By the time I get to the control room to find Matthew, I'm seething at Caleb.

How dare he turn this into a jealousy thing? Zach is his partner, his friend, and Caleb's more concerned that I might have feelings for him than saving his life? My anger increases with each step I take, until it's boiling over, threatening to overwhelm me as I remember Caleb's refusal to help me.

Both his and Lideri's reactions to Zach being gone have shocked me to my core and I'm left wondering if I really want this life after all. I don't know if I want to be a part of an organisation that gives up on people so easily.

"Have you found anything?" I ask as soon as I enter the control room. I try to keep the irritation out of my voice but I can tell from the way Matthew glances up at me that I failed. He pauses the screen he's watching and shakes his head sadly.

"There has to be something." I sit down next to him, opening the endless files of footage and trying to remember if Zach or Caleb told me where they were going so I know where to begin. But if they did, I can't recall where it was, so I have to settle with starting at the place where the vampire they went after was last spotted.

After another two fruitless hours I'm feeling so antsy I might jump out of my skin. Each failed piece of footage chips away at my heart. It's been more than six hours since they took him. Who knows what could have happened in the interim? And here I am, wasting even more time going through surveillance when I should be out there looking for him.

"Jennings." Caleb's voice in the doorway makes me jump. I turn towards him, pausing a video of an abandoned parking lot.

"Not now Caleb." I scowl, annoyed at the interruption, my earlier anger flaring up again. "I don't have time for your accusations."

"The underground tunnel on Clover Street," he says, entering the room slowly, as though each step causes him pain.

"Excuse me?"

"That's where they took him from," he explains. "It's probably the best place to start."

"Thank you." I turn back to the screen and type in Clover Street, seeing that we have three cameras in that area. I click one that seems to have the best view and rewind the tape until I see Zach and Caleb enter the frame.

They confront the lone vampire; seemingly winning the battle until from nowhere, more enter the screen. They easily overpower Caleb and Zach in a brutal fight that ends with Caleb bleeding on the floor and Zach being pulled away, his feet dragging along the tar.

The Caleb in the footage reaches a hand out as though he can save Zach, but one of the vampires knocks him on the head with a metal pole and he collapses back to the floor, unconscious. A pool of blood slowly spreads beneath him, joining the splatters and streaks that cover the ground.

With burry vision, I glance back at the present Caleb, standing behind me. His fists are clenched on the back of my chair, his eyes squeezed shut. Pain and regret are etched across his face as though with permanent ink. "I should have saved him."

I hastily wipe the tears from my cheeks, pressing pause on the footage. "There was nothing you could do."

"I could have tried harder," he insists. "I could have saved him."

"Then help me." I place my hand on his and look into his eyes, pleading with him. "Help me save him now."

He sighs heavily, his gaze never leaving mine. He turns his hand over, interlacing his fingers with mine and squeezing tightly. "What do you need me to do?"

I let out a breath of relief, the crushing ache in my chest releasing slightly. "I need you to convince Lideri to let us go out and look for Zach. The monitors aren't going to tell us much, but if we go back to where he was taken from, we can try trace what happened."

"Jennings, that's never going to work." He shakes his head, quickly continuing before I can argue. "He will never let us go. It would be the two of us against eight of them. We would both die."

"Fine," I growl. I had hoped to avoid Lideri, knowing that I would say something I would soon regret. But it looks like I don't have a choice. It's probably better that I go anyway, I'm not going to take no for an answer. "I will go talk to him. You get started on weapons."

"Excuse me?"

"We're outnumbered, we need an advantage. You made me this necklace." I gesture to the choker that I never take off. "There must be other ideas you can come up with. Anything would work."

"Iron shards," Matthew pipes up from beside me. Thanks to my conversation with Caleb and the disturbing and heart-breaking footage we just watched, I'd actually forgotten Matthew was here.

"Sorry?" I ask.

"Iron shards. Fill a grenade with iron shards, and wait until they're close enough," he explains further. "It won't kill them, but it should incapacitate them for a few moments."

I have to admit, it's a fantastic idea that would definitely give us an edge. "Where would we get all that?"

He closes the window on the computer in front of him and turns towards us. "In the weapons room. There are grenades there, but they are usually filled with wolfs bane for the werewolves."

"Matthew, that's genius!" Caleb praises. "How do you know about that?"

He shrugs, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks. "I spend my life in front of these monitors. I've picked up a few tricks."

"Okay," I decide, eager to get a move on. "New plan. Matthew and Caleb, please will you guys go sort out the grenades? I will go and speak to Lideri to get the mission approved."

"Good luck," Caleb snorts, as though he knows exactly what Lideri is going to say. Which, he probably does.

