“My people!” he moaned, struggling to memorize their locations. “I’ll never get them all.”
“We’re not meant to.” The map vanished at her words.
Adrian kept his eyes closed, still able to see it in his mind and Angela moved back to the table, letting him work. In the distance, lightning flashed violently.
Adrian was in heaven and hell at the same time. So many! How did he know the ones he remembered were the right ones?
“Fate controls that, not you.”
Adrian joined her on the table, frowning slightly. “You use a lot of energy to do these things?”
She lit a stale cigarette. “Yes, and to keep the Witch in line.”
“It’s only the energy she wants? Nothing more?”
“But it creates a bond and I think you probably already knew that.”
“But having it confirmed makes the choice easier. It can be done in dreams right?”
“Yes. Don’t you worry about keeping things under control?” she asked suddenly, sensing where he was leading.
“Good leadership is control. Let her have their dreams. You’ll be in them anyway. Pretend you don’t know. With her satisfied, you’ll be in charge and your gifts will grow.”
She turned to him with cool eyes and pink cheeks. “If I let her loose, your men won’t be good enough. She’ll come straight to the top.”
Adrian felt need rise to lick him with stinging flares, and stood up. “I won’t turn her away twice.”
Angela smiled, but he could see how against it she was as lightning flashed out again.
“What about time with Brady? I can make some arrangements.” He saw her eyes brighten at the offer before going dim again.
“No. I’m fine without it. I always have been.”
“You’re doing more now.” He turned toward the lights of camp, sure the coming electrical storm would make the herd uneasy. “Let her out to play. It’s just a dream, right?”
Angela sighed, not sure she was strong enough to keep the Witch in line tonight anyway. The Demon inside liked it here and Adrian had given them both free reign.
Chapter Two
April 6th, 2013
On 34, near Union Center
South Dakota
1
“Do not kill him.”
Cesar’s guerillas had the lone man surrounded before the gold convertible was fully stopped.
Allowing it, Dean’s harsh face dared one of them to make the mistake of touching him. He had come to talk, but like a wounded animal, he would kill right now with little provocation. There was no doubt these men had heard everything over the CB and the waves of energy shooting from the Witch would have been impossible to miss. The Slaver now had his proof of their words.
Cesar considered these things as he moved toward the black man who’d been sitting in the center of the muddy, abandoned campsite when they pulled in. It was Safe Haven’s latest area and Cesar didn’t like it that the twin knew him well enough to predict where he would show up.
The Guerilla Leader had been sure both brothers were dead, and from the look of the grieving man in the cold center of camp, he guessed only one of them had survived the encounter. It served them right for trying to take her alone.
Why would Dean come back? Vengeance for his brother? To try to take over his men and attack recklessly? The Slaver had no intentions of killing the brother if he could avoid it. After seeing and hearing Safe Haven’s protectors, he now wanted every deadly hand he could get. There was no doubt that Dean was that and more. Still, he had to know who was in charge. “You should have called us. We could have taken her from a group that size.”
Dean’s face was a mask of hatred that Cesar was careful to ignore for the moment. Business came first. There would be time for lessons later.
“We saw an opening and took it. They weren’t away from camp long enough for you to get there.”
José glared at the disrespect, moving closer to his cousin.
Cesar shrugged, stretching tiredly. “The only thing that matters is what you planned to do once you had her.”
Dean glowered up from his seat on the muddy ground, not feeling the sting of the cold wind as it swept over them. “Get our share of the pie.”
Cesar frowned, unfamiliar with the saying, and the twin blew out a sigh of disgusted contempt. “Her first orders would have been to destroy that camp. Yours was next if you came for her.”
José drew his pistol and stepped forward, but Cesar laughed and waved his second in command back.
“Your hermano was the balls, si?”
“Always.”
“Now, maybe you are both.”
Cesar extended a hand that Dean took warily, letting the Slaver help him up.
“Come… let us share a whore in your brother’s honor and I will tell you about the team I sent to get the tank. They’re ahead, closing in. We will meet Safe Haven in the middle.”
2
Daylight was still an hour away when Angela sat up with a fast jerk, unaware of the men who’d flinched back at the movement. Her nightmare had drawn them and they listened, worried.
“It’s coming.”
Marc was the one they turned to and he understood their hesitation when she looked at him with eyes that held no trace of woman, only Witch.
“He has to talk to the weather-woman. She dreams of it. Beware.”
Men shifted restlessly at those words and the wind gusted, shaking the tent.
“It’s just dreams right?” Seth asked, mind flashing to the beautiful sorceress who’d danced through his.
“Not always. Sometimes, it’s something more.” Marc turned back to Angela. “Is it the Slavers?”
She shook her head, haze clearing a bit. “He has to talk to Sam - today.”
Neil and Kyle exchanged glances, both thinking of the man Samantha had come in with. Rick was still under 24-hour watch.
“How long?” Marc asked, standing up.
“A week?”
The men around them relaxed a little more, some of them lying back down.
“We’ll tell him. You want some hot chocolate?”
“Yes.” Becoming aware that she was the center of attention, Angela flushed. “Who’s my shadow?”
