The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

  “I know why you’re avoiding her. With those weak mental walls, she’ll blast right through and finally see what I’ve always known. What you’re hiding from all of them and her.”

  Silence.

  Marc was grateful she hadn’t been taken–so much that the jealousy was barely there. “What matters is, does Angie know how you feel about her?”

  “No,” Adrian responded quickly. “That was never among my reasons for her special attention. It still isn’t.”

  “And when she does?” Marc insisted forcefully. “There’s no way you’ll hide it forever.”

  Adrian looked at him, expression saying everything Marc had feared and more.

  “I won’t do that,” Adrian promised. “Unless...”

  The warning rang as thickly as the promise, and both men understood the battle line. As long as Angela was happy with Marc, Adrian would stay away. If she called out, even once, another war would start.

  Marc, who had said something similar to Neil when he’d first joined Safe Haven, understood completely. He blew out a stream of smoke, respecting the honesty and the control that it would take to stand by such a vow. “I’ve got your post. Go take a shift and tell her what she needs to hear.”

  8

  “Thank you.”

  The sound of Angela’s slightly energized voice had Adrian calming as he entered her room. John hadn’t lied just to give them all hope.

  “I enjoyed it.” Billy didn’t censor his words as he rose up, understanding Adrian was his relief. “Even covered in two-day dried blood, you still smell like vanilla.”

  Her careful chuckle was a wonderful sound.

  “You’re biased,” she joked.

  “Yep.” Billy slowly untangled himself. “She’s all yours, Boss.”

  Adrian locked down on the moment with Marc, but too late.

  Angela’s startled gaze flew to his and in her mind, Adrian read the truth that she’d been hiding. She was aware of the spark between them. She felt it as much as he did, but unlike him, she hadn’t considered their future.

  Before either of them could break the spell, Billy’s joking quip drove it in.

  “All yours until she calls for Marc in her sleep, anyway.”

  Angela dropped her eyes. She knew it all with that one glance, but her choice had been made decades ago. “It’ll always be like that.”

  Adrian took Billy’s place as her heater, good energy swaddling her in strength before they even touched. “He’s a lucky man.”

  Angela tensed, as she had with the others who’d provided this intimate service for her, but there was no urge to distract him with meaningless chatter. Adrian had saved her life. They now had a bond that would never be broken. She even hoped he let himself enjoy being so close–something that would never happen again–but doubted that he would. The Eagles and Marc might worry over Adrian’s persuasive charm, but as he carefully covered her with his jacket, Angela was sure that Adrian would never destroy them all that way.

  Unable to resist taking his only chance to feel what could have been, Adrian let his guard down, power reaching out.

  Brilliant blue and gold touched…then connected in a breath-stealing match of indescribable perfection.

  The world we could have created together! The love she has to give! Adrian’s hardened heart broke from the loss.

  Angela tried to keep her walls in place, but that golden light sank into her as if it belonged there. It rattled doors to every place in her heart, including those already given Marc’s name. She didn’t allow any of them to open.

  Adrian refused to acknowledge the anguish of her choice. He’d known it would be this way from the minute he had realized he wanted her. Her love for Marc was too strong to allow any other man to slide into his place.

  Billy paused on his way out. One vivid blond, the other deep ebony, the sight of Adrian and Angela so close was striking. They look like lovers who’ve been kept apart for a tormenting amount of time, Billy thought, softly closing the door. What a pair they would have made.

  “I’m sorry you were injured,” Adrian stated when they were alone.

  Angela didn’t answer. She didn’t need Adrian’s apology, only his words of her future.

  Adrian hid a grin. She still wanted to be treated like an Eagle. “You’ll use the recovery time to pick a team from the recruits that will come out of the woodwork now.”

  “Don’t want my own team,” she protested. “I like being with Kyle. He’s good.”

  “He’s lethal. So are you, Angie–or you will be when you let go of society’s rules and start really following mine.”

