Drifters' Alliance, Book 2 by Elle Casey Page B

I take it.”
    “Yes, it is.” I point at his throat. “See that little, tiny, white line there on his neck?”
    Jeffers leans in as Macon/Rollo bends backward, trying to put distance between them.
    “Yes, I think I do. It’s very faint.”
    “Pretty decent MI, but not perfect. That’s the scar I made during my Level Ten test.”
    Macon can’t hide the anger that flits across his face or the embarrassment that soon follows. Sweat breaks out across his brow, but I’m not sure if it’s from nervousness or from him wanting to strangle me. It doesn’t stop my heart aching for him, either way.
    Jeffers stands up straight and the tempo of his speech picks up. “You told us about that. Gus asked you if you won, but you never answered.”
    I don’t say anything for a while. I just watch as several emotions fight a battle inside my old friend and are mirrored over his face: Anger. Sadness. Fear. Desperation. Defeat.
    “I lost that day,” I finally say. “I lost big time.”
    Macon scowls, his expression finally settling on angry. “She won. Believe me, she won.” Macon’s shoulders sag and his head drops. “She might as well have killed me.”
    I put the knife back where it belongs and take three big steps forward. Throwing my arms around my old friend, the one I nearly killed, the one person I’ve ever regretted hurting, I grip him to me like I’m drowning in the Sea of Caspien and he’s my only hope of survival. “I’ve missed you, Macon.”
    He stands as stiff as a board. “Not sure I can say the same about you, Cass.”

Chapter Fourteen

    HE MIGHT NOT WANT ME here, hugging the crap out of him, but I’m not going to let that dissuade me. I’ve been dreaming of being able to do this for three long years, and I’m not going to walk away from the opportunity. He can try to kill me later.
    “I’ve been waiting a long time to say this to you, Macon. I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry for what I did to you.”
    He goes even stiffer, if that’s possible.
    My heart feels like it’s cracking in two. “I know you hate me. I know what I did was wrong, and I know I should have chosen our friendship over that test. I’ll never stop being sorry for making the wrong decision.”
    His body hitches, but it could be from the effort it’s taking to not strangle me rather than sadness. Regardless, I keep going, knowing that he deserves my confession as much as I need to give it.
    “I know it’s not an acceptable excuse, but we were under a lot of pressure to perform. To win. And you know what the punishment was to refuse the test.”
    “Yeah,” he says, pulling himself out of my embrace. “Demotion. Banishment. Death. Trust me, I know.”
    His suffering is etched into his face, deep lines in tight rows around his eyes and mouth reminding me of a man twice his age and not the twenty-two-year-old I know him to be. I have no idea what he went through after our challenge, but it couldn’t have been good. Obviously, he survived and went through some pretty extensive MI, but was it after they banished him to an uninhabited planet or before? And how did he get where he is today, still alive? It speaks to his resilience and cunning, because the OSG doesn’t generally let recruits who wash out of the program wander around the galaxy. The whole thing brings tears to my eyes and makes my heart ache for him and for me.
    “Neither one of you should ever have been put into that situation,” Jeffers says, breaking through the mood that had settled between Macon and me. “You were children. Children being asked to kill one another.”
    The disgust in his voice is impossible to miss. Both Macon and I look at him, distracted by this near stranger’s strong opinion that we all three share.
    “What do you know about it?” I ask.
    “Enough to say that it’s wrong, and it has consequences that are very far-reaching. Look at you.” He gestures at us with a flung-out hand. “Friends turned into enemies. For what? For