Gripping her wrist tight enough to negate her struggles, the edge of Jules’ fingernail dragged a light path from the hollow of her elbow down the inside of her arm.
Unable to recover her arm from that calloused touch, she growled, “We don’t have time for this!”
“Speak for yourself. I have eternity.” Jules stopped tracing the veins in her arm to toy with her fluttering fingers instead. “That is what a pair-bond is. Forever, Brenya Perin.”
Angry with the man, Brenya snarled, “Jules Havel of Thólos, I am begging you. I cannot save you all if you do not stop this and come with me now. The more time we waste, the less of a chance I can even get you outside. Not to mention that I will have to build a transmitter from stolen parts as we move so your people will be aware of your location in the woods. Let go of my arm!”
“Beg.” Reaching through the glass, he took a handful of her stolen shirt, pulling her closer still. “That is what you came here to do, isn’t it?”
This was unacceptable, infuriating. “You will never get out of the Dome without my help.”
With her cheek to the glass and his body pressed to the other side as if he might seep through it and take her any way he wished, Jules laughed. A true laugh she could not see. An expression on his face that was denied her. Which, for some reason, stung. “This virtuous help which comes at the price of saving... who?”
Fine, she could admit she wanted more from the Beta than only grace toward her people and to send him home. She needed him. “Unspeakable things have been done to my friends.”
“Annette?”
He loosened his grip enough that she might maneuver back and glare. “Yes.”
“Who else?”
“Her child. He will be murdered soon to make way for Ancil’s new baby. The child might even already be dead. But I will not stand by and wait for it to happen like everyone else in this hell.” Yanking her hand free and rubbing her wrist as if she might chase off the odd tingles he’d encouraged there, Brenya hissed, “You need me if you want to return to your Rebecca. I need you to help my friends. Shelter a woman and her child in the woods until Greth ships arrive. I know the air outside is clean. And, so long as I remain behind, Jacques will not think to search outside the Dome. He’ll be too distracted punishing me to realize until it’s too late.”
“No.”
Frustration led her to bang a curled fist against the glass. Scooping up the food that had fallen from her hand when he yanked her off-center, she threw the pack in his cell. In a practiced gesture that screamed disappointment, Brenya sealed the pane, watching the man ignore her offering, choosing instead to take a seat on the floor and lean against the side wall.
He stared forward as if she had never been there. As if projections of her did not cycle beside where they had argued.
When she failed to retreat, her lip trembling in exasperation, he said, “If I were you, I would run back to my nest and hide.”
15
Greth Dome
“Segment AA-14.” Gray eyes traced the movement of the agitated Commodore, an Alpha who lacked the most basic semblance of control. Blond hair as long as a woman’s ran loose behind him, and he stomped through his halls, the embroidery of his jacket something from a long-dead culture. The way the man continued to fiddle with his cuffs, a tell—his confrontation with Jules Havel had given the man no satisfaction. “Draw him there. Disrupt all safety protocols to the east of Ms. Perin.”
“But that’s not the direction she came.” Fingers flying over the controls, Maryanne dripped with nervous sweat in an effort to keep up with the Shepherd’s commands. “The Omega took the opposite corridor, and I can only turn off one at a time without drawing attention to the massive amount of infiltration I am conducting in Bernard’s Palace. Even if I am only operating against a computer, these logs will be noticed!”
“The Omega now knows where she is in relation to the structure. She won’t take the same path to return to Jacques’ den. Watch.” And he was correct. She crawled to the east corridor to access a vertical chute, climbing in a blur that would leave her hands blistered. “And you will remove all traces of our interference once we have assured she reaches her destination undetected.”
“What she doesn’t know is that the only reason she hasn’t been caught is because I am fucking slaving away.” There wasn’t even time for Maryanne to brush loose hair off her brow. “For future reference, Shepherd, this kind of work takes at least three people. One person cannot manage five levels of security protocols with no advance notice and with no idea what they are dealing with alone!”