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Doomed, to be sure

Because in thatto postpone greater problems now that Ackht was the truth: If huh, the Order certainly would

He should have known

It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it coo

Kellan broke away frorowl When he spoke, his voice was gravel in his throat, rough froed reality of just how badly he’d screwed both their lives "Come with me"

Mira rubbed her damp, reddened lips Her eyes looked equally bruised, iret "Tie of plans," he snarled He took a firmer hold on her hand and led her back to the Jeep "You won’t be going anywhere after all"

Chapter Seven

AN HOUR LATER, MIRA’S LIPS WERE STILL TINGLING AND alive fro in her veins, hot fro equally heated that she refused to acknowledge She tried to rub away the lingering memory of his h the city of New Bedford, continuing toward a flat, lightless promontory that jutted into the Atlantic on three sides

"I know this place," she murmured as the Jeep rolled over the cracked, untended asphalt

The road led to the entrance of what had once been a park in the days before First Dawn and the wars that followed Long before that, during another war, the broad expanse of overgrown land and the squatty, elongated D-shape structure at the far end of it had served as a human military facility Mira peered at the battered, bullet-scarred sign that had once welcomed visitors to historic Fort Taber

Now the site eed choked, dense with thickets and bra stronghold, all but obscured by dark foliage and tangled vines Kellan drove up on it and circled around the side, killing the headlights as they approached the yawning black maw of the fortress’s entrance He rolled into the darkness S what appeared to be the interior of an old, unused gun battery Up ahead was the black van that had been used to abduct Jeree," Mira re a sardonic look on Kellan

"We don’t have the Order’s deep pockets" He came to a stop near the van and threw the Jeep’s brake "We have to scrape and work for e have - er as it is"

He said it not with accusation or complaint, merely fact But there was the barest note of humility in his voice, and it left her to wonder if he was embarrassed in some way, if he had felt compelled to make excuses to her for the way he and his followers lived

Kellan swung out of the vehicle and walked around to instruct her to do the saloom of the place "Maybe it would be easier for you to find patrons if you did nobler work"

He scoffed, wheeling around on her "You think we couldn’t find people willing to fund our missions if anted to? We don’t answer to anyone We see things that shouldn’t be going on, and we stop the on delicate political toes Not even the Order can say that anymore"

"Missions?" Mira tossed back at hi civilians or disrupting diploe peace talks or appoint thee and jury whenever it suits them"

"Maybe they should" Kellan’s eyes blazed with eht of the bunker "We do what needs to be done, because it must be done"

He started to stalk ahead, away from the parked vehicles and into a wide-hteous," she called after hi to die for your convictions"

He pivoted now and storhtful, even as his irises radiated with a to die for what I believe in Don’t tell ue He knew her too well to believe any denial she tried to fling at hiers clah the black tunnel and up a gradual incline, into another bunker She recognized this one as the rebel base’s living quarters

Kellan’s creas in the sparsely furnished, cavernousfirearms with the man called Vince and the other one they’d called Chaz Doc was seated at a weatheredfro a backward-facing chair beside him was a blueberry-haired ithover the touchpad of a tablet co even the smallest beat, when she and the rest of the rebels turned their heads to gape at Kellan and his obviously unexpected companion

Candice was the first to find her voice "Uave a curt nod, his hand still fastened tightly around Mira’s wrist "I’ained froht now So, I’ve decided she stays"

Vince scowled "You think that’s wise, considering who she is and all? We keep one of their own, it could et of the Order"

Kellan’s reply ift and without inflection "We’re already a target of the Order As soon as word reaches them - which is only a matter of time, hours at most - we become enemies of Lucan Thorne and his warriors"

Vince considered, raking thick fingers through his shaggy dishwater blond hair Then he nodded as if suddenly understanding, an unfriendly s at the corner of his e with the Order Soo south with Ack his lare "This fe Vince and the others together, "is mine alone to deal with She stays underonly Understood?"

An iree on with Mira in tow He led her away from his rebel crew and into his private quarters Mira didn’t have to ask if the ed to Kellan; she could smell his scent all around her, the dark, spicy waro been branded into all of her senses

He closed the door behind them and finally released his hold on her "If you cooperate with me, Mira, I will not feel it necessary to restrain you"

"I’ at him as she watched him pull a blanket off the lone bed and toss it to the floor