Page 8 of Taming the Alien Outlaw
“Ifhe was killed?” Olivia scoffs. “So you’re telling me you had absolutely nothing to do with someone hacking into the mining facility’s computer system and overriding the safety mechanism on one of the machines so it would keep running? It overheated and started an electrical fire that triggered the explosion that killed Konek. Can you honestly say you—or a person under your command—weren’t responsible for that?”
Yes, it was under my instruction that the computers were hacked into, but not to keep the machinery running. In fact, Ferik was supposed to do the complete opposite. The mining machinery was meant to be shut down temporarily. Long enough to disrupt the excavation process in order to slow the retrieval of the pikela stones and reduce the profit Alik was making from selling them. I had also been assured numerous times that the mines would be empty, just in case somethingdidgo wrong.
“That’s what I thought,” Olivia says when my silence lengthens.
“And yet, in spite of the fact you believe I killed someone, you’re not afraid of me?”
She raises and lowers one shoulder. “Should I be?”
Perhaps. I am drawn to her in a way I don’t understand. My fangs ache and images of me biting—marking—Olivia continually flash inside my head. But physically hurting her? Never.
“I have no intention of harming you.”
“I won’t be here long enough for that to happen anyway.”
Her blind faith in Alik rubs me the wrong way. I clench my fists and my lengthening claws dig into my palms. “You’re awfully confident the prince will rescue you. Are the two of you close?”
“You sound jealous.”
“Why would I be jealous?”
Olivia does the thing with her shoulder again. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
“I have absolutely no reason to be jealous of Alik.”
“Then why do you have such a hard-on for the throne?”
“Because it belongs to me.”
Olivia laughs. “The last time I checked, Alik is the prince. You, on the other hand, are a rebel who thinks that by being annoying enough, he’ll just hand his crown over to you.”
I rein in the anger her words cause. She’s only repeating what she’s been told by those under Alik’s command. None of themknow the truth, either. If they did, then they’d see why I should be the one on the throne.
“Did I touch a nerve?” she asks.
I offer her a smooth smile. “Not at all.”
She makes a noncommittal sound but nothing more. Mak comes rushing out of the trees and circles us repeatedly.
“We’re at my camp.” I need to prepare her for what to expect. “Most everyone here has never seen a human before.”
Olivia glances at our surroundings as if trying to see it and then over at me. “So I’m some sort of freak show you kidnapped for entertainment purposes?”
I come to a stop—Mak as well—and wait until she does the same. She turns to look over her shoulder at me.
“You are neither a freak nor entertainment.”
“Then what am I?” Her brow raises.
Mine.The voice inside my head growls it so loudly I’m surprised Olivia can’t hear.
“As I said, an honored guest.”
She nods once. “Right. How silly of me to keep forgetting.”
“Follow me, and stay close.” I continue forward until I come abreast of her and she falls in line with me.
“Whatever you say.”
