Page 35 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

“For fuck’s sake, are you my friend or not, Blaz?”

“Friends don’t let friends ditch security.”

“Friends absolutely help friends ditch security.”

“And invite Aren of Grayshell and the Great Commander to personally take turns beating me to death? I don’t think so.”

“Drama queen.”

“Says the teenager trying to ditch her team.” He leveled me with a sardonic glare.

“They’re enormous, loud, and impossible to hide long enough to get close.”

“They’re here to keep you safe and help with your training.”

“And they’re wonderful. The greatest chaps you’ve ever met, and yet…”

“You honestly think you’d get better answers without them?”

I raised my brows pointedly. “I’ve always worked better alone.”

“For someone claiming to have a doesn’t-play-well-with-others warnin’ label, you sure have this hellhole wrapped around your finger.”

“Doesn’t play well with others and can’t are two very different things.”

“So, play.”

“I am.” I huffed, the sound a bark of exhaustion. Blaz laughed. “One solo reconnaissance mission. That’s all I’m asking. If I don’t get answers, I’ll drop the subject. But I’m going crazy here. If I wait on Reyna’s intel, we’ll always be one step behind. I need to get ahead.”

Blaz shook his head, tousling his tight blond curls. Disappointment coiled in my chest, but then he mussed my hair, earning a snarl. He laughed before clarifying, “One. You want one recon mission, solo?”

I perked up, nodding enthusiastically. He rasped out a long sigh before shrugging, evidently resigned. “Intel has it, they're gonna be out on the town tonight. Perhaps it’s a good night for an evening stroll.”

I lunged forward, pressing a kiss to his cheek before rising to my feet and making for the window we’d climbed out of thirty minutes earlier. I needed food. And a plan. Hopefully, in that order. But I didn’t miss the way Blaz’s fingers absently traced where my lips had grazed his skin before he took another draw from the bottle. Nor could I help the way that made me smile.

My heart shouldn’t have been pounding. I’d completed more missions than any reasonable person would bother counting in my lifetimes, yet my pulse fluttered like butterfly wings against my throat.

Rusty. That was all.

This body wasn’t used to the thrill of the job. At least, that’s what I told myself as Ajax slid into one of the pristine white porch swings, kicking his dirty boots up onto Reyna’s meticulously painted rails. Could he not hear my heart? Did he not feel the nerves settling in my stomach like a trapped hummingbird? Or was he playing ignorant, waiting for the moment my focus drifted from the Paladins to ruin my fun?

I’d told them I needed a walk—to clear my head, to get some alone time—because I felt like I was about to start my cycle and was ready to knock someone’s teeth out. A lie, of course. My monthly bleed had predictably stopped when I ascended, and while I knew it would return every blue moon, I had no clue when. But it was enough for the trio to scowl from their scattered perches, granting me the space I needed to get a grip on my emotions.

Men. Good lord.

Fog curled lazily around the massive oaks that loomed over the sprawling acreage, their moss-laden branches twisting together in a canopy above me. The setting sun filtered through the leaves, its golden light scattering across the ground in flickering patterns.

Five minutes. Five minutes for the sun to dip below that sprawling green and coat me in shadows.

Five minutes for Blaz to send the Greeks scrambling.

Five minutes, forty-five seconds until I had to disappear.

I smiled, glancing down at my watch, barely registering the time as I casually swung my arms. Rounding the path around one of those looming trunks, I trailed parallel to the fence line, making sure Brody still had eyes on me. I tilted my face toward the fading sunlight, well aware that if the Greeks were pissed enough about my disappearing act, this little stunt might be the last time I found solitude.

The hair on my arms stood on end. A chill prickled across my skin—the unmistakable sensation of being watched. My heart faltered as I scanned my surroundings, muscles tensing the moment Reyna stepped from behind a curtain of moss.

“Evening, Commander,” I said, my voice blessedly casual despite the adrenaline impaling my heart and lungs. My plan had just gone to shit. I had to abort. Had to reach Blaz. Couldn’t waste my one shot⁠—