Page 8 of Rebel
Stubborn human female. Are all humans like this? No. This one is unique in her ability to rile me. I’ve kept an eye on her, on Xavier, who seems to have stars in his eyes when it comes to this woman. She has him wrapped around her finger, and the Trad is clearly in love with her. I wanted to know what her appeal is, and now I regret my decision to spend so much time with her.
Stubborn, strong, and independent. She is a survivor, and that is an innately attractive trait.
I’ve backed off the last few days, pulled out of the game nights and the late-night chats, but she’s been on my mind more and more. The future has been on my mind—what we will be forced to do when we land.
Handing her over won’t be easy, but it’s what we signed up for. Emotions cloud judgment, and right now, I wish I could be more like Lore. He can shut his emotions off whenever he pleases—the man is more machine than Athion—but even then, I’ve seen the way he looks at her. Not just as a science experiment but as a woman.
He thinks I don’t see it, but we’re too close for him to hide his feelings from me. Heck, we grew up together, went to the academy together, and lived together before Xavier came on the scene. If he thinks he can hide his attraction from me, then he’s mistaken. But typical Lore hides it by staying away.
He locks himself in his lab and protects himself.
Fuck, maybe I should have done the same.
“Tide?”
Xavier. No doubt coming to petition for Rogue. Coming to remind me of the horror that faces her once we land in three days.
I close my eyes, weary of this battle, because damn, I’m slipping. “Not again, Xavier. My answer is the same.”
“She deserves better.”
He said the same words to me three weeks ago, and I thought little of them, but now I can’t help but silently agree.
5
Vex wasn’t in his cabin or the training room. I barreled into him coming out of the observatory. We both stumbled back and then reached for each other.
“I was looking for you,” we said in unison.
He looked happy, lighter. His face more open than it had been all month, but there was a tumult of emotions in my chest, mainly anger mingled with fear. I wrapped my arms around his waist as if I could just hold him in place and keep the doubt and the uncertainty at bay. As if by holding him like this, we could just stay here in this moment.
He hugged me close. “What is it?”
Tell him what was in store for him or not? There was nothing either of us could do unless … I pulled away to look up into his face.
“You need to steal the shuttle and get away.”
He blinked down at me, and then his eyes narrowed. “Oh, Rogue.” He stroked my cheek. “You’re a master when it comes to self-defense, but you haven’t a clue about space travel. Unless this ship drops out of hyperspace, there’s no way to launch the shuttle, and unless there’s a planet or asteroid with fuel close by, I wouldn’t get far before the shuttle was nothing but a bit of floating debris.”
“You’ve considered it?”
He exhaled through his nose. “For a minute, yes. I know what’s in store for me when we get to Athion, and it’s unlikely to be a pat on the back. But there is only one option. To get to Athion and plead my case.”
I slipped my hand into his. “You won’t be alone. I won’t leave you. Not until you’re safe.”
His brows came together, and he cupped my face. “You’d do that for me?”
“Yes.”
He pressed his forehead to mine. “And it’s enough that I know that. But I don’t want you there. I want you to get off the planet and go home to Earth.”
Like hell. I pulled away. “No. Fuck this. I’m not leaving you to face their government alone. We’ll fight them, we’ll take a stand, and I’ll kick up a fuss. Not all Trads are the same, just like not all humans are the same. The Athions and the humans need to accept that. You deserve to be free. You deserve to live.”
“And what then?” he asked. “Would you come with me?” His eyes were bright in his face, searching and vulnerable.
My chest felt tight and light all at the same time because he was asking me to be with him, really be with him, and damn if my pulse wasn’t doing a dance in my veins, but could I do that? Forget about Earth and fly off into space with Vex?
Xavier’s face swam into my mind, but I pushed it away. He was Athion, and they wanted fertile women. There was no future for him and me. No future for me on Athion. And Earth? Well, apart from my brother and cat Milo, what was there waiting for me? News cameras and harassment as people probed to find out about my ordeal? Pity and curiosity?
