Free The Ophelia Prophecy by Sharon Lynn Fisher Page B

there’s a chance you’ll see your home again, especially now you’ve fallen in with us. Until that happens, I want you to know you’re welcome here.”
    She thought about her father back at the Archive. Imagined him shuffling from his terminal to hers. Scrolling distractedly through files. Her hands began to shake.
    Beck reached for the hand with the uninjured wrist, holding it between his. His palms felt dry and hot. “I know it’s not what you’re used to, but you’ll be safe here.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “And you can trust me to watch out for you.”
    Her fingers tensed. “What do you mean?”
    “We’ve a hard life here, and not all of the men have a mate. If you’re with me, they’ll leave you alone.”
    She pulled her hand free, eying him with alarm. “What do you want from me?”
    Beck crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a wan smile. “Not a thing.” He shook his head, chuckling. “Well, that’s not the honest truth. But I wouldn’t touch you unless you wanted it. I can’t make any promises about the others.”
    Ice water trickled down Asha’s spine. Yet her heart beat so fast she felt hot. “What kind of place is this?”
    “A place where men are surviving, love, and just barely that. It’s no Sanctuary. We’ve no archive beyond what you see here,” he waved at the boxes of books, “nor time to spend on such things. Surviving means toiling to feed hungry bellies. Staying one step ahead of our enemy. And it means making babies, so they don’t wipe us off the face of the Earth.”
    She stared at him, her mind running through a comparison of the two men who had been steering her fate for the last twenty-four hours. One had fought to protect her from an instinct he found abhorrent. This one was telling her the same instinct was a fact of life.
    But it occurred to her there might be more behind this than a desire to protect her. An excuse, perhaps, to keep her close. He doesn’t trust me either . And why should he? She’d already lied to him.
    Someone rapped on the chapel door, and Beck rose from the pew. “Come,” he called.
    Asha stood as the priest stepped into the chapel. She gasped to see Paxton move into the doorway behind him.
    “What’s going on?” demanded Beck, hand reaching to his waist for a weapon that wasn’t there.
    “The wasp got free,” replied the priest. “The Manti captain says the whole hive could be on top of us soon.”
    “Wasp?” asked Asha.
    “This is a trick, Carrick!” barked Beck, his face red with anger. “To get you to release them.”
    “I didn’t release them,” the man replied darkly.
    “No trick,” Paxton asserted, gaze flickering at Asha. “You’ve got trouble coming. Probably soon. No way of knowing how many.”
    Beck’s gaze moved between the two men, his taut form still on high alert. He clearly didn’t know what to believe.
    “You should start moving your people out of here,” said Paxton. “We’re going.”
    “You’re not going anywhere, and neither are we,” replied Beck, stepping toward him. “Why should we believe you?”
    “I don’t care what you believe. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you can stop us.” Paxton held out a hand to Asha. “Let’s go.”
    Beck moved between Asha and Paxton, and fury burned in his reply. “Go on then, bugman. But she stays with us.”
    Suddenly Iris burst into the chapel. “We have to go , Pax.”
    Asha moved without planning it, motivated by an aversion to the idea of being forced back into Manti custody. She darted onto the dais, scooping up a gun and leveling it at Paxton.
    “No, love!” shouted Beck. The command terminated in an exasperated grumble.
    Paxton was already in motion—she had to make a split-second decision. She dropped the barrel slightly, aiming for his lower body without pausing to think about why she didn’t want to kill him.
    His hand closed over the barrel and she squeezed the trigger.
    Nothing happened.
    Paxton yanked the weapon