Page 144

“Bane’s numbers are gutted, but there are still enough to cause trouble for me—if I don’t deliver them a win, a substantial win, they’ll refuse to continue this war,” Alastair argues.

“Sullivan is trying to use our losses to demonstrate my incompetence. He’s gaining some traction.

I don’t think you understand how volatile?—”

Alarmed, I sit back up. “Then you need to contain it, Alastair. You said you had this under control.”

“This is me containing it,” he snarls back, and Jayk stiffens, his eyes flashing at Alastair’s tone.

“Fine!” Dom bites out, straightening. He rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “Fine. What do you want?”

“I want the smokehouse—everything inside it. These men want meat. And I want devastating losses on your side. A clear win for the Sinners,” Alastair says immediately.

Jasper sighs, pressing a tense finger between his brows.

I know why.

Cole and Sawyer are getting surlier with every Reaper death. Particularly as we’re not sustaining the same number of casualties. Luckily, the Reapers are incompetent enough that their losses are still relatively easy to explain away.

It takes more than a little patience to deal with them, though.

“Do you have more names?” Dom asks gruffly.

“I have a list. I stand by what I said, though, Ranger. The captives have been extremely clear. Every one of those Reapers was complicit,” Alastair finishes softly.

They finalize the details and the call ends.

“I’m not having our people anywhere near this one,” Dom says, and I nod tiredly.

I’m not sure how much more risk I can stomach.

“You son of a bitch!” I shout into the phone. “You said it was under control. What the fuck was that?”

My hands are still sticky with Ava’s blood, my mind still stuttering over images of the burns up her side and Jasper’s ripped face.

The grass scratches against my thighs as I walk farther away from the few straggling Reapers and the pools of blood in the dirt.

I’m well out of earshot, but I can’t be anywhere near that place. Not right now.

Dom jogs up behind me, watching me with a taut jaw and worried eyes.

“What happened?” Alastair asks, and I hear the scrape of chair legs being pushed back.

“What happened ? You fucking asshole. You haven’t contained shit . Your Sinners today had grenades. There were bombs going off. They weren’t where they were meant to be, and our people got hurt !” I rage at him.

Hot, violent nausea bubbles in my gut. They need to be okay. Jasper and Ava, they both need to be okay.

“I’ll look into?—”

“No!” I cut him off. “You won’t look into anything . You got Jasper shot. You got Ava blown up. Bane might be dead but?—”

“Bane is dead?” he asks sharply. “You’re sure? He’s been difficult to handle quietly. He’s a cockroach when it comes to survival. That’s a huge win for us, Eden, I can’t overstate it.”

God, I want to reach through the phone and stab him!

Didn’t he hear? My Jasper is shot .

I can feel the sun burning my skin but it’s nothing next to the fury that’s scalding me.

“He’s dead , Alastair.” I’m shaking from head to toe. “Jasper could die. Any one of them could have died today. What the fuck happened?”

There’s a pause. “Perhaps you should put your Ranger on the phone so I can?—”

Murder flashes through me.

Dom’s brows lift in slow, cautious question as he watches me. I don’t think he can hear Alastair, but my eyes stay on Dom’s as I take a deep breath.

When I speak next, my voice is as chilling and calm as Alastair’s usually is.

“You aren’t speaking to anyone but me right now, Alastair.

Now I don’t know if this was your incompetence today.

I don’t know if this was you not handling Bane or his men the way they needed to be handled.

I don’t know if this happened because Sullivan and Heather are still working against you—because you are a controlling, untrusting bastard who is letting his obsession with her risk everyone’s safety. ”

My bloodied hand tightens on the phone, and Dom shakes his head, like he doesn’t know, either.

Alastair, finally, falls silent on the other end of the line.

My rage resettles into something cold and sharply purposeful. “I don’t know why today went so wrong, but whatever it was, you’d better fix it. Because from here on out, anything you do to my people, I will be doing to you.”

Dom is staring at me, his eyes a slow, rolling smolder, and he runs an absent thumb over his lips.

I end the call, and Dom is still staring.

“What?” I ask, trying to keep the testiness out of my voice.

It isn’t for him.

He shakes his head once, but his heated gaze doesn’t shift. “Just glad you’re on our side, little librarian.”

Softening, I give him a small smile and look back toward the main compound.

