6. Raegan

Chapter six

Raegan

There’s something therapeutic about pulling weeds. I get to use brute force to yank them out by their roots, some harder than others, and after a power pull of ten minutes, I can see the difference I made. That’s probably the best part; seeing progress so quickly for my efforts.

I’ve gone as far as I can with cleaning between yesterday and today. It’s now up to Dane apparently to fix anything that’s broken, with Kellan’s help and Aiden running the errands for whatever is needed. They’re doing some updates as they go as well, already adding more light fixtures to brighten the place up and getting fresh furniture.

Overall, the firehouse is shaping up to be a really nice place to live. Even though it’s so big, it still feels cozy and warm.

I push my hair from my face and sit back on my heels with a sigh. I’ve tackled a quarter of the raised garden so far. I think I’ve earned a break.

Something white falls on the gentle breeze and lands in the bucket of weeds. I fish it out and smile at the paper crane. I twist back and look up at the roof.

Jackson’s sitting with his knees up and wrists dangling over them. His full, pink lips are tilted in that smile of his. The one that’s sharpened by violence and coated in darkness. I can tell just by the look in his eyes that he’s killed people.

We all have. Though some of us more than others. But it’s that off-kilter glint in his cerulean eyes that says maybe he’s lost count of the stains on his soul. And he’s still hungry for more.

Those very same eyes fall on me, and it takes my breath away. Not out of fear, like it should. I’m starting to see beneath his smiles and calm demeanor for what he really is. Jackson is dangerous. But so am I.

I climb up the lattice that’s mounted on the ground and stretches up to the roof. It’s a single story, so it doesn’t take me long to pull myself up there.

Jackson watches me like a hawk, unblinking. Like a predator staying completely still so as not to frighten its prey as it hops by without noticing the danger lying in wait. I suddenly want to know what he’s thinking. Where do his thoughts go when he’s up here, all alone? And what does he think about when he’s looking at me like he wants to devour me?

My entire body heats under his attention. Natural instinct tells me to run; to hide when he’s looking at me like this. But there’s a rush of adrenaline by defying it.

I’ve also never had anyone look at me the way he does.

I have his undivided attention. Me, the girl everyone forgot or left behind. The worthless failure .

But I don’t feel like that when his eyes are on me. I feel important. Special. Powerful. Because while he’s a danger to the rest of the world, I know he would never hurt me.

I scoot next to him, wrapping my arms under my thighs and then nudging him softly with my shoulder. “What are you doing all the way up here?”

Jack flips a throwing star above him and catches it between his thumb and finger. “I’m on lookout.” His voice is low and calm, but cold. Detached. It didn’t used to be that way on the island, but whatever happened to him since then has changed him in more ways than one.

“Are we expecting them to find us here already?” We’ve been here two days, and only Aiden has left to buy supplies from the small town we’re in. We are technically still in the city, but this town was here first and was absorbed by the city once it was built. A little forgotten town out in the woods and just far enough away from the city center to not hear the traffic.

It’s hard for me to sleep with so much quiet. Thankfully, Aiden bought us all clocks with radios for our rooms, so I crank the volume up for background noise, and it’s been enough to lull me to sleep.

“Not here, no. I have traps set in a perimeter that I’m keeping an eye on if anyone gets too close.”

“From here? Can you see them up here?”

He smirks. “No. But I don’t rely on sight as much as everyone else.”

I frown, confused over that. Then how…?

“I can hear it,” he answers my unspoken question. “If any of the traps are triggered, they’ll make a sound that I’ll hear on the wind. It doesn’t work if I’m too far away or if I’m too distracted. But I can carry the sound to me if I know where I’m looking.”

“Jack, that’s…amazing. I didn’t realize you could do that with your gift. You’ve really mastered it, haven’t you?”

His smirk sharpens to a razor point. He tosses the bladed star up and then flips his hand palm up while keeping it aloft. “These are mostly parlor tricks. I’m nothing compared to the man who taught me this.”

“That Thorne guy?”

“Mm. Thorne. I learned control from him. I can control the air around an object or a person and use it to move it as I want. Or even sounds and smells on the breeze. That’s it.” The throwing star flips and dances in the air above his hand in twists and turns, spinning faster and faster until it shoots into a tree like a bullet from a gun. “Thorne is all about power. He can command the wind itself. Use it to cut you. To trap you. To steal all the air from your lungs.”

