Page 17 of Darling Wildfire
West walked in. “I smell coffee,” he said. “Anyone know how I can get an IV of this stuff?”
“You could Google it,” Lachlan said dryly.
“Ha ha,” West said sarcastically. “I should probably just put a coffee machine in my office.”
“If you did that we’d never see you—you’d never leave your cave,” Atlas stated.
“That’s kind of the point,” West grinned, accepting the mug I gave him. At this point I’d need to brew more since apparently none of us were planning on sleeping. “How are you guys doing?”
“Ready—impatient,” I said.
West nodded. “It feels like just yesterday we were all coming together for the Austria job although I’m sure it has felt much longer for you guys.”
Lachlan groaned. “Don’t remind me of Austria.”
“Homesick?” Atlas teased.
“Low blow,” I laughed as Lachlan flipped him off.
“You’re still not over that?” West asked.
“More accurately—not over her,” I joked.
“What ever happened with Mads?” West asked. “She just disappeared after the job.”
“Maybe because Casanova over here wouldn’t leave her alone,” Atlas grinned.
“Say what you will, but that was one of the best nights of my life,” Lachlan sniffed, pretending to look down his nose at us.
“That tends to happen when North gets involved,” I laughed.
“You guys and your threesomes,” West said, shaking his head.
“It was more than a threesome actually,” Atlas supplied with a smirk, winking at West and making him blush. He was completely straight and a little shy when it came to his sexuality. I thought it was endearing even if we liked to tease him about it.
“At that point, I think it’s safe to call it an orgy,” Lachlan laughed.
“Where was I?” West asked incredulously.
“You were off counting the gold I imagine,” I said. “Or maybe you were asleep?”
“I highly doubt I would have been able to sleep through all of that,” West laughed. “It’s much more likely I was off being the responsible one.”
West’s phone dinged, and he saluted us with his coffee before disappearing off to his cave again. Lachlan jumped down from the counter.
“I’ll go notify the troops,” he gave us one last lingering look. “You two finish what you were about to start earlier.”
And just like that, it was just Atlas and I once more in the now quiet kitchen. Even though they’d interrupted, I cherished every moment I had with our friends. Atlas and I shared a look between us and I knew he was thinking the same—we didn’t know who would come out of this alive, all we knew was that none of us were going to leave unscathed and that wasn’t a pleasant thought to have.
Later that morning, I walked into the war room to see all nine members of the team present.
It was an eclectic group we’d pulled from various parts of the world during the last decade. Each one brought a mastery of their skills to the team and all were hardened warriors. All of them were ex-military but their backgrounds didn’t matter to us, their loyalty and skill set did. I went around greeting a few of them before I settled in one of the high back armchairs near the couch. All we were waiting for was North.
A few moments later he walked through the double doors, looking much calmer than when I’d seen him last night although I knewhim so well I could still see the tension lining his jaw and the way his fingers kept flexing as though they wanted to be wrapped around a gun—or someone’s neck.
He looked around at each of his men before coming to stand next to my chair, then nodded to West. I steeled myself to hear Vetticus’ voice again, making eye contact with Atlas who was across from me, leaning up against the wall near the door.
“Kraven, Kraven, Kraven…”
