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She hissed out her anger but nodded.

Seeing the disgraceful conditions these rare animals were in and how poorly they’d been treated steeled Ash’s resolve that they’d succeed. And if a few Siblet got in the way of that happening, he’d happily take them down. And he was certain Georgia would be right on board with that.

“I’ll send an alert to Cleo and let her know we found the white tails.” Ash opened a comm link. “Cleo, it’s Ash.”

There was no response.

He tried several times but got the same result.

“We must be too far underground for a signal to get out.” Georgia hadn’t taken her eyes off the creatures. “Send a message. It may get through on the tablet once we’re on the move.”

Ash fired off a quick message, giving their location and what they’d discovered. “Let’s do a search of this place and see what data we can gather while we wait for a response.”

Georgia nodded. With a final look at the white tails, she headed to the computers with Ash.

She never failed to amaze him. There must be a war raging inside her, and she must be so tempted to destroy and rage against all of this and let her past best her, but she wasn’t letting that happen. Georgia was calm and methodical as she checked over the computers and scanned through data logs.

“This could be useful,” she said. “It’s lab results and data from blood samples of different animals.”

“What does it show?”

“There’s a ton of information here. It’s too much to look through. I’m downloading it. We’ll get Dallin to take a look when we get back.” She plugged in a drive. “It’ll take a few minutes to get the records.”

Ash kept sorting through the equipment, his gaze on her.

Georgia caught his eye. “You’re staring.”

He grinned. “How do you always know when I’m watching you?”

“I get an itch.”

“Where would that be?”

“Not where you think.” She glanced up, a half-smile on her face. “So...”

“Have I ever told you how amazing you are?”

Georgia gave him the side eye as she continued to look through the computer. “I’m not so special.”

“You are. This is a tough assignment, but you’re getting through it.”

“It’s just training. It’s what any of us would do.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. We’ve got the aliens who tortured you all around us, but you’re handling it.”

Georgia looked at him. “I’m handling it because you’re here.”

He caught hold of her hand and kissed the back of it. “I’m so damn proud that you’re my woman. I’m not worthy of you.”

She stared up at him with nothing but honesty in her eyes. “You’re worthy. You always have been. Ash, you’re an amazing guy. And you put up with everything I throw at you and more. You handle my sharp edges and my bitchy side. You’ve never wavered.”

“Because I know the real you. I knew we’d figure this out. And you’re worth the wait.”

“I’m glad you think so. I’m done putting my life on hold because of what happened to me. I—” Georgia yelped as she was slammed off her feet by a blast from a Siblet weapon.

The banty let out a piercing alarm cry as he flew to the floor then raced to Georgia’s side.

Horror radiated through Ash as he turned to the doorway and saw two Siblet standing there, their weapons ready to fire again.