Page 79 of Covert Vengeance

“Don’t. We’re all okay, and Stanislav’s burning in hell. Couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.”

Amber nodded. “It’s funny, though.”

Her sister stopped and straightened, watching her. “What is?”

She shrugged. “The thought of dying never bothered me before. But I think it’s because…” She drew a deep breath, covering a wince as her ribs expanded, pulling on the bruised tissue beneath her right collarbone. “Because I never had anything to lose before. No one to leave behind.” Now she had a sister, and a supportive team of women just like her who cared about her.

And Jesse. Although what the hell she was going to do about him, she still didn’t know. He made her want things she’d never dared dream of before, and now she couldn’t stop thinking about road trips and picnics somewhere she’d never been before. With him.

“Yeah, I know.” Megan tossed the brush into a bucket and led Rollo back into his stall. “That same thing ran through my mind when I thought I was trapped down there. About Tyler and you.”

“Makes it a lot tougher to do what needs to be done, doesn’t it?” Not so easy to sacrifice yourself when it meant leaving people you cared about behind. Getting attached meant losing your edge, and that could prove deadly for all of them. It was so much easier to stay unattached.

Except when a man like Jesse Cordova made that impossible.

“I know,” Megan said. “What opened that hatch, anyway? Tyler said it started unlocking on its own.”

“I had Lady Ada override the system before I left the building. It finally kicked in when you were trying to get it open.”

Megan let out a soft laugh. “My genius sister.” She shut the stall door and turned toward Amber. “You want to walk for a bit?”

“Sure.” Megan always had tons of excess energy to burn off, and tired as she was, Amber could use the opportunity to settle herself. Though the op was over, she was keyed up, unsettled.

Once again she was in legal limbo, waiting to see what would become of her. If Rycroft and the powers that be decided she wasn’t trustworthy, or that she was criminally responsible for killing Stanislav rather than capturing him… Or if they decided to turn her over to the Syrian government for the people she’d killed there, her days of freedom were numbered.

She could always run, but…she was tired of running. And this time, two extremely special people made her want to stay and fight for the future she’d always denied herself.

They walked up the side of the barn together and through a gate into a field that joined the hills rolling into the distance. The evening air was still warm. A few birds were still singing in the trees they passed, the apples in the orchard almost ready to be picked. With every step, the green, sweet scent of crushed grass rose up.

“It’s like a slice of paradise out here,” Amber murmured, gazing out across the hills.

“I know, I love it.” Megan angled a look at her. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, have you found any intel on Chloe Wilson?”

The Valkyrie specializing in demolitions who Megan had befriended during her initial training, the way Amber had with Kiyomi. “I’m following up on a few leads. Nothing concrete yet.” There were a total of seven Valkyries possibly still out there somewhere. Amber was doing everything she could to figure out which of them were still alive, and where they were located.

“Oh. You’ll let me know if you find anything?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks. Since you’ve brought Kiyomi here it’s made me think of Chloe a lot more. I want to find her.”

“We will.” One way or the other, Amber would find out what had happened to her.

Her sister smiled softly and changed the subject. “What exactly’s going on with you and Jesse now? You guys seemed pretty tight back there in London.”

“I have no idea.” And even if she was considering the idea of giving a relationship with him a shot, nothing could happen until she knew what her fate would be.

Megan snorted. “That’ssucha copout. Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. I’m way out of my depth here.”

“Ahhh,” her sister said in a thoughtful tone. “Okay, that I can relate to. How do you feel about him, though?”

She squirmed inside, uncomfortable with talking about this, even with Megan. Although Megan was the only living soul she would ever have this conversation with. “I’m…attached to him.” The thought of losing him, never seeing him again sliced her heart to pieces.

Megan lifted her eyebrows. “Attached as in, you like jumping his bones? Or attached as in, you feel like your heart will be ripped out of your body if he leaves?” Her eyebrows rose higher.

Oh, God. “Closer to the second, I think.”

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