The Redemption Saga Box Set

by Kristen Banet

  “Sombra led us to her and her husband healed us,” Sawyer continued to explain.

  “I can tell them.” Yasmin sounded like a patient mother, looking over her two favorite children in Sawyer and Quinn. “After they healed, we made a plan to find Camila, finish your mission - which was best, since I knew the younger Druid needed to be put down. Then I accepted Sawyer’s offer to visit the WMC.”

  Zander sank further into his chair and Sawyer patted his arm reassuringly.

  “She’s nice,” she whispered to him. “She’s not the enemy.”

  “And Camila? The one who attacked, I presume?” Vincent closed the door again, since Jasper had moved to sit down.

  “Yes. She’s dead now.” Yasmin remained peaceful, but Zander had the sneaking suspicion that she was nervous and uncomfortable. Maybe since she was locked in a big steel and marble building, like Quinn once was very uncomfortable with it. “Thanks to Sawyer, really. She’s the one who did the important fighting.”

  Zander choked on his tongue and spun to look back at Sawyer. He narrowed his eyes at her and realized she was completely burned out as well and must have gone into her life force. Her cheeks were sunken, there were dark circles around her eyes, and her hair was limp and dull. She had.

  “This mission can be marked as successful,” Sawyer told them all. “That whore is dead, no worries.”

  “Good…to know…” Vincent seemed dazed by the new information. Zander didn’t blame him. Vincent liked his control, and this was all completely out of his control now.

  “She escorted Quinn and I out of the rainforest and now we are going to escort her to New York. Then I’m going to laugh in D’Angelo’s face. Good plan? Good.” Sawyer didn’t leave anyone a chance to argue with her, and Zander wasn’t feeling foolish enough to. He would let her take over the world now if she was just alive to do it. He didn’t care anymore, as long as she was alive.

  He knew that would change in a week, but he figured they both needed a respite from arguing.

  “Eat, then leave,” Quinn corrected. Zander chuckled as Sawyer growled at Quinn and he playfully growled back.

  They were hanging out too much, but this time it had been his fault. He was the one who made the decision to leave them alone in the jungle together.

  34

  Sawyer

  Sawyer nearly kissed the concrete of the urban jungle known as New York City. When their private jet landed and she was allowed off the plane, she nearly started dancing in joy. She would take it any day over the hell of the Amazon. She was finally back in her element.

  Yasmin stayed closed to her and Quinn, with her own animals all hanging on her. Sawyer knew it was for comfort. The Druid didn’t know anyone that well, but she had fought with Quinn and Sawyer. Sawyer had no way of helping her, but Quinn held some understanding for the Druid’s feelings about being in the middle of a city.

  They made no stops at the hotel. They were ushered into vehicles and driven straight to the WMC.

  Standing on the steps in front of the impressive building, Sawyer only felt proud.

  “Fuck you,” she said to the building softly. “I win.”

  “Sawyer, come on,” Zander called out at her near the door. She looked to her side and smiled at Yasmin.

  “Are you ready?”

  “Were you really ready to fight Camila?” Yasmin asked in return.

  “Absolutely not,” she admitted, her smile turning into a grin. “But there’s only one way to get what you want, in my experience.”

  “To fight for it?” Yasmin raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Damn right.”

  Sawyer led the Druid up, Quinn flanking Yasmin so the Druid felt safe. Their animals were all around them. Jaguar, wolves, monkeys, and a parrot. They were probably quite the sight. Shadow, Druid, and Wildman with a fucking zoo around them.

  “We can’t go with you in the Council Chamber,” Vincent explained once they were inside. “We’re to report to our own meeting. I’m sorry, Yasmin.”

  “It’s fine,” Yasmin replied kindly. “I know your mission is now over. Go home and enjoy it.”

  “Thank you,” Vincent said loudly, bowing his head to her. Softer, he continued. “And thank you for protecting them. It means the world to me.”

