Vesta was aloof, but still tended to hedge her speech when she knew she was delivering news he wouldn’t like. Sloane didn’t have that problem. He’d tell you calmly exactly what he thought — seconds before he ripped your head off with his bare claws.
Sometimes he didn’t even bother speaking first. And sometimes he used his teeth.
Meeting Kaz’s gaze squarely, he asked, “Did you really think that no one tracked you, Captain?” He arched a dark brow. They were all clearly a little pissed Kaz left, but with Sloane it was almost impossible to figure out his mood from his tone because healwayssounded pissed. “Didn’t you think it was strange that you got all the way here without a single incident?”
“Are you saying we were being tracked by bounty hunters this whole time?” Atria’s voice took on a high-pitched note of alarm that sent Kaz back across the room. Through the tether, strangely muted though it still felt, her anxiety barreled into him.
Tugging her back against his chest, he banded his arms around her shoulders and gave her a firm, reassuring squeeze.I’ve got you,he tried to tell her through their connection, pushing hard to get through that odd… fuzziness? Blockage?
Distance, he decided. That damn gap, though smaller, still existed, and the tether stretched across it, pulling the fabric of their connection taut. It took more effort than before to give and receive.
He knew it was a reaction to the fucking file and that the gap had opened up to hide something from him — a hurt he couldn’t see, couldn’t touch, but could sense like a threat in the dark. Kaz clenched his jaw.
I’ll fix it,he silently promised her.I’ll fix it, and then you’ll bond with me so you can never hide your hurt from me again.
Holding her a little bit closer, he bit out, “How many?”
Cesare, the leanest and relatively cheeriest of the team, sat on the edge of the coffee table and crossed his ankles in front of him. His skin was such a dark navy, the elvish iridescence made him look like a night sky shimmering with an aurora every time he moved in the light.
His eyes were fixed on Atria with an unnerving intensity. In a soft, eager voice, he said, “Don’t worry, Doctor Le Roy. You were never in any danger.”
“Howmany?”Kaz stressed.
Vesta sighed and finally gave up on the fries. Dropping the bag next to Cesare on the coffee table, she answered, “Five. Mostly vampires, one coven of witches, and a few very ill-informed shifters.”
“We’ve been guarding the homestead, but no one has gotten close,” Sloane added, dipping his head in a nod. A sharp, unsettling smile curled his lips upward. “Suspect it’s probably because of all those bits we sent back.”
Atria stiffened. “Bits?”
Sending the room a hard look, he warned, “You don’t want to know more than that, princess. I promise.”
He knew exactly what kind of horrors Fracture was capable of on an individual level and as a unit. Thaddeus had used them to terrorize people. Their skills lay not only in killing within the safety of shadow, nor in collecting valuable information.
They were also very, very good at making a point.
Elves were born with a great capacity for viciousness, but Fracture took that to another level entirely. It was not the fact that they had no problem with dismembering bodies that made them unable to be reintroduced into elvish society so much as that they simply did not know when that was an appropriate response.
To them, everything could be solved with the strategic use of horrific violence. It was the only language they understood. That was why they required someone from the outside telling them what to do, when to act, what level of force was warranted.
Without someone steady at the helm, they would have to be put down like rabid animals, and despite everything they’d been ordered to do in the past, they didn’t deserve that. Like Delilah, like Amira, like the entire EVP, they were victims, too.
Feeling a strange mixture of guilt for abandoning them, outrage at Vesta’s invasion of the nest, and gratitude for their help, Kaz gruffly demanded, “What were your orders? I find it hard to imagine Teddy just told you to tail us.”
“The sovereign’s orders were to find you,” Vesta answered, crisp and to the point.
Biting back a bark of laughter, Kaz could only shake his head.This is why Teddy isn’t in charge of the team.
Sure, they would follow orders, but if given the chance to wiggle around those orders, they would do it — if only for the principle of the thing.
“He didn’t tell you to bring us home, did he?”
Five pairs of eyes blinked owlishly at him, entirely innocent. “No, sir.”
“And what was the plan, exactly?”
“Follow you. Be your back-up. We didn’t make a move until now because it appeared you planned to stay here awhile. When it looked like you were about to move again, we decided to step in.” Sloane glanced at Vesta, who shrugged. Then, as if it explained everything, he added, “You’re our captain. We’re your team.”
Atria curled her arm around his back and pressed herself as close as possible. Looking around the room with a somber expression, she said, “That’s very kind of you. Thank you for keeping us safe this whole time, even when we didn’t know we needed it. I’m extremely grateful for your help.”
