Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
When Rhett introduces the men to Wren, Atlas shakes her hand. “The biologist. Kira told us about you.”
“Kira? Oh.”
I watch understanding dawn on Wren’s face.
“Your maps are what gave DEA the pattern?” Atlas asks.
After a brief hesitation, Wren says, “Mine, plus Cade’s cache-point data.”
Atlas glances at Cade, then back at Wren. “Good work. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait on them too long. In the meantime …” Never one to waste time, Atlas tips his head toward the door, ready to get started.
While Rhett walks the perimeter with Sentinel, and Cade follows at a distance, I stay at the cabin with Wren and go over new protocols. I move her through the space, showing her where to go if we say down, where to go if we say rear, and where to hide if we say safe room. It’s not a true safe room, but the reinforced storage closet with one small high window and survival supplies is where she needs to be if trouble comes to us.
She memorizes everything without complaint.
By the time Atlas is ready to leave, there are new motion sensors outside and Rhett’s holding a list of recommended upgrades.
“I’ll get in touch with Brennan,” Rhett tells Atlas.
“Good. The right people in the area need to know what we’re dealing with so we can look out for unusual movement.” He shakes Rhett’s hand. “Don’t freelance, Wilder.”
Rhett’s face gives nothing away. “Wasn’t planning to.”
When Atlas looks at me, I smile, but he doesn’t buy it. “Especially you,” he says.
I press my hand to my chest. “I’m wounded.”
Atlas lifts a brow. “Not currently.”
CHAPTER 26
BOONE
We spend the rest of the day getting the Dodge back into shape and tightening the cabin’s defenses, until it feels less like a home and more like a position. I hate it, but it’s the only way.
In the evening, I find Wren in the kitchen standing at the sink washing potatoes.
I come up beside her and get out a knife and the cutting board. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Do what? Make dinner?”
“Act like you’re calm.”
She looks over at me. “I’m not.” When I respond with a curious look, she says, “I’m concerned, and I’m angry, but I’m not falling apart.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
She turns off the water, finished with the last potato. “No, but you were making the face.”
“What face?”
“The one where you’re about to wrap a blanket around me and tell me I don’t need to worry my pretty little head.”
I bump her gently with my hip. “I never once mentioned your pretty head.”
“No, you’re more subtle than that.”
“I’m really not.”
That makes her smile, and I take it like a gift.
We fall into our usual rhythm in the kitchen, while Rhett and Cade take advantage of the last hour of daylight.
As Wren peels carrots, she watches my brothers through the window. “Do you always get like this?” she asks.
I pause my stirring. “Devastatingly handsome?”
She gives me a look. “Unified. When something happens, the three of you barely have to discuss it before you respond.”
“One organism,” I say. When she looks over at me, I explain, “That’s what one of the guys in Regiment used to call us. Triplets are already weird, but under enough pressure, we got worse.”
“What do you mean by worse?”
“Closer.”
She frowns. “Closer doesn’t sound worse.”
“It can be. When one of us takes a hit, the others feel it before the blood even shows. We learned each other like a reflex,” I say. “When things got bad, Rhett turned fear into order, Cade found the person trying to kill us, and I found the soldier bleeding the fastest.”
“And you saved them?”
“Or I made them feel less alone. After that, I moved on to whoever still had a chance.”
For a moment, there’s only the sound of onions sizzling in the pan.
“I used to think my smile was for them,” I say. “And the jokes I’d tell while I was doing something that hurt them but might keep them alive. Later, I figured out the smile and jokes were for me, too. If I could make them believe we were still people and not just bodies in a bad place, then maybe I could believe it.”
“I saw what was under your smile this morning,” she says.
I flinch because I tried to hide it, but Wren notices that, too.
“After you saw the slashed tires, I saw the soldier underneath.” She reaches over and lays her hand on my arm. “It was terrifying and reassuring all at the same time.”
I look over at her and realize I’m at a loss for words.
“It makes more sense now,” she says.
My chest pulls tight as she looks out at my brothers, then back at me. “What does?”
“The way your protectiveness doesn’t feel like a cage. I’m used to pushing against men who think they have authority over me, but with you three, even when you’re bossy and impossible, it feels different.”