Chapter 357 Dark Eyes  

~ SASHA ~

"You're fighting me," Sasha said, a warning in her voice.

"No, I'm protecting myself. Why do think I never came to Thana before? I know I'm dead the minute protection is lifted. I know that. So I'll do whatever I have to, to keep myself alive. And apparently what I have to do is quid-pro-quo. You give me what I want, I give you what you want. We're both happy."

"I am not happy, Nick."

He shrugged. "Poor choice of word, maybe, but you get my point."

Sasha sighed. But she needed what was in his head, so for now she would play by his rules. At least, as far as he knew.

"Fine," she snapped. "An eye for an eye. You answer my question, I'll answer yours."

"Perfect. I'll even let you go first," he said with a wide grin.

Sasha rolled her eyes, then asked the first question even though it was selfish. "I want to know what medical procedures were done on me when I was asleep."

Nick winced. "That's one of the things I don't know. And they'd be too concerned about you misusing that information, so it won't be on this device."

"How could I possibly misuse information about myself?"

"Wait, it's my turn for a question. How do you contact the creatures, like Ernie?"

Sasha spluttered a laugh at the tension in him. Dear Lord, they were both just trying to get their fears soothed, weren't they? Sasha shook her head at herself for the ridiculous situation where she felt like she understood Nick's heart.

"It's no big secret, Nick. That's just good, old-fashioned gossip. I tell some of the males and they get out into the forest and get the word out. There's nothing mysterious about it. Now, my turn: How would I misuse information about myself?"

"I used the wrong word. I just meant they know you'd be curious about that, so they'll keep the information away from you until it suits them."

"When would it ever suit them to tell me if they don't want to?"

"When there's something they want more than they want to keep that information from you. They'll use it as a bargaining chip."

"You want me to believe they didn't just tell you what they did?"

"You might remember there was a lot going on, Sasha. I was busy trying to keep you alive, sorry that I didn't spend every moment studying their fucking hieroglyphics of medical notes. I know some of it, but not everything. But the list of tests I saw weren't dramatic—which is why I was confused about the whole thing. I mean, you knew they were looking for pregnancy and immunity and hormone levels, all that stuff. So why hide it from you?" He shrugged. "Either there's stuff they held back, or maybe… I don't know. Maybe they just knew you'd ask me and they didn't want me to have a complete answer. All I can tell you is that the list of tests I saw were basically to make sure you were healthy, not pregnant, and not hiding some inherent health issue that we didn't know about or no doctor had diagnosed. Remember, it doesn't work in their favor to have you come over here and get sick. They want you healthy and capable. They want to make sure nothing stands in the way of your fertility."

"You people are disgusting," she snarled. Nick shrugged again, seeming unperturbed.

"My turn," he said with a grin. "Tell me how you got all the clans to submit to you. I mean, as Zev's mate, I understand the wolves. But all of them? Especially the Tigers—why would they do that when you were so new and physically weak?"

Sasha shook her head. "I wish I knew. I mean, it happened when I killed Xar—which I understand is like, a thing, in terms of dominance. But the only thing I can come up with is that they truly saw Zev as dominant, and when he submitted to me, the rest just followed."

Nick gave her a skeptical look. "I haven't observed that the chimera are inclined to 'just follow' anybody—especially a human."

"Is that a question, Nick? Me first: Tell me about Mae. Why does she have pain in her abdomen?"

Nick stared at her for a second, measuring her with his eyes, then he picked the device up from the bench next to him and started tapping through things on the screen. When he looked up, his eyes were dark.

"This is… important information for Mae, and possible for her mate. But I don't believe it will affect anyone else. Why would you bring up this question so quickly? It seems an odd choice when there's so much bigger dynamics at play."

"Call me a softie, Nick," Sasha said through her teeth. "Mae was a great help to me getting the females here safely, and I'd like to have some idea of what's making her so… isolated."

"If she's isolated, she's doing it to herself. Her health condition isn't contagious."

Sasha waited, but he didn't continue. She folded her arms again. "So, are you going to tell me?"

"Would Mae want me to?"

"I'm not sure Mae would want me to."

Sasha was stunned for a moment at the audacity of him, then she scoffed. "You seriously want me to believe you're protecting a Chimeran's privacy?!"

Nick's eyes narrowed. "You really think I'm an asshole, don't you?"

"Yes!"

He shook his head. "You know, I thought if you were Zev's mate you'd have better instincts or something. I don't know. Don't you realize how I worked my ass off to get you out of the compound and back here—with other females, might I add. Can't you see they never would have gone for that based on your little speeches alone? You really think I was just fucking around with you?"

"No, Nick, I think that you have your own motives and your own goals, and you don't tell me what those are. So maybe we're working together sometimes, and maybe we aren't. It's impossible to know."

"So me getting you back here—as I said I would—is worth nothing because I don't tell you everything?"

"No. Doing one thing right doesn't mean I believe your whole game is right. And before you try to put the guilt trip on me, save your breath. I know what you did to Zev, Nick, and I'm not going to fall for that. I'm honest with you: No matter what good you might have done, it will never balance out the bullshit and sheer evil of what you've put all these people through—"

"Me?! You think I'm the one who put him through it? I'm the one who saved his fucking life!"

"You're the one who was in a position to protect him, and you didn't. You aren't a hero in this story, Nick, no matter what you want Zev—or me—to believe. Bad people do good things. That doesn't make them good people."

Nick's lips twisted like he was pissed off, but he just stared at her.

When he didn't speak, Sasha opened a hand toward him. "So?"

"So, what?"

"So, are you going to tell me why Mae is in pain all the time?"

Nick's jaw twitched.