by Golden Angel
Of course, at the moment this book was sad enough he probably wouldn't be thinking of Jesse in that way. He'd just be wishing she was there to cuddle him and tease him about getting upset over a fictional character's heroic death. Or maybe she wouldn't tease him. She was definitely a softie; she'd probably sniffle along with him.
Trying to push Jesse out of his head, he kept reading.
He'd just reached the part where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were about to leave Shell Cottage behind when the door opened. Not the door to Shell Cottage; the door to the room Brady was sitting in.
Feminine giggles and squeals filled the air as Brice practically toppled into the room, a tall, curvy blonde wrapped around him. None of the brothers had been short on female companionship since they'd been rescued from the lab. They hadn't even had to exert themselves. Their story got around and the women came to them. It didn't hurt that they were tall, muscular, and good-looking either.
Best of all, as far as they'd been concerned, none of the women seemed to expect a relationship. They just wanted to help the brothers make up for 'lost time,' especially once it got around that the Bunsons had a natural talent for it. At least, that's what Brice claimed he'd overheard some of the women gossiping about. Brady had grinned, Brock had shrugged, and until Brady had met Jesse, they'd all benefited.
Now Brice and Brock were going through the women at Lakewood. Eli's soldiers were about 40% women, plus there was the hospital staff, and the administrative staff, so - even discounting those in relationships - there were plenty of accommodating females. Looking up from his book, Brady recognized Lizzie Stanton, one of the doctors at Lakewood's hospital. She hadn't treated Jesse or Daniel, but Brady had spent enough time there that he knew most of the staff's names even if he hadn't had direct contact with them.
"Oops, sorry bro, didn't know you were in here," Brice said, his arm around Lizzie's waist. She leaned against him, still giggling a little but also blushing furiously as she tried to pretend she wasn't embarrassed.
"No, that's okay, I just finished a chapter and I was about to head out," Brady said, which wasn't true. It was probably as good a stopping point as any though.
"Oh, don't let us chase you out," Lizzie said, blushing even harder. She was pretty cute. "I'd feel horrible about that." Her hazel eyes were full of sympathy as she looked at him. Yup, another conquest based on wanting to help one of the Bunson brothers make up for lost time while they were imprisoned by The Company.
"No, really it's no problem," Brady said, giving her a winning smile that he didn't quite feel. Brice returned his look meaningfully, with gratitude that Brady wasn't going to be a cock-block.
As Brady stood, setting the book down on the coffee table for him to return to later, his and Brice's phones both started going off with the special alarm notification sound that all the soldiers had programmed into their phone after the last attack. Immediately, Brice was all business, dropping his arm from around Lizzie's waist. She wasn't at all upset, she just looked concerned as she pulled out her own phone, looking puzzled as to why hers wasn't going off.
When she peered at Brice's phone screen, she found out why.
"Cryus Peak is under attack?" she asked. "Where's that?"
Brady's mouth was dry, his heart pounding so hard he barely heard Lizzie's question over the rapid beat roaring in his ears, his head filled with his beast's anguished, accusatory howls. He was out the door and running for the rally point before Brice even answered her question.
******
The little kids were bouncing off the walls and Jesse was bouncing with them, laughing joyously at all the energy surrounding her. The common play area was her favorite room in the entire Peak. Someone had literally padded the walls and floors with foam so they weren't hard stone - although of course the stone could be felt through the pads - and there was all sorts of equipment to play on. Jungle bars, swings, slides, a fake plastic train, and little nature areas - fake stones and trees, even a small fountain. Bright overhead lights kept up the illusion of an outdoor play area. The smells weren't quite right and her squirrel wasn't interested in any of the small, fake trees, but for the kids it was a perfect location for running off excess energy without having to risk an outdoor excursion. There was a smaller room right next door which was used for nap time.
