Chapter 13 #2
Elin sat halfway down the table, a band of tension stretched between her shoulder blades. She pushed around the food on her plate in an attempt to camouflage her jangling nerves.
While they’d all gathered for what the ladies told her was “dinner,” no one mistook this for just a meal. What she was witnessing was obviously a ritual to the team—a last chance to breathe, to remember what they were fighting for before they rushed headfirst into a storm of danger.
Con sat at the head of the table, his untouched plate pushed back. When he cleared his throat, the conversation silenced, every eye on him. “We’re heading to DC soon. You’ve all been briefed. Elin—”
Her heart stuttered.
“—you’re the lead. You wipe the computer, then as soon as you’re out, you make first contact with Kent.”
She nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.
Con’s gaze moved down the table, steady as a laser. “Team for the op is as follows: myself, Dante, Steele, Henner and Ash. Sophie and May, be on standby. We may need your expertise.”
Both women nodded.
Elin’s looked at each and every person Con called. These people were going with her, and she prayed that they all returned safe and whole.
But what about Liam? He’d made demands about watching over her, yet his name wasn’t called.
Her gaze drifted to him, eyes blurring for a moment as she fixated on his broad chest where she’d rested her head oh so many nights. Then she dropped her attention to his hands, fisted on the table.
“Mason.”
Her gaze snapped to his…and Liam was already staring back. She was hurled back to days before, when she walked into the war room and locked eyes with him. The connection had lasted only a beat, but it was enough for her to know, without any doubt, that she would never quit loving him.
Con lifted his jaw toward Liam. “You’re with Elin. You’ll go in as her protection detail, not a SEAL. Civilian look. No guns showing, no hero plays. You stay out of sight unless you need to move. I want calm, clear and alive, copy?”
“Copy. I’ll be calm.” Liam didn’t look away from her when he promised to hold it together. But she read something entirely different in his smoky blue eyes.
That dark gleam told her that if Kent so much as breathed wrong in her direction, Liam would be there to make him sorry for it.
Con went on giving orders. Every word left her feeling more worried than the last, until she couldn’t stop the tremble in her hands and hid them in her lap.
Each command he gave the others felt like a weight on her shoulders, like she was somehow responsible for the men getting home in one piece.
“That’s it for now.” Con drew his plate toward him and lifted his fork.
After that, some of the tension seemed to ebb. Dinner unfolded in a soft clink of forks and small conversations she guessed were probably quieter than usual. She pushed food around her plate, creating small walls like they would hold off the coming storm.
And Liam…he didn’t bother pretending to eat. His thumb tapped a slow beat on the table, reminding her of the stroke of those callused fingers on her body when he made her come undone.
She ducked her head to hide the warmth in her cheeks.
Suddenly, Alyssa’s chair scraped on the floor, and the air felt tight with the kind of pressure that usually broke with bad news.
She perched on the edge of her seat and cleared her throat, a noise Elin recognized was the universal call to attention.
“Um…” Alyssa pushed her chair back a little more. “I’d like to say something to you all.”
The chatter died instantly. All eyes focused on Alyssa, the poised and strong former ambassador who was currently hiding from Cipher. Right this moment, her cheeks were pink and her eyes were bright.
Chase nodded. “Go ahead.”
She sent a loving glance at her significant other, who grinned back. “Some of you saw Dr. Patir on base the other day. Even though Con was trying to dispel the rumors, I’ve heard some of them. I want you to all rest assured that everything is fine. Chase, show them.”
He fished something from his shirt pocket. Then he held up a small, glossy photo between two fingers.
An ultrasound.
“Alyssa’s pregnant.”
“We’re pregnant!” Alyssa’s voice vibrated with joy.
For half a breath, the room stilled.
Then it exploded.
Cheers broke out like gunfire that left people laughing instead of ducking for cover. Chairs scraped back and everyone was on their feet.
Con’s usually composed face cracked into a grin. The guys clapped Chase on the back and gave Alyssa light hugs or squeezes on her shoulder.
Of course, all the women knew already, including Elin, who liked to think she helped by procuring that pregnancy test.
She sent Sinner a look, and he gave her a single nod in return. The man had kept her secret—and by default Alyssa’s—and she was glad to have him as a friend.
Swept up in the flood of joy, Elin rose with the others, joining in the applause.
Chase held up the ultrasound again. “Say hello to the next generation of chaos!”
“To the new recruit!” Dante thrust his bottled water in the air.
“To the new recruit!” echoed around the room, all their drinks raised.
Suddenly, Elin’s throat tightened in a way that nothing to do with tears and everything to do with longing. Inside her, something fragile shifted.
Watching Alyssa glow and seeing the sheer pride on Chase’s face—it felt like looking through a window at a world she’d never believed she could step into.
Babies. Families. Futures.
Her next home was wherever the work carried her. A digital nomad didn’t plant roots or dream of nurseries. Her life was new hotels, new systems to hack, people to help.
These people…they formed a family that wasn’t born of blood but out of loyalty and the shared goal to make the world a better place. They were part of something she wanted but could never have.
And for so long, she thought the only man she had ever imagined that life with was dead.
Liam’s gaze found hers then, as if he heard her thoughts, or maybe the painful thud of her heart.
His gaze intensified, and she had to look away before her expression revealed her feelings.
Someone played some upbeat music on their phone, and for a moment, the base felt like a real home.
But this wasn’t her world.
And if she didn’t leave soon, she was going to fall a little bit in love with all of them—even that little baby bean on the ultrasound.
She murmured a soft excuse and slipped out of the dining room. With each step she took, the noise of the celebration faded behind her.
In the corridor, she pressed her palms to her hot cheeks, trying to shore up whatever was left of her composure, to tuck away her emotions before anyone saw them.
She closed her eyes. She was happy for them, but she didn’t belong here. Tomorrow she would meet a man who could destroy her…a mission she might not come back from.
Some instinct made her glance over her shoulder, and her breath caught in her throat.
Liam stood in the doorway, the celebration still raging behind him. The light painted his shoulders in gold and carved shadows over the planes of his rugged, handsome face.
“You okay?” He drifted a few steps closer.
“Fine.” It wasn’t entirely a lie.
“Big night.”
“Yeah,” she whispered.
His eyes softened. “They’ll be good parents.”
“They already are. Having a child is a rare kind of courage.”
For a moment, they stood there, close but not touching, the mission looming ahead.
He reached out hesitantly and brushed his finger against her wrist, right over the spot where her pulse betrayed her. The warmth of his touch slid through her like the best kind of memory.
“We still haven’t had that talk.”
She shook her head. “I thought we agreed to talk tomorrow.” She didn’t want to be distracted from what she was about to do. And she really didn’t want Liam distracted.
“Then I’ll just say…” He trailed off, gruffer than she’d ever heard him.
She waited, breath trapped in her lungs, staring up into his eyes.
He shook his head. “I’ll keep you safe, angel.”
Her throat tightened and she nodded. “Okay. I…trust you.”
His eyes glimmered and his jaw flexed as if he held back too many words—words she wasn’t sure could fix what was left between them.
Either way, now wasn’t the time. They stood on the edge of a mission, and if they survived, she wasn’t sure she could risk her heart again.