Behind her, Neil lit a smoke. “That would be me.”
She turned to look at his narrow face. “You had any sleep yet?”
“The same as you.”
Angela began putting on her shoes with cold fingers. “I’ll come back here and lay down in a few minutes.”
“No need to if you’d rather not. I run light anyway.”
“Works for me.”
Kyle and Brady had made her a 6x6 area enclosed by a foot high stack of bedrolls and packs. With Marc at her back, she’d had little trouble falling asleep, but she was definitely done letting the Witch dream-walk and more than ready to be out of this hormone-filled tent. She stretched as she stood up, unable to stop a small moan of pleasure.
Marc saw men’s eyes fly open at the sound and guessed it was one they’d just heard in dreams. He recognized the gut-twisting flare of need in their looks, knew it well.
Angela stiffened at the thoughts, the dreamy images rushing toward her. She quickly strapped on her gun and moved out of the tent with Neil and Marc on her heels.
The Qz was layered in thin fog… and Eagles. Dog, her normal guard, was out roaming, and there were no less than fifteen Eagles in sight. Each confirmed her safety, escorts, and her shadow, before nodding politely as they went by.
“Doesn’t he think this is a bit much?” she asked sharply. It wouldn’t help these men accept her as one of them, not if she needed to be babysat.
Marc shrugged, but didn’t tell her that he and Neil were responsible. Until the extra protections were in place, she would have men within reach at all times. It was the way he’d handled witnesses they’d been sent into foreign lands for, and it was a plan he had every intention of sticking to here. Besides the camp of Slavers, there
was a grieving twin out there and that one may not come in force. He might sneak in and slit her throat while she slept or firebomb her tent if he knew which one it was.
“You can’t stop it, Brady. They’ll come and I have to be ready for that,” she stated, seeing a speck of crimson in his goatee that he’d missed when he washed up.
He held himself still, not saying anything because he was sure their idea of ready was drastically different. Angie grew a reckless streak when she was upset, always had. More than once, he’d had to refuse a dangerous request when they were kids and then she’d waited for him to leave and done it. Alone, he remembered, trying not to flinch. He would have to be careful not to push her into anything.
Neil hung back as they ducked under the awning of the little Mess, fog curling around their boots. They were the only ones at the small eating area and Angela chose a dim corner while Marc got their mugs.
The larger camp was still mostly silent, only quiet Eagles moving, and she rubbed at her face, yawning. She wasn’t used to a first shift schedule yet.
“This’ll help.”
She let him set it down and pull his hand back before reaching for it. “Chocolate caffeine.” She sipped it carefully, forcing herself to not wake too fast, but enjoy the time with Brady instead. “How do you feel?”
Marc’s lips grinned, but he didn’t as he sat down, adjusting his matching Colts. “Sore, like after a mission.”
“Sounds like another promotion’s in order.”
He couldn’t hide his anger or his awe. “That’s your honor. What you did! Thank you.”
“Anything for you, Brady.”
Magic sparked between them and Angela felt Neil move to distract a pair of Kyle’s Eagles who were headed in for coffee.
“The Trooper’s a good friend to have here, I’ve heard.”
Marc lit a smoke. “Sure could have been a lot worse without him.”
Angela wanted to say more, like how grateful and how mad she was about what he’d done for her, but kept her mouth closed. He already knew.
“Did you calm down and get some sleep?”
She snorted wryly, loving his musky scent. “Yes, thanks.”
They shared a grin and it held for a long moment while Marc fought to keep from sliding his hand over hers. He settled for letting his eyes say all the things his mouth wasn’t allowed to.
“We’ve been through a lot, Wolfman,” she teased, the caffeine slowly bringing awareness into her blue depths.
“Doesn’t seem to have changed much since we’ve gotten here, does it, that New Woman?”
Angela chuckled, loving the way he always kept up with her, kept her laughing. “Nope. We’ll still avoid bridges.”
It wasn’t much. Five minutes without Kenn and the camp watching their every expression, but it was a flashback to the trip here for them, sharp and sweet. Their slow starts and finishes to the day were something they’d grown to love and both of them missed it.
“You did pretty good last night. How does it feel to be the first female here officially allowed to carry a gun?”
Angela felt a sharp prick pierce her good mood, sensing the searching caution in his words. “Going through it like an Eagle was great. Did you see how fast Alex is?”
Aware of her slight frown, Marc didn’t change his plans or censor his words. “You’ll be that good someday too.”
There was a sense of being patronized and Angela cast out a line, hoping not to snag anything, but needing to know. “Adrian will be opening Eagle tryouts for rookie levels soon… for women.”
His eyes snapped up from her delicate wrists. “Tryouts?”
When she nodded, showing the V in her chin, his heart thumped painfully. “You’re thinking about it?” She nodded again and he could see those shrewd baby-blues judging, evaluating his reaction.
Swallowing his first three responses, Marc sipped his chocolate and thought. When he finally spoke, it was carefully. “It’s rough, the way they do things here. You might want to try a few private lessons with Doug or Kyle first, to be sure.”