  “They are special people,” Yasmin reminded him. Sawyer swallowed a lump of emotion as Yasmin turned to her. The Druid extended a hand to her, but she shook her head, refusing the hand. She wrapped her arms around Yasmin and held her for a moment. “Continue to be strong, jaguar.”

  “Be safe, Druid,” Sawyer said in return.

  Quinn and Yasmin whispered some words to each other outside the Council Chamber doors, then the team left her there to fight her own battles. She needed to convince the WMC that they needed to take a more active role with non-Magi governments to respect the territories of Druids around the world, or things like this would continue to happen. The Amazon was just the hotbed for the issues and it made Yasmin the expert on the situation.

  Sawyer glanced back one more time to hear gasps as Yasmin was introduced to the crowd inside that chamber. Then the doors closed.

  Sawyer hoped everything worked out.

  They got onto an elevator and went up. They were led to a meeting room and Sawyer heard Vincent laugh.

  “James!” Vincent called out.

  “Oh my god, you all are going to give me a fucking heart attack,” James bitched as he closed them all in the room with him. Then he hugged Vincent and went down the line, even grabbing Quinn and then Sawyer, who patted his back uncomfortably. “Great work out there,” he whispered to her specifically. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”

  Her heart did several thumps. She was pretty fucking proud of herself too.

  “What are we looking at now, James?” Vincent asked without any more preamble.

  “Nothing. D’Angelo is about to come in and shake your hands and live up to her end of the deal. Your outstanding work down there has gotten you an ally. Enjoy it.” James stopped and pointed at Sawyer. “She still doesn’t like you, but she’s been ecstatic that her idea of sending the team down to the Amazon has worked out so well. If you let her have the glory, I think you’ll find she’s a strong person to have on your side.”

  “I like that she thinks this is a win,” Sawyer muttered darkly. “Like thirty soldiers died down there.”

  “To the Council, that’s abstract. People die on IMAS missions,” James reminded her.

  “Fuck them. They don’t know what happened in those woods.” She was agitated suddenly.

  “They don’t. They also won’t read the reports. To them, the Druid who was hurting people is dead and you brought one back for politics. Mission successful.” James sighed. “Tell me, though. I want to hear.”

  Sawyer looked up into his grey eyes, wondering if he really did. The genuine caring on his face was real.

  “We’ll tell you,” Quinn offered, grabbing her and pulling her to a seat. “We’ll tell you.”

  Sawyer had heard all of it as Vincent recounted his half of the team’s situation to James. James had already known that part of the story as well. He listened and nodded, reading over the reports Vincent or someone must have already sent in.

  “Quinn? Sawyer? Your side?”

  Sawyer looked at Quinn. He nodded and launched into the beginning of the fight that night, the one where he found a soldier named Peters on watch being eaten alive. His watch partner was never found. His section ended when he was taken down and gored open enough to nearly knock him unconscious as his wolves fought for their own lives. He remembered the jaguar jumping off him and vines overcoming him, but he was bleeding out too much and the pain from his bonds were keeping him from focusing on anything.

  Sawyer continued when she ran off to look for him, leaving the team to protect themselves and the remaining soldiers.

  When she relayed how she found Quinn and got a hit on Camila, James was clapping softly.

  “Very good. And you met yo
ur new animal bond there.” James’ eyes trailed and hit Sombra, who laid at Sawyer’s feet.

  “I did, and I asked her to get me back to the team. Her and the wolves. Instead, she took us to Yasmin.”

  Sawyer explained the walk, how she fell and Sombra dragged her. How she woke up in Yasmin’s village.

  She skipped over what changed between her and Quinn. She and the entire team would deal with that privately at home. There had been strangers on the private jet that they didn’t trust. Employees of the WMC, they could have reported back the unusual romantic situation they were all in, except Elijah.

  “We can’t tell people you killed Camila. It’s a PR nightmare. Shadow capable of killing a Druid nearly single-handedly. That’s a recipe for trouble. It would give a bigger name than you already have,” James cut in when they finished the story of the fight. “Sure, you were all working together, but you did it. You climbed up there and killed her through all of her defenses. You got a blow on her by yourself before that. There’s no way we can have that get out.”

