Page 32 of Heartless Legacy

“Don’t touch me!” I screech, scrambling away from the touch on my arm.

He drops down onto the floor but makes no moves to touch me again. My hands press against the carpeted floor. The solidness of the wall grounds me. The smells are the same ones I’ve been smelling for weeks, along with a hint of leather. Slowly, I open my eyes, taking in the man in full tactical gear.

“Just breathe, Sweetness. Just breathe.”

I do. Gasping breaths that barely inflate my lungs and then he’s dragging me into his lap. I feel his heart thudding against the palm I’m holding against his chest.

“Wolfe?”

I’m stiff in his arms as he crushes me to him. “Fuck, I’ve been so worried about you.” He whispers, pressing a kiss against my temple. I slowly turn my head and bury my nose against his chest, inhaling his familiar scent. Tentatively, I reach up, rubbing my hands across his body, squeezing wherever I touch, allowing myself to fall into the hallucination. He grunts and Ilook up to see I’ve scratched his face.It looks and feels so real.I press my fingertips to the scratch.Is this real?

“I know you’re not going to want to talk about it, but answer me one question before you start refusing help. How many people will I be castrating?”

I climb to my feet. Hallucination or not, as much as I love being held by Deacon Wolfe, I’m not this girl. My legs are strong enough to hold me up. Sort of. Wolfe stands too. “Let’s go, Thea, I’m getting you out of here.”

When we exit the room, Alexz is standing halfway down the corridor near the stairs that lead to another floor full of bedrooms. He’s doesn’t approach, but I can tell he wants to talk. I wrap my arms across my chest and say, “I guess I have you to thank for bringing my trainer to me.”

“Trainer?” He gives me an amused smile. To Deacon, he says, “Welcome to the hub, Beowulf.”

I can feel myself do a double take. That safe feeling quickly fading. They know each other. What the fuck? Deacon reaches for my hand, but I step away from him, even as he asks, “Am I supposed to know who the fuck you are?”

Alexz is unfazed by the hostility in his voice. “As a general rule,no. I don’t interact with the assets. But these are extenuating circumstances.”

“Wolfe, what the hell is going on?” I ask, inching closer to the wall. My hallucination is shifting. I’m about to enter the part where I’m fighting to wake up. I brace for the shock. The familiar jolt of pain when from when I fight against the suggestion, but it never comes.

“That’s exactly what I want to know, Thea.” To Alexz, he says, “Who the hell are you?”

“I have many names, but around here, most people just refer to me as Operations.”

Wolfe looks over to where I’m standing, then shifts his feet, settling into his offensive fighting position. “Did you bring her here to recruit her?”

Is this real or not? Do I have another grandfather or is this just a suggestion? Another escape attempt my mind has conjured up? “Recruit me for what, exactly?” My hands itch for a weapon. I flex my fingers, feeling for the chair that I know I’m strapped to.

“Anotèa’s an exceptional fighter.” Alexz’s gaze softens as it lands on me. “Among other things, but no, she’s not here to be recruited.”

The other things being I’m his granddaughter. Right? Fuck, I wish I knew for certain what to believe. I close my eyes, blocking out Wolfe’s voice, trying to use my other senses to tell what’s out of place. If I don’t focus on staying in this dream with him, I’ll find the way out and back to the hellhole of reality I’m really in.

“Don’t you think she’s a little young for you?” He growls. My eyes snap open at his insinuation.Eeew.The vest he’s wearing shifts, revealing an empty gun holster. See. Fake. Wolfe doesn’t own a gun.

“I’m not interested in Anotèa in that way.”

“Thea.” Wolfe growls. “Her name is Thea.”

“Theais here recuperating after being rescued from a complicated situation.”

“If you rescued her, then you could have dropped her off anywhere safe. Why bring her here and send me coordinates?”

Alexz says, “Because you were using Phoenix resources to find her. There was no reason to let you waste all those favors on finding someone who isn’t lost.”

Wolfe shakes his head. “So, this is about me? You want me to take another job?”

“We can certainly use your talents on another job, but Thea’s not bait. And you are correct. I could have dropped her off at asafe-house somewhere, but I wanted to get to know her without the pressure of the world hanging over our heads. Besides, something tells me the minute I give her freedom beyond this compound, she’ll be looking for an escape route. I figured she’d be more content with staying put and remaining safe if she had a familiar face around.”

Wolfe scoffs, “Safe from what? If anything, she needs to be safe from whatever the hell is going on here.”

His head shifts left, then right, taking in the guards around us. He’s thinking of attacking Alexz. My money’s on him, reaching Alexz before a guard reacts. He’ll get one, maybe two good hits in first, but these dudes are armed, and he’s not. “Wolfe. Calm down. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not Thea. You don’t know who this man really is or what these people do for a living.”

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