Rising Storm (Westin Force #2) - Julie Trettel Page 0,55

her, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’m going to hold you to that promise.”

The alarm on my phone beeped. “It’s time.”

“I know. Be careful.”

I gave her one last kiss and turned to walk away. Leaving her behind nearly killed me. I had been in a lot of tough situations over the years, but walking away from my mate after all the fears and worries I’d just confronted was probably the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.

I didn’t turn around because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to leave if I did. I picked up my bag and walked out the door and straight to the waiting vehicle.

“You okay?” Ben asked.

I shook my head. “You could have warned me how hard it would be.”

He sighed. “Never really gets easy to leave them behind. You just do it, knowing that in some way you’re helping to protect them by going. You did so good on the last mission I was hoping it would be different for you.”

“That was only a few hours, like going to the office.”

He nodded. “Didn’t think about it like that, but I see your point.”

“I hate this,” I confessed in a voice low enough for only him to hear.

“When you’re on the mission, you’re on the mission. Nothing back home matters in that moment. You have to keep your head in the game.”

“I’m aware. Once we’re on the plane and the adrenaline kicks in, I’ll be fine.”

Ben nodded. “That’s always how it is for me too.”

We stayed quiet the remainder of the drive. Emma had been strong and confident. She had taken my leaving far better than I had. All the disastrous what ifs were still vivid in my head making it all the harder on me. I could do this though. I had to.

With my mind on Emma and not on the mission, people could get hurt, killed even. I allowed myself to wallow up until my feet stepped onto the plane and then I pushed her from my mind and got to work.

“Sit back and relax gentleman, we’ve got a long ride ahead of us. We’ll be heading to Iceland today.”

“Iceland? Why the hell are we going there?” Baine asked what we were all thinking.

Silas looked out to the tarmac just as another vehicle pulled up. Patrick O’Connell got out with Jacob Winthrop, his wife Annie, along with three other guys. As they got closer, I saw they were Patrick’s friends, Martin, Larry, and Dave.

All of them were Verndari and often provided intel to us on the locations of the Raglan. What were they doing here? They’d never gone on a mission with us before.

“Are they coming with us?” Ben asked.

Silas nodded. “Affirmative.”

“O’Connell too?” Tarron asked.

“Yup.”

“What kind of mission is this?” I asked.

“Informational. They’ll fill us in further.”

I couldn’t imagine why we would need to fly all the way to Iceland of all places just to get some intel. Why wouldn’t they just tell us instead? I was crabby enough without adding a bogus run to the mix.

The six of them boarded, the door shut, and we were soon in the air.

Larry kept looking back at us all and smiling. It was weird. I’d met the guy once before, he was infatuated with shifters, but unlike Dave and Martin rarely got to be close to one. Now he had seven of us, eight really counting Patrick, all trapped in a tin can for the next eight and a half hours.

Dave nodded my way. “How’s your mate doing, Painter?”

I relaxed a little at just the mention of Emma. “She healed nicely thanks to your teams assistance. Clara is great.”

“She really is. We’re lucky to have her. How’s Sahara adjusting to life out of captivity?”

“It’s Emma actually. She’s adjusting just fine. Thanks.”

I hoped that was true. She told me she’d be waiting when I got back. Her leaving me was still my biggest concern, but she had never lied to me before and I had to hold on to the hope that she wouldn’t. She’d be there excited for my return just as she said she’d be.

“They haven’t bonded yet,” Baine blurted out. “I have a pot going if you wanna place a bet on when that’ll be.”

I rolled my eyes and groaned as I stared out of the window trying to ignore him and not engage.

Normally, I didn’t sleep much on the plane, but I hadn’t exactly gotten much sleep the night before. I tried not to think about the details, or I’d become visibly