  “There’s no stopping it. Yasmin is down in the Council Chamber now, relaying her story to a majority of the WMC,” Vincent told him, shaking his head. “It’s going to get out and probably leak Sawyer’s identity with it. There’s no way people will be able to keep it a secret.”

  Sawyer cursed softly. Damn. This would be the most infamous thing she’d ever done. She could read the headline now. Shadow kills rabid Druid in Amazon rainforest. Tagline? Under her picture or Yasmin or something even better: Sawyer Matthews, once infamous criminal now working for the WMC and IMPO. Is she truly on our side with so much power?

  It was funny, in a way. Sawyer really wasn’t the strongest Magi to ever walk the earth. She had a neat combination of abilities than lent themselves to being very good at getting in and out of dangerous situations. She’d been lucky enough to have an above average power level and incredibly deep Source. But she wasn’t a god or anything.

  This would make some think she might be.

  “We’ll worry about it later,” Sawyer cut them all off. “It’s not out yet. There’s no stopping it, and I want to go home. Get fucking Dina in here so I can tell her she can kiss my ass, then let me get the hell out of here.”

  “I’ve already given all your things to the Magi who will make your portal home.” James reached out and tentatively patted her arm in a fatherly way. “I’m glad you all came home. You know that right?”

  Sawyer took his hand and squeezed. She and James barely knew each other, but she could imagine in his position, he only had them to look out for. They only had him looking out for them. James was like an older teammate, and also a dad watching his adult kids run off and get themselves into shit everywhere they went.

  “Let me see where she is,” James broke the silence and stood up. He left them sitting in the room. Sawyer leaned on Elijah next to her, who stiffened.

  “What’s up, Cowboy?” she asked him softly.

  “Nothing. Glad you’re both alive,” he answered stiffly. She frowned.

  He’d been avoiding her since they got out of the Humvees at the embassy. He didn’t even hug her and just hung out with Quinn for most of the trip to New York. She needed to get his sketchbook back to him, but it was in her bag. She would remember when they got home.

  “Elijah?” She moved off him, but he didn’t have the chance to respond. The door opened back up for Dina D’Angelo to walk in, looking relieved.

  “Welcome back, everyone. I’m glad to see you all in good health,” she greeted them. Her eyes fell on Sawyer. “I’m not going to keep you long. You came back alive and succeeded the mission when it wasn’t required. With the losses the party faced, it would have been acceptable to declare a mission failure and back out. We would have allowed all of you to go home, but you finished it anyway.”

  “It was the only way to get home.” Sawyer sighed. “Even discarding the mission, getting through Camila was the only way out of that jungle.”

  “Ah. I’m sorry for that. The general and I agreed that we should have listened to Special Agent Judge’s advice initially. The mission was rushed, and not taken seriously enough. I just sat in for a few words of Yasmin’s talk down below. We have been vastly underestimating the power of our Druids. We need to work better with them, keep them in our communities and work with them. We should no longer ignore them until there’s a problem.”

  “No, you shouldn’t,” Quinn agreed darkly from his place in the back of the room. Sawyer saw Dina’s eyes shoot up to him and away.

  “The deal stands,” Dina continued. “I will never again push to have you taken away from this team. It seems you work outstandingly well with them, and you are a great asset to our government. Have a nice day. Everyone, you can go home now. There’s a Magi waiting to portal you to Atlanta, where we know your vehicles must still be waiting on you.”

  “Dina,” Sawyer called out before the Councilwoman left the woman.

  “Sawyer.” Dina turned back to her, a little pale.

  “Next time, admit you’re wrong before you get a bunch of people killed.” She met the woman’s gaze. “I’m not willing to do this for you a second time.”

  “Of course.” Dina left.

  “Damn it, Sawyer,” James growled.

  She shrugged. She wasn’t going to let Dina walk out without thinking she didn’t have a lesson to learn.

  He sighed at Sawyer’s indifference. “Come on. Let’s get you all home.”

