Crystal Mac: A prologue novella to Captive Series Book 3 HELL'S HILLTOP by J. A. Dennam Page B

that were thrown at her. “We even woke the neighbors.”
    “Cute,” Melanie said dryly as she brushed by. “We’ll be in the kitchen. Join us after you’ve put your fun bags away.”
     

 
     

     
    Crystal had just slipped the form-fitting T-shirt over her head when the argument began in the next room. Mel and Mac were whispering so she wouldn’t hear. How adorable was that? She turned to leave… and was taken to the floor before the next thought entered her head.
    When her vision cleared, Derek was on top of her, hovering nose to nose. She coughed, moved her aching shoulder. “God damn, Bennett, yesterday you were stumbling around like a hippo.”
    Sweat began to glisten from his brow. “Didn’t you hear?” he said through clenched teeth. “I got some sleep.”
    And he was still in obvious pain. Either that or he was about to kill her. Crystal managed a cool smile, though her accelerated heart rate told a different story. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. No matter how much you want to believe it, you aren’t Superman.”
    Finally, his brown eyes began to dull and he slipped off her to sprawl beside the bed. They lay on the carpet side-by-side as he recovered.
    “Rafferty’s gone because I checked out for two fucking hours,” he rasped. “And now I can’t even kill you.”
    Crystal rolled onto her side and tucked her hands beneath her cheek as she watched him.  “Not because you can’t,” she observed quietly. Even injured, Derek possessed mad skills, which meant he didn’t really want to kill her. “If it’s any consolation, you look better.”
    It was only a partial lie. Though the circles under his eyes were gone, worry still darkened his rugged visage.
    “As soon as Rafferty gets some rest,” his eyes met hers, “he’ll be coming back for us.”
    “He doesn’t know you’re alive. Besides, he was pretty fucked up, so I doubt he’ll be a threat.”
    “That’s what Austin said. But we both know if he gets a hold of our drug, he’ll be on his feet sooner rather than later.”
    Crystal was pretty c onfident that wouldn’t happen… unless there was another stash of Nexifen they weren’t aware of. She propped herself up on an elbow. “I guess this means you don’t think I was the one who freed him.”
    He returned his attention to the ceiling. “The ropes were cut with a dull blade and River’s wound was far from clean.”
    Definitely not the work of a ghost. “Maybe it was Lana. She did work for him.”
    Derek mull ed over the possibility, then concluded, “No. He victimized her on a regular basis.”
    While her pulse slowed to a comfortable rate, Crystal listened as the apartment filled with more people and the argument in the kitchen became more heated. “You brought the entourage.”
    “We’re safer together.”
    She listened some more. “They’re fighting over us.”
    They need to hash this out their way, Mac, she heard Melanie whisper. They’re different. They come from a society we can’t begin to understand, so you’ll just have to let her hold her own.
    “Your fiancé learns pretty quick, doesn’t she?” Crystal sat up. “I like her, Bennett. I just hope you get a chance to add a wedding ring to that sparkly diamond on her finger.”
    Derek rolled to a stand, teetered for a moment. As he stood in Melanie’s traditionally furnished bedroom, dressed in his civilian clothing, Crystal marveled at how… normal he appeared. She glanced down at her own borrowed clothes.
    “Yeah, I know,” Derek murmured, pointing out her makeup-free appearance. “It’s gonna take some getting used to.”
    But, despite what they looked like on the outside, they would always be different. Even if they found a way to flush Nexifen from their system without dying, they’d always have their background as IGP enforcers to shadow their future.
    It was weird . She’d always considered Derek someone to be admired and feared from afar…especially on the training grounds. Now, their