My smile withers fast.

“Now that’s done... I need to go see Jasper.” My voice breaks, and the adrenaline begins to crash in on me. “And I would really like you to hold my hand when I do.”

Lucky’s shoulder is heavy against mine as we sit in the cold, tiled hall together. The door in front of us looms large, and I try not to flinch at every sound that makes its way through it.

Behind that door, Beau is operating on Jasper.

Lucky’s fingers are laced tightly through mine, and silent, matching tears run down both our faces. The heat of his callused hand against mine is the only thing holding me together.

Ava is stable now and resting in the next room down the hall, but Jasper...

I can’t lose him.

Silently, Dom sets down a cup of water for each of us, then sits beside the door, waiting with us. Jayk paces up the hall, his fingers laced anxiously behind his neck. His eyes settle on my face, and his brows lower.

“The doc has him,” he says gruffly, for the fifth time in an hour.

It’s beginning to sound like a promise.

Or a prayer.

Lucky’s head turns to look at me, and his lashes are wet with tears.

“I can’t.. .” he starts, and I nod, my own tears falling.

“I know.”

“I know he had to go. I know we’re all doing what we need to, and I’m okay with that, I swear, but if he—” Lucky’s voice breaks.

“I know, sweetheart,” I whisper, tasting the salt on my lips.

“We only just got him, Eden. We only just started. He can’t . . . I can’t . . .”

Pain squeezes me apart, and I crawl onto his lap until we’re curled together.

We break together, our tears mixing like holy water, just the way Jasper likes.

And when the door opens, neither one of us looks up. Lucky only squeezes me tighter.

“He’s okay, everyone. He’s stable,” Beau’s gentle voice tells us kindly. “Jasper is going to live.”

“Man, it smells like BO and peonies in here. We should have waited to eat back at camp,” Lucky mutters to me, his rifle hanging casually over his shoulder as we get some food from the Reapers’ mess hall.

We spent some time chatting with Ava, who is more than done with her room in the med bay, no matter how many of us visit or stay to keep her company.

Being this close to the Reapers has all of us shivering.

There’s a new darkness in her eyes that doesn’t look like it will shift any time soon, and she’s quietly protective over her two missing fingers.

While we were in there, Jasper had lingered in the doorway, his beautiful face marred but no less beautiful for his own wounds. He’s struggled in his own ways with the new, permanent addition to his face, and we’re giving him space to work through his feelings about it.

By tacit agreement, I ushered Lucky out of Ava’s room to give Jasper some privacy while Beau checked him over... and to give Jasper some time to talk to Ava.

But it did mean ending up here.

Among them .

“Ooh, let me get a bread roll. Don’t move,” Lucky says distractedly.

He shuffles down the buffet line to pluck up a bread roll, and I run into Akira. She turns, plate in hand, and her dark eyes are unfriendly.

My grip tightens on my own plate, but I try to force a smile.

It doesn’t come.

This woman left us and came straight here. She was with the Sinners first. With Alastair and her Logan. She had to have known what the Reapers were, and she not only told them about all the civilians... she led them right to our doorstep.

To Kasey’s doorstep.

And she did it while she still thought Sam was in charge.

It goes beyond a grudge. I don’t know if it was solely to secure a position here. Maybe—considering the way she now seems to be living in a repulsive level of comfort. But it’s not a decision I can understand, not even in the name of self-preservation.

She is like the Reapers she joined.

Cowardly to the point of evil.

“Move, Akira. I want some bacon.”

My words are blunt, blatantly rude, but I am so far beyond caring what she makes of it. It’s the politest thing I’m able to say.

What I want to say would ruin the last six months of planning.

Akira’s lips twist in amusement, but she steps back with a mocking little bow, and I ignore her, piling crispy strips of bacon onto my plate. My mouth suddenly feels so sour, I’m not sure I can eat them.

Akira leans against the table, and I see Lucky look over at me, his eyes flicking between us cautiously. I give him a small, reassuring shake of my head.

“You know, you never did thank me, Eden,” she muses, and I pause, staring down at my plate.

A fly lands on one strip of bacon, before crawling all over it.

“ Thank you?” I bite out, and I drop my plate on the buffet table as I turn to her.

