Page 16 of Golden Eagle

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Nikita came to propped up in the corner of a dim booth, Sasha warm beside him, a hand resting on his thigh beneath the table, a grounding pressure.

“He alright?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“Yes, fine,” Sasha said, faux cheerful. “Just needs to eat.”

“Right. I’ll get your order right out.” Footsteps retreated.

Nik cracked his eyes and took a breath, inhaling familiar scents. They were at the Lion’s Den, wedged into a favorite booth, his face resting against the wall paneling just beneath a beer sign. His limp hand had been curled around a tumbler of vodka. Sasha beside him, and, across from them, the two wolves: Will and Much.

Nikita conjured a pathetic growl.

Sasha patted his leg. “Drink your vodka. I ordered you a grilled cheese.”

It took three tries to lift the glass, and he only barely managed not to slop the vodka down his shirtfront.

Scarlet watched him with what Nikita read as careful blankness.

Much, however, for all that he looked fifteen, and sullen, his pale hair framing his face, sneered openly, lip peeling back off his teeth.

“Much,” Will said with a sigh. To Nikita: “He’s rude. Ignore him.”

“Hey!”

Nikita managed a sip, the chilled vodka splashing across his tongue in waves of cold and then hot, a welcome fire down his throat.

“You helped us escape,” Sasha said, hand pulling away – Nik immediately regretted the loss of its heat and weight on his thigh. “At the mansion. You were with Red.”

Will nodded. “We were, yes. She and Rooster are a part of our team, now.”

“Who?” Nikita asked.

Much snorted.

Will sent him a surprisingly patient look.

Sasha rested a hand on Nik’s shoulder. “Vodka,” he prompted, gently.

Nikita drank some more.

“The mage from the Institute,” Will said, speaking low enough so as not to be overhead – and slow enough for Nikita’s foggy brain to keep up. “The redheaded young woman who used her fire against Vlad Tepes.”

It rang a bell. Faintly.

“She and her human companion – Rooster – have been under our protection for the past few months. Working alongside us.”

Nikita frowned. “How did you find us outside the hospital?”

Will’s indulgent look suggested he’d already told this to Sasha. Nik wanted to hear it for himself.

“Trina, actually. She gave her name and information to one of our officers – Deshawn Williams. She didn’t mention this…?”

She had. He thought. He was too fuzzy from low blood sugar. Trina had called tonight, told him about the murder, suggested he go talk to Harvey, but she hadn’t said–

Sasha’s hand landed on his arm, and Nik realized he was glaring at Will Scarlet. Growling, a little.

“Trina didn’t know,” Sasha said, soothingly. “They didn’t call ahead, which I told them was rude, and they’ve agreed not to do it again. But. They got into town, and when Trina wasn’t home, they picked up our scents and came to find us.”

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