The Girl Who Dared to Lead

  His velvet lips massaged mine roughly, his tongue running along the seam of it, begging entrance, and my jaw relaxed, parting my own lips. He seized the opportunity immediately, his tongue sweeping in to establish dominance and control. His hands left my shoulders, only to slide into my hair and cup the back of my head.

  He was relentless, using his tongue and teeth and lips in ways that sent shivers down my spine. Lightheaded, I reached for him, needing something to hold me up before I fell, and he made a low noise of pleasure in the back of his throat and then dragged me closer, one hand going to my hip and holding me there.

  He ripped his mouth away moments later and looked down at me, his eyes wild with passion. “I never knew it could be so… soft,” he murmured, before dipping his head back down to reclaim my mouth.

  A disappointed moan slipped from me as his lips only pressed against mine, my body clearly hungry for more, and then his mouth was drawing a soft line up to my ear. I gasped when he captured my earlobe with his teeth and gave a gentle tug, before running his tongue over the shell and sending even more delicate shivers down my spine… and right to the special place between my legs.

  “You know that it’s me,” he whispered in my ear. “Yet you’re still responding to my touch.”

  “It’s just physiological,” I managed weakly, unable to come up with a better excuse. “It’s not—”

  His tongue swept over my ear again and I gasped, all the words I had somehow managed to screw together into a passable argument against this falling apart.

  “It is,” he growled insistently. “Shall I prove it? Shall I tell you exactly how I pictured kissing you here? Backing you up against the railing and pressing myself into your softness. Drinking in your moans and your cries, teasing you relentlessly. I want to savor every moment of touching you I have, because I know it can’t last. Grey will be restored, and I will have to leave him eventually. But this isn’t for him. It’s for me.”

  He moved to kiss me again, but this time I turned my head away, unable to let him do it. I wanted to—Scipio help me, I really wanted to—but as soon as he’d mentioned Grey, the moment was gone, leaving me physically frustrated and guilty. We couldn’t do this. Shouldn’t, even.

  “Leo, I—”

  A sharp crack cut me off, and I watched in confusion and then horror as Leo’s eyes rolled into the back of his skull, his grip on me slackening before slipping away as he tumbled to the ground, boneless.

  Behind him, a man wearing nondescript black clothing was staring at me with a smug grin, twirling a pipe around in his hand.

  “Well, well, well,” he said with a smirk to the people standing just behind him—five of them, unless I miscounted. “Lookie here, gang. The newly elected Champion, far away from the safety of her own department, and with a poor excuse for a bodyguard. Should we help her out, or just congratulate her on her victory?”

  14

  This was bad.

  Really, really bad.

  I eyed the handful of people, searching for weapons as they spread out around me and split into two groups of three to block any escape. Nothing was in their hands, save the pipe that the first one had used to knock Leo out, which he was twirling lazily in the air. A small smile played on his lips, like he was a cat who was about to swallow a mouse whole.

  And I was that mouse.

  That look told me everything I needed to know. These people weren’t here to talk. They were here to fight. And they were confident, which meant they had weapons, even though I couldn’t see any. They outnumbered me, and I was all alone.

  And running wasn’t an option. Even with them surrounding me on either side of the catwalk, I wasn’t about to leave Leo unconscious like that. I couldn’t risk him falling into anyone’s hands while he was inside of Grey’s head—nor would I risk Grey’s life.

  But then again, I really didn’t want to run. These people wanted to attack me? Fine. Then we would dance. I was spoiling for a good fight, and these guys had given me a reason. I wanted to know why they had decided to attack Leo too, and that meant sticking around was the right answer. I just had to make sure I kept Leo safe while I did it.

  I immediately began checking out my surroundings, gauging what I had to work with. We were next to the hydro-turbines, which meant that there was humidity everywhere, making my lashes ineffective. They relied on static technology to connect, and the moisture would make that impossible to generate. Quess had developed lash-ends that could work in the high humidity, but I hadn’t put them on when I got my new lash harness. Honestly, I hadn’t even thought to do it.

