Page 34 of Raze
He gives me a sardonic smirk. “And I, you.”
We travel downstairs in the dark with the flashlight to guide the way for a long fucking time. It’s probably about thirty minutes, but with him, it feels like forever. I’m still in disbelief over what he’d done, what lengths he was willing to go to pry my secrets from me.
If only he knew my secrets would change nothing in this fight.
They’ll just change what he thinks of me. What the others think of me.
It’ll shatter whatever self-confidence I’ve built up over the last few years, the moment I see how they look at me after that. It’ll destroy me.
We reach a large wooden door, and Aiden stops before it and turns to me. “Against my better judgment, I’m going to show you something. Whether I believe you’re a sleeper agent or not is moot, as the others wouldn’t let you go at this point, anyway. I will find out the truth, but until then, expect to be with one of us at all times so we can make sure you aren’t communicating with the enemy.”
I roll my eyes at him. “If this is your S&M room, then I’ll just wait out here until you’re done.”
He stares at me, and I swear I see his hand twitch. Then he opens the door and ushers me in.
There are multiple doors in this empty room. All the same, stainless-steel appearance, so none of them look different from the rest. Except for the one he stands in front of, where there’s a tiny sliding slot that opens after he knocks in an odd rhythm. The slot closes just as quickly as it opens, and then there’s a loud thump, and the door opens.
The next room is clearly a security room with all the computers, monitors, and cameras on the wall. Someone greets Aiden, who he acknowledges with a smile and a nod, but we breeze through the room to another one. He moves so quickly that I barely have time to look at everything we’re passing. We walk down more stairs, until I wonder how the ever-loving-fuck I’m going to have the stamina toget out of here when he’s done with his “errand.”
I see at least a medical area, offices, a greenhouse or growing area, and further down, we walk into a large, open room that has a similar feel to the Guild main hall. Only greener.
It’s probably only a third of the size of the main hall, but its style and layout are roughly the same, with fewer tables and minus everything that had been under the half-dome. The place is flourishing with plant life. Trees, bushes, flowers, vines. There’s greenery everywhere, like a jungle has overtaken the room, and the people are just living around it.
Though, if I look close enough, the plants aren’t encroaching on any of the tables or areas where people are walking around. Organized chaos.
We walk by a mini waterfall coming out of a random wall in the room that then moves down a raised platform like a bubbling brook and then drops over the edge of the floor to another one, just like this, below it.
It’s…beautiful.
My hands curl around the railing as I look out over the rest of the area and all the people eating and laughing at the various tables.
“Welcome to our temporary Guild.”
“This is where everyone went?” I ask, unable to keep the amazement from my voice. I remember how he was working hard to fix the Tower to bring everyone back, and I had imagined they were all hiding away in an abandoned building somewhere. Kind of like we are in Old Red. But this?
“We’re deep underneath the Tower. The bunker has its ownseparate utilities for everything. Air. Water. Electricity. All hidden underground and apart from the building above us.”
Wow. Words aren’t enough to describe the wonderment of this place. And the liveliness of the people in it.
“Follow me. I just need to speak with someone, and then we’ll leave.”
He’s offering me a glimpse into what he’s built—or expanded on—and what else he’s fighting for. I’ve heard them all talk about the Guild, but I never imagined anything like this. It’s humbling.
I nod.
We walk over to one of the occupied tables, and I immediately recognize one of the people there. Her red hair is vibrant amongst all the greenery, and her voice rings out with laughter.
Cassandra looks up when we approach, and her eyes widen and sparkle when she spots Aiden. “Aiden! I didn’t know you were going to be stopping by today. Will you be visiting for a while?”
He smiles kindly at her, and I almost break a tooth off with how hard my teeth grind at the sight of it. “I’m not here long. I’m just looking for Claudia.”
Her face falls with disappointment, and it’s only then that she notices me. She makes a face, like she thinks I’m the reason he won’t be sticking around. Which, maybe it’s not entirely false, but I’m not against either.
“Cassandra, you remember Raegan,” Aiden re-introduces us when neither of us says anything. I’d been in the van when she’d healed Jackson and the others, but it’d been easy to ignore each other when she was so focused on healing them. Thankfully, Ihadn’t needed her services.
“Of course.” She plasters on a fake smile, just for his benefit.
Aiden gives me a look, and I think I hear my tooth crack. “Thank you for healing everyone the other night,” I offer her stiffly. I am grateful, but I’d be a hell of a lot more grateful if she’d stop touching the guys and looking at Aiden like she plans to get herself pregnant with his baby so he’ll marry her.
