From The Ashes (Life After War) (30 page)

Angela wasn’t concerned. They were a team now, and she confirmed what mattered most to the future.

“
One good, one bad. And we won’t know which.”

The Witch raised a hand with long, jagged claws.
“Yes. Let them die and spare Safe Haven. That’s the choice He would make.”

Angela understood that to be the truth, but she wasn’t Adrian, hadn’t hardened that much yet.
“I’ll tend to them in whatever way is required.”

A vivid bolt of crimson light shot from the demon’s hand and slammed into Jennifer’s contracting stomach.

Kyle jerked back, stung by the heat, and Angela held a hand out. “Stay back. She still wants you.”

Kyle scowled, watching Jennifer’s face heat up to match the burning of her skin. “What are you... she doing?” he demanded, tone alarmed enough to bring Zack toward the partition.

“
Closing, cauterizing…”

“
Ahhh!”

Kyle shoved through the heat to take Jennifer’s hand at the scream and the Witch groaned.
“Yes. Let them feel your love!”

Kyle didn’t resist the drawing and Angela allowed the Witch to meddle. With the knowledge of 50/50, it really couldn’t hurt. Angela was already planning to have the evil twin removed at the first clear sign and it was heartbreaking. If the Witch could stop that future, it was worth whatever mark the demon was currently stitching into their dna. When it came to evil like Cesar and his minions had carried, those kids needed any help they could get.

12

By 4 am, Marc and Kevin were still busy.

All but one cherished camp member accounted for, the smaller perimeter was secure, and the two Eagles had been sent to gather supplies for the kids who were now set up in large tents with the camp women. In the darkness, the sinkholes were visible because of the torches and guards they'd posted. Between that, these tired men had helped round up the larger animals, moved vehicles away from the still-crumbling edges of the sinkholes, and taken Alexa's body to Hilda and Peggy for funeral preparations. Everyone wanted leadership, but at moments like this, not one of them envied the men who’d been chosen for it.

Thanks to Adrian’s efficient setup between teams of Eagles, the outer edges of camp life had been reestablished fairly quickly. Once they delivered the load of supplies to the waiting women and kids, both men would go to their higher-ups for a new check-in, an update, and a fresh list of duties to be performed. Marc's hopes of a beer and then Angie's kisses were long gone.

“
I guess it’s Neil or Jeremy you’re usually working with on things like this.”

Kevin clapped him on the shoulder. “Yeah. Nice to have a new brain, but I do miss those arrogant attitudes a bit.”

Marc opened the door. “So do I. Not being nagged just doesn’t feel right.”

Both men stopped laughing at the sight of Matt in the supply truck. The teenager was curled in the corner with a mostly empty bottle of whiskey still clutched in his grip.

“
Damn. Adrian’s night just got longer,” Kevin commented with a frown.

“
Maybe not.” Cynthia handed Marc the drawing and pulled herself up into the truck. “Make sure Adrian gets that. Tell him I’ll take the boy on as an apprentice for the newspaper.”

Kevin stared in surprise, mind captured by the sight of the reporter's ass suddenly being level with his face. It was almost too much to take and Kevin found himself leaning forward for a subtle smell.

Marc turned away with a grin of recognition. It was something guys did, like tasting what they'd just had a finger inside. Women might be disgusted, but they didn't understand. It was instinct for a man to imprint the female that way, ages old and undeniable.

Cynthia moved forward and delivered a solid slap to Matt’s leg that had the teenager recoiling groggily. “I’ll know where he is at any given time, and I'll punish him when he steps out of line.”

Marc and Kevin exchanged glances. Would Adrian trust her with something like that?

Marc shrugged. “Let her handle it for now, I guess. If he disagrees, he’ll let her know.”

Kevin climbed into the truck to help and to get another whiff of her scent. “I say we wait until morning and fill him in then. If we can get Matt sobered up, maybe Adrian will go for it.”

“
Okay,” Marc agreed. “You got this covered?”

Kevin's face reddened in the lantern light. “I don't have a clue man, but I'll wing it.”

Marc chuckled as the soot-covered reporter continued to try to rouse Matt, missing the remark.

He slid the detailed drawing into his pocket. Why did people with talent have to have such glaring flaws? Why couldn’t human nature just be good? Marc sighed. As he went toward the medical area, he mentally scanned, making sure the guards were covering the camp.

Marc saw the crowd outside the medical tent and the lone man trying to secure the area. With so many of the higher Eagles he depended on not around or flat out not responding to his need, it wasn’t going smoothly for Kenn.

Marc reluctantly took the place on his right. For the most part, he liked working with Adrian. Kenn would always be a piece of shit. “What’s next?”

Kenn pointed toward the medical tent and then the camp that was slowly being set back up, unable to stop the grin. “No organization, too many rookies.”

“
I’m on it.”

Kenn gave Marc a minute to scatter the crowd and then began directing things again. It went better this time, truck and men moving together, and Kenn's heart eased. This was the way it should have been all along.

13

On the other side of Safe Haven, Adrian winced each time he passed the freshly-dug grave on a round. They would hold Alexa's funeral right before they left.

Scchrrriipp!

The sound of the sinkhole growing, getting closer, was keeping him and the Eagles alert. Adrian didn’t want to have the camp fleeing in the dark–they were too jumpy to be sure of a calm bug out–but he was ready to make the call if he needed to. Adrian’s eyes swept the sheet-clad body of Lexa again and flinched away. No matter how careful he was, people died.

Neil and Jeremy had chosen a thick grove of trees and Sam had approved it. Neil, along with half his team, was packing a few essentials and heading back to secure the new site–much to Neil's pleasure. The trooper was having a hard time staying away from Sam, though, who was now holed up in the vet area listening for more trouble. The trooper had been by there a number of times in the last half hour, but hadn't gotten the nerve to speak to her.

