Page 76 of Scarlet Wars
Emma glanced away again, shame written plain across her face. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, without explaining herself.
I wondered why she didn’t simply tell her what happened. Pretty sure Rachel would understand needing to see that warrant for herself.
The latter let out a sharp breath, pinching the bridge of her nose like she was holding back a headache. “You give me no choice, Thompson. I’m benching you.”
Emma’s head snapped up. “What?”
“From now on, you’ll work with Jackson from here. Coordinate communications, monitor movement?—”
“The hell I will,” Emma cut in, standing so fast her chair scraped across the floor. “Those humans are responsible for killing my parents.”
“And I sympathize. I do,” Kanata C’s First Offensive said, tone clipped but not unkind. “But if your thirst for retribution gets in the way of following orders, you become a liability. And I don’t risk my team for anyone’s personal vendetta, not even yours.”
She turned to me. “I want you to take point tomorrow. We’ve got reports of fresh US forces crossing the national border again. I need eyes on the ground. Intel, numbers, potential captives. Bring me something I can use.”
Cute. Like she got to give me orders.
I gave her a nod. “Whatever you need. But Thompson’s coming with me.”
That got her attention. Emma’s gaze flicked to mine, wide with surprise, while Rachel blinked in astonishment. “You’re seriously ignoring a direct order?”
I shrugged. “You toldherto stay behind. You didn’t say shit about me. And I’m putting her on my team.”
I turned toward Emma. “Unless you’re planning on disobeying my command as well?”
She shook her head so fast it was almost funny.
“She’s not going out in the field,” Rachel ordered through gritted teeth. “She’s a risk to the rest of the team.”
I exhaled loud enough to make a point, letting the sound cut across the room. If I had to sit through one more self-righteous argument about what to do with Emma, I’d start decapitating people. “Brilliant plan, Rachel. Bench the human expert when you’re dealing with…humans.”
Her jaw locked. She wanted to bite back, I could see it, but she didn’t. Because she knew I was right.
My focus drifted to Emma. Just for a heartbeat, long enough that she’d feel it, before I snapped it back to Rachel. “Especially since Emma’s the whole reason they’re here to begin with. Makes absolute sense.”
The twist in her expression wasn’t lost on me. She tried to hide it, but I knew what it was: concession.
James, of course, had to chime in. “I could argue it would make more sense to keep her away from the fight for that exact same reason.”
Emma’s eyes rolled so hard I thought they might stick. “I could argue you never should’ve trained me to be an Offensive if hiding’s all I’m good for. Seems like I could’ve done that as a lawyer, too.”
I caught the flicker on James’s face, like maybe he had something he wanted to say but couldn’t decide if it should be an apology or another order. Probably the latter.
Rachel groaned, rubbing her temples like we were drilling holes through her skull. “Please, don’t add on with a lovers’ quarrel. There’s only so much bullshit I can handle in one day.”
Lovers. The word had me gripping the table so tight my knuckles turned white.
They were not. Fucking. Lovers.
Control yourself, Colt.
Schooling my features back to neutral, I ended the discussion. “I’m in charge of staffing my own team. You got a problem with it, send one of your own.”
“Fine!” Rachel threw her hands up. “Do whatever the hell you want, then. But if this explodes in our faces, it’s on you.”
“I can live with that,” I said.
What I couldn’t live with was breaking my promise to Emma, that she’d get to face the ones who destroyed her family, that she’d have the chance to lay their blood at her feet.
