Page 330 of Shadowblood Souls
“I’ve missed getting to be this close with you.”
My throat chokes up. “Me too.”
“One more thing to look forward to when we get out of this, Sugar.”
The new nickname heats me up even more. I can’t resist claiming one more lingering kiss before we head down the mountainside again.
We chuck off our gear for the trio of preteen shadowbloods who’ve come for a climb and set off toward the facility. My thoughts spin in my head.
Dominic doesn’t push for further answers. He knows that a problem like this needs to be contemplated carefully.
We come out into the clearing beneath the facility in time to see a procession scaling the winding path higher above the entrance.
I stop in my tracks, squinting at the figures who are just cresting the peak of this part of the mountain range. My heart thumps harder, but I don’t make out the forms of any of my guys—or any other shadowbloods I recognize.
I do catch the ruddy gleam of the short-cropped hair on the man at the back of the line. I’d know that color and the confident gait anywhere.
Clancy is directing a bunch of the shadowbloods off somewhere.
“Another assignment?” Dominic murmurs next to me.
“Must be.” My stomach knots with the question of what mess he’s bringing them into this time.
Dom hesitates before he speaks again. “It means some of the kids won’t be here… but he won’t be either. And last time he brought at least a few other guardians with him. You were gone until the next day, weren’t you?”
The knot clenches tighter. “Yeah.”
I know what he’s saying. The mission gives us an additional opening.
The facility’s leader will be away, out of easy reach to give orders, when the supplies arrive. There’ll be fewer guardians in general to tackle a rebellion.
How many opportunities are we going to get likethat?
One of the guardians still here strides over to us with a curt air. “Riva, you’re having lunch now. Dominic, you have another hour of training time.”
Splitting us up as they always like to do. They wouldn’t want us to have too long at once to feel comfortable in each other’s company.
Except when they’re trying to force me to fuck one of the guys, that is.
I grab Dominic’s hand for a quick squeeze before the guardian gets insistent. He surprises me by tugging me right to him in an embrace.
The jolt of pleasure at his kiss mingles with my apprehension. We’ve avoided most overt PDAs in front of our captors.
But the gesture isn’t really about stealing a momentary make-out session. Dom’s lips brush my cheek next, and the faintest whisper travels to my ears.
“It’s your call. Say the word, and we’ll be with you.”
He steps back at the guardian’s clearing of her throat. I shoot him a nervous smile and hustle up the stone steps to the facility.
The knot in my stomach feels like a boulder now. Why is it up to me?
But I already know the answer to that. I’m the one who instigated our last escape and our attempt at breaking the younger shadowbloods out of a different facility.
I’m the one who has the most need to escape from here, the one Clancy has imposed on the most.
My men don’t want to drag me into a plan I don’t agree with. They trust me to judge when the balance of opportunity to risk skews right.
Too bad I’m not sure how much I trust myself. That last escape we carried out is what got us captured.
