Page 281 of Golden Eagle

“Good,” she said, lips trembling on her next sip of coffee.

Lanny was on her other side, sitting beside her on the bench, touching her at shoulders, and hips, and calves; he was leaning into her, providing pressure, shoring her up. She felt stupid and terrible: despite some bruises, scrapes, and general exhaustion, she was uninjured. They were diggingbulletsout of Mia, and trying to figure out why Dante’s nose wouldn’t stop bleeding, and here she was behaving like a trauma victim.

She tried to twitch the blanket off her shoulders, and Lanny put it back in place.

“Nuh-uh. You’re in shock.”

“Am not,” she muttered, but drank more coffee. It was helping immensely, and not just because of the caffeine – she had seen the signs of emotional shock enough to know she was exhibiting the symptoms. It was an unhappy realization.

She spotted Nikita and Sasha. They stood just a few steps away, watching the controlled chaos around them, an island unto themselves. Nikita’s long black coat gleamed faintly where blood had spattered it; with one arm, he held Sasha, his hand threaded through Sasha’s wildly tangled hair, Sasha’s head down on Nik’s shoulder. Sasha had smudges of blood on his nose, lips, chin, and throat, and all down the front of his once-white shirt. His hoodie was more or less shredded. His eyelids flagged, and his knees kept threatening to buckle – but his expression was peaceful. Almost content. He was with his mate, and they were okay, and Trina guessed that was all any of them could hope for, after what they’d just been through.

Nikita’s head turned, and he caught her gaze. He murmured something to Sasha, and both of them walked over, still touching.

Nikita’s expression, when he stood in front of her, was so raw she nearly looked away from it. His surliness had become so commonplace, a part of his natural state, that the worry and weariness that would have been unremarkable on someone else were shocking on him. One hand still on Sasha’s head, he reached out with the other and laid it on the top of Trina’s head. And was silent, but she knew what he was thinking; what he would have said if he could:My family.

She blinked back the sudden burn of tears, and managed a wobbly smile. “I’m glad you guys are okay.”

Lanny’s hand tightened on her shoulder, where it still touched the blanket there, and she had to blink some more.

“You too, Jamie,” she said, without looking, and he sat down beside her, crowding in close. “And Kolya.”

Dr. Fowler had mocked her for sayingpack. When she was a human, when she didn’t belong in that kind of family.

But theywereher pack, and she loved them dearly. And whatever happened now, they were together. That was all she could bring herself to care about.

“Excuse me,” a polite, accented voice said.

Nik and Sasha stepped back, and a man joined their gathering, hands clasped, hanging back one step far enough so that it didn’t feel like he was intruding. He smiled at them – an instantly charming, disarming, but almost mischievous smile.

As tired as she was, it took her a moment, noting his artfully tousled hair – red as a fox’s pelt – and his lean build, his Lincoln-green tunic under his light body armor; the leather straps of the quiver he wore on his back, and the big, gold lion brooch pinned to his breast, before she placed him. But when she did, she wondered how she hadn’t seen it at once: this was Robin Hood.

He confirmed it with a quick bow. “Robin of Locksley, Detective Baskin. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, formally.” She’d only glimpsed him in Virginia, a bright head disappearing through the door of a helicopter.

“A pleasure,” she echoed. “But, it’s not ‘detective’ anymore. Not after tonight.”

“Yes. Will tells me there’s been a rather great sacrifice on both your parts.” He included Lanny with an elegant gesture. “That in exposing Dr. Fowler’s machinations to the city, you’ve jeopardized your careers.”

Lanny snorted. “More like murdered them. There’s not a judge alive who could keep us out of jail at this point.”

“Hmm.”

“We knew what we were getting into,” Trina assured. “We know we’ve got to go into hiding, and that’s fine – we’re just worried about our families.”

He bounced a glance between them, measuring them, then nodded. “That I think I can take care of. A moment, if you will.” He stepped away and pulled out a cellphone.

“Is…” Lanny started. “Is Robin Hood gonna get uspardoned?”

“At this point,” Jamie said, “I figure anything’s possible.”

~*~

You didn’t ride horses for a living without having some understanding of physical pain.

You damn sure didn’t survive a brain tumor without having it, either.

Mia knew pain, all its ugly faces, all its pathways through the body.

Or, she’d thought so.

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