Where We Stand Read online

  Marc visibly relaxed, but Charlie caught the mental note to verify it and knew Marc would before the night was over.

  “Are you okay waiting for her so openly?”

  Charlie flushed and Marc sighed.

  “Pushing limits while your mom’s busy. Smart and stupid, kid. You know that, right?”

  “Yes, but…” Charlie’s voice was strained with the effort of holding in so many new emotions. The urge to take the trader’s life was something that stayed in Charlie’s mind, whispering, but he’d figured out that his obsession with Tracy was helping him control it. He had other highs to reach.

  “I didn’t meet her earlier and I do it every day. When I don’t get to, I feel like... like I betrayed her somehow. She doesn’t feel that way, or at least she never acts like it, but I have to have this time with her. I have to at least have…”

  Charlie snapped his mouth shut, but it was too late. He knew by the way Marc’s mouth tightened into a line.

  Marc thought of the trip here, of being sure he’d never get Angie and desperate for even a single moment of glory to remember. And in that instant, there had only been one thing he wanted from her.

  “A kiss,” Marc said it in a shocked, hushed whisper. “To determine if it’s magic–if she still… to tell if she’s the one.”

  Charlie started to protest, but Tracy came from the tent then and he immediately went to help her dispose of the waste.

  Marc stared, relieved when they went in separate directions.

  Charlie’s step was light, grin large despite the ugly chore he was performing. Very few things could make a person happy while carrying a bucket of vomit, and it kept Marc’s gaze on him.

  “He’s up to something. Follow him,” the demon ordered.

  Reluctantly, Marc did.

  4

  Kenn ducked into the bathroom and sat down with a grunt. Li Sing’s food tasted great going in, but coming out sucked.

  The port-o-let was hot and stinky, but Kenn preferred it over the crowded campers in the mornings and he’d made it a nightly ritual. After this, he would shower, check in with the violent new XO, and stay at Adrian’s side until dawn.

  Footsteps crunched outside the stall comfortingly, people calmly passing, and Kenn finished up. He was anticipating serving Adrian while he recovered and enjoying the extra power he might achieved.

  Kenn opened the door and went outside.

  His foot tangled in something and he brought the other boot in front to keep from falling.

  Barely saving himself, he took another step.

  A sharp tug on his tangled foot sent him sprawling this time.

  Kenn landed hands-down in something wet and reekingly familiar.

  Laughter exploded from the few witnesses and Kenn gritted his teeth as he shoved himself up.

  He jerked his foot free of the jump rope and slung chunks of vomit from his hands.

  An accident, he decided, picking out the rope and no one around except the guards. Some kid dropped his toy as he threw up the day’s breakfast.

  Kenn turned for the showers, face a furious red. He was almost to them when he remembered that sharp tug.

  He turned to glower, but there were only a few Eagles in sight and none of them were looking at him.

  “An accident,” he muttered, jerking the door open. “A clever one.”

  Marc came from the shadows, nodding at the Eagles who’d witnessed it all. Instantly feeling better, he was still chuckling as he motioned Zack to have his boys clean up the mess. Some justice was being dispensed.

  Marc noticed Becky and Neil in deep conversation outside her tent and filed it. He swept the shadows for Seth and didn’t spot any of the cop’s team. Where were they?

  Marc finished his rounds of the main camp and went to the QZ. He avoided the medical area, instead, finding Kevin.

  “Things okay?” he asked, joining the man as he stood duty over the farthest QZ perimeter.

  Kevin sighed. “Out here, sure. In there…”

  Marc could feel the tension. “Anything new happen?”

  “Just a quick fight between Jax and Paul. Probably over Leslie. Angela has them working under supervision. They were on duty.”

  Marc wasn’t surprised. He also wouldn’t be when Leslie chose to follow Samantha’s example and claim them both.

  “What else do you have for her tonight?”

  “Nothing after the meeting,” Kevin answered. “Kyle said she’ll be beat, to send her to your bed.”

  Marc approved. “All posts covered?”

  “Yes, and we’ll have extras until word comes from John.”

