Candy shook her head. “Wh-…How?”
“Shut up, you bitch,” Jason screamed, stepping toward Ellyssa.
The gun pivoted from Ellyssa to him. “You stay put,” said Candy.
“Don’t listen to her,” Jason said. “She’s a freak.” His tinny voice took on a pleading note.
Ellyssa glanced behind her. Jason was staring at her, jaw locked, body trembling. Deciding he wasn’t going to attack, she faced Candy. The redhead had her targeted again.
“Candy, you do not have to do this.” She took a step forward.
“One more step, and I’ll blow your pretty face off,” Candy stated. Ellyssa hesitated. “I know what he did.”
“Shut up!” Candy screamed, pulling the butt of the gun firmly into her shoulder. “Ever since you got here…” She slammed her mouth shut.
Ellyssa felt the jealousy in her mind. The anger. The hurtful embarrassment of someone knowing her secret.
Candy’s finger twitched nervously against the trigger. “I want you to shut up. Shut up!” Her squeal tumbled through the room and out into the hall.
Ellyssa tensed, seeing the confusion, the hurt, in Candy’s mind. She readied herself, but before Candy could pull the trigger, a dull
“What’s going on?” Rein demanded.
Heart skipping a beat before accelerating into overdrive, Ellyssa stared at Rein, his hair even more disheveled than usual. She lacked the ability to fully comprehend what he’d just done. Done for her. His gaze darted toward her, green eyes questioning, but the words caught in her throat.
“She attacked me,” said Jason, the syllables of his words blunted by his wound. The blade of his knife pointed outward. He took a step.
“Is that true?” Rein directed the question at Ellyssa.
Ellyssa parted her lips, but before she said anything, she peered into his thoughts. He was unsure whom to believe; images flipped between her and Jason, as he tried to decipher the truth. What he had walked in on was two against one, but could it be that Ellyssa had initiated the confrontation?
Ellyssa read the uncertainty, the doubt, and how he felt for her. Then, he focused on the silvery surface of the knife, questioning why Jason had it. She pressed her lips together.
“Of course, it’s true.” Jason shuffled closer toward her; she felt him nearing, his mind working on contorting the facts. “The damn bitch almost killed me. If it wasn’t for Candy, she would’ve done it.”
Then, Ellyssa perceived his plan before he could launch it—Jason lunging at her, knife sinking into her chest, shutting her up, keeping his secret safe. She turned just as he pounced, ready for him, but the moment never came. A deafening shot rang out, and Jason tumbled off-course, screaming as he landed close to her, his leg stretched out before him. The knife skidded across the rocky floor, out of his reach.
Jason whimpered in pain, his eyes darting toward Rein, accusing him of betrayal. The thigh of his pants quickly turned from camo to dark crimson.
Adrenaline pumping, her body on high alert, Ellyssa turned, preparing for Rein as he moved forward, but he no longer carried the weapon. The rifle lay on the floor, a meter away from Candy.
She popped into his mind. He meant her no harm. He’d protected her.
“I did not need your help,” Ellyssa stated, as he came toward her.
“I know.” Rein hesitated for the briefest of seconds as he grabbed a cloth, then crossed the remaining distance. “I just wounded him. Would you have stopped?”
Knowing she wouldn’t have, she didn’t bother answering. Ellyssa glanced at Jason. Blood pooled under his leg.
“You should help him,” she stated as she turned around, looking straight into Rein’s eyes.
Startled to find he stood so close, Ellyssa stepped back. Rein moved closer, erasing the distance she’d made and more, his face centimeters from hers. The nearness unnerved her. His scent intoxicating, she remained still and gazed into his eyes. Golden flakes swam in the green and burst around his pupil, like rays of the sun. She couldn’t help but focus on them.
“Hold this to your wound,” he said, tossing the towel he’d grabbed to Jason. His gaze never left hers.
Jason mumbled under his breath, then hissed as he pressed the cloth against his leg.
Still connected to Rein’s mind, sensation overwhelmed her. Ellyssa didn’t fully comprehend what Rein was doing when he first rested his hands on her shoulders; then it hit her. Stunned, unmoving, her heart responded with a new beat. The hardwired senses jammed as her arms dangled at her sides like useless, dead attachments. He pulled her in closer, his scent thick, tantalizing, inebriating.
She broke the link, but not before she saw that he had decided not to doubt her any longer. The feeling that followed was indescribable.
“Are you okay?” Rein whispered into her hair while his fingers traced circles on her back.
Words stuck in her throat; she nodded, relishing the tingles he left behind.
“I’m so sorry.”
His touch melting away the last of her defenses, Ellyssa shrugged. She didn’t know what else to do.
Rein released her and stepped back, his expression uncertain. Ellyssa could’ve kicked herself for not responding the correct way, by holding him back in return. The small gap between them left her cold, wanting.
“I’m sorry about before, too” he stated. Maybe he was thinking her unresponsiveness had to do with what had transpired before he’d left.
Biting her bottom lip, Ellyssa lifted her hand, hesitated for a moment, then pressed her palm against Rein’s face. Stubble from a few days’ growth scratched her skin. She loved it. The prickly hair, the warmth from his skin, the way he looked at her.
Rein took her hand in his and kissed the inside of her palm, sending a stream of lava through her. Her breath caught, as her body adjusted to the new surge of awareness she’d never experienced before. Blood pounded in her veins and her heart swelled.
Everything and everybody else disappeared for a few moments, but then reality whirled back as Mathew came barging in, panting. He stopped at Candy, who had started to stir.
“What happened?” he asked, kneeling next to her. “I thought I heard a gunshot.” He pushed back a clump of red hair behind her ear and revealed a darkened red blotch.
Trista, and two others Ellyssa had only met once, ran in behind him. She glanced at Ellyssa, her face pale. Before they even had a chance to start asking questions, Rein began barking orders.
“Trista, go get Eric and have him bring his weapon. You two,” he said, pointing at the newcomers, “go to the passageway, and don’t let anyone else in.”
The others retreated, but not before getting an eyeful. Ellyssa heard their whispers as their footsteps faded down the passageway.
Mathew pressed a tender area around Candy’s wound and she moaned. Her eyes fluttered open. “Jason,” she mumbled.
“Shh,” Mathew said. “You’re going to be okay.” He examined the gash on the back of her head. “Who did this to her?” His gaze met Rein’s, then dropped to the floor where Jason babied his leg and whimpered. “Oh, my God,” he muttered, his eyes widening.
Candy turned her head, her face scrunching in pain. At first, she didn’t seem to understand, but then emotions played across her features as realization ripped through her. Her eyes kept moving from Jason to Ellyssa, anxiously. Maybe embarrassed?
Strangely, Ellyssa’s heart went out to her. Ellyssa knew Candy’s secret, the one that she’d tried to keep from everyone. She wished she could transmit her thoughts, like Jeremy, to let the redhead know her secret was safe.
“No,” Candy cried, tears squeezing from the corner of her eyes. She struggled against Mathew as she tried to get up. After a few more attempts, she crumpled in defeat, sobs breaking free.
“Get me a clean rag and the bandages from the locker,” Mathew ordered to nobody in particular, “and the
