Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
My skin crawls as I scan the branches around me, alert for more deadly snakes.
“...keep telling you, he’s not like that. Cut the warmth. Marcus is cold and decisive. He’s not a talker. Even his friends said he doesn’t take anyone’s advice on anything. He relies on his own instincts. We’ve been over this.”
“I’m sorry, Commander.”
Marcus’s face is frozen in a scowl as he listens to the conversation between Ingrid and his clone.
“Drum up some concern for the girlfriend.” Ingrid barks the order, exasperated.
“What does drum up mean?”
She groans. “Contextual clues, 6A5. What do you think it means, based on everything else you know?”
“Find? Fabricate?”
“Yes. Marcus would be angry that his girlfriend is gone. He wouldn’t be flirting with the kitchen help.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Remember—no apologizing, ever.”
“Sorry, Commander.”
“Listen to me!” A few seconds of silence pass. “Be him starting now. No apologizing. No listening. You were programmed to be respectful, but I am ordering you to play this part as I want you to. You only defer to me. No one else. People here need to see him in you. He’s cold and ruthless.”
The clone’s tone is short and annoyed as he says, “Is that it? I have things to do.”
“Much better. Let’s get back to questioning his friends. The one-armed guy is close to breaking.”
Chance. I cringe, wondering what they’ve done to him.
Marcus’s expression is one I haven’t seen in a while. I remember it from when I first came to the Dust Walkers camp. He’s shut down. Walls up.
After another couple hours of listening in on the conversations we can reach with the amplifier, we carefully climb down from the tree and start the walk back to the cave. Ingrid still has soldiers searching the jungle for us, so we have to move slowly and listen for anyone approaching.
“It’s not true, you know,” I say softly. “What she said about you.”
He shrugs. “It doesn’t matter.”
I take his hand. “Yes, it does. You aren’t cold. You do listen.”
“Not to most people.”
“Well ...”
A wry grin slips from his face as quickly as it arrives. “I’ve always maintained emotional distance with people. It’s just part of who I am.”
“Even me?”
The grin returns. “I tried. Didn’t work.”
“When you were gone, I executed two Tiders for stealing food.”
His brows shoot up. “You did?”
“I told them the rules of our camp, and they broke them. Pax offered to do it, but—”
“You did the right thing, B. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard.”
I stop walking, tugging his hand until we’re both protected by a natural corner created by a massive rock formation.
“I didn’t understand it until I had to do it,” I whisper. “I hated it. I resented everyone around me who didn’t have to make that decision and live with it forever.”
His gaze is tender as he looks down at me, brushing his calloused thumb over my jawline.
“No one should have to make choices like that. But I’m built for it. I’ve known since I got to this island that I can’t make friends with people whose lives I have control over.”
“You have friends, though. Nova, Niran, Ellison—"
“Ellison and Nova are different. And Niran ... he resents me.”
“He also loves you, though.”
He shakes his head, his other hand on the small of my back. “I’m a long fucking way from perfect. My trips to and from our island were long, and I had nothing but time to think.”
I thread my fingers into his dark, thick, sweat-dampened hair. Arousal hums through me, even though it’s not the time or place. When my aromium is active, there’s nothing involving Marcus and sex that doesn’t appeal to me.
Dropping to my knees to please him? Yes, right now. Being bent over and fucked hard and fast? I’m in. Losing my pants and underwear so he can grip my ass cheeks and move me up and down on his cock in a sweaty haze of lust until we both come?
I’m already unbuttoning my pants. My need for him is like extreme thirst—it’s all I can think about. It’s more than my own desire. I desperately need to watch him take pleasure from me.
He puts a hand over mine, hunger and regret swirling in his eyes. “I want you so fucking bad, B. But we can’t.”
The hum of my arousal flickers. “Yes, we can. It’s here or nowhere. The cave’s not an option.”
“I know, but ...” He runs a hand through his hair, taking a step back.
My stomach twists with unease. Aromium active or not, Marcus has always wanted me. And it’s been so long.
I refasten my pants, my face warming with embarrassment. He moves closer, my back pressing against the flat surface of the rock behind me. Putting his forearms against the rock next to my head, he comes even closer, his erection against my belly making me inhale sharply.
“I want you every hour of every day. I want to run away from this place and spend the rest of my life with just you. Never think I don’t want you. I’m fucking consumed by my want for you.”