Page 46 of Broken Fate
“What is it you think we do here?” Andi said, seeming to choose different words.
Shrugging, I turned away from the carnage to look at her directly. She was several inches taller than me, but not so much that I couldn’t meet her gaze. Now the amber-eyed shifter returned it, the colors hard, hiding the hints of pain I knew she must be feeling.
“I don’t know,” I said. “In the month since I arrived, nobody has told me. I’ve been training day in and day out. Harder than I’ve done anything before. Between you and Clive, you’ve been pushing me. Keeping me occupied. I told Clive I was all in. That I wasn’t going anywhere, but nobody has ‘made me a member’ or whatever it is you do when someone joins. I’ve barely seen Kiel, and even then, only from a distance. Like he’s avoiding me. I don’t feel like I’m a part of you yet. I’m still an outsider.”
Andi watched me intently, not bothering to hide it either. I was being evaluated. Once I finished speaking, I waited, keeping my eyes level and on her. I wouldn’t flinch. Not that time.
“We fight to resist,” Andi explained. “A struggle against the Alphas and their control over society. We fight to show that there’sanother way. A better way.”
My head swiveled around to stare at the dozen or so dead bodies against the far wall. “A better way,” I repeated softly. “And what way is that?”
A deep voice spoke from behind me. “Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
I whirled to see Kiel, watching the chaos. Deep in his face, something stirred. Something ugly.
He waspissed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ididn’t move.
Kiel watched me. Waiting.
He had nearly drowned me when I tried to seduce him—or whatever it was. Then he’d brought me there and showed me the biggest secret of his rebellion in its home, and then he’d disappeared. Nearly five weeks had passed, and I had seen him perhaps twice.
He was avoiding me, and I wanted to know why. What had I done to make him not want to be around me at all? Why was he so mad at me?
Am I really that undesirable that simply touching his body has made him revile me?
“Come,” he said a second time.
There was no more waiting. He was already headed back down the tunnel, confident the others could handle the wounded and dead properly. I knew Kiel wasn’t a micromanager and that he trusted his subordinates to do what was necessary in any given situation. But still, not even going out there, not helping, seemed almost wrong.
“Shouldn’t we help?” I asked, hurrying after him. “I’m sure your presence could help. A boost for morale, if nothing else, don’t you think?”
“Maybe,” he conceded, not looking down at me. “But we have something more important to handle right now?”
“We do?” I asked, glancing at Andi, who had joined us.
She just shrugged. Whatever it was, she didn’t know either.
“Andi, please get Clive and Praksis, and meet me in my office.”
Without a word, Andi turned and headed back toward the main entrance to find Clive. I wasn’t sure who Praksis was, not having heard his name before. What did he have to do with Kiel’s plan?
“Can I ask you something?” I said, walking swiftly to keep up with Kiel’s long, purposeful strides.
“You can ask.” He didn’t guarantee he would answer, I noted.
“Why have you been avoiding me? What did I do to you?”
Something flashed through his eyes, a momentary fog in the normally sharp, piercing stare. His incredible self-control kept it at bay, but not even Kiel could prevent me from seeing that it had been there. Now, if only I could figure out what it was …
“You did nothing.”
I waited, but that was it, the full extent of his answer. No further explanation or information. We walked in silence until we reached his office. There, to my surprise, he pulled open the door—really just a thick curtain hung on a rod—and gestured for me to go first.
“Thank you,” I said, surprised at the show of chivalry.
