Ah, hell.
“I think we have more pressing matters at hand to worry about.”
He frowns, but I’m not sure why. He was enjoying this tension between myself and Kimber on our way over here. Now he’s acting as though he’s pissed about it.
“Right,” he says, still frowning. “Then let’s get to it.”
***
GAGE
“Where’s this girl?” I ask Reese, my patience frayed and unraveling quickly.
Reese leans over his desk, and Kimber shifts closer to me on the large, rounded couch.
“First things first. The girl is still mortal. And she wants to live a mortal life while she can. My pack will be keeping her safe from afar. But she has written down everything she remembered before I changed her memories.”
I leap off the couch before I even realize what I’m doing, and Reese growls while jumping to his feet, too, ready to fight.
“We needed her for this! You changed her fucking memories? How?” I demand.
“I know a witch. The girl will remember everything when she turns immortal because magic isn’t strong enough to work that way on an immortal. She wrote down everything before I had her memories altered. Shouldn’t she have that small amount of time without the pain of her truth? Shouldn’t she have the chance to live like a normal girl?”
Before I can lash into him again, Kimber’s hand comes down on my forearm. “He’s right. If she’s written everything down, then we don’t need her. She deserves to live without the pain of those memories.”
Her words come from a sad place, and something in the cracks of her voice makes my anger flee. I turn to look down into her blue eyes, and I see the pain she masks so well. She’s haunted. That’s why she acts so tough. She’s haunted by what it feels like to be so weak.
Sighing, I turn back to Reese. “Fine. Give me what she wrote down. I’ll start sifting through it.”
Kimber turns and walks away as Reese hands me a notebook. I sigh while taking it, and no more words are spoken as we leave. Thad takes the passenger seat beside me, Kimber sits in the back, and the silence hangs in the air all the way back to the safe house.
***
GAGE
“Find anything yet?” Thad asks while joining me in my isolated spot.
“I thought I was hidden out here,” I mumble, flipping another page of the notebook.
She was very detailed. Between her and Karma, we’ll find six of these rings now. It’s time to start planning an attack. Just as soon as we talk to our one last lead.
“Just because you walk into the woods, that doesn’t mean you’re hidden.”
I nod absently, barely acknowledging the changer. I know why he’s looking for me.
“We need to talk,” he says, blowing out a breath while dropping to the ground beside me.
“I’m not going to ambush Kimber with another kiss. It was stupid, so get your panties out of a wad. She’s the reason I’m way the hell out here instead of at the house right now. I just need a few minutes of distance.”
“The time for staying away has come and gone.”
That has my head popping up. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He tosses me a leather-bound book, and I stare at the ancient symbol on the top. It’s one I’ve never seen before.
“How much do you know about visionaries?” he asks me.
“Not much. Their secrets have been well-kept for centuries. I know that Kimber is one of two that I’ve ever met. Being hunted made them paranoid, and they locked away their secrets. Why?”