Gravity (38 page)

with Logan, Sunny had lived through in a cruel twist of fate. My heart understood how broken she

must feel—how lost.

“I love you,” I whispered. “I’m here. I’m always here if you need me, Sunshine. Please don’t

hate me for what happened. You have my word I’m going to find Nero and kill him myself. He

won’t take another life; I won’t let him.” She roused a little and whimpered when I kissed her

cheek again. Tears leaked from her eyes, and I couldn’t imagine the pain she had endured without

medication. Tenderly, my fingers brushed her wavy hair aside.

When I stood up, my eyes fell upon her body and I stood frozen in time.

Clutched tightly in Sunny’s hands was Knox’s black knit hat.

***

Logan didn’t utter a word during the drive home. My emotions must have burned his nose, so

he gave me the silence that I needed and dropped me off at my house.

It was very late, and the house was eerily quiet. I had so much pent up anger that I stood in

the center of our training room, pulling every knife from the wall with my energy and throwing

them against the opposite wall. It was enough to sedate my anger for a while.

The study possessed that wonderful smell of aged paper and leather bindings. No one was in

there, and it’s where Justus worked late some nights and fell asleep over the desk.

When I reached the end of the hall, Justus’s door was open just a crack. The soft glow of

candlelight remained still until a draft of air swirled in from behind me. Justus was lying on the

bed, stomach down, with papers and photographs scattered everywhere. They were on the floor,

the bed, a desk, and several opened boxes were lying about. Max stretched out on top of his back,

so I quietly tiptoed to a chair, took a seat, and placed a stack of photographs in my lap.

They were the pictures Simon had taken of the lab, and it looked like he had hauled everything

over here and they made his bedroom into a war room.

The documents were divided into separate areas of the room. The stacks by my feet were

related to my case, the piles covering Justus were images of Page’s apartment, vehicles, and other

unfamiliar locations. I didn’t recognize any of the names or medical terminology on the

photographs I held, but a giant medical book was sitting on the sofa along with several notebooks

and pens.

I stared at a photo of the fridge that stored all the blood. When I turned it sideways, the

writing on the vials became legible. What caught my eye was that one of them wasn’t marked the

same as the others. After trying a few angles, I could read it and something jogged my memory.

It was just a series of numbers, but I remembered those numbers. That was my blood that

Page had collected shortly after Tarek had attacked me. The numbers were the date she drew the

blood, and the last letter was an S.

Why was this in the lab? Was Page involved with the experiments?

“Justus, wake up!” I shouted.

The cat went airborne and scrambled into the hallway, leaving a scratch on the back of Justus’s

arm. He spun around, sending an array of papers to the floor. One of his eyelids was still closed

and he stared at me in startled confusion.

“Learner? Why didn’t you…” He shook his head as if he was unclogging water from his ears, but

he was really shaking himself out of sleep.

“Ghuardian, did you hear about Knox?”

He nodded, rubbing his chest sleepily. “I received a call not long after,” he said regretfully. We

both averted our eyes and sat quietly before I spoke again.

“I’m not going to marry Tarek. It was a lie. Logan had to save me and now he’s in trouble.”

Justus slid off the bed with his powerful legs and knelt before the sofa. “Are you hurt?” He

scanned my body for injuries before his eyes met mine again.

I shook my head. “I heard what happened to Page and I want to help you find her. I need a

distraction before I fall apart.”

“Not until you tell me what happened.”

“I lied to everyone.” As I spoke, my fingers tightly weaved together. “Tarek blackmailed me to

be with him. He threatened to kill everyone, including you. And Logan. Everyone,” I whispered.

“He made me do a lot of things I’ll never get over.”

Justus’s face tightened and his large hands curled into hard fists.

“The night of our engagement party, I escaped with Christian, but we got separated. A cop

helped me; just a regular human, but he was a decent man. Tarek tore out his throat in front of

me,” I said, covering my face guiltily.

“Why didn’t you call? I would have come for you,” he said. “I should have come for you

anyway.”

“You couldn’t have known what was going on,” I reassured him. “There wasn’t any time and

then Logan got dragged into it. He challenged Tarek to the death. Tarek’s dead, Ghuardian. He’s a

Lord, and that’s a serious crime.”

Justus nodded gravely.

“I need to ask you something.”

“Ask me anything, Learner.”

I flipped the photo in front of his face. “Why was my blood in the lab?”

He snatched the picture and studied it. “I don’t see what you mean.”

“Look at that one,” I said pointing my finger. “If you ever watched television, you might have

seen a show called Sesame Street. There was a little song they used to sing called ‘One of These

Things Is Not Like the Other.’”

Justus gave me an annoyed glance but he turned the photo, squinting his eyes.

“Those numbers are a date. Does that date look familiar to you? I remember watching Page

write it down. She put an S at the end for Silver. Wasn’t this supposed to be for private use—for

her to study? Why is it in this lab?”

“She swore she would not allow anyone else to see this, Learner. I believe her.”

“If you trust her, then I trust your judgment.”

Justus rose to his feet and Max strutted in, curling against his leg. I concealed my smile as

Justus always pretended to hate my cat, and Max never came downstairs. Now here he was,

curled up in Justus’s room.

“Where’s Simon?”

“Where is your guard?”

“He’s hanging out topside, keeping his distance. Simon?”

“He’s here.”

I shook my head. “I looked all over the house. He’s not here.”

A crease formed between his brows. “Are you sure? He went up to get food.”

We both hurried upstairs and checked out the kitchen, which was empty. Justus opened the

door to the pantry and chuckled.

“Here he is.”

