lay awake for hours feeling her pressed tight.
I hadn’t lain awake because I was afraid I’d have a dream. I stayed awake because I was living a dream come true with my arms full of Hadley while she slept next to me.
Logan had been wrong.
We weren’t going to have to lock down Levi, we were going to have to cuff and sit on Drake.
After Wick explained the trap that he and Liberty had set—which, there was no denying, had been a good plan, since Dr. Davidson had bought it and was now in the back of a coroner’s van—Levi seemed to calm.
Drake, however, did not.
In the waxing morning light, Liberty’s man looked like he was going to have a shit hemorrhage.
“Drake,” Wick called out.
Drake turned back to face Wick, who was still sitting on the ambo’s bumper after refusing to climb inside, making the EMTs on site not only uncomfortable but confounded and uncomfortable. Wick was refusing all medical care except for the bandage now wrapped around his bicep.
Army CID, local police, including Ethan Lenox, were all at the scene doing their thing. Liberty was among the Army personnel. Her presence there was in an official capacity, so she was inside the motel room talking to the CID team instead of part of our huddle.
“Not now, General,” Drake angrily returned.
“You got something to say, say it. But just to point out, that fuckstick’s in a body bag. It might’ve been my bullet but it was Lieutenant McCoy’s plan. Proving the woman’s not only good on the battlefield but off. And at no point was she in danger tonight. Her behind was home in bed with you.”
Wick paused, and in the flashing blue and red lights all around us, General Wick disappeared and Liberty’s Uncle Wick took his place. Everything about the man changed. Pride and love shone brightly in his features but there was a hue of concern.
“I can imagine it hits you square in the gut. A man like you, to know that the woman lying next to you is keeping secrets. But, Drake, you gotta dig deep and let that go. You know why she had to keep this from you and you know she’s gonna have to keep more from you while she’s in the Army. One day, I’m gonna lose her. I figure that will be the day her contract ends and she doesn’t re-enlist. I also know when that day comes, Triple Canopy will be gaining a new employee. And even then you’re gonna have to find it in yourself to let her be her. She is not—”
“I know who the fuck she is,” Drake snapped. “I know it and I’m damn proud of her. And you’re very wrong, it’s not her lying next to me keeping secrets that’s a kick to the gut. And it’s not me who has to dig deep to work anything out. It’s my woman who’s gonna have more shit piled on her. She’s the one who’s gotta come to terms with someone she trusted being a traitor. It’s her standing in that motel room with that fucker’s blood fresh on the carpet at six o’clock in the morning giving her statement. And me being the man I am, you know I want to cushion that for her and I cannot. So how about you cut me some slack, let me walk off my temper, so when she’s ready to go, I can give Liberty what she needs instead of being pissed as shit I can’t protect her.”
Drake didn’t wait for Wick or anyone else to cut him anything. He turned and strode off so he could cool down, leaving the rest of us staring at his back.
My first thought was how grateful I was Hadley was a librarian and I’d never have to deal with what Drake had to deal with when his woman was called out in the middle of the night to leave for a mission. Not knowing where she was going or when she’d be home but having a deep understanding wherever she went she’d be in mortal danger.
Though it wouldn’t take long for me to learn that, librarian or not, Hadley was a Walker. In other words, she was crazy-brave and reckless, meaning all the peace of mind I felt was a façade. If there was trouble to be had, my woman would find it.
And the trouble she’d find would put everyone to the test.
31
Four days later, I learned there was a downside to my