“I realized, over the weeks and months of searching for you, that I made an error in my dealings with you.”
Ya think? An error? Was that what the Hive called torture these days?
“I allowed you to believe, my Willow, that there existed a world you desired to return to.”
What?
“The moment I felt your presence, I knew this was my chance to correct that error.”
“Felt my presence?”
“Of course. We are one, mate. Linked more closely than anything those Prillons and their pathetic collars could achieve.”
Collar? I reached up to feel for Bastion’s collar around my neck. It was gone.
I was not going to lose it in front of thisthing.I lowered my hand and glared directly into his dark pits for eyes. “I will never choose you. Just let me go.”
“Why would I do that? You will stay. You will accept me into your body, fuck me, as the other males say. You will be mine.”
“No.”
He twitched one finger and the image zoomed in close enough that I could see movement inside the base. Figures in uniforms. I watched as Enzo and his team—Oberon included—walked back up the ramp of their ship and then watched as the ship lifted off, leaving the base behind. It flew away, out into space, the base growing smaller behind it.
How did he have an image of it from this angle?
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Not all my drones are surveillance only, mate. How would I protect you, if that were the case?”
“I’m sure you have a hundred mindless Soldiers wandering around here.”
“Forty. I do. Not mindless, mate. One mind. And a doctor, to care for you and ensure the safe birth of our first child.”
Not happening.
No fucking way.
On that, old me and new me were in complete agreement.
“Do not interrupt. I am telling you a story, mate. Humans enjoys stories, do you not?”
Not touching that one.
He faced the screen again. Kept talking. Out loud. Which was weird. I was much more accustomed to hearing him inside my head.
Do you prefer this? A much more intimate form of communication I prefer as well.
No. Get out of my head.
“Very well. You see, I can be responsive to your needs.”
When I didn’t say—orthink—anything, he continued. “I realized, mate, that you would not choose to stay unless there was nothing for you to return to.”
What?
“When I sensed your presence in my mind, so close, I knew destiny had brought you back to me. Your arrival, and that of your friends, was welcome.”
No.
