Page 49 of Miles

He turned to Martina. “And you know all about karate and stuff.” He did a few moves, waving his arms and kicking.

“Whoa! Slow down, Bruce Lee,” she laughed. “I’ll teach you how to really do it. Okay? But you’ve gotta promise you’ll be safe, and never use what you learn to hurt anybody.”

“I promise.” He made an elaborate cross over his heart.

The five of us continued down the tunnel together, with Tommy skipping along and chattering a mile a minute.

He made me miss Ainsley, strangely enough.

I looked forward to the chance to chat with her again once she and the others returned to Scotland.

A group of girls waited for us in the kitchen—or, rather, they were in the middle of preparing a big meal when we reached them.

“You’re early!” One of the girls, a petite redhead, embraced the guys before turning to Martina and me. She gave us the same sort of hug, like we were old friends. “I’m Jasmine, and I’m so happy you’re here.”

“Thank you,” I breathed, overwhelmed at all the affection and warmth.

Maybe because I had been without it for so long.

Alina stood at the stove, according to her sister, while Ciera stirred something in a large bowl at the table.

There was a bandage on all five fingers of one hand, and I remembered hearing about how clumsy she was.

“I tried to grab something from the oven with a damp towel,” she explained with a sheepish smile when Miles asked what she’d done to herself this time.

I decided that stirring was the safest task for her.

“Pierce and Fence had to run into town to pick up a few additional supplies,” Alina explained. “We, uh, broke a few plates earlier today.”

Perhaps Ciera needed to stay out of the kitchen entirely.

“Where’s Cari?” Gate asked, clearly trying to change the subject for her sake.

“In the lab, as always,” Ciera replied with a bright smile. “Working on something important, too, I bet.”

“Let’s go see her. She’ll want to hear about how the antidote worked.” Miles took my hand and showed me around as we went further into the cave.

I couldn’t get over everything my eyes fell on.

The rec room—I couldn’t think of a better word for it—with its gigantic TV and game systems and sound system and even pinball and arcade games.

“I’m pretty good at air hockey,” I confided with a wink.

“I’ll keep that in mind for later.”

We passed a library, where I understood Smoke spent a lot of his time when he wasn’t on guard duty.

Several closed doors—bedrooms and such, I guessed.

Finally, we stopped, and Miles rapped on the door before opening it a crack.

“Hello?” he called out.

Good thing, too, since we had obviously interrupted something.

A beautiful, blonde girl slid from a table she’d been sitting on and buttoned her blouse, while a tall, dark-haired man pulled a t-shirt over his head.

I buried my face in Miles’s chest, biting my lip to keep from giggling out of embarrassment.

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