Page 81 of Shadow Blind

Was that what this weapon was? Some kind of nanobot plague?

She almost asked Kait but withheld the question at the last moment. She didn't want to put her friend in an awkward position when it was clear Kait didn’t have permission to divulge anything.

“I just wish…” Kait’s voice faltered. “…that it wasn’t Shadow Mountain and our guys who end up fighting the evil assholes of the world. I thought things would be safer after they brought down the New Ruling Order.”

“It has been safer,” Beth said. “Ever since they joined Shadow Mountain, they’ve been home almost every night. They’ve been sent on more training, rescue, and good Samaritan missions than battles. But we knew that wouldn’t last. We knew the NRO wasn’t the only greedy, evil organization out there. Eventually, they were bound to get sucked into another save the world situation.”

Kait sighed, offering a slow nod. “Benioko even said as much when he asked the clones to join Shadow Mountain.”

Faith swallowed hard, her face still white and drawn, her freckles a blazing band across her cheeks. “We’ve been lucky so far. But we need to prepare for what’s coming, for when they leave.”

Demi tensed. Aiden would join the Shadow Mountain forces when they went after the men behind this new weapon. She knew that, without a doubt. Her heart picked up speed, slamming against her ribs. Chills prickled her spine. He wouldn’t stand aside and let the clones and his half-brother’s soldiers take down the monsters who’d killed his team. Instead, he’d do everything possible to shut down this deadly new weapon and the men who’d developed it.

Her stomach churned at the thought. It didn’t matter that she’d broken things off with him. There hadn’t been enough time for her feelings to die. She still loved him. That hadn’t changed. How ironic. The fear and anxiety she’d tried to avoid were already rolling around inside her.

“How in the world do you handle something like this?” she asked out loud, her gaze skimming the tense faces of the women surrounding her. “Knowing someone you love is in danger. How do you stop the fear from eating you alive?”

A few seconds of weighty silence fell before multiple sighs broke the silence.

“By keeping busy,” Kait finally said, with a glance at Beth and then Faith. “At least that’s how we handled it when the guys were fighting the NRO. It helps to have someone to talk to, someone who’s in the same boat, experiencing the same fear.”

Beth nodded. “We stayed busy, and we had each other.” Her lavender eyes darkened and went distant. “While the guys were off fighting, we’d get together. We’d talk, binge Netflix, play cards or board games, discuss books. That’s where the book club idea came from.”

“And wine.” Kait’s lips twisted. She looked half amused and half terrified. “I remember us drinking loads and loads of wine.”

Olivia sighed and rubbed at her furrowed eyebrows. “The worst thing we can do is sit around and obsess about what’s happening to them, worry about the danger they’re in. That’s a surefire way to crazy town.”

Nods of agreement went around the room.

“So, we hang together and stay busy.” Kait squared her shoulders and forced a smile. “We’ll get through this together. Book by book, movie by movie, wine bottle by wine bottle.”

Demi’s swallow got stuck in her throat. She wanted to believe it was as simple as that. She really did. But she could already see the flaws to that approach. Here they were, together, talking books, drinking wine. Their men weren’t even gone yet.

And yet, fear and anxiety were stamped across every one of their faces.

Chapter thirty-two

Day 16

Denali, Alaska

Aiden lowered the barbell to the rack, the heavy clang of metal hitting metal echoing in his ears. Sitting up on the padded bench, he sucked air in and blew it out of his laboring lungs. His heart was pounding hard enough to rattle his ribs. His pulse thundered in his ears. Sweat slicked his hair and trickled down his face. Christ, his t-shirt and shorts were already sticking to his damp skin. Grimacing, he used the bottom of his shirt to mop his streaming face.

It was embarrassing how out of shape he was. He’d barely been working out for thirty minutes, and at a weight set to half of normal, yet he couldn’t catch his breath. Hell, his legs and arms felt like pudding. He shouldn’t tap out so easily, or so soon. He couldn’t even blame the exhaustion on blood loss. The vamps in the lab had ignored him for the past three days.

Thank Christ, the weight room was empty. He could do without the taunts his so-called buddies would pile on him at this lackluster performance.

It was 4:00 a.m., two days after talking to Demi. He’d hit the gym early this morning, well before Wolf’s warriors would start arriving. Some alone time, that’s what he’d been looking for. A quiet space away from his quarters and the four walls he was climbing, a peaceful place to work his body, which always focused his mind.

He needed to launch a hard pivot in his quest to locate Kuznetsov. Devlin was still coming up empty, as were Wolf’s intelligence operatives. Nobody knew where the Russian was holed up and time was ticking down. That fucking weapon could go up for sale at any minute, and they had no intel on who’d developed it, or where it was located. They needed a break, and fast.

The urgency to take action kept ramming into his inability to act. He couldn’t even work up a strategy until they located the asshole and knew the terrain they’d be inserting into. The frustration was enough to drive him to drink, particularly when combined with the sucker punch Demi had delivered to his heart.

Concentrating fiercely on his heavy breathing, he backed away from thoughts of Demi, and locked down the loss and regret. She wasn’t his future anymore. He had to accept that and move on. He needed to focus on Kuznetsov.

The door to the gym squeaked open and then banged shut. Aiden scowled and glanced over. His scowl gained strength at the sight of O’Neill standing in front of the door, his hand bunched inside the pocket of his sweats. Of all the guys who could have joined him so early in the morning, did it have to be this asshole? The one with a boulder sized chip on his shoulder?

But then Dev’s voice echoed through his mind.

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