by Angela White
“You allow it?”
“Yes.” Neil brushed away a small fly, thinking for being so small, they bit like mosquitoes. It was early for them, but the vet already had a stockpile of salve for the animals’ ears.
“And what about the things she overhears?”
“I didn’t say anything bad. You did.”
Marc laughed and they ducked under the tape feeling like friends again.
Behind them, rage was boiling from both of those listening. Their fears of Neil and Samantha were founded. Instantly bonded by their anger, when Rick sidled over, Becky held still. He would help her keep them apart. And in return?
His expression was one of a wolf about to have a meal, going over her young body with blatant lust.
“I’ll think about it,” she muttered lowly, perched in a tree fork and Rick slid his hands to her small waist to help her down.
“Don’t!”
His hands snapped back as if she’d slapped them and her tone remained sharp. “Never without permission!”
Rick’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “May I?”
Satisfied he knew the rules, she refused. “I have plans later. I can’t smell like you.”
Rick’s sexy grin made her knees go weak.
“Lucky guy.”
“Yeah, wish he thought so.”
The traitor admired her slim curves again, producing an actual jolt of awareness that had her blushing.
“His loss.”
Becky kept eye contact as she marched by him and Rick retreated, aware of how much he liked the sneaky girl. So far, she was the only one who had noticed he was out of his tent without a guard. Maybe when this camp fell, Cesar would let him keep her too. Then he would have both of the females Neil wanted.
Neil’s mind was full of Marc’s words as he joined his team. He wasn’t sure enough to try to claim her, but he hoped Samantha felt like talking about things. He needed to know if the attraction was there for her. The lust he felt for Becky had been sharp for a while, but the need to know Samantha had overpowered it. When he took himself in hand these days, it was cornflower blue eyes and platinum hair in his fantasies.
Struggling with the change, Neil entered the new garden area and stopped in shock at the sight of Jeremy and Samantha entering one of the supply trailers, alone.
We have a problem, he thought, hands clenching.
4
Samantha jumped as the radio on Jeremy’s belt crackled.
She asked the overloaded guard, “Do you need to get that?”
“No, what else is on the list?”
Samantha surveyed the neat shelves, comparing with her list. They were getting things started for their own food source, and tomorrow, they would get a lesson in planting. “A first aid kit, another rake, 2 hand-shovels…”
For Earth Day, she’d been instructed to plant all the trees they had found during the last supply run. When she’d asked Adrian why, his answer had pleased her. It’s for those who come after us.
Jeremy followed Samantha willingly enough, arms already loaded down. He had volunteered to cart supplies, still running on the instinct that said Neil would check up on her. Good call.
“Would you like to know what one click on the radio means?”
Samantha stared at him in surprise. “Sure.”
“Someone’s coming.”
It took her only a second to guess who and put the clues together. “Act one, scene one?”
Jeremy didn’t think he had ever been so close to personal betrayal in his life at her continued flashes of extreme intelligence, and it was hard for him to laugh as if it didn’t matter. He wanted to steal her from Neil!
“Confused bachelor confronts slightly willing bachelorette and smitten XO. Take one.”
The door flew up, flooding them with light, and Sam gestured with her hand. “Action!”
They both laughed.
Neil took in the scene with surprise. Had he waited too long?
“Oh, it’s Neil.”
She sounds like I caught them doing something wrong, the trooper thought.
“Hey, boss. Just offering some help to the lady.”
Neil wiped his face clean, shoved that rarely witnessed part of him into the cage. “Good.”
He flashed a tight smile toward Samantha. “I have an hour free after mess?”
Samantha beamed, moving his way. “You think we’ll get to do it this time?”
Neil’s stare was intense “Even if I have to post a sentry. For that hour, I belong to you.”
Samantha blushed as hot images swung through her mind.
“Unless Becky calls, anyway.”
Jeremy’s mutter reminded her of the role she’d agreed to play.
Neil swiveled to scold his right-hand man for continuing the dangerous matchmaking game, but couldn’t at the challenge in Jeremy’s stance. His XO meant it.
Determined to do the right thing, Jeremy carefully climbed out of the truck. The tension was thick when he gestured at Samantha. “Take five.”
He left with the supplies and Samantha let him go with confusion and regret. The jealousy in Jeremy’s tone and body language was very convincing.
“He likes you.” Neil’s voice held surprise.
“He’s nice. Attentive.”
Neil felt his anger fading. Attentive. That’s what she would need and Neil wasn’t sure he was capable of giving it. She intimidated him too much.
“Can you do me a favor?”
Neil braced to be reduced to a message boy between them.
“Sign me up for third shift guard duty and maybe some personal time. Like what Angie’s getting, only quieter.”
“I’d be happy to handle that.” Realizing how much grovel was in his tone, Neil snapped his mouth shut.
“Great.” She rotated back to the shelves. “Thanks. See you after mess.”
“Yes…okay.”
Neil left in confusion and Sam realized Jeremy had their roles pegged perfectly. So was Becky really a screaming shrew? She was much too young to play that part.
