Page 113

“This is not where you said you wanted me yesterday.”

I tried not to be hurt as Finn snapped the words at Aaron.

We stood beside a tactical vehicle—basically, a four-wheel drive ute with a machine gun mounted in the tray.

That wasn’t where we’d be sitting, though.

Aaron wanted me in the middle of the back seat with Finn and Slade on either side, and Brandon in the front passenger seat.

“I took what you said under advisement,” Aaron said. “You’re in the back, protecting your mate.”

“Put Brandon and Slade with her.”

Her , I thought, not Jules, not Julie . My eyes were forced down as they began to sting.

“Gimme one of the bikes, and I’ll go on ahead.”

“Fucking give this cherry what he wants,” one of the soldiers said, edging forward. “Let him get his head ripped off by some weird arse monster or one of the murderous bastards. Give us a clear path to his grieving mate.”

When the soldier’s eyes flicked to me, his gaze was lecherous, but it was hard to tell if that was real or to provoke Finn. Either way, it worked.

“Don’t look at her.”

“Well, why don’t you take your place by her side and stop him from doing so,” Aaron said, stepping into Finn’s space.

“Do you know what any of us would do to be in your shoes? Do you?” My head jerked up as I heard the slight waver in Aaron’s voice.

It didn’t deter him as he shoved his finger into Finn’s chest. “You have the one thing we all want, Finn—a mate. And instead of cherishing every damn moment of that, you’re letting guilt make you its bitch, and a stupid one at that.

” The other man watched Finn’s shoulders sag.

“Your dads have been out here for years, Finn. It’s imperative we get them out, but there’s no urgency. We do this safe, and we do this smart.”

“But what I saw…”

“We all saw it, mate, and now we’re gonna do something about it.

Trust us, trust my guys. There’s no one else I’d want to be walking into a motherfucking huge wolf’s den with.

But if we’re gonna do this, someone needs to look after Jules.

She’s the most precious. Something might happen to one of us, but she needs to make it back.

Work with Brandon and Slade, and make that happen. ”

My eyes took in every detail of the exchange, lingering particularly on the abrupt jerk of Aaron’s hands as he spoke to Finn.

That one is strong , my Tirian said as I felt the eerie sensation of her moving within me to peer out my eyes.

Yeah, I don’t feel like I know him all that well, and then this.

Some of your men are all dramatic declarations , a view of Slade and Jack popped into my mind, but others will wait for you to notice.

And I haven’t been noticing.

I have.

Aaron waited until Finn nodded in resignation, then clapped him on the shoulder, and turned to the others.

“Everyone knows where they’re supposed to be.

Hills, you keep to the middle of the pack, the rest of you, eyes peeled.

We’ve got limited intel on what lives here from the mine crew.

You’ll need your wits about you. No shooting indiscriminately, but if something looks hostile, take it out. Let’s go.”

And that was that. Everyone started to move—everyone but me.

It was weird; I’d come to Sanctuary, found out I was this crazy powerful smoke wolf thing, and still, I was manoeuvred around by the men in my life.

My teeth ground as a wave of resentment hit me and I glanced at the alien landscape with its purple trees.

I had no experience here. I couldn’t handle a gun, and would have no idea how to cope with some strange creature if it attacked me, so I saw the wisdom in protecting me. I had the least useful skills.

“C’mon, princess,” Slade said, and for the first time, that label stung. I was the princess, a burden to be argued over and managed, and it wasn’t something that sat well with me. “In you get,” he said as he opened the door, like I was a child. I followed the instructions dully.

“I’ll get in the front. Brandon can sit with Julie,” Finn said, moving to do exactly that.

The other men all looked at me for confirmation, but I just got in the car and buckled up like a good little girl.

I stared at the side of Finn’s face when the car started, hungrily taking in all of the details.

I’d thought we’d resolved things, got things back on track when he’d cried in my arms, but it appeared I’d done little good.

Finn was still torn apart by guilt and angry at the delays in atoning for it.

All of a sudden, I felt a wave of love and reassurance.

It was like being stroked by a velvet glove, the soft fibres brushing over all my sharp edges, encouraging them to relax and lay flat.

I looked down and saw Brandon and Slade had taken my hands.

