Page 63 of Into the Fire: After
Nothing. They were two sexy little sluts and I was more than happy to take in the show.
A mail pile sat a bit in front of me. Nosy me, I riffled through them. Bills. Coupons. Something business-y addressed to Amethyst Commons LLC. Promotional postcards.
My eyes snagged on one particular mailer with a red phoenix logo in the bottom corner.
Clinical Trials Now Open!
Enroll today, and help us discover a better tomorrow.
Eligible enrollees may be entitled to a stipend. Contact a Phoenix rep today for more information.
“Taryn?” Brea asked, voice quiet.
To the left of the text stood a woman, smiling and looking down at her baby belly, stroking it lovingly.
I felt my blood thrumming through my eyes and behind my ears. The paper was pulled slowly from my fingers, but I didn’t move. An arm wrapped around my shoulders. The scents around me changed from ripe and sweet to burnt and molding.
My heart pounded in my chest. Lights flickered at the edges of my vision, and my chest felt tight.
“They're restarting the project.” My voice was leaden. “It’s not over.”
I mentally went through the checklist of evidence we had. Hunting cam footage of the vans crashing through the gate, sounds of gunfire and struggle. Days later, right at the edge of one of the frames, the fucker dragging me back to the others.
Vikki’s documents from the first round of pregnancy trials. The connections she’d made to all the missing omegas. And everything she’d managed to pull from the Phoenix Lab servers before our hasty retreat.
All my medical test results and imaging. Graphs and charts that I couldn’t decipher but Brooks assured me added to the full picture.
Then there were the video files. I could only imagine what those revealed. Nova's, too.
I slammed my hands on the stone countertops before combing my fingers through my hair and leaning my forehead on my arms.
It wasn’t enough.
They’d bury it. Or they’d spin it.
Like they had the omegas they’d taken and discarded like trash. And who knew even what else.
How could we have a mountain of physical evidence, not to mention our own witness accounts, and still be so utterly empty-handed?
My lip wobbled. “They’re just going to keep doing this, and we can’t do a damn thing about it.” I looked up, meeting Lin’s concerned gaze. “But wehaveto dofuckingsomething.”
It can’t have all been for nothing.
Even before exchanging bond bites with Lin, I’d been fairly sure he could read my mind. Now that he had a direct pipeline to my rawest emotions, I may as well have had ticker tape scrolling across my forehead blaringFEELINGS OF INADEQUACY! SURVIVOR’S GUILT IS A BITCH! RIGHTEOUS ANGER AT CASUAL INJUSTICE!
He cupped my cheek with his hand and placed a tender kiss on my forehead. “The fight’s not over yet, sweet omega,” he whispered against my skin. “Empires take time to build, but I promise you, they crumble much faster."
Twenty-seven
Caine
There’sthishilloutsideof town. We drove over it when we left for my heat. I remember because it looked like one of those hills you have in anxiety dreams, that seem to reach straight up into the sky. I remember holding my breath as we came to the top, looking down. Would it plunge down as sharply? Or was it missing huge chunks of road so that lines of cars zoomed across the space or down to their demise just like in my dreams?
And the funny thing is, I’m not even exaggerating. Maybe the heat haze was already setting in, but somewhere in my brain I remember actually being scared that we were about to rollercoaster ourselves to death on this dark road.
I think about that hill a lot. I think about trying to ride my skateboard down it. Which would be stupid. I mean, the hill wasn’t quite as deadly as Past Me had worried about, but it was still pretty damn tall and pretty damn steep. Not something omegas should try to surf down on a cheap board and wheels.
But I wanna. What’s that say about me?
