“We’ve really screwed things up, haven’t we?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Shit, Dante,” Seven scoffs. “There’s no point in denying that we want her. We should have been more honest with her. We should have told her the truth about what we’re up against. What we really want.”
“You know that wasn’t an option. Not if we want to keep her alive as long as possible.”
“Yeah? Well, now she could be lost to us forever. At least with Anna—”
“We’re not going to let that happen,” I growl, cutting him off. “Wewillhave our chance to prove ourselves to her.”
“And how are we supposed to do that?”
“Following through with our side of the deal would be a good start. We will save her, but we need to be patient.”
“Easy for you to say,” Seven snorts. “You’ve had centuries of practice waiting.”
I don’t answer as I stare out over the city. He’s not wrong, but it never gets easier. We only grow colder with time, deader to the world around us …
At least, that’s what I thought until I met her.
Anna may have cracked our shells, but it’s Evi who’s started to warm us back to life. Whether Luci sees it or not, she’s meant for us, and I won’t let Valentine claim our mate.
Not again.
“When Luci arrives—"
Seven suddenly jumps up from the chair, and I spin around just as the elevator doors slide open.
“Speak of the devil,” Seven snarls as Luci steps out into the office, his hair a wild mess and his shirt stained with blood.
I feel my face harden, finding it harder than expected not to launch myself over my desk and across the room at the sight of him.
Luci glances between me and Seven, his expression uncertain as he takes another step toward us, his hands slightly raised at his sides.
Seven’s fingers twitch over the handle of a blade as his head cocks slightly to the side, undoubtedly weighing whether or not it’s worth going along with my plan.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Seven asks, breaking the uneasy silence filling the room.
“Valentine’s,” Luci answers, eyeing Seven as he takes another tentative step toward us, “he has Evi, but I think you’ve guessed that by now.”
“Yeah, we did. The real question ishowdid she end up with him, huh?”
“Did you see the car wrecks?”
“We did,” I say before Seven can open his mouth again. “What happened?”
“Evi stole my car. I left it running when I went around to check on the hatch door, and by the time I’d realized she’d escaped through the tunnels alone, she was already gone.”
“So, you took my car to chase her down?”
“Yes, but apparently, I wasn’t the only one waiting around for her,” Luci says, his eyes flickering between the two of us nervously. “Dante, someone ran me off the road. Ran us both off the road. When I came to after the crash, she was already gone, I swear.”
Seven shoots me a look that I choose to ignore as I mull over Luci’s explanation. I can see that he’s not telling us everything, but now isn’t the time to worry about that.
“Why didn’t you come back for us then?” Seven asks, his voice cold.
“Because I thought …” Luci trails off with a sigh. “I thought my time would be better spent chasing after her. Making sure she was still alive. There was little I could do for you at that point anyway, if you’d gotten trapped beneath the rubble.”