by Angela White
She was horrified. “How the hell does that work?”
Adrian shrugged, sweeping the quiet camp through the open flap. “It helps to have fate on your side.”
“Do we?” she asked immediately.
Adrian met her gaze. “You answer that.”
Angela laughed. “Not me, bubba. Better ask the witch.”
He chuckled, not telling her that he already had and the answer had been terrifying.
They sat at his folding table, sharing a joint as the cool breeze rushed over hot skin, and Angela understood her session wasn’t over when he nodded toward the bubble.
“Seal us up.”
She did it awkwardly, bringing the shield over Safe Haven into a solid form. She quickly let go of it, hoping the ever-growing camp hadn’t noticed.
Angela immediately felt Adrian’s mood improve, and his stress level lower. “Why is that?”
Adrian handed her the thick joint. “Sometimes I wake up at dawn and its right after the war. Except there’s never any light. Day doesn’t come and I’m alone, trying to keep them all alive. The things you do drives those ghosts back.”
Angela understood, but she was also convinced that it was more than that. “And maybe because it proves you’re not crazy, that all of this is really happening?”
Adrian flinched from her astute observation, and Angela smiled coldly. “Don’t ever let them know you have those kinds of doubts. You’ll lose them.”
Adrian knew her warning to be a valid one, but instead of answering, he leaned back and closed his lids. “What am I thinking?”
“The ocean is dangerous,” she replied easily. “Again.”
He looked at her curiously, and she shrugged, almost blushing. “I pick things up.”
“You had to be searching me to know that.”
“Listening,” she corrected gently.
“To me?”
“Like everyone else here,” she admitted. “I just have an advantage.”
“Okay.”
Angela stared in surprise. “You’re not mad? It’s an invasion of privacy.”
“You’re not Tonya,” Adrian stated. “Trusting you is easy.”
Unlike myself, he thought. His mind these days was either on her or Arkansas. Both produced excited longing…and dread.
Angela was picking up many of his thoughts, aware that he would only allow her to be his comfort, his guidance, in matters that were personal. None of the others played this coveted role for him anymore.
“We could leave sooner instead of staying for a break,” she suggested. “Get there faster.”
Adrian sighed, sorry she was getting the negative from his thoughts. “I need a reason for the camp.”
Angela closed her eyes, concentrating on her lessons. What had Doug said about getting a large group of people to agree on something? Oh, yeah. Tell the truth, and if that doesn’t work–lie. “Tell them you saw carcasses with sores.”
He heard her genuine tone and asked, “Where?”
She pointed to a small thicket of brambles that they could barely see through the flap. “Rabbit.”
Adrian stood up. “Come on. You can help with the rearranging on your way to handle Matt. We’ll head out after the level tests are finished, instead of staying the two other days.”
Angela sensed he wanted her close and got her notebook out as she fell in on his right. “What’s first?”
“You tell me,” Adrian instructed.
She concentrated. “We have to get them to want to go.”
“Write it down. Word for word, Eagle. These people are tired of being on the road. Extra travel has to be their idea. Unless it’s a crisis, don’t order them to do anything.”
Adrian kept talking, walking her through how to accomplish it, and Angela copied it tirelessly, obeying the instinct that said want it or not, she would have use of this later.
6
“My mom wants to see you.”
Matt paled. Charlie had told him it would happen. The adults wanted details, now that they’d cooled off enough to stand hearing them.
By daylight, the sinkholes had swallowed their torches and grown to nearly the edge of the perimeter tape. Adrian had gotten people up and moving immediately. As they rolled by, cameras had snapped almost continuously–some from the camp and a few from the Eagles.
“When?” Matt asked.
“Now.”
Matt froze. This was where he found out his future in Safe Haven–if he had one.
Charlie hated the tension. “Try not to worry so much. She understands you have a drinking problem.”
“I don’t have a…”
When Matt stopped, Charlie didn’t push.
“What’s gonna happen?” Matt asked instead of continuing to deny what he’d known for a while.
“I hope you’ll be punished and cleared, but I don’t know,” Charlie admitted. “Your dad’s in trouble, too.”
“Yeah. I’m sleeping in the l-livestock truck again.”
“Let’s not talk about it anymore, okay?” Charlie suggested. “Just tell her everything, and this will be over before you know it.”
Matt planned to do exactly that. There wasn’t anything else he could do.
“What’s it like, to have a mom and d-dad again?”
Charlie swiped at hovering insects. “Different. I’ve never had both.”
“But, Kenn–”
“Was never my dad.”
Matt shrugged. He would take either of the men in Charlie’s life in place of his own. “What’s it like to have both?”
Charlie realized that was another thing Matt envied about him, and tried not to get upset. He didn’t want to fight now that they were talking again, but he had also been on the other end enough to understand that it was hard not to be jealous when you had so little hope for your own future. Adrian and the Eagles would change that for Matt, but he had to prove himself worthy first, otherwise they would never give him the chance to atone.
“It’s cool. My dad trains me on the things she can’t do, and she covers my...gun classes.”
“Sucks about her getting hurt.”
