Page 18 of Uncontrolled

Talia points at me. “These people are all linked and they’re dangerous.” She pulls at the nape of her neck, massaging the corded muscles there. “You don’t get an opinion on this. You and your buddy Jamison were responsible for serious damage to our cluster.”

“Don’t,” Allie warns. Her fingers slide effortlessly through mine, anchoring us together.

“No, it’s fine,” I shoot back, my frustration clear. “I’m obviously going to end up the villain in every version of this story she tells herself.”

“Oh, right. I forgot how you showed up just in time to save us!” Talia laughs, the sound garish in the small one-bedroom efficiency. She waves her hand around sarcastically. “Throw the boy a ticker tape parade.”

“I—” I tried. I want to tell her. I came for them, to break them out. I played along with Jamison’s game because it was my chance to get Allie clear. But it’s my fault Jamison got them at all. It’s my fault Allie ended up cuffed in his cellar, bruised and bloodied.

Talia rocks onto her heels when I don’t offer a comeback. She knows she’s won.

“What do you want from me?” I ask.

Allie’s fingers flex and I’m not sure if she’s tugging away from me, so I drop her hand before she can drop mine.

“What do you want?” I ask Talia again, taking a step closer. If she’s remotely intimidated, she’s not showing it. I point to the space behind me that Allie occupies. “I killed for her. More than once. I would again.” The truth in the words breaks them apart, my voice cracking. “I screwed up. Do you want me to say I’m sorry? How many more times? Should I promise you can trust me? What do you want, Talia?”

“I want,” she drawls. “For you to stop whispering in her ear. I want you to stay out of business that is none of yours. Mostly though, I want you to disappear.”

Her entire attention fixes on me, cold and calculating while she assesses.

And then, as if nothing went down, she returns to the pictures. “Allie said you were followed.”

“Yeah,” I manage, not sure what to do with her shift.

She gestures at the wall of photos. “Well? Is he up there?”

I start slow, studying each of them. I’m not only scanning for the guy LowLow caught following me. I’m memorizing as many as I can to search for in the crowds. No one is getting anywhere near Allie. “Is the plan to kill any hunters you trap?”

“Worried about your friends?” Talia asks. She’s smug enough that I know she thinks I’ve given her a gift.

I keep waiting for Allie to jump in. Instead, she stands rigid, frowning.

“They’re not my friends. I never met them,” I say as I move on to the next picture. I stare at the guy’s photo as if I can divine his secrets, his address, his plans. Maybe he only wants to know how the blood works. Maybe he, like Jamison, wants it for himself. Is he curious or dangerous? “You really think a mass execution is the answer?” I ask.

Talia’s smirk reignites. “Under all the scheming and kidnapping and attempts on our lives, I suppose we should trust they’re good people at heart?”

“No,” I say instantly. “I learned the hard way not to trust anyone except her,” I say, thumbing toward Allie. “And possibly you.”

Talia humphs.

“Not a lot,” I add with enough sarcasm that Talia smiles. It’s small, a curl at the edges of her mouth, but it’s there. “If they’re dangerous to you and your cluster, yeah, put them down. What if they just want to spot a unicorn up close?”

“You think they deserve a closer look at me?” Her chin tilts, eyes narrowed to slits. “As if I’m some mythical creature?”

“That’s not what I—”

“Where do you expect that leads, Ploy?”

I don’t answer. I can’t tell if her question is rhetorical.

“Will they be satisfied once they see what my blood does? Or will they demand a sample? Why bother with a sample when they have a source?” she offers, her voice pitching higher.

“People reach out to you and Allie,” I say. “They pay you to do your thing. They know what you can do. How are these hunters”—I throw a set of air quotes up on the word—“any different?”

“Clients have to know about us. It’s how we help,” Talia says in a clipped tone. “The pay creates a power imbalance, and we use that to keep them in line.” For just a second, her attention slips to Allie before flashing back to me. “When someone starts with questions, when any single person learns too much, they become a threat. Threats need to be neutralized.”

“Strikes me as a decent excuse to murder anyone who doesn’t bow down to you.”

---