Dahlia's Deception (The Annihilation Series) by Saxon Andrew Read Free Book Online Page A

right. I just don’t want to lose her.”
    “Neither do I; there’s been enough loss already. However, I suspect all of us will cross harm’s path before this is over.”
    Tess’ eyes narrowed, “Dean, the next time Dahlia and that Prince go to that other universe; I want you to go with them.”
    “Why?”
    “I need another opinion; I’m not sure Dahlia is being objective.”
    “You think she’s ga-ga over him.”
    “I’m not sure. You know she’s never had a romantic relationship. She might be in over her head. She’s still so young.”
    Dean shook his head, “Uhhhh, Tess; I haven’t had one either.”
    “I know, but you’re not ga-ga over anyone at the moment. I can trust your judgment.”
    “What reason are you going to use?”
    “That I don’t trust Dahlia’s objectivity. Why should I be deceptive about this? It will hopefully get her to wake up and look around.”
    Dean leaned back, “If anyone knows what’s going on around them, it would be Dahlia.”
    Tess shrugged, “Even so, pack a bag and get ready to go.” Dean shrugged and left the room. Tess felt out of control. Her people were pawns in a huge game and knowing who posed the biggest danger was sheer guesswork.
    • • •
    Ping and Dahlia watched the long line of scouts jumping through the cluster and, at their current speed; they would be done in another four days. “Where are the Commanders, Pare?”
    “They’re in the center of the line moving slightly behind the line.”
    Ping narrowed his eyes and looked out at the center of the scout’s line. The gift of distant vision was the one talent he treasured the most; even more than his ability to teleport. Ping stood up and Dahlia said, “Where are you going?”
    “I’m going to teleport out to the Rageon’s Flagship and fire an energy pulse at the Black Flagship.”
    “You should use our ship to take the shot.”
    Ping slowly shook his head, “Dahlia, come on…think this through.”
    Dahlia rolled her eyes and said, “Pare, I could use a little support here.”
    “You know he’s right. I couldn’t do anything he can’t do in his armor. His armor has a clear nemite coating and light shifting plates. He’ll be just as invisible as we are except he will be even more difficult to see.”
    Ping looked at the speaker, “Why do you say that?”
    “You could teleport in on top of the Rageon’s ship just outside its force field. Even at my small size, we’d have to use thrusters and would have to have some separation between our vessels. They might detect that gap in their scans. “
    “Pare, could they detect our thruster emissions?”
    “They haven’t yet; however, they have demonstrated they aren’t dumb. It’s just a matter of time until they stumble on it.”
    Ping nodded and suddenly his armor appeared. Dahlia shook her head, “I don’t want you to go alone! We aren’t going to do it this way.”
    Ping’s armor disappeared and she saw him shaking his head, “You’re worried that, if I go alone, I might deliberately place myself in a situation where I could be killed.” Dahlia just stared at him in silence. “Dahlia, I felt your sorrow…yet you choose to move forward and make your life count for something. I have to admit, it shamed me. I no longer want to end my life. I want to make it count for something. That’s why you have nothing to be sorry about for what happened last night. I needed to see it.” Ping’s armor reappeared and he disappeared off the bridge. Dahlia was too shocked to say anything to stop him.
    Dahlia continued to stare at the place Ping had stood a moment before and then whipped around and looked at the wall speaker, “Pare, is he being honest?”
    “I no longer feel a death wish when he links with me. That means it’s no longer in him.”
    Dahlia thought about Pare’s comment, “What do you feel with me?”
    “You have to tell him, and quickly.”
    Dahlia jerked her head up and looked at the wall speaker in shock. “What do