Page 31 of Stolen By the Barbarian

The tension inside the room grows thick enough to cut as silence stretches between the two glaring males. Drax's jaw ticks while Mordox's tail slashes at the air. Bad signs things are about to go south.

Tris leaps off my shoulder as I hop off the bed and plant myself between Drax and Mordox, climbing to the top of the wall cabinets where she feels safest. "Mordox is my mate. I trust him and so should all of you."

My announcement causes an eruption of surprised murmurs and disbelief from the girls.

"I thought they'd just made out," I hear Stacy whisper. "I didn't think they went all the way."

"He claimed her?" Darcy hisses low. "No way that happened."

Romy curses in German under her breath, but Tasha is the only one on my side. The only one of my friends without a negative thing to say.

"You all know I'm a full-grown woman, right?" I whirl around, done with being viewed as a child. "Look. I know I'm shy and timid and I come across as younger than I actually am, but I'm eighteen."

"Barely legal," Romy grumbles.

"We're just concerned about you, Zoe." Darcy tries to smooth my ruffled feathers. "That's all."

"Our little girl is all grown up," Tasha playfully gushes. "She was stolen from us a child and returned to us a woman."

"Funny, Tasha," I huff, feeling my face flush before returning my attention to the yellow-eyed Ziarian. "Listen, Drax. I've always been a good judge of character. It's my superpower, so believe me when I tell you that Mordox is innocent. He's guilty of nothing except being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"We need his fighting skills, Drax," Bruke says from the hall.

"What happens if he turns on us?" Slye tosses out.

"If we do meet up with one of those things we brought back from the forest, we have a better chance of not dying with a Lita Comtra at our backs," Rooke says, entering the room to stand next to Drax.

"I didn't slaughter all those people like they claimed. I discovered something I shouldn't have, the same as you. You think you were going to do your time here and you would be returned to Ziaria?" Mordox barks out a harsh laugh. "None of us were ever going home. We were subjects in a science experiment. One that was meant to make us into super warriors to fight the war with the Crix. Ziaria is outnumbered. The only way to win without more warriors is to weaponize the ones you have."

"And we were expendable." Rooke curses under his breath. "Disposable males meant for the trial and error of illegal genetic alterations until they got it right."

"There are hundreds of other prisoners on Ziaria that could have been chosen to come here, Drax. Ever ask yourself why you?" When Drax remains silent, Mordox continues. "Let me enlighten you. My guess is you weren't aware of what you were hired to download, otherwise you would have been killed outright or put in solitary the same as me. But the one who hired you, what happened to him?"

Drax clenches his fists. "I don't know."

"Maybe you should find out." Mordox crosses his arms, taking on a defensive stance. "Maybe you should try and access those files. Find out everything you can about this place and the government officials behind it."

Mordox's words hang in the air. Rooke is on Mordox's side, but it appears the males are divided when it comes to trusting him.

"You have a choice, Drax. You can trust me to help you hunt down and kill the lab creature hiding somewhere in the lab as well as the ones on the dark side of Zune, or you can keep a highly trained Lita Comtra locked up while you and your friends try and take them on," Mordox says with a sweep of his hand toward the door where Slye and Bruke hover. "This moon will never be safe enough for the females until those things are all dead. My guess is, none of you have any warrior training whatsoever, so unless you have a plasma gun or a laser blaster I'm not aware of, you're going to need my help."

"I vote to let the Lita Comtra help us," Bruke says from the doorway. "None of us are innocent, Drax, but we've found trust in each other."

"We were so sure he was going to kill Zoe, but he didn't," Rooke adds. "You, of all people, can't fault him for acting on his primal instincts when Zoe is his chosen mate. Look at the fuckery you pulled bringing Stacy back to the prison compound chock-full of dangerous criminals."

"She was safe enough locked inside my cell pod," Drax defends.

"He's right." Rooke takes Mordox's side. "Annex 1 still houses a few murders and rapist."

Drax releases a long, steady breath, cutting a sharp eye at Rooke.

"If you really thought me dangerous, you would have never allowed these females inside this room with me." Mordox snakes an arm around my waist and pulls me close. "Most of all your mate, Stacy."

I feel a spark of electricity course through me, and I can't help but peer up at Mordox's stern expression. His hard features softening as he glances down at me then back up to Drax. I know I'm right to trust him. My gut is never wrong.

"Well, what's it going to be?" Mordox pointedly looks at each male. "Do we work together or not?"

"I vote we let Mordox help us," Rooke says.

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