Page 138 of Wrapped in Their Arms

Noelle felt like her insides were turning to lead.

She knew that if she went back toEarth, he’d never let her go again.Sheknew he might hurt her—he might even kill her.Orhe might deport her too, if that was what it took to keep his sick sense of control.Itwouldn’t matter that she had been born inAmerica—they were deporting everyone brown these days andNoelleknew it.

But she couldn’t leave her grandmother to be terrorized.

I have to go back,she thought numbly.Evenif it means…even if it meansInever come back.NeverseeBurnorBrightagain.

“All right,” she said, barely hearing her own voice.“I’mcoming.”

“Make it quick,”Bransonsnapped.“Orsweet littleabuelitagets a ride to the nearest center.I’mwaiting outside her house—see you soon.”

And then the screen went dark.

Silence fell around her like a suffocating shroud.

Noelle sank slowly to her knees, her fingers digging into the carpet as though she could anchor herself to something—anything—solid.

A heavy, hollow dread had settled into her chest.

The future she’d barely begun to dream of—a future filled withBright’ssweet tenderness andBurn’sfierce love—had fractured like a crystal goblet dropped on concrete.Shewould never see either of her men again.

She was going back into hell.

And she was going alone.

75

BRIGHT

Bright felt like absolute shit.

There was no other word for it—nothing eloquent or poetic.Justa raw, hollow ache that throbbed through his chest and wrapped around his ribs like barbed wire.Ithad been days sinceBurnhad spoken to him—dayssince he’d even acknowledged his calls.Noteven theThink-me connection worked anymore.Everyattempt to reach his best friend was met with silence.

The kind of silence that cut deeper than words ever could.

He lay sprawled on the wide, empty expanse of his sleeping platform, staring up at the ceiling of his lonely suite like it held the answers.Butit didn’t.Therewas no clarity to be found in the smooth metal panels overhead—no comfort in the sterile air that hummed quietly around him.

He missedBurn.Andhe missedher…Gods, how he missedNoelle!

The memory of her soft curves, her bright eyes, the way she smiled—he ached for her with every breath.Hewanted to see her…wanted desperately to go to her, to throw himself at her feet and beg her to love him again.

But hecouldn’t.

Not alone.

Because lovingNoellewasn’t a one-sided thing—not for him.Hedidn’t just want her for himself.Hewanted toshareher.Tocomplete the bond that had seemed possible for one brief, shining moment.Andthe only male he wanted to share herwith—the only one who’d ever fit—wouldn’t even look at him now.

“Oh,Burn,” he murmured, closing his eyes against the tight burn of emotion.“Ifonly you could forgive me—if only you could forgive yourself…”

The silence around him pulsed gently, a soft ambient hum of theMotherShip’senergy systems whispering through the air vents.Familiar…dull…oppressive.

And then?—

“Warrior!”

A loud, commanding feminine voice rang in his ears with the resonance of a bell struck deep within his chest.

Bright shot upright so fast his vision swam.Hisheart jackknifed in his chest.