Unlocked (The Alpha Group 3)

I exhaled slowly. "I thought it was. Nobody should have been able to get in there."

"So what does that mean?"

I could see she already knew the answer. I almost couldn't muster the words, words that had been playing in the back of my mind since the moment the fight ended. "It means you were right," I said slowly. "Someone in the group wants us dead." Despite how obvious it was, hearing myself say it out loud was like a punch to the stomach. One of my brothers had betrayed me. It was inconceivable.

Sophia closed her eyes briefly, like she'd just realised how little she wanted to be right this time. "So what do we do now?"

I shook my head, a sense of hopelessness clawing at my stomach. "I don't know." And it was true. I had no idea what our next move was. Without knowing who to trust, I couldn't properly use the group's resources. I was effectively cut off. Before, it had been our team against theirs, but now, it was the two of us against the world.

She gave a little nod, like she'd been expecting that, then slipped off her shoes and curled up on the bed. I stood there, staring at this broken woman, feeling so completely ashamed. The signs had been there, but I'd been too blind to see them, and once again she'd nearly paid the price.

"Can you hold me?" she said, after a few seconds. The tremble in her voice was enough to break my heart.

Hurrying towards her I lay down, looping my arm under her neck to cradle her against me. "Hey, hey, it's okay." She didn't cry, she simply burrowed against me, as if she were trying to disappear beneath my skin.

I kissed her forehead softly. "Don't worry, we'll work something out." I filled my voice with as much confidence as possible. What else could I do?

"Okay."

We lay there like that for a few minutes, enjoying the security of each other's presence. Despite my calm facade, the night's events had shaken me. I'd had a little combat exposure back in the day, but nothing ever makes getting shot at any easier. I knew it would pass, but right now, every nerve in my body felt frayed and agitated.

"We should get some rest," I said. "We can deal with this tomorrow. We'll think better with a night's sleep in us."

"Okay," she said again.

I leaned down to kiss her goodnight. It was an instinctive gesture. I hadn't planned for anything to come of it, but the moment our lips touched, a massive current sizzled between us. The lingering adrenaline from our fight surged in my veins, driving my body against hers as though she might be ripped away from me at any second. She was hesitant for a moment, but then she was kissing me back with equal urgency, a fearful hunger that was heartbreaking and yet utterly beautiful. The air swirled, heady with our need; the need to feel each other, to affirm we were both here and safe and together. That somehow, we'd survived.

Our hands fumbled for each other's clothes, tearing them free, and I lowered my naked form over hers, sinking into her wet heat. She arched beneath me, drawing a long intoxicated breath as our bodies joined.

I pulled her against me, welding her form to mine, desperate to be as close to her as humanly possible. There was nothing sensual or controlled about our lovemaking. It was raw and desperate and devastatingly passionate. There were no words to express the way we both felt in that moment, but our bodies could say what our mouths could not. After the terror of what we'd just been through, I desperately wanted to feel something good, something pure, and I wanted her to feel the same.

We came together, our eyes locked, our muscles quivering in unison. We didn't speak when it was over. We just lay there, bathing in the tender glow that, at least temporarily, kept the darkness at bay.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Sophia

For a few minutes after I woke, I actually felt really good. It was one of those lazy awakenings, where things come to you gradually; the sun through the window, the warmth of the blanket, the weight and scent of Sebastian besides me. Soon enough though, everything else made itself known.

Thinking back over it all, I felt strangely numb about the whole thing. I didn't know if that was normal or not. I'd killed a man. It seemed like I should have been balled up in a corner somewhere. But I wasn't. Maybe if I'd still been living my ordinary life, blissfully ignorant of this world, it would have been different. But given everything that was going on around us, it somehow didn't seem so shocking. He'd been trying to kill us, and I'd stopped him. That was all there was to it. I suspected it would come to haunt me, in time, but at that moment, I felt eerily calm. Perhaps it was just my body doing what it needed to, to get through this thing.

I glanced over at Sebastian's sleeping form, my eyes drinking in the taut coils of his back. It made me feel a little perverted that even now, the first thing I did was check him out, but the memory of our recent love making was blaring like fireworks behind my eyes. I had to admit, being shot at did have its perks. Our coupling had never been like that before; so raw, so desperate. He'd loved me like he might never get another chance, and my body had responded in kind.

He woke a few minutes later and rolled towards me, smiling through sleepy eyes. "Hey."

"Hey," I replied.

He leaned in to kiss me, and for a second I thought we might be taken by the same manic combustion that had seized us last night, but I had to settle for a little tingle in my belly instead. The crushing fear that had fuelled us appeared to be all burnt up.

"I'm starving," he said.

"Me too."

He slipped out from under the sheet and walked to the mini-bar. "Well, we can either have Snickers for breakfast, or we can venture out."

"You think that's safe?" I asked.

He shrugged and nodded. "It's going to be buzzing out there pretty soon. Finding two people in suits will be needle in haystack territory. Besides, nobody has any idea where we are. We're off the grid."

I glanced out the window. He was right. The streets were already thronging with people. North Sydney is the biggest business district outside of the actual CBD, making it a perfect disguise for people dressed like we were.

We found a little cafe in a side street and snagged a table in the back corner. We'd missed the breakfast rush and the place was starting to empty out, so if we talked quietly enough, we had a little privacy.

"So, what's our plan?" I said, when our waitress was out of earshot. She'd brought coffee, and I could already feel the sweet rush of caffeine wending its way through my brain. I was alert and ready as I was ever going to be to work out our next move.

He blinked several times, apparently taken aback by my directness. It was then that I noticed how tired he looked. The little lines that webbed their way out from his eyes were more pronounced than normal and his expression was slightly slack. I suspected he hadn't got much rest last night.