Unforgiven (8 page)

I bounded out of the training room, a ball of excitement and nerves. Owen stood from the machine he’d been using and caught me in his arms. He smelled of sweat and masculinity, and a familiar pulse of desire zinged through me.

“I take it today went better than yesterday?” he said as we spun around in the middle of the gym, surrounded by clanging workout machines and people sparring. A few of them glanced our way and gave us knowing smiles.

I forgot my haze for long enough to plant a kiss on Owen’s lips. At first, he was too surprised to respond, but soon, he was kissing me back with abandon, apparently trying to make up for the last few weeks. Someone across the gym started hooting, and we reluctantly pulled apart.

“Wow, what brought that on?” he asked, for only me to hear. “Whatever it was, I think I like it.”

“I’m getting my first real-world assignment tomorrow.” It felt foreign to say the words out loud. I wasn’t a kid anymore. I had a real job, and I’d start work in the morning. Real work—not busywork. Just like that, I’d experienced my own personal coming-of-age.

“Really?” he said softly, rubbing his forehead as if he’d just come down with a headache.

The change in his mood startled me. “What?”

“I just…”

I waited impatiently for him to spit it out. “You just what? Don’t think I can do it? Or is it just that you still don’t think I’m ready?” My insecurities were showing, and I didn’t like it.

He frowned. “No. And frankly, I would love for you to get more assignments if they all result in kisses like that.” He forced a smile.

I stuck out my chin, refusing to relent. “Well, what is it then?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

It struck me as funny because it was just about the last thing I expected him to say, and I stifled a laugh. “I don’t think I will, Owen. They won’t send me to do something super dangerous on my first mission.”

“Do you know anything about it yet?”

“No. I’m supposed to get my orders tomorrow.”

“Well, you’re mine until then,” he said. There was an air of seduction in his voice, and the twinkle in his eyes returned.

Trying to encourage this more positive, though rather sudden change in mood, I asked, “What did you have in mind?” When I smiled back at him, I realized it felt genuine. It was a good sensation.

After Owen got cleaned up, we headed to dinner together. Most of the Unseen were gathered in the dining room at the same time for once, and Owen banged his fork on his soda can. “Excuse me, everyone. Tomorrow, our little Mac gets her first real assignment. She’s leaving the nest.”

I felt my cheeks flush amidst the chorus of hoots and hoorays from the group.

“So, tonight, we celebrate her initiation.”

My stomach dropped as I wondered what exactly he meant by initiation. “Oh, jeez guys, you don’t have do to that,” I said, hoping to save myself some embarrassment.

I gave Mitchell a hopeful glance, but he shook his head. “No fighting it. They do this for everyone. No matter what.” Turning back to his plate, he shoveled more food into his mouth, but the corners of his mouth had twisted into a smile.
Traitor
.

Camden ran into the pantry and emerged with a tiara and a plastic lei necklace. After I put them on—mostly to shut everyone up—a few of the guys came over and lifted up my chair to bounce me around the dining room. Everyone laughed and clapped as they sang songs of encouragement and good luck. It was a pep rally, just for me. It was terrifying, but a laugh or two escaped my lips in spite of myself.

By the time they set me back down, almost everyone was done eating.

“Now it’s time to play truth or dare,” Owen said.

“What? No,” I said. True, I’d learned to block my thoughts, but it still didn’t seem like the best game to play with a group of mind readers.

“Aw, come on. Everyone plays. It’s fun,” he pleaded.

“It never gets awkward, serious, or ruined by the fact that you all know who’s lying and who’s not?” I folded my arms over my chest, knowing I couldn’t possibly be wrong.

“No! Come on, we’re all good sports, and we know better than to pry. Justine learned that the hard way when she got tangled up in Kyle’s defenses—standing naked in front of a crowd of people, trying to give a speech.” Everyone laughed, but it still didn’t hold much appeal for me. “Just try it. We do it with all the first timers,” Owen explained.

I looked at Mitchell, who nodded and shrugged. “My first time, they made me try to balance eggs on my feet while I did a handstand. Needless to say, we needed more eggs by the end of the night.”

I laughed. Maybe this
would
be fun. “Fine. But I go first.”

“Fair enough,” Owen said.

As soon as I’d said it, I regretted it though. I didn’t know what to ask, or who to ask it of. I looked at Camden, full of joy, despite his imposing size.

“Camden, truth or dare?”

“Dare.” His deep voice resonated throughout the dining room.

“I dare you to squeeze into the cupboard under the sink.”

“C’mon, Mac, can’t I use one of the cupboards where the sink
doesn’t
take up forty percent of the real estate?”

“Sure. That’s fair. Now go,” I said, pulling out my cell phone to document his struggle.

We all cried with laughter as our six-foot-six friend valiantly tried—and failed—to cram himself into the biggest kitchen cupboard we had. The kitchen—and Camden—would never be the same. The game only went downhill from there. They dared me to share my most embarrassing story, so I found myself telling them about one of my open-mike performances with Maddie. Two things had gone wrong that night—I got the hiccups halfway through the set, and thanks to a poor wardrobe choice, I inadvertently flashed the entire audience in the intense overhead lighting. Maddie had thought it was hilarious, so she hadn’t told me my high beams were on until later.

I made the others do ridiculous things and tell equally embarrassing stories. My face was starting to hurt from all the laughter.

Before I knew it, someone was passing out mugs of hot chocolate, and we were all calming down.

“Now, it’s everyone’s turn to tell Mac about their first assignments,” Owen said.

“Ooh, I like this idea,” I said, eager to get some insight into what I might expect for the coming days.

But their tales were all so different. Camden told me about a local teacher he’d been assigned to check out. Turned out the guy was planning to bomb the school because he’d received another bad evaluation. That one turned my stomach a bit.

