Page 44 of Remnants
I wait for him to react, to show in some way that he heard me and understands what I’m telling him. There’s no one left to kill. We’re safe.
Jackson takes my wrist, his thumb pressing against my pulse. Finally, he takes a slow breath, closes his eyes, and releases it. Whenhis eyes open again, they’re calmer, if only a little. But I’ll take it.
“Send them back through the portal,” Aiden says from my other side. I didn’t even notice when he’d gotten so close. “It’ll save us the clean-up effort and show GE to think twice before trying this again.”
Jack nods. He pulls my hand away from his face and looks over the mess we’ve made. He probably took out a majority of the agents, but it wasn’t all him or us. The fighters here stood their ground. They may have hesitated to take the killing blow, but I don’t blame them for it. It’s still a huge improvement from most of the Guild members who are still learning how to fight.
We need these fighters, and they need us.
The agents are sent through the portal a few at a time, and after the last one disappears, the portal closes. I’d debated going through it to see if we could take the fight to them with this group, but we aren’t ready. There must have been some setting on it that would close it automatically when all the agents returned, or else someone was waiting on the other side to do it. Regardless, the stairs have become accessible again, and some of the fighters here take to them immediately.
“I guess that didn’t convince them that the threat is real,” Dane mutters beside me.
“Knowing it’s real doesn’t mean they’re prepared to fight. Some people may need time to come to terms with it. And others, they may not be fighters beyond the cage,” Aiden reasons.
More people file out of the room, and I hope he’s right. I hope a little bit of time is all they need to accept what’s coming and to make the choice to fight withus.
“Are we going to see that blond guy again? The one you almost fucked?” Kellan drawls, his blue-green eyes glittering with mirth while his teeth are bared in a sharp grin. He knows exactly what he’s done, stirring this shit up with the others right before we walk into Hype to warn them about GE’s recent activity.
After last night’s…event…at the Pits, we returned to the Loft to catch up on much-needed food and sleep. Anyone from the Pits who agrees to join us will show up in the next couple of days with their things, which sounds like a logistical nightmare to me, but Aiden assures me that Cibrina has it all under control. When I worried about her workload, he admitted that he’d already told her to hire two assistants to help her with all of her tasks.
He'd also asked me to try to find out from her what else she’d like as a thank you for everything.
Between her and Cassandra, I feel a girl’s night coming up.
If only I knew how to plan one of those or what to do.
As always, my thoughts turn to Portia, wondering how she’s doing and when I’ll see her again.
Aiden clears his throat, and I blink from my thoughts to find the guys watching me intently, the mood ominous. “Well?” he prompts, and it feels like I’ve been caught daydreaming in class.
“Uh, what was the question again?”
His lips turn down disapprovingly. For not listening, or is it aboutthe question? “We were discussing the guy you either had sex with or almost did.”
The guy…Oh. Kellan’s inflammatory statement about Ethan.
I roll my eyes and catch Aiden’s hand twitching at his side. “First off, I never slept with him. But if I had, it was before I was with any of you, so it wouldn’t have mattered.” The threatening mood doesn’t improve, and I sigh. “You know what? I think I’ll be fine taking this on my own. You guys can guard outside the door, and I’ll come out when I’m done.”
“Out of the question.”
“No fucking way.”
“No.”
“In your dreams, beautiful.”
I put my hand on the doorknob, blocking it to make sure they don’t try barging in first. “Let me do the talking, at least.”
Aiden puts his hand on mine, his body a deep inhale away from pressing me against the door. “What do you think we’re going to say? Are you afraid we’ll embarrass you?” he croons, his velvety voice wrapping around me while all I can smell and taste is cinnamon.
Everything about this man is seductive, reeling me in and molding me to putty. His lips curve to a wicked smirk, my only warning, and he opens the door. I fall back, hitting the door that he stops short while his smirk grows.
Kellan laughs as I right myself. After shooting a glare at Aiden, I send it Kellan’s way, too, with the added gift of my middle finger.
He winks back.
I’ll get them both.
