by Angela White
3
“It’s about time.”
Adrian didn’t respond to Wade’s mutter as he entered the medical bay.
Angela was still in the rear, partition up. Other than her guard, they were alone. The doctor and his students were doing fieldwork on some of the animals the vet had chosen for a class. Adrian wasn’t certain why Angela wanted the medical crew to know how to milk a cow or feed a chicken, but he wasn’t going to ask. He assumed something like that was prep for problems they were going to have on the island.
“It’s to teach them compassion,” Angela stated tiredly as he pulled the partition open and left it that way.
Adrian saw the bruises on her arm where a new iv had been inserted and understood the doctor had been letting his patients practice on her. “That son of–”
“I insisted,” Angela interrupted. She hadn’t heard Adrian come in, but she had, at the same time. Her soul had felt him when her senses had failed to. It was scary.
Adrian took the empty chair next to her bed, wondering if she’d had another episode or if something else had made the doctor decide to strap her down again.
“He said I was intentionally scratching myself while I slept,” Angela confessed, voice breaking. “Now I’m afraid to sleep.”
Adrian flipped the buckle on the strap and actually felt the wave of relief and approval from her guard. His own sentry, Greg, was sending out the same vibes of anger that Adrian was currently experiencing. Marc should be here helping her through this.
“He has to help himself first,” Angela stated, tears oozing over hollow cheeks. “He checks on me every night.”
“Like that’s enough!” Adrian growled, going to the neat cabinets that were stuffed into a small impression in the stone. “Where are your clothes?”
Angela gazed up blankly. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Adrian noticed a slight slur this time and shouted, “He’s drugging you? You’re letting him drug you?!”
Adrian’s roar brought several Eagles into the tunnel, but Greg and Wade quickly shut them down and sent them away. The doctor had been given free reign with Angela and her depression was letting her agree to things that she normally wouldn’t have.
“Does Marc know about this?” Adrian asked, looking at her sentry instead of her.
Wade shrugged. “If it were me, I would, but he hasn’t asked for details and cuts us off when we try to give them.”
“He has his own pain,” Angela defended. “You’re all not being fair to him. He also lost a child.”
The Eagles fell silent, but Adrian’s mental cursing rang in Angela’s mind loud and clear. She couldn’t help the small part of her that concurred Marc should be here caring for her, but the leader in her knew that he was needed where he was.
“There’s room for both,” Adrian insisted, dropping a pair of green scrubs onto her leg. It was all he could find. “I told Kenn that no one could balance the two, but I was wrong.”
Angela didn’t answer. She also didn’t touch the clothes.
Adrian didn’t want to force her to fight, but their bond was feeding him too much of her agony and depression. He began to dress her.
The guards were relived. Angela had refused to leave since being brought home. If Marc wasn’t going to make her start living again, then someone had to.
Angela’s eyes blazed with rage, but Adrian didn’t stop. He slid his hand over her arm and gently pulled her into a sitting position.
Realizing he wasn’t going to quit, Angela shoved his arm away. “Give me a minute!”
Adrian closed the partition, but didn’t leave. He did turn around, but he wasn’t positive about making her do it all alone. She was too pale, too fragile, to not need assistance. It was hard to believe she’d had the strength to reach Marc last night, let alone enough to fire a weapon.
This is what it looks like when a soul dies, Angela sent bitterly. I don’t want any part of your plots or plans. Get out. Go away.
Adrian didn’t budge.
I’m going to scream for Marc, she warned, anger coming into her mental words.
“Please do, “Adrian replied instantly. “He sent me. He’ll know that I did what I was told and get off me.”
“Marc sent you?”
“Yes.” Adrian didn’t respond to any of her curses.
The guards were eased to hear it. That meant Marc wouldn’t be mad over Adrian being here. Not that it mattered to Wade. He was tired of Angela’s misery. At this point, he didn’t care who helped her.
“Come on. It’s time for a lesson,” Adrian ordered.
Angela folded her arms over her chest and glared with red orbs. “Make me.”
Adrian leaned over to push out an incredibly strong wave of alpha command. “Get out of this bed and get dressed. Do it now!”
Angela laughed in his face.
Adrian leaned closer. “Fine. If you aren’t up in five seconds, sweetheart, I’m climbing in with you.”
“You can’t–”
“One.”
“Don’t ever–”
“Two.”
“I should let you so Marc can shoot you again!”
“Three.”
“Fine! Asshole.”
Adrian moved back, but held out a hand. “Let’s go. Nice and easy.”
Angela tried to do it fast anyway, to hurt herself for the way her heart was responding to Adrian’s arrival, to his presence, to his hand around hers. It wasn’t an attraction, but relief that he still wanted her. I’m not supposed to feel that way! Stop it! Angela ordered. Hate him! He’s bad!
“Yes, I am,” Adrian agreed, firming his arm for her lean on as she stood. Her smell wafted over him and Adrian grimaced. No vanilla now.
“Then take me to get a shower,” she ordered, sounding embarrassed.
Adrian scooped up the clothes and waited for her to clutch the ends of her gown shut. “Up or down?”
Angela balked. “Out in camp? Like this?”
