I headed through the doorway, feeling the tips of my ears burn. Hunter slid his sunglasses up and both the brothers’ eyes were on me. I had the strong urge to run and hide behind something.
Hunter wiggled his fingers free from my death grip and put his hand on the small of my back as Lore moved in front of us. The foyer was virtually empty with the exception of a few leafy, potted plants. We passed an archway leading to a spacious kitchen and then a spiraling staircase. Lore led us into a large living room with a massive sectional couch wide enough to fit three people lying down side by side. I sat in the middle and it sucked me in the way all comfy couches do.
“So,” Lore said, standing in front of a large picture window overlooking the driveway. “I’m assuming you’re no longer with the DOD?”
“You assumed right.” Hunter sat beside me and leaned forward, dropping his elbows on his knees.
Lore arched a brow, a mannerism so like Hunter that it made me do a double take.
“Did you part on happy terms?”
“If leaving two dead officers behind is considered ‘happy’, then yes.”
I shot Hunter a look.
He grinned.
“Well then…” Lore sighed. “What’s going on?”
As Hunter told Lore everything, I settled back against the couch and listened. Even though I lived through all of this, it sounded crazy insane to me, like something from a bad science-fiction movie. When he finished, Lore looked floored.
“Do you think the Luxen are going to try to carry Project Eagle out?” he asked as he paced. “On a full scale?”
“I’m not sure,” I spoke up. “The senator never mentioned how many were behind it and the DOD…well, they didn’t think Mel overheard anything important. They’ve totally disregarded it.”
“Of course,” he said. “No offense, but I’ve found that when it comes to humans and Luxen, the humans tend to foolishly believe that they have the upper hand.”
“No offense taken,” I replied, because really, he was right. The DOD thought they had the Luxen community under their control and could appease them. They were wrong. “There has to be something we can do.”
“What?” Hunter asked, turning to me, his eyes narrowed. “There is no one within the DOD that I’d trust enough to relay the information to. Any contact could put you in jeopardy. I refuse to do that.”
“But—”
“He has a point, which is rare.”
Hunter shot his brother a look. “And besides, there is no proof. The only thing we had was the letter and that was destroyed. It’s doubtful that the DOD would believe it anyway.”
“So we do nothing? There has to be something! I know humans don’t mean much to you—”
“You mean a lot to me.” Hunter tilted his head to the side. “So fuck the rest of them.”
My eyes narrowed on him. “Well, if I mean a lot to you , then you’d understand there are billions of humans on Earth and you wouldn’t say fuck it. If they are serious about Project Eagle, then we need to do something.”
Hunter was unfazed. “I’m not doing anything that will put you in danger.”
Frustrated, I took a deep breath. “I get that you’re trying to protect me.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“And I appreciate it, really I do.” I held up a hand when Hunter’s mouth opened again. “But we have to do something, even if it’s a risk or even if Project Eagle flies straight into a mountainside and nothing comes from it. We can’t pretend like we don’t know about this.”
“Serena—”
“
“All right, lovebirds, as entertaining as it is to watch you two argue, there just might be something that I can do.”
Both of us turned to Lore. “What?” Hunter demanded.
“I know someone in the DOD that I trust—and don’t look at me like that, Hunter.
How do you think I stay off their radar?”
Hunter leaned back. “Luc owed you and he took care of it.”
I frowned. “Why does everything in the world come back to Luc? A fifteen-year-old boy?”
Lore snickered. “Luc…well, he’s Luc.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that.” I pushed that aside. “What can you do?”
“I can let my friend know,” he said. “Can’t promise it will cause the DOD to go on red alert, but it’s something.”
It wasn’t much, but it was a start, and it gave us time to come up with something more substantial. If Project Eagle happened, all of mankind was at risk.
“The only other option is contacting Dex to see if he can dig up anything or get the word out, but that is too risky right now.”
“It is. I don’t even know how I’m going to get his car back to him,” Hunter said.
Lore glanced out the window. “Is that his Porsche?”
Hunter nodded.
“And you drove that baby from West Virginia to Denver and then back here?” He cracked a grin. “He’s going to be so pissed.”
“Hey, there isn’t even a scratch on the thing.” Hunter paused, and a mischievous spark lit his pale eyes. “Just a couple of thousand extra miles.”
Lore laughed. “Well, now that’s settled. You two are more than welcome to stay here as long you need to. It’s safe and more than big enough.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” Hunter flashed one of those rare, beautiful smiles. “It will give us time to figure out where to go from here.”
Lore gave Hunter and me a tour of the house, basically giving us free rein of the second floor. Afterward, Hunter followed Lore downstairs to scrounge up something for dinner. At the top of the stairs I heard Lore ask, “Have you heard from Sin?”
“Yeah,” came Hunter’s reply. “He’s up to the same old let’s-make-war bullshit…”
Their conversation faded as they reached the bottom floor. Turning from the staircase, I quenched the wiggle of unease building in my stomach. I’d worry about their less than friendly, mostly psychotic brother tomorrow.
Right now all I cared about was that shower that adjoined our newly acquired bedroom. That baby had multiple showerheads.
I headed into the bathroom, a little amazed at the size of the room and the shower stall. What the hell did Lore do to pay for all of this?
Hell. Did I even want to know?
It took an embarrassing amount of time to figure out how to get all the showerheads working. I stepped back and started to pull my shirt off when I stopped. I turned, finding Hunter leaning against the doorway.
“Don’t stop on my account.”
I smiled. “I need to put a bell on you.”
“That would ruin all the fun.” He swaggered up to me. “But you seemed to know I was here.”
“I did. Not sure how, but I did.”
“Hmm…” He bent down, capturing my lips in a quick kiss that sent my pulse pounding. “Interesting.”
My eyes drifted shut as his fingertips skated over my cheek, tucking my hair back behind my ear. “We’re really in Georgia, aren’t we?”
“Yes.”
I pressed my cheek against his palm. “And your brother is really letting us stay here?”
“He is.” Hunter paused. “We’ll find our own place soon. And I know none of this is perfect. You deserve more than this—a life, a real home, a future. Normal, human shit, and I promise that you will have all of that. I swear to you.”
