The Cross (Alliance Book 2) by Inna Hardison Page A

him.

    Still sleepy-eyed Ams and Laurel ran out of the cave toward the woods or the stream to do their morning business. He wanted to talk to Laurel about this without Ams. He could see Ams losing it on Brody for this, could see her shooting him to keep Laurel safe. He knew she still hated the boy, and he still didn’t get a chance to talk to her about him. He could see her hatred for him in the way she looked at him, throwing daggers at him for just being, and he couldn’t imagine her being okay with what Brody was planning. He walked out to the fire, ignoring the bruises on Brody’s face, and poured himself another cup of coffee, drinking the bitter liquid, not saying anything to his friend, not even looking at him.

    The girls were walking back now, Laurel looking at Brody, and then at him, surprise written all over her face. She said something to Ams, and he saw her run back into the cave, not looking at any of them. Laurel walked quickly to where he was sitting on the log and stopped right in front of him, staring at his face, waiting, and finally when he didn’t say anything, couldn’t think of anything to say yet, she spat at him in her angry voice, one he’d only heard her use once before, “I don’t see any new bruises on you, not a one, and an awful lot of bruises on him. That tells me you two didn’t have a fight. A fight I would have been okay with. But this? This looks like a beating. I didn’t think you had it in you, Riley. Did you tie him up for this too? Point a gun at his head? Do you bloody feel better now?”

    He shook his head at her, embarrassed, set his coffee on the grass and stood up, keeping his head down. She seemed angry enough to want to hit him, and she almost did, too, only suddenly Brody was there, pulling her away, making her look at him, instead of Riley, “It wasn’t his fault, Laurel. I swear it wasn’t. I could have fought him or stopped him if I wanted to. I didn’t. It looks worse than it is. And it’s not what you think it was. Please, let it go. There is something we need to tell you. It’ll make a lot more sense after that, I promise,” and he took her away and sat her down on the log, handed her a cup of steaming tea, and told her what he did, told her his plan, quickly, in a rush to get it all out before anyone else came out of the cave.

    He stood where she left him, watching them, hoping Laurel thought it was a lousy idea, hoping she’d change her mind about wanting to go back in the first place. But she was nodding her head at whatever Brody was telling her, too softly for him to catch anything but an occasional word. She got up finally and walked over to him, “You have to let us, Riley, you just have to. It’s a good plan. It’ll work. She can’t tell anyone she lost us, not right before the Selection, so she’ll come, I know she’ll come, and she won’t have but a few guards with her at the most. She can’t call this in, you know that. And they can’t hurt me.”

    Nothing he could do about changing her mind, so he didn’t try. There was no point.
    “All right, but I am going with you, or you can’t go. I’m not going to argue over it either. I am going. And one of you is going to have to tell Ams. I can’t be the one to do it. Not that. I think it should be you, Laurel. I have a feeling she’ll kill Brody to keep you from going if he tells her,” he said quietly and walked away from the fire toward the stream, wanting more than anything to wade in and let the cold water run all around him in icy waves, and not think about what he just did to Brody, or seeing Hassinger’s face again.

    It was almost time for them to go when he got back to the camp. Ams wasn’t talking to him. Wasn’t looking at him either. So Laurel did tell her then. He’ll have to deal with it later. There just wasn’t enough time for it now. Drake and Ella were sitting on either side of Ams on the log, Drake’s arm draped around her. Laurel looked like she had spent