Why did she get the feeling that he’d just confessed to acrime?
“You broke a direct command,” Reaper saidflatly.
Audra eased around to his side again, watching Diggs’s expression go flat. The only things she knew about the military was from her brother, and one of those facts was you didn’t disobey orders. And Diggs had obviously done that to save Trigger. The thought gave her enough strength to step to Diggs side, even though each step felt as though she were walking through sludge, one step almost as impossible as the next. When Reaper’s obsidian gaze fell on her once more, it took all of her willpower not tocower.
“He did the right thing. If he hadn’t stepped in, Trigger would’ve died.” And another piece of her heart would’ve died along withit.
Reaper didn’t blink; she couldn’t even tell if he’d heard her speak. The men behind him didn’t blink either; they were all staring at her with expressionless faces, as if—as if they didn’t care one way or theother.
They were giant, unthinking machines, dealing out death and destruction at their commander’s order. They would turn on her, she knew it. But even so, she wasn’t going to give up. Trigger was all she had left and she’d fight to the death to savehim.
* * *
“I’msorry your dog was hurt, ma’am, but that has nothing to do with us.” Then Reaper’s gaze fixed on Diggs. He’d already dismissed Audra from thought. “And it doesn’t negate the fact you have put our team indanger.”
Diggs kept his shoulders squared, and his gaze locked on the wall just past Reaper’s shoulder. “Yes,sir.”
He’d completely abandoned logic and rushed out of the compound without thinking. When he’d seen a man beating Trigger, something inside him snapped. Maybe it was because Diggs had never gotten to have a dog of his own, or maybe it was because he couldn’t stand to see the weak being so egregiously harmed. Whatever the reason was—in Reaper’s eyes, it would never be an acceptableexcuse.
Diggs had never disobeyed a direct command in his entire life, and the weight of guilt pressed down on his shoulders hard. But still, even now fully realizing the risks, he couldn’t say he wouldn’t do itagain.
But this was not a discussion to have in front of Audra, not ever. “Sir, requesting permission to move this conversation to headquarters.” Their war room was just beyond the thick concrete wall lining the main lab. They could be within it in minutes, locked in by an impenetrable door, deep underground completely hidden. There, Diggs would take his punishment like a man, away fromher.
Only Audra didn’t seem to like his words very much. In fact, her petite little body stiffened as straight as a metal rod beside him. “You are not moving this conversation away from me. And you’re not taking the fall for this, Diggs. Any person with any sense of decency wouldn’t have left Trigger todie.”
Her tiny body was practically running with fury, and for some reason it was on his behalf. A pinch of amusement penetrated the serious situation, breaking up his dread. He’d never had anyone stand up for him before, and he kinda likedit.
Even his older brothers had always taunted and teased him, called him weak and small. His teammates had always been there for him, but that was because they were brothers in the special forces. And then in Project Mayhem they’d banded together. It had been that or death. They would each willingly give up their life for each other. It was the code. It wasunshakable.
But Audra didn’t have to give her life for his, she wasn’t a part of any of this. And although she may be somehow tied to the dog, he wasn’t going to allow her to be dragged into any dispute between him and his team. “Audra, it’s okay. Stay in here with Trigger and Melissa. I’ll go get this straightenedout.”
And then she turned on him, her green eyes flashing fire, giving the rest of the team her back. Reaper showed no hint of caving, but King and Juarez and Hicks were fighting off grins. No woman, besides Reaper’s fiancée, Caroline, had ever stood up to the terrifying commander. Hell, most who did ended up 6 feet under theground.
“It’s not okay. He’s acting like you didn’t do something brave and noble. I’m sorry, but only a monster would allow that to happen.” It was then he saw her lips trembling and knew she was on the verge of breaking down again. He could feel herfear.
Diggs tuned out his team’s amused stares and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, having this driving need to anchor her and lend his support. “It’s okay. I can handlethis.”
She jerked from him, facing Reaper once more. “Whatever you have to say you can say in front of me. It’s obvious you don’t care if I hear it or not.” She spat the words out in rapid fire and Diggs found himself cringing. Brave or not, Reaper had a very firm line that no one crossed. Not evenCaroline.
“Top, she’supset.”
Reaper held up a hand, palm flat and open. “I can see that, brother. I’m notblind.”
Although his face remained as impassable as before, Reaper’s words gave Diggs a small measure of ease. The last thing Diggs wanted was for Reaper to unleash his overprotective fury. He’d always been the deadliest, after the now dead Jack Mankel, a man that had practically raised him as his own son, who had then turned them all over to General Rainier. Of the entire team, Reaper was the one who’d been the most betrayed. He’d been the one who’d made the decision that ultimately ended the life of the man he’d called father. They’d all thought him beyond hope after that, but then Caroline had pulled him back into the world of the living. She’d made him a home, she made him human again. And now she was pregnant with their child, so Reaper’s protective instincts were onoverdrive.
“Regardless, you broke a direct order, endangering the team, and I cannot let that gounpunished.”
“Punished?What’s he going to do, have you whipped?” Audra sneered, her entire demeanor shifting into open aggression aimed at Reaper. “Are you and your cronies going to beat him until he’s bloody and broken to teach him a lesson?” Her voice was rising in pitch with every word. “All you soldiers are disgusting. You don’t do anything but hurt and kill and destroy, even turning on your own when it suitsyou.”
“I hate themilitary.”
