Page 78 of Breathe
“I don’t know.” Azrael frowned as they reached a large ranch building that housed a meeting hall.
That was his own unanswered question. If YA was to be there at the ranch to take the targets off their backs, why were they being included in the meeting hall?
Perhaps this wasn’t to discuss Titus, but rather something else.
All Azrael had were more questions as he stepped inside the large building first, followed by Beck, Boston, and Freedom.
The noise assaulted him, the room was overrun with conversations and joking between the men and women. Nobody noticed or seemed to care when YA walked inside, and the loud noise continued.
Azrael was glad for it, and he caught sight of a familiar face when Crow waved from where he sat with Rebel on a bench against one far wall.
The room was huge, with long tables lined with benches on either side. Benches were also strung along each wall, affording more seats.
The place, this building in particular, was hands down the biggest meeting room Azrael had ever been inside of. In comparison, the rooms in the Erebus warehouse were much smaller.
There must have been close to thirty men and even several women inside. He had noticed the female population on his first day at the ranch. He couldn’t be sure if the women had been there the last time he had visited, but that time he hadn’t really paid attention to the people or the layout.
The barracks for the women were separate from the men, and while the two buildings weren’t all that far from one another, it was clear which building was which. The women had laundry hanging on clothes lines and flowers planted along the front on either side of the front door.
The men’s building? It had none of that. If there was laundry, then it was sitting in a bag on the front porch waiting for the service to pick it up. As for flowers? That was a big fat zero.
“Looks like Crow saved us seats,” Boston said with a nudge, and Azrael glanced around as they headed that way.
Up at the front of the room, Azrael noticed Real sitting behind a long wooden table at the head of the room.
Next to Real was another man wearing a military uniform. All Azrael knew was that they called the man Viper. He didn’t knowwhat branch of the service Viper was in, but the guy commanded respect.
Just like Real commanded respect. It was one of the things Azrael noticed when they had arrived.
Stone sat next to Viper.
Some might find it odd that Stone was here instead of Savage, but Azrael knew that Savage answered to Stone. Not many people knew that tidbit of information, and the only reason he did was because he had overheard Dave and Stone talking about it in the library one night.
“Isn’t that the Aries guys?” Freedom whispered, and Azrael caught sight of King, Levi, and Nash, along with a few other Aries members.
“Looks like it,” he said, following Boston, Freedom, and Beck. They all squeezed in beside Rebel and Crow on the long bench.
Again, Azrael’s eyes went back to Real.
The warrior’s gray-blue eyes were locked on him, and Azrael met the man’s heated stare. He settled on the hard wooden seat and tipped his chin with a smirk before licking his lips.
Fire lit Real’s gaze, making his eyes more of a Pewter gray, and the need and hunger in those gray depths felt nice. It was nice to know that he affected Real to such a degree.
Viper stood and lifted a hand. A series of shushes traveled through the crowd, and the room fell silent.
“We’ve located the place where Titus’s right-hand man landed,” Viper said, picking up a small black device on the table and pointing it at one of the large wall monitors. The screen flicked on. “An estate on the outskirts of Scottsdale, Arizona. Make no mistake, this isnotthe compound where Titus resides, but we might be able to get to Titus if we can get our hands on Micky.”
“Tell them the implications of doing business as normal,” Stone told Viper.
“That’s the tricky part.” Viper looked out over the mass of assassins gathered. “You are all trained killers, but think of the impact if you kill Micky or Titus and there are children locked away somewhere, starving to death.”
Viper let that sink in.
“So, we’re taking them alive,” Viper concluded.
A murmur ran around the room, but Azrael’s eyes were locked on Real. His warrior didn’t seem surprised about the news, and really, neither was he. It made sense to catch the assholes and torture them for information rather than go in guns blazing or in most of their cases, knives flashing.
Azrael stood, and several pairs of eyes snapped to him as well as Stone’s and Viper’s. He lifted his hand.
