Chapter 12 #3
“Too close. We need to do reconnaissance and move in immediately if we have any chance of getting her out.” Taking a breath, Connor laid out the hard facts.
“We don’t typically do this type of retrieval.
It’s our policy to rescue those we can en route to the facilities, but we leave the facilities alone.
It’s the only way we can operate with any degree of anonymity.
This type of operation has never been done before, so I can’t offer much experience from that perspective. ”
Tension rose again, thickening the air in the room despite the outside breeze blowing through the open vents and windows. Dread coiled in his gut as he watched everyone absorb that information.
This entire situation came back on him. His original mission had been compromised, creating this chaos.
Destroying Brenna’s chance of rescue and condemning Veda and Opal to the same fate.
His screw up had provided the opportunity for this situation to go from bad to horrific.
He would help Rodric fix it or die trying.
The barn door pulled closed with a thud, shutting Connor inside the small space with the Wolflumen.
She’d dragged him out alone on the pretense of exercising his healed sword arm, but he doubted that was the only reason.
Cass rounded on him before he could figure out how to broach the sensitive subject of his fault in Brenna’s disappearance.
“I meant it before, Connor. I will pummel you if you make this mission harder than it needs to be on either Celina or Rodric.” Cass’s dark eyes drove into him as sharp as one of her blades.
“I don’t know for sure what happened, and I don’t want to know.
Everyone’s magic is unique, but ours shares some aspects that could lead me to certain conclusions.
I’m choosing not to think too hard about it because I won’t lie to Celina. ”
“But it’s okay for me to lie?”
“Lying and choosing to reveal information at an appropriate time are not the same thing. Don’t let your conscience push you to do something that isn’t necessary at the present time.
That is your emotional problem to deal with.
Rodric has enough weighing on him right now, and by extension, so does Celina. ”
“He deserves to know it’s not his fault he couldn’t track his soul-daughter.”
“I agree. But what he needs is to find Brenna. The rest can wait. Pick up your sword. You’re going to need to use it to free her.”
Her sharp, commanding tone jerked him fully into the warrior mindset. She was right. Sharing the information now would lift his burden and add to Rodric’s. It could wait.
Lifting his sword from the weapons rack, he faced Cass. It had been a long time, but his body remembered what his heart still fought. She began with a simple exercise to test his range of motion with the sword.
“That group you killed in the forest, how formidable were they?” he asked to distract himself from the inner turmoil.
“Mid-level swordsmen. Rodric and Sev would have had a tough time due to their numbers, not so much their skill level. They’re getting soft. Probably rarely challenged.”
“Same with the first group we encountered. The second—the ones who ambushed us—were much better. But the element of surprise made them difficult to deal with.” Connor swallowed hard as he brought his arm up to defend her forward strike. “Jax is dead.”
“Yes.” She met his eyes through their crossed blades, a hint of empathy softening her intensity for the briefest instant. “Drew as well. His injuries took him shortly after they arrived home. He never regained consciousness.”
A wave of grief struck low, and he released his blade to spin away. He came at her hard, maneuvering deftly around Neka’s nest, battling the pain attacking him from the inside.
Their captain, Drew, had been an honorable man. A leader he’d been proud to follow. As second in rank, Connor often had the job of interfacing between their leader and the team in tense situations.
His partner, Ryan. He was so grateful Ryan had survived. They’d been friends since they were too young to know how hard life could be. Gone through every phase of warrior training watching each other’s backs. Ryan was as much family to him as sisters Celina and Cat were.
And Jax and Thalia... He swallowed hard. The depth of love and partnership they had couldn’t be matched.
Cass pressed the advantage as memories flooded his mind of the last time he’d seen the pair together.
Thalia had looked very local with her hair coiled in braids and the long Eldrin style dress.
Jax stood protectively at her side with an arm around her mate’s waist, holding her close.
How the mated couple managed to watch each other work in dangerous situations and not lose their sanity, he’d never understood, but he’d always yearned for what they had.
Heart beating too hard, Connor tightened his grip on his sword, struggling to regulate his breathing.
“Keep going,” Cass commanded.
Pressing him toward the back room, she pinned him in the corner.
The blazing look she gave him told him to fold or step it up a notch.
Realizing he couldn’t hurt her with her superior sword skills, he met her challenge.
He let go of his restraint and poured all his strength into the attack. All his grief.
It was messy, gritty, and lacked precision, just like the emotions raging inside him. She didn’t say a word, just moved in sync with him, meeting his strength with every clash of the blade.
Finally, he let up, signaling he was done and dropping his weapon. His arm trembled as his lungs heaved, but it was a good pain.
Cass assessed him with a knowing gaze. “You look better.”
A morose laugh escaped him. What marker was she using for that judgment?
“Signal me if you need to vent,” she said. “Don’t let anything build up and throw you off-kilter. We need you at your best.”
The harsh but true words sobered him, bringing back the wrenching emotion to his stomach. “I won’t lose anyone else.”
She nodded, witnessing his vow in a way that only another warrior could. Time would tell, but he would commit the entirety of his being to this next phase of the mission.
“You leading or am I?” he asked.
“I am. You’re just the first survivor we’ve rescued.”
“Thank you, Cass.”
It would create a mess of unwanted attention for her at home, which he knew she would hate.
Her sacrifice would free him to act in ways he couldn’t if he’d been leading the rescue as a lightning warrior.
His deepest hope was that Veda and Opal were being held with Brenna.
Then he’d only have two deaths on his conscience.