Page 32 of Captured
Chapter Sixteen
Juliet
Rakir works furiously. His hands run over the controls, his face set in serious, intense lines. This is life and death for us both.
After what seems like an impossibly short time, he finally flattens his palms on the desk and inhales long and sharp. He turns around toward me, crossing his arms over his impressive chest.
“It’s done,” he announces. “The message is sent to my brothers. I’ve redirected what power is left to shield us from the Black Star scanners, but we’re barely at twenty percent.”
There’s a pause in Rakir’s speech as he lets me come to terms with what he said. This means it’s not a question ofifthe Black Star finds us, butwhen. Our only chance is to hide long enough for Rakir’s people to come rescue us in time.
I don’t ask if we stand a real chance. I know the answer, but sometimes, it’s better to hope even when there’s no hope.
“What now?”
“All we can do now is wait.”
His yellow stare is level and direct, but he doesn’t speak. That means this is my time to talk. To ask those questions that burned my lips and tortured my soul.
Reality settles in as we face each other. We’re still such strangers, standing across a divide so large I fear we’ll never truly understand each other. But I have to try and it starts at the very beginning.
“Who are you, really? You’re not just some soldier. You’re someone important enough to have the Black Star all up on your ass.”
The words hang in the air between us. For a moment, I’m afraid he will refuse to answer, then he nods.
“I am Prince Rakir, heir to the throne of Draka.”
I blink, then blink again. Maybe I heard wrong. Then I see him. Really see him, maybe for the first time. Or for the second first time. Yes, heisregal. In fact, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Everything in his demeanor speaks of someone who was born and raised to lead others, from his calm, confident authority to the way he can make life and death decisions on a dime without so much as blinking.
“The Crown Prince.” The words leave my mouth with no breath, dying in the suddenly stuffy air. My mind circles around what Rakir just said but it’s like I can’t fully comprehend the implications of it. “But what would the heir to the throne of Draka be doing in the asshole of the Galaxy?”
This makes less and less sense. I start as my words begin to flow. “The men of the Black Star don’t waste their time hunting down Drakian royals. They’re after something else. Something even bigger.”
Rakir shoots me a pointed glance and I see the split second of hesitation in his face.
“Do you know what you’re asking of me?” Rakir speaks and I can see the royal man behind the facade. The one who gets to decide things for others. The one who thinks he can choose for me what’s best. “Do you know the dangers of this knowledge you seek?”
He might be right. Knowing might put me in danger, but can it put me in graver danger than this? No, that isn’t why he’s not telling me. He doesn’t trust me yet, not even after all this. He’s decided it’s best that I don’t know.
And this makes me madder than I’ve ever been in my life.
“No. Nah.” I step in his space hardening my face as much as I can. “You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to choose what’s best for me. I don’t want to die here, not even knowing why. I won’t just cower in a corner and hope for the best. If I have to die, I won’t die lying down.”
Rakir holds my gaze, his handsome, sharp features set in stone. In this moment, he looks every bit the alien he is. Heartless, ruthless, and merciless. Not a shred of humanity inside him.
“And what do you plan on doing, little human? Fight?” Rakir moves faster than my eyes can focus. He grabs my wrist in an iron hold and lifts my fist up to my face. “With these? Or with these?” With his other hand, he pushes a finger into my mouth, running the tip of it along the blunt line of my teeth. The message is blunt and stinging. I have nothing to fight with, no value to add in any fight.
“Tell me, what can you do against soldiers like those?”
Tears sting my eyes, but I remain stoic. I might never have met someone like Rakir, but I know this. If I flinch now, I will always be weak in his eyes. He needs to know his woman has claws in order to respect her.
“No. I have no illusion that I can beat them in hand to hand combat.” I resist the urge to snap my head away. It will only give him a reason to dominate me more, to punish me. I have to prove to him that I mean what I say and that I can deliver. I’m not just some helpless female for him to order around. “But I know men like these. I know their tactics; I know what they’re going to do. I can help you. Please, let me help you.”
There’s a moment where all things are suspended as Rakir looks at me. It takes everything I have not to flinch, but I manage it.
“Those humans aren’t just trying to kill me, even I am not so important as to capture the attention of a Black Star brigade.” When Rakir speaks, it’s like ice flows into the air. All the warmth I ever saw in him is gone. “They’re here to destroy something that is more precious to me than my own life and they will stop at nothing to get it.”
I swallow, hard. My throat is closed shut and it hurts like a bitch. I’m afraid to know. Afraid to hear things that will shatter the remains of what I think I know.