Kellan had mentioned something like that when his name had been brought up before, but I thought he’d been exaggerating. How do you stop someone who can stop you from breathing?

Jackson peers at my expression, and his smile softens. “Don’t worry, little one. I’ll never let him hurt you.”

My smile mirrors his. “Right back at you.”

His blue eyes darken. I swear, if he were a wolf, he looks half a step away from gobbling me up right now. I think he likes that I fight. He wants to protect me, but it’s also more than that. The look he’d given me after watching me kill Joe, the kiss …

Maybe he likes to see me shine and win, even if that looks like me fighting and killing the bad guys.

Kellan would rather hide me away and out of danger. Aiden wants me to obey his every command and stay out of the way. Dane, well, he seems to have a foot on either side of whether or not he wants me alive.

Jackson’s inner monster sees mine, and we revel in each other’s darkness rather than hide from it.

I stare at my hands and think of my gift. Or curse, really. Others can use theirs for good, but nothing good can come from a power that just destroys everything it touches. How can I heal or help people by breaking things? “Now that you know what happened with Vera, has anything changed?”

His head tilts to the side. Like a dog when hearing a strange noise and isn’t sure what to make of it. “Why would it?”

I feign nonchalance with a shrug. “I wasn’t sure if the story matched up with your trust in me.”

He makes a small huff, more a puff of air than a laugh, then takes one of my hands in his. “I’ve said this before, but you didn’t believe me then. There is nothing you can do that will change my mind about you. You are perfect for me, in every way.”

A callous laugh barks out of me before I can stop it. “Perfect? You must be mistaking me for someone else, Jack. I’m broken. Weak. The only thing left of me is my revenge on GE. I’m a vengeful spirit at best.”

“No.” He squeezes my hand and then pulls me against him. He flips us over so he’s on his hands and knees over me. His thumb traces something across my cheek, and I realize I must have dirt from the garden all over my face. “You are Raegan and more. They may have broken you to pieces, and some of them may bathe in blood and darkness and pain, but they call to me just as strongly as the pieces you’ve guarded all this time. All of them still belong to you, make you who you are. Your jagged edges may not fit each other anymore, but they fit with mine.”

Jack leans in close, so his pretty lips feather over mine. “I wouldn’t change a single part of you, little one. You may have been beaten and broken, but you never gave in. You’re still here. And you couldn’t have done that without every part of you, even the parts you think are dirty or broken. So yes, you are perfect to me.”

I grab his face and pull it to mine. I don’t have any words to give him. I tell him with my kiss, opening my soul to his and surrendering completely to him. I give him everything. Even the parts I’ve hated or hidden away, I let him have it all. He doesn’t look at me and picture the Raegan he knew on the island. He doesn’t make me feel less than that innocent girl who didn’t yet realize how big and bad the world really was.

He’s been looking right at me. Seeing me exactly as I am and wanting all of it. The self-doubt, the self-loathing, the monster, and the villain.

I realize that it’s the same for me with him. I know he’s not perfect or “good” in the way the world defines a man. He’s dark and flawed and immoral compared to that image. But I want it all, anyway. I want his sweetness and calm confidence just as much as his violence. We’re both stained in darkness, and I’ve never felt more at peace with that than I do when he’s with me.

I drop my hands to the button on his jeans. I can’t wait any longer to be with him. This isn’t a distraction anymore. It’s a base need that we join together. That we line up our broken souls and hold them together for a moment in time where we can feel whole; complete. I slip my hand into his pants and grip his hard shaft. My cunt pulses from that touch alone, and fuck foreplay. He needs to be inside of me right now.

Jack grabs my wrist and breaks the kiss. “Wait,” he whispers, his voice so husky and rough, I can almost feel it across my skin. I look up to see why we’ve stopped.

He’s looking around, but I don’t see or hear anything that could have broken his attention.

“What is it?” I ask breathlessly, eager to get back to it. My fingers flex around his dick, and he inhales, then closes his eyes.

“Fuck.”

My eyes widen. It’s rare to hear him swear, let alone with so much emotion behind it.

Jackson sweeps down to swallow me in another kiss that makes my heart race and relieves me of oxygen. It’s over far too soon. I’d willingly give him all the air in my lungs to hold on to that kiss. He presses his forehead against mine and pants above me. “Something’s not right. I smell fire in the air.”

“Just because we live in a firehouse now doesn’t mean we need to go put out fires,” I tease breathily.

He smirks and sits up to fix himself and re-button his pants.

