Unforgettable (Talented Saga #6) (13 page)

The volume on the communicator raised
an octave.

Erik picked me up and spun me around
before tossing me onto the couch. I let loose a small squeal as I
landed on the soft cushions, bouncing once before Erik jumped on
top of me. He caught himself, with one hand planted on either side
of my head, careful not to crush me with his weight.

“
Incoming call from
Victoria Walburton,” a stilted mechanical voice announced, the
sound muffled. My communicator had, apparently, fallen under a
piece of furniture when I knocked over the coffee table.

Slowly, Erik lowered himself down so
his body was pressed against mine. He brought his lips so close
that we were breathing the same air.

“
You should probably get
that,” he murmured.

I closed the minute
distance.

“
She can wait.”

COUNCILWOMAN VICTORIA
WALBURTON
hated to be ignored. A fact she
made very clear when she pounded on the door to our suite twenty
minutes later. Talia, a wreath of wild curls framing her flushed
face, was busy trying to smooth her rumpled clothes back into place
when I answered Victoria’s knock.

“
Sorry. We were, um,
talking,” I said sheepishly, in response to her glare.

One look at my hair, mussed from
Talia’s fingers running through the strands, and my belt buckle,
half undone in my haste to get dressed, and it was clear to anyone
with eyes that my girlfriend and I had not spent the last half hour
talking. Unfortunately, Victoria was not amused. She brushed passed
me without waiting for an invitation.

“
I have been calling you,”
she said, directing her ire at Talia.

Despite her best efforts, Talia
blushed. And, for once, she didn’t have a quick retort.
Scrutinizing the living room, Victoria did a double-take when she
noticed the upended coffee table.

“
Doing some redecorating?”
she asked breezily.

Talia’s blush deepened and I had to
stifle my laugh. I loved seeing her like that.

“
Nah, Tals is just frisky,”
I deadpanned, walking over to join her on the couch.

“
Erik! Are you kidding
me?”
she groaned inside my
head.

Victoria crossed her arms over her
chest, looking impossibly less amused than she had when she entered
the apartment.

“
You seem to have forgotten
than you have a rather critical mission in front of you. Are you
ready to go, Agent Lyons? Have you picked your team?”

“
Yes and yes.” Talia
rattled off the names, then turned and narrowed her gaze on me.
“Although, there is something Erik wanted to mention.”

Victoria quirked an
eyebrow.

I cleared my throat, picking up on
Talia’s not-so-subtle cue to say something.

“
I have my decision for
you, about being the face of the Created,” I said.

Golden eyes alight, Victoria’s sour
expression turned hopeful.

“
I’m onboard,” I continued.
“On one condition, though.”

Frowning now, Victoria shook her
head.

“
Just one? This has to be a
first for you two. It’s
never
that easy. Let’s hear it.”

“
I go with Talia to London
first.”

The councilwoman opened her
mouth to argue, but I plunged forward. Recounting the same argument
Talia had given me earlier with a few tweaks. Truthfully, I had
misgivings about whether this was really such a good idea. Just the
thought of Kenly Baker, with that damned knife in her hand, made me
crazy. I didn’t want to do that girl any favors. If it were up to
me alone, if it wasn’t something that mattered to the girl I loved,
Kenly could rot for what she’d done. Not to mention, I absolutely
wanted to help all of the people who
weren’t
Kenly that the Poachers were
holding captive.

Objectively, I understood that what
had happened wasn’t entirely Kenly’s fault. But, like I’d told
Talia, it was freaking hard to be objective when my only real
encounter with her mentee was that night at the Hamilton.
Brainwashed or not, Kenly had nearly robbed me of the best thing in
my life. And I was never going to forget that, regardless of the
circumstances.

“
You have yourself a deal,
Agent Kelley,” Victoria declared before I’d even finished listing
off all of the reasons she should let me go to London.

“
Really?” Talia blurted
out. “What’s the catch?”

“
There is no catch, Agent
Lyons,” Victoria answered evenly. “Erik is a valuable asset to the
mission, one that you very might well need. Besides, the two of you
work best together. The more I considered the dangers associated
with going up against the Poachers…I had already reconsidered my
earlier stance.”

“
Let it go, Tals,”
I warned. Talia’s thoughts had immediately
launched into a defensive, wanting to know why Victoria didn’t just
say so when she’d walked in. Luckily, as quick as Talia was with a
retort, my mind worked a little faster these day. Talia rolled her
eyes, her endearing trademark move, but didn’t give voice to her
annoyance.

“
Love you,”
I added with a smile.

“
However,” Victoria said
loudly, her annoyance evident. “Cadence Choi is not cleared to go
with you. The others are all fine. But the doctors still have some
concern over Agent Choi’s health. She does not appear to be healing
quite as well as we’d have hoped. I cannot authorize her inclusion
at this time. Besides, right now she and her abilities are most
useful on Vault. The progress she is making with the children in
containment is remarkable. By the time you return from London, some
of them might even be ready to answer some questions.”

A niggling feeling of guilt made my
stomach twinge. Cadence had been badly injured helping me rescue my
father and brothers from TOXIC. Being Talented, she should have
healed quickly. Something about our genes made our bodies mend much
faster than a normal human. Since I saw her almost every day, I
knew the leg she’d broken was still bothering her. There was also
something off with her Light Manipulation—she was having trouble
using it with any reliability, like her Talent was broken or
something. Nonetheless, I was surprised to learn that her injuries
were still grievous enough to keep her from active duty. I didn’t
know it was that bad.

