Unstoppable (Their Shifter Academy #6) - May Dawson Page 0,73

thunderous.

If he could’ve reached me then, I knew he would’ve tried to rip my head off my body like I’d done to the robot.

We had a mission. I always kept my eyes on the long-term no matter what happened in the moment.

No matter what it cost me.

Because as I backed away and left Maddie in the mud, her face twisted in pain, tears of pain shimmering in those beautiful blue eyes, it cost me a lot.

“No running in the yard,” I told her, my voice cold, pretending that was all she’d been up to.

I turned to find Tobias and the other guard looking on with faces that seemed appreciative. Good. Then I’d done enough.

Beyond them, I caught a glimpse of Rafe. His face was still, but his eyes were like dark coals burning into me from across the yard.

“You made one of the Rebels cry,” Tobias said with a laugh. He flipped a coin to me, and I caught it against my chest automatically.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Just a little bet we all have with each other.”

I smiled back at him. “Well, thanks. Good first day on the job.”

One day, I was going to make Tobias eat this coin.

I didn’t dare look to see if Isabelle had gotten away. There was no point to the sacrifice Maddie had made if I blew it now. I had to trust them both.

Instead, I walked away, leaving the girl I loved in the mud behind me.

When I walked around the corner on my patrol, I came face to face with another familiar face. Isabelle, carrying a sack of wheat from the storehouse toward the kitchen. She’d managed to finagle a job where she could disappear. No surprise. My childhood best friend was always the smartest of any of us, not that I’d ever have confessed it to her.

She stared at me, her lips parting in surprise, then quickly looked around, her eyes barely flickering, barely giving her away, the way we’d been trained. “Silas. You’re really here.”

“Really.” Lucky me. I’d been looking forward to this moment when I saw Isabelle alive and unharmed; I’d barely dared to hope for it, preparing myself for disappointment. Until I heard from Fredrick, I thought I might reach my friends only to discover they were all dead.

Now when I saw her, instead of feeling triumphant, I still felt cold and dead inside from hurting Maddie.

No—not cold and dead. That was covering something else. That was all I could bear to feel right now.

She set the wheat down; she was so thin now that her narrow arms were clearly straining just to carry the relatively light burden. She’d lost a lot of muscle since we last saw each other.

If I let myself, that would have made me sad for her and furious at the colony. Instead, I focused on what it meant. She’d be weak during our escape attempts; I’d have to factor that in if there were physical challenges to surmount. I couldn’t count on her athleticism the way I always had before.

“What’s the game, Isabelle?” I asked coolly. I couldn’t seem to manage any warmth, even though she deserved it from me. Maybe this was for the best anyway; no one would necessarily know that we were friends if we misjudged and someone did hear my tone. They’d know I knew her, but most of the guards were here with grudges anyway, so I could explain that away.

“Come with me,” she said softly. “We can talk in the kitchen. There’s no one there right now.”

I followed her as she backed into the camp kitchen. Sure enough, the big, windowless room was empty. She quickly shut the door and checked that it was closed.

“If someone comes across us, you can just pretend you’re one of the creepy guards who tries to take advantage of their position. I’ve heard they sometimes get a firm scolding,” she said lightly.

Her words sent dread curling through my stomach. I hated the thought that so much evil was happening in this place, and if someone had already hurt her, I wanted to kill them. Maybe I’d get my chance, although I doubted Rafe would thumbs-up my kill them all plan.

“I heard you wanted to ruin my carefully planned escape,” I told her, crossing my arms over my chest. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t leave yet,” she said. “Keen is dying, Silas.”

Those four words hit me harder than I ever would have imagined.

But all I said was, “You’re all going to die. The warden’s already