Page 4 of Secret Gifts
My eyes fall on something imprinted in the muddy ground just in front of us. I quickly lean over the front seat to yell at our driver.
“Stop the damn car!”
We slide over the mud, our back-ends fishtailing slightly from the abrupt stop, and the car skids to a halt as I leap out the door to run ahead and investigate. Kneeling down, I examine the oddity that tells me we’re about to have to change our direction.
“What the hell is the meaning of this?” Mr. Hedin, the lead tracker for the United, barks.
“Sir, there’s a pause on these tracks where the tires roll back, and-”
“This is mud, Aria. Damn it. Not everything is going to be laid out in perfection while driving in mud. Get back in the damn vehicle. This is my fucking investigation. You’re just observing. Don’t you dare stop our process again!”
I lower my head shamefully. This arrogant prick loves humiliating me, and now everyone in our convoy has just witnessed the lashing I didn’t deserve.
Stupid, pompous ass.
Four days ago my mother had to bail me out of a fight where a bunch of vicious hybrids wanted to tear me apart. She'd have less mercy on Hedin than she did on them if she saw the way he just humiliated me.
“We’ll make camp just ahead. The rain will hold off for another couple of days, so our tracks will be safe. It’ll be dark soon, and we’re in unaligned territory,” Captain Fricks announces.
We all load back up, and I lean my mortified body against the door as I stare out the window.
“That was brutal,” Rex murmurs softly while taking his seat beside me.
“Did you see that coming?” I scoff quietly.
“No. I would have probably done something stupid if I had,” he sighs out while patting my leg.
“By this time, Mom was already the lead interrogator for the United. Everyone respected her, listened to her, and did exactly what she wanted them to do. No one did their best to destroy her in front of people the way they do me.”
He laughs a little and leans back in the seat.
“Mom had also lived a life where she was forced to be made out of steel instead of rose petals. You’re far too sensitive. He’s your boss. He’s supposed to be a dick. Besides, Mom endured far worse than you many times during her early years of the United. People just learned to fear her when they saw what she was capable of.”
I roll my eyes, and I stifle a laugh as I think back to all the trembling eyes that would follow one of her scoldings. They do fear her. I wish they fucking feared me. If I knew how to use my gifts, they would.
“We’re here,” Rex murmurs softly, snapping me out of my drifted trance.
I climb out to follow the camp makers, and then I groan when I see how far off the true trail we are now. That crafty group of mercenaries will get away because of that prideful son of a bitch who is too imperious to take instruction from someone of lesser title than he.
United my ass. Divided by pride.
The wind howls against the hollow log I’m leaned against. It sings whistled songs about nature’s warnings as the rain threatens to come down sooner than expected. I’d warn them, but they wouldn’t listen.
I glare enviously at my brother as he dances with a girl beside the fire, and then I roll my eyes when he gives me a wink. He knows I hate how easily he fits in, when I’m always the outsider. Jerk. He’s everyone’s favorite it appears.
“Hey,” a guy's voice says, and I jump from the startling surprise of it being so close.
I turn to face the soft, pale eyes staring into mine. My heartbeat quickens and then stumbles as it sees that gasp-worthy smile spreading across his face with an ever so slight set of dimples emerging to accentuate his beauty.
Damn.
“Hey,” I murmur awkwardly while turning away.
Holy full blood. Who is this guy, and why haven’t I seen him before?
His incredible scent engulfs me. It smells like sex and candy had a baby, and damn that baby smells delicious.
“Care if I join you?” he snickers out when he sees my pathetically girly, bashful reaction.
