We scrambled to our feet, going straight to the door. Pressing the emergency unlock button, we allowed the two men to enter. They were already wearing biohazard suits.

  “What happened?” one demanded. “We didn’t get much detail from your receptionist.”

  I was about to speak when Alice stepped forward. “I was working on an antitoxin to combat the likes of Anthrax when...”

  No matter what happened, the receptionist would be fired. It was our fault that we were carrying out the experiment without her knowing, but the lab light had been on. Shit. It made me feel awful. If it wasn’t for me, none of this would’ve happened.

  “The receptionist said it was her fault.”

  Eyeing the smashed glass on the floor, they both placed their cases on the side next to them. They would do a fantastic job of clearing up the spill safely and efficiently, in spite of my efforts.

  “We were interrupted, even though the lab light was on. I dropped the vial of Anthrax. Virgo has—”

  “Virgo?” One of the men turned to me. “Ah, it’s great to finally put a name to a face. I’m Max.”

  I smiled at him, remembering that we’d spoken numerous times on the phone. We were often inspected by the agency, so I became familiar with a few faces and voices. Actually, Max and I had become phone friends, which would really help our situation right now.

  “Has this ever happened before?” the other man asked, aiming his question at Alice.

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure, I’ve not long been here.”

  The squeak in her voice told me how she hated to confess that she was new. It wouldn’t look good for her first position out of university.

  “I put the bleach down half an hour ago,” I muttered, feeling like a schoolgirl.

  “Well, in future, you know the protocol. Make sure all personnel outside of the office knows exactly what you’re doing. It looks like you’ve got away with it this time, but it could’ve been much worse.”

  Taking out his equipment, he went over to the spill and proceeded to clean it up.

  Max looked at Alice, his eyebrows raising. “Don’t worry about him,” he whispered. “He’s not had his fifth cup of coffee yet.”

  The wink made my skin burn. Why? Surely Max flirting with Alice was nothing to do with me. She was most probably chatted up by men all the time. She was beautiful, after all.

  Biting my lip, I turned to fiddle with the equipment behind me, trying not to listen in on their conversation.

  “Sorry,” I heard Alice say. “I’m...not exactly available.”

  I swore when the dropper I was putting away, which didn’t really need to actually go anywhere, clattered to the work surface. My throat almost closed as I realised that I was jealous. Why was I jealous?

  “Oh, you’re with someone?” Max said, his cheerful voice not deflated in the slightest.

  “Not exactly,” Alice said. “But, I’m interested in someone.”

  Glancing over my shoulder, I quickly looked away when my gaze clashed with hers. Eeek. What did that mean? Why was she looking at me? She wasn’t into women too, was she?

  “Can you stop chatting her up, Max?” the other man said, gesturing for him to help.

  Going over to him, my phone friend held the biohazard bag open so the man cleaning up could put the soaked paper into it.

  My phone started ringing, which meant one of my siblings wanted me. I had asked them to only contact me in an emergency. I couldn’t answer the call in here.

  “You can both go into the office. Make sure to help each other out of the suits, bag them up, and give them to us. The risk is pretty low. We’ll need a full report written straight away.”

  Not waiting to hear anymore, I went out of the lab and into the office. In the corner, there was a storage cupboard. Going in, I ripped my suit off, struggling to get out of it to answer my phone.

  “Here, let me help you.” Alice took my sleeves and yanked them off for me.

  “Thank you.” My cheeks burned as the fresh air hit them.

  Why was I blushing? The woman was only doing what the man had asked. There was no reason for me to get all flustered by her.

  Alice bagged my suit as soon as I was out of it. Grabbing a pair of gloves, I helped her out of hers, making sure not to touch her skin at all. Just in case there was anything on our suits.

  My phone rang again just as I sealed the bag. Handing it to Alice when she offered her hand, I smiled my thanks.

  “Hello?” I answered the call on the second ring.

  “It’s me,” Scorpio said, his voice tight. “You need to come home.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  It was unlike my brother to be so uptight. He was one for sulking, but he also liked to have a laugh. He was worried, I could tell.

