Kal finishes suiting up, smooths back his braids, gives me the nod. He cuts a pretty impressive figure, I’ve gotta admit. Good thing Lachlan here was so tall.
“The dosage will keep them sleeping for at least six hours,” Zila says, looking at the slumbering SecBoys. “They will remember very little.”
“Just make sure you have their armor back here by dawn,” Scar says.
She sits on the bed beside the sleeping blonde, and without further ceremony, clamps her lips onto his neck and starts to suck.
“Holy cake,” Auri whispers, watching with wide eyes. “Please don’t tell me that on top of everything else, vampires are real?”
“Evidence.” Scarlett comes up for air with a smirk, and I can see the angry, red love bite she’s left on the goon’s neck. Unclasping her bra, she tugs it out through her sleeve and drapes it over the bedside lamp, then writes thanks xxx on the wall in deep red lipstick. “Can’t have a crime without leaving some evidence.”
Cat makes a face. “If you think I’m leaving my bra behind in this dump, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“There’s enough of mine to go around.”
“Touché.” Cat nods sadly.
“You ready for this, Kal?” I ask.
My Tank adjusts the ID badge around his neck and gives me a small bow.
“I am always ready,” he replies.
We turn toward the door, but Aurora’s voice stops us.
“Hey … wait …”
She looks at me as Kal and I turn back to her. Dragging her hand through her bone-white bangs, she chews her lip, looking for the words.
“Thanks,” she says, glancing about. “I know how weird this is. I know none of us really know what’s going on here. And I don’t like sitting on the bench while you risk your necks for me. So I want you to know … I appreciate it.”
I look around the room. Her thanks are met with a nod from Zila, a small smile from Fin. But I can tell Scar’s still uncertain about this girl. Cat barely gives her a glance. And Kal just stares.
I see Aurora’s shoulders slump a little. Her lips tighten, she looks at the floor. She probably didn’t expect everyone to be turning cartwheels, but still …
“You’re welcome,” I say.
She looks up at that. I pat her shoulder, a little awkward in the power armor. Cat’s eyes narrow a little, but Aurora manages a weak smile.
This can’t be easy for her. Two hundred years out of time. Everyone she knew, everything she had, gone. I don’t know many people who’d still be on their feet after that. But not only is she up and moving, she’s fighting too. Clawing for answers the only way she knows how. She’s got heart, this girl. Even without Admiral Adams’s message about our precious cargo, that counts for a lot with me.
“We’ll be fine, Auri,” I say, trying to calm her fears. “This is what we do. Just stick with Scar, we’ll see you back at Dariel’s place, all right?”
“… All right.”
“We are wasting time, sir,” Kal murmurs behind me, his voice cold.
“Yeah, okay,” I sigh.
I really need to talk to him about this girl.
I nod to Scar. She nods back.
“Be careful.”
And without another word, we’re gone.
17
Kal
My jaw aches from the elbow I took in the bar yesterday.
My ribs are bruised where one of the Unbroken adepts kicked me, and I can feel the faint swelling of the knuckles in my left hand from a clumsy punch.
That was careless of you, the Enemy Within whispers.
Weak.
We are riding the elevator in our stolen tactical armor, preparing to infiltrate the World Ship’s security levels. It will not be easy, and my mind should be on the mission. But instead, I am thinking about the brawl with the Unbroken yesterday. The disdain in their eyes. Their blood on my knuckles.
I am not thinking about Aurora.
I focus on the pain as my father taught me. Those endless lessons in the Aen Suun—the Wave Way—drilled into me since the day I was born. I remember the two of us standing beneath the lias trees on Syldra before it burned. His hand on my arm, guiding my strikes. His voice in my ear. He was Warbreed like I am. Proud. Fearless. Peerless. But all his training and all his skill were worth nothing in the end.
And so I allow myself to feel the hurt.
The places I allowed my enemies to touch me.
Vowing they will never touch me again.
“You all right?”
I look across the turbolift at my Alpha as he speaks. Tyler Jones is watching