Page 12 of He is… Creed: Part Two

I hug myself, refusing the stick. “I received the phone, but no phone call from Caleb. I won’t be used or manipulated, Creed.”

He snags his cell from his belt and punches in a number before handing it to me. “That will be Caleb. There were unavoidable circumstances last night, or he would have called.”

I swallow, my heart racing as I stare at the phone.

“Addie,” Creed urges. “Take the phone, baby. I need you to hear what he has to say.”

His words are like a snap of reality, the endearment like a wash of sunshine and rain on my soul, all at once. It’s not real. We are not real. But the war is. I accept the phone, pressing it to my ear, my throat dry as I answer. “Hello?”

“It’s Caleb, Addie,” a familiar male voice announces. “Creed is one of us. He’s always been one of us.” I want to ask so many things and open my mouth to do so, but he adds, “Time is ticking. You’ll draw attention to yourself if you stay in that bathroom much longer. I’ll call you later tonight if you want to talk.”

My eyes rocket to Creed’s, and I know my expression holds a combination of relief and hurt over the way he’s chosen to keep me in the dark. “Yes,” I reply to Caleb. “Please call.” With that, I end the connection and offer the phone back to Creed.

He claims it and my hand—the connection, the shared touch, is one part bliss and one part torture. “Addie…” he starts, but his voice trails off, as if he isn’t sure what to say to me, and I’m not even sure what he can say to make this right. He should have told me. He should have trusted me.

His hand slips away from mine, and I am instantly cold and empty. He’s watching me with those blue eyes that only I can see as his lifebond, and I’m undone.

He undoes me in every way.

I don’t know what to say to him. I don’t even know what I feel, besides hurt. I hurt. I’m relieved he was never the enemy, but it’s hard to even put that into a place in my mind that makes it reality. This man, this GTECH soldier, is my biological lifebond, no matter how much the pain of the past lives between us. And for this reason, or maybe it’s more complicated than that simple answer, I’m not okay without him, and I know this; I have always known this, but on the other hand, a lot has happened. Maybe too much.

“I’ll get the data from the hard drive,” I finally say, because it’s necessary that I do, because Caleb wouldn’t be involved in this if my father was on the right side of what’s happened. “But I’m not handing it over until I look at it first,” I add. “Caleb might trust you, but you are too close to Julian to suit me.”

The door jerks behind me, and in one long, agile step, Creed’s palm flattens on the wooden surface, sealing it shut. He’s close again, his body heat radiating through me, his eyes pinning me in a hard stare. “There isn’t time to explain,” he says, “but the situation with Julian has become increasingly dangerous.”

“Make time,” I demand urgently, remembering his warnings of danger should he be exposed. “What does that mean for all of us?”

“Hello!” A woman’s voice sounds from the other side of the door.

“It means that if I had any other choice but to have you get this data, I would take it, but this isn’t just about us. It’s about our nation and the world. We have to find and destroy Red Dart before it’s too late, before Julian uses it against us, and he will.”

Acid burns in my throat. “Does he know about us?”

“No, but he knows there is something between us, which means he’s too close to the truth.”

Reality comes hard and fast. “I’m a weapon that can be used against all of you.”

“He’ll never get to you.” He takes my hand and closes it around the stick. “I’ll kill him or anyone who tries to hurt you. I’ll be close, Addie, watching you. Protecting you. Use the phone we left you if you need me. I’m programmed in the autodial.” His fingers brush my cheek, and I tremble with the tender caress, a physical reaction I cannot control, nor do I even try. I can’t fight with him when I’m scared for us all right now.

I catch his hand. “Creed—”

“Don’t let West touch you again. I won’t be able to control my reaction. You need to understand that. It’s not a choice. It’s the mark. It’s nature.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“And I hope you never do. There’s a lot I don’t want you to understand, but you will. I can’t stop it from happening anymore.”

“What does that mean?” I repeat, but it’s too late for answers.

He pushes off the door, forcing me to scramble as it starts to open. A second later, Creed has disappeared.

Chapter Ten

A little old lady appears at the entrance to the bathroom, scoffing at my obvious disarray. I back away, offering her space, running a self-conscious hand down my flared black skirt, thankful the silky material doesn’t easily wrinkle. The woman disappears inside a stall, but not before a glance at my buttons on the floor and then me. Jolted by her silent observation, I slide out of my now buttonless jacket and slip it over my arm. The elderly woman is out of sight at this point, and I step to the sink to inspect my image in the mirror. My hair is a mess, and there is a glob of smudged lipstick on my jaw and chin. I fix the mess and lean in for one last inspection…and I frown at what I find, my heart suddenly racing as my eyes dilate and change, fading from green to black and back again. I gasp, panic threatening to overtake me. I lean in closer, as if this angle will somehow change the reality of what I’m seeing. But it doesn’t. My eyes are one hundred percent no longer green. They are black—so black that against my pale skin with my blonde hair pulled neatly back at my nape, they all but consume my face.

I press my hand to my forehead. This can’t be happening. I’ve read all the lifebond research Ava left at Area 51, and, per her work, I can't fully convert without a blood exchange with Creed. We are not fully linked until that happens. My mind races with the possibility that the lifebond process has evolved, that Creed might know it too, and that he might be using our bond to get to Red Dart and my father.

No, I think, rejecting this idea. I don’t want to believe that of Creed. And I don’t believe he’s betraying Caleb, even if he’s lied to me. He had reasons—personal reasons—that mean nothing when it comes to the serious way he’s always taken his job as a protector of his country. But either way, this thing, whatever it is, is happening to me. I’m changing.

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