“My name is Mina Gardin,” she repeated. She couldn’t read his eyes.
They looked nothing like they had two days before when he kissed her goodbye, fingers framing her face, forehead pressed to hers, reminding her to be careful. She couldn’t read him at all.
It’s a role.
She stopped and started to turn back. “I can get my papers.”
They’d said to keep them on her at all times, hadn’t they?
“No,” Alex said. “We can get them in a minute, miss. You come on down, please.”
She couldn’t read his eyes.
Lean swallowed and stepped forward. She took the first step down and reached for his offered hand.
His fingers closed on hers like a vice, and he yanked her from the car.
She stumbled, caught herself, and then fell off balance again as he spun her around by her arm and pressed her against the hot metal side of the car.
He pinned her, one hand holding her wrist to the middle of her back, his knee pressing into the small of her back.
“Stop! What are you doing?” Terror filled her voice. Shame flooded through her, and she didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t make herself trust Alex or because she had ever trusted him at all. “Please, stop! You’re making a mistake!” She tried to push against him but he was immovable.
“Shut up.” A voice growled in her ear. Not Alex.
A hand fumbled at the back of her neck.
“Stop! Stop! This isn’t what I wanted!” Another voice shouted at them. Danny’s voice?
Lena tried to turn her head and look, but Alex held her fast. Another hand came up to push the side of her face against the car. Not Alex’s hand. Why did it matter?
“You should have thought of that before,” Alex snapped. The rage in his voice wasn’t directed at her, and it wasn’t an act. This was real. “What you want is irrelevant now, Mr. Gracey.”
Danny did this? Her body sagged as her knees went loose. Her brother had seen her. He had reported her. She had been wrong. Her brother had done this, and Alex had no choice.
The hand fumbled against her neck again, pushing her hair up and away.
She felt the icy prick of awareness a moment before she heard the snick of connection. She bucked against them, desperate, wild for only a second. The Dust gathered within her chest, ready to burst out—
And then it scattered as the collar powered up, and the current surged through her.
Chapter 29
As soon as the collar snapped into place, Alex stepped away. He forced himself not to avert his eyes as Lena fell into a boneless heap. Boneless, but not unconscious.
She stared at him, even as she blinked uncontrollably.
It didn’t matter that he hadn’t had a choice from the instant Merritt appeared at his shoulder just as Danny was asking why his sister was in camp, working with the Councilor’s chef. At that point, her arrest wasn’t in doubt. Alex made the decision to use her arrest to get her in front of Three instead of sneaking her in later. He’d be damned if he’d allow himself to look away from what he’d done.
His stomach heaved. His well-trained mind might be racing, picking through available choices and making strategic decisions, but his body fought his control. Even his chest felt hollow. He swallowed back the bile and tried to control the trembling of arms that wanted nothing more than to rip the collar from her now.
It’s temporary. Ah, Dust, Lena, it’s temporary, I promise!
He pulled the gloves from his belt and shoved his hands inside of them. When he knelt and reached out to touch her, intending to lift her to take her to the main car where Three waited, he could feel the charge surrounding her.
“Are you trying to give her a heart attack?” He reached his fingers around to adjust the current himself.
“If necessary.” Merritt’s response was even and satisfied. “And don’t touch that collar, Reyes. This little bitch is the strongest Spark ever born. I saw what she did to the Council building. She gets max volts or she gets a bullet in the brain.”
Alex looked up and sneered at the man. “Scared, Merritt? I’ve faced her twice now and lived to talk about it.”
“Yes, you have.” Merritt made it clear the fact made his skills, or him, suspect.