  But that didn’t mean I couldn’t use my lashes anyway. I just needed to think. And maybe buy some time before the fighting broke out.

  “Greetings, citizens,” I said with a bright smile. “Care to explain to me why you felt the need to attack one of my Knights?”

  There was silence for a second, and then someone coughed. “Is she stupid, or…”

  I looked in the direction of the hushed voice, and whoever was speaking stopped. I continued to smile at them, my mind whirling. Could I get Leo under the catwalk somehow? It would make it harder for them to get to him, while leaving me free to fight.

  It was possible. I just needed to figure out how to do it.

  “I don’t think I’m stupid, but you never know with us Knights, right? All brawn and no brain?”

  “I don’t know about that,” the first man—I was marking him as their leader—drawled, and I looked at him again. I’d never seen him before, but there was something familiar about his voice that gave me pause, and I studied him closely. “From where I was standing, it looked like you and your little boyfriend were all hormones. You sure he’s not trying to sleep his way to the top?”

  “Do we know each other?” I asked, ignoring his comment. Inside, I was a little embarrassed—and scared. But more than anything, I was angry. And I couldn’t overreact; I needed more time to plan. If I could lasso the railing using Leo’s lashes, I thought, I could throw him over and let him dangle while I took out the others.

  But I dismissed the idea a second later. They’d be on me before I was even halfway done. C’mon, think, Liana, I told myself, trying not to panic.

  “You could say that,” he said wryly, dragging a finger around the side of his face as his mouth twisted into a grimace that bared his teeth.

  I cocked my head as his voice once again sent warning signals through my mind, the familiarity of it screaming at me. I’d heard that voice before somewhere… but I still couldn’t place it.

  “You really shouldn’t have wandered so far from home, where no one can help you.”

  “Yes, but then I wouldn’t have been able to sneak away with my boyfriend,” I pointed out. If I couldn’t get Leo away from them, I’d have to find a way to keep them away from him. But how?

  Somebody laughed, but it stopped with a short “oof”. The laugh gave me some hope, but only a small bit. I wasn’t going to be able to stall forever.

  The man rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but I quickly cut in with a question, wondering whether I could draw him out. “So… what’s up with the attack on my Knight?”

  The man smirked again. “Inter-departmental dispute. Now, are we done wasting time? Nobody’s gonna accidently stumble in here and save you, Champion. You’re decidedly alone.”

  I stared at him for a second as his words hit me, and a thought occurred to me that almost made me smile before I could catch it. Because I wasn’t alone. Not entirely.

  Cornelius? I thought, focusing my thoughts. A moment later, my net began to buzz gently.

  Yes? his voice transmitted. My scans of your indicator show that your adrenaline is high. Is there a problem?

  You could say that, I thought at him, trying to focus on the idea so the message got across. But it was difficult keeping my thoughts clear enough to transmit. I needed to hurry if this was going to work. Contact all the Knights near the hydro-turbines and get them here now. Tell them to make it q
uick, or they’ll be holding another Tourney.

  “What are you doing?” the leader demanded, and I glared at him as my carefully ordered thoughts nearly fell apart with the distraction.

  “I’m thinking,” I snapped, and then thought, Tell them to hurry up.

  ETA two minutes, he replied. I grated my teeth together in annoyance. Two minutes was a long time when death was only about ten feet away, especially given how long I’d already stalled. I wasn’t going to get much more conversation out of them, but I still hadn’t figured out how I was going to fight off six people alone.

  Think, I ordered myself. I had lashes and a baton. Going for the baton would be too obvious, and would kick things off before I could get to it, but I could maybe do something with my lashes. Something that would help me keep them back—control their attack, somehow. If I was fast…

  “What is there to think about? You’re surrounded and about to die.”

  Well, that confirmed that—they weren’t here to play nice. But now I was curious as to who they were and why they were here. What was their issue with me, really? Were they legacies? Were they finally making a play to take me out?

