“You’re right. Some of them are like that,” I agreed.
“Gideon’s like that, which is why I got my friends out of there and came to seek sanctuary here. It’s why I need to help my friends who are still there. But Heath isn’t like that. He cares,” I told him.
Elias smirked at a memory.
“Maybe about you. I saw him pick you up and carry you onto the Gideon Corp helicopter when you were injured. I guess you’re like a gen-pet to him, or a favorite toy.”
His face was a portrait of disdain.
“That doesn’t mean he gives a damn about the rest of us,” he grumbled. “It certainly doesn’t mean I trust him. Which means I can’t trust you. If it was his di- rections and aid that got you here, I’m not even sure it’s safe for us to stay here. Gideon’s Retrievers are probably close behind.”
Glancing up over our heads, he said, “The Ghost Guard fabric will keep their scanners and sensors from picking us up. But if they’re determined enough, they could physically check every tree in the area and find our cloaking tech.”
“You don’t have to worry. There’s no way we could have been followed.
Heath made sure we had our chips removed, stripped the vehicle of all tech so it could get us here untraced. And he said he was actively leading his father’s Re- trievers away from this place.”
Elias mocked me, using a ridiculous sounding girly voice. “’Heath said this, Heath said that…’”
He shook his head wearing a look that approached pity.
“He’s got you so brainwashed. Which means for the time being, I have no choice but to treat you like a spy. You don’t even know what he might have pro- grammed you to do.”
Walking me to the tent and opening the flap, he added, “In fact, I’ll be sleeping with one eye open tonight in case you were programmed to take me out. Welcome home.”
“What do you mean ‘sleeping with an eye open?” I ducked and went inside, looking around.
The tent was the size of a modest bedroom. It contained a small table and chair that might have been for dining or maybe also served as a desk?
A taller, narrower table stood at the far end of the tent and held a basin and a water pitcher. There were a few baskets and boxes.
And a bed. One bed.
And then his meaning became clear. He was going to make me sleep in here tonight.
With him.
“Do you guys not have, like a jail tent or somewhere else I could stay? Is that where my friends are? You said they were going to be guarded.”
Elias sat on the edge of the bed and removed his shoes.
“The Haven doesn’t have a lot of crime. And yes, the other girls are being guarded tonight-for their safety as well as ours.”
What did that mean? I tensed, tugging futilely at the cord binding my wrists. The more I pulled at it, the tighter it got.
“Do you think someone here will try to hurt them?”
“Hurt them? No.” Elias didn’t elaborate.
Was he planning to hurt me? He’d said he intended to interrogate me. Did the Haven use torture on suspected spies?
On the other hand, they didn’t seem to be barbarians. For people living in trees, these guys seemed to possess a lot of tech gear. Maybe Elias had a lie detector handy.
If so, he was welcome to use it. I had nothing to hide. And there was no way Heath had “programmed” me to infiltrate the Haven. He wouldn’t.
He cared about me-even Elias had admitted it.
Kicking his shoes beneath the bed, Elias stood and started tugging off his shirt. Like the others I’d seen here, he didn’t look like the skinny boys on the base.
With his clothes on he’d looked powerful, simply based on his size. But the sight of him shirtless was a shock. His chest and shoulders were heavy with muscle.
As he maneuvered the shirt over his head and dragged it from his arms, the muscles of his stomach rippled under silky sun-browned skin sprinkled with hair in a line right down the middle of his abdomen.
Feeling my cheeks heat, I turned away. Elias must have noticed the involuntary body language because he laughed at my modesty. “Oh yeah, that’s right. You guys are all still tweens.” “What are you talking about? We’re seventeen.”
I looked back at Elias to find him smiling at my confusion.
“But you haven’t gone through puberty yet. Those red pills we all took keep it suppressed by controlling your hormone levels.”
His tone turned sarcastic. “Wouldn’t want any ‘inconvenient’ testosterone and estrogen surges causing their little science experiments to start hooking up before schedule. You’ll see. We’ve all been through it. Once you and your friends have been here long enough and those daily meds start wearing off, things are gonna change-big time.”
