Hawk growled. “Rami said his plan is catastrophic. It’s her or everyone. I’ve made my choice.”
“The moment you pull that trigger, I pull mine.”
Imara pushed both of their arms down. “That’s enough! We’re not shooting each other.” She turned her attention to Colton. “You swear on Illari she won’t die?”
His dagger had yet to move from Gemma’s jugular, and her hot sticky blood rolled into the neckline of her suit.
A tear fell from her eye. In one second, she could end it. She had tried to end her life once before. At least now she could save others in the process. All she had to do was step into the blade, severing her artery, and Hawk would destroy Colton.
Do it!she screamed at herself.
But her feet were frozen to the ground. She couldn’t move, no matter how hard she tried. She had reasons to live now: People cared about her. Christian loved her.
Her sister was alive.
Gemma squeezed her eyes closed as tears ran down her cheeks.
“I’ll swear on whatever you want me to swear on,” Colton answered Imara. “As long as she doesn’t try to kill me, you’ll find her happy and alive inside the front door of Zion—with the antidote already administered. Call it an act of good faith, if you must. I trust that you won’t kill me; you trust that I won’t kill her. Simple as that.”
“This is nowhere near simple,” Christian growled. “Iwillkill you.”
Colton shrugged. “Maybe someday. But not yet. Imara, be a dear and stick that box in my backsack.Obrigado, querida.”
Imara moved deftly to pick up a container no bigger than a meal box and stepped behind Colton. Another tear rolled down Gemma’s cheek as she swayed in Colton’s powerful grasp.
The time Imara provided by rearranging Colton’s supplies gave Gemma and Christian a moment for their gazes to connect. His eyes had grown so red and glassy, and the agony weaved into the lines on his face fractured Gemma’s heart.
“I love you,” was all she could say before Colton yanked her toward the exit.
“Oh, how sweet,” Colton sneered, backpedaling, Gemma caught in his vigorous hold. “You will give me half a day’s start. If I see any of you following me, deal’s off.”
A solitary tear slid down Christian’s cheek, then Gemma was jerked through the hole in the capsule and forced back into the moonlight.
Colton let go of Gemma long enough to switch out his knife for his pistol, and she placed her helmet back on her head. He took off her comm, bound her wrists, and then dragged her after him like a wounded pet.
Tears blurred Gemma’s vision as every step away from her friends felt like a betrayal. Her feet were heavy with the weight of leaving them behind, not knowing if she’d ever see them again. She didn’t get the chance to hold Christian, or kiss him, or hear him say, “I love you,” before she was wrenched away against her will.
Colton said he’d let her live, that he wouldn’t hurt her, but he’d lied to her from the very beginning, from the moment he’d saved her on the bridge. She had been on the Dissent’s side then. He would’ve known who she was. He probably knew every detail of Reymond’s plans, for stars’ sake.
So then, he also would’ve known Nadine was alive. He would’ve known Gemma was the “decoy.” Taking her to Christian when he’d fallen, catching her before she’d tripped down the steep hillside—it all had been nothing but a ruse.
“Stop dragging your feet.” Colton yanked on the rope tied to her bound wrists. “You could make fake kidnapping you a little easier.”
“What do you mean ‘fake kidnapping?’ Nothing about this is fake.” Gemma winced when the rope pulled on her skin again; her wrists hadn’t yet healed from her questioning with the Kaizen.
“Of course it is. I’m giving you an excuse to keep pretending like you’re with them instead of us.”
Gemma pulled on the rope herself, startling Colton to a stop. “You and I arenoton the same team.” The words seethed out of her like poison.
He raised a dark eyebrow at her, its color a distinct contrast from his pink hair. “You’ve seriously flipped sides?” Colton chuckled in a way that sent a shiver down Gemma’s spine. “Oh, Reymond’s gonna be pissed.Você vai se ferrar.” With a violent jerk of the rope, he yanked Gemma forward.
She cried out in pain, the sensation of warm blood running down her arms. “Reymond lied to me. He doesn’t get my loyalty anymore.”
Colton laughed. “You mean about your sister? Well, blast. There goes my plan for a surprise party.”
Gemma growled. “So youdidknow! You mother—”
“Get over it, Gemma. Be happy she’s alive. Some people don’t get the privilege of a loved one coming back from the dead.”
