Time to play hardball.
“I killed Solen Jenda for you. Now give me what I want.”
“You’re not an alpha.”
“No.”If only you knew…
“You can never mate her as an alpha could.”
“Don’t care.”
“Did something happen on the mission that you failed to disclose? Did she show any sign of using her special training?”
The fuck? Special training? He’s talking about what that sick fuck Tsing forced her to do. Just the thought of someone putting her in the same breathing space as an Uncorrupted alpha makes me want to go on a rampage. Pity that bastard is already dead. I’d like to strangle him myself.
My baby has skills verified in the field that you’d love to get your hands on and use as a tool…no way in hell I’m letting that happen.
“No. Nothing.”
A tic jumps in Governor Brach’s jaw. He knows I’m lying. The missing footage from the ship is suspicious.
I also suspect he hasn’t been entirely honest with me. “What? Your game not playing out the way you hoped it would? That recruiter didn’t fuck up, did he? Did you tell him to allocate Esme to me? A little experiment to see what she’d do? You knewshe’d follow me onto the ship. Was this you testing out her experimental skills in manipulation?”
His eyes widen.
The little privacy box flashing on his desk ensures this conversation will go no further than the two of us.
I could clone any one of a dozen people in his inner circle and kill him if I decided to.
The look that passes between us says he’s thinking about that possibility right now… and is choosing his words very carefully. “Not me.”
My eyes narrow. “I don’t fucking believe you.”
The tic continues to thump in his jaw.
Neither of us looks away.
“It was my order that she be allocated to you. However, I wasn’t given full disclosure on all possible scenarios.”
“Who then?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“You mean you won’t.”
He lifts his chin. “Let it go, Governor Thorne. You got your place on the Ruling Council. Some of the people who voted for you are under the impression you’ll make an obedient puppet. I have no such delusions, and I still voted for you. We need strong people in power if we’re to make the final push to win this war.”
“We’re never going to win,” I say. I’ll park what happened to Esme for now. But someone put my woman’s life at risk. For what? An experiment? Not a chance I’m letting that shit go. “Not completely. You know that, right? Short of genocide. And I don’t think anyone outside the theta rebellion is up for that. The Uncorrupted will always be a threat. Always looking for ways to break us.”
“I know. But it can be better than it is now. And that time is coming.”
“She’s mine,” I say bluntly, just to be sure, just in case he’s still confused.
He nods, and this time, he offers a small, genuine smile. “I presume you’re going to retain the alpha traits?”
“No.”Nosy fucker.“Let’s just say this operation changed me, but not in the obvious way you might be presuming. More like… awakened me. The real me. The parts of myself I never acknowledged before. It’s taken me a while to see beneath all the skins I’ve worn for the Empire. Time to start embracing my truth.”
“She might not want a second-rate mate.” His tone is perfectly serious, although there’s a note of amusement underneath.
