“By choice. Which means he knows an alternative.”
“Then you go.” I sighed again, not caring if fear and exhaustion perfumed the room like the fields of Grasse.
Warren’s scuffed boots appeared in my sightline, and I raised my head. His deep brown eyes bore into mine. “How do you feel now?”
“Fine,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Jo.”
“It feels like there’s a piece of me missing here,” I put a hand over the sweatshirt, the hennaed sun beneath and what a more metaphysically inclined person would call my sacrum. My other hand, just my fingertips, went to my head, touching gently like it was an open wound. I didn’t know why-it didn’t make sense-but I softly added, “And here.”
“But do you feel lighter? Like something has been yanked up by the root?”
I swallowed hard. “How do you know that?”
One side of his mouth lifted. “Your scent, Jo. You smell lighter. There’s less Shadow there. That’s all it took from you, don’t you see? Your Shadow side.”
Is that what Solange had meant by me being armored, then? Was my Light side somehow being protected? But she’d talked about my soul…
“I don’t want to go.” Even if he was right.
“Then Li will die.”
“Don’t lay that on me!” I yelled, even knowing that it was true, and that was my fault. “There has to be another way.”
“And we’ll be working to find it while you’re there.” He was composed again; my rising emotion seemed to calm him. He put a hand on my bruised shoulder. “Do it for your troop.”
I shook it off. “Your troop,” I muttered, because that much was clear.
Warren looked away, sighed, then paced to the door. Did he deem me a lost cause? Not quite yet. He turned, hope still alive in his eyes. “We still have a little time. Keep thinking and you’ll see I’m right. For now, it’s good to have you back. Chandra has been working in your stead. Kimber has been trying…not that she can do much.” He shook his head, almost in disgust. “I’d send her back to her family if I could. She’s miserable, and we need someone stronger.”
Of course Kimber was miserable. Warren was horrible at hiding his feelings. He wanted to throw her away because of her weaknesses, get someone else to fill her sign. I self-consciously tugged Hunter’s sweatshirt over my bruised wrists.
“Meanwhile, stay away from Regan. No matter what she’s told the Tulpa, she may kill you out of spite.”
I sighed in relief. So he wasn’t going to push me into Midheaven, and he wouldn’t lock me in the sanctuary either. Giving me a choice might be an obvious ploy at slowly gaining my acquiescence, but it was the least of all evils. Still, he’d admitted to locking Jacks in Midheaven, and he’d sent me in as well, knowing what the passage would demand of me. He had his reasons-he was the troop leader; he was Light-but both decisions tasted of pure, uncut ruthlessness. So was it true that he believed I’d given up nothing but my Shadow side? Again, how could I tell? How could he?
“Who else have you seen since your return?”
“Just Hunter.”
He bit his bottom lip, mind working like a calculator. I could practically hear it clicking away.
I raised a brow. “Is that a problem?”
“Of course not.”
I nodded, then looked at the ground. “Look, about this…about Hunter-”
He held up a hand. “Please. The less I know, the better.”
My thoughts exactly.
“As for the others…” He just shrugged. “They probably won’t be as…incurious.”
I wanted to tell him that the others didn’t need to know of my relationship with Hunter yet, if ever, but then a shout sounded throughout the warehouse, Felix’s unmistakable whoop as he scented out the where, who, and most of the what of the previous night’s events. I closed my eyes with a low groan. When I opened them again, Warren was wearing an ill-concealed smile.
“You might want to put on something a little more appropriate,” he said, taking in Hunter’s crumpled sweats. I couldn’t really see the point as I could still hear Felix, now grilling Hunter in a playful tone. Even Warren rolled his eyes as he turned away. “Besides, it’s time to train.”
I wavered on my feet, and had to brace myself against the wall. I couldn’t train with these people! They’d kill me just deflecting one of my blows! But Warren left the room before I could think of an excuse, and almost immediately, Hunter stood in the doorway, looking more hesitant than I was used to.
I straightened, rubbing a hand over my face as I shot him a distant smile.
“What did he say?” He asked.
“He wants me to go back to Midheaven. He says Harlan Tripp can tell me how to find Jaden Jacks.”
Hunter stiffened as he eased toward me.
“I told him no.”
Surprise froze on his face. “And he was okay with that?”
I tried for bravado, hoping the effort would actually lend me some. “What’s he going to do, force me to give up pieces of my soul?”
“Good for you, Joanna.” But as he reached for me, I could tell what he meant was, Good for us. I’d told Hunter I wouldn’t leave again, and though I’d meant emotionally, I decided now that it would hold true for this world too. And I definitely wasn’t going to tell Warren about Ashlyn now. Even if the Tulpa did know of her. Don’t ask me why, but it somehow seemed the lesser danger. How messed up was that?
“Hunt, about these maps…” I pulled back, wanting to ask what he was doing or planning, and what he so clearly didn’t want Warren to know. What they were arguing about. Why?
“It’s not clear?” he finally asked in the wake of all these unasked questions. I shook my head. “I was trying to find my way to you, Joanna. Once it was clear where you’d gone, I decided to come get you. I wanted you back. Safe and sound.”
His hands fell again over my back, reminding me of the bruises there. Sound. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against his chest. I wasn’t that…but as he pulled me close, dropping a kiss to my temple, smoothing back my hair with his smooth fingertips, I almost felt safe.
Then he spoke again. “C’mon. Let’s train.”
And he pulled me to the door, not knowing that what awaited me on the other side was the exact opposite of safe and sound.
“We have to drop back ten and punt, my friends,” Warren was saying as Hunter and I joined the rest of the troop in the shooting range. I scanned the cavernous room, quickly noting who was there and who wasn’t. Vanessa was absent, of course, probably given over to Chandra’s care since Micah was here, and a quick scan told me that Kimber had been omitted again. Dammit. My first thought had been to stick close to her, the weakest in our troop, during this training session. Though perhaps her absence was for the best. Her dislike of me had shifted into unconcealed hatred, and she would have probably used the opportunity to settle scores.
Not, I thought, something I could currently afford.
I turned back to Warren as I leaned against the plastic screen Felix, Jewell, and Riddick were clustered in front of, and fought to keep my thudding heart in check. It was beating too fast, and, though they didn’t seem to notice, I glanced back to find Hunter-arms crossed, one brow lifted-staring right at me. I jerked my head and turned away. Tekla was to the right of him and, though she had her eyes closed, she was always aware of her surroundings. Shit, we could probably communicate by mental telepathy, and she’d still know it.
Of course, our appearance together-and mine in particular-was also noted. Micah and Gregor managed to nod and merely look away, though Felix wiggled his brows, and Jewell blushed for me. Riddick looked more like he wanted to question me about Midheaven-they all probably did-but Warren had obviously already filled them in or told them to drop it until later. Probably both.