Page 58 of Hot Zone

He sat up quickly, groaning under his breath. “What’s wro—” He broke off, gazing around him. He swore under his breath.

Oh, he sounded roundly annoyed, all right, but he was definitely not freaked out. He should be coming out of his skin right about now. They weren’t anywhere near where they’d been last night.

Why wasn’t he panicking?

He glanced at her quickly. Guiltily.

“Is there something you’d like to tell me?” she asked ominously.

He shot her a thunderous scowl. “Funny, I was thinking the exact same thing.”

It went without saying that they hadn’t borrowed each other’s thought on this one.

“You first,” she snapped. “Last thing I remember, we stepped off that cliff. And then I woke up here. How did we get here, Rustam?”

He winced. The guilty look intensified. “I cannot answer that question.”

“Yes, you can,” she exclaimed. “And you will.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

An awful suspicion tickled the back of her mind. Surely not…But how else…? If not Athena Carswell, then who…

“Try me,” she growled, suddenly furious. Too agitated to sit still, she leaped to her feet and glowered down at him.

He sprang to his feet, as well. The horses danced away from them, perhaps sensing the humans’ growing agitation. Rustam took off pacing, marching in a circle around her, gazing at the terrain in all directions.

“I shouldn’t have been able to do that,” he muttered. “It’s shattered. Unusable. I already tried everything before—”

“With all due respect, what in the hell are you talking about?” she demanded.

He shook his head. “It can’t be.”

“What can’t be?”

“We shouldn’t be here. We should be dead. Lying at the bottom of that cliff with those Greek soldiers.”

“I’m well aware of that,” she replied with scant patience. “So how did we end up here? What did you do?”

He continued to mutter to himself. “Our imminent death must have cut our full powers loose, the same way making love did. Perhaps even more strongly. It’s the only explanation. But if I could do this, can I do more? Is it possible—”

She stepped in front of him, physically blocking his path.

He pulled up short, glaring at her irritably. “Don’t interrupt me. I’m thinking.”

“Too bad. I want some answers. And I want them now. How did we get here? What did you do?”

His gaze narrowed as he studied her intently. Finally he announced, “You’re some kind of warrior princess, aren’t you? You give orders as only a military commander can. You have an astonishing grasp of tactics, and you know when to stay silent and when to obey. You know your way around weapons and horses and camp gear as no normal female should. And you fight like a man.” He nodded to himself. “You’re soldier trained! Where do you come from?”

She rocked back on her heels, startled by the accusation. She shrugged. “What of it?”

His voice rose in indignation and he threw up his hands in irritation. “Yet again you avoid the question. Name your homeland, woman. Draw me a map and tell me exactly where it is.”

“Nice try, buddy. I refuse to be distracted from the issue at hand. You tell me how we got here. You know, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes.”

When he didn’t answer, she continued forcefully. “You’re absolutely right. I’m a military commander back home, and a damned good one. And part of my training includes being able to spot a lie at a hundred paces. You’re evading the question. Cut the crap and start talking.”

As she’d expected, her strident tone aggravated the living crap out of him. He was not accustomed to anyone speaking to him that way, particularly a female. And he didn’t appreciate it. His nostrils flared, and he seemed to swell up, growing even taller and wider than he usually was. Excellent. Time for one more nudge to push him over the edge.

“You’re not scared to tell me the truth, are you? Are you actually afraid of me?”

His eyes snapped with fury. He snarled, “I fear no female, and certainly not you, human.”

Human?Her jaw sagged. What in the bloody hell did he mean by that? If she was “you human,” then what did that make him?

Oh. My. God.

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