Page 84 of Abandoned Oaths

I closed my eyes and spun the chair away from the screens. “I know.”

“You can’t hold that against her.”

“I’m not.” I finally looked up at my brother. “I’m not mad at her.”

“Just really fucking jealous?” He smiled when I scoffed. “Me too.”

“It doesn’t make sense. I’m fine with her being with you guys.”

“But he’s not one of us.”

He understood. I wasn’t the only one lost in her.

I fisted my hands, relishing the pierce of my nails in my skin. “It’s taking everything in me to not leave and take her away.”

“She isn’t ours to claim.”

“I know,” I growled. “I know, but that doesn’t chase away the rage.”

He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. “None of us knew what to expect going into this. If we did, I’m not sure we would have agreed. Not unanimously. I doubt she would have either. It’s messier and far more complicated than the five of us are used to, but we can’t let it break us. She’s doing her job, and we’re doing ours. It’s nearly impossible to keep things separate, I know, but in order for us to be the teammates she needs, we have to do our best.”

Right. Her life was in our hands. She trusted us to do our part while she did hers.

“Maybe, when this is all over, we can discuss what comes next,” he trailed off, staring at the ground.

“You don’t mean trying to be together?”

Could he be that delusional?

He just shrugged. “I’m not sure. Not yet. It seems impossible, but so was all of this. We can’t worry about it now.”

“But you are,” I smirked.

“Better than sitting here watching her with another man.”

I sputtered a laugh. “Fuck off.”

He stepped forward and gripped my shoulder. “Why don’t we throw some knives, or if you absolutely need to, I’ll let you get some hits in.”

“We should monitor––”

His eyes drifted behind me. “She’s fine.”

I twisted to see Dias alone in the bed, sleeping. Well, he didn’t last very long.

It took me a few seconds to spot Emilia in a robe wandering through the house.

“She’s adjusting the cameras Derek told her about.”

He was right. She drifted silently through the rooms, nudging the cameras we hadn’t placed in the best positions to give us a better view of the whole room or the exits.

She stopped in the kitchen next to her purse and slipped out her phone. She tapped something, then Javier’s cell dinged.

He pulled it from his pocket with a frown. “She wants us to come get her.”

I glanced between him and the screen. She was waiting for his reply.

“She’s not sleeping there?” I asked.

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