Adrian sighed and moved that way in case he was needed. Neil was leaving camp and Jeremy wasn't. Let the games begin... again.

“
We’re all set,” Shawn stated.

“
Good. Ten minutes,” Neil answered.

“
We’ll be ready.”

Chosen to be the team mate left in camp this time, Jeremy waited at the truck door for the others to file out, full of thoughts and plans. He wanted to talk to Samantha, but he couldn't do it without telling Neil first.

Neil was expecting it. He shrugged in dawn's grudging light. “If you think you can get through that hard-ass shell around her heart, go on. I won’t stand in the way.”

Jeremy was caught off guard. “You mean that?”

Neil grunted unhappily. If he was wrong, there were a lot of miserable nights waiting. “Yes, I do. It’s not good enough to have what I want. For me to live with myself, I have to know she’s got what she needs. If that’s you, so be it.
My
wants no longer matter to me above hers.”

Neil’s pointed words had Jeremy flushing. “You don’t think I can put her first!”

Neil had no intentions of leaving with any misunderstandings between them. “I know you can. And now you know that I can, too. What matters, is her.”

Neil opened up, let his XO into his mind. “I want her in ways that I never expected, and her happiness is one of those. It ranks above my loneliness.”

“
Are you going to see her before you leave?”

“
Yes. Is that a problem?”

“
No. I only asked so...”

Lingering at the semi door, Adrian listened to them working it out, thinking Neil could make the offer because he knew what Sam was hiding. She loved it that he was dangerous, and while Jeremy was too, in his own way, he didn’t throw it around like the trooper did. Sam liked the excitement, the attention, and Neil was confident enough of it to give his blessing for Jeremy to try. It was almost wise. This way, all of them would know for sure.

If Sam agrees to play their game again
, Adrian thought tiredly, continuing on to the parking area. She might have her own drama written this time.

As he moved away, Adrian also caught the end of their conversation.

“
Are you ready to jump back into his war yet?” Neil asked lowly.

Jeremy thought of Frank dying beside him, of the blood on his hands. “No, and neither is our team.”

14

“
I’d like to ask you something, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Samantha swallowed a startled shriek as Neil stepped from the foggy shadows behind the vet area. Hadn't he just been in the parking zone? “Damn it!”

“
Please?”

Samantha's pulse increased at the tone he used. “Uh... okay. What?”

Neil didn’t get upset at the defensive response, understanding that she was scared of what he might say. It was in her wild eyes and tense chin.

“
I know you want Angie's XO slot, and to help Adrian build the dream. I think you fit right in, but what about personally? If your past didn’t stand in the way, what would make you happy?”

Unprepared for the telltale query, Sam flushed. “What if I said I have it now?”

It was obvious that she didn't. Neil waited.

Sam sighed, staring at his clean-shaven jaw. “The things that haunt me would get in the way of anything I try to build.”

“
You
need time now.”

Sam shrugged. “Surviving was all I thought about for so long that I’m not sure what I need-only that my place here has to come first.”

Neil thought of his words to Brady.
“I’m an Eagle first. My woman would have to know that.”

“
I'm leaving now.”

Sam stiffened. “It's only for a few hours, Neil.”

He moved a step closer, wanting to grab her and needing to run at the same time.

“
I’ll still feel it.”

He pushed his hat back, letting her see how much he meant it. “I miss you.”

Sam sucked in a sharp breath at the emotional blow. “Damn you!”

Neil smiled bitterly. “Had to know you feel it, too.”

Sam couldn’t resist the panic. She advanced with a low growl. “I hate you for this, O’Neil. I really do.”

The trooper met her kiss with a blast of his own anxiety. They were about to be apart. He'd given Jeremy permission to try. Was he crazy?

Sam’s grip tightened. She didn’t want to need him this way. She just did.

Neil deepened the kiss, taking the taste to memorize in case he didn’t get to do it again.

Sam’s arms tightened around him, need thrumming through her skin, raising the hairs with the electricity.

Neil pulled back, heart suddenly ripping open without him knowing why. “After this is done, I’m going to ask you out.”

Sam clutched at his shirt, trying to control her breathing. “No promises, Neil.”

Despair again, and he took a double hit as he remembered saying almost the same thing to Becky. And then he’d developed this attraction for someone else.

Neil went cold inside with dread. “Okay.”

Sam slid back into his surprised arms with a low groan. “Kiss me once more. Hard and quick.”

The trooper did and then headed for the waiting team without glancing back.

Sam didn’t look away until the taillights faded into the landscape.

When she finally turned, it was to find Jeremy’s wounded face staring from the foggy dawn shadows. Waves of guilt tried to crush her, and Sam joined him with a blank expression. He couldn’t be allowed to see what she wanted either.

“
How about a Kai lesson?”

Jeremy couldn’t stop the jealousy that flew out. “You know that means I’d have to be around you, right?”

Not in the mood for it, Sam's tone cooled. “Yes, I do.”

Jeremy's hands shoved into his pockets. “Why me? You’ve got enough admirers to fill that slot.”

Instead of another barb or even the shove of frustration she wanted to give, Sam walked away.

Jeremy quickly caught up. “Wait. When?”

Sam’s feet were already leading them there, and Jeremy groaned silently but didn’t protest. After an hour of beating on him, she might agree to have a cup of coffee and spend some time together.

Sam eyed Jeremy warily. “So, you two aren't fighting anymore?”

“
No. The Eagles come first,” he stated. “Even before you.”

To his shock, she grinned.