Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(100)

“He’s not you, Quinn. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know.” He nodded. “He is part of me, but he doesn’t rule me. I can’t let him dictate how I use my power.”

“We get to shape who we become, Quinnton. We get to decide who we want to be. Not our batshit crazy gifts.”

“You’re right.” He smiled.

“Listen, now that we’re out…. You don’t owe me anything.” Her fingertips trailed across his jaw.

“I owe you everything, Mina.” He kissed her fingertips.

“What about Sasha? I can feel this enormous thing you have with her. I can sense the bond. I don’t understand it, but it’s bigger than me—”

“No, Santi. I don’t know what this is. But I know it doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I want to be wherever you are.”

“We have a few … guests.” Gregg’s voice drifted from the crypt entrance.

“Allie?” Quinn stood, crossing the cell to the barred entrance.

“Quinn?” She rushed over to him, reaching for the bars. “Why is he in a cell?”

She looked like hell. Blood and dirt smeared her face, like she’d cried bloody tears. Her red hair was a rat’s nest on top of her head, but she was beautiful. His friend. His family.

“It’s not safe for us to be with the family yet,” Quinn said. “I won’t trust myself until I’m in full control of my power again.”

“He asked us to put them here,” Gregg explained.

“It’s a long story, Allie. But I’m glad to see you.” He reached through the bars to clasp her hands.

“I’m so sorry, Quinn. It should have been me.”

But he was so grateful it wasn’t Allie in his place. Not that she couldn’t have survived it, but he suspected Allie was way more important to their future than he was.

“I’m so glad it wasn’t you. It was better this way.” He gestured over his shoulder to Santi, sitting quietly on the bed in the corner of the cell. He couldn’t imagine his life without her now.

Looking at Allie, Quinn knew she was headed for a confrontation with Livia. He glanced toward the door leading to Livia’s cell, grateful he wouldn’t be there when it happened. “Just … don’t judge her too harshly, Allie,” Quinn said. “She’s a heinous bitch, but she’s had a hard life. She’s never really had a choice.” He knew that now. Livia’s father made her into a weapon and never gave her a chance to be the person she wanted to be. She was a reluctant weapon. She didn’t know how to be anything else.

“Who?” Allie asked.

“Livia,” Gregg said. “She’s here. We couldn’t risk letting her escape this time.”

“Take me to her, please?” Allie’s voice rang with a confidence Quinn had never heard from her before.

“Are you sure?” Gregg asked.

“Yes.”

“She’s in a pissy mood, as you can probably imagine. And she’s not thrilled with you.”

“I bet not.” Allie heaved a huge sigh as she followed Gregg into another room where the cell bars practically hummed with magnetic energy.

Quinn caught a glimpse of Livia pacing her cell in a fury. He met her eyes just for a second and thought he saw her smile.

“Oh good, you brought the brat.”

~~~





CHAPTER

THIRTY-SEVEN





Sasha: Fall—The New Moon


Kelleys Island, Ohio


Sasha paced the length of the common room. The steady thump of her heart felt out of rhythm, like each beat held a faint echo. In the hour since she arrived home safely, she still hadn’t recovered from the rush of battle. Something was missing. Like a detail she couldn’t quite remember.

When Sasha had returned to the orchard after leaving Jayesh, she was a wreck, but pulled herself together when she found her mother gathering up their dead. Sasha watched in horror as Jin and Chloe laid Ming Lao in the back of the SUV. She could sense the wrongness shrouding Jin like a sickness and realized Ming Lao wouldn’t be rising again. Sasha moved to help Naeemah bring Ju Long and Lu Li to rest beside their daughter. Chloe crawled in beside her mother’s body, holding her hand and staring with vacant, dry eyes. There was something vaguely terrifying about the look on Chloe’s face.

There was no room in the vehicle for Sasha so she slid behind the wheel of one of the remaining cars. She sat in a daze, half of her wanting to follow Jayesh. The other half pulled her toward Quinn like a beacon.

Sasha stopped her pacing at the sound of a weary step coming up from the crypt.

“Sasha?” Allie’s voice sounded haunted.

“I heard you coming. What do you know? I just got back.” Sasha’s nervous babble tumbled out of her mouth.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“Have you seen him?” She was going to throttle Allie if she didn’t start talking.

“Quinn? Yes. He’s fine.”

“Where is he?” Her eyes were starved for the sight of him. She needed to see him.

“He asked them to lock him up in the crypt. He’s still not himself. Livia had some kind of hold on him. She was using his gifts.”