Chapter Thirty
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“WE’RE NEARLY DONE NOW,” Amaros said to his second in command.
They were working on installing ensuites in the bedrooms that weren’t in use.
Reegan had installed all of the plumbing for them.
Sinai had duplicated the materials they needed.
Now they were all working together to install showers, vanities and toilets. The ensuite walls would be built last.
“We get a lot done when all of us pitch in,” Cam said, wiping sweat from his forehead. His blond hair was plastered to his scalp. It was sweaty work with the two of them hunched in the corner of the room, putting the equipment together.
“Damn it!” Jac hissed from two rooms down the hallway when he dropped his wrench on his foot.
“Jacquin!” Tor complained all the way from the north wing. “Did you have to drop that thing on your toe? Why aren’t you wearing shoes?”
Jac hunched his shoulders as Arkas snickered at him. “Be glad your mate can’t zap you in retaliation without hurting herself, too,” Ark joked.
“We can’t hurt each other deliberately,” Jacquin reminded him. “But my female does sometimes electrocute me by accident when she gets excited,” he whispered.
All of the males were working in the south wing. They overheard him and shared chuckles.
“I read that in your mind, you idiot!” Tori shouted. “You’ll pay for that!”
A look of panic came over the knight. He abandoned Arkas to try to smooth things over with his mate.
Semiaza shook his head at Tolas. “Jac should know better than to gossip about his female,” he said in disapproval.
Tol nodded in agreement. “Wynter would freeze my manhood if I disrespected her like that.”
Kochab winced in the room next to theirs. “I’m not sure even Qi could heal a frostbitten peen,” he said.
Eze and Braq were assisting him with the ensuite he was working on. They both cracked up and Koach snickered along with them.
“I wish all of our brothers were here, boss,” Camriel said wistfully.
“Me, too,” Amaros agreed with a grin. Their camaraderie was what kept them all together. Unlike Rahab and his crew, the Knights of Order genuinely cared about each other. His men had always been loyal, some to a fault.
“What are you thinking about?” his second asked curiously when his leader snorted out a laugh.
“I was just thinking about Ziegel,” Amaros replied.
Grace was on her way to the kitchen to grab some snacks for the girls and overheard him. She moved closer to the short passageway just ahead to listen in.
“Which ridiculous act of bravery are you thinking about this time?” Cam asked.
“It was the time Zee launched himself off a cliff to land on five soldiers,” Amaros replied. “He broke both of his legs, but I managed to get to him before the three soldiers who he hadn’t killed could wipe him out.”
“I don’t remember this,” Braqel said from the end of the hallway. “What happened to him?”
“We were in one of the eras when water was scarce and deserts were predominant, but it was long before Egyptian times,” their commander said.
They’d all stopped work to listen to him reminiscing.
“I hauled Zee over my shoulder to take him back to our camp, but we didn’t get far,” Amaros continued.
“He started thrashing and slapping at his legs, even though they were broken and the bones were sticking out everywhere.”
Grace almost gagged at the mental picture that conjured up.
“I remember this one,” Ezequiel said. “It was scorpions, right?”
“Right,” their boss confirmed. “They’d crawled into Ziegel’s makeshift trousers while he was lying there in agony. He didn’t even realize they were there until they started stinging him to death.”
The males chuckled and Grace flipped them all the bird, angrily moving both hands from left to right to encompass them all.
“They have no respect,” she muttered beneath her breath.
“Poor Zee,” she said, fighting back tears of compassion for the knight.
No one should be as unlucky as he was. Fate had done him dirty in era after era.
“Things will be better for him during this war,” the kid murmured. “They have to be.”
Gathering snacks for all of the girls, she carried the tray back to the north wing. Wynter was the only one who wasn’t working on installing the ensuites. She was in the great room, watching over little Arak. Angel lay on her belly, watching TV with the water manipulator.
Cutting through the great room, the teen giggled at the sight of the kitten rising and falling with each breath Wyn took.
The redhead scowled at her. “Are you laughing at my gut?” she asked.
“Kind of,” Grace admitted. “It looks really funny to see Angel riding you like a whale breaching in an invisible ocean.”
Wynter looked at her stomach and snickered. Angel began to slide off, but the cambion caught her before she could dig her claws in. “Don’t claw me, you furry little devil!” she chided the animal.
Angel let out a loud yowl, indicating she was starving. “Come with me, you tiny eating machine,” Grace said, then made kissing noises at the animal. Angel abandoned Wynter and leaped from the couch onto Grace’s shoulder. She started meowing directly into the kid’s ear.
“Sin, your hellcat is going to deafen me!” Grace called out.
Sinai left the room she was working on with Oaklie.
She trotted down the passageway and met Grace as she entered it.
Angel’s yowls grew louder when she saw her human.
The teen winced, glad when Sin scooped the animal from her shoulder.
“I swear to God your stomach is a bottomless pit,” the duplicator complained as she carried the kitten to the kitchen.
Grace visited each room and handed snacks and drinks to her friends. Zoe and Vic were the last pair. “Thanks, kiddo,” Vic said with a grin.
“No problem,” Grace said, feeling all mushy inside when Zoe gave her a hug. These females truly felt like her real sisters. They were her family and she couldn’t imagine her life without them.
Tor and Jac had moved to their bedroom to make up after their brief moment of discord. They were the only ones who didn’t hear the computer in the great room start dinging madly.
“It’s probably just another false alarm,” Xanthia predicted as she left Ree to finish inserting a screw into the wall. The computer genius loped through the hallways to the great room and took a seat at her desk. “No, don’t get up, mama,” she joked to Wyn, who’d made no move to check the screen.
“I won’t,” Wynter said with a smirk, then stuffed half of a candy bar into her mouth.
Xan’s chuckle ended abruptly when she saw what was on the top left corner of the screen. “A vehicle is coming this way!” she shouted. “A truck is towing a caravan up the mountain!”
Amaros teleported straight to her side rather than wasting time running.
The others all reached them moments later.
The commander was leaning forward with one hand on the desk, peering at the computer monitor.
“There’s just one person in the truck,” he said.
“But there could be more in the caravan.”
“He’s come a long way,” Zo said, moving to stand next to her mate. Amaros put his arm around her and straightened up. “His plates are from Texas,” she added.
“There’s no way he knows we’re here,” Vic said. She’d removed her reaping hook, since it got in her way while she was working.
“He’ll drive right past us,” Cam agreed, slinging his arm around her shoulders.
They watched as the caravan carefully wove its way around the debris from past landslides. They’d left some of the rocks and boulders to deter unwanted visitors, leaving just enough room for their trucks to pass around them.
Twenty minutes later, the caravan neared their base. Instead of going past, it slowed down and turned into the driveway.
“He’s going to drive straight through your ward, boss,” Jac said. He and Tori had joined them a few minutes ago.
“Who is this guy?” Grace asked in rising concern as the truck and caravan drove through the illusion of shrubs and boulders as if it didn’t exist.
“Let’s go and find out,” Amaros said grimly. With a nod at his men, they all teleported to the armory.