Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 26999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Now.
If he fails me, I’m done waiting. Humans are a dying race, and I will not remain one. I’ll defect to Julian and then get rid of Lucian.
I punch in Powell’s autodial, not about to tell him about Julian’s command that I kill Addie. Not when I might actually kill her to earn Julian’s trust.
Chapter Fifteen
Creed
Skidding the motorcycle around a corner, I pull up to the rear staff exit of Addie’s hotel. It’s not where I want her, but it’s the safest location I can get her to until after I’ve gotten rid of Lucian.
I kill the engine and lift Addie off the bike, setting her solidly onto the pavement.
My helmet is off and on top of the seat by the time I’m facing her. “Damn it, I told you to be careful. This is not careful.”
Her eyes flash, voice snaps. “I’m trying to figure out who to trust. That means taking risk.”
The jab meant for me only serves to piss me off. “You trust me, Addie. In case you didn’t notice, sweetheart, I’m the guy saving your sweet little ass.”
“Guess you still need something from me,” she shoots back sharply.
Anger grinds through me but I don’t have time for such a human emotion, not when they’re coming for her, and me too, for that matter. I reach for the Smith and Wesson strapped to my leg and offer it to her. “Between the eyes or don’t bother,” I instruct. “They wear body armor now, since your father started popping them with tranquilizers for Lord only knows what purpose.”
“Trying to keep from killing them,” she counters, palming the weapon. “He doesn’t want to kill them or torture them.”
“Right, sweetheart. He’s an angel and I’m a monster."
Her bottom lip trembles with uncontained emotion and I know her well enough to understand that hating me feels like a shield right now. It’s her way of saving herself from me and that mark. So I let her own it. I let her claim it, but I won’t let her keep it.
But that change is for another time.
“Inspect your weapon,” I order, needing to know she still handles it as well as she has in the past.
When I think she’ll buck my command, she must burn for the same reassurance as I do because she does not. Her response is automatic, handling the weapon with confidence. It’s only slightly comforting considering that Smith and Wesson and her skills might not be enough to save her life if she comes face-to-face with a Zodius without me by her side.
“Go to your room and lock the door,” I order, “and don’t open it until I get there.
The wind’s energy trickles down my spine, a charge I’ve come to know as a warning. I open the back door to the hotel. “They’re here,” I say in a soft hiss. “Go inside. Do not stop until you’re in your room and you’ve locked the door. And keep that gun ready.”
Her beautiful green eyes go wide, awareness and fear flashing in their depths before she orders, “Don’t die. I’m the only one who gets to kill you.” With that, she rushes inside the building, and I don’t even have time to cling to the hope her warning might represent.
I toss my helmet, straddle the bike, and crank the engine, with every intention of making Lucian forget about Addie, by thinking about me. I’m letting him know I’m here. Come and get me, I think.
With a rev of the bike, I ride off into the night, and place myself at the rear of Brock’s rental. That means in the path of the Zodius soldiers following him. Almost instantly there are bikes on my tail and they all believe it was me nosing in on Brock and Lucian, as if the wind couldn’t do the job for me.
My path is a deserted part of the park. Once I’m in the shadows, off my bike, and standing in a cluster of trees, I wait until the soldiers are almost on me, before I command the wind to sweep their bikes.
Before they ever recover, I’ve windwalked and planted a tranquilizer bullet between their eyes, the way a human soldier would to weaken a GTECH. I follow with bullets. It looks like the humans killed the soldiers, when I really want to just kill all the fucking Zodius myself now. But a direct bullet would tell Julian this was me and I can’t risk triggering him into using that damn bomb. The wind shouts a warning in my head and suddenly, I’m surrounded by a good six Zodius soldiers. I blast them with a gust of powerful wind, but not before one of them blasts me with a bullet. The wind holds them down, cages them, as I walk up to each of them and one by one hit them with tranquilizers, but I don’t follow with bullets. I’m weak and I can’t hold the wind, but it’s screaming warnings in my head. Julian is coming.