Something in his voice, a touch of frustration, anger and helplessness all rolled into one, makes my eyes fly open but already he’s moving away.
"Besides, I’m more needed here now to make sure they deliver on their side of the bargain too."
He jerks his head at some of Jai’s crew gathered in the corner, who are going through their morning drill.
"Rare earth metals? That’s what this is about?" I lean back with a sigh, feeling marginally better.
Some of the fog that’s occupied my mind since getting seasick lifts a little. I squint up at Mikhail, who’s still towering over me. Looking around him. He’s restless. He doesn’t trust anyone on this ship.
"It’s never just about people," he says, his voice bitter. "There always has to be a commercial agenda to these things." He sinks down next to me, resting his back against the wall of the deck. "You should know that by now, Aria."
Sure I know it.
It’s another reason Jai is able to justify asking for me to come along on this trip. That he needs me there to speak to the refugees in person and convince them about his plan for Bombay 2.
He’s become good at that, Jai, smooth with his arguments.
He’s spent the last two years not just building his body but also apparently growing into his role as the Chief Commander of the Guardians. His standing up to Mikhail and deft overriding of all my objections makes me wonder if he’s a lot more like his uncle than I’ve possibly thought before.
A part of me mourns the loss of that innocent person I had met in Bombay.
The ship rolls again and the flicker of nausea makes me wince.
"I suppose I should be grateful you made sure Lily’s taken care of while I’m on this mission," I finally say and my voice sounds hoarse even to my own ears.
"She’s one of us," he says simply. "And I trust Samoen to make sure she’s safe."
He’s right. The giant is one of the gentlest, most caring people I know, and Lily had taken a shine to him almost immediately. He’d be able to protect her better than me too. For a second I feel bereft at the thought of being replaced so easily. Then I push that thought away. It’s only a temporary separation after all and before I know it I’ll be back, with Lily.
I hope.
"You still don’t trust me, do you?" I look at him through still-watering eyes. "You think I’d team up with him, turn on our own people."
Mikhail turns to me and I flinch at the look in those pale eyes. "Aria, I—"
"Ariana."
I look up to find Jai standing not far away. He’s dressed in black, the sword by his side giving him a dangerous, edgy appearance. Even half-delirious with seasickness he looks good.
Jai’s eyes flash from me to Mikhail, then back. "You’re needed for our strategy meeting."
The way he says "strategy" in that flat, emotionless manner makes me want to refuse.
Sure, we need to plan how to break the news of Bombay 2 and the new home that the refugees will be getting. And that I’m the new "link" between the two groups. Still, I don’t like the command in his eyes. Don’t like him ordering me about.
Above me, Mikhail stiffens
Ignoring his helping hand, I stumble to my feet, then walk past him, past Jai.
"I need a shower," I mutter to no one in particular. "I’ll see you in the planning room."
29
I look around the room at a different set of faces. Four men. One woman. Most of them are openly hostile. Jai’s team is as unhappy as me about my presence on the ship.
The only person they hate more than me is Mikhail. I flick my eyes to where he’s standing at one of the windows of our so-called "War room’, a meeting room which has been set aside for finalizing our plans for when we land in Bombay.
Jai hasn’t arrived yet. Not that I want to see him again particularly, either. I resist the temptation jump to my feet and run out of the room. I’ll be damned if I let their anger get to me.
"It’s good to have you with us, Ariana, it’ll make a difference to how we find a solution to the migrant problem." This is from one of the less sullen looking men in the room. "We are just managing to contain them on the outskirts of the city. But their numbers are growing every day. We must find a more permanent home for those who have arrived. And I am sure you can help us."
I tilt my head, nodding my gratitude at the man. He’s older than the others, in his mid-thirties with graying hair. Like the rest he wears army fatigues, but the band around his right bicep is black, which shows he is senior to the rest who wear yellow.
"Always the diplomat, Kabir," the woman replies. A thread of amusement in her voice,
"Not all of us have forgotten basic humanity, Neela," Kabir answers, a thread of anger in his voice.
Neela goes on as if she hasn’t heard him, "Not that I don’t appreciate having another female on board but you’ll forgive me if I don’t trust you yet."
Her jet-black eyes snap at me, the muscles in her arms flexing as she folds her hands on the table in front of her. She has a tattoo running up the side of her neck, a sheet of letters written in a language I don’t recognize. Her hair is cut close to her scalp, a severe crew cut which should have made her look masculine but it’s had the opposite effect. It throws her cheekbones into relief. Beautiful, yet deadly.
Another voice snarls, "She’s one of them. Why is she even here?"
Snarly Voice looks to be the youngest of the lot; he’s tall and well-built with a thick, muscled neck and corded biceps with tattoos running up one forearm. Silver studs glint in his ears.
"Wearing your sister’s T-shirt?" I ask in a bored voice, looking pointedly at his nipples pushing up against the thin material. After a moment of surprise a titter runs through the group.
He gets to his feet, hands bunched into fists, a threatening look on his face. Mikhail steps away from the window, his hand on the gun by his side.
At the same time, Jai’s voice rings out, "So I can’t trust you'll to carry out a single meeting without me? Are you so immature that you can’t put aside petty differences and work towards a solution? Remember this situation affects not just them but all of us."
