10. Jackson

Chapter ten

Jackson

Raegan’s breathing slows and deepens beside me. She’s lying on her front, arms tucked under the pillows, and her back bare until the sheets crowd around her waist. My hand grazes across her smooth, exposed skin.

She doesn’t move.

I don’t expect her to. I had no intention of letting her leave my room tonight, which she would have if I hadn’t fucked her until she passed out from exhaustion. Now she’ll stay in my bed, exactly where she should be, until I return from an annoying but necessary errand.

I push those thoughts aside for a few minutes more and just enjoy this moment.

My fingertips trace along her shoulder blades, following the lines of her body down to the sheet, then circle back up to explore the phoenix tattoo inked at the base of her neck and some inches down her spine. It doesn’t take much effort to guess the meaning behind it when the words “and still I rise” are written alongside of it .

Another tattoo peeks out from beneath her blonde hair, and I move her locks up and back to get a look at the ink I’ve seen but never been able to study this closely before. It’s a single feather behind her ear, right over where her barcode used to be from GE, that turns into tiny birds at the tip, as if the feather is transforming.

My lips curve into a smile, and I continue touching my fingers to her flesh. I can’t help it. I’ve dreamed of a moment like this for so long. Where I’m no longer forced to watch from a distance and imagine the softness of her skin. I can feel it for myself.

Her warmth causes an ache in my chest and ignites a fire in my bones. I’ll do anything to keep this. To keep her safe. I memorize the feel of her skin and her expression of peace and contentment while she sleeps. This is what I fight for. What I will always fight for. What I’d put my life on the line for.

For the girl who thinks she’s the villain in this story when, really, she’s its hero. I still don’t know what happened to her on that island or the five years after, but I’m working on learning every detail. Whatever it was, it left her sense of self warped like a funhouse mirror.

My little one thinks she’s the one who’s changed. She doesn’t see that she still has the biggest heart of all of us. That she would willingly put herself on the line for any one of us or someone she deems as innocent. She puts scars on her soul to save and protect others.

Now, it’s my job to protect her and take every one of them from here on out. And I’ll do it all with a smile.

She shifts a bit in her sleep, and I watch her like a man enthralled. My cock stirs at the sight of her lithe body moving. I’m tempted to sheathe myself inside of her one more time, promising that I’d finally feel like I’d had enough and could leave without looking back. But I won’t lie. There will never be enough of her for me.

Rather than disturb her rest, I force myself out of the bed. There’s no rest for the wicked, after all.

I dress quickly and silently, each motion deliberate and measured so as not to alert Raegan or anyone else that I’m up and about. I pinch the paper in my pocket and pull it out to look at it again. It’s four words, nameless, but I knew exactly who it came from the moment the paper crane drifted in on the breeze.

The fact that he used the crane to send his message is a sick reminder of all the things he knows about me. It was a taunt, and seeing it still makes my blood boil.

I won’t let him ruin the meaning behind the crane for me and Raegan. I lift the paper in front of me and then snap my thumb down on the lighter from the same pocket. A tiny flame bursts to life, tasting the air in flickering movements before I bring it to the crane. The fire licks the paper, blackening it as it eats away.

My eyes stay trained on the fire, and I take a deep breath of the burning smell that tempts my inner demons for more. It’s too small, though, for me to fully enjoy it. I drop what’s left of the paper to the floor, then crush it and the mini flames beneath my boot.

The window in my room slides open easily. I sit on the sill, one foot up in preparation to leave, when I hear movement at my door.

A single knock hits the door before I open it. I doubt anything short of screaming would wake Reagan right now, but I’ll still do anything to make sure nothing bothers her.

Aiden’s standing there, dressed down in sweatpants and a shirt with his feet bare like he’d either been about to go to sleep, or he’d woken up from it. His eyes glance over my shoulder at the bed and Raegan. I don’t try to hide her, nor do I gloat, as Kellan likely would have.

I do lock the knob from the inside and then close the door behind me, stepping into the hall so that whatever conversation Aiden’s hoping to have doesn’t intrude on her sleep. Locking it won’t stop him from trying to storm in and wake her up as he had in his room a week ago, but it’ll slow him down to either reconsider or alert Raegan before he comes in.

