Page 116 of Never the Same

Before I could respond, a female voice called out, “Don’t shoot.”

I raised my 9mm, not seeing anyone through the night vision.

A few seconds later, a figure emerged from the shadows. She had a weapon down at her side and a helmet with night vision in place.

Who the hell was that?

“It’s me,” she whispered. “Hollis, are you there?”

“Lyra?” Hollis called out, faltering at my side. “Are you okay?” She started to sidestep me to get to her, but I hooked her arm, stopping her.

“I’m so sorry,” Lyra cried out, her voice shaking. “Cassian promised me everything would be okay. He said no one would get hurt.” And then she raised her handgun and fired off a round.

Chapter Forty-Five

Hollis

Jason yanked me behind him, his body a shield. The shot cracked past us, punching into the wall.

“I know what you’re doing,” Jason said steadily, remaining in front of me. “You’re trying to draw our fire, get us to kill you. We’re not going to do that.” He slowly secured his sidearm and shifted his rifle on its sling around to his back before raising his gloved hands. “You’re under the influence—”

“I’m not,” Lyra shot back. “No drugs. This is me, that’s the problem.” She fired another round, hitting the floor, narrowly missing Jason.

So help me if she hit him. He had a chest plate, but that wouldn’t do any good if she caught him in the face or neck.

“I broke the rules,” Lyra said through a mess of what sounded like tears. She tossed her helmet and night vision but kept her weapon aimed at us, so we couldn’t move in yet. “I—I fell in love with my protector. A-and Cassian learned about Tristan this year. Waylen overheard Tristan arguing with Mum about his father months ago, and he figured out he’s our half brother, and they felt betrayed.”

“Whatever Cassian said to you, whatever you did—”

“I’ve always been so jealous of you. Everyone loves you,” Lyra interrupted me. “Mum. Dad. You’re probably even Cassian’s first choice, really.” Her voice trembled. “And y-you didn’t even want this life anymore. You kept choosing to be with Audrey and her friends, and . . .”

“Do it,” I whispered to Jason. “Rush her now.”

He sprang forward, knocking her arm high. The round tore into the ceiling, and her pistol clattered to the floor as he slammed her against the wall.

She stopped fighting and slowly dropped to the floor.

Jason kicked her weapon to the side and let me take over and go to her. “You okay?” he asked me. “Not hit?”

“No, I’m fine.” Physically, at least. I let my sling catch my rifle and squatted before my sister, unable to wrap my head around how the “innocent” one had betrayed us.

Jason began communicating to the teams over comms to catch them up as I knocked my NVGs to the top of my helmet, doing my best to adjust to the dark hallway and get a look at my sister that wasn’t tainted by a green glow.

It also occurred to me there were no more gunshots coming from anywhere. The fight here was over, but where was Mum? Tristan?

“Waylen found out about that book sometime after that fight he overheard. You came asking Tristan about it, and that’s when the three of them came up with a plan. Cassian convinced me that I was living in your shadow, just like his family was for all of us, but without the rewards—a-and he said it should be the two of us that control everything. We could be married. Start a life together.”

So, this had nothing to do with Cassian’s oath and everything to do with being a power-hungry monster. He’d have found another reason to do this had he not learned the truth about Tristan or how to manipulate us with the book, I was sure of it.

“You were only supposed to be drugged, never hurt. He lied to me. U-used me,” Lyra said, hiccupping, but I wasn’t sure how much was an act so I’d feel sorry for her.

I wasn’t remotely ready to feel pity for her. I also had a million more questions to ask and a dozen versions of how could you to get out, but we didn’t have time, because the man my sister had fallen in love with had our mother and brother out there somewhere.

“Was there a tracker in the suitcase you lent me?” I asked at the memory of her offer to use her RIMOWA. Then again, my brothers probably kept Lyra in the loop about where we were. No need to sneak around when your main enemy came from within the circle of trust. “Is anyone else in our family involved?” I asked when she remained quiet. “Cousins?”

“No. I’m the only one w-who really betrayed you all,” she cried.

“Along with the men who devoted their lives to protect us.” I did my best not to lose my shit and shifted my night vision in front of my eyes. “I have to go. I’ll deal with you later.”