Page 72 of After the Fall

Thunder boomed, rattling the windows. I checked my watch. It was almost three in the morning. “We’ll wait another hour. If they’re not back by then, we’ll set out so that we’re in Stirling County by dawn.”

Phoebe bit her lip and nodded.

The door to the dining room swung open and Atticus’ crew tumbled into the room. Pools of water immediately formed beneath them. Most of their eyes were golden rimmed with red, and they grunted and panted.

“Shit, guys. How much red moss did you take?” I asked.

“L-l-l-lots,” one of them managed to stammer. “We n-n-needed it.”

Another fighter, whose arm was profusely bleeding, stumbled into the room.

Phoebe launched to her feet and ran into the kitchen, returning with a thermos. “It’s… white tea,” she said, glancing quickly at the wolves. “I thought you guys might need it.” She handed it to the men, who took turns chugging the hot liquid. The gold in their eyes faded to a dull glimmer, and their bodies almost instantly seemed smaller, their muscles contracting with the elixir. It would only take a few seconds until they’d be able to speak and tell us the whole story.

As soon as the tea was gone, Phoebe grabbed the guy closest to her, one of our villagers named Brett, and shook him. “Where’s Atticus?” She had remained composed until now, but I could hear the fear in her voice. I did a quick head count and realized that of the team that had broken into Genocorp, only Atticus hadn’t returned. My stomach knotted.

“They took him.” Brett clamped his hand over the cut in his arm. “They were ready for us, Boss. There was nothing we could do,” he grimaced. “The rest of us barely made it out alive.”

Phoebe dropped to her knees and wailed.

“We need to go get him.” Tank shot to his feet. “Forget waiting for dawn, Wyatt. We need to go.Now.”

The crowd murmured, and the adrenaline in the room was off the charts. We didn’t leave a man behind. It was unheard of, an unspoken rule. For them to leave Atticus, it had to have been bad.

“Stop.” Everyone turned as Joe yelled. “It won’t work. You’re lucky you even found a way in in the first place. And look how that turned out.” He held out his palm to silence the crowd. “It needs to be me.”

“Dad,” Harper whispered. “No.”

He smiled sadly. “Sorry, Sunbeam. But I’m the only one that knows Genocorp inside and out.” He turned to me. “I can get your man back. I know where to go, and where they’relikely holding him. And I know how to hack into their security systems.”

“No,” Harper repeated. She grabbed my arm. “Wyatt. Tell him no. He’s not as strong as you guys. He—”

“He’s right,” I interrupted. “Joe, may I have a word with you? Alone?”

Joe’s lips drew to a line and he nodded.

“Can we have the room please?” I pulled out a chair and gestured for Joe to sit. Everyone else filed out of the room, silent, except for Harper.

“You too,” I growled.

“Wyatt and I will figure this out.” Joe hugged his daughter.

“Promise me you’ll come back.” Tears streamed down her face. “I can’t lose you again.”

“I promise he’ll come back,” I said.

“Wyatt.” Joe held onto Harper’s hands. “You can’t make that promise.”

“I can. Because I’m going with you.”

Harper gasped, grabbing onto both my arm and her father’s. “No. It’s too dangerous. I can’t lose you both.”

Joe hugged his daughter one more time, then shook my hand. He pulled me in close and whispered in my ear. “If I don’t make it out, you have my permission to marry my daughter.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

HARPER

The doorto the dining room closed behind me, separating me from the two most important men in my life. My dad’s hushed whispering to Wyatt played on repeat in my mind.Marry my daughter?

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