“What would you tell one of your patients?” Adrian asked, leading her slowly to the corridor.
“That injuries come before appearances,” she muttered. “Do you know how much I hate you?”
“I’ve got some ideas on it,” Adrian grunted. “Living area or Eagle showers? They’re equal distance.”
Adrian shook his head at Greg when the Eagle started to insist they stay and use the showers in the medical bay. They needed to get her out, not give her a way to stay hidden.
“Up.”
Adrian’s mood lifted further. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t welcome. Angela was and the magic of the Eagles was amazing to witness, even if you were an enemy.
“You’re not their enemy,” Angela muttered, cheeks bright red as they trundled by sentries and camp members who stared in surprise.
“You’re not either.”
“I’m not the one feeling that way.”
“No?”
“No.”
“They have no reason to view you with hostility?”
Angela considered it.
Adrian led them to the stairs and gestured her to go first. He quickly turned his back so he wouldn’t be able to view her ass.
Now a very deep shade of red, Angela climbed the ladder as quickly as she could while holding her gown closed.
Adrian counted the seconds, two per rung, and then followed her up. He kept his chin down. People would be watching even small moments like this. He had to be careful.
“No, they don’t,” she repeated her answer. “We’re not the enemy.”
“I agree. However, there’s always a good guy and there’s always a bad guy. While we’re in this cave, that’s my role. Let them vent when we get up there. They’ve earned it.”
It took five minutes to reach the top level of the cave and word spread quickly, drawing curious, relieved members who kept their distance when they saw her escort and their two guards. Greg and Wade motioned members away when some of them would have welcomed Angela or questioned her
. As they walked through the damp, drafty tunnels, now the complete center of attention, Greg understood why she’d chosen the Eagle showers instead of the living quarters. The Eagles would give her privacy once she was in there. The camp would mob her even if she was naked.
Angela was aware of the improvements in the cave and the health of the citizens they passed. She’d been secluded so long that it was like witnessing something that someone else had accomplished.
“You built this,” Adrian reminded, coming to her as she paused to stare up at the massive catacomb of ladders and corridors that were filled with survivors of multiple wars and atrocities. It was amazing.
“We,” she corrected distractedly. She was busy sending her witch out to survey her domain. She hadn’t done it since before going up the mountain.
Settling into his role with a sigh of contentment, Adrian took her arm and kept her on track while she searched for trouble.
“Tell him there are moles in the maze again,” Angela muttered vaguely, voice like the dead. “Watch the kitchen. Dark spot there.”
Adrian noted the warnings like he always had, but he also made sure that Greg wrote them down.
Angela came out of the mental daze, hating the drug haze she couldn’t shake.
“We’ll get coffee after this,” Adrian promised. “in the reading room.”
Angela nodded stiffly as they came into view of the showering men and women. It was almost full.
Angela looked at Adrian with deep displeasure. “Nice timing.”
“I thought so.”
“You knew?” You knew the Eagles were going to use me for bait the first time I came out?
He gestured toward the rear of the steamy stone space. “They’ve got a stall waiting for you and an assistant.”
Angela scanned the profiles, spotting just as many rookies as senior level men. She stared at Adrian with open fear. “I am sorry that you were banished.”
Adrian’s heart broke for her all over again. She wasn’t sure if he was about to pay her back for it. She didn’t trust a single soul on the planet now. “It’s okay, baby. We’ll keep you alive.”
Greg glanced at the guards on the sector and made a sharp gesture.
Allan and Pamela hurried over to give her an escort, glaring harshly at the rookies. “Finish up and clear the room!”
Adrian kept a hand on his holster, able to sense the tension without touching Angela’s arm. Someone in here wasn’t friendly. Marc was wrong about her being safe among the Eagles.
It may be my mental state rubbing off, Angela sent. Some of these people are sensitive to our moods.
Adrian assumed she was trying to be positive she wasn’t overreacting, but he could feel the danger and swept the chamber. Are you getting anything?
No.
Are you searching?
No.
Adrian realized she was hoping to be killed and cursed as he twisted too late to stop the assassin who ran up behind them.
Adrian watched the gun go to her head.
Click!
Adrian tackled the man.
“Get them!”
Three other traitors were also pulling triggers on blanks as Kyle and ten other pissed Eagles slammed them to the ground.
“She has to die! Kill her! Kill her now!”
Adrian held one of the struggling would-be killers while Wade and Greg tied his arms and then gagged him to stop the awful shouting.
The other three men, tall and not appearing the sort to do this, began shouting as well.
“It’s the end! She’s brought the end!”
“God hates her! She has to die!”
Kyle and the Eagles quickly gagged the men, not being gentle.
“Take them all to the brig,” Kyle ordered.
“Wait. Maybe we shouldn’t do that.”
Heads twisted toward Barry, who was furious and ashamed–the same emotional brew of everyone here who had been a part of the plan to trap the ammo thieves. “We have them dead to rights. Do we need a trial?”
Muffled screams came from the bound and gagged assassins as the senior men shared agreeing glances.
“Take them to the brig,” Kyle repeated. “They may have information we want. If not, we’ll drop them into a hole on the bottom level, like we did with Jayson’s body after the Ghost finished slicing and dicing him.”