“It’ll be OK, love,” Slade said in a low voice, partially obscured by the rumble of the engine. “He’ll pull his head out of his arse at some point.”

“And we’ll step in if he doesn’t soon,” Brandon said, eyeing the other man.

I settled back against the seat, staring out the windscreen at the strange landscapes that appeared.

I saw tall spires of stone carved into weird sinuous shapes by the elements, long drooping lengths of vine with great purple and yellow striped trumpets of flowers that lured in masses of insects, only to close around them when they got near enough.

We burst out of the closely wooded path we drove down, the foliage falling away abruptly to reveal a great plain of yellowish-green grass.

White clouds scudded across a bright blue sky.

I was seeing something so very few people on my world would ever get a chance to, and here I was, eating my heart out over relationship dramas. I glanced at the back of Finn’s head with narrowed eyes.

I think Finn had managed to hold onto his good mood when we stepped through the portal, laden with guns and supplies, because he’d expected to see the Volken there, waiting for us the minute we got to the mine.

Instead, we were greeted by the mine site manager, given details about the local flora and fauna, as well as any people likely to harass us. None of them were the Volken.

The site manager seemed irritated by the whole thing.

He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the Volken warriors for months, obviously seeing it all as a massive waste of time.

But he stepped through with his men and the machinery they were able to take back home and left us to the peaceful, empty mine site.

Aaron had been relieved to have a bit of time to coordinate the mission, do a quick inventory of supplies, as well as consult the more accurate local maps. But Finn, left without an external enemy to direct his anger at, had turned it on himself in their absence.

I wanted him to be happy, but I couldn’t take responsibility for that.

If he was determined to be angry, to keep everyone out, then that was on him.

Let’s face it—guys PMS too, though with no natural cycle to bring that crazy to an end.

Sometimes they just had to follow that sulk to the ground before realising what kind of muppet they’d been.

I relaxed against the car seat, the guys noting my softening stance with approving nods before directing their focus back outside the windows.

Scanning the landscape, looking for threats, wanting to keep me safe.

I was lucky, I realised, and had nothing to be miserable about.

I was surrounded by people that loved me, that wanted to look after me where I didn’t have the skills to do so.

I let that warm, fuzzy feeling carry me through until we stopped for lunch.

I’d seen weird antelope creatures running in flocks, and clung to my seat with white knuckles as we drove over narrow, rickety looking stone bridges.

We’d passed small villages, plumes of smoke spiralling from the top of simple buildings and saw what looked like an ancient temple mouldering in old growth forest. There were a million things I’d liked to have stopped and inspected more closely, but on we drove until we came to a clearing with some strategic fallen stones that looked like they’d be useful as seats and tables.

The car in front of us signalled for us to stop, and we pulled over.

I got out of the car, feeling that weird stiffness that comes from too much immobility and shook my legs to get the blood rushing back.

“I’ll get us some food,” Brandon said. “You coming, Slade?”

Both of them eyed a blank-faced Finn, who was just standing there, blinking, as if he couldn’t believe we weren’t before the Great Wolf already.

“Look after our mate, yeah?” Slade said, slapping Finn on the shoulder, to which he nodded absently.

I shook my head and said, “I’m going for a wee.”

In hindsight, wandering off into the scrub of an alien world was perhaps not the smartest. The alternative though, of having a pee right in front of everyone, was pretty unthinkable.

We’d explored a whole lot of kinks in my time in Sanctuary, but water sports were off the table.

Finn just nodded when I told him where I was going, so I assumed I was safe.

I’d never been a fan of camping. The total absence of bathrooms was a big turn off, and this was doubly so as I pushed my way through weird blue and green-leafed bushes.

Some were laden with jewel-like berries that smelled lovely as I unintentionally stomped on some that had fallen on the ground, but I pushed on.

Sampling unknown fruit is rookie behaviour , I thought.

I found a spot not too far away from our temporary camp, but unlikely to be accidentally discovered.

As I unbuttoned my jeans and did what I needed to, I noticed it was incredibly quiet.

There was a bit of rustling of leaves, but none of the usual buzz of insects or chirp of birds. Perhaps that’s why I heard him.

“Meep…meep…”