  “Good. Who did they tell you to call if something happens overnight?”

  Kevin gave him a pointed look. “You, but only if I had to.”

  “That works.” Marc started to go to the next post, and turned around. “Did she send Seth out?”

  “Yes. He and his team are shadowing the surviving women, making sure they aren’t going to return later.”

  Marc wondered what Angela had told them to do if the snake women chose to return.

  “Kill them all, of course,” the demon supplied. “She knew the Eagles would follow your choice.”

  Marc left before he could confirm what he’d had drawn from Kevin’s mind. He didn’t want to view her or himself that way.

  5

  “Are you happy now?”

  Samantha smiled at the question, stepping aside so that Marc could join her in the tent. She hadn’t heard him tap, but was sure that he had.

  “More than I ever thought was possible.”

  “And your men?”

  Samantha winced. “They’re… adjusting.”

  Marc had questions, but the one he needed answered, he refused to let through his lips.

  Samantha gave him a quick weather report, hoping he would let it go. Marc was the one person here that it bothered her to lie to, and if he asked the right questions, things could get tense.

  “So just rain?”

  “Yes. It looks to clear out in a couple days.”

  “Good.”

  Marc didn’t leave, instead observing as she resumed her casual pacing and listening. Samantha had a deluxe tent filled with boxes of weather equipment at her disposal, but Marc knew the report had come from her mind.

  “Can you talk to nature, Sam?” he asked quietly, in awe at the thought. “Communicate, I mean.”

  She gave a short confirmation. “I won’t, not without something to offer.”

  “Adrian already asked that,” Marc guessed.

  “No,” Samantha corrected. “He already knew. I suggested a barter when we ran from the fire.”

  “And he told you to what? Find out what we need to make a deal like that?”

  “He told me it made us a bigger target to even try. It can’t be done without our compete surrender.”

  “Surrender?” Marc asked in confusion.

  “Our extinction, boy scout.”

  Marc flinched at the common name. He wasn’t that, not anymore.

  “You can understand why I won’t try?”

  Marc grunted, heading for the flap. “Mind your protection or Seth will double your protection.”

  Sam stuck out her tongue at his back and then grinned at herself. She had no intentions of being isolated tonight. In fact, just the opposite.

  6

  “Blonde and blue, and completely forgettable.”

  Jeremy hated the words still ringing in his mind, but that didn’t stop him from trying to spot a viable candidate as he walked through the camp.

  Too tall…too thin… too much perfume. Doesn’t talk enough… hates men.

  Jeremy’s gaze landed on the Sisters. The six-women group had gained three new members, and the shortest among them had Samantha’s exact shade of hair. It twinkled in the light of the center camp fire.

  Jeremy reluctantly drifted closer.

  The women were practicing their gun stance and didn’t notice when he joined the rear of t
he lesson. He studied the short blonde, comparing her weight, shape, and general rear profile.

  That could work, he thought.

  Bridget felt him staring and peered over her shoulder.

  Jeremy studied her features gently and realized she fit Kyle’s words. She was pleasant to inspect and nothing else–completely forgettable.

  Jeremy smiled at her before he could stop himself. And then he turned away. If it got to be too much, he’d find her. That heart-shaped ass under those cut-off jeans would be kept track of by the single Eagles, but for Jeremy, it was just a way to know her–a marker in place of the name he didn’t have yet. Her face, he couldn’t have recalled before he was out of sight.

  As Jeremy vanished into the parking area, Leslie got the attention of everyone in earshot with a quick warning.

  “If he comes to you, it will only be for relief. He loves Samantha.”

  Bridget went up to the line take her shots. “I’m not interested in him.”

  Leslie gave her a dirty glare at the obvious lie. “Like that matters.”

  “We always offer support to the Eagles when they pick one of us,” Tracy explained, tone friendlier than Leslie’s had been. “It’s an honor to serve.”

  Bridget finished her set and rejoined the small circle.

  “Jeremy isn’t the only one who will like me because I look like her.”

