Page 25 of Act of Command

She caught his hand. “Thank you.”

“Mae, you should know that Caesar is working to coordinate an extraction. There is another facility run by Felix. Just like this one and not too far from here. Caesar and I have to make sure the strike happens at the same time, or the other facility will issue a terminate protocol. That means everyone being held there and here will be killed if there isn’t time to get them all out. We were planning to launch this in several days, but it’s become clear it has to happen now.”

She gasped. “I understand.”

“You’re safe in here, with him,” said Ezra. “My guess is, anyone who tries to harm you while he’s around won’t have enough left of them to identify later.”

“I don’t know him,” she said, squinting. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve seen him before. He kind of looks like a man I saw once, but I don’t know. I need my glasses.”

“I’ll grab them for you. I have to reach out to Caesar and check on a few things here. I’ll be back within an hour. I’m going to override the door locks, which means no one should be able to get in, but also, no one is getting out.” With that, he left the room, leaving her with the blond.

Mae stared hard at the man in the bed next to her. He was out cold on his stomach. His body, while not moving, still screamed powerful. There wasn’t a spot on him that wasn’t honed muscle. And there was a certain air of danger there—like he could and would still be a threat to all around him, it didn’t matter if he was awake or not. He was also spectacular. She couldn’t tear her gaze from him, a warmth spreading through her midsection, confusing her at first until she realized she was turned on by him.

Not the time. Not the place.

She gulped as the heat returned.

It took her a minute to be able to sit up. When she did, the room spun. She didn’t dare move until it stopped. When it did, she grabbed the pole with the bag of fluid hanging on it, and used it to help steady herself as she stood. The bottoms of her feet hurt as they made contact with the floor.

She whimpered, and the blond man stirred.

There was a long gash on his left torso that looked to be healing over and there were a multitude of bruises on his body. He had to be very tall judging by how he almost overflowed the bed. The urge to touch him was great. She let her hand hover just above his skin, fearful the drugs she’d been given were causing her strange pull to the man. She’d not wanted to jump Brad’s bones. But the blond guy she wanted to leap upon and have her way with him.

She couldn’t tear her gaze from his form. His upper body was stunning, and that was seeing it through a haze without her glasses. She could only imagine the rest of him was too. With as many art classes as she’d taken that had an emphasis on the human form, she’d seen many people nude before, but this man was unlike any she’d ever seen. Unable to help herself, Mae skimmed her fingers over his cloth-covered thigh lightly, heat instantly searing her skin, making her jerk her hand away.

Would she burn him too like she had the guard?

The more she looked at his side and the wound there, the more her chest ached for him. She glanced around, knowing there had to be something in the giant room that could aid him, but she wasn’t much assistance beyond rinsing out a paper cut.

Her breath caught as the man stirred again, rising somewhat on his forearms, his long hair still covering his face. He groaned and then his upper body stiffened, his groan turning into a deep growl. Mae eased back from him rapidly, heeding Ezra’s warning.

He roared loudly, coming up and off the bed as if attached to strings. He went down hard on the other side of the bed, but didn’t sound deterred. “I’ll rip your bloody heads off!”

British?

She’d always been a sucker for a guy with an accent. She shook her head. Still not the time or the place for her hormones to behave poorly.

“Where is she? If you place one hand upon her, I will be your end. Mark my words.”

Mae made a move to go for him, but realized she was hooked to the bag of fluid. Without thought, she pulled the IV from her arm and made her way around the other bed slowly, keeping one hand on it to support herself as she did. She found the blond on the floor, half propped up, facing the floor.

He froze and then sniffed the air loud enough for her to hear it clearly. “Mae!”

He knew her name?

She had yet to get a good view of anything more than his back and his injured side, but she didn’t think she knew him. He tried to push off the floor, but fell again, his damaged side ripping open and bleeding more. Yelping at the sight of him hurting himself in an obvious attempt to locate her, she moved towards him, tripping on the long gown. She fell on him ungracefully. Heat flared through her as she did. She feared she’d hurt him.

The next she knew, he was turned under her, holding her to him in a death clasp, his face buried in the crook of her neck, her body sprawled out on his. It was hard to ignore just how hard the man was all over. For a split second they were nothing more than a mass of tangled hair and limbs.

Finally, he grasped her upper arms gently.

She lifted her head slowly, able to see him now that he was this close to her. Her mouth dropped open. It was the man from campus. The hunk she’d been attracted to.

The man you sculpted.

The man she’d dreamed was coming to help her.

Warmth rushed over her, stealing her breath, her body suddenly pliable against his. He certainly was tall and that was a bonus. At five-eight she wasn’t short for a woman and this man managed to be longer than her.

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