His comment made me remember some of the things Heath had told me. And how I’d started feeling about him when we were together, the way I’d started noticing his physique and his alluring scent in a way I’d never noticed the boys on the base.
If memory served, we’d kissed not long after all those new feelings had surfaced.
“So I guess the kids here don’t take the pills?”
“Nope. We stopped taking them and made sure all our nanos were gone before we created a permanent home base.”
He gestured proudly to himself. “Nothing to track… and all grown up.” I twisted away from his raised eyebrow and crooked grin and bare chest, taking a seat on the rug and attempting to make myself comfortable. It was going to be a long night trying to sleep on the floor with my hands tied behind my back, but I was tired enough to do it.
Shifting to one side, I reclined to lie on my shoulder. My neck was crooked at an uncomfortable angle. In spite of the rug, the floor was hard. And cold. Ugh. Even prisons offered better sleeping conditions. The leader of the Haven was crueler than I ever could have imagined.
Behind me, Elias’ voice sounded bemused. “What are you doing?”
“I’m exhausted,” I barked over one shoulder. “I barely got any sleep last night, and it’s been a long day. I hiked for miles and then got marched up a bunch of treehouse ladders. I’m going to slee-“
The last word hadn’t left my mouth before I felt a pair of hands slide under me and lift me from the floor.
“I don’t think so,” Elias said.
He carried me-wriggling in protest-to the hammock bed where he deposited me on top of the covers. They did feel incredibly soft-so much better than the tent floor.
Still, I glared up at him. “No thank you. I don’t need your ‘hospitality.’ I’ll take the floor.”
I attempted to swing my legs off the bed and get up, but Elias crashed down beside me and rolled me to my side. Sliding himself closer so we were both fully in the hammock, spooning, he wrapped a heavily muscled arm around me, effectively locking me into place against him.
“There. Now there’s no chance of you sneaking out of here while I’m asleep.”
“Let me go.” I kicked at his shins and curled my hands in toward my back.
Our position had trapped my fingers between our bodies, pressed up against warm skin. I couldn’t see what I was touching and didn’t really want to know. Lower abs maybe?
I could hope for that.
Leaning forward, I attempted to put some distance between us, but gravity and the design of the hammock kept pushing me back toward him.
The heat of his big body was all along the back of me, radiating through me and making me feel panicky.
“Be still,” Elias ordered. “Go to sleep. I’m tired, too. You have precisely zero chance of escaping so you might as well get some rest.”
I stopped struggling and blew out an exasperated breath. “Could you at least tie my hands in front of me so I’m not touching… whatever I’m touching?”
I felt Elias’ chest move against my upper back and shoulders. His hot breath brushed against my ear.
He was laughing at me.
“Don’t worry, Sunshine, it’s nothing very interesting. Just my forearm.” He laughed again. “Still, I guess that isn’t too comfortable for sleeping.”
He untied my bonds, and I immediately stretched my arms out in front of me then above my head. The change in position felt fantastic.
“Roll over,” Elias ordered. “Turn so you’re facing me. I’ll tie them in the front.”
I complied but argued with him. “You don’t have to tie me up at all. I won’t leave. Believe me, I have no interest in falling out of a tree in the dark- or wan- dering around the forest in the middle of the night alone. And I’d never leave my friends behind.”
He gave me a speculative glance, apparently considering it. “I believe you believe what you’re saying. But you might not be completely in control of your actions. And until I’m sure that you are…”
He took the cord and re-wrapped my wrists, this time in front of my body. “You’re staying tied up… and staying with me. Now go to sleep.”
He lay down again and pulled me down beside him, once again rolling me to the side and scooting up behind me so he could hold me against him while he slept.
I couldn’t say it was exactly comfortable. I’d shared a bed with only one person in my life – Heath – and only that one night at the cabin.
But at least my hands were more loosely tied now. I might have even been able to slip the knot if I tried, but what I’d said to Elias was true. I had no inten- tion of trying to escape.
Not tonight anyway. Now, if conditions didn’t improve here and fast-I would find my friends and plan another escape. This time from the Haven.
For tonight, there was nothing to do but try to get some sleep so I would have my full strength and wits about me tomorrow.
Based on our first night here, there was no telling what our first full day at the Haven would entail.
