Page 57 of Damaged

“Following the tracks on foot is a good idea,” Winter agreed and locked his jeep.

“Who are you?” Rebel asked. Huddled in the slicker, the boy continued to gaze at the new guy with distrust.

“This is Winter, he works for an organization much like the one I told you about,” Wrath told Rebel—by way of introduction.

“So…like Erebus?” Rebel asked, growing curious.

“Sort of.” Winter smirked and opened the driver’s door of the jeep. “You two should ride with me. The jeep is built for this terrain. Your SUV is not.”

Wrath couldn’t argue with that and within moments, Winter was driving them down the heavily grooved and muddy road.

“Did Real send you?” Wrath asked the guy.

“No, Stone did.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be guarding Stone?”

“Yup.”

“Dave’s going to be pissed,” Wrath said and caught hold of the “oh shit” handle over the door when the jeep hit a pothole.

“I imagine so,” Winter drawled, but the guy didn’t seem to be all that concerned that the former SecDef might just kill him if anything happened to Stone.

“Who’s Stone?” Rebel asked from the back seat.

“He’s Dave’s man,” Wrath said to keep it short and sweet.

“Like, are they together?” Rebel hung over the front passenger seat.

“To my knowledge, no,” Winter said.

“But there’s definitely something there between them,” Wrath pointed out.

“Yes, there is,” Winter agreed, nodding after a moment.

“So why didn’t Real send someone else?” Wrath asked.

“He has his hands full with Azrael, who is…challenging,” Winter muttered.

Wrath snorted. “To say the least.”

“Azrael wanted to come and save Boston himself,” Winter said with an annoyed sounding huff.

“I wouldn’t underestimate that boy,” Wrath cautioned the man.

“Really?” Surprise lit up Winter’s icy blue eyes when they glanced his way.

“Yes, really,” Rebel cut in. “Azrael may be young, but he was one of Solomon’s assassins.”

Winter squeezed the wheel and said nothing, and Wrath was left wondering if Winter had been familiar with Solomon or perhaps the man had onlyheardof Solomon’s torture and abuse.

The rest of the bumpy ride was in silence, and they came up on Rogue’s truck maybe twenty minutes later.

With his heart in his throat, Wrath combed the area around Rogue’s vehicle, but there was no sign of the man.

“Looks like he had company,” Winter said and pointed to two sets of tracks, one following the other.

He gestured to Winter and then held Rebel back from following too closely.

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