“They’re with me, Mak.” A loud crack of bone against bone followed Ry’s voice as she struck him across the jaw.
Mak flew through the air and landed on top of one of the small tables in the front room. He slammed his fist on the top, and the whole thing crumbled like pieces of bread. If they couldn’t kill each other, how would they ever stop? I blinked several times to bring the room back to focus. Or maybe my vision was just fine, and they were too damn fast.
“Tek.” Catita touched the wet on my cheek. “You’ve done enough. Please go home.”
“I got him.” Alexa hooked her arm under my elbow and pulled.
I stood and leaned against the paneled wall. At the end of the corridor, Ry and Mak kept at it in a blur of punches and kicks. A normal person would have been pulverized by now. Why was the commando so pissed at Ry? Because she stood up for us?
“I can’t leave you like this. Come with me. Ry will find you.”
“Captain Weston already knows I’m here. It’ll be worse if I run.” She gripped the front of my shirt. “Go, please.” The urgency and fright in her voice made my stomach churn.
“Yeah, Tek.” Alexa tugged on my arm, pointing at the wide window at the other end of the building. “The really angry one is headed this way.”
“That’s Captain Weston. He’s one of the highest-ranking officers on the Epoch. Second only to Lady Sonja.” Her breath hitched, as she shoved me out away from her.
“I’m never going to see you again, am I?” I shuffled back toward the storage room.
“No.” Catita pursed her lips.
Behind her, the angry commando stormed through the door, plucked Mak off the floor, and shoved Ry against the counter bar. This was our only chance to make it out of here, while he was still busy with his own crew.
Every time the QEC descended upon our beach, bad shit happened. The acid burning at the pit of my stomach was the usual fear that lingered after an immortal encounter. Except this time, dread and longing was part of it too. Whatever this thing between Catita and me was, I had to let it go.
7
Out of Uniform. And Out of Place
Catita
Tek disappeared into the dark storage room. A gust of wind lashed down the narrow hallway, carrying a small trace of his scent—a mix of ocean breeze and sweat. Smiling, I stared at the dilapidated red door, breathing him in, memorizing every detail.
Downloading to Earth hadn’t been a mistake. I was glad to have met him. The guy from my dreams had turned out to be way more than I thought. He was brave and kind. Best part was, he didn’t die today as he did in my nightmares. I made a mental note to ask Ry if she was sure she’d never seen him before. Why else would Tek be in my head? Ry messed with my thoughts on the daily. Maybe Tek had been a residual afterthought.
Immortality and the virus had been around for over one hundred years, but we still didn’t know everything about it. Ry and I were Wela’s guinea pigs. Since we were little, she’d been impressed by how well Ry’s compulsion worked on me. She figured it had to do with the fact that we were twins.
“First-year,” Captain Weston called out to me.
Time to go home, but first I had to deal with the consequences of everything I’d done tonight—sneaking out of the Epoch, riding in a vehicle next to Ry, sailing across the bay with Tek, and saving Ari. No, I wasn’t sorry at all for any of it. I wasn’t sorry for wanting more. I pursed my lips to chase the grin off my face before I turned to face Captain Weston and Ry.
Mak had already left the bar, and all the commandos kept busy outside searching the marina. At least we were alone in here, and I wouldn’t be getting my ass chewed out in front of Ry’s entire unit. Thank the Titan for small favors.
The wide gash on Ry’s temple dripped with her silvery blood. It glittered and bubbled before it healed completely. The process was so fast it was as if I had imagined her wounds, though looking around the room, I knew that wasn’t the case.
Ry stood tall, oozing strength and confidence. Her shiny hair draped her shoulders, framing her pink cheeks as if her face were a work of art. After tumbling around the dirty floor of the bar fighting Mak, her skin should be covered in soot, yet it wasn’t. Captain Weston and my sister made quite a pair—flawless, impossibly beautiful, and lethal.
Captain Weston’s intense blue eyes under thick brows regarded me with the same disdain as the rest of Ry’s unit. He pressed his lips together, and his strong jaw flexed. For a beat, I imagined running my hands through his blond hair. It looked so soft and shiny, like strands of gold. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so bad to be killed by someone as handsome as him.
Wait, what? What the hell?
I glanced at Ry. She gave me a one-shoulder shrug in a silent apology for messing with my emotions. Compulsion wasn’t going to get me out of this or make it better.
When I met Captain Weston’s murderous gaze, butterflies fluttered in my belly. But not the good kind. They flapped then dropped to the bottom of my stomach like pieces of lead. Shit. At this point, I’d be lucky if my punishment only consisted of several weeks in solitary confinement. With Ry’s influence gone, I had to use all the willpower I could muster to keep my feet planted on the wooden planks and not crawl under a table as he approached me.
“Eyes forward, first-year.”
“Sir.” I stood at attention
