“So, if there is an emergency, can I call for help to the outside world?”
“Sorry, baby girl. Contact with the outside is just for me and the boss man.”
I usually swoon when he calls me that pet name, but I’m struck by the startling realization that I really am alone out here.
The trees start to close in. They sway mockingly.
“So, I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere with a squad of super soldiers who hate me with no way of contacting the outside world.”
“Halley, I can assure you not a single person in our squad hates you,” Shade says before muttering something that sounds like, “it’s quite the opposite.”
I roll my eyes. “Prime Alpha Knox can’t stand to even look at me.”
“That’s not because of hate.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” I tilt my head back and sigh at the sky.
A flock of birds flies over us, cawing at each other in a friendly competition.
“I think you two have gotten off on the wrong foot. Knox is a lot of things, but hateful isn’t one of them. He’s been given an order – train you up as a soldier, and he’s going to approach it in same way we were trained.”
“And what’s that?”
“Grueling physical activity until you can’t take anymore. Strip away your identity. Make you question everything you’ve ever known. Then, when you’re broken and at your worst, he’ll rebuild you to be stronger than you ever were.”
“Fuck me, that sounds awful!”
Shade laughs with abandon. His head tilts backwards, his eyes close in mirth, and his mouth opens, showing straight white teeth and his tongue.
I blink rapidly and do a double-take. A small silver ball sits neatly in the center of his tongue. My whole body clenches, and my perfume explodes from me.
I can’t believe what I’m seeing, but my unprepared pussy sure can. I flood my panties with slick.
Beta Specialist Shade has a tongue piercing.
Chapter Forty
Shade
I’m the careful one.
The balance to all the crazy on our squad.
Everyone expects me to be the sensible, guiding force. Usually, I’m happy to fill the role. Right now, I don’t want to be sensible.
Her perfume is the most delicious scent. It’s teased us relentlessly since she arrived, wafting from her like a tantalizing cloud.
It’s fascinated me since the hours spent in the transport vehicle, with her scent enveloping me. The way it makes me feel isn’t something I’ve encountered before, and like most things I don’t understand, I have an unshakeable need to discover its secrets. I want to pick it apart and discover what about Halley Sparks’ scent has driven me and my team mad.
I’ve spent days meticulously unraveling what components make up that delicious scent of hers. My drill instructors would be horrified to know what I’ve used my ‘intellectual gifts’ to research. I’ve fallen down a deep rabbit hole of perfume analysis.I have a tendency to obsess and hyper-focus on a topic that catches my interest.
This isn’t one of those instances.
I think.
It’s important for the sanity of my team and the success of the mission.
A key to figuring out the progression of the mysterious O-space conundrum.
