41

“That sonofabitch!” Sid snarled. “How could he do that to someone? To her of all people!”

Jag didn’t bother to try and offer an answer as he sat, elbows on his thighs while his fingers massaged his temples in an attempt to relieve from of the tension behind his eyes. There was no explanation he could give, not when the hurt in Camille’s eyes was haunting him.

Camille.

It was a beautiful name. It suited their little female a bit more than Emma.

An interview with Charlotte had confirmed that Camille had been telling the truth and that it had been Charlotte’s idea to change her identity. Employment records had backed it up. HR had helped by bending some rules like letting Camille bunk with Charlotte. The less that was in her name, the harder it would be for Nathan to find her. Except that’s not how it had worked because it turns out Nathan knew where she was all along.

Charlotte had been in with Camille for the past two hours and Kal had left to help Camille’s medical team to try and figure out how to get the camera out of Camille without it killing her. That left Sid and Jag. It was rare that neither of them could help but this was something beyond their abilities. At least until they had something to help them track down the fucker who had done this.

But that wasn’t what had Jag’s heart twisting and his chest tightening. What had him wanting to punch a hole in a wall was the fact they had scared Camille. It was easy to say that they shouldn’t have handcuffed her, but it wasn’t that black and white. They had no idea what would happen once she woke up. They had to follow protocol until they were sure that Camille wasn’t a threat. Still, it didn’t change the fact that he felt guilty for making Camille feel the way she did, not after everything she had endured.

“If only she had gotten away sooner.” Sid sighed as he collapsed into a seat and leant his head on the wall behind him.

“She didn’t escape.” Jag spoke up as his hands dropped away from his face. “Think about it. Camille got caught every time she tried to get away. It’s too convenient that just after Reeves planted a camera on her that Camille somehow gets away. He intended for her to reach out to Charlotte because he knew Camille would go to the only other person in her life. Reeves must have found out that Charlotte was working here and saw his chance to infiltrate the Ark.”

“So how did he manage to get it past all of our security?” Sid frowned.

“I’m not sure but my theory is that the camera wasn’t activated until after Camille got past all of our checks.” Jag explained. “Then it was turned on remotely.”

“There is no way Reeves could have done that from wherever he is.”

“Don’t be so sure.” Jag shook his head. “However, it would be logical and safer to be closer to Camille when turning on the camera.”

“Meaning we potentially still have a mole.” Sid sighed again, letting the heavy breath push away some of his frustration. “So why plant Camille’s details in California?”

“To throw us off their tracks.” The other soldier replied. “Their intention was to let Camille take the fall. They counted on her lying about who she was but what they didn’t account for was us three.”

“At least we managed to ruin their plans a little.” Sid muttered just as the door to the room burst open and an incredibly angry Charlotte stormed in.

Eyes like knives flashed with rage as the brightly coloured haired woman regarded the two men. In a normal situation it would be these two much taller, much stronger aliens that would intimidate someone, but Charlotte’s glare was enough to send both of them to the afterlife.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t report you for this?” Charlotte demanded. “How could you put Camille through that kind of humiliation and torture?”

“We didn’t have any clue of what she had been through.” Jag managed to keep his tone calm.

“oh, don’t give me that!” She scoffed and glared at Sid who suddenly looked sheepish. “Slipped your mind, did it?”

“Charlotte, you have to understand. We care about her a lot, but this was a dangerous situation.”

You should have stayed quiet. Jag thought after Sid spoke.

“You drugged her!” The female yelled, the air crackling with her rage was it spewed from her like a volcano erupting. Her Aura spread out to fill the room like flames lapping up spilt fuel. “You then handcuffed her to a bed and accused her of treason! All you had to do was talk to Camille! She trusts you! If you had been honest with her, she would have done what you asked!”

Charlotte let out an angry huff, hands on her hips as she forced herself to calm down. Neither male said anything. Not because they were scared but because they knew in some ways, Charlotte was right. They could have handled things better but instead they had let their training get the better of them and had treated Camille like some common criminal.

“I have no idea why she wants to help but Camille wanted you to have this.” Charlotte was calmer when she spoke again, pulling a piece of folded paper from her pocket and holding it out. “Also, she wants to see you.”

Jag was the one who took the piece of paper from Charlotte, unfolding it to find an address scrawled across it.

“Thank you.” Jag looked up at Charlotte.

“Don’t thank me.” She huffed. “Just promise me, when you catch that sick bastard, you lock him up for good.”

