I loved the idea of doing something tangible. “Goodbye Dr. Icahn permanently? Goodbye whoever this Doubleday is?”
He pointed at me. “There you are. There’s the Micah spark you’ve been missing for months and months. Looks like you needed this freak out.”
“I…” I hated to even think about what had happened. “I can’t remember the last few hours. Is that normal?”
Chad shrugged. “Do I seem like a psychiatrist to you? I have no idea what’s normal. Our brains have been worked over, or in my case regrown, so many times I can’t even begin to imagine how they function at all. Probably not. But which of us are normal anymore?”
An ache passed through my body. “Feel that?”
Chad yawned. “Sure. I guess it’s time to go kill Vampires. Can you?”
“Look, I know I lost my mind, but I’m not totally incapable. I’m sure I can take out some Vampires.” I got to my feet. I was looser than I’d been in a long time.
“No.” Chad laughed. He hadn’t stood. “I mean because you’re in love with a Vampire. Or former Vampire. So bizarre, but then I’m a clone. So who am I to judge?”
I followed his thinking, finally. “You were there underground. I don’t think Brynna has a problem with Vampire killing.”
“She didn’t watch us do it. So she may not have a problem in theory, but reality? It might be something you need to figure out.”
He made a fair point. “I didn’t say I was in love with her.”
Chad finally got up. “You don’t have to. What could cause a man to lose his shit like that? Love, my brother. Love. Trust me. I spent nights pacing the floors about Rachel. She was with a Werewolf.”
I’d have to think about it. After I killed some Vampires. “Are you fighting tonight?”
“Is that what we’re calling it these days? Fighting? Keith used to call it patrolling.”
Yes, he did. But to me, it had always been fighting, and maybe that’s what I missed when it came down to it. I spent too much time in my own head and not enough kicking some ass.
When the sun rose, all the Vampires who had come at us were dead and we weren’t. I bent over, holding on to my knees. Deacon stretched his arms toward the sun and nodded toward one of our new Warriors. I didn’t know what was more dangerous—a newbie Warrior or an older one who got sloppy?
Right then, I didn’t care much. I missed Brynna. This mating thing was going to be a problem. I hadn’t thought about her during the fight, but now every cell in my body craved the sight of her like I normally would air or food.
Was she missing me at all?
And just like that, she was there. The sun had come out. Dark circles marred the skin under her eyes. I reached to touch the side of her face and then stopped. I had blood on me. My own, I was afraid. I’d gotten nicked on my own stake. Vampires didn’t bleed. They turned to ash.
I didn’t want to get blood on her face.
She touched the side of mine instead. “You could die doing this. You know that, right? Sometimes the Vampires win. I mean, no one wins. This isn’t what they want to be doing either. But, sometimes they get Warriors.”
With her hand on my cheek, the softness of her skin touching my own, I could breathe again. “They haven’t gotten me yet.”
“Doesn’t mean they won’t.”
She was right. “Look, this is who I am. I can’t be docile, all the weeping and losing my mind to the contrary.”
Brynna was so quiet. Anxiety prickled at my skin while I waited for her to respond. “You do look better. Getting Chad was the right thing to do. Deacon told me to wait, but he was wrong.”
So Brynna had brought Chad to me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She dropped her hand but only to lace our fingers together. “What you’re saying is if this mating isn’t going to drive us both crazy, I need to accept you will risk your life nightly?”
I smirked at her. “I thought you didn’t want this. Ending the mating, right?”
“I want this.”
Her words banged into my soul like an explosion, but Chad’s words of caution from earlier had to be addressed. “I kill Vampires.”
She raised her dark, beautiful eyebrows slowly. “I’m not a Vampire anymore. I’m… something else. I don’t know what. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
“Careful. You now know I’m a crier. I might start again. You’re not alone. You have me.” I spoke the words and knew they were true. What had cemented this feeling? I didn’t know. Maybe it was mating crap, but this felt good, and why should I want it to stop?