Samantha shrugged. They would find out. It was time for the evening meal now, and it was the big one Adrian liked to schedule occasionally to show them all how large Safe Haven was becoming. That meant twice as many people. Lovely.
Samantha straightened her kinked spine, thinking she wasn’t caving and sitting with the other females tonight. She didn’t want to chat and if she had to sit alone to avoid it, she would.
5
“Can I sit here?”
Angela peered up from her tray with an uncensored welcome that made Marc’s heart thump.
“You know it.”
Her words, however, made his anger flare higher. She sounded more like these people every day. “I’d like to talk to you about something that’s bothering me.”
“What’s up?” Angela answered distractedly; glad the pill was finally calming the heat in her shoulder.
Marc sat across from her and braced himself, suddenly certain it would go badly. “I don’t think you should be an Eagle.”
A breathless sort of shock slid over her, but Marc didn’t stop. “I’d like you to resign, find something else. There has to be a safer way for you to help him.”
“I see.” There was only ice now. “And your reasons?”
Marc felt the ambush coming, tried to intercept. “There’s a lot you’re not considering and it might get you hurt. These people don’t want you to do it, not even the women here. Just you and Adrian.”
There was a sneer in his tone that bothered her. He still didn’t trust or even like Adrian.
“That’s not true,” she argued, thinking of her shower visit from Hilda and Peggy. “There are a few.”
“Trained lapdogs don’t count.”
His voice gentled, became almost patronizing to her wounded ears.
“And none of them really think you can either. When the first cage match comes and no one hits you, everyone will see the flaw in his plans.”
Angela knew she should be furious with his lack of support, but she’d already noticed those things hadn’t she? Marc’s beef wasn’t the Eagles at the moment, but Adrian. “You’re jealous.”
It was a fact being stated. Marc couldn’t, wouldn’t deny it.
Sadness hit Angela in waves. “Why can’t I have both?”
“What?” Marc had been bracing for her anger, not a compromise.
“Both. You and the Eagles.”
Marc didn’t know what to say to that and she leaned forward. “I have the room and I’ve been working on it from the moment we got here. I want both.” Angela’s voice lowered to a plea. “I need both. Please don’t make me pick one or the other.”
Marc hated it that he could feel himself turning into Kenn. “How does that work?”
“You have to let me do what I am meant to. If I get hurt in the process, that’s life now. I’ve been held back for so long!”
She noticed the nearest perimeter patrols changing, making contact with the shadows. “And there’s so much I can do, so many ways I can help if I’m an Eagle.”
Angela surveyed him with flecks of steel. “I will be one of them, in every way. I’m almost free of the past, but this can’t hang between us. You’ll have to decide if you can let me live my life the way I choose. If you can, I’ll share it with you, openly.”
Her tone became icy. “But that means accepting me as an Eagle.”
“And that’s firm? No room to bend?”
Angela sighed at the stiffness in his voice. “What if I said okay, Marc? I’ll haul my stuff into your tent today and resign, be a doctor. Is that what you want?”
She had tried hard for casual, but the pain was clear and Marc shook his head. “Yes.”
Angela’s nostrils flared. He wouldn’t force her, would he? “I’ll go pack. You tell Adrian and our son.”
Marc’s eyes flashed and she gave him a hard stare, pushing away from the table. “I owe you, right? It’s time to start paying off that debt.”
Was she bluffing? Did it matter? He could never follow through. “I’m leaving soon. Get ready for it.”
Angela stood up, voice scornful. “I was ready for it when you found me in Indiana. Surprised you’ve stuck around this long.”
Before he could respond, their attention was drawn to loud voices from the long line still waiting to eat.
“She’s not an Eagle.”
“Adrian says she is.”
“He’s carrying this women’s lib shit too far.”
“You watch your mouth!”
“Make me!”
Angela spun away from the coffee line where the two men were now brawling. The shouts were drawing more spectators and she was glad Doug and Kyle were rushing to break it up. It was happening a lot. Yesterday it had been two women arguing during evening mess, and last night, Kyle had punched a rookie for a nasty remark about Adrian. Now, yet another fight. Her joining was causing problems and unless she could find a way to fix it, Marc would get his wish.
Female Eagles were a big part of Adrian’s plans. She could feel that clearly, knew he needed her to be accepted, but how could she? She wasn’t a man, her magic was off limits for this, and as far as these men were concerned, she was already being given special treatment, even before the cage match. They had tryouts and tests to become an Eagle and it had just been given to her…
Angela stopped, barely breathing as the solution came.
Would that succeed? She stood there, surrounded by Safe Haven’s light as she considered. Yes. All of it will matter, but if I can stack that one moment…
Angela changed directions, absorbing the fear and she stiffened her chin into that set line as her target came into view.
Kenn stared at her stupidly a moment later. “You want to what?”
Angela willed her nerves to relax. She and Kenn hadn’t exchanged a single word since the sauna scene that had shown his true colors, and she made herself sound confident. “I want to take the real level test with my team.”
Kenn laughed unpleasantly, missing those flecks of steel in his relief over her demand. He’d been expecting something else. “You? In the cage? Yeah, that’ll happen.”
