∞ The Tethered Ones∞

Chapter 36

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• Amir •

Luna was quiet when they walked out of Davenport's home. Her features were still frantic and her gaze was distant but glowing.

A congregation of thick, gray clouds lit up the morning sky, each of them covering the presence of the sun. Amir figured the locals found the weather to be on the humid side, but to him, he was used to the sweltering heat. It was the kind of weather perfect for a midday jog.

A pang of desire lit up his chest. He missed the rush of exercising freely. It was such a thrill. If he could run now, he wouldn't stress or care about what the next hour would bring, let alone the next week or month. Every part of him, from his fists curled at his sides to his shoes slamming on the ground, would be focused on the destination he'd set his heart on. Exercising was his way of pushing the anxiety of everyday life and enjoying the peaceful moments he received. Even though he and Luna had to run for their lives, he still felt comfortable when he could sprint.

Right now, his legs itched to scurry the community and check the place out. But he didn't want to do that just yet.

She needed him.

And he needed her.

He didn't even have the right shoes to go jogging in. The sneakers he remembered bringing to America were still at Dr. Kim's, a place he never wanted to see again.

He sighed and pushed away the heavy sadness that was building up inside his chest. There were more important things to deal with.

The narrow street in the back of Davenport's house was empty, and the nearby homes were still quiet except for a few shades clapping lightly in the windows. He had no idea if anyone was inside the Victorian-style homes, but there seemed to be no one nearby, which was ideal.

Stopping abruptly, Luna halted and looked over her shoulder. Warm sunlight graced her elegant cheekbones. "We need to talk, Moon."

An eyebrow raised, and a moment passed. "About?"

"The weather."

She chuckled and glanced up. "A thunderstorm is definitely in the forecast."

"Yeah, looks like it."

Thunder boomed in the sky as a high wind swept passed them and hit the shades in the windows.

Meeting his gaze, Luna said, "We should get going. I don't want to be outside when it rains."

"We will. There's just something I want to know."

"You aren't hearing my thoughts right now, A?"

"They're not loud." Facing her, Amir held onto her hand and stepped closer, her eyes staying locked on his. "I try not to listen to them when I can help it."

"I appreciate that."

"You're welcome. Now, could you tell me what Davenport was thinking?"

"When he was going to get another case of beer later?" Lifting her chin, she narrowed her eyes. "He's under a ton of stress, and he is bored, too. Hell, he drank nearly a half a case and—"

"You know I wasn't talking about that. I don't care what Davenport does in his spare time. He started to say something until you picked up on it. And it sounded serious. Really serious."

Luna thrust her fingers through his strands, fluffing out his hair. "Did you know that your hair becomes a shade darker under a gray sky? It's extraordinary."

"Well, thank you, Big Bird." Her hand froze on top of his head, and he groaned, hoping she'd tell him what she discovered. "I like your compliment about my appearance, but I'm afraid it's not enough to distract me."

"What about complimenting who you are? Will that distract you?"

He sucked in a deep breath. "I just want you to talk to me."

"Do you truly realize how incredible you are? How courageous and strong you've become over this past year?" she asked, placing the tips of her fingers on his cheek. A buzz of electricity scattered through his veins. "You've dealt with so much, Amir. You left your home and career to be in a different country because my life — your companion's life — was at stake. What you said in there about silver linings was right. You're here when most people would've left before things had gotten this serious. Some of the most physically strong people I know would not have stuck around, and you should give yourself more credit."

Even knowing what she was up to, she still managed to steer him back to the topic at hand. "Everything I've done was for you, Moon."

"But none of that won't matter if Alisha Bankole has a way to summon me at her command or if I lose myself and never come back."

"That could happen," he said. "But I'm not worried about what they might do. You're strong. I think when we were fighting with the Defectives, your abilities had somehow awakened and we need to figure out what's next."

"I thought about that, too. At Dr. Kim's, I harnessed as much strength as I could and unlocked the ability to freeze time with my hand. After accessing Davenport's memories and understanding things clearer, I'm becoming a Trojan." Amir's breath stilled as she uttered those last few words. "Fighting the Defectives caused me to be something . . . different. What if I had succeeded in taking out an innocent person who was in the way?"

He stood directly in front of her and held her hand as she went on.

