Page 104 of Elas

“If you’re wondering if he’s gotten any smarter since we knew him, the answer is no.”

Ronan shakes his head, staring at Elas in disbelief. “Alright, so they placed an idiot in charge of Glaston.Fantastic. At least I can sleep at night knowing he’ll never find me, because after all these years, he never found the stick rammed up his ass.” I snort, and Ronanalmostgrins when he glances at me. “How did that lead to you and August leaving the base together?”

Elas resumes the story of how I unintentionally stumbled upon the files, then the file room. We share what we’ve learned from them so far, and Ronan sits in a stunned silence as he listens. “You said the oldest file is fifty years old?” he asks, and I nod.

“The oldest we’ve read so far, yes, but there’s no way to know how far back it goes. We could just be scratching the surface.”

Ronan shakes his head, moving his intense stare to Elas. “How could this have been happening right under our noses? How could we have missed this?”

“Don’t go down that road, old friend,” Elas says, reaching over to give Ronan’s forearm a gentle shake. “There’s no way we could’ve known.” Ronan is unconvinced, his lips a tight line as he settles back against the chair and glares at the wall.

When we get to the part in the story where we break into the clinic, Cameron’s eyes are wide. “That was some serious sleuthing,” he says, sounding impressed, but Elas huffs and shakes his head.

“It was reckless.” He gives me a pointed glare, but it softens as I curl back into his side.

“So Command… nope,” Ronan grumbles. “I can’t call him that with a straight face.Khorsthinks you’re out looking for me right now? And that you’ll report to Ljómur with August after?”

“Basically, yes,” Elas responds with a shrug.

Panic rises in Ronan’s eyes as he jumps out of his chair, nearly dumping Cameron onto the ground in his haste. “The tracker,” he hisses with a crazed energy, grabbing Elas by the shirt. “Tell me you took care of the tracker in that vehicle?”

“Gods, you really are a drama queen, aren’t you?” Elas complains, shoving Ronan back a step. Cameron snickers even though tension has hardened his expression. “Yes, Ronan, I removed the tracker. Dropped it at Reyes’s camp, so the records will show I drove there. I thought it might lead them to believe we were attacked… lessen the chances of them sending out another tracking party.”

Ronan heaves a long sigh, nodding. “Did you know about the trackers?”

“Khors let it slip,” Elas says, “and I convinced a transport yard attendant to show me where it was. Told her I needed to be safe in case the big bad Anunian took me hostage.”

Ronan snorts. “I trust you covered your tracks?”

“You know I always do,” Elas says gently, and Ronan pushes out another long exhale before dropping into his chair, pulling Cameron into his lap.

“I’m sorry, mo’sziv,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to Cameron’s neck. Cameron shivers and twists his head, finding Ronan’s lips with a surprising amount of heat. Then I remember Reyes saying Cameron enjoys being thrown around, and I force my gaze to stay above his waist.

“Do you need a minute?” Elas’s voice is dry, and Ronan’s eyes snap open. He narrows them, never separating his mouth from Cameron’s. A bolt of arousal flaresthrough my core, my belly clenching as I tear my eyes away and press my face into Elas’s chest. A soft grunt leaves his throat, so quiet only I can hear it, and I peer up at him to find that same heat staring back at me.

“Let’s get this wrapped up.” Elas’s voice has grown rough as his fingers tighten around my shoulder. “It’s getting late, and I have things to do.”

Cameron snorts, separating himself from Ronan. “You haveAugustto do, you mean. A single night of celibacy too much for you to handle, big guy?”

“Oh, there was no celibacy,” Reyes mutters with a sigh, and my cheeks flame again.

“Can we maybe shift the conversation to where we were two minutes ago?” I ask, and Elas’s chest bounces as he chuckles.

“Of course we can, baby.” With a kiss to my hair, he launches right back into the story as though nothing happened. There isn’t much left to tell. We found Reyes, determined where Ronan and Cameron had been travelling, and drove straight here.

“What will happen when you never show up with August at Ljómur?” Cameron asks.

“They’ll come looking for us eventually,” Elas says, reciting the steps like he knows them by heart. And seeing as how he’s one of their top scouts, I suppose he does. “Though it might take a while. Khors gave me permission to follow leads about Ronan’s whereabouts, so that buys us a couple of weeks without suspicion. Now that I know about the trackers, so much makes sense. In the past, I was given my orders with the last known location already included, so I’m sure they’ll start by pulling the tracker data.That will send them to Reyes’s camp, which is where I was supposed to be. We didn’t disturb much, only searched the buildings, but that won’t be suspicious. If anything, it’ll confirm I was doing my job.”

“They’ll continue to Ljómur and look for us there, but by then, any tracks left by the SUV will be long gone. There’s nothing to indicate where we went.” Elas flashes a devious smile at Ronan. “We didn’t slaughter any soldiers along the way.”

“An unavoidable detour.” Ronan gives a nonchalant wave of his hand, and Elas snorts a laugh.

“They’ll never find us here,” Elas says with an infectious confidence.

I believe him, completely and unconditionally.

But a nagging guilt festers in my brain as I glance around the room at the relaxed, peaceful faces and soak in the serenity of this place. I snuggle into Elas’s side, telling myself we’re safe and free. Thathe’sfree from the chains that bound him for a century.

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