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Sariel disapproved of the thought, whereupon I realized they were both covered in blood and wounds. The one slashed across Johnny's chest was healing, but slowly, and there were several others decorating his arms and neck.
I couldn’t let myself think about this too hard.
I don’t think he can hold on, he said honestly.Instead, he helped Reese clamor onto me, her arms looping around my neck, although I just knew that she was probably going to topple off.
Sariel’s wings extended behind him all the same, and he grunted as he hefted Johnny into the sky. To my surprise, Reese managed to keep hold of me despite her hysterical sobbing, her face buried into the fur of my neck as I followed after Sariel. It couldn’t have been comfortable for her, but I was just glad she was alive, considering the circumstances.
Zuzanna was there when we all but stumbled into the clearing that Sariel had spotted her and Kiran waiting in—she was already crouched over Johnny by the time I arrived with Reese.
“What happened?” Kiran barked, looking frazzled at our states.
Sariel tried to explain the last ten minutes of insanity with trembling hands. He went to push his fiery hair back with his blood-covered hands, then flinched before he could, like even the sight caused him pain.
Reese tried to climb off of me only to fall on her back, yanking me down with her grip on my neck. I wasn’t even bothered by the lack of apology when she bent at the waist and promptly vomited, just barely managing to keep from falling over into it.
Do we have a change of clothes somewhere?I asked. Sariel promptly whipped off his shirt and offered it to me—it barely covered the important bits, but I shifted anyway and hurriedly pulled it on.
“It’s not your fault,” I crooned at Reese. She let out a wounded sound, so I grabbed her face and forced her to look at me. “It’s not, Reese. It’s not.”
I managed to guide her away from her small pool of vomit just as Johnny exploded into his wolf form and scrambled upwards. Sariel only just managed to shift himself before the beast hit him.
Despite myself, I screamed at the display as the two wolves, the twofriends, suddenly went at each other.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” Kiran demanded. His glamor dropped entirely, making me feel a bit woozy when he snarled and revealed too many teeth. Zuzanna gripped his forearm when he tried to intervene, whispering to him just as Sariel’s wolf pinned Johnny.
The tears I’d managed to contain at the beginning finally broke free. Everything had gone wrong. Everything was going wrong.
Both men promptly shifted back, with Johnny furious and Sariel stupefied.
“You let them take her!” the former spat, getting up in Sariel’s face. His accusation cut Sariel deep, echoing down our bond so loudly that it rattled my brain.
“I didn’tletthem take her—they already had her!” Sariel shouted back. “I just made sure they didn’t takeyou, too!”
He shoved off of his friend, rubbing a hand down his face. I didn't realize that he was completely naked until Zuzanna waved her hands and offered them both a pair of sweatpants.
She looked over at Kiran, sighing. “This has been a mess. Get us out of here.”
I sniffled as I dragged a sobbing Reese toward them. The gate opened for us and closed behind us fast enough for me to nearly miss it—if I hadn’t been on the edge of a breakdown, I might have been of the mind to compliment him on it.
It wasn’t until I registered that we were standing in the meeting room, surrounded by wide-eyed allies, that everything finally became too much.
Reese had dropped into a nearby chair, head in her hands. At the same moment, I noticed she was sobbing, Sariel pulled me into his chest. It didn’t really quiet my own tears any, but I could pretend it did, and that made things a bit better when Elias blew up.
“You sentthem? Alone?! What the fuck were you thinking?!”
Jack hissed something that made the larger man curse and continue, “They’re barely old enough to be called adults! Have they ever even been in a combat zone? Had training?!”
“Of course, they’ve been trained!” Auren bit back. He was equally angry but also sounded like he was grasping for control. I didn’t dare look up to see their faces.
We’d completely fucked the mission up. Neo was dead, Marilyn was gone, and it had only taken less than ten minutes.
“The gas worked,” Reese eventually managed, sounding a bit more put together for a moment, “just on one of the wrong people. God, I’m so sorry.”
Her face went back to her hands, body slouching forward when I briefly glanced over at her.
“This discussion can wait,” Kiyomasa intervened after something I didn’t see shattered. I could feel Sariel’s relief at the man’s words. “Reese told us what we needed to know, and they all obviously need a moment to compose themselves.”
“Longer than a fuckingmoment,” Johnny growled out, sounding seconds from shifting again. My mate squeezed me tighter against me.
