Rebuild: Engineered Rebel, #3

By L.C. Mawson

After losing most of their siblings, Alex, Gus and Hell have no idea where to go next...

Gus has left the Enhanced with Ty, his boyfriend, to try and find someone who can train him to use his magic. Alex has no idea what to do with what's left of her fractured team, and she's in love with a woman who doesn't want anything serious from her. And Hell is dreaming of dragons...

They may be ahead in the fight, but that won't last. Especially if they can't pull themselves together...

REBUILD is the third book in the Engineered Rebel series and is part of L.C. Mawson's Snowverse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: L.C. Mawson
• Release date: Apr 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386198604

Book preview

Chapter One

Alex

Alex hummed in thought as she perused the sunglasses stand at the entryway of the chemist in the mall she and Jan were waiting in.

What do you think? she asked as she picked up a pair of reflective aviators and put them on, turning to Jan. I can pull this off, right?

Jan smiled. It’s a very sexy look, she assured her. Or how do they say it here? Très sexy?

Alex rolled her eyes. Don’t pretend you’re not fluent.

Jan smirked. Compared to you? Romance languages were never my forte. German always sat better on my tongue.

Alex couldn’t stop herself from grinning as she retorted, I can think of other things that sit well on your tongue.

Jan struggled to suppress a snort, turning bright red and gently whacking Alex on the side of her arm. You’re awful!

Alex’s grin widened as she struggled not to laugh at Jan’s response. You know, I think I’ll get them. They’re probably big enough to help me evade facial recognition software.

Jan hummed in agreement, her face still bright red from before, leaving Alex to smile.

There wasn’t much that having sex had done to change their friendship but making Jan blush like that was definitely one of the new perks that Alex was relishing.

Especially when they were definitely just having sex and weren’t an actual couple.

Before Alex could make her way over to the counter to pay for her purchase, however, she spotted a nervous woman with long black hair approaching, with an abundance of freckles over her bronze cheeks and dark brown eyes.

Enhanced didn’t really have a concept of family outside of their batch-siblings, but sometimes the genes from one batch were refined for future batches.

Chloe, Alex said, nodding to her, figuring that she must be the woman Tina had told them had wanted to leave the Enhanced to join them. She hadn’t really known Chloe back at the base, but if Alex’s batch had had a preceding batch, it had been Chloe’s. Though Alex doubted hers had been spliced with Dragon genes.

Alex had been a little nervous about the meeting, what with her being as old as most of their monitors, but it was easy to forget that even the older Enhanced often had their own monitors and weren’t given much more freedom than those that were younger.

They were just happier to accept those limitations after having lost so many of their batch siblings in the war that they had been built to fight.

But it seemed that not all of them were so happy with the status quo anymore, and Alex was more than happy to take advantage of that. Especially after Jay had vouched for Chloe, and he had proven himself to be an older Enhanced who could be trusted.

After Jay had spoken for her, the vote to retrieve Chloe had been unanimous.

Not least because they needed to get back to recruiting to help with looking after the kids after Gus and Ty had left.

Chloe smiled as she spotted them, heading over.

Alex, Jan, she greeted. I almost didn’t recognise you both.

Alex smiled, realising that the Enhanced would be working from older photos of her, probably when she was wearing their uniform. Now, she was in jeans and a leather jacket, though her hair was still tied back in a ponytail. She used to do it up to stop people from grabbing it in a fight, but it was incredibly time consuming and she didn’t predict any hand-to-hand combat here.

Jan’s hair seemed to get shorter and shorter every time she cut it, and Alex was pretty sure that it would be a pixie cut next time. Between that and her heavy eyeliner, black jersey skirt, tank top and heavy boots, Alex was pretty sure that she was just one trench coat away from being a Matrix extra.

Chloe, Alex greeted with a smile. It’s good to see you. I assume you got away just fine?

She nodded. I told my monitor that I was having headaches just as Tina said to and then said that I was going to get some painkillers.

Tina? Alex asked into her earpiece.

"Her monitor left her hotel and rang home, just as we anticipated. Mia is recording the conversation to listen to later for intel, but for now, it seems that he’s worried that there might be an underlying medical issue and is asking if she can return for testing. They’re arguing that the mission is more important and I anticipate that this might continue on for a while."

Good. Can you and Mia keep an eye on him while we get Chloe out of here?

Of course. See you back at the base.

See you then. Alex turned back to Chloe. All right, I guess that’s our cue to head to the car and get out of here.