  “My final words?” I snapped back on impulse, placing a hand on my waist to let my anger show. “Clearly you jerks are about to kill me, so can I just have a moment to make sure that whatever I say is really good? I don’t want to get stuck with ‘Why’d you hit my boyfriend,’ as the last thing I’m ever remembered for, all right?”

  Silence met my remark, and then someone behind me sniggered under their breath. “Knock that off,” the leader snapped, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully at me. “What are you up to?”

  Once again, I was hit by the familiarity of his voice, which made the hair on my neck stand up. I stared at his face even harder, trying to recognize him. His eyes were blue, his brows black, downward slashes over them. His nose was perfectly straight and narrow, his jaw soft and slightly rounded. His head was balding at the top, and he kept his hair cut short in a buzz. I recognized nothing about him.

  And yet I couldn’t get over the feeling that I knew him from somewhere. Somewhere bad.

  “What do you want?” I asked, continuing to stall.

  “Stop talking to her,” a feminine voice said from behind me, and I turned to the group and raised an eyebrow toward the three people there.

  “Why?” I asked, keeping my voice light and innocent. My heart pounded against my chest, and my adrenaline spiked. I already knew why—I was dangerously close to being out of time, and they knew I was stalling. I needed to move. Now.

  “She’s right,” the leader said, hefting up his pipe. As soon as I saw it, a plan fell into place, and I seized it. “Let’s finish thi—”

  Whatever he was about to say was cut off as I snapped my arm at him, my weighted lash-end whipping toward him. And I wasn’t aiming at him, exactly, but the pipe. I flicked my wrist the way Dylan Chase—my competitor and teammate during the Tourney—had taught me, which caused the line to wrap around the piece of metal. Then I yanked.

  The pipe swung free, and I immediately lifted my hand over my head and went to my knee, twisting my wrist and swinging the lash-end and pipe over my head in a circle. I felt and heard the sharp crack as it hit someone’s head, followed by their cry of pain, and sent the line in another circle over my head, and then another, keeping them at bay with the added weight the pipe created at the end.

  “Grab her!” the leader shouted, and a flurry of movement erupted at his order. I looked around, watching as my attackers began to pull out weapons, and zeroed in on the two who had produced pulse shields. They were weapons that IT’s security teams used, and they emitted a burst of… something that felt like a brick wall if it hit you. Having them meant that some of these guys were in IT, or connected to them somehow. It was exceptionally difficult to find a pulse shield outside the Core—the Inquisitors rarely stepped outside the Core with them on—and yet they seemed to be the legacies’ weapon of choice.

  It only added fuel to my suspicions about Sadie. She had to be working with them.

  I growled and yanked my hand down, then flicked my wrist so that the lash-end snapped back up, hitting the first of them in the hand. There was a crack as the pipe broke his arm, followed by a scream, but I was already twisting the line and flinging it back, aiming for the second man.

  This one I caught around the wrist, and I immediately pulled the line, yanking him off his feet. A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I twisted with it, thrusting the heel of my hand up toward the area where my attacker’s face should be. I felt the cartilage in their nose break as my blow hit home, and immediately grabbed the hand on my shoulder and rolled them off my back and onto the floor, then slammed my boot into their face.

  Another set of arms wrapped around my waist and arms, then, and dragged me into a massive chest, where they held me captive. But I didn’t panic. Instead, I brought my knees to my chest, surrendering my weight completely to him. He was prepared for me to fight, but not for that, and he grunted in surprise and staggered, his balance offset.

  A person—a woman with blond hair—charged at me with a knife gleaming wickedly and pointed right at me. I bared my teeth, angry that she would dare try that kind of crap right now, and lashed out with both my legs when she got close enough, kicking her square in the chest and pushing the guy behind me even further off balance.

  He fell back, his arms slackening, and I swung my legs up over his head into a flip and landed on one knee behind him. I snapped three sharp punches to his head the moment he turned around, right against his nose, until he went limp.

