House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(21)
Probably the throat. I could just slam it right in and he’d be dead.
Holy shit. I was losing my mind.
No dude was worth going to prison over, even an alien dude. So I would just have to suck this anger down and deal with him until the crisis was over. Back in the main section of the safe house, I could hear the others moving around. I quickly gathered up my borrowed pants again and hurried toward the bathroom. Emma popped out of her room just before I shut the door.
She was dressed in jeans and a white shirt, Converse on her feet. She blinked at the wet state of me; a small smile lifted her cheeks. “Do you need some clothes?” she asked.
I let out a sigh of relief that she hadn’t pressed me on where I’d been. No doubt she could put the clues together and figure it out.
“That would be great, if you have something that might fit me?”
“Callie should have something,” Emma said. “You can start your shower. I’ll drop them at the door.”
Just as I shifted back to shut the door, she added, “There is a new toothbrush and some makeup and other bits and pieces for you in the top drawer. They have these safe houses stocked up.”
Gratitude hit me hard. “Thank you,” I murmured. “I’m really happy to have met you and the other girls.”
Her eyes lit up. “Same. I feel complete now,” she said with a breathtaking grin. “Our family is complete.”
With a wink, she spun and hurried off in the direction of Callie’s room. I took the quickest shower in history, and when I stepped out I wrapped the towel around me and brushed my teeth first. I never used makeup; no point when I was in the ocean so much. Luckily my skin was tanned, my eyelashes and brows really dark, and no one really cared what you looked like when you had sparkly gray hair.
So this was as good as I was getting.
Emma was true to her word, leaving a small pile of clothes on the other side of the door. There was new underwear—with tags—along with black leggings and a white shirt. I shrugged them on, and while the pants and shirt were a little short, baring my ankles and stomach, they fit well enough. I didn’t have shoes, and there was no time for me to grab my Converse, left at the lifeguard station in my bag, so I’d just have to go barefoot.
Going barefoot didn’t bother me. Shoes were useless for someone who was mostly in the ocean. But I did find it amusing that the only pair of shoes I had ever owned were Chucks, and that they also appeared to be the shoe of choice for the secret keepers.
Everyone was in the surveillance room again. Xander, Daniel, Chase, and Lexen appeared to be in the middle of a serious conversation.
“They’re figuring out the best way to get the helicopter out to take us to the airport,” Maya whispered to me when I sidled closer. “It’s noisy, and if Laous is monitoring the airways for traffic, then it’s going to be very obvious.”
She had a point. “He’s probably staking out the airports as well,” I suggested, thinking that’s exactly what I would have done. Why bother hunting us down; eventually we’d come to him.
“We’re not using the same airport as last time,” Daniel said, turning from where he was speed-typing into one of the computers. “We’re taking the boat out first, then a helicopter, then the private plane. We’re going to do everything we can to confuse the trail.”
“He’s going to know we’re heading for Overworld, though, isn’t he?” Callie asked, leaning back against a nearby wall. I hadn’t had a chance to see her this morning until now, and she was very pale. Her lips were almost colorless.
She looked ill, like a bad case of the flu had hit her. Before I could say anything though, Daniel rose from his spot at the table and in two long strides moved to her side. His arms were around her in a flash and Callie sagged against him. She dropped her head onto his chest, and as she closed her eyes some pink came back into her face.
“He will know, which is good because we don’t want him to attack Hawaii,” he said. “But we want to make sure we can get away without any bloodshed as well. This is the dilemma.” He dropped a kiss on Callie’s head, before turning to us. “We can’t waste any more time. Callie has been away from House of Imperial for too long. Her energy is fading.”
“Your energy is keeping her steady, right?” Emma asked with urgency. “Because the plane ride is at least six hours back.”
Daniel nodded, although the worry in his gaze did not lessen. “She will make it. I’m sharing energy with her right now, but … we don’t have time to waste.”
That really shook everyone into action. Lexen got off the phone, as did Xander, both of them declaring that everything was set up for all of our transports.
Then we were off.
I wasn’t sure it was a conscious thing or not, but the overlords kind of shuffled the four girls into the center, spreading out around us. Callie ended up between me and Emma. We both reached out to wrap an arm around her because she still looked wobbly. She leaned on me more than I expected she was comfortable with. As we moved Daniel kept shooting worried eyes at his mate, but she just waved him away when he tried to take her back into his arms.
“I’m fine, you do your overprotective thing keeping all of us safe. My girls have me.”
My chest hurt then, emotion so strong it was painful. This was what a family felt like. This was what it felt like to be relied on. Being relied on might not sound that brilliant, but it came with the stipulation that I could rely on others as well. Now that … that was my idea of amazing.