Page 94 of Smoky Lake

“Correct.”

“That’s insane. These people are fucking dangerous! How could you let Ani put herself at risk like that?”

The corporal tried to calm him down. “She’s just providing direction. It’s a reconnaissance mission. She won’t be involved in any combat.”

“Combat? She better the fuck not be.”

“Right now they’re just chasing a theory, but if they get confirmation, we’ll scramble.”

And how many things could go wrong before then? Through his panic, Gil felt a hand on his arm. Lachlan.

“Let’s go, Gil. You don’t want to piss him off. He’s on our side.”

“Correct,” said the corporal stiffly. “You do not.”

Gil’s head cleared, and he shook himself back to some kind of focus. He glanced around at their surroundings. Nyx was kicking ice rocks, sliding them across the glacier’s surface. Sam was putting blocks under the wheels of his plane. Chilled air rose from the glacier in icy breaths. “You’re the one keeping me out of trouble? How the tables have turned.”

Lachlan gave him a distracted smile. “It feels good. But you know I’ve been taking care of myself for a while now.”

“Yeah, I know.” Part of him had known, but now it was really sinking in. His lifelong role of Lachlan-protector was no longer needed. “Come on, let’s find this permafrost tunnel. Lead the way, Lachlan.”

Lachlan set out across the ice, with Sam and Gil flanking him. Nyx trailed behind, with Corporal Walters pulling up the rear. Gil was damn glad to know that he had military backup, after what he’d seen from the merciless mercs on the floatplane.

“So who’s this Ani you’re so upset about?” Lachlan asked. “Do I know her?”

“Ani is…” Gil ran a hand across the back of his neck. The mention of Ani made his heart clench. God, he missed her, which was absurd since she’d told him it was over, in so many words. “She’s…she’s the woman…ah, fuck it. She’s everything. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t think it’s going to work.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, but she gave me the ‘let’s talk later’ line. I don’t get it. When we’re together, it’s magic. I can’t explain it. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I think she feels the same way, but something changed.”

Lachlan’s green eyes, so similar to his, lit up. “You’re in love. I can see it.”

“So?”

Sam, on Lachlan’s other side, cleared his throat. “Are you talking about Ani Devi?”

Gil nodded, not crazy about discussing his feelings for Ani on a trek across a glacier looking for an ice cave filled with hostages and bad guys. On the other hand, just hearing her name made him happy. “Right, you know her. You flew her to the Institute the other day. Gave her a cooler of salmon, but I’m sorry to say a bear probably got hold of it.”

Sam waved that off. “No worries. I don’t know Ani well, but you should know that Molly’s been talking about you too.”

“Oh yeah? Is that good or bad?”

“All good. She and her friends are saying they think you’re the real thing for Ani. They say she deserves someone like you after what she went through.”

“What do they mean?” Lachlan glanced between Gil and Sam. He was in his element out here, reading the ice as if it was a map.

“Divorce,” Gil explained briefly. “And a hate crime attack when she was little.”

“No, not all that,” said Sam. He shaded his eyes against the sun reflecting off the glacier. “It was the baby thing. It was really rough on her, trying so hard, getting nowhere. They’ve all been worried. But if you ask me, you shouldn’t give up on her. Not that you asked me,” he added after a moment of thought. “But you could have. I give good advice.”

Gil froze. The baby thing. Had Ani been trying to tell him about that and he’d misunderstood?

I accept that continuing the family line is up to me.

Fuck. That response was probably the worst thing he could have said. No wonder she’d looked so stricken. No wonder she’d decided they didn’t know each other well enough.

But at least now he had a road map to how to get her back. A big grin spread over his face. He reached across Lachlan and squeezed Sam’s shoulder. “Thanks, man.”

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