Page 94 of Caged By the Ruthless Thief

Eros shakes his head. “The official line? Not much. The government is still trying to deployhagissasto keep us from being found. It’s a hopeless battle. Too many humans have seen or heard about us secondhand. But you tell them what you want, Sunshine. Give them the exact coordinates of the Veiled City if it makes you feel better.” Nico’s head snaps up. “Okay, maybe not that.” Eros puts his arm around my shoulders. “Start with you’re okay. Build up to you’ve moved to the Mediterranean Sea and are mated to three males.”

“Maybe I’ll leave that part out for my dad.” As in never, ever tell him. “I’ll start with Marlee.” I text her a long message about how worried I am about her. And I end it with telling her that if some big scary-looking guy comes and they know our safe word, she should go with him. “I hit this to send it?” I glance up at Eros.

“Yes.”

“Now for the tough one.” I sit back on the sofa and ponder. Mickey taps the glass behind me. I put my hand up without looking. I know he doesn’t like it when I get upset. “I barely know how to talk to my dad in person.” I sigh.

41

EROS

My damn block lights up, and as much as I want to ignore it, I can’t. Until I figure out how to free myself from the security council’s tentacles, I need to do what they ask. And right now, that’s going to be whatever fucking mission they want.

The pickup is close by. Closer than I want it to be. It’s like they’re taunting me by moving the pickup site closer to my mate and pod.

Sunshine is still asleep. Holter has locked himself in the spare room we are now calling an office, and Nico is watching our mate sleep.

I knock on the office door.

“It’s open,” Holter calls.

“I’m heading out.” I hold my face firm. This isn’t something I want to do, but it will have to be done.

“Out? As in, out, out?” Holter says, standing at his full height. He’s a few inches taller than me, and years in the military have bulked out his build. “You want some help?”

“Fuck no. I don’t want any of you anywhere near this. Why would you even ask?”

“Because if you go and die, it will make Belle sad. And I don’t want her to be any sadder than she already is, worrying about her cousin.”

“I don’t plan on dying.”

“Does anyone?”

“Apparently you, hero of Hestertåtten.”

“Didn’t die.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “The offer stands.”

“Right, well. Thanks.” The chances of this being a setup for not killing Nico are pretty high. And if I’m about to be ambushed by the agency I work for, I don’t want my pod mates anywhere near me or whatever it is they are going to ask me to do.

“Okay. I’m making hedge-tots for dinner.”

“Well, I’ll be sure not to die, then.”

“Good.” Holter sits back down to his tablet and whatever he’s doing.

But the thing is, I love hedge-tots. They’re worth not dying for.

I borrow Castor’s Gorsca and head over to Zaffiro to get mysolo. I’m not going into another mission without my tech. Not having the proper shielding is why I ended up injured the last go-around.

I park Castor’ssolonext to mine, removing the oil cloth from it. I had a guy fix the little scratch in the windshield a few days ago. The windshield is perfect, but etched into the silver reflective paint of the door is the wordtraitor. Fuck. I fold the cloth and momentarily think about taking the Gorsca just so it doesn’t share the same fate. But whoever did this is long gone, and a coward. A coward doesn’t go after Drakos property.

I’m in mysolo. It’s damp and musty since I haven’t been in it for a while. I head back toward Glyden. Between Braesen and the fishery, there’s a spot not covered by cameras. There, I switch on my cloaking and head to the coordinates. With some careful maneuvering, I’m able to snatch the message tube with the solo’s pincers and pull it into the solo.

The note is cryptic and one I don’t want to think about. It reads: Target Human, Location America. I’ve received orders for on land before. When the security council was sticking their tentacles into areas they shouldn’t, trying to force humans to do what they believe best for the planet. Those missions were mostly on this side of the Atlantic, places I could get to with mysoloin a day or less.

Crossing the Atlantic in asoloisn’t something I’m going to do. This mission isn’t something I want to do at all. I need out. They’ve always overstepped, but this? This is over the top.

I stare at the paper. Sure, I was deep before, but I have a mate to think about, and a pod. This is stopping. It’s enough.

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