I will not pout. I bite my lip to keep it from forming, but I know Jackson sees right through me by the look in his eyes and the continued smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He holds his hand out to help me up, which I remorsefully take.

“Jack!” Aiden calls out from the ground. Hearing his voice right now almost startles my soul from my body, and my back goes ramrod straight. Thankfully, Jackson is already put back together and standing, and I just look like I’ve been sitting on the roof with him.

Jackson turns his back to me and bends his knees. “Climb on.”

I hop on, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my face in his hoodie. I take a deep breath and soak in the smell of fall leaves and crisp air. It smells like twilight. That time between the sun going down and full night taking over, where the cooler air moves in, but there’s still that lingering hint of warmth from the sun.

He jumps off the roof with me in tow. My heart leaps at the second of free fall, where I imagine us going splat on the ground, but his gift kicks in, and our descent slows so we’re carried down gently. Jackson makes no move to release me, but Aiden’s eyeing me over his shoulder, and I’d rather not give him more opportunity to slice me open with his cutting commentary.

I slide down and take a step away. Jackson looks at me for it, but doesn’t say anything.

“The fire alarm is going off at the safe house,” Aiden tells us. “It’s probably one of the squatters on the first floor again, but I want to make sure it doesn’t spread. We haven’t finished bringing everything here.”

Jack nods. “I’ll go with you.”

“Me too,” I volunteer. “I can help move whatever’s left. ”

“Then we’ll all go to get it done faster,” Aiden agrees. “Let’s hurry.”

The entire safe house is on fire when we get there. Flames eat up the roof like kindling and reach further to the sky. Smoke is billowing out of the broken windows in huge black plumes.

I hate to be the one to say it, but, “I think the rest of your stuff is gone.”

Aiden’s frowning hard at the building. It’s hard to tell how upset he is about it. Was it something valuable? Or is what he lost just a mild inconvenience?

“Thorne,” Jackson says out of nowhere.

Kellan curses, and Aiden nods, his face solemn. “It’s a trap.”

I scan the building for a person. “What are you talking about? I don’t see anyone.”

“The windows are all broken to let the smoke out. Fire doesn’t break windows,” Aiden explains.

“And that automatically means it’s him?”

“Go. I’ll keep him busy.” Jack moves toward the burning building.

Aiden steps in front of him. “Wait. You can’t face him alone. It took all of us last time to take him down. And we had the element of surprise. We should leave now before he knows we’re here.”

“He already knows. Either I distract him here so you guys can leave, or he’ll follow us.”

I grab his hoodie sleeve. “If this guy is as bad as you said, then I’m not leaving you or anyone else here alone.”

“Then we’ll all stay and fight him together. Either until he’s dead or incapacitated enough for us to get away without being followed,” Aiden says.

“Fighting to run away, huh?” Kellan punches his palm. “Not usually my style, but I guess we don’t have much choice with him.”

Dane raises his glowing hand. “I just need an opening to grab him.”

Jackson glances at my hand on my gun, then up to my eyes. “No shooting him or throwing anything at him. He’ll just deflect it back at you.” My hand drops from my gun. Well, shit on a stick. “Come on, he’s waiting for us.”

Kellan kicks the door down and more smoke pours through the opening. Jackson waves his hand in a tight circle and the smoke pushes away from us. Like an air current flows between us and the smoke and it circles around us and out.

Once we get through the door, there’s no more smoke. I look up and see it moving along the ceiling and out the door rather than filling the room. Jack’s looking at it with a serious expression, and I know that it’s not him doing it.

“Ah, look. The crew’s all here. And I see you’ve found the girl you were looking for, Jackson. You must have thought you’d gotten your happily ever after. Until you learned I’m still alive, I’m sure.” The man, who I’m assuming is Thorne, grins, but there’s a manic energy to him that twists my gut in warning .

He’s standing at the edge of the hole that’s been opened up from the second floor and looking down at us. His hair is the blackest black. Matte and dead even in the fire’s glow while it’s slicked back at the sides. His face is all sharp points and his nose is a bit tweaked, like it was broken so many times that it finally just healed crooked. One of his eyes is a pale blue with a scar straight through it from eyebrow to cheekbone. From Jackson stabbing him, no doubt. The other is too dark to see, but an obviously different shade from the other.

Thorne is wearing a black trench coat that’s buttoned all the way up and is moving behind him from an invisible breeze. Or maybe from whatever he’s doing to keep the fire and smoke away from this bubble we’re in.

