Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
He puts his hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes in a furious look. “Absolutely the fuck not. Tell me where it was.”
“Your softer approach sucks.”
I look away, hoping he thinks I’m unconcerned even though my heart is beating so hard I’m surprised my rib cage isn’t audibly rattling. The location where I found the knife is my only leverage. I need information about this island, and going with him is how I can get it. Also, I can’t leave Olin and the others at Rising Tide to starve while I eat three meals a day. It’s not right.
The muscle in his jaw tics as he pinches the bridge of his nose, takes in several deep breaths and lets them out.
“It’s not safe out there,” he says, his tone measured.
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take. Put a weapon in my hand and you’ll find out I’m not as helpless as you think.”
“I don’t think you’re helpless.” He says it like I’m a five-year-old he’s trying to placate.
Fuck this guy, and all men who underestimate me. The well of fury inside me, usually at a steady simmer, is threatening to boil over. I tip my chin up a notch, holding his intimidating gaze.
“Pick a woman from your security team. No weapons. If I pin her within ten minutes, I get to go with you.” I hold out my hand to him. “Deal?”
Brows hiked up to his hairline, he stares at me for two long seconds before shaking my hand. His enormous hand dwarfs mine, his touch warming me all over.
“Okay, deal. One round only. No two out of three or three out of five.”
I laugh, knowing he doesn’t think I have a chance of winning. “One round.”
“Tomorrow morning, first thing.”
“Great. We can start searching right after. If Felix can spare me in the garden, I mean.”
Something in the way he’s looking at me makes the bottom of my stomach fall out.
“All this confidence because your dad taught you self-defense?” There’s an edge of amusement in this voice.
I told him and Nova during questioning that I had “some” fighting skills, but I made sure to downplay my abilities, just like I did at Rising Tide.
“He was a really good teacher.” I shrug.
We stand in silence, our gazes still locked. This close to him, the pull of residual aromium is stronger. I don’t even care that he’s sweaty. In fact, I might even like it. Marcus doesn’t have the edges aromium gave Pax, but somehow, he seems even more powerful to me. He could command me with his expression, his voice, or his touch, and I don’t know if I could—
The aromium is taking over again. I clear my throat, making myself stay focused.
“And the food is part of the deal? We can spare it, and they’re starving.”
“That’s the idea. They’ve got a choice—food or aromium.”
I glare at him, his oversimplification aggravating. “Virginia’s not giving anyone that choice and you know it. She’s choosing. And there are children.”
His scowl returns. “You don’t get it. Those kids could kill us in two seconds flat. And they would if Virginia told them to.”
“It’s just some food, Marcus. Not a lot. We can leave it in a place they’ll find it so they can all have one good meal.”
He shakes his head. “This is a hard line for me. No way.”
My mouth comes up with a new deal before my head has time to think it through.
“Your two best female soldiers against me, one at a time. Five minutes each. If I take both of them down, you and I deliver food for Rising Tide. No one else has to know.”
He scoffs, then bursts into laughter. It’s the first time I’ve really heard him laugh, the amusement even reaching his eyes. It throws me off balance, because I like it and hate it at the same time. He’s laughing at me. But damn, that smile.
“You’re cocky as fuck. Our women are just as good as the men.” He holds his hand out. “Deal. And props for trying.”
Our second handshake sends the same thrill of awareness shooting through me as the first one did. How long will it take to be completely free of the aromium’s influence?
I pull my hand away, the reality of what I just shook on settling over me. I have a feeling Marcus’s people are very well trained, and I’m out of practice. There’s a good chance he’s right and I’ll get my ass handed to me.
But I’m too stubborn not to try.
24
Humans have always been drawn to plants that produce psychoactive compounds, but that’s not a coincidence. Opium poppies (used in morphine and codeine), cannabis (THC and CBD), coca plants (cocaine), coffee plants (caffeine) and tobacco plants (nicotine) are all well-known and ingrained in our daily lives. Every one of these plants evolved to produce these compounds specifically to affect the mammalian nervous system.