Gray (The Boundarylands #10) - Callie Rhodes Page 0,10

you. Then I'll know exactly how much bullshit you've been feeding me."

"Wait," Olivia said, trying to take in what he'd just told her. "You're telling me that you can smell the difference between—between a lie and the truth? How is that possible?"

"I'm the one asking questions here," he snapped. "If you want to live long enough to find out, get in the water and start scrubbing."

Right.

Olivia clamped her mouth shut as she slunk to the edge of the basin, giving him a wide berth and lowering herself into the steaming water. There would be time enough to indulge her curiosity after she survived this.

If she survived this.

She couldn't hold back a sigh as she sank into the warm, steaming water. It felt incredible, immediately starting to release her tension and carry it away in the bubbles. It didn't quite make her forget the threat of being squashed like a bug…but it came close.

Olivia was accustomed to going days and even weeks in the field without bathing, but this dip in a hot spring was better than every solar-heated campsite shower she'd ever taken put together. Hell, it was better than most of the sexual encounters she'd ever had.

The water wasn't just warm. It was fragrant and saturated with the salts and minerals that Olivia was used to paying premium bucks for in the fancy bath shop near her house. She let her eyelids drift shut, ignoring for a moment the murderous alpha standing over her. If she concentrated hard enough, maybe she could convince herself this was one of those luxurious wine-country spas she'd dreamed of visiting.

Something splashed into the water inches away, and Olivia's eyes snapped open. The alpha had tossed her a bar of soap—the same one he brought with him every day for his own bath.

"Wash that shit off," he commanded.

Olivia grabbed the soap and did as he said, trying to ignore his eyes on her as she rubbed it all over her arms and chest, then her belly and legs.

"Do your face and hair," he ordered her impatiently.

She complied, whipping up a lather between her hands before rubbing it all over her head. But when she'd finished rinsing it out, the alpha still didn't seem satisfied. If anything, his irritation seemed to have intensified.

"Better?" Olivia asked.

"I can smell your scent now if that's what you mean."

It still struck her as weird, but if he really could tell the difference between truth and deception by scent alone, then she had nothing to worry about. "So, go ahead and ask your questions again."

"You don't need to say a damn thing," the alpha muttered. "I can tell without asking that you're telling the truth."

Oh, thank God.

But wait. If he knew that she wasn't a spy, that she had no plans or means to harm him, why was he still so furious?

Olivia was genuinely curious—but her survival instinct took over, urging her to leave while she could.

"Can I go?" she asked, already inching toward the mossy edge of the basin.

"Go?" The alpha laughed darkly, a sound that sent a chill through her bones despite the lovely warmth of the water. "No, you aren't going anywhere."

Olivia's heart sank. She clambered out of the basin, water running in warm rivulets down her body and puddling on the sun-warmed rock beneath her bare feet. Her sodden clothes clung to her, the chill in the autumn air raising goosebumps.

"I did what you said," she pleaded. "I told you the truth. I'm not with the government. I didn't ask to come here. I had to do it to protect myself and my family."

The alpha didn't even blink. His face was a stone wall of indifference, giving away no emotion at all. "I know. And that's why I'm not going to kill you."

Olivia gaped at him. So he wasn't going to kill her—that was all he had to say? He seemed to expect her to be grateful, which didn't make any sense.

Maybe alphas just thought differently. Maybe if she understood his logic, she could reason with him. "But why keep me here? You obviously don't want me here, so why not let me go?"

The alpha crossed his arms in front of his broad chest, making him loom even larger over her. "Two reasons. First, those men who dropped you off here are bound to come back for you."

"Which is exactly why I shouldn't be here! Besides, it's not like they'll know I left."

"Maybe…maybe not."

"What's the second reason?"

The alpha's brow lowered menacingly. "You might not have meant