Understanding did little to help. Still made him a prisoner. Made captors of Sela and Snake, heating his anger. Bad enough he had no choice but to face Sela; he didn’t know what to feel about Snake.
“Are you her lackey, too?” The words came from his mouth, spoken by a stranger; Axel no longer knew himself.
“Axel, I’m still me. Can you think of a single reason I would betray you?”
Perhaps for Sela, but did he truly believe Snake would? No. Snake put up with too much of his crap for too long, belonging to Axel before he ever belonged to Sela. Against his better nature, Axel shook his head.
“And me?” Sela broke in. “Why would I do anything to hurt you?” Not a rhetorical question; she wanted an answer. “Come on, Axel! You’re an intelligent man. Figure this out.”
“A child.” Not wanting to
