Saven Defiance (The Saven Series Book 4) Read Free

and I left recordings for myself. Ax was always there for me, and he didn’t approve of what his mother did to me. He … he’s …” I clear my throat, so embarrassed to be discussing this publicly. It also feels like a betrayal to be telling the others before I’m telling Logan.
    “I love her, and she loves me. She just doesn’t remember any of it. Yet,” Ax interjects, and I could easily throttle him for the second time in minutes.
    I bite down hard on the inside of my cheek, drawing blood. I’m going to have to come clean with him, and sooner rather than later. But I have no idea how to let him down without devastating him. The thought makes me hugely uncomfortable.
    He doesn’t deserve to be hurt.
    “It was my idea to get married before I was sent back to Earth when I was sixteen,” I continue. “So, yeah, I guess I’m married.” I run my hands through my hair and studiously avoid Ax’s gaze.
    “You guess?” His voice is ice and fire.
    “I’m embarrassed enough discussing this in public,” I hiss, finally finding the courage to look him in the face. “Can we talk about this later, in private?”
    “Stars!” Neve exclaims. “Logan is going to lose his shit when he hears this.”
    I scowl. “Jeez, thanks for that very helpful commentary.” I massage a tense spot between my eyebrows. “Are we done talking about me yet?”
    “What else happened up there?”
    I try to recall what else I’ve neglected to mention. “I saw the future,” I admit.
    “What?” Fern shrieks, almost deafening me. “How on earth …?”
    I tell them about the Perception room and the Tempo—the time travel machine—and the vision of the future I saw. My future with Logan. A future that I don’t even know exists anymore. Then I explain how I blew up the Tempo and nearly died in the process, except that Izzy and Ax showed up in the nick of time to rescue me.
    Everyone looks emotionally drained by the time I finish relaying my sordid tale. I squirm in my seat, the metal bar of the lock digging into my hips. “Can you release us now?”
    “Yes,” Neve says at the same time Haydn says, “No.”
    She ignores him and frees all three of us. My body sags in relief. Ax stands up and stretches his arms over his head. His shirt lifts, exposing a tiny sliver of ripped skin. I don’t mean to look, but my eyes have an agenda of their own. I blush to the tips of my toes when he catches me gawking.
    Haydn lets out a low whistle. “You’re a real piece of work.”
    “It’s okay,” I say, turning to face him. “I got the memo.” He arches a brow. “The one that says you hate my guts. There’s no need to rub it in.”
    His face is impressively neutral as he silently stares at me, not even attempting to refute my claims. Ax switches rows and sits down beside me. His arm snakes around my shoulders, and he pulls me into his solid chest. My level of anxiety is off the Richter scale at the uninitiated contact. I yearn to pull out of his embrace and tell him to keep his hands to himself.
    But I don’t want to hurt him. Or humiliate him in public.
    Haydn sends death glares my direction, and I do my best to deflect them. “Now it’s your turn,” I tell Neve. “Tell me what happened after I left.”
    “This is going to be hard to hear, Sadie.” Fern speaks up first. “You should prepare yourself.”
    “Nothing can be worse than thinking I might’ve killed Logan. I haven’t been able to sleep for worrying about him.”
    Ax visibly stiffens.
    Neve sits upright in her chair, a pained look contorting her beautiful face. “He was in a bad way, Sadie, and we didn’t have the right medical equipment to treat him onboard. His external injuries were fine, but it was whatever was going on internally that we couldn’t figure out. His stomach was burning up, and so swollen, and his temp was skyrocketing. It didn’t help that he virtually passed out after you were taken. From shock or his injuries, I’m not sure.” She sucks in