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“Yeah, it was a foster mother. She sexually and physically abused me. The authorities loved her because she acted like the perfect, caring parent to their faces. But when they weren’t looking, living with her was hell.” He recited his story in a monotone, watching her face for reaction.
“That’s why you ran away and lived on the street.” The sadness in her eyes made him ache.
“I did talk a lot last night, didn’t I? Yeah, that’s why I lived on the street.”
“You were only a child.”
The way she said it melted his heart. She felt for him. She was aching for the child he’d once been. It was an astonishing revelation. No one had ever hurt for him. Never felt for him.
“I’m not a kid now, baby. That’s why I’m telling you this. You’ll get past what that evil asshole did to you. You’ll get past being kidnapped. You’ll become stronger. You’ll thrive. This won’t stop you, because you’re a survivor.”
Her smile was everything. It warmed him like the sun. “Like you. You’re a survivor. You’re the strongest man I’ve ever met.”
Damn, she was stealing his heart right out of his body. His throat tightened as emotion built to a crescendo inside of him. He had to lighten things before he burst. “Not with insects. With insects, I’m a wimp.”
“We never talk about that, remember?” Her eyes sparkled with more than tears.
He kept his eyes on her face as she leaned into him and pressed her lips to his. “Thank you for telling me. It helped.”
“Good,” he said as he held her close. “That’s good.”
And then they sat there, letting the sounds of the jungle wrap around them like a soothing blanket.
“We need to move soon,” Beast said. “The gunshots would have been heard for miles.”
“Five minutes,” she said. “Then we’ll go. I need five minutes.”
His arms tightened. She needed this. Time in his arms. Time wrapped in his protection. And he would give her as much of it as he was able. He suspected he’d always give her his protection. No matter where life outside of the rainforest took them, when Belinda called, he would drop everything and run to her. The knowledge settled something inside of him, and he relaxed against the tree.
He felt Belinda’s muscles ease and knew that she’d crashed from the adrenalin that had helped her fight. Exhaustion overwhelmed her bruised body and she slipped into sleep. Beast kissed the top of her hair and held her tight. In his arms. Where he suspected she was born to be.
Chapter 24
Ryan and Elle studied the latest satellite photos of the mining area, and what they saw wasn’t good.
“There are way more boats at the mine than there was yesterday,” Elle said as she looked up at Ryan. “Is he assembling an army?”
“Looks like it,” Ryan said.
Something was going on for sure. But what? He was missing something important. He knew it. He had that tingly feeling in his gut that told him something more was going on. For a long time, Ryan had thought that feeling meant he was hungry. Now that he’d lost his appetite, he knew it meant something else.
“Can you zoom in on the mine?” He stood close to the image on the wall. “As close as you can get without losing sharpness.”
Elle did as he asked. Ryan studied the close-up, hoping the answer would j
ump out at him.
“What’s worrying you?” Elle came up to stand beside him, laptop in hand.
“Apart from the fact he’s amassing an army?”
“Apart from that.”
Something caught Ryan’s eye. He pointed at the wall. “Zoom in on that, will you?”
As the image became clearer, Ryan froze.
“That’s a satellite uplink dish,” Elle said, sounding just as worried as Ryan felt. “It’s attached to a mobile broadcasting unit.”
