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And if Gareth worked for Halston, that meant there was a bounty on his head.
Jesus. It was all so much worse than he’d thought.
Pierce stood up and paced, his mind racing. He couldn’t leave. He was trapped. With civilians. With?—
“Pierce?” Rhiannon’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Trapped with Rhiannon.
She was in danger.
He turned to her and inexplicably wanted to wrap her in his arms. It would feel so good to hold her close. To both comfort and to take comfort from her.
“Pierce?” she repeated. “Talk to me.”
No. He couldn’t tell her anything. He refused to expose her to the dangerous world he’d been trying so hard to escape from.
She hesitated and glanced down at the unconscious man again, then spoke quietly so the others wouldn’t overhear. “You don’t trust him, do you?”
He locked down the fear, the panic, the urge to grab her and run. He shook his head.“You know that answer.”
A faint scowl marred her pretty face. “Yeah, yeah. You don’t trust anyone.” She nodded toward Gareth. “But something abouthimset you on edge. And don’t tell me it was the gun. You’re probably carrying, too.”
He was, but he didn’t confirm it.
“So, what is it?”
Pierce shrugged, not sure how to mention his suspicions without sounding paranoid and irrational. So he settled for the truth:“He’s hiding something.”
Rhiannon looked back at Gareth, her gaze thoughtful. “Everyone hides things.”
“Even you?”
That earned him a faint smile. “No. Rylan always says I’m not just an open book. I’m an entire free library. No secrets here.”
Pierce snorted.
Her smile widened. “What? You don’t agree?”
“I think you’re a lot more complicated than your brother gives you credit for, Rhia. You’re as much of a mystery as the rest of us,”he replied.“But a mystery I wouldn’t mind unraveling when all of this is over.”
Jesus. Why did he say that?
Rhiannon’s smile faltered, surprise flashing across her features. “You want to get to know me?”
“I already am,”he finally signed.“And I like what I see.”It was true. He liked her strength, her bravery. Her compassion touched him, even as the undercurrent of uncertainty in her gaze stirred his protectiveness.
For a brief moment, Rhiannon looked shocked. “I... would like to get to know you too, Pierce.”
That confession caught him off guard. He wasn’t used to people wanting to know him— not the real him, anyway—and he wasn’t sure how to respond. He was a soldier—reticent, private, hardened by years of discipline and the trials of battle. Yes, he wanted to know her. He wanted to know everything about her. But it hardly seemed fair to ask that of her when he would never be able to open up to her in the same way. It was just too fucking dangerous for the both of them.
His gaze slid back to Gareth, still unconscious on the ground.
Right now, the most pressing danger was not his burgeoning feelings for Rhiannon—it was the man on the ground and the secrets he might be hiding.
A new wave of unease washed over him as he studied the man’s pallid face. They couldn’t afford any surprises when they were already in such a precarious situation. There was something about Gareth— a missing piece of the puzzle that refused to click into place. But Pierce was determined to solveit. If there was one thing he knew for certain, it was that secrets could be deadly in situations like this.
And he had a feeling Gareth was harboring some dangerous ones.