Jag gave one nod before turning to Sid and handing over the note. “Let the scouting missions know that this is your target. Reeves is to be brought in alive.”

Sid nodded. “On it. I’ll let you know once we are in the sky.”

The male left leaving Jag with Charlotte.

“I’ve got to get back to work.” Charlotte grumbled. “I’m assuming you’re going off to see Camille so tell her I will be back once my shift is over and I will bring her some fresh clothing.

Charlotte didn’t wait for a reply as she turned on her heel and left the room. Jag had no doubt that if the door were a traditional human door, Charlotte would have slammed it shut behind her just to drive home her feelings towards on what had happened. Jag didn’t disagree with Charlotte’s rage, but it wasn’t her that he needed to answer to.

Letting out a tired sigh, Jag rose from his seat letting his feet carry him towards his female’s temporary room. He made a note to ask for her to be moved to a more comfortable room, but the truth was, he was hoping Camille wouldn’t need to stay down in the basement levels for long. The sooner Camille was back in his apartment safe and unharmed, the better.

Unsurprisingly, Camille had changed into some leggings and a t-shirt by the time Jag made it to the room. The hospital gown was designed for male Draygonians so it had drowned Camille’s frame. Not to mention he had seemed her one of those gowns far too many times for his liking.

But this wasn’t about him or Kal or Sid. Despite the fact it was their job to stop someone like Nathan and the EFHA, this wasn’t really about them. It was about Camille. She was a victim of these parasites. They had used her without any regard for her.

Jag had already decided that if he ever met this Nathan Reeves then he would make him pay for touching Camille.

“I will make arrangements for you to be moved to another room if you’d like.” Were the first words to leave Jag’s mouth, startling Camille.

The blonde turned to face him, her brow furrowed, and her lips turned down slightly. She was clearly annoyed with him and yet it was taking everything inside of Jag not to comment on how cute Camille looked. Now wasn’t the time but he stored the thought for later, when He had finally earned her forgiveness.

“Thank you for giving us the address.” Jag cut the silence, steering the conversation carefully. “I can’t begin to know how difficult all of this is for you.”

“Giving you Nathan’s address wasn’t difficult.” Camille moved to sit on the edge of the bed, hands clasped together in her lap. “I just hope you can stop him before he hurts anyone else.”

“He will pay for hurting you.” Jag took a few steps towards the blonde, fingers itching to touch Camille's skin or to hold her close.

“He will.” Camille nodded softly. “But he isn’t the only one who has hurt me.”

That had Jag freezing in his tracks, his eyes seeking out Camille’s to see the pain simmering on the surface.

“I know you had to follow protocol.” Camille spoke again before Jag could. “I know that you needed to do what you did. But it doesn’t change how I’m feeling. That was terrifying and humiliating. It was hard enough dealing with the fact Nathan used me as his spy but seeing the way you looked at me, as if I was a suspect, cut deep.”

“I know.”

“Do you though?” Camille’s frown deepened as blue eyes glimmered with tears that threatened to spill down her pink cheeks. “You expect me to trust you, but you don’t trust me. You don’t tell me the whole truth. Even now you’re not telling me everything. It’s like you’re trying to manage what I know and how I react to things. Well, it has to stop! I don’t need managing! I need you all to act like I’m an equal in this relationship!”

“You don’t think you’re an equal in this relationship?” Jag frowned.

“I *know* I’m not.” Camille replied. “You don’t trust me, Jag!”

“It’s not like you’ve been completely honest with us, Camille.” Jag pointed out. “How do we know you’re not hiding other secrets?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Camille yelled, her frustration and pent up anger bursting out of her. “It should be up to me to tell you my secrets when I’m ready! I don’t expect you to be an open book with me. I’m not asking anything of you that I wouldn’t give to you in return!”

Silence fell like a dead weight between the two. It wasn’t like Jag had intended to make Camille feel like a criminal or like she wasn’t an equal. It wasn’t unusual for Draygonian males to be protective of their females especially now that their numbers were depleting. But what he had failed to address was that Camille wasn’t a Draygonian. She was human and judging by her life, she was stronger than most would give her credit for. It wouldn’t stop the need to protect her though. Jag would do anything to make sure he never saw fear in Camille’s eyes again.

“It wasn’t our intention to make you feel this way.” Jag finally spoke up. “But I see that we could have gone about things differently. This is new for us as well. I can’t promise we will change completely but we care about you, Camille. We will do whatever we can to make you happy.”

“Okay,” Camille nodded once. “You can start by telling me what’s going on and then we can discuss about how you can it up to me.”