It was a perfectly reasonable answer and then his mouth opened again. “And I honestly don’t know if you can do what they do, Honey. You’re awfully small compared to them.”
Angela’s eyes frosted over and that cute chin became a set line. Damn it! Why couldn’t he have stopped there? It was an identical thought for both of them.
Listening from the doorway, Neil groaned at the thoughtless words.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve said that to me, Brady.”
“And I wouldn’t now if I wasn’t worried about you getting hurt,” he defended and Angela pushed away her anger as best she could.
“I’m not afraid to get hurt if it means earning something I want. I never have been.”
Marc dropped his head, backing off. “I know that, better than most people. It’s your choice, Angie, as always.”
She stood as Neil moved toward them and Kyle’s team began filling the small area. “Yes, it is.”
Smothering her disappointment (she’d hoped Brady might actually support her) she let only traces of it lace her tone. “There’s hours yet before the camp’s ready to travel. Let’s do our normal workout.”
Marc wanted to tell her it wasn’t safe for her to be in the open, but Neil beat him to it. “I’ll have it set up in 5 minutes. All of us hate missing sets while in the Qz.”
Satisfied she’d be safe, Marc did a fast sweep of the molding trees and bold ants that littered their view. “What’s with the all of us? It’s your first time in quarantine, right?”
Neil smiled sheepishly, relenting. “So I’ve heard.”
All three of them were laughing as they stepped from the little Mess.
From the edge of the tattered caution tape, Adrian saw them and thought they seemed very out of place with the apocalyptic landscape to backdrop their happiness. The brackish sky was a dim, depressing canopy that dripped indifferently over everything.
“Hey, Boss.” Kyle had come to meet him, an extra mug in hand. “All quiet now.”
“Now?”
The Mobster took a quick glance around to verify there was no one else in hearing distance. “She had a nightmare. Said you need to talk to the new woman, Sam.”
“She say anything else?”
“Something’s coming within the week.” Kyle’s voice dropped. “You think Sam’s special too?”
“The odds just went up on that bet.” The Leader turned back toward the larger camp, taking the hot coffee. “Bring her by when you see me breaking down my canvas and we’ll find out.”
3
“Ready?”
Angela blew out an annoyed sigh, nodding. “Yes, and stop warning me. It’s like training with someone’s nervous grandmother.”
Those watching laughed, their eager noises carrying on the wind.
Flushing a bit, Seth moved toward her with a leg sweep that she jumped and returned, sending him to the ground in his surprise.
“Never underestimate your opponent!” Doug growled, huge form moving between them. “Who’s next?”
They’d been at it for half an hour despite her passing the self-defense part in the first few minutes. She’d insisted on more and Marc stepped forward with a worried heart. “Me.”
His tone was hard to read, but his thoughts said he had hated seeing her wrestle with these men. “You guys are too easy on her.”
There were scoffs from the four disheveled men she’d already cleared and the senior Eagles watched closely, evaluating. It was obvious that she was already better than some of Adrian’s rookies and this would tell them where to place her in training when Adrian openly declared her an Eagle.
That he would, his top men had little doubt, though it had only been a few days. When Adrian wanted something, he got it, and female members of the guard were high on his list. He’d only been waiting to put his faith in the right one.
“Don’t hurt yourself, now.”
Marc’s
light challenge came from their mornings spent this way and Angela’s face stretched into a huge grin. Lower level men exchange disapproving looks at her lack of seriousness, but again the top Eagles wondered. The determination behind that smile said she was anything but distracted.
From the beginning, it was fierce. Marc did what none of them had been willing (in this situation) to do. He tackled her.
Prepared and glad to be back on Brady’s training terms, Angela locked her ankles and used the momentum from their fall to roll him over and off.
Marc pushed to his feet, hair messed sexily as he stalked her. A light smile of contentment melted his face back into her best friend and Angela crouched low, still grinning. “Say it. Say it!”
“I’ve missed this.” His answer came quick and her grin widened.
“Even the pain, grunt?”
He barked a laugh. “Especially that!”
“Then, let’s get to it.”
Before he could rush her again, Angela lunged upward to deliver a harsh hit to his shoulder that he absorbed, wrapping his arms around her upper body to trap her in a tight hug.
Angela immediately dropped to her knees, dumping him on his head, and she twisted her elbow into his side. Able to slip free, she ducked his swipe for her braid and kicked out, shoving him away from her.
Angela flashed to her feet, laughter spilling out. “More Brady, more!”
It was a blast from their past and it lit up his heart. “Whatever you want, baby cakes.”
He remembered! In her happiness, Angela didn’t get set for his lunge and the shock of being on the ground under a man sent fear rushing into her mind, freezing her.
“Lock those ankles!”
Angela steeled her panic, eyes calming, and then Marc had his hands full keeping her on the ground as she punched, twisted, elbowed.
As they struggled, there was only the sound of their harsh breathing and the mutters of the watching males, who all wore deep scowls at seeing a woman on the ground under a man they didn’t trust yet.
As they rolled over, Marc on top, Seth stepped forward to break it up.
Adrian's Eagles: Book Four (Life After War) Page 4