Page 47 of Bound By Valor

“The shipment schedule’s changed,” Zarek announced with a frown, rising swiftly from his seat. “Everyone, assemble. Now!”

Within seconds, the entire squad was on their feet and ready.

“The shipment’s been moved up from 1700 to 1400 hours. We have one hour to reach the location,” Kabir briefed sharply.

“Squad Six, report for interception sequence and gear up,” Zarek commanded, his voice filling the room with urgency.

As they went through their routine of confirming their readiness and loading up the Escalade, I noticed Logan casting wary glances at Zarek, the tension palpable. They needed to resolve whatever was bothering them.

“I want to come with you,” I found myself saying to Zarek.

Out of the blue, Logan interjected, “You’re not fucking ready, Leora. Stay here.” He didn’t wait for aresponse, just turned and walked away.

Zarek’s eyes followed him, dark with irritation.

“Hey,” I reached up, cupping Zarek’s face to draw his gaze back to me. “If he says I’m not ready, then I’m not ready.”

He managed a small, strained smile and leaned down to kiss me—a desperate, deep kiss that spoke of a hunger only barely contained.

“I’ll be back for more,Mi Corazón,”he murmured after breaking the kiss.

With a reluctant nod, he turned and joined the rest of the squad gearing up. I watched them with a tight chest, my anxiety climbing. Before they departed, I approached Logan, wrapping my arms around him from behind.

“Be safe, Lo.”

He tensed under my touch, his body rigid.

“Yeah,” he murmured hoarsely, breaking from my hold to follow the others.

I stepped back and watched them drive away. Each departure felt just as difficult as the last, and I silently prayed for their safe return.

???

A searing pain on my arm woke me up from my afternoon nap. The squad was gone and I was still struggling with the period pain, so I had decided to nap at the odd hour.

My vision blurred as I blinked awake, sharpening slowly to focus on a figure looming over me. A sharp sting on my arm drew my gaze downward—blood was seeping from a fresh cut, trickling down my skin.

My panic remained in my head while my bodystruggled to follow suit. I couldn’t move, couldn’t scream. My blood leaked through forming a pool near the bed, while another man ran his gloved hands through it, staging a scene for struggle.

“Careful Romano, don’t kill her from blood loss,” the gloved man laughed.

“Yeah yeah. Are the cams still down? Crazon is amazing at that.”

“Yep, we’re a go. Jerome moving that shipment was a clever idea, Casteel.”

“I’m not forgiving this Zarek guy. He killed Calzone, Mason. I’ll fucking end this squad. Jer is tired of them too. Fucking puppets.”

Mason chuckled, “Alright. By the way, are we not taking the Crazon they stole from us?”

“We’ll get it after,” Casteel said, sounding awfully confident, “Hell, we can have this whole fucking warehouse. All their fancy weapons.”

“Let’s end them, Cas.”

Fuck. I was being taken. This was all a trap to eliminate the squad.

They hoisted my paralyzed form effortlessly, carrying me away as darkness crept in from the edges of my vision. Soon, everything went dark.

TWENTY-TWO

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