Chapter 451
[ 430 words ]
Chapter 451:
Brenna’s eyes lit up with understanding. “Oh my god. That’s it, isn’t it? You’ve been marked.”
Caroline didn’t deny it. She looked down at the food Jarrod had brought her and took a small bite, unable to suppress the faint, secret smile that touched her lips.
Outside the tent, Jarrod hadn’t gone far. He was leaning against a support pole, just out of sight, listening to every word.
He heard Brenna’s assessment of him, and his jaw tightened.
But then he heard Caroline’s unconscious imitation of his gesture. He heard the shock and discovery in their voices. He pictured the small, private smile he knew was on her face.
The tightness in his jaw eased, and the corner of his own mouth lifted in a barely perceptible, deeply possessive smirk.
She was his. Body, mind, and now, even her habits. She was completely and utterly his.
Brenna’s hand was still pressed to her forehead where Caroline had flicked it, her eyes wide with the shock of discovery. The implication hung in the air between them—that Caroline had absorbed Jarrod’s mannerism so completely it had become her own. Brenna shook off the revelation with a visible shiver, glancing nervously toward the tent flap and lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Seriously, the Colonel’s vibe is so intense. I feel like I’m being interrogated.”
Caroline laughed, but the sound was thin, laced with an exhaustion that went bone-deep. The secret smile from a moment ago faded, replaced by the weary reality of her situation.
Brenna’s expression softened with concern as she took in Caroline’s pale face and the dark circles under her eyes. “But don’t be too hard on him,” she added, her voice dropping again. “You have no idea what he was like while you were missing. All night, and then through the morning… he was losing his mind.”
𝘉е 𝘵𝗁e fi𝘳ѕ𝘵 𝘁o 𝗋eаd o𝗻 g𝖺𝗅𝗇o𝘷𝘦𝗅𝘴.𝗰om
The last traces of amusement vanished from Caroline’s face. Her smile froze. “What did you say? All night?”
The words hung in the air, heavy and wrong. She had lost track of time in the darkness, but until this moment, the night had existed for her as a blur of pain, dust, Sterling’s fading voice, and the brutal rhythm of staying alive.
Brenna nodded, her eyes wide and serious. “Yeah. From the moment they realized you had gone into Zone A, he didn’t stop. He didn’t sleep. I don’t think he ate. He just… tore the place apart looking for you. Every hour made him worse. We all thought he was going to run himself into the ground before the rescue crews even found the breach.”
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