by Angela White
“I’ll help her, but I won’t love,” he stated lowly. “I can’t give her what I don’t feel.”
You might...in time.
Adrian’s pain slammed back into them with the force of a tornado and the demon fell silent. His host was busy locking himself off from all emotions, trying to become immune. The demon would help with that, but the door would never fully shut. That image of being with Angie, of caring for her and Marc’s daughter, would remain pristine in his memory.
2
Jeremy jerked out of the light doze he’d fallen into after the second hour. He was waiting with everyone else for a doctor checkup. Samantha had long since crashed against his arm.
Jeremy shivered, noticing they were almost alone. Cynthia was the only other one still here now, and she appeared so lonely that it was almost enough to pull Jeremy from his nightmare. Then his training kicked in and he gently shifted Samantha’s head to the chair and got up.
He motioned to the reporter. “Hold her, will ya?”
Cynthia moved that way and Jeremy went to find Neil. He’d had a dream from hell that was probably nothing, but they couldn’t take chances.
Neil listened closely, gut tightening with each sentence. If that happened, any of it, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“You have to help me,” Jeremy stated under his breath. “Convince her to give me the last two numbers. We’ll be able to see what they’re planning for us.”
Neil hated the idea of anyone having access to the internet again. He considered it to have played a large role in their downfall, but duty spoke louder than personal feelings.
“You think we can do some hacking?”
Jeremy grinned a bit. “I thought I’d try my hand at it. You could take my shifts with Sam while I work.”
Neil realized how serious Jeremy was then and let out a sigh. “Just stay with us and we’ll work on her together. It’s what she wants anyway.”
Jeremy didn’t hesitate, though he expected it to be painful. “I’ll get my gear. You’ll tell her?”
“No,” Neil snorted. “She doesn’t tell us everything. Let’s surprise her with this one.”
The image made Jeremy laugh, and the two men felt it at the same time, the sense of coming together. It hadn’t been like that since before Samantha had come into their lives. They’d missed the friendship.
“Wanna get a beer later? She’ll graze for a while, right?”
Neil was still chuckling. “I hope so. If we don’t keep her weight up, one of the other men will try to move in.”
Jeremy didn’t think that was funny. “Have you noticed the way they’re treating the breeders already?”
“Yes. Marc’s a genius.”
“I believe so, too,” Jeremy stated. “He’s changed.”
“You think?” Neil asked, but there wasn’t any real sarcasm in the reply. They were now locked into their destiny, and it was something of a comfort to have each other still. Neither man had thought that would be possible.
“Twins.”
Neil chuckled again. “We’ll be busy. It’s probably for the best that she wants us both.”
Jeremy hadn’t thought to ever hear that, but found he agreed. Everything had changed.
“Come on, let’s go talk to Marc about your idea. If he says no, we’ll let it go. Agreed?”
“Yes.” Jeremy trusted Marc more than he trusted Adrian.
It might have been a shock to find out how many people felt that way.
3
“No more lies now,” Angela told her Eagles as they gathered around her for a mini-meeting. “Cold, hard truth is the best way to be ruthless. It allows for no prisoners.”
Angela forked a thumb at the mountains they had finally reached. “We’ll be in our place as of dawn. We’ll set up as fast as we can. We have Jax and his group still observing the base, so we’ll know when they’re coming.” She looked around the tables. “We may all die when they come, but it will be with honor, fighting for our freedom.”
She turned to the man at her side. “Marc will lead us through that.”
There was no argument from any of them. In a few months, they would need a new leader to ease her burden. Marc had just been gifted with that honor. The Eagles were pleased.
So was Angela, but inside, there was a tiny part of her soul that wasn’t lightening with Marc’s return or his energy. It was a door now marked with Adrian’s name and it rattled in a desperate reminder of how close they’d become.
I love him, she admitted to herself. As much as I do Marc.
