Page 45

Cole

I sit in General Amir’s chair as he stands behind me, my body tense, arms folded. My father’s image appears on the computer screen, his face more serious than it usually is, while a second black box loads. I lean forward as it flashes to color, Jude’s image taking shape.

“Sorry,” dad says, nodding to us. “Took a minute to get him.”

“Bath time,” Jude murmurs, annoyed and running a hand through his damp hair.

“You guys are aware of this?” I snap, kind of livid that they didn’t inform me immediately.

“I’m not,” Jude says, frowning at the screen and glancing at dad. “What’s up?”

I flick my eyes to dad, who nods. “We’ve come into possession of some images,” dad says, starting to bring them up on screen. “And we’d like your perspective, Jude – “

“Should Iris be in on this?” Jude says, looking toward what must be his bedroom door. “If this is a family affair and all –“

“It’s not necessary that she be included in this conversation, Jude,” dad says, putting a hand on his arm. “But we could use perspective from your friend who was raised with the Children of Solace. His perspective could be invaluable.”

Jude nods, bending his head and pulling his phone out of his pocket, typing something. We all wait a few moments before he speaks again. “All right. I’ve got him here.”

Dad nods too and returns to the images. “Our photojournalist took these on a recent evening in the Children of Solace,” he says, enlarging one on the screen – the one that Rose showed me, though there are five others, each less clear.

“We were curious if your friend could tell us what you see happening here.”

Jude frowns, leaning closer and looking at the images on the screen, taking pictures of them on his phone and apparently sending them on to whoever is there.

When the reply comes back, his eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Damn,” he says, nodding, his eyebrows going up.

“Scouts. He says that they’re scouts – that the Children of Solace use kids to do this kind of investigation all the time. ”

I blanche, my jaw falling open. “Jude, those are like… five-year-old children !”

My eyes flash back to the image, my heart wrenching again as I look over the two little boys, their faces so thin.

Tiny little frowns turn down their lips as they seem to stare directly at the camera – which means they were looking directly at Rose and I as we fled.

Mud is spread over their faces so that they blend almost imperceptibly into their background – god, I don’t know how Rose noticed them in the first place.

But their little faces are so thin , and they look so…so fucking serious …

I clench my jaw, hating the Children of Solace, afraid for them.

“Yeah,” Jude says, frowning at me. “Five-year-old scouts. Why, what’s wrong?”

I shake myself a little, gawking at him. “You don’t see the problem inherent in that sentence?”

Jude smirks at me and shrugs, glancing down at his phone. “My source says that kids need to pull their weight just like anyone else in the CoS –“

“CoS?” I return, appalled.

Jude laughs at me and I scowl at him, wishing he’d take something seriously for once – anything . “Children of Solace is a damned mouthful. I like shorthand.”

Dad sighs as he turns his attention to Jude. “I take it that this is…a normal age for a scout in the Children of Solace?”

Jude types out the question on his phone and nods a few moments later, shrugging. “Yeah, I guess so. My source did it when he was that age. Apparently, it was crap work on cold nights, but it’s the assignment.”

“ Child spies ,” I whisper, incredulous, leaning forward to lean against the table in my shock.

“Scout,” Jude says, pointing at his phone, insisting I use the right phrase.

“Actually, you were probably the highlight of these kids’ year,” he says, reading something on the screen.

“My guy says they’re not used to seeing much and they finally got something worth reporting back.

Probably got fed real good that night as a reward. ”

I cover my face with my hand, shaking my head. “I don’t know what to do with you, Jude.”

“What’s the problem?” Jude asks, looking between all of us with a smirk. “Why is everyone so upset?”

“I think the issue of child labor in a military operation is putting Cole over the edge,” dad murmurs. “Though the true question I have is – what are the risks of this? Are those kids dangerous?”

I drop my hand, paying attention again and glaring at my brother for kind of dismissing the issue of child military labor.

“I mean, I wouldn’t get close to them,” Jude murmurs, shrugging, typing rapidly on his phone as his informant gives him more information, his eyes flashing over the screen.

“My guy says that they’re small, but at this age they can use a knife, and they’re trained to be sneaky.

Plus, they’re motivated . If they got a chance to hurt you, they’d do it. ”

I curse lightly under my breath.

“Motivated by what?” dad asks.

“Food,” Jude says, nodding, his phone’s screen flashing as new messages appear. “Bonus rations for anyone who does anything productive. And if they killed a Prince…” he shrugs, looking back up me. “They’d get something good to eat. For sure.”

I take a deep breath, shaking my head, trying to process this insane information.

“So,” Jude says, leaning closer again to peer at the picture. “These kids were…in the Children of Solace? I thought you said you cleared that out.”

“Yeah, we went back,” I murmur, slumping in my chair. “Dad wanted more recon.”

“Who’s we?” Jude murmurs, his eyes moving over the picture.

“Me and the photojournalist,” I murmur, glaring at dad a little, letting him know precisely how displeased I am that he sent Rose back. Dad just shrugs, letting me know that I need to deal with it.

“Who’s that?” Jude asks.

I sigh. “Rose.”

Jude’s eyes shoot up to me. “Rose Lind ?”

I flash my teeth at my brother, telling him not to push it but…not denying it.

Jude guffaws, turning his eyes to dad. “You sent Rose Lind up there to Cole and his mate –“

“Alleged mate,” dad growls, fixing his eyes on me, letting his displeasure be known that I persist in spending time with Nadia.

I glare back at my father, hating his bullshit attitude on this.

“Do you – I mean, do you hate Nadia?” Jude continues, starting to laugh at dad and shake his head. “Are you trying to torture her? She’s –“

“Jude!” I snap, my voice heavy with Alpha command. Jude shuts up, even if he continues laughing and turns his eyes back to me, grinning like mad.