  “It’s Natalie. They’ve just booked the venue and caterers. She was doing pretty well, but now she’s struggling. Her blood pressure has risen and she’s hot again.”

  “The toxin,” I muttered to myself. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

  Hanging up, I turned to Alice. Natalie had shown a small improvement. Why was she getting worse again? If we didn’t hurry, she would die before we could save her.

  “Go home,” Alice said, grabbing my arm and guiding me towards the door. “I’ll cover here.”

  Thrusting through the door, I didn’t even pause to thank Alice. My mind was already at home with my family.

  “Okay, you can write your report now.”

  Oh great. Max was waiting in the office, his mask off his face. The other man was still in the lab, finishing the clean-up.

  “I really need to be somewhere,” I muttered, hoping to appeal to Max’s kind side.

  Shaking his head, he got the paperwork out of his case and placed it on the desk. “I’m sorry, this has to be done now. It’s the procedure.”

  Turning to Alice, I clenched my hands. My friend was dying and they wanted me to fill in stupid paperwork. No!

  Stamping my foot without thinking, I grabbed hold of the desk as the whole building shook. The floor beneath us rumbled, throwing everything from side to side. Oh no, I had used my power unwittingly.

  “We need to get out of here,” Max said, opening the lab door.

  The movement continued as Alice shoved me towards the office door. “Go! I’ll tell them you went ahead.”

  Taking my cue, I rushed from the office, throwing a kiss over my shoulder towards Alice. Why did I do that?

  I almost skidded as the trembling calmed down. I had just caused an earthquake and blown a kiss at my boss in the same two minutes. What was going on?

  The floor was closed down, just as we’d been told. No one was around, which made it easier for me to escape. If they looked at the CCTV, it might look pretty suspicious, but I didn’t care. I had to get home to Natalie. If I could increase her intake of antitoxin, she had a better chance of survival.

  A sob escaped my throat as I rounded the corner and skipped down the stairs. People in the lobby were talking about the tremor, which had now come to a stop. They were checking each other over, making sure they were okay. I kept walking, my head down so no one noticed me.

  Sweeping out of the automatic doors, I almost yelped in excitement, pleased to be free of the hospital. Our plan had failed, big time. But, there was still hope, there was always hope.

  “Hello, Virgo,” a deep voice broke through my thoughts.

  Freezing where I stood on the pavement outside the hospital, I took a deep breath before I turned. Yep, Nick stood in front of me, a gun tucked in his jacket, but clearly pointed at me.

  Okay, maybe all hope had just disappeared.

  Chapter Nine

  “Don’t panic, I’m not going to shoot you. I’m just letting you know that I would like to talk.”

  Turning, I walked away, knowing full well Nick would follow. But, I wasn’t afraid to show him my back. He wasn’t as powerful as he thought he was.

  “Please, let’s make this easy,” he said, coming up beside me.

  Getting away from the hospital was my first priority. We had come in Alice’s car, so I had to get the bus back to mine. However, with Nick right there, I couldn’t. There was no way I was leading him to our home.

  Sliding my hand into my pocket, I tried to discreetly text Taurus and Leo. Just in case any of them were around. It was difficult, but years of multitasking as a nurse helped me to get it done.

  “What do you want?” I asked, swinging round to face him.

  Indicating a car nearby, he raised his eyebrows. “Let’s go for a little drive, shall we?”

  If I didn’t go, would he force me? Or, would he just leave me alone? Knowing Nick, he had a plan. One that I wasn’t fond of finding out. If I didn’t get him off my back, he wouldn’t leave me be.

  “Fine.”

  Crossing the road before he could reply, I opened the door of the black hatchback. They were always wearing black, the Dysfunctionals. Even their vehicles matched the darkness of their souls.

  Nick climbed in beside me, smacking the back of the driver’s seat as he yelled for him to drive. What was wrong with me? Why had I just agreed to go somewhere with our enemy?

