Nope.
This is, without a doubt, the biggest mistake of my life, and I’ve ruined my best friend’s lives, too.
“The one who tricked all of her friends into this. I’m rooting for her to find love. A real underdog.”
Ellison, Lily, and Lucy heard it.
They know. Any lingering doubt they had about how we ended up on this floating death trap is officially gone. They know I am the one who came up with this plan and typed their names under those electronic signature lines while we were deep in pitcher number six. I dragged my best friends away from their lives and threw them into a complete fucking mess.
Sure, I spent the morning debating contract law with an artificial intelligence via hologram, and got him to back the fuck off, but how do I know he’s going to abide by it?
I don’t.
This is uncharted territory.
Tears prickle the backs of my eyes, but I blink them back as best I can.
I’m not sure where the next place I’ll get water is, and I certainly can’t waste hydration at this point.
Besides, I have only myself to blame.
Fuck being a cute reality TV star. Tossing my marabou heels aside, I put on the tech suit we found in the closet and some boots, and I’m no longer in diva down mode.
No, fuck this shit. I’m not going to stand for this.
“I signed a contract,” I hiss through my teeth, angrier than a wet cat. “The contract said nothing about any of this.”
I am going to get all four of my girls—and their giant alien mates—out of this hellhole alive, or I am going to die trying.
At least I’m not in heat.
I glance towards where Vael is helping cut through the brush with one of the huge kitchen knives we liberated from the little dome. We looked for Pol and Selene, but they were nowhere to be found.
I swallow hard, but it does nothing to assuage the guilt.
Now that Vael-Torin has fully mated me my brain is back online, running at a solid percent. Probably not a full one hundred, but not nearly as bad as I was the first night, when everything I did and wanted was colored by lust.
Unfortunately, the silent red dragon walking beside me doesn’t seem thrilled with me. Or the fact that my heat is gone.
Vael-Torin moves like he’s been hunted before. His ruby-red wings are tucked tight against his spine, his jaw set so hard the scales along his neck are locked rigid. He hasn't touched me since the automated dome disintegrated behind us. The easy warmth in his eyes from last night has vanished, replaced by a cold focus.
"Vael," I say as quietly as I can. My voice still cuts through the eerie silence of the jungle, too loud. "You're freaking meout. You still haven’t said what you thought was going on. What happened. That thing… said it woke up? I know you don’t know me very well, besides, well—” I clear my throat, blushing furiously. “Besides my body, but I need answers. I need a plan. I’d like to… make the plan with you.”
He doesn't stop walking, his feet crushing a fern. "I am considering the words of that voice," he rumbles. "It spoke of a deception. It spoke of you dragging your friends into this arena? Tricking them?"
A painful lump forms in my throat. I hate myself.
But I don’t give up, and I’m not going to lie now. My friends need me. Something small and bright yellow darts around a tree, and I flinch at the movement.
"I did," I tell him, keeping my voice steady. "They didn't know. I filled out the applications using their data, and then we were drinking and I passed my phone around and talked them into signing the digital waivers. They signed them, and I told them it was a reality show…" It’s not a good defense, and I know it would not hold up in a court of law or the court of public opinion. “But they were drunk. And they didn’t know it was with aliens. Or that we’d be taken that same night.” I want to cry.
I really, really want to cry.
I don’t.
Vael abruptly stops.
He whirls around, his frame completely blocking out the faint morning light. His golden pupils narrow into slits.
