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"You were worried?" Tasha limps over on a curved pipe she's using as a cane to join us. "We thought Mordox had done something horrible to you."
"Did he hurt you?" Romy asks, pulling me in for a long hug.
"No." I vehemently shake my head, irritated how everyone thinks so badly of him. "He healed me, fed me his Mayme's chicken soup, and kept me safe."
They all exchange looks as if I've lost my mind. With an aggravated huff, I catch up to the group of males carrying Mordox to the end of the hall and into a room tricked out with narrow beds, boxy medical-looking machines, and a counter littered with laboratory paraphernalia.
They dump Mordox onto one of the beds, attach a medical cuff to his forearm, then secure it to the bed's armrest.
"Go easy on him, guys!" I shout, pushing my way through the crowd to stand at his bedside. "He's badly injured. Jesus!"
My outburst raises lots of eyebrows, but I don't care. The girls are like sisters to me, but right now, I'm pissed at how Mordox is being mistreated.
Rooke lifts Mordox's free arm and studies the band around his wrist before removing it. "Makes sense now why we couldn't locate them on the scanner." He nods to the identical band circling my wrist. "They're wearing energy signature disruptors."
I cross my arms and tuck the band close to my body, feeling the need to hide it. I'm in a room filled with Mordox's enemies. Maybe enemy is too harsh a word, but people who don't trust him, and I need to change their minds.
"Look, everybody. Mordox isn't who you think he is," I begin, wanting so badly for all of them to see Mordox through my eyes. "He was once a Lita Comtra. One that overheard something that got him sent here. He's innocent!"
"She can't seriously be defending him," Tasha utters under her breath.
"Certainly sounds like it," Romy whispers.
"Zoe," Darcy begins in a low, condescending tone that rakes over myfuckingnerves. "Sweetie. Mordox stole you right out from under our noses. He can't be trusted."
"I love you like a sister, Darcy, and you too, Romy and Tasha, but if you all don't stop treating me like I'm a baby, I swear I'll... I'll... I don't know what I'll do, but none of you will like it," I grit out, growing more and more flustered and pissed off.
"I don't mean to sound like that, I'm just relieved you're back and in one piece." Darcy cups my shoulders. "We just want to protect you."
"I don't need protecting," I say, jutting up my chin. "I can protect myself, and when Mordox is healed, he will look after me."
"Mordox is a killer not a protector," Drax interjects moving to stand with Stacy.
"He was a war hero!" I shout at Drax, causing Tris to leap off my shoulder and hide under Mordox's arm. "A Lita Comtra to be exact."
"Who went on a killing spree and killed a bunch of innocent people," Drax responds with a lift of his brow.
"He told me about you, Drax." I cross my arms and straighten my spine, ready to defend my male. "He said you were a cyber-terrorist for hire. Do you deny it?"
Drax's yellow eyes narrow on me, his mouth pressing into a grim line.
"He said you got caught downloading some restricted files, and those files were about this place." I gesture around.
"I got caughtattemptingto download restricted files from the Governor's mainframe," Drax clarifies with a nasty snarl. "I wasn't successful. What I did has nothing to do with Mordox."
"Oh, yes it does," I snap. "The reason he was arrested and sent to Zune wasn't because he killed a bunch of people. It was because he overheard a conversation about the real reason this remote prison was constructed and what all of you were brought here for, and it wasn't mining. It was for experimentation to create super warriors to even the odds so your planet wouldn't lose a pending war with the Crix."
The room grows eerily quiet. All eyes are on me, and I try not to squirm under the weight of so much scrutiny.
After a long moment of intense quiet, the male with the purple-streaked hair clears his throat. "What she's saying does check out with the personnel files we found on Mordox."
"Still doesn't mean he didn't kill all those people, Bruke." Drax turns an incredulous eye on the one named Bruke.
"Did you not listen to what I just said, Drax?" I seethe. "Mordox discovered the truth about what was happening here, and to make sure he didn't tell anyone, they lied about crimes he never committed and shipped him here. That's why they kept him in solitary, not because he was a dangerous killer, but so he wouldn't tell anyone what he knew."
I sling my hand at the space pirate with the red-streaked hair. "You obviously trust Rooke now when you said he was dangerous, or he wouldn't be down here with us. Why can't you give Mordox a chance?"
"Because Mordox is a mass murderer," Rooke scoffs.
