Ghosted (Team Zero #3) by Rina Kent

“Who will attend the meeting of President Joe’s with me?” I ask in an attempt to dissipate the tension.

“I will,” Shadow says, still glaring at Mist.

“Me, too.” Mist still points her knife at him.

“Flame?” I ask.

“Wake me up when it’s time to burn something,” he says in a sleepy voice. “Stop being so noisy.”

I glare at both my mates. “No killing each other until then.”

“You will tell me where she is.” Shadow aims his gun at Mist before he storms out of the office.

She flips him the finger.

They’re incurable.

I head after Shadow and tell Mist over my shoulder. “Let me know if anything happens around here.”

“Where are you going?” Mist asks.

“I’ll supervise the factory personally until the meeting with President Joe. I need no surprises at this stage.”

I ignore the discomfort about not hugging Elle to sleep for three whole nights and head out of the door.





Three nights later, right before the meeting with President Joe, I find myself stalking my own safe house from the tree across my room’s window. Like a fucking monkey.

It’s past midnight, so Elle is lying on the bed and facing away from me, probably fast asleep. As usual, the lamp is on. She’s wearing a tight T-shirt and tiny shorts – Scar’s influence.

Elle’s long, toned legs stretch across the mattress. The T-shirt is hunched up, teasing at the pale skin of her stomach.

And now I’m hard.

Fuck.

There’s nothing I want more than to jump in there and yank off those little shorts, but Mist’s words from the other day and the whole chaos that’s about to unfold keep me rooted in place. Uncomfortable and stalkerish, but I’m still getting a grip.

Not being beside her, not feeling her warmth all around me is making Omega’s withdrawal symptoms a lot worse. However, I need to figure out this entire chaos before taking the point of no fucking return.

A part of me insists that I already claimed her as mine. What’s there to wait for? Elle will be completely and wholeheartedly mine if I want to. If she lets me. All I have to do is leap through that window.

“Godfaaaather.” Kyle’s singsong voice calls from down below.

Fuck. I’ve been caught like a teenager spying on his crush.

“President Joe and his ‘band of cockroaches’ as Shadow calls them are here,” Kyle continues. “They’re at the security check.”

I use the branches and jump down. Kyle is wearing one of his stylish denim jackets – that he makes me buy on all his birthdays. He’s pursing his lips to suppress a laugh, but his shoulders shake.

“Save it,” I warn.

“Of course not!” His eyes gleam with mischievousness as he waggles his eyebrows. “I always thought ye were above this stuff, Godfather.”

“What stuff?”

“Feelings.” His expression closes. “But I should’ve known. Just because Omega muted them, doesn’t mean they weren’t there.”

“Why do you sound disapproving?”

His face is unreadable as he says, “Ye were a lot more fun when on Omega.”

“What did you just say?” I’m more fun when killing without remorse and not remembering who or what the fuck I am?

“Just kidding, Godfather.” He laughs long and hard. “Ye’ve got no sense of humour whatsoever.”

Hushed footsteps sound from behind me. Kyle doesn’t notice them since he’s still laughing. I reach for my gun and point it at the bushes. Scar emerges, wearing pink rabbit slippers and throwing her blonde hair back. Even her T-shirt has a rabbit on which is written, ‘Kill them with Cuteness’.

Her scowl falls on me. She places a hand on her hip and taps her foot on the ground. “I’m taking Elle back.”

I place my gun beneath my jacket. “No.”

“Julian,” she warns.

“Scarlett,” I counter.

Her docile features fire up. The amber of her eyes is about to turn to flames. “She wants to stay with me.”

“If she did, she would’ve been there.” I’m actually puzzled why Elle didn’t go back to Scar. I wasn’t there to force her to stay.

“She comes around all the time!” Scar shouts.

“To ask about you, Godfather.” Kyle hooks a thumb at himself, his expression dramatically sincere. “I was there.”

My heartbeat picks up. Elle has been asking about me?

“You bloody traitor!” Scar jabs a finger at Kyle.

“It’s more fun this way.” He places an arm around her shoulder and drags her away. “Meeting in thirty, Godfather.”

“I will be there,” I say.

“It’s not over, Ghost!” Scarlett shouts as Kyle takes her. She’s still mumbling something else, but I’m already jogging to the safe house.

I should check the security one more time and greet President Joe early, but all that’s on my mind is the girl sleeping in my bed.

Firefly has been asking about me.

Just the thought causes me to take the steps three at a time.

The past few days were a fucking black hole. I crave her breath, her soul, her light, and I’m not above tainting her in the dark.