“Yeah…”
Matt frowned. “I thought you were pissed.”
“I was. I still am a little, but a lot of things are better now.”
Matt wished he could say the same. “What type of training are you getting?”
“Self-defense from my dad. Common sense stuff from my mom.”
“Like what?”
“Where’s the hidden object, figure out the right path. Stuff where I have to add up the clues for an answer.”
“Is she easy on you?”
“No,” Charlie snorted, holding the flap open. “My dad’s nicer than she is when it comes to lessons. She’s a lot like Doug.”
Just coming out of the tent that they were headed into, Doug smirked at the teenagers. “Got a rep, do I? Good. You’ll know what to expect when it’s your turn.”
He went out, and the two boys stared after him with uneasy glances that had guards hiding smiles.
Matt was a ball of nerves as he followed Charlie inside. He would know his fate in a few minutes. He didn’t have much hope.
7
“Damn it!”
Samantha slammed Cynthia to the mat, grunting at the effort. The reporter was scrappy.
Cynthia growled as she stood, triggering Samantha’s rage, and the storm tracker swung a nasty hit that knocked the woman on her ass again.
“Match!”
Sam pulled in the anger and swiped a hand across her bloody nose as Cynthia struggled to her feet.
Angry at losing, Cynthia used the sleeve of her shirt to clear her vision and then flung the blood toward Sam’s boots. “Again!”
Sam advanced obligingly, and the observing males braced, expecting it to be ugly. The two women had already passed their evaluations in this area and others (It helped to have female vs. female.) but the battle for Angela’s right hand was growing. It wouldn’t be long
before that slot was officially filled. So far, no one even knew who was in the lead, only that Adrian had given Angela the choice, as he had with his other team leaders and their crew.
“No. That’s enough.” Adrian’s pleased words stopped the women.
He clearly liked it that they were showing their willingness to bleed and fight for the slot they wanted. It was enlightening for the males to watch these determined women go through the same emotions and discoveries that they had. Adrian sensed that bond might become incredibly strong once Angela was back full time. Right now, there was a lot of fighting between the new and the old as the sexes merged, but once XO was assigned, things would settle down.
Cynthia and Sam could both do the job, but the two Eagles near the flap knew which one it should be. After less than a month, Samantha was brutal. She was only two levels behind Angela in kai. Cynthia, on the other hand, was just starting her workout sessions. Samantha spent hours a day in the ring with Doug and Billy, and sometimes, even Adrian. Cynthia had only recently passed the first defense lesson. Neil and Jeremy didn’t like the idea of Samantha in danger any more than Marc had Angela, but there was no denying the truth. Sam deserved the position.
For Jeremy, it was another attraction, another sign that she was the woman of his dreams. For Neil, it was pride and pain. Pride that his chosen mate (Even if she hadn’t chosen him.) was doing so well, but also pain to be around her and not try to convince her that he deserved another chance. Her reply when he’d told her that he planned to ask her out (“No promises.”) had stopped him from actually doing it.
“Can I play?”
Angela’s forlorn tenor at the flap drew grins and instant welcome from all of the men. It also caused straightened shoulders and fresh glares between Sam and Cynthia, the only females as the sense of competition rose.
Using the moment, Adrian motioned toward the ring. “Were you watching?”
“Nope.” Angela’s cool gaze went over both of the bloody females waiting for her approval. “Have ‘em do it again.”
Adrian smiled warmly amid the eager male chuckles and female disappointment. “Welcome home.”
With that, she was cleared for workouts.
“Thank you.” Angela came inside with a long-suffering sigh. “Can’t tell you how much I’ve missed this ugly green tent.”
More laughter, but those who had spent time off-duty understood. It was as if nothing else was satisfying. The air was just air and food was just food, but when you were an Eagle, the wind was crisp and inviting, and mess was a sweet trip into happiness. To be away, was to be incomplete.
Angela moved toward the two women who were straightening clothes and tending minor injuries. As it was, rookie nerves before a level test were always rough, but with everything Safe Haven had been through in the last months, these men and women were now quicker to fight first and talk later. As a result, the number of people working off offenses with the vet had increased. Sour-faced and surly, Chris now had more hands than he knew what to do with. Often there with Jennifer, Kyle was helping keep them all busy.
Angela swept the women with a hard gaze and silence fell in the tent.
“I’ve had short conversations with you, where I refused to talk about what role you might have on my team. You both said you were content so long as you held a place, any place. Is that still true?”
“Sure,” Samantha grunted, clearly not meaning it.
Neil smirked. They were so much alike, it was scary.
Jeremy worried she was about to blow it.
Cynthia already expected to lose the slot and didn’t respond at all. After this session, she understood she had a lot more work to do.
Angela motioned toward the flap, where a new female had quietly appeared. “She says the same thing.”
All eyes went to Anne, running over the glasses and other signs of age. There were surprised mutters and even snorts.
“There are no less than five of you now competing for my right hand.”
That stopped the laughter, and the males instantly began trying to name the others and all came up short by two. Even Adrian was minus one.
“If someone shows me something the others can’t, that’ll seal the deal for me.” Angela turned toward Adrian. “What’s the deadline?”
