Cardinal Caged (2 of Cardinal Series)

Chapter 2

A/N: You get two updates in one day for last week and this coming week!  Enjoy!!

I opened the door, taking the time to glance around. I'd been ushered into Dr. Roberts' office rather quickly as we'd been running late, courtesy of Yolanda, primadonna that she was. With it being my first time out in a while, I hadn't been able to really take in anything to my satisfaction, so I drank my fill now--neither now nor the first time I'd been here over a month ago.

The Academy was in a building that appeared abandoned on the outside. Because of that, all of the windows had one-way mirrors on them from the outside so that people wouldn't be able to see in during the day. At night, as I'd found out from my first trip here, they pulled blackout shades over the windows...robbing us of a beautiful night view, but something necessary since light inside at night would be visible even through the mirrored glass.

I was in the hallway and headed to the common area. I thought I'd spotted a juice bar in there, and I was hoping to be able to buy something when I met up with the rest of the Cardinals.

There were several rooms down the hallway I'd been in. Many of them were open to allow glimpses inside. A person's office, someone calling a flower company, one guy buried within a bunch of technology.

I gave the computers a longing look, missing access to the internet, but in a place now to understand why my communication had been cut off.

A wistful sigh escaped my throat before I shook my head and carried on. The next room had a smartly dressed woman on the phone that met my eyes and gave me a commiserating look as she rolled her eyes at the person on the other end of the line.

It felt weird to be included in such an interaction. I'd been given a lot of orders, been told to always blend into the background, and been surrounded mostly by strangers for a lot of my life. I'd not really felt on the inside of anything before, not even to commiserate with someone.

There was a soft thump from behind me as someone caught the door jamb to stop themselves.

"Sang?"

I froze, turning around.

Standing in the doorway of the technology room I'd passed was Corey Henshaw.

I didn't move. I couldn't believe that it was really him. He was still tall as a skyscraper and every bit as filled out and tanned as his brother despite the love for technology that took up a good chunk of his time. His blonde hair was mussed up a bit like he'd been running his hands through it. His cerulean blue eyes were bright and happy and smiling at me, Sang Sorenson.

My breath caught in my throat for a moment as I realized how truly handsome he was. Were all of the guys this handsome and I just hadn't noticed?

For a moment I was unsure how to react around such an attractive guy, but then I remembered all of our encrypted communications and our in-person interactions. It was Corey. I knew Corey.

I grinned, and he was rushing me. He glomped me in a comedic fashion since it nearly ended up taking me down in a loving tackle, but he caught the both of us and instead stood, my feet dangling in the air a good foot above the ground.

"Sang, I'm so happy! I've been...there's so much...Sang! You're here! You're really here!" He put me down on my feet and grabbed up my hand, pulling me along with him to the tech room. "I want to show you something."

Barely able to even catch my own breath, I went along, trying to suppress the urge to cry I was so stinking happy. I basked in the scent of lemons and bergamot, just trying to commit every single detail of this moment to memory. I'd spent a lot of time with the guys that had rescued me, but I hadn't been in the clearest of headspaces. It was a point of regret I'd carried with me over the past--ahem, 38 days--not that I was counting.