“Nate found something. We need to get an item specific to each of the guys. Then Asher will need to try the incantation one more time. The souls should sort themselves out with something to guide them back to the correct bodies.”
“God, that sounds like something straight out of a body snatcher horror flick.” I glance over at my sexy nerd. “Mack, any idea-”
“Echo, I’m over here,” comes from Thad’s mouth.
I turn toward him and grimace. “Shit. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll run to the Gateway and grab a small item for each of us. While I’m there, I want to grab a book I found when I was reading about the marks, just in case we need it.”
“Don’t be long, okay?”
Thad’s big body walks past the others, stopping right in front of me. Green eyes stare into my own, but behind his intense look, I see the sweet shyness that could only be my sexy nerd.
“I’ll be back before you know it.” His large arms snake out and lift me off my feet as his lips meet mine.
“Okay, watching myself kiss our woman is surprisingly hot.”
“Isn’t it just like watching your twin kiss her?” Knox asks, the question missing too much Ass-Coleness to sound natural coming from our resident grump’s mouth.
“Hell no! I’m way more handsome than the wankstain over there.” He points to his twin’s body, Cole twisting Levi’s face into a grimace that looks more constipated than anything. Smolder-y alphahole on Cole’s face, gastric distress on Levi’s.
Holy hell. This is giving me a headache.
“Be back in a minute, echo.” Mack touches the mark on Thad’s wrist and slowly dematerializes until he’s gone.
“That is so cool!” Asher murmurs, looking at the spot where my sexy nerd in disguise was standing just seconds before.
“Eh...it still gives me the creeps,” I mutter.
“You’ve done it for centuries though.”
“Did she forget to mention the details surrounding the fact that she spent almost one hundred years dead and buried only to come back to spend the last ten years as a ghost? None of them have their memories from their lives before.”
“Are you serious?” she asks Reggie.
“Dead serious!” I smirk. “See what I did there?”
The guys all groan at my lame attempt at humor as I tell Asher the story that we’ve managed to piece together since I became a real girl again.
“You mean to tell me that despite not remembering one another and having no idea who you were to each other, that you still felt the connections you all share?”
“We did. They’re lucky I wasn’t a living breathing girl when I first met them. Pretty sure climbing a guy like a tree the first time you lay eyes on him is frowned upon even in today’s more sexually enlightened society.”
She chuckles.
I glance at the clock and note that over ninety minutes has passed.
“Shouldn’t Mack be back by now?” I ask.
Levi takes a look at the watch on his wrist, those green eyes more serious than they’ve ever been as they take on Cole’s asshole-ishness. “It definitely shouldn’t have taken him this long.”
I slide out of my leather jacket and slide the sleeve of my white tee up. My marks have gone back to normal, no sign of the ink-like drips in sight.
“Do I touch Mack’s mark, or do I touch Thad’s since Mack is in Thad’s body?”
“Try them both?” Knox suggests.
I try Thad’s first and immediately know that’s the wrong one because it says he’s in the room with me. Next, I touch Mack’s mark and can sense that he's still at the Gateway, but he’s not alone. My brows furrow as I try to figure out who could be there with him, considering we’re all here.
“Guys, I think we need to get to the Gateway. Someone is there with Mack.”
“Who?” Cole asks.
“I’m not sure. The Gateway seems...confused.”
The guys all share a look before they turn to me.
“Shit. I should’ve gone with him. We said we weren’t going to split up,” Cole says, Levi’s big hand coming up to push his long hair back out of his face.
“Could it be Rylan or Nate?” Knox asks.
“Maybe, but I think the Gateway would’ve been able to tell me it was them.”
Reggie tilts her head. “It’s like the Gateway can sense the presence, but something is blocking it from being able to tell exactly who it is.”
We all share worried looks, anxiety twisting my gut as I lock onto icy blues that hold my empath’s struggle with his own emotions. “We need to go. Now.”
“Stay here,” I tell Asher. “As soon as we figure out what’s going on, we’ll be back and we’ll get this situation straightened out.”
“What about me, boss?”
“Reggie, you stay here and keep an eye on things. If things go south, I’ll try to get a message to you. If that happens, call Nate. He may be our only hope.”
“Be careful,” Asher says as we all touch the Gateway mark on our wrists and begin the journey through the ether.
The doors of the Gateway’s main chamber are closed, which I find odd. Since we had the grand “we’re back” party, we’ve left them open.
Using my power, the two large doors slide inward. The flames in the sconces on the wall are lit, casting the room in a soft glow.
We take a few steps into the main chamber, and I stop abruptly. There, on the dais, sitting in my overly elaborate chair that I refuse to call a throne, sits none other than...Agent Barbie? The guys’ confusion is mirroring my own. She’s wearing a tight red camisole with her obnoxiously large fake boobs almost popping out of the neckline and skinny jeans with bright red heels. Her hair is down, flowing over her shoulders as she sits, legs crossed and fingers lightly thrumming along the chair’s arm.
But what sets off my power is the sight of Thad’s body kneeling at her feet. He’s bound by some sort of rope made out of fire that doesn’t seem to be burning him, similar to the electric rope I used on Bad Man. His eyes meet mine, and he shakes his head almost imperceptibly before letting his gaze drift to the woman beside him.
She doesn’t notice. Her eyes are locked on us, a smirk plastered on her heavily made up face.
“Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to join us, darling.”
“What the fuck are you doing here, and what are you doing with...Thad?”
“Ah ah. You don’t get to ask the questions right now.”
I growl, my power skirting along my skin, just begging me to blast this fake bitch into smithereens.
“Don’t try anything risky, sweetie. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to this sexy piece of man at my feet.” She moves her index finger in a circular motion, and the binds tighten ever so slightly, causing Mack to grimace.
My heart is pounding in my chest as I try to work out a way to get him out of this safely. The guys are at my back, silent, steady. Letting me take the lead, which honestly surprises the shit out of me. The fact that I’m too stressed to even make a shit joke right now speaks volumes. I struggle to calm my power down to a dull spark.
“There. That’s better. It’s simple really. If you give me what I want, I will let you have your little boy toy back. No harm. No foul. If not, well, I’ll be taking him as a consolation prize. I mean, he is the embodiment of darkness after all. We’d work together pretty well, I think.” She runs the back of her manicured finger along his cheek. To his credit, Mack doesn’t so much as flinch.