I was a little nervous about my decision. Cillian looked thoughtful. I thought he might say no, but he nodded and nodded me upstairs.“There should be something upstairs that will fit you.”I stiffened. “Do you… often have women’s clothing?”He smirked. “Jealous or just curious?”My face heated, and I scowled. “Just answer me.”Cillian shrugged. “Which answer would bring you more comfort?”I narrowed my eyes at him as his eyes twinkled. Then, I turned and headed upstairs. I couldn’t believe I was going to do this, but what other choice did I have? If Candido wasn’t going to pay attention to me like normal, then I had to get his attention somehow.I had to make sure that he saw me as an adult, as his mate, and stopped looking at Estella. Just the thought of her irritated me. When I reached the second floor, I went into the nearest room. It looked like a woman’s room, and I set my jaw at the thought. Did Cillian have a wife? I thought he loved my mother. She’d only been dead for twenty

“Are you thinking about it?” Cillian asked. “What it would be like?”“I…” I swallowed past the dryness in my throat.I couldn’t answer, but that wasn’t because I didn’t have an answer.Yes. Yes, I was thinking about it. Would he be gentle with me? Would he not? Did I want him to be? I felt… hungry and clenched my thighs together as an ache began to build there. I didn’t know what to say or if I even needed to say anything.Unlike Candido, Cillian seemed to know exactly what I wanted and wanted to give it to me, even if I couldn’t say it.“Are you thinking about what my hands on you will feel like? My mouth? How hard I am? How wet you’d be for me?”I couldn’t speak. I was so embarrassed and turned on that I couldn’t think. What… What was he saying? How could he say something like that in public? But how was I supposed to resist

I knew she’d say something. She was a woman too, and she had to know that Candido wouldn’t stand for me to be treated like this.“Falcon to Armageddon—”“Armageddon to Falcon. No, you cannot injure her in any way unless she attacks you first.”“Permission to boot her off the moving jeep in self-defense.”“Granted.”My jaw dropped and she clipped the radio back on her belt. “I’d suggest you shut up. Your voice is an assault on my intelligence and honor.”I couldn’t believe they would treat me like this, but more than that I couldn’t believe that Candido would let them treat me like this.We arrived at the clearing. The jeeps circled around. I got up and scrambled off the jeep as I saw Candido. He didn’t come toward me. Instead, he helped Estella unload the boxes that were on the truck. I marched across the clearing towards them, furiou

I had never fired a gun. Aside from the guns that the security guards carried, I had never even been that near one before, not since Francium had been ordered to shoot me, but it was my only choice. Estella and Candido moved as if they had fought together all their lives. The longer I watched them, the more furious I was. The more jealous I was. If I let this go on, she’d get exactly what she wanted.She’d take Candido from me. All of this, every moment that she’d stepped into seemingly save me had been a ploy to get closer to Candido, because she knew how important I was to him. She had to know. Candido would have told her no matter what. She was just like Sibyl, trying to get rid of me, and just like Sibyl, I wasn’t going to let that happen.If only she and Candido did have such a good relationship. If only he could see her plan the way I did, but I couldn’t blame him. He hadn’t realized how much of a problem Sibyl was until it was almost too late.I’d save him this time too. Estell

I whirled on Candido. “You heard that, didn’t you? She doesn’t—”“I understand,” Candido said with a nod. “But it’s not going to happen that way.”My jaw dropped, before I could say anything. He leaped from the jeep to another.“We’re shifting into the Delta formation. Set-Up. You have five minutes before they’re on us.”He leaped down from the truck and kneeled. He pressed his hand to the ground. The jeep I was on shifted forward. A metal shield lifted with just a few holes big enough for rifles to aim through. Estella set up several more guns in a row to shoot through the shield.Why hadn’t they used this before in the clearing? Then we wouldn’t have had to be separated. They should have done this before. I bet if I had known about it and had been there to help plan we would have been using the shields from the start and that ambush would have gone a lot differently.“Hedy,” Candido said. “Get in the jeep and stay out of the way.”“I can help! I’m your partner! Your mate, you should