Page 104 of Firestorm
I shook my head, then flicked my eyes to the door, where the beam of light from the hall was glowing brighter as the door began to swing open.
Wyatt flipped the light switch then froze with his mug halfway to his lips when he saw me. He took in how I sat in his chair, how his laptop was open in front of me with my hands on the keyboard, and then he sighed deeply before putting his things down and flopping onto his couch, not even caring about wrinkling his pressed slacks and dress shirt. He threw back his coffee like it was alcohol, then grimaced.
I narrowed my eyes.
Maybe there was alcohol in it?
“How’s it goin’, doc?” I asked with a grin.
“I’m not a doctor, Rafe.” Wyatt pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why are you here? And if you tell me it’s to fuck with someone’smemories, you better be ready to warp out of here, because I’ll kick your ass.”
I clenched my jaw for just a second, pissed that he was reminding me of Vince, but also pissed about what had happened with Vince. I breathed out slowly, reminding myself why I was here.
“Skye redid her Link-testing. She was reading the files on all of us. You, me, and Brandt.”
Wyatt blanched and then threw his head back onto the couch cushion, his eyes burning into the ceiling tiles. “Fucking Aiden.”
“Yeah. Better put your papers in, Wy. That’s a conflict of interest to keep seeing him for counseling, isn’t it?”
Wyatt scoffed, then sat up straighter. “Rafe. This will not escape attention. This is a very powerful Chain Skye’s just been given.”
“I know,” I muttered. My father would be all over Skye the moment he learned of her existence. I needed to make arrangements now to keep her identity a secret, lest he show up on campus and piss her off to the point that she killed him.
On second thought…maybe they should meet?
I nearly scoffed at myself. My father was annoying, and his time would come, but not anytime soon, and especially not at the hands ofSkye. No, I’d do everything in my power to make sure the two didn’t meet before I was ready.
Wyatt rested his elbows on his knees and dropped his head to his hands, running them through his loosely styled hair.
“Should we avoid connecting with her?” Wyatt asked softly. My jaw almost dropped. Fuck, he was stupid.
“Fuck no. I’m going for it the minute she’s down.” I replied.
“Rafe, she doesn’t even know who you are.”
“She will soon,” I argued petulantly.
Wyatt sighed again. “I mean…whenyou connect with her. Won’t she be in danger?”
Shit.
“Sort of,” I replied with a sigh of resignation. “I was just reading about these missing Chains in the Midwest.Alexanderdoesn’t give a shit. But have you looked them up? They’re all…powerful.”
“Is she safer with us connected, or not?” Wyatt muttered to himself. “Someone’s kidnapping powerful Chains and your dad doesn’t give a shit. We’ve just landed ourselves in a potentiallybiblicallypowerful Chain, minus Brandt of course.”
I snorted. “You’re an idiot if you think that kid doesn’t have something up his sleeve.”
“You and I both know the Brandts are more than capable of strong-arming their way into an academy.” Wyatt muttered. “Besides, I believe he probably does have another affinity.”
“What, like he’s hiding it?” I gaped at him.
“No,” Wyatt groaned, like I was fucking stupid. Sometimes I hated him. “Lucille’s beaten him down so hard he…his self-confidence isextremelylow. He trusts his ability to wield fire but he doesn’t trust himself to do much else.”
More than irritation rippled down my spine at that. Lucille Brandt had been moaning about how disappointing Aiden was since he was old enough to speak. Why wouldn’t she be encouraging him to find a second affinity?
He chewed his lip before closing his eyes. “I don’t know what to do, Rafe.”
“Let’s talk to the kid.” I offered, and Wyatt shot me a glare. I snorted. We were clearly the old ones here, at twenty-eight. The other two members of our new Chain were both twenty-four.Children.