"I don't need it," I tell him and mean it. "Even if he doesn't give me the go-ahead, I'm saving Zach."

¤

I stand outside Lideri's door for a few minutes, berating myself for wasting more time. My palms are sweating so much that I have to wipe them off on my jeans several times. I'm terrified of going inside, of hearing him tell me no again.

This is my last chance to convince him to let me go save Zach. Regardless of what Lideri says now, I'm leaving headquarters and finding him. But I have a feeling that if I went without permission, I would be kicked out of the organisation, or worse, and I would rather at least try to get Lideri's blessing.

Eventually, after several moments, I steel myself, gathering the courage I need to raise my fist and knock against the metal door. Almost immediately, Lideri's rough voice calls for me to come in. I enter to find him seated at the head of his table, pen in hand as he scribbles something down on a piece of paper in front of him.

"Peyton," he says, without looking up. "I knew you would come."

"Then you also know why I'm here." I stick my chin out, hoping to appear more confident than I feel. I place my hands on my hips and stand my ground, feet shoulder width apart, ready for battle.

He finally looks up at me, placing the pen down on the table carefully and clasping his hands together. "I take it you didn't find anything on the monitors?"

"I saw the fight." I fight back a shudder as I remember all the splatters and streaks of blood that covered the ground. "I saw the direction which they dragged him off to."

"I warned you before. You had my permission to look, but not to leave the headquarters. I stand by this decision."

His words make my stomach drop to the floor for a moment. I had almost been hoping that he would have relented and seen reason during the time I was gone, but now I realise just how foolish that was. He's made his decision and he's not going to change his mind.

I guess I will just have to change it for him.

"Lideri," I start, attempting to keep my voice even and steady. "I have an enormous amount of respect for you and I think you are a wonderful leader. However, in this case, unfortunately, I think you're wrong. I want to be very clear here, I'm going to find Zach, with or without your permission. But I would like to leave knowing I have your blessing."

"You will most likely die." His tone is not harsh, just final. He already knows what my fate will be if I follow through with this plan.

"I would rather die trying to save someone I truly care about, then spend my life hiding in the shadows." My words echo my original speech when I tried to convince him to let me join. I'm hoping that he realises how far I've come since then. "I believe that Zach's life is worth mine."

His calculating gaze meets mine, lingering there for a long moment, realisation dawning in his eye. "Caleb was always the one I worried about with you. It appears I was wrong."

"Excuse me?"

"Your feelings for Zach," he points out. "They are your weakness, Peyton. One day, they will get you killed."

"I-I don't," I splutter, taken aback at the sudden turn of conversation. He doesn't give me a chance to deny it.

"You do," he cuts me off, his tone leaving no room for an argument. "And as much as you don't think this affects anything, it does. For example, you say that Zach's life is worth yours? Is it also worth Caleb's?"

"What?"

"Well, I assume you will ask Caleb to go with you on this fool's errand, will you not?" he asks. "Therefore, you are putting Zach's life above Caleb's as well as your own."

I'm suddenly reminded of our last mission together, when I couldn't decide who to help. "It's Caleb's choice whether he comes or not. I won't ask that of him."

"Is it? Do you really believe Caleb would let you go on your own? If you go, he will be sure to follow." He shakes his head sadly. "Choose wisely Peyton. You could lose everything in one go."

Is Zach worth it?

I think of his reluctant smile and comforting touch. I remember his eyes, as blue as the ocean, a colour that has become my favourite. Zach is warmth and safety, he's love and trust and heartache all rolled into one.

He's a man shaped by his loss and pain. A warrior built from his heartbreak, moulded into the incredible person that he is now. He's been through so much, and yet he's still kind and gentle, refusing to let the scars of his past change who he is. He was so scared of getting close to people, of feeling that way again, and yet, he allowed me in.

I didn't even realise that while his walls were tumbling down, he was sneaking his way into my heart.

My mind made is made up. No matter what happens now, I know my decision is the right one. "I'm going. I have to at least try."

Lideri nods once as though he knew that would be my answer. His gaze shifts to the door before meeting mine again, piercing and steady. Slowly, he inclines his head to the left, never breaking eye contact as a small smile graces his scarred features.

It's an unspoken agreement. A truce laid bare between us in the silence of the room. It's his way of giving me permission.

My heart soars in relief, a heavy weight lifting from my chest. Without wasting another second, I mutter my thanks and turn towards the door, eager to head to the weapon's room to see Caleb's progress.

"Peyton?" Lideri calls out just as I reach out to open it. I look over my shoulder at him, my hand still stretched towards the door knob.

"Bring him home," he says, further proof that he's allowing me to go.

This time I don't need to feign my confidence. "I plan on it."

We make a good team, Zacharias.

Yes we do.