  “Where are we going? I’ve got somewhere to be,” I said.

  The car jolted forward as if the driver didn’t know how to drive. Once he got onto the main road, he put his foot down, weaving in and out of the traffic. London was a nightmare to drive around, but he didn’t have to be so careless.

  “You can get arrested for driving like this,” I said to him.

  “Virgo, I’m intrigued. You haven’t been seen with a man. It’s been months since Leo failed his union.”

  The car lurched again, making me grab the seat in front of me. Ignoring Nick, I kept my eyes on the road in front of me the best I could. We couldn’t crash. I had to get back to the others. If I didn’t, Natalie would probably die, the baby along with her.

  “Look,” Nick started. “Maybe we could come up with a deal.”

  “A deal?” What did he want? And, why would he want to bargain? “You really shouldn’t drive like that,” I said, ignoring Nick to chastise the driver when he cut in front of a white van.

  All my brothers’ driving was awful, so I was used to a bit of recklessness, but I felt much safer with them than I did with a Dysfunctional.

  “Drive better,” Nick snapped at his man.

  He obviously wanted me to concentrate on the conversation. There was no way I could do that when I was being thrown around in a car.

  “I promise to give you an antidote to the Anthrax if you promise not to unite with your twin flame when they show up.”

  Nick’s grey hair was getting longer, curling at his neck. I had never taken any time to study him, but thin lines were etched into his skin. How long had he been alive? Considering we had only been in this lifetime for twenty- five years, what had he been doing before then?

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  Tuning the journey out, I focused on the man in front of me. Not the enemy, the man. He rubbed his neck as I watched him, his eyes looking anywhere but at me.

  “You know who I am,” he snapped.

  Sitting sideways, I stared at him. “No, I know that you’re meant to be this evil man who’s trying to stop us. But, what really drives you?”

  “I’m sure you’ve heard the story from Taurus.” Nick’s offhand retort helped me to see through him.

  “But, that was centuries ago. There’s something still driving you.”

  If he still had a grudge after so many lifetimes because of losing his love so long ago, there was something seriously wrong with him.

  “I can’t help it. The day my love was killed...something happened to me. Did you know that she’s alive every lifetime, but I can’t cross paths with her?”

  My mouth dropped open before I clenched it shut. So, not only did he have his love taken away, he knew she was in the world, but he could never see her.

  “I...no, of course I didn’t know that. Why can’t you see her?”

  The car approached Hyde Park. There were hundreds of people rushing along the streets of London, their own lives the most important thing to them.

  Nick looked at me, finally making eye contact. The pain in his gaze shot straight into my heart.

  “I don’t know. I can feel her, every time, but...I never meet her.”

  The sadness radiated from him. In my whole life, I’d never felt sorry for our enemy, but a chink in my armour cracked as I realised how hard it must be to know that the one you loved all those years ago was unreachable.

  “Wait. Does that mean you remember every lifetime?”

  Nodding, he glanced out of the window, his face going blank as he obviously remembered a time I was unaware of.

  “I keep thinking of a time, a few hundred years ago, when you were a slave in America...”

  My gasp made him look at me, his eyebrows raising. “So, you remember it, too?”

  Shaking my head, I ducked my head to stare at my lap. My hands clenched as memories flooded through my brain. The grey eyes in the master who had almost killed me. Yet, he hadn’t. He had allowed me to go free. Had that been Nick?

  “I have a feeling I know why I haven’t seen you with a man. And, it won’t stop me. Nothing will.”

  I licked my lips as I drew my gaze level with his. Showing him that I was afraid wasn’t an option. He always threatened, but in reality, he hadn’t succeeded in preventing six of the zodiacs from finding and uniting with their soulmate. His time was coming to an end. And, he was petrified.

  “Have you ever tried to find her?” I asked, bringing the attention back to him.

  He blinked, the change in conversation surprising him. Just because he had managed to divert me, didn’t mean I hadn’t thought about what he had to go through every life time. Not only did he replay his pain from what happened, but he had lived with her energy still connected to his.

