Page 86 of Shellshock

They locked eyes and she slowly shook her head. What part of this whole shit show could he possibly findfunny?

The look on his face was flat. “When I finally saw what you were—that you were human—I felt relieved.”

She stared at him at a complete loss for words. What was she supposed to say to that? After a choking pause, the male in Caligher’s grip made another lurch for freedom.

“Please let him go,” Lucca said.

Finally, as if he’d forgotten he was holding him, Caligher released his gag and cuffs and let him dive into the sky. Light blossomed in the void at their feet.

Caligher’s eyes flickered straight up to her, pinning her in his cross-hairs. What disturbed her most was that his glacial fury was finally melting into something—else.

The air turned sharply, uncomfortably blue, which could only mean he was filling the deadly room with sex signals. He was aroused.

He didn’t bother shutting the trapdoor. He circled it, coming straight for her. Every muscle in her body stretched tight. This was still Caligher, the only person who felt like home on this side of the galaxy. He was familiar and strange.

He stopped just short of touching her, setting off a magnetic tension between them.

She threw another bid to the wind. “I know you’ve been hurt, but… that doesn’t give you the right to hurt others. This was disproportionate.”

“Disproportionate? For someone who tried to kill you?” His eyes tracked over her face. He frowned when he saw her disagreement.

Then, his eyes fell over her body, speculation turning dark. Slowly, his hands cupped her face, holding her intimately hostage. Almost like he could look into her transparent soul after baring his own suffering truth.

“You don’t like the violence.” Had she been able to shake her head no, she would have, but he was holding her motionless. “But you still want me.”

Was that a question?

“This wasreallydisproportionate,” she said to him. She needed to make him understand. “You don’t need to turn into the people who hurt you.”

“If I don’t fight back, the people I care about get taken from me.”

“But this was too much! You’re just giving our problems to them. Those men will never be the same after this.”

“No, they won’t,” he agreed. His hand cupped her head as the other arm slipped lower, circling her back. Her awareness of him sharpened as he fit her against his body. The strange blend of darkness and light seemed to extend from him, making him feel as large as the room itself.

“The wonderful thing about our situation is, you don’t have to like the things I’m doing,” he said. “You don’t need to approve of my actions. You don’t need to worry about who lives or dies. It won’t be your fault. It’ll be mine.”

Oh, dear god, he’d completely lost it.

Yanking her somehow tighter—and she was gripping his shoulders now, bunched up in his arms and fighting down the punch of arousal that had come at the worst possible time—he touched his mouth to her cheek, sending shivers from her neck to shoulder. “Taking you prisoner solves all our problems so elegantly.”

The way his arms fit securely around her—she wanted to drop this stupid fight and melt into him.Hefelt right. His touch promisedeasy.

In a sense, it would be easy to heave her burdens off on someone stronger. Let him get away with anything as long as they could be together.

But she didn’t agree with it in reality. What happened to him when it became too much to bear? What happened tothem?

It wasn’t the foundation for a healthy relationship. It might get him killed. And she cared too much to let it come to that.

She placed one hand on his cheek, cupping his statuesque face. It was her first time daring to, and she felt tiny currents of static humming across his skin, wrapping between her fingers and over her knuckles. His eyes shifted, watching her movements closely.

“No,” she said, “you don’t get to make all the big decisions alone. You don’t get to hold me prisoner—or make excuses to mutilate people.”

“You keep forgetting how many people I’ve already hurt,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean you just giveintoit.”

He laughed sharply. “I’m a little beyond giving into it.”

---