Page 64 of Hell Storm

Corina

Only one man had ever been allowed to order me around, and that man was my father—Alan Prescott.

NotLevi Buchanan.

However, he seemed to have missed that memo. I didn’t speak up when he tried to pick a fight with the guard over this, but now with it just being the two of us, he had nochoicebut to hear me.

And this decision wasn’t his to make.

“I’m going.” I asserted, bringing Levi’s blood to a boil, I was sure. Sitting down with this guy might be the only way we get answers.”

“And it might also be the best way to get yourself killed.”

I watched from the cot while he paced. The way his brow furrowed together and the tension in his jaw told of his frustration. He couldn’t seem to grasp the idea of me putting my foot down on this, even when I pointed out that we didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. We were outnumbered, and whoever this Aaric guy was, he’d get his way.

One way or another.

“I won’t be there to protect you.”

“And somehow, I’ve made it through life a whopping nineteen years without you hovering,” I snapped.

A cool, silver gaze landed on me, and right away, I felt guilty. I hadn’t meant to come across as hard, but I wasn’t used to mincing words with my team when it came to me being out in the field. And that’s exactly what this was. There was a mission to be tackled and I was the only one who could tackle it. Levi would just have to accept that, the same way my team did.

If I had to guess, Levi wasn’t accustomed to women handling themselves in this manner. Those in his world were of the spoiled, pampered variety, so for a woman to go into a dangerous situation without a man to accompany her was unheard of surely.

But I wasn’t one of those women.

When something needed to be done, I put on my big girl pants and got it done. End of story. No knight in shining armor required.

He huffed and paced some more, and I feltguiltysome more.

“Listen,” I sighed. “This bond, it’s taken its toll on us both. It’s made us feel things we maybe weren’t quite ready to feel for each other, but … this is our new normal.”

I peered up just as Levi did the same, locking in on his tense gaze.

“If last night taught me anything, it’s that we haveverylittle control over who we’ve become,” I shared, remembering how I behaved after letting him feed—forward and a bit aggressive. “I wasn’t myself.”

My head lowered with the statement, but the sound of quiet laughter from Levi brought my eyes back to him.

“Did I say something funny?”

“Well, that depends. Are you seriously making excuses tome, of all people, for coming on so strongly?”

Hearing him ask made heat spread up my neck and face. If there had been someplace else to hide, I certainly would have.

Levi came closer, staring down on me while I sat. “Corina, listen. If we had been anyplace else, under different circumstances, I can assure you of one thing.”

His cool hand lifted my chin, forcing me to meet his stare again.

“You wouldn’t have stood even an iota of achanceescaping me,” he admitted, finishing his thought.

He was unbearably hard to look at, beautiful in ways I didn’t even know existed. The more time we spent locked away together, the more I realized some of that beauty was on the inside as well.

He … overwhelmed me, made so many conflicting thoughts enter my head. For instance, right now I wanted to turn away, but staring at him was just such an appealing alternative.

Forcing my eyes closed, I blinked, recapturing some of my strength when I did.

“You’re uh… you’re missing the point,” I stammered. “What I mean is that none of this is real, what we think we feel for each other? It’s all smoke and mirrors, brought on by the bond.”

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