Page 26 of Taken By the Convicts
“I’m sorry,” she repeated, trying to blink the tears away. “If I could go back and make changes. . .” She wiped at tears now, but she never tore her gaze from him. “I can’t fix the past, but I can take away your pain. Permanently. To do that, I need access to the lab at the med-center and time to develop the medicine.”
It was a ploy to escape. It had to be. It was the only thing that made sense. Even if she could cure his pain, she had no intention of doing so. Maybe this was her play all along. Fake contrition, so he’d bring her back to the med-center.
“You’re staying here,” he said, leaving no room for debate.
“I’ll return,” she promised.
She’d willingly pumped drugs into a squadron of soldiers and watched them die one by one and left the survivors in constant pain. She had to be lying about wanting to help him. No one changed that much in two years, if ever.
“You’re not leaving this bunker.”
“For how long?”
He said nothing.
“Would you really keep me a prisoner underground forever? You can’t be that heartless, Ivan.”
Maybe that was the punishment she deserved. Isolated down here, never allowed above to see the sun, to feel the fresh air. A prison within a prison. He liked the idea.
“You’re not even going to answer me?” she asked.
Despite the dizziness and the pain, he pushed up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “This isn’t about being heartless. It’s about doing what’s right. For my men.”
He rose slowly, ignoring every protesting muscle and shooting pain trying to bring him down. He towered over her, but she didn’t yield. Her head tipped back as she looked him in the eye. She had courage, this one, but it wouldn’t save her in the end.
“Your men?” she scoffed. “Reece will never follow you. He’s too decent. As for the other two, you deserve each other.”
“Rather brave words from a prisoner,” he said before doubling over in horrific pain.
A shaky hand reached out and eased him back onto the bed. That hand touched his face, gently caressing him. “If I could change the past, I would.”
Her voice held regret, and her face. . . compassion. She’d changed, but that didn’t mean she didn’t deserve to be punished for her sins, even if they were in the past.
“What do you think would happen to you the moment you leave this bunker? You think Hawke and his men were rough on you when they pulled you from the hole today? Maybe I should have waited a few minutes, let you experience what will happen to you the second they get their hands on you.”
Dark eyes shot up at him. “I’m not a fool. I know I need protection. There is no safety on Veenith, except with a unit. You have that here. I’ll do whatever you want, Ivan, even sleep with you and the others, if you accept me into your unit as an equal.”
“An equal?” He laughed until he realized she was serious. “How do you and Crusher know each other? And don’t fucking lie to me.”
“One of my med-techs attacked me.” She wrung her hands. “Reece was there at the time. He killed him.”
“Then why were you in the hole instead of Reece?”
“I told the guards I’d killed Collins so they wouldn’t punish Reece. I’d never heard or seen the hole before.” She shivered. “And I hope never to again.”
Now he understood the connection. She’d sacrificed herself to protect Crusher, but she’d taken advantage of him too, lying to the guards because she knew Crusher couldn’t speak up and contradict her. She had and would manipulate those around her to achieve her goals. She was a solitary, through and through, and she couldn’t be trusted. Even Jayce wasn’t a solitary. He didn’t seek out friends, but he’d always been loyal to Ivan and wouldn’t sell him out for anything.
“I think this bunker might be the only safe place on Veenith. But I’m not safe here with you or Jayce. And I still have no clue who that man with the dark eyes is.”
“Zev is the only one who can understand Crusher. I don’t know much about him. I don’t trust him any more than I trust you, but he was part of the deal Jayce made.”
“A deal that gave everyone the right to use me. If you want me to end your pain, then you’ll change that deal and guarantee my safety.”
She had balls, he had to give her that. Then again, she had the medical knowledge and means to do as she said. She’d be an asset to a unit, a unit he hadn’t planned to form but had blindly accepted because he’d needed the men to help him steal her from Hawke.
Now he had heranda damn unit. And two choices. Give her to Hawke and walk away without worrying that Hawke would use every bit of his power to come after him, or keep her and get ready for the fight of his life. Jayce, Crusher, and Zev. Hell, that wasn’t a unit he would have put together if he’d taken the time to think instead of letting his rage dictate his actions. There was no fucking way he was giving her to Hawke. That meant using the men here to his advantage. A unit. Fuck.
And he still didn’t know what to do with her. She wasn’t the blood-thirsty doctor from two years ago.
