Read Online Avenged (The Altered Series) by Marnee Blake - Free Book Online Page A

whose behavior isn’t becoming to the military. In Jeremy’s case, he was sleeping with a subordinate.”
    “We were off post,” Jeremy gritted out. “I never expected anyone to find out.”
    “Yeah, because you were always stupid.”
    “Unlike you, right, Nick?” Jeremy unfolded his arms and readjusted his gun in front of him. “You always make the right decision. A goddamned paragon of virtue.”
    The guy next to Jeremy sneered at them. “You guys done with this romantic reunion? Need a chaperone?” Others nearby chuckled. This guy didn’t like Jeremy much. Kitty didn’t need her gift to figure that out. According to Jeremy’s thoughts, the feeling was mutual. “Load them in.”
    Two of the soldiers yanked Nick to his feet and another dragged her to stand. She walked along beside them and climbed into the helicopter. As the rotors beat down on them, whipping her hair around her head, she knew it would be useless to fight here. The group was split—three of them possessed Seth and Jack’s enhanced physical strengths and the other three were telekinetic, like Blue and Luke. However, none of them could read minds like her.
    Strange. She hadn’t met anyone else who heard thoughts yet. She was a freak, even among freaks.
    As they loaded into the chopper, Nick’s eyes held hers, intense amidst the activity around them. His message was obviously for her. Texted Blue and Seth, too. They’ll come for us. He kept repeating the words, as if he wasn’t sure she was listening. Or as if he was trying to reassure himself.
    She shook her head at him and looked away.
    They hadn’t come before, and they wouldn’t come now. But she wasn’t going to ruin this for him. It had been bad enough when her own hopes died. She’d let him hold on to his for awhile longer.
    If they were going to escape, they’d need to find their own way out.
    When they landed back at the complex, Dr. Fields and his orderly greeted them on the tarmac. As the changed soldiers ushered her and Nick off the helicopter, holding their hands behind their backs, they stopped in front of Fields.
    “Kitty, Kitty.” Dr. Fields shook his head, as if he was disappointed in her. “You should know better.” Then he waved a hand at the orderly next to them. Without a word, the man lifted his gun and shot both her and Nick, in quick succession.
    As the tranquilizer took effect, she tried to catch one last glimpse of the sky. The sun was coming up, and it had been months since she’d seen it. But her eyes closed of their own volition, leaving her again in the darkness.

Chapter Six
    Nick surfaced from the blackness slowly.
    He was on a bed, but it smelled musty, like it hadn’t been aired out in years. Or ever. There was no sheet.
    As his eyes came open, he found Kitty crouched over him, staring at him.
    “Thank the Lord.” Her shoulders slackened, and she fell backward onto her bottom, closing her eyes. “You were breathing so slowly.”
    He rubbed his head as he sat up, trying to shake the last vestiges of fog. “I guess I was sleeping. Where are we? What happened?”
    “Give it a second. It’ll come back to you. That’s how it always is with the tranks.”
    He glanced around the room, taking in the basement chic of it. Concrete-block walls, concrete floor with a drain in the center, as if whoever cleaned here did it like they would a fast food restaurant: with bleach and a hose. There were two cots, the one he was laying on and another like it on the other side of the room. There was a makeshift bathroom in the corner, with a small sink, a rudimentary toilet, and a pipe jutting from the ceiling. In the center of the room, a light bulb hung from an electrical wire. There was only a pull-string to turn it on or off.
    The room had one window, about the size of a ship’s porthole. Maybe smaller.
    It was a cell.
    That’s right. Goldstone. The cave. The other changed soldiers.
    “How long was I out?” How long had she sat there watching over him was