Lucy peered up at Matt with his auburn hair mussed and his brown eyes on the road. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He gripped the steering wheel of his white Chevy Malibu so tight it mottled his knuckles. It was so reminiscent of the road trip that started all this, she couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m fine.”
She licked him, and he veered a bit before regaining control. “You sure?”
He spared a dark glance down his chest at her, and his voice sounded deeper as he insisted, “Don’t. Stop.”
She returned to her ministrations, stretched across the console between the driver and the passenger seat. The diminished morning sun shone through the open window and warmed her lower back where her shirt rode up. Sweat dripped. Apparently, the air conditioning was among the list of casualties in the Invasion Day battle at Fair. White noise emitted from the radio, left on to communicate with the various transports. The car smelled of sex and musty books. She liked it. Almost as much as—
Matt growled and clenched his teeth together. Tires squalled, and the car accelerated as he stomped on the gas. “Shit! Shit!”
Lucy giggled as she wiped her mouth with her fingers. Catching him staring, she licked them clean.
A loud horn blared.
Over the CB, Batman asked, “Hey Ginger, you all right? Over.”
Lucy laughed so hard she knew everyone heard her in the background as Matt answered, “All clear. Over and Out.” He grinned at her. “You’re developing a wicked streak, oh, Lucifer.”
Ahead of them, the trailer bearing the Howitzer gently swayed along the road behind Molly, the Mean Machine. The last four months threatened to drive Lucy insane if she gave them too much thought. Fortunately, she found ways to distract herself.
Matt might never know the mission he set her on the day the Icari invaded. “There is no making up for it. You have to own it and move on. Don’t feel guilty for feeling relieved. Justin didn’t have the best impact on the world. But you still could.” He believed in her.
And so did Xelan. “Study the material I gave you and look out for each other. I think you two will make all the difference on this front. Good luck, Lucifer. Great codename, by the way.” That wonderful Icarus even winked at her before walking away for the last time.
She never suspected “looking out for each other” entailed deep undercover work, even from her partner, but the moment Lucy set foot in the compound, she knew. Appear friendly, but fractured. The blond spared a glance at the redhead. She almost lost him to it.
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“Want to go again?” She started thrusting her hair into a ponytail, enthusiastically. “I’ll bet I can run you off the road this time.”
Matt chuckled, shaking his head. “I think four is my limit. For now.” Then he fell quiet as he concentrated on the road.
After scavenging every notable artifact from the compound, they packed up and set out to join the Capitol soldiers on their way to Iona-29 in Montana. A chain of CB chats led them to Chris, Karter, and Jack. They followed in their wake along with a massive caravan of human resistance fighters ready to join their General for the final battle.
Rayne—
“I won’t pry, but I know something is bothering you,” Matt broke the silence. “Cope with it however you need to, but I don’t want you to think you have to hide anything from me anymore.” He took her hand in his and gripped it on the console.
He said something similar last night in the guard tower of the burning compound. Those flames could blaze like phosphorus and still never match the heat between them. Months of fighting her attraction to him, wishing his hands on her, and fantasizing about killing Justice Lee together. The reality only lacked in that one area, and he promised he found it much sexier to watch her execute the man on her own. Matt brought out a darkness in her, and she liked it. Sex with him was better than murder.
Lucy squeezed back. “I won’t hide anything from you again, but… the mission isn’t over yet.” She released him and twisted in her seat to rummage through the books. Finding her notes, she sat cross-legged in her seat. “Okay, so. Weaknesses. Gold, decapitation, nacre removal, and radiation from Sol.”
Matt nodded along. “Gold is covered. Decapitation… well…” He peered at her with a lazy, sexy grin, “You’ve got that covered.”
She beamed at him before snapping back to reality. “Uh… What about nacre removal?”
“Blind luck, I think.”
“As far as Nox…” Lucy thumbed through some pages. “I found some phrases in Renee, humorously enough, that alluded to limitations of touch.”
Matt frowned. “What kind of limitations?”
“It’s not entirely clear if it’s touching him or him touching others. Only that there’s historically little evidence of him initiating contact outside of combat situations. Or permitting such contact.”
“I’m not sure how useful that is since we’re heading into a combat situation.”
Lucy nodded her agreement as she perused for any other helpful tidbits. “I wish I knew more. Here.” She pointed at the line on the page. “There’s a vehicular weapon that sounds bigger than the crawler Karter described. The Cruor Villam. Nasty thing.”
“Does it have any weaknesses?” Matt slowed to avoid an abandoned vehicle in their lane.
She muttered to herself as she skimmed the words, “Made of indestructible nacre glass… Slow. Well, that could be useful. Draws the blood from human victims to store for reconstitution. Bodies are discarded after.” Lucy bit her lips as she considered the phrasing.
Matt stumbled into her thoughts. “Well, slow is good.”
“Mhmm…” The oddity finally occurred to her. She snapped her fingers as her synapses fired. “Human. Victims. Why, specifically, human?! Maybe it doesn’t digest non-humans.”
He grinned. “That’s my girl. Let’s tell Karter.”
They passed through Godland, Kansas, half a day’s drive out from their destination while detouring away from Yellowstone National Park. The baddies took up base there with a rather nasty weapon. A culmination of events coalesced in the mountains where they would unite with the others. For the end. Probably.
But Lucy wasn’t scared—
Matt handed her the CB with a warm smile.
—because he believed in her.