Honesty (Mark of Nexus) Read Free

hand off. “Sorry, Rach. I have to go find my knucklehead brother. Maybe I’ll catch you later? I wouldn’t mind getting painted…”
    All over my body.
    “I’d be happy to.” She beamed at me, fidgeting with her hands.
    Nervous, maybe. Dare I say interested? I held her gaze a second more, my lips curling back. “Until then.”
    Rena rolled her eyes and turned to Rachel. “I better take him, so he doesn’t get lost. I’ll be right back.”
    Rachel nodded as a blush spread to her ears. “Sure.”
    And with that, I was grabbed and manhandled all the way to the church. My little almost-sis had gotten her feathers ruffled, and I was about to hear about it. Once we made it inside, she turned on me. “Have you lost your damn mind?”
    I twisted away from her. “What?”
    “Not here.” She widened her eyes and pointed to the carpet like it meant something. “You cannot mess with people here , Cole. This is a church festival.”
    “I’m not the one cursing and jerking people around,” I hissed, trying to keep my voice low. “Besides, she was hot.”
    “I don’t care. She’s off limits.”
    “Why?”
    She chewed her lip, struggling with the answer. “Just stay away from her.”
    “What if I don’t?”
    “I’ll harvest your organs.”
    I smirked and leaned back. “Oh, I’ve got an organ you can harvest.”
    She slapped her hands over her ears. “Gross!”
    “What’s gross?” Wallace’s voice echoed around the vacant foyer as he carried a tray of meat from the kitchen. Shit. “Cole, what’re you doing here?”
    “Getting abused.” I rubbed my arm and glared at his girlfriend, ready to pass the blame. “I brought the papers.”
    Rena uncovered her ears and blinked. “What papers?”
    I raised my eyebrows. “You still haven’t told her?”
    “Told me what?” she asked, looking between us.
    Dead man.
    Wallace set the tray down and took a step toward her. “I wanted to tell you. I just thought we should wait until we had a little more evidence. There was no use stressing you out over nothing.”
    “What’s nothing?”
    I waved her off and dug around in my pockets. “ERA’s done with the virus, we still have no idea what it’s for, and it’ll probably kill everyone. So, why can’t I date this girl?”
    Her eye twitched, and she drew a slow breath through her nose. “You’re telling me Faye wasn’t bluffing?”
    Wallace wedged himself between us. “Wait a sec. Bluffing about what?”
    “I was coming to tell you yesterday,” she explained. “But then the whole Nullari thing happened.”
    And then she went on to tell a story that would’ve been more helpful—I don’t know—yesterday. Apparently, Faye had been a guest speaker during one of her classes and scared the shit out of everyone by rambling on about viruses and vaccines. This was all before she made Rena witness Wallace and Corynn’s epic embrace. The pieces were coming together.
    “Why?” Wallace turned around, snatched the freshly retrieved papers from my hands, and flattened them. “What could they possibly gain from this? And why would they want you to join ERA now?”
    “Another funny thing,” I interrupted, swiping my thumb across my tongue to flip to the last few pages. “They’re making a roster, based on the information they took from Edwin. Dynari, Nullari…” I leaned forward to meet Rena’s eyes. “Augari.”
    She stumbled back. “My family.”
    “Uh huh.” I nodded and paced the perimeter of the room, giving my building energy a proper outlet. “And it doesn’t end there. They’re doing their homework. Locations, relationships, abilities. We’re talking a database full of profiles from all around the world. It’ll take some time, though.”
    She grabbed a fistful of Wallace’s shirt. “We can’t let them find my parents. Or Drew. Anyone…”
    “I know, baby.” Wallace opened his arms to her and pressed his face against her hair. “We’ll get through this. We just have to—”
    The