Page 40 of Ashes

“Sensible.” Eve traces a finger over my bicep. “Very sensible.” She glances at the TV. “Our fire bird made quite the mess, didn’t she?”

I nod.

“Do you know where they took her?”

I swallow hard and pinch the bridge of my nose. I heard them talking about a cabin. The words are on the tip of my tongue but, for some reason, I can’t bring myself to say them. Something deep in my gut, the first real instinct of my own that I’ve had in years, tells me to stay quiet. I meet Eve’s eyes and hold my nerve. “No,” I tell her. “They just ran.”

Eve blinks at me. She ticks her head to the side. Then she smiles. “No matter. We’ll find her again.” She slips her hand into mine. “And now, my darling, it’s time to return you to your father.”

19

KOLE

TWO DAYS LATER

Mack and Luther leave at sunset. The mask is still holding, and the SDB hasn’t found us yet. But that doesn’t mean it’s time to get complacent. So, they wait. Then they go to meet Rev at the barrier.

If it was up to me, we’d have made do with the clothes on our backs and the fish Snow and Tanner have been catching from the lake. But they’re not just meeting Rev for clothes and food supplies; they’re meeting her for news of what’s going on in town.

The last forty-eight hours, Nova’s mugshot and ours have been blasted over every social media channel and TV station—along with speculation that we’re behind H.E.L itself—butactualnews about how close the Bureau is to locating us? That’s impossible to find.

Mack thinks something strange is going on—that if they really wanted to track us down, they’d have done it by now. If Luther agrees, he hasn’t said as much. But then, he hasn’t said much at all since we got here. Whether he’s pissed that we’re inhiscabin, or just pissed that we’re in his cabin with Nova, I can’t work out.

“You still in Hulk mode?” Tanner interrupts my brooding by giving me a light punch on the arm.

If he knew the half of how I’m feeling… it’s waned over the past two days, but I still feel wired. It doesn’t help that we’re in a forest, surrounded by trees and earth and plants. All moving and pulsing, their energy pressing down on the cabin.

I look at Nova. She’s leaning on the counter, flicking through her phone. Her hair is scraped back, her neck on display, her ass jutting out the bottom of Luther’s spare tee.

A rumble, like thunder, drips through me. “Maybe we should test it.” In one swift movement, I sweep her into my arms and pick her up. She shrieks delightfully and laughs as I bounce her up and down.

“That proves nothing.” Tanner rolls his eyes. “You could do that before.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Nova coos, clenching her thighs around my waist. “I like it up here.”

“Is that so?” I rest her on the counter for a moment then say, “In which case I think you’ll love it up here.” I pick her up again, but this time I turn her so she’s facing away from me then lift her higher, and higher, until she’s on my shoulders.

Nova wobbles, steadies her hands on my head and clamps my neck with her legs. “Kole, no way, put me down.“

“If you say so, little star.”

Tanner stands back and watches with amusement as I lower Nova gently back to the counter.

When I look at him, there’s a sparkle in his eyes. He raises an eyebrow at me. “You think you could hold her upside down?” he asks, grinning as his eyes follow a path from her legs to her panties, peeking out from beneath the hem of the tee. Deliciously dark and lacey.

Nova shakes her head. “Oh, hell, no.” She jumps down from the counter, laughing, and tears across the living room.

The sound of her screeching as Tanner hooks his arms around her waist, and the thud of her heartbeat in my veins, makes me instantly hard.

She breaks away from Tanner, because he lets her, and laughs, but she’s backed herself into the corner of the room.

In a pincer movement, we close in on her. Tanner looks at me, bolts for her, then stops as she runs headfirst into my chest.

“Kole… don’t.” But she’s still laughing.

As I pick her up, she thumps my arms, squirming. I let her wrestle me then, over her shoulder, motion for Tanner to come help.

As if he knows exactly what I’m planning, he pins her arms behind her back and holds her upper half against his chest, supporting her weight while I hook her legs around my neck.

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