AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We walked down the hall, Taylor and Eden the first to greet us, both of them pulling me into a hug.
“Are you alright?” Taylor whispered in my ear.
“As alright as I can be, I suppose,” I sighed into his chest, Eden rubbing circles along my back. “At the very least, I can find some gratification in knowing we’ve gotten closer to taking Elliot down.”
They both pulled away, Eden saying, “Beck and Emric are waiting for the two of you in the conference room. They thought it would be best to keep this conversation between the four of you. Hopefully make it quicker, so we have plenty of time to plan.”
“Let’s go, then,” Nolan said, his hand on the small of my back guiding me to the end of the hall. We went right in, finding Beckett and Emric sitting at one end of the table, their eyes immediately finding ours.
“Enough doubt for you now?” My words emerged a bit harsher than they should’ve been. Though they had just been trying to protect me when they’d voted against this operation, a little flame inside of me burned with satisfaction that I had proven them wrong: I didn’t need to be coddled, I was strong enough for this job.
“I still hate the idea of you trying to trap her,” Beckett admitted, his arms crossed tightly against his broad chest as Nolan and I sat across from them. “But you were right, it was the best decision. Which is why we need to start preparing for the sting.”
“Should I try and make an earlier appointment?” My fingers twitched on top of the table.
“No.” Emric shook his head, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “We can’t risk any suspicious behavior on your part. Unless you think she would take you scheduling a last-minute appointment as normal.”
I scoffed. “Probably not.”
“Then we keep your regular appointment for the week,” Beckett said, jotting down notes in a journal in front of him. “Honestly, we probably need the time to make sure we have everything perfect. This is a big moment for our Faction.”
He was right. After the past few months, after all of the threats and labels, we could demonstrate that we weren’t the misfit insubordinates the High Faction was trying to make us out to be.We were on the side of truth, and we would never back down from doing the right thing.Bringing in someone close to Elliot, this was something no other Faction had accomplished. If we could do this, we could prove ourselves again as strong, well-managed soldiers. No one, not even the High Faction, could doubt us again.
***
My fingers shook as I checked my Comms unit for the fifth time.
The week had passed by too fast, to a point where I was convinced we had missed something in developing the operation. The plan was simple enough: I would go in with my Comms unit connected to Beckett’s, which was set to record the entire conversation with Vanessa. Everyone would be stationed within a two-mile radius of the clinic, our telepathic link keeping them informed on when it was time to close in, just in case of an emergency. Once she incriminated herself, we would move in, arrest her, and figure out her connection to Elliot—if she wasn’t Elliot herself.
I could do this. And once I did, the High Faction could no longer deny my strength. They could no longer tell me I was too weak to be an Alpha, not when I had such a big hand in taking down a criminal no other Faction was able to capture.
The silence was deafening in the conference room after our final briefing, some people already heading out to their posts around the city while others closed up a few things in the office before taking their spots. I fiddled with the wire inside my shirt in their absence, giving my hands something to do.
“Need help?”
I whipped around to find Nolan leaning in the doorway, arms crossed as he stared at me.
“Is my wire puckering in my shirt?” I looked down at my loose-fitting plum blouse where the wire was secured, muting any noise from Beckett and his surroundings without muting myself to him. “I don’t want it to look obvious.”
“It’s not while you’re standing.” He walked toward me, his forehead wrinkling as he stared at the front of my shirt. “But you’ll be sitting for a good portion of the session. Let’s see if that changes anything.”
“Good point.” I pulled out a chair and turned it toward him before sitting down, trying to relax into it like I would in the session. “How about now?”
“Hm.” His fingers tapped against his lips, his gaze fixed on me. “Looks fine from here, but…” He trailed off as he grabbed a second chair, moving it to sit across from me, our knees knocking together. “Fine like this, too.”
“You thought of everything,” I chuckled nervously, surprised I hadn’t thought of those details myself.
“When your safety is involved, I’m not going to take any chances.” He leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees. “Are you ready?”
I mimicked his posture, leaning on my own knees so our faces were only inches apart, his minty breath wafting over my face. “Yes, I am.”
The room melted away, allowing me to relish in another moment of just the two of us, our strengths and weaknesses blending together inexplicably. With Nolan, I had support when I needed it but encouragement to stand on my own.I had a person who had only known me at my self-proclaimed weakest time, yet still saw something genuinely strong about me. It was exactly what I needed to snap me out of my fog, to help me find that extra push to fight the darkness that still brewed within me.
I might have been the one to help myself, but having him by my side was exactly what I needed to feel safe enough to explore that terrible place within me.I would always be grateful for this man. Maybe one day, I would even find the strength to tell him exactly what his presence these past few weeks had meant to me.
But this was not that moment; this was a silence to get lost in.
He reached out to me, hesitating for a moment before cupping my face, his thumb stroking my cheek. The warmth seeped into me, and I nuzzled into his palm.