  She stared at Becky’s tent, where Lee and Neil were now chatting lightly.

  “When that one comes to me, I’ll make him fall in love and then Jeremy can have Sam. It’ll be perfect,” Bridget stated, missing the frowns of all the other females.

  Samantha overheard the remark as she walked by and the words sank down into her gut. Wasn’t that how it should be? Neil certainly deserved happiness, as did Jeremy. It was herself that she wasn’t so sure about.

  Samantha ducked quietly into the tent shadows and circled around to listen to Leslie’s rueful response.

  “Good luck, then. When she came, it was like the rest of us no longer existed.”

  Bridget wasn’t discouraged. “You ladies didn’t have the advantage that I do.”

  “What advantage?” Megan demanded. “I have the same features.”

  Bridget glanced over in a patronizing insult. “Obviously not, honey, or he would have been staring at you.”

  Samantha tensed. This one was mean.

  “So what’s the advantage?” Leslie insisted, not sure if she wanted Bridget’s plan to work out that way. Leslie had a lot of male friends in Safe Haven and while she’d like to narrow the field a bit, having to pick only one had kept her from doing it. If she could have two…

  Bridget flipped her hair over her shoulder so that it would catch the light. “You’ll have to figure that out for ourselves. We aren’t friends yet.”

  Samantha resumed her walk, but didn’t relax. Bridget was probably counting on being able to play on Neil’s emotions, but what if she was like the other gifted people here and hiding it as Jennifer had?

  Trailing him, Samantha noted that Jeremy hesitated and then went to his truck. He sat on the tail gate, staring at the place where they’d napped earlier. He appeared forsaken.

  Jeremy’s the one I might lose, Samantha told herself. Their bond wasn’t nearly as strong.

  Samantha felt the chill of old loneliness coming and resisted being pulled into the darkness.

  Not yet, she thought, moving toward Jeremy. Let me have a little more happiness, okay? Just a little.

  Jeremy felt her coming and found himself comparing her to the other blonde, but his heart pounded too hard to be able to concentrate.

  Nothing less will satisfy, he realized. Heart-shaped ass could go back on the market.

  “Can I join you?”

  Jeremy found the air to speak with. “You don’t have to ask.”

  Samantha sent out a wave of happiness, stealing his breath. “I know.”

  She glanced at the truck bed. “A blanket this time?”

  Jeremy immediately got up and retrieved his bedroll from the front, sensing she wasn’t ready for the offer of his tent that he longed to make.

  Samantha helped him, enjoying the brush of his hands and body as they worked together. They resumed their previous positions with a small intake of air, a rough groan, and lay there in silent contentment.

  As they began to drift, Jeremy again dropped his walls and tried to stay close to her light.

  7

  “She’s ready.”

  “Copy.”

  Marc went to the medical tent, where Angela had gone after the meeting. He’d expected that, but not for her to hold out another three hours. Where was she pulling the strength from? She’d still been beat after drawing from him. He, on the other hand, felt wiped out.

  “You need to feed her more,” the demon advised. “She’s doing more now, caring for more.”

  Marc didn’t like the phrasing after the morning’s sexual concerns, but he didn’t respond. If he started talking with the demon, he might get used to using it, to having it there, and that would be dangerous.

  “You could bow out,” the demon replied sweetly. “Adrian will give her what she needs.”

  Marc stomped into the medical tent, furious, but it was gone the second he spotted Angela. It appeared that she’d fallen out of alertness gradually, and was now slumped uncomfortably over Adrian’s arm.

  Marc approached them silently, but Adrian’s eyes flew open the instant he got close. Unable to do much more than yell, that instinct to protect was still strong.

  The two men stared at each other for a long moment, both wondering if this would become a habit for them–sharing her.

  “I hope not,” Adrian stated finally, voice a hoarse croak that didn’t get even a stir from the tired woman they were both so bonded to. “That would hurt her.”

  Marc agreed, jaw clamped tight to keep from telling Adrian that he should have died and then there wouldn’t be any chance of it.

  “It’s what I wanted.”