“By Little Rock,” he answered.
“I’ll make my choice before then,” Angela stated, “In the meantime, all of them need XO training.”
Adrian motioned to Doug. “Take over.”
As the big man took the two sweaty females into the corner and began explaining the next part of the test, Anne joined them. The camp would know within hours.
Are you sure?
It’s only for a little while, Adrian answered Angela’s mental question.
Long enough to give her the skills that we all need and the strength to carry on after he dies, Angela clarified.
Yes, but also to finish bringing in those who are watching you form this team.
Because it boosts their confidence enough to try, Angela repeated the reason she’d given to Anne. A lot of this wasn’t set in stone in her mind yet, and while she was using Adrian’s techniques, confirmation helped to relieve some of the worry over her choices.
Yes. As they ducked out of the tent, Adrian holding the flap, he couldn’t stop himself from asking, who’s the fifth?
8
“You’re late,” Chris quipped.
Kyle gently dislodged Jennifer’s hand from his tingling arm and glowered at the vet. “You’ll get over it.”
Jennifer kept her eyes on the ground as she waited, curious and a little uneasy. It was only the vet and the guards here, but that was still enough males to make her wish for the privacy of her tent. Kyle’s tent. The sight of the dome light in his camper had brought her to tears every time she saw it, and Kyle had insisted on switching after getting her a thick air mattress from the supply truck. Most nights she fell asleep while he was still with her, and woke to a flower or a piece of candy on her pillow. He was sweet, considerate, and so closed-off that it was hard for her to imagine him as a father.
Jennifer ran a loving hand over her twins as they jostled for position, murmuring softly, “In a bit, babies. In a bit.”
As if hearing and responding, her stomach settled into the occasional twist, and she went back to her observations. Life here was so good that Jennifer sometimes found herself studying Safe Haven for hours without moving or talking. The setup was vastly different from the old world, but the leadership made it a beacon of hope. Even the name said she and her children could be happy here.
“Damn dog!” Kyle growled from inside the semi.
The vet backed up as Kyle came from the truck with a box. Inside, something sniffed and scratched curiously.
“Why don’t you keep her chained up?” Kyle demanded.
Chris scowled. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?”
“No,” Kyle snorted contemptuously.
Chris shrugged, eying the newest tear in Kyle’s pants. “It’s her pups. You hurt?”
“No. I’ve learned to jump when she lunges. Only got cloth this time.”
Chris snickered in satisfaction, but still headed into the truck to assure himself of Star’s safety. “Give her time. She’ll figure that one out.”
Kyle was still scowling as he set the box at Jennifer’s feet. “Know you’re okay with wolves. What about mutt puppies?”
Jennifer frowned darkly. “Guess that’s what I’m having.”
She eased to her knees beside the box before he could say anything.
Kyle stopped breathing when she giggled.
“They’re so cute!” she sighed happily. “Hope mine are.”
“Oh doll, your kids’ll be beautiful,” Kyle answered before he could think, steering the conversation in a direction that he’d intended to avoid. “Fathers don’t matter when they come from your gene pool.”
Jennifer stared at the puppies. “Cesar was ugly. Won’t it make mine that way?”
Kyle knew a thin line when he heard it. The problem was, he couldn’t see it. “If they are, you’ll love them anyway.”
Jennifer was too young to hide her concerns and asked, “What about you?”
“Kids are kids to me, Jen. I’ve always liked them.”
“The people here won’t feel the same,” she muttered, revealing her true concern now. “They’ll be outcasts, even here, because of who their father might be.”
Kyle had already considered that. When it came to getting what he now wanted more than even air, there was little that he hadn’t contemplated. “We’ll stay until its causing trouble. By then, Safe Haven will be settled somewhere.”
He fought the urge to stroke her head in comfort. “We don’t have to live in Safe Haven, Jenny, to be a part of the light.”
Jennifer hadn’t considered that, still working up to what else was on her mind.
Kyle understood that asking for her wants so soon after being a slave was hard. “There isn’t anything that you can’t tell me or ask for.”
“If I said yes, I would need two things, and they’re hard,” Jennifer quickly answered before the terror could shut her down.
Her fear was thick, making her breathing rough, and Kyle felt his protective nature grow, but also the dangerous need.
Her chest heaved a bit at his silence, capturing his eye. Kyle braced for a fresh wave of lust and was surprised to find sympathy leading this time
“Yes, to both,” he said quietly. “Now tell me, knowing I’ve already agreed, and I won’t take it back.”
Jennifer swallowed. “If you’re wrong and you can’t love them, you have to let me take them and leave.”
Kyle knew it wouldn’t ever matter to him. He’d always wanted to be a dad. He just hadn’t wanted to be a husband. That had changed. “Next?”
Jennifer drew in a breath, and Kyle prepared to take a blow.
“You can’t…have me, until they’re six months old and we know if you can love them.”
Kyle leaned down to brush a curl back. So soft! “Let’s make it until you’re legal, so the Den Mothers don’t castrate me. I’m rather fond of that part, Jen. I doubt I’d be the same without it.”
