GABRIEL
Kissing her was everything. Every instinct, every sleepless night I spent staring at her photo.
Every failed job, and every moment of yearning, hoping she was okay.
It was that impossible pull I didn’t understand, but knew instinctively, that she was something more than just another job.
If I’d had any doubts about how I felt about her, they were gone now.
All it took was that first brush of her lips, and I knew she was mine.
As her hands came up to my face, my hands slid into her hair. There was no longer a distinction between her and me, and something in my chest shattered—a release of something that had been building with pressure for years. Because no matter how far the river wanders, eventually it comes home.
I pressed against her. I wanted more. I wanted more skin, less clothes. I wanted to feel the heat of her—under my hands, with my mouth, my tongue. I wanted it fast, and I wanted it so slow that time stopped having meaning. I wanted it all. I wanted everything.
We moved together with a quiet urgency, like we had all these missed moments to make up for.
I couldn’t get enough—but, eventually we had to come up for air.
When we did, we hardly parted. Our lips were less than an inch apart, as we shared great inhales of air, like maybe we had just drowned and brought each other back to life.
I saw the vulnerability and fierce awe in her eyes as she clung to me.
Her flushed cheeks and swollen lips stirred a yearning and I couldn’t think. If it wasn’t for her air, I don’t think I’d be breathing either. I couldn’t remember the version of the world before this kiss, and I didn’t want to.
My hands slid down her sides and around her waist. I pulled her against me and rested my forehead against hers, just to hold her—to revel in this moment of calm in the storm of everything we still had to face.
A knock on the door pulled a groan of protest. I wanted nothing more than to drag her back into bed and continue exploring this new thing between us.
“Go away!” Seven called.
The knock came again. “Would love to—” It was Nyx. “But, North wants Deathwing to go over the schematics of the island.”
“Sure he does,” I grumbled. “We’ve only gone over them a hundred times already.”
Emersyn huffed a laugh, her breath warm as it coasted across my lips. She leaned in and pressed one more weighted kiss against my mouth.
“Find me later?” She whispered.
“Always.”
Somehow I tore myself from her.
“Fuck, that was hot,” Seven muttered.
I opened the door to find not just Nyx outside, but Doc.
“No!” Seven called out. “Do not let him in here!”
Doc rolled his eyes and moved into the room to more of Seven’s protests, as I followed Nyx down the stairs. Nyx kept casting sly smirks my way.
“Hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” he chuckled.
“Sure, Nyx,” I grunted. “You’re real sorry. Were you sorry in the kitchen too?” I asked as I thought about how the crash of cooking sheets had been perfectly timed.
Nyx laughed. “Okay, I’m not really sorry. Do you know how many times I get interrupted in this house? It’s a lot.”
We walked into the war room and North, West, Atlas and Knight sat around the table. Various monitors held schematics and photos.
“So the drone made it?” I asked as I peered at the images.
West nodded. “Kaelin’s doing. We have two of them out there.”
“Any movement?”
“Oh yeah,” Nyx took a seat next to Atlas. “That’s why we wanted you involved.”
I wasn’t unaware of the planning that had been taking place since we got here.
While North was very conscious of the need for his team to heal and rest, he also knew that Mahoney would be preparing for us, and so we needed to do our own prep and surveillance.
For the most part, I’d only been called in a few times to consult, but from the looks of things, consulting was over. It was time for plans.
“Mahoney has been infilling additional security,” North said. “As well as fortifying the easiest entry points of the island. This includes the airstrip and all beach access points.”
“We don’t want to go through the forest,” I stated. “I can tell you that right now. That’s a natural bit of security he has on that side that I won’t touch.”
“I agree,” North nodded. “The problem is he has anti-air on the roof now.”
“He what?” I looked at the monitors to see the drone images from the roof of the manor. Three massive guns had been installed.
“We’d planned on doing an air infill," North said. “But, now it looks like we’re going to need a team to go in and dismantle those first.”
“So we’re going in by boat?” I asked.
“That is the thought,” Atlas said. “There—” He pointed to a section of island where the manor edged up to the open air of the cliffs. “Swim in. Climb all the way to the roof, dismantle the guns so the bird can drop the rest of the team.”
“Where is the helo coming from? It would need to refuel—”
“The boat is more of a yacht,” Nyx said. “There’s a landing pad. We just need to acquire the helo.”
“I might be able to help with that,” I said.
“Oh?” North said.
“My sister is a pilot.”
“Would she fly for us too?” Atlas asked.
“If she’s available, I don’t doubt it.”
“Give her a call,” North said.
“Okay, so we go in by boat—a team to dismantle the guns, a team to infill by helo—” Nyx pointed to the airstrip. “What are we going to do about Mahoney’s escape plan?”
I moved closer to the monitor and studied the island.
“Send in a third team—rig the jet, the hangar, anything else that flies. Use it as a distraction to hide the attack of Team A on the anti-air. Drop Team B on the lawn once it’s clear.
Team C can rendezvous with everyone after the bombs go off.
” I shook my head. “Mahoney knows we won’t touch the forest.” I turned to them.
“I cannot stress enough how you should not enter the forest without a tracker with you, as well as gas masks, it is extremely dangerous to navigate. If we didn’t have Seven and Emersyn leading, we would have been fucked. ”
“Emersyn?” Nyx asked.
North’s gaze drilled into mine and I nodded.
“You should ask her about it, but it’s obvious she’s had training.
Military. Highly specialized, and proficient in the forest setting.
She even reset a bear trap in a creek by feel—” I shook my head and offered an amused smirk.
“She knows how to move with a team. Don’t underestimate her. ”
North studied me for a long moment before he nodded. “Noted. Thank you.” He rose abruptly. Nyx and Atlas shared a smile between them that held a soft knowing.
“Griffin, finalize the explosives locations with West,” North ordered.
I nodded and watched him go. I, too, knew where he was going. I wished I was headed off to find Emersyn, but I knew she and North needed as many father/daughter moments as they could possibly have. Besides, I never passed up an opportunity to do my second favorite pastime.
I turned to West with a grim smirk. “Alright then. Let’s blow some shit up.”
Once West and I wrapped up our planning session, I stepped out to call my sister. She answered on the first ring.
“Hey you!” Uh oh, I knew that tone. “Want to tell me why all my calls have been going to voicemail for the last few days?”
“I texted you,” I said.
“You said you were going dark, and you’d call me when you got back on the grid.”
“This is me calling you, isn’t it?”
“I saw your tracker go back online like a week ago, Griff!”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, it’s been–pretty wild since I came back online.”
“Speaking of—want to tell me what’s going on?”
“I do actually, but first I have a favor to ask.”
The line was silent.
“Sis?”
“I’m here,” she said warily.
“I was wondering if you’d pilot a helo for an upcoming job I have?”
The silence was heavy.
“Would you stop that?” I huffed. “It’s really annoying—”
“There’s a girl, isn’t there?”
“What? Why would you—”
“Oh my God, I’m right, aren’t I?” She asked excitedly. “You never ask me for favors.”
“I mean, yeah, there is—”
She squealed, and I held my phone away from my ear. “I knew it! I knew there was a reason I hadn’t heard from you! Of course I’ll fly for you. BYOH or what?”
I chuckled. Bring Your Own Helo. “Yeah, if you have something available—”
“Psh, duh.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “Will the Little Bird work or do you need something bigger?”
“No, that’s perfect.”
“Alright, now tell me the details, bro,” she said. “And don’t leave out any of the good parts.”