Page 61 of Rivers and Roads

“I think it’s safe to let you go,” she said, writing something in his chart. She looked up at me after that. “Also, General Bereket, you have someone waiting for you down in the lobby. If you want to go see them, I’ll get all of Major Peterson’s discharge papers in order.”

I glanced back at Orion, who waved me off. “It’s fine. It’s probably Council business, and I know you need to take care of that shit, even if we did just get blown up.”

I rolled my eyes, but leaned in to kiss him gently on his freshly mended lips. “I won’t be long.” He was probably right, but I felt a sudden pulse in my pack bond, and it became obvious who it was the moment I got down to the ground floor and saw my sister waiting for me with her arms crossed, her yellow eyes flaring.

“You son of a bitch,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

I ignored her rage and pulled her into a tight hug, and she only resisted a minute before she collapsed into me. She didn’t cry—neither of us had ever been big criers—but I could feel the anguish in the bond, and I sent her back a pulse of my own.

“You two are trying to kill me, do you know that?” she growled when I stepped back. “I can’t…I can’t keep doing this.”

“I know,” I told her quietly.

She lifted a hand and traced her fingers down a tender spot on my cheek that had been a particularly large gash. “Was it the same people who took you?”

“I think so,” I told her, “but we can’t be sure. We’re focusing our efforts on security right now, and I think everyone’s happy to believe it was the humans.”

She lifted a brow at me. “You’re not convinced.”

It wasn’t a question, and Talia and I had been close enough, she didn’t need to feel it in the bond to know my suspicions. “I think there’s something deeper at play here, but I don’t know where to start. Yet,” I added.

She nodded, biting her lip for a long moment. “I could feel you, you know. The whole time you were gone. I never lost you.”

I winced. “I wish you had cut it off. What I went through…”

“No,” she said. “You know damn well you wouldn’t have done it if it was me. Or Danyal. You’ve been through torture, and I’m guessing you can still feel every one of Danyal’s heartbeats.”

I couldn’t deny it. “He’s doing better than I am.”

Her smile turned a little sad. “I know. That’s probably everything to do with the fact that he’s a geneticist. And the fact that Orion exposed the whole organization.”

I nodded, but I couldn’t help the way my face fell at the mention of my lover’s name. “This isn’t even the beginning. This is just a hint of where we need to start.”

Her eyes lowered, and she let out a deep sigh. “We’re ready for it, you know. Anyway,” she said after a beat, “Cameron thinks you two should come stay with us for a bit. He doesn’t trust that Orion’s place hasn’t been tampered with, and I’m siding with him. We have room anyway.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but I realized there was no point. They had in-law quarters, a little one room cottage detached from their house, and it was the perfect spot to lie low while we recovered and flushed out any Wolf who might be attempting to sabotage us from the inside.

I wasn’t sure Orion would be thrilled with the idea, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to give him a choice. “Let me go talk to him. He’s getting discharged right now, and I’m not sure he’s going to put up much of a fight.”

“I trust you can convince him either way,” she said with a wink. “I’ll go pull the car around.”

I almost laughed. Talia had always been a more pushy Alpha than I ever was. As children, it was always easier to let her take the lead, and I think most people were surprised that she went into Military administration and tactics, and I went into battle because she had always been the first to jump into any fight.

But she was good at what she did, and knowing her now—as a mate, and a mother, and a sister, and the woman she grew up to be—it all made sense.

I felt a bit lighter as I went back up to Orion’s room, and my heart thumped a little at the sight of him in clothes, taking ginger steps to test his balance. He looked over at me with clear eyes and a small grin, and I moved into him, curling my hand around his neck.

“Everything good?” he asked, tilting his jaw to the side to let me nose at him.

I felt strangely more animalistic since returning to myself—more possessive, more at the whims of my instincts, but it was hard to hate it. Especially because of the way it made Orion’s breathing speed up, and his body open to mine.

I licked the side of his neck, then pulled away and sighed. “Talia’s here.”

His eyes widened. “Shit. Did she rip you a new asshole?”

I laughed and shook my head. “She’s here on behalf of Cameron who is insisting we come stay with them.” When Orion opened his mouth to argue, I reached down and squeezed his wrist. “They have the space—that little apartment detached from their house. And she brought up a good point. We don’t know if someone fucked with your place.”

“There’s no way the humans who set that bomb stuck around,” he said, pulling away with a frown.

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