Page 170 of Huntress

“In his words? He’s got friends in much higher positions than Mordane. He can get away with murder if he claims necessity.”

“Where did you go after?” Trenton asked. Grady shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “I haven’t told the others that you went AWOL, Marley would freak, and you don’t need another hit to your reputation.”

“What’s that supposed to–”

“I need to know, Captain. For peace of mind, and to keep the trust between us.”

“Mordane told you?”

“No, it was Albright. He figured I had a right to know you’d gone missing, and had been gone for weeks. Then he dragged you back in, we’re thrown into the field a day later, and there hasn’t been time to ask until now.” Trenton looked her in the eye. “We deserve an explanation, Elsie.”

Elsie chewed the inside of her lip. He was right; they deserved to know the truth, no matter their reaction.

“I took Saint back to his home, to bury his dead and allow him to say his goodbyes.” She offered no details and made no apologies.

“Are you kidding me?!” Trenton hissed. “We were all worried about you, wondering how things were going, and concerned you’d found something you weren’t meant to find. You left us without an update for months, and you decided to go play house with your pet demon?!”

“That’s not how I’d put it,” Elsie snorted.

“No? Then please enlighten me. How exactly would you put it?” he demanded.

“We were cleaning up Cornick’s mess. He left their bodies to rot! Warriors, elderly, children, it didn’t matter to them. They retained some for experiments, and kept Saint for me, then killed the rest. So yes, I owed it to him to at least give him the chance to say goodbye.”

“You’ve gotten too comfortable with that demon you’re convinced you owe. Lately you work better with him than you ever have with any of us, even Trenton and Morgan,” Grady said bitterly. “You’re in sync with him, like you can read each other’s thoughts.”

“My thoughts exactly. What the hell is going on between the two of you? I thought you hated him, but the way you two move together is way too fucking close. And I’m not just talking about during combat,” Trenton said.

“He’s been my companion for what, fifteen, sixteen months now? We’re constantly together. Every mission, every training session, all day, every day. He’s also my companion who spent all that time watching me get tortured every day. We’ve grown close, and that’s not going to change. It was Cornick and Mordane’s purpose for him from the beginning anyway.”

“You’re getting defensive, but what I’m hearing is you left us to go on some harebrained mission, only to come back unsuccessful with more questions than answers. And the demon is permanent,” Trenton growled.

Elsie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers. “You’re hearing correctly. I am not satisfied with how things ended in that facility, but I’m certain something is off, and I’m not giving up. I fully intend to continue looking into what Cornick is up to.”

“Are you kidding?!” Trenton whisper-shouted. “Your only proof against Cornick is a conversation that could have involved anything! You don’t even know if the timing is right or if it happened after the chimeras.”

“While that’s true, it does sound like something isn’t adding up,” Grady said softly. “And she does have scary-accurate instincts.”

“Do not pull shit with me right now, Grady,” Trenton hissed. “She used to have sharp instincts, but that was thrown right out the door the moment she decided to keep that fucking mutt.”

“I didn’t get as much evidence as I wanted, but I managed to find enough to raise serious questions in one search opportunity. Not even you could have turned a blind eye to what I saw in there, Trent.”

“I highly doubt that.” He leaned in close, nodding at a shadowy figure in the trees. “I haven’t gone soft on his kind.”

Trenton stalked off, radiating anger. Elsie let out a deep sigh and plopped her face into her hands, holding back a shout of frustration. Grady moved to sit next to her, his large hand settling between her shoulder blades.

“Elsie, I know you haven’t gone soft, you’ve just got a big heart and a strong sense of justice,” he said.

Elsie jerked her head back, mouth falling open as Grady moved in to kiss her, his hand moving to the back of her neck, holding her in place as his lips slammed down on hers.

A sharp jab hit her chest, her bond with Saint wrenching hard at the intrusion.

She shoved him to the ground with a gasp, cracking him across the jaw with the back of her hand. Elsie glared down at Grady with bulging eyes. He tried to get up, and she lifted a boot to the center of his chest, kicking him back to the ground. The big man hit with a thud.

“Stay right fucking there. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she seethed. He clasped his hands together, but the damage was already done. “You’re lucky I didn’t break your fucking face.”

“You just…it seemed like you needed some comfort.”

“Comfort? Comfort?! Is that what you call what you just did?! I have never, and will never, want comfort more than I require the peace of mind that goes with not risking a mating bond. Accidents happen, and those I can forgive, but this was no accident, Grady.”