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As soon as I recovered, I pulled my arm from his grip.
“Raika, if I wanted you dead, I could have done it three hundred times already.” He picked up his bag and mine from the ground, never losing grip on the flashlight.
I gave him a side glance. That was true enough, I guess.
But then what? Why would he spin such an elaborate tale? To trick me? Again, why? Did he want something from me? Maybe he hoped if I fell for his story, I would reveal my father’s plans, and he would use that knowledge to defeat my father.
That had to be it. That was the only reason I could see.
Right now, I didn’t have a choice. I would have to go with this brute. My only hope was that this tunnel led outside, or to a tunnel where the others were, so I could get rid of him fast.
For some reason, being around him made me uncomfortable.
Also … hot and bothered.
16
SHANE
I pointed the flashlight forward,illuminating the endless tunnel. It narrowed at times, then became so wide, I was sure the dragon could pass through here. But it never ended. How big was this damn mountain?
After almost two hours of walking, I said, “We should take a break.”
Raika didn’t protest it. She leaned on the rocky wall and pressed a hand to her back, where the cut was. I grabbed some water from my bag and offered it to her.
She hesitated but took it. “Thanks.” She winced when she lifted the bottle to drink.
“Want me to take a look at it?”
She returned the bottle to me. “What?”
“The cut. On your back. I see it’s bothering you. Want me to take a look?”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head vehemently. “It’s just tugging a little, nothing much.”
Her face was the same, her voice was the same, but the wariness in her bright blue eyes, and the way she spoke were different. Not Raika. At least, not my Raika.
By the moon … what had they done to her?
My fingers itched to reach to her, to touch her, to pull her to me, to embrace her, to wrap my arms around her, secure her against me, take a good lungful of her scent, make sure she was really here and this wasn’t a freaking hallucination.
“Are you hungry?” I opened my bag and started searching for food.
“No, I’m good.”
I stopped and looked at her. This was definitely not my Raika. One, she had never refused food before, and two, she had never spoken to me like that.
Another whiplash of anger struck me, and I marched past her before I did something stupid.
Like kiss her senseless …
With a soft groan, Raika pushed off the wall and followed me. I faltered then, my instincts telling me to go after her, to check if she was okay.
But I needed a minute.
Being around her and notbeing around her true self was messing with my mind and feelings big time.
I didn’t know what to think, what to do.
