Page 67 of Scarlet Wars
“I never said it didn’t matter!” His throat worked visibly, words cracking with the force of them. For a fleeting moment, something raw flickered across his face. “But I thought we’d moved past this. I thought we were…friends.”
I tilted my head, my tone skeptical. “Really? Is that what we are? Friends?”
His jaw twitched. For a second, I thought he might scoff, but instead his stare hardened, searching me, as if he couldn’t tell if I was baiting him.
“What the hell do you want from me, Emma? You tell me you’re attracted to me, then you say we can’t ignore the Chiefs’ threats. So,youtellmewhat the fuck we are.”
I shook my head, eyes dropping, unwilling—unable—to meet his gaze.
But he wouldn’t let me. In one swift move he was in front of me again, fingers gripping my chin, tilting my face up, forcing me to see what I was desperate to avoid.
“Tell me the truth, right now. Do you want me?”
I tried to glance past him, anywhere but those burning eyes, but his hold only tightened.
“Look at me when you’re about to lie.”
The words hit like shrapnel, lodging deep. He knew I would. But the threats made against us today left no escape.
“Emma.” His voice dropped, each word a hammer. “Do. You. Want. Me?”
My throat worked, dry and useless.
I swallowed hard, then forced out the only answer I could ever give. “No.”
He closed his eyes, only for a second, the muscle in his jaw ticking. When he leaned in, his whisper scorched me. “Liar.”
His hand fell away. He stepped back, but his gaze burned hotter than the fire between us. “So. James it is?”
“It has to be,” I whispered, my legs trembling so violently I thought they might give. “At least until we figure out a way to handle the United Chiefs.”
The silence between us quaked with everything unsaid, until the door of my room creaked open.
Rachel stepped inside, her focus darting between us. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No,” I said softly at the exact same moment Caden snarled, “Yes.”
“Well, tough luck.” Rachel’s tone was clipped and urgent. “American human military just crossed the Canadian border. They’re moving toward the Metasphere. They’re looking for ‘the terrorist who killed her family and a dozen officers.’”
She hesitated. “And they come with a presidential arrest warrant.”
My eyes widened, shock cutting through the tension, and Caden cursed under his breath.
Rachel’s gaze caught mine, and I knew.
Just like that, we were at war.
PART 2
SEVENTEEN
EMMA
Rachel wasted no time on semantics or strategy.
People threatened her Collective, she answered. No hesitation, no committee meeting, no twelve-step plan. Strategy, in Rachel’s world, wasn’t deliberation, it was violence with good timing.
Which is how I ended up strapped into Offensive gear for the first time in almost two months, shivering my ass off in the Canadian snow, trudging toward the border between the Human World and the Collective.
