Jack (Eidolon Black Ops #8) - Maddie Wade Page 0,8
to share before we meet the others?”
Currently, Blake and Liam were on duty outside the Queen’s quarters, which was a private resort used for foreign dignitaries. It gave them space and privacy with the added bonus of acres of land and a private beach, accessible only via the property.
“Nothing that I’m hearing. The people love her. We’ve had a few emails which Will has worked through and he found no substance in any of them, so all is quiet.”
“Okay, that makes me worried.” Jack pursed his lips as he took a bottle of apple juice from the fridge and drank it.
“Only you would see quiet as a bad thing, Jack.”
“Yeah, maybe but having a threat and dealing with it is better than not seeing one.”
“True.”
They walked to the study that was set up as the operational command room and found Lopez at his terminal working. He glanced up, acknowledged them, and went back to whatever he was doing. Decker and Mitch followed in behind them with Gunner. Waggs and Astrid entered shortly after.
Jack did everything in his power not to look at Astrid and failed. Something had changed between them in the last week. He had no idea what, just that he suddenly saw past the front she put on to the vulnerability below. Not weakness. Nobody could ever call a woman like Astrid Lasson weak. She’d survived more than most people went through in a lifetime, and he knew that wasn’t even the half of it.
“Where’s Reid?”
Waggs crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door as he spoke. “He had a call from Clay and will be here in a sec.”
“Okay, let’s get started.”
They went over the next three days on the agenda and discussed any issues they were finding with security. “Astrid, anything from your end?”
She’d been unusually quiet the last few days, and he found he didn’t like it. It was as though somebody had dimmed her spark, and he had the unreasonable desire to hurt anyone that caused her smile to fade in any way.
“Nothing to speak of. The Queen’s one lady in waiting is very wary of me and a bit snarky, but I don’t think she’s an issue. I’ll keep a close watch on her and report anything that seems off.”
“Unfortunately, some people still believe that we live in fourteenth-century France and the Royal Court is the place of favour,” Decker mused aloud.
Astrid snorted in a truly unladylike fashion and grinned. “Ain’t that the truth.”
He smiled despite himself because it reached her eyes this time.
The meeting carried on for another hour and broke up, with everyone having a few hours to themselves before Blake and Liam swapped out with Reid and Waggs. He had calls to make—one to his brother and one to put into Zack too. He did none of those things. Instead, he watched as Astrid threw a beach bag over her shoulder and walked down to the private beach. He found himself moving after her, despite knowing damn well he should leave her in peace.
Looking out over the cliff edge towards the beach below, he saw Astrid pick her way through the rocks before finding a spot she deemed suitable and laying her bag down. The slight breeze from the ocean blew her blonde hair as she stretched upwards and drew her cover-up over her head, revealing a tiny green bikini underneath.
Jack had seen his share of beautiful women and was surrounded by them daily, but none of them affected him the way Astrid did, and he didn’t like it one bit. He wasn’t made for marriage and babies. It wasn’t that he didn’t want them, it was more he wasn’t prepared to open himself up and make himself a target the way that kind of love did.
He wasn’t opposed to relationships and loved that his friends and brother had found love, but for him, it got in the way of order and took away his control. All his life he’d had it drummed into him by the father he now hated with a passion that control was the answer. Yet, here he was, longing for something he’d never wanted before and it fucking terrified him.
He had to focus, first and foremost, on keeping the Queen safe, and secondly, on finding the man who, despite everything he’d done, Jack wanted to save.
He watched Astrid move to the sea and walk in like she was the star of a fantasy movie before diving beneath the waves and swimming. His