Shades of Allegiance by Sandy Williams

Author:Sandy Williams [Williams, Sandy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781736015704
Publisher: Sandy Williams

17

Seeker’s God. The loyalty training.

Ash’s jaw set. Her breaths became strained.

Rykus reached for her elbow, frustration ripping through him. He hadn’t given any kind of order—he’d just looked at her—but Ash had locked up like a ship bombarded with too many viruses. She was in a battle for control of her free will, and the only thing he could do was stand there and wait for her to fight through it.

Mel stepped into view, tilted her head. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine,” he grated out. Then, more gently, “You’re fine, Ash. You’re good.”

He saw the moment she regained control. Her shoulders straightened and her gaze hardened. When the muscles in her arm loosened, then went taut again, he almost released her, but she stepped into him, hard and quick and seething.

“We’re not going back to the House,” she hissed.

He shifted his weight forward to prevent her from pushing him back.

“Give us a minute,” he said to Mel. He didn’t take his eyes off Ash. She looked at him with so much animosity, so much viciousness. She needed to calm down, needed to find her equilibrium and think things through.

He gripped both of Ash’s arms so she wouldn’t attempt to take his head off, then he looked directly at Mel.

“Go ahead,” he said, keeping his gaze and voice steady. “We’ll follow you.”

Mel snorted. “You’ll follow me to the grave if you don’t—”

“Go,” he growled.

An expression very similar to Ash’s flashed across Mel’s face, and a warning cut down his spine. Toman, Mel’s strongman, stepped into his peripheral vision. Mel didn’t give him an order though. She replaced her anger with a bored look and shrugged.

“Sure,” she said. “I wasn’t exaggerating ’bout Scius though. Might want to keep your heads down.”

She turned inland and strode away from the seawall. Toman didn’t budge from his spot. Neither did Ash. She was still raging, barely controlled fury radiating from her skin. It almost rivaled the frustration coiling in his gut.

“You need to take the damn booster,” he said.

“Is that a command?” Her voice should have chilled the air. It should have created a wider circle of safety between them and Toman and the few workers limping along the seawall.

“It’s fucking logic, Ash. You’re hypersensitive, and I’m tired of working with a frayed tether.” He gave her a little shove, just enough of a push to put a couple of centimeters of distance between them. “I need you focused. I need your mind clear and your thoughts quick so you can see what’s going on here.”

Her eyes burned. “You want control.”

He stared. His brain struggled to make sense of the accusation.

“What?” The word was barely a whisper.

“It’s who you are. People follow your orders, or they get the fuck out of your way.”

It was like she’d taken her knife out of its sheath and slid it between his ribs.

“I’ve all but twisted gravity trying not to control you,” he said, voice rising. “If I was in control, you wouldn’t have set foot on this planet. We’d

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