'd taken his last breath, as he'd died right there in her arms.
 

There was no way she could tell Chase any of that; she still couldn't even bear to talk about it out loud, not even to Terelle or Cadby or anyone else who cared about her.

Chase seemed to sense that she wouldn't talk, because he shrugged one shoulder and pulled a
what the heck
face. “Meh. Doesn't matter anyway. I suppose it all worked out in the end. For me, anyway.”
 

Gable had been very, very wrong. There were no similarities between her and Chase, not even sick ones. Despite all his talk, Chase had never cared about Pablo, not like she had. He'd used him in his pathetic climb to the top, pure and simple.

She shook her head, the horror and the heartache overwhelming her in ways she'd thought she'd never have to feel again. “I always thought you were such a solid guy. You seemed so. . .good. The one bright light in the dark world we lived in.”

With wide eyes, he placed a hand over his heart. “I
am
a good guy, Gable! I'm exactly who you thought I was before. Nothing's changed. I'm just opportunistic, and there's nothing wrong with that.”
 

“Opportunistic!” she cried. “You kidnap people, Chase. Actual people! You lock them away and you torture them and you experiment on them. I saw them down there – there was barely anything left of them. It's evil! Pure evil.” She rubbed her free hand over her face, then slammed her fist back against the door furiously. “Jesus! All those times I confided in you about Sacha and you knew where he was all along, you bastard. I trusted you!”

He threw frustrated hands up in the air. “You don't get it! Do you know what it's like growing up with
three
perfect older brothers, Gable? Do you know what it's like to grow up with a controlling bastard of a father who is constantly comparing you to them, who is constantly telling you that you'll never live up to them? That you'll never accomplish as much as they have? I was
never
good enough for him. Even when I told him I was moving to America, you know what he said to me? He said
don't bother, son
. He told me I'd fail here just as I'd failed everything else.”
 

So Pablo had been like another father figure to Chase, Gable realized. A better one; the first to ever believe in him.

They really were alike – Pablo had been a father to both of them when they had needed him most.

“So this is all over
daddy
issues?” she demanded, unable to keep the disgust out of her voice.
 

Tutting, he shook his head at her like he was explaining something simple to small child. “You don't get it, you just don't. But you will. And so will dear old Dad. I'll show that bloody arse who has all the power.”

She scoffed. “In case you hadn't noticed, your whole operation is a bust. You
failed
. Your lab rats escaped and your guards are being slaughtered. Hell, the whole building is tearing itself apart
around you. You don't have power, Chase. All you have is epic failure. Pablo died, and you thought you could just step into his shoes but you can't. You're not him. You'll never be him.”
 

He scowled. “No, I'm
better
than-”
 

The building gave a dangerous tremble, and they book glanced up quickly.

The leeches must have all been taken out, Gable realized, and Ward was losing control again.

She was running out of time.

“Where's the key?” she yelled over the steadily rising noise, no longer trying to be subtle. She held onto the door behind her with one hand to keep herself standing.

Also sensing time was running out, Chase staggered back over to the cabinets and yanked a few more files out, throwing them haphazardly into the box. He tried to tape it together but the earthquake was making him unsteady and his hands shook too much so he threw the tape aside angrily.

He glanced up at Gable imploringly and took an unsteady step towards her. She lifted her gun higher, but he just sighed. “You're not going to shoot me, Gable,” he called knowingly.

She willed herself to pull the trigger.
Willed
herself.
 

It had broken her into a million pieces, but she'd been able to kill Pablo for the greater good. It hadn't been easy, but she'd done it. So why couldn't she kill Chase? Was it because she still couldn't quite grasp who he was now, instead of who she'd always thought him to be? Was it because despite seeing him standing before her, she could still remember what it was like to think of him as that sweet, innocent guy she'd thought she'd had to protect from their dark world? Or was it something else? Had spending all this time with the Guardians softened her? Changed her? Did she have morels now?

Chase stepped even closer, close enough to touch. He pushed her gun down with two fingers then held onto her arms, much like she'd done to him earlier.

It was then that Gable noticed something that made her go hot and cold, all at once. Her heart raced in her chest. Around Chase's neck lay a silver chain, and hanging from that chain, almost hidden beneath the collar of his white shirt, was a plain, silver key, no bigger than her pinky finger.

Could it be. . ?

Of course that's where it would be. He wouldn't be foolish enough to leave it anywhere but on his actual body.

“You're not getting the key,” Chase told her, speaking slow as if she was a crazy person he was talking off the edge. He had no idea she'd found it. SHE'D FOUND IT! “I'm leaving now, but you can come with me, Gable! The two of us can leave all this behind, take the key and leave. Just you and me! I
know
you've always cared about me and. . .” He laughed and shook his head, staring right into her eyes. “God, Gable, from the first day I saw you I just. . . You were incredible. Even all dirty and unkempt and covered in filth from the streets, I knew you were something special. You were too wrapped up in your wolf then, but I swore to myself that one day, when I had more power, I would
own
you.” Chase spoke as if that was some kind of a prize, like it was something that should make Gable happy. “So come with me! We can start afresh. Together! I can give you anything you could ever want!”
 

If Gable had thought she'd been disgusted before, it was
nothing
to how she felt after hearing those words. The idea of her and Chase. . . It was abhorrent. And that he truly believed she would accept was madness. That was all it could be. Where Pablo's evil motives had always stemmed from the darkness he'd witnessed over his long life, Chase's all came from that fact that he was clearly one crazy mother crapper.
 

She let him pull her even closer, then she murmured just loud enough for him to hear, “You make me
sick
.”
 

He pulled back, his nostrils flaring in pure fury.

The floorboards beneath them creaked ominously as the earthquake grew worse, and Gable could tell the building was just minutes away from collapsing completely. She was surprised it had even lasted so long.

A booming crash almost knocked her off her feet, and she looked on in horror as the room right next to them completely caved in, taking the wall between the two rooms and a little corner of theirs with it. The two of them watched in frozen silence as bricks and rubble and floorboards all fell into the gaping hole, taking even a desk chair with it.

“Bollocks!” Chase cursed, the display rushing him into action. He span and grabbed up his box. “Time to go!” Without so much as a backwards glance, he lifted his hand up to the key around his neck.