His lips twitch. “Because you haven’t been assigned a room yet.” He walks toward an armchair. “I got you some clean clothes from Luisa.”
“Luisa?”
“You met her on the plane. My copilot. You’re about her size.” He picks up a stack of clothing from the chair and passes it to me, nodding toward the doorway behind me. “Lav’s through there. You’re covered in dirt and smell like campfire. Why don’t you go take a shower? By the time you’re done, the Authority should be ready for you.”
I nod in gratitude. I do feel grimy and in desperate need of a shower after spending days in the Blacklands. And I could use a moment alone.
The shower stall is small, designed for one person. I crank the water and wonder where it’s coming from, how it fills these pipes. Underground reservoirs, maybe? And how are they filtering the air this deep into the mountain? Controlling the temperature? I’m so curious about this base.
I drag a bar of soap all over my body and wash away the dirt of the journey here, watching it swirl at my feet before disappearing down the drain. I wash my hair, which has grown longer than I usually keep it, falling well past my breasts. The shampoo smells like citrus, and I scrub my scalp three times because those yellow ants in the Blacklands have a way of getting into your hair and clothing.
When I no longer feel like I have insects crawling all over me, I turn toward the spray and close my eyes. As the water soaks my face, I finally allow myself to do what I’ve desperately been resisting all day.
I reach out to my best friend.
Wolf.
Cross.
I imagine he’s busy in the city, cleaning up the mess I left, picking up the pieces of the Mod attack that destroyed a Command hangar and took out a nice chunk of their fleet. I’m sure his brother isn’t thrilled with him right now. Although our relationship was never public knowledge, Cross’s older brother, Travis, suspected we weretogether. The fact that Travis was appointed the new General only complicates matters. He has ultimate control now. If he chooses to punish Cross for any alleged wrongdoing, he has the power to do so.
A wave of emotion swells inside me when I hear his familiar voice in my head.
“You good, Dove?”
Dove.
What began as a way to mock me eventually became a term of endearment, and now I melt every time I hear it. I prefer it tosweetlingorhoney,though I wouldn’t be against hearing either of those escape his sexy mouth. Hell, Cross could make anything sound sexy. He could recite pages from a weapons manual and still succeed in turning me on.
I picture his perfect face, those cobalt-blue eyes, the mocking dimple and wicked smile…I think about his tall, broad body and big, capable hands…and the charged, heated shiver that rolls up my spine has nothing to do with the hot water pounding against my flesh.
“I’m fine. We made it to the Uprising base,”I tell him.
“That’s good.”
Something in his voice gives me pause.“Areyouall right? You sound off.”
He takes a beat before answering.“I haven’t been sleeping much since you left.”
“Where are you right now? Are you in your quarters?”
Another beat.“Yeah.”
“What’s wrong?”I push.
“It’s just a shitshow,”he finally says.“All of it.”
“Same here. They detained Xavier.”
“Figured that would happen.”
“I was hoping he’d earn some goodwill with them by helping me, but they don’t trust him. I’m going to do everything I can to get him out of lockup, but we might need to find a way for you to extract him.”
The moment the suggestion leaves my mouth, I realize it’s impossible. An extraction would mean revealing the location of the Dagger, and I can’t give that up, not even to Cross. I’d be endangering every single person here.
“I don’t know how feasible that is,”he says.“They’re watching me like a hawk.”
“Does Travis suspect you helped me escape?”