I lift my chin to the phone in his hand, wanting what details are left and then wanting this done. I am not very pleased with my father right now and Jude is doing good work to get himself added to my shit list.

“All right, all right,” Jude murmurs, still with a nasty little smirk painted on his lips as he types a few more things out on his phone.

I sit straighter when his face falls a bit, his head quirking with surprise. “So, am I getting it right that these scouts saw you and a woman alone in the Children of Solace? And the woman had a job ? And she was talking to you?”

I screw my face up, completely baffled. “Yes, Jude, obviously . Why?”

He laughs a little, shaking his head. “Look, Cole, I hate to break this to you – but you’re screwed.”

“What?”

He holds up his phone with the screen to me, twitching it back and forth teasingly.

“I have it on good authority that these kids have probably never seen a man talking with a woman, especially a woman in pants . With a camera . Not only are they going to get insane rewards for reporting that they actually saw something worth reporting, but they’re going to be fascinated .

These kids have nothing to do all night long but crawl through the woods and look for shit.

No matter where you are, if you left tracks back to where you’re camped?

They’ve found you. And they’re watching. Reporting everything back.”

I slump in my chair, dumbfounded, thinking about the tire tracks that lead them right to us. “What the fuck .”

Jude straightens, tossing his phone onto the desk and crossing his arms over his chest. “If I were you, I’d move. Your location has absolutely been compromised.”

“Impossible to move right now,” General Amir says behind me, his voice grave. “The assault tonight prevents it.”

“Right,” dad says, sighing, looking between all of us. “Shit timing to get this news. We should have consulted Jude on this as soon as we got the images from Ms. Lind.”

I glare at my dad, thinking that’s right. Now we’re all seriously in danger, and there’s no time to deal with it before we have to face something very serious.

“Jude,” dad says, moving on to problems that we potentially could solve. “From your perspective, is there any way to aid these children? Get them away from the Children of Solace?”

Jude shrugs. “Look, I’m no expert on it, and I can look into it further if you want, but basic psychology suggests that these kids will have been raised to be terrified of you, even if they’ll find you fascinating.

They’d do everything they could to get away if you caught them.

And, like I said, they won’t hesitate to lash out and try to hurt you if you try to trap them.

They’re not like kids in Clythera.” Slowly, he shakes his head.

“They’re already raised to be little warriors. ”

“Could we lure them?” dad muses aloud, his voice curious. “With food, maybe? Warmth, shelter?”

Jude’s mouth presses to a thin line as he considers it. “Considering what I’ve learned of the CoS, they’d be beaten severely and shunned if anyone in the cult finds out they took aid from you, and they know that. And they’ll probably think that whatever you’re trying to give them is poisoned.”

He shrugs like it’s a bit of a hopeless cause as my heart sinks, tightening in my chest. My wolf howls, desperately afraid for them.

I sigh, finished with this and ready to move on. I glance up at General Amir. “Anything else?”

General Amir shrugs, looking down at me. “It was your meeting, Cole.”

“Hold steady for now, Cole,” dad says, drawing my eyes back to the screen.

“Let your guards know what to look for. Have your journalist take more photos of the surrounding areas, see if she can turn anything up with that imaging technology of hers. When tides turn a bit, we’ll move your camp somewhere else for increased safety. ”

“And don’t forget to look up,” Jude adds, nodding seriously.

“What?” I ask, my face screwing up in confusion as I look to my brother.

He continues to nod to me as he thinks about it. “Kids are little, light. They’ll take advantage of small spaces and craggy hillsides. It would be foolish to assume that they’re not spying on you from above just because the cliffs around you are too narrow and steep for adults.”

I nod slowly, watching my brother, kind of thinking that it’s a bit of a shame for the Goddess to have awarded someone who is such a jackass with a clever mind like that.

But another part of me is more practical, thinking that it’s kind of crazy that I now have to instruct my guards to look for lethal children in the cliffside on top of their other duties.

My dad starts to say goodbye, but I snap my head up, frowning at my friend.

“Jude,” I say, words sharp. “Are any of the scouts girls?”

Jude scoffs and laughs, shaking his head ruefully. “No, Cole. They would…not send the girls out for that. Not in a million years.”

“Would you like to check with your source on that?” I ask, a bit through my teeth.

He smirks at me and shakes his head. “I already know the answer. Trust me. The girls will be…kept away. And the reasons for why are best left unpondered.”

I sigh and hang my head, the realization sweeping over me that even if some of the Children of Solace’s child population will be out of those caves tonight during the assault…

The girls will very likely be inside.

“Hey, wolfie!” Shayne calls.

I shake myself out of my reverie and look up from the little block of wood and knife that I’m holding in my hands. I’m honestly quite surprised to see three girls standing before me at the fire pit, steaming bowls of stew in their hands. How did I not hear them approach?

My eyes instantly move to Nadia, who holds a bowl out to me.

“It’s not like you to not eat,” she says quietly, her eyes moving quickly over me, suspicious.

“Yeah, well,” I sigh, reaching out to accept the food. “I’ve got a lot on my mind. Come on, you three, sit. I’ve got news that’s going to blow your minds.”

All three smile excitedly and join me on the logs. I glance around, ensuring that we’re relatively alone. Tommy heads over, a bowl of soup in his hand as well, but that’s fine – the guards have already been briefed.

“Look up in the cliffs,” I murmur, lifting my chin up to the foliage in the dying light of the evening. “See anything?”

“Leafs.” Shay says, her mouth full of stew. “Sticks. A nice bird. Why?”

“Well,” I say as Tommy sits down with us, murmuring a warm hello. “Apparently, there’s more out there that we’re not seeing.” The girls go quiet, their eyes going wide as I swear them to secrecy and then begin to tell them what I know.