The Hunted

In it Together

"Breathe, Belle," a voice hissed. There were cold hands cupping my face. "Come on, Belle, you've got to control your breathing."

My eyes blinked open, immediately closing again as the bright lights hit them. I groaned, covering my eyes with my hands as I sucked in deep breaths.

"Easy, Belle," the voice from before murmured. I slowly opened my eyes and removed my hands, looking up into Derek's eyes. "Hey."

I looked up at him before I turned away and saw Caleb standing in the corner of the room, his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn't dressed as a Guardian. He was in jeans and a t-shirt. I frowned, glancing back at Derek, who was still dressed in the government issued uniform for the Ki'i.

"What?" I whispered, closing my eyes again. My head was pounding. This didn't make any sense.

"That sedative was a bit more powerful than we anticipated," a new voice said. I opened my eyes once more, gripping Derek's arm tightly. Instructor Adams stood at the foot of the cot, dressed in a pair of cotton pants and a sweatshirt that looked like it was past washing.

"What's going on?" I whispered, looking between the three of them.

"I told you I had friends on the inside," Caleb said softly, a smile on his face.

"This is real?" I asked, looking up at Derek. He nodded.

"This is real, Belle."

I closed my eyes, sighing softly. There was so much that I was going to need to be filled in on, but I was already connecting the dots. Caleb's confidence in the underground rebel groups had to be because he was involved in them. He had to have known, as a Guardian, that the rebels groups were on the Elders radar, but he had still had so much faith in them. For good reason. They were stronger than we could have ever anticipated.

"Did you have to knock me out?" I murmured.

Someone laughed. Adams, I was sure. "We had to make it seem like you were dead, Belle."

"Why?" Why would it matter if I were dead or not if they took me from the Ki'i? The Guardians still would have wanted a closer look.

"They wouldn't let me retrieve you if they didn't think that was the case," Adams replied. "They wanted someone near the Recreation Zone that both of you were able to trust for whenever you killed the other. They needed to ensure that you could be consoled and approached if need be."

I eased my grip on Derek's arm, sliding my other hand into his. "And the Guardians let you do so without checking to ensure I was dead myself? I mean, I was about to kill Derek, so how was that switched around?"

"There weren't any cameras, Belle," Derek said softly. "That was your loophole you were looking for."

"And you and Derek having your own friends in the Guardianship helped as well," Adams replied. "Between Jordan and Guardian Brock, Derek's adviser, we were able to make it appear as though you were dead. They are both trusted in their respective fields and Jordan's performance in the field made him a trustworthy option and Guardian Brock was Derek's trusted person."

I shook my head. "I still don't understand why they wouldn't think we were tricking them."

"No one tricks the Elders, Belle. No one would dare," Caleb said.

"The two of you still had enough trust left from the Elders that they thought you would never do something like that," Adams replied. "That none of us would do something like that."

Because no one ever betrayed the Elders or the government. I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around all of this. I wasn't able to completely understand why the Guardians would just allow the two of them to go into the arena. I would have thought that all of the Guardians would have gone in just to be sure that it wasn't a trick or that Derek wasn't going to try and kill whoever went near him.