The World Undone (The Protector Guild Book 8), page 5
Fuck.
Of course she’d find a way to feel guilty about this—to feel responsible.
For something I’d done.
Something I’d kept secret.
“Max, no, you’re not endangering anyone.” I reached for her again, slowly this time, then closed the distance when she didn’t move further away. I pressed my lips softly to hers, then whispered against her lips, ignoring Levi entirely. “I promise. No more secrets between us. It won’t happen again.”
Her expression shifted, flattening out, then she dropped her eyes from mine, offering only a nod in response. “Yeah,” there was something lingering there—something I couldn’t put my finger on. When she opened her mouth like she was going to say something else, my stomach clenched with fear. But she just shook her head, gave me a weak smile, and said, “Okay, no more secrets.”
“Well,” Levi brushed some invisible dirt from his pants. “Now that the lovers’ spat is through—and far less climactic and entertaining than I’d hoped—and since Seamus is likely going to be under for another couple of hours, I should probably take you both to the meeting.”
Max’s brows furrowed as she stepped around me to get a better look at him. “What meeting?”
Levi gave her a lazy half-grin, his eyes once again locked on hers like she was all he saw.
I didn’t blame him, but it still fucking infuriated me.
I’d never hated-hated Levi, beyond my own jealousies and baggage about my mom. I was emotionally aware enough to understand that my dislike wasn’t personal—he’d had about as much say in our familial circumstances as I’d had.
But then he went and set his sights on Max, and that dislike shaped into something sharper, more solid.
Then again, that was just a different kind of jealousy. One that resonated deeper.
“It’s about time you and your team are let in on what we know.” He shrugged. “Part of it, anyway.”
A familiar spark of excitement lit her face and my stomach flipped at the smile she gave him.
But then she turned that smile on me, and any petty jealousies slipped away. Even with his flirtations and attempts to garner her attention, Max had never once looked at Levi the way she looked at me.
When she looked at me like that, I couldn’t move, could hardly breathe.
It was equal parts intoxicating and terrifying.
I used to be suave, have game.
Now, I was a puddle of goo in the palms of a girl.
What the fuck had become of me?
“Let’s get the others before we go.” Her smile dimmed slightly. “Do you think we’ll be able to convince Atlas to leave his room?”
My stomach tightened for an entirely different reason, one much less pleasant. “We can try.”
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4
ELI
Thankfully, Levi ditched us as soon as he’d delivered us to the meeting. We found ourselves in a small room at the back of Charlie’s restaurant—it was crowded and cramped but had been repurposed into a cluttered conference room of sorts.
He didn’t say so, but I knew he was going back to sit with my father, and as much as I wanted to hate him for encroaching, for being the one my father seemed to turn to in those moments when he lost himself, I was also grateful that my dad wouldn’t be alone.
Atlas was locked next to Max, a silent sentinel.
He still hadn’t spoken much to the rest of us, but every day he seemed to be getting a little bit better, a little more like himself. The problem was that Atlas was a bit of a quiet, surly loner even when he was his usual, brooding self. That made gauging any improvement in his mental state difficult.
He didn’t leave his room, other than to use the bathroom. Max crawled into bed with him each night in an effort to help comfort him, to combat some of the lingering dread tugging at his mind.
It was almost like he was relearning how to fit inside of his skin, his world—and she was the key to helping him do it.
I had a feeling that the dark shadows that seemed to encase him would linger for a long time though. None of us really knew what he went through, and Max didn’t talk too much about the glimpses she’d seen in her dreamwalks to him. She didn’t want to betray his trust, to tell his story.
I respected the hell out of her for it, but respect and understanding did nothing to quell my curiosity or my concern.
But I knew from the brief things she did tell us—the fear that flickered in her expression whenever we brought up his name, the way she spent most of the evenings in his room, trying to coax him out of his shell and soothe whatever invisible scars he harbored, her obsession with healing Sarah—that what he was going through would take time.
Maybe even a lifetime.
Honestly, it was something that he actually let her see him like this. Atlas wasn’t one for being comforted, for allowing someone to see him in his most raw and vulnerable state.
I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised though. Max had that effect on us all. The ability to get in and truly see us—even the parts of us we wanted to hide. It’s why we’d all been so fucking terrified of getting too close to her. The fear that she’d see the worst we had to offer and leave.
She hadn’t though. And I was beginning to realize that we’d done her a disservice in assuming she was the kind of person who’d bail.
Atlas wasn’t himself, but the fact that he was letting Max get a glimpse of the pain he was enduring had me confident he would be himself again.
One day.
Ideally it would happen before the impending apocalypse, but we couldn’t afford to be picky.
He shifted awkwardly, limbs stiff, and I knew it took everything in him not to run back to our cabin, back to the dark shelter of the room he’d taken over. This was the first time since his return that he’d left, the first time he’d settled into a room all of us occupied. His discomfort shone through every muscle twitch, every nervous sidelong glance at us.
A door opened and Charlie and Bishop walked in. Behind them was a tall white man with dark red hair knotted in a bun on his head, and an East-Asian woman with a sharp, black bob. I hadn’t seen either of them around the Lodge yet.