  “Yes.”

  The sharp word was bit through his lips before he screwed them up. It was a sign that he was no longer prepared to talk about the past.

  “Do we have a deal or not? I’m sure some of them must be suffering. My aim was spot on.”

  His sneer made me react. Extending my flat hand, it connected with his cheek before I even knew what I was doing. I was never violent, ever. Yet, his gloating after the most stressful week in my life was more than I could bare.

  He laughed, the sound resounding in the vehicle. It quickly grew into hysteria when I tried to grab the handle of the door. There wasn’t one. I was trapped in a car with an insane man. One who would do anything to stop us.

  “You need to let me go. If I accept your deal, I might be saving my family, but if I don’t, it would destroy them anyway. So, that makes it a win win for you...and not a lot of help for me.”

  “No need to analyse it so much, your knee jerk reaction should be to save the ones you love from death. Especially the human.”

  Nick had no way of knowing how bad Natalie was, but he wasn’t stupid. Anyone could guess how ill she would be after being exposed to aerosoled Anthrax.

  “How about I make you a deal? You give me the antidote, and I’ll help you find your soulmate.”

  His eyes widened, the black of the iris almost bleeding into the grey. Was that a positive reaction? Or one of fury? He was so good at hiding his emotions, I couldn’t read him.

  I was about to push it when the car screeched to a halt. Nick swore loudly as the front of the vehicle smashed into something. Holding on to the seat in front, I leant over to see what had happened.

  “See, I told you that you should drive better.” A smile lit my face as Taurus, Leo and Kerry jumped out of the minivan that had stopped us. The side was dented slightly, but the boys had reinforced it pretty well.

  The driver grunted at me, his gaze seeking his boss’s. He was asking him what they should do.

  “Get out,” Nick ordered, grabbing my arm and dragging me from the car.

  The driver was in front of us as we stood in the street. Pedestrians rushed over to check that no one was hurt. Great, another showdown in the middle of London. Surely, the police were suspicious by now. Although, we did try to keep our confrontations to a minimum.

  “Give our sister back,” Taurus said, stepping in front of Kerry.

  It was unlike him to allow her to come along, but with most of the zodiacs cooped up at home, there wasn’t much backup.

  Leo stood by his side, a hoody pulled down over his head. His popularity was growing by the day. If he was seen in the middle of the street, people would swarm him. He had to be extra careful. If his career carried on the way it was going, he would have to stop helping us physically with our mission.

  “Ah, the popstar. You’re the only one of the zodiacs I like,” Nick said to Leo. “At least you didn’t go behind my back.”

  Taurus chuckled, his arm going around Kerry’s shoulders just to rub it in. He didn’t have a problem with bringing down his enemy. Guilt wasn’t an emotion he would ever feel for uniting with his soulmate.

  “What can I say?” Leo held up his hands. “Everyone likes me.”

  Nick’s grip on my arm tightened. His anger increased whenever he came across one of us. His deep hatred of who we were wasn’t helping his blood pressure. It was obvious in the burst blood vessels on his cheeks. If he wasn’t careful, he might develop heart problems.

  “Let me go, Nick,” I said, not wanting a fight.

  He didn’t hear me, his head too full of rage. If the lads said anything out of line, he would explode. And there was a gun in his pocket. If I could just reach it, I might be able to defuse the situation. In fact, that might be the best plan of action.

  “You need to let her go.” Taurus took his arm away from Kerry.

  His arms bulged as he moved, the muscles bigger than my head. It looked like he was ready for a fight, which didn’t bode well for Nick and his man. He hadn’t been expecting the boys to know where I was. But, since Pisces was kidnapped, Aquarius had put trackers on our phones. Just in case.

  “I don’t—”

  Nick cut off mid-sentence when I pulled my arm forward and sent my elbow flying back into his ribs. Spinning out of his grip, I threw my arms around him, digging my hand into the pocket of his jacket. Tugging the gun out, I almost dropped it as he regained his composure and wrapped his fingers around the top of my left arm.