Page 15 of Fool's Gold

Then his hands clamped onto my shoulders, fingers digging into my flesh with bruising force as he shoved me away. I gasped, the breath stolen from my lungs by his sudden rejection.

"No," Kaelith snapped, his voice a ragged tangle of self-loathing and...fear? "This...this cannot happen."

He scrambled to his feet, putting distance between us with quick, jerky strides. One hand raked through his tousled hair, the other clenched in a white-knuckled fist at his side.

"I should not have...you are a complication I cannot afford, human." The muscle in his jaw ticked with barely restrained tension. "A momentary lapse, nothing more."

Shame and anger warred within me as I stared up at him, my body still thrumming from the echo of his scorching kiss. How dare he dismiss what had flared between us as meaningless? As a mistake to be discarded?

Yet a treacherous part of me couldn't help but wonder if he was right. What had I been thinking, allowing myself to be swept up in this dangerous infatuation?

This man—no, this Vinduthi warrior—was my captor, a hardened killer renowned for his ruthlessness. Any tenderness I glimpsed in him was an illusion, a fleeting shadow that would soon be swept away by the darkness at his core.

Pushing aside the sting of rejection, I straightened my shoulders and met his smoldering glare head-on. "You're right. It was a mistake, one that won't be repeated." The lie tasted like ashes on my tongue, but I refused to show weakness in the face of his disdain. "We have a job to do here. Best not to lose sight of that."

Kaelith's jaw worked wordlessly for a moment before he gave a curt nod. "Agreed." Turning on his heel, he strode to the far end of the chamber and braced his hands against the wall, the tense lines of his back a study in rigid control.

I watched him for a long moment, my pulse still thundering in my ears. Get it together, Gemma. You knew better than to trust this male, to believe there could be anything between you but lies and deception.

Clenching my fists until my nails bit into my palms, I forced myself to turn away. Pointless to dwell on what could never be. Survival was all that mattered now.

At last, Kaelith straightened and pivoted to face me once more. His expression was unreadable, those burning eyes carefully averted from mine. "We should get moving. No sense wasting any more time here."

I gave a tight nod of agreement. "Lead the way."

Without another word, he strode toward the exit, movements stiff and precise. I trailed behind, fighting the urge to watch the play of his muscles beneath that gunmetal gray skin, the rippling patterns of those striking blue markings.

Stop it, I chided myself, digging my nails into my palms until they stung. He made his stance clear. This foolish infatuation needs to end before it gets you killed.

Yet even as we ventured deeper into the derelict station's guts, part of me couldn't help replaying that kiss over and over in my mind.

I shuddered, shoving the memories aside with brutal force. Focus, Gemma. There will be time for such indulgences later, if you survive this forsaken place.

The corridor yawned before us, flickering emergency lights casting stark shadows, the air thick with the scents of burned ozone and machine oil.

Kaelith forged ahead, his long strides outpacing me with ease. I struggled to keep up, my lungs burning with the exertion.

How much farther could this blasted station stretch? It felt as though we'd been trudging through its bowels for days, weeks even. Every corridor seemed to twist and double back on itself in a dizzying labyrinth.

A faint hum reached my ears, the barest vibration thrumming through the deck plating beneath my boots. I paused, straining to pinpoint the source of the elusive sound.

That's when the first tremor struck—a bone-jarring shudder that reverberated through the entire station. I stumbled, biting back a cry as I fought to keep my footing.

"What in the Void—" My words were drowned out by a deafening groan of tortured metal as the corridor seemed to buckle around us.

Kaelith whirled, those crimson eyes blown wide. "Move!" he roared, lunging toward me with startling swiftness.

I had only a split second to register the jagged fissure opening in the ceiling before his powerful frame slammed into me. We went down in a tangle of limbs, narrowly avoiding the avalanche of debris that rained down mere feet away.

KAELITH

I stared down at Gemma, lying motionless on the cold metal floor. My hearts pounded with panic, the usual calm detachment deserting me. Debris surrounded us from the collapsing corridor, dust hanging thick in the air.

"Gemma!" I shouted, brushing rubble off her body. My fingers trembled as they grazed her soft skin, checking for injuries. Relief flooded me when I felt the steady pulse at her neck.

She stirred with a groan, hazel eyes fluttering open. "Kaelith...what happened?"

"We were lucky to avoid being crushed," I admitted, helping her sit up. Her dark hair spilled over my arm in silken waves. "But you're alright."