Page 63 of Martyr
She’s diagonal to me, her gaze fixed on Wolfe. He’s next to her, and he has her hand in his. Palm up. He’s tracing some line and speaking to her in a low voice. Not sure what sort of bullshit he’s spewing—something about life lines, maybe? Elora was big into that. She liked tarot cards and psychic readings and stars. But, spoiler alert: none of it means shit when you’re at war.
Who would put stock in a crease in your palm? It’s dumb.
Next to Wolfe is Kora. She seems familiar, and apparently we’ve had a lot of interaction over the last two years. I don’t havea lot of memories with her, though. They were knocked out of my brain along with everything else. She’s with all three of them—Apollo, Wolfe, Jace—and I think my eyes bugged out when they laid it out for me.
I mean, good for her. I couldn’t have shared Elora…
Stop thinking about her.
On Tem’s other side is Reese. Then Antonio and his wife, Vittoria. Both seem grim. Daniel sits beside me, with Apollo on my other side, and to his left is Jace at the head of the table. The girl they brought back from Emerald Cove is absent, still hiding upstairs. Kade is downstairs.
They’re the only two in the house whoaren’there.
Jace finally stands, his chair scraping the floor and effectively silencing the quiet conversations. “We are all in agreement that Ouranos, also known as Marcus Graves, needs to be stopped. Wolfe was able to connect with some of our contacts, but not nearly enough. Our information network is severely impaired, which means we’re flying blind.”
“What about the sheriff?” Daniel asks.
“Antonio told us that his sister, Nadine, is currently in a drug-induced coma.” Jace’s attention flicks to Artemis. “We don’t know where he’s keeping her, but I imagine it’s somewhere close to him. He would want Bradshaw under his thumb completely, and forcing his cooperation by continually threatening his sister is a good start.”
Artemis drums her fingers on the table. “Another thing: Malik is missing. The Hell Hounds will be fragmented without a leader.”
All eyes turn to Wolfe. His father was the former leader of the Hell Hounds—I missed his demise, too—but when push came to shove, Wolfe wanted no part of the motorcycle gang.
Kora grips his hand tightly and gives him a small nod.
“Fine,” Wolfe mutters. “I’ll take that on. See who I can round up.”
“The clubhouse is gone,” Artemis adds. “You’ll have to do a bit of digging.”
“Okay.” Jace nods. “Wolfe will find the remaining Hell Hounds, see if we can pull a bit of manpower.”
“And where will youputthem?” Antonio asks. “Surely not here.”
“No,” Wolfe answers immediately. “The new warehouse is still standing, surely?”
Daniel makes a face. He has his laptop open in front of him, and his fingers fly across the keyboard. He swivels it around for us to see an aerial view of South Falls. The buildingisstill standing, if that’s a current picture.
“The first was blown up,” Apollo says under his breath. “About a year ago.”
I grit my teeth. My head hurts. This planning doesn’t really have anything to do with me, does it? I don’t understand why I’m here. Same with Antonio and Vittoria. They’re innocent. I can shoot a gun, at least, but I feel more like a soldier carrying out orders. Being around for the discussion seems wrong.
“I need some air,” I whisper back.
I slip out of the room, my shoulders hunched. Part of me wants to go back to the basement and talk to Kade. The other wants to rush outside, to heave myself off the cliff and let the waves swallow me. It would at least put a physical feeling on this intense pressure all over my body.
Since that would probably freak people out, and I don’t want a repeat of the hypothermia experience on the island—your fault for pushing her—I find myself going upstairs. To faceplant in bed? To bash my head against the wall?
The hallway isn’t empty, and I stop in my tracks. A woman is at the far end, and she stops mid-step when she spots me. Her face is familiar.
I tilt my head, racking my brain. Why is itfamiliar?
“Saint Hart?”
“Yeah—”
She comes closer, tucking loose strands of her white-blonde hair behind her ear. “Do you remember me?”
I slowly shake my head. “I’ve been having some memory issues lately, though, so it’s not just you.”