"I think I was triggered by Alisha in that house. She might have been the one to put Ethan asleep for whatever reason, and if that is the case, I need to figure myself out. This community is chock-full of refugees, and I'm scared for their lives."

"Don't think that way." Amir cupped the back of her head with his hand. "You won't hurt anyone."

"Can you be so sure?"

"Yes," he whispered. "Listen, we have a lot to discuss and plan, but we'll get to all of that later. I know Davenport was thinking something that I couldn't hear. And I get that you're trying to protect the knowledge that you gathered, but whatever it is, I should know."

Lifting their joined hands and placing them on her chest, she inhaled a deep breath and bit her lip. Both of their stomachs grumbled at the same time, and she laughed, still staring at him. "Prince," she whispered, lips twitching. "What we need is food and prayer."

"What I need right now is for you to stop being overprotective, Moon." And maybe a grilled cheese sandwich, but considering the location they were in, he doubted that would be available.

"Probably not," she uttered. "But maybe a regular cheese sandwich would do. That's if you're hungry for one?"

His stomach twisted at that idea. "If you don't tell me what I want to know, then I'll have to go back to General Davenport and force him to talk."

"You're so destructive," she said, tipping her head to the side. Her breath brushed against his lips when she spoke, emanating a shiver through him. "That's my role."

Amir's pulse throbbed, pricking his skin.

Smirking, he said, "You can be destructive in the bedroom."

Luna gaped and playfully slapped his upper arm. Inching closer, she pressed her lips along the corner of his. "Davenport is paranoid."

Although Amir wasn't surprised by that, his shoulders tensed. "That's nothing new, but you still reacted the way you did."

She was quiet for a long moment. "The general has a way of keeping things in order." She lifted her chin. "He's scared of losing everything here. Not that he doesn't have justifiable reasons, but what goes on in his mind doesn't need to affect us."

Staring down at her, Amir wished that he could see what she saw. Then again, she was injected with a serum that gave her that ability.

"I'm fine now. I just need to eat and pray."

He kept his gaze on hers. "You are persistent in keeping this information to yourself."

"It's for your own good, Amir."

He scoffed. "Can't I be the judge of that?"

A dark cloud moved away from the sun, casting a brilliant stream of light onto the top of her head. "Maybe."

"You have every right to stay quiet," he said. "I just hope whatever it was won't happen to us."

"The general is being extra cautious. I have to be careful that I won't end up like a programmed toy."

"Then we'll just have to make sure you're never in a situation where you might snap," Amir suggested.

She sighed. "We don't even know a situation I could be in."

"I'm thinking someone trying to find you is something you need to avoid."

"That would be amazing and all, but I have a sinking feeling the Defectives and everyone else is a step ahead of us, Prince."

His jaw flexed. "I'll keep you safe."

"I know you will." Luna smiled and squeezed his hand.

He didn't respond for a bit, so she continued. "We don't know the warning signs of my dark abilities. We need to test them out."

"And we will," he agreed.

"So, let's get started. Sometime tomorrow."

Excitement was etched on her face, and Amir wasn't entirely thrilled about this idea. She knew little about what she could do and he didn't want her to go all Thanos on anyone.

But testing her powers was doing something.

Davenport had insinuated that a war was brewing, and it didn't matter if either of them wanted to be involved or not. They were already knee-deep in the whole thing, and if she was somebody who had the power to bring the organization down, then why shouldn't she fight back?

She was getting stronger, and he was beginning to realize that; both in her mind and in her strength.

She wasn't the same woman who stood in Dr. Kim's home and watched Amir treat her like a stranger. She wasn't even the same person who he got acquainted with and shared a kiss weeks ago.

Ever since he'd met her, both of them were in a constant state of transformation. It hadn't ended, and there were more changes they had to endure.

Many sacrifices were going to be made, and becoming a strong, vigorous duo together would help them in the end. Not only would he stand by her, he'd do everything in his power to protect her, to fight for her.

After all, he'd learned there was nothing more powerful in this world than the devotion of the person you were destined for. He was determined to get both of them through this obstacle.

Bringing her arms around his waist, Luna's features tightened for a brief moment before smoothing out. "We should eat something soon before we start eating people." She placed a kiss on the tip of his nose, causing him to shiver. "The residents wouldn't appreciate that."

