Strife: Hidden Book Four (32 page)

“And devoted. And possessive,” my father said, agreeing.

“And absolutely in love with you. But you already know that,” my mom said.

I nodded. “Yes. I do.”

I leaned down and kissed my mom’s cheek, patted my father’s shoulder, then I showed myself out of their room. I made my way through the loft and into Nain’s office. I found the loose floorboard, opened the safe. There it was, wrapped in dark fabric. I could feel its power and I took a deep breath, slid it up over my arm. I still hated the way it felt. Still hated the angry, vicious feeling that emanated from it. But I also felt my power increase even more, and that was what mattered.

I pulled my sleeve back down, put everything back the way it was, then I stood still and focused. I closed my eyes, and envisioned the yard outside my house.

When I rematerialized in my yard, the first thing I saw was the black SUV parked on the otherwise-empty street. I leaned against the trunk of one of the few remaining trees and watched the SUV. There were three Normals inside. They were nervous. Afraid. Also determined.

A few seconds later, the doors opened and they climbed out. Three men, all dressed in dark suits, ties. One was probably in his forties, dark hair graying at the temples, laugh lines around his eyes. Not especially tall, but sturdy looking. The second one was black, hair cut close to his scalp, a neat beard. He watched me, watched everything, as if he was ready to strike if he had to. The third man was the youngest. Blonde hair, blue eyes. He was mostly nervous.

The three men reached me, stood about four feet away from me, and we sized each other up.

“Angel,” the youngest one said, and I nodded. They screamed “government” and Jones had told me they knew about me. About us. And they all had decent mental shields, which means they’d trained to face me. They hadn’t come unprepared.

“I’m agent Ross, these are agents Monroe,” he said, gesturing to the older man, “and Dyson,” he said, gesturing to the younger.

“Pleasure,” I said, keeping my arms folded across my chest.

“We lost a good man in Chief Jones,” Ross said. “I am sorry. I know you were friends.”

“Thank you. We were.”

“He thought very highly of you, even though you scared the hell out of him,” Ross continued.

“I thought very highly of him, too. He was strong. And he gave everything he had to try to keep this city safe.”

“He did,” Ross agreed. “I know he told you that we wanted to meet with you. That we wanted you to help calm everyone down.”

“Yes.”

“We’ve known about you, about supernaturals, I mean, for a long time. We are also smart enough to know that we don’t stand a chance in hell against you. We did try, back in the seventies. We had people rounding up shifters, vampires. That never worked out well for us, no matter how outnumbered the supernaturals were.”

“I’m sure,” I said, feeling more than a little pride on the behalf of my supernatural brethren.

“So we decided to take a different approach. We’d watch. We’d monitor. We’d ally with high-powered supers like Jones to keep an eye on things. We did try to ally with your demon friend, but he wasn’t exactly welcoming toward us.”

“That does not surprise me,” I said, hiding a smile, trying to imagine these men trying to work with Nain. Recipe for disaster, that.

“We’re here to ask for your help, Angel. People are terrified. It’s chaos out here, and no one knows how to handle this. People are organizing hunts for supers, and that’s not going well for them. And we can’t even arrest the supers who retaliate, because it’s mostly impossible to catch them and even if we did send some men in to do it, they’d never make it out alive.”

He took a breath. “We all know that mortals messing with supers is a bad thing. And we also know that out of all the supers, you are the one the mortals know. They trust you. They never knew what you were, only that they suspected you weren’t entirely human.”

“So what do you want from me?”

“Cooperation. That’s all. Work with us. Advise us. Maybe try to reassure everyone. We don’t even know. We thought we were ready for this. We’re not.”

“It’s a mess,” Dyson said, and Monroe nodded.

I shook my head. “I’m not a diplomat, Agent Ross. I don’t do well with people in general. I work best in the shadows. If everyone knows what I am, my job will be harder. And I’m sorry, but saving people beats reassuring them, every time.”

“And how many might you save by warning them against hunting supers?” Dyson asked.

“And how much might it incite the crazies more if I start making speeches and shit?” I shot back at him. “They already fear us. Do you really think it’s not going to freak a certain segment out more if they think the government has supernaturals at their disposal? The conspiracy theorists will just love that.”

“What else can we do?” Ross asked, frustrated.

“You can stay out of my way, and let me do my job,” I told him. “The answer is no. I would be very unhappy to see any of you around my homes, friends, or allies again. Do you understand?”

“We’re already there. We’ve had one of our people in the Nain Rouge’s team for the past fifteen years,” Ross responded. “How do you think we know so much about you?”

And I felt it. An energy signature I knew all too well. I stared past the three agents at the man walking toward us. A man whose every line, every feature I’d memorized once upon a time.

“You son of a bitch,” I whispered, feeling as if I’d been punched in the gut.

Brennan stopped a few feet away from me, and the three agents backed away.

“Oh, you goddamn son of a bitch,” I said again, putting my hands over my mouth.

“Molly,” he said.

“I can’t believe this. Oh my god,” I said, backing away from him.

“Molly. Stop it. I’ve always been on your side. Always. I’m on Nain’s side.”

“You’ve been telling them about me? About Nain?”

“About everyone,” he said quietly.

“Why?”

“My parents died trying to protect people. I’m doing the same thing in a different way,” he said.

I stared at him. I couldn’t even process it.

“My role was to share information. My loyalty hasn’t changed.” Then he glanced at the other three agents. “Give us a minute.”

They walked back toward the SUV, stood there watching us.

“Did Nain know?” I asked quietly, wanting to hit him, wanting to hurt him so much it scared me.

He smirked. “This is Nain we’re talking about. Do you seriously think he didn’t know?”

