Chapter Fifteen
Riggs
As soon as Cora closes her door, I turn on my two friends. “Whose genius idea was it to let her touch me? And how the fuck did she do this?” I wave an arm at myself. Even without a mirror, I know my injuries are superficial at most. “There was no healing what they did without possibly draining all four of you, let alone just you three and Cora. And where is Drake? He should have beat me back here.” I’m pissed off and stunned that Cora healed me without killing everyone in the process-- and worried about where Drake has gotten off to. It’s not like him to stray far from Cora if he can help it. The guy badly wants to make amends for his brother and earn her trust back. If I had the balls to believe everything will work out in the end, I'd be right there with him.
"Back up," Jag says, confused. "Where did you go with Tony and Todd? And Drake— he was supposed to be with his uncle, something about a family meeting. If it had to do with us or Cora, I should have at least been notified."
While Jaeger is worried, Blaise is downright pissed, a muscle ticking on his clenched jaw. Injuries happen in the pursuit of the Order's agenda, but today was over the top for a straightforward mission. Or at least it should have been straightforward. Knowing I have to come clean and there isn't much time before Cora comes back out, I sum up the situation as quickly as possible.
"Drake called me as he was leaving his uncle's office. We were supposed to meet up with a couple guys from the Oregon chapter to pick up a packet of information. We were glorified couriers, and Tony and Todd were supposed to follow us, just in case. You know things are still tense with them since their chairman and ours got into it at the last big regional meeting we had?" Jaeger nods, motioning me to continue.
"Anyway, Drake pulls over halfway there and tells me to go on with the others, that he just got information and wants the chance to check it out while we already have a pass to be off school grounds. I agree to cover for him and tell the guys that he’s needed back here. No one fucks with Damien Sr., so they didn't question it. We split ways and continued on to the meeting point— a dumpy ass motel of the freeway. The instructions were simple-- go to a room, meet up with the dudes, and get the packet.
“Except when we get there, it’s one of those places you have to go inside for the rooms. All three of us headed in, but something made me turn right before we did, and there was this man with a camera. I’d have let it go, but when he saw me notice him, he took off around the side of the building. I told Tony and Todd to go ahead because I sure as fuck wasn’t coming back without the package, not after Drake took off and the meeting with the dean the other day. The one where you thought someone was hiding in the office?” Jag nods again, and even Blaise is more worried than pissed now.
“Well, if we were being watched, and Drake didn’t show, I couldn’t take the chance that whoever was taking pictures wasn’t going to try to fuck us over with them. I get around the side, and no one is there. No vehicle, nothing but a dumpster corral and an employee entrance that’s locked. Figuring the guy will be inside, I double back only to have two others catch me as I come around the corner on the side. There wasn't a chance to do anything— one of them had what looked like red ink, and he swiped my face twice with it. I hit the ground in seconds, unable to move, and they curb stomped my ass. One of the guys was pissed Drake wasn't the one that had shown up, so it was definitely planned."
Jaeger interrupts me, instantly spitting out his denial. "Drake didn't set you up! He wouldn't do that."
I hold my hands up to stop him, not wanting. "Not what I meant. Think about it. How many people know what happened to us when Damien died? What if they know about Cora? Do we even know what would happen to the rest of us if the link with Drake is broken?"
Blaise pales, sitting down hard on the other end of the couch. "We have to bind her to us. As soon as possible. They can't have her."
"No, they can't." Ash's arrival startles us all. We'd been waiting on Cora's door to open, the one nearest us, not Ash emerging from the other direction. "Fill me in on the rest later, after we don't have to worry about scaring her off. Her being willing is the key, remember? The Axiom failsafe, thank-fucking-Christ." He must have flown through a shower as his hair is still sopping in places and wet patches show through his white shirt. "Get cleaned up and dressed, we can't go see Damien Sr. looking less than proper. And I have the note that was left on you— they definitely know what Cora is."
Jaeger and Blaise start cursing, but a quick point at Cora's door reminds them to keep it down.