She'd been spending the past few weeks helping Bethany out with pack duties, which took up most of her time, but whenever she had a free moment she always ended up in the play area. Jesse liked playing with kids of all ages, from the babies and toddlers who were there all day, to the older kids who came as soon as they were done with lessons. When they'd received word Aunt Penny had passed, Bethany had given her as much time off as she needed and Jesse had spent four days in the play room with the kids. Being surrounded by life made her feel better, and she was just sad Aunt Penny had missed out on this.
Until coming to live with the pack, she hadn't realized how low the birth rate of her scurry had been. Of all the scurries that she knew of, in fact. It wasn't just disease killing the smaller shifters; their birth rate compared to the pack's was also tiny. Partly because Steele's pack was quite large, but she had a feeling there was more to it than that. The insular nature of the smaller shifters had done them no favors. Here, more than half of the kids were of mixed shifter heritage, and there were a lot of kids. Especially considering the fact that Steele thought of his pack as a kind of military pack; she wouldn't have expected a ton of kids based on that alone, but the pack was full of families.
Daniel was settling in nicely; he'd made friends with several other teenagers and they spent most of their time together. She was just glad he'd been welcomed in, despite how shy he was with new people. It made her snicker when she found out his new friends were complete Potterheads and just assumed he was too because of all his Harry Potter knowledge - which he mainly had due to her influence. But he seemed happy and that made her happy.
Actually, if it wasn't for constantly missing Brady, this was probably the happiest she'd ever been. Which felt like a traitorous thought, when she really did miss her parents and family and wish they were still alive... but even when they had been, the scurry had never felt as alive, as energetic, as filled with life as Steele's pack did. It was the difference between being part of a crumbling community and a thriving one. Jesse could see now that her family's community had been on the decline even before the Torch had decimated them.
She loved being part of such a big, welcoming pack. Bethany and Bailey had quickly become her good friends, along with Doc - whose real name was Harley but who only answered to Doc, a big bear shifter named Jordan (who spent a large portion of his time following Bethany around while everyone pretended he wasn't guarding her), Bailey's boyfriend Chuck, and Bailey's best friend Kasim. Steele was busy a lot - and when he wasn't he spent most of his time wrapped around Bethany - but Jesse was starting to consider him a friend even though he intimidated the heck out of her.
Steele wasn't as big as Jordan or as regally imposing as Kasim, but somehow it only took one look to know he was the scariest dude in the room. His alpha nature filled the very air around him. The only person who seemed completely un-intimidated by him was Bethany, who matched him for alpha strength but didn't saturate the room with it.
"Jesse! Jesse! Jesse!"
"Oomph," Jesse said with a laugh as Trey, a four-year old ball of constant energy, came running straight at her and threw himself into her arms. She tried not to play favorites, but deep down she knew Trey was definitely one of her favorites. He was Kasim's nephew, but he had none of his uncle's quiet reserve; Trey was all bounce, exuberance, and warmth. He was practically the living definition of an extrovert.
As a high-energy kid, he was also hard to keep up with, but he adored Jesse because she always tried even if she didn't quite make it. More than once she'd ended their play sessions by admitting defeat and falling on the ground, at which point he usually victory-danced his way around her. When his mom, Kasim's sister Sylvi
a, would come to pick him up, he would often cling to Jesse and beg her to come home with them.
How could he not be a favorite?
Following closely behind him came the rest of the pre-schoolers, including another of Jesse's favorites. Michelle was the complete opposite of Trey; she was quiet, shy, and didn't make friends easily; although, spending time with Trey was starting to change that. They both loved Jesse and Trey loved everyone, as far as Jesse could tell, so he'd befriended Michelle and she'd followed along in his wake. The kid was a natural leader.
The pre-schoolers tended to move in a swarm and they all wanted hugs from Jesse before getting down to the serious business of playing. It didn't take long before she had them involved in a very loud game of Marco Polo. Off to the side, Chrissy and Marilyn, the two pre-school teachers, were chatting and taking a break, with just one eye on the kids. All of the teachers and parents had been thrilled to have Jesse's help in the playroom, and she was happy being able to help and to have some time doing what she really loved.
