Page 55 of Boxed In

Luke wished he could sock the smug bastard in the jaw. Only he’d be socking himself.

Instead he had to settle for words.

Nice. So this is how you make sure the man you possess does your bidding? Punishment if he doesn’t follow your orders?

I was hoping you would see the wisdom of the primary mission.

Luke made a rough sound. The primary mission. You’re the one who took the time to make love with Olivia.

To control her.

Monkey balls! You wanted her as much as I did. And you didn’t have to spend any extra time lying in that cave with her curled up in your arms.

Zabastian cursed. The words were not in English, but Luke understood them as well as his native language.

That’s very creative. Can you really do that with a temple rat?

Get to the computer.

Luke pressed his shoulder against the wall, his breath still shallow as he walked down the hall. He was aware that Olivia was right behind him, but he didn’t spare the breath to speak to her. Zabastian had hurt him. Would he hurt her too if she tried to interfere?

I would not hurt her, the warrior answered inside his head.

And I’m supposed to trust you?

I do not lie.

Luke firmed his lips. There was no use arguing with the big Z. He’d help the bastard find the Moon Priests, and that would be the end of it.

The end of it?

A little seed of doubt flickered inside his head. He’d thought he caught something way below the surface of the warrior’s thoughts.

But it evaporated as they kept walking to the end of the hall where Ginny and Tom’s home office was located.

Sitting down, he booted the machine, then waited while it went through its start-up routine.

It takes a long time.

Yeah.

They are rich. They should have a faster machine.

Shut up. You don’t know a damn thing about it. The more features it has, the more stuff it has to check before it’s ready to go.

Finally, the picture of a glorious sunrise came up, and Luke used one of the desktop icons to get into the Internet.

Now what?

I must open my mind to the machine.

Luke snorted.

“What?” Olivia asked.

“He’s going to use his mind to commune with the machine.”

He could hear Olivia make some kind of comment, something that was better not to examine too closely.

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