Page 84 of Caelum

“I know she will.” And I did. If anyone was in danger, it was us. But it didn’t stop me from feeling guilty about leaving her.

She was my mate.

We weren’t supposed to be parted, but here I was, voluntarily leaving her. It sucked, but this was something I had to do.

More practice meant the readier we were for active duty. And the more prepared we were, the safer we’d be in the long run. Considering her safety and mine were intertwined, that made this shit a priority.

It helped that Eren looked just as guilty as I felt. I knew he was close to her, and even though that surprised me because Eren was pretty closed off, I figured it made sense. There was something about Eve that got under your skin.

Hell, if she were anything like her original namesake, it was no wonder Adam was a sucker for her.

I knew I felt that way about my woman. The need just to make her fucking smile could consume me. Then, of course, Dre would look at me and shake his head at me in disgust. I’d been trying to learn how to school my features because I figured I had a certain expression on my face when I was thinking about her. It was an expression he’d come to read easily which was a testament, I guessed, to how much I thought about her.

I tried to remember my desire to make her happy over the three-hour journey, tried to remind myself that I wasn’t abandoning her forever, just for three days. But as we approached Aboh, I knew I had to switch my brain off because I couldn’t stop thinking about her sorrowful features as we took off.

We’d sold it as a vacation, except this was anything but. We’d been training for months for the opportunity to make it out here again, and I wasn’t about to let the team down by not having my shit together.

“Alpha Units, you’re point on this mission. Care to share?”

Merinda’s attitude usually sucked, but there was a glint in her eye that spoke of her excitement for the games ahead.

It was messed up to consider it a game, but this was going to be our life. For a very long time. You either went big or went home, and we’d had no home since our parents or caregivers had rejected us for being too fucked up in the head.

Because I could understand her excitement, I grinned at her. We were all ready for this mission, whether we wanted to accept it or not, and from the grim look on his face, Frazerwasn’t.

After glancing at the Sin Eater for a few seconds and spying his agitation from the way his usually expressionless features were puckered in a scowl, I got to my feet, feeling the mantel of power slip over my shoulders with an ease I hadn’t anticipated.

Quickly clearing my throat, I stated the facts, “Aboh is a city in the Delta State of Nigeria, and more importantly, it’s the center of the Aboh Kingdom with the king actually living in the city.

“Reconnaissance makes me think that’s what gained the Ghoul’s initial interest. We all know they’re whores for royalty.” Nestor nodded at me from the back of the plane where he’d been setting up a projector. Pointing to Onitsha, a city that was farther up the river just north of our destination, I explained, “Aboh is only small, but Onitsha is close by. They’ve been heading down the river, hitting cities and towns with no rhythm or rhyme, but we think Aboh is the end goal.”

“Why?” Merry barked, her tone no-nonsense.

Nestor nodded at me, and a picture of a rig flashed on the screen. “Aboh has been looking for more crude oil since the sixties when they staked out their initial well. Rumor has it, they’ve just struck big and several executives are en route to try and get the king on their side.”

“Ass-licking is due to commence any time soon,” Eren slotted in, making us all grin.

“There are several cities like Aboh,” Merry pointed out. “What makes you think it’s their end goal?”

Nestor zoomed in on the church that was on the outskirts of the city. As far away from the river as could be while still within the city limits. As the Beta and Omega Units looked over the white clapboard building, I shot Nestor a look and the screen changed. I did this one more time after they’d scanned the second Mission.

“Three Catholic churches in the area?” Jason inquired from the Omega Unit.

The Beta Unit consisted of the dudes we considered our enemies, but the Omegas were guys we were friends with. Jason and Frazer spoke for their teams because they were both Sin Eaters.

“Yeah, unlike most cities in the area, there’s a heavy Catholic presence in Aboh.” I stood back to look at the three churches and stated, “The population doesn’t require three churches, but they have them nonetheless.”

A house of worship flashed up on the screen, and on its clapboard front, there was a sign.The Order of Lazarus Welcomes You.

Lazarus. Ha. The Ghouls had been using his name for years to hide their dirty dealings. The Order of Lazarus was a front the nests used to gain information from locals.

“Can the class tell me why Ghouls attack cities such as Aboh?” Merry asked, her tone mocking.

“Because they consider them low stake with high reward. Little to no media coverage in the West if there’s a mass slaughtering,” Dre explained, his tone free from expression. Like he was talking about a day at the zoo, not the mass murder of hundreds of innocents. “Plus, if this place is as isolated as say Okene, then they could do what they’ve done before: eradicate the entire population, take the place of any and all officials in the city, and reap the rewards of the oil company execs that are on their way.” He pulled a face. “Plus, if you send in some low-level grunts into a mission like this, if they feed well, you come out with more rational soldiers. That’s something that can only really be done in a battle.”

Merry got to her feet. “Well done. You hit the nail on the head.”

Seeing story time was over, I retreated to my seat and waited for her to give us further instruction.

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