My rage has been burning ever since I learned about the Reapers, and it’s quick to rise to the surface. Flashes of memories flick through my mind—Sawyer’s smile, the Reapers cringing from a fight, Jennifer’s tears, the manacles in the barn.

My eyes scream a warning at her to stop, but her smile only sweetens like the reeking flowers none of us can escape.

“Well, for bringing the Reapers to you. Now you’re all here, and fed, and thriving. I just thought you must be?—”

My fist connects with her jaw before she can finish her sentence.

“Oh, shit!” Lucky shouts, but I’m already dragging Akira by her hair out of the mess hall.

She tries to take me down, but it only makes me land on top of her, and I channel every single hunt, every single sparring session with Dom and Jayk, every single moment of unanswered rage I’ve needed to keep on lock.

I feel blood spurt and hear her cries and every hit is a joy and a relief.

This bitch could have put Kasey at Bane’s mercy.

Vaguely, I hear the crowd. I hear Lucky and his shouts. I hear Jayk as he arrives.

And eventually, I see Jasper’s gentle eyes and his elegant face. I see where he was hurt by all this violence.

It makes me loosen my fists.

I let him lead me away, curled into his side.

And I try to believe his promise that this will all be over soon.

My brutes and I are all sitting out under the stars in the pasture a little way from our camp. It’s a cool night, but we’re bundled in blankets and heavy clothes, and the easy company is more than enough to keep me warm.

There hasn’t been an attack in a week.

The satellite phone is on speaker, resting on a blanket, and I’m tucked against Dom. Happy, relieved tears are welling in my eyes, and Lucky dimples at me across the blankets, his eyes soft.

Most of the flowers have died off for winter, and the air is crisp. Almost fresh again.

“So it’s done?” I ask wonderingly.

Alastair is apparently off doing something terribly important, so we have Mateo and Bentley on this call, and it’s nice to hear their voices.

“There’s only a dozen or so men here I don’t trust now.

They should be easy enough for us to round up.

It’s been so much easier since Bane died.

” Mateo sounds exhausted, but there’s as much relief in his voice as there is in mine.

“We’ll have some work to do convincing Sullivan’s group that we’re not the spawn of Satan, but the captives will help us. ”

“Thanks to me,” Bentley interjects. “They thought you skinned baby seals for breakfast until I brought them round.”

“I baked for them,” Mateo mutters sulkily, and Bentley’s laugh booms.

“Oh, dollface, they definitely thought those cupcakes were poisoned. They got dumped so fast. You made it so much worse.”

Mateo sighs, and Bentley comforts him quickly. “Don’t worry. I stole one when you weren’t looking. It was very nice.” His deep, rumbling voice turns wicked. “In fact, it tasted almost as good as?—”

“How have things been with Heather and Sullivan?” Jasper interrupts politely, and Beau rolls onto his back as he chuckles.

The stars twinkle down on us.

Smiling, I exchange a curious look with Lucky, who shrugs, his dimples deepening.

“They’re almost definitely fucking,” Dom mutters in my ear, and I splutter a laugh.

“They’ve been quiet. Since we stopped the attacks they haven’t had much to complain about,” Mateo says with the air of a shrug.

“I think we’re past the worst now. Once we break the news to them this week, we’ll free the captives and let them choose where they would like to go.

Then Alastair and I will bring our men to you to help you contain the Reapers—we might need Arthur’s help to fill out our numbers.

We still don’t have as many as we’d like.

” He sighs grumpily. “Maybe after Sullivan comes around.”

Then . . . that’s it.

Bane and his men are taken care of.

The Reapers have taken heavy casualties, and between us, Red Zone, and Alastair’s men, we can pin down the rest and let the captives decide on their justice.

We’ll have to decide what to do with the farmlands to keep production going, but...

“It’s done,” Jayk says heavily, his voice rough, and I look at him with tears in my eyes.

“We did it,” Bentley agrees, with much more cheer in his voice. “And better yet, I get to see the look on Heather’s face when you and Alastair release the captives, dollface. Then she’ll really have to admit that she’s in love with?—”

Mateo snorts, then lets out a tired sigh. “We’re not there yet. Let’s get through the next few days.”

We say our goodbyes, and when the call ends, there’s a full, beautiful ache in my chest.

It’s finally over.

Very, very soon . . . we’re going home.