"We'll deal with it later; they can't get to her on campus." I get to my feet, still marveling at the lack of pain after the beating my body took. I had been sure I was going to die after the assholes explained they'd bound my ability to siphon. Tony and Todd had tried to help, but siphoning isn't very effective between males of the Order unless a coterie bond is shared. Making a mental note to tell the others about the block, I head for my room.
The snick of the lock disengaging halts my steps. I’m instantly on the defensive because it’s not housekeeping day, and no one else should have access. Not unless an administrator approved it. When I recognize Drake coming in, worry plastered all over his face, I’m first relieved and then pissed.
“Do you know what the fuck you left me to walk in on?” I don’t leave him or the others a chance to speak, jabbing my finger at him. “You have some serious explaining to do, and so you know...Cora saved my ass. She knows, and she wants answers.”
Drake pales slightly but stands his ground. “I got back here as soon as I could. The message didn’t come in until I was already on my way back.” He looks me up and down, taking stock of the mostly healed injuries. “Is she okay? I’m assuming those aren’t all of them? Ash’s message said you were bad off and unable to siphon.”
“It’s kind of a long story, and Cora is going to be out any second. We were about to head out to find you and go talk to your uncle before the Ts get to him first. What was so damned important anyway that you had to take off?”
Drake lowers his voice, eyeing Cora’s door as he explains his behavior. “You guys aren’t going to believe me, but I think I found Mikhail.” The name doesn’t mean anything to me, and I turn to the others. Ash shrugs, just as baffled as I am, and Blaise is much the same-- but Jaeger seems to know exactly who it is.
“He’s dead.” The disbelief in Jaeger’s eyes reflects in his voice.
Drake, though, he’s shaking his head. “I’m nearly positive he’s not. I think he’s lurking and following us. You know that shake setting that activates your phone camera? I’d set it off waiting on my uncle and was trying to close it and hit the video button instead. When I stopped it and went to close it down, there was a man in the thumbnail. Thinking I was seeing shit, I opened it back up, and there’s this grainy image of a dude standing against the wall in front of me. Except nothing is there. Well, almost nothing-- there was an energy when I searched for it, faint but there. I sent it to our resident yearbook stalker, figuring the way he memorizes names and faces, he’d know who it is. His response was to ask me how I got it since there aren’t many surviving photos of the Malbec twins.” He pauses, waiting for the rest of us to catch up. As soon as I recognize the connection, my eyes widen.
”Yeah, those Malbecs. I think he’s watching us. If Cora is who I think she is, can you blame him?”
The guys start to talk over each other, but I silence them with an abrupt wave of my arm. “Not here. She’ll hear us. Seriously, she had to have fallen in or something to be taking this long. I’m going to shower; we’ll talk about this when we have more time. Also, before we go anywhere, you need to know thatthe fuckers that roughed me up thought you would be the one there, not me.”
Concern etches lines in Drake’s face, warring with the confusion in his blue eyes. “Go shower, and then fill me in after we leave. Hold up, why are we waiting on Cora?”
***
Cora
The shower helps a lot to clear my head of whatever mojo Jag whammied me with to keep me from freaking out— but now I'm tired. If I let on even a little that I'm not up to doing anything but taking a nap, they'll leave me behind, and that's not happening. From the muffled voices, they at least haven't left yet.
I catch the end of Drake’s question as I open my bedroom door, and relief and annoyance simultaneously wash through me. “You’re waiting on me because I have to go to the library, and you all need to go get clearance to spill your guts.” Drake’s eyes widen as I stomp over to him, getting right up in his face. “Don’t think for one second you won’t be telling me anything I want to know, buddy. I’ve had it with everyone around me hiding shit. Especially after I left it all behind.” He swallows roughly, nodding wide-eyed at my vehemence, and then I notice it. Gripping his face in both hands, I twist it this way and that, looking over his too-perfect skin. “Where is it?”
As Drake mumbles “Where’s what?” through his squished lips, Ash cracks up. He shuts up quickly when I release Drake, moving to him to jerk his shirt up.