Frost & Flames | Soulmate AU 2 |

One

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There haven't been many instances in my life where I can truly say that I've been so taken over by fear that my entire body has locked up. I suppose a reaction like that can be used as some sort of gauge to measure just how horrible whatever has just happened really is. In this case, nothing has really happened, at least not to me. Not directly.

Opening a notification from a news outlet about the murder of an entire League team is bad enough, but to have my own face stare back at me once the page has finally loaded is something else entirely. I'm also certain that the sudden shock to my system took years off of my life.

The team had settled in to watch a movie about an hour ago, specifically a Disney film because Rowan had promised Bella he could stay up late tonight. Everything was as normal as it's always been, but the calm atmosphere took a quick turn when all of our cellphones gave a synchronized chirp, alerting of us of a new notification.

My eyes meet Max's from where I'm sitting on the couch to his right. His face is creased in disbelief.

"Denis, there's surveillance footage of the last hour, right?" he asks, directing the questions at the AI programmed into our building, whom we lovingly named 'Denis.'

"I'm afraid all footage from the last twenty-four hours has been erased from my system," the AI replies.

Max's eyebrows draw together in confusion. My breath hitches, and my hands come down to grip at Rowan's calves. I'm sitting in the space between his legs, a position that has become one of my favorites. I almost always doze off when we're sitting like this. I was just about on my way to dream land about a minute ago, in fact, but the news of my supposed murder spree woke me right up.

"Who erased them?" Max says.

"I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that, sir," Denis replies.

Max lets out a long breath before shifting in his seat to address the room at large.

"I really don't think this is some kind of wild coincidence," he says grimly. "This screams corruption like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Who would even want to do something like this?" Rowan says from behind me, chest rumbling vaguely against my lower back as he speaks.

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's someone high up. Probably an agent in D.C with too much power and an agenda," Max says, words picking up speed as he continues. "Something tells me there's gonna be agents here to take Lake into custody within the hour. Framing him for something this serious isn't going to be for nothing."

My heart rate kicks up a notch. I dig my fingers into Rowan's legs without meaning to. He doesn't protest, instead grabbing my hands to lace his fingers through mine and sitting up so he can press more firmly against my back.

"So we're just gonna wait for them to come and take him away? For something he clearly didn't even do?" Rowan says angrily.

"Well, I don't think—" Max begins, but he is cut off by the whoosh of the elevator on the other end of the floor opening.

Multiple sets of standard issue tactical boots clomp against the floor, the noise getting increasingly obtrusive as the group grows closer. There's no question as to who they are. I don't even have to look back to know that I'm about to spend an undetermined amount of time locked up in some League-run holding facility.