Page 77 of Bound By Valor

T minus two hours to Operation Icarus

Zarek walked over and whispered something to Sebastian and he nodded.

Zarek rested both his hands on the conference table and then his voice filled the room.

“Alright, team, this is it. The moment we’ve trained for. Every drill, every mock, it’s all been leading to this. Rely on your teammates. We stick together, we fight together, and we win together.”

“All right, Captain America,” Logan smirked.

Zarek clapped his hands together once, “Squad Six, report for Operation Icarus and gear up.”

Every one of the Squad Six members stood up, hands to their side, looking straight ahead.

“Carlton 35543 reporting active, show me go.” Logan bellowed, a mirth in his voice.

“Rivera 32577 reporting active, show me go,” Zarek went next.

“Desmond 39901 reporting active, show me go,” Amelia said.

“Gill 34249 reporting active, show me go,” Kabir chimed in.

Dylan went last, “Desmond 39900 reporting active, show me go.”

Then, all eyes snapped in my direction. I realized then, what they expected from me.

Fuck. I’m part of this squad, aren’t I?

I hesitated for a moment and stood up, “Mateez 41556 reporting active,” I looked at Zarek and smiled, “Show me go.”

Zarek let out a heavy sigh and smiled back. A sense of pride filled my chest. I was incredibly proud of my squad and being part of such an elite team made my heart pound hard. It could have been nerves, or anxiety, but I decided to identify it as excitement and determination.

“I donotmiss those days,” Sebastian chuckled.

The team split into two, men and women, and we headed to gear up on the ground floor in the Mobilization Bay. I saw three black X6s parked inside the building with dark tinted windows and no license plate.

Situated near the cars, were two rooms opposite each other. Amelia and Delara asked me to follow them to one and the men strode into the other one. The room was filled with our gear already placedmeticulously. I slid into the full-body bulletproof suit and then put on the all-black uniform. I geared up, put my vest on and got out before putting my helmet on. Amelia and Delara were already outside, fully dressed, hovering near a large desk that had nine small cases sitting on top along with our weapons and magazines.

The doors to the men’s room opened and out walked all six of them—Zarek, Sebastian, Dylan, Logan, Zane, and Kabir. They were all fully geared. Their faces were invisible behind the ridiculously badass black balaclavas, helmets and goggles.

Zarek and Sebastian had omitted the full-sleeves black shirt and replaced it with a plain black t-shirt that was too damn temptingly tight on their biceps.

“Holy mother of God of all that’s hot and sexy,” I mumbled.

I heard Delara chuckle, “You’ll get used to this.”

I realized that I probably looked like a penguin with my helmet off, so I quickly put it on and clicked the strap under my jaw, hoping I looked half as badass as them.

Then I continued ogling Zarek and his strong tanned arms, his veiny forearms, and strong thighs.

I get to make love to this man.

I shook my head to stop thinking about a naked Zarek, doing deliciously sexy things to me.Fuck.

Get a grip, Leora.

Amelia whistled and laughed beside me.

“Stop eyeing them,” I whispered to her, “There’s your brother in there somewhere.”

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