He hears the click of the lock, and his forehead creases further with whatever thoughts are plaguing his head tonight. I tuck my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie, and I lean back against the door, settling in for whatever he has to say so we can be done with it.

Silence stretches between us.

I’m curious about what he plans to say. Is he going to comment on the fact that she’s in my room? Or tell me he thought she’d escaped him, which he now knows isn’t the case. I smirk the longer he seems at a loss for what to say.

“She’s still keeping things from us.”

I cock my head to the side as I study him. His jaw is pronounced from the tension there, and his face is drawn with anger. His hands are fisted at his sides. I can hear his breathing accelerate, telling me that his heart is likely racing as well. For all appearances, he’s trying to pretend he’s in complete control. But it’s clear to me that seeing her in my room has upset him.

I know he’s referring to her supposed birth certificate he found. He told me not long ago, thinking it would win me back to his side, but that in itself is the problem for him.

I’ve never been on any side but hers to begin with.

He doesn’t get it yet. There is no us without her.

The birth certificate is just another puzzle piece that I’m going to figure out. And when I get them all, I’m going to put them together until I know exactly what Raegan needs, so I can give it to her.

“Are you keeping things from us ?” I ask in an almost bored tone. I know that there’s more going on between Aiden and Raegan than either of them is letting on. Something happened on the island with them that will explain why there’s still so much tension between them.

“What would I be keeping from you?”

I shrug. “I won’t push. Just remember that the next time you accuse her of holding back.”

When he frowns, I lean forward and lower my voice to a threatening level. “If you want trust, then trust that my loyalty has and always will be with her. And there are no lengths I wouldn’t go for her. Even against you.”

Her enemies are my enemies. And so long as he draws the line in the sand separating himself from Raegan, he’ll know exactly which side I’m on.

I walk away from his stunned face and take the exit door at the end of the hallway .

It’s time to hunt the hunter.

The elevator pings and jerks to a halt on the Guild floor. My boot pushes off where I’d been leaning as the doors open into the massive great hall. I pass by the long tables and members without a word to anyone and no one greets me after being gone for the last two weeks.

I’m not here to make friends and everyone knows it.

I do, however, cycle through the various conversations happening in the room until I hear something of interest.

“—and she hasn’t returned your calls? That’s the fourth person this month! What job did she go on?”

“It was helping someone move or something like that.”

“Well, maybe Evie went with them to help unload, too?”

“For three weeks?”

Their conversation fades as I walk down a corridor that leads to the back offices. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of disappearances. I’d ignored it at first. There’s likely a simple explanation for it, especially as some jobs can take time to complete, considering the variableness of requests.

But instinct warns me not to ignore it this time.

I skip the door that leads to my office, which remains perpetually empty, and reach for the one next to it instead.

“—where is she now? No, let them do what they want with her. Just make sure she doesn’t come near this city.” My hand freezes on the knob at Thorne’s words on the other side. “And tell me if she goes anywhere else. I need to know where she is at all times, so he doesn’t accidentally find her.”

He’d better not be referring to my little one. If she’s been found…

I wait for his call to end before opening the door and letting myself in. Thorne jerks his head up when he sees me, but there’s nothing in my expression to indicate I’d heard him. He smiles at me as I take my seat on his desk and my eyes land on Thorne’s current victim, bound and gagged in the middle of the room.

“Jack! Good timing. I’ve been having difficulty getting this one to talk. Do you mind working your magic?” He grins widely, no doubt laughing to himself at the play on words he made.

I shrug one shoulder with a look of indifference. “Sure.”

He taught me the basics of torture, or “in-depth questioning” as he liked to sugarcoat it, but he was too impatient. Too easily swayed by emotion that he was prone to lashing out and killing his captives before getting the answers he needed.

That’s where I come in now.

“What information do you think he has?” I ask in an almost bored tone, resting my face against my fist as I look the man over. He’s in a suit, so some sort of businessman I’d guess, but nothing else sticks out to me to show his ties to GE. “Does he know where Raegan is?” I add in, setting the bait.

“He’s an attorney that works for the board, so I doubt he’ll know where one gifted person is.” Thorne wipes more blood from his hands with a rag, then leers at me. “Though it never hurts to ask.”

