Chapter 7

KAIDA'S POV...

Fear paralyzed me as I heard what my savior had just said to me. This can't be happening! I must be imagining things in my tired head.

How and when did he manage to see through my disguise?! I always made sure I looked convincing enough, yet he still saw through my disguise!

This man was too smart!

This was a major problem for me; my years of hard work and training to look and act like a man had just been blown up in a single night by some calculative general.

I felt my heart racing; I was scared of the unknown; what was I going to do now? A female was a scarce commodity, and being discovered by these unknown men unlocked a new type of fear within me.

'How can I escape from this?' I pondered to myself.

This was my greatest fear in this lawless and orderless world. Being exposed like this, I had instantly become a covetable commodity.

What was to become of me?! Am I going to become a toy for the whole District to play with? Passed from one person to another? Why did I have to meet this squad again here?!

Thane's expression mirrored my shock, but his shock was for a different reason; he gave me a quick scan from my head to my toes with his eyes showing how surprised he looked by the revelation he'd heard from my savior.

But he doesn't let his emotions ride him for too long; he quickly regains his composure and masks his initial surprise.

Having made his point known, my savior intently stared at me a little longer, and then he released my chin, turned, and walked out of the tent without saying another word to me.

He left, but his cold aura still lingered in the tent, chilling me down to the bones. I knew he would return, and I was sure I wouldn't like it when he did.

Alone in the tent with Thane, I watched him warily, my guards coming up and I instinctively adopted a defensive posture.

I can't risk letting my guard down just when I've been revealed to these sex-depraved men that I am a woman.

Many things could go wrong from here, I could even end up losing my dear life in the hands of these men. I needed a plan, a fail-proof plan, and fast.

I sensed Thane moving beside me and sharply turned my eyes to him and found him walking closer to me. But he immediately stopped when he saw how apprehensive I was with my stance and look.

I doubt my choice of staying in this tent with Thane, maybe I should have made a run for it as my savior left.

He sighed and took a step back to his initial standing position. Showing me silently that he meant me no harm.

"It's alright, you can relax; we're not going to hurt you," He said, hands in his pocket, and his eyes searching me.

I don't change my stance, I can't, I still don't trust him.

"I know Axton may seem so mean, but don't take his bluntness and coldness to heart," Thane spoke gently to me.

He noticed how quiet I looked and slowly walked toward me, stopping a few feet away from me.

"Say something," He said, tilting his face to the side.

He held my gaze, calmly staring at me. I remained quiet, staring back at him. I didn't know how to reply to him. I can't just say I believe him, that'd be stupid of me.

At least, now I know my savior's name; Axton. The name suited his personality.

Thane saw that I was still quiet, so he went ahead to explain more to me. His gray eyes carefully scanned me up and down.

"Axton only meant well. We both think it'll be safer if you stay here with us," He moved away from me, an unreadable expression crossing his face.

"I... I'll think about it..." I said finally, knowing fully well that I lied.

He slowly nodded, "You need to trust us with your safety, and we assure you that we'll protect you at all costs," Thane spoke with a clear and honest voice.

He looks at me for a while. I saw his facial features switch from curiosity to an expression I couldn't recognize.

"I'll leave you to get some rest," He said, quickly clearing those emotions from his face and turning, walking out of the tent, leaving me alone.

After he'd left, I rubbed my tired eyes and silently reflected on Axton's and Thane's words.

I'd be the biggest fool to believe that these 'men' truly intended to protect me, a 'woman.'

It was more like they were rather planning to claim me for themselves. In this world, I'll always remain distrustful and very wary of men.

They were quite convincing, though, sounding very concerned about my well-being; I would have almost believed them if I didn't know any better. Almost, but I didn't; I knew about the main motive behind their kindness to me.

No, I wasn't buying their idea of me staying back here and letting them covet me.

I decided to bide my time as I remained inside the tent; I would wait until I stopped hearing noises and then sneak away when the opportunity arose. I hope it'll be soon.

After resting in the tent for a while, I decided to move; I didn't want to waste any more time here. I had to leave before they changed their minds and came back to devour me.

I quietly observed the situation outside. Seeing no one around the area, I quickly packed some supplies from the tent(that's what I came for after all.) And then, proceeded to sneak out of the campsite.

I was lucky enough to smoothly leave the tents behind, but I couldn't risk putting myself into more danger by leaving the city, traveling the deserts at night was perilous. So, I decided to find a place on the city's outskirts to hide myself until dawn.

After walking around for a while, I found what appeared to be an abandoned container. I would have preferred to take out my flashlight to inspect the area, but it might attract unnecessary attraction to me, so I used my ears to listen in for any sound around the container.

Hearing nothing, I immediately decided to climb into it.

As I climbed inside the dark container, a bright flashlight suddenly shined right into my eyes, illuminating my whole body.

My heart skipped a beat and I was left frozen in place.