Page 81 of Abducting Sarah

I shook my head and Deacon stopped speaking. “I want to go back toEarth,” I clarified. “I can’t…I can’t handle being here. This life is too terrifying for me.” But I knew it was so much more than that.

Very quietly, Jac asked, “Are you sure about this, Sarah? This is what you truly want?” His beautiful purple eyes looked pained, as did Deacon’s glowing amber ones.

Tears burned my eyes. “I am not equipped to deal with any of this, Jac. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I have never been more scared, angrier, more…”in love. It tore me up inside to admit it, but I had to do this for them. I had to save them from trying to save me.

“I can’t do this,” I whispered, forcing out the words and trying to ignore the crestfallen look on both their faces. “I’mnot a soldier. I barely have an education, much less the knack for handling any of this. I don’t know what I’m doing here. You both…”

I started to cry, and I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. The thought of leaving them behind was like a dagger to my heart. “I almost died, and I’m frightened, and I just want to go home.”

Jac wrapped his arms around me and I buried my face against his chest. “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I didn’t mean to get ransomed—”

I laughed and snotted on his uniform. “I know that.”

“This is all my fault,” he grumbled.

“No, the fault lies with me,” Deacon said quietly. “I am the one who initiated all of this by having Jac abduct you. No one would have been in danger, were it not for me thinking Sarah was up to the task at hand.”

Jac uncurled himself from me and shot his friend a droll look. “I won’t say, ‘I told you so,’ but I’m going to think itveryloudly.”

Deacon smirked at him. “You are well within your right to tell me. Go ahead. I can take it.”

But Jac shook his head and smiled. “Not my style.”

Their sweet playfulness made me smile, too, before it made my heart ache even more for how much I was going to miss them. “I don’t want to leave you both behind, but I don’t know what else to do. This iswayabove my pay grade.”

Deacon nodded solemnly. “We will return you to Earth. I am sorry for all the trouble I have caused you, Sarah. This was too much for any human to deal with, and I should have heeded Jac’s original advice on the matter.”

“What was the original advice?” I asked curiously.

Jac started, “Volatile Bateen—”

“My father?” I asked, interrupting him.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.That’swho your father is?” He rolled his eyes in a sardonic manner, as if finally putting all the pieces together for himself. “Ofcourseit is.”

“What?” I asked, not understanding.

“Your dear old daddy was a merchant before the war, and that guy travelled all over the universe to move product,” Jac said in a wry tone. “Let’s just say, he was not shy with any of the ladies. And some of the guys. And others.”

I frowned. “My dad is a manwhore?”

Jac laughed. “Yes. So, my original plan was for us to search for his offspring, who could be conduits—Deacon, how hard was it for you to keep Sarah’s parentage a secret?”

Deacon winced guiltily. “The knowledge burned in my brain like a thousand suns.”

The pair chuckled with each other before Jac slapped Deacon on the back and said, “Good. Glad it hurt. Maybe next time you’ll trust me.”

“I trust you!” Deacon defended himself. “I did not tell you because I wanted everyone to be as safe as possible.”

“How can I go back?” Part of me meant physically, but the rest of me meant emotionally.How can I leave these two men, who I have fallen for and want so badly? How can I leave them behind?

To protect them. Because that’s all that mattered to me. Their lives. And on this planet, here with them, I was a liability.

Even though there was a sadness in Deacon’s eyes, he smiled and pulled something from his pocket. “I understand diamonds are an important commodity on Earth, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

He held out his big hand and in his palm was the largest solitary diamond I had ever seen on a ring. Square-cut, the diamond looked to be the size of my thumbnail.

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