  Then I looked up to see the leader grabbing Leo, a knife in his hands, and yanked on the line with the pipe, trying to retract it. If I could get it swinging again, I could hit him and stop him from using that blade on Leo. But it only pulled in a few inches before it came to a grinding stop, the gears whirring, and a quick glance showed me that it was tangled around the second man’s wrist, and that he and several others were gripping the line. I wasn’t sure if I had caught them trying to trip me or they were helping their friend get free; all I knew was that they were surprised, and keeping me from using my lash to help Leo.

  So I hit the disconnect button on the entire cable, letting them fall victim to gravity as they lost the resistance I was providing, and turned back to Leo to see the leader drawing back the knife, clearly about to drive it into his chest.

  I screamed, an enraged, wild thing as the man started to slam the knife down, and he stopped, looking at me in surprise.

  I charged him, uncaring that he was turning the knife toward me, lifting it up to fight. He was not going to kill Leo.

  I stepped under his first swipe and threw a punch, but he deflected it neatly. Still, it forced him to take a step back from Leo, and that was all that mattered. He reversed the knife and punched it toward my side, and I leapt away so that it missed me by inches, and then surged forward, swinging my fist at his unprotected jaw.

  I caught a glimpse of his foot from the corner of my eye, and then suddenly my head snapped back and my vision went dark for a second. I landed hard on my side and rolled, stopping when my back hit the railing. The pain was exquisite, but it was met with a wash of adrenaline and fear, forcing me to pry my eyes open rather than give in to oblivion. My jaw ached violently from where he had caught me with the roundhouse kick, but I ignored it and tried to locate him. White and black flashes blurred my vision, though, and I blinked my eyes rapidly, struggling to figure out what I was looking at.

  I caught a flash of a shadow through the blobs of light, and instinctively brought my hands up to shield my face. I felt his forearms strike against my own with a heavy, pushing weight, and knew in my bones that he was trying to stab me. In my face. He grunted as he bore down, and I fought back, keeping my eyes wide open. They began to focus.

  The point of the knife was millimeters from my left eye, a great gray blob that filled me with icy fear. I grunted and pushed back with my arms, trying t
o force more distance between us, but he pressed harder, his teeth bared.

  I gasped and tried to wiggle my hips, make some room to pivot, but found nothing.

  “Just die, like your mother did, bitch,” he spat, his spittle landing on my cheeks.

  And at that, anger clouded everything. I snapped my head to one side just as I released his arms, letting him drive the knife home. There was a tug on my earlobe, followed by a burning sensation as the edge of the blade bit into the soft flesh there, but I ignored it, ripping my arms out from between us and twisting around. I brought my elbow back with a sharp snap into his face, and his weight shifted off of me.

  I didn’t bother getting to my feet. Instead, I twisted around and grabbed the knife off the floor. The tip had snapped off in the corrugated walkway, but it was still plenty sharp.

  Climbing to my feet, I gripped the handle and faced off with the leader, who was already standing. So were some of his people, though almost all of them were nursing wounds that made me feel a savage rush of pride. I shook my hair out of my face and straightened, trying to catch my breath.

  “Had enough yet?” I taunted, fingering my other lash-end and looking for something else to lasso. It had worked well the first time, and I could make it work again.

  The leader straightened slowly and wiped away the blood that was trickling down his nose. “You—”

  “CHAMPION!” a voice shouted, thundering loudly in the cavernous space and cutting him off. He looked past me, and his eyes grew wide. I smiled then, realizing that it was my backup.

  “Leave her and run!” he shouted, and immediately his people sprang into action, stopping only to grab their unconscious friend.

  I moved to intercept one of them, unwilling to let them all get away, but the leader was already there, his arms and feet flying. I parried his first blow and ducked the second, but was forced to retreat slightly before I launched a counterattack with a roundhouse kick. He was surprisingly ready for the move, and caught my leg, wrapping his arms around it. He did something with his hands, and then the next thing I knew, my knee had exploded into agony unlike anything I had ever felt before.