Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Copyright
Cage slid off the window seat and glanced at the bed. “Offer’s still open. I can sleep on the couch.”
I sighed. Part of me wanted that. Send him away. Use the time to reflect, to be by myself. But no matter how much we fought, Cage and I had always stretched out side by side on the alien ship, and even if we didn’t touch, I appreciated his warmth, the reassurance of his presence.
“I don’t know what’s going on between us,” I told him honestly.
He sighed. “Neither do I. For what it’s worth, my feelings haven’t changed. I still care about you. A lot. It’s just been hard, with everything that’s going on.”
“You can say that again.” I gave Mars one last look, then turned to glance over my shoulder at his face, alternating red and white in the reflections of the lights outside. “You can stay,” I said, and his answering grin dwarfed all the brightness behind me.
ELEVEN
MY ALARM JERKED ME FROM a sound sleep a few hours later. I shot straight up in bed, disoriented and confused. I’d gotten out of the habit of waking to an alarm, and out of the habit of sleeping on anything soft or comfortable. I jabbed the alarm into silence and took a moment to thread my fingers through my hair, calming my racing heart. Since Sanctuary, I hadn’t had a single night of dreamless sleep. I’d hoped the new setting, away from the alien presence, might help. But it hadn’t. The aliens stalked me in my dreams, and as always, it ended with Matt’s lifeless body at my feet, the gun trembling in my hands as creatures closed in from all directions.
Cage groaned beside me and pulled a pillow over his head. We’d fallen asleep fully clothed but close together. Sometime in the night I’d apparently piled most of the blankets and pillows between us. I hoped that wasn’t a metaphor. “Get up,” I muttered, shaking off the vestiges of my nightmare.
“Why?”
“Because it’s time, and because I’m not waking Mia. That’s why.”
He clenched the pillow more tightly around his face. “Is that my life’s only purpose? As a Mia buffer?”
“It is today.” I nudged him until he tumbled to the floor, grumbling under his breath as he climbed awkwardly to his feet.
Something clattered outside. We both froze, staring at the door. “That was just Jasper getting up,” I whispered, my heart hammering in my throat. “Right?”
“Right.” But Cage whispered too. Slowly, he grabbed his shoes and tugged them on. I did the same.
We both listened intently. No further sound came from outside. If it was one of the others, surely they would have said something by now? Made some sort of noise? “Stay back,” said Cage, tiptoeing toward the broad double doors.
I hesitated, but after a moment I moved out of his way. I still didn’t love him telling me what to do, and there was probably nothing there. But if there was, Cage’s speed gave him a much better chance of dodging bullets than my ability to understand languages.