  “I don’t like violence,” Angela argued, hating that it was a lie. She adored violence if it had a righteous purpose.

  Adrian didn’t snort. “Good at it for someone who doesn’t like it.”

  “I could be good at murder, but should I?”

  “Yes. For this time and place, we need it.”

  Adrian waited for another protest. When it didn’t come, he wasn’t sure about trusting it as acceptance. Women didn’t usually work that way.

  “You’ll always be a part of Kyle’s team, but these recruits will be yours, the way Kyle is mine–all of them willing to do anything for you. Imagine the possibilities.”

  Angela was. How could she not? Once again, he was offering her everything. “Why not have Neil do it? The trooper’s heart is pure enough to make good calls, despite his confusion over Samantha.”

  Adrian smiled, showing beautiful white teeth. “Would you like to pass this honor to someone else?”

  Trapped, Angela chuckled through the twinges. “No. I wanted it weeks ago, when the senior men started talking about how to blend females into the teams.”

  Adrian gently shifted so he could look down at her. “I told you that we would do great and terrible things together. You’ve survived the terrible. Now, it’s time you got some of the great.”

  Angela teared up, so beholden to him that she couldn’t find the words.

  Adrian wiped them from the corners of her eyes with a loving touch. “You’ve done your duty. Take this time off to enjoy what was accomplished. You’ve earned it.”

  “And so has Marc,” he stated, steeling himself against the jealousy. “He’s coming around to the dream, though, he may never admit it to me. And there’s no longer an abusive Marine standing between you. This is your time.”

  Angela frowned, suddenly feeling extremely sleepy. “Always hated that saying. Doesn’t make sense.”

  Adrian recognized the defensive response, but didn’t comment on it. “That means your happiness comes first for a while. Think you can do that?”

  “Unlikely. Someone will have to show me how.”

  Adrian slammed the door between their minds before she caught his thought–I’d give almost anything to have that honor.

  “Marc has it covered,” Adrian forced himself to say. “Trust him.”

  “I do.” Angela drowsed in Adrian’s warm embrace, drugged and starting to heal. For the first time since being shot, she wasn’t in agony, puking, or crying. It was wonderful.

  Adrian didn’t say more, instead watching as she drifted. Her strength was amazing. She would have been the perfect woman to help him lead.

  That thought followed Adrian as he rested his head on his arm and tried to sleep. Fate hadn’t gifted Angela to them to be claimed. She’d been sent to protect his people and he would keep that in mind when the longing grew. Angela wasn’t meant to be his or even Marc’s. She belonged to Safe Haven and they would all protect her while she helped guide them to safety.

  9

  “Gunfire in the perimeter! Shots fired!”

  “Shit!”

  “Look out!”

  Angela jerked awake, groaning, and found Adrian sitting up with his gun drawn.

  She turned her head to find Marc in a set position between them and the door, and groaned again–this time in groggy frustration. “We didn’t get them all?”

  Neither
man bothered to answer, since it was obvious that they hadn’t.

  “I need a gun!”

  Adrian nudged her left hand, and her fingers curled awkwardly around the butt of her backup weapon.

  Bang! Bang!

  “Fall back!”

  “Get her outta there!”

  Crash…

  “Fire!”

  The noises outside the room weren’t comforting and Marc motioned to Adrian. “Let’s roll.”

  Adrian swung Angela up into his arms as quick and careful as he could.

  She gasped, painfully molding herself into his grip.

  “Here!” Marc shoved a vest over her head as Adrian carried her toward the window.

  The front of the country club was in flames and eerie shadows ran through the foggy smoke, firing at each other.

  Angela tried to help as they lowered her out the window between vested Eagles. Her single left-handed shot, aimed at a Mexican sombrero, went wild and plunged into the hood of their vehicle.

  Angela was quickly shoved inside the truck and the Eagles surrounded it. When the door slammed, but her driver didn’t leave, Angela realized Adrian was making a stand here. With her in the center. Angela stayed low and rode the waves of pain, knowing there was no safer place she could be.

