Page 35 of Eclipse Sector

Broad shoulders.

I chewed the inside of my cheek, my pen tapping against my jaw as I tried to define his quiet personality in my head. Except that was all I could say—he’s quiet.

Maybe our date this week would awaken something more profound inside my mind.

Cillian would be forced to keep his distance. Not that he would have an issue with that. He’d done a fine job all week and hadn’t even acknowledged me upon boarding the jet. Now he was at the helm, sitting in the pilot seat with Benz beside him. I couldn’t see them from back here.

Good riddance, I decided, forcing my thoughts to return to Ransom.

Only, I could sense Ashlyn staring at me again, which caused me to peek up at her in kind. “Can I tell you something else? A warning, more than a secret?”

I frowned, the latter statement—which she worded as a question—sounding rather ominous. “Um, yes?”

She glanced around, then slowly rotated her notebook toward me so I could see the words on the page.

Be careful of Prince Cael,her elegant scrawl read.He’s surrounded by darkness.

My eyebrows rose. “What?”

She brushed her finger over her lips, then looked over her shoulder while pointing at her ear.

My brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”

She sighed and picked up her pen again to write,Wolf ears, Ivana. Everyone can hear us. And this is not something that can be heard.

I nearly responded out loud but decided to play her game and jotted down a few words of my own.If Prince Cael is dangerous, then you need to tell Quinn.

She shook her head.He’s not dangerous,she replied with her pen.The darkness around him… I don’t know how to explain this. Just… be careful, okay?

I stared at her, then pointed to my statement once more.

Her blue eyes narrowed. “You really are a stubborn wolf.”

My lips parted. “Excuse me?”

She smiled. “It’s not an insult, Ivana. It’s a compliment. If we had more time, I think we would be great friends.” She glanced out the window. “Alas, we’re about to land.”

With that, she gathered her journal and flounced off to the front of the jet, her long white-blonde hair flowing in her wake.

I blinked at her.What the fuck just happened?

She tried to warn me about Prince Cael, then blatantly ignored my… I blinked down at my notebook to see the page I’d been writing on torn off at the edges.

She’d taken my reply.

How…?I hadn’t even heard the paper rip.

Ashlyn’s giggle traveled back to me as one of the other Omegas whispered something into her ear. I met the female’s brown eyes, her name something that began with anS.

Whatever she was saying, it was clearly about me.

And Ashlyn found it humorous.

I narrowed my gaze. I was all too familiar with the mean-girl mentality, having shared a building with several of them these last few years.

Miranda, an unmated Omega with her heart set on landing an Alpha Prince, had tried to make my life a living hell when I’d first arrived in Blood Sector. She’d made it quite clear that Kieran belonged to her and no one else.

Except he hadn’t belonged to her at all.