“I left a gap,” she said after a moment, slightly winded. “There. It’ll feel thin to them, not completely open.”
As night fell, Ivy created a phoenix fire in the center of our camp.
After about an hour of planning, Ivy, Solon, Sylver, Katie, and Eleanor lay down in their bedrolls.
I sat by the fire, knees tucked up, pretending my heart wasn’t hammering harder than I wanted it to. I could easily handle humans. I didn’t like how my body was reacting to my planned kidnapping.
Dimitri, Slater, Zuko, and Koa lingered around me.
“I promise I’ll be good,” I said, looking between them. “I’ll scream loudly if something goes wrong.”
Zuko leaned against a tree, arms crossed. “I prefer screams of pleasure, pretty little poison.”
“I agree. I don’t like this plan.” Koa crouched in front of me, brown eyes with ember flecks glowing. “We just got you back from the last human kidnapping.”
“It’s been over a year,” I reminded him gently. “And this time, I know what I’m walking into.”
Slater flopped down beside me, leaning his shoulder against mine. “You know, you don’t have to throw yourself into danger every mission, right, venom baby?”
“That’s kind of my job, Havoc baby,” I teased.
He snorted. “You’re impossible.”
“You’re hot,” I countered.
His eyes darkened.
Dimitri moved behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, his chin resting briefly on top of my head. “Make sure we can feel the bond.Please.”
“I’ll try,” I offered weakly. “You know I can’t control that.”
Koa leaned in and kissed my forehead. “I don’t like this,” he said again.
“I know,” I muttered. “But I’m still doing it.”
He huffed, but a small smile tugged at his mouth. “Of course you are.”
“Pretty little poison,” Zuko said, voice tight. “You better make this worth the stress.”
I grinned at him. “Always.”
One by one, they drifted restlessly to their bedrolls, lay down, and closed their eyes. Their breathing slowed, but I could feel the coil of readiness under each of them through the bonds.
The night grew deeper, and the fire crackled softly. A drone of insects sang a lullaby that did nothing to make me tired.
I got up, stretching as if I were bored, and made sure my dagger was hidden within my suit instead of on my thigh sheath.
“Going to do a perimeter check,” I whispered quietly, for my squad, who was only pretending to sleep to hear.
No one responded, but four different bonds flared with protest and resigned acceptance.
They were so cute.
I walked toward the side of the camp where Sylver had left the ward open. To human tech, it would look like a thinned area.
“Let’s do this,” I muttered under my breath, putting my comms device down my suit between my breasts for safekeeping.
I stepped through, and magic fell over me like static as I left the protection ward. The air on the other side was cooler, and the surrounding forest was darker. I moved slowly, deliberately less quietly than I could have been as I walked toward the dirt road toward the facility.
