Betrayed Her All Over Again

AIDEN'S POV 

The Hercules transport plane shuddered, loud as a caged beast, but after the movie-style escape we’d just pulled, the rattling inside the cargo hold felt like the safest sound in the world.

I sat on a folded-down bench, trying not to wince as the medic Max brought along stitched up my cuts. The pain was still a beast, but it was just a dull, distant ache now, nothing compared to the sharp terror from hours ago. 

Every movement was a brutal reminder of Luca's meticulous handiwork. But I was out. I was alive. That’s all that mattered.

Everyone was still buzzing, eyes on...