Page 68 of The Songs of Fate (War of Fate)

Silently, he brought his hand to my cheek and softly bent his head to mine.

The slight kiss tasted of his dusky spice flavor mixed with my briny tears.

Logan feathered his thumb over my jaw, hesitating a moment before I felt him lean back. His warm hands were tight as he held onto my shoulders.

Logan’s eyes checked the door, and came back to mine quickly.

I hesitated beneath him. A cold shudder raced down my spine, and I pulled back, mimicking his movements.

I darted my eyes around the room to the doorway he had looked at carefully. The door wasn’t the same door that had been on my cell. This one was white with a glass window, and it locked from the inside.

He saw my eyes follow his to the door, and we both tensed.

He lunged for me. I darted out of the way of his hands, toward the door. I rolled to the side just in time to miss Logan’s grasp.

“Whatever you’re thinking about doing, don’t do it,” he said.

“You’re one of them?” I said.

I stood two feet away from him. Logan’s face visibly paled.

“Charlie, it’s not what you think.” He pivoted his feet in front of me, blocking the door.

“You’re not a scientist.”

I’m such a fucking idiot. I was so concerned with what I was that I didn’t think about who Logan was pretending to be.

“Who are you people?”

A hesitant grimace crossed his face. “I’m a hunter.”

He hunted creatures… and things like me.

A shuddering breath slid out of my throat, and then I whipped my head to Logan’s eyes. Every piece of my remaining soul shattered.

“I’m your prisoner. You chained me up like an animal and put me in a cage.”

“I didn’t know they would do that. It’s the truth. I was sent to track the creature the day we met.” Logan held his hand out in surrender. “At first I thought it was a fluke when I found you on the mountain. When I saw your wounds, I could barely believe it myself. I didn’t know they would take you. I knew you were different, but I never imagined they’d do this.”

“I don’t believe you.” I looked to my only exit.

I had been too distracted by Logan to think of anything else. I missed the damn inside lock and the entire charade.

Logan followed my stare, edging closer to me.

He had touched me to make me trust him. He hadn’t truly felt anything for me. It was all a lie, and I fell for it. He wanted information. He wanted the same things the other men did—to find out what was inside me, and use it for themselves. I couldn’t let them use me like one of their weapons. I wasn’t an animal or an object for them to wield.

“It’s a military compound, Charlie. You can’t just leave. It’s several thousand feet of security.”

“What are they going to do to me, Logan?”

“I don’t know. Look, Charlie, I know something happened in the gorge. I know you did something to me. You changed me.” His voice became even softer. “I won’t tell them, just please don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying. I told them what I know. I don’t know much about the creatures. I can kill them, but I don’t know how really.”

“Are you like the creatures?” Logan asked.

“How could you ask me that? I would’ve died for you! I’m nothing like them,” I said.

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