Where We Stand

by Angela White

  Adrian lay on his back, putting his hands under his neck to keep from reaching for her again. “I told you once that I’d leave you alone if you asked me to. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to do that.”

  “So am I,” she stated, but not angrily. The magic of his touch was running through her and it was hard to stay depressed in that light.

  “In time, I hope you’ll be able to accept me as someone who loves you, not just a substitute for when you’re hurting over him.”

  Angela slowly pushed herself to her feet, staring down coldly. “He’s coming back.”

  Adrian was on his feet an instant later, gabbing her by the arms.

  “I don’t care! I want you, too, Angie. And you’ll need us both.”

  Angela denied that claim. “I only need him.”

  Frustrated, Adrian dropped his mouth back to hers.

  Desire flooded them both and Angela found herself responding even though she didn’t want to. His magic was like nothing she’d ever felt and she groaned in protest.

  Their breath mingled, vanilla filling his senses, and she shuddered as his tongue swept over hers. His arms tightened, body hard and hot, and Angela groaned this time at the touch of his tongue.

  Her body softened, leaned into his, and Adrian stiffened. Intoxicating!

  Energy swirled around them, thick and primitive. When his hands slid to the small of her back and pressed her close, Angela gasped into his mouth.

  “No!”

  Adrian broke the kiss and shoved her, but he was there to stop her from hitting the tree. He sent his lips back to hers, drowning in what he’d wanted for so long, and missed the fury boiling.

  Angela took him to his knees with a kick and kidney punch that was ruthless.

  “Don’t ever!”

  Adrian stayed on the ground, coughing and laughing. “That’s the … Angie we all know.”

  Angela glared a moment longer, then had to snort as she realized he was going to use the excuse that he’d been trying to shake her from her depression. “You were right. You are a piece of shit. You know that?”

  “I’m human. How could I be anything else?” Adrian returned the question sharply.

  Angela sighed in disgust at an answer she couldn’t argue with. “Come on. Let me make sure nothing ripped open.”

  6

  Adrian sat on the edge of her cot, glad the flap was open, but not caring as much as he had before. He lifted the shirt and Angela impatiently directed him toward the lantern. It took her a minute to get it lit and she took her time gathering her things, still boiling.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Angela pushed her thumb into his side and got a satisfying grunt. “Yeah.”

  Adrian viewed her with a devotion that shouldn’t be so attractive.

  “Your lips are like candy. It was hard to stop.”

  Angela raked her nail across his scar and Adrian flinched.

  “Damn!”

  Angela reached out and took a large patch of his chest skin with all five claws, crimson shining in hatred.

  “The Witch wants you, but I don’t. I want Marc and even if he… It won’t matter to me. He’s my mate. You won’t ever be in my heart.”

  Adrian caught her hand and placed a gentle kiss to it. “I’ve been there since we first laid eyes on each other and the ground shook.”

  Angela slapped him with the other hand and Adrian refused to take any more physical abuse without dealing out some of his own emotions.

  “I’ll love his son and in time, Charlie will love me as much as he ever has Brady.”

  Angela switched into her Kai stance and Adrian took them to the floor.

  She struggled furiously, but Adrian only held her and forced her to listen.

  “You can’t carry this weight and mourn him. You have to let it go in front of the camp.”

  Angela stilled, tiring quickly, and tears ran down her dusty cheeks.

  “When you’re alone, you can take it out on me. Keep me close for that, but please, just… keep me.”

  Adrian broken plea stopped the anger and replaced it with the need to ease his pain. It wasn’t something she could fight and Angela realized it was drawing him the same way. In complete agony, she had no idea how to shove this into her crypt. None of the boxes were big enough.

  Adrian let go of her, but didn’t move away when she stayed still.

  “I’ll be there when you need to draw blood.” Adrian wiped fingers across his chest and held up red tips. “I’ll be as much as you’ll allow.”

  Angela’s tears fell harder, lids closing to try to hold them.

