Page 4 of Flame and Fury

“Wren, you could be the key to ending all of this.” Instead of the normally closed-off expression in his eyes, there’s fire there. With Atlas, I can’t tell when he’s putting on a show or revealing his true self. He just hugged that blonde woman and let her squish his cheeks. This could be another ploy to get me involved, playing on whatever confusing feelings I have for him.

He’s my competition, he’s my ally. He’s a dick, he’s putting on a show for his father. How am I supposed to know which version of him is real?

Hurt splinters my insides. Atlas flinches and I close my eyes. I wasn’t fast enough to keep the emotion off my face.

Neither Atlas nor Kat has come out and said that they know what I am. I don’t know if they will or if we’re going to dance around the elephant in the room all night long.

“What exactly is it that you think I can do?” I glance between the two of them, unable to hold his gaze right now. I feel too exposed, too raw.

This time it's Kat who speaks up. “We want you to put the gods back to sleep.”

CHAPTER3

ATLAS

Iglance over at Kat. She's always been good at reading my emotions, even when I haven't been good at showing them. Probably because she's known me since I was a child before I learned to shield even the barest hint of a feeling.

Wren, on the other hand, is not as good as she thinks she is at hiding her emotions. Right now, she’s pissed. I get it. Fuck, I do. But the clock is ticking. We can't stay here for any longer than necessary. I took a huge risk sneaking us away from the other champions under the eye of Nathaniel Rogers and the fucking drones that never stop following us. We left chaos behind, but it'll only be so long before our absence is noticed.

Kat turns her attention back to Wren, smiling as she stands up. “I’m going to give you two a few minutes. I’ll be back in a bit.”

The door snicks shut as Kat leaves the room, but I don’t say anything. All the things I should say, the things I need to say, get jammed in my throat. Unlike me, Wren's irritation and anger are clear in her pinched mouth, but it's the hurt in her eyes that’s a lot harder to digest.

Wren crosses her arms, that hurt freezing into icy anger in front of my eyes. Gods, she's so damn incredible. She should look foolish in the gladiator getup her stylist stuck her in, but she's truly a warrior. Right down to the very heart of her.

Her jaw ticks as she waits for me to speak. From the first moment I saw Wren, there's been this unspoken challenge between us. Our eyes connect and then both of us refuse to look away. That same battle is brewing between us now. Wren is not going to be the one to crack and speak first. And she shouldn't. I brought her here. I tricked her; lied to her. Fuck. She's going to hate me forever.

I press my thumb over my fingers one by one, cracking them before I force my hand flat to my thigh. Wren's facing the table. I'm sitting sideways in the seat next to her. The table is large, but I'm close enough that my knee presses into her bare thigh. The leather strips of her skirt have parted, leaving an obscene amount of warm skin on display. It takes everything in me not to drop down to the floor in front of her and press my mouth over every inch of her until she's crying out that she forgives me. Realistically, she's just as likely to punch me as she is to let that happen.

Wren turns in her seat until she's glaring at me without having to crane her neck around. Her fingers flex like she's fighting making a fist. My dick gets hard thinking of Wren launching herself at me, her fists flying, her rage unleashed. Our bodies colliding, me pinning her down and making her realize she's only this pissed because she feels something for me. If I were Preston or some other asshole she didn't give two shits about, Wren wouldn't hold herself back. Kat would already be wiping up my blood from the floor.

“What the Underground is doing is important, Wren.” I should start with an apology or an explanation. A lecture comes instead. It’s the truth. I'm not trying to convince Wren or plead my case. I'm simply stating the reality of the world we live in.

“I never said it wasn’t.” Wren’s voice is flat.

The way she’s sitting in her seat, pushes her knee against mine. It’s not exactly comfortable, but I need to touch her. I’m desperate for even this pathetically small contact.

“Something has to change.” I try again, closing my eyes briefly at my total lack of finesse. It's Wren. She jumbles my brain and makes everything I’ve ever learned about discourse absolutely worthless.

Wren studies my face like she's trying to solve a puzzle. Her lips part as though she's about to ask a question, but then she snaps them shut.

“Why does this matter to you?” There's a pleading tone to Wren's voice. Her blue eyes search my face, like she’ll find answers visible there. She won’t find them. I’ve hidden my emotions from the world for so long, I don't know how to break down that shield. To let her in. I've practiced being a fortress for so long the gates have rusted close and don’t open the way they should. Letting anyone inside is a risk I haven't been willing to take.

Until her.

Wren stares me down with eyes a dark shade of blue I've never seen before. There are tiny flecks of silver in them that remind me of the night sky.I should have known there was more to her than the fierce, prickly woman that initially drew me in. I didn’t miss the way she stiffened when Savannah came into the room. I’m a complete asshole because it made me happy. Wren’s irritation gives me some hope that I haven’t completely fucked this up. I’d tell her that Savannah is only a friend who gets uncomfortably territorial, but I doubt she’d appreciate that at the moment.

I consider my answer before responding. I'm not ready to spill my life story, but she deserves some part of me. Especially after I've taken her biggest secret and shared it with the leader of the Underground. I stretch my neck, moving my head from side to side. I'm so fucked. Wren will never forgive me for dragging her into this. For exposing the secret she somehow managed to keep for twenty-two years.Gods, as if I needed a reminder about how extraordinary she is. How has she stayed alive all this time? The Furies are the most hunted beings in this territory.

I sink back into my chair, blowing out a weary breath.“Kat is my aunt.”

Wren blinks at me in surprise but doesn't say anything. She looks too stunned to respond.

“My mother was her sister.”

Wren flinches at the word "was" and I know she's figured it out. Wren has lost both of her parents over the years. She's no stranger to the pain of loss. I nod, answering her unvoiced question. My mother is dead.

“Kat was my only family for a long time. She tried to take me out of the training compound, but they wouldn’t let her.” Wren knows Zeus is my father. He may have donated half my DNA, but that doesn’t make him family.

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