I try to sit forward, but the world swirls and pulses. “What did you say Rebel pulled out?”
Menace packs away the canteen and then picks me up like he hasn’t just been in a fight or made a wall out of boulders. “A chip that tuned your augment. Someone jammed CSP parts inside your head.”
He gathers me against his firm chest and enters the main cavern where the others are forming up to continue the journey. But it isn’t disgust that has me in knots this time. I can’t look at his sinewy body beneath his weapons harness for long, or I start to forget that I hate him. My core tenses with an unfamiliar longing that makes me squirm, trying to escape it.
“Sefi, you’re not going to win.”
Sefi?Not Fin like most of my friends, Fina like hunters, or Sef like the junkers.Sefi. Why Sefi?Why the nickname my family called me?
The camp funnels into a narrow passageway. I want to join them, but Menace refuses to let me down.
“Let me fight,” I whine.
“No.”
A pinch to my neck spreads relaxing waves through me.
Panic grips me. “What was that?”
Menace’s chest rumbles with his disapproval. “Be quiet. I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“I don’t want you or anyone…” I can’t finish. My speech slurs.
He lowers his voice. “I could leave you here in this tunnel to the mutant wolves. Would you rather I do that?”
I stare up at him because I can’t do anything else but stare at his ruggedly handsome face and drool. I hate myself in this moment. I hate him more for controlling me, for being the only one who can carry me, and for being so strong when I am not.
“Normally, someone who resists the mission would automatically be my enemy,” he mutters. “But since you can’t—I will carry you. I will care for you. And I will protect you like any other Titan. But it does not mean anything.”
“Goo…”Good. Good! I meant…ah, screw it.
Menace glances down at me and sees me drooling. A flash of an unexpected emotion crosses his face. It’s worse than hatred.
Life is easier when everyone is my enemy. What I see on his face sends fissures through my pride.
It’s pity.
“Sto—loo—ing at me li—hat.”
Menace smirks and adjusts his grip under my legs, holding me even closer against his chiseled chest. His touch makes my heart race. The way he holds me with such care is the complete opposite of how he speaks to me. I’m not sure what to believe.
“I ha—you.”
“Uh-huh. Join the club.” Menace scans the other Titans and women around us with hesitation, which makes me regret what I said because I think he genuinely feels like an outcast. But I don’t want to be so close to such a brutish male who will sedate women without their permission. I don’t trust him even if I wish I could.
