Read Rock Bottom (Dragon Within #4) for Free Online

send a tracker after you? Killing is all
they’re good for.”
         “What is
she talking about?” Derek asked. The look he gave me clearly demanded an
answer.
         I sighed.
As if Derek needed another reason not to trust Zack. “If I managed to do what
my grandfather wanted and kill Megara, then Zack was supposed to kill me.”
         “And you
don’t think that’s something you should have shared with the rest of us?”
         “Why?
Zack helped us out of the compound. He saved your life and went against his own
father to do it. Or did that slip your mind? It doesn’t matter what he was
supposed to do.”
         Derek’s
eyes practically bugged out of his head. “Of course it matters. How do you know
this wasn’t all part of the plan? Maybe he was supposed to bring us here all
along. Maybe the escape from the compound was all an act. He knew how to find
Megara’s general location, didn’t he?”
         “Whoa,
dude,” Hannah said, “paranoid much? Did you forget the beach house? If Alastair
wanted us here, then why send guys to kidnap Abby?”
         If I had
been closer to Hannah I would have hugged her. It was so nice to have someone
on my side for a change. “She’s right. You’re not making any sense.”
         “Those
people could have been sent by our mother’s clan. We don’t know they’re working
with Alastair. We don’t know anything . Except that he,” Derek jabbed a
finger at Zack, “has no good reason to be helping us. Think about it. He saved
the life of the man who killed his mother. That is what makes no sense.”
         “Derek
makes a good point,” Brandy said. “At the very least you should be willing to
consider that perhaps Zack aided you in rescuing your brother simply to
ingratiate himself with you.”
         “Well,
I’m not,” I snapped. But in the back of my mind I was wondering why Zack was
standing there saying nothing to defend himself. “I don’t want to hear any more
of this. Do you understand me?”
         Brandy
shook her head. “You are being unreasonable.”
         “Maybe I
am. But it doesn’t change a thing.” I squared my shoulders. “I trust Zack. As
long as he wants to stay with us, he can. If anybody doesn’t like it, they can
leave.”
         Stunned
silence filled the room. My heart was thudding against my chest so hard I was
sure everybody could hear it. Time was I wouldn’t have stood up to anybody like
that. Especially Brandy. But times had changed and so had I.
         “And what
about Megara?” Zack’s voice was soft. “Do you trust her?”
         I forced
myself to meet Megara’s gaze as I spoke. She knew I was afraid of her, but that
didn’t mean I couldn’t act like I wasn’t. “I’m desperate enough that it doesn’t
matter. This place you want to take us, is it safe?”
         “No safer
place for you and your friends in this world,” she said.
         I nodded.
“Then it’s settled. We’ll come. And whatever it is you expect to get out of
me... I guess you’ll tell me what it is when you’re ready.”
         Megara
smiled. “That I will.”
         “Abby, I
don’t think...”
         “I don’t
care.” It was a hard thing for me to say to my brother. Harder still, was
seeing the hurt look on his face. But what had happened with Rick was a near
thing. They didn’t know. They weren’t there when it happened. They couldn’t
understand how I felt when I thought Zack was dead.
         Megara
had stepped in to keep me from being captured, but she’d saved Zack’s life in
the process. I firmly believed that. If Rick had shot me, I wouldn’t have been
able to do a thing to stop him from sending Bret back into the cabin. I wanted
Zack safe. I wanted them all safe. And if I had to take a risk on Megara
for that to happen, than I was willing to do so. No matter what it might cost
me.