Page 141 of Hell Breaks Loose

That’s a whole other point of contention with some of the gang, myself included. Don’t get me wrong, Gavin is one hell of a survivalist and has been instrumental in teaching everyone about all sorts of useful shit in the field.

But the guy is also the most experienced tactician and critical thinker anywhere.

And he won’t take the lead. Now that Hella’s back, he’s content to just take a back seat.

Speaking of Hella…

“Find anything?” she whispers, crouching to catch her breath.

“Two coneys. Lots of great convo with G-man.”

“And you scared them off,” Gavin sighs, dusting off his hands and heading back toward camp. “Need to get some water, anyway.”

“Maybe you scared them off with your manliness.” I give him my most dismissive shrug and sidle up to Hell, looping my arm around her shoulders as we trail along behind him.

Her arm around my waist feels so right.

“How’s governing going? Singer’s boys all get settled in?”

“They are already out on patrol.”

“Now he’s singing my tune.” I kiss her head as she laughs at my terrible joke. “What’s with the ring?”

She’s been wearing it lately, twirling it on her thumb.

The red metal doodad that we uncovered at her dad’s cabin in the woods.

“Ah, coincidentally, what I called Ora to meet me about here in a minute. I think I found a couple of clues in my notes from my dad’s journal that might help us lure Rachelle into a trap.”

“And that ring has something to do with it?”

“Maybe.”

I let it slide, keeping an eye on Gavin the whole walk back. He hears everything we say.

Without a word, I point forward, making a ‘what-gives’ sort of face at Hella.

She shrugs, waving one hand for me to drop it.

Weird.

And not really any of my business. Gavin is always solid when it matters.

Must be all this being around Alaya shit that has him closed off. I would be too if I were forced to be in close proximity with my ex. Or my family. Not precisely the same. But still.

“What’d you want to talk to about?” Ora kicks off the desk and stands, leading the way into a sort of conference room.

As we enter, Alaya appears, then Sing, filling out our ranks with most of the crew.

Minus one. But ‘we don’t talk about Eeeeevan’.

And as much as I joke about… everything, I feel sick when I think about seeing him at the wedding. He was just gone. But he’s alive.

“This.” Hellena tosses the ring onto the table. “Before the shitstorm, I was looking into what this ring meant. I didn’t get to finish looking through my dad’s journal, but it opened a hiding spot in his cabin.”

“What the fuck?” Alaya snatches it up, looking closely at it like she’s never seen a ring before.

“You recognize it, don’t you?” Hella’s eyes light up.

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