Page 120 of Sin

“Are you here to take us in?” Mare asked without looking at us, knowing we were there.

“Those are our orders,” London said.

Mare hugged her knees tighter, looking so small in that moment. She’d always been such a bold personality that seeing her like this was disconcerting.

“When did you know Lucas was your dad?” London asked when Mare didn’t respond.

Mare glanced at her dad, her brows pinched in worry. “When President Osborne presented us with his case.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Blade asked, her cracked voice revealing how much that hurt her. From who knew where, she’d found a simple black eyepatch to help cover her eye while it healed. “You knew we were trying to figure out who he was. So why did you keep it a secret?”

Mare set her chin down on her knees. “Because I knew if I told President Osborne, she’d take me off the case. And I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me from finding him. Not when I realized what had happened to him.”

“Fine,” Blade said, jaw working. “I get why you didn’t tell President Osborne, but I still don’t understand why you didn’t at least tell us.”

Startled, Mare finally looked at her. “You really think you wouldn’t have gone straight to her and told her? You?”

Blade looked hurt. “I’d like to think I would have at least heard you out and tried to understand.”

Dropping her head, Mare hid her face. “I couldn’t take that risk.”

“You mean you couldn’t trust us.”

“Okay, okay!” London held up his palm toward Blade, giving her a look. “I get that we’re all feeling a lot of stress right now, but let’s remember one thing.” He met each and every one of our gazes, including Mare’s. “We’re a team. And we look out for our own.”

He pulled out a small case we’d gone to great lengths to steal and tossed it to Mare. She caught, just barely, and slowly lifted the lid. Her mouth parted, surprise etched into the crease of her brow as she stared down at the three vials of blood. “I don’t understand.”

Parting from the group, I squatted down in front of her and tossed her a simple, black backpack, and her eyes widened when she opened it up to reveal the vials of C9 Lewis, Jinx, and Blade had stolen back from the labs. Mend had taken a little… persuasion in order for him to give us some of his blood.

“Where did you… How did you get all this?”

“Let’s just say that President Osborne’s not going to be happy when she finds out,” I said with a grin.

She blinked at me, then over at the others. “You could be arrested for this.”

“We know,” Blade said.

“We’re aware of the risks,” Jinx added, slinging an arm around Blade and Lewis, who both stumbled under his weight.

“Besides,” I said, standing up again and moving back to London’s side, “what’s the worst they can do? Throw me back in prison? Che, been there, done that. No biggie. Plus, on Mondays, they give out pudding.”

London pinched me.

“We might be upset that you kept this from us,” London said, watching her touch the vials with a trembling nail. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t understand why you did it. We all have our own trust issues, Mare. Each and every one of us. But will you trust us now to help you? To help you both?”

A single tear slid down her face and dropped on one of the vials as she nodded. “Yes.”

London smiled. “Good. Now let’s save your dad, okay?”

Mare injected all three vials of blood and two vials of C9 into Lucas’s body, and we all watched as any visible wounds started to seal, his skin warmed, and his breathing evened out. Within minutes, his eyelids fluttered, before he jerked awake with a gasp.

His wide, frantic gaze pinged around the room, and his hands grabbed at his throat, just where the collar used to lie. His breathing picked up faster when he found our team standing around, watching him. But the moment he laid eyes on Mare, he froze.

“Are you okay?” he asked, regarding her intently. He tried to reach for her, but winced at the injuries still working to heal. “Are you hurt?”

She grabbed his hand and sent him a wobbly smile. “I’m fine. How are you feeling?”

“Good.” He looked bewildered and pulled off the gauze on his stomach to see it nearly gone. “Surprisingly good. I…” He looked around, his eyes clear and full of keen intelligence, reminding me of when he’d broken into my mind at the carnival. I didn’t spot a single tremor in sight, and I wondered if this was what Lucas was like before being tested on. “What did you do?”

---