The Chosen One Read online

  Coop pecks me on the lips before retreating to his room. Maddox grabs us some water, and we head to my bedroom. When I flick on the switch, I immediately notice the vibrant orange flower resting on my pillow. It’s from Glennev’s manufactured garden. I walk to my bed, plucking the flower up and sniffing it. I don’t know how they make these, but they smell and feel like real flowers. There’s no note, but I know Dane left it as a peace offering, and it’s amazing how much it bolsters my mood.

  “See,” Maddox says, snaking his arms around me from behind. “He does love you. Dane feels things deeply, but he’s not always able to voice things. He’s always been the strong one. The one we’ve leaned on.” He spins me around in his arms. “I’ve only recently realized how wrong we were to accept that without question. Without offering it in return. We’ve just always accepted he played that role, and I never thought about the fact he unburdens to no one.”

  “I could be that person for him,” I whisper, cupping his face. “I want to be that person for him. So badly.”

  “And you will be, gorgeous.” He pecks my lips. “But right now, we need to sleep. Put the patch on. I’ll be here to keep you safe.”

  Against my better judgment, I apply the patch, crawl under the covers into the warmth and safety of Maddox’s muscular arms, and quickly fall asleep.

  My feet are wet, and I look down, but I can’t see anything—only bleak, black nothingness. My heart rate elevates, and my hands grow clammy as I realize where I am. “No!” I cry out, but no sound comes out of my mouth. An icy-cold wind whips my hair around my face as the water slowly rises up my legs. I spin around, ignoring the bitterly cold sensation seeping into my bones, looking for a way out. But it’s like before. It’s a vast empty space with no boundaries and no discernible features.

  “Chosen One.” The creepy voice tickles my eardrums, and all the fine hairs lift on the back of my neck.

  “No!” I scream, running forward, splashing water everywhere as I attempt to get away from the haunting voice.

  “You will never outrun me, so you might as well give up now.”

  “Never!!” I shout, and this time, my voice projects around the space, bouncing off invisible walls and echoing back to me.

  “You don’t have a choice.” The voice moves in front of me, and I scream as those two red eyes appear up close, leaning into my face. “Let me in, Chosen One. You know you want to.” I turn around, ready to run back the way I came, but hands grip my ankles, stalling me. Invisible arms wrap around me from behind as more hands reach out of the water, taking hold of me. Chanting voices surround me, whispering words in a foreign tongue, and I’m about to lose my ever-loving mind.

  I scream and scream, struggling to break free, remembering what my father whispered the last time. He told me to put up my shields, fight the force reaching for me, and to run. But it doesn’t work this time because my head is too foggy, my mind heavy from the sleep sedative.

  The hands reach higher, groping and pulling at me, and I alternate between screaming and shaking as the form holding onto me solidifies behind me. “Let. Me. In.”

  I scream louder than I’ve ever screamed, crying and calling out for Maddox, as a heavy weight presses into me, and I shake uncontrollably.

  “Alinthia!”

  His voice is like a balm for my soul. “Coop!”

  “Where are you?”

  “Coop! Help! Get it off me. Please.”

  “Keep talking, baby. I need your voice to guide me.”

  “Coop, hurry. Please. I can’t fight it.” I try one last time to shield my mind and wrench out of the creepy dude’s grip, but it’s futile. “Cooper!” I scream out his name.

  “I’m here. Hold on!” Coop appears in front of me, dressed in the same sleep shorts he was wearing earlier. He lets out a roar as he spies the hands crawling over me and the dark presence clinging to my back.

  “Get off her!” he yells, racing toward me, his feet spraying water as he advances.

  He’s about four feet away when his body jerks back suddenly, and his arms flail about as he struggles to maintain his balance.

  “You can’t have her,” the voice at my back hisses. “She’s mine.”

  “Fuck you, asshole,” Coop yells, fighting the invisible force holding him back. “Alinthia isn’t yours, and she never will be.” With an animalistic roar, he breaks through the barrier, darting forward and grabbing hold of my hand, tugging hard as he repeatedly kicks at the hands cloistered around my body. “We love her, and you’re not taking her from us.” With his free hand, he thrusts his fist over my shoulder, and the pressure lifts off my back while the hands clawing at my body retreat into the water. Coop yanks me into his arms. “Hold tight and close your eyes.”