Damn.

He knows my loyalty to him only extends as far as our goals align. He wants to blackmail and use GE to make himself the most powerful man in the world. I want to find Raegan, who I thought had escaped the island from GE until my year-long search for her turned up nothing.

Thorne found me after his people reported someone with a similar gift to his being around. He offered to help find her and train me more on my gift, so I’d be able to protect her better…if I’d help him with GE. If she did get recaptured by them, I’d have a higher chance of finding her with Thorne’s resources.

Or so I thought.

“Right,” I agree simply. “Any updates since I left?”

He unties his plastic apron and tucks all his torture gear into his office closet. “Nothing new, I’m afraid. Unless this guy gives us something of use. A board member’s name would be nice.”

“I overheard someone mention another missing Guild member.”

Thorne scoffs. “Do you think I keep tabs on everyone in the Guild? I’m sure they’re fine and that person’s being dramatic. Since when do you care about it anyway?”

“I don’t.”

“Hmph. Well, don’t waste your time on it. See what you can get out of him and make sure you keep any noise contained. No one else should be back here, but you never know.”

I give him the nod he’s waiting for, so he’ll leave the room. I wait until his footsteps are gone before hopping off the desk to approach the attorney. Tugging the gag free, I tilt my head to the side and give him the full weight of my gaze. “Are you an attorney for GE? ”

“Please! Let me go. That man kidnapped me out of nowhere. I have no idea what this GE is” – he blinks repeatedly before he looks away – “but I will pay you to release me. I have money. I can help you find whoever you’re looking for.”

Lies. “I’ll let you go if you tell me everything that happened on the phone call before I came in.”

The man’s face brightens with hope. “Yes! He was talking to someone about a shipment. Said something about having another batch ready at the drop-off location tonight. He was listing off a bunch of things that didn’t make sense…what was it? Plants was one of them, mass something or other, invisibility…”

Gifts.

The missing Guild members.

He’s kidnapping and selling his own Guild members.

“And?”

“And…Oh! A girl that he’s been looking for is causing trouble somewhere. I think it was Ray…Ray something.”

Little one.

“Where?”

His eyes round. “Oh, I don’t—I didn’t hear—”

I pull a knife from my hoodie, flipping it between my fingers, and then slice through the cloth gag. He shrieks when the knife gets close, then drops his head, panting for air when he realizes what I’d done.

Between what the attorney said and what I overheard, I can surmise that she’s in the States somewhere with the freedom to move around. It’s time I stop hanging around this city waiting for leads and go back out on my own. But before that, I need to take care of Thorne. As soon as he finds out I’m no longer an ally, he’ll come after me as an enemy for knowing too much.

And while I’m stronger than I was before, Thorne knows my moves. I’ll need help to take him down.

I pull out my phone and dial the first contact on the list.

Aiden.

The safe house is destroyed from the roof inward. The exterior walls are made of brick, so most of it survived intact, save for along the top where the fire had been concentrated. The windows are all broken, giving me a glimpse inside at the charred remains.

I know, without evidence, that Thorne is waiting for me here.

I can practically hear his egotistical voice when I think of the words he’d written to draw me out.

Let me help you .

Clearly, he wants to crow over what he’s considering his victory at the safe house and use that to his advantage.

I’ve done nothing but stew over the fight that happened here two nights ago. When I’d almost lost everything. It should have never gotten to that point.

I’m supposed to be the best there is. Even with Thorne back in the world of the living, somehow, I’d beaten him once before without so many injuries. We’d had the element of surprise then, but there’s still something off about him that wasn’t there before. I’m loathe to admit that I may no longer be the biggest bad in the shadows as it currently stands.

I’ll have to fix that.

There’s no point trying to scope out the building to find him before he sees me. He called the meeting between us with his offer, and he won’t jeopardize whatever scheme he has by inviting stragglers. I’d kill them without hesitation, just like he’d do the same for me, and all talks would be off the table.

I stroll inside through the open doorway, casually stepping around the larger debris until I find a nice open area that gives me some room to move if needed. My eyes scan the building, automatically running through offensive and defensive opportunities, should a fight ensue.

