Page 13 of Sor

“Yes, ma’am,” smiled Sor. They watched her walk off the porch and then turned to see Nell in the doorway. “Baby.”

“Hi,” she smiled. “I’m okay now. I was just shaken and scared. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t upset me, Nell. I was terrified for you. I was terrified for me. If I’d lost you,” he said, shaking his head.

“It’s okay. You didn’t lose me, and you’re not going to lose me. I’ll be staying right here on the property until this is settled. Suddenly, I find myself famished, and Claudette said that dinner is all my favorites. I don’t know how she knew that, but apparently, we’re having shrimp creole, oysters Rockefeller, whiskey bread pudding, and even gumbo. It’s crazy. Literally, all my favorites.”

“Yeah,” smiled Sophia Ann. “Crazy.” Sor took Nell’s hand, and they stepped off the porch, walking toward the cafeteria. Gwen looked at her three friends.

“You know, indigenous people believe in the spirit world, and those that came before us are powerful. But if I had every leader of every nation standing in front of me right now, I don’t think I could explain Irene and Claudette.”

“I know what you mean,” laughed Ajei. “I’ve been around them practically my entire life. Grandpa Nathan taught me to understand the spirits and the spirit world. It’s helped me to be a better nurse. But the skills of Irene, Claudette, Julia, and Noah, that’s something I don’t even possess an ounce of.”

“What’s going on over there?” frowned Kate. She watched as the men approached Sor, and he looked down at Nell apologetically.

“I’m going to guess that’s our husbands being alpha controllers,” said Ajei. “Let’s go do a girls’ dinner with Nell. Maybe we can explain a few things to her.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

“I’ll come join you as soon as I can, baby,” said Sor, kissing her cheek.

“We’ve got her,” smiled Gwen. “Come on. Let’s talk about the great wine selection here at Belle Fleur.” Sor smiled at the women, nodding his appreciation as they walked toward the magnificent smells of dinner.

“Do I need to leave?” he asked the team.

“Leave? What the fuck, Sor? You’re not going anywhere, brother,” said Eric. “We want to pick your brain about your last few months in service. You are one of us, Sor. And so is Nell. Y’all are under our protection. Clear?”

“Clear,” he said with a slow sigh. “Sorry about that. I was just feeling as though you were worried about everyone here.”

“We are,” said Cam. “But our security, the things we have in place, take care of that. You know that. No one finds us. They found her because the cabin was in your name. It probably wasn’t all that hard, Sor. We should have thought about changing the name on your deed.”

“No, no, it’s my fault. I’ve wanted to move her over here for a few weeks but just didn’t force the matter.”

“Why?” asked Luke.

“Why? Because I’m fucking crazy about her, that’s why!”

“Okay, okay,” he laughed. “I was only asking to see if there was something else going on. Something that you were worried about.”

“No. That’s the other thing in all this. I have no fucking clue what Marshall was talking about.”

“Let’s walk through this,” said Cam. “What did you do when you left here for the last six weeks of your duty? Were you sent anywhere?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Nowhere. We participated in some training. Helped with a few things at base. Logged in and replaced some equipment, but that’s about it. Nothing exciting.”

“What about before that?” asked Hex. “Where were you deployed?”

“Where weren’t we deployed,” he said in frustration. “Our team was good. Really good. Myself and two others, Marshall included, were registered nurses as well as the best trauma medics in the branch. We were in Cypress for two weeks after the earthquake, Haiti after the volcano, the avalanche in Nepal, and then helped with the rescue of those kids in the caves of Cambodia.”

“Anything strange?” asked Eric.

“Strange? Brother, it was all fucking strange. You know how this is. You’re sent in to help, and half these people don’t want your help or want it then want you gone. No thank you. No we appreciate you. Nothing.”

“Think, Sor,” said Luke. “There was something.”

“I’m telling you, there was nothing that I saw.”

“Alright. Tomorrow, we’re going to walk through every painful detail. For now, just have dinner with your girl and enjoy holding her tonight. We were lucky, and we’re going to make sure we don’t need luck next time.”

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