Chapter 1 #2
“James,” she said, voice quiet. “Operation Overwatch is ready. Team’s loaded.
Horizon will drop us at a safe distance from Newport.
We’ll hike the rest of the way and set up observation from cover.
Taylor will pilot her home. The Frenchmen are going along.
They’re smart. The more they learn about her, the better.
I showed them the basics.” She paused. “Please don’t let them take her joyriding. ”
I almost smiled. “They strike you as the joyriding type?”
“William might. Nolan’s too cautious.”
“Thanks for doing this.”
She nodded once, eyes flicking to mine then away. “I won’t let you down.”
Before she turned, she stepped in, rose on her toes, and kissed me. Short, firm. Her lips were warm and dry. Her tail gave one quick flick when she pulled back.
“Stay safe,” she said.
“You too. Keep the link open when you can.” By link, I meant the wrist-com found aboard the Horizon.
I had one too, along with a few other key personnel.
Their range was impressive, to say the least. At first, I thought they were little more than smartwatches, but once Ira saw them, she knew exactly what they could do.
She left without another word, heading for Horizon in the parking lot. The ship’s running lights blinked on as she approached, bathing the gravel in a soft blue glow. I watched her climb the ramp, then turned and started up the path toward the old golf course.
The path was still clear enough, worn down by a week of foot traffic between the Casino and the elven camp.
Avalon fell away behind me, the buildings shrinking against the hillside.
The air cooled as I climbed. By the time I reached the first fairway, the wind had a bite to it, carrying the smell of dry grass and a sweet scent I couldn’t place.
The elves had taken the overgrown golf course.
Fairways gone to seed, sand traps full of weeds, cart paths cracked and sprouting.
They’d built small fires in the old sand traps, arranged their bedrolls and lean-tos in loose circles around them.
About thirty of them in total, men and women both, though the women outnumbered the men by at least three to one.
They kept their distance from each other and from everyone else.
Especially the ci dyn. I’d watched one of the elven men stiffen when a ci dyn work party passed within twenty yards of the camp perimeter.
His hand went to the knife at his belt and stayed there until they were gone.
I felt the distance as I walked through. It wasn’t hostility, exactly, but wariness. Eyes followed me, quiet conversations paused, and I caught the way a few of them shifted their weight, as if ready to move if I got too close. This wasn’t their world, and I wasn’t their people.
There were exceptions. Lyubor, the elder, sat by the biggest fire, her voice low as she spoke with two younger women.
She looked younger than me, skin smooth, platinum hair heavy over her shoulders, but the way she sat told a different story.
Centuries in her posture, patience in her hands.
One of the young male elves had started hovering near the human women.
I’d seen him watching Clara more than once before she left.
She was the same Clara who’d gone with Casey to Newport twice, and now she was out on Emma with Casey again.
His attention had been steady and a little too focused.
If he’d been less serious, it might have been funny.
About half the elven women managed to be cordial.
Some went past that. One in particular always seemed to be near Lyubor.
She had dark hair, amber eyes, and a scar on her left forearm, usually hidden by a strip of cloth.
I’d seen her blush when we crossed paths, but I never had time to stop.
The elven women apparently had a stronger libido than their men, or so the talk went among the human women.
I didn’t need to test it to know a few were interested.
Their thoughts had a heat to them, a focused warmth that felt different from human desire, less tangled, more direct.
I was on the path back down when I met Stuart and Flora coming the other way.
Both looked like they’d just left the elven camp.
Stuart raised a hand. Flora smiled, the same easy expression she’d had since the day I told her she was welcome to take Stuart as a mate.
She was both pleased and disappointed. It meant that I couldn’t be her mate, but she was pleased that Stuart passed my test and was accepted.
She’d been quite proud of that. You could see it in the way she walked beside him, her tail held high, and the way she reached over and then touched his arm.
“James,” Stuart said. “Didn’t expect to see you up here.”
“Checking the ground. How are they settling?”
Flora glanced back toward the fairways. Her ears twitched, picking up sounds I couldn’t hear. “Some are better than others. Lyubor keeps them in line. The rest will come around or they won’t.”
“Fair enough.”
Babies, we needed to start preparing for that.
I didn’t say it, of course, but I sure thought it.
It wasn’t only because of my own situation as the pack alpha; with more men among us, men like Stuart, who had found a mate faster than I expected, it was bound to happen.
Them two could barely keep their hands off each other.
It was good, though. He earned it. Sure, he’d never be me, but he was a good man, and Flora was lucky to be the first in line. There would be more, but for now, it was the two of them, and they took advantage of every moment they could.
We stood there a moment in the warm sun, three people who had survived more than we planned to, then I nodded and kept walking. The path led down through the dry grass, back toward the lights of the Casino and the dark water beyond.