Jan held out her hand. Okay, but hand me the keys before we go.

What? Why?

Because you drive like you can’t remember how a car works.

Alex frowned. I got used to driving on the other side of the road.

Exactly. Keys.

Alex stuck out her tongue as she handed over the keys.

THEY ARRIVED BACK AT the base with no trouble, Mia and Tina assuring them that they were close behind now that they were sure Chloe’s monitor couldn’t pick up their trail.

So, what are you gonna do first with your freedom? Jan asked Chloe as they got out of the car, the garage door closing behind them. I mean, you’ve probably been getting a decent taste for the outside world when you’ve been out on missions, but chocolate cake isn’t quite the same when you know you’ll get told off for gaining weight when you get home.

Alex rolled her eyes. As if you’ve ever gained weight in your life.

Says the girl who’s never out of the gym.

You know that going to the gym is a prerequisite for me having biceps for you to admire, right?

I do like biceps, Jan agreed as they led Chloe through to the main base. But I would also accept a slightly more snuggly version of you.

Alex was about to respond but didn’t as she noticed that Chloe was grinning at them.

Sorry, Chloe said quickly, after realising that Alex had spotted her. It’s just... you two make a really cute couple and I’m glad that you managed to get away from the others and build a space where you could have that.

Oh, um... Alex started, her tongue tripping over her words.

We’re not... Jan added, her hand waving between her and Alex.

We don’t...

We’re not a, you know...

We do sleep together! Alex felt her face flush at the awkwardness of that phrasing.

Right, Jan added, though she looked as if she was trying her hardest not to cringe. We do, but that’s just, you know, for fun or whatever. We’re just friends.

Alex nodded as Chloe looked at them with a confused frown.

Right. Okay. Sorry for assuming, you just... Seem like you’re a couple, you know?

Nope, Jan told her with a shrug. Just friends.

Yeah, Alex agreed, trying her best to keep any disappointment from her voice.

She was glad that she and Jan were friends.

Jan was her best friend, in fact.

And that shouldn’t be something she was disappointed with, she knew.

Alex stepped out of the way as a couple of kids came running past them in the corridor, almost bumping into them.

Hey, Jan yelled at them. Watch where you’re going!

Sorry, Jan! they yelled back in unison but didn’t stop as they made their way into one of the common rooms and skidded to a stop where Hell was sitting with a bunch of other kids.

Alex lingered there for a moment to listen into what Hell was telling them.

And then the book says that the two original Dragons grew so mad that they caused a volcano to erupt from the ground, covering the town in lava!

Jan turned to Alex as they started to make their way back down the corridor. Is that from that tome Mia and Tina found?

Alex nodded. Mia worked on translating it, hoping that it would give us some edge against the Enhanced.

And?

Nothing useful for us, but some basics on the Old Worlds, including the Vulcan Plains and the Dragons. Hell has been reading it all...

In case Gus comes back? Jan asked, saying what Alex wouldn’t.

"For when Gus comes back," Alex corrected, but it lacked its usual enthusiasm. It had been months since he and Ty had left...

Hell had devoured the book as soon as Tina had translated it and Alex couldn’t blame zir. It seemed as if zie was channelling the fact that zie missed their brother into learning everything zie could about his magic. Probably to prove that he didn’t have to leave to learn about himself, as the letter he had left behind had claimed.

Alex wasn’t so sure. Even with all the books in the world, she couldn’t fault Gus for wanting a real teacher.

She just hoped that he found what he was looking for and came home soon.

It didn’t feel right for him to not be there. Not when he had been with her from almost the moment she had left the Enhanced. Before anyone else had even believed that she might have had good reason for leaving.

And with the loss of their other siblings, Alex found herself wanting her brother home even more.

But she had to simply trust that he would come back when he was ready.

And hope that that wasn’t too long.

Especially when it was becoming increasingly difficult to avoid the thought that maybe he had left because Alex had pushed him too far with his magic. She had pushed him to embrace it because she had wanted him to accept it as part of who he was, but she was beginning to wonder if he knew that, or if he felt that she was trying to use him as the weapon that the Enhanced had designed him to be.

Maybe if she hadn’t done that, he wouldn’t have left...

She turned back to Chloe, deciding that there was no use on dwelling on Gus when she had more immediate matters to attend to.

So, she said, Tina said that you might have something for us.

Yes, I almost forgot! Chloe produced a USB stick from her pocket. Kim gave this to me before I left. She said you should be able to make good use of it.

Alex smiled as she took the stick. Thank you.