She snorted, and then it changed to a downright laugh. I grinned. “Having me is funny?”
“You as a crier is funny. You didn’t really cry. You kind of roared. Like a lion. Oh, like your last name. L-Y-O-N. Get it?”
She was clearly not a punner. But she was so adorable I didn’t want her to stop. “Totally get it.”
“I… I think we need to speak to Margot. About the mating, yes, but I also think she’s lying. Shouldn’t she have known about Doubleday? Why didn’t she say anything?”
Had our doctor been a spy this whole time? The ramifications were concerning. She wouldn’t be the first person to betray us if nefarious intent proved to be the case. “Yes. But if we do this, you have to stay. No more running off. You have to live here with me.”
“Micah.” She looked down at the ground. “Do you think I’d be welcome?”
“Anyone who makes you feel elsewise can answer to me.”
And that was all I was going to say on that subject.
Margot must have known we were coming. She stood, staring out a window with her back stiff, and didn’t turn when we entered. She started speaking. “Every cloning machine has a purpose. Icahn kept DNA from everyone who lived here at Genesis on his. That let him decide who he could and couldn’t clone. Chad was strategic to have.”
She turned. Her eyes were red rimmed. Had she been crying? I didn’t interrupt her. When someone wanted to confess their sins, it was best to let them do it without talking them out of the need. Particularly since I needed her intel.
“When he and Rachel were taken prisoner and then escaped, the time the Vampires killed Chad, I was there. You were too, Brynna. Do you remember?”
My blood turned to ice. Realization dawned on me. Brynna had said she’d turned Warriors into Vampires. “Did you kill my brother?”
“No, but I could have.” She looked away from me. “Want to take back the things you said outside? I killed other people’s versions of Chad. Lots of brothers, sisters, lovers. The bloodlust hit, and I ended them.”
I stared at Margot, ignoring Brynna’s question for the moment. “You’re pretty manipulative, aren’t you? Brynna and I have a falling out now, and you don’t have to tell me what I need to know.”
She slapped her hand on her forehead. “I’m not trying to be. Sometimes it’s hard not to be. I was raised on conspiracy. What do you need to know, Micah?”
“Doubleday. The cloning machines. Where is Icahn? How much have you told all of them?”
Margot visibly shuddered. “Doubleday is like the devil. I only met her once.”
“Her?” I’d heard what Margot said, but I’d not processed it before. “Doubleday is a woman?”
The doctor put her hands on her hips. “Women can be the villain, Micah.”
“We can deal with Micah’s inherent sexism another time. I don’t think he’d argue that women can save the day. He’s followed Rachel Clancy through Vampire hideouts and practically into the pits of hell. He listens to me. I think it’s more like he’s shocked women could be bad rather than capable. When I want you to comment on who he is, I’ll ask you for it, Margot.”
Brynna’s fast response startled me. Only Chad ever jumped to my side like that. “I guess I did hear earlier when the scientists said her. I didn’t focus. I’ve had some things on my mind. Back to what we were discussing…”
“Doubleday is scary as fuck. She makes Ica
hn look tame. My parents, my aunts and uncles, they’re terrified of her. Every cloning machine has its purpose. The one where the scientists are cloned is deep in the center of Doubleday’s personal lair. You’ll find Icahn there. I haven’t told them anything. I manipulate to survive, but I don’t betray. Brynna should know that.” She looked away. Hurt flashing on her features before she turned.
Margot had saved Brynna. Mistrust must hurt. Unless the whole thing was a manipulation.
She spoke again. “I’m not the one you shouldn’t trust.”
Now that was an interesting statement. Brynna spoke before I could. “Who should we not trust?”
I liked the we. “Well, I think his father is probably right up there.”
“My dad is many things. An asshole, for sure. But not trustworthy when it comes to Genesis is unlikely.”
