Four thousand miles would be a decent start.
It would have to be. And the sooner, the better.
“She’s probably packing up to go as we speak,” he said, feeling like a first-class asshole for purposely allowing her to leave without a word from him after what they’d shared a few hours ago. “Phaedra doesn’t belong here. She doesn’t belong with me. As for destiny, it’s got no fucking place here, either.”
His sharp statement was punctuated by the vibrating buzz of his comm unit. He brought it to his ear and listened as Lucan Thorne summoned him for a one-on-one in the commander’s study upstairs.
“Yes, sir.” He slipped the device back into his pocket and shot a glance at his friends. “Duty calls.”
Not a minute too soon, as far as he was concerned. The last thing he wanted to do was stand around talking about his feelings.
Eli’s slaying and the ambush Opus Nostrum had executed demanded a swift and violent answer. If Micah had anything to say about it, he wanted to be on the front lines of the response.
Then he could get back to the business of dealing with whatever had attacked him and his team in the Deadlands a week ago.
With those thoughts putting a hard purpose in his stride, he headed up the corridor.
As he rounded a corner, he spotted Jenna coming out of the archive room. She held her fingers to her temples, then she leaned into the jamb of the open doorway.
Micah rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so.” She frowned, slowly regaining her balance. “I’m okay.”
“You were feeling off last night too,” he reminded her.
“It’s nothing. Just a little woozy, like someone’s scratching at the inside of my skull. It comes and goes. I’ll feel better if I lie down for a few minutes.”
“Come on, I’ll walk you to your quarters.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I think I do, Jenna.” He held out his arm, fully expecting her to refuse. The fact that she didn’t raised more than a little concern in him. He walked her to the elevator, her arm still looped through his as they rode up to the main level. “Does Brock know you’ve been feeling like this?”
She gave a small laugh. “My overprotective mate knows everything.”
As if on cue, Brock was waiting outside the elevator doors as they opened. He reached in and gathered Jenna close.
“Thanks, man,” he said, giving Micah a grateful nod as the couple walked out together to make their way to their quarters.
Micah watched them for a moment, trying to ignore the pang of guilt he felt for dodging Phaedra. He’d never thought of himself as a coward, but damn if he wasn’t acting like one with her.
She had saved his life—twice, by his count. Last night, she’d saved the lives of three of his friends. And then she’d topped off that miracle by giving him the incredible gift of her body. She had given him the honor of her pleasure, uninhibited, and so fucking honest, he would never be able to lay with another woman without comparing everything to Phaedra.
At the very least, he owed her a few words before she was gone from his life forever.
Her guest room was just down the hallway from Jenna and Brock’s quarters.
The door was open, as it had been the last time he’d stood there. At first, he didn’t see her. Then she stepped out of the walk-in closet with an empty hanger in her hand, about to make her way over to her travel bag that sat open on the bed.
She froze when she saw him. “Micah.”
“Hello, Phaedra.” He forced himself to stay outside the room, no matter how strong the urge was to get close to her. He’d already done enough of that, and seeing her soft expression as she stared at him now was only inviting more trouble. He cleared his throat. “I’m on my way to meet with Lucan, so I’ve only got a minute.”
“Okay.” A hesitant smile played at the edge of her lips. “Would you like to come in?”
“No.”
It was a lie and then some. He tried not to notice the look of stung confusion that crept into her eyes as he stood there, unmoving on the other side of the threshold. It was the right thing to do. Especially when everything male inside him craved nothing more than a further taste of her.