It was hard to hear from herself, but Angela forced the rest of it out, as well. Adrian would come to care for Kendle. She was both anticipating it and loathing it. When Adrian had told Marc a month’s grieving period was all the time he needed to get inside her heart, he’d been exaggerating. It hadn’t taken nearly that long and she already wasn’t sure how she would be able to stand watching Adrian love anyone else. He was hers.
End of Book 4
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From the Author
Thank you to everyone who helped clean up this file. Jan, Jeff, Jeanne, and all the others who took the time: you have my gratitude.
-Angela White
Deleted Scene #1
“You’re tired.”
He nodded, not opening his eyes, but he could feel the fresh adrenaline pumping into his system at her nearness. She’d stayed away from all of them for the last weeks. Was she feeling it yet? That pull that kept him awake at night, wondering if she had forgotten his words.
“No.”
“No, you don’t feel it or no, you haven’t forgotten?”
Angie snorted. “Like the dreams would let me forget.”
He didn’t respond to that, not sure what to say. His had stopped. Did that mean something?
“It means you’ve accepted that we’re being driven together. I haven’t.”
“It’s easy for me. As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t a woman who can compare to what you’ve become.”
His words made her feel like she had made progress, that she was doing good, but Angela forced herself to stay quiet, not wanting to encourage him by saying she felt the same about him.
“It’s meant to be.”
She glowered. “You don’t know that. There’s no proof that soul mates exist.”
“Don’t think they do, not the way you mean,” Adrian conceded. “I believe we’re not meant to mate for life. Some do, but for most, we’re meant to be with more than one person.”
She raised a brow. “You can’t mean that.”
“I do. It’s propagation of the species. Each season, the younger, stronger bull has a chance to take over the herd. It’s the way it’s always been.”
“And what happens to the ousted male?”
“He’s driven out and dies alone.”
She scowled at that, even though she’d known it was coming. “Not fair.”
“People can be more civilized.”
Angela stiffened, sure he was about to try to get to her again. “And w
hat do you mean by that?”
“I mean that the bull doesn’t have to die alone or be driven out. If he can find something else to hold him.”
Understanding flooded into her face. “You mean someone else.”
“Yes. Tell me. What does his future hold?”
She didn’t want to answer, but his tone demanded it, and the witch answered for her.
“Only him in the waves, holding someone.”
She sent him a flash of the dark haired woman in Marc’s wet arms as heavy waves lapped them, and Adrian felt his relief rise up and the rest of his plans fall into place. That was it. So close, he hadn’t been able to see it.
Angela watched him, almost able to smell the burning of his mind. She actually felt the last of the pieces slam into place. She didn’t need the sight to know it revolved around her.
She met his eye. “Be careful planning my future, Adrian Mitchel!”
His tone grave. “With yours and everyone else’s, but plan them, I will. It’s what I do.”
Deleted Scene #2
“Come for an update?” John asked as Angela ducked inside the tent.
“Only one. Got a minute?”
He followed her outside, into the shadows, and pulled off his gloves.
“Whose update?”
“Yours.”
John grimaced. “I hurt.”
She nodded sympathetically. “I’d like to push it back again.”
He gave his agreement slowly, but with gratitude. “I’d never ask...”
“I know that. We need you, John. I’ll stop by when it’s quieter.”
“Bring that stubborn gut shot patient with you. He’s avoiding his checkup.”
“He doesn’t want you to clear him yet.”
“I won’t until you say it’s time.”
His words were low and he turned before she could respond.
Angela was heartened by the support she was receiving, but also concerned. Adrian needed to get back in charge and let her fall in line behind him before there was too much damage to his leadership to be repaired.
“You okay?”
Angela grunted tiredly at Seth’s question. He was her shadow today and she’d kept him busy as she continuously moved through camp.
“I’ll be better when he takes over.”
“Angie.”
“No.”
After a quick scan to verify the coast was clear, Seth leaned in. “We like you in charge. You’re good at it.”