She felt kind of like a big kid herself a lot of the time. Chrissy and Marilyn were both in their late twenties, but they either didn't have the energy or the motivation to keep up with playing with the kids the way Jesse did. They were perfectly happy standing off to the side and watching, or suggesting things for the kids to do, but they weren't interested in the same kind of involvement. Probably because they'd had a childhood similar to this when they were growing up, whereas for Jesse it was like an entirely new experience.
"Marco!"
"Polo!" Jesse called along with the rest of the kids, and watched in amusement as Trey made a beeline right for her. Little cheater. She darted away.
"Marco!"
"Po-"
The response was cut off as the lights flickered and the alarm sirens began to screech, causing all of the kids to slam their hands over their ears as they began to shriek as well. Little arms wrapped around Jesse's legs from behind - Michelle, burying her face into Jesse's thigh as she began to cry.
Jesse's heart was pounding as Marilyn and Chrissy sprang into action, calling for the kids to come to them as the siren continued to roll. It wasn't the fire alarm, it was the actual siren... she'd been through the weekly drill before, but they always knew when a drill was coming. This week's drill wasn't supposed to happen until tomorrow, and the kids knew it.
Heart-shaped face pale, Marilyn hurried the kids to the nap room as Chrissy did a quick search of the room for stragglers while Jesse peeled Michelle off of her legs. When she got the little girl into the nap room, she found Trey arguing with Marilyn, demanding he be let back out. As soon as he saw Jesse, he stopped trying to scamper around Marilyn, his expression full of relief.
Crap. Jesse had to get to her position. Along with her duties as Bethany's assistant, helping out with the kids, and getting acclimated to being in a pack, she'd also started training alongside the pack members. Steele demanded everyone be a functioning part of the defense of Cryus Peak. Jesse didn't want to ever feel as helpless as she had during the attack on Lakewood so she'd been all for it. She still felt scared, but determined too. While part of her wished Brady was there for her to hide behind again, another part of her felt a strange kind of anticipation at proving she didn't need him to protect her.
Setting Michelle down next to Trey, Jesse got down on one knee. "Guys, I have to go-"
"No!" Michelle tried to cling to her, but Jesse deftly transferred her hold to Trey, who hugged the little girl, his lower lip pouting, but he didn't argue. Michelle stuffed one of her blonde pigtails into her mouth and began chewing it, a nervous habit Jesse hadn't seen in days.
"You two need to take care of each other for me, okay?" she said.
"Okay," said Trey, his little face serious. Michelle leaned against him, but she nodded. Jesse looked around at all the scared kids.
"You all take care of each other and Miss Chrissy and Miss Marilyn, alright?" she asked, raising her voice. Marilyn smiled wanly as the kids chorused their agreement.
Even though she wanted to say, she couldn't.
Fortunately, her post wasn't far away. Jesse calmly walked out the door of the nap room, closing it securely behind her as she heard Chrissy begin speaking in a calm, soothing tone to the frightened kids. As soon as the door was closed, Jesse sprinted. Her position was just down the hall, an interior guard post, meant to be the last line of defense for the kids’ section of the mountain.
Not particularly dangerous, but it felt terrifying as she ran down the hall to her position, seeing Bailey and Chuck standing there waiting for her. Jesse hit the wall sensor as she passed, activating it. If someone passed that spot without deactivating it, Marilyn and Chrissy would receive a warning and they'd be able to evacuate the kids through the secret tunnels. Basically, if Jesse, Bailey, and Chuck all went down, the kids in the nap room could still get out as long as their escape route wasn't compromised.
"About time," Bailey said, as Jesse skidded to a stop in front of her.
"What's going on?" Jesse asked.
"Intruders in the tunnels," Chuck answered, while Bailey growled in angry frustration. The unnatural sound made the hair on the back of Jesse's neck stand up and did nothing to ease her anxiety.