  Adrian pushed with a brutal shove, leaning over her. “Pretend I’m him.”

  Adrian’s mouth on hers was a violation!

  And it was Brady, if she just held still and pretended.

  For one instant, she could do it.

  Then her knee came up and Adrian was forced to take no for her answer.

  Angela rolled onto her feet and delivered a vicious kick to his ribs. “I’d rather be dead than betray him like this.”

  Angela slapped the flap shut as she stormed out, and Adrian stayed down, recovering.

  “One more month, Brady,” Adrian sent through the pain. “That’s the grieving period you owe me. Stay away for one more month and I will have her. She was meant to be mine.”

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Little Rock AFB

  8/17

  1

  “Top floors are finally secure, sir.”

  Colonel Hack took the sheet of damages and casualties without glancing at it. “And the bottom?”

  “Still the same. As soon as we clear an area and post security, it blows up or collapses. It’s getting hard to find Point men. Same for the roads they used. As they fled, they blew them up or rigged them. We’ve had serious damage to every platoon.”

  Hack crumbled the paper and tossed it onto the desk. “How many men do we have left?”

  The Sergeant didn’t tell his commanding officer that the stat was on the paper he hadn’t checked. “A hundred and fifty.”

  “Damn them!”

  Sergeant Davies retreated a bit as the Colonel began pacing. This one wasn’t a fat body sent by command. He was dangerous.

  “We started out with over a thousand!”

  “Yes, sir. The Ghost has been quiet effective, but we’re here. Base will send reinforcements as soon as we call for them.”

  Hack wasn’t ready to do that. If he had to have help, base wouldn’t let him keep command. They’d send out the Butcher.

  “Gather them up, fifty per group. Keep them together until...” Hack glanced at his watch. “Last attack was an hour ago… wait three more and then send the entire team into the bottom floors. All remaining men. Flush them out.”

  The Sergeant left with doubts. The Ghost and a few of his friends were still inside the base, setting and carrying out traps, and Davies thought maybe he would spend the raid time in the commander’s office for protection.

  Hack kicked the door closed, hating the closet-sized room, but all the others had been destroyed. Like the damn rebels had sensed it would irritate him and done it on purpose.

  The newly appointed Colonel flopped down in the chair, crazy mind spinning. It had been a hell of a fight to get here and he wasn’t going to be pushed out by only one or two men…

  “Can you help me?”

  Hack looked to the open door to the connecting room and stared in surprise at the half naked woman leaning against the frame.

  He leapt to his feet without a thought, only alarmed for her. “Are you okay?”

  Kendle’s face lit with a feverish zeal and she advanced drunkenly. “I will be.”

  The Colonel’s screams brought his men running, but it was too late. The ripped-out throat wasn’t something they could help with. Nor was the stomach spilling open as he fell.

  Davies drew his gun and backed away from the door.

  “Shouldn’t we search…” the Private at his side had n
o idea what was going on, except that instinct said the time for killing each other had come.

  Davies turned and quickly left the doomed men. “Captain Gorden has the next highest rank. Command has been passed.”

  The Private glanced at the Colonel’s body and then Davies retreating form. Known for hating deserters, the Private fired a shot, but missed when the Sergeant ducked and rolled into a room they hadn’t cleared yet. His words echoed.

  “Wait! I give up to the Ghost. Maybe I can help him.”

  The Private waved the small group of soldiers toward the door, but the next alien voice stopped them with the lack of compassion.

  “The time for surrender is over.”

  “Ahhhh!”

  The Private got to the door first and saw Davies hanging over a file cabinet, blood running down his legs and arms. His sockets were stabbed balls of tissue and gore.

  “Ahhh!” Davies began screaming.

  The Private lifted his weapon. He couldn’t stand a whiner.

  Bang!

  2

  Marc woke with a gasp of desolation and knew instantly why he was in pain. Something had happened with Angela.