  Marc took that in coldly. “And now?”

  Adrian wound his fingers, all he was capable of moving, through her tangled curls. He gave a gentle tug and then let go. “It hasn’t changed. She should have let me die.”

  “It’s worse now,” Marc guessed, remembering his own strengthened longings after Angie had healed him. “Like you can’t breathe and she’s the air.”

  “I’ve never been on this end of it,” Adrian confessed. “I’m fighting.”

  Marc knew that, but it didn’t appear to matter. He ignored the urge to curse Adrian, and carefully lifted Angela into his arms.

  Angry and stressed, it still would have been impossible to miss the naked fear in Adrian’s eyes as he observed.

  Marc hated himself for feeling compassion and kept his mouth shut until they were out in the cool night air.

  Marc gestured to Kevin, who appeared as beat as the woman snuggling into his embrace.

  “Adrian needs company.”

  Kevin sighed. “I’ll get Tracy to sit with him.”

  Marc thought of Charlie. “Make that Cynthia.”

  Adrian’s chosen females were all quickly becoming off-limits.

  Kevin wanted to argue, but couldn’t. If Marc was sharing Angie with the bossman, how could he protest?

  “She wants to be there for him,” Marc stated. “Go get her.”

  Kevin went slowly, jealously, even though Adrian was clearly in no shape to do anything. He just…

  “I want her time for myself,” he grumbled. “And that’s wrong. I have to let her work.”

  Kevin vanished into the darkness and Marc continued to the center QZ tent without guilt. He was sure that Cynthia could use a break from fending off Matt, who wanted to cement their relationship physically.

  Marc smirked, sliding Angie into the open bedroll. He definitely had the better end of that stick.

  8

  “Stay on your side!”

  Kevin stopped, stunned for a minute by the shadows.
Matt and Cynthia were sharing a bed!

  “I mean it. You touch me again and I’ll slit those fingers off.”

  Kevin listened to Matt’s cackle and was dismayed by how much it resembled Rick’s.

  “No, Matt, I don’t.”

  Kevin couldn’t hear Matt’s words and he hugged the thick shadows around the canvas.

  “I’d like you more if you had respect for me and for the dream.”

  “I do,” Matt was protesting. “I just don’t understand why you took me in.”

  Cynthia sighed deeply, and Kevin felt an honest answer come–something he hadn’t gotten.

  “They would have banished you, Matt. Maybe worse. I couldn’t let that happen.”

  “And now you wish you had,” Matt accused, shadow turning to glare at her.

  “No, I made the right choice. In time, you’ll be trusted again and have a real life here.”

  Matt snorted scornfully and Kevin found himself agreeing. As he watched a shadow finger creep onto the other side of the mattress, it was hard not to. Matt was a bad kid and it would only get worse.

  Kevin came from the shadows, boots crunching carelessly.

  The shadow hand drew back and Cynthia sat up, listening.

  Kevin tapped on the flap. “The big boss needs you.”

  “Be right there,” Cynthia called.

  Both males heard the breathless tone.

  Kevin smirked when Matt threw himself on the bed, nearly flipping Cynthia off of it. The boy didn’t like him or Adrian. The feeling was mutual.

  Kevin was still lingering when the reporter stepped out of the tent and he caught Matt’s resentful glare through the open flap.

  Not one to be subtle in the old world, Kevin held his arm out to Cynthia like a gentleman.

  Annoyed and sleepy, Cynthia slid her arm into Kevin’s and left Matt staring at them both hatefully. She wasn’t cut out for babysitting unless she got rest and Octo-boy like to watch the sun come up.

  “Another week,” she muttered, unconsciously leaning into Kevin’s welcoming heat. “Then I’ll tell her.”

  Kevin understood, but didn’t get his hopes up. If he and Cyn were supposed to be a match, Angela and Adrian wouldn’t have tossed Matt into their mix.

  9

  Marc settled Angela onto his bedroll, smoothing her clothes and hair into more comfortable positions. As he lay the long braid across his pillow, the gray glared out like a sign.