“You sure took your time.” Thorne’s haughty voice carries through the darkness.

I smirk in its direction and watch him slowly walk forward into the moonlight shining brightly above us. “I had better things to do first,” I reply calmly, as if we hadn’t almost killed each other right here two days ago.

His smile is tainted and skewed by the ugly creature he is beneath the skin. I didn’t see it when I first met him, but killing a person apparently does wonders in exposing it. Now, it’s all I see when I look at him.

My monsters may be violent and bloodthirsty, but they at least serve a higher purpose beyond myself. Thorne doesn’t have anyone or anything to help curb his power-hungry nature. No compass to guide him or keep him in check from burning the world down around himself in his desperate grab for ultimate power.

I’d almost followed in his footsteps. I feel the same desire for strength. The obsessive need to be the best. To be able to take down anyone who stands against me if I so pleased. If not for discovering Thorne’s true intentions and reminding myself of my purpose in this life, I may have done exactly that.

The world should bow at Raegan’s feet for existing in this lifetime with me.

“Ah, your little one, yes?”

“I should cut out your tongue for calling her that, Thorne.” My fingers twitch in my hoodie pocket with the urge to follow through on that threat. Years of practiced patience stays my hand. I need to hear what he’s offering first.

Thorne drops his gaze to seek out my hands, likely checking to make sure I’m not readying myself to do it, before he laughs and looks back at me. “And yet, you aren’t. Which means you’re interested in my offer.”

The curve of my lips remains fixated in place as I wait for him to get on with it.

He grins and then drags his hand down the large piece of building debris that’s beside him. “I thought you might, after witnessing that failure of a fight.” His one brown eye snaps back over to me, searching for any sign of anger or distress.

I don’t react, and his grin drops a fraction in disappointment. “Now that you have your girl back, I’m sure you’re recognizing the severe disadvantage you’re in. Gordon is actively searching for her now that he knows where she is. There are waves of agents being dispatched to find and capture that other boy in your group. We are a company of hundreds, maybe even a thousand, and there are five of you. Five of whom I almost cleared the board of single-handedly, I might add.”

I catalog everything he’s saying and not saying for later inspection. He knows where we’re hiding out since he’d sent the message directly to me. He could capture Raegan and Dane at any time, but he hasn’t. His loyalty to GE only goes so far before his own personal goals rise above it. And, aside from power, what else would keep him from turning them in and earning higher favor with GE?

Me.

He wants something from me. So long as that fact remains, it will keep Raegan and Dane safe from him.

“Your point?” I ask coolly.

Thorne’s wicked grin returns. “I see so much of myself when I look at you, Jack. The same arrogance. The same aptitude for cruelty.” He lifts his hand from the debris and claps them together to remove whatever dirt or ash particles he’d picked up. “But you won’t be able to protect her with your ragtag group. You and I both saw how close you all came to losing. The others will only drag you both down and put her at risk. Trim the fat that’s holding you back. Come with me, and I’ll swear to you that no harm will come to your girl. From GE or anyone else. You know that there is no one in this world that could take on both of us.”

My head tilts as I peer at him. “You think I’d join Gifted Enterprise?”

He laughs. “Of course not. You’d be joining me and me alone. We’ll put on a show for GE to get what we need and then take it over like your friend did with my Guild. We can mold it into whatever we want it to be, and your girl will be safe.” Thorne holds out his hand to me. “What does it matter which side you’re on, so long as she’s safe?”

I stare at his hand and consider what he’s saying. “There’s a third option.” I pull my gaze back up to meet his. “I do this myself.”

He retracts his hand, but his expression doesn’t change. He thinks he has me. “That may be better than letting the others stick around, but you’re outnumbered. Arrogance can only get you so far.”

I shrug. “It’s only arrogance when my skills don’t meet the expectation.”

“You almost lost against me,” he reminds me.

“And yet, I rose to the challenge to win, anyway. I’m two for two with you, Thorne,” I remind him right back.

He smiles coldly. “For now. There will always be someone stronger than you or smarter than you out there. You won’t be able to beat everyone on your own. Especially not in a fair fight.”

“Then I’ll make sure I’m always the deadliest piece on the board.”