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She smelled the faint brine of the ocean in the da onto the shore from not far off in the distance Beyond that, only silence
No, raising her voice in this place would only alert her captors
Mira shifted on the thin mattress and winced at the dull ache that flared in the side of her neck She re that took out her legs and sent herTranqs, it was obvious to her now
But it didn’t take , falling
Dying, she had thought
She’d even seen the face of an angel in those final fewconsciousness Kellan’s face, handsoaze that seeiven her some powerful shit
It took ing in her chest that always followed in the wake of Kellan’s memory Instead, Mira rallied herself around her present reality - which, at the
She tested her shackles again, to no avail Next, she shifted her head around on the pillow, trying to use friction to slide the blindfold away froht side, not enough for her to see anything
And she’d apparently h noise already, because now she heard the heavy jangle of a key turning in a lock From somewhere beyond the foot of the bed, a heavy panel door creaked open
"You’re awake" The wo black hair Brady, they called her Mira recognized her voice and the long-legged gait as footsteps approached the bed "How do you feel?"
"Like I’ to vomit," Mira replied, her own voice raw fro near rebel scum tends to have that effect on me" She cleared her arid throat "That’s what you are, right? Rebels Lowlife cowards who plot and skulk around in the shadows like a den of rats,the lives of people worth any hundred of your kind"
The wo in response to all that venom There was a soft rustle of movement beside the bed near Mira’s head, then the liquid sound of solass "Drink this," she told Mira "It’s water The sedative you were given will have dehydrated you"
Mira turned her head when the cool glass caive me Tell h "You don’t need to worry about him He’s not your concern"
"I’ll decide what’s my concern or not" Mira tried to rise, but there was nowhere to go with the restraints digging into her wrists She dropped back down on a hissed curse "Where is he? What do you want froain "We’re going to release you tonight, unhar her questions
"Releasethe drink a second time now "And you think I believe that? I’ve seen all of your faces I ht me, but I knoe’re not far out of Boston Somewhere very close to the bay - so close, I can hear the water I can taste it in the air So very old It won’t take long to figure out where this hideout is, and then I’ll come back for all of you"
"We’ve considered that" No worry in that calm reply "Precautions will be taken, of course"
Precautions, Mira pondered silently Were they taking Ackmeyer to another location? Or did this iht, scattering somewhere like the vermin they were?
No way they’d ever outrun her, let alone the Order, noher for the ride back to this base earlier and keeping her blindfolded noould protect their identities or the location of their lair, they would be sorelyher, which would definitely negate the "unharmed" part of their proured they could turn her loose and expect to get aith it
"You knoho I am," Mira said, not a question
"Yes," the woman replied quietly "I knoho you are"
"Then you have to know that I will find you and the rest of your criminal friends, and I won’t be alone when I do" Mira wished she could see the rebel’s face and gauge the fear that ood deal of trepidation or stupidity, and this wo close to an idiot "You need to tell your pals that if any of you think I’ot another thing co"
"It’s not up to me to decide," she said "Now, please Take solass came back toward Mira’saway, she lunged forward and bit the fleshy base of the rebel’s thulass to the floor It shattered beside the bed, as loud as a crash of cymbals in the quiet of the thick-walled cell
Mira used the opportunity to fight her restraints again She bucked and struggled on the bed,only to shift the blindfold down from one of her eyes as the open doorway filled with the i to the coerous heat that made even Mira’s breath catch in her throat She could see only a sliver of hie of her skewed blindfold Broad shoulders Dark, copper-shot brown hair
As tall and muscular and powerful as any one of the Order’s warriors
A sense of unease - of bone-deep alarht
She levered herself up on the bed for a better look, watching as he went to the female rebel’s side and wrapped a protective arht?" Not Brady as the other enuine concern, true affection in the deep, low-toned voice His head was down, most of his face obscured by the wild fall of his shoulder-length hair "What the hell happened?"
"Nothing, I’m okay I’m sorry, Bowman I should’ve had better control of the situation"
Quiet words, an absolving stroke of the e hand over the ebony hair of his cos as she watched the private exchange, all of her senses focused on the deepabout hian to stir so cold and rusted inside her
The tendons in her neck pulled tight as she strained to see his face Angling her head to hearin her to full attention Her skin went tight and hot and confining Her pulse pounded like the wings of a caged bird, trapped inside her chest
Her instincts knew this ic of it left herto catch up with the rest of her
Curiosity twisted into desperation as thehis arm fall away fro too s too much raer for a human
Because he wasn’t hus as he approached the bed where she lay
"Impossible," she whispered "Nothis can’t be real"