He chuckled at her joke.

After tugging on her hand, they started walking toward their temporary house. They made it to the intersection before he murmured, "Luna?"

"Yes?"

"You will tell me what you saw, right?" he asked as they crossed the street.

Luna smiled and nodded. "I will eventually. I'm protecting you."

"You don't have to protect me. I can handle it."

She stopped, facing him. "With this, I do. To get what's dark inside of me to show itself so I can learn how to control it, I'm going to have to do something that could kill a part of me."

Horror skated its way down his spine. "What would that be?"

Her eyes were like luminous burning coals of fire. "I have to make you see me as a threat."

• • •

Luna's words struck the middle of Amir's chest as if someone had stabbed him directly in the heart. He went quiet as they ambled the rest of the way toward the house. What she'd said made sense. She had all the power within her to become a volatile person, and whatever was inside of him had known that even though he'd pushed it to the side. But while she was a threat to everyone else, she wasn't to him. Never to him. He had no idea what she'd have to do to make him see her as the enemy.

And he had no intention to go along with that plan.

"You can't do that." He stopped walking in the middle of a lime-green house and an apartment building.

"Are you scared that you'd lose me, baby?"

He nodded. "Very much so. It's not a good plan."

She shrugged. "It's not, but I don't see any other way."

"I could keep you handcuffed in the house and never let you leave. If you get activated, they can't have you."

She laughed as a pink shade illuminated her skin. "That could be a last resort."

"What if we had someone else work with you instead of me?" he suggested after a few moments. "Like Ethan?" Amir didn't want to think of that man, but he knew she was itching to give him a taste of his own medicine. "I think he'd would enjoy getting under your skin and think of it as a reward later on."

She shook her head. "Do you think I'll be able to control myself with him? I'll end up breaking his neck."

Amir's lips pursed. "That's not comforting."

"It wasn't supposed to be."

"I don't like this."

"Amir, I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm different, and to do what needs to be done, I cannot go after someone I want to kill." Luna squeezed his hand. "I don't want to kill you."

Staring deeply into her eyes, he tightened his grip. "No, but you could, maybe, think of Ethan as your punching bag and take all your frustrations out on him, therefore not trying to silence him for eternity?"

"I'd try and screw up in the process. The same would go for anyone who inflicted pain upon me." She pressed her lips into a thin line, her gaze following a flock of birds settling on a rooftop. "I know how I'm going to do it. It'll be okay."

"Yeah." Amir drew the word out. "I'll believe it when I see it."

One side of her lips kicked. "Seeing is believing, Mr. Skeptical."

Having no rebuttal after that, he tried to come up with some other way to draw out her dark side. The sergeant only seemed to have barely begun being tolerable after driving with them to Salvation Estate, and by tolerable, the man was only twenty percent trustworthy, even though he'd betrayed his loved ones for the enemy. But Amir didn't want to see him die.

Amir also didn't want Luna to do something that would take her humanity.

Walking the rest of the way in silence, their steps slowed as his gaze flicked to someone else's porch.

He stopped the same moment she had, feeling a weird sensation scattering on the nape of his neck as if her fingers had grazed his skin.

Heavy curtains parted, and Ethan appeared on the steps. His brown hair was now cut, and the white tee-shirt he was wearing was wrinkled. It didn't even look like it had been washed.

Luna's stomach grumbled again, and she dropped her hand from Amir's grip to rub it. He was ready to put food into her belly as soon as possible.

"You look like you just woke up." Amir stared at him. "Have you been waiting for us all morning?"

Ethan strode down the cracked sidewalk. "Of course. I've missed my BFFs."

"Not surprised."

Ethan nodded in Luna's direction, and Amir gave him a small half wave, knowing full well that he wasn't anyone's favorite. "So, how was your meeting with the general?" he asked.

"Informative. Insightful. Interesting." Amir tried to think of more adjectives that started with the letter I, but he couldn't think of any more.

"That's intriguing," said Ethan.

"Oh, that's the other word I forgot. You must have read my mind, Sergeant Trent," he replied, and Luna snorted. "The general dropped some heavy information on us. It begs the question if you've known all along."

Amir's chest tightened. If Ethan knew about Sam and what the organization had planned and didn't say anything, he was going to get punched. Things were surely about to get ugly in a hot second.

