He regarded her for a long moment and then in a tone that suggested surprise amongst other unknown things, he replied, “You see me. More than anyone.”
They gazed at each other, unblinking.
She was thinking how much depth this man in front of her had. More than she'd realized before. And she was beating herself up for not controlling her mouth.
He was thinking how much more kindly her eyes surveyed him now. The visible signs of disgust at the feelings she couldn't control around him were no longer there. Not at that moment anyway.
He understood how it felt to feel two things at once. The inner Beast wanting one thing, whilst his mind wanted the opposite. He watched her with genuine understanding and curiosity and secret hope.
Then the link was broken by an odd, animal-like cry coming from half a mile away to the south-east. Jaz squinted in the direction of the noise. It sounded like a wild beast crowing in pain.
Nik was watching her, his expression as solid as stone.
She eyed him warily, not missing his odd reaction. “What was that noise?”
He looked at her, saying nothing.
“Driver?” she demanded.
He exhaled loudly, as if giving in. “I'll show you.”
~Chapter 27 - Perch~
Thursday June 9th, 8:50 a.m.
Jaz craned her neck up at the two thick wooden poles, standing forty odd feet up in the air. Perched as still as statues on the top, were two men. They were stood up to attention like soldiers: stiff, unmoving, muddy and Jaz could see the tight-lipped pain etched on their faces. “What are they doing up there? They'll break their necks!”
“Only if they fall.”
Jaz glared at Driver but then her eyes became wide with shock.
When he realized his joke had fallen flat he looked at her in a serious manner. “They're being reprimanded.”
“For what?” Jaz questioned in a voice that showed she didn't think anything could warrant such a punishment.
“They didn't follow orders.”
She gaped at him, raising her eyebrows; then she cocked her head back and gazed up again at the dirty faces of the two men.
Both were dark-haired -though it was hard to tell under all the mud- and both were bare-chested, wearing nothing but shorts. It was summertime but the nights could still get pretty cool. Jaz's brow furrowed. Something about the one on the right looked familiar. She glanced at the other and realized she'd seen him somewhere before too. It took her a long minute before she remembered. “They were the guys in the woods.”
Driver regarded her silently.
She elaborated, thinking his silence was down to confusion. “When you stopped the car because I needed to be sick, they were the ones hiding in the woods.”
She couldn't believe how different things had been then. How terrified she'd been of Driver -even more so than the two lurking Weres. She wondered if she still felt that way about him now. She gazed back up at the two men and knew that, yes, she was still scared of him. And with good reason: he was a ruthless man. But she wasn't a timid pushover. So despite her fear of him, she told him what she thought. “Why the hell would you do something so cruel?”
Driver's eyes widened with bewilderment. “Cruel?”
“This isn't punishment, this is torture.” She shot her arm in their direction.
They were drowsy from exhaustion but they were listening; as still as stone.
“You're defending them? Even though they took part in your capture?”
“By your orders,” she said as she pointed at him.
“True,” he grunted.
“So why do this?!”
“Because they disobeyed me,” he said as if he was speaking to an invalid.
Jaz folded her arms. “How exactly?”
“You saw them, and I specifically told them not to let that happen. It frightened you. It made you completely shut down from our help. You couldn't trust us. You still don't. And it also meant that I had to put my hands on you, just so I could restrain you. It wasn't my proudest moment. And it was because of them. So I took it to the Council and it was agreed; they all accepted. Barry and Norm,” he glanced up at the men, “were more than willing.”
“I'm sure they were,” she muttered under her breath, adding in her head, It wasn't like they had a choice.
After a short pause she said, “So you're telling me that they get this for making a small stealth error and Fraya is on shit duty for a month? Now I find that hard to believe.” He shrugged in response and she wanted to knock his teeth out for it. “What else did you do to her?”
He raised a dubious brow. “Do you really care?”
Jaz glared at him. “Of course I do! I'm not you!” she snapped.
He bored a hole in her face.
“What else was her punishment?” she demanded, unflinching on the outside, trembling on the inside.
“Fifteen lashes,” he stabbed back.
She released a breath. She looked away, feeling his eyes studying her face.