He let out another bray of hard amusement and Angela made a fast choice she wasn’t sure of. She ducked, threw out a leg sweep and used her free arm to shove him onto his ass in the dirt.
“Sign me up, Marine. I mean it!”
Kenn was surprised to feel admiration and a strong wave of attraction instead of the anger or embarrassment it should have brought to be put down by a female; by this female.
“There’s no way he’ll let you take the real test.” He stood up, brushing himself off and he was careful to stay still so that none of the approaching Eagles would think he was a threat to her. “Can’t hit a woman here for any reason.”
“I got through Neil’s class. I want to be one of them, Kenny. And there isn’t anything I won’t do, anyone I won’t destroy, to get it,” she insisted pointedly.
The complete honesty was a change for both of them, but more for Angela, who had spent so long carefully censoring her words.
Kenn was aware of how pleased Adrian was that she’d been keeping up. He conceded reluctantly. “I’ll mention it to him, but it’ll hurt his plans, if you fail.”
The warning was a surprise to her, showing his caring for the dreams. She’d thought he was only so loyal to Adrian because it gave him the XO slot.
“I won’t.”
Kenn scowled, still hating her new confidence and dreading the hard months he would have to endure while earning what he’d thrown away. “If he says yes, it’ll be on your schedule. Now get to the kids’ area. Your shift starts in five.”
Angela snapped a salute and nodded at Jeremy as he strode by determinedly. She sighed at the images running through his mind. The crowded mess was about to get another show. Encore!
6
Samantha had monitored Marc and Angie’s fight with sympathy, but would have gladly traded places when Jeremy ducked under the canopy.
He found Neil first, settled comfortably at Adrian’s center table, and then her, sitting alone in the rear of the mess.
His scowl was threatening and Samantha couldn’t stop herself from responding to the righteous anger on her behalf. She gave him a raised brow and a short wave, offering him the seat across from her.
His expression lit up and everyone in the area stared in surprise at the happiness he didn’t try to hide.
Jeremy joined her quickly, but before any conversation could restart from those around them, his words echoed softly.
“Scene 2: the screaming shrew.” His expression darkened. “I’m sorry for this. The location was a write-in.”
Sam was expecting Becky and she sneered, “Little girls should be careful who they challenge.”
Coming up behind them, Cynthia drew up short at the clear warning…then the reporter shrieked, “I’ll show you a little girl! Who the hell do you think you are? I’ll–”
Caught off guard, Samantha lost her temper fast and she jumped up to put herself in the woman’s space. “You’ll what?”
The tone was soft, menacing, and Cynthia realized she had made a mistake.
Samantha slowly gave the expensively dressed woman an insulting once-over. “Be a shame to get blood on Gucci. It won’t come out…or so I hear.”
The reporter flinched at the word blood, now trapped. She couldn’t shout that Jeremy was hers without the camp discovering their affair, but she wouldn’t ease up and lose him either. His connection to Adrian was too good to give up.
“Cynthia.”
Adrian’s tone knew, was patronizing enough, and the reporter shot a last lingering glare at Samantha before leaving the mess.
Sam sat down, not looking at Jeremy. He and Cynthia had something going. Whatever she had felt from the helpful guard could have been great acting to make Neil jealous.
And Cynthia, she added a little bitterly.
“Are you ma
d?” Jeremy questioned.
“I’ll have to get back to you. I didn’t expect that shrew and I’m not a fan of surprises.”
“I can try to explain, if you want.”
“I’ll pass.”
There was silence for a minute and then he flashed a charming smile. “Ready for scene three?”
Samantha snorted. “Depends on what it is.”
Jeremy leaned in, aware of being the center of everyone’s attention. “Scene three is where apologetic bachelor number two becomes scarce so the slightly willing bachelorette can cool off with still very confused bachelor number one.”
“And you’re one of the players, not an actor, right?” she asked, slightly upset “Another alpha male who wants two mates instead of one.”
Jeremy reddened, but he didn’t deny it. “That scene comes later in the story.”
Samantha snorted again, flattered and wary. “Guess I need a copy of the script.”
“I’ll see what I can do about that.” He stood up, taking his untouched tray. “Try to have fun with Neil tonight. He’s a good man.”
Samantha was aware of the surprised, uneasy people around them as he left. Jeremy had to know how this would end. He would be left out. As nice as he was, there was no way that Eagle would ever be able to break through the wall of ice around her heart.
Samantha’s gaze slid to the center table and found Neil staring at her. There was enough heat there to melt an iceberg and she dropped her gaze. There was little choice between the two, but she wasn’t sure if she even wanted one of them yet. She didn’t have enough of her self-respect back to be in a relationship. All she wanted from either of them right now was friendship and training. Everything was secondary to surviving the slavers.
Adrian’s table was much quieter than usual. Kenn tried to keep the conversation going, knowing the boss didn’t like the tension, but with Neil distracted, Doug on sentry in the QZ, and Kyle still angry that Kenn had been allowed to return, there was little cooperation.
“I’ll catch you guys later.” Neil left the table and let his feet go where they wanted instead of where they should.
“You ready?”
Samantha jumped when Neil dropped onto the bench across from her.