"It depends on what was discussed." Ethan stood straighter as his eyes darted between them.

Amir glanced at Luna, and he could tell that observation had never crossed her mind. Ethan had already hid the fact that Chase had a twin brother, so there was no telling what else he knew and kept quiet about it.

If the sergeant didn't know, then he needed to be informed of who and what they were dealing with.

Before Amir could say anything, Luna spoke up. "Davenport explained to us how the Origin Project works. He also informed us who's not dead after all."

"You mean, they prevented somebody's death?" Ethan asked, folding his arms.

Grabbing Amir's hand, she squeezed it and said, "It was Sarah's father. Sam."

Ethan's breath stilled, and his body stiffened. He didn't move for several minutes and then finally blinked, glancing over to Luna.

"Yeah, I thought he was six feet into the ground," she explained, her hand a warm weight around Amir's. "They resurrected him."

"How could I have not known about this?" Ethan huffed in disbelief as the pupils of his eyes turned pale. "They gave me everything I needed to know about each patient I was assigned to. That way, I'd know how to respond to certain situations. But keeping something like this is huge. That means they never trusted me."

"You think?" Luna snapped. "Did it ever occur to you it's probably because you turned over your partner and family?"

"But Davenport would have filled me in on it, Mrs. Khan."

Irritation pricked Amir's skin like a swarm of fire ants. He didn't like Ethan's tone. "I'm sure the general had his reasons. From what he told us, the organization was doing things far worse than what we could have ever imagined."

"I can't get my head around the fact that they'd kept a father away from his daughter this whole time," Ethan said, sounding genuine. "He made you guys believe Sam was dead."

"Did you know about the Trojans?" Luna glared at him.

Ethan narrowed his eyes and nodded.

"Why would you keep that from us?" she demanded.

The light behind his pupils began to fade. "That wasn't something I should talk to you about."

"Ha. I was injected with the Omega serum and it is part of the Trojans. It was laced with mind control and Alisha Bankole is the leader."

Realization sparked Ethan's eyes. "That, I didn't know. I swear."

A breeze carrying the scent of cherries caught Amir's nose, whipping it around his face as Ethan glanced over his shoulder, back to his house. "I didn't know a lot of the things they were doing. And I don't want anyone else here to know. It'll cause a riot, one we aren't ready for."

"I agree." Amir's gaze landed on Luna. "We just learned some disturbing stuff that none of these people would be prepared for."

Turning back around, Ethan sighed. "The community is barely hanging on. Zoe and Owen have explained how difficult it has been keeping things in order."

"I believe it," Luna said.

As the two continued to exchange information, Amir turned slightly, toward the front gate. They were roughly forty feet away from it, which was perfect because he was able to get a better view of the entrance. He was struck again by how a community like this has stayed hidden and private. Swallowing a sigh, he started to turn back to them.

Something snagged his attention. Unsure of what it was, he squinted, trying to zoom in on what appeared to be a device floating in the air near the wall.

A flash of light went off a few times and stopped for a moment to resume shooting more bursts of light. There was a long pause and then two more.

That wasn't a reflection.

What the—

Out of the corner of his eye, Amir saw another flash of light from the device that was now hovering over the mansion.

"Guys, look!"

Ethan and Luna turned from facing each other, but then focused back on Amir. "Not me," he said. "Those two homes."

Luna did as Amir asked. "What do you see?"

Doing the same, Ethan inched backward. "I don't see anything but the roof."

"You guys didn't see something flying overhead?" Amir asked.

"I can't see anything over there." Luna looked at Amir as his eyes were focused on a home's roof.

"I saw a flash of light from a device hovering in the sky."

"I don't see anything like that." Ethan's brows furrowed. "Just the glare from the sun bouncing off the windows. A storm is coming so maybe you imagined it."

"That wasn't a glare, and it wasn't an imagination."

"Maybe it was the satellite dish," Ethan suggested.

Amir shook his head. "It was a device flying overhead."

"It's just in your head, Khan."

Luna snorted as Ethan rolled his eyes, but no matter how long Amir focused on the building, no flying device appeared, and neither did the flashing lights. He had to be right. Amir had to be imagining things.

Because what else could it be in a community that was secure and tucked away?

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