We The Forlorn (Book #2) (Completed)

27. Heart to Heart

The bunker was cramped and hot, and Bo already couldn't wait until they could leave. The wounded groaned in pain and discomfort from the makeshift beds the Forlorn had managed to fashion from anything they could in the airship. The rest of the group stood pressed up against the wall, barely able to move from one end of the bunker to the other. No light from the outside touched the interior, and they had to rely on dangling bulbs from the ceiling. Bo could imagine the suffocating blackness that would engulf them if the militia dropped bombs and the lights were knocked out.

Trying not to dwell on such thoughts, Bo turned and looked down the line of people to where Helga vigorously cleaned a rifle. Bo had been trying to keep an eye on the other woman, unable to shake a strange feeling of pity ever since Khan had mentioned Helga's attempts to capture Mi's attention. Even as she watched now, Helga's glance stole every few seconds toward Mi's figure across the bunker. Bo saw the softening of Helga's eyes and the way her hands slowed until she was barely cleaning the rifle at all. There was a pain there, like the kind Bo remembered in another pair of eyes that longed for something more. Adam had once viewed love from the outside, but been held back by Bo's own anger and fears. Now, she saw Helga experiencing the same thing.

Bo stuffed her hands in her pockets and picked her way across the bunker toward Mi. When she cut across into Helga's line of sight, she saw the other woman's expression slam shut and that familiar prickly anger come back in the form of a scowl. Bo merely shifted her gaze away, knowing that while Helga wouldn't want her talking to Mi, she might be appreciative in the long run.

Mi glanced up in surprise as Bo stopped by his side. He had been talking to one of the men in his team, and now both of them stared at her as if she was a creature from the stars. She cleared her throat and tried to act casual by leaning against the wall and propping one foot against it.

A small silence stretched out as Bo waited for Mi's underling to get the hint and leave. When he finally did, it was pretty obvious that she hadn't just wandered over for no reason.

"Hello, Mi," she said.

He raised an eyebrow. "Um, hello?"

"I was just passing by. Thought I'd say hi."

Mi nodded, already glancing around for any excuse to get out of the situation. Bo sighed, knowing she was the worst at subtly or small-talk. Might as well cut straight to the point.

"About Helga."

Mi's eyes widened. "Helga?"

"I noticed... well, there's stuff that's gone on between you two. I don't know any details, or anything about who was in the wrong or right. I'm not here to push you to forgive or forget, and in fact I know just how impossible that can be."

"Bo, I don't want to talk—"

Bo held up one hand, pleading in her eyes. "Just listen to me for a minute more. Please."

Mi sighed, but didn't make a move to leave.

Bo continued. "Adam wasn't the one to kill my mother, but he did kill other humans. He tore apart families with his teeth. While my mind logically knows that he was tortured and driven to do such deeds, my heart also knows that his hands are still the ones that are stained."

"And yet you are with him?" Mi said, a smallest edge sharpening his words.

Bo closed her eyes, remembering all those raging feelings from years ago. She had once been like Mi. She had once hated Adam just for simply being from the same species as the creatures that had killed her mother. She knew the struggle that went on in his chest every day, and what the sight of Helga must do to him.