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“Cayman?”
“What, Nem?” I snapped.
“That’s enough,” said Ares, walking up behind her. “Speak to her with respect, dammit.”
With wide eyes, she put her hand on Ares’ arm. “While I appreciate your concern for me, I assure you I can handle this myself.”
He muttered his apologies and returned to another part of the house.
“Odd,” she said under her breath.
“He and I just concluded quite a row.”
“Ah. I see. Hence your comment about him crying to me.”
“Precisely.”
“You and I have known each other for a very long time. Far longer than Ares has known either of us. I’m concerned about you, given your behavior is out of character.”
“I’m stunned that standing up for myself and for Bexli has been deemed out of character.”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about. Your anger…well, I suppose it’s justified.”
“Gee, thanks.”
She raised a brow. “Thatis what I’m talking about. It isn’t like you to be rude to anyone, let alone to someone merely expressing concern.”
Nem was right. However, I was in no mood to apologize.
“Listen to me. While I feel the same way you do about confirming Mithras is actually in Sharm el-Sheikh before we enact a full-scale deployment, I’m also confident we will receive the proof we need. Oleander would not ask this of us if she wasn’t absolutely certain he was there.”
I nodded. “Yes, you’re right.”
“Once we’re equally as certain, we’ll need to deploy immediately. All of us, Cayman.”
“As I told Ares, do not question my commitment.”
“I’m not. I’m impressing upon you the necessity of us mobilizing as a unit. One for which you serve as commander. There is a reason Z put you in charge of this mission, Cayman. It wasn’t solely because Bexli was involved. We need your skills and abilities. We needyou.”
I could argue that she had no reason to believe I would do anything other than what she was asking of me. However, as she’d said, we’d known each other a long time. There was no point in lying to her. “Understood,” I said instead. “You can rest assured I will be accompanying the team to Sharm el-Sheikh.”
“Thank you, Cayman.”
I received an alert on my mobile that someone had come in through the front gate. Given whoever it was knew the code, I didn’t bother to check the video feed. Assuming it was Delfino returning with Bex, I excused myself and went out the front door.
“What did you think you were doing?” I shouted at Delfino. “It is our job to protect Bexli and to keep her parents from discovering she’s here. Yet you took her for a drive?”
Bexli’s eyes were wide, then scrunched as she studied me.
“Cayman, Bexli wanted to show me the stables,” said Delfino. “I couldn’t figure out how to get there from within the estate. I can assure you no one saw us. We didn’t pass another car while on the roads outside the property line.”
When Delfino finished her explanation, I realized Bexli had walked away. I caught up with her partway to the bench on the edge of the hillside.
“Bex?”
“Sod off, Cay.”
I raced around her and put my hands on her upper arms, relieved when she didn’t try to jerk away. “I’m sorry. I was frantic with worry.”
