Page 72 of Awakened Gifts
“Five seconds,” she warns.
His mind clears a path for me for the first time since I met him, and the defeated sound I hear is enough to roil my stomach.
“I’m sorry. Come speak to me when she goes.”
I really want to question that, but I can’t. He’s apparently about to lie to her, and I sure as hell can’t let her know that. Not when it means she could die.
“I’ll tell you,” he says aloud, moving his eyes back to meet Aria’s just after she delivers the one second warning. After taking another steadying breath, he names the three locations Alice would go to set a trap. He names off how many she’ll have guarding the doors, how many she’ll have to get through just to find Alice.
“She’ll want you weakened by the time she has to face you,” he says, close to being finished. “She doesn’t just want the upper hand, she wants total domination. She likes very little resistance, because she hates a challenge.”
Aria turns to head for the door, and I follow as she says, “She better be ready for a challenge, because I’m about to fuck her world up.”
The door slams behind us as we leave, and I grab her hand in mine, only to have her jerk free and recoil.
“You’re not going after her alone.”
“After I free Kellan and Simone, I won’t be alone.”
Panic sinks into my bones, but I try to be calm so that I can reason with the unreasonable hybrid woman that loves driving me out of my motherfucking mind.
“Kellan and Simone won’t be enough. You saw those people.”
An eerie smile forms on her lips, and she looks around to see if anyone is close.
“Simone is a hell of a lot stronger than people know. She only uses her gift as an offensive weapon when she has to. With Kellan being in danger, if shit hits the roof, she’ll go savage. I’ll have backup.”
Shit. Christ. Fucking hell. It’s like talking to a brick wall. She never budges. Simone is strong and unique, but she’s nowhere nearly as powerful as Araya, and these things are so much stronger.
“She’s never gone savage before, Aria. It’s pretty fucking unlikely that she’ll suddenly go savage right when we need her to the most.”
Again, she smiles as though she has a dark secret.
“Let me worry about that. My main goal is to get them out alive, and I’ll do what I have to in order to make that happen.”
“And they’ll have a better chance of living if you have backup, Aria. You can’t rush in there with no one covering your ass.
I really don’t like that damn look in her eyes, and I’m fairly sure my savage is going to break free as well if she keeps doing this.
“She has had them for several hours now, Jase. I’m the only one who can reach them fast enough. I’m sorry.”
She leans over and kisses me hard, and I grab her, holding her in place and refusing to let go, but she dematerializes in my hands, leaving me with nothing but empty air in my embrace when my eyes open.
Fuck!
I kick open the door to the interrogation room, and Fricks looks up with burdened eyes.
“Where is Alice really at?”
His smile is small, but he motions to his cuffs. “Get them off. You’re going to need me to get there. It’s hidden beneath the earth, and you’ll never find it before her. Those locations are real, and she’ll come across enough clues to figure out where Alice really is.”
He must think I’m fucking stupid. When I don’t respond, he adds, “I can’t go anywhere, and I have every intention of surviving and saving Aria. You know as well as I do that I can’t save Penelope without her.”
Simone’s last email to me rattles around in my mind.
“Penelope rejected Aria’s blood. The cure didn’t work,” I tell him, knowing he’ll change his mind about going and just give me the instructions to get there.
Tears fill up in his eyes, and he drops his head when they start to fall. His hope just got crushed, and to my utter disgust, I actually feel sorry for him.