Page 72 of Rogue Mission

“Brother,” he leans in. “That’s love. It cuts you up from the inside out.”

I’m silent for a long moment. Just feeling…too much.

Rosalie tucks under my arm, kisses the side of my neck. “You’re amazing.”

“No. I’m not.”

“We’ll just all have to disagree, then,” Rosalie says, “Because you can’t convince me, or them I suspect.”

“Amen to that,” Camile says, stepping back, rubbing her eyes again. “Now, we’ve got a job to do.”

The room is quiet, but the heavy feels different this time. Marshall opens his laptop. Truck joins him. The girls hug Camile, and speak to her in warm, low tones.

It’s like we’re all bearing the weight. Not just me. Not Camile, but all of us. A team.

Rosalie sighs when she comes back to me and I kiss her temple.

“I still don’t want you to go into that building.”

“You can worry. That’s allowed.” Rosalie’s voice is soft, but it carries steel that I now know is part of her core makeup. “The team’s stretched thin, and you don’t want to leave me behind. Not here. Not by myself.”

A rough groan breaks out of me before I can stop it. I pull her into my arms, burying my face in her hair, breathing her in like she’s oxygen. “I can’t do…that. It’d distract me too much.”

“Then we’ll go together.”

Her smile hits like sunlight after a storm, undoing every defense I’ve ever built.

“I love you,” she whispers, then slips out of my arms before I can react—before I can even blink.

That strange pull hits my chest again.

I recognize it now. It comes when she looks at me with that warm little intimate smile.

The look that says,I see you.

I don’t know what to do with it.

Don’t know how tobethat man. I’m reaching to grab her again so I can echo those earth-shaking words to her when the men launch into motion.

“Perimeter breach!” Marshall barks, checking his phone. “We’ve got company, un-known vehicle! Get into position.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

My heart’s in my throat, pounding hard, as Justice’s team leaps into action.

Holy what?Now there’s an intruder?

The hits just keep on coming.

Like a lump, I’m standing in the middle of the floor, with no idea what to do.

Camile does. With her eyes still damp, the badass woman grabs my hand with a fierce grip.

“Safe room’s this way,” she says, and I’m jerked into motion, Allison crowding in behind me as we all hustle toward what looks like a dead-end hallway.

Where? I don’t see anything that looks safe or like a room.

“It’s down here,” Camile says, tugging me along as my heart races and I steal a look backward, searching for Justice.