Mitchell’s was the most surprising. He’d been assigned to a college girl. The higher-ups thought she was a possible suicide bomber, but it turned out she was just a suicide risk. She wasn’t involved with the Potestas, and she wasn’t a reader. Mitchell kept a lot of the details to himself, but something in his tone said he’d cared more about her than he was letting on. Before I could ask what happened to her, the group moved on.

The others shared their tales of success and failure—each fascinating in its own right—and Owen went last.

“Mine is probably the most embarrassing.”

“I can attest to that. I’m surprised David kept you on after that foul up,” Mitchell said, and Owen threw his empty mug at him. As if expecting the attack, Mitchell caught it one-handed.

“You have to understand,” Owen said to me. “The assignment was to follow a blonde, fourteen-year-old girl whose primary interest was hanging out at the mall. Her name was Tiffany. Do you know how many fourteen-year-old blonde girls named Tiffany frequent the mall?”

“A kid? Why were you following a kid?” I asked, not sure I wanted the answer. The last thing I wanted to hear was that I might be asked to attack a child.

“Apparently, David thought she was a possible target for the Potestas. I was supposed to find out why—you know, if she needed protection if they intended to forcibly recruit her. It was a fact-finding mission.”

I nodded, feeling a little better.

“Anyway, as you can probably guess, I followed the wrong girl all day long, listening to her drone on about clothes, boys, and bands. It was horrible. Never once did it occur to me that there were no Potestas anywhere around her, and she had no memory of meeting one of them. David was not pleased.”

I laughed, enjoying the levity of the moment. As I looked around at the smiling faces that surrounded me, I felt a sense of peace. Although my life had been shattered, I could probably make something from the pieces.

At the end of the night, Owen walked me to my room. A note was taped to my door, but I ignored it as we stood facing each other, our hands still entwined.

“Thank you,” I told him.

“For what? Initiating you? We do that for everyone. It’s fun.” He shrugged.

“For everything.” I leaned in and kissed him slowly, deeply. Emotions and hormones I wasn’t yet ready for flared to life, so I pulled away before either of us was through.

He cleared his throat. “I guess I better say goodnight.” Then he lifted one hand and gently caressed the side of my face. “I won’t say this isn’t hard, Mac, but you’re worth it.” With that, he turned and left.

“Goodnight,” I said to his back. He gave me a jaunty wave over his shoulder.
He’s too good for you.
It had become a recurrent thought lately, but I pushed it away as I turned to pull the note off my door.

Meet in my office at 8 am to receive your orders.

— David.

A sinking feeling settled in my stomach at the prospect of an early-morning meeting with David. After the way we’d parted yesterday, I hadn’t really thought about what it would be like to see him again. Not to mention everything that had happened since our last talk. He hadn’t really been in the forefront of my mind.

Top it off with the fact that he made me feel like an out of control, ill prepared child, and I didn’t really want to waste any brain cells on the matter.

Crumpling the note, I tossed it into the trash can next to my bed and debated what to do. I could either be responsible and go to the meeting a few minutes early to give us time to clear the air, or I could go right on time, get my orders, and leave.

As I got myself ready for bed, trying to calm the jitters coming from all corners of my mind—excitement and nerves over the new job, dread over meeting David, and the ever-present haze of grief—I decided on a civil but cold approach with David. After all, if he wanted to treat me like the child in this relationship, he could be the adult and make the first move.

I turned off the light and settled into bed, wondering exactly what I would have to do. No matter what it was, the next morning would be the first day of my new life. No more living in the haze, no more looking back. Nope, it was time to pick up the pieces; it was time to fight back.

Promptly at 8 am, I arrived at David’s office. I think Owen noticed my jitters, but he probably assumed they were from the assignment, not meeting with David. I hadn’t mentioned our tiff to him, so he had no idea we weren’t on good terms. He probably would have scolded me for disrespecting the boss. But he had some bizarre hero-worship thing going on with David that I didn’t share. He was just a guy who happened to be my dad… and because of that very fact, he’d made some decisions with pretty direct consequences on my life. He seemed pretty dang human to me.

In the end, Owen simply wished me luck, assured me I’d be great, and kissed me lightly before I took a deep breath and ventured into the lion’s den, unsure if I would play the role of the lion or the intruder.

David sat at his desk, and Tracy was in one of the chairs across from him. It was becoming a familiar picture.

“Good morning,” David said, his tone unreadable.

“Morning,” I answered, nodding at Tracy. She nodded back. Taking a seat, I spied a familiar file on David’s desk.

“Isn’t that the scientist’s file?” I asked.

“Yes. He is your assignment,” David said.

“But I thought we decided he wasn’t a threat.”

“You decided that. I believe he warrants observation.” He didn’t elaborate, so I pushed him.

“On what grounds? Because he studies dangerous chemicals?”

“Yes.” Somehow, he’d ended up adopting up my cold yet civil tactic before I could.

“We’ve received intel that the Potestas may be interested in him. We need to know why, and what’s going on. You leave for Michigan in three hours. Tracy is going to accompany you to supervise and offer any guidance you might need. Pack a bag for at least two days. I expect a full report upon your return.”

Looking at Tracy, I thought of the training she’d be missing while she was basically babysitting me. “I think it’s a waste of resources.”

David looked straight into my eyes, “I hope you’re right.” He paused to let that sink in. “Good luck, and get going. You have a plane to catch.”

I didn’t have much time to obsess over what the no-nonsense meeting with David meant. When David had said we were leaving in three hours, he’d meant our flight was departing at that time, not that we would have to leave the facility in three hours. I rushed upstairs and packed a bag, hoping I wasn’t forgetting anything vital, and barely got to kiss Owen and nod at Mitchell before Tracy whisked me off to the airport.