Page 70 of Awakened Gifts
“You know, I really thought the mood was ruined after the attack, but you managed to salvage our wedding night.”
“You mean I savaged our wedding night,” he quips.
I snicker softly while shaking my head. “Other than the near-death encounter, I’m pretty positive I’ve had the best wedding night ever.”
He blows out a huff that mingles with a touch of laughter while shaking his head. “Yeah. That’s just the way I planned it,” he says dryly.
I just continue smiling as he holds me against his side like he’ll never let me go. Considering what lies ahead, we need to be living every day like it’s the last, because we don’t know when Alice will be coming.
We round the corner that leads to the lab, and I pull out my phone to see what the new access code is. Simone changes it the second she steals one of the labs as soon as we get to a different compound, but she always sends us a text to give us the new code.
After pulling up the message that holds the code, I hand it to Jase.
“Nothing,” he says, tilting his head as though he’s listening to words I can’t hear. “But if they’re touching, I won’t be able to hear her. Remember? Kellan’s touch blocks my mind.” He steps aside after entering in the code, and then he hands me my phone while motioning toward the door. “After you.”
I glare at him while shaking my head.
“Sorry, Commander. You’re going first. Just in case.”
He snickers while pushing open the door, and we both go still in the first room, waiting to see if there are any carnal moans or rattling tables. Nothing.
“Maybe she’s just in deep science mode,” he says with a shrug.
Relieved that I’m not going to walk in on anything that will burn images into my mind, I head into the secondary section that hosts Simone’s work section. But it’s empty. Well, sort of. There is lab equipment everywhere, and there are numerous dead bodies that have been opened up and prepared for examination.
Simone never leaves a lab in complete disarray unless she’s planning on coming right back.
“She must have gone to do something,” Jase says after reading my mind. “We’ll hang out until she gets back.”
The opened bodies on the table make me cringe, and I turn my head away from the tables that have blood pooled all over them. As my eyes scan the room for something that won’t make me sick, they land on something that steals all the color from my face as horror washes over me. The dead bodies oozing blood everywhere is more comforting than the message written in blood.
“Jase,” I whisper, dropping to my knees as a shiver spreads over me, consuming me in chills.
This can’t be happening.
“Son of a bitch,” he gasps, grabbing his phone after he reads the same message.
Five men have taken us. Be careful. It’s a trap for you. They expect you to follow.
She left that specifically for me to find, and I let her down by taking so damn long. I’ve never felt so selfish, guilty, or ashamed in all my life.
Jase starts barking out orders to people over the phone, seeming to shift into new conversations too quickly for me to follow, because I’m numb as I stare at the message I should have found sooner. Instead, I was too busy being wrapped up in Jase, and Simone and Kellan might possibly be dead already.
If Kellan let someone take them, then that means they were stronger. That means they came from Alice. That means…
“There’s no blood and no sign of a struggle,” Jase says softly, helping me back up to my feet. “If these people wanted them dead, they wouldn’t have gone to the trouble to kidnap them.”
A thousand different scenarios pass through my mind, and all of them leaving me heaving for a breath I can’t grasp. Torture. They’ll torture them both. What I went through was absolutely nothing because Captain Fricks made Hedin hold back.
Fricks.
“I need to speak to Captain Fricks.”
Jase starts to argue, but I cut him off. “Now!”
He tightens his lips while taking a deep breath, but he finally nods. “But I’m coming with you,” he says after too much silence.
I’ve been dreading the day Alice would come for us. Instead, she’s bringing us to her. Once again I’ve made the stupid mistake of underestimating her and her reach.