Point is, he looks like a super villain.

“I would have come for you all sooner, but GE has some trust issues I had to help them with first. But now it’s time I punished you for what you did. The Guild is mine, and I’m taking it back.”

Aiden pulls his sword from his back that unfurls like a whip and slams it down. The sharp blades running down its length on either side cut into the softened floor like butter. “We’ll make sure to take your head this time. No coming back.”

Thorne laughs. It’s a hollow, creepy sound that makes me think of an echo in a mausoleum. “Oh, how little you know. I should take your head and mount it in the Guild for everyone to see what happens when you try to supplant me.”

Holy shit.

Jackson leaps into the air and throws knives at him, the time for idle threats and chitchat apparently over with. Thorne lifts a hand at him, and a gust of wind knocks Jack and the knives back to the ground.

Aiden’s arm arcs over his head, and his sword moves like a snake in the air. Thorne jumps aside to dodge it, but Aiden doesn’t let up. His arm keeps swinging back and forth, over and up. He keeps his blade chasing after him, so Thorne’s forced to avoid it rather than attack.

I call on my gift, spreading the fire through my arms to my hands and then holding it there.

Jackson appears behind the ex-Guild master, and slashes at him with a longer blade than his usual throwing ones. It catches Thorne in the back and he falls to the first floor. Kellan runs and grabs him, pinning his arms to his sides. “Dane!” he roars.

Dane’s already running with his hand outstretched and glowing white with his gift.

I could come at him now, but with Kellan already holding him and Dane about to grab him, I could risk hitting them, too.

Thorne laughs again. “You think I’d be foolish enough to let him touch me now that I know what he can do?” He clenches his hand at his side, and Kellan’s eyes widen. He releases Thorne and grabs at his throat, dropping to one knee. Thorne kicks him in the shoulder to knock him down. “And you. You may be tough on the outside, but there’s no healing you can do from lack of oxygen.”

Dane lunges forward to grab him, but Thorne slashes his arm at an angle in front of him. Dane screams and falls back. There’s blood in a line across his chest, like he’d been cut with a blade.

Thorne sneers down at him. “I’ll be taking you back with me. You’ll only wish you were dead like your friends by the time GE is through with you. If I accidentally kill you, I’ll be doing you a favor.”

He’s too busy looking at Dane to notice Aiden moving behind him until it’s too late. Thorne glances up and jumps to the side at the last second, but Aiden’s control over his whip sword makes the adjustment and spears through the enemy’s shoulder. Thorne glares at it, and then Aiden, who smirks at him and then yanks it roughly out.

Thorne curses and pulls his hand back like he’s preparing to throw a ball sideways, then swings it out at Aiden. A whirlwind of air picks up around him. He grunts, and a line of red appears on his cheek. Then his hand. Over and over again, like the air is made of paper-thin blades slicing into him piece by piece.

A hoard of knives race toward Thorne. He swings his arm up to blow them away, but it breaks his concentration enough that the whirlwind releases Aiden and he falls to the ground. Jackson pulls out round after round of blades, slinging them at our enemy.

Thorne sends some of them back at him, but Jackson uses his perfected control over the air to pull and flip them back at him. His teacher may have all the power, but he’s outmatched by Jackson when it comes to control that fine.

He’s pushing Thorne back, and I see my opening. I take the longer way around to get behind him and hope that Jack keeps Thorne’s attention trained on him so he doesn’t notice me. I run up behind the ex-Guild master and dive at him, my hands out and ready to grab any body part to unleash my gift on, but he moves at the last second and I crash to the ground.

He’s too fast.

I groan and push myself up in time to see Thorne sneering at me and waving his hand at me the same way he had at Aiden.

Oh crap.

I feel the wind pick up around me, and I scramble to move away from it, but it follows me like my own personal tornado of death.

The first cut catches my arm, and I cry out and grab it on instinct. Then the wind is just…gone.

I look up and see Jack reaching out to it, trying to control it over Thorne. The mini cyclone spins between them in a standoff of who’s going to get it. Thorne has more injuries than either of us, but it’s Jackson’s body that’s trembling with the effort to push it back at Thorne. The debris and ash from the floor get sucked up in the current, spinning around midair and struggling between the two men. It picks up speed, and Thorne’s eyes shine with triumph when it moves toward Jack.

He struggles against it, but it steadily sucks him into its vortex and exacts its invisible blades.