"The tunnels?!" Fear spiked through her.
"Not the playroom's," Chuck said, reassuring her, and giving Bailey a side long glance when she growled again. He reached out to take Bailey's hand but she stepped away. They were dating, but a lot of the time Bailey didn't really act like it. He was definitely way more into Bailey than she was into him, which made Jesse feel bad for him. "The two main tunnels."
Which were the largest, so that made sense. Except, those tunnels were among the most heavily guarded.
"How?" she asked out loud, not actually expecting either of them to answer.
"There's a traitor," Bailey said, her voice ice cold. "That's the only explanation. Someone leaked the entrance locations. We're just lucky Steele gets a bug up his ass and is constantly putting in new redundancies and security codes into the system or we'd never know."
A traitor? Ice slid down Jesse's spine. That was terrifying. And awful. How someone could betray them like this... She shuddered.
"So what do we do now?" she asked, hoping to distract herself.
"We wait and see if the fight comes to us," Bailey said. She didn't sound happy about it. Jesse didn't know how she felt. She didn't particularly want to fight, but standing here and doing nothing when there was real danger and real stakes wasn't fun either. But there was no way in hell she was going to abandon the post. If there were intruders in the tunnels, that meant they were already inside the warren of caves and tunnels throughout the mountain. This was the only way to get to the kids' area.
It didn't matter how scared or nauseous she felt; if anyone came this way, they were going to get to the children over her dead body.
Chapter 10
The update on the way to Cryus Peak was neither reassuring nor entirely useful. Everyone was tense. They helicoptered in to a landing pad about half an hour away and then drove in close. Eli had received several calls from Steele, but they only knew a little of what they were getting into.
There were forces coming in through the tunnels and Steele's pack was attacking the intruders, but while the attack had begun on the inside, others had managed to get onto the plateau and were now assaulting the main entrance. Other alarms in the woods had been tripped. They had no idea what forces they were facing, how heavily armed they were, or even an exact location in the woods.
Brady's beast was filling his skin, making him want to expand and shift, but Brady was holding it together through sheer willpower and the reminder that he needed information if he was going to be useful. He tried to push thoughts of Jesse aside, but they kept popping in.
Where in the tunnels was she?
Was she hurt?
Was she scared?
Knowing she'd been training and had actually been given a defensive position on
ly made things worse.
Had the fighting reached her?
How much danger was she in?
And - the most prevalent thought of all - why the hell hadn't he just stayed with her?
Leaving had been stupid. He'd been distracted on the missions, missing her like hell, and the teams hadn't needed him for what they were doing to The Company. While it was somewhat satisfying to take out another location, he'd been increasingly dissatisfied with his life as a whole.
It wasn't that his priorities had changed exactly, he still wanted to be a part of taking down The Company, but he'd been stubbornly stupid about how he insisted on going about doing it. Eli didn't need him for every little lab and location. He could have stayed at the Peak, waiting for the final showdown - and then he would have been here to help defend it. He'd already be in the thick of the fighting, not sneaking through the woods trying to get to it.
Eli split them into four teams after they landed on the heli-pad; Brady went with Eli's team, which was going to be attacking the force at the main entrance. The other three teams were scouting through the woods to pick off stragglers and any reinforcements they could find. After their sweep, they were going to head to the two main tunnels and trap the intruders between them and Steele's pack.
At least, that was the plan.
Brock went with Meredith's team and Brice went with Tomas' team into the woods, but Brady wasn't worried. The brothers had become used to being split up. Eli said they worked well as a unit, but he wanted them to be able to work well with others too, so they were rarely put together - especially since it's not like they had a permanent assignment with any of the teams.
After the other teams had melted into the woods, Eli faced his own team, which was the largest since they were taking on the most dangerous mission. The plateau in front of the main door was easier to defend than it was to attack and there would be no cover once they were there. Of course, there wouldn't be any cover for The Company's fighters either.