Page 80 of Tortured Soul
Carrie had pushed her desk against the large window on the far wall and pulled a round table in the middle of her office, five chairs surrounding it. Arc and Carter were seated next to each other, the pulled chair next to Arc suggesting Carrie had been sitting there.
“I don’t understand why they’re here,” Carter grumbled, eyes drifting to anywhere but Dimitri and I.
And here I thought he might actually have meant his apology from last night.
“We could have been elsewhere doing something else, but someone rudely interrupted,” Dimitri pointedly taunted, pulling the chair next to Carrie’s and indicating for me to sit. “Can’t always have what we want, can we?”
With bulging eyes focused on the table not to notice anyone’s stare, I found myself sitting excruciatingly slow. Maybe if I didn’t move too fast, they’d forget I ever existed.
I wish I’d created some dark clothes instead of stopping by the apartment to wear real ones…What a stupid idea to have chosen to wear the bright baby blue summer dress I’ve been dying to try on since I bought it a couple of days ago.
“I’m going to ignore the little jabs you keep throwing at each other,” Arc said, obviously already tired with this exchange, “and remind you that we’re part of the same bind group and it’s time we start acting like one.”
“We’re not binded,” Carter spat back.
Dimitri sat between me and Carter, and I refrained from rolling my eyes, already forgetting about my no-movement rule and more inclined to let my inner brat out once again.
“It doesn’t matter,” Arc growled, and I was pretty sure the whole room trembled at the sound. “You advertised her as your mate fordaysbefore changing your damn mind on a whim, and now people know she’s mine too. Your behavior has already been a headache to deal with and now I need us all to fucking move forward.Together.” As I lifted my eyes, I saw him looking straight at me, before he turned to Carter. “As discussed, you will be moving back to the house.”
Not sure I was happy about that…
Carter suddenly smiled, but it looked sinister. “I was doing just that this morning, but I stumbled upon a scarring sight.”
Well, if it wasn’t clear before, it was now.
Dimitri’s laugh was hysterical as he answered, “Right, scarring. Good one. Let’s not talk about what happened in your pants at that sight. Not sure what aroused you the most. Was it her blood flowing into my mouth, or my cock buried in—”
“Oh my—” I started, not sure if I was enjoying the tortured look on Carter’s face or if I wanted to run away and hide for the next decade.
“Can you please wait until I’m out of here before you start airing your dirty laundry out in the open?” Carrie groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m the one about to be scarred for life here, and Lola looks like she’s about to combust into flames any second now.”
I leaned toward her slowly. “Thank hell, please get me out of here.”
The room fell silent, everyone casting each other looks of either loathing or longing.
Carter moving back to the house I was now bound to live in was an issue. Especially since I really wanted Dimitri to stay around.
Not sure I would be able to endure the constant taunting, and fighting, and—andeverythingCarter brought.
“Alright, are we good to go?” Carrie asked, looking at each of us warily.
“Go ahead,” Arc said.
“Last night, my scouts took over four more cabins and raided all the documents they found.”
“Wait, you guys are going for the cabins?” I interrupted, leaning forward to place my elbows on the table.
Carter groaned but Carrie grinned. “Turns out, what you brought back was agold mineof information. There was a detailed list of the Guardians and other Immortals from the camp, and the bounty they offered for their capture, the rotation plan for the soldiers and their active cabins, a map of the surroundings marking some of the traps, and more things about the overall hierarchy of their army.”
Arc nodded, his face calm. How was he calm? There was abountyon his head? Was it what he was referring to last night when he said he was receiving threats?
“We’re confident that taking control of all the cabins will allow us to progress further and eventually find the place where they keep our missing Immortals,” he said, pushing one of the documents toward me over the table.
My fingers brushed his as I reached for it and he pulled his hand away abruptly, as if the contact with my skin burned him.
Okay, so we were back to him avoiding me like the plague. I lifted my eyes to his in confusion, but his gaze was focused on the information displayed on the document still in front of him.
Weird.
