Page 61 of Fate Awakened

I know things aren’t great right now, but if I can get her back, I can fix us. I can make her understand. Just the last two days without her has been like missing a limb. The phantom pain is as soul-crushing as any wound.

I can’t live without her.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath to calm my wolf. I have to keep my head focused on our goal. I’ll never forgive myself if I’m the reason she’s hurt.

Mason pulls to a stop in an empty parking lot. This entrance is the most public of all locations we could’ve chosen. Knowing Big Tony has the advantage of knowing this area inside and out, allows us to play into his hand by arriving where he’d expect.

We arrive twenty minutes early for the exchange, wanting to be in place when they show up. Jake’s out first and circles the van to ensure there aren’t any traps on the ground in the area before Dante and I file out, followed by Erik dragging a mumbling Kole.

To his credit, Kole stayed quiet for most of the drive. We kept him out of the logistics and have kept all conversations around him to a minimum. We don’t need him returning to his pack with more information than he already has.

Erik ensured he ate, had no visible marks of our time together, and that he showered. Once he was presentable, he was quickly gagged and bagged. We also gave him a medical transmitter block for this trip, so he couldn’t contact Deacon for the next twenty-four hours. That little safety precaution would keep him from informing his pack until we’re long gone.

We walk our group of five into the wooded area, traveling until we reach a clearing just off the main hiking trail. Our black team members are scattered in each direction, on the lookout for Marlo’s team as we enter. Dante leads our pack, flanked by Jake and I. Erik falls just behind, guiding Kole by the back of his shirt into the clearing and sitting him down on a boulder on the east side of the clearing.

It's dark, but with our adept vision and the spattering of stars, we can see from one side of the space to the other.

“In position,” Dante says, notifying the groups we’re set and ready. Two black team members move positions in order to bookend our group, and a third moves to cover our six. This setup protects us from both sides and our backs. This leaves our focus in front of us, right where Big Tony and his assortment of wolves and pack mates will enter the clearing.

Surveillance cameras are set remotely around the outside of the clearing in case their pack chooses an alternate route; however, with Tony’s size and his need to walk a prisoner, we assume they’ll enter the clearing exactly the same way we did.

I release a breath, letting out some of the tension building in my chest.

Just a few more minutes.

My nerves dance along my skin because I don’t know what she knows or where her head is. The only thing I know for sure is that I need her to be okay. I need her to look at me with those eyes full of fire so that I know we have a chance—a future.

My whole world stands still as I wait for answers. Nothing matters except her.

Come home, Firefly. I’m waiting.

Chapter 21

Keith

Teamworkhasneverbeenmy strong suit. I’ve never had to work on any job with this mentality before. Solo projects, or ones where I do my part and send it away for someone else to figure out the fallout are what I’m used to, but riding in the back of this van scrunched beside every bit of security surveillance equipment they could squeeze into the space, feels oddly like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

Listening to Pres call through comm checks is exhilarating and has my adrenaline back to where it had been before last night's meeting. Covert ops may not have been on my radar before, but the idea of using my talents in this fashion to help guys in the field was now burrowing into the back of my mind to think through later.

My eyes trail over to a joystick sitting in front of a monitor with a roving camera feed. Instinctively I reach for it, wanting to see how responsive it is, if there’s a delay, and how capable these monitoring units are. Before my hand grasps the control, it is swatted away by the adorably grumpy-looking redhead on the other side of the van.

“No touchy,” she says, turning her attention back to the screen on her right.

I balk, pulling my hand back into my chest in mock pain while internally laughing at her Emperor’s New Groove reference. The girl hasn’t said two words to me since we left the hotel, but her obvious disdain for me has been radiating off of her the entire ride.

“I thought I was here to help? Kinda limits my ability to do that if I’m not allowed to touch anything. However, I’ve been known to be very resourceful with other body parts if it’s simply a hands-off policy,” I say, raising my hands in front of me, turning on my charm, and smiling at her with my crooked grin. I go so far as to slide my tongue across my bottom lip, catching her eyes as she follows the gesture before setting her jaw. She looks at me, no change in her expression save for the eyebrow she arches before responding.

“Does that really work for you? The whole ‘I’m hot and flirty, give me attention’ routine?” she asks, her face hard. It’s definitely not the response I was going for. She huffs out a laugh, rolls her eyes, and resumes the work in front of her, leaving me confused.

Okay, not interested.

“Look, did I do something wrong here? I feel like I must have slighted you in some way. If that's the case, I’d love to know, so I can apologize,” I question sincerely, wondering where all her hostility is coming from.

So much for being on the same team.

“Look, Hef, the list of things you’ve done wrong is too long for me to go through at the moment, and, honestly, they may be better sorted out by your therapist over a few hundred sessions. In the meantime, stay out of my way and don’t touch anything. You’re only here because we can’t kill you, and you need a babysitter so you don’t go rogue.”

Hef? Like Chief?

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