Lethal Love

Elise

I kept staring at my watch.

In a good few hours, we were going with Kelsi's plan. I was terrified.

"Elise!"

I turned to see Rachael, who was being followed by two guards of the Resistance. They seemed to be dragging a prisoner along.

"This guy was wandering around our area of the woods. A couple of my guys on patrol said he looked suspicious. Says he was looking for a girl named Elise. You know him?"

It was when the prisoner lifted his head and my heart lurched.

"Blake."

Rachael narrowed her eyes. "So you do know him."

"Yes." My heart pounded. "Rachael, I didn't tell him anything about us, I swear---"

She held up a hand. "Whatever. You know him, so he's your responsibility. If he snitches, you're finished."

She snapped her fingers and the guards dropped Blake and left with her.

Damn.

"Blake."

Now with the safety of the Resistance, I no longer feared showing Blake affection.

I kissed him. He was surprised, but he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back.

I saw Diana, Kelsi, and Kiara staring. 

Diana looked confused. "Kelsi, what are they doing?"

"Kissing."

"But---"

"Come on." Kiara grabbed her arm and dragged her away before she could get even more confused.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him once they had gone.

"The GKE took Cole."

"What?"

"They knew something was going on with you. They interrogated him and he said he didn't know anything, so they took him. He's a prisoner, Lise."

"And I'm a traitor."

"So am I."

"I'm in deeper than you. If you walk away now, they'll spare you."

"If I tell them about the Resistance, Rachael will kill you."

"So don't." I grabbed his arm, but decided to take his hand instead. "Blake, please. You can't stay here and if you tell them, there's no chance for us. None."

"I'll stay. I'll fight---"

"You don't know what you're doing. I've been training and---"

"I'm a fast learner. Elise, I spent the last week thinking something terrible happened to you. I'll stay. If we can take down the GKE and I can kiss you in public without fear, then I'll do whatever it takes to be ready. I know it's treason against the GKE to love you, but not to love you is treason against myself."

I gasped. "You said it again."

"What? I love you?"

"Yeah." I kissed him again. "Go now, talk to Rachael about getting you trained. I have to be alone now."

Blake beamed and I walked away, going towards where me and Kelsi slept. The only place I could be alone to think.

"Is that your boyfriend?" It was Adam's brother, Mason. The guy Kiara had a crush on.

"It's complicated."

"Complicated?" I stopped. "What's complicated? I know he's not your government assigned boyfriend and that he was dragged in by guards."

"So what if he's not? You don't give a damn about the GKE's rules anyway."

"You're right, I don't. But as a government worker, Elise, I would expect you do."

"It's not good to make assumptions."

"Do you love him?"

"What do you care?"

"Because if you love him, you shouldn't drag him into all this."

"Don't patronize me!"

"Fine, just remember this conversation when he gets killed."

He started to walk away when I burst out: "What happened between you and Kiara?"

He stopped. He turns back to glare at me. "How did you---"

"I told you not to patronize me. I know things, Mason. Anyone with eyes can see you like her."

His stare was cold but I refused to break eye contact. "She's stupid. She wouldn't last a second out in battle."

"But you like her."

Mason didn't say anything but I took that as a yes.

I walked away before he did and went back to the room.

I was hoping it would be empty, but alas, Kelsi was sitting on her bed reading.

"How's Blake?"

"Fine."

"That's good."

I sat on my bed. "I know you wouldn't have done it."

"What?"

"Blackmail me."

Kelsi closed her book and looked at me inquisitively. "How do you figure that?"

"Because you're not the only one with tricks up your sleeve."

"What does that mean?"

"Don't be coy." I ran a hand through my braid. "I had a recording of you."

"A recording of me doing what?"

"A recording of you telling Diana and Kiara what your plan was. You forgot I work in the lab, didn't you? It's my department that evaluates the subjects which includes looking at them 24/7 on the cameras. We had gotten our audio enhanced that day and the mic picked up everything you said. So since I was aware of your predicament and was feeling rather nice, instead of turning you in to the Chancellor, I simply deleted the footage and downloaded onto my private flash drive. I figured I'd keep it for when the time came when I would...need it."

Kelsi's face went pale.

"So naturally when you decided to blackmail me with that video, I decided to take that flash drive out."

Kelsi narrowed her eyes. "But I don't understand. You agreed to help me. Why did you agree to help me if you had the footage?"

I shrugged. "Like I said, I was feeling nice."

"But..."

I looked at her. "Here's the point of me telling you this: I will take that flash drive back out if Blake dies because of this. You didn't hesitate to hold something over my head so I'm doing the same thing to you. If you don't want what you did to get to the GKE, you'll promise me that you'll protect him."

"Elise, that is ridiculous---"

"It isn't. I can't make sure he's okay all the time when we have a mission to do. I need to know that I can trust you to make sure nothing happens to him. If we stop the GKE and Blake dies, then it won't be worth it. It's not worth it if he doesn't end up okay. So promise me."

"I promise."