  Sawyer had never heard better words. Elijah jumped away from her quickly and left the room first. She frowned at his back.

  What the hell?

  35

  Elijah

  Elijah fell on his bed and breathed in his own scent in the room. He fucking missed it. He missed home so goddamned much. He missed his fucking bed, his space. Everything.

  He didn’t even bother unpacking. His bags were all over the floor, scattered about. One from the jungle that Sawyer and Quinn had saved. The two he’d taken to New York. Only one of his things didn’t make it.

  He’d been drawing in his sketchbook that night before passing out. He’d left it in the tent. It was gone now. He had others, but he would still miss that one.

  A scratch at his door had Elijah getting up. He wondered which one of the damn zoo this was.

  He pulled his door open to see the big-ass black jaguar. Sombra pushed past him into his room and he glared at her.

  “Really? Don’t you have a Magi to bother?” One he was desperately trying to avoid. He just couldn’t. Leaving her out there in that rainforest had made him realize he was hopelessly in love with her, and he sure as fuck wasn’t ready for it. He’d promised himself he’d tell her if she was still alive, and then chickened out the moment he saw her at the embassy.

  Now he just needed to relax and have some space. Sombra barging into his room meant-

  “Damn cat!” Sawyer growled, pushing in as well. Elijah just held his door. He closed his eyes. He couldn’t handle Sawyer right now. He couldn’t handle his feelings. “Come on. We’re supposed to go out and get you into the woods so you know about the territory, then I can go the fuck to sleep.”

  A growl had his eyes open again and he glared at the jaguar on his bed. Sombra was rolling all over it, probably shedding more than the wolves.

  “Sombra,” Sawyer snapped. “Let’s. Go.”

  Sombra hissed as Sawyer tried to pull her cat off Elijah’s bed. He heard claws rip into his blankets and sheets.

  “All right!” Elijah roared.

  Sawyer jumped and backed away. Sombra laid down defensively.

  He wrapped an arm around the cat’s body and lifted her. “Get. Out. I’m going to sleep, you two.”

  “Sorry,” Sawyer mumbled, and Elijah dropped Sombra in the hallway. The jaguar looked completely guilty. He’d done the same to the wolves before. He knew this wouldn’t be the end of it. He yanked his comforter off his bed and thrust it at Sawyer when he was back at his bed.

&nbs
p; “She can fucking keep it if she keeps those damn talons out of my mattress. Convince her to keep her claws sheathed in the house.”

  “Of course,” Sawyer agreed softly, taking the blanket. He watched her bury her face in it for a moment, but he refused to think much of it. He was tired. He needed some peace and quiet. “She tried breaking into Vincent’s room as well, but he stopped her before she jumped on the bed. She finds the mattresses and how bouncy they are really funny.”

  “She’s never been in a normal house.” Elijah remembered now. It was going to be exactly like the adjustment with Shade and Scout, but with those two, he also had to teach Quinn a lot. At least Sawyer was just dealing with a very curious cat and not three feral creatures. He rubbed his temples, nodding. “Just…go. She can sleep in here with me if she wants, but she needs to keep her claws put away.”

  “I’ll make sure she knows.” She was nearly out of his room when she stopped. He spit curses in his head. “I need to bring you something, so don’t pass out yet.”

  “Hurry,” Elijah groaned.

  He sat on his bed, now without a blanket, and waited. He had an extra for when he did laundry, but he was too tired to grab it from the closet.

  Sawyer ran back in, holding something.

  “Here. I found it in the campsite. I just never found a good time to give it to you. It’s been damaged, but-”

  Elijah snatched his sketchbook from her, amazed that it was really in front of him. He ran his fingers over it.

  “Did you open it?” he asked softly, hoping she said no.

  “Yes. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t ruined,” she admitted. She was lying to him, but he didn’t call her out. She had just been curious and they both knew it. “You do beautiful work.”

  “Thank you, Sawyer,” Elijah whispered. He put it down on the bed but didn’t look back at her.