Page 81 of Obsession

Heat crept up my neck at his praise. "Are you recruiting me?"

"Consider this an exploratory conversation.” His eyes met mine, intense and searching. "But first, I need your word that everything we've discussed stays between us. The safety of every Shadow depends on secrecy."

"I won't tell anyone," I promised. My mind was already spinning with possibilities. A spy. An actual spy. It explained so much about Tivek, even as questions buzzed around my brain. “Wait, is any of your work real? Or is it all just a cover?"

Something flickered in his expression. "Everything you know about me is real. Shadows don't pretend to be someone else. We simply,” he paused as he considered his words, “select which parts of ourselves to show the world."

I was suddenly aware of how close we were standing in the storage closet. His presence seemed to fill the room, and his gaze kept drifting to my lips when he thought I wasn't looking.

Stop it. You cannot be attracted to him. Especially now that you know he's a spy. Everyone knows getting involved with a spy is a terrible idea.

But as he stepped even closer, ostensibly to reach past me to open the door, I couldn't help but think that some terrible ideas were incredibly tempting.

Epilogue

Sasha paced a small circle in her cell, raking both hands through her long hair. The Drexian who occupied the cell next to hers—the one who claimed to be there to save her—was lying on the hard bench attached to the wall with one arm draped across his forehead.

She stopped pacing, straining to hear if a guard was coming. For fuck’s sake, was Deklyn snoring?

This was insane. How were they supposed to break out of the Kronock prison when they were both locked inside separate cells? And how was she supposed to believe his claims to know how to get them out when he’d done little but get himself tossed in a cell and proceed to sweet-talk her?

As if she could be sweet-talked by someone as overtly brash and cocky as him. She snorted a laugh, almost grateful that he’d given her something to laugh about. She’d been around enough alpha military types to be immune to their attempts, even if Deklyn was bigger and inarguably hotter than any human who’d tried to charm her.

“Not hot enough to make up for the arrogance,” she whispered to herself, her soft voice the only sound in the dank prison, aside from the steady dripping of water and theoccasional scuttle of tiny feet she didn’t want to think about too hard.

“Pity.” Deklyn lifted his arm and sat up languidly, like a cat waking from a leisurely afternoon nap.

Sasha huffed out a breath. “Nice of you to join the party. Have a nice rest?”

He twisted his torso, the muscles rippling beneath the torn fabric of his snug shirt. “I have had better.”

A laugh escaped from Sasha’s lips. “How can you be so calm about this?”

“Would it help if I panicked?”

“It might make you seem more human.”

His gold eyes flashed through the shadows that surrounded them. “But I’m not human.”

As he stood, unfolding himself and stretching his massive arms overhead to stretch, Sasha’s mouth went dry. “No shit.”

As soon as he shot her a wicked smile, she hated herself for her momentary lapse of judgment.

Get a hold of yourself, Sash. He’s here to do a job, not do you. As if she wanted that anyway. Her goal was to get out alive and get back to Earth. Nothing in her plan involved ending up underneath a hot Drexian.

“Now that you’ve had your nap, would you mind telling me your plan to get us out?”

He cocked his head at her. “Plan? I did tell you that I am Inferno Force, didn’t I?”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“It means that I devise my plans according to the evolving situation.”

She groaned. “You mean, you wing it?”

“That sounds like a pilot thing? Is that what you do? ‘Wing it?’”

“Hardly.” She stiffened and folded her arms over her chest. “We file flight plans and chart courses.”

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