“Ares.” Jase steps up to him, standing alongside his brother. “These things take time to organize, and we can’t go in fully blind. We are of no use to Lili if we all wind up dead.”
I sidle up to Ares and take his hand. “I know how badly you want to go to her, but we have to be smart.” His eyes are darting wildly around the place, and there are so many emotions flickering across his face. I squeeze his hand as I look at Baz. “What is the plan and how can we help?”
“Dad is mobilizing his contacts and troops on the ground. We know Carter has turned some of them, but the core is still loyal to Lust & Envy. He’s getting eyes on the compound where Lili is right now. He has called in every available man he can spare here to come with us, and he’s lining up a plane and gathering supplies.”
Jase crosses over to my other side, taking my free hand in his as he eyeballs Ares. “This is what my father is good at. Remember I told you we’ve been taking down trafficking operations all over the world for years. We can mobilize fast. I know you’re worried, but if anyone can get your sister out safely, it’s my family.”
“Jase is correct,” Baz concurs. “You need to let our father do what he does best. I know it’s hard not to participate in the planning, but us showing up will just distract them. It’s a well-oiled machine, and they can ramp up fast. I suggest you all try to get some sleep. It’s a seven-hour flight, and then it’s going to be a shitshow. Wear full combat gear, and bring your Kevlar vests.”
After Baz leaves, we talk for a bit and then head to bed. There is no point staying up all night worrying about things outside of our control, and Baz is right. We need sleep. We can’t go into battle with the enemy if we are all exhausted and not on our A-game.
I offer to sleep in Ares’s room with him, but he declines. I try not to take it to heart. He is not used to leaning on anyone. He is used to handling things himself. I still wish he would lean on me, but I know it’s not personal, and it’s going to take time to change the habits of a lifetime.
Jase and Chad are fast asleep behind me, the latter snoring intermittingly, when the door to my bedroom creaks open. A thin slice of light creeps in from the hallway as Ares slips into the room, wearing only boxers. Quietly, he closes the door and tiptoes across the room.
I peel back the covers and pat the empty space this side of me. I had gone to sleep in between Jase and Chad, but Chad must have gotten up to take a piss and climbed back in the wrong side of the bed.
Without uttering a word, Ares slides under the sheets and turns on his side. His intense brownish-green eyes drill into me as I turn on my side and move in closer. I’m wearing silk shorts and a camisole, but his body heat sears me through my light sleep clothes. Leaning down, I press a soft kiss just above the branding on his chest. Ares buries his head in my shoulder, nuzzling my neck as he pulls me in flush with his body. I wrap my arms around him and hold him close, and that is how we fall asleep.
“Get up!” Bree shrieks sometime later. “Oh my God! You need to get up.” Ares wakes the same time I do, holding me against his chest as he sits upright in the bed. Beside us, Jase and Chad are rousing, the latter staring with wide eyes at Ares.
Bree yanks the covers off the bed, and all three of my guys instantly cover their morning wood with their hands. Thank fuck, they are all wearing boxers. I’d be having strong words with my bestie if they were naked.
Something she had no way of knowing when she pulled the covers off us without warning.
“What the hell, babe?” I stare at her through blurry eyes. “Can you give us some privacy, and what’s with the early wake-up call? Did we oversleep or something?” We had all set alarms on our phones, so I don’t see how that’s possible.
“Shit.” My words propel Ares into motion, and he scrambles out of the bed with his giant erection trying to poke a hole through his boxers.
“Ho. Lee. Mother of all—”
“Bree!” I snap my fingers in her face. “Focus and quit ogling my man.”
“Sorry, sorry.” She lifts her eyes to mine, fanning her face. “I didn’t mean to. It was justright there.” Her eyes lower to his crotch again.
“Bree.” Ares growls, squinting at the time on my cell.
She jerks her head up, her lips twitching.
Cheeky little wench!
“What’s going on? We don’t have to leave for two hours,” Ares says.
Which means it’s sometime around five a.m.
“I have the best news ever.” She gets up on the bed and starts bouncing around like a lunatic with the widest grin on her face.
“PC1. Stop.” Jase lifts his sister off the bed. “Tell us.”
“Baz just called me. He tried your cell, but you didn’t pick up,” she says, looking at Ares. “We have Lili!” Bree is fit to burst as she smiles at Ares. “Dad’s team got her out, and she’s on a plane on her way here. They are due to land at nine.”
Did they lie to us last night? Had this been the plan all along? I don’t like thinking we were deliberately kept out of the rescue operation. It’s not exactly fair when Ares has given up his life these past couple of years to search for his little sister. He deserved to have been there. And I don’t like being lied to. We’re supposed to be working together, and it makes me uneasy.
But there’s no point arguing the point. All that matters is Lili has been freed and she’s on her way back to her brother.
Ares grips my cell tight in his hands, staring at Bree as if in a daze. “How?” he chokes out. “I thought there were plans and—"
Bree cuts him short. “There were, but somehow Carter got wind we were onto him, and we had to act fast or risk losing her.”
