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“Thanks.” I try to tell her that, but my tongue feels too big for my mouth. I dutifully take a bite of the sandwich. It awakens a repressed hunger in me, and I devour it in seconds. The water, too, disappears almost immediately, and I already feel better.
Huh.
I guess I was feeling so shitty because I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in a while.
I smile at Alice. “Thanks. I didn’t realize how much I needed that.”
She takes the plate and the empty bottle and tosses them in the trash. “Well, I owe you for saving my ass with that dress.”
I still don’t feel one hundred percent better, but I get to my feet. “Ready for Round Two?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She hooks her arm around mine and leads me back to the center of the hive.
CHAPTER 14
GARET
Imark the days by meals, time in the yard, and when the human janitor comes in to clean and deliver food. Those infinite hours in between are marked by boredom, frustration and thoughts of her.
Tania is my fated mate. From the moment we first touched, I knew this. And I let her slip through my fingers. For what? A military career that got two of my teammates killed and me and my brother captured? All to save some guy I don’t know and don’t give to shits about.
The day we met, her blue eyes made me feel as though I was falling into a clear summer sky, and our bodies slotted perfectly together as we made love under the stars. It felt like the start of something wonderful and new.
And I had to go and fuck it all up.
The thought makes my jaw clench so hard that I think I might crack a tooth. When I get out of here, I’m putting my stupid career on hold and finding her. Hopefully, she’ll be willing to take me back.
“Alright, time to go,” a guard says, shaking me from my brooding.
The magnetic cuffs on my hands activate and bring my wrists together with a click. I feel a weaker pull at my ankles, one giving me just enough room to walk. Getting to my feet, I let the guard lead me to the yard for some time in the sun.
The moment the warmth hits my scales, I feel myself perk up like a plant in the rain after a long drought. Danel is sitting on the ground against a wall, trying to get as much light as possible without aggravating his injury.
I take a seat beside him, savoring the sunlight. “How’s the leg?”
After the infirmary took out the bullet and applied stitches, the rest of his survival had been left up to him. “It would be healing a lot faster if they let us out in the sun for more than an hour a day.”
Though he’s griping, Danel does look better. He’s less pale than he was yesterday, and his voice is much stronger. “Did you find out where they’re keeping him?”
I shake my head. “Haven’t seen him in the yard or through the halls. The janitor might be some help, but she’s been ignoring me every time I try to make conversation.”
“But you’re so charming,” he says sarcastically, earning a punch in the arm.
“Well, between the two of us, I have more experience charming humans.”
“But it didn’t hurt that she was your fated mate. If we’re thinking of the same janitor, she will be a lot harder to win over.”
The woman looked to be about middle aged, and every time I saw her, she kept her head down and her eyes intent on the floor as she mopped. Sometimes, I would hear prisoners jeer and yell disgusting things at her as she passed by.
Her employers weren’t much better. I saw some guards drop shit on purpose just to make her pick it up, and then leer at her ass the whole time. I bet that if I can convince her that I’mnot her enemy, she will be more than willing to fuck over her employers and coworkers. Now for the million-cred question: how do I do that? I guess I’ll have to figure it out as I go.
It feels good to have something like a plan in place, even if it is just in the beginning stages. When they lead me back to my cell, I feel a lot less like a caged animal.
She is the one to deliver dinner tonight, a bland bowl of sticky Prylie. It’s the third day in a row of just Prylie, and I’m so sick of it that just the smell makes me want to gag.
But still, I thank her as she pushes the bowl of gruel through the tray slot on the floor.
She lets out a short, bitter laugh. “Never been thanked for serving this shit before.”