And I didn’t give either of them much attention because it was the last person who walked in that made my stomach bottom out.
Evelyn.
I’d done a damn good job of avoiding her when she was at Headquarters, and an even better job since arriving here.
But apparently that avoidance spree was ending now.
Her eyes locked on mine, her lips lifting into a small, tentative smile, but it disappeared when I offered her blankness in response.
It took everything I had to swallow the anxiety lodged in my throat, my chest damn near like a vise at just the sight of her.
An unfamiliar emotion flashed across her expression—hurt, maybe—before she covered it up with the usual protector mask and greeted the others with a stiff nod.
“Thanks for joining us.” Either oblivious to the tension or kindly ignoring it, Charlie smiled before gesturing to the mismatched swivel chairs surrounding the large, wooden table we were all hovering around. “Why don’t we all take a seat and get comfortable?”
Without a word, we all shuffled to an available chair. It was an almost comical moment of musical chairs, each set of hinges squeaking loudly under the weight of bodies. The room was a far cry from the command centers where we’d received our mission at Headquarters.
It wasn’t until all the other spots had been taken that I realized the only available seat left was directly across from my mother.
Fuck today.
I bit the insides of my cheeks and gripped the arms of the chair, trying like hell to keep my face blank, even as my traitorous fingers trembled with anxiety.
In that moment, I hated myself. Hated that I couldn’t swallow back my own bullshit and wear the mask I’d spent a decade perfecting. Hated that my mother had this effect on me. I felt so small, powerless in her presence. Like I was suddenly the same little boy she’d abandoned all those years ago.
There were more important things going on, and I so badly wanted the strength to push all my personal shit aside.
Max lined the side of her foot against mine and I froze, briefly, before relaxing and leaning into the soft pressure of hers in thanks. The simple reminder of her presence, that she was with me and on my side, was like a fresh gulp of water after weeks in the desert.
“This isn’t all of our community representatives,” Charlie started, glancing around at everyone, her eyes wide and shining with warmth, “but it will do for our purposes today.”
“And what purposes are those?” Darius asked, his voice uncharacteristically frigid. I hadn’t spoken to him much over the last week—all of us were spread thin, busy helping out in various capacities around the campgrounds—but something about him seemed a little…off.
Tense.
Hungry.
He hadn’t bothered taking a seat. He was the only one standing, leaning against the wall behind Max’s chair. Typically, I’d find his obnoxious behavior, well, obnoxious, but right now I was honestly glad to have one of us at Max’s six. The girl attracted danger and enemies like no one I’d ever met. And while I trusted Charlie and Bishop reasonably well, I hadn’t met everyone who lived in this small community. We were outnumbered and in the middle of nowhere.
Bishop’s dark gaze drilled into him. Whatever animosity he’d once harbored for the vampire was still very, very much alive, but Darius paid him no attention.
“Well—” it was strange, I hadn’t really heard it in years, but Evelyn’s voice—soft but sure—cut through me like a goddamn knife. I tensed at the sound of it. There had been so many nights I’d woken up wishing more than anything that that voice would come comfort me back to sleep and ease the nightmares away. But she was the one who’d caused so many of those nightmares in the first place. Max squeezed my knee under the table, and I did my best to relax into her touch. “This is war, isn’t it?” Her hazel eyes cut to Max. “Or are we going to pretend that burning the primary research station of The Guild was just an unconventional greeting card?”
There wasn’t judgment in her tone, if anything, she sounded almost impressed. Intrigued, at the very least.
She studied Max for a long moment.
Max met her stare, unwavering, and I could feel her anger on my behalf directed like a laser towards the woman. She had no reason to hate Evelyn—except that she’d hurt me.
Evelyn’s mouth twitched into an amused grin, but it dissolved into her usual mask almost as quickly as it had appeared. “I don’t think we’ve formally met yet, Max Bentley. But I’m Evelyn. I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
Max’s lips flattened. “I’ve heard a lot about you as well.”
“Yes, of course.” The angles of Evelyn’s jaw tightened as she listlessly arranged some papers and files sitting in front of her. “I’m sure you have.” She leaned back into her chair, the rickety groan echoing in the tense silence.
I could feel my team’s eyes on me, waiting for me to react, to blow up. But I swallowed my anger, using Max’s touch to anchor me. My past was nothing compared to what we were up against—it was time for me to swallow it as best as I could.
Evelyn cleared her throat, then her face softened as her focus turned to me. “I hear you’re coming from visiting with Seamus. How is he? I haven’t been down to see him yet today.”
I snorted. “Are you suggesting that you suddenly care?” The words slipped out before I could reign them in. The petulant, childlike tone of my voice had shame licking at my spine. This wasn’t who I was, not anymore. I hated that two seconds in a room with her sent me back to adolescence.
“Of course—” pain flashed across her face, her eyes framing in soft wrinkles as she narrowed them. “Eli, of course I care.”
I swallowed the retort on the tip of my tongue and nodded. “He’s not good, but he’s strong.” I met her eyes, adding, “and he’s survived through worse. He’ll get through this too—and be stronger on the other side of it.”