“And he was just okay with that?”

He shrugged. “We never talked about it. I really don’t think he cared all that much. He knew the team was being watched. He knew there was a government agency that deals with supernaturals. They approached my parents when they were part of his team.”

“Did they join?”

“No.”

“I don’t see how anyone could be okay with this. You lied. You told them things about us—“

“Listen to me,” he said, raising his eyebrows, and I got the drift.

I never told them anything that would put you in danger. I am on your side, on Nain’s side, first.

“You told them about me,” I said aloud.

You know what I didn’t tell them? I didn’t tell them about us. I didn’t tell them how amazing it felt to be loved by you. I didn’t tell them about how the night you walked out on me, I was pretty sure my life was over. That’s none of their business. Okay?

Aloud, he said, “I believe working with them will save people. The secret’s out about supernaturals and now nothing is going to be the same.”

I stayed there, staring at him, wondering if Nether had fried my brain when she’d been in there. This couldn’t be happening. The three agents were staying back, surveying the destruction around my house, and Brennan wouldn’t stop looking at me.

“It was all a lie,” I said softly. “All of it.”

He reached toward me, and I held my hands up, used a force of my power to shove him back. “Do not touch me,” I growled.

He held his hands up, then glanced at the other three agents, who had all gone for their guns. “Stand down,” he shouted, and they did. He looked back at me.

What we had wasn’t a lie. I love you,
he thought at me.

“And I’m sure part of the allure wasn’t that you’d learn a whole lot about me,” I muttered.

“Emotions don’t lie. You know that,” he said quietly.

“Maybe they do.” I looked down, not able to look at him, not able to look at those slate blue eyes that I’d found myself falling into too many times. “You used me.”

“It was both,” he admitted. “I got close to you to learn more about what you are. That was my assignment. And the closer I got…” he trailed off, shrugging.

“That shit about imprinting on me as your mate,” I whispered.

“That was true. It made my job a lot easier,” he said whispered, looking in the opposite direction of the agents, hiding his mouth from them. “And a lot harder.”

I shook my head. “I guess you didn’t just spend those years away ‘traveling,’ huh? Not the way you said you did.”

“Yeah. They approached me when I was twenty, and after a year or so of thinking about it, I took them up on it. I told Nain and the team I needed time, that I was going to use the money my parents had left me to see the world. And I did see the world, just not in the way I’d said.”

“Must feel good to have lied to everyone who’s ever loved you,” I said.

He just watched me. “I know you’re pissed. I get it. I understand. And I’m sorry. Hurting you was the last thing I wanted. We need to work together, Molly. You know that what Ross was saying is true. You can save lives by talking to people. Calming them down. Putting a face to supernaturals. Jones knew it.”

“He knew about you?”

“No. And we didn’t approach him until it was clear that supernaturals wouldn’t be a secret anymore. We watched him, same as we watched everybody else.” By now, the other agents had rejoined Brennan and I, sure that any dramatics had passed. I felt numb. And the laughable thing was that this particular little revelation wasn’t even in my top five things I had to worry about just then.

Brennan watched me. “Jones agreed to ask that of you because he believed it was the only way to calm everyone down. Because he believed you were a living, breathing superhero. Because he had faith in you. And so do I.”

“I’m not a politician. Or a liar.”

“And we don’t want you to be. We want you to be a hero.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t look at him any longer. I clenched my fists at my sides. “Time to go before I hurt you. Stay the hell away from me,” I snarled. “I have shit to do that has nothing to do with making speeches and pretending to be something I’m not.”

They were annoyed. Dyson was flat-out angry. Brennan was irritated, guilty. But they left, each nodding respectfully to me as they walked away. Before he went with them, Brennan met my eyes. “I will be around. I hope you can try to understand why I did things the way I did them. You save the world your way, and I save it mine.”

“Fuck off, Brennan.”

He shook his head and turned and walked away. I watched him climb into the SUV and drive away, my mind spinning with the things he’d just revealed.

It explained so many things. Why he’d tried so hard. Why he’d been so frustrated with me when I left him behind. His training, his aptitude for organizing things and commanding teams. A freaking secret agent. And he wanted me to be some kind of superhero.

“Superhero, my ass,” I muttered.

“Well, they weren’t wrong,” a smooth voice said behind me. “Why are you the only one who can’t see it, little Fury?”

Power roared over me, around me, at the appearance of the immortal. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before. Ancient yet timeless. Expansive. Suffocating. And my power recognized it. Leapt in excitement.

I turned, and the being standing before me smiled. “I thought they’d never leave. It’s an honor to meet you, granddaughter.”

Chapter Twenty

The being standing in my yard looked like me in every way. Same small stature, same pale skin, white glowing eyes. Dark hair, huge black wings. I’d thought I was powerful until that moment, until I understood what true power felt like. Power older than anything in existence. Power older than time and space itself.

This was the being who’d created the Nether and the Aether. She’d created the Furies, the Fates, the Guardians, mostly in her own image. She was darkness.

My grandmother, Nyx.

I did the only thing that made any sense. I bowed my head to her, went down on one knee. The urge to pray, to beg her blessings, was almost impossible to ignore.

This was a god. This was what I didn’t feel with any of the other immortals. It was beautiful and terrifying, and I was crying before I even realized it.

“Rise, darling,” she said, and her voice was strong, quiet. Warm.

I rose, and watched my grandmother as she studied me.

“I am so grateful your mother and Hades had it in them to ignore that stupid prophecy.”

“Where did the prophecy come from?” I asked, hating to speak.

She smiled, and it was nearly too beautiful to handle. “From me. But, as the Fates so often do, they got it wrong. I love my daughters, but the egos of those three knows no bounds.”