  A fresh volley of gunfire lit up the night, sharp and loud. Men screamed, and more shadows flew through the darkness, forcing their attackers into the light of the burning country club. It was another of Marc’s plans, this one done to make the enemy think there were less men. Those Eagles had been hidden around the perimeter and now, they moved in to trap the enemy in a barrel-shoot.

  Behind Angela, another rig pulled up and Jeremy guided Cynthia into the vehicle, then joined his team.

  It had only been one day since they had been in this situation and Jeremy was instantly reminded of the carnage at the rest stop. All those screams!

  He flashed back in despair and guilty excitement.

  “Kill them all!”

  Adrian’s roar swung his hands into action, and Jeremy strode forward with his finger squeezing in short, flat pops that took lives.

  Next to him, Frank laughed, giddy with that dangerous edge of chaos they were leading. “Some fun, huh, Jerem…”

  Frank slid to his knees in shock, freezing in a grimace of disbelieving panic. Fresh blood dripped to the muddy ground as he drew in a last shuddering breath, spoke a final order.

  “Kill them a...” Frank fell forward into the mud.

  Self-preservation kept Jeremy’s feet moving and his hands delivering more of what his friend had felt. As he went, there wasn’t anything in his mind except blind anger and a furious determination to do as he’d been bidden–Kill them all.

  Jeremy tried to shake it off and was only partially successful. It was still hard to believe that it was over, that they’d won…that he’d survived. None of his years as an MIT Grad and computer genius had prepared him for this.

  His mind went to their other fallen Eagle, to Daniel. That man had once told Jeremy that he was now living the life that he had been too afraid of before the war. Now, ducked behind the truck and firing those short little pops that were so effective, Jeremy understood completely.

  Content that the Eagles had Angela covered, Marc spun into the shadows, fury a hot laser.

  Two Mexicans–dead–on the right. An old enemy, then, one that I’m sick of.

  Marc went left.

  Three more bodies there…and one up high, still alive. That’s where their new leader will be.

  Marc knelt down and pulled his rifle from the sling.

  “Move in!”

  Adrian’s command had the rest of the outer guards freeing their trigger fingers. More gunfire filled the night.

  Training mode settled over Marc’s mind. Inhale… Exhale and hold… let go. He pulled the trigger.

  The guerilla jerked at the impact, breath suddenly gone in a powerful blast.

  He hit the ground with a heavy thump a few seconds later.

  Marc lowered the rifle and stepped forward. Now, one to the head.

  Around him, the slavers were trying to flee and running into the advancing perimeter guards. Again, Adrian’s men had been more than a match, and Marc was sure the remaining camp would be the same. He had thought to go over the plan again with Kyle before that mission team left, but there obviously wasn’t any need to.

  Radios crackled again.

  “Rollin’ out, Boss,” Kyle called.

  “No mercy.”

  Kyle’s responding tone was just as hard as Adrian’s. “You know it.”

  “Meet up with us at the new place when it’s done,” Adrian ordered.

  “Copy.”

  Vaguely listening to the radio conversation, Marc stayed in the shadows as he moved closer to the body. He saw the blood, the open, glazing pupils set deep into weathered skin.

  “Brady!”

  Instantly distracted, Marc keyed the mike before she could become upset. “5-by and close, honey.”

  “Now, please?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Bang!

  A minute later, Marc joined Angela inside the cool vehicle, and noted how she instantly warmed when he took her hand.

  Marc lowered his lids, not wanting her to read his determination. He remembered so many of the things she needed, liked, and he intended to use them. Angie would want to be with him as much as she wanted to be an Eagle, and it would always be him, no one else, that she craved. There were ways...

  “Should we pick a new place?” Zack asked, worried by the newest attack.

  “No. Too much traveling,” Marc denied, getting set to cushion Angela from the bumps.

