Unchained (Nephilim Rising 1)

Danyal shook his head slowly. “And it’s no more than that? Like with Anna? She had been manipulated into a serious relationship.”

She didn’t know if Anna had been manipulated or not. Luke knew more about those circumstances than anyone else did, and he wasn’t talking about that. Ever. “I don’t see how this has anything to do with Anna.”

“And if we demanded you stop seeing him as a friend today, would you be able to do so?” Danyal asked.

She gaped. Hell, at this point she didn’t care if their concern was even valid. It was pure principal. How could any of them tell her who she could be friends with, who she could care about, or who she…?

“Lily?”

She raised her chin. “No one has the right to tell any of us who we can befriend.”

“He’s a Fallen, Lily!” Danyal snapped, losing his customary cool facade. “There shouldn’t be any question. There shouldn’t be anything you have to think about.”

Adrian tilted his head to the side, his gaze finding Nathaniel’s. “Nate and I believe there is much more to this than a mere friendship. It would explain many things. Has the relationship become one of a sexual nature? Answer the question, Lily.”

She looked at Nathaniel, feeling horribly exposed. He had asked her that question just yesterday, and she had told him exactly how she felt about answering. To hear that he had discussed her sexual activities with Adrian mortified her. Not as much as knowing she was going to have to answer them. She shuffled uncomfortably, near panicked. She was a grown woman, but this was her personal, intimate business, and these were her coworkers. Her friends. And Nathaniel was like her father. It was just…gross.

“Adrian, I don’t think this is necessary.” Luke stepped forward. His gaze found Nathaniel’s. “Don’t,” he asked, pleading. He seemed to be the only one who understood how this was affecting her, and the only one who cared.

Nathaniel’s lips formed a tight, hard line. “Lily, answer the question.”

This was horrifying. She felt sick to her stomach, and it wasn’t from the sun. She felt her face flush, and she was near tears. So angry she thought her skin would boil off her bones.

“Lily!” Nathaniel ordered, his patience snapping.

“Yes! Yes! Okay? Does that make you all happy?” she nearly shrieked.

Nathaniel’s jaw clenched, but there wasn’t a flicker of emotion on Adrian’s face. He had already assumed their relationship had progressed to a sexual one. For whatever reason, he only waited to hear Lily admit to it.

She wanted to vomit, right there, on his leather boots. God, she would have happily done so if she had actually had more than a bite of her lunch. Instead, she swallowed down the taste of bile. “So while you guys bother yourselves over whether I’m having sex and with whom, the person out there who is actually betraying us is doing so without an ounce of attention on him!”

Danyal raised his head. “And who would that be?”

“Micah,” she responded. “He was snooping around Nate’s office, and he is a complete arrogant jerk!” The last part wasn’t really a valid reason for suspicion, but she couldn’t help but throw it out there.

“And what were you doing in Nathaniel’s office?” Adrian asked casually. “I’m quite curious.”

Her heart skipped a beat. Everything was surreal. She was outside, but it felt like the walls were closing in on her. Both Luke and Nate had told her she was beginning to be suspected. Micah had confirmed it, but she hadn’t really believed they truly thought it was her. Even during this meeting she thought they were upset with her about Julian, and not that they really thought she was helping the Fallen gain access to the Nephilim.

“I was looking for Nate to see if we could give Michael a break for the weekend, but he wasn’t in his office. Micah was.” She left out the part that she’d copied a couple of the personnel files. That would definitely not work in her favor.

“We don’t suspect Micah,” Adrian responded, and that was the end of that.

She turned back to Luke. The wild turmoil she was feeling must have been written all over her face, because Luke shook his head at her. Her hands curled into fists as a bead of sweat trickled between her breasts. She turned to Nathaniel, believing he was the one person besides Luke who would always have her back. “What’s going on?” she whispered.

“There will be an investigation into your attack against Micah and whether you have had anything to do with the information that has been handed over to the Fallen,” he answered. He at least had the cojones to maintain eye contact with her.

“An investigation?” she stammered. “What does that mean?”

Adrian stepped back, handing over control to Nathaniel completely. This part, the one that was coming, was Nathaniel’s duty. He handled the personnel issues: the write-ups, the punishments, the suspensions, and the all-feared breach of Contract.

However, none of this was making sense to her. Her head swung wildly from Nate to Luke. Then she saw it coming like a freight train that couldn’t be stopped.

And it was about to run right over her.

“Your hunting duties have been suspended until further notice.”

“What?” she exploded. People on the streets below had to have heard her it was that loud.

“Your access to the Sanctuary has been restricted to the aboveground levels and to level four only. You will have no other access. You will only be allowed to continue your training with Michael, but once your training is complete for the day, you will be required to leave the premises.”

