Behind them, Jacques growled, he cursed, yet he didn’t step forward and tear them apart.
Brenya found then that her eyes had moved to where her fingers intertwined with a stranger’s, that she was confused at the fact that something so simple offered comfort. A man who had promised to hurt her.
It was clear who held all the power in the room. It wasn’t the Alpha on the screen, it was the Beta silently urging her to meet his poisonous gaze.
Eyes should not be that shade of blue.
“You were kind to me on the ship when I was frightened. You offered explanations no one else had. You kept your distance when I was, um…”
Jules, his voice deep and smooth as a flowing river, said, “In your first estrous, Brenya Perin.”
Cheeks red from shame, she nodded.
“The men of Bernard Dome do not understand what took place that day any better than you do. Through a stupid act of pride, in manipulating an experience that can never be undone, they have earned an enemy. And no, Brenya Perin, I will not grant them mercy. But I will demand that you understand that the consequence these men must face is not because you stole my ship when you thought to escape an abusive Alpha. It is not because you were ignorant of the situation in Thólos and the agreement between two governments that no aid might be offered to survivors of that fallen Dome.”
Soft threats in gentle words, no emotion or mental signal. A clear threat.
Because she was correct. No pair-bond would keep this man from hurting her.
Everyone was watching her, because whatever happened in this room hinged upon her completely. He was still holding her hand in both of his, and now she understood the gesture. It wasn’t comfort; it was control.
Of Jacques Bernard who could do nothing to prevent the Beta from touching her, though he seethed through the link.
Facing him fully to say what no male in the room had dared, she laid her free hand atop his grip and said what they had left to her. “Jules, what was done to you was wrong, and I am sorry for my part in it. I thought I could make it right, and I don’t truly understand what to offer or how to undo it. Teach me how, and I will try. But if you attempt to hurt my people, I will kill you.”
“Ms. Perin,” the man on the monitor with a voice of coarse rocks and scars called. “A moment of your time, please.”
She would not have looked at him, not as she waited for Jules to address a threat from a woman he understood was capable of things no one else in that room might grasp. Yet Jules pulled one of his hands from between hers and lay a finger to the side of her chin so Brenya might break their extended stare and turn her attention to the looming Shepherd.
He was still watching her in that way of his. The same way she watched.
Unblinking.
“Five men in Central died tonight from Red Consumption. I released the virus into Bernard Dome in response to your government’s treatment of my Ambassador and failure to uphold our agreement regarding the exchange of Omegas for orange trees.”
That was why the city was in lockdown! It wasn’t because she’d been caught. In fact, neither Jules nor Shepherd had informed the leadership of Bernard Dome of what she’d tried to do.
Why?
Holding tighter to Jules Havel’s hand as if he might give her strength instead of pain, Brenya shook her head. Because the things she was hearing could not be true.
Shepherd continued, “It was a controlled release, fully contained—the virus has been destroyed by incineration protocol and will not spread from that location. So understand that the day Jules Havel dies, so too will every last soul in your Dome choke to death on their blood. Be cautious of your threats.”
The screen changed to display an accelerated recording of five horrible, choking deaths, the bodies left lying in their fluids for ages before a delayed incineration protocol began. The camera burned, and the story ended. The story was so much more than the deaths. It was the very terrifying fact that a terrorist who had already destroyed one Dome for reasons she didn’t know, had conquered another, and now had power over hers.
She didn’t even know why she said it, the words small. “I have never seen anyone die.”
“So long as Jules Havel thrives, you will not see it again.”
All Brenya could think of was the Beta servant on the screen who had done nothing but her duty. How she had reached out for help and the men had ignored her. How her death would be explained away as reassignment.
Not one of her sisters in Beta Sector would know to mourn her.