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The hurt in her chest cracked open wider, but she refused to let it break her
And she shouldn’t give a damn who Kellan - or, rather, Bow as it wasn’t her
Mira swung her bare legs over the edge of the lass of water from the tumbler Candice had left on the bedside table Her contact lenses sat in a small dish of saline solution, also courtesy of the pretty, raven-haired worateful for both kindnesses Kellan’s rebel comrade had provided her
Mira rubbed a damp chill from her ar just her panties and the extra-large T-shirt Kellan had given her out of the chest at the foot of the bed Her bra and his borroeatpants were folded over a weathered wooden chair She was about to get up and grab them when the tumbler on the locked door clicked open
Kellan walked in, no warning or excuse
His gaze shot to her in his bed For a ret in his hazel eyes But there was sorim He stepped inside the room and closed the door behind hiravel "You look well rested"
Mira scrambled out of his bed, all too aware of her state of undress and too conscious of the fact that Kellan was noticing it too "You look like hell," she told hied away from the rumpled mattress "I hate to think you had to find another bed to sleep in, with your private quarters turned into runted as he prowled farther into the room "Who says I slept?"
Mira watched hi another woman’s bed For all her mental reassurances that she shouldn’t care what he did - or hoy er spike in her veins "Where have you been, Kellan?"
He barked out a caustic laugh "Master rebel business" He pinned her with a dark look, showing the gleas "That’s what I do, remember?"
Mira stared at hier in his voice His face was taut with aggression, the lean angles of his cheeks and goateed jaw even sharper now Kellan was mad Furiouslychest on the floor like he wasto war He stripped off his wrinkled black T-shirt with savage force, threw open the lid of the trunk His der arcs and flourishes of the Breed skin s that covered his chest and biceps churned and pulsed with storht blue Mira sed "So bad"
He exhaled sharply "You could say that"
His gaze ht with a her where she stood Mira could feel his fury rolling off hilare, as if he couldn’t stand the sight of her today
"Aren’t you going to tellto be cowed "You can talk to me, Kellan - "
"Talk to you?" he snarled "I don’t want to talk I need to think This is my problem You’re not a part of it"
"I am a part of it, whether you like it or not," she reminded him "Whether either one of us likes it or not, you’ve made me a part of this"
He slammed the chest lid down so hard, it echoed like a cannon shot He came up out of his crouch in an instant - less than that - and was standing right in front of her before she could take her next breath Less than a hand’s width separated the fro with the furious hues of Kellan’s anger and frustration a few e in the darker as Kellan crowded her with the s see curl of his lip
"You wantafter Jeremy Ackmeyer?" Kellan’s eyes blazed as hot as coals as he spoke, his pupils reduced to thin slivers of black in the middle of so much amber fire He went on, his words vicious with self-directed fury "You want to hear how I’ve grabbed an innocent, decent man - a man ouldn’t harm a fly, much less another person?"
Mira tried to process what he was telling her, but hearing his torment, she could hardly breathe Dark e his handsome features stark and fierce
A low snarl curled up from the back of his throat "You want me to explain how my orders will mean a certain death sentence for Candice and Doc and the rest of hten this shit out?"
Mira’s heart was pounding in her ears She wanted to touch him, co instead on the truth of what he’d just said "Jeremy Ack the enraged heat of his glare "I thought you traced the UV tech back to his lab"
Kellan answered with a growl "The tech is his Ackmeyer didn’t release it to anyone, not for y from him"
"He told you this?"
Kellan nodded "And I read the truth of it when I touched hio," Mirahis face toward her when he tried to dodge her gaze His jaas rigid in her palertips "You have to release hiht to the Order and tell Lucan what you’ve discovered about the UV tech and the killing of Nina’s lover"
He looked at her for a long moment, then exhaled a curse, shook his head
"We can do it together, Kellan" Mira searched his blazing eyes, deterht, as soon as the sun sets We’ll fix it, Kellan"
His answering scoff was brittle as he flinched away from her touch "I can no more do that now than I could before I realized Ack - "