Oddly, his comforting presence even made the Hunter problem on the back half of the compound lands seem less of an issue until, well, that changed.
“Chuck?” Jules’s voice was low and sleep-rough.
“Yeah?”
“There’s someone at the door,” he muttered, burying his face deeper into the pillow.
I lifted my head as a fainttap, tap, tapcame through the dark. Stifling a yawn, I shoved the covers off, snorting when Jules hissed at the cold air blowing over his skin.
“Sorry, love,” I murmured, dropping a kiss on his cheek and pulling the blankets back over his warm body.
Pulling on a pair of lounge pants, I stepped out into the hall and found Kade leaning against the wall, his eyes trained on the cell phone in his hands.
“Hey,” I said quietly. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Kade cocked a brow at me. “You didn’t. I just got here.”
It was my turn to raise a brow. “You did? How many times have you knocked?”
Kade shook his head. “Not sure why it matters but just the once.”
Odd. That would mean Jules woke me upbeforeKade knocked but, like Kade said, it wasn’t important.
“What’s up?”
Kade shoved the phone my direction and I felt my forehead wrinkle as I watched the figures moving around the compound in the dark.
“What am I looking at?”
“Hunters,” Kade said shortly.
“The fuck?” I snapped. “On the grounds?”
Kade nodded. “The security forces are on stand-by. I told them not to engage until I’d talked to you unless they were attacked.”
Groaning, I scrubbed my palm over my face. “What are they doing?”
“It looks like recon,” Kade offered, his lips twisted in a frown. “They’re skirting the dorms and main building, seem to be focused on the outbuildings and such.”
I shook my head. “Why? That doesn’t make sense.”
Kade huffed out a sigh. “It might,” he said slowly, “if they’re looking for locations to plant explosives or hiding spots for snipers.”
Double fuck. It was time for me to stop looking at this from an administrator perspective and slip on my military cap.
“Yeah, of course,” I agreed. “What’s the current situation?”
“They’re traveling in teams of two,” Kade informed me. “Back-to-back,” he clarified with a slight snicker that made me smile.
“Amateurs,” I said with a smirk.
Kade nodded. “Exactly. For now, I have all of the perimeter guards watching them and each twosome has a Brigade member tailing them and taking notes, covertly of course.”
“Okay,” I sighed, flipping through the screens on Kade’s phone to check the time. “It should be late enough for me to get in touch with Drey. I’ll touch base with him, but in the meantime, let’s stick with your current plan and only engage if we have no other choice or they start to damage property.”
Kade nodded slowly and I could tell there was something else bothering him.
“There’s more?”
