“They’re here, Camellia. What do you want to do?” Jonas pressed a kiss to her neck, right over her pulse.
She raised her chin. “Let’s go see what they want, but I’d rather talk to them outside on the porch. I always feel safer outdoors.”
He felt the same way. They stepped outside, and he closed the screen behind him. For the first time, he felt a small ripple of unease move through her. He recognized Jack Norton and his wife, Briony. With them was the leader of Team Two, Logan Maxwell. Jack was one of those men you never wanted coming after you. He just didn’t have any stop in him, not ever. And Jack was willing to take orders from Logan, so what did that say about him?
Jonas reached for Camellia’s hand, his larger one completely enveloping hers. To hell with what anyone thought. He wasn’t going to let her face this alone. “Jack, Logan, Briony.” He stated their names immediately so his woman would know who she was dealing with. “Good to see you. We were sleeping and haven’t had timeto make coffee, so I can’t offer much in the way of refreshments.” Deliberately, he glanced at his watch. “We were going back out into the field soon. No one gave us the heads-up that you were coming to see us.”
That wasn’t subtle at all. He didn’t mean it to be. He always gave Team Two the courtesy of letting them know he was coming to see them before he showed up. There was an unspoken rule between the teams that they let one another know if they were visiting. That way, men arriving in their territory didn’t set off alarms. Team Two had set them off, and his men would already have known it, even before Jonas.
Kyle and Jeff would be on their way, but they wouldn’t be the only ones. He knew Nicolas Trevane, a highly decorated sniper who never missed his target, was somewhere watching them right now. If Jonas needed to, he could pinpoint his location. Nico wasn’t the only one covering his back. Ian McGillicuddy would either be sitting up in the trees as well or lying out somewhere not that far from them, utterly unseen, rifle steady as a rock. Jonas knew his brothers had him covered.
You told me that Ryland would send Lily and Daniel to be taken care of by Team Two, and yet you’re so distrustful of them. In fact, your team plans to have all the women going there to have these men guard them. Now you’re practically ready to shoot them down when they haven’t done anything but want to talk. That doesn’t make any sense at all, Jonas.
“I tried texting,” Jack said smoothly. “You know how spotty our system is out here.”
Jonas waved his hand toward the chairs scattered around the verandah. “We’ve got some time. This is Camellia Mist, my woman.” He made the claim deliberately, letting them know they would be dealing with him. “Honey, Jack Norton, his wife, Briony, and the leader of Team Two, Logan Maxwell.”
Camellia had a point. The two teams had always been friendly. More than friends. They’d counted on each other. Why was he suddenly feeling so protective? Was it just because of Camellia? Or had the other team done something to set his radar off?
Camellia moved closer to Jonas, right under his shoulder, tucking her front against his side like she belonged there. She gave the visitors a small smile, the one that didn’t reach her wary eyes. “It’s nice to meet you.” Her voice was whisper soft, her tone just as leery as the look in her eyes.
Are they your friends or enemies, Jonas? I don’t know how I’m supposed to act.
She went with Jonas to the lounge again and sank down beside him, her thigh tight against his, keeping her gaze from Briony by concentrating on Logan. Jonas was so tuned to her, he felt the connection flowing from his veins to hers, a deep purple lighting up like sparks along the edges of the flow. He wasn’t certain what that meant, but he knew it was all about her mood.
He caught flickers of trepidation. The verge of anger, carefully controlled. He caught glimpses of pink surfacing in the midst of the purple as it flowed through their veins and spread through the neural pathways and cells throughout their bodies. That bright pink was all Camellia. The heart and soul of her in spite of trepidation and anger. He kept possession of her hand, his thumb rubbing soothingly along her inner wrist.
“What can we do for you, Logan?” Jonas decided he might as well get right to the point. Keeping the conversation centered on the commander of Team Two and acting as if he thought their visit was official business would make it just a little harder for them to make their request.
Logan glanced briefly at Jack, then back to Camellia. “Tansy told Briony what your woman did for Kaden. Both Jack and I talked to Kaden. I will say, Camellia, Kaden was reluctant to speakabout it and wasn’t happy with his wife for calling Briony. He said what happened was a private thing between the two of you, and until you gave him permission to talk to me, he didn’t feel he had the right to confirm or deny anything Tansy said. In fact, she was in deep shit for saying anything at all.”
A long silence followed Logan’s statement. Jonas lifted an eyebrow. “I’m not certain what you want. That doesn’t tell us anything other than Tansy is a damn gossip. First she disrespects Camellia and then she has the balls to gossip about her.”
Briony lifted her head. “Don’t, Jonas. Tansy’s trying to save my sister’s life.” She looked directly at Camellia with tears swimming in her eyes. “I know something terrible happened between you and Marigold. She told me even if you could help her, you wouldn’t come. That what she did was unforgivable. Maybe it is. Maybe whatever she did was so terrible no one could forgive her. But she has two beautiful sons and a husband who need her. I need her. I’m begging you, no matter what she did to you, if you can help her, please do it.”
Jonas kept his gaze fixed on Logan. “You know this is bullshit, right? That you let them come here and put Camellia in this position. It’s blackmail any way you look at it. Emotional blackmail. If she doesn’t go with you, she’ll look like the worst person on the face of the earth. If she does and can’t help Mari any more than the doctors and specialists you’ve brought in to try haven’t been able to do, you can accuse her of not really trying because she’s holding a grudge. Nice setup. But it isn’t going to work because I’m not allowing you to trap her like that.”
His fury was rising to such a point that the starship neurons were reversing and edging with a darker purple, spreading like a virus through his veins to hers.
“Fucking Tansy doesn’t know anything about Camellia. You all can talk to Ryland if you want information.”
Jonas. Don’t be upset.
Camellia’s presence in his mind was like fresh air moving through him, blowing away some of his fury. Those chemicals of dark purple running in the opposite direction along with the electrical charges sparking along the long arms coming off the neurons calmed somewhat from the flow of a single vein of reddish pink.
From somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled and another answered. Logan raised an eyebrow. “Friends of yours, Jonas?”
“Actually,” Camellia answered before Jonas could, “they’re my friends.”
Jack Norton leaned toward her, but he kept his wary gaze fixed on Jonas. “Briony may have stated her plea entirely wrong, Jonas, but do you really believe we came here with the intention of setting your woman up? You know me. You know Logan. Do you honestly believe we would do something like that?” His voice was pitched low. Very calm. “I’m not a man who goes around explaining myself, but I understand the need to protect your woman.”
He turned his head and for the first time deliberately looked away from Jonas. It was a move that made him vulnerable to attack, and they both knew it.
“Camellia, I’m sorry if our coming here upset or hurt you in any way. We don’t know what happened between you and Marigold. We don’t even know what occurred between you and Kaden Montague. Our teams have been desperate for a healer, not just for Mari but for all of us. I’m going to tell you straight up, I’m the worst spokesman our team could possibly send to you, but Briony needed to come here. She was desperate and I couldn’t say no to her, even though I felt it wasn’t the best idea for either of you.”
Camellia’s fingers tightened in Jonas’s. “I don’t make any claims to be a psychic healer, not in the way I’ve heard all of you,including Jonas, describe. Briony, if you ask your sister, she’ll tell you, I couldn’t have healed a cut when we were children. Sadly, I don’t have that type of broad talent. I wish I did.”
“But you did help Kaden,” Logan persisted.