Margot’s eyebrows shot so high I thought they might fly right off her face. “I’m shocked to hear you say that. He practically handed Rachel to Jason’s dad to save Genesis, his son’s fiancée at the time. That was a big to-do in the studying the Warrior department with Doubleday and, if rumors are true, he told you to sleep with Brynna to get her to do what he wanted.”
I looked down at the floor. “I declined. I said no. When I slept with Brynna, it was for myself, not for him.”
Cowardice would have me keep my eyes glued to the floor. But I had to see how angry Brynna was going to be. Instead, her face was passive. “I think your point has been made, Margot. He’ll do anything for Genesis. Trust him to not be an ass? No. To do what is right for Genesis? Yes. I can see your heart, Micah. Very clearly. Don’t worry about Margot. She means well. She saved my life. A couple of times. She’s why I’m free. I’m giving her a few more free passes before I yell at her.”
Margot’s cheeks reddened. “Come with me.”
We walked out of the medical tent, past agriculture to the prison section. We didn’t have many people locked up in Genesis, but occasionally, someone did break the law. This was all non-Warrior business. We took care of ourselves most of the time. Policed our own behavior. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Margot pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked a padlock on a tent. She removed the device and then unzipped the tent. Were we going into one of the jails? I followed her in, keeping Brynna behind me.
Then I abruptly stopped. I expected prisoners. I got Vampires. Locked up undead, hissing and walking in circles. Brynna gasped. I couldn’t believe what I saw, but what got me even more was I couldn’t believe what I didn’t feel.
“I’m not getting signaled.”
Margot pointed toward the locked up Vampires. “No, of course you’re not. Just the same way you’re not getting them from Brynna. What you react to when you are in the vicinity of Vampires is the smell of their disease. It’s like if someone had smoke on them. I was never alive before, but that was how my father used to describe it. Whether he knew he was around a smoker or not, he could smell the old scent of cigarettes they’d inhaled hours earlier. That’s what you feel. It’s the same kind of reaction. Your bodies were fixed to be physically allergic to the presence of Vampires and Werewolves.”
I supposed what she said was interesting, but it didn’t answer my question. “Why am I not reacting to those?”
“The scientists decided since Genesis turned on Icahn, we shouldn’t get the benefit of knowing the Vampires were coming anymore. Actually, it was my Uncle Denny. He did it. They’re changing the Vamps. Experimenting on them. I told your father. He went with another Warrior and captured five of them. Knows all about this. And hasn’t told any of you that you are about to lose your one advantage over the monsters—that you know they’re coming. He wants me to experiment on them, see if I can change them back. But my days of experimenting on Vampires are over.”
Brynna stepped toward the cages. “I can’t see their memories. It’s like they’re blocked. If I can’t see them, they’re trapped. They’re all alone. The one thing that makes it bearable is the sense of not being alone.”
“You really can’t be trusted with a secret, can you, Margot?”
My father really needed to wear a bell. We couldn’t feel these Vampires or know that my dad was coming, apparently.
“I’m sick of secrets,” Margot answered. Unlike earlier, she didn’t look ashamed.
I ignored their exchange. What I needed to know before this went any further was how far down this rabbit hole did this whole mess go?
“Dad.”
He nodded. “Micah.”
Chapter 10
The room wasn’t silent. The caged Vampires, made too much racket. I couldn’t believe we’d not heard them outside. But, then again, that might just be something else my father was hiding from anyone—soundproof tents.
“You’re not going to be easy about this.” My father stated the obvious.
I pointed at the Vampires. “You have Vampires locked up in a cage in a non-Warrior area. No one knows they’re here. We can’t feel them. And none of these things were, I don’t know, important enough to tell the Warriors?”
His eyes flared. When I was a kid, I used to fear my father’s temper spiking. He didn’t frighten me anymore, not in the same way. If it came down to it, I was an inch taller than he was and he was sporting a black eye I’d given him.
“I think it’s important. The only advantage we have over them is about to come to an end.”