I peered around his shoulder into the walk-in food pantry. Simon was passed out on the floor—

flat on his back—with an open plastic bag on his lap and his arm still inside it.

“Death by potato chip,” I said. “What kind of warning do you think the Surgeon General would

put on this?”

I smoothed my hand down Justus’s arm. “I’ll help you find her, Ghuardian,” I promised. His

shoulders lowered as if a weight had been lifted and it was the first time since the night of Merc’s

death that I’d seen him look so emotional.

On the floor, the bag crinkled as Simon pulled out his hand, rubbing his face to wake up. It

smeared grease and tiny crumbs all over his cheeks and brown hair. I laughed when he wrinkled

his nose.

“You are a national treasure, Simon.”

“Miss me already, love? I hope you’re back because you dropped the wanker.”

“Tarek Thorn is dead,” Justus said gravely.

Simon flashed his dimple at me and nodded. “Atta girl.”

***

I laced up my boots to keep my feet warm. Justus called Novis and had a long discussion; it

took some convincing that we had to raid the lab that evening. With everything going on, Novis

had other things on his mind and gave us his permission.

An innocent life was at stake, and each passing moment could bring more danger to Page,

wherever she was. She was connected to the lab somehow, and the two investigations merged

into one.

I gave Justus the necklace Tarek had imprisoned me with, explaining the unique metal came

from Nero. He left it in his bedroom beside a stack of photographs, and with Tarek’s admission, we

knew Nero was willing to sell it to anyone for the right price. Maybe HALO already knew this, but I

wasn’t privy to their investigations.

Justus blew past cars on the highway in his Aston Martin, using his energy to screw up any

radar detectors, although we were going so fast I didn’t think a trooper would see anything but a

blur.

What we knew about the scientists wouldn’t fill a thimble. Simon still hadn’t discovered what

Breed the third man was. He avoided following him because anything that would tip them off could

result in the destruction of evidence.

We armed ourselves with stunners—mine strapped beneath my shirt. Winter jackets were left

at home; Justus didn’t need one anyhow, and fighting with a parka on wasn’t on the list of top

recommendations for Mage combat.

Justus emanated heat within the car and Simon complained. “Bloody hell, mate, turn that shit

down. I believe your expensive little kitten comes with a heater, doesn’t she?”

“Silver is cold.”

Simon snapped his neck around. “Are you cold, Silver? Because if you are, you better get your

arse up here in the front seat and change places with me before I incinerate.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Turn it off, it’s fine.”

Justus tightened his grip on the wheel and the setting sun reflected on his gold ring, the one

every member of HALO wore. Aside from their business card, it was the only identifier, which

wouldn’t be mixed up with a wedding band since it was on the opposite hand. I tightened the

laces on my shoes, finding the repetitive task one that not only kept my mind distracted, but also

prevented me from throwing up. I swear the wheels were lifting off the asphalt at every turn.

The car rolled up to the lab and we heaved up out of our seats. Justus and Simon flashed to

the door and I simply ran at human speed. They turned and watched me before looking at each

other.

“I’m out of practice,” I muttered.

We had worked out a plan in the car of how this would go down. They needed me to get us

inside—avoiding any commotion that might set our targets to destroying evidence or calling for

backup.

I leaned against the door, concentrating my energy until the locks slid open. It was easier the

second time around. Christian pulled up on his bike and parked it behind the Aston. I had to give

him credit for spending the last hour on a vibrating motorcycle, trying to keep up with our car at

speeds up to 150 miles per hour.

Justus turned the doorknob, gripping a large dagger in his right hand—one he kept mounted

on the wall and never used. It was a frightening thing; slightly curved with a stunning black

handle.

As before, the front office was empty. Justus stood motionless by the door to the lab while

Simon quietly checked out the bathrooms to make sure they were empty. He was dressed in black

from head to toe and dishing out sexy with a messy head of hair that only he could pull off.

Christian remained at my side, ears alert as he made hand motions to alert Justus how many

men he heard in the room from the low murmur of talking. Two fingers went up.

Justus wore a sleeveless shirt and thin, black pants that allowed him the utmost flexibility. He

used his hands to sense energy within the building. Simon inched beside him as they prepared to

rush in. My heart galloped and I held my breath.

Everyone carried a weapon except for my guard. His weapons were his hands.

The two men who ran the day and early evening shift always left around this time. According to

Simon, the mysterious third man (or woman) would arrive, concealed under a heavy winter coat

with a hood. We were about to crash in on the two men.

The door flung open and Justus and Simon flashed in. There was a commotion of shouts and I

followed quickly behind.

Justus transformed into a blur of muscle. I caught occasional glimpses of his sharp blade

cutting through the air as he faced off with another Mage. Simon twirled his knife blade between

his fingers as he stared at a silver-haired man sitting on a stool. He wore a green sweater and

looked about as dangerous as a science teacher.

My eyes swam across the room toward a white curtain divider. I walked slowly to it as Christian

kept his eye on Justus and the Mage.

Curling my fingers around the edge, I slowly pulled it along the track to the left when a hand

clamped around my wrist and yanked me in. It was Slater, and I had just enough time to make out

Page—unconscious—strapped to the examining table.

Justus still fought with the Mage and because of all the noise and shouting, nobody had heard

Slater. Trays tipped over and instruments clanged on the floor. Slater’s arm wrapped around mine.

I wasn’t charged up because after wearing the necklace for so long, I had lost the control I once

possessed. It could be compared to your leg falling asleep—it takes time for it to wake up. Before I

could react, a sharp prick of a needle slid into my neck.