  Marc lay down and closed his lids. They were stealing sleep in hour-long snatches and the feeling of isolation was thick as he lay there considering all the possibilities.

  He heard Kendle shift toward him.

  “No.”

  Kendle ignored the order, moving into his warm space. She hugged him close and Marc didn’t bother to push the crazy woman away. It felt good to have human contact.

  “Sleep. We die tomorrow.”

  Marc forcefully shut his mind down. After tomorrow’s blast, it wouldn’t matter. The odds they would make it out of the collapse were slim.

  “Sleep,” Kendle insisted, hugging him tighter.

  Marc grunted in surrender and tossed an arm around her shoulders. “Okay, Kendle. Okay.”

  When the alarm vibrated, Marc woke quickly, pushing away the headache. He listened hard after looking over at Kendle, and was a bit uneasy to hear nothing at all. When they’d gone to ground in this duct, soldiers had been stomping and cursing, weapons were being cleaned and loaded, and all of it had echoed straight to them.

  Marc sat up and gave Kendle a gentle nudge. She shot up like he’d slapped her and Marc grabbed her, putting his hand over her mouth.

  “Easy,” he sent. “Just me.”

  Kendle calmed down and Marc took his hand away, but didn’t shift her off of his lap. The need to be close to someone right now was on him in thick waves.

  “May I?”

  Kendle felt the shaking start. She wasn’t scared of Marc, but she was terrified of herself. What if she reacted badly?

  “Shhh…”

  Marc leaned forward, eyes closing. “Angie.”

  Kendle stiffened, but the feel of his kiss wasn’t one to refuse. Her lids fluttered closed and her arms came up to hold him. Luke!

  Marc didn’t feel any sting. It wasn’t Kendle in his arms, it was Angie and in that one kiss, he gave her his goodbye.

  Kendle was crying when he pulled back and she swiped at the tears. “Can we go kill something now?”

  Marc chuckled, helping her up. “Yes. Let’s go end this.”

  “Fire!”

  The walls exploded around them and Marc jerked Kendle into the narrowest vent and shoved her ahead of him.

  “Get them!”

  Major Gorden waved the men up and inside, and they went without argument. Finding out that their Ghost was only a tired Marine and his woman had given them new faith.

  Kendle scrambled along the duct, wiggling to get her shoulders through the hole as Marc shoved on her.

  Gunfire ripped into the ceiling and duct around them, but Marc had his shield over them both, and Kendle knew to hold onto him. Without a connection, he would only be able to protect himself from the rapid fire.

  As footsteps came down the hall, they fled to a connecting room that had no obvious exit. This was the bowels of the base and they wouldn’t get out from here. Neither of them flinched at the thought. They’d said their goodbyes. Now they would bring this place down.

  “Hit it!” Marc shouted, bolting the door and dropping the wooden beam into the metal braces they’d installed. In their nervous sweeps, the soldiers hadn’t noticed many of their modifications and it would cost them.

  Kendle flipped the switch and ran into Marc’s arms as the base began to blow up over top of them.

  3

  “The North wall is down! We’ve been hit!”

  “Clear out of there!”

  Those listening to the radio calls were horrified at not only the panic in the voices, but also the awful background noises of bombs exploding and men screaming.

  “Get her out! Do it now!”

  Angela tensed, despite knowing what was coming next.

  “I won’t leave Adrian!”

  At Angela’s panicked voice, the men around her looked to her face and to the radio in confusion.

  “I gave him sound clips before he left,” Angela explained, voice choked.

  “Get down! Get those men down!”

  The explosion came through the radio as if they were there and Adrian’s voice roared out next.

  “Here they come! No mercy!”

  Not sure how much was real, they all turned to Angela as the transmission stopped.

  Angela’s strained face wasn’t easy to look at as she explained.

  “Marc wanted to be sure they thought we were all in there, the chain of command. He knows the soldiers won’t come this way until they search every inch of the base and it buys more time.”

  “But the battle right now?” Shawn asked.