  Settling into his strong arms, Angela met Adrian’s gaze through the lowered window. “The camp calls for you–for us.”

  “I know,” Adrian replied, face expressionless.

  “Something’s about to happen,” she warned.

  Adrian gritted his teeth against the twinge in his chest. “I’m going.”

  Angela closed her eyes in relief and huddled against Marc’s strength. “Drive now, Zachary. He won’t leave until he knows you guys have me tucked away.”

  It was an order that the former trucker immediately obeyed.

  Adrian watched until they were out of sight, hating it that they were split up, but confident in Kyle and Marc. They would both get their jobs done.

  “We have a survivor!” Seth shouted from the room where they had kept Angela. He had stopped Zack from executing the bleeding man. The threat should have been over, but all the bodies around them were slavers and Seth was sure Adrian wanted answers.

  Adrian came quickly, glad to see the man’s injury was grave. He didn’t think the guerilla would know there were only minutes left, though, and gestured toward John. “Our doctor will help you, but I have questions, first.”

  The man nodded painfully. “Si.”

  “What were you trying to do here?”

  “Kill your leader,” the man gasped out, not realizing who he was talking to. “Please, it hurts!”

  Adrian frowned, numb to the enemy’s panic after what he’d been forced to put Angela through. “Cesar is dead. Who gave you that order?”

  The Mexican stared at John’s scowling face in longing, starting to understand that no help would be given.

  “Richard, before he left.”

  Rick.

  Stunned, Adrian grabbed the man’s tacky shirt, jerking him up as the Eagles shouted and cursed. “Where did he go?”

  The Mexican laughed and groaned through bloody teeth, feeling the shadow of death turn his way. The cold chill was terrifying, and he lashed out in hateful defiance.

  “Safe Haven–to get his woman back!”

  A single shot silenced the pain-laced laughter, but it didn’t erase the mocking grin from the slaver’s face. It said Adrian had made a grave mistake. He hadn’t accounted for Rick.

  Adrian waved an abrupt arm. “Get us rolling–now!”

>   Chapter Three

  Welcome Back

  May 16th

  Just after Midnight

  1

  Help!

  Through the gags, the scream was too muffled to be heard.

  Samantha roughly bounced against her kidnapper’s shoulder, kicking and slamming her hands against his legs. He didn’t stop or slow.

  She’d been grabbed from behind as she stepped from the camper, and the blows had come hard and quick. There hadn’t been time to yell.

  Sam screamed against the gag again, wriggling furiously, but got no response–not even a tightening of the grip he had around her waist. Left with nothing else, Sam curled her nails into the man’s skin and tried to slice him open.

  She hit the ground a second later with a muffled thud that took her breath and left no time to avoid the dirty fist he swung.

  Dazed, Samantha sprawled awkwardly at the man’s filthy boots, looking up into a face that she’d hoped to never see again.

  “Miss me?”

  Sam shook her buzzing head, filled with fear.

  “That’s okay.” Rick chuckled, drawing back. “‘Cause I did you!”

  The second hit was harder than the first, and Samantha slumped to the dirt.

  Deep in the cover of the trees around the crowded parking area, Rick dragged her by the arm and hair, grinning in cold satisfaction. Once again dressed as an Eagle, it had been no trouble getting to her.

  Rick pulled the mask over his face and hefted Samantha into the passenger side of the truck, adjusting her to look like she was sleeping. He casually closed her door and moved to the driver’s side, subtly taking stock of the chaos around them. Word had come from the lookouts that the remaining Mexicans were gearing up to attack. It looked to be a dawn ambush, and Kenn had ordered a bug-out half an hour ago. Now, the herd was panicking.

  Rick grinned, pulling into the shortest line of vehicles being sent out. They were gassing them, but not checking the passenger lists, and Rick felt it was the best place to be. A single truck leaving in the opposite direction would be noticed, but blending into the migrating herd was genius.