Angela sighed. “I know how the Eagles feel and I’m honored, but I don’t want to talk about what happens when Adrian’s where he belongs. I don’t...fit.”
Seth listened to instinct. “You’ll lead together.”
“I didn’t ask for this.”
“I did, and I don’t regret that choice. Fairly sure you don’t either.”
“No. I’m helping my people...and him. I have to help. I owe him so much.”
“As do we all. Some of us just have more to give.”
“The Runners.”
“Adrian’s Runners.”
Angela smiled ruefully. “Yes, I am that now.”
Seth didn’t speak his mind any further, but Angela could have been deaf and she would have still heard him.
You’re also in love with two men. Try to make peace with it if you can. We need them both as much as we do you.
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Life After War Series
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Fight for Survival
Book 5
by
Angela White
Title: Fight for Survival
Book 5 of the Life After War series
New Edition: 2017
Length: 811 pages
Author: ©Angela White
Publisher: C9 Publications
ISBN#: 978-1-9459-2707-2
Copyright © 1991 by Angela White
All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of Angela White or C9 Publications. Made in the USA.
Table of Contents
Is Anyone Listening?
Cold Winds
I See More
Do Your Duty!
Bingo Time
Past Emotions
Stirring the Pot
Choices to Make
One Lie or Fifty?
Disguises and Reprisals
Wet Work
Go for the Throat
The Winds are Blowing
Time to Go
That Bitch!
Not Everyone Can
Make Me Believe It
What Ghosts May Come
The Wildcards
Before the Storm
All Day Battle
Unfinished Chores
Taken or Infiltrated?
Keeping Track
Limited Information
Under the Bus
Soft Kisses and Sweet Rocking
The Flock
Riding the Waves
Homecoming
My Way or the Highway
Consequences
Aftermath
Coming Home to Roost
Close
Extras Section
Low Lead & Thin Walls
When it’s all on the line,
When instinct says its time,
Do you run, hide, or fight?
Do you pray? Support? Provide sight?
Never an easy choice,
Others always figure in.
Women and children go first;
Laws from an age of bigger men.
Backs to thin walls,
Lead running low…
Do you step out front?
Or disgrace yourself down low?
Can you give it all up?
Can you truly say goodbye?
Can you stumble over their bodies?
And not see yourself cry?
And to our enemy, would you hand us over?
We used to be your neighbors!
Our children played together,
Where we refused to allow these bad behaviors.
How many of you will betray us?
How many of us will you kill?
It’s only a question of numbers,
And who pays the final bill.
What will be the cost?
What will be the price we pay?
“Any win,
is a win,” people quote,
Uncaring as their souls decay.
Why does our existence terrify you?
How can you respect life so little?
Our freedoms have been your hidden vices,
Even as you lie and cast us evil.
We used to be one nation,
Under our own god.
United, not divided.
Kind, not blind.
More considerate, than hypocrite!
To terror, from near bliss.
From the Promised Land, to cursed.
When did it come to this?
While we were busy conquering the earth
Chapter One
Is Anyone Listening?
September 1st 2013
Safe Haven Refuge
1
As sunrise began to lighten the giant mountain peaks around Safe Haven, large envelopes were delivered to nearly every member of camp and then to the camps alongside theirs. The warmly dressed people here now numbered nearly one thousand, roughly the same as the force coming for them, though the young and elderly had been included in Angela’s count. The soldiers wouldn’t have those weaker people in their group.
Normally there might have been jokes about plain brown envelopes being quietly delivered, but not now. In those packages was life for some and death for others. No one wanted to receive them and it was fitting that they were being handed out during a chilly predawn drizzle.
These packages were Angela’s plan in a hundred small pieces, and the Eagles delivered each one carefully into the hands it was intended for. The directive was to wait until the date and time written on the front of the envelope, then open it and follow the orders inside. Nearly every package was dated for Labor Day. The missions had been chosen and delivered, the people were prepared as much as they could be, and now, war would roll their way once more.