Relief and fear came from the four assassins as they were shoved out of the showers.
Kyle waited until he was sure the acoustics of the cave wouldn’t carry his voice further than this room, then said, “Nice work, everyone. Please remember to thank Barry, who had the courage to suggest this plan.”
Adrian still wasn’t allowed to express his outrage. He’d fought against using her this way, but as a banished traitor himself, he’d been ignored.
He turned to Angela, ready to take his anger out on her for not even trying to fight back, but she was already in the rear stall with Jennifer.
Left without an outlet and unneeded, Adrian walked toward the tunnel, where David was now lingering with the coffee he’d been sent for.
No one spoke to them at all.
“Did you know Barry told us to put blanks in all rookie guns today?” Jennifer asked as she helped Angela soap her hair.
“Yes. Barry snuck in to get my permission. He didn’t know the day then, so I wasn’t positive that it had been covered.”
“You didn’t believe Marc had you covered,” Jennifer understood.
“Does he know about this plan?” Angela asked quietly.
“No,” Jennifer admitted slowly. “We didn’t think he would have agreed.”
“He wouldn’t have, but that’s beside the point,” Angela stated. “He didn’t have me covered. He’s just now realizing I was in danger again and he missed it. He’ll show up here soon, but Adrian will keep him out or piss him off to distract him.”
“Because he knows you don’t have the energy for this right now,” Jennifer reminded, wrapping the towel around Angela’s clean hair.
Angela shrugged. “More likely he knows that each moment like this forces me further into isolation. I’m not safe even to take a shower. Marc will never be able to protect me…”
“Like Adrian could,” Jennifer guessed.
“Yes and no. Adrian would do better because he would use me exactly as you did today and it would remove these wolves from our sheep faster. It also risks my life, so there’s a price to pay if he ever miscalculates.”
“How many more are there?” Jennifer asked lowly. “Please tell me we’re about done with this part.”
Angela didn’t answer right away. With the capture of the four today, the future might have changed.
Jennifer could feel Angela straining to open doors and gently sent a burst of her youthful energy into her mentor’s arm. “Here.”
Angela was grateful as the barrier swung open, but the darkness wasn’t a comfort. Tiny pinpricks of evil lit up the darkness like fireflies on a summer night.
“Damn,” Jennifer swore, getting the vision clearly. “Too many to count.”
Angela ended the connection to conserve the energy she had and to save what she’d been given. “Yes. The future holds much more of this before we’ll have peace, but even then, there are killers, betrayers. We have a long fight remaining to achieve peace.” Angela shivered as the water stopped.
Jennifer wrapped the large towel around Angela, wishing she could speed up the recovery time. With all that danger waiting for them, this camp needed Angela at the helm.
“I have updates and notes for you. Adrian told us you won’t want them yet.”
“Anything that can’t wait?” Angela forced herself to ask.
“No.”
Jennifer didn’t push. Adrian’s suggestions had sounded good, and he’d gotten her here. It was a start.
“He dragged me from the bed,” Angela grumbled.
“You’re lucky he didn’t climb in with you and try to soul meld or something,” Jennifer joked. �
��He’s looked rough for the short time you’ve been apart.”
Angela stared in dismay. “You know.”
Jennifer nodded, keeping her voice low enough to be shielded by the few showers that were still running. “I scanned Adrian when he came to me. I don’t trust him at all.”
“Good,” Angela praised.
“When will you tell Marc?”
“Marc figured it out weeks ago,” Angela stated, slowly buttoning the long shirt over her comforting tank top and stretchy jeans. Jennifer had had them waiting for her. “That’s why he sent Adrian instead of coming himself.”
“The big guns, huh?”
“Something like that,” Angela answered, sitting on the bench outside the shower to let Jennifer help with her socks and shoes. Bending over was still hard.
“He hoped Adrian would be able to use his alpha command on me because of the bond.”
Jennifer chuckled. “Wonder if he’ll be surprised to find out you’re above Adrian in every way.”
“He hoped it would succeed, so he tried. He didn’t expect Adrian to drag me here and let you use me for bait. Be prepared for that reaction.”
“I am,” Jennifer promised. “I’ve got a few words ready.”
Angela didn’t tell the teenager not to scold Marc. Jennifer would find out what a bad idea it was on her own. Marc had to learn to handle all the roles of leadership, including unhappy citizens.
“You look better,” Jennifer told her, dropping Angela’s gown into the small dumpster set aside for extremely dirty or contaminated materials. It would all be burned later.
“I smell like me again, at least,” Angela concurred. Bracing for the pain of the weight, she slowly slid the wrist blade into place with a satisfying click that drew approving glances from the senior Eagles still using the stalls near her. The other men and women were in various stages of dress and waiting.
Angela understood they expected to talk to her or at least for her to talk to them.
Do I have anything to say? she asked herself.
Jennifer held out Angela’s gun belt, making the chamber go silent.
She strapped on the heavy weapons and squared her shoulders. Can I do this now?
Angela let go of her control for a brief second and tears immediately flooded down her cheeks.