The whip of authority in his voice makes me start but I don’t turn around. Every other face in the room looks to him. Everyone except Mikhail, who looks at me first before tearing his eyes away.
I am very aware of Jai walking over to stand at the far end of the table.
The older guy says in a placatory voice, "We were just getting started, Chief."
Jai doesn’t acknowledge him. Instead he stares down Snarly Voice, who has a mutinous look on his face. "You should know better than to get angry at the slightest provocation, Cy," he snaps.
Once more I hear the authority in his voice. An edge, a hardness that hadn’t been there earlier. Jai pulls up a chair, then looks to Mikhail, who crosses over to the table. He doesn’t sit down, though. Just stations himself behind me. He places his palms on the back of my chair, a light touch, one that signals to the room that he’s there to protect me. One that implies a sense of ownership too. A keep-your-hands-off-my-girl kind of touch. For once, I don’t protest. Right now Mikhail is the only person I know here. And I need all the help I can get.
I lean back against the chair and let my hair brush against his fingers. Mikhail stiffens. The gesture is not lost on Jai either. His jaw hardens, an angry look forming in his eyes. A glint of amber sparks in them, tugging on a curl of desire in the base of my belly.
Jai addresses the other guy.
"Kabir," he says. "Brief us on what to expect the first few days after we land. How do we justify her presence and just what can we expect the reaction to be?"
All this without looking at me.
As if he doesn’t want to acknowledge I’m in the room.
"I think it’s a real asset to have her," Kabir smiles at me warmly.
I tilt my head, liking this guy more-and-more. And not just because he's the only one who seems pleased to have me on board
. He looks like the kind of person who’ll keep his wits about him in a fight. The kind of person Jai can do with having on his side.
I shove away that thought angrily. Like it matters to me what helps Jai or not.
"I vote we don’t delay but take her directly to the Jungle when we land and have her address them and tell them about Bombay 2."
"Makes sense." I nod.
"She’ll need to be trained," Jai says, his voice thoughtful.
"I’ve known how to protect myself in the last few years," I say flatly.
"Of course." He tilts his head.
Polite. Infuriating.
"Still, it would be a lot more reassuring if you also learned hand-to-hand combat. Out there you won’t always have the luxury of weapons, especially when you come up against shifters. You need to learn hand-to-hand combat."
I’m about to protest when Mikhail speaks up, "He’s right. You are good with the sword but you’ll benefit from learning unarmed fighting skills. Use the next few weeks mastering everything you can. It’s the only thing that’ll keep you alive once we get there."
Jai’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. A look passes between the two men, one I can’t interpret, but I know that on this one matter they are both in agreement.
Seems they do have a common meeting ground after all.
Me.
Before I can think of what that implies for me, Jai points to the guy on his right. "Niko can train you."
Tall, ponytailed and built like a mountain, Niko has a gentle face, broad with oriental features. I look at his tattooed arms and knuckles and wince, already feeling the broken bones heading my way.
"You may get hurt but I promise you won’t die before you reach Bombay." Jai grins, finally meeting my eyes.
A trail of warmth from him reaches out to me and I blink. Memories come rushing back. Of amber eyes glowing with barely subdued fire as he’d glanced down at me, and leaned in and brushed the hair off my forehead. It’s as if he’s reached out and touched me just then.
I shiver. And as if sensing my thoughts, there’s a fleeting look across his face – one of longing, of pain, of regret? Gone so quickly I’m not sure it was even there.
But Mikhail has seen it too for he stiffens. Goes still. His hand grips the chair tighter, the pressure running from his fingertips through the wood and across to me.
I straighten but don’t lean back.
This time Jai addresses Mikhail directly. "Niko’s the best at unarmed combat. He’ll make sure he doesn’t unnecessarily hurt her either."
"Hey." My voice comes out a little shaky, and I clear it before saying, "I’m still here you know."
Jai replies, his voice smooth, "Of course, sorry, Ariana." He tilts his head. "Niko will let you know when to meet next and you should also have a separate meeting with Kabir to get you up to speed with how the Jungle is being run."
"Being run?" I stare. "You’ve done nothing for the migrants. Nothing except trying to scare them off, uprooting their homes, making sure supplies don’t reach them…" Mikhail’s touch on my shoulder stops me.
"I’m sorry you feel that way," Jai says. His voice is formal. Polite. "I’m aware you and your sister suffered a lot when you were at the camp and I am sorry about—’
"Sorry?" I jump to my feet as an unreasonable rage runs through me. "You are sorry?" It’s not fair that he can sit there with his home still intact and his family safe and apologize for the sorry mess my life has become. "You have no idea what we went through in Bombay—"
"If you don’t want to be here or deliver your end of the bargain, then leave. No one is holding you back." His voice slams into me and I hate it.
Hate that he’s right. That I’m helpless. A pawn between these two factions. Can’t they see it’s all a sham?
And while I may even believe Jai is the real mastermind behind this plan to try and bring peace between the East and the West, I don’t trust Vishal. I’m being manipulated to head back to Bombay, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
"I’m not leaving," I say in a low voice.