“Has the entire circle agreed on this?” Luke demanded, coming to life beside her. “This is the first I’ve heard of this.”

Nathaniel’s eyes turned cold. “I don’t need the circle’s agreement.”

Her chest rose and fell with each heavy breath she took. “What if I didn’t have a place to go? You’d throw me out on the street, Nathaniel?”

“If you didn’t have a place to go, you would be secluded in one of the isolation cells. That is still an option,” he warned icily.

Was she supposed to actually say “thank you” to that? “So you don’t trust me to hunt, but you trust me to train Michael? That makes no sense!”

Adrian, no longer able to remain silent, spoke up again. “Your indiscretion must not interrupt his training. He has done well under you and Rafe, and we cannot run the risk of undoing everything he has learned.”

“In other words, you don’t trust me to be out there hunting and running amok through the Sanctuary in case I take a peek at the Book, but you want to be able to keep your eyes on me at some point. Oh, and none of you want to be saddled with training someone.”

“Lily!” Nathaniel’s voice rose. “Your suspension begins immediately, and I strongly advise you cease any contact with the Fallen.”

“Wait, I will take full responsibility for her,” objected Luke. “If she hunts, then I hunt. That will also solve the problem of the Fallen. He doesn’t come around when I am with her. He never has.”

Nathaniel shook his head. “The decision is already made. The suspension stands as is.”

“Do any of you understand what this will do to her reputation?” demanded Luke. “This won’t stay secret for long. The other Nephilim will find out. There will be no stopping the damage.”

“She should have thought about that before she slept with the Fallen, placing herself in such a bad light,” Adrian shot back.

Lily started forward, coming close to swinging on him, but Nathaniel grabbed her arm. “Everyone has been sworn to silence. The knowledge that there is a traitor will not leave the circle, nor will the knowledge of why you have been suspended.”

Danyal snorted. “There’re so many reasons why you’d finally be suspended, Lily. They will assume it’s any number of things. All anyone knows now is that you and Micah got into it.”

“Shut up,” she seethed, wanting to plant her fist in his face.

Nathaniel’s grip tightened. “All of you leave now. This is over.”

With Nathaniel’s patience at an end, and her temper near explosive levels, the other Nephilim left with the exception of Luke. She turned to Nathaniel, her hurt clearly visible for him to see. “You said—”

“It doesn’t matter,” he cut her off, dropping her arm. “The moment Micah told Adrian what happened, there was nothing I could do to halt this meeting. The only reason you weren’t suspended yesterday was because I had hoped this wouldn’t blow up. Stop looking at me like I’ve kicked your puppy into oncoming traffic, Lily! For far too long, I have let my fondness for you get in the way, and your behavior has increasingly gotten out of hand.”

“My behavior?” she demanded in a low voice. She was quite curious what he was referring to that was so bad.

He raised his hand, cutting off anything else she would have said. “Your suspension is more for your benefit than it is anyone else’s.”

She looked at him like he had grown fifteen heads. “How is this for my benefit?”

Nathaniel took a step forward, causing Luke to immediately move closer to her. “They don’t trust you, Lily. What do you think will happen if you are out there hunting and get cornered or you have to call for help? Do you think they’ll come to your aid?”

“Nate, come on.” Luke’s displeasure was rolling off him in waves.

“No, she needs to hear this. She needs to know how badly she has screwed up. She will be out there on her own, and you can’t be with her every second.”

Lily stared aghast, unwilling to believe that. “The others will help me.”

Nathaniel barked harsh laughter. “The others will follow their lead. Lily, I cannot have you out there and be unprotected if something goes wrong. Not until this is cleared up.”

She stepped back. His words felt like a slap in the face. She turned before they could see how strongly affected she was. “I assume you don’t expect me to finish training Michael today?”

“No. You may leave. Get whatever you need from your room. I won’t require anyone to go with you. Report back here Monday for training.”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She started to walk off, but Nathaniel stopped her.

“Lily, they wanted you locked up, but I couldn’t allow that. I don’t think it’s you,” he said, and for the first time his voice reflected the heaviness weighing on him. “At least, I don’t think you know it is. I don’t know if he has manipulated you, or you’re under some sort of compulsion, but until we find out for sure, this is the only way.”

Her eyes shut, and she drew in a deep breath. She didn’t know what hurt her more. The fact he couldn’t trust her, or that after all these years, he really didn’t know her at all.

“Lily?” Luke called out to her.

She forced a smile and faced them. “It’s okay. Be safe out there.” She glanced at Nathaniel, her heart in her throat. “You, too,” she added. And before she broke down in front of them, she turned and raced back into the building.