“
Angus O’Malley will
accompany you instead,” Victoria was saying. “I was going to send
him with you anyway, since he is very knowledgeable about the
Poachers. Any other questions?”

Talia and I both shook our
heads.

“
Good. You have thirty
minutes before departure, so I suggest you both get packed and save
the ‘
talking’
for
a more opportune time.” She turned her attention on me alone.
“Erik, I will inform the council of your decision. We can go over
the specifics when you return.”

“
Yes, Ma’am,” I said
obediently.

“
Suck up,”
Talia quipped, shooting a ray of sunshine within
me along with her teasing.

It was moments like that one, when
Talia was joking with me inside my head when we were supposed to be
serious, that I regretted shutting her out so much. Even in her
darkest moods, Talia had the uncanny ability to bring light into my
life. Only fear kept the barriers in place. Fear of adding to her
pain. Fear of my darkness engulfing her, taking her down with
me.

“
You will report back to me
at every step of the way, do you understand me?”

Victoria’s voice startled me out of my
dismal thoughts. Apparently she’d dismissed us, making it all the
way to the door before I noticed.

“
Of course,” Talia answered
for both of us. I added a nod for good measure.

With that, the councilwoman finally
left.

We went to the bedroom and hurriedly
packed, skipping over what I was already thinking of again—my
favorite bedroom activity. After throwing several days’ worth of
clothes into UNITED-issue duffle bags, Talia and I headed up to
meet the others at the hoverpad. Victoria had said she would handle
explaining to Cadence why she was ineligible for the mission, but
Talia felt the need to comm our friend anyway. She was worried that
Cadence would be upset. It was funny, since the two girls’ road to
friendship had been rocky. In fact, they’d basically hated each
other from day one. All that had changed when Cadence helped Talia
and I ferret Alex, Donavon’s son, out of D.C. Now the two girls
were pretty tight. I was glad.

While Talia talked to Cadence, I sent
a quick message to my father to let him know that we’d be off the
island for a few days. Dad, my brothers, and Alex also lived on
Eden. Though still recovering from the near-fatal injuries he
sustained during the battle of D.C., my father had practically
adopted Alex as his fourth son.

At first, Talia had put up a hell of a
fight. She wanted the little boy to stay with us, to take care of
him herself. But chasing the Created was a full-time job, and we
spent more time globe-trotting than we did on Eden. It had taken a
lot of persuasion on my part, and a lot of yelling on her part, but
Talia eventually relented to let Alex live with my father and
brothers all the time, instead of just when we were off on a
mission. She saw him every chance she got, though. So did I, for
that matter.

Secretly, though, I was glad the
situation worked out the way it did. It was impossible not to like
Donavon’s son—he was a cute kid and he couldn’t help who he was
biologically related to. Still, he was Donavon’s son. Which, for
me, was a daily reminder that Talia was still mourning the boy’s
father. Being jealous of a ghost sucked. I sort of hated myself for
it. I also couldn’t help the way I felt. The weirdest part was that
I hadn’t been all that jealous of Donavon in life. I mean, I got
the girl in the end. She chose me. And while I once hated the guy,
after learning how much shit his father put him through, and
everything he sacrificed to keep his son safe, I sort of admired
him now.

On my dark days, though, Donavon’s
memory was one of the demons I fought. Irrational and ridiculous as
the thoughts were, an inner voice told me that I would never be
able to give Talia what Donavon had: life. The guy had physically
sacrificed himself for her, more than once. His blood coursed
through her veins and I hated knowing that they shared such a
personal connection. Sometimes I wished Donavon were still alive,
simply so I could break his perfect nose and receive some sort of
perverse satisfaction from the act. In the same heartbeat, I
loathed the part of me that craved that violence. I wanted to be
better than that.

“
Oh good, I was just about
to do that,” Talia said, her voice shattering the shadowy
thoughts.

“
Huh?”

“
The message to your
father. Do you think there’s still time to run by and say goodbye
to Alex?”

“
He’s with his tutor,” I
said.

Alex wasn’t old enough to attend
school, but he did have a bevy of private tutors who worked with
him on everything from navigating through life without sight, to
his ABC’s and his Talents. The child was an exceptionally strong
Viewer, able to ‘view’ others remotely anywhere in the world. His
gift was rare in and of itself, even more so because he was still
so young and already able to use it. Few Talented manifested
abilities before the age of five.

Talia gave me puppy-dog eyes and stuck
out her bottom lip in a fake pout she knew I was hopeless to
resist.

“
A
quick
goodbye,” I
relented.

As always, Alex was over the moon the
moment he heard Talia’s voice. Equally as enthusiastic was his
reaction to me, which always made me feel guilty. Despite the
green-eyed monster that emerged at the mere mention of his father’s
name these days, I genuinely cared about Alex. And when I hugged
the little guy goodbye and told him I’d miss him, I meant
it.

Finally, fifteen minutes late for
flight to London, Talia and I arrived at the hoverpad. The others
were already onboard. Brand was the only one to comment on our
tardiness, but a quick elbow to the ribs from Penny stopped him
before he said anything else to rile Talia up. For which I was
glad. Thinking about Donavon, plus all the messed up shit I’d
learned about the Poachers, was causing my mood to
plummet.