He nods, a short sharp jerk. Then, looks around the table and says, "Meeting over. Can you all leave us so I can have a word with Ariana?"
The others shuffle out. He looks pointedly at Mikhail, who hasn’t moved an inch.
Swearing to myself, I turn around and say in a low voice, "It’s fine, Mikhail."
When he hesitates, I snap, "I can take care of myself, OK?"
His jaw firms at that and, turning, he stalks out without another look at me, the door banging behind him.
We stay as we are for a few seconds, the tension building till I can’t stand it anymore. Walking to the porthole I look out, turning my back on him.
The blue and green folds into the distance. Infinite. If only this journey had no ending too.
The silence stretches until he finally says, his voice soft, "How much longer are you going to avoid me, Aria?"
I don’t say anything, don’t even react.
And then he explodes, his voice rising with frustration. "Ari, goddammit, look at me."
Maybe it’s the "Ari" which does it. He's never called me that before. Only my mother called me so. And that shakes me a little. Has he really been thinking of me all these years?
I turn to find him right behind me.
"What do you want?" I ask, looking somewhere over his shoulder.
Waves of longing. Unsaid emotions so thick I can feel them slam into me. I swallow as that ever-present craving unfurls inside.
I can smell that cinnamon and pine scent of his, laced with something darker, deeper. As if his soul has darkened over the years. This time apart has not been easy for him either, but I’m not ready to forgive him. Not yet.
Don’t look at him.
If you do you’ll be lost.
I can feel the tension radiating from him. Tugging at me. Unable to resist, my eyes are drawn to his face. That deep-burnished mahogany of his skin just begging to be touched. I curl my fingers at my side, fixing my eyes at the hollow at the base of his neck. He swallows and the pulse just below his jaw beats rapidly. He’s nervous, I realize with a shock.
Nervous about being in the same room as me. About being so close to me. About my reaction to him. He thinks I’m upset with him. That I’m never going to forgive him.
And I can’t. Not him, nor his family.
"I’m sorry I let you go, Aria. Sorry I wasn’t there to help you—’
I raise my hand as if to put some distance between us. I don’t realize I’m shaking my head, not till I raise my eyes to his and his features twist with emotion.
His eyes flare at me with fear, anger, worry and more.
Hopelessness.
A shattered look on his face.
If I stay here a second longer I’ll touch him and then I’ll regret it.
I brush past him, crossing the floor.
"No. Aria. Don’t." His voice twists with anguish.
He knows he’s lost me.
I shut the door quietly behind me.
30
Pain shoots through my knee, setting my nerve endings on fire. Groaning, I shake my head to clear it, then, look up from where I’ve been flung to the floor.
Ten days.
I curse inwardly. I’ve spent ten days on this ship. Ten days in which I’ve managed to keep out of Jai’s way and avoided Mikhail as much as possible too.
Another ten left to go before we reach our destination and I know I’m not ready. Not even close to ready to face what I feel for either of them. I’d rather face the six-feet-six-inch hulk standing before me, hands hanging loose at his side. I barely come up to his chest.
One side of his lips twists in a slight smile. He’s waiting, waiting for me to rush him.
‘That all you got?" He taunts.
A flicker of anger runs through me and I welcome its bite. My eyes flick to where my sword is propped up at the side.
I’ve been surprised that Jai’s allowed me to keep it.
But again not.
After all, he’s said he trusts me.
I still don’t know what to make of that. I don’t want to think what that means.
Standing there with sweat dripping down my brow and with this hulk of a man waiting to pound me to within an inch of my life, it dawns on me that I do trust Jai too.
Despite everything I trust him.
I swear inwardly, not sure what to make of that.
A part of me is convinced that Jai regrets having let go of me once. And now that we are together, again, he will not fail me. This time he’ll be there for me.
That’s why he came back.
For me.
Doesn’t mean I’m going to make it easy for him, though.
Almost by magic, a fresh burst of adrenaline flows through me. When Niko holds up his palm, beckoning me, I’m ready.
Locking my eyes with his, I keep my gaze away from those biceps, lethal biceps the size of my head. And I let my anger rip. Adrenaline surges, heating my blood, pushing away some of the icicles around my heart.
Springing back up, I bounce on my heels for a bit, pushing away the pain in my knee. Holding up my fists I burst into a run. One, two, three and then pressing back against the floor I jump, flinging myself at him, going straight for his throat. Only to have him step aside.
I crash to the floor, this time hitting my nose with such force that pain rattles through my brain, setting off flashes of yellow and purple lights inside my head.
I lie there stunned, and for a second, a screen of white descends on me. I feel lightheaded, I’m floating. Voices from far off, someone turning me over. Something wet touches my forehead and I struggle to open my eyes.
"Hang on, princess, give it just a few more seconds," a soft voice warns.
As much as Niko throws a mean punch, he’s also one of the gentlest people I know.
Besides, our days of training have shown that he’ll never hurt me. Not intentionally.
Forcing myself to open my eyes, I sit up.
"I’m fine," I grind out, wincing when my voice comes out all gritty.
Taken (Many Lives Book 2) Page 13