“Jack!” I rush at Thorne again, but wind throws me off my feet, and I land with a thud on my back, knocking the air from my lungs. I gasp, collecting as much air as I can, and then it’s not there anymore. I try to suck in air, but it’s like my lungs have seized, and I can’t inhale or exhale anymore. My eyes widen with panic. The other three are clutching at their throats like me, and genuine fear slides through my veins. We’re completely outmatched.

The air around Jackson is red with his blood, and his face pinches with pain beneath his concentration. Black dots start forming, blocking out bits and pieces of what I’m seeing in front of me. I reach out to Jack, wishing I could break the storm around him.

He drops; the blood falling on him and the ground. My lungs expand, and I heave oxygen through my mouth in painful draws that have me choking in my desperation to take as much as I can. I grab my throat and cough as my body adjusts to having air again, then look up at Thorne.

He’s staring at something on his hand with a frown. Then I see the line of blood across his throat. It’s thin; had it been stronger, it would have ended him.

Jackson.

Who isn’t moving on the ground.

Thorne glares down at him and raises his hand. I remember how Dane was cut down, and I don’t think; I run. Even though my lungs burn and my eyes water, there’s no time to wait for that. I cover Jackson’s body with my own as a shield. I’ll do anything to protect him. To protect them.

My gift stirs in my gut, and I draw it out, repeating the same thing over and over like a mantra. Just Thorne. Just Thorne . Jackson trusts that I would never hurt him with my gift, even by accident. Even if that’s exactly what happened with Vera. I still don’t trust in my gift because I’ve seen it do something I didn’t want. But I will trust in Jackson.

Thorne’s hand swings down, and I grab his leg and thrust my gift into him. He screams, and then it cuts off sharply. I look up, and his eyes are bulging, staring down past me while his mouth is wide open. I look down, and Jackson’s fist is shaking as he looks at Thorne with unbridled rage and triumph. Did he cut off his air?

Thorne’s other foot flies out and kicks me in the face. I yelp and taste blood in my mouth. I release him, stopping my gift the moment I lose contact, and Thorne takes off out the door.

Jack’s fist loosens once he’s out of sight, and he releases a breath and closes his eyes.

“Jack?” I roll away and shake him. Something smacks down on the ground behind me. I cough and look around, thinking he’s come back, but roofing tiles are falling as the room fills with smoke. The fire is spreading back down the roof and onto the building.

I shake him harder, but he doesn’t budge. “Kellan?! Aiden?! Help!”

What if they’re all passed out?

I stand up and cover my mouth with one arm, but it does shit-all to block the smoke from my lungs or help me see. I choose to grab Jackson’s ankles with each hand instead and start dragging him back toward the door where we came in. Blood tracks across the floor in his wake, and I keep praying that they’re all superficial cuts.

“Stop, beautiful. I’ve got him. Get out of here.” Kellan appears from the darkness and lifts Jackson in his arms. I think for a second that maybe he’s immune to the fire and smoke, but he hacks off to the side and then gives me a kick. “Go!”

I run through the smoke in the direction I think the door was, my elbow out to feel for a wall in case it’s too hot to touch with my hand. The smoke is mostly going up or out in one direction, so I use that as my guide to the door and stumble through it. I keep going until I’m out of the smoke at the next building over.

Aiden and Dane are there, sitting on the ground, coughing. Both are bleeding, one with a single large laceration and the other with smaller cuts all over. Aiden pulls out his phone, but my attention jumps to Kellan and Jackson when they finally emerge. I rush over to Jack and start feeling for a pulse. His chest rises and falls, and I clasp his empty hoodie with relief. “Oh, thank god.”

“Cibrina’s sending us a van and Cassandra.”

Any trickle of annoyance or jealousy is gone when I hear her name. All I feel is relief that she’s on her way. “Tell them to hurry. Jack doesn’t look good, and the fire department will probably be here any minute.”

I keep my grip on Jackson so I can feel his chest moving beneath me. I don’t think I’ll let go until he’s been healed and I know he’ll be okay. There’s blood all over Kellan from his chest and arms down.

“Are you okay?” I ask Kell quickly, needing to be sure the blood isn’t his. But also worrying about that amount of blood, if it’s all from Jackson. When he looks at me, his expression is dark and brooding.

“Just fine,” he answers, but there’s something in his tone that’s off. I put a pin in that for later, because a van pulls down the larger alleyway on the other building’s side, and it’s time to load up.