Page 44 of Redeem Me
Chapter 35
Rafe
Micah was on my heels from the war room. He was our best asset at the moment. He knew what we were facing when we got there and he knew how to beat the man keeping Jade hostage. I didn’t know a man named Damian, though he apparently knew me well. I scratched my head as I went over any possible enemies and the only ones I could think of were the dads of the girls I had thought could be my mate.
I winced. I knew damn well that none of those girls had been my mate but it was the right thing to say at the time when I thought sex was the only thing that mattered in my life.
Micah had filled us in on everything there was to know about him, or rather, everything there was to know that he knew. He was young and handsome but ruthlessly cunning. There were zero last names that Micah could think of. The guy kept to himself for the most part, except when he spoke to Jade. He had taken a liking to her.
Tracey met me at the front of the manor. Her face was grim but she was still wearing her battle leathers. I was afraid for her to go on this mission but I wasn’t going to make her stay behind either. “Are you sure you want to go?”
“I’ve trained beside all of you my entire life. I will not miss this.” She grinned but it was anything but friendly.
“Your dad is going to have my head,” I muttered darkly.
She shrugged. “He’ll get over it.”
I doubted that very much.
“This is small potatoes,” Micah finally said as all the Guardians stretched. “There won’t be as many guards in place but once we break out the kids, they will tighten up security for where Jade is. She will also have less protection.”
“She’ll know we’ve gotten the kids out, right?” Knox rolled his shoulders. He preferred fighting in his wolf form but it made it harder to maneuver in small buildings. He was going to be grouchy tonight. He had trained to partial shift, which was going to be his method tonight. I hoped. The last thing I needed-
I stopped my thoughts there. I had zero doubts when it came to the men who swore to protect me. The men who had been by my side since I was a child. I knew that if anyone could do it, it was them. I looked into each of their faces before I nodded.
Micah’s face went grim. “No, I doubt she will know. I won’t be returning either. As soon as I do, Damian will know that I had something to do with it and he’ll punish Jade in front of me as my punishment. It’s better that she knows nothing about this operation or my involvement.”
“Wait, you didn’t fill her in?” Tracey asked as she tucked a knife in her boot. Her claws were lethal enough but if wolfsbane was involved like last time, she would be defenseless.
Micah pinched his lips together. “No, we didn’t. We didn’t want there to be suspicion in case Damian decided to take his wrath out on her and she couldn’t handle the thought of knowing someone would die in order to do this. It was the only way.”
Anger flashed through me. I understood why they kept her in the dark but I didn’t like it. “Is she okay?”
Micah nodded. “The explosion was minor and we made sure she was far enough from the blast when it went off. We wouldn’t put her in danger. We knew that if something happened to her you wouldn’t care about the children.”
“That isn’t true,” Tracey argued.
I held my hand up. “No, it is true. If you had harmed her intentionally, I wouldn’t be helping you right now. Your body would be floating downriver.”
Micah’s face paled. “She’s your mate, I don’t blame you.”
I lifted my chin. “That’s why she was targeted, isn’t it?”
Micah licked his bottom lip. “Yes.”
“This Damian character knows a lot more about you than even we do. We had no idea she was your mate when they kidnapped her.” Archer grimaced.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Speak for yourself. The signs were all there. You’re all dumb.”
Knox snorted. “We are not dumb, we just sometimes miss the obvious clues but Mav and I definitely knew.”
That explained how they tried to bait me several times when it came to her. He shrugged like it was no big deal while Mav paled too. “I had my suspicions but I wasn’t going to do anything disrespectful. Knox was the one that made all the naughty plans.”
I lifted a brow as my eyes rested on my best friend. “Oh?”
Tracey growled. “You are all pig-headed idiots.” She clapped her hands together. “Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let’s go get these kids then go get our girl. You all talk a lot for men.”
We took several different vehicles until we were about five miles from the area they were holding the children. Knox rolled his shoulders before he grinned at me in the dark. “I love a good fight.”
