Trapped (The Condemned Series #1) - Alison Aimes Page 0,44

she didn’t have. “Did you tell Ava about the rescuers?”

“Yes, but she doesn’t believe it. She refuses to believe it.” He let out a long sigh. “She just patted my hand and assured me I was mistaken. Said there’d been a lot of recent technological advances in shuttlecraft. That the rescue team knew what they were doing. That they would find a way to land. Then she got all sad…mumbled something about how escaping her family and the Council wouldn’t be that easy.”

Bella’s eyebrow rose at that last comment. There was clearly far more to Ava’s story, little of it good. “Can we just kidnap her?” 225’s pack would find the campsite, eventually.

“No. Your soldiers have too many guns, and they’re twitchy enough as it is. Spying on them from afar is risky enough.”

She let out a long, slow breath, her chest tight. “Which is why I need to go back and tell them myself what’s going on.”

He stiffened. “You’re not going back there.”

“It isn’t up to you.” Still, worry skittered through her. He wasn’t suggesting he would keep her against her will, was he? He’d been so adamant about her being the one to make the choice to keep their deal, she never once considered he wouldn’t also allow her to sever the deal.

“It isn’t?” He took a step closer. “We made a deal. You told me anything in return for keeping you safe. And I’m telling you you’re not going back there. It’s too dangerous.”

She stood firm. “They’re my colleagues.”

“Are you forgetting what happened last time?” He plowed a hand through his short hair. “If not for that saybak, things would have gotten ugly.”

“That was because you were with me. It won’t happen when I’m alone.”

“Alone?” he roared. “You want to go there alone? No way.”

She must be crazy because, despite her annoyance over his highhandedness, his protectiveness warmed her. Comforted her, too. It would have been an easy out for him to agree. A quick and painless way to send her on her way and wash himself of an increasingly heavy burden. Instead, he was scowling and tense, his legs spread wide apart, barring her from the exit, proving that he really meant it when he said he wanted her to stay.

And God help her, but she didn’t want to leave him just yet either. Truth be told, if it was just about her needs, she was almost certain she wouldn’t have wanted to leave at all. She’d have preferred to find a way past his defenses. Learn his past. Relish the present. Turn his protectiveness into something deeper.

But burying her head in the sand was impossible.

“I’m sorry, Caine.” She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “My colleagues need my help. And the fact is, we both know I can’t stay here forever anyway.” There. It was said. She held her breath, waiting for his reaction.

“Is this about this morning?” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Because I told you. I want you to stay.”

She raised her hand to touch him—and then fisted her palm by her thigh instead. “This…This isn’t about that. It–it isn’t about you and me at all.”

He took a step closer, his chest heaving, red stamped across his carved cheekbones. “Are you sure about that? Are you sure you’re not just running scared? Getting to know the real Dragath25 criminal and not liking what you find?”

No!” Her heart beat fast. Too fast. Making her wonder if there was any truth to his challenge. Not that she didn’t like what she was finding. But that she liked it—him—too much. Too much to stay in something that felt all too temporary.

But that wasn’t all of what was going on. She knew that, too. “It just feels wrong to be here when I should be helping my colleagues.”

His nostrils flared, his eyes narrowing. “Colleagues? Or that Council Doctor?”

“Colleagues.” She forced herself to say the rest of what needed to be said. “Plus, why not now? We both know I have to go back sometime soon. My brother and sister and all those left on Earth are depending on me to return, and staying near Winthrop is the only way that will happen.”

Jaw clenched, Caine’s gaze shifted away from hers, freezing when they landed on the heap of wires in the corner. “You want to help them? Stay and help me get the jammer running. Your Command Council Officer may be the key to drawing the rescue shuttle, but those soldiers will never make it within