Page 32 of Dark Rebel's Mystery

The question struck a chord of fear in Kyra but also intrigue. There had to be a connection between what happened to her in the asylum and these enhanced soldiers.

"Then I'll finally have some answers," she said, with more confidence than she felt.

As the meeting wound down, Soran lingered behind. "Can we talk?"

Kyra nodded even though she would have preferred not to have that talk with him.

He waited until they were alone. "You know I trust you with my life, right?"

"Of course. But?"

"But I'm worried. It can't be a coincidence that you have those special abilities and now these enhanced soldiers show up in our territory."

"You've known me for fifteen years. If they were looking for me, they would have found me a long time ago. It's a coincidence."

"I don't think so." He stepped closer. "We might not have been the only ones who noticed your abnormalities. Our enemies might have noticed them, too. That might be why they are here. They might have come for you specifically, Kyra, and it would be a great mistake for you to walk into the lions' den and give them what they came for."

Kyra sank into her chair, suddenly exhausted. "I don't think they are here because of me. I've been careful, and this place is in the middle of nowhere, which is why the regime chose it as an interrogation center. In either case, I have no choice. I have to find answers, and I'm the only one who can do that."

20

JASMINE

It was still dark outside when Jasmine and Ell-rom left Brandon's house. Settling into the SUV's back seat, she stifled a yawn and allowed her eyelids to succumb to gravity's pull. The familiar scent of leather seats and Ell-rom's cologne wrapped around her like a cozy blanket.

"Tired?" Ell-rom's voice was soft as she leaned against his arm.

"Mmm." She snuggled closer. "This is an ungodly hour to be awake."

Max slid in beside her, and she tensed momentarily, remembering his not-so-friendly attitude from before. He'd apologized to Ell-rom for how he'd treated her, but he hadn't apologized to her yet.

Besides, having any guy who wasn't her mate sit so close felt awkward, uncomfortable to the point that she felt her skin prickling. It reminded her of what Margo had said about fated mates. Once they were bonded, they couldn't feel attraction toward anyone else and were even repulsed by members of the opposite gender.

Evidently it was true because, under different circumstances, she would have found Max attractive. He smelled of soap, shampoo, and cologne, and his clothes had been freshly laundered. There was nothing about him that should have repulsed her.

"You can sleep on the plane," Anandur said as Brundar took the passenger seat. "It's a five-hour flight to New Jersey."

"I like flying," Jasmine said.

Generally, that was true, but today she was flying to meet her father and confront him about her mother's fate, and she was scared of what she was going to learn.

Beside her, Ell-rom shifted. "I've never experienced taking to the air before."

"Actually, you did." Jasmine lifted her head to look at him. "We didn't drive you here from Tibet. You flew."

"I was in stasis and unaware." His fingers drummed nervously on his thigh. "How safe is this mode of transportation?"

"Very safe." She covered his hand with hers, stilling the nervous movement. "Safer than riding in a car."

"Look on the bright side," Anandur called from the front, waggling his eyebrows in the rearview mirror. "You'll get a chance to join the mile-high club. That should distract you from worrying about flying."

As Max snorted beside her, Jasmine felt her cheeks warm up.

Ell-rom's brow furrowed in confusion. "What kind of club is that?"

Anandur's grin widened. "It has to do with having first-class lie-flat seats with privacy partitions. You can do a lot of naughty things provided that your thralling and shrouding ability is any good and you can maintain it while doing other things. It requires skill."

As understanding dawned on Ell-rom's face and a deep blush spread across his cheeks, Jasmine couldn't help but find it adorable, especially given how uninhibited he usually was in private. But that was the thing—Ell-rom was a very private person, and doing what Anandur had suggested required a risqué character, which her prince lacked.

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