I waited for him to continue, and when he didn’t, I had to speak again. “Then why are you hiding this?”
He didn’t try to look away. “Why would I tell them? Why should they worry about what they can’t control? And why are you suddenly so interested in the Warriors? You do nothing but try to get away from them.”
That was so unfair. Brynna stepped in front of me. “Don’t talk to him like that. Why are you like this? Have you been taking care of Genesis for so long you’re not even aware when you’ve crossed a line? You want Margot to experiment on those lost souls? You keep them locked up? You don’t tell your own people what they need to know?”
My father ignored her. “Micah, I will keep us all safe by any means necessary. And some day when you’re older, you’ll understand.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I’m twenty-two. I’m not sure your standard age line works at all anymore.”
“Your mating has screwed with your head. I can’t even believe I had to say that. Mating. Vampires. Former Vampires. Leave it to you to send everything to hell. I don’t have to explain this to you, Micah. You’ll never be in charge, this won’t ever be anything you have to worry about. In the meantime, I can’t have you fucking this up.”
My father had cursed. I was stuck on such a small point, which was why I didn’t feel whatever slammed into the back of my head hit me. The world went black fast.
I woke up alone in a jail cell, fortunately not surrounded by hungry Vampires. My ears rang, and the world seemed tilted off kilter. I was concussed. Fuck. Again. I didn’t know how many times my former Vampire mate or whatever she was now could fix my blasted head.
“Brynna?” I looked around, but only the sound of my own voice filled the jail tent. No one else was with me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I got on my knees and sort of crawled slash stumbled toward the bars. When we’d decided to build this jail, I’d never imagined myself in it. They’d knocked me out and then what? My surge of need for Brynna rocked through me, and I bent my head, waiting for it to stop. How did the Werewolves survive this? If I could manage to live through the night, I was going to figure out how never to be separated from her again.
Maybe I would tie a rope from her wrist to mine. I rubbed my arms. This was getting ridiculous, but what did it even matter? If I was permanently co-dependent, then so be it. I wanted Brynna, and I needed to be the fuck out of here.
“Micah?” I didn’t expect to hear my sister’s voice through the tent window, but it was Tia for sure.
I touched the side of the tent. “I’m he
re. What are you doing here?”
“Well, the world is erupting out there, and I got sent to get you out since everyone discounts me anyway.”
My pregnant sister must have been messing with the lock since the side of the tent bent slightly. Then she finally poked her head inside to look at me. I supposed we all looked alike, all the Lyons kids. We mostly took after our father’s side of the family.
Our mother was lighter than we were in coloring, almost blonde. We were all darker than she was. Tia stepped inside. “Hi.”
My little sister had been a terrible Warrior. She’d purposefully gotten herself pregnant at sixteen to avoid having to fight. Her life choices notwithstanding, my nephew was adorable at four years old. She and Glen seemed happy together, and she was having another baby.
Tia could be moody, narcissistic, pushy, and manipulative. She could also be kindhearted and intuitive. I’d never been so happy to see anyone in my life.
“Hello, yourself.” I clutched the bars. “I’m dizzy. Did you say the world was exploding?”
“Dad had this idea he could knock you out, imprison you, and somehow subdue your… ah… whatever she is. Girlfriend?”
I pressed my head against the bars. “Can we do labels later? Thank you for coming. Get me out of here or keep talking about important things or whatever.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re rambling. You must be really hurt. Your—whatever she is—got away from Dad and had the sense to get to Deacon. He was pissed. Things have exploded. We’re getting out of here.”
I managed to get to my feet by holding on to the bars. “Brynna’s okay?”
“She’s fine, I think. I haven’t seen her myself. You know, because I’m not a fighting Warrior so no one tells me anything.” She pulled a key out of her pocket. I wasn’t going to ask her where she got it. Tia opened the lock on my cell. “Lean on me. I won’t drop you.”
The tiniest bump showed on my sister’s lean frame. “Can you manage?”