There was no mystery as to who had caused the deepest ache in his life.
It certainly wasn’t a wonky werewolf.
“Yes, well, we’re doing everything we can. Levi tells me that there’s been some signs of improvement. He’s getting stronger, the—”
“Enough.” I only whispered the word, but it seemed to echo through the room like a bell. My chest was tight, heavy, like it was being crushed by a fucking semi. “I won’t discuss my father with you. Is he why you called us here? Or are there other things we can discuss?”
Boundaries. Boundaries were good.
Her eyes dropped down to the table, the apples of her cheeks flushed bright with pink. “Right. Yes. I understand.” She cleared her throat. “I apologize for overstepping.”
The man with red hair smiled awkwardly, catching on to the tension and clearly trying to dispel it as gracefully as possible. “Perhaps it would be best if we got introductions out of the way. My name is Jace. I’ve been a part of this community for two years.” He turned to Max, his smile widening until it was almost absurdly bright. He was a disarmingly good-looking dude. “And I’m already a big fan of yours, Max. My little sister was locked up in those labs. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again. I owe you a great debt.”
That caught Max’s attention, and pulled her quiet, withering glare away from Evelyn. “Is she okay?”
Jace tilted his head back and forth, his smile flattening a bit. “As okay as can be expected. She was stuck down there for nearly six months—very few succubi are lucky enough to survive protector—” he grunted, “what do they like to call them? Tests? Well, whatever the semantics, very few survive their particular brand of torture that long. But she’s strong and somehow managed it. We are eternally grateful to you.”
Max straightened up, her eyes brightening. “You’re an incubus?”
I noticed Wade lean forward a bit as well, unable to hide his own intrigue. Incubi were rare. Other than Wade, I’d never encountered one. Not knowingly anyway.
But that definitely explained why the man was so pretty, the charisma nearly dripping from him.
He nodded. “Yes. We grew up in the hell realm but spent most of our lives on our own. Easier to survive that way—to blend in.”
The woman on his right arched her brow. “And I’m Haley. Vampire.”
So, Charlie and Bishop weren’t kidding when they said that this place was a large mix of supernaturals from all corners of the world.
We rattled off our names, and while Jace gave each of us a jovial nod, Haley hadn’t taken her eyes off of Max. Not even to blink.
“You bear the start of a bond mark.” Her eyes narrowed on the small iridescent curve that had grown up the smooth column of Max’s neck, where few shirts could cover it completely. “So the rumors are more than rumors then? You are a true bond pack. Like the kind of the old days?”
Max shifted uncomfortably, eyeing me out of the corner of her eye.
I could almost feel the outline of my own mark pulse under my shirt from the heavy intrigue on the woman’s face. We all had them now. They were growing more solid, more undeniable with every day that passed.
The collective weight of everyone’s gaze was heavy, like they were all trying to find the marks that weren’t on display, like they could see beneath our clothes if they stared hard enough.
“Yes,” Max said, offering them nothing else. She was hesitant, careful, and I could feel her desire to protect us flare against my skin—bright and hot like the sun. For once, I understood Icarus’s temptation. What a way to go.
“Yes,” Jace nodded, “I can feel it, emanating from you all. Such a large group, too.”
I cleared my throat, uncomfortable discussing our bonds—it was a sacred connection between us, the only thing anchoring us through the chaos of this new world. That we were casually chatting about them in front of my mother, who’d deliberately and knowingly broken her own, albeit fabricated bond, made my skin itch with disgust.
“And your powers.” Haley’s sentence hung in the air, not a question but more an invitation to elaborate.
“Not important.” Darius’s voice was clipped. I’d almost forgotten that he was hovering behind us.
Jace nudged Haley’s arm as her stare focused on Darius, curiosity evident even in the blankness of her stare.
“And you,” she said to him, “are more than you seem as well.”
Darius offered her nothing but a scathing glare in response.
“Right,” Jace started, the word layered with a tense chuckle, “let’s establish some trust here first, we’re all on the same team. It’s paramount that we learn to trust each other if we’re all going to be working together. At the risk of sounding like a narrator from a fairytale, dangerous shit is afoot. There’s a lot of uncertainty, uncharted water in our future, and it’s best we go in knowing who the true enemy is—The Guild Council.” He arched a brow, his focus turning to each of us. “Sound fair?”
“We’ll see,” Dec responded. She was sitting on my other side, and I’d caught the several death glares she’d shot my mother. Dec liked to pretend that she didn’t give a shit about anyone, but she was protective as fuck—and she’d seen firsthand the damage that Evelyn had done to both me and my father when she’d left us.
And Seamus had been like a second father to her too over the years.
I felt unexpectedly warm with the support system surrounding me. I always knew my team had my back, but things had shifted lately, grown stronger—unshakeable.
We’d literally been to hell and back for each other. That kind of shit changed things.
My mother abandoned me, and I’d been unknowingly terrified that the family I’d chosen, my team, might one day do the same.
But I wasn’t anymore.
