She glanced at them, then back at him. “What is this?”
She wasn’t foolish enough to think she’d ever get another gift from him. Not after everything.
He confirmed her suspicions moments later when he handed her the box.
“They’re earpieces. They aren’t detectable by scanners, and the embedded microphones will allow me to hear everything that’s happening inside.”
His unspoken words were so loud that it was like he shouted them.So don’t try anything, because I’ll be listening.
Between the earrings and the tracking bracelet, it was almost too much. Too many reminders of her betrayal. Too many knives digging into her heart at the same time.
This was no way to live, yet what choice did she have?
Pressure built behind her eyes, but she refused to let the tears fall.
Once, Ryker had trusted her. He’d even loved her. And now, he was treating her like nothing more than a tool.
Something deep within Brynleigh fractured as she reached for the earrings and placed them in her lobes.
She hardened her soul, gathered the remnants of her aching heart, and stuffed them deep inside herself. She’d deal with these emotions… tomorrow.
If there was a tomorrow.
The cold steel in Ryker’s gaze matched the metal’s icy bite in her ears. Clasping the back of the second earring, she folded her hands in her lap.
“I understand.” If he was going to treat her like an asset and nothing else, she would act like one. “Anything else,Captain?”
He stiffened, his shoulders going back, and he slowly turned to stare at her. Ice hardened his gaze, and the temperature dropped in the car.
For a moment, she thought he would say something. Anything. Would he fight? Would she want that?
Yes.
She wanted them to be… something. Fighting with him would be far better than this too-strange quiet that was a heavy blanket between them.
He didn’t fight with her, though. He just clenched his jaw and shook his head.
“There’s nothing else. Do you know what you’re going to say?”
Brynleigh scoffed. “No.”
She had no idea what kind of mood Jelisette would be in or what she was walking into, and there was no real way she could plan for that.
She’d come out alive… or she wouldn’t.
If tonight was any sign, Brynleigh didn’t think Ryker wouldcare much either way. Not anymore. And damn it all, but that hurt more than anything else.
She didn’t let her pain show, though. She was just an asset, and an ocean of silence divided them. If he rejected her once more, she might drown in the waves of their brokenness.
“No matter what she says, you can’t reveal you’re working with me.” He gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckled hands.
She didn’t know why he was afraid. He wasn’t the one going to meet with a Maker who was dangerous on a good day.
He ground out, “Is that understood?”
“It’s crystal fucking clear.” Brynleigh stared out the windshield. The rain had let up. “I understand exactly what’s happening here, Captain. No further clarification is needed.”
She had destroyed his trust, and now, she was nothing but a tool for the army to use. Just a vampire with a connection to someone dangerous.