Dangerous Designs by Dale Mayer [paranormal/YA] Page A

know. I've been lying here and going over them. None are great."
    "List those you've considered."
    He appeared to choose his words carefully as he listed off choices that included him never going back, going back and helping his people after negotiating her return, hiding by moving to another part of the planet so the people coming behind him wouldn't be able to find her.
    As he rambled on, she had a distinct sense that something was wrong. "Okay, out with it. Something else happened. What?"
    He sat up and swung his feet over the bed. "They'll kill you if you go back."
    She swallowed. Hard. "As a conversationalist, you suck."
    His lopsided grin slipped out. "Sorry. Not used to this kind of conversation."
    The grin did it, easing the weight on her chest threatening to suffocate her. She grinned back. "Yeah, it shows. So they don't want to leave any witnesses behind, huh?"
    "Something like that."
    Silence fell.
    "You're serious, aren't you?" How had everything gone so wrong? A few days ago life had been normal. She'd been wishing for something new and different to come into her life. A death squad from another dimension wasn't what she'd had in mind. "So, if I go with you they will kill me. If I don't go with you they'll send a team over to retrieve me then kill me anyway? Where's the option that lets me live?"
    "I think that's the run part, so they can't find you."
    "Except you have technology that allows your people to track me, while I don't have anything to help me evade your people. So that's hardly an option." She studied the fatigue in his eyes. He looked like he'd been to hell and back. "What happens to you if I don't go back with you? Anything? Or just a slap on the wrist because you didn't follow orders?"
    He stood up straight, his face lean and ravaged. "Death. The Council says I will face a death sentence if you don't go back with me."
    Storey couldn't believe it. Studying his face in disbelief, she found the truth in his pain. Eric's father was head of the Council. If he'd ordered his son's death over this...he was a monster. "Why would your father do that?"
    "According to him, you're a threat to national security and that outweighs his parental concern."
    "Bullshit."
    He winced.
    She laughed bitterly. "Sorry, but that's a load of crap. There's no way I'm a security issue. He's power tripping."
    "Maybe, but it's effective. He issued the order in front of witnesses. It has to be carried out. There is no rescinding that kind of order."
    She stood and stared up at his face. Nothing like parents to remind you of your humanity. "I'm sorry. It has to hurt to hear your life has so little value."
    He snorted. "You think?"
    "I'm not going back there. Not so they can use me as a lab rat and then kill me out of their own fear."
    His eyes stared down at her, closed briefly then opened, bright blue lights shining deep. "I know and I wouldn't want you to."
    "Except that means your death."
    "I know," he said, his face seriously grim, his decision clearly made.
    She respected him in that moment.
    "Okay, this is ridiculous. Now that we've settled that, let's come up with a way to make this right for both of us."
    "Do you think that's possible?"
    It was that faint hope peering from deep inside his eyes that settled her determination to find a solution. One where they both got to live.
    ***
    Eric stomped on the hope trickling through him. It wouldn't do to put too much credence in Storey's skills. What she'd achieved so far was phenomenal. But he had to face reality. Paxton hadn't helped after his father had stormed off. "You shouldn't have pushed him like that."
    "I pushed him?" Astonished, Eric could only stare at his beloved mentor.
    "Yes, you forced him to declare his intentions with the girl. He can't back down now. We might have found a way around this mess but for that."
    "Like what?" he scoffed. "She's right, you know. We're all about us. Not about them. Everything is our way. The mistake was ours in the first place."
    "She