  “Is real. Little Rock Air Force Base has been taken by the enemy.”

  Silence greeted her words and when Adrian put a consoling arm around her shoulders, Angela leaned against him, struggling not to cry.

  “Hey,” Zack called. “They’re pulling out!”

  Angela and Adrian turned to find lights and horses moving around their gates. It appeared like half of the groups that had come, were fleeing.

  “They’re leaving us!” Ray cried.

  “Getting away ahead of the soldiers,” Kenn offered. “Can’t blame them. If that base is gone, we’re in trouble.”

  “They’re going to Marc,” Angela moaned. Only Adrian’s strength, his warnings in her mind, kept her from joining them.

  “They’ll meet up with our teams and get them out,” Shawn tried to comfort, but figured it was a waste of time. That call was final.

  Angela spun away from the men, going to sing to the herd who also thought they were being abandoned.

  “They’ve gone to bring our Ghost home.”

  Angela’s words spread quickly and gave the camp members something to hope for, but Angela was dying. She knew the truth. None of the men coming to Brady’s aid would get there in time.

  4

  The camp was a wreck. Physically, they were stronger than they’d ever been. Emotionally, they were broken. Waiting for word on Marc and the others had only just begun and the grieving was everywhere. Underneath it, was violent rage.

  The descendants absorbed it instead of the sorrow, and tossed it back out in waves of discontent and pain that the camp hated. The sight of Angela almost in tears and Adrian snarling at people was one that told them they’d taken a harsh blow. Even Kenn and Tonya weren’t happy and their lack of gloating was the final push for many inside Safe Haven’s gates. Marc’s death wouldn’t be forgotten. None of their losses would.

  “They’re ready to fight now. Losing Brady has them hot.”

  Adrian didn’t respond to Zack’s thoughtless comment. He was just glad Angela hadn’t heard it.

  “Keep it going. We’ll get the call…”

  “Attention Safe Haven refugee camp…”

  The speakers lighting up stopped things across the camp and brought people from the light dozing they’d begun to do while waiting.
<
br />   “This is Captain Reynolds of the United States Army. It may only be five rooms, but I hold this base! The Ghost and his chain of command have been killed. We’re digging their bodies out now. They will be sent to Command for verification. Also among the dead are White, Angela, Mitchell, Adrian, Brady, Marcus...”

  As soon as there was a pause, Angela keyed the mic.

  “Wrong again, you traitorous bastard. We’re all around you, Reynolds! Watch your back.”

  Loud cheers broke over the camp and radios, and then from other people and camps across the country who’d been listening in horror and hope.

  “We are not dead, nor broken. We are united in this fight. Come and get us!” Adrian bellowed.

  Another loud shout of defiance and Angela gave the final layer.

  “I am a descendant of Christ, sent to protect the people. Come to me, help me drive back the green scum like they deserve!”

  Angela’s forceful call was answered by garble as people tried to affirm their loyalty and intent to come.

  The radio cleared for a minute and Reynolds took over calmly, but new noises popped up to drown him out.

  “That is a recorded clip. There is no such thing as a descendant…”

  Bang! Bang!

  Those in Safe Haven froze, listening to the sound of those familiar Colts.

  “Get him!”

  “All citizens are required to turn themselves over according to the terms of martial law and the draft…”

  Bang! Bang!

  “What do you mean he’s here?!”

  Bang! Bang!

  Angela didn’t know why the man wasn’t letting off the mic, but it was giving them a front row seat to the last fight inside the base, and they were all enrapt.

  “Close it up!”

  “Shoot him!”

  Bang!

  “It’s coming down!”

  “The roof! Look out!”

  The radio went dead and Angela hit her mic again in deep satisfaction and relief.

  “Captain Reynolds, you have been found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. To his remaining men, leave your posts and surrender to us. We will show no mercy to anyone who stands with them.”

  Angela left the radio to the others as she turned away. Had Marc gotten out? The wait for word would continue.

  5

  “Let me help you.”