  I do as I’m told, and a few seconds later, I wake up in my bed, gasping and crying and desperately drawing air into my lungs. Coop is curled around me while Maddox, Dane, and Beck stand around the bed with anxious looks on their faces. “Are you okay?” Coop pants, struggling to keep his eyes open.

  I hug him to death, clinging to him as I sob. “You saved me! Thank fuck! How did you do that?”

  Maddox answers because it’s clear Coop is exhausted and on the verge of conking out. “You were thrashing about in the bed and screaming in your sleep. I tried to wake you, but you were out cold. The others came in, and Coop heard you screaming at someone in your mind. It was a long shot, but he put his hands on your face and somehow projected into your mind.”

  “It looked like he was sleeping,” Beck adds. “And we’d no idea what was happening until you both woke up just now.”

  “Coop, are you okay?” I examine his face, concerned he’s damaged himself.

  “Fine, babe.” He presses the softest kiss to my cheek, just a gentle brush of his lips. “I’m just drained. Teleporting from your mind sucked all my energy.”

  Beck presses a screening patch to Coop’s temple, checking his vitals as Coop’s eyelids droop and he passes out.

  “Is he okay?” I ask, terrified for him.

  “All his vitals look fine. Teleporting over large distances drains our energy reserves, so I can only imagine how draining it is teleporting from some dream realm.” He caresses my face. “Was it the same place as before?”

  I continue to hug Coop as I talk over his body. “I think so, but it wasn’t the exact same place. It was wet and—” I halt as someone applies a towel to my legs.

  “That explains why both your feet and lower legs are wet,” Dane says, softly patting my skin dry.

  I’m too on edge to work out what it means that he’s willingly touching me or if it means anything at all. “It was vast and seemingly never ending, like last time,” I confirm, “but the water was an unwelcome addition.” Fear crawls over my skin and I shiver. “There were hands,” I whisper. “Reaching out of the water, groping me, and trying to pull me down, and that horrid thing with the red eyes was there, pressing against my back, and he kept saying, ‘let me in.’” I shake uncontrollably, terror gripping my insides in a vise grip.

  “Shit.” Maddox sits down beside me, smoothing his hand up and down my back. “I’m freaking out just listening to that.”

  “It was terrifying,” I admit, and a loud sob bursts free of my mouth. “I was so scared,” I whisper, “and I couldn’t break free like last time because of the patch.” I look up at Beck, as Dane finishes toweling my legs, moving to dry Coop’s feet. “I know you mean well, but there’s no way you’ll ever convince me to put one of those on again.”

  “No one will make you, sweetheart,” Maddox says, pulling the covers back. He gently pries me free from Coop’s arms, tucking me in under the covers.

  Coop stirs, mumbling and reaching for me in his sleep.

  “What do you want me to do with him?” Dane inquires.

  “Leave him,” Maddox answers for me. “They need each other.”

  “I need you too,” I say, clutching his arms tight around me. I want to tell Beck and Dane I need them as well, but
it will only get awkward when Dane rejects me, and I’m way too fragile to cope with that hurt right now.

  Dane’s face drops, and I realize I projected that to all of them. “Sorry,” I whisper.

  “I’m the one who needs to say sorry,” Dane answers. Standing, he tosses the towel in the corner of the room. “I’ll leave you to it.” He walks out, and I feel like a piece of shit.

  “Don’t,” Beck says, slipping into the bed behind Coop. “Maybe he needs to hear that.”

  CHAPTER 21

  I don’t sleep the rest of the night, and Maddox and Beck both sleep fitfully, waking up regularly to check on me. The only one who sleeps without stirring is Coop, and I hope that means his mind and his body are healing.

  I get up as the first signs of fake light filter through the window, pulling on a swimsuit and heading out to the pool for a swim. Dane is already up, or perhaps he never went to sleep either. He says nothing when I pass, and I don’t speak because I can’t ever seem to say the right thing. He watches me as I swim lap after lap, and I feel his concentrated gaze like a thousand tiny pinpricks stabbing me all over. I only stop when I feel a burn in my legs and my arms loudly protest. I get out, dripping water all over the weird silver deck, dropping into a lounger beside Dane, closing my eyes and lying back, allowing the warmth from the artificial sun to dry my body.

  “I don’t mean to hurt you,” he says after a while. “And I hate that I keep doing it.”

  I open my eyes, turning on my side to face him. “Why do you? Do you hate me that much?”

  He turns on his side, facing me too. I try not to ogle the ink on his bare chest or his ripped abs, but it’s challenging, because I’ve always felt a potent sexual pull to Dane. His touch ignites an inferno inside me, and lately, I’m craving sex and intimacy more than any other time in my life. It hurts that he doesn’t want me like that.

  “I don’t hate you, Alinthia,” he says, sighing in frustration, like even that annoyed him. “My head is messed up is all.”

  “Maybe you should talk to someone about it,” I suggest. “Like a trained professional. Glennev said—”

  He bolts upright, eyes flashing with anger. “You spoke to him about me?” he barks, all trace of apology gone from his face.

  I sit up too. “It’s not how you’re thinking. It just came up in conversation and—” He jumps up, and I halt mid-sentence. “Don’t go. Please just talk to me about it.”

  “You always do this!” he yells, grabbing fistfuls of his hair as he paces the deck.

  “Do what?” I ask with a frown.

  “Try to fix me!”

  I swing my legs over the lounger, standing. “I just want to help.”

  “And I’ve told you this isn’t the way to help! Just fuck off, Alinthia.” The venom in his tone and on his face is starting to become familiar. “Stop trying to be a do-gooder,” he sneers. “No one’s buying the act.”

  He thinks this is an act? That I don’t really care?

  “Fine. Have it your way,” I say, hating how my voice trembles. I lie back down on the lounger, unable to do this with him today. I’m sick of the mental whiplash he’s giving me, and I’m vulnerable after last night and likely to burst into tears again if he says anything else mean, so I ignore him, and he leaves.

  And I’m heartbroken all over again.

  Coop still hasn’t woken by lunchtime, and I pester Beck to check his vitals again.

  “He’s perfectly fine, Alinthia,” Beck says, humoring me. “He’s just healing. I bet he’ll wake soon.”

  “I’m going to stay in here with him,” I say, lying down on the bed beside Coop. I might as well. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.

  “Let me know when he wakes.” Beck leans over, pressing a kiss to my forehead, and I sit up, wrapping my arms around his waist. I’m especially needy today, and I know it’s a reaction to Dane’s latest rejection. I just need to hold the three guys who do love me and keep them close.

  “I love you,” Beck says, running his hands through my hair as I cling to him, reeking of desperation.

  “I love you too,” I say, sniffling.

  “Try to rest.” Beck gently pries me off him, settling me down beside Coop and pulling the covers halfway up my body. “It might help calm your mind.”

  Even though I’m tired, I fight sleep, not brave enough to go there again. I lie on my back, staring up at the ceiling, with my hand curled around Coop’s, and my mind churning relentlessly.

  The vision arrives out of nowhere.

  Screaming and shouting drown out the sound of approaching sirens on the main street in Eaton Lake. People flee in all directions. Women clutch terrified children to their chests as they run for their lives. Several men stand in a line, facing the row of aliens, firing off rounds from their rifles to no avail.

  A tall alien with long silver-gray hair raises his arm, sending all the men flying through the air. Some crash into storefront windows, shattering glass everywhere. Others land hard on the sidewalk. A few teens, congregated on the sidewalk, throw bottles at the aliens before scattering like dust particles as they advance toward them.

  I sit upright in the bed, and my heart is trying to beat a path out of my chest. “Dane!” I roar, jumping up, our most recent confrontation pushed aside out of necessity.

  “Where’s the fire?” Coop asks in a dry, throaty voice.

  I spin around. “You’re awake! Do you feel okay?”

  He sits up, yawning as he rubs his tired eyes. “I’m fine. How long was I out of it for?”

  “A while.”

  Dane comes crashing into the room, followed by Beck and Maddox. “What is it?”

  “I just had a vision. Arantu is going to attack Eaton Lake. We need to get down there.”

  His brow puckers. “That can’t be right. I’ve just ended a comm with Glennev, and I was coming to tell you the good news. Arantu and his forces have left Earth’s atmosphere. Our show of strength worked. They’ve gone back home. It’s over.”

  I shake my head repeatedly. “It’s not over. I’m telling you he attacks Eaton Lake.”

  “When?” Dane asks, still looking unconvinced.

  “I don’t know,” I admit, pacing. “But we can’t take any chances. We need to leave now.”

  He harrumphs. “I don’t think so.”

  Rage thunders through me, and I dart to his side, putting my face in his. “I don’t give a fuck what you think. I’m doing this with or without your help.”

  “I hate to be the one to break it to you, Tori, but you’re trapped on an alien planet with no way out.” He folds his arms with a smug grin.

  “She’s not trapped,” Coop says, yawning as he gets up, his clothes wrinkled from sleeping in them. “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go,” he says, looking only at me. “I trust you. If you say you saw it, then I believe you.”

  “You can’t teleport anyone in your condition,” Beck says.

  “We’ll take the ship. We can use the hyperdrive and still be there in a couple hours,” Maddox says.

  “I make the decisions around here,” Dane hisses. “And I’ve said no. Even if the vision comes true, it could be a trap. We brought her here for a reason, and the best way to ensure her safety is to stay here. I’ll comm Glennev and tell him to send in his troops. They’ll protect Eaton Lake.”

  “No!” I jab my finger in his chest, uncaring if it provokes him. “This is my hometown, the place I grew up in, and they need me. They’re relying on me, and I will not let them down.”

  “They were quick to line up to throw you to the wolves,” Dane reminds me, narrowing his eyes in a hateful gaze I’m starting to numb myself to.

  “That doesn’t mean I’ll abandon them when they need me the most. Don’t fight me on this, Dane. You said you trusted me so show me. Unless you’ve changed your mind?” He stares me down, not saying anything either way, which is typical. “And don’t pretend like you’re happy sitting up here twiddling your thumbs. You’re as pissed
off and frustrated as I am at the lack of action.” I soften my tone and my expression. “We can handle this. It wasn’t a massive army. It was twenty aliens, at most. It will be a cakewalk, and it poses minimal risk to my safety.”

  I can almost see the wheels turning in his mind, but I know I got to him with that last statement. “Fine!” he snaps. “We’ll go, but if this turns into a shit show, it’s all on you.”

  “ETA in five minutes,” Maddox says, appearing in the cabin from the cockpit, with a bag in his hands.

  “Have you picked up anything on radar?” Beck asks, tapping away on his iPad from his seat on my right. Coop is seated on my left, and Dane is copiloting the ship with Maddox. It’s best to separate both of us, anyway, considering we can’t seem to get along for more than ten seconds.

  “That’s the other thing I was coming out to say.” He shoots me an apologetic look. “We’ve picked up alien DNA, so it looks like our enemies have already landed in town. Weapon up, and be ready.” He hands the bag to Coop.

  “I don’t need to be told twice,” I say.

  “What are these?” Coop asks, pulling out numerous items of black clothing.

  “A present from Glennev. He gave them to Dane yesterday. It’s some form of high-tech protective clothing which is Tianore resistant, in case any of those assholes try to get creative.”

  “Sweet.” Coop is already shedding his clothes.

  There isn’t time to get changed in one of the smaller cabins, so we all do the same, stripping to our undies and helping one another suit up.

  “Wow, you look fucking badass in that suit,” Maddox says, whistling as he eyes me appreciatively.

  “I feel like I’m going diving,” I quip, looking at my reflection in the shiny silver side panel of the ship. The suit covers me from my ankles to my neck, and it has long sleeves too, so the only part of my skin on display is my face and a tiny strip where the suit meets my sneakers. It’s made of a sleek, rubbery substance that clings to my body.

  “You look smoking hot,” Coop says, copping a cheeky feel of my ass. “Sexy as hell.”