Page 45 of The Syndicater (Dark Verse 6)

Chapter 15

Morana, Gladestone

Tristan hadn't stopped lookingat his sister.

Morana watched from the seat of the limo, which was taking them back to the private airstrip where they had landed not even an hour ago. She wondered what was going on in his mind and his sister's.

Morana looked at the girl, her emotions in turmoil inside her. A part of her was curious, and another was cautious. Curious because she wanted to know and understand who she was. Cautious because she wanted to know and understand who she was to the Shadow Man. Luna obviously knew who Tristan was and who all of them were.

After they had both finished crying holding each other, Luna had said a tremulous 'hi' to her brother, and Tristan had responded with his own soft 'hey', so much softer than she'd heard him be with any adult. She'd heard him speak that softly sometimes to Xander or Tempest, especially when he knew no one was around to see that side of him. Now, sitting in the backopposite her with Luna, his arm around her, holding her close like he was never letting her go, emotion choked Morana. There was something so deeply moving about seeing him like that. He looked lighter than she'd ever seen him, as if a dark cloud that had always lived within him had dissipated, leaving room for some light to peek through, as if the rock that he had been rolling up the hill over and over had finally been put to rest.

His eyes locked with Morana as he tucked his sister close. He said so much to her, conveying so much with one look that she didn't have enough words to express it even to herself.

"Are you okay coming back with us?" Dante's gentle voice came from the side, speaking to Luna.

The young girl close to Morana's age opened her eyes that she'd closed resting against her brother, almost like she'd been napping. The brilliant green in them shimmered as she looked around the back of the limo, where Dante and Morana sat on one side, she and Tristan on the other, Alpha sitting at the front with one of his contacts who was driving.

Luna's eyes darted for a second before she gave a nod. She'd barely said any words, but then neither had Tristan. They'd both just been taking in the moment, basking in their new bond, what had been lost in their childhood refound in adult life. Morana could understand the sentiment, but her brain was also firing up with questions she wanted to ask the other girl. Where had she been all these years? What had she been doing? Who had she been with? What was her connection to the Shadow Man, and more importantly, did she know who he was? What was her connection with The Syndicate, and did she know about their operations? Who were the key players? There was so much she could know, so much Morana wanted to ask, but she kept quiet out of respect for this moment. They had all waited for so long for all the answers; a few more days while she adapted wouldn't kill them. Or at least she hoped it didn't.

Her phone vibrated in her hand with a notification, and she opened the private encrypted thread.

Get your codes ready again.

Fuck.

She hadn't even thought of the codes in over a year with everything that had been going on. The codes, she assumed, were the same ones she'd written as a bet that her ex-boyfriend Jackson had stolen from her, all on the command of her real father, whom she didn't know as anything but The Reaper. He had not only blocked her attempts to create another set of codes that would undo her first, just in case, as a failsafe. He had framed Tristan for it so she could go after him.

Morana watched the man she loved, thankful for the fact that her father had seen something she hadn't been able to in the beginning, enough to drive her to the point where they clashed over and over again. If he hadn't, Tristan would probably just have killed her, and she never even would have known why, and they never would have found a love so fulfilling it made everything that came before it disappear.

But why did the Shadow Man want her to work on the codes again? The man really just needed to meet her once so she could ask him the ten million questions she had.

She quickly typed in the encrypted text.

Why would I do that?

For answers.

Can we meet?

Tristan would go apeshit. He'd never liked her meeting the Shadow Man, but it wasn't like Morana had much of an option, not when she had been the one he'd contacted multiple times. She had to make do with the little leverage she had.

She waited for a text, but it didn't come. She typed again.

Thanks for the file. Can I ask why?

No response.

Sighing, she put the phone down, looking at her side to Dante, who was typing a text to Amara.

We got her. All of us will be at the compound in a few hours.

Morana watched Amara's reply come immediately.

I'll get things ready. How is she?

Dante hesitated, and Morana frowned, side-eyeing his screen as discreetly as possible, curious to learn about his thoughts.

Will talk later.

---