Page 58

“Escort, move.” The captain checks his multislate. “We’re already behind schedule. Calder shuttle is boarding.”

Nobody moves.

“Escort?” One of the guards glances at the others.

The nurse reaches for the sick man. “I’m telling you, he isn’t fit to travel.”

The captain reaches past her and shuts down the exit scanner, its green light blinking red. “Orders changed.”

My candidate stares at him. “Our transport leaves in twenty minutes. Please. We just want to go home.”

“He’s stable enough to travel, if that’s what you’re making me write,” the nurse says, frustration breaking into her voice. “You wanted him discharged. Now you’re refusing to let him leave.”

Beside me, Ryven goes quiet, his attention fixed on the other blond. Something shifts in his face, quick and unfamiliar, but I leave it alone.

My candidate still hasn’t seen me, so I watch him for another second. Mud under his nails. Hair stuck to his forehead. One arm firm around his brother whenever he sways.

Then he looks up, those green eyes landing on me, going wide as recognition hits, followed by disbelief and a flush that climbs straight into his cheeks.

There you are, pretty pet. Still trying to run from me.

I stop in front of him. “Candidate.”

“Sir.” His lashes flutter once, color still high in his cheeks, but his chin lifts anyway, and those green eyes stay on mine.

“They tell me I woke up in a cave, half-buried, and you were gone.”

Beside me, Ryven huffs a laugh. “You were conscious for about three minutes.”

“I... I got eliminated.” His voice catches, but he doesn’t look away. “There was nothing else I could do.”

Another cough tears through the man beside him, and my candidate tightens his arm around him before he loses his footing. His jaw tightens as he looks back at me. “So I came back for him. I had to.” His grip shifts higher around his brother. “I’m taking him home.”

Ryven looks between them once. “Okay,” he says slowly, pointing at the sick one. “I’m going to need some help here. Which one of you is Onyx?”

The young man lifts his head, breathing through the oxygen line. “I am.”

I look back at the man I’ve been chasing. “Then who the fuck are you?”

He holds my gaze. For a second I think he’s going to lie again, but his chin stays up even as the color in his cheeks deepens. “Jade.”

Jade.

Green as his eyes.

“Well, nobody’s going anywhere.”

Jade’s head snaps towards me. “Sir⁠—”

“And that’s a fucking order.”

The captain clears his throat. “My apologies, sir, but I can’t comply.”

I whip my head towards him. “Excuse me?”

His shoulders stiffen beneath the uniform, and for the first time he looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. “Your father issued the transport order himself. The Hunt is over for them. They’re to be returned to Calder immediately.”

“Look at him.” I point to the oxygen line. “He’s not fit to travel.”