Page 76 of Consumed By Fire

“I’m done with packing. I just have—” My mouth drops open as I walk into the room. There are several television screens on the wall. I drop the bag at my feet with a clunk, and my mouth goes unhinged.

I gasp.

“I take it you’ve never been in here?” Octane says absently, his eyes on the screens. There are five of them.

I shake my head. “No, this room was out of bounds to me and always locked. That’s footage from inside the tunnel.” I point.

“Yep,” Octane says. “It sure is.”

“That’s how they were so sure I was on Draig. They will have seen me following those males into the tunnel. They will have known that I didn’t return.”

“Exactly.”

“I didn’t even think to look for cameras.” My voice is laced with shock.

“Me, neither. I can be thankful they weren’t paying attention after they got back here,” he says.

A shiver runs through me. “They would have been ready for you otherwise.”

Octane is dressed in black cargo-style pants and a shirt. He’s wearing a pair of laced-up army-style boots. I’m not sure whose clothing he found. I don’t care.

He nods. “You ready?” he asks as he yanks a black box off the wall. All of the screens go dead.

I nod, spotting my vacuum cleaning in the corner of the room. So, it was Titan behind the break in at my apartment.

That bastard!

Octane holds up the box, pulling me back to the moment. “I don’t want to leave any evidence.”

“Good idea.”

He picks up my bag, slinging it over his shoulder, and we go down the stairs.

I leave the house without so much as a backward glance. I feel nothing but relief as we hurry down the path that leads to the tunnel, but as we get closer, dread starts to fill me.

Am I crazy to be pushing Octane away?

Should I go with him?

No! I’m right. It has to be this way. We don’t belong together, even if it feels right with him at my side. Even if it feels like I can take on the world, just as long as we’re together.

At the end of the day, I am a Red, and he is a Draiger, and our two paths will never meet. It’s just too dangerous. It has to be this way.

All too quickly, we reach the entrance to the caves. Octane puts my bag down at my feet.

“This is it,” I say, my eyes stinging. I refuse to cry.

Octane swallows thickly, his Adam’s apple working. We look into each other’s eyes, and for a moment, the world seems to pause. Then I thread my fingers through his.

“I’ve been thinking,” he says.

“Not a good idea,” I say.

He smiles; it’s sad. “No, hear me out.”

I give him a look. “Octane, I wish things could be different,” I whisper, my voice cracking slightly